So....while doing numerous hours of homework, I've discovered and been introduced to some amazing artists and songs, which have saved me from hours and hours of ultimate boredom. I though I'd share a few with you, in case you're in need of some new tunes.
First up, we have Lauren O'Connell. Basically, I'd love to be Lauren O'Connell when I grow up. Not only does she have an amazing original voice, she plays at least 8 instruments and several household objects in unique ways, and her lyrics are really meaningful. So you should listen to everything she's ever written. My favorite song, and the one that one of my friends originally showed to me, is the one in the link, White Noise.
http://www.youtube.com/LaurenOC12#p/c/4F6514652BBFF464/0/8hI5Rs-VXQE
Another incredible artist, who I actually found off of a Lauren O'Connell song, is Benjamin Jameson Morrey. Another singer-songwriter with meaningful lyrics, his voice sounds so innocent and simple that his lyrics are allowed to speak for themselves. My favorite song of his, the one in the link, also has a very cool video (the video in the link). It's called "Hospital-Pt.1".
http://www.youtube.com/benjaminjamesonmorey#p/u/4/VS4lBW1wYsM
So, if you're ever in need of some amazing music and have something that must be done that you aren't exactly thrilled about...look either of these two artists up. You will not be bored any longer!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Top Ten Lists and All That Jazz
As is always...it has been too long since I last entered the blogosphere with a trusty Youtube soudtrack and some really freaking awesome books to share. Darn Facebook, Too Bloody Addicting. So...too make up for lost time...I present to you a list:
Top Ten Books to Enter Your Brain As Soon Is Humanly Possible (Ranked in No Way According to Goodness Level) That I Have Read This Summer:
1. Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
HILARIOUS BOOK! Plus sincerely random, and a little bit sad. Also, my favorite part of the book? The Acknowledgments. They sold me on this book. They are the funniest credits I have ever read or heard about, and rival some of the books I've read. Plus, it's 4 pages long. And once you get past that, the book will make you laugh out loud, and maybe even cry a little. I did, for sure. But the mix of ancient Norse myths, smoothie drinking happy cults, Molecular Biology to explain time travel, and garden gnomes is one you just won't get anywhere else. I can promise you that.
2. Mockingjay, by Suzzane Collins
3. Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr
4. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
5. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, by April Lurie
6. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
7. Marked, by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
8. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
9. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the latest amazing novel co-written by John Green and David Levithan
10. Tithe, by Holly Black
Plus the Alex Rider Series, by Anthony Horowitz, but that's not one book, so it doesn't make the list. You should read it though. Even if it is a little bit made for 14 year old boys...I still like it a lot. Don't know what that says about me...
An interesting side note: Have you noticed that in all good spy books the spies work for M16 (the English Special Operations) or are rebels and work on the "Dark Side" of the law? Why is that? Because they're the most badass, I guess.
Top Ten Songs to Listen To Insistently For Hours On End and Drive Your Family Crazy With (That I Have Heard This Summer):
1. Dragonstone Din Tei, by O-Zone
The best Romanian Pop/Dance song ever made! Mandantory crazy dancing and singing in terrible Romanian accents while listening to this song as loud as the speakers can go.
2. Break Me Out, by The Rescues
3. Dynamite, by Taio Cruz
(DISCLAIMER: I don't actually like this type of music much, or Taio Cruz pretty much at all, but this is one awesome dance song, and also gets stuck in my head for 8 zillion years after I hear it once, so I listen to it all the time right now.)
Ummm....since I have to go buy school supplies and eat dinner (Except not at the same time, though that would be....handy?), this will get finished SOON. And I mean it this time!
I will see you soon! Hope you have some new books on your list now. It's why I do this.
Actually...I do this just because I want to. But that's always an added bonus. :)
DFTBA. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome.)
Top Ten Books to Enter Your Brain As Soon Is Humanly Possible (Ranked in No Way According to Goodness Level) That I Have Read This Summer:
1. Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
HILARIOUS BOOK! Plus sincerely random, and a little bit sad. Also, my favorite part of the book? The Acknowledgments. They sold me on this book. They are the funniest credits I have ever read or heard about, and rival some of the books I've read. Plus, it's 4 pages long. And once you get past that, the book will make you laugh out loud, and maybe even cry a little. I did, for sure. But the mix of ancient Norse myths, smoothie drinking happy cults, Molecular Biology to explain time travel, and garden gnomes is one you just won't get anywhere else. I can promise you that.
