Oh wow I actually have things to talk about! First off, holy crap, I need a NEW JOB! It was a long, slow, painful process, but my two retail jobs have finally sucked all of the blood out of my body. I'm hoping for a new, non-retail job by the fall. I have a sort of connection at a children's home that is basically in my front yard. So I put in an application there and am crossing every finger I have (plus those of random people I meet in the mall...) that I get it. Oh man I want that job soooo much.

So, since I needed a NY state driver's license plus my Alabama registration was expiring this month (oh thank GOD!) I spent half of the week at the DMV on post. Ah...nothing like a good old American DMV to make you want to move out of the country. But fortunately that all went through well so now Hotaru-chan has nice, shiny, new New York license plates! Yatta!

And now for news on the A-chan front. A-chan is so large that he could actually BE a front. So next time you get a thunderstorm your way, it's because A-chan rolled over and shifted all of the hot air up into the atmosphere (or down...I have no idea. I'm not the little meteorologist. That would be Ja-nanners.) Yes. A-chan is officially 11 inches wide and ways (wait for it...wait for it...) MORE THAN A STONE! Here is a picture to really put things into perspective for you...


Ok, so I have to get to bed, so here's a quick little thing that would make me a VERY HAPPY RENNY-CHAN. The Harry Potter Fan Fiction website is currently taking nominations for the Dobby Awards! So, if you've ever read my lovely fan fiction and you have an account there...could you PLEASE NOMINATE ME??? I'm currently doing pretty darn good in the AU category, so I would love some more shout outs there! Look, I'll even fill the form out for you! Just cut and paste and create a hyperlink for the story! Just go here: Dobby AU Nominations and post this!

Story Title: The Dream of One Night
Author: Renfair
Link: http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/viewstory.php?psid=233532 [M]
Story Rating: Mature
Scene/Genre: Drama, Romance, AU

There! Easy! And you will have made me sooooo happy! I'm sure I have a lot more to talk about, but I reeeaaally need to get to bed! So that will have to wait!

Ugh, I feel like I never have anything interesting to say anymore! But I'll try my darndest...

Ok. Let's see....well, Zach and I are both back to perfect health which is VERY NICE! However Zach's part of this team at work who are working on this big project (uh...fixing helicopters I assume...) so he's been working 12 hour days and I haven't seen too much of him lately :( But that's ok cause I'd rather it be that than him be in the field for like 2 months XD

TV's been pretty good. I was really happy that Christian won "Project Runway" cause he is just CHOU KAWAII!! "America's Next Top Model" is on again, and I sort of watch it by default. I hate all of the annoying drama they pump into every episode, but I really like the fashion and the photographs so I end up watching every season. Bummer, though, that Twiggy's gone as a judge. I heart Twiggy! She was just so cool. "Hotel Babylon" just started up a third season and I downloaded the episodes that have aired so far. I really like that show...Emma Pierson is just TOO CUTE FOR WORDS! Too bad her hair's a bit dark in the show, and she wears to much make-up to really look like Avrille, but she's still my Avrille nevertheless! I'm really happy that the woman who played the Hotel Manager, Rebecca, appears to be gone cause I wasn't a big fan of her or her character. Zach and I are still playing "CSI" catch-up and we're in Season 8. Still haven't started watching this season of "Lost" yet, but we'll get there eventually. We usually end up putting it off, then get REALLY into it once we start watching so we'll go through about four episodes a night. I figure we're just stockpiling them until that happens.

Zach and I watched a REALLY good, cute movie the other night, "Stardust" which was based on the Neil Gaiman book. I LOVED IT! It was a lot like "The Princess Bride" in respect to pacing and sense of humor. Oh it was too cool. Not to mention the character of Septimus...that REALLY freaked me out cause that's what I named Snape's father in my fan fic and the actor who played Prince Septimus in "Stardust" could TOTALLY work as Snape's dad! I was freaking out, and Zach thought I was weird. I thought the choreography for Septimus', er, "final" battle at the end was simply stunning. The fact that it was really him using wires and not computer-generated helped restore a bit of my faith in the movie industry. It was seriously the best bit of fight choreography I've seen since "V for Vendetta." I'd recommend the movie just for that one scene.

