9/1
Falling for Fall!

There's been a bite in the air these past few nights, and today when I got up there was a faint frost on the ground. I'll be putting some blankets around my tomatoes to protect them tonight. I just need to get in one more harvest before the cold really sets in.

The red herring were really biting today! I think I have enough to sell over yonder. As I was doing my main loop looking for fruit, seeds, and interesting bugs, I spotted the first orange leaf. I guess summer really is over.

9/4

A slight movement in the woods and a metallic click and whirr. The crunch of boots on the pebbled beach. They've found me.

I continue working on my invention as the paparazzo approaches. I don't look up, don't acknowledge him, and keep shaping the metal rod with my blowtorch. He gets out a notepad and pen, watching me as I work. Why did I think the ocean would be enough? Why did I think I could escape my mother's fame? Yeah, I'm that Dina Ray, daughter of Cassidy O'Shea and Charley Ray. I know it's not about me it's about them. Their love, their break-up, their make-up, their heartbreak, Daddy's remarriage. Momma's drinking problems. Tomorrow I build a fence.

9/5

I woke up early and spent all morning collecting driftwood, fallen branches, and brush to cobble together a fence.

It was silly. I was silly to think I could move away and start a blog and they would leave me alone. Prodigal Daughter Found! Shea-Ray Devastated! How much time had they spent looking for me? How much resources has that man wasted? I am ITCHING to give him a talking to about renewable energy and fuel consumption, but that will only give him more to write about.

I should've had the builder build a fence before I moved in. I should've known it was only a matter of time. It doesn't matter whether I move to Bridgeport or to Simmaine or go to university or even Shang Sim-La! They will always find me and I will always be a story to them. I might as well embrace it.

I'm still building that fence, though. Where there are people, there are zombies. And I am not having my harvest wrecked by some shambling corpse!

9/6
Welcome, new readers!

I noticed a sudden up-tick in traffic this morning and discovered that I'd been linked to by Them Weekly. So, welcome, Them readers! This is my digital home, so you need to keep it civil. That means if you can't be constructive or add to the conversation, don't say anything at all. I will now be modding all comments. Please check out my 3 part series on beekeeping and my series on eco-gardening.

I just put some new stuff up in the shop, including customized drinking llamas, blue flax plants, beeswax, and honey! Check it out!

*I have no affiliation with Riverview Records. I will not listen to your demo. I will not pass it on to my father and I will not pass your songs on to my mother. No matter how cool you think they or I am. If you want to make it big in the music business you need to go through the proper channels just like everyone else.

9/20
I got in!

This is so last minute, but I've got to share! I took the test and I got in to Sims University with a partial scholarship in biology!! I just got off the phone with the admissions counselor and they've got a space for me for this semester! I leave the day after tomorrow.

I did the math, and because of the scholarship, I should be able to afford my own place off campus. Don't get me wrong I'm very excited to meet all my peers, but I need my space. I've gotten used to the quiet of my island and I don't want to give that up entirely for the university life. Expect more personal updates from here on out.

9/22 8:00 AM
Travel

This whole travel thing is so not easy. First I take my motor boat to a bigger island where I catch the ferry to the mainland. Then I hop the bus to the City and from there a plane to University Regional where the school shuttle gets me. I left yesterday morning at dawn. The air is warm and heavy and my clothes are sticking to me, school's only a few hundred miles south from home, but it feels like summer again.

I used my layovers to set up appointments with some landlords, so I hope I'll have a place to call my own before orientation at the Student Center.

9/22 11:00 AM

I ended up renting the second place I saw. It's a one bedroom/one bathroom stand alone house. I can afford it by myself too, so I don't even need a roommate. Everything is pretty basic and blah, but I can deal with that for a few months. I think I'll replace the mattress, though, because the thought of sleeping on someone else' mattress skeeves me out.

I'm so overwhelmed with the noise and the people. I'm positively dreading this event.

Later:

The landlord let the delivery people in while I was out at that meet and greet, so I arrived home to a fresh mattress! Orientation wasn't too terrible. The air was close and the people closer, but I got a free kicky bag, a course catalog, and a student handbook. I also met some cute guys and registered for classes. I've got two classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; a lecture on Tuesdays; and a lab on Thursdays. It's a pretty full schedule, but hopefully I'll still have time to go out and have fun.

I was talking with a girl and she said that there's a really neat coffee shop just off campus. There's also a comic book store, a bowling alley, a drive-in, two more restaurants, the supermarket, and the college bookstore. It sounds so small writing it out like that, but it's huge compared to the island! I was really pleased to see that there's more bike traffic than car traffic. It seems that nearly everyone has one and they all are pretty good at it.