2. Mockingjay, by Suzzane Collins
3. Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr
4. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
5. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, by April Lurie
6. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
7. Marked, by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
8. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
9. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the latest amazing novel co-written by John Green and David Levithan
10. Tithe, by Holly Black
Plus the Alex Rider Series, by Anthony Horowitz, but that's not one book, so it doesn't make the list. You should read it though. Even if it is a little bit made for 14 year old boys...I still like it a lot. Don't know what that says about me...
An interesting side note: Have you noticed that in all good spy books the spies work for M16 (the English Special Operations) or are rebels and work on the "Dark Side" of the law? Why is that? Because they're the most badass, I guess.
Top Ten Songs to Listen To Insistently For Hours On End and Drive Your Family Crazy With (That I Have Heard This Summer):
1. Dragonstone Din Tei, by O-Zone
The best Romanian Pop/Dance song ever made! Mandantory crazy dancing and singing in terrible Romanian accents while listening to this song as loud as the speakers can go.
2. Break Me Out, by The Rescues
3. Dynamite, by Taio Cruz
(DISCLAIMER: I don't actually like this type of music much, or Taio Cruz pretty much at all, but this is one awesome dance song, and also gets stuck in my head for 8 zillion years after I hear it once, so I listen to it all the time right now.)
Ummm....since I have to go buy school supplies and eat dinner (Except not at the same time, though that would be....handy?), this will get finished SOON. And I mean it this time!
I will see you soon! Hope you have some new books on your list now. It's why I do this.
Actually...I do this just because I want to. But that's always an added bonus. :)
DFTBA. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Classically Epic
Wait...what is this website again? Oh right...my blog! It's been too long, blogosphere, and I apologize profusely for that! But, with 2 and a half days left of school, expect more from me on a slightly more organized manner soon!
What's happened since my last post...well, I turned 16! Which is insanely crazy, in my opinion. The Earth just keeps on spinning, I suppose...
And I've read some really good books since then! It's been a bit of a visit to the classic side of literature for me these last couple of weeks/months/when did I last post on this anyway? My English class is finishing up the year with an emphasis on Utopian/Dystopian literature and themes, so we read the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury.
I have to say, I was skeptical going into this unit. I've read 4 or 5 short stories by Bradbury, and I didn't like a single one. They were creepy, and weird, and I didn't really care for his writing style. But" Fahrenheit 451" blew me away! I haven't read many novels in highschool English classes that I've actually liked, which added to my aprehension. But this novel was exciting, thought-provoking, and interesting! It was also really well written, with a metaphorical prose like feel, and really had an interesting critique on US society! It was a little creepy, but it only added to the atmosphere and critique, without making me throw it across the room like other (*ahem*lord of the flies*ahem*) books we read this year did. You should definitely read it!
Oh, yah, summary. I do those, don't I? Well, it will have to wait, as will the other book I'm going to recommend from my English class. Finals Studying calls... 2 and half more days, and then I promise I'll be back!
To leave, here's a picture I found today, which I think is pretty cool:
Have a good 2 and a half days!
What's happened since my last post...well, I turned 16! Which is insanely crazy, in my opinion. The Earth just keeps on spinning, I suppose...
And I've read some really good books since then! It's been a bit of a visit to the classic side of literature for me these last couple of weeks/months/when did I last post on this anyway? My English class is finishing up the year with an emphasis on Utopian/Dystopian literature and themes, so we read the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury.
I have to say, I was skeptical going into this unit. I've read 4 or 5 short stories by Bradbury, and I didn't like a single one. They were creepy, and weird, and I didn't really care for his writing style. But" Fahrenheit 451" blew me away! I haven't read many novels in highschool English classes that I've actually liked, which added to my aprehension. But this novel was exciting, thought-provoking, and interesting! It was also really well written, with a metaphorical prose like feel, and really had an interesting critique on US society! It was a little creepy, but it only added to the atmosphere and critique, without making me throw it across the room like other (*ahem*lord of the flies*ahem*) books we read this year did. You should definitely read it!
