Blog post.... paper.... blog post.... paper......
I need to write a paper for tomorrow. I don't paticularly feel like doing it. Not becuase it's difficult - I'm just being lazy XD "The Outsiders" and how it qualifies as adolescent literature. Complicated topic, I know. However will I write it in a single night?
Short post is short >.> I'll try to do something longer tomorrow. Like a word list =D
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
One Idea Down
I posted a few days ago with a rather long list of story ideas. I can now cross one of them off. Seafoam and Ash has been given an update, though I'm torn on how I feel about it. I think I liked the mystery of the first version better - not that I dislike the expansion, but I think it lost some of the poetic feel of the first.
Lots of stuff happened tonight, but I can't talk about it here. Maybe some other time.
Lots of stuff happened tonight, but I can't talk about it here. Maybe some other time.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Directional
Alabaster was a city of the stars. A brass telescope on every balcony, every rooftop, constantly pointed to the sky. The city slept easy during the day, but breathed new life at night and the smell of of chocolatl and spice wafted from several of the vendors.
In the middle of the city, a compass rose was lain into the plaza, a great marble thing with thirty-two points. The cardinal directions were lain in gold-flecked black marble and the ordinals in solid white. The rest alternated between a dark emeral green and a soft red with veins of rust. The people lived their lives in accordance with the whims of the directions and stars.
Those with a predominately Eastern streak for example, tended to be farmers, sensible, practical, and early risers. They rarely ventured out after dark long. Their Western counterparts rose as the sun began to say it's goodbyes in the early afternoon. They were idealists, even among a city of dreamers. To the North, a wild streak, impulsivity, and dificult to rein back in. The Northern people were adventurers and explorers. Southern-dominated people were cultured and orderly, practitioners of the fine arts, fine food, fine living. Traditional and easy-going, they enjoyed life to the fullest extent. Those are simply the cardinals of course, the rarest personalities. Most were some combination thereof - Southeast or NorthNorthwest, varied and nuanced.
I have come to the conclusion that this preoccupation with directions springs from the city's history as a mapmaking town; in centuries past Alabaster was the finest purveyor of maps, atlases, and globes. Even today beautifully designed pieces of parchment are showcased under glass and stored away in family vaults, accurate to the tinest cove. A great printing press still exists near the compass rose plaza, old and rusted, but still in working order.
I took a lot of inspiration from a book called East by Edith Pattou, a wonderful book I highly reccommend. One of the characters is from a family of mapmakers - the family has a superstition that the direction a child is born facing will determine their personality. I thought the idea would be neat if expanded to an entire city.
In the middle of the city, a compass rose was lain into the plaza, a great marble thing with thirty-two points. The cardinal directions were lain in gold-flecked black marble and the ordinals in solid white. The rest alternated between a dark emeral green and a soft red with veins of rust. The people lived their lives in accordance with the whims of the directions and stars.
Those with a predominately Eastern streak for example, tended to be farmers, sensible, practical, and early risers. They rarely ventured out after dark long. Their Western counterparts rose as the sun began to say it's goodbyes in the early afternoon. They were idealists, even among a city of dreamers. To the North, a wild streak, impulsivity, and dificult to rein back in. The Northern people were adventurers and explorers. Southern-dominated people were cultured and orderly, practitioners of the fine arts, fine food, fine living. Traditional and easy-going, they enjoyed life to the fullest extent. Those are simply the cardinals of course, the rarest personalities. Most were some combination thereof - Southeast or NorthNorthwest, varied and nuanced.
I have come to the conclusion that this preoccupation with directions springs from the city's history as a mapmaking town; in centuries past Alabaster was the finest purveyor of maps, atlases, and globes. Even today beautifully designed pieces of parchment are showcased under glass and stored away in family vaults, accurate to the tinest cove. A great printing press still exists near the compass rose plaza, old and rusted, but still in working order.
I took a lot of inspiration from a book called East by Edith Pattou, a wonderful book I highly reccommend. One of the characters is from a family of mapmakers - the family has a superstition that the direction a child is born facing will determine their personality. I thought the idea would be neat if expanded to an entire city.
Periwinkle Tea
It's only about 1AM but it feels so much later and I don't know why.
I get nights like that sometimes, especially when I've spent so much of it reading and everything I've ben reading on dA tonight has been soft or sad or subtle or bittersweet or any combination of those things and I'm typing this with my entire left hand and only two fingers of my right because the thumb and forefinger still have residue from the bag of potato chips I can't stop nibbling on.
I'm out of tea and this makes me sad because I don't really want to make more this late but maybe I will anyway because I'd like to trade in my potato chips for chocolate sticks. I think I'd like something warm for the next few hours.
My tea mug is periwinkle blue.
There must be a perfect ratio of tea to sugar because everyone else seems able to find it but me. I kept putting in spoonfuls of sugar but it never got any sweeter until it got to the range where I knew I really didn't need that much in my system but it's not my fault that tea doesn't taste right without any sweetener or that I'm terrible at ratios.
I didn't know the inside of my mouth was so cold until I put a steam heated spoon in for a taste. My mug is half empty now and the warmth is tingling my tongue, but the cold reaches all the way down my throat and lingers just at the back like a drafty cave. It's a strange feeling to be so cold and so warm at the same time.
I just realized I left my chocolate sticks in the pantry, but I just got my toes warm again.
True story. My night in 300 words.
Total accident by the way - I put it into Word for a wordcount and it was exactly 300. That means leave it alone <3
I get nights like that sometimes, especially when I've spent so much of it reading and everything I've ben reading on dA tonight has been soft or sad or subtle or bittersweet or any combination of those things and I'm typing this with my entire left hand and only two fingers of my right because the thumb and forefinger still have residue from the bag of potato chips I can't stop nibbling on.
I'm out of tea and this makes me sad because I don't really want to make more this late but maybe I will anyway because I'd like to trade in my potato chips for chocolate sticks. I think I'd like something warm for the next few hours.
My tea mug is periwinkle blue.
There must be a perfect ratio of tea to sugar because everyone else seems able to find it but me. I kept putting in spoonfuls of sugar but it never got any sweeter until it got to the range where I knew I really didn't need that much in my system but it's not my fault that tea doesn't taste right without any sweetener or that I'm terrible at ratios.
I didn't know the inside of my mouth was so cold until I put a steam heated spoon in for a taste. My mug is half empty now and the warmth is tingling my tongue, but the cold reaches all the way down my throat and lingers just at the back like a drafty cave. It's a strange feeling to be so cold and so warm at the same time.
I just realized I left my chocolate sticks in the pantry, but I just got my toes warm again.
True story. My night in 300 words.
Total accident by the way - I put it into Word for a wordcount and it was exactly 300. That means leave it alone <3
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Story Ideas
I'm going to try and start using Twitter for real this time. Linked if you're interested I guess, though I don't expect anyone is XD Mostly I'm interested in trying to keep up with literature things.
I said I wanted to try to get all my story ideas in one place and I meant it. /determined.
1. An internet personality quiz with the ability to fundamentally change who you are. (MorríguTests)
I'm amazed some days that I get anything done.
I said I wanted to try to get all my story ideas in one place and I meant it. /determined.
1. An internet personality quiz with the ability to fundamentally change who you are. (MorríguTests)
This is how the quiz will start:
"Welcome to the MorríguTests Personality Quiz. This quiz is designed to accurately measure your good and bad qualities, strenghts and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. ALL results will be 100% accurate. Attempting to lie, cheat, or otherwise manipulate this quiz is highly discouraged.
YOU MAY ONLY TAKE THIS QUIZ ONCE."
I've been rolling this one for a while, but I can't get it to do what I want. Best to let it work itself out, however long that takes. If I ever do manage to get it off the ground though, I'd like to make a trilogy of sorts - have the same company release two more quizzes concerning when/how you will die, and a relationship quiz.
"Welcome to the MorríguTests Personality Quiz. This quiz is designed to accurately measure your good and bad qualities, strenghts and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. ALL results will be 100% accurate. Attempting to lie, cheat, or otherwise manipulate this quiz is highly discouraged.
YOU MAY ONLY TAKE THIS QUIZ ONCE."
I've been rolling this one for a while, but I can't get it to do what I want. Best to let it work itself out, however long that takes. If I ever do manage to get it off the ground though, I'd like to make a trilogy of sorts - have the same company release two more quizzes concerning when/how you will die, and a relationship quiz.
2. There are a few one-liners and prompts given to me by various people and random ideas from nights when I couldn't sleep floating around:
- A sentient door.
- The life and times of a Professional Muse.
- The delay between lightning and thunder.
- Glass Delusion
- That ballet shoe poem I talked about a few days back.
- Matadors. Matadors are cool.
- Re-use the characters from Seafoam and Ash.
- Biology
- Botany
- Business
- Chemistry
- Communications
- Decision (Game) Theory
- Genetics
- Geology
- Linguistics
- Mechanics
- Physics
- Robotics
- Transportation
- I wanted to hold the thunder in glass jars and write long letters on faded parchment; instead I applied to retail stores to fuel my obsessions for the easily consumed and quickly forgotten.
- It's not that he was complaining or anything, but if she pressed her mouth any harder to his, he was going to suffocate.
- The black umbrella was classy, but soulless – I much preferred the red one we shared.
- I've got a wealth of memories stored away but none of them ever compare to the real thing and people are so still in photographs, even people like you, people that naturally transmit their personality to film like it's second nature, a talent you could develop if you just keep practicing. You smile like nothing matters but the moment and that's what I love most about you.
- He didn't leave a note – there were no words. Only a permit receipt for a .22 pistol.
- There are one thousand, eight hundred and sixty steps from the street level to the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building. It took only one to get back to street level.
- I mailed you a box of seafoam so you could hear the ocean, but it leaked out the sides like the blood from your mouth as the ambulance carried you away from me.
- The snow crunched under their feet, soft and powdery. "I honestly believe," he scraped snow off the tree branches into the empty mug he was carrying. There was a gentle undercurrent of wistfulness to his voice that she'd never heard before. "That I can make the world a better place."
- I drove among the golden plains teeming with buffalo and pulled over to examine the wheat, to discover if it was as soft as it looked. I drove through the rain of the Pacific Northwest and inhaled the scent of pine, stopping only long enough to try the midnight diners and chat with the waitresses. I drove parallel to the sidewalk jungle of New York City, jumping in and out of pools of light and I passed by the entirety of humanity and still you weren't there.