Let's see, what else. The (ahem, $14,000) espresso machine's busted at the cafe, so we haven't been able to make hot drinks since Saturday. People are pretty disappointed, but fortunately no one's been really cranky and rude to me over it. Dan and Luke are probably both leaving soon which makes me want to CRY, cause they're both probably getting new jobs with much higher pay. It's going to suck, though. I love all of the girls who work at the cafe, but it's just fun to have guys around too. I'm still working at Pier 1, which is fine. Zach's in the process of applying for a Warrant Officer job, and if he gets it we'll probably be BACK in Alabama for about 40 weeks for his school. Can you believe it?! At least we'd be pretty close to the Gulf Coast so maybe we could take a weekend and go to the beach! That would be awesome, and I'd also be right in the middle between my mom's and grandmother's houses, so I could probably visit both of them. My mom's going with Joanna and Katrin to Florida to visit my grandmother in April. WAAAH! I WANNA GO TOOOOOO! I'm SO SICK of winter here! The cold doesn't really bother me, though I am dying to wear cute spring clothes, but the SNOW is just insane! I'm so sick of driving in blizzards and wondering if I'll be able to get my car out of the driveway.

Wow, I guess I did end up having a decent amount to say! Today's my Mommy's birthday, so I want to give a SHOUT OUT to her, even though she'll NEVER see this. Also a late shout-out Birthday greeting to both my awesome little sister, kami_chama  and the LOVELY Sakurai Atsushi of BUCK-TICK. March 7th is a great day!! I feel like I need to make some more icons. Yes, icons. And see what the %$#@ my cousin, ftsor is up to lately. However I can't complain cause she's been WAY better than me with updating. Gosh darn little goody two shoes. XD

Just a random note here, but I'm in serious review withdrawal. I haven't had a new review for my fan fiction, The Dream of One Night, in like, TWO WHOLE DAYS! The queue is 6 days and I've been waiting that long for my latest chapter to be validated. But, come ON, TDoON readers, SHOW ME SOME LOVE! I'm DYING OVER HERE!! DYING I TELL YOU! On a related note, I'm almost done re-reading "Half-Blood Prince" and dreading starting "Deathly Hallows" again. I think I'm just going to be a sobbing mess all over again. But it will be good to read that book cause I BARELY remember it. I remember I cried a lot and they did a lot of camping out in the woods...and Lee Jordan made some crack about Snape's hair that made me angry. Really, that's about it.

I need friends.

Sorry, I've been a little distracted lately so my LJing's been a bit neglected. And the RPG. Oh my god I think I better go composition notebook smack myself this instant...I'm SORRY, RPG-LADIES!! Though, for all I know, NO ONE ELSE HAS UPDATED IT EITHER!

Ok, the main reason, besides work, for my recent absence is that I sort of ended up co-founding this forum for older (as in college-age or above) Harry Potter fans and fan fic writers. It started out as a thread I posted on the HPFF.com forums, but then another user, the lovely JLHufflepuff (check out her stories! They rock!) decided we just needed our own space. So, if you're older and want to check us out, please do!

Elderly Harry Potter Fans Forum (JL made the name...not me!)

So, that's what I've been up to. I finished Discworld (WAH!) so I'm re-reading Harry Potter again with the aim of making up my mind whether or not I should write a sequel to The Dream of One Night (<-insert shameless plug and link here). I probably will. I have no fan fiction will-power. I SWEAR that will be the last one, though.

Silvana from work tried to get me to play Everquest II. I downloaded it, played five minutes, then started to feel nauseated. MMORPG's do that to me for some reason. So I had to regretfully tell her that I wouldn't be joining her in her Everquest leveling pursuits. Silvana, Jodi (a customer who's our friend) and I all went out to dinner and to see "The Eye" last weekend. It was nice to do something with REAL LIFE FRIENDS! Very cool. The movie wasn't bad either. I'd seen the original, and I think they actually did a pretty decent job of adapting it. Oooh yeah, and there's some new HBP set pictures out, with Snape-a-doodle in them! Yay for Alan Rickman in a WIG! I've been pretty stoked about those tonight.