Oh, yah, summary. I do those, don't I? Well, it will have to wait, as will the other book I'm going to recommend from my English class. Finals Studying calls... 2 and half more days, and then I promise I'll be back!
To leave, here's a picture I found today, which I think is pretty cool:
Have a good 2 and a half days!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Poems, Some Rambling...What Else Is New?
Once again (this is becoming a bad habit) I have neglected the blogging world. Bad, bad me. And I am about to do it again, when I really don't write anything of importance in this post. Only to say I shall be back! And soon!
And to post this, a sonnet I wrote for English class. (Atleast I got one positive thing out of the 7 thousand years of homework I've been doing, right?) We had to write it about an object that gave us strong emotion. I wrote mine about my hate-love relationship with my violin. Maybe i should have written it about my hate-love relationship with iambic pentameter instead... anyway, for your potential reading pleasure, here you go:
Hate, Love, Sore Fingers, and Soul
The wooden box inside the wooden box,
Has yet to show the music that it makes.
The notes inside my head are not unlocked,
My confidence, though not begun, still breaks.
The notes, the page, they swim before my eyes,
But still the bow presses onto the string.
The melodies, the harmonies, subside,
Yet I still play, head set on finishing.
I hold my breath, release into the sound,
And now I know the reason that I try.
To know myself, relax in what I’ve found,
Now this is music as my fingers fly.
It’s hate, and love, and sore fingers, and soul,
Emotions bend, break under my violin bow.
So that's the sonnet.
Something potentially of note, that I didn't mention before....
I performed at our school's Coffee House on Friday night. It was really really fun...i did two covers: Halleluah, by Leonard Cohen, and I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, by the Beatles (the best band ever, of course) and then one original song I wrote, called Crooked Valentine. Maybe I will post it here someday.
Until that day, my blogging friends, farewell. I am off to battle the evil monster of homework, and this time, I shall win.
And to post this, a sonnet I wrote for English class. (Atleast I got one positive thing out of the 7 thousand years of homework I've been doing, right?) We had to write it about an object that gave us strong emotion. I wrote mine about my hate-love relationship with my violin. Maybe i should have written it about my hate-love relationship with iambic pentameter instead... anyway, for your potential reading pleasure, here you go:
Hate, Love, Sore Fingers, and Soul
The wooden box inside the wooden box,
Has yet to show the music that it makes.
The notes inside my head are not unlocked,
My confidence, though not begun, still breaks.
The notes, the page, they swim before my eyes,
But still the bow presses onto the string.
The melodies, the harmonies, subside,
Yet I still play, head set on finishing.
I hold my breath, release into the sound,
And now I know the reason that I try.
To know myself, relax in what I’ve found,
Now this is music as my fingers fly.
It’s hate, and love, and sore fingers, and soul,
Emotions bend, break under my violin bow.
So that's the sonnet.
Something potentially of note, that I didn't mention before....
I performed at our school's Coffee House on Friday night. It was really really fun...i did two covers: Halleluah, by Leonard Cohen, and I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, by the Beatles (the best band ever, of course) and then one original song I wrote, called Crooked Valentine. Maybe I will post it here someday.
Until that day, my blogging friends, farewell. I am off to battle the evil monster of homework, and this time, I shall win.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Back With Books
Hello...sorry that I have been absent for such a long time from the blogosphere! Holidays, and homework, and finals coming up means my life is homework, sleeping (not enough of this), and running around trying to do either of the two. But I did get some AMAZING books this year (or should I say last year? Ack...brain doesn't like time), so here are a few you should definetly read, atleast twice.
