Something I Will Probably Regret

Dear Wal,

I've decided not to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Or at least, to be the person in the back of the room watching with longing as my fellow writers tap-tap away at their novels. I'll be tap-tapping away, but not on my novel. On my schoolwork.
Schoolwork this year has turned out to be especially intense. College classes were introduced into the population of juniors in the wild habitat of the VEC this year, and they haven't been taking very well. For all of us, I think. First of all, there's the amount of reading. The reading for one class-say, history-for one week dwarfs the reading for three high school classes in one week. It's pretty intense. For instance, this week we had about fifty pages to read for U.S. History, and thankfully nothing in Mythology. But last week in Mythology we had about 200 pages to read. The work itself is not that bad-one or two quizzes for history and occasionally a forum, a forum, a glossary entry and a quiz for mythology, and a daily moodle for biology (however, my copious note-taking impulse adds a lot of work) and several papers a week for English. We had five last week. FIVE. English is the only class I have where the work actually exceeds the reading.
So there's my first reason: simply not enough time.
Here's my second reason.
I don't have a story to write. Or rather, I do, but I started it a few months ago and it's already climbing steadily toward the twenty page mark. I have it planned out, thoroughly planned, and it would probably reach 50,000 words and beyond. But it's slow going. Very slow. I've had to employ all the patience I have to just simply wait for it to come to me, otherwise I'll go sprinting off in the completely wrong direction.
There's always Jason's story-which I have finally decided to return to prose, because writing a comic book is just way out of my ability to do with any kind of skill-but that comes in fits and starts. I've finally started writing my epic conclusion (you must realize that by 'conclusion' I really mean that I haven't figured out what happens next yet) of the JLA arc, which includes lots of timey whimey wilbly wobly fun, but it's a conglomeration of many smaller stories I wrote but never finished. I'm simply filling in the gaps and copying things from various notebooks.
But here's the real reason.
I'm kinda sorta TERRIFIED.
Why?
I have several stories going right now that I do not want to mess up.
I am conquering the major amount of schoolwork we have to do and I do not want to mess up.
But I really, really, really want to participate. This would be my fourth year. It's insanity, utter insanity, but I really want to at least try.

NaNoWriMo in a nutshell:
In the first week uplifts you with lies of: You can do this! You can! 50,000 words? That's nothing. I bet you could finish in less than a month if you really wanted to. Work? School? Life? Pssssh! Write on!
You're feeling pretty confident. Your brain is going so fast your fingers can't keep up. Then the second week hits, and you realize about half way through what you've gotten yourself into. Your life starts to fall apart around you. You start to shun your friends. You aren't sleeping. You are driven to write, but it isn't a good kind of drive. It feels like you're running top speed, screaming at the top of your lungs I CAN fly!, toward a cliff. By the end of the second week, you're teetering on the edge. You've decided maybe this wasn't such a good idea in the first place, but you can't turn back now. Halfway into the third week, you're falling. It's at this point where you somehow have to suddenly become Kryptonian, or die scattered and gibbering in madness on the rocks below.

Only those blessed with a will of steel and the emotional fortitude of a rock dare attempt this experience. Bravery has nothing to do with it. Starting is never a problem. It's the finishing that really murders you.
Yet, something deep down in my brain went click last week and my writing kicked into overdrive. I wrote/combined/whatever 12 pages on that JLA epic, more than I've written on any story since school began. It's like my subconscious knows what's coming. I keep telling it No and it keeps saying YES! 
I even bought extra pen cartridges today.
I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow whether or not I'm going to attempt NaNoWriMo. I'm going to get as much schoolwork as I can done tonight, just in case.

/endrant

P.S. I also got some pretty blue sunglasses today. :D Yay for payday!

P.P.S. HEY GUYS, I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING. THIS IS MY 100TH POST! CELEBRATE!

My Stupid Cat

Dear Wal,

Periodically, my cat loses the ability to jump. She regularly loses the ability to walk.Now, you must realize that my cat is the most wonderful, sweet cat you could ever meet. However, she isn't the brightest cat in the world. .She is prodigious at killing and mutilating small creatures (mice, birds, chipmunks, spiders: anything that is smaller than her and moves) but simple tasks such as recognizing that, yes, I have filled up her food bowl are totally beyond her.  The root of the problem is that she's never had to really work for anything. She has been the baby of the family since we first brought her through the door, which isn't much of a problem, because she is a cat, but her problem solving skills have suffered because of it. We've done everything for her, so she's never had to do anything herself. Case in point.
Jumping.
Her bowl is on my desk (because the dog will eat the cat's food if she can reach it), which means that she has to actually jump up to the surface of the desk. Now, this isn't a problem for her. I've seen her jump over five feet before. However, I've gotten frustrated with her too many times and simply picked her up and put her on the desk (she went kicking and flailing).
This morning I went out to the barn to feed the horses. She trotted out to meet me, and then promptly dropped down in the dirt and rolled. I'm not going to pick her up and take her inside when she's all covered in dirt. So, I walked back to the house with her squeaking and occasionally trotting in front of me and plopping down in the dirt again. I let her in, and then dutifully went to fill up her bowl. She just didn't get it. The entire exchange went something like this:
Cat: Eeeeeeh? :D
Me: I fed you. Look, food.
Cat: Eeeeeeeeeh? :D
Me: It's up there.
Cat: Eeeeeeeeeeh? :)
Me: Stupid cat. Look. *points at desk*
Cat: *looks at desk* Eh? D:
Me: LOOK. YOU HAVE TO JUMP. *points at desk again*
Cat: *looks at desk again* Eeeeh? D8
Me: Just jump.
Cat: Eh? D8
Me: You're an idiot.
Cat: Eeeeh? D8
Me: Fine. Stay there. *leaves*
And the sound of the cat finally jumping on my desk echoes through the house.

/endrant

What Happens When You Try to Kill Lex Luthor

Dear Wal,

I was watching Young Justice the other day. Speedy went after Lex like an idiot. So I made a chart.