Hi Again, Also Bella, Also "Wasted Time"

Hi, all.

I can't believe I haven't posted since winning the writing contest.  (Late March, right?)  Stuff has happened and I'm sorry I haven't updated you on any of it.  Bullet list timeeeeeee:

• school is out and I'm a "rising junior"  (somebody told me that was the term)
• I took down the post about being in the newspaper and my editing Freshly Squeezed v2 because I gave it to the greatly capable and deserving Sarah Fosburg
• she did a great job and Freshly Squeezed v2 is out; I'm on pages 9 and 60-64 (my favorite piece though is on page 32)
• I have a new story to post!
• I have a cat, though that happened back in February.

Here is my cat, her name is Bella:

And here is a short story called "Wasted Time" that I wrote while fairly stressed:

Wasted Time

Um...so yeah, I think that sums it up.

Until next time,

-Allie H-S

P.S: I also started a cover band with a couple of friends, but it has no name.  I am the guitarist/ukulele-ist.  Root for me, 'cause I dunno how to play instruments, but I'LL TRY!

SO I ACTUALLY DID NOT LOSE THE CONTEST

HI, ALL!

So remember this post when I was half-secretly all bummed like, "yeah so I lost the writing contest but here have a story anyway"?  Well I actually was only thinking that because the UVU people were all, "Hey so yeah we'll notify winners by March 1st, yeah totally," and then it was like March 3rd and we'd heard nothing back and I was like, "the tears are real."  But hey guess what IT'S MARCH 27TH AND THEY GOT BACK TO US!  I actually was a runner-up and will get fifty dollars for it!  Yaaaaaaaaaaaay I just placed in a writing contest for the first time everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Thanks to everyone who read "Locks and Keys" and gave me feedback.  You guys are great.  I am excited.  This is pretty swell.

Yay.
-Allie H-S

Short Story: Locks and Keys (with Audio) (UPDATED)

Hi, all!

Sorry for the lame amount of posting currently.  I was actually waiting for the results of a writing contest to come through before I posted anything else.  I have a short story I wrote called "Locks and Keys" that I was actually going to post back with "Missoula," but instead I decided to enter it in a writing contest.  If it had been previously published, it would have been disqualified.  Not that is really matters, since I lost (ouch).  I'm actually pretty bummed.  But hey, at least I can put the story online now!

Locks and Keys
(I took this link down, revised it, and put it back up at least four times before coming to the version you see now.)

Locks and Keys Audio
(Sorry my S's are so loud.)

So...you enjoy that.

We've definitely done lots of other projects in Creative Writing this year, and I know that for this blog to become a good portfolio, I need to be prolific.  But I also don't wanna post anything I don't think is good, so...we'll see what I decide.  We're doing a poetry unit right now, so I'll probably do a post of a few poems later.  I still have to edit some and write a slam poem.

Wish me luck!
-Allie H-S

P.S: my updated favorite webcomic list should appear on the side bar.  New ones include Johnny Wander, Balderdash!, Paranatural, Monsterkind, Harpy Gee, and The Lonely Vincent Bellingham.  Wow, that's a lot more than I expected.  My friends say I have a problem....Haha...ha....

UPDATE: Eek look here I just learned I didn't lose yay!

Short Story Time! "Missoula"

Hi, all.

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I also know that I promised you all a peek at whatever decent writing I manage over this school year.  We really haven't done any interesting writing in English this year (just essays and things), but I would kind of like this blog to function as a portfolio, so maybe I'll post those later.  In the meantime, I'll talk about my latest couple Creative Writing pieces.

But first (bear with me), I am excited to announce that next year, Mr. Parker will be offering a Creative Writing II!  It will be a class in which each student chooses a long-term project, a goal they've been interested in for a while, but haven't found the time to fulfill.  These include screenplays, novels, poem books, etc, and the entire year will be dedicated to finishing that one project.  This means that, potentially, I could have a book published before I'm out of high school.

Oh my god.  I have been wishing for a class like this for years.

Also, so you don't think I've been doing nothing all school year, here are the projects we've done in Creative Writing that I may or may not (probably won't) post later:
1. Memoir - We spent the entirety of first quarter just writing this short memoir.  Mine was about a friendship I lost last year, and involved a lot of personal angst.  We'll be reviewing these fourth quarter, and if I decide then that mine doesn't suck (or at least that I can fix it), I'll post it then.
2. Horror Story - I didn't actually finish my horror story (whoops), partly because I had horrible writer's block, but mostly because I kind of went all-out and decided to write about things that frighten me personally, every single day.  It was about creepy china dolls and mirrors and evil reflections and stuff, and I'm pretty damn sure that I can't ever finish it without it affecting how comfortable I am at home, so you probably won't see that one.
3. Unexpected News ("Missoula") - This (or most of this) should be posted below.  The prompt was to write a story in which the main character receives unexpected news.  "Missoula" is about a fifteen-year-old boy named Andy whose mother one night takes him and his little sister, Molly, and leaves their father.
4. Deeply-Held Secret - This one really wasn't very good.  My main character, Ed, has a crush on a girl who's into drugs and stuff; one day when there's a drug bust at school, the girl stuffs her drugs into a random kid's locker, and Ed realizes it's his best friend's.  It was choppy though, and poorly put together.  I like Ed's friend's name, though; it's Lionel.  (He goes by his middle name, which is Jack I think, short for Jacob.)
5. Surprise Ending ("Locks and Keys") - Okay, so my surprise ending here wasn't that revelatory or anything, it just wasn't overly anticipated.  "Locks and Keys" will hopefully be posted eventually, but first, I'm entering it in a writing contest.  It's about a sixteen-year-old girl named Elliot whose mother died just a couple of months ago.  Elliot finds a note written by her mom before she died telling her that she needs to find the box that a certain key fits because it's apparently got some cool stuff inside.

