R.J.

I've been online since yesterday and I've been trying to find the words to say. *Chuckles* But nothing still comes to mind. What I did instead was go through my blog from the first up to the latest entry. And WOW! My mind is just totally blown, you know? I mean, 14 years? FOURTEEN. That was almost half of my life. That might not be a big number for some but man, I didn't realize back then that I'd still be here right now. Back then, I was just a stupid teenager. Now, I've been upgraded to a stupid 33-year-old. Though, I must say, my life back then seemed more interesting than my life right now. I did seem like I needed a hug—lots of it—back then. But other than that, I seemed fine. Well, actually, no. I needed a fairy godmother back then. LOL! Anyway. I'd like to do this more often. Again. Like I used to. Thanks, Mike, for this wonderful and safe space. 🙂

Missed you, Cole, and all your advice :) and thanks! RJ

It, being a good thing, is probably debatable haha! Hi, Jason. I miss this place. RJ

Six years. That's how long it's been since I last blogged something. And how do I still know my password? Because it's my real name. I think I changed it to that two years ago, so I won't forget. Six years. And it seems like it's only yesterday. Six years. Though it hardly seems like a blink of an eye. Six years. And I'm still alive. Well, would you look at that.

I didn't attend two of my classes today just so I could read this :D it just sucked me in!

I really enjoyed Latter Days. :) Made me cry haha :D

:) Thank you, guys. Glad you like it.

Little Things Little things—like the brief second When your hand makes contact with mine, Or the moment when you close your eyes And I can freely, really, look at you— Whisper into the cracks of my stone resolve. And I find myself yielding Inch by inch—turning seconds to minutes, Waiting for the moment you’d open your eyes Just to catch a glimpse of what they hide. But. The fear of the unknown blinds, And I’d never know whether the little things To you remain as little things, The way they tower over my consciousness, Or not. Or not.

Thanks, Camy :D I'm still not sure I intended for this not to be bleak though...

April Fools' Day, My Ass! by R. J. Santos They say a picture paints a thousand words. So, imagine my shock when I came home to clothes, two sets of them, scattered across the living room of the apartment I shared with my boyfriend, making a trail that led to our bedroom. I thought that picture right there was worth a million words. But try as I might, my jumbled mess of a mind couldn't come up with even one. I stood frozen at the door for a moment, just unable to think of what to do, until I heard a crash from inside the bedroom followed by laughter. My shock instantly burned into anger, recognizing the owner of the other voice. And though I was naturally a coward, I found myself nearly unhinging the door to our bedroom. "They're naked", was the first thought in my mind upon entering the room, immediately followed by a couple of homicidal ones. They were quick to cover themselves up with blankets though, before laughing and screaming "APRIL FOOLS' DAY!" at the top of their lungs. I was just totally and utterly aghast. Then, I was angrily striding across the room and picking up the other guy, my brother, by his armpits. "April Fools' Day, my ass!" I told him, before knocking him back down the bed with a punch. I threw my boyfriend a look before slamming shut each door I came into contact with on my way out of the apartment.

Thanks guys. I don't know if I'd ever write more on this - though I do want to - because it's scary! If I do though, might be a year or two from now, just because it's constantly inside my head. As for the ending, I don't know, James. It felt complete to me when I wrote it.

Facing Extinction by R. J. Santos "But, your majesty, sending people to the surface had already been done before, and all attempts had failed!" Lord Guvert of the Toser Valley was pleading. "Our kind could hardly exist outside of the polar waters, my king. But the surface─it would be suicide!" piped in another lord, who sat down on his chair after his interjection almost as if he had lost all strength to stand. Immediately, worried chatter began to spread across the royal hall among the Council of Lords even in the presence of King Arcttus XVII. He allowed it. After all, the worries they had right then were the same worries he had when he first thought of the plan, the only plan he could think of to prevent his species' extinction. It didn't matter if the Council would not agree. He was the king, and they knew it. Silence reigned the moment he raised his right hand. He stood up from his throne, swallowed the lump in his throat, and began to address the Council. "Lords of the South Pole, it has been decades since our brothers from the North Pole had started migrating to our waters, decades since the North Pole's ice began to melt and lessened the habitable waters for our brothers. Although it may take centuries before we realize the direness of this situation, we are now faced with the same threat. "The surface of the Earth is uninhabitable to us, but there, we could find a solution. Humans have the technology to help us make habitable places, but asking help from them poses the problem of our discovery and the danger of possible exploitation of our people when that happens. Being able to go to the surface means nothing. We need to make contact, and we need to ask for help." The hall broke out into loud objection which almost made Arcttus grin with amusement. Like what his father had said, the Council would be afraid of things they've never heard or thought of. He raised his right hand again. "Of course, we won't go into anything without careful planning. We will spend a lot of time observing and studying who to approach. The humans have built bases up there, and many of us have observed them before. As far as paying for their technology, we all know we are richer than them. The only impediment before us is if they say no, and even then, we will only move on to the next person. Besides, the rumors that we have human contacts are indeed true, but only the king, the kings before him, and his successor know their identities. I can assure you that once we're able to send them a message, they will help us." As if the Council wasn't stunned enough, Arcttus told them one more thing. "Also, as a part of this plan, I hereby appoint myself the task of making contact with the humans. Council, I am sending myself." Note: Some of you might have read this story before. :)