Ok, I REALLY need to get to bed. Like I should have REALLY gotten to bed an hour ago. Off to read PoA, then. In case you're curious, I have my period which means A) I'm not preggers and B) I'm feeling CRAPPY and feel like I'm dying.

I've been working a lot this week, and will be just as much next week. Between my two jobs I'm clocking in 30-34 hours a week or so...it's good to be making a good amount of money, but my hobbies have rather suffered. I still haven't found time to practice guitar which is really getting me down and I have a lot of HP fan fic reviews which I really need to get on top of. Obviously I've had no time to work on any new fan fic myself, though I do really want to write a sequel to TDoON still, or at LEAST a spin-off one-shot or two.

Well, I'm kind of out of it so maybe I'll edit this later to put more interesting info in. In case anyone is marginally interested, I made a few sweet BUCK-TICK icons which I posted on two fan communities I belong to. If you're interested, you can check them out here: buck_tick. I'm quite proud of them, especially my U-ta/Toll Tag Team one! (in case you don't know anything about B-T, which is fairly likely, U-ta is the bassist and Toll is drummer. Toll is also U-ta big brother so icons with the two of them are just so cute!) There's also a couple smexy Atsushi ones that I know ftsor will be interested in (once we resurrect her from LJ death that is...) [Come ON, Elise! There's even one from the Climax Together concert with his pretty pretty long hair!!]

 And here's a poll because this one is just too awesome not to do:

I don't have anything specific to say, but everyone else's updating, so why not? Um. Haven't been doing anything except some reviews on my HPFF forum thread for lovely people who request them. Still debating writing a sequel to "The Dream of One Night." I really REALLY should be working on an original work (because I know those characters are just beyond seething mad at me...) but I just keep getting the most awesome ideas for a new Sevie and Avrille fic!! Dang it all. I want so much to go to Portus, but I'm seriously thinking it's just not going to happen. We are just really short of money right now, and even though we might be able to afford it in July, I'd have to make the reservations now and I just don't think I could swing it. I'm so sorry, RPG ladies!!! Maybe next year, if they do one, I can go! Hopefully we'll all still be in touch then! No, we WILL! I am very hard to get rid of, so you better LIKE me being your friend! Mwa ha ha. Besides, I was thinking that if The 69 Eyes do another US tour, I really REALLY have to go to it. Like, that isn't even an option for me. So I better save my money for that...*sigh*

I started randomly playing Animal Crossing the other day, which is so nice and relaxing. I love that game. I also got Cooking Mama 2, which is NOT relaxing! That game is even harder than the first one... A-chan is laying in the sun right now which is just so cute! He's so fat, but that just means that there's more of him to love.

I think ftsor is dead. I haven't heard from her in like, TWO or THREE BLEEDING WEEKS, CUZ! WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?! I heard from the Grand-Mama that you guys were sick, so I hope you're all better now :D

I feel like I should be Photoshop-ing, but there's nothing I feel like making. I should be making more icons for my little kami_chama, but I'm just so poopie. I'll probably go back to bed here. I have to work the next three days so I need to get all of the naps in that I can. Gosh I live for naps. Naps naps naps...I love you so...naps are the best.

Ok, I think I might have written this before, but since I want lots of people to read my Snape fic (it already being on FF.net, Fiction Alley, and HPFF.com) I submitted it to Sycophant-Hex (Occlumency) and The Petulant Poetess. Ok, so I got this e-mail from Occlumency this morning, listing an INSANE amount of corrections I needed to make to my first chapter. Now some of them were totally reasonable, like I had a couple of typos I never noticed (which is insane given the number of times I've read it through) so that was really good to know about. And, ok, their comma corrections were PROBABLY correct, but I'm of the school of thought that if you have an introductory clause, you only need a comma if you would naturally pause there, like to offset something. So I found them to be a little bit comma-Nazi. But THIS just freaking pissed me off:

"--My eyes rested on a wizard, a little older than me,['me' s/b I] {Knowing when to use 'I' or 'me' can be tricky, but if you complete the thought: ...a little older than I am... it can help you decide which to use.}"

Ok, who the hell would actually say, "A little older than I"?!?! HELLO! IT'S CALLED COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH, YOU BAKA-HEADS! The whole point of my fic being in the first person was that I wanted it to sound like the character was actually talking to you. So, yeah, maybe for Severus I might want to do it their way, but Avrille is laid back and cool and wouldn't worry about picky stuff like that in her speech. Ok. I'm done. I just had to rant. That e-mail reminded me once again why I decided to not pursue an English degree in college. Bunch of uptight, rule-obsessed, holier-than-thou morons. I guess it just really made me mad given the sort of fics I was reviewing myself yesterday. I let a LOT slide. And I'm sorry, but I think my fic is a LOT more sophisticated and clean than most others out there. God dammit that made me angry.