And that's as far as we've gotten.  So.  Here, have a link.

"Missoula" on Google Drive

You'll notice Missoula has "Part 1" at the end of its title.  This is because I'm toying with the idea of making it into a little continuing project.  So maybe I'll post more of that later.

So...yeah.  Enjoy, and feel free to comment below.  (I like knowing you guys exist.)

-Allie H-S

Let's Just Go Ahead and Update You on Everything

Hi, all!

I've been kinda busy lately, what with school (school sucks, but less so than the last two years), the roleplay (we've been redeveloping everything), and debate (I also joined the debate team, just by the way).  So sorry for not posting very often.  I was going to compare The Maze Runner (book) with The Maze Runner (movie), but I get kinda rambly when I review.  So maybe later.  (Long story short: the movie was better.  I know, I didn't believe it either.)

But yeah, this blog is a bit behind.  I think it's time for an update post.  So now, in no particular order...

Update 1: Yeah, seriously, I joined the debate team.  I kind of regret it though, 'cause my most enthusiastic debate team friend (AKA: 70% of my motivation) has had to take a lengthy leave of absence.  But I already paid club fees, hotel fees, and an extra sweatshirt fee, so yeah, there's no going back.  Our first tournament is on the 11th, which is soon, so maybe I'll post about it after.

Update 2: School started a couple months ago, and my classes this year suck significantly less than they did last year.  Unfortunately, I allowed myself to get discouraged around registration time and did not sign myself up for Drawing, but hey man, I took Photography instead.  It quickly became my favorite class, so I call that a success.  But more on that later.  I'm also taking Creative Writing and Honors English, both of which should give me posting material (in the fullness of time).  P.E. is dumb and Honors Math is dumb, but that's just two of eight classes.  I got more than half-lucky this year!  Yessssssss.

Update 3: Right but so photography.  Photography is hard, so we're taking it slow(ly?), meaning we don't develop our first round of actual film until Monday.  But earlier, we made pinhole cameras (mine was unsuccessful), and photograms (mine were very successful).  So yeah, let's talk about those.

First thing's first: I have to explain how photo paper works.  Basically, a bunch of goddamn magicians came together and created a type of white paper that turns dark when exposed to light.  Well, okay, it doesn't turn dark until you put it in the developer chemicals, but the important thing is this: the parts that had light on them will be dark.  Shine light on one corner?  Dark.  A different corner?  Dark.  A tiny spot in the middle?  Dark.  Just how dark it really gets depends on how much light hits the paper and for how long.  If you shine a really dim light for a fraction of a second, it'll turn kinda grey.  A glaring bright light for a minute or so should turn it completely black.

So, a photogram is what you get when you cover up certain parts of the paper to prevent the light from reaching them.  In class, we stood in the dark room and laid a bunch of objects on our photo paper, put it under a light, and shined it on for a couple seconds, then put it in the developer chemicals.  (side note: do not get developer chemicals on your hands.  They won't hurt you, but you'll smell like old rubber and vinegar for the next two days, which makes you really sick really fast.  It's gross.)  My best four came out like this:

This one's fancy 'cause I mounted it.  (sorry the photo's not
the greatest.  I had to turn it in, so I took this one in class.)

Admire the doll arm.  (And wonder why the hell it has those
shadow objects reflected on it.  How does light work again?)

I am so sorry about the dust.  I tried to get it off,
but in my house, it's pretty much unavoidable.

b r o k e n   l o c k e t
(broken hearts)

Maybe I needed the change of medium from drawing to art.  I like this.  I really do.

Update 4: Like I said, we've all been working on the roleplay, and I'm really excited about this.  We've been doing this without actually roleplaying it though, which just means lots and lots of redevelopment with hardly any writing.  Which I love, actually!  It's satisfying and refreshing.  And remember Raven?  (I mentioned her briefly here.)  I kind of killed her off and deserted her, but now I'm fixing her!  I've been meaning to do this for months.  It only came off the ground now because Mr. Parker (yeah so last year's English teacher is this year's Creative Writing teacher - cool beans, right?) assigned a short narrative written about a Facebook status.  I don't have a Facebook, so I made a status up and ended up writing about Raven running away from home.  It was almost kind of enlightening, actually.  I always try and map out my character and storyline before I start writing, but this time I just kind of just let it go, and I learned things.  Like that Raven is gay, or at least bi.  Despite having a girlfriend myself (damn cutie she is), I am not usually prone to writing LGBT characters, so that was kinda surprising.