I'm amazed some days that I get anything done.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Drowning in Reverse
I am exhausted TT_TT It's not fair to be exhausted when I only had one class today.
Granted, the class was Anthropology, but still. Which I didn't really pay very close attention to anyway as I had a story to write. And which I will now share here because I don't have much else to write about.
Drowning in Reverse
x. I still have your phone.
ix. The boardwalk carnival was shut down a few months later, roped off and boarded up like a condemnation of joy. The ferris wheel still rose high above the skyline, towering in silent reminder.
viii. The funeral was on a beautiful, balmy, sunny day and somehow that made it all the worse. The wind would pick up a little and ruffle your goldspun hair and I could hope, just for a moment, that you were still here.
vii. It was a cold, white room. I don't know why hospitals are so cold. Or maybe it was just me - maybe it was just me trying to siphon out all of my warmth and channel it into you.
vi. I didn't see the crowd that gathered on the beach - I barely registered the flash of red and blue lights - I only saw you, skin pale as the stretcher they were loading you on to, blue shirt stained black like a death sigil.
v. Someone was drowning. You cast an arm out pointing - there was someone out there in the dark water drifting further and further from shore.
You asked me to hold your phone.
iv. We wandered away from the carnival boardwalk, away from the neon and the chatter and the screams of delight, exchanged for the crunch of sand and rush of waves. The moon cast a metallic sheen over the whole world and made you look older than your seventeen years.
iii. I wiped the powdered sugar off your nose; you always ate the funnel cake before anything else. I grabbed your hand as we passed by the swings.
It felt like flying.
ii. I heard your beat up old Mustang before I saw it. The squeak of brakes in front of the house was a dead giveaway; my father's breaks always sounded like the voice of the most obnoxious girl in math class. Yours sounded like the whine of a puppy.
i. My phone buzzed on the kitchen table -
CARNIVAL 2NITE? <3
I feel pretty good about this one, though it is rough around the edges. Not bad for my first try at writing a story backwards though.
Granted, the class was Anthropology, but still. Which I didn't really pay very close attention to anyway as I had a story to write. And which I will now share here because I don't have much else to write about.
Drowning in Reverse
x. I still have your phone.
ix. The boardwalk carnival was shut down a few months later, roped off and boarded up like a condemnation of joy. The ferris wheel still rose high above the skyline, towering in silent reminder.
viii. The funeral was on a beautiful, balmy, sunny day and somehow that made it all the worse. The wind would pick up a little and ruffle your goldspun hair and I could hope, just for a moment, that you were still here.
vii. It was a cold, white room. I don't know why hospitals are so cold. Or maybe it was just me - maybe it was just me trying to siphon out all of my warmth and channel it into you.
vi. I didn't see the crowd that gathered on the beach - I barely registered the flash of red and blue lights - I only saw you, skin pale as the stretcher they were loading you on to, blue shirt stained black like a death sigil.
v. Someone was drowning. You cast an arm out pointing - there was someone out there in the dark water drifting further and further from shore.
You asked me to hold your phone.
iv. We wandered away from the carnival boardwalk, away from the neon and the chatter and the screams of delight, exchanged for the crunch of sand and rush of waves. The moon cast a metallic sheen over the whole world and made you look older than your seventeen years.
iii. I wiped the powdered sugar off your nose; you always ate the funnel cake before anything else. I grabbed your hand as we passed by the swings.
It felt like flying.
ii. I heard your beat up old Mustang before I saw it. The squeak of brakes in front of the house was a dead giveaway; my father's breaks always sounded like the voice of the most obnoxious girl in math class. Yours sounded like the whine of a puppy.
i. My phone buzzed on the kitchen table -
CARNIVAL 2NITE? <3
I feel pretty good about this one, though it is rough around the edges. Not bad for my first try at writing a story backwards though.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Litmus Test
Ignoring troublesome things for a little while, at least until the situation decides to rear its head again. Tonight was my library night <3
I always enjoy my writing group - I come out feeling relaxed and refreshed and ready to settle down and do some work. The fact that I have yet to do any work is just a nuance.
Really though, I need to finish some worksheets I have due for Anthropology tomorrow. Nothing strenuous or anything, I just don't want to do it XD But I feel that way about most schoolwork.
What I really need to do is get cracking on a short story for my Fiction class. There are plenty of pieces I could use from my gallery, but nothing really jumps out to me. And I've been feeling a tad drained as far as creativity goes lately; I don't paticularly want to write something new at this point in time. Granted, I do have a number of plot bunnies hutched away, but none I feel ready to work on. My creative process can be rather finnicky that way. I have a tendency to let things come as they will rather than trying to force what isn't there.
One of my favorite things to do when I'm trying to write and am blocked is turn on the T.V. or some other distraction; if the distraction is more important than the writing, then the writing isn't ready. Sort of a litmus test if you will.
One of these days I really do need to get a complete list of all my story ideas on a post :/
I always enjoy my writing group - I come out feeling relaxed and refreshed and ready to settle down and do some work. The fact that I have yet to do any work is just a nuance.
Really though, I need to finish some worksheets I have due for Anthropology tomorrow. Nothing strenuous or anything, I just don't want to do it XD But I feel that way about most schoolwork.
What I really need to do is get cracking on a short story for my Fiction class. There are plenty of pieces I could use from my gallery, but nothing really jumps out to me. And I've been feeling a tad drained as far as creativity goes lately; I don't paticularly want to write something new at this point in time. Granted, I do have a number of plot bunnies hutched away, but none I feel ready to work on. My creative process can be rather finnicky that way. I have a tendency to let things come as they will rather than trying to force what isn't there.
One of my favorite things to do when I'm trying to write and am blocked is turn on the T.V. or some other distraction; if the distraction is more important than the writing, then the writing isn't ready. Sort of a litmus test if you will.
One of these days I really do need to get a complete list of all my story ideas on a post :/
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Are You Fucking Kidding Me?
Quick Edit Two: Just to be super-clear about it, I've posted here as well to remind anyone reading - a group is not a person. The group is awesome; Chen is... Chen. He is no longer part of the group, and several current members have posted in the comments below if you feel like doing some compare and contrast.
I wasn't going to blog about this, and I'm probably breaking some rule by doing so, but this guy is such a douche it needs to be recored for future generations as a warning.
I'm an admin for a group on dA called Elite Literature - I help process applications. This is one we got in today:
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| Click to read. I apologize for how wonky the sizes on these are ^^; |
Okay, that's cool, but we have a very specific application process deviants have to follow. JudgeNotNovels was kind enough to fill him in of this fact. Here is his explanation, and the applicants response to his comment:
Uhh, you're getting rather snippy here, but still not full on douchebag. When we reject an application, we also try to give some feedback explaining why. Here's the feedback group leader Packeranatic left:
And here is the guy's response to the feedback:
Wow dude. Fucking wow. I was unaware pageviews were synonymous with quality and success, or that having an education equated with arrogance. Arrogance is assuming yourself to be better than others. "Having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities." Something you seem to have trouble with. "All you need to know is that, I'm one of the best." anyone? Think maybe he's projecting his own flaws on to others?
I've been rather peeved with people on the Net in the past, but I've never actually wanted to reach through my screen and phsycially throttle someone. Did he seriously claim to be one of the best and then call us arrogant in a sentence fragment? I don't even have words for this much hubris.
Will keep you updated as the situation develops. (Assuming it does.)
UPDATE:
The guy posted about the situation on FaceBook. Here's the screencap:
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| Alternatively, click here to see the post, comments and all. |
Updated again:
A friend gave this douche a critique. If you don't feel like clicking, here are the screenshots:
The Critique:
By the way, this isn't even his account - it's shared with four other people. Since he cares about pageviews so much, let's break it down: as of this writing, BottomlessPitStudios has 42,416 pageviews. There are five people sharing the account, so technically Chen only has 42,416/5 pageviews, or 8483. Meanwhile, on HIS REAL ACCOUNT, Chen only has 716 pageviews. Doodlergirl has 4743, or nearly seven times as many as Chen.
EL OH FUCKING EL.
Oh, but wait, it gets BETTER than that. Doodlergirl's 92 deviations have been favorited 407 (about 4 per deviation) times, while Chens 12 deviations have been favorited 12 times (or one per deviation).
As for BottomlessPitStudios, their 608 deviations have been 80,523 views. That's about 132 views per deviation. However, recalling that this group is split between five people, we have 80523/ 608 = 132/5 = about 26 views per deviation. The favorites stats are 8195, so: 8195/608 = so 13 faves per deviations. 13/ 5 is about two and a half. The guy hardly has much to brag about here.
(For the recod, my own fave stats amount to 15 faves per deviation and 161 views per deviation; does this mean I get the right to criticize him now?)
UPDATED AGAIN BECAUSE I HAVE NO LIFE TO SPEAK OF
Another friend left a response to BottomlessPitStudios response on the critique. Here's the complete set of THAT conversation thus far:
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| Again, click to embiggen and apologies for how wonky the sizing is - I'd fix it if I could. |
Did... did he seriously try to make the argument I think he was trying to make? About artists with "no skill like Lil Wayne?"
This is a lost cause. It really is :( At this point I'm only keeping a record as a warning to others: do not be this person.
Monday, January 23, 2012
This is My State
Tiffany has requested to hear about Arkansas, which I'm happy to do =D I feel like much of the South gets typecast as being backwards, which can be true for individuals, but not for entire populations. It's honestly not that bad down here XD
Arkansas is actually a very beautiful state. The nickname is "The Natural State" for a reason. It seems like every other mile there's a trail or a park or some sort of preserve and I've been dragged all over it. My family was into GeoCaching a few years back and that's how I got to travel to a good chunk of the state. For those out of the loop, GeoCaching is a sort of modern treasure hunting game. You play with a GPS - someone who hides a cache will register the coordinates online and give the general area hunters need to start at (say, a park or building). The hunters then follow the GPS. Caches can be the size of an ammo box, but also a small as a Tupperware container or film canister for the really hardcore group (you have NO IDEA how hard it is to find a damn film canister in the middle of the woods).
But I digress. There are two main mountain ranges - the Ozarks and the Ouachita (pronounced wah-shi-taw). The Ouachitasare home to Arkansas' highest point, Mt. Magazine, one of the few major places I haven't been to in this state. The Ozarks meanwhile, are notable for their many natural bridges and the mountains I'm considerably more familiar with, though I actually live closer to the Ouachitas. The Ozarks are the setting for books like Where the Red Fern Grows and The Shepard of the Hills (the latter has been made into an outdoor play which is quite good and I've attened several times). When you think Ozarks, think square dances. that's the kind of culture you're getting into - that sort of rustic charm and fiddle music everywhere.
