I'm alive! ALIIIIVE!!! :O

Yep, I seem to have survived the six month societal isolation thing sort-of-relatively-almost-okay-ish. My birthday's coming up on the 10th at midnight. (or the 11th, whichever way you spin it) Huzzah, I'll be 17. Not that I don't already feel like I'm 20.

So I have Young Life Camp on the 10th too, which is cool. Hope my friend won't screw me over again like she did last year... In most likelihood though she'll have been missing me too much to fuck me over. Which I guess is...good?

I think I'm about 6 chapters away from finishing my first book...then comes publication...but not before I illustrate the damn thing :P But anyways it's going great...I've been sort of showing my family members my stuff on it when they came up for the reunion. They were all impressed, not to be egotistical. Mild-enthusiasm-yay?

Now that the reunion's over I'm all alone in the house with my parents again :/ Hell...

Blaaarrrgggg...*sigh* anyways, I STILL can't stop thinking of Blackjack, and everybody keeps telling me he's a lost cause and it's better this way and so on and so forth. Pisses me off...

I found some amazing music for my books on Youtube...Go look up Loreena Mckennit on Youtube you guys, she's AWESOME. My favs are The Mummers Dance, The Old Ways, her cover of Emmanuel, and The Mystic's Dream. *squee* Also, another great band for my books is Blackmore's Night. My favs from them are Ghost of a Rose and Under a Violet Moon.

West point is okay-ish, but Highland Falls is GHEY. >:/ So is Fort Montgomery. New York City is sort of cool, but freakin expensive as HELL and the subways are so...ICK /:[

and...who wants to check me out on Gaiaonline?? :D You do?? I knew you did :) Just go to Gaiaonline.com and search for Autumn Gracy. :D

...yay Gaia

Also, go check out Romantically Apocalyptic, an awesome webcomic I found. (Go find it on Deviantart.com) You can also find me at Deviantart.com, under Autumn Gracy. Some of my book stuff is there...hopefully I'll be uploading sketches soon.

luff, Sarah/Autumn/Carling/whatever name I feel like

Killroy was here

Okay, so; funny story. This is true, btw.

During World War two, a shipyard inspection worker whose last name was Kilroy checked the riveting work of the builders. Now, builders were payed by the number of rivets they put in, and sometimes they would do a line of rivets and stop, then someone else would continue it for them later. Since they got payed for the number of rivets, though, the person who continued the line would tell Kilroy that he had done more work than he actually had. In order to stop this, Kilroy painted a line where the last person had finished riveting, so that people couldn't cheat. He would also paint, above the line, "Kilroy was here".

Now, during WWII, ships were being pumped out so fast there wasn't even time to paint them, so Kilroy's little drawing's were still there when the ships were full of troops. The troops marveled at where this "Kilroy" guy had been-who they assumed was another bored troop en route-putting graffiti in places in the ship that weren't even accessible, like the inside of a bulkhead door! How was this guy doing it!? They began to write the same message themselves, and made it into a game to find places nobody would look and write that. Thus the Kilroy epidemic began. Soldiers painted it on tanks, on planes, on walls, and everywhere else.

The Kilroy fad was then expanded into a little cartoon man--some accounts say the cartoon (a head with a bulbous nose peering over a wall) was painted by the real Kilroy in the the first place, along with his name, on the riveters work, as if to say, "I'm watching you".

Other reports say that the cartoon was from a newspaper comic at the time, making fun of a military report in which the troops were complaining to their leader, "Wot, no coffee? Wot, no fags (cigarettes)? Wot, no sugar?". The leader got pissed because there was nothing he could do about it, and told them he was going to punish them for 28 days if they didn't shut up. Come night, he returned to his quarters and found a note that said, "Wot, only 28 days?". Then people mixed the newspaper cartoon with the already infamous "Kilroy was here" and thus was born the mix of the two.

Now old WWII Kilroy "graffiti" is being discovered everywhere. People take apart old safes and, Oh my god! kilroy was here! In 1972 they took apart this one vault in fort Knox, which hadn't been touched since 1937, when it had been filled to the brim with gold bars--and wouldn'cha know it, the vault had been riveted on the inside, and bam! Kilroy was here! They were like, 'Unless this guy trained a snake with a peice of chalk, he was actually here in 1937!'

I think the best thing about Kilroy is that, like Ol' Uncle Sam, he unwittingly got turned into an American idol (not a singer, lol)

Oh, and if you're wondering about Uncle Sam--hundreds of years ago, there was a man named Samuel, and he owned a pork business. Now, the salted pork was put in barrels and sold the the US Army for food rations. The name of the Pork Company was "Uncle Sam's Pork" or something to that affect-- and on each barrel the company name was stamped--"Uncle Sam". Now, 'Uncle Sam', starts with the same letters of 'United States', and sometimes they would be put in initials, and then they got confused. The soldiers who ate the pork and saw the barrels stamped with "Uncles Sam" or "US", started to think 'Uncle Sam' and The 'United States' were synonymous, and thus was borne the legend of Uncle Sam, the Symbol of America!

I swear there's something wrong with me...

I keep looking at my old house on Googlemaps.

It's really freaking me out. I can see all the feilds I used to play in and I even found my friends houses and I can tell how old the pictures are just by if a little stream was in this particular spot or not, and it wasn't --the stream was like, what? 4 feet?-- which means it's about 4 years old.

Kinda pathetic that I can tell that, just by a stream in an old field.

Anyways, I keep feeling homesick and wanting my cats back, or hell, one cat would do. Blackjack.

There was this day, about a three weeks ago, when I started crying ten times in one day. And it was a school day, too. Good thing I'm good at hiding my tears. Though it does kinda piss me off when I actually WANT someone to notice I'm crying and then they don't.