Paper Towns, by John Green:
If you haven't read anything by John Green, you are missing out! Looking For Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines are amazing books. So is Paper Towns, which I don't actually own, to my sorrow, but borrowed from my next door neighbor (Thanks Shannon!) who got it for Christmas. It follows the senior year of Quentin Jacobsen, your completely average nerdy gamer who spends a lot of time hanging around the band room, even though he's not actually in the band, and his hopeless love for his neighbor Margo Roth Spielman. His life changes one night when, a month or two before the end of the year, Margo climbs into his window dressed as a ninja, and they rampage the town in a deadly plan of revenge. His life changes even more when she doesn't come to school the next day, or the next, or the one after that...and she's reported missing. And, as if it couldn't get any more exciting, Quentin discovers clues Margo has left to help him discover where she is, and why she's hiding. But, as he goes deeper and deeper into Margo's disapearence, he begins to wonder whether or not she really ever wants to be found, and if she's really the girl he fell in love with. Culminating in an across the state road trip of epic proportions, this book made me smile, laugh, roll around on my bed, and glue my eyes to the pages. It is written so well...I actually wrote a song about it afterwards. Who knows, maybe I'll post that on here someday. But you should read Paper Towns...it's deep thought disguised in a graduation gown of hilarity.
With that awesome metaphor, I have to leave. Expect more books later. Dun, dun, dun.....
Paper Towns, by John Green:
If you haven't read anything by John Green, you are missing out! Looking For Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines are amazing books. So is Paper Towns, which I don't actually own, to my sorrow, but borrowed from my next door neighbor (Thanks Shannon!) who got it for Christmas. It follows the senior year of Quentin Jacobsen, your completely average nerdy gamer who spends a lot of time hanging around the band room, even though he's not actually in the band, and his hopeless love for his neighbor Margo Roth Spielman. His life changes one night when, a month or two before the end of the year, Margo climbs into his window dressed as a ninja, and they rampage the town in a deadly plan of revenge. His life changes even more when she doesn't come to school the next day, or the next, or the one after that...and she's reported missing. And, as if it couldn't get any more exciting, Quentin discovers clues Margo has left to help him discover where she is, and why she's hiding. But, as he goes deeper and deeper into Margo's disapearence, he begins to wonder whether or not she really ever wants to be found, and if she's really the girl he fell in love with. Culminating in an across the state road trip of epic proportions, this book made me smile, laugh, roll around on my bed, and glue my eyes to the pages. It is written so well...I actually wrote a song about it afterwards. Who knows, maybe I'll post that on here someday. But you should read Paper Towns...it's deep thought disguised in a graduation gown of hilarity.
With that awesome metaphor, I have to leave. Expect more books later. Dun, dun, dun.....
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
As I said before, I am trying to write a novel in 30 days. That's 50,000 words...and I have 1,390! But here is what I have so far (thank you Emiko, this is for you!). Sorry, quick post, need sleep and I have quartet performances tommorow in Orchestra, so I have to practice for that! The busy life of a nerdy teenager...
Anyway: Here's what I have so far. And this is a rush of creative ideas, so it is not edited in any way. Beware!
Prologue: The Pen
It was a cheap, blue, 15 cent, reusable, Walmart pen. I didn’t know how it had gotten onto my desk, as I had a personal vendetta against Walmart, and pens in general. You can’t erase anything you write with a pen; it’s too permanent. I don’t like permanence. I guess I’m a little weird that way.
Anyway, the pen. It was blue, had a few dents in the lid, and was sitting mysteriously on my Pre-Calc desk, smack dab in the front, two desks from the pencil sharpener and three from the window. Basically, the desk right in the middle of everything, where it would be difficult to plant a pen. But there it was. Battered and blue, taunting me.
It was a last minute decision. I wasn’t going to pick it up; I wasn’t even going to touch it. I was going to go to lunch, buy a pumpernickel bagel and orange juice, and sit outside in the courtyard with my history textbook, like any normal Tuesday afternoon. But, somehow, this didn’t happen. I picked up the smooth pen and tucked it into my bag, and left the room. And it wasn’t a normal Tuesday anymore.
Chapter 1: The Significance of a Pumpernickel Bagel
Nobody likes pumpernickel. It’s pretty much a proven fact. And this is why I always eat pumpernickel bagels on Tuesdays. Tuesday is bagel day, and by the time I get to lunch, which is late, since I actually write down the homework on the board and don’t sneak out of class early by asking to go to the bathroom seven minutes before the bell rings, there is nothing left but about seventeen pumpernickel bagels, which the staff keep ordering, even though they should know by now nobody likes pumpernickel, some limp carrots, and orange juice. And so this has become my Tuesday diet.
