Books, Books, and More Books

Whoo books! I think we're all fans, yes? Here are my answers to a handful of these questions.

Day 2: A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood. I love these books. They're like, Lemony Snicket meets Jane Eyre (I came up with that comparison all on my own, too. The fact that some book critic said the same thing on a dust jacket just shows how accurate a description that is), and yes, it works. The series is currently four books long; it will eventually be six books long, and more people need to discover it.

Day 3: The best book you've read in the last 12 months

Was this whole topic contrived so that I had an excuse to talk to you all about Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell? . . . Maybe. But guys. Let me talk to you about this book.

I finished this book last week, and not only is it amazing, it is about us. Figuratively speaking, of course. Whenever any novel tries to cover people in a "fandom," we usually end up getting portrayed as weird social outcasts/deviants instead of real people with a passion. But Fangirl nails what it is like to be a person in love with and caught up in the fervor of a Harry Potter-like obsession. Fandom and fanfiction writers specifically aren't shown as deviant, plagarizing, slightly crazy stalkers in this book, but as real people who love writing and love getting the chance to explore and expand a world they identify so strongly with.

The non-fandom aspects of the book are brilliant, as well, and you should all go read it.

Day 25: Any five books from your "to be read" stack

The Unseen Guest and The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood; A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan; Jane by April Lindner; and Underdogs by Markus Zusak

Day 31: What books do you have on request at the library? How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? How often have you returned books to the library unread? What do you currently have checked out at the library?


On Request: Cress by Marissa Meyer; Longbourn by Jo Baker; The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson


How many checked out at any given time: Waaaaaay too many. I might have a bit of a problem. And I'm actually getting a lot better about returning books unread. It takes me a while and several renews to get through them, but I usually read the books I check out.


Currently checked out: All the books listed under Day 25, and also Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, and a collection of Emily Dickinson's poems.


That's all I'll force you to read for now! :) Looking forward to hearing some of your responses!

Books Books Books

Okay, so since it's late on Friday and I'm up and Maggie's not, I'm gonna take the topic this week and make her come up with one next week.

And I wanna talk about books. Big surprise, right? I always want to talk about books.

So, recently, an internet friend of mine showed me this amazing, massive, two-month-long Book Meme that is amazing and I'm totally gonna get around to it on Tumblr at some point. Now, don't worry. I am gonna post the whole thing here, but I am not going to make you fill the whole thing out. That would be madness, and none of us have the time.

Rather, I would like you to look over the list and pick THREE (or five or ten or however many you feel like tackling, but let's try for three) "days" to talk about, in some amount of depth. I want more than just a title; I want some whys and wherefores to your decisions. :)

All right! Here goes!

Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about.
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favourite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favourite book of your favourite series OR your favourite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favourite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you've read more than five times
Day 13 - Favourite childhood book OR current favourite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favourite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your "comfort" book
Day 16 - Favourite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favourite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favourite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favourite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favourite kiss
Day 21 - Favourite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favourite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favourite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?
Day 31 - What books do you have on request at the library? How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? How often have you returned books to the library unread? What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Day 32 - Bad book habit? Do you ever dog-ear books? Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Not even with textbooks?
Day 33 - Do you have an e-reader? What format do you prefer to buy books in?
Day 34 - Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Day 35 - Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Day 36 - Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Day 37 - Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)
Day 38 - What is your reading comfort zone? How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Day 39 - Favourite place to read? Can you read on a bus/car/train?
Day 40 - What is your policy on book lending?
Day 41 - What makes you love a book? Is it the same thing that will inspire you to recommend a book?
Day 42 - Favourite genre?
Day 43 - Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Day 44 - Favourite biography?
Day 45 - Favourite cookbook?
Day 46 - Favourite reading snack?
Day 47 - Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Day 48 - How often do you agree with critics about a book? How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Day 49 - If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Day 50 - Most intimidating book you've ever read? Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Day 51 - Favourite poet?
Day 52 - Favourite fictional villain?
Day 53 - Name a book that you could/would not finish. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through?
Day 54 - What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Day 55 - Favourite film adaptation of a novel? Most disappointing film adaptation?
Day 56 - The most money I've ever spent in the book shop at one time?
Day 57 - How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Day 58 - Do you like to keep your books organized?
Day 59 - Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
Day 60 - Are there any books you've been avoiding?

