I've been looking for a good excuse to write a new journal for QUITE a while...but, seeing all this new journal-writing stuff, I'm actually a bit intimidated....though, at the same time, quite pleased.

Okay, so I'll start on my first topic: Driving. Lately, my dad has been trying to get me to drive since I need to get in as much as possible. So far, I've been doing pretty good with only a few minor hiccups....that being said, though, I'm still not comfortable going any speed above 35. I'm an EXTREMELY timid driver. In fact, back when I was taking my behind-the-wheel course of Driver's Ed, I was the only one of my group that my instructor wouldn't let drive on the freeway (not that I WANTED to...heck, I'm GLAD he wouldn't let me...). He only let me drive on ONE of the major roads in my city....on which the speed limit was 35 ....

My second topic: Sunshine. By that, I mean the popular Gamecube game, Super Mario Sunshine. Lately, my little brother and sister (not Katy) have been playing the game like CRAZY (mostly my little brother, though). They were able to get my mom to start playing for them, but my mom's gaming skills have waned over the years, so guess who they had to call on for the harder levels? That's right: ME. And so, I started having to help them more and more....and more....Now, for those of you who don't know, there are 120 Shine Sprites in the game and one shine sprite Shine Sprite is gotten for beating each of the 8 levels in each of the 7 worlds (56 shines), beating the last boss (1 shine), collecting 10 blue coins out of the 30 in each world, 30 in the hub world, and 10 in the final level (25 shines), along with the two "secret shines" hidden in each world (14 shines) and all of the "secret shines" hidden in the hub world (24 shines) (totals are if my math is right...). Well, just a few weeks back, we collected our last blue coin for our 120th Shine Sprite, effectually finishing the game to its 100th percent. So, after that, you'd THINK everyone'd be done with the game, right? WRONG. I wake up the next morning, head downstairs, and, lo and behold, I find that the kids had started ANOTHER file and had roped mom into playing for them. So, this is me: "NO! I AM DONE WITH THAT STUPID GAME!!!". And so the current situation stands...

Of course, my third topic makes me want to flip a table even more than that: Mary Sues. We all know them and we all DREAD them, but a Mary Sue might be lurking where you'd never EXPECT them to lurk. I recently found a very interesting Mary Sue test made by dA's very own ~RedSnowFox ([link] if you want to see it). The test had some example results on it and I saw that Twilight's Bella received a score of 48 (1-30 being "in the clear", 31-41 being "borderline Sue" and 42 or above being "Mary Sue"). Curious, I decided to test out other characters to see if they achieved Sue status. I only got through three (cuz I get bored), but they ALL came out as Sues. Those three were Tamaki Suoh (from Ouran High School Host Club; scored 46), Twilight Sparkle (MLP:FiM; scored 69) and Danny Phantom (title character of Danny Phantom; scored 66). I saw how all of those worked out, so I decided to put my own characters to the test. And it stands that the least Mary-Sue character in the Lightning Speed series is.........Rose (scored 5).....and the most Mary-Sue character...............ANTEUS (scored 60). In-between, we have, from least to greatest, Mandi (9), Sydney (21), Trey (29), Dnias (30), and Jake (40). Most of Anteus' points, surprisingly enough, came from a certain little thing about him we'll mention in Season 19 (those of you who follow LS IRL and those whom I RP constantly with already know about this). Most of JAKE'S points, though, came from his powers and his unusual background. I'm assuming that characters like Rose and Mandi received a low score was because of their lack of a lot of backstory. I also tested other characters that have come in later in the series than where I am on dA and NONE of them scored as high as Anteus or as low as Rose. In fact, there are 4 TBA characters I tested and their scores range from 20 to 45.

Well, I guess I've already made this journal longer than it needs to be, but I like having stuff to talk about. And so, I shall bid you all adieu until the next journal I write. Seeya 'round dA!