The real challenge here is going to be handling two developed characters in my head without getting more excited about one than the other.  And if I succeed to love them both, the next challenge will be to kill Raven off anyway.

Yay!

Update 5: Okay, I think this is the last thing.  Here, we have...webcomics!  God, do I love webcomics.

CUCUMBER QUEST is really fuckin' cute, guys!  These four hero people (er, *bunnies) have to travel all through these crazy kingdoms to collect some silly stuff and fight some ridiculous villains, and I won't lie to you, the whole quest thing is really just kind of inane (even to them).  The heroes are all really adorable though, and like - I mean, can I be your friend, Cucumber?  Pleeeaaase?? - and the villains are all really compelling, actually, with really interesting dynamics.  (Like Nightmare Knight and Rosemaster.  I really want to know what's going on there.)  I mean, their quest is kind of frustrating, and a million times harder than it needs to be just because some of the characters are just stubborn, but the webcomic itself is so cute.  Read it.  You must.

BLINDSPRINGS is...ahh...I'm not sure how to explain Blindsprings.  It's kind of involved, or at least, the whole story hasn't been revealed to us yet.  As I understand it, a kingdom was ruled by a group of people known as Orphics, who were born with magical abilities that came from the spirits.  But the Orphics were too oppressive of their people and the Academists (scholars who managed to invent their own, artificial magic) revolted, quickly taking over the kingdom.  The Academists developed a way to seal Orphic powers, and quickly became distrustful and oppressive of all community members who were of the Orphic line.  Now (about a hundred years later?), Orphic community members are beginning to revolt again.  I think.  Despite it being kind of complicated, the story is told with such incredible charm (and such a different and lovely range of characters) that it immediately keeps you reading.  It's not very long, and updates relatively often, so if you're looking for something elegant and new, I recommend this one-hundred percent.

BFF COMIC is something I was only introduced to a couple days ago, but it is damn freaking adorable!  I'm not far enough in to write my own description of it, so here's the author's: "Best Friends Forever is a (b)romantic dramedy about a dirt-poor quarterback and the nerd-chic president of the student council trying to hold their unlikely friendship together - despite the suspicions & meddling of their frustrating classmates."  Honestly, I'm still early enough in the comic (chapter seven) that I technically shouldn't be reviewing yet, but it is so cute.  Teddy (the nerdy kid) is adorable, and Vincent (the quarterback) is beautiful, and they're just...aw.  You should read it.  Please.
(UPDATE: okay so I caught up on it and it starts out adorable, but then it gets really angsty really fast.  I'm not saying you shouldn't read it, but ahh, be warned.  That's all.)

Oh Yeah and Also Update 6: I'm about 20 pages into 1984 right now.  You know, that old dystopian classic by George Orwell?  Yeah.  It's scaring me.

Alright, so that's the last of my updates.  I hope you guys are all doing wonderfully, and I myself have been doing pretty okay.  I'll talk to you later!

-Allie H-S

Happy Birthday, Anthony! Brief Roleplay History?

Hi, all.

I know I haven't posted in a while.  School started and I've been pretty busy ever since.  I've been trying to find something to post about, and today is a special occasion.  On this day, Anthony James Rousseaux (the namesake of this blog) turns twenty-three.  He was born on September 9th, 1992.  (Hence my username.)  He is by far the best and most developed character I've ever created, and I just...I mean...he's cool.  He's pretty cool.

look at these cool cards, guys.  I own these.  yeah.

In honor of his birthday, I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell you all more about the roleplay.

Some of this will be recap.  Here I'm not rereading and adding on to my old posts about it, but instead, starting fresh.

The roleplay (sometimes known as "Divided") is a project my friends and I started in late fall, 2012.  It was meant to be a silly writing project, just for fun.  We each created our own characters, initially just one for each writer, but since then, things have grown.  This may not be perfect, seeing how at the moment people keep changing their ideas, but as far as I know, the author-character chart looks like this.

Author Siri Reilly:
 - Lizzie Tyler
 - Hank Jacobs
 - Meg Richards

Author Sara Williams:
 - Shade Grey
 - Darel Jones
 - Nate Jones

Author Bailey Giauque:
 - Bea Holmes
 - Jade Young
 - Lea Vindico
 - Oliver Vindico?

Author Alix Kintner:
 - Shizuka Maki
 - Demon?

Author Madison DeCamp:
 - Tyler Noel
 - Cassie Reed
 - Skyler Mills
 - Scarlett Mills-Noel

Author Allie Hedderly-Smith (me):
 - Anthony Rousseaux
 - Raven Black

(We occasionally write one-shots including other characters, but overall, the rights to each belong to their respective authors.)