My favorite I think though, is the waterfalls. Arkansas has a ridiculous number of waterfalls. A photographer named Tim Ernst has made an entire career out of it (and you should go check him out because he's awesome). The many lakes and waterways are fantastic. The Buffalo River is one of those places that people outside of the region don't seem to have ever heard of, but is an amazing place. Floating the Buffalo is practically a rite of passage for some families; the Buffalo was designated America's first national river and with good reason. This has protected it from any development or damming and kept it more or less intact over the years. Most of its 132 miles are safe for swimming - you can just hop in nearly anywhere (though you're probably better off sticking to the designated areas).
Arkansas is also the only place in the world where you can mine for diamonds. I think that's the thing that makes people out of state turn their heads XD I've been multiple times and it's not nearly as exciting as it sounds. It's a big dirt field. Really. That's what it is. There's an area you can sift your bucket of dirt, but that's the only other thing (and you either have to bring your own sifter or rent one). People do find diamonds, though no one I've ever known. They aren't diamons like you're thinking of either - uncut diamonds are actually kinda lame. They don't really sparkle in the dirt and they're teeny-tiny - your best digging tool is a plastic spoon. A few people have found gems of value, but it's a rare thing. Still, it's neat to have a keepsake like that if you get lucky.
As far as cities go, the biggest is Little Rock, which isn't exactly a hub of culture and trendsetting, but isn't terrible either. Most of the big name concerts pass through here and the Arts Center gets some good exhibits every now and then. Some of the smaller towns though, are really special. Van Buren is a neat place and I of course have a special place for my college town of Clarksville <3
If I were going to tell you the one place in Arkansas to visit though, it would be Eureka Springs. It is a beautiful town. It's a very Victorian resort town. I won't bother with a link; just have some photos here.
The place is just cool. There are over 125 bed and breakfasts in this town, which should tell you a lot about what sort of atmosphere to expect - that's more than San Francisco at 119. The numer of things to do is ridiculous - visit the railway, tour the river basins, fishing, check out the history - it's one of those places everyone can get on board with. There's a strong art community and the shopping is amazing. It's also nicknamed "The Wedding Capital of the South" - over 4000 weddings are performed annually. Here's why:
Thorncrown Chapel is actually a rather famous place, having been named one of the AIA's top designs of the 20th century. If it looks very Frank Lloyd Wright, there's a good reason for that; the designer studied under him. It's made almost entirely of glass and steel, so the outside rather blends with the inside and the effect is really something special. Go to Google Images to see more, because it's pretty freaking sweet.
And thus, you have a general idea of the sort of place I come from XD
No photos here are mine - I haven't been to most of these places since before college, back when I didn't have a camera ^^;
Arkansas is actually a very beautiful state. The nickname is "The Natural State" for a reason. It seems like every other mile there's a trail or a park or some sort of preserve and I've been dragged all over it. My family was into GeoCaching a few years back and that's how I got to travel to a good chunk of the state. For those out of the loop, GeoCaching is a sort of modern treasure hunting game. You play with a GPS - someone who hides a cache will register the coordinates online and give the general area hunters need to start at (say, a park or building). The hunters then follow the GPS. Caches can be the size of an ammo box, but also a small as a Tupperware container or film canister for the really hardcore group (you have NO IDEA how hard it is to find a damn film canister in the middle of the woods).
But I digress. There are two main mountain ranges - the Ozarks and the Ouachita (pronounced wah-shi-taw). The Ouachitasare home to Arkansas' highest point, Mt. Magazine, one of the few major places I haven't been to in this state. The Ozarks meanwhile, are notable for their many natural bridges and the mountains I'm considerably more familiar with, though I actually live closer to the Ouachitas. The Ozarks are the setting for books like Where the Red Fern Grows and The Shepard of the Hills (the latter has been made into an outdoor play which is quite good and I've attened several times). When you think Ozarks, think square dances. that's the kind of culture you're getting into - that sort of rustic charm and fiddle music everywhere.
My favorite I think though, is the waterfalls. Arkansas has a ridiculous number of waterfalls. A photographer named Tim Ernst has made an entire career out of it (and you should go check him out because he's awesome). The many lakes and waterways are fantastic. The Buffalo River is one of those places that people outside of the region don't seem to have ever heard of, but is an amazing place. Floating the Buffalo is practically a rite of passage for some families; the Buffalo was designated America's first national river and with good reason. This has protected it from any development or damming and kept it more or less intact over the years. Most of its 132 miles are safe for swimming - you can just hop in nearly anywhere (though you're probably better off sticking to the designated areas).
 |
| The Buffalo River |
As far as cities go, the biggest is Little Rock, which isn't exactly a hub of culture and trendsetting, but isn't terrible either. Most of the big name concerts pass through here and the Arts Center gets some good exhibits every now and then. Some of the smaller towns though, are really special. Van Buren is a neat place and I of course have a special place for my college town of Clarksville <3
If I were going to tell you the one place in Arkansas to visit though, it would be Eureka Springs. It is a beautiful town. It's a very Victorian resort town. I won't bother with a link; just have some photos here.
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| Really, the entire town is like this. |
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| This place is gorgeous. |
And thus, you have a general idea of the sort of place I come from XD
No photos here are mine - I haven't been to most of these places since before college, back when I didn't have a camera ^^;
Sunday, January 22, 2012
It WAS a Super!Short Post
I'm not sure why I write such long posts all the time. I honestly don't have that much to talk about, but manage to ramble away somehow ^^;
But tonight is a brief post; no babysitting today, no school, no homework - just me and the fog and twenty chapters of fanfiction <3
I've also kicked of my mini-project here, and I'd love to hear any responses :3 I really enjoy Amy Rosenthal's work and encourage people to try her out. In fact, I may do a review or something tomorrow. I don't really plan these posts at all.
Actually scratch that; let's talk about Amy Rosenthal this entry, because her work is actually really interesting. Her book ideas are really fascinating, from a karma "checkbook" (there are checks for good and for bad karma), several memoir books (baby books, places to write down all the stupid things kids say), lots of kids books, and of course the encyclopedia biography. She has this sunny style to her writing that I just love - it's feel-good writing you could say.
And let's talk about the public art projects:
I love that video. It just makes you believe in humanity again <3 She has quite a lot of these so I recommend browsing around the video section of her website.
Annnnnd, I managed to ramble anyway.
[EDIT] Eep! I just realized I forgot to do a city exercise! *facepalm* Allow to rectify this right away:
Bruvuno was a city made entirely of bridges. Each home had from its four sides four causeways branching out, inviting one space into the other. The oldest homes buildings were connected by rope bridges, the wooden planks green with rot and swung in the slightest breeze with an uneasy creaking. You could read the city like the rings of a tree trunk - with each new growth, the style shifted to accomodate new ideas, new materials, a new sense of aesthetics. The wood gave way to stone archways and brick and mortar constuction which itself transformed into iron and steel beasts stretching their long necks.
The people of Bruvuno come and go at will - the connectedness of the city translated to its inhabitants who crossed paths with each other and called each meeting serendipitious. Their welcoming faces were medicine to many a weary traveler. The sense of unity within was a true marvel, far moreso than the web of branches spanning above.
I really love this one <3 I may return to this city one day.
But tonight is a brief post; no babysitting today, no school, no homework - just me and the fog and twenty chapters of fanfiction <3
I've also kicked of my mini-project here, and I'd love to hear any responses :3 I really enjoy Amy Rosenthal's work and encourage people to try her out. In fact, I may do a review or something tomorrow. I don't really plan these posts at all.
Actually scratch that; let's talk about Amy Rosenthal this entry, because her work is actually really interesting. Her book ideas are really fascinating, from a karma "checkbook" (there are checks for good and for bad karma), several memoir books (baby books, places to write down all the stupid things kids say), lots of kids books, and of course the encyclopedia biography. She has this sunny style to her writing that I just love - it's feel-good writing you could say.
And let's talk about the public art projects:
I love that video. It just makes you believe in humanity again <3 She has quite a lot of these so I recommend browsing around the video section of her website.
Annnnnd, I managed to ramble anyway.
[EDIT] Eep! I just realized I forgot to do a city exercise! *facepalm* Allow to rectify this right away:
Bruvuno was a city made entirely of bridges. Each home had from its four sides four causeways branching out, inviting one space into the other. The oldest homes buildings were connected by rope bridges, the wooden planks green with rot and swung in the slightest breeze with an uneasy creaking. You could read the city like the rings of a tree trunk - with each new growth, the style shifted to accomodate new ideas, new materials, a new sense of aesthetics. The wood gave way to stone archways and brick and mortar constuction which itself transformed into iron and steel beasts stretching their long necks.
The people of Bruvuno come and go at will - the connectedness of the city translated to its inhabitants who crossed paths with each other and called each meeting serendipitious. Their welcoming faces were medicine to many a weary traveler. The sense of unity within was a true marvel, far moreso than the web of branches spanning above.
I really love this one <3 I may return to this city one day.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Buy Your Own Shirt
I've been on a Irish/ Celtic music kick all day. This doesn't happen as often as it used to XD
I have a considerable collection in my iTunes library, though finding more has been rather difficult. I'm not sure what the count is off the top of my head, but I'd guess I have somewhere around 200 Irish/Celtic songs. [EDIT] - 158 in fact.
People generally have two reactions when I tell them about my taste in music:
1. "ME TOO!" :DDD
2. "Eh?"
For the most part, I prefer instrumental pieces:
(This was my favorite song for... quite a while actually. At least year.)
But I've been building a greater appreciation for songs with actual lyrics in the past few years. And there are even some more modern bands I've come to love:
I dunno; I've always found something really appealing in how ancient and timeless Celtic music sounds. I enjoy the more modern stuff too, but it just doesn't evoke the same imagery of castles half hidden in the fog and acres of green as far as you can see. There's something tribal and evokative in the atmosphere it creates for me.
Which doesn't really segue into the story idea I've had floating around, but it's close enough.
Everyone always thinks of the Simon & Garfunkel song, but Scarborough Fair has very old roots, dating back to at least the 1600's, if not even earlier. And to be honest, the S&G version is one of my least favorites :/ The original version has possible connections to a Child Ballad called The Elfin Knight (Child #2) and was likely meant to be sung as a duet - most are familiar with the three tasks the man sets in his verses, but there are versions in which the woman answers back with three taks of her own. That's what I'm interested in.