On this particular Tuesday, I arrived at the cafeteria to discover there were no pumpernickel bagels. I was shocked speechless. After 156 days of pumpernickel bagels, there were none. None. Not a single bagel was left in the foil-covered tray where they were usually carefully stacked. I could not believe this…something was drastically wrong. I stopped in my tracks, and checked my watch. Yep, it was lunchtime on Tuesday, September 23rd, and there were no bagels. Instead, on the whiteboard where purple pen spelled out the torture item of the day, there were two words: Vegetarian Lasagna.
Lasagna? Who ate lasagna? Especially vegetarian lasagna? And on Bagel Tuesday? This could not be happening. First the stupid Walmart Pen, and now this. Ultimate wreckage of Bagel Day, and thus the rest of my Tuesday. I slouched towards the lunch line, and purchased a cheese stick and orange juice, both of which were warm, and looked sad and lonely on my tray without a bagel.
With the day already in ruins, I headed over to the doors, running into them with my face and propelling myself forward. This is the proven best method to open doors, if you don’t mind weird looks, and have stuff in your arms. Which I normally do. Plus, it is a test of strength: me against the evil steel doors of the public school institutions of the world. Watch…one day I’ll be on Oprah. Or have broken my nose. One of the two.
After my struggle with the doors and the purchase of warm lunch items, I headed to my bench, only to have my stomach plummet through my red converse covered in doodles. There were people sitting on my bench. Not just sitting, however. But making out, and drinking chocolate milk in between kisses. With straws. As if the making out wasn’t horrible enough, they had plates of vegetarian lasagna lying next to them, halfway eaten.
My head was about to explode. There were lasagna eaters making out and drinking chocolate milk on my bench. The red bench, carefully positioned underneath my favorite vine maple trees, with perfect angles for people watching, and reading unnoticed. And right up against the stone wall covered with ivy, so I could lean back, and be both shaded and protected from the wind. That bench was my solitude: it was my Lord of the Flies clearing. And the people in it were being pig’s heads in my clearing.
Stepping back into the doors, I banged my head on the steel bar at the top, and received a temporary shock to reality. One, I didn’t own the bench, and anyone who wanted to could sit there. Two, I had just made a Lord of the Flies analogy. I obviously needed a social life or religion, and badly. I had reached a point of nerdiness that wasn’t even funny any more. Gosh, this was one heck of a Tuesday.
Turning around, I headed for the next available spot: the reference section of the library. No one reads reference books, unless forced to by an evil social studies teacher or their very out of touch grandmother, and so I was sure it would be safe. Not that my assumptions were having any pull here today, but, luckily, I was correct. There was nobody in the library except for a few sophomore geek-types, some over-achieving independent math students, and the librarian, who was hidden behind a battered copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I headed back to the reference section, and pulled out my pitiful lunch from my canvas bag.
A quick note on canvas bags: they are taking over the world. I know we’re supposed to be eco-friendly and all, but really. Pretty soon small Asian children will be making canvas bags in sweatshops in Canada, and they’ll be piling up in department stores everywhere. The employees won’t be able to make it out of the store, the stacks will be so huge. We’ll have to evacuate the country, and make all of our clothes and shelters out of canvas bags with the words “Green is the New Black”, “Save the World”, “Go Green!” and “Fred Meyers” printed on them.
But, back to me, my pitiful lunch, and the reference section. Let me suffice to say, it was a long lunch period.
Chapter 2: Stick Figures
Lunch was not the high point of my day. But what came after lunch made it look like 7th Heaven: a free period.
Now, I bet most people in the world would not be dreading a free period. They would be rejoicing, spinning in circles, inventing new, untried ways to sneak and off campus and not get caught, and finishing up the homework due the next period. Okay, the last one’s a long shot, but you never know. Miracles do happen. Sometimes.
But, of course, I am not most people. Consider this: It might take some imagination, but I know you can do it. I have no friends (I left them all in Oregon when I moved in 7th grade), a perfect 4.0 GPA, all my homework is done the night before, and I’ve no desire to leave the school campus, plus no way to be back in time for 6th period, as I have no car, no driver’s license, and my bike has a flat tire. In short, my life is a pathetic sob story.
I protested the free period, but it was in vain. This is the problem with having no extracurricular activities and no social life, and taking online classes for fun. Plus thinking AP Biology and AP Lit are fun classes. Basically, my nerdiness has defeated me, once again. Darn.