I typically have trouble staying interested in more than two characters.  If we ever start writing again, I may try my hand in the supporting cast.  (We don't have a lot of that.)

But anyways, we started it in 2012 (eighth grade) just for fun.  One person would write a paragraph or so from their character's point of view (a post), and another would write a response paragraph from their character's point of view (another post).  The responses were, for the most part, quick and interesting, and our story soon progressed into a gallop.  At times, it got in the way of our school and homework habits; cranking out posts like we were born for it.  As is the case with all great amounts of output, the new and sudden experience caused our writing styles to change dramatically.  (Zen Pencils, anyone?)  And I'm not kidding when I say "great amounts;" we ended up with three different Google docs because each doc only allows a around three-hundred and fifty pages.  That's about one-thousand pages of writing.  Sure, most of it was fluff that didn't progress the story, but still.

We all tried a few other roleplays (zombie apocalypse-themed, dystopian society-themed), but none of them lasted long.  I think the reason this one was so successful was the appeal of the fantasy and freedom of our characters, but also mostly just that it was the first one, the one we all really got to know each other through.  If the roleplay hadn't started, I likely wouldn't have the friends I have now.

But so, after three docs, summer vacation finally came and we got distracted.  We've tried to start it again a couple of times, but haven't quite succeeded.  And we've been toying with the idea of turning it into a book for a while - like a year.  I think my co-authors would rather nobody posts any direct excerpts right now, but if we make any real progress, I'll let you know.

But so anyways, school has started, and September 9th has come.  Happy birthday, Anthony!  Someday I'll start writing about you seriously again, and you'll be back where you came from.

Talk to you all later.
- Allie H-S

P.S: Salt Lake Comic Con was exhausting; I didn't realize the Salt Palace was so big.  (The vendor's room from last year was used this year for just the entrance.)  I got ten cool little pins from some place called Akumu Ink, a fancy fascinator hat, and a black parasol umbrella.  Now I'm completely broke.  And that's really all there is to say on the matter.

P.P.S: I always feel like I need to leave a second signature to conclude my post-scripts.  But I don't.  So that's a little frustrating.

Vital Vocab 28 - Hiatus Cont. (Updated!)

Vocab: truncate, ubiquitous, vacillate, utilitarian, undulate

Commonly Confused Words: course/coarse

Grammar Focus: parallel structure and semicolon

Hi, all.  

I think my weekly Isaac Bade posts have been truncated not only by my hiatus, but by the end of the school year.  This is the third-to-last Vital Vocab of the year, I've been told, and so Isaac is gonna have to stay the course and sit with that broken arm for a bit longer.  Now, I was sort of vacillating about where I really wanted this story to go, but beneath the coarse, utilitarian fluff posts and regrettable, ubiquitous stress, I still really like him.  Isaac is a cutie; among other things, he's smart, and artsy, and quiet, and I just really appreciate him as a character, so I think I'll keep him to revisit later.  And also write down all the other stuff I know about his story, that I never actually incorporated here.  Because, even if I didn't have a perfect storyline, it did undulate with little story arcs, so that's something to work with.

Until next time!

-Allie

UPDATE: I actually will be sending you guys a full Isaac Bade story!  I chose him as one of the protagonists for the epistolary story I'm working on for Creative Writing, so you guys'll get to read it before the school year is out!  So I guess you could say...

(courtesy of: tumblr)

UPDATE 2 (which is slightly less important contextually, but still worthy of note): Ava's Demon is back from its hiatus!  Which makes me particularly happy because it'd been on hiatus for a little over a month.  Which was unfortunate.

Vital Vocab 27 | Vital Vocab 29

Vital Vocab Dictionary

TFiOS, Children's Stories, and Tiny, Mexican Men

Hello all.

Time for a jam-packed media post!

I was actually gonna post about how to defeat writer's block, but that actually began to give me writer's block and I couldn't deal with the irony.  And yesterday, my friends and I spotted three lovely copies of my favorite book, The Fault in Our Stars (TFiOS) on my English teacher's desk, and the movie's coming out on June 6th [link], and I haven't read that book for - jesus - almost two years now.  (One and three quarters?)  Also, Mr. Parker (English teacher) said it isn't sad, which I kind of have to fundamentally disagree with.  The Fault in Our Stars is a very sad book.  The protagonist has terminal cancer.  Her friend has eye cancer.  Her love interest...well, he doesn't have cancer anymore, but that's beside the point.  But so, I read it in the summer before eighth grade, then thrust it in the faces of all of my friends, and they came back and told me they had to stop at this one particular scene (and a few others) because they couldn't read through the tears.  (Alix actually told me I'd "broken her feels" because the book gave her too many.)

Now, that isn't to say you shouldn't read it because it's sad.  I've actually noticed recently that all good books are sad, or at least have sad parts.  I think that's because you can't really confront the world's problems without including some sad stuff.  (I would like to link to something here, but it's too spoiler-y, so maybe I will...later?)  And if you don't confront the world's problems, your book is really just...a book.