Whatever.

Anyways, you know my mom read my diary? I was like, (jokingly) "You should read my diary!"
So the next morning, I missed my bus, and in only the ten minute space I was out of the house my mom had read my diary. WTF! You don't DO that! She was like, "You're messed up! I think maybe it's chemical! We should put you on meds!"

Screw her! SHE'S the one with freaking depression and fucked up Seritonin levels and crap so SHE can take HER damn pills and leave ME out of it! Just cause I'm her daughter doesn't mean I inherited her stupid depression.

Anyways, you know, they're sitting right next to me as I type this? On the couch. LOL. They don't even notice. Stupid idiots. My dad is literally, like 3 inches from my face right now, and he's so focused on his damn hockey game he doesn't even know what I'm doing. He probably thinks I'm typing my books, which in reality is really a good assumption since it's basically what I've been doing non-stop since I got to this stupid barren wasteland + a river called Highland Falls.

Sure, it'll get better in the summer, but right now, it sucks. I mean, I lived in a small town before, but C'mon! This place LITERALLY BANNED fast food joints! Cause the old people in charge, since it's a military base, don't want the troops getting fat. Course, the base forced the town to put in a McDonalds anyways, so seriously, they might as well just let everybody ELSE in. So yeah, I have NO burger King, Tim hortons, Wendy's, chilis, TGI Fridays, or so on and so forth, and no real stores either, just crappy little corner business' that are like mom and pop crap. OMG. There is NOTHING to do here.

Plus, I'm trapped indoors because of this crappy winter storm that already killed some dude in central park... some tree fell on him. Hell of a way to go. Anyways, but yeah. Trapped inside. With nobody but my crappy parents. OMG.

Hell.

On.

ICE.

LITERALLY!!!

GOD, all they've been doing the past fucking two weeks is waching the Olympics and the freaking News. NOTHING ELSE. And the TV is on ALL DAY. Plus, cause this is an open floor plan house, there is NO WHERE in the whole house I can't hear the DAMN TV. OMG!!! I AM GOING INSANE. I am so sick of freaking healthcare issues and who is playing who in curling and blah blah blah gold investments and erectile disfuction ads! GOD! Get a life, guys! At least when I'M trapped inside, I can write my freaking books, or practice my awesome drawing skills, which is technically like job preparation anyways.

On that note, since I moved, I've had to do college searching again, and I decided I want to go to Full Sail University in Orlando Florida. It's SUPER AWESOME. It's like, only for media and arts. And the whole place is like Hollywood, because the film majors use the campus for sets. And there are like, school funded freaking ROCK CONCERTS for the music majors. Like seriously. It's mandatory. They HAVE to put on a rocking concert for their final project. How bitchin' is THAT!? And it has a good tuition and and awesome web site that you guys should REALLY check out if you're interested in art. So YAY. Plus, Apple, yes the HUGE AWESOME GODLY company, has sponsored Full Sail, so now EVERY SINGLE student that signs up to go there gets a FREE MACBOOK PRO. JUST FOR SIGNING UP. OMG. YES.

haha, capslock.

But so yeah. Life? Boring as Hell. Outside? Cold as Hell. Which is ironic. Parents? Oblivious as Hell. Mental State? Mercurial and Schitzophrenic as Hell! OMG!

Somebody come rescue me from obscurity! XO

...and I miss my freaking brother so FREAKING MUCH too, OMG. I haven't seen him since the beginning of January. BOOOOOOOOO. Sometimes I actually FORGET I have a brother. How gay is that!? I feel so bad about it too! Like, guilty as shit! But I really do! I go on Facebook, and I'm like, Oh yeah! I have a brother! lol.

But SO not lol.

So yeah...

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY DX Cuz I sure as hell won't.

But yay, 2 snow days in a row. I would usually be happy, but it only means MORE TIME trapped inside with my parents. OMG I can't WAIT till I have a drivers liscence so I can be like Screw you guys, I'm going to Barnes and Noble. Which is my happy place. And the best store ever. Plus, there's a Burger King next to it to! Which is my favorite restaurant. Cept they're both like 20 minutes form here, which kinda sucks. Thank GOD for GPS.

*Sigh* but I'm out of money and now I can't even buy books or anything anymore D:

See, I went to Non-Con at Vassar College, and blew a bunch of money, and before that i blew like 60 bucks and Barnes and Noble, and that was only like half a month ago and I'm already done reading all the books cept one, lol. But that's just me. I read a book a day. Then wait two weeks, and read another book in a day. lol.

So yeah. That's the News.

Now back to you, Artemis.

Forgotten...

Valentines day, alone, and underage.

...so I can't drown my sorrows in alcohol.

So... I'm going to drown them in books instead. :/

...if my mom ever gets herself ready to leave. God, she's such a snail.

Anyways, so a year ago today I got a dozen red roses, five cases of chocolate bullets (0.25 mm!), and a big card...

...but I'm alone this Valentines day and single, which sucks because I keep thinking of my ex...

...shit... Not a good way to spend a holiday... and there are a bunch of stupid chocolate things my mom bought there to temp me to drown my sadness with suger -_-;; Which is always a bad idea, even if I AM skinny as hell. Sadly, chocolates are not the answer here. I think I'm gonna overdose on Techno music and try to forget the date.

*sigh* Even my book characters, as tortured as they are, have a better love life than me =_=

Hallelujah- Rufus Wainwright

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty
in the moonlight
overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne,
she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Abe Lincoln and that should be enough reason for you to read this post

I haz an idea! I wanna make this a quote a day blog :D To start it off, here are some of my favorites from Abraham Lincoln!

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.

Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

-Abraham Lincoln

Damn I wish he was my grandfather! That guy is AWESOME :D <3