Anyway, with absolutely nothing to do and a whole period in which to do it in, I have been cultivating a hobby: drawing stick figures. With top hats. I call them the Minions, and they live in the back of my Spanish notebook. They’re cultivating a small society there, inventing microwave popcorn and shoelaces, and all the good things in life.
But today I was too tired to help the Minions microwave the popcorn and tie their shoes. I was too tired to think, or look at my AP Bio book, or even eat my warm, limp cheese stick. I just put my head down on the table and sighed. My sigh knocked over the large reference books stacked around me, and they slowly dominoed onto my head. Typical.
Anyway: Here's what I have so far. And this is a rush of creative ideas, so it is not edited in any way. Beware!
Prologue: The Pen
It was a cheap, blue, 15 cent, reusable, Walmart pen. I didn’t know how it had gotten onto my desk, as I had a personal vendetta against Walmart, and pens in general. You can’t erase anything you write with a pen; it’s too permanent. I don’t like permanence. I guess I’m a little weird that way.
Anyway, the pen. It was blue, had a few dents in the lid, and was sitting mysteriously on my Pre-Calc desk, smack dab in the front, two desks from the pencil sharpener and three from the window. Basically, the desk right in the middle of everything, where it would be difficult to plant a pen. But there it was. Battered and blue, taunting me.
It was a last minute decision. I wasn’t going to pick it up; I wasn’t even going to touch it. I was going to go to lunch, buy a pumpernickel bagel and orange juice, and sit outside in the courtyard with my history textbook, like any normal Tuesday afternoon. But, somehow, this didn’t happen. I picked up the smooth pen and tucked it into my bag, and left the room. And it wasn’t a normal Tuesday anymore.
Chapter 1: The Significance of a Pumpernickel Bagel
Nobody likes pumpernickel. It’s pretty much a proven fact. And this is why I always eat pumpernickel bagels on Tuesdays. Tuesday is bagel day, and by the time I get to lunch, which is late, since I actually write down the homework on the board and don’t sneak out of class early by asking to go to the bathroom seven minutes before the bell rings, there is nothing left but about seventeen pumpernickel bagels, which the staff keep ordering, even though they should know by now nobody likes pumpernickel, some limp carrots, and orange juice. And so this has become my Tuesday diet.
On this particular Tuesday, I arrived at the cafeteria to discover there were no pumpernickel bagels. I was shocked speechless. After 156 days of pumpernickel bagels, there were none. None. Not a single bagel was left in the foil-covered tray where they were usually carefully stacked. I could not believe this…something was drastically wrong. I stopped in my tracks, and checked my watch. Yep, it was lunchtime on Tuesday, September 23rd, and there were no bagels. Instead, on the whiteboard where purple pen spelled out the torture item of the day, there were two words: Vegetarian Lasagna.
Lasagna? Who ate lasagna? Especially vegetarian lasagna? And on Bagel Tuesday? This could not be happening. First the stupid Walmart Pen, and now this. Ultimate wreckage of Bagel Day, and thus the rest of my Tuesday. I slouched towards the lunch line, and purchased a cheese stick and orange juice, both of which were warm, and looked sad and lonely on my tray without a bagel.
With the day already in ruins, I headed over to the doors, running into them with my face and propelling myself forward. This is the proven best method to open doors, if you don’t mind weird looks, and have stuff in your arms. Which I normally do. Plus, it is a test of strength: me against the evil steel doors of the public school institutions of the world. Watch…one day I’ll be on Oprah. Or have broken my nose. One of the two.
After my struggle with the doors and the purchase of warm lunch items, I headed to my bench, only to have my stomach plummet through my red converse covered in doodles. There were people sitting on my bench. Not just sitting, however. But making out, and drinking chocolate milk in between kisses. With straws. As if the making out wasn’t horrible enough, they had plates of vegetarian lasagna lying next to them, halfway eaten.
My head was about to explode. There were lasagna eaters making out and drinking chocolate milk on my bench. The red bench, carefully positioned underneath my favorite vine maple trees, with perfect angles for people watching, and reading unnoticed. And right up against the stone wall covered with ivy, so I could lean back, and be both shaded and protected from the wind. That bench was my solitude: it was my Lord of the Flies clearing. And the people in it were being pig’s heads in my clearing.