Anyways, the point of all my ramblyrambles here was to say this: I'm reading TFiOS again, and because I haven't done an audio reading in ages (and because those are fabulous fun), I would like to post it here.  But because it's All Rights Reserved and I don't have permission to use it, that's copyright infringement, which is just generally a bad idea.  So I will look into it!  And if, by some miracle, I manage to get permission, I'll update this post, or maybe make a new one with the recording.

So really this part of my post is just a review.  READ TFiOS.  O-O

However, I did promise for this to be a media post, and something I realized today is that I never showed you guys the last project I did in Creative Writing.  So here, I give you...

A Giant Mess

My junior high is located right next to an elementary school, so we went to visit a kindergarten class, and we each got a little kid to write a story for, and I illustrated mine and everything and just, just, gosh.  That project made me happy.  I took my kid's name out of the dedication though, 'cause she's like five, and this is the Internet.

The one other thing I wanted to share in this post is that yesterday morning, I went to a Rotary breakfast thingy and they have an orphanage/school place in Mexico that they were talking about and they gave us these on our way out the door.

they made pen people!  and keychains!  (it's a sombrero.  it says Guadalajara.)

hehe!

  

and that just made my day.  :3

Thanks,
-Allie

Vital Vocab 25 (kinda)

Vocab: speculate (v), salient (a), scathing (a), scrupulous (a), seminal (a)

Commonly Confused Words: woman/women

Grammar Focus: parallel structure and semicolon

Hi, all.  

     You don't really have to read this post.  Unless of course you're Mr. Parker, in which case...well...I'm sorry you have to read this post.

     I've had a fair bit of writer's block lately, which recently doubled with an unfortunate little cold.  So between the salient, scathing little voice in my head telling me I'll be judged for my writing and the exhausting struggle to breathe through my nose, I find it better just to get this Vital Vocab out of the way, without dragging out poor Isaac's day any farther this week.  I probably will next week, but after that comes Spring Break, which means plane rides and car trips, and ample time to, ah...well, to rethink my less-than-scrupulous life decisions.  (Or really just to speculate about Isaac's future, but you know what I mean.)

     And hey, maybe I'll read something for once, something seminal to my later writings.  Or maybe somehow the fresh air of a week in Chicago will help me learn how to write a female protagonist.  Seriously, I can't write women.  Can't do it.  I don't know why, but they always end up too...something, then they un-develop.  Oh well.  I'll write a woman someday!  (Is it just me, or does saying "woman" sound really weird?  I hardly ever use that word.)

     Anyways, time to write other things.  Sorry I couldn't manage a good upload this week; it just wasn't working out.  Time for me to go, so I can write a little, draw a little, read a little, think a little....

Bye!

-Allie

Vital Vocab 24 | Vital Vocab 27

(Vital Vocab 26 does not exist.)

Vital Vocab Dictionary

Sleuthing Assistance?

Hello, all.  This post will be short, but purposeful.  This week, I find I encountered a bit of a problem.  It was finals week, and whenever I find myself subjected to large amounts of stress, directly after I'm kind of just...drained of creativity.  Unfortunately, we also started our mystery unit in Creative Writing this week.

There's no hope.

The rest of my class has spent the last three periods planning, outlining, and drafting.  I, however, have spent the last three periods...ahh...sitting...?  Staring...?  Listening to Grooveshark...?

Thinking about fedoras?

(courtesy of: cartoonsnap.blogspot.com)

Or better yet...

(courtesy of: jamknight on deviantart)

I don't watch Sherlock like I should, but that?  That is adorable.

Anyways, I've been painfully un-productive in Creative Writing this past week, because my mind is utterly devoid of ideas.  I do, however, have a character...name.  I have a name.  My sleuth's gonna be a Stewie Elaine.  (Unfortunately, I haven't even decided her hair color.)

So with this post, I implore you: if you have any sort of ideas for a mystery, or even if you don't, leave a comment.  My comment bar loves you.

Just like I love you.  *makes heart with hands*

I'm desperate, guys.  Please.

Please.

*coughs pathetically* 

  please.   

Vital Vocab 24

Okay, so I keep talking to people about, like, "oh yeah, and on my blog I was all like..." and then they're like, "oh hey, I read that!" and I find that very interesting because I can't for the life of me find out why.  Like, seriously guys, I'm three quarters of the way through the school year and I haven't managed to slump my way out of the exposition yet.

So.  I'm gonna work on that.

Also, you guys should comment.  I asked a while ago for you kids to point it out if you ever noticed this one thing, or even if you were just reading these thingies, and not even my teacher's said a word.  (Another reason it surprises me when people tell me they read my blog.)

But so anyways, thank you guys for reading, regardless of your elusive motives.  Thank you very muchly.

