Parallels and the PSAT

Yay for me. I took the PSAT this morning. It would have been fun, actually, if it hadn't been for the fact that it is the main variable in whether or not I will have a chance for consideration by the National Merit Scholarship Committee thing...whatever it's called. Anyway, I took it, and it could have been fun. It was actually really, really, enjoyable in certain areas. Unfortunately, not in all of them.

It had five sections, which were the following: Critical Reading 1>Math Skills 1>Critical Reading 2> Math Skills 2>Writing Skills.

The Critical Reading ones were a breeze, just like last year. My results last year were higher than 97% of those of all of the high school students who took the test, according to whoever scored it.

The Writing Skills section was really, really, really easy, too. It was loads of fun. Last year I scored higher than 99% of all high school students who took the test, which basically means that I got nothing wrong. This year, I'd be surprised if I got any wrong, either.

It was the Math ones that bothered me. I'm fairly certain I got some wrong, and I couldn't answer others (unanswered ones result in 0 points. Not negative, not positive). So, I wasn't too thrilled with that at the end.

Other than that, it was all fun.

The other thing that I feel like writing about is an analysis of my RPG plots, to compare them to plots of books and other RPGs that I've read, to see how original mine are.

For starters, there's my long-lasting, few-pages RPG Star Wars: The Aftermath of War. That one has elements stolen from another RPG that I was in (called Jedi Travels), which died, after running for three years. However, not many elements were taken from it. Go me. A mostly-original plotline!

The Fall of Manetheren was the second RPG I started, and it definitely did not last long. But, since I've never seen or read anything pertaining to the actually Fall of Manetheren except what's included in WoT, I think that this one is nice and original. :D

Journey to Freedom is unoriginal. It was based off of the flight of the Gondolindrim; more specifically, off of the plight of a small group that was separated from the rest. It probably stole elements from quite a few different stories, though I don't recall them all. It lasted all of four pages. w00t. <_<

The Fourth Archway is probably my most bemoaned RPG. I salvaged the idea from an RPG on a different forum some three years ago, and worked it into the RPG that I posted on A-U. Unfortunately, the successor did about as well as it's plotsake. They both died quickly, for a completely absurd reason. Inactivity. I still think that the plot for it/them was marvelous, and a lot of effort was put into both. Unfortunately, both ultimately failed. But as I said, my version was a total ripoff of the original, with a few minor alterations.

Star Wars: Piracy Is Not Permissible was unashamedly a take-off from the events in Star Wars: X-wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston. I read it, and then I wanted to RPG it. Unfortunately, it flopped right at the starting line.

What Night Brings is only partially original. I can't think of anything else that has a similar main plot, but plot I've got cooked up for it involves several elements from several different stories. The ones I know for a fact I got ideas from are Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar Saga, and Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea Quartet. However, not much has been taken from other stories so far. Thankfully. I like to try to keep my stories mostly original.