Stepping back into the doors, I banged my head on the steel bar at the top, and received a temporary shock to reality. One, I didn’t own the bench, and anyone who wanted to could sit there. Two, I had just made a Lord of the Flies analogy. I obviously needed a social life or religion, and badly. I had reached a point of nerdiness that wasn’t even funny any more. Gosh, this was one heck of a Tuesday.
Turning around, I headed for the next available spot: the reference section of the library. No one reads reference books, unless forced to by an evil social studies teacher or their very out of touch grandmother, and so I was sure it would be safe. Not that my assumptions were having any pull here today, but, luckily, I was correct. There was nobody in the library except for a few sophomore geek-types, some over-achieving independent math students, and the librarian, who was hidden behind a battered copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I headed back to the reference section, and pulled out my pitiful lunch from my canvas bag.
A quick note on canvas bags: they are taking over the world. I know we’re supposed to be eco-friendly and all, but really. Pretty soon small Asian children will be making canvas bags in sweatshops in Canada, and they’ll be piling up in department stores everywhere. The employees won’t be able to make it out of the store, the stacks will be so huge. We’ll have to evacuate the country, and make all of our clothes and shelters out of canvas bags with the words “Green is the New Black”, “Save the World”, “Go Green!” and “Fred Meyers” printed on them.
But, back to me, my pitiful lunch, and the reference section. Let me suffice to say, it was a long lunch period.
Chapter 2: Stick Figures
Lunch was not the high point of my day. But what came after lunch made it look like 7th Heaven: a free period.
Now, I bet most people in the world would not be dreading a free period. They would be rejoicing, spinning in circles, inventing new, untried ways to sneak and off campus and not get caught, and finishing up the homework due the next period. Okay, the last one’s a long shot, but you never know. Miracles do happen. Sometimes.
But, of course, I am not most people. Consider this: It might take some imagination, but I know you can do it. I have no friends (I left them all in Oregon when I moved in 7th grade), a perfect 4.0 GPA, all my homework is done the night before, and I’ve no desire to leave the school campus, plus no way to be back in time for 6th period, as I have no car, no driver’s license, and my bike has a flat tire. In short, my life is a pathetic sob story.
I protested the free period, but it was in vain. This is the problem with having no extracurricular activities and no social life, and taking online classes for fun. Plus thinking AP Biology and AP Lit are fun classes. Basically, my nerdiness has defeated me, once again. Darn.
Anyway, with absolutely nothing to do and a whole period in which to do it in, I have been cultivating a hobby: drawing stick figures. With top hats. I call them the Minions, and they live in the back of my Spanish notebook. They’re cultivating a small society there, inventing microwave popcorn and shoelaces, and all the good things in life.
But today I was too tired to help the Minions microwave the popcorn and tie their shoes. I was too tired to think, or look at my AP Bio book, or even eat my warm, limp cheese stick. I just put my head down on the table and sighed. My sigh knocked over the large reference books stacked around me, and they slowly dominoed onto my head. Typical.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Craziest Idea Ever
Well, I think I've gone insane. My family agrees. Because (wait for it, wait for it): I'm going to try to write a novel in 30 days. Yes, 30 days. The entire month of November. Here I go, the girl who can't write a 5 paragraph essay in a week, trying to write a whole book in a month!
You can blame my friend Dana for getting me into this crazy scheme. http://evergreendr.blogspot.com/ This is her blog, Elf, where she first advertised the crazy scheme: The NaNoWriMo contest. Write a novel in 30 days, since November is National Novel Month. And me, being the gullible writing-crazy girl that I am, went right to the website (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/) and signed right up. So, we'll see where this goes. Maybe it will turn out something good...maybe it will be a complete disaster. We'll see!
You can blame my friend Dana for getting me into this crazy scheme. http://evergreendr.blogspot.com/ This is her blog, Elf, where she first advertised the crazy scheme: The NaNoWriMo contest. Write a novel in 30 days, since November is National Novel Month. And me, being the gullible writing-crazy girl that I am, went right to the website (http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/) and signed right up. So, we'll see where this goes. Maybe it will turn out something good...maybe it will be a complete disaster. We'll see!
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