UPDATE: Apparently The Petulant Poetess lives up to their name and have their wands even further up their bums than Occlumency. Besides other things, they wanted me to put spaces after all of my ellipses (...'s) WTF, PEOPLE?! IS THAT REALLY ENOUGH TO DENY ME POSTING? YOU BLOODY COMMA, ELLIPSES NAZIS!

But yes. I'm done with that now. I'm obviously NOT going to correct most of those mistakes and I am no longer going to submit to them since I am NOT going through that for 38 more chapters (where I also have to put in my own html tags. Cheap bakas.) So we'll see how TPP turns out.

Well I had to work today so I'm kind of tired. Probably going to take a nappie now, and then get some more reviews done tonight. Yay! Looking forward to that. The requests I put in for my own story to be reviewed are going through now, so it's nice to check my HPFF page and see there's new stuff to read! Before I go I wanted to share a few pictures with you guys of my two insane kitty-babies, A-chan (named after the lead singer of BUCK-TICK, Sakurai Atsushi) and Nimue (named after the character in Arthurian legend). These were just too awesome not to share.

I figured I should do once since everyone else is...let's see...we had a pretty cool Christmas. Zach got me lots of neat-o things: A Domo-kun t-shirt (that says "doki" in katakana...I think that's like a heartbeat...I have to look it up), a set of Skelanimals ornaments, a Skelanimal kitty pin and a Charmander pin (Charmander Charmander!!), a mini Sweeny Todd poster, three adorable little plush beanie babies (A bear, a tiger, and a wolf...he was going for lions and tigers and bears, OH MY but couldn't find a lion...), the first DVD of "Death Note" mostly for the sweeeet Ryuk figurine it came with, a nice warming neck massager, and a sweeeeeeeet back massager (one of those ones shaped like a seat that you put into a chair and just veg out. Very very nice.) My grandmother also sent us matching red fleece Columbia zip-ups which was neat-o too. Our kitties enjoyed their presents, but they enjoyed all of the wrapping paper more. We still haven't bothered to clean all of it up since Nimue has been having so much fun attacking it. She and A-chan are both sleeping right now, gathering their strength for another nighttime Mumma and Daddy assault.

I spent the whole day reviewing fan fiction, which was ok. I'm not sure exactly how long I'll be able to keep this up, but at least for the moment it's getting me to read things that I normally wouldn't. Which is pretty much ALL fan fiction except those written by people I actually know (RL or LJ, whatever.) My composition book smacking rampage seemed to have a slight affect, but of course we still have the problem of BOTH of our RPG mods being unable to get online at the moment. Hopefully that will all work out soon because I've already posted again, meaning that I have to WAIT for other people. Oh well. C'est la Vie (Sailor V? Where?)

I have to go to work tomorrow which is sucky, but it's only for 5 hours which is both sucky and not. It's nice cause it's not a long shift, but I'm a tiny bit concerned that I only have 10 hours this week at Borders. Hopefully it's only a temporary thing and next week it will be back to normal because I'll start getting paranoid that I did something wrong and they're cutting my hours without telling me. I'm already wondering if I'm even still working at Pier 1 cause my name wasn't on the schedule for next week. Hmmm. Very strange.

Damn I wish people would review MY fan fic...*sigh.* You get such a rush from reviews, and then you get used to having them and it really sucks when they stop. I've started posting my fic on both Sycophant-Hex (in Occlumency) and The Petulant Poetess because I'm so desperate for people to read it. I mean, I look at certain stories that, to put it blunty, SUCK (horrid spelling, terrible punctuation, and 2D plots...) and they have hundred of reviews. WTF is that? I put three bloody YEARS into my story, and it's twice as long as the Chamber of Secrets book on which it is based. And I don't want to be vain, but my story KICKS ASS (that is, if you're a Snape fan. Otherwise, um, yeah, you probably won't like it. No, I take that back...it WILL MAKE YOU like Snape! Cause he's purty. In my mind.) Ok, shameless self-promoting rant over. I'm just frustrated. But not really...sigh.

