Well, long time, no see, ne? It's been almost two years since I update my profile. Since then, I've gone to two different Colleges, tried updating many, many times, got put on nice, pretty anti-depression pills, and finally got over writer's block. I finally figured out how. This past weekend, a friend and I were watching 'The Outsiders' and I started getting new ideas for 'From out of Nowhere'. For the past two days, I've been working on revising the story, trying to make it longer, add more details, and trying to make it more...real, I guess. Pepsi-cola is still based on me and my experiences. I'll be working on random chapters until the story starts coming together again. In my mind, I can see most of it, but it doesn't come out right when I write it down. So, I'll be trying to get a beta to help with that small problem.

I'll also be posting the story in it's entirety on Yahoo! groups, since we can have song lyrics in the chapters there. I can't promise when I'll update with new chapters, since I'm still going over all the current chapters. But, do expect one-shots from different P.O.V. from all of the Greasers. I'll be trying to work on those while piecing together the main story.

When I get the Yahoo! site up, I'll post the address up here so y'all can go visit.

I'm also working on a TMNT fanfic that won't get out of my head. I probably won't be posting it here, since we can't have song lyrics in the stories.

Here's the new and improved profile I promised last update:

Basic Info:

Name: I go by many...Jesse being the most common.

Age: 22

Hair: Chocolate brown, 'bout a foot past my shoulders and curly-ish when I don't straighten it.

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5'3"

College: Blue Cliff College for Massage Therapy

High School: Ursuline Academy of New Orleans

Characters based on me: Just Pepsi-cola, and only a little nowadays. She's grown so much since I first started writing her in my Algebra II class during exam time.

Wanna contact me? Find me on facebook at: http://selu.facebook.com/profile.php?id=50311115

or

Myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/34173226,

or

Deviantart at http://elftoshiba.deviantart.com/

Or y'all can just e-mail me. Whatever's easier.

Any who, on with the story updates:

Pretty much everything is on a semi-permanent hiatus until further notice. I'll be working exclusively on 'From out of Nowhere' and the untitled TMNT fanfictions.

I'll be taking down 'From out of Nowhere' for a bit. I'll get the revised chapters out soon as possible. I've got most of chapters 1-3 finished and I'm working on chapter 4 at the moment.

I know that Johnny seems a bit out of character. I just realized it. In my defense, I was basing him off of Ralph Macchino's version of Johnny Cade from the movie.

Pepsi's another one that's going to seem a bit different. I've made some changes with her: giving her more spunk and cheekiness. She'll also have a little voice in the back of her head. (Hey, you know you have one too! Mine's named Ryuko, Japanese for Little Dragon, I think.)

Far as I know, the 'little voice' is you conscious. Y'know the little angel and devil that sit on your shoulders and try (this is an operative word) to give you advice.

So, yea, Pepsi now has one. So will the other boys, at times. Their's will be more towards whatever's going on at the time.

Please, let me know how y'all like the new and improved chapters! Thanks!

October 15, 07

As a side note, I just realized something else.

I'm anal-retentive about my stories. Therefore - you are warned. The chapters will be in a constant state of flux until I deem them perfect. Which won't be for a long, long time. What can I say? I have my quirks.

Lemme go finish posted the other revised chapters - after I read them about three times! Lol!

Later!

Elf Toshiba

On a side note:

Mars on fire brought a good question to my attention. She put it as:

"Socs attack girl, gang rescues her and asks her to live with them" And no, I am not about to bitch about getting flamed. After all, she DIDN'T flame me, she brought up a good point, and I'd like to clarify on what the original intention behind this was.

First off, think about it. The Socs are notorious for jumping the greasers. I seriously doubt that the greaser girls were exempt from this treatment. It probably wasn't as bad as what would happen to the boys, but it most likely did happen. My first intention was to just have the Socs scare her. In chapter three, Pepsi goes into more detail about her life before she was sent back. Since she was abused by her step-father, how do you think she would react to being attacked? She panicked and fought back. Originally, the Socs in that chapter WERE just trying to scare and harass her, and it worked; just not how they were expecting it to. The part with the knife and the threat was supposed to make her just be quiet. They weren't going to kill her.

As for the gang rescuing her, in the book (I think) it states that the gang would usually hang out at the Curtis' house after school/after getting off of work. That was around the time that Pepsi arrived. And let's face it, any nice guy would try to help out a girl who is screaming her head off in fear. Thus, how they came to rescue her.

Then, there's the whole point of Pepsi ending up living with the Curtis brothers. At first, she was only going to stay with them for a few days until they could figure out what to do with her. Once they found out how she came to 1963, they decided to keep it a secret to keep her safe. In chapter three, it states that she did get a job to help them out with bills, groceries, and other things that were needed around the house. In a future chapter, it goes into more detail about how and why she got the job. I'll tell you this - she refused to be a freeloader on the Curtis brothers when they had voluntarily taken her in when they could have just put her in a girls' home and forgotten about her.

I hope that this explains some of the ideas behind the first few chapters. If anyone wants me to, I'll post a one-shot going into more detail about the first few days after Pepsi end up in 1963.

Update 12/08/08:

From Out of Nowhere is on permanent hiatus. I'm completely re-doing damn near everything. Most of the plot will remain the same, but Pepsi is getting a MAJOR overhaul. I started this story when I was 16, and her character reflects that. Well, now I'm 23. When I wrote her back then, I was writing what I knew about life at that point. Which, obviously, wasn't much. So, wish me luck on re-writing the entire fic.

On another note, if anyone wants to help me out with beta, it would be much, MUCH appreciated. Thanks, y'all!

Elf