The road to Hell...

So, the idea behind last week was to get myself to actually write something fictional for the first time in months. It was a fantastic idea... until I remembered I was driving 8 hours to Atlanta starting at 4 am on Thursday. *sigh* One of these days I'll figure it out and get some writing for fun done. Good intentions and all.

My life is both exciting and boring, because everything is about school and career right now. I'm taking four classes: Cataloging, Film Music History, Music Librarianship, and Musical Theatre. Cataloging is online and is pretty much the most annoying busy work I have ever done. Film Music History is fun and interesting. I'm learning a lot, even though it's easier than most of my other coursework. Music Librarianship has been not much work so far, but the final project is going to be LOTS of work (but totally worth it). I will be cataloging a collection of Leonard Bernstein's stuff that his family donated when he died. I will be building a system for processing and cataloging everything in the collection. It's really exciting because some of it has never even been unpacked - who knows what I will find! And finally Musicals class is fun, although it can be depressing sometimes. It's kind of like a book club. My final project is cool though! I'll be looking at the use of Musical Theatre tropes in A Very Potter Musical. I'm interested in how those tropes are used to create a different message than the one(s) inherent in the books.

Other career related stuff:
I just spent a weekend in Atlanta at the Music Library Conference. It was great for networking, and I got lots of good ideas for dealing with future projects. Plus it was fun to hang out with my fellow students and get to know them better. The weather was pretty crappy coming back, but I made it safely at least.
I also had a phone interview for one of the internships I applied to on Wednesday and I got it! Unfortunately it's the only one of them that doesn't pay anything, so I'm going to call around to the others and see where they are in their processes. If one of them is close enough that they can make an offer or rule me out by the time I need to let this one know, I'd like to know that before I make my decision.

And that's about it for now. Spring break cannot come soon enough!

Life Update: Craziness

So life is a little hectic right now. I think it's been two months since James and I moved into an apartment and spent every single moment of free time fixing up the house to get it ready to be sold. That was not fun. We've settled into the apartment nicely (once we got everything unpacked and organized). And things seem to be going well on the end of selling the house (knock on wood).

We're also building a house and planning a wedding. Building the house involves lots of meetings and decision making. And planning the wedding involves much the same. Both are very exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

We've decided not to hold the wedding at our original place of choice, which I think was the right decision to make. But I think we're going to have similar choices down the line where we're going to have to go on the feasible end rather than the ideal dream wedding end - not because it's not necessarily affordable but because: do we really want to spend a hundred dollars on center pieces that no one is going to want after the fact? i.e. we told our vender they could put whatever of their own things on the tables and we didn't care if matched. James and I are thrifty, and we don't like spending money on impractical things (for the most part). Dream weddings are fun to fantasize but oh my goodness, so not practical!

Speaking of dream weddings, I still really freaking want this cake!

Additionally, we got another cat. His name is Romeo, and he's a little stinker but also very adorable and lovable. He likes your lap and will pur like a motor. He was also previously a stray and isn't crazy about being an indoor cat and not being allowed people food, but he seems to getting more accustomed to the idea. He also DESPERATELY wants to play with Lucy and Karen, but neither of them are having it. He's also figured out that while Lucy and Karen will growl and hiss at him as ferociously as possible, they won't actually DO anything to him. So he just kind of forces himself in their space while they are sputtering at him and it's both hilarious and annoying because we have to listen to it. But I do think the girls are slowly becoming more tolerant.

Still working at Publics. Still looking for a job. My writing projects have gone nowhere, and I am now in 2 D&D campaigns. That is all I have to report.

Life is Snow Covered and Monotonous

I have no excuse for not posting yesterday. I mean, it's not like work exhausted me --- we had (another) snow day. I tended to my influenza-ridden fiance and watched a season and a half of Parks and Recreation. That was my day. I have no excuse. I just didn't get around to it.

But allow me (on this second consecutive snow day) to get around to it now.

Life is . . . not the most interesting thing in the world for me right now. I work five days a week (ostensibly), I go to choir practice, I go to church, I go to bell choir practice, and sometimes our friend Rachel comes over to the house to hang out.