I have seen a novel length version called Impossible by Nancy Werlin, but while it did have it's moments, I didn't care for the story as a whole. The idea of incorporating a family curse was a neat one and gave the plot a sense of urgency (no spoilers there; it's all on the back cover), but I could have seen it going in an entirely different direction. Honestly, a curse seems kinda unnecessary.
The tasks:
1. Make a cambric shirt without using any needle work.
2. Wash it in yonder well, where never spring water or rain ever fell.
3. Dry it on yonder thorn which never bore blossom since Adam was born.
The response:
1. Buy an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand.
2. Plot it with a ram horn and sow with one peppercorn.
3. Shear it with a sickle of leather and bind it up with a peacock feather.
4. Thrash it on yonder wall and never let one corn of it fall.
THEN he can have his cambric shirt.
Maybe it's me, but I have a rather hilarious image of a fantastic love/ hate relationship between these two XD I like the idea of proving your love with small tasks and having them get bigger and bigger and more and more impossible and doing them all anyway while the other party foams at the mouth with rage.
I have a considerable collection in my iTunes library, though finding more has been rather difficult. I'm not sure what the count is off the top of my head, but I'd guess I have somewhere around 200 Irish/Celtic songs. [EDIT] - 158 in fact.
People generally have two reactions when I tell them about my taste in music:
1. "ME TOO!" :DDD
2. "Eh?"
For the most part, I prefer instrumental pieces:
But I've been building a greater appreciation for songs with actual lyrics in the past few years. And there are even some more modern bands I've come to love:
I dunno; I've always found something really appealing in how ancient and timeless Celtic music sounds. I enjoy the more modern stuff too, but it just doesn't evoke the same imagery of castles half hidden in the fog and acres of green as far as you can see. There's something tribal and evokative in the atmosphere it creates for me.
Which doesn't really segue into the story idea I've had floating around, but it's close enough.
Everyone always thinks of the Simon & Garfunkel song, but Scarborough Fair has very old roots, dating back to at least the 1600's, if not even earlier. And to be honest, the S&G version is one of my least favorites :/ The original version has possible connections to a Child Ballad called The Elfin Knight (Child #2) and was likely meant to be sung as a duet - most are familiar with the three tasks the man sets in his verses, but there are versions in which the woman answers back with three taks of her own. That's what I'm interested in.
I have seen a novel length version called Impossible by Nancy Werlin, but while it did have it's moments, I didn't care for the story as a whole. The idea of incorporating a family curse was a neat one and gave the plot a sense of urgency (no spoilers there; it's all on the back cover), but I could have seen it going in an entirely different direction. Honestly, a curse seems kinda unnecessary.
The tasks:
1. Make a cambric shirt without using any needle work.
2. Wash it in yonder well, where never spring water or rain ever fell.
3. Dry it on yonder thorn which never bore blossom since Adam was born.
The response:
1. Buy an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand.
2. Plot it with a ram horn and sow with one peppercorn.
3. Shear it with a sickle of leather and bind it up with a peacock feather.
4. Thrash it on yonder wall and never let one corn of it fall.
THEN he can have his cambric shirt.
Maybe it's me, but I have a rather hilarious image of a fantastic love/ hate relationship between these two XD I like the idea of proving your love with small tasks and having them get bigger and bigger and more and more impossible and doing them all anyway while the other party foams at the mouth with rage.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Adding Buttons
If I'm online, I'm on Skype. So I added a Skype button <3
I've been playing a bit with gadgets and widgets on here, so forgive me if I drastically alter the layout, or somehow manage to undo all my customizations. I'd like to keep the look fairly streamlined, but with things of interest scattered about. I like to think I'm doing a halfway decent job of it.
Just checked my dA messages - I'm in another Friday Night Feature. I really enjoy that series - dreamsinstatic finds a lot of awesome stuff every single week. I've even pulled a few DLD's out of the literature features. The quality of work is really stunning and I'm always honored to be included <3 My favorites for the day:
I'll have lots of reading to do as well since I don't recognize any of the titles except my own in the literature portion. Feels like a good night for some great reading <3
I've been playing a bit with gadgets and widgets on here, so forgive me if I drastically alter the layout, or somehow manage to undo all my customizations. I'd like to keep the look fairly streamlined, but with things of interest scattered about. I like to think I'm doing a halfway decent job of it.
Just checked my dA messages - I'm in another Friday Night Feature. I really enjoy that series - dreamsinstatic finds a lot of awesome stuff every single week. I've even pulled a few DLD's out of the literature features. The quality of work is really stunning and I'm always honored to be included <3 My favorites for the day:
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A Dangerous Sense of Aesthetics
I should try having a productive day sometime. I still haven't gone through all of my papers like I keep telling myself to, or made much a dent in my reading list like I know I need to, or written much new stuff like I keep telling everyone else I'm going to.
So I'll ramble about this poem I've been working on and off of with for a few months now. The prompt: describe a pair of shoes in such a way to evoke thoughts of death. I'm not necessarily committed to keeping 100% to the prompt, but I think it's a good prompt. I decided to try it with a pair of ballet shoes. I have a sort of idea of what I'd like to accomplish, but can't really make anything work. In the process of trying to write though, I've learned quite a lot about ballet and ballet shoes because I can be rather gung ho about technical accuracy.
There's a specific type of ballet shoe called pointe shoes - the type of shoes that allow a dancer to do that fancy move on their toes (en pointe). Pointe training cannot begin until at least 12 years old - the 26 bones of the feet do not fully ossify until 20 to 30 years of age - and the early years of pointe training are crucial.
Shoes are typically made of either satin (only worn for performance), canvas, or leather. Parts incude the box, shank, and ribbons; the box supports the toes while the shank takes care of the arch. The ribbons used to secure the shoe in place do not come attached - the dancer must sew them on herself after determining optimal placement on her own feet. A pair of pointe shoes will last for about 10-20 hours of wear - for professional dancers, a new pair can wear out in a single performance. Ballet companies often provide shoe allowances for their students.
That's a decent background, but what got me interested was actually learning about ballet life; there's a standard of beauty in the ballet industry called the Balanchine body, the ideal form a dancer is supposed to have. The Balanchine body is tall, slender, long, narrow neck and legs, short torso, small breasts, narrow hips, and little to no fat deposits. The desired type is traced back to George Balanchine who wanted to "see the bones" of his dancers.
The body type occurs in about 1% of the population naturally and is the cause of many an eating disorder in the ballet world. The average incidence of eating disorders in white, middle aged women is about 1 in 100. In ballet dancers, it's about 1 in 5.Personally, I'd save time trying to get such a streamlined body by just lying down in front of a steamroller.
Additionally, because peak dancing years occur in young adults, most dancers aiming for a professional career do not attend any sort of higher education - the pressure to keep such an unnatural figure is now tied to thier livelihood. A dancer that gains weight or becomes injured is a dancer out of work. Ballet companies are known to have "appearance clauses" in their contracts and ballet directors often percieve the amount of weight a dancer loses as a sign of dedication to the craft. The standard applies to all dancers, even as young as eleven.
Male dancers do have similar issues, but nowhere close to anything described above, mainly due to a shortage of male dancers everywhere. They have no weight or appearance requirements - by and large, ballet companies take what they can get with men. Female dancers cope with, or, if they've been raised into ballet, become accustomed to harsh criticism, competition, and accept being up to 15% underweight as normal.
In short, "Black Swan" is a documentary.
My obvious route is to use a pair of pointe shoes and somehow constuct a poem to imply the dancer who wore them died of malnourishment and starvation. If I wanted to go really depressing, I could imply it was a very young dancer at that. I can't figure out for the life of me how to get that to paper though :/ Ballet has a lot of potential for fantastic imagery (swans, ribbons, stagelights, empty theater seats, etc.) so I really do love the idea and don't want to toss it out until I've throughly exhausted myself with it.
So I'll ramble about this poem I've been working on and off of with for a few months now. The prompt: describe a pair of shoes in such a way to evoke thoughts of death. I'm not necessarily committed to keeping 100% to the prompt, but I think it's a good prompt. I decided to try it with a pair of ballet shoes. I have a sort of idea of what I'd like to accomplish, but can't really make anything work. In the process of trying to write though, I've learned quite a lot about ballet and ballet shoes because I can be rather gung ho about technical accuracy.
Shoes are typically made of either satin (only worn for performance), canvas, or leather. Parts incude the box, shank, and ribbons; the box supports the toes while the shank takes care of the arch. The ribbons used to secure the shoe in place do not come attached - the dancer must sew them on herself after determining optimal placement on her own feet. A pair of pointe shoes will last for about 10-20 hours of wear - for professional dancers, a new pair can wear out in a single performance. Ballet companies often provide shoe allowances for their students.
That's a decent background, but what got me interested was actually learning about ballet life; there's a standard of beauty in the ballet industry called the Balanchine body, the ideal form a dancer is supposed to have. The Balanchine body is tall, slender, long, narrow neck and legs, short torso, small breasts, narrow hips, and little to no fat deposits. The desired type is traced back to George Balanchine who wanted to "see the bones" of his dancers.
The body type occurs in about 1% of the population naturally and is the cause of many an eating disorder in the ballet world. The average incidence of eating disorders in white, middle aged women is about 1 in 100. In ballet dancers, it's about 1 in 5.Personally, I'd save time trying to get such a streamlined body by just lying down in front of a steamroller.
Additionally, because peak dancing years occur in young adults, most dancers aiming for a professional career do not attend any sort of higher education - the pressure to keep such an unnatural figure is now tied to thier livelihood. A dancer that gains weight or becomes injured is a dancer out of work. Ballet companies are known to have "appearance clauses" in their contracts and ballet directors often percieve the amount of weight a dancer loses as a sign of dedication to the craft. The standard applies to all dancers, even as young as eleven.
Male dancers do have similar issues, but nowhere close to anything described above, mainly due to a shortage of male dancers everywhere. They have no weight or appearance requirements - by and large, ballet companies take what they can get with men. Female dancers cope with, or, if they've been raised into ballet, become accustomed to harsh criticism, competition, and accept being up to 15% underweight as normal.
In short, "Black Swan" is a documentary.