Vocab: reciprocate, rescind, remedial, relish, ruse

Commonly Confused Words: coarse/course

Grammar Focus: parallel structure

Isaac Bade-

     Despite the unrelenting wind and rain trickling down the back of my neck, the course up the tree was smooth.  It wasn't until I reached the rooftop that I began to regret my decision.  The roof was slick with rain, set a steep angle that I could not relish.  I hesitated, and considered climbing down, but the window was right there.  I sighed and leaned slowly, carefully, cautiously out towards the ledge, gritting my teeth.  

     Snap!

     The law demanding the tree support me had clearly been rescinded.  I tried to jump across as the branch broke, but only managed to grate my hands over the coarse shingles.  My stomach lurched as the ground rushed up beneath me, and with a sickening crack, I was flat on the ground, pain searing through my right arm.  I gaped, closing my eyes as I tried to draw breath back into my lungs.  Near me, I heard the back door open with a gasp.  

     Dammit.

     For a long moment, she didn't say anything.  Then, in a rush, "I'm gonna find you a house key."

     I sighed and swallowed, still catching my breath.  It would have been easier just to stage a ruse.  Slowly, I tried to get up, but immediately cried out as I put pressure on my arm.  I managed to sit up without it, and looked down.  Broken.  It was definitely broken.  My forearm was stubby, and was it just me, or was it slightly bent?  I cringed, and Aunt Gaile reciprocated it with a grimace.  That would clearly need some remedial something.  

Vital Vocab 23 | Vital Vocab 25

Vital Vocab Dictionary

Magnetic Poetry

Today I'm going to post about something very beautiful that I never really fully appreciated until kinda recently.  That something is...

Magnetic Poetry.

It's hard to fully convey the sheer awesomeness of Magnetic Poetry without playing with it, but I guess I should start by explaining what it is.  Have you ever played with those funny little word magnets, and you make little sentences and stories, and it's silly because there aren't enough and's and the's and lots of words get lost under the fridge even though you're super careful just because they're tiny and there's just really no avoiding it because you're like eight?  Mhm.  Amazing.

Now, I really have no idea what happened to the set I had as a kid, and after it disappeared I didn't really encounter magnetic poetry again for many years.  Until just a bit ago, when I noticed the set in the YA section of my local library.

Books?  Who checks out books?  I just wanted to make silly poems!  Seriously though, my friend had to drag me out of there.  And when I got home, I went straight to their website, poked around, then bought a set on Amazon.

That website is great.  You can either play online or shop, and shopping is very entertaining.  Here are a few that I would actually like to have...

 

and a few that I just find amusing.

  

 

(all images courtesy of the Magnetic Poetry website)

Actually, I would kind of like the Little Box of Whoop-Ass, too.  There are other themed sets too, like Cat Lover, Mustache Lover, Artist and Bacon Poet.

I'm actually posting this because I got the Original set in the mail yesterday.  It comes with 300+ words and a little guide to poem-making, which I think is pretty cool, and the perfect set for when you're just getting started.  The first time I bought a set, I got a little overexcited and bought Writer's Remedy, because it looked cute and came in a glass-stoppered bottle.  Unfortunately, it only came with half the words.

Writer's Remedy

Original

Great words all the same, though, and I'm glad to have it.

So anyways, all in all, I would fully recommend trying out magnetic poetry, especially with a friend.  And maybe sometime, I'll post something I write with it.  But beware: it'll probably be missing some and's and the's, and a few will be lost under the fridge.

Vital Vocab 23

Prompt?  What prompt?

Vocab: rapport, rebuke, refute, quaint, quixotic

Commonly Confused Words: bare/bear

Grammar Focus: parallel structure

Isaac Bade-

     I eventually got tired of waiting and made my way to the muddy backyard, as carefully as possible (though easily refuted, I had a notion that tromping through my aunt's garden could damage our rapport).  Once there, I crossed the back patio and tried the door (locked, of course).  I didn't bother with our quaint kitchen window, but instead grabbed hold of the bare lower limbs of the oak tree, hoping it wasn't too quixotic to hope it would still bear my weight.  I hadn't tried this in ages, and could only assume the tree wouldn't drop me in some harsh rebuke.  Up, over, up, over....I didn't think I heard any cracking branches.  I considered that a good sign.

Vital Vocab 22 | Vital Vocab 24

Vital Vocab Dictionary

Shattered Teacups (and Anthony Rousseaux)

Hello, my friends.  It occurred to me the other day that I haven't posted any art in a while.  This is partly because my art lately hasn't been very good (or even interesting, for that matter), but I recently finished an art project that I actually really like.  And I finished it on time for class, too!  (because, you know, I did it as homework.)

The assignment was called "Cup Surprise."  We all collected teacups or coffee mugs and chose an object to draw coming out of them to "surprise" my teacher.  Anything we wanted.  (School appropriate, of course.)  So I started rough drafting (we need two rough drafts for every assignment - bluh) and I ended up with these:

Her name is Eleanor, if you were wondering.

Unfortunately, all too often my run-of-the-mill art projects just strike me as kind of...soulless.  And as soon as that horrible feeling kicks in, I'm screwed.  I look around the class, and see all these projects that look just like mine, and...I can't move on.  I find it hard to see the point.  But that weekend, I got lucky.