Like, I'm not trying to complain, but I'm used to having a lot more to do with my time that is more varied. I miss my theatre work, and I miss my library work, and so, once the snow decides to leave us and I am subsequently able to walk downtown on a clear path, I am going to go bug the library about my volunteer application that has been ignored three times now.

There's also a theatre group down here, CYT (Christian Youth Theatre) that is hiring instructors for summer classes, so I'm waiting on letters of recommendation to send in, and then I'll be putting that application together.

As for my reading and writing goals for the year, I'm staying pretty well on track with them. I'm already at 25 books read for the year, and if you all aren't familiar with the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (futuristic fairy tale quartet - Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress have been published so far), then find Cinder and become familiar, because these books are wonderful and right up everyone's alleys.

As for writing, I spent January and February working on draft two of my Twelve Dancing Princesses novel. Draft one clocked in at 118,000 words, and my initial goal was to shave 40,000 off of that, but that goal quickly shifted to "Fix the plot holes for the love of God," so draft two ended up being 131,000 words altogether. It's kind of a monster (Katie, I'll get those last chapters to you ASAP), but a monster I'm more or less satisfied with for the time being.

March's project is to finish my three active WIP fanfictions that my followers keep clamoring for. Camp Nano first round is in April this year, I think, so I'm looking ahead to find an appropriate project for that.

Chase and I celebrate our four year anniversary tomorrow, which is exciting! I have to finish his gift today, and he went back to work so I actually have a chance to get it done now. We went out on our date last week, though, when we both had the time free. We saw The LEGO Movie which was . . . interesting. Enjoyable, for sure, but I'm still not quite sure what I watched. Music was catchy, though, and Will Farrell was surprisingly watchable, an opinion coming from someone who pretty much hates everything he does, so take that into account.

And I think that's all my news for now! Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

2.9!

This Week's Post

I cannot believe I didn't post for my own topic.  I suck at blogging.

It's been so long since we had a life update posting that I don't know how far back to go.  School is going well.  I'm in my second and final semester at Lakeland, so I should be getting my paralegal certificate in May and (fates permitted) getting a job.  I have applied for a paralegal position with the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and I really want it!  Applicants turn everything in online though, and they don't give a time frame for expecting feedback, so I have no idea about anything right now regarding that.  I have also kind of found that I enjoy probate law (wills, estates, etc.), so I'm thinking about applying to law firms and government offices that do that as well.  My internship coordinator says I'm doing very well with them.  Attorneys who have accepted my legal memos (which are just documents outlining my research) have praised them, so that gives me encouragement since I'm still lacking some confidence in my research abilities.

And...erm...Matt is back in my life.  Not romantically at all, but we're hanging out again and talking on a fairly regular basis.  He sent me a message on Facebook awhile back, profusely apologizing for what he did and saying he doesn't ever remember acting that way with anyone else.  We messaged back and forth for awhile and patched things up.  I told him how I was feeling and, despite my fears, he listened and wasn't scared away.  When we hang out now, I have genuine fun just talking to him, and I guess he feels the same, since he keeps talking to me  =)  I'm not expecting anything but friendship from him right now, and it makes it a lot easier to hang out.  Though there is sometimes a pang of pain when he casually mentions a date he had during the time we weren't talking.

So, I think I may have gone bar-hopping this weekend.  And then came out of it with a date.  The funny part is, I wasn't even drinking...

Guess I should start at the beginning.  I met my friend Jen and some other girls at The Winking Lizard Tavern in Cleveland.  The intention was that I would finally meet this guy that she has been talking about for months.  She met him at a party and thinks we would be perfect together, or something...We ate dinner and they drank a little (amazing gyros there, btw).  Then we went to the Cleveland Rocksino.  (For those who are interested, it's nice, but boring as all get-out).  We didn't stay there long before meeting more friends at a bar called Flannery's down the street.  Jen and her husband's friends were there, and they are the ones I would be meeting this guy through.  We sat and talked, and they drank some more.

Then this guy finally showed up.  We'll call him "Vinny."  It was like pulling teeth to get Vinny to talk to me.  It involved an elaborate plan where people casually changed seats and distracted him until he ended up sitting next to me.  We talked a little, and he seems nice enough, but super awkward.  Jen had told me before that Vinny was smart, and that much was obvious.  After awhile, we then went *back* to the casino because Vinny wanted to shoot craps with Jen's husband.  I was agonizingly bored, and by then it was after midnight, and I was feeling my anxiety peak with all the bodies and noise in the casino, so I called it a night.  Last night, Vinny texted me and asked me out on a date this week.  We're going to a local seafood place on Wednesday night.