My obvious route is to use a pair of pointe shoes and somehow constuct a poem to imply the dancer who wore them died of malnourishment and starvation. If I wanted to go really depressing, I could imply it was a very young dancer at that. I can't figure out for the life of me how to get that to paper though :/ Ballet has a lot of potential for fantastic imagery (swans, ribbons, stagelights, empty theater seats, etc.) so I really do love the idea and don't want to toss it out until I've throughly exhausted myself with it.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The ACTUAL First Day
Because the first day hardly counts when you only go for one class =P
The good news is, I'm dropping my 8AM class. The bad news is it's math, so I still have to take it eventually. Turns out they pulled the instructor to teach a different class and now I don't know if they plan to cancel this one or get a new professor or what. But I had wanted to take the Mathematics class anyway, which is supposed to be easier than Algebra, so maybe I can nab a summer course or something.
Thus, the bulk of my classes are Monday/ Wednesday from 11-6, with some downtime inbetween. Not too terrible all things considered.
Anthropology looks like it's going to be snore-fest. I was honestly having trouble keeping my eyes open while listening to her drone on about the syllabus. Everything else though is shaping up to look like a good year.
Form and Theory of Poetry is certainly something I'm interested in - my crash course with poetry in the Creative Writing intro class was extremely benficial and taught me a lot about how to go about crafting poems. I feel like I've made leaps and bounds in the past few months with poems thanks to that. I'm cautiously optimistic about this course. It's also set up more like a literature class than a creative writing workshop, so I won't have to write a poem a week or anything, which I think I actually prefer.
One class in and I LOVE Adolescent Lit. The professor is a great guy who obviously loves the subject. It's technically for Education majors planning to teach English, but still open enough that anyone who wants to take it, can. The Outsiders is going to be our first read <3 Much love for S.E. Hinton. It's the only book on the list I know really well, but there are a few others I've either read or have a general idea of and it's shaping up to be my favorite class.
And that's my day. Well, and something about a blackout or something.
The good news is, I'm dropping my 8AM class. The bad news is it's math, so I still have to take it eventually. Turns out they pulled the instructor to teach a different class and now I don't know if they plan to cancel this one or get a new professor or what. But I had wanted to take the Mathematics class anyway, which is supposed to be easier than Algebra, so maybe I can nab a summer course or something.
Thus, the bulk of my classes are Monday/ Wednesday from 11-6, with some downtime inbetween. Not too terrible all things considered.
Anthropology looks like it's going to be snore-fest. I was honestly having trouble keeping my eyes open while listening to her drone on about the syllabus. Everything else though is shaping up to look like a good year.
Form and Theory of Poetry is certainly something I'm interested in - my crash course with poetry in the Creative Writing intro class was extremely benficial and taught me a lot about how to go about crafting poems. I feel like I've made leaps and bounds in the past few months with poems thanks to that. I'm cautiously optimistic about this course. It's also set up more like a literature class than a creative writing workshop, so I won't have to write a poem a week or anything, which I think I actually prefer.
One class in and I LOVE Adolescent Lit. The professor is a great guy who obviously loves the subject. It's technically for Education majors planning to teach English, but still open enough that anyone who wants to take it, can. The Outsiders is going to be our first read <3 Much love for S.E. Hinton. It's the only book on the list I know really well, but there are a few others I've either read or have a general idea of and it's shaping up to be my favorite class.
And that's my day. Well, and something about a blackout or something.
I love you Internet <3
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
First Day
First class of the semester - looks like Fiction I is going to be a good class. For once, a professor that doesn't read every word on the syllabus. We're only college students - if a professor starts the year off by reading aloud to the class, I die just a little bit. Unfortunately, playing your DS while they read is genterally considered poor form.
From the look of things, Fiction will be more or less what I already do in my library group - just reading and critiquing each others work. Granted, we have a bigger group than my library, but same stuff really. The parking situation has also turned out better than expected and the campus now has a trolley system :D
Not looking forward to getting up at 8AM tomorrow, but maybe I'll feel better about getting the math out of the way first thing in the morning.
Still not sure how my schedule is going to effect what I do around dA - Fiction will probably be a lot of reading, though the workload doesn't seem too bad, especially as I'll have all week for assignments. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
From the look of things, Fiction will be more or less what I already do in my library group - just reading and critiquing each others work. Granted, we have a bigger group than my library, but same stuff really. The parking situation has also turned out better than expected and the campus now has a trolley system :D
Not looking forward to getting up at 8AM tomorrow, but maybe I'll feel better about getting the math out of the way first thing in the morning.
Still not sure how my schedule is going to effect what I do around dA - Fiction will probably be a lot of reading, though the workload doesn't seem too bad, especially as I'll have all week for assignments. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Spontaneous
You know how people seem to think a personality is either spontaneous or predictable? Yeah, no. I'm split nearly half and half between spur-of-the-moment adventures and actually sitting down and planning out what I'm going to do. For most things like road trips, I like to have a (flexible) itenerary. But other times, I go and do something like what I did today.
The long and short of it (haha); I have red hair now.
The last time I tried to dye my hair, I went for some subtle red tones. It turned out too subtle - you could barely tell I'd done anything at all. This time, I went considerably bolder. They bleched some highlights into my hair and then dyed those so the color would actually show up this time. It pops so much better now <3 I've been wanting to put some color in my hair for a while now - my real hair is dark brown, dark dark brown. Like, a few shades darker and it may as well be black. I'm really excited by me new look. I totally love how it came out in the end.
It's also been cut to about shoulder length, something I conceeded to so the hairdressers would have an easier time with the dye. When I went in, I was intending to see what the cost/ amount of time would be - I wasn't expecting to actually be in the chair in fifteen minutes. I had also been considering a perm (I do like the look of curls on my head), but I'm glad have just gone with the color for now. I think it's a good choice =P
In other news, I rediscovered this place last night and spent an hour with my ribs aching of laughter. Here were some of my faves:
And do check out this gif, which may be the funniest thing I've ever seen. Oh good lord, you have no idea how much that face swap amuses me. I was crying of laughter last night.
The long and short of it (haha); I have red hair now.
The last time I tried to dye my hair, I went for some subtle red tones. It turned out too subtle - you could barely tell I'd done anything at all. This time, I went considerably bolder. They bleched some highlights into my hair and then dyed those so the color would actually show up this time. It pops so much better now <3 I've been wanting to put some color in my hair for a while now - my real hair is dark brown, dark dark brown. Like, a few shades darker and it may as well be black. I'm really excited by me new look. I totally love how it came out in the end.It's also been cut to about shoulder length, something I conceeded to so the hairdressers would have an easier time with the dye. When I went in, I was intending to see what the cost/ amount of time would be - I wasn't expecting to actually be in the chair in fifteen minutes. I had also been considering a perm (I do like the look of curls on my head), but I'm glad have just gone with the color for now. I think it's a good choice =P
In other news, I rediscovered this place last night and spent an hour with my ribs aching of laughter. Here were some of my faves:
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Ice in the Desert
The ice palaces of Galah sparkled blindingly in the desert sun. The city flashed and gleamed like a diamond even from miles away, calling like a beacon over the sand dunes and camel trails. It was impossible to see at close range - too white, too stunning, too everything. Even with shaded eyes the refraction of light through unmelting ice twisted the straight paths into the most heineous of mazes and left my senses dazzled. Everything within its limits was bright and sharp, from the piercing voices of its people thronged about the square to their frosted white hair and starched clothing of no material I could name. Even long after I left, the stunning flashes of light remianed.
I like desert cities for some reason. I guess they feel exotic to me.
I got a Daily Devation featured today, which is a neat feeling. I've been trying to get into a habit of suggestion something at least every week in addition to DLD's. I've got quite a stash to pull from now, so it should last for a while.
Well, school starts on Tuesday and I still haven't bought any pepper spray. Yes, you heard me. I need a weapon to carry on campus now that I have an evening course. For some reason this class is only offered at night this semester; if I didn't need it, I wouldn't have taken it at all. Small blessings though - that class is only one day a week.
I like desert cities for some reason. I guess they feel exotic to me.
I got a Daily Devation featured today, which is a neat feeling. I've been trying to get into a habit of suggestion something at least every week in addition to DLD's. I've got quite a stash to pull from now, so it should last for a while.
Well, school starts on Tuesday and I still haven't bought any pepper spray. Yes, you heard me. I need a weapon to carry on campus now that I have an evening course. For some reason this class is only offered at night this semester; if I didn't need it, I wouldn't have taken it at all. Small blessings though - that class is only one day a week.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Carrying Things
Yesterday's post on writing exercises got me thinking a little. I mentioned wanting to do more with "The Things They Carried" prompt, and that thought mutated into something totally different - a visual exercise instead of a written one.
I can only do it for myself I suppose, and my camera isn't the best, but it will work. We'll play the "your house is on fire" game: what do you grab? (I hate that game. Like I'm only going to grab one thing. You have two arms people!)
These are the various writing notebooks I keep. The big black binder with the zipper is the main one - I've had it for six years and it's still in pretty good shape all things considered. The blue and brown spiral I got for my writing class last semester; large enough to write properly, small enough to fit in my bag and go everywhere.
This is my favorite possession. Bar none. If it was this or my PlayStation, I'd choose the hat.
This was a gift from Bill; it's his old hat. We used this hat to build a mini-snowman in from of the Administration building late one night. I wore socks on my hands because I didn't have gloves and my hands froze anyway. We lost the hat when the snow melted. He went rummaging through the lost and found at the end of the year and got it back for me <3
But my hat collection is considerably larger than just one. I have over twenty now I believe. Lots of fedoras, but also a top hat, caps, an aviator hat, berets (one with some militray flair), bucket hats, a few that look rather 20's-ish, an Indy hat, and the classic Dr. Seuss hat.
I'm currently hunting for a bowler, a tricorner, a sunhat, and a wizard hat X3
I'm rather a pack rat, so I keep pretty much everything. Cards, letters, books, movies, wires and charagers, glass bottles, knick-knacks, boxes, black CD's, scarves, ribbon, coins - you wouldn't believe the stuff I find when I clean my room.
I like to try to stay organized but can't really manage - not out of laziness but just plain lack of space. I'm not allowing myself to go to Hastings anymore because I have no room on my bookshelf.
I can only do it for myself I suppose, and my camera isn't the best, but it will work. We'll play the "your house is on fire" game: what do you grab? (I hate that game. Like I'm only going to grab one thing. You have two arms people!)
This is my favorite possession. Bar none. If it was this or my PlayStation, I'd choose the hat.
