First Post of Summer

Summer is here at last!
It took six months of endless memorizing, testing, and waiting, but at last we can let our brains atrophy and push out a few of the math and grammar concepts we memorized in favor of something more interesting--a good fantasy novel for instance, or how to set up a tent. Lazing about has been my favorite pastime so far this summer, and I'm becoming something of an expert at it.
With summer, of course comes my annual purging of my old school notebooks and folders. I kept a careful eye out for good doodles this year, and I unearthed a few that I'd completely forgotten about. As we all know, there is very little actual learning going on during teacher lectures, and students usually cram the material in last-minute before exams. Teacher lectures are also perfect doodling opportunities. I find some of my best artwork seems to materialize when I'm half-conscious with boredom and I happen to have a series of blank notebook margins right beneath my fingers. This is one of the more elaborate ones I unearthed this year, and I can only remember what the lesson was about because of the worksheet on the back (mRNA):

It's the first in a series of dragon-like creatures that I've begun drawing for a story that has yet to evolve completely. I recently happened upon an interesting beginning to the story, which, judging by the handwriting, I'm pretty sure I scrawled on the back of a drawing when I was only half-awake. Once I deciphered my own handwriting, it sounded something like this:

Eons ago, an entire shipload of trans-galactic immigrants vanished on the surface of a strange planet. No one knew what happened to them, and whenever ships were sent in to investigate, they were destroyed just near the planet surface by some inexplicable force.
You are a military sergeant, one who has trained for years for this assignment. You and a select group of highly skilled soldiers have been selected for a mission. Your goal is to explore the surface of the mysterious planet on which so many have disappeared. You've been armed with the latest in weapon technology, and your ship was designed to withstand whatever force destroyed those before you. It almost works...
As the ship nears the planet surface, a tremor rocks the ship. The titanium plates guarding the hull are torn from the ship by a creature so vast you are dwarfed by one of its glowing green eyes. The ship tumbles from the sky, spiraling out of control and trailing smoke. You manage to get ahold of an emergency jet pack, and frantically pull it on even as your companions scramble for their own. You blast out an open hatch, leaving the others inside. A wing clips you as the ship crashes onto the planet surface, and your damaged jet pack sends you crashing into a tree.
When you awake, you are the only survivor. Your jet pack is ruined, and anything within the ship has already been blown to bits. You are now on the world "Dairn," named such by the natives--the original immigrants. You now have two choices: You abandon your beliefs and training to learn to live with the creatures that share the world with the humans--the dragons--or, you can die.

It sounds like a video game I would like to play. I'll be leaving this drawing and some of the others from that series in the doodles and art tab, as well as a few drawings from some other books that have yet to be completed. As always, there's another chapter posted in the As Yet Unnamed Story. That story is still working on introducing the characters, so be patient. It gets interesting.

Happy summer!