I'm nervous, but not so much for my safety or anything, but because I don't know if I want a relationship right now, so I'm nervous about possibly giving him "the speech."  I know, I know, I need to stop worrying about it and cross that bridge if it comes, but you guys know me.  I'm always thinking ahead and not always for the best.

Otherwise, things are going well.  The family and pets are all relatively healthy.  My sister has a cold right now, but that's the season.  I've had two so far, and neither has been fun to say the least.  The dogs and cats are hilariously insane and being their usual goofy selves.  My life is pretty mundane day-to-day, so all I really have to report are the "highlights."  I hope everyone else is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you guys  =)

2.9!!!

Last Week's Post

So I totally didn't get my topic done for last week until, like, yesterday, which is why it's being posted more than a week late.  Sorry  :-(

I’m going to start by answering Heidi’s prompt, though I’m afraid I’m breaking the rules and going in the opposite direction…kinda…

I want Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas brought to the Broadway stage.  Every time I listen to “This is Halloween” and “What’s This?” I picture the way it would look on stage, and I want it to happen so terribly.  I mean, picture this:  as the cast sings “Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back, and…” a scarecrow on a scare-donkey is towed up the center aisle by a ghoul, and the scarecrow rises and starts to dance as they sing, “Our man Jack is king of the pumpkin patch…!”  Instead of Jack Skellington leaping into the town well as he does in the movie, there would be a trapdoor in the center of said well on stage, and after “Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween…!” he would simply drop through the floor.  Then, after “In this town we call home/Everyone hail to the pumpkin song…” he would rise up again as Jack Skellington, waving to the crowd of ghouls, demons, witches, and other creeps surrounding him.  I want Doug Jones as Jack Skellington, and Nathan Fillion as Oogie Boogie.  If they can sing, that is.

And yeah, a part of my inner childhood wants to play Shock, the little witch lackey for Oogie Boogie…

But now, for a story…

Her Gift Saves Her Life

A potential excerpt from that series I keep talking about where the characters are loosely based on us

To set the scene a little:  This excerpt is told from the third-person limited point of view of one of the main characters, Karina Cavanaugh.  Recently, her professor (Dr. Avery Jericho, who teaches critical thinking via cryptozoology) has told her (along with several of her fellow students) that she is blessed with a gift, one that very few others in this world possess.  What that gift is, even he isn’t sure, but he can sense when someone is…different...and he knows that Karina has something special about her.  She told him that there’s no way she’s special, with her near-crippling anxiety disorder that subjects her to painful panic attacks and the constant feeling that something is wrong.  She can hardly leave her dorm room, for goodness sake!  Special?  It’s not possible.  But Dr. Jericho stood firm and told her that, next time she feels a panic attack coming on, don’t try to fight it.  Instead, let it happen, no matter how scary it seems, and see what transpires.  Karina rolled her eyes and left the room, thinking, “He has no idea what he’s talking about.  If he understood how they hurt — how horrible the panic attacks are — he wouldn’t be saying that.”

“And, with that, it’s almost nine o’clock,” Dr. [NAME] announced.  Then he waved to the class.  “Have a good weekend and enjoy the weather.”

As the class adjourned, students rose from their desks and chatted happily about their weekend plans.  Now that the weather in mid-Ohio had finally broken from the frigid winter temps and unrelenting snow, students were less eager to stay in and do homework and more apt to spend their time outside.  The downtown area would be crowded with drinkers and partiers that night.

Karina, however, would be going straight back to her dorm room and turning on her TV.  She got up from her desk in the back corner of the room and gathered her things.  As usual, she was the last to leave, including the professor.  Sighing, she zipped up her spring jacket and stepped out onto the front stoop of the building.

It was a relief, the change in the weather, especially for Karina.  She loathed winter down to her very bones.  The cold kept everyone inside, where tempers stewed and neighboring rooms grew loud and crowded.  It was dangerous to walk around campus for fear of frostbite and slipping on the ice, and roads were treacherous for drivers.  Then there was all the stifling clothing she had to wear to stay warm.  She was little, Karina, and needed more padding than average-sized women.