This was a gift from Bill; it's his old hat. We used this hat to build a mini-snowman in from of the Administration building late one night. I wore socks on my hands because I didn't have gloves and my hands froze anyway. We lost the hat when the snow melted. He went rummaging through the lost and found at the end of the year and got it back for me <3
I'm currently hunting for a bowler, a tricorner, a sunhat, and a wizard hat X3
I like to try to stay organized but can't really manage - not out of laziness but just plain lack of space. I'm not allowing myself to go to Hastings anymore because I have no room on my bookshelf.
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Problem with Writing Exercises
They're all meant for children.
I kid you not. Go ahead. Google "writing exercises" right now and see what pops up. An overwhelming majority are for elementary level children. It's "write/ describe this photo," "observe a specific body part/ time of day/ emotion," "write about a memory," "eavesdrop a conversation and write about it." When they aren't outright childish, then they're repetitive. I keep finding the same exercises over and over again. "Write an obituary," "write a diary entry," "make a mind map," "write about your earliest memory." Sound familiar?
It's not like they don't work or anything; I do Invisible Cities all the freaking time and never get tired of it. It would just be nice to have some variety. I don't want to write obituaries and memories from preschool dammit!
So, here's a list of writing exercises I actually enjoy, for my fellow writers :3
Invisible Cities
Example.
I talk about and use this one the most, so I may as well explain it first. "Invisible Cities" is a book by Italio Calvino in which Marco Polo narrates his adventures to Kubli Khan. I've never read it, it's at the top of my reading list, and it's currently $14 at the nearest Barnes and Noble. The point of the exercise though, is to write a city using as much detail as humanly possible.
I tend to make my cities rather out of the box such as finding a city of ice in the middle of the desert or a city made of cardboard, but using a "real" city is just fine. The point is more about detail and crafting a unique sense of place and about seeing place in a unique way. Though I've never read the original book, I have read excerts, and one of my favorites is a city of pipes. That's literally it - a maze of pipework, like only the plumbing contractors showed up for work that day. It's fantastic <3
The Things They Carried
Example.
I guess my personal faves come from books, because this is another one I haven't read ^^; This exercise is all about defining a character by their possessions. The original book takes place during war, where possessions are few (and thus take on greater significance).
This is one of those I keep meaning to do more of because I really love it, but never quite get around to it. I really like the idea of defining a character by everything except what they say and do. I'd like to try describing a set of rooms for a specific character one day.
Word Limits
I've done a lot of these - not much elaboration needed here.
The thing about putting yourself on a limit isn't necessarily that it provides a challenge (though that is part of it). It's that it forces you to be selective. I feel like you can extract more meaning when you have to be that careful with your sentences. It's why six word stories are so profound when well done.
I also find they're good for extracting the basics of a larger story. I have an impressive stash of ideas I can draw from whenever I feel dry. Flash fic is my bread and butter <3
Wiki Everything
This isn't an exercise so much as a process of mine. Many of my favorite pieces were sparked off by a page from Wikipedia. I apprecaite accuracy in my writing (and in others =P) and anything with a lot of terminology I can turn into a metaphor is fair game. The various branches of science are especially apt for this and lend a kind of geeky style to some pieces. I've come to really enjoy integrating the terminology with romance, though one day I should probably try my hand at Science Fiction XD
-EDIT-
This has nothing to do with anything, but I found it on Memebase yesterday and thought is was the coolest thing ever. Check it out:
Will I use it to write something at some point? Probably not =P Just wanted to share a neat trick.
I kid you not. Go ahead. Google "writing exercises" right now and see what pops up. An overwhelming majority are for elementary level children. It's "write/ describe this photo," "observe a specific body part/ time of day/ emotion," "write about a memory," "eavesdrop a conversation and write about it." When they aren't outright childish, then they're repetitive. I keep finding the same exercises over and over again. "Write an obituary," "write a diary entry," "make a mind map," "write about your earliest memory." Sound familiar?
It's not like they don't work or anything; I do Invisible Cities all the freaking time and never get tired of it. It would just be nice to have some variety. I don't want to write obituaries and memories from preschool dammit!
So, here's a list of writing exercises I actually enjoy, for my fellow writers :3
Invisible Cities
Example.
I talk about and use this one the most, so I may as well explain it first. "Invisible Cities" is a book by Italio Calvino in which Marco Polo narrates his adventures to Kubli Khan. I've never read it, it's at the top of my reading list, and it's currently $14 at the nearest Barnes and Noble. The point of the exercise though, is to write a city using as much detail as humanly possible.
I tend to make my cities rather out of the box such as finding a city of ice in the middle of the desert or a city made of cardboard, but using a "real" city is just fine. The point is more about detail and crafting a unique sense of place and about seeing place in a unique way. Though I've never read the original book, I have read excerts, and one of my favorites is a city of pipes. That's literally it - a maze of pipework, like only the plumbing contractors showed up for work that day. It's fantastic <3
The Things They Carried
Example.
I guess my personal faves come from books, because this is another one I haven't read ^^; This exercise is all about defining a character by their possessions. The original book takes place during war, where possessions are few (and thus take on greater significance).
This is one of those I keep meaning to do more of because I really love it, but never quite get around to it. I really like the idea of defining a character by everything except what they say and do. I'd like to try describing a set of rooms for a specific character one day.
Word Limits
I've done a lot of these - not much elaboration needed here.
The thing about putting yourself on a limit isn't necessarily that it provides a challenge (though that is part of it). It's that it forces you to be selective. I feel like you can extract more meaning when you have to be that careful with your sentences. It's why six word stories are so profound when well done.
I also find they're good for extracting the basics of a larger story. I have an impressive stash of ideas I can draw from whenever I feel dry. Flash fic is my bread and butter <3
Wiki Everything
This isn't an exercise so much as a process of mine. Many of my favorite pieces were sparked off by a page from Wikipedia. I apprecaite accuracy in my writing (and in others =P) and anything with a lot of terminology I can turn into a metaphor is fair game. The various branches of science are especially apt for this and lend a kind of geeky style to some pieces. I've come to really enjoy integrating the terminology with romance, though one day I should probably try my hand at Science Fiction XD
-EDIT-
This has nothing to do with anything, but I found it on Memebase yesterday and thought is was the coolest thing ever. Check it out:
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Scheduling
I've made no secret of my hatred of my college, but they just keep giving me reasons to continue doing so. The latest? I had my schedule exactly the way I wanted it, and they cancelled one of the classes.
Luckily I didn't have to completely re-do my entire line up, but I do have an 8AM math class now TT_TT It was that, or take another class in the same timeslot, but with a professor I don't really like. Either way, this is my last chance to pass math, because I need two more classes to nab an Associate's Degree on my way to an English major with an emphasis in Writing. I'd like to say I'm going to buckle down and get shit done, but, well, it's math. I'd honestly be deliriously happy with a 70% at the end of the year; whatever it takes to pass. Pass; not with flying colors, just get it the hell out of the way.
The good thing though, is that the cancellation did allow me to sneak in an extra class. They don't offer many English/ Writing courses in the Spring semester for some reason, so I'm grabbing up as many as I can. This year I'll be taking Physical Anthropology, a Poetry course, a Fiction course, and an Adolescent Literature course.
I think I know more or less what I'm getting into with most of them, but I'm intrigued by the teen lit course. I have no idea what to expect there though I do have a book list, several of which I've already read (so just maybe I have a jumpstart here). I genuinely do like YA books when they're well written, which is to say they put storytelling and character before preachiness XD
While I do think I'll like most of my classes, it's going to be a long semester. Mondays and Wednesdays I'll be going to class from 8:00 to 6:00. That may as well be a full time job. Tuesdays I have an evening course, which I can't really say I'm happy about given what the campus is like even during the day >.> The trade-off though, means I don't have to go to class at all on Thursdays, and more or less get Tuesdays and Fridays off. Then again, I'll likely be babysitting when not in school, so maybe not so much.
Luckily I didn't have to completely re-do my entire line up, but I do have an 8AM math class now TT_TT It was that, or take another class in the same timeslot, but with a professor I don't really like. Either way, this is my last chance to pass math, because I need two more classes to nab an Associate's Degree on my way to an English major with an emphasis in Writing. I'd like to say I'm going to buckle down and get shit done, but, well, it's math. I'd honestly be deliriously happy with a 70% at the end of the year; whatever it takes to pass. Pass; not with flying colors, just get it the hell out of the way.
The good thing though, is that the cancellation did allow me to sneak in an extra class. They don't offer many English/ Writing courses in the Spring semester for some reason, so I'm grabbing up as many as I can. This year I'll be taking Physical Anthropology, a Poetry course, a Fiction course, and an Adolescent Literature course.
I think I know more or less what I'm getting into with most of them, but I'm intrigued by the teen lit course. I have no idea what to expect there though I do have a book list, several of which I've already read (so just maybe I have a jumpstart here). I genuinely do like YA books when they're well written, which is to say they put storytelling and character before preachiness XD
While I do think I'll like most of my classes, it's going to be a long semester. Mondays and Wednesdays I'll be going to class from 8:00 to 6:00. That may as well be a full time job. Tuesdays I have an evening course, which I can't really say I'm happy about given what the campus is like even during the day >.> The trade-off though, means I don't have to go to class at all on Thursdays, and more or less get Tuesdays and Fridays off. Then again, I'll likely be babysitting when not in school, so maybe not so much.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Spare Time Gamer
I'm really starting to wonder about my postcards - I haven't gotten any in sometime. I don't know if they've been lost in the mail, or are still traveling or if the receipents are just lazy about registering them XD Cards get 60 days of traveling time before they're marked as expired, and two have already done so. The rest are still in transit; the oldest has been traveling 54 days while the most recent has been 12 days.
I'm feeling much better today, which means good enough to go pick up some medical gowns for my Mom's office, but still kinda weak. Little man felt like being especially difficult today - I couldn't even sit down for ten minutes to read my stupid Cracked article.
But if I start going down that tangent I'll begin rambling. I tend to do that around video games as I'm rather interested in their status as a legitimate artistic medium, a topic I'll have to post about some other time. But speaking of video games, I've been able to play some good ones lately:
Pokemon Black/ White
I count them as a single entity because, technically, they kinda are. I happen to have Black version, and it's the first Pokemon game I've played since Silver. I'd honestly forgotten how much I loved the franchise. Somehow, the same basic plotline just doesn't get old. I don't pretend to understand it; just accept it.
I think I actually enjoy the games more now than I did at a ten year old. Partly due to how much more expansive the world is, but also because it does take a certain amount of finesse to capture certain mons and defeat bosses than I was really capable of when I was younger. My ten year old self favored brute force to get through the League for example (strategy has never been my forte XD). I'm also finding there's a lot of mystery to really dive into that I may not have noticed or thought about before. Nothing that really applies to the core of the game, but the nameless side characters and out of the way areas.