My mom broke her favorite teacup!  Hooraaaaay!  (We got her a new one, don't worry.)  And that broken teacup gave me a lovely photo reference.

I actually sent this picture to Sara for some friendly critiquing.  It went approximately as follows:

Me: Does this look like it's been dropped?
Sara: Um.  Yes?
Me: Or should I move it?
Sara: uh...
Sara: wait a second...
Sara: Anthony...
Me: hmm?
Sara: A-Anthony!  AnthONY NOOOOOOOOO!  WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM, ALLIE?  WHAT DID YOU DO?
Me: uhh...
Sara: ANTHONYYYYYYYYYY
Me: I was just...
Sara: ANTHONYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I really should have had a story to tell her.

But so anyways.  After drawing from that picture for the next handful of art classes, I ended up with this.

Signed and dated, my first really good project of the year.  Hope you like it.

-Allie :3

Vital Vocab 22

Hello, dears.  I'm tired.  Do not expect anything too extraordinary.

((oh gosh wow, I forgot to post it last night.  I'm sorry.))

Prompt: --

Vocab: pretense, procure, prosaic, pragmatic, prudence

Commonly Confused Words: aloud/allowed

Grammar Focus: parallel structure

Isaac Bade-

     Unfortunately, Aunt Gaile had remembered to lock the front door again.  I sighed aloud as I tried the knob.  I couldn't fathom why she thought this was necessary; it had never struck me to be particularly pragmatic (and again I wished one of us could have had the prudence to procure a house key).  I glanced over at the garage door's keypad, but instead of trying the code, I just sat again on the front steps in the rain.  The keypad hadn't worked in months; no matter how much I tried it, I would not be allowed in.

     I leaned against the front door and absently covered the edges of bits of paper from my backpack in prosaic scribbles.  Scri-scritch, scri-scritch, scri-scritch....  My mind wandered back to the library, all the girls with their chittery laughs and fake smiles.  Social pretense was such bull.

Vital Vocab 21 | Vital Vocab 23

Vital Vocab Dictionary

Creative Writing - "Write Around"

Hi everybody!  Hooray, a weekend post!  To think I'd had it together this week....

I've been posting a lot of Vital Vocabs lately, but this wasn't really meant to be a Vital Vocab blog.  It was meant to be a writing [and sometimes miscellaneous] blog.  So, here's some writing.  (And sometimes miscellaneous?)

A lot of things I do for English, but I'm also in a Creative Writing class.  Every class we do a warm-up "Writers Notebook" activity.  (Basically, our teacher gives us some sort of challenge or prompt to start the class with.)  This week, there was one called a "Write-Around."  We each wrote the opening sentences of a story, then passed it around the class, each person adding a bit to the plot.  And so, after some minor editing, I ended up with this.

Writers Notebook 10 - Write Around
((I only wrote the first three sentences and last four paragraphs of this - we had to conclude the stories on our own.))

courtesy of: www.pcta.org

     Trees towered high over the river’s edge, tall spindles of pine. A yellow and orange dusk was falling, and the air slowly gained its distinctive evening chill. There was a broken down bridge, threatening to tumble into the water. It was beautiful.
     Anna felt a warm breath hit her shoulder and she glanced around, but no one was there. She turned and watched the river slowly flow down the stream. Anna was glad to get away from her controlling parents for a little while. Suddenly she heard sticks crack.
     “Hey, Anna. I hear that you want to get away from your parents,” said her ex-boyfriend, “maybe I can help.”
     “John, we broke up for a reason. Now stop stalking me like a shadow!” Anna screamed out at him.
     “Ya but, thats all in the past.” He said making matters worse. She got up and started to walk away. Anna took one step, and BAM! John ran right into her and forcefully slammed his lips upon hers. She tried to escape, but she was to weak. She always was too weak. She was trembling, her whole body filled with fear. I better think quickly, if I ever want to get out of this situation. The last place in the whole wide world she would want to be was right here, right then.
     Anna started screaming at the top of her lungs, the sound echoing off the mountain walls. “Help! Help! Help! Get me out of here.” She began to run, run faster than she ever had before. John kept chasing her. She heard him panting in the distance.
     As she ran, her oversized shoes began to trip her up. She knew that she shouldn’t have worn those shoes. They were slowing her down, so she kicked off her shoes and began to run faster. She was always super fast in track and field.
     John was stumbling over grass and roots, but still trailing after her. Anna stopped and ducked around behind a boulder, knowing he couldn’t see her.
     “Come on baby,” he said, “you don’t wanna hide from me.” Quietly, Anna picked up a stone, then climbed on top of the rock. He didn’t even look up. “Come on now, where’d you go?” he blundered, completely oblivious. Anna tensed, took aim, held her breath.
     She dropped the stone directly on his head.
     “UHG--” John dropped to the ground, unconscious. Quickly, Anna took out her cell phone. It was time to call the police. 