But that was not the case that night.  The low was mid-fifties, so all she needed was her light-weight spring jacket and a pair of jeans to keep her comfortable on her twenty-minute walk to her dorm room.  There was no more snow on the ground, no more biting little teeth in the air, and no more salt on the sidewalks to stain the hems of her jeans and whiten her coveted black Converse.

And yet, there Karina stood, frozen to the concrete steps.  She shoved her hands in her pockets and shuffled her feet nervously, her eyes flitting from one darkened corner to the next.  No, it wasn’t the weather that would unnerve her tonight.  It was the dark.  Sunsets were still early in spring, so by the time Karina’s evening class adjourned, campus was completely dark save for the streetlights and bright-blue emergency stations.  During the day, the usual little animals scuttled around — squirrels finally awake from hibernation, birds that had returned from their southern haunts, and a kitty-cat or two from the nearby houses — but at night, everything turned still and eerie.

A rustling from above made Karina gasp.  She looked up, and nearly laughed at herself when she spotted a little black squirrel leaping among the branches of a nearby elm tree.

Karina watched the squirrel for a few moments as it leapt this way and that, seemingly without direction or purpose.  It scampered down the tree trunk head-first, only to whirl around and dart back up again.  The little creature calmed her wakened nerves, and gave her the little push she needed to step off the stoop and start towards the safety of her dorm room and her friends.  Maybe they would watch another movie tonight.  They still had to finish their Lord of the Rings marathon.

She made it out of the Administrative Circle of buildings and continued along the Eppler Complex, where a chattering noise caught her ear.  Karina looked up and saw that the squirrel from earlier was behind her, running among the branches and shouting in its broken little language.  She had heard squirrel vocalize before, but this one seemed to be genuinely bothered by something.  What’s more, it almost looked like it was following her.  She shook of that thought and quickened her steps.  Squirrels don’t follow people, Cavanaugh…right?

As she passed Eppler Complex and strode between the Business and Education buildings, Karina tried to hold onto the thought of where she was going — the thought of being surrounded by friends and safety.  It’s okay, she told herself, you’ll be back with them soon.  Besides, it’s just the dark.  But that squirrel kept its pace behind her, and a bird suddenly shrilled from atop the Business building.  Karina paused and turned to look, and that’s when it happened.  That’s when the air shifted.

The little robin seemed to fly overhead in slow motion as Karina’s adrenaline started to creep across the back of her neck.  She swore out loud.  This was the first sign of an oncoming panic attack.  Her hands in her pockets wrenched and writhed as she tried to fight back, tried to push the adrenaline back to wherever it came from.  But something was different; something about her surroundings had changed.  The gentle spring breezes had stopped altogether, leaving the air still and silent.  The little black squirrel was still there, its chatters echoing loudly off the buildings.  Karina looked up at it, and it seemed to be looking right at her, screaming in warning.  But again, that was ridiculous.  Squirrels don’t warn.  So then why was she feeling so anxious?

Karina had to force herself to move her feet, but with each step, she felt as if she was actually slowing down.  Though there was no wind, she felt as if she was fighting through a cloud of thick air, her legs numb and heavy.  Then the adrenaline in her neck turned white-hot and began to trickle its way down her neck and across her shoulders.  If she let it, the panic would begin to surge through her veins, and the pain would start.  If she let that happen, she would be immobilized and vulnerable.

“No…no, not now…” she begged.

But her legs were getting shaky, and her hands were clenched so tightly that her nails were nearly breaking through her palms.  The adrenaline made it down her arms, and she began to whine as it intensified.  She knew she only had a matter of time before the pain started — body-wide, systemic pain that would stop her dead and crumple her into the fetal position right there on the sidewalk.  If that happened, she would be completely helpless until it passed.

Karina had no choice.  If she was going to fight this, she had to stop so she could concentrate.  She leaned against one of the columns just outside East Hall, where the English professors had their offices, and let her head fall back onto her shoulders.  She tried to level out her breathing and quickening heart, tried to slow her blood that pumped the adrenaline into her muscles.  It hurt — it always hurt — but she had to breathe past it and try to calm down.

