Zoe’s Journal

Ries held his head high. It was, after all, his destiny. Not theirs. Not those who unscrupulously controlled all that fell into their grasp. Not those who chose to pursue personal gain. No, it was his. Sir Peasant Will Graham. Yes, he was a peasant. And gods forbid that he should stay this way until his death. Oh, the gods forbid.

He tripped in a mud hole suddenly, jerking himself out of the self-induced reverie. Damn, and he had just cleaned his feet by wiping them in the grass too. Holy Mother of God. He cursed, and stepped off the road onto the dry, stubbly grass that grew wildly by the side. Swiping his feet back and forth, he scrubbed the mud off. He couldn’t appear lowly today! Not today, of all days. He was going to the merchant, or so his lord thought.

Ah yes. The merchant. That unfortunate man who would not see him at all today as he slipped through the market day crowds. Slipped unnoticed until he reached the other side of the crowd and of the city. Slipped right on by the far gate, and out into freedom.

What was he supposed to gather at the merchant anyway? Oh yes. Potatoes and an onion. And also a spare piece of ribbon for his lord’s spoiled honey-haired daughter. He jingled the change in the pouch hanging from his neck. With that extra piece of ribbon money, he could perhaps purchase a hat to shield him from the sun on his long journey. Or mayhap some extra provisions, maybe jerked beef. He would decide when he got there.

The sweet taste of freedom and revenge was tart in his mouth. His heart rose in nervous ecstasy as he planned his route out of the city. The city gates were drawing near. The morning crowd was already gathered. Some sort of to-do was going on at the hangman’s block. Something strange. The crowd stirred excitedly. He shoved his way until he could see what was happening.

It was a man. It was a young man, about his age, and clearly from his rank, who was being exhibited. The hangman was reciting the last words of the declarations, when a disturbance rang out to the side. The crowd in the direction was scattering, panicked. There was fierce yelling, from a being yet to be seen. The surge of the crowd hit Ries, and he stumbled backward, but held his place. It wasn’t everyday a bit of excitement happened in his life.

The yelling war cries grew closer, and Ries saw three guardsmen closing in on a scrap of fury. A girl, wielding two steel axes never hesitated, but threw herself into the fray, lunging and striking with her formidable weapons. The men never lasted a minute. They were hewn from head to toe, from rib to rib before they knew what had hit them. The girl was clad in a leather shift, rather scantily at that. The remaining townspeople shrunk back from her; women screamed and fainted. With one hurried movement, she leaped atop the platform and sliced the rope around the prisoner’s neck.

“Go now,” she commanded. “And avoid such follies as these humans.”

She leaped down and disappeared into the crowd which scurried away from the edges of her blades. The prisoner, now free, took one glance at the crowd and noose, and scrambled in the opposite direction.

Ries was exuberant. With that kind of lunatic on the loose, all of the town watchmen would be searching for her, and most certainly not for a runaway peasant. He smiled. As long as she wasn’t dumb enough to get caught right away.

He stepped jauntily towards the market until a rather large woman elbowed him in the hip.

“Mind your manners, you country boy,” she snapped, and bustled by him with a large basket of carrots. She didn’t notice the bunch of vegetables that Ries slyly picked from her basket.

Ries smiled again. Things were going very well. Very well indeed. If his luck held out, he could use that extra piece of coin for a blanket in which to carry all of his acquirements.

The innocent? Ha, I’m sure.

…. I’ve been having writer’s block lately. Actually, for about a week.

I know that I have ’stuff’ to write about, but I haven’t really felt like writing it. After all, what’s the point? Who really cares what ZoeJane did on the weekend; if she slept 16 hours one day or packed up all the books into boxes? What does it matter that she played her stupid BattleOn game so much on Friday that her character gained not only a new Vampragon, but also a new weapon and two new suits of armor?

I sure as hell don’t know how it matters.

Maybe I have a boring, fetid life. Or maybe, it’s the kind of life that one in a hundred people dream of. No interfering relatives around, no pushy friends (hey, let’s go watch this movie NOW… why NOT?), a wonderful fiance, and a bratty cat that likes the Lord of the Realm more than the Lady.

However, despite all the satisfactoriness of my life, I tend to stress more than recommended, I’m sure. This weekend, the LotR and I are moving into a better, larger apartment, and that same week, I am starting a new job with a different company. This means that we need to set up all of the utilities and crap, then do the ‘exiting’ of the old apt. and turn over the keys. I need to go to the dr. sometime this week before my insurance stops for three months. Don’t ask, I’m not telling. Not to mention, my online Spanish course is giving me the hissy fits.

Who would have thought that a simple Spanish class could be made so incomprehensible? First of all, I have a textbook, for god-knows-what, then there is a set of dvd’s, then there is a set of audio cd’s, and you have to listen/watch both of them before you’re ready for the fourth part, the workbook. After the workbook, there is an online test (usually two) to submit before the lesson is done. Then, all of the workbook pages have to be faxed in to the instructor, and the set-up is so nicely done, that I could not find the fax number anywhere and had to email my instructor to ask. And Damn… I am not doing well.

I have this mindset that everything I do needs to be perfect. Well, not everything, just everything that other people see, like Grades. I’ve flunked the first two online submittals that I turned in. ZoeJane does NOT flunk. Ever. Period. I might drop that class and take on another one that is based on FACTS, not on pronunciation and such. Maybe science… yeah. That would be good. Biology.

I’ll stop stressing when it’s all over. Gah.

While waiting at the Barnes and Noble to meet the Lord of the Realm and his venerable Father, I browsed the shelves in hopes of finding something to read that would make interesting mention.

Well, I did not find any fantasy stories that I felt a particular urge for buying, but I did come across a Dragon Book. Dragons: A Natural History, rather, by Dr. Karl Shuker.

 A very nicely illustrated and bound  book, Dragons: A Natural History is just that. When I was small, my mother bought a book that explained (from the creationist point of view) dinosaurs and how dragons may have actually been dinosaurs, but embellished by the mind and folk tales.

I haven’t read the book yet, having had to sit through a nice sushi dinner with a Doctor and the LotR talking about things that I didn’t really try to comprehend for the most part. I am, however, thumbing through it at the moment… these are some very nice paintings and ‘ye olde’ pictures. I’ll post a review on it when I’m done.

This morning, since the Lord of the Realm had to confer with his father who is visiting from the North, I groggily woke myself up and drove the two blocks to Target. I was going to look for some Hayao Miyazaki films, but there weren’t any in the store. Instead, I wandered the aisles in hopes of fnding something for the wonderful Lord, but sadly, what I found he won’t be able to make use of.

I found the most comfortable, pretty sandals that I’d seen for a long time, and they were on sale for only $4!! I added them to the basket, which was already quite heavy from the weights that I picked up in the sporting goods section. They were on sale too. Then I somehow found myself in the clothing section, and though I don’t normally buy clothes from Target, I found a couple of tops that were my style and were on sale as well, so I snatched them up. One can not have too many t-shirts.

Oh wait, the LotR (lord of the realm) can use some things I bought. The pencil sharpener, for example, and the spongie scrub for the kitchen, haha. I also finally bought a timer because we were getting tired of burnt cookies and pizza crusts. Those things are ideal for people who are so easily distracted by other, less practical, things than cooking.

I don’t think I have introduced the other member of our family. Ico. No, he is not a little asian/indian boy who runs around spooky haunted castles rescuing ghost princesses. He is our cat. Meet Ico.

Poopie is the one remaining character in this little tableu. The LotR named her.

“She poos alot!”

*shakes head*

This whole week was basically spent at www.BattleOn.com leveling up my characters, and trying to save enough gold to purchase another Vampragon.

Today, I posted another book review, my first real one. (the DaVinci Code was a test review.) I went over the First King of Shannara… and oh boy. I’m going to have to reread the entire series. I keep forgetting how good they are.

On another note, the Lord of the Realm and I went to go look at the apartment that I mentioned before. It was nice. We put in an application and reserved it until February 7. The layout was even nicer than I had thought from the plans I saw earlier. I’m very happy with it and the location.

Today has been a groany-moany day. I really need to drink more water. I woke up feeling like I had a hangover, but that was impossible because I haven’t had alcohol in a good two weeks! However, since hangovers are due mostly to dehydration, I deduced that perhaps one bottle of water and two glasses of juice over the past two days was not quite enough liquid.

I had the bright idea to write something, but when I tried, it came out all weird… Something like

I am of the Gypsy blood…

and on like that. Meh. Don’tcha love it when you have a beautiful phrase with nothing to back it up? The joys of writing. Maybe I should keep a log of all the empty phrases, then when I have enough, put them together and sell them in a book.