So.  Attempted rape.  Okay, class.  But so I know this isn't my best work; I only really edited it for grammar.  It was a fun assignment though, seeing what a simple setting could turn into when passed by a bunch of different writers.  I'm curious to see what I did to everybody else's stories, too, because when we were done and people got their stories back, I heard things like "oh wow, my story got violent," and "that's so sad, my character fell into a ditch!" and I just kind of sat there like, "oh, I did that...."

But so anyways, thanks for reading, as always.  Until next time, my friends!
-Allie

P.S: if anyone would like to see it, my waifu posted a sad coupling of one-shots we wrote on her blog, here.  (Should I post my one-shots?  They're mostly Anthony-related and poorly explained.)

P.P.S: sorry if the formatting on any of my posts is screwy.  I've kinda been trying to teach myself HTML lately.  (for anyone similarly interested, this is a beautiful website.  enjoy yourselves.)

Vital Vocab 21

Hey, guys.  So, I rotate between phases where I think a lot about Isaac in my free time, and phases where I think a lot about Anthony in my free time.  I'm currently in an Anthony phase, so this might not be very good.  

I apologize for whatever may follow.

In other news, if anyone wants to listen to the full "Coraline" soundtrack....

And does anybody know why The Shins sound so aggressively British?  I mean, they're from Albuquerque.... (update: apparently, the lead singer lived in England for five years.  so that's a thing.)

Prompt: --

Vocab: peruse, plausible, paradigm, palatable, penchant

Commonly Confused Words: where/wear/were

Grammar Focus: parallel structure

Isaac Bade-

     "Hey, are you okay?"  Ava glanced over at me.  I swallowed and nodded, forcing myself to relax.  God, I hated driving.  The rest of the world, however, seemed to have a penchant for driving everywhere.  Not that I didn't appreciate the ride, and Ava's driving was more than palatable; it was just everyone else that scared me.  I knew it just wasn't plausible that I could go my life without being in a car crash.  The more I thought about it, the more it seemed we were barreling down the road.  I imagined twisting, turning, tumbling, the crunch of metal, the squealing of breaks.  I sighed, feeling sick.  Why couldn't I just be normal about these things?

     And suddenly, we were in my driveway.  I blinked and looked around.  

     "Did I get it?" Ava asked, suddenly excited.  "I got the right house, didn't I?"  I grinned and nodded. "Yes!  Well damn, that really kills the paradigm.  I usually forget where everything is.  Hell, I can hardly find the same shoes to wear in the mornings."  She got out and we unloaded my bike.  "You'd think I spent my free time perusing street maps or something....Anyways...."  She smiled at me and hopped back in her car, and I walked my bike to the garage.  

     "See you on Monday, Isaac.  You owe me a prize!"  She pointed at me purposefully through the open window, and with that she was gone, disappeared in the rain.

Vital Vocab 20 | Vital Vocab 22

Vital Vocab Dictionary

Vital Vocab 20 (updated)

In light of Valentine's Day, I've been thinking of doing something I've kind of always wanted to do, and that is to write an old-school love letter.

Courtesy of: favim.com

Unfortunately, Valentine's Day was today, so it's gonna be a little late.  But so anyways, I didn't actually know how to write a love letter, so I looked it up!

Classy.  Freaking classy.  This man could give Anthony a run for his money.  (read it here, I insist.)

But so anyways, I hope that helps someone out.

Valentine's aside, please excuse this week's post.  I'll try harder next time.

Also, at the end of the year, I think I'll try and organize these into something bearable for you (and for me, too).

Prompt: --

Vocab: oblique, oblivious, ominous, orthodox, ostracize

Commonly Confused Words: quite/quiet/quit

Grammar Focus: parallel structure (in any form)

Isaac Bade-

     Apparently one of the volunteers had recently quit, so it took a little extra time, but before long, Ava was finished, and we were loading my bike into the back of her mom's orthodox Subaru, using the trunk door as an umbrella until we hopped in the car ourselves.  We sat quietly for a minute, watching rain pound on the windshield, before Ava started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.  

     "Now," she said, "I haven't been to your house since like the sixth grade.  Prize if I get it on the first try?"  I laughed a little, nodding.  She turned on the radio, smiling.  "Yesssss...."

     It had rained a lot lately; the road was slippery and ominously unabsorbent.  ((why isn't that a word?  that should definitely be a word.))  As we were turning into the neighborhood, a car going the other way swerved slightly, then suddenly, quite unpredictably out of its lane, taking an oblique path directly for us.  I gasped and Ava slammed on the breaks, and the car managed to right itself barely, sloppily, before driving away.  We both watched through the mirror as the car drifted back and forth, back and forth, as it drove away.  

     "Oh my god," Ava said, "I think they were drunk!  And if not, what a completely oblivious driver.  People like that should be ostracized...."  I was gripping the door handle, staring through the mirror.  Faintly, I put two fingers to my jaw, feeling for my pulse.

Vital Vocab 19 | Vital Vocab 21

Vital Vocab Dictionary