The squirrel’s chattering had turned to out-and-out shrieking.  It had followed her all the way from the Administrative Circle and was now perched above her head in a nearby tree.  It leapt from branch to branch in a panic, all the while keeping its beady little eyes on Karina.  It was strange behavior, for sure, but Karina didn’t have time to think about it.  As she tried to fight against the panic attack, she tried to push the chattering into the back of her mind and treat it like background noise.  Nothing else matters, she thought.  Just keep breathing.

All the wanted was to be back with her friends where she felt safe.  Why did this have to happen on a Friday night, with the entire weekend ahead of her?  Stupid anxiety…it was ruining her life.  How was she supposed to function in the real world, with a real job, when she couldn’t even walk home without having a panic attack?  And stupid Dr. Jericho, telling her she was “special.”  Bullshit…he was probably some kind of perv…

Then, all at once, a vision interrupted her concentration.  Karina could see Dr. Jericho in the black behind her eyelids, as if he was standing right in front of her.  He was dressed the same way as he was last week, and he was telling her again, “Next time, just let it happen.  See what unfolds…”

Karina opened her eyes.  The squirrel was still going insane above her head.  She pushed off the brick column and stood up straight, wondering…

She took her hands out of her pockets and let them hang at her sides.  She looked up at the crazy squirrel and closed her eyes, letting the dark envelop her.  She took a deep breath in, filling her lungs, and as she let it out, she let the adrenaline in.

It was the best decision of her life.

In the back of Karina’s mind, something gave way.  Karina started as she felt a strange pinprick on her mind, as if something was taking a dull toothpick to her brain.  Everything seemed to slow down as she let the prodding thing through.

“BEHIND YOU!”

No one had spoken, certainly not Karina.  Her eyes flew open again, and she was looking the little black squirrel dead in its eyes.  Confused, she was just about to step closer to the tree when she suddenly felt a strong arm hook around her neck from behind.

“Keep your mouth shut, bitch,” said a deep voice in her ear.

“No, no!  Go away!  Bad, bad man!” the little prodding voice in her head sounded again.

The world continued in slow motion as Karina wrenched free of the stranger’s grasp and turned to face him.  He was tall — about six feet — with a muscular build.  He was clothed entirely in black, with sunglasses over his eyes and a hood pulled up over his head.  She couldn’t tell how old he was, but her racing mind concluded that he was probably a student, prowling around campus for a victim.  In her heightened state of awareness, she could see the bright-white Under Armor logo on his hoodie and the black lines of a tattoo peeking out from his neck.

Karina didn’t scream.  She couldn’t wrap her head around the situation fast enough.  Instead the two charged at each other.  The man brought up his fists and aimed one at her face, but Karina ducked and they traded placed.  He charged at her again, and Karina planted the heel of her hand into his nose.  She felt the soft bones break under the blow, and heard them crack as the man staggered backward, holding onto his face.  All the while, the little squirrel shrieked in its tree, yelling little rodent obscenities at the man.

“UUGGHH!  You little bitch!” the assailant grumbled through his hands.  She had hurt him, but Karina knew it wasn’t over.

Sure enough, he recovered enough to come at her with fists clenched in rage.  Karina dodged under his punch and laid into him—stomach, solar plexus, chin, eyes, groin.  She watched the scene from the back of her mind, as if someone else was fighting for her.  How on earth am I doing this?

Finally, with one last blow to his left eye, Karina’s attacker staggered backwards again.  He fell back into one of the columns and held his head in his hands.  He grumbled and whined in pain, keeping a hand on the brick wall for balance.  Karina kept her guard up, preparing for another onslaught, but he was too broken and battered to continue.  With a glance at his would-be victim, the man righted himself and began to stagger away from her.  She let him — something she cursed herself for later — and watched as he turned behind East Hall and vanished.

Karina was left standing alone, breathing hard but steady in the wake of the attack.  Her head swam with questions.  How had she fought him off?  She had no martial arts training whatsoever.  What was that voice in her head?  And why had she been able to thwart a panic attack by letting it happen?

The squirrel, who had stopped its incessant shrieking, chattered once behind Karina.  She turned to look at it again, and met its eyes once more.  As she stared at it, two pieces of the puzzle seemed to come together, but in a way that Karina couldn’t believe was true.  No, she thought.  It’s not impossible…

Yet she found herself looking up at the little black rodent, saying, “I-I…thank you…”