There was this one town with a plateau with an item ball on it - I couldn't reach it at all. No way to climb up, no stairs, no twisted pathway through the trees - no clue what it was I needed to do. I shrugged it off an assumed it was just one of those things the programmers forgot. Months later, I realized it had to do with the seasons mechanic - you had to wait for Winter to get the item. When it snowed in that town, you could walk right up the snowdrift. It's little things like that that really make a game for me and the Pokemon franchise is really good at it.
Professor Layton
I like puzzle games, but I've always loved a good plot more. The Layton series has been kind enough to provide both. I really love the animation style of these games - this warm, simple, old-European kinda thing going on. It's just charming <3
Like with Pokemon, each game in the series is much like the others, yet never really seems to get old. The puzzles never feel repetitive and the plot and environments for each game are totally unique and seperate from games previous. The cast of characters if fantastic - even if each person isn't fully fleshed out, you still get a sense of how different each person is. It's one of the best things about the games.
I've yet to begin the fourth game, but the formula has held up splendidlly thus far. I expect it to be another fun playthrough with the occasional brain-melter of a puzzle (I'm not kidding - I've had to look up solutions to at least two puzzles per game).
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
If I'd noticed this game had a mature rating on the cover, I might have thought a little harder about asking for it for Christmas. I'm glad I did get it, but good LORD this game gets creepy in places. I'm squemish at best when it comes to gore - more often than not I have trouble stomaching even medical shows. While the game barely shows much of anything, the descriptions of mutilated bodies blown up from the inside are more than enough to make up for it. Adding to that, the general atmosphere of unease and paranoia can be really unnerving. That said - I love this game.
Since this really isn't a very well known game, here's the plot rundown: nine people trapped on a boat that may or may not be the Titanic. You have all been invited to play a game. You have nine hours to get out, or all of you will drown. You can get out by finding a door marked with a "9" - but to get to this door, you're going to have to hunt it down with your companions. Each person has a bracelet on thier wrist that acts as a detonator - if you try to cheat the game in any way, the bomb in your small intestine will go off. The bracelet will only come off if you finish the game or your heart stops beating.
The best way I can describe it is Choose Your Own Adventure meets an Escape the Room game. There are multiple endings though I've only found two thus far and am currently on my third run through. The various choices you make in the game influence what ending you get - it's a LOT of text to read, but it's such an intriguing story that I honestly don't care. Probably not for everybody, but I'd think even a casual gamer with a love of good reading could get into this one.
And that's my life lately - babysitting and video games when I'm not online. I might review some of these more intensively at a later date, especially 999 once I get all the endings.
I'm feeling much better today, which means good enough to go pick up some medical gowns for my Mom's office, but still kinda weak. Little man felt like being especially difficult today - I couldn't even sit down for ten minutes to read my stupid Cracked article.
But if I start going down that tangent I'll begin rambling. I tend to do that around video games as I'm rather interested in their status as a legitimate artistic medium, a topic I'll have to post about some other time. But speaking of video games, I've been able to play some good ones lately:
I count them as a single entity because, technically, they kinda are. I happen to have Black version, and it's the first Pokemon game I've played since Silver. I'd honestly forgotten how much I loved the franchise. Somehow, the same basic plotline just doesn't get old. I don't pretend to understand it; just accept it.
I think I actually enjoy the games more now than I did at a ten year old. Partly due to how much more expansive the world is, but also because it does take a certain amount of finesse to capture certain mons and defeat bosses than I was really capable of when I was younger. My ten year old self favored brute force to get through the League for example (strategy has never been my forte XD). I'm also finding there's a lot of mystery to really dive into that I may not have noticed or thought about before. Nothing that really applies to the core of the game, but the nameless side characters and out of the way areas.
There was this one town with a plateau with an item ball on it - I couldn't reach it at all. No way to climb up, no stairs, no twisted pathway through the trees - no clue what it was I needed to do. I shrugged it off an assumed it was just one of those things the programmers forgot. Months later, I realized it had to do with the seasons mechanic - you had to wait for Winter to get the item. When it snowed in that town, you could walk right up the snowdrift. It's little things like that that really make a game for me and the Pokemon franchise is really good at it.
Professor Layton
I like puzzle games, but I've always loved a good plot more. The Layton series has been kind enough to provide both. I really love the animation style of these games - this warm, simple, old-European kinda thing going on. It's just charming <3
Like with Pokemon, each game in the series is much like the others, yet never really seems to get old. The puzzles never feel repetitive and the plot and environments for each game are totally unique and seperate from games previous. The cast of characters if fantastic - even if each person isn't fully fleshed out, you still get a sense of how different each person is. It's one of the best things about the games.
I've yet to begin the fourth game, but the formula has held up splendidlly thus far. I expect it to be another fun playthrough with the occasional brain-melter of a puzzle (I'm not kidding - I've had to look up solutions to at least two puzzles per game).
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
If I'd noticed this game had a mature rating on the cover, I might have thought a little harder about asking for it for Christmas. I'm glad I did get it, but good LORD this game gets creepy in places. I'm squemish at best when it comes to gore - more often than not I have trouble stomaching even medical shows. While the game barely shows much of anything, the descriptions of mutilated bodies blown up from the inside are more than enough to make up for it. Adding to that, the general atmosphere of unease and paranoia can be really unnerving. That said - I love this game.
Since this really isn't a very well known game, here's the plot rundown: nine people trapped on a boat that may or may not be the Titanic. You have all been invited to play a game. You have nine hours to get out, or all of you will drown. You can get out by finding a door marked with a "9" - but to get to this door, you're going to have to hunt it down with your companions. Each person has a bracelet on thier wrist that acts as a detonator - if you try to cheat the game in any way, the bomb in your small intestine will go off. The bracelet will only come off if you finish the game or your heart stops beating.
The best way I can describe it is Choose Your Own Adventure meets an Escape the Room game. There are multiple endings though I've only found two thus far and am currently on my third run through. The various choices you make in the game influence what ending you get - it's a LOT of text to read, but it's such an intriguing story that I honestly don't care. Probably not for everybody, but I'd think even a casual gamer with a love of good reading could get into this one.
And that's my life lately - babysitting and video games when I'm not online. I might review some of these more intensively at a later date, especially 999 once I get all the endings.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sick Day
It's been a while since I felt so terrible that it was actually a struggle to lift my cell phone. I can't say I'd like to repeat the experience.
Spent pretty much the entire day in bed; when I did get up, it felt like I was moving underwater, or like all my muscle structure had atropied during the night. Still feel pretty terrible, but at least I can sit up now - my bath did wonders for me. Any sleep schedule I had has been throughly shot to hell, which may present a problem when I go back to classes next week.
God I'm so tired TT_TT I'll try to be super intersting tomorrow.
Spent pretty much the entire day in bed; when I did get up, it felt like I was moving underwater, or like all my muscle structure had atropied during the night. Still feel pretty terrible, but at least I can sit up now - my bath did wonders for me. Any sleep schedule I had has been throughly shot to hell, which may present a problem when I go back to classes next week.
God I'm so tired TT_TT I'll try to be super intersting tomorrow.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Mimesis
mi·me·sis
[mi-mee-sis, mahy-]
1.
Rhetoric . imitation or reproduction of the supposed words of another, as in order to represent his or her character.
Put another (simpler) way, mimesis is all about art's imitation of life. Why am I giving you this definition? Because story ideas :D
I was purging my files, something I try to do before the beginning of every new semester and came across a note I had written to myself concerning the dichotomy of the actor and character in theater. Said note must have been written in a hurry, because that's all I can read of it, but I'm sure it was an interesting idea. Somewhere off to the side, I had "Hamlet" in quotation marks. I did write a paper on the metatheatrical nataure of Hamlet two semesters ago, which is likely where that came from and the tangent sent me back to the word "mimesis," which I think is a fantastic word <3
I no longer recall what my original intent was, but thinking upon it, I have two guesses for what I could do with this: one, I could use the scene with the Players. Two, "The Murder of Gonzago." Both scenes are interesting on a metatheatrical level to me.
The strength of
the first scene must come from the actors – the First Player must be astoundingly good if the audience is
going to be able to take Hamlet’s following soliloquy seriously. The actor cast into the
position of the First Player has a twofold role on two different levels: to
impress Hamlet (in the theater level) and to make his reaction believable to
the audience (the “real” level). This duality of character and actor can only
exist upon the stage, where the world is not self contained. Unlike film, whose
principal purpose is to create a world independent of the actors, the stage
cannot escape its players.
Meanwhile, in "The Murder of Gonzago" we see another version of Hamlet within Hamlet (insert your own Inception joke here). In this scene,
Hamlet has chosen to weaponize mimesis and in the process comment upon the
power of drama. The fourth wall between the audience and actors, given the
right production, can be very nearly or even completely dissolved by "The Murder of Gonzago;" as spectators to both
plays, we become, in essence, part of the theatrical production. We are even well rehearsed actors – even
infrequent visitors to drama understand theater etiquette.
I like the idea of writing a short story in which the audience becomes part of the production. Or rather, the entire audience is part of it, but one attendant gets really into character. Maybe I'm just a total nerd, but I find the concept fascinating <3
Hee.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A Little Bit of Structure
Finished my little city oneshot. I'm rather happy with it all things considered, though I still can't bring myself to write the omake, even with Bill's blessing upon it XD
Writing about cities is one of my favorite things to do - the best writing exercise in my aresenal is called "Invisible Cities" after the Italio Calvino book. All you do is write about a city with all your senses; what does it look like, smell like, what's the general atmosphere, what are the people like, climate, culture, everything that makes up a unique identity. I don't typically use real cities as it's far more fun to craft your own, but this was a gift, so I made an exception.
The thing with writing cities is you have to be specific to get to the heart of what makes on place different from another, but being too specific leaves the piece unrelateable. That's the real reason I don't really like to use actual places, especially when I haven't even been there myself.
For my fellow writers out there though, the exercise can produce some fantastic results if you'll just sit down and write a few. I'm considering making that a mini-project of sorts for this blog - dedicate a day each week to posting with a new city piece. I need a little more structure to this blog anyway. I decree, Sundays shall be city days!