I can't believe I'm almost done reading all of "Discworld." I've read TWENTY-SEVEN of those books so far, which is utter insanity. And I started less than a year ago...probably in February. For Christmas Eve I watched the first half of "Hogfather" again (even without commercials it's still hella long. And FYI, Borders is selling the dvd exclusively. Pick it up! Yay!) and then Zach and I watched Christmas episodes of Futarama and Family Guy. Then we went to bed. It was rather nice...nice quiet Christmas without going long distances to see family. Of course that would be nice too, but we wanted to have one Christmas with just THE TWO OF US for once. I mean, come on people.

Damn this is rambly. Sorry. Didn't know I had this much left in me after all of that reviewing. Got to find something to do now...that isn't napping. Since I have to go to bed kind of earlier than normal...but...want...to...nap....zzzz

Ok, this is neat. My fan fic is the ONLY story featured on Fiction Alley/Schnoogle right now. Everyone should check it out. It's super cool. And it's gotten 1,300 hits in a week! YAY!

Let's see, I start my new job tomorrow so I'm off to the Salvation Army store to look for cheap work clothes. YAY! SALVY SHOPPING! Plus I'm going to T.J. Maxx to look for shoes. T.J. Maxx is the BOMB. In the summer I got the best pair of Diesel sneakers there for $40. I lurve that store. Ho hum, what else. "Heroes" is kind of silly and disappointing this season. I'm not sure why I'm watching it. I'm pretty stoked about the "Hogfather" movie too. They're also making a movie of "The Colour Of Magic" and guess who's playing Cohen the Barbarian! Well you WON'T (unless you go to IMDB you CHEATER) so I'll tell you: the guy who plays Filch in the Harry Potter movies!! HAHAHA! ARGUS FILCH IN A LOIN CLOTH!! I am so all over that one. That should be hilARIOUS. Ok, I need to go get dressed (yes I'm still in my PJs since I just got up from my after-breakfast nap...but I'm wearing my Potter Puppet Pals Potions Master shirt so it's all good) and I'm going SALVY SHOPPING!

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Salvy Update: Ok, since I have NO friends here yet, I am going to tell all of YOU about my awesome shopping trip. First off, I went to Salvation Army and got FIFTEEN shirts and two pairs of pants for $60! And these are GOOD clothes...all from Old Navy, Aeropostale, Gap, Hollister, and American Eagle and stuff. I also got this SWEET small wooden vanity with a round mirror and a small tapestry-upholstered stool for $40!! I've ALWAYS wanted a vanity and now it means that I don't have to keep my perfume and jewelry on the floor until our stuff gets here in a few weeks. Yes, we have a moving date for the Bamie stuff, so we'll have our Tempurpedic plus all of my other clothes and sewing stuff before December 1st which is pretty good. It's also only costing us $900 which is also pretty darn good for having stuff moved across the county. OK, after Salvy I went to T.J. Maxx where I got more STUFF which I didn't really need...but you know...it's T.J. Maxx! Then to the mall where I finally got shoes which was the whole point of the trip: an awesome pair of brown Sketchers oxfords and a pair of brown Union Bay penny loafers for $50 total. I think I did pretty good. I'm sure excited about it...Oh yeah, and while in the shoe store I saw this guy with a Danzig shirt and I said, "I love your shirt. Such an awesome band" and I think he was a little surprised that such a yuppie-looking (and I stress the LOOKING...I may dress yuppie but that's cause I get everything clearance and I like the way it LOOKS, not the mindset it brings) girl knew who Danzig was, especially since his shirt only had the Danzig skull without even the band name. Yes. It made me feel cool.

Anyway, now I'm eating a hot pocket. I have to go to the laundromat Thursday to wash all of my Salvy clothes. I'm so excited about those. I got so many cute cute button-down shirts, and I didn't have to spend a month's pay to do it. Yay for Salvation Army!!