It's a been a while - three years! - since I last logged in, and I haven't written much since then too. The biggest reason was that back then my computer crashed. I never thought it would which was why I never had any backups. The whole time, I was like "what about this story" and "what about that story". But I'm past the crushed phase now. So. Moral is, save backups of your works. I found the drive to start writing again, even though I'm busier this time around. I have always wanted to write anyway. It's just that some circumstances inspire you and some don't. Of course, every now and then, a poem finds its way out. Stories, though, are a different, er, story, since most of them need planning and plenty of thought. The readers helped too. I still get emails from time to time about stories I had written a long time ago, and it's unbelievable how warm it made me feel just knowing my stories are still being read. Made me feel immortal. Unfortunately, In a World of Fools, the story I was writing back when I "disappeared" without explanation, would have to stay shelved for a while. I would still continue writing it, but probably after I finish writing the thing I'm working on right now. (This is assuming a future reader would find this blog, as I do get asked about it in some emails.) Anyway, levelheadedness is a good place to be in.

Ele, believe it or not, you're the first guy I've seen with pins on his skull cap. Looks really cool!And hey, you're almost a "real" teacher, Teach!Rad :)

Me too. I got the same email through my AD account. :)

:D Hehe... no offense, but I don’t want to. Not anymore. I don’t like having to think of check lists, which I never had before starting to write anyway. How about checking out one of my stories and telling me your thoughts about it (feel free to butcher it). The link is in my signature. I wrote most of those before having read any guideline. I don’t think they are bad, but I might be biased. :D If you think it's absolutely horrible, then I'd be glad to read the references you cited. :)

I think these "guidelines" could get stifling. Before I started writing, I've never really read one of these "guidelines". All I knew was that a story is supposed to have a plot, characters, and a setting. That was all I knew. When I started writing, I just wrote according to the plot inside my head. Back then, I can read a book in recreation. I read it and I only notice the characters and the plot, their "lives" -- those were what drew me to a story. Now that I've read these "guidelines", I can't read a book without noticing if it's written in the first or third person (some in second), in the present or past tense. I don't like it. I just want to enjoy a story. So if I had known then what reading these "guidelines" would do, I never would've read them. I'm glad though that I read these "guidelines" after I started writing, or I never would have. At least, I can say that it was my heart that I followed first.

Hi guys! Hi Blue! I just want to say that the blogs look awesome! Really awesome! ! ! :D!

hehehe... like I said, color adjustment.

Hehehe... maybe a little bit of color adjustment.

I'm curious though of what the blogs should look like because they look okay to me. :)

LMAO!

And that's my point... We grew up different from each other - different tastes in music, movies, etc., but we didn't gravitate towards those with similar interests. These interests, from my point of view, became secondary stuff to us.We watch movies we don't like for a friend. We listen to music we think is crap for a friend... I don't know how this happened. This guy couldn't play basketball, but we still force him to play with us and it's alright with him. And the best thing about this is that you get to talk trash about their music, movies, interests, etc., and it's OK, as long as you don't mind the same being done to you. Maybe it's an effect of the family-orientedness of Asians. Anyway, if food makes a clique, then I guess that should be it. The gang I hang out with, we LOVE to eat! But don't get a picture of overweight guys around the dinner table, because we're not. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)Anyway, I'm not sure if that ^ made much sense. I haven't read it yet, Des. But I will. :) Actually Des, my point is, if I write a story where these cliques don't exist, I hope no one thinks that it's too much of a fictional story and that it's too idealistic to be real. Again, here's hoping a plot pops up in my head. :D I'm sticking to my theory, Camy.If it doesn't work, there's really not much left but character adjustment.