The wind curled through the brushes on the edge of the river, rolling along with gentle waves lapping at the black sandy shores of Discortia. There was an almost malicious chill to the breeze, a harshness one might have called intentional as the cold slipped daggers into every patch of skin not covered by my jacket. The city gates rose tall, huge, black iron beasts filigreed with twisting metal snaking its way around the bars that swung open soundlessly. Within, rows of grey buildings lined perfectly paved streets, eerie in their too-perfect geometry.
Not bad for five minutes of freewriting : ) I almost always end up writing about empty/ creepy cities for some reason and I honestly can't figure out why. I guess it's the mystery? The ambiance of an empty city is impressive, but you'd think my traveller would meet more people in his journeys.
Writing about cities is one of my favorite things to do - the best writing exercise in my aresenal is called "Invisible Cities" after the Italio Calvino book. All you do is write about a city with all your senses; what does it look like, smell like, what's the general atmosphere, what are the people like, climate, culture, everything that makes up a unique identity. I don't typically use real cities as it's far more fun to craft your own, but this was a gift, so I made an exception.
The thing with writing cities is you have to be specific to get to the heart of what makes on place different from another, but being too specific leaves the piece unrelateable. That's the real reason I don't really like to use actual places, especially when I haven't even been there myself.
For my fellow writers out there though, the exercise can produce some fantastic results if you'll just sit down and write a few. I'm considering making that a mini-project of sorts for this blog - dedicate a day each week to posting with a new city piece. I need a little more structure to this blog anyway. I decree, Sundays shall be city days!
The wind curled through the brushes on the edge of the river, rolling along with gentle waves lapping at the black sandy shores of Discortia. There was an almost malicious chill to the breeze, a harshness one might have called intentional as the cold slipped daggers into every patch of skin not covered by my jacket. The city gates rose tall, huge, black iron beasts filigreed with twisting metal snaking its way around the bars that swung open soundlessly. Within, rows of grey buildings lined perfectly paved streets, eerie in their too-perfect geometry.
Not bad for five minutes of freewriting : ) I almost always end up writing about empty/ creepy cities for some reason and I honestly can't figure out why. I guess it's the mystery? The ambiance of an empty city is impressive, but you'd think my traveller would meet more people in his journeys.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
The Paradox of Wanting
He loved the city most at night.
Not midnight – midnight was cliché, passé; midnight
was for Cinderella, and he was never leaving this ball. The fog rolled into the
San Francisco bay on a gentle wind, the slightest touch of cold ruffling
through his hair. The golden bridge shone on clear nights but tonight it
glowed, softened by the natural blanket and cast smoldering warmth in the
black.
He cast one leg out, dangling over the lip of an abandoned,
rather Victorian looking house. From here, his unobstructed view could take in
the massive expanse of water on three sides and the distant gleam of a
delirious nightlife, choking on its own heady essence. Somewhere, always in the
background, the constant hush of lapping waves beckoned, rushing in and out, in
and out, like a softer version of the fault quakes. The tang of salt on the
breeze tickled his nose.
A preview of something to come. And it will be something special, even if I don't know what it is yet.
I've been posting a lot, multiple times in the same day on some occasions, which I suppose just goes to show me that I never should have stopped keeping a blog - that the process of just writing about the day really was doing amazing things for my writing, even if no one was reading or encouraging or swapping ideas or criticizing. I'll probably end up double posting today because it's like 3AM here and I'll feel "due" for a new post tomorrow evening even though I'm technically getting it out of the way now. Actually, I ended up becoming so tired that I broke through the other side of exhausted and was wide awake by 4AM, which is more than enough to suddenly realize "oh hey, there's a save button." Thus, contained within is a conglomeration of time, intermingling in a dance of different pasts. Which sounds far better than "I started a new post and didn't finish." But that isn't what I came here to write about.
I tease him a lot because it's amusing to watch him get flustered and because it's part of my job description as Jester to the Emperor, a responsibility I take very seriously, but I really do love the guy. He's my sounding board, part-time collaborator, sometimes editor and soon to be halfway across the country where I'll likely never see him again. I've heard him talk about leaving before and I can tell you the writing in that post isn't the half of it - the rest is all about tone and inflection and starting out windows along a moving highway and nearly driving me off the road with excessive finger pointing.
I wonder some days if the reason some states aren't flourishing is because the people like him keep leaving the places that need those types of people most.
But that's speculation on my part. The point is, I really liked the omake I had planned so I came here to complain about it being ruined because to write it now would be making light of something I'd feel terrible about making fun of later.
Unrelated:
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| Click to embiggen. |
Friday, January 6, 2012
Adventures in Construction
While I often like to think of myself as someone who enjoys making things, in practice I'm not especially good at it. I can make origami stars like a boss, but my talents don't stretch much further.
Point is, I bought some storage shelving at Target because I loved the last one I bought that much. I had been using several storage towers, but my new unit has rendered most of them obsolete and I actually have some floorspace now. I can even open my closet door all the way.
I'm one of those people that hoardes every little thing, just in case it turns out to be useful. Scraps of pattern, kinck-knacks, stickers - anything with crafting potential. One would think my lessons in trying to build things where the instructions are laid out for you clear cut would deter me from future projects where I'd have to wing it, but I just can't seem to learn.
Last of the postcards today, until more arrive in the mail! :D
From Lithuania - I seem to send and receive a lot of cards from the Eastern European area for some reason. Perhaps the stats average out more as you keep sending mail.
The photo on the card is by photographer Betsy Spink titled "Mellow Pages."
Distressed and rough around the edges, this phone directory looked how I felt. But there it lay, in its beautiful tree like resemblance.
One from Poland - the sender happened to note I liked horses. Not really much to say about this one; what ya see is what ya get.
Oddly foggy tonight; good night to get a fire going. Unfortunately, it's also the Cotton Bowl, thus my grandparents monopolize the fireplace. We don't even have any marshmallows in this house. And that realization has birthed another one - we have no whipped cream, thus making hot chocolate is pointless. Just like my life.
Point is, I bought some storage shelving at Target because I loved the last one I bought that much. I had been using several storage towers, but my new unit has rendered most of them obsolete and I actually have some floorspace now. I can even open my closet door all the way.
I'm one of those people that hoardes every little thing, just in case it turns out to be useful. Scraps of pattern, kinck-knacks, stickers - anything with crafting potential. One would think my lessons in trying to build things where the instructions are laid out for you clear cut would deter me from future projects where I'd have to wing it, but I just can't seem to learn.
Last of the postcards today, until more arrive in the mail! :D
The photo on the card is by photographer Betsy Spink titled "Mellow Pages."
Distressed and rough around the edges, this phone directory looked how I felt. But there it lay, in its beautiful tree like resemblance.
Oddly foggy tonight; good night to get a fire going. Unfortunately, it's also the Cotton Bowl, thus my grandparents monopolize the fireplace. We don't even have any marshmallows in this house. And that realization has birthed another one - we have no whipped cream, thus making hot chocolate is pointless. Just like my life.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Weatherman is a Rain God
I had a lot to talk about today. But I forgot most of it, so I'm just going to ramble about for a while.
Transliterations has a new contest prompt for those interested in modernizing some mythology. Luckily, my Professional Muse is quite the mythology buff; I will be taking on a Hindu story about the god Indra and his battle with the dragon Vritra. Every time it rains, it's a recreation of thier battle.
I have decided my Indra reincarnate shall be a weatherman for the lulz. Leaning towards rival meteorologists, working for differnet news stations. I thought about having my protaganist go to the pet store and unknowingly buy a snake that tured out to be a reincarnate of his ancient rival, but it's easier to write two humans. I may have taken some inspiration from Douglas Adams on this one. More specifically, his Rain God character. I usually found Adams' throwaway gags and characters to be the best ones.
Because my Muse likes to lecture, I now know enough about Hindu mythology to give a crash course to a class of ten year olds. We've also decided there needs to be a crossover fic with Paul Bunyan and the bull Nandi. Hinduism just happens to have a race of giants that I'm sure I could tie in :P I'll keep things updated here for those interested in the mysterious writing process of mine.
But I doubt I'll get much of it done tonight. Have some more postcards.
This one is from Belarus, which was the first time I had to go dig out a map to figure out where it came from. It's a fairly small nation that declared soverignty during the break-up of the USSR. I'd tell you what this is a picture of, but I don't know - I believe the language is Russian and if I were to guess I'd say it's a petting zoo. The sender didn't clarify, identifying it only as a "place of relaxation" in his city.
A card from Finland - "Suomi" is not a city as I first thought, but the Finnish word for Finland :D Once again though, the sender didn't offer much information about themselves or the card.
I can understand that really - it's difficult to say much in such a small space, combinded with writing to a complete stranger. I suppose I can consider myself lucky in this instance to have trained myself into brevity with my writing, even if my penmanship leaves much to be desired.
Finland though is one of those countries I don't know much about but probably wouldn't mind visiting. It looks like a wonderfully scenic country and I'm pretty sure it's far north enough to get the Aurora at night - one of the reasons I'd love to travel North in the future.
Transliterations has a new contest prompt for those interested in modernizing some mythology. Luckily, my Professional Muse is quite the mythology buff; I will be taking on a Hindu story about the god Indra and his battle with the dragon Vritra. Every time it rains, it's a recreation of thier battle.
I have decided my Indra reincarnate shall be a weatherman for the lulz. Leaning towards rival meteorologists, working for differnet news stations. I thought about having my protaganist go to the pet store and unknowingly buy a snake that tured out to be a reincarnate of his ancient rival, but it's easier to write two humans. I may have taken some inspiration from Douglas Adams on this one. More specifically, his Rain God character. I usually found Adams' throwaway gags and characters to be the best ones.
Because my Muse likes to lecture, I now know enough about Hindu mythology to give a crash course to a class of ten year olds. We've also decided there needs to be a crossover fic with Paul Bunyan and the bull Nandi. Hinduism just happens to have a race of giants that I'm sure I could tie in :P I'll keep things updated here for those interested in the mysterious writing process of mine.
But I doubt I'll get much of it done tonight. Have some more postcards.
A card from Finland - "Suomi" is not a city as I first thought, but the Finnish word for Finland :D Once again though, the sender didn't offer much information about themselves or the card.
I can understand that really - it's difficult to say much in such a small space, combinded with writing to a complete stranger. I suppose I can consider myself lucky in this instance to have trained myself into brevity with my writing, even if my penmanship leaves much to be desired.
Finland though is one of those countries I don't know much about but probably wouldn't mind visiting. It looks like a wonderfully scenic country and I'm pretty sure it's far north enough to get the Aurora at night - one of the reasons I'd love to travel North in the future.
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