So...My account at FanFiction.net went through today and I have uploaded ALL 39 CHAPTERS OF MY SNAPE FAN FICTION ONTO IT!! PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! PLEASE EXCUSE THE INSANE AMOUNTS OF CAPITAL LETTERS! YOU PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME BEST KNOW HOW INSANELY IMPORTANT THIS STORY IS TO ME!! IF YOU LOVE SEVERUS, YOU WILL LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS STORY!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3866616/1/The_Dream_of_One_Night

I broke it up into chapters for easier reading...I really hope that everyone likes it. And will you do me a HUGE favor and spread the link around to your (16+) friends? Thanks!

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Important Update update: Hey! I've already gotten my first review, and it's from someone I DON'T KNOW! KICK-ASS!

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Is there something in fan fiction called a "Sue?" Um...let me know... (Thanks, Elise! Got it!)

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November 1st Update: Ok, Zach and I are leaving the hotel tomorrow morning, so that means that unless I go to the library or something I'll be without internet until next Thursday (GASP!). So, if anyone wants drabbles, they better get the requests in before 7:30 AM Eastern time tomorrow! OR ELSE...You'll have to WAIT! Um...please? Cause I'll be bored and have nothing else to do but practice guitar until my fingers bleed?
    -*-A random note, I'm going to join The 69 Eyes' US Street Team! So I can go around and hang up fliers and crap for them! I think that's hella neat.

But darn it, I need one. Zach and I have a lease for an apartment now, which is good. We'll have an extra $50 or so from our housing allowance to cover SOME utilities (oh BOY! FIFTY WHOLE BUCKS!) but I really need to get a job to help cover our bases. One cool thing is that there's a place that gives guitar lessons only a couple of miles from our place, so hopefully I can start that up again soon. I've been practicing a little, but still too braindead and unsettled to really work on anything knew.

Been watching 69 Eyes videos on YouTube for a good hour or so...holy crap can Jyrki babble INCESSANTLY! From what I can tell, when he talks in Finnish he seems a little more concise, but when you get him going in English he just does NOT shut up. And he uses the word "like" almost every other word. It's actually kind of cute...he's 40-is but still talks like a teenager. And he doesn't smoke, which is also very cool.

Well, at the moment I have two drabble requests to work on...so check back later for an update on those. I don't really have anything to do until Zach gets back from work, so I should be able to get at least one of those done. Those drabbles are pretty fun...at least they keep me writing at a time when I have nothing to really work on. I submitted the first chapter of my Snape fic to harrypotterfanfiction.com, so I'm waiting for that to be "approved" before I can continue. I also set up a new account at FanFiction.net, but I have to wait until tomorrow to start posting there (stupid rule about how you have to wait two days cause you're new...whatever.) I'm kind of--no, scrap that, REALLY--annoyed at this whole posting online thing...it's like, I spent 3 friggin YEARS writing this story, and some random person I don't know is going to decided whether or not it's CORRECT enough to be posted? Ugh...I did classify it as AU, since I pretty much change every single thing about Snape that we learned after Order of the Phoenix, but there are still a couple things that I'm worried about. Like, what EXACTLY constitutes an "explicit" sex scene? Cause I do have one of THOSE scenes, but I did it really tastefully and don't even use any, you know, anatomical words or anything. And WHAT is up with this rule that all chapters must be at least 3,000 words? Cause I put chapters where I WANT them, not where the word count works...like I have an Avrille chapter that's only about 1,500 words, but then a Severus chapter later that's probably about 20,000....I don't know exactly how that's going to work out. I'm anxious about it. I would REALLY appreciate feedback on the whole fan fic posting thing from people who've done it before. Ok? Thanks!

Well...er...I think I'm going to go do some searches now to see if I can find a Petco around here and figure out exactly where the Target is...but I'll try to get to those drabbles soon. Glad that the first two were so well received...I kind of bs-ed the whole thing, but whatever. Those who know me KNOW the quality of my normal writing!

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Update:

Ok, I finished one drabble for ftsor who requested that it contain:

1) A rock band
2) A potted plant
AND
3) This quote from Blake: "Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires"