Sunday, August 30, 2009
well...
we have to read "into thin air" for English. It's good. It's just work, and it's required, and I have to give up my new iPod if I don't finish it and finish the essay that I have to write by today. I'm pacing myself, and I've been doing a git better than we expected, so I'm taking about fifteen extra minutes on my break. It's read for an hour, then chill for half an hour. Going now.
Monday, August 24, 2009
superhero story!!
Chapter 1
I was raised by superheroes. I didn’t know when I was a kid, of course. I thought all moms could seem to be everywhere at once and be across the house in seconds, and I thought all dads could pick up the refrigerator in case a jellybean rolled under it. But then was that period when you’re around eight and you’re at your friend’s house every Friday for a sleepover, and when I learned that my best friend’s parents couldn’t do those things, I wondered why. Then I went to my other friend’s house, and it turned out her dad couldn’t move the kitchen table without help either, and that got me thinking-what if it was my parents, not theirs, that were weird?
Like most eight-year-olds that get struck with ideas like those while at a friend’s house, by the time we had decided on a movie to watch, I had completely forgotten about what I thought of their friend’s parents when it comes to the matter of moving tables and over ground. The thoughts stayed in the back of my head for the next several years.
Over the next several years, though, was when my mom started acting really weird. It was the kind of weird that makes you wonder whether the person is feeling all right, but are too freaked out by the change to ask them. She was clearly disturbed by something, but she wasn’t sharing anything with me, which was odd, too. Usually when she had a problem she asked advice from me and my dad at dinner. But after that weird change, she never talked about the annoying people at work or the paper she had to write or anything like that. She also seemed a lot more annoyed at me, which, of course, got me wondering whether I was the one that was making her act strangely. She was tense all the time, as if she was a volcano expected to blow over at any minute. Then, after a long time of the strange behavior, the volcano erupted. It was the year I turned fourteen, and I came home all happy because it was my birthday and it had been a good day overall. Just as I put my key in the door, my mom yanked it open and stormed off to her car, carrying her suitcase and looking very annoyed at something.
“Mom, where are you going?” I asked, startled.
“Away from here,” was her sharp reply as she strode haughtily down the walk, carrying her suitcase in one hand and a duffel bag in the other.
“Why? What’s wrong with life here?” I wondered.
“It’s not the life, it’s the people,” she replied in an annoyed tone, going back up the walk to get the rest of her belongings.
This confused me slightly. I could see the disappointment in her face when she looked at me, but I couldn’t see what was so horrible about me. “Why?” I asked blankly, for want of a better question.
“I feel too confined,” she explained shortly. That was helpful. Not.
“Why do you feel confined?”
“I have power. I’m not allowed to use it. End of story.”
“But why are you leaving me and dad here?” I followed her back down to the car as she carried some more stuff.
“It’s because of you that I’m leaving,” she told me, turning and facing me properly for the first time that day. Her words stung. Even though I knew that she didn’t like me, I didn’t see anything wrong with me.
“Because of…..me?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you leaving because of me? Am I really that bad of a daughter?”
“It’s not that you’re a bad daughter,” she explained in a tone that indicated that it had everything to do with that. “It’s just that….well, like I said, I have power and I’m not able to use it here.”
“Are you leaving because I don’t have power, too?” I wondered. The thought was a mere whim, but for all I knew, that could be the actual reason she was so annoyed.
She sighed, a long, miserable, when-is-this-child-going-to-get-a-brain type sigh.
“Listen, Jackie,” she said in a voice that clearly said that she still wanted me alive against her better judgment. “Have you ever been in the room off the garage?”
“No,” I said, startled. Of all the things to think of asking at this particular moment, why did my mom pick rooms off garages in generic homes? “I thought I wasn’t allowed in there.”
“Well, it’s not a matter of permission if you can go into a room in your own house,” my mom said testily. She clearly wasn’t enjoying the fact that not everyone in the world is as quick-witted as she was. “Anyway, if you want to know what’s really going on, have a look in there. Your dad’s got quite a collection of…stuff in there that you might want to take a look at. I don’t want to be around when he catches you snooping, though. I’ll bet you’d have figured it out eventually, but I’m not going to wait around forever for…things to happen that might not happen at all. That’s another reason I’m leaving. Goodbye.”
With that, she slammed the trunk closed and got in the front seat, slamming the car door behind her. I stood and stared after my mother, wondering what in the world had gotten into my mother’s brain. Leaving because of me. The room off the garage. The room off the garage? Until that moment, I hadn’t known the garage even had a door other than the door that led inside. I walked towards the front door very slowly, thinking about what had just happened, and not wholly accepting the fact that my mom had just left for what was most likely going to be a very long time, unless something dramatic happened to bring her back, which wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
When I got inside, even though I don’t consciously remember opening the door or setting down my backpack, I decided to find out what exactly was in the room off the garage and why mom thought I should go see it. Dad wouldn’t be back for ages-it was Friday, and I could get home early because I had two free classes at the end of the day-a scheduled free period and then homeroom, where we never really did anything anyway and were allowed to leave early if we wanted-so I had time to look. So that’s what I did.
I proceeded downstairs and through the door of the laundry room to the garage. When I got there I stopped. Where was this alleged room?
I looked around. A couple of bikes, some recycling bins, and one of the trash cans that you took down to the curb every Wednesday were all I saw. No door. No opening. No nothing except for the piles of crud that had accumulated over the years.
My eyes went back to the bikes in the corner, and as my eyes traveled left, there was a door that was very hard to see from this angle. I guess I had never paid attention to it because my purple mountain bike that I never rode was leaning against it. I went over and moved my bike out of the way and opened the door.
Chapter 2
Inside was a room, just as Mom had said there would be. But I hadn’t expected to see what I actually saw.
As far as I knew, my dad had never been a big fan of mementos and talismans and things like that. So the fact that my mom had said, “Your DAD has got quite a collection,” was just as surprising as what he had been collecting.
Dad had a huge collection of newspaper clippings. As I walked farther into the room, a whole new side of my father opened up to me. That wasn’t only because of the fact that he had collected this many clippings over the years, but also the pictures on the clippings. It was amazing. Hundreds of little bits of news and headline articles were around the room. All the pictures showed the same guy-a tall, majestic superhero in a suit with black sleeves and a bright purple body, with a black mask that covered his eyes and part of his nose and stayed on without one of those annoying little elastic straps in the back. But why did my mom want me to see this?
I looked further. POWERFUL SAVE read a headline over the superhero with a girl in his arms who had fainted in the glory of being touched by someone this famous, by the looks of it. SHOW OF FORCE read another, with a picture of the superhero waving and grinning and holding what looked like a robot’s head under one arm. Why did my mom want me to see a bunch of pictures of some famous superhero from bygone days? I could only find the date on the headline articles, because the smaller pictures and stories seemed to come from the middle of the paper, but they all seemed to be at least twenty years old.
I inspected an article titled The Powerful Hero. It looked like a biography, but I couldn’t be sure.
Of the many superheroes saving the world today, none is more renowned or respected as Power. Power, who can lift objects many times his own weight, is one of the leading villain-fighters in our community and, it is arguable, in the world. He is best known for the capture of Madrigal, the mad scientist who lures people of authority and importance to sleep by singing a very beautiful lullaby and for the imprisonment of Yin and Yang, the super villain duo that can replicate themselves at will.
Of course, Power could not have taken down Yin and Yang, or many of his very numerous opponents, without considerable help. Before her retirement from the superhero business in 1986, Power’s longtime friend and sidekick, Force (force fields), completed a very impressive duo. In fact, some argue that Force and Power were the best duo that ever lived. Many who are arguing against them say that it was either Yin and Yang, or Power and his next teammate, Runner (super speed), who banded together with Force just before her retirement, along with the hard-to-hit Dodge. However, that remains to be seen.
The article ended there. I stared at the words, amazed. Superheroes actually existed. But as I inspected the recurring grin of the many photos, I started to recognize the look in Power’s eyes. It resembled my father, in the rare times he smiled. Power’s eyes were exactly the same shape, too.
Was it possible that my father was this legendary superhero?
I decided that it was possible. I also decided that, even though it was possible, that didn’t mean it was true.
But, despite myself, I started thinking that, if my dad had some powers, then my mom must have had some, too. The conversation in the driveway supported that theory. I looked around the photos again. I decided that my mother was either Force or Runner. I was thinking she was Runner, because in the pictures where they were side-by-side, Force was almost as tall as my dad, whereas my mom only came up to his shoulder, like Runner did in the photos.
I heard a sound behind me, and I realized that although my mom had basically said that it would be okay if I was in here, my dad might say different. I quickly folded up the article I had read and shoved it into my pocket and I hurried out.
That night, however, I began feeling rather strange. I was sure I hadn’t eaten anything weird at all, except for my dad’s lame attempt at making hot dogs (they had been burnt to a crisp and after a bite each we mutually agreed to order Chinese instead). It wasn’t the stomach-achey type strange, though, it was more of a tingling that went on all over my body. It started at around eleven that night, in my fingers. I was reading a book and I got the same sort of feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. Then the tingling spread all over my body. I didn’t get what was going on, but I didn’t want to move because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did. It stopped as suddenly as it had started, but I knew, from that point on, I was different in more ways than one.
I was raised by superheroes. I didn’t know when I was a kid, of course. I thought all moms could seem to be everywhere at once and be across the house in seconds, and I thought all dads could pick up the refrigerator in case a jellybean rolled under it. But then was that period when you’re around eight and you’re at your friend’s house every Friday for a sleepover, and when I learned that my best friend’s parents couldn’t do those things, I wondered why. Then I went to my other friend’s house, and it turned out her dad couldn’t move the kitchen table without help either, and that got me thinking-what if it was my parents, not theirs, that were weird?
Like most eight-year-olds that get struck with ideas like those while at a friend’s house, by the time we had decided on a movie to watch, I had completely forgotten about what I thought of their friend’s parents when it comes to the matter of moving tables and over ground. The thoughts stayed in the back of my head for the next several years.
Over the next several years, though, was when my mom started acting really weird. It was the kind of weird that makes you wonder whether the person is feeling all right, but are too freaked out by the change to ask them. She was clearly disturbed by something, but she wasn’t sharing anything with me, which was odd, too. Usually when she had a problem she asked advice from me and my dad at dinner. But after that weird change, she never talked about the annoying people at work or the paper she had to write or anything like that. She also seemed a lot more annoyed at me, which, of course, got me wondering whether I was the one that was making her act strangely. She was tense all the time, as if she was a volcano expected to blow over at any minute. Then, after a long time of the strange behavior, the volcano erupted. It was the year I turned fourteen, and I came home all happy because it was my birthday and it had been a good day overall. Just as I put my key in the door, my mom yanked it open and stormed off to her car, carrying her suitcase and looking very annoyed at something.
“Mom, where are you going?” I asked, startled.
“Away from here,” was her sharp reply as she strode haughtily down the walk, carrying her suitcase in one hand and a duffel bag in the other.
“Why? What’s wrong with life here?” I wondered.
“It’s not the life, it’s the people,” she replied in an annoyed tone, going back up the walk to get the rest of her belongings.
This confused me slightly. I could see the disappointment in her face when she looked at me, but I couldn’t see what was so horrible about me. “Why?” I asked blankly, for want of a better question.
“I feel too confined,” she explained shortly. That was helpful. Not.
“Why do you feel confined?”
“I have power. I’m not allowed to use it. End of story.”
“But why are you leaving me and dad here?” I followed her back down to the car as she carried some more stuff.
“It’s because of you that I’m leaving,” she told me, turning and facing me properly for the first time that day. Her words stung. Even though I knew that she didn’t like me, I didn’t see anything wrong with me.
“Because of…..me?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you leaving because of me? Am I really that bad of a daughter?”
“It’s not that you’re a bad daughter,” she explained in a tone that indicated that it had everything to do with that. “It’s just that….well, like I said, I have power and I’m not able to use it here.”
“Are you leaving because I don’t have power, too?” I wondered. The thought was a mere whim, but for all I knew, that could be the actual reason she was so annoyed.
She sighed, a long, miserable, when-is-this-child-going-to-get-a-brain type sigh.
“Listen, Jackie,” she said in a voice that clearly said that she still wanted me alive against her better judgment. “Have you ever been in the room off the garage?”
“No,” I said, startled. Of all the things to think of asking at this particular moment, why did my mom pick rooms off garages in generic homes? “I thought I wasn’t allowed in there.”
“Well, it’s not a matter of permission if you can go into a room in your own house,” my mom said testily. She clearly wasn’t enjoying the fact that not everyone in the world is as quick-witted as she was. “Anyway, if you want to know what’s really going on, have a look in there. Your dad’s got quite a collection of…stuff in there that you might want to take a look at. I don’t want to be around when he catches you snooping, though. I’ll bet you’d have figured it out eventually, but I’m not going to wait around forever for…things to happen that might not happen at all. That’s another reason I’m leaving. Goodbye.”
With that, she slammed the trunk closed and got in the front seat, slamming the car door behind her. I stood and stared after my mother, wondering what in the world had gotten into my mother’s brain. Leaving because of me. The room off the garage. The room off the garage? Until that moment, I hadn’t known the garage even had a door other than the door that led inside. I walked towards the front door very slowly, thinking about what had just happened, and not wholly accepting the fact that my mom had just left for what was most likely going to be a very long time, unless something dramatic happened to bring her back, which wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
When I got inside, even though I don’t consciously remember opening the door or setting down my backpack, I decided to find out what exactly was in the room off the garage and why mom thought I should go see it. Dad wouldn’t be back for ages-it was Friday, and I could get home early because I had two free classes at the end of the day-a scheduled free period and then homeroom, where we never really did anything anyway and were allowed to leave early if we wanted-so I had time to look. So that’s what I did.
I proceeded downstairs and through the door of the laundry room to the garage. When I got there I stopped. Where was this alleged room?
I looked around. A couple of bikes, some recycling bins, and one of the trash cans that you took down to the curb every Wednesday were all I saw. No door. No opening. No nothing except for the piles of crud that had accumulated over the years.
My eyes went back to the bikes in the corner, and as my eyes traveled left, there was a door that was very hard to see from this angle. I guess I had never paid attention to it because my purple mountain bike that I never rode was leaning against it. I went over and moved my bike out of the way and opened the door.
Chapter 2
Inside was a room, just as Mom had said there would be. But I hadn’t expected to see what I actually saw.
As far as I knew, my dad had never been a big fan of mementos and talismans and things like that. So the fact that my mom had said, “Your DAD has got quite a collection,” was just as surprising as what he had been collecting.
Dad had a huge collection of newspaper clippings. As I walked farther into the room, a whole new side of my father opened up to me. That wasn’t only because of the fact that he had collected this many clippings over the years, but also the pictures on the clippings. It was amazing. Hundreds of little bits of news and headline articles were around the room. All the pictures showed the same guy-a tall, majestic superhero in a suit with black sleeves and a bright purple body, with a black mask that covered his eyes and part of his nose and stayed on without one of those annoying little elastic straps in the back. But why did my mom want me to see this?
I looked further. POWERFUL SAVE read a headline over the superhero with a girl in his arms who had fainted in the glory of being touched by someone this famous, by the looks of it. SHOW OF FORCE read another, with a picture of the superhero waving and grinning and holding what looked like a robot’s head under one arm. Why did my mom want me to see a bunch of pictures of some famous superhero from bygone days? I could only find the date on the headline articles, because the smaller pictures and stories seemed to come from the middle of the paper, but they all seemed to be at least twenty years old.
I inspected an article titled The Powerful Hero. It looked like a biography, but I couldn’t be sure.
Of the many superheroes saving the world today, none is more renowned or respected as Power. Power, who can lift objects many times his own weight, is one of the leading villain-fighters in our community and, it is arguable, in the world. He is best known for the capture of Madrigal, the mad scientist who lures people of authority and importance to sleep by singing a very beautiful lullaby and for the imprisonment of Yin and Yang, the super villain duo that can replicate themselves at will.
Of course, Power could not have taken down Yin and Yang, or many of his very numerous opponents, without considerable help. Before her retirement from the superhero business in 1986, Power’s longtime friend and sidekick, Force (force fields), completed a very impressive duo. In fact, some argue that Force and Power were the best duo that ever lived. Many who are arguing against them say that it was either Yin and Yang, or Power and his next teammate, Runner (super speed), who banded together with Force just before her retirement, along with the hard-to-hit Dodge. However, that remains to be seen.
The article ended there. I stared at the words, amazed. Superheroes actually existed. But as I inspected the recurring grin of the many photos, I started to recognize the look in Power’s eyes. It resembled my father, in the rare times he smiled. Power’s eyes were exactly the same shape, too.
Was it possible that my father was this legendary superhero?
I decided that it was possible. I also decided that, even though it was possible, that didn’t mean it was true.
But, despite myself, I started thinking that, if my dad had some powers, then my mom must have had some, too. The conversation in the driveway supported that theory. I looked around the photos again. I decided that my mother was either Force or Runner. I was thinking she was Runner, because in the pictures where they were side-by-side, Force was almost as tall as my dad, whereas my mom only came up to his shoulder, like Runner did in the photos.
I heard a sound behind me, and I realized that although my mom had basically said that it would be okay if I was in here, my dad might say different. I quickly folded up the article I had read and shoved it into my pocket and I hurried out.
That night, however, I began feeling rather strange. I was sure I hadn’t eaten anything weird at all, except for my dad’s lame attempt at making hot dogs (they had been burnt to a crisp and after a bite each we mutually agreed to order Chinese instead). It wasn’t the stomach-achey type strange, though, it was more of a tingling that went on all over my body. It started at around eleven that night, in my fingers. I was reading a book and I got the same sort of feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. Then the tingling spread all over my body. I didn’t get what was going on, but I didn’t want to move because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did. It stopped as suddenly as it had started, but I knew, from that point on, I was different in more ways than one.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
(500) days of summer
Well, we didn't go to the fair, because of the rain. Instead, we saw "(500) Days of Summer." It was an okay movie, but it was kind of sexed up and it was kind of confusing at times. The name of the girl was Summer, so that's how they got the 500 days or whatever. And at the end, after they broke up and Summer ended up getting married to someone else and Tom was all depressed, so he quit his job at Hallmark and started going to interviews for architecture, which was what he majored in in college. In the last scene, he was waiting for an interview and there was a girl waiting to be interviewed for the same job, and the last two lines seriously were, "Hey, I'm Tom." "I'm Autumn." Right after he'd asked her out. It was insane. It was kind of funny, though. You could kind of tell it was intentional. But whatever. It was a fairly decent movie in the end. But the end was definitely my favorite scene.
Seriously, my favorite part about the evening was seeing my friends (who are twins) who I haven't seen in a while. They're fraternal, and one of them and I want to have an Unseen Movie Marathon. We haven't seen a lot of the same movies, so we were like, "UNSEEN MOVIE MARATHON!! We NEED to figure this out!!" So I think we're going to. That remains to be seen, but I think we both want to. And I was SUPER psyched because she told me she had FINALLY seen "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the first two "Lord of the Rings" movies. I was SO happy. Those are seriously my favorite movies ever. I'm not kidding. I LOVE THEM. Sorry...obsessed... Anyway, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" is definitely on the list. I forget what the other one was, but I'm totally voting that she comes over to my place and we watch "Return of the King: Extended Edition." And the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And some other ones, maybe, that I haven't seen. Or that we both haven't seen. It would be AMAZING. Okay, I have to go now. It's this crazy little thing called sleep that my mom keeps harping on about...
Seriously, my favorite part about the evening was seeing my friends (who are twins) who I haven't seen in a while. They're fraternal, and one of them and I want to have an Unseen Movie Marathon. We haven't seen a lot of the same movies, so we were like, "UNSEEN MOVIE MARATHON!! We NEED to figure this out!!" So I think we're going to. That remains to be seen, but I think we both want to. And I was SUPER psyched because she told me she had FINALLY seen "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the first two "Lord of the Rings" movies. I was SO happy. Those are seriously my favorite movies ever. I'm not kidding. I LOVE THEM. Sorry...obsessed... Anyway, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" is definitely on the list. I forget what the other one was, but I'm totally voting that she comes over to my place and we watch "Return of the King: Extended Edition." And the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And some other ones, maybe, that I haven't seen. Or that we both haven't seen. It would be AMAZING. Okay, I have to go now. It's this crazy little thing called sleep that my mom keeps harping on about...
hair and fair
Well, I just got a haircut. And it feels somewhat weird, because I got it layered and two inches were taken off in the first thirty seconds of being in the chair. I don't mind. I like this style. It feels kind of weird, though. I already said that, didn't I? It's the same sort of feeling as when I donated my hair to Locks of Love, except not as extreme. I donated ten inches then, and there was a total of about two inches taken off today, not counting all the layered bits of hair. I like it, though. The only down side is that I can't pull it back and now I have some bangs that are right in my eyes, but whatever. I like my hair. It is kind of boyish, which I really like, since I am somewhat of a tomboy. Except I'm not really into sports. I mean, I'll try some sports and I'd be willing to play every so often, but I wouldn't be on a football team or anything. I'm just not the football type. Especially when they schedule a football game on Halloween. And I knit. How many guys do YOU know that knit? Anyway, I like the haircut. It'll take a little while to get used to, though. It took me a long time to get used to the ten inches being off, but this isn't ten inches, but it's a different style. So it should take about the same amount of time to get used to. Theoretically. Either way, I still feel a bit lightheaded, you know? Like an epic weight has just come off my shouders. Well, technically, a weight has come off my shoulders. It just passed my neck first. But, all in all, I like it. I really do.
Anyway, me and my friends are going to the county fair tonight. I just hope it doesn't get rained out. That would really stink. I'm not kidding. Family Camp, C2HI, and the county fair are what make my summer. Seriously. I mean, sometimes, I do forget about the fair until the weekend that it's in, but still. I love it. My favorite part is the tie-die booth in the main hall thing. It's at a school, and the rides are outside, and inside, in the gym, are a whole ton of booths. Some are info booths, and some sell stuff. I like the ones that sell stuff. And some rides. And I like those games that are like, "pop three balloons and win a free monkey!" or whatever. Anyhoo, it should be fun. Even though the rides might get rained out, there's still plenty to do inside, since I am armed with most of one of my last paychecks. Except they might cancel the entire thing because of the rain. PLEASE< GOD, DON'T LET IT RAIN TOO HARD!!! THANK YOU!!! Okay, I am going now.
Anyway, me and my friends are going to the county fair tonight. I just hope it doesn't get rained out. That would really stink. I'm not kidding. Family Camp, C2HI, and the county fair are what make my summer. Seriously. I mean, sometimes, I do forget about the fair until the weekend that it's in, but still. I love it. My favorite part is the tie-die booth in the main hall thing. It's at a school, and the rides are outside, and inside, in the gym, are a whole ton of booths. Some are info booths, and some sell stuff. I like the ones that sell stuff. And some rides. And I like those games that are like, "pop three balloons and win a free monkey!" or whatever. Anyhoo, it should be fun. Even though the rides might get rained out, there's still plenty to do inside, since I am armed with most of one of my last paychecks. Except they might cancel the entire thing because of the rain. PLEASE< GOD, DON'T LET IT RAIN TOO HARD!!! THANK YOU!!! Okay, I am going now.
My Carbon Leaf thing
1. Are you a male or female:
big strong man
2. Describe yourself:
the boxer
3. How do you feel about yourself:
crazy train
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
love, loss, hope, repeat
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation:
nowadays
6. Describe your current location:
Changeless
7. Describe where you want to be:
Under the Wire
8. Your best friend:
the girl and her horse
9. Your favorite color is:
blue ridge laughing
10. You know that:
on any given day
11. What's the weather like:
summer song
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called:
one prairie outpost
13. What is life to you:
life less ordinary
14. What is the best advice you have to give:
this is my song
15. If you could change your name what would it be:
Mary Mac
big strong man
2. Describe yourself:
the boxer
3. How do you feel about yourself:
crazy train
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
love, loss, hope, repeat
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation:
nowadays
6. Describe your current location:
Changeless
7. Describe where you want to be:
Under the Wire
8. Your best friend:
the girl and her horse
9. Your favorite color is:
blue ridge laughing
10. You know that:
on any given day
11. What's the weather like:
summer song
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called:
one prairie outpost
13. What is life to you:
life less ordinary
14. What is the best advice you have to give:
this is my song
15. If you could change your name what would it be:
Mary Mac
song question thing
So I was on Facebook just now, and one of my friends tagged me in her facebook note. As it turns out, the note consisted of various questions and answers using song titles by one artist. Hers was Mae (never heard of them). It seemed kind of interesting, so I tried it with Carbon Leaf. I will post mine in a new post.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Why I Can't Wait For School
In response to the "Why I Can't Wait For Summer" post...
Reason Numero One: learning. I like learning. It gives me something to think about aside from eleven-square sudokus.
Reason Numero Two: being able to regularly hang out with friends again. So far, the only friend I've seen on a regular basis is the friend I go to tae kwon do with, and so far she's been out of town for at least two weeks TWICE.
Reason Numero Three: back-to-school shopping. Not the clothes, the actual stuff you might need. I don't know why, I just love getting school supplies. Especially the notebooks. And I just really like going to Staples, even though I don't have an Easy Button. Even though I want one.
Reason Numero Four: I can't wait for Ancient Civ. I know I have to write an essay over the summer and everything, I don't care. The class seems really interesting. And I really like the teacher. She was my geography teacher in eighth grade, and she's awesome. And she's also a knitter. Like me.
Reason Number Five: I'll actually have something to do. Like, instead of sitting in front of a TV or computer all day, I'll actually be doing something worthwhile. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be doing my math packet....
Reason Number Six: My school rocks. It's as simple as that.
Reason Numero One: learning. I like learning. It gives me something to think about aside from eleven-square sudokus.
Reason Numero Two: being able to regularly hang out with friends again. So far, the only friend I've seen on a regular basis is the friend I go to tae kwon do with, and so far she's been out of town for at least two weeks TWICE.
Reason Numero Three: back-to-school shopping. Not the clothes, the actual stuff you might need. I don't know why, I just love getting school supplies. Especially the notebooks. And I just really like going to Staples, even though I don't have an Easy Button. Even though I want one.
Reason Numero Four: I can't wait for Ancient Civ. I know I have to write an essay over the summer and everything, I don't care. The class seems really interesting. And I really like the teacher. She was my geography teacher in eighth grade, and she's awesome. And she's also a knitter. Like me.
Reason Number Five: I'll actually have something to do. Like, instead of sitting in front of a TV or computer all day, I'll actually be doing something worthwhile. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be doing my math packet....
Reason Number Six: My school rocks. It's as simple as that.
irony?
If this isn't ironic I don't know what is:
I was just looking over my old post titles, and one of them was "Why I Can't Wait For Summer," implying, very truthfully, that I couldn't WAIT for school to be freaking out already. But now, however, school couldn't come sooner. I'm not kidding. I'm so freaking bored of only being able to watch TV. I really need a social life. Really.
I was just looking over my old post titles, and one of them was "Why I Can't Wait For Summer," implying, very truthfully, that I couldn't WAIT for school to be freaking out already. But now, however, school couldn't come sooner. I'm not kidding. I'm so freaking bored of only being able to watch TV. I really need a social life. Really.
Goals For the School Year
Okay, I basically have five things that I want to do this school year:
1. Get good grades.
2. be in the musical.
3. be more social.
4. finish a story.
5. finish a knitting project.
I don't know how I'm going to do all of that, but oh well. I'll figure it out as I go. Or just... make a plan. But I prefer winging it.
1. Get good grades.
2. be in the musical.
3. be more social.
4. finish a story.
5. finish a knitting project.
I don't know how I'm going to do all of that, but oh well. I'll figure it out as I go. Or just... make a plan. But I prefer winging it.
another story (ish)
Yes, I know, another story. I'm not done with it and haven't worked on it in a while, but here it is.
Lea was lonely. Then again, she was always lonely. She did not have any friends except for her dog, Fawn, and her only living relative-her brother Leo- was never at home. He was, indeed, twenty or so years older than her, because Lea...well, she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d come about, and she didn’t want to think about it. Both of Leas’ parents had drowned when she was three. Leo looked after her until she was eight, and then began spending increasing amounts of time away from home. Lea never knew why, but from then on, Lea was basically left on her own. Their country, as most, did not have a formal school system and the only rule regarding education was that children were schooled until at least the age of eight. At eight, they could stay in school, drop out for a few years and go into an early apprenticeship, or drop out entirely. With Leo being away a lot of the time and unable to take her to school, Lea had no choice but to drop out.
But today, after seven years of making it alone, Lea felt a particular pang of loneliness. One would think that one’s family, even if the family was rarely home, would at least send a card when a birthday occurred. But, Lea was again disappointed. No owl, phoenix, raven, or mailman came to Leo and Lea’s house. By bird was the common way of delivering mail. Only large packages were sent by ground mail, unless you were lucky enough to have a phoenix, which were strong enough to carry anything. Lea, who wasn’t exactly the world’s luckiest teenager, had neither a phoenix nor a birthday card. It was sad, really.
Lea was a girl of the forest. Although she lived a lonely and solitary life, she had not let the last seven years go to waste. She knew how to knit-it was one of the few things that her mother had taught her before that incident, and her parents had raised five llamas, six sheep, four angora rabbits, three alpacas and a goat in a small enclosure off the back of their house, which they successfully bred-sometimes breeding one of the llamas with one of the alpacas, or other crossbreeds that turned out really strange-and used the fiber for yarn. It was often a hard life for Lea, who lived almost literally in the middle of nowhere. In Lea’s case, nowhere happened to be a forest. The forest in question happened to be a very good spot for a knitting addict to live-it had an amazingly diverse ecosystem that supported everything from oak trees to bamboo, and provided enough of the right kind of herbs to support a semi-vegetarian, more than a few pets, and many sources for dyes and fiber. Lea used all of it, but was sure to not take more than would hurt the forest. She mainly stuck to the earthy tones of her animals, only sometimes going out for certain berries or roots that would add a bit of color.
Lea made all her clothes. She knitted a lot, obviously, but that was mostly for trading purposes. She designed all the things she made. Lea whittled the needles out of bamboo shafts, and had six pairs-two thin ones, two thick ones, and two in-between ones. None of her needles had back ends, so she could work gloves in a seamless circle if she wanted to, or work a sweater on them because they were all long. Lea also weaved blankets and rugs. She also had a special loom that weaved very tightly and was ideal for making fabrics. Lea also used bamboo for sewing needles.
There was, of course, a bit of magic there, and Lea was well aware of it. Lea knew that her mother was a wood nymph, and therefore very in tune with the forest. Lea had inherited some of that one-ness, but nymph qualities favor girls, and Leo had none of the magic.
At this moment, however, Lea was not thinking about her parents, nymphs, alpacas, llamas, sheep, goats, or bamboo. She was thinking about how stupid it was that Leo had not sent anything for her birthday for the seventh year running. It couldn’t hurt him to remember that he was NOT an only child. True, he HAD been an only child for twenty years, but now he had a sister, and he was going to have to put up with it, or else. Lea sighed. Even in her head the words sounded like utter rubbish that would have been thought out by an eight year old. In a way, she still felt like an eight year old. She had nobody to talk to, and nothing to stimulate any emotions except Jack the goat, and he didn’t speak human, and she didn’t speak goat. Lea really hated being so lonely all the time. She did go into town sometimes-to sell knitted and woven objects or trade them for food that the forest did not provide, but that was the extent of her social life. She was very good at making sure she wasn’t cheated, but on the other hand, up until around two years ago she had been treated badly by a lot of the merchants. Two years ago heralded puberty. Although she was still treated like a piece of dirt, she was treated more like a piece of dirt that might have gold in it. Lea did not like that feeling, although it did make it considerably easier to get low prices on things.
The next day, Lea had to go into town for some provisions. Since the cold season was coming, she had to go to town to get a bunch of extra fruit, vegetables, and grains. Even though it was still early fall, she wanted to stock up on the things she couldn’t grow when the farmers and traders still had food to give. Calypso the llama, as always on a town day, was burdened with sweaters, hats, rugs, blankets, scarves, gloves and mittens. Lea was also leading Franz the other llama, who would aid her in bringing back most of the food. While there, she had run into a girl she had known from her school days while leading Calypso and Franz down the main market street. Lea had nearly walked into the girl, but then sidestepped quickly. The two girls recognized each other and Lea smiled shyly. Lea remembered the other girl’s name was Molly Lewis, and that they hadn’t left school on very good terms. However, Molly seemed more than willing to stop for a chat. It was a very odd encounter-they hadn’t seen each other in years, and here Molly was talking to Lea like only a night had passed since they last met.
Apparently, Molly had dropped out at the same age that Lea had. Unlike Lea, Molly hadn’t been abandoned and forced to search all day for herbs in order to keep herself alive. Instead, Molly had gotten an apprenticeship with the astrological healers. They were basically medical seers-they observed the stars and predicted what might happen to a person in any given time. It was a suiting job for Molly-although she had been something of a socialite, she had always had a side that wanted to help people. True, she had always scampered from blood when someone fell on the playground, but she had always had her heart in the right place.
Then, she ran into Isaac Griffin, another person that she had known as a child. She hadn’t exactly been friends with him, but they still had had each other’s backs if they needed it. She gave him a small smile as she led Calypso and Franz along, and he noticed and fell into step with her, starting a conversation. He, apparently, had stuck with school for another two years, and then dropped out at age ten for an apprenticeship offer as an international messenger. He had always been athletic, and apparently he had to go through a lot of training in order to be a messenger. Although being a messenger was typically regarded as being an inferior sort of job, Isaac seemed to love it. He loved running and riding and riding and running all day long.
Eventually he asked Lea what she did, and she replied, “I’ve just been around.”
“Do you have a job?” he inquired.
“No,” she admitted. “I live in the forest. My brother basically abandoned me when I was eight, and so I learned to live alone in the forest.”
“Alone? In the forest? At age eight? How do you live?”
“My mom taught me a few things when she was alive, but mostly I taught myself. She was a nymph, so I’m half nymph, which has helped.”
Lea didn’t know why she was telling Isaac all of this, but she somehow felt that she could trust him.
“But how do you get money? How do you stay warm and dry and get food and whatever else?”
“I don’t need a lot of money. I have nineteen fiber-providing pets, counting Calypso and Franz, plus a dog. I do all the spinning myself, and dye some of the whites with plants from the forest. I grow my own food, for the most part, but I do collect some stuff like wild strawberries sometimes. I also go and get my own healing plants. I dye my own fibers-cotton and bamboo, mostly. I whittle knitting needles myself, and then I use them to make most of this stuff here. I weave some stuff, too, on the loom my mom had. And my dad had built a house before he died.”
Isaac just stood there, staring.
“How do you do so many things?”
“Practice, my friend, practice.”
Isaac did some more staring.
“Wow,” he said. “Wow. How does a girl do all that?”
“I have no clue, but I do it.”
Then, Isaac seemed to remember that he was on a mission in town as well, so he then bade Lea farewell.
When Lea arrived at one of her favorite food stands, there was another surprise waiting for her. However, it was not a friend from her school days. It was her brother. He had obviously gotten a pay raise-when Lea had last seen him, he hadn’t been dressed in what looked like purple velvet. If you judged them by their clothes, it would be hard to tell that Leo and Lea were related. Velvet was very expensive in these parts, and wearing it obviously meant that Leo was earning quite a good wage. He looked better groomed than the last time Lea had seen him too. His hair was brushed, at least. Lea’s long brown hair had basically become dreadlocks because of lack of brushing. But, kind of unfortunately for Leo, he also stood out, and he also seemed to have a bit of an ego and even more of a temper. He seemed to be arguing with the shopkeeper, who apparently did not want the money that Leo was offering him. Lea recognized the shopkeeper as Joe, a tall and rounded man with kind eyes and a sharp tongue when necessary. Lea knew him well-she did a lot of trading with Joe when his harvest was good and he gave her the news when there was something big to report.
“Leo?” she said, startled.
“Lea! What are you doing here?” Leo asked, startled.
“It’s called trading for food,” she replied. “Try it sometime.” Then she said to Joe, “I’ll give you two rugs and three scarves for a bushel of apples and two bunches of bananas.”
“Three rugs,” he said.
“Two rugs, three scarves, and a pair of mittens,” Lea answered.
“Gloves,” Joe insisted.
“Fingerless,” said Lea.
“Done,” Joe replied.
“Thanks,” and handed over the agreed payment.
“Do you know this guy?” he whispered as they tied the apples onto Franz’s back.
“Yeah, he’s my brother,” she replied in equal tones.
“No offense, but you’ve got a brute of a brother.”
“I know it, and I’m saying I’m glad he’s back. He acts like I don’t exist most of the time and he treats me like dirt the rest of it.”
“Tough luck.”
By that time they had finished tying up all the food.
“Just letting you know,” Joe told Leo and Lea. “There have been some strange folks around these parts. Some of the teenage apprentices came down to investigate. They brought an astrology healer, apparently, although I don’t know why. I think that the government thinks that there might be a war or something soon, and they want her around to make sure they can avoid danger.”
“Thanks, Joe,” Lea replied. That explained why she had seen Molly and Isaac around earlier.
“Lea, what are you doing here?” Leo demanded after Joe had helped Lea pack the apples and bananas onto Franz’s back.
“I told you, getting food for the winter. I’m running low on some stuff and I don’t exactly want to starve. Do you want me to get some extra stuff for you, or are you not staying the winter?”
“I’m staying, of course I am. The astrologers are saying it’s going to be the coldest winter in years. It won’t be a good time to travel. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to rent a place for myself in town. No offense, but the forest doesn’t exactly seem the greatest place to stay.”
“Leo, how come you haven’t been around since April and never intended to stay longer than one night in our house or any other, then suddenly show up six months later and intend to stick around for an entire winter?”
“Work. My job makes me move around a lot.”
“But surely you’ve been to towns better equipped than this one?” It was true-although Ameos was a decent town in most regards, it definitely not the finest town in the kingdom. In fact, it was not what most people would call fine, unless they were very, very poor.
“Well, yes, I have been to better towns, but I wanted to come home for the winter. It’s what I always do.”
“You mean you’ve been back more than the times you came to the cabin? And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t think you had to know.”
“Why? Because I’m your sister? Because you’re the only family I have? Because you basically abandoned me and left me virtually no future because you have to have a guardian to go into apprenticeship?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s just that I didn’t want to see you and get super attached to you and then have to go off again.”
“That’s fair, except for one thing. How is it fair that you haven’t sent me a birthday present for seven years?”
Leo hesitated. He didn’t want to offend his sister by telling her that he had forgotten about her birthday in all the work he had been doing, but on the other hand, he had to admit that it was a pretty huge error to forget about it for seven years running and never once think about how she might feel if he forgot to send a present, even a card, even when it was late. To be quite honest, he had even forgotten when her birthday was.
“You know, you’re awful at hiding what you’re thinking,” Lea commented in a less-than-pleased voice, and giving a slight “humph” of displeasure, she moved on to another stall selling vegetables, and haggled some more, making her way around the square. Leo watched, amazed at how well she traded, haggled, and bargained until she found a decent price to pay.
When Lea had finished her trading, she led the two llamas out of town. It wasn’t a hard climb, but she had a lot to think about. Who exactly were these mysterious strangers that were around town? They at least gave Molly and Isaac a reason to be around town, but she was not sure what suspicious people would do in Ameos. She wasn’t entirely sure what was so interesting about Ameos that would lure even non-suspicious people to its gates. As far as Lea knew it was, in all probability, the most unexciting town in the entire empire.
But maybe, she thought, maybe it was that lack of interesting things that made it a perfect hideout for people of a suspicious nature. It seemed like a good idea, now that she thought about it. The townspeople of Ameos who weren’t farmers owned the shops or had small-town apprenticeships if parents couldn’t send their children abroad to study the big jobs, like Molly and Isaac were able to do. News traveled fast there, but people of a suspicious nature would not care if the rumor traveled faster than the speed of light in a town that small. They would only care if the news was speeding faster than light in a direction away from the town limits, which almost never happened in Ameos. Even though something as minor as how so-and-so’s horse accidentally kicked his master’s new girlfriend on their first date traveled around like fire to wood, everyone knew that the only way that the news would be important enough to get out of the town was if the horse had kicked the lamp and set the barn on fire, leading to an epic destruction of the entire wood-built village. Even then, the news would only go so far as Lea and the few other forest-dwellers who lived higher up the mountain, who would have to help accommodate everyone in their small huts. What happened in Ameos stayed in Ameos.
Lea was lonely. Then again, she was always lonely. She did not have any friends except for her dog, Fawn, and her only living relative-her brother Leo- was never at home. He was, indeed, twenty or so years older than her, because Lea...well, she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d come about, and she didn’t want to think about it. Both of Leas’ parents had drowned when she was three. Leo looked after her until she was eight, and then began spending increasing amounts of time away from home. Lea never knew why, but from then on, Lea was basically left on her own. Their country, as most, did not have a formal school system and the only rule regarding education was that children were schooled until at least the age of eight. At eight, they could stay in school, drop out for a few years and go into an early apprenticeship, or drop out entirely. With Leo being away a lot of the time and unable to take her to school, Lea had no choice but to drop out.
But today, after seven years of making it alone, Lea felt a particular pang of loneliness. One would think that one’s family, even if the family was rarely home, would at least send a card when a birthday occurred. But, Lea was again disappointed. No owl, phoenix, raven, or mailman came to Leo and Lea’s house. By bird was the common way of delivering mail. Only large packages were sent by ground mail, unless you were lucky enough to have a phoenix, which were strong enough to carry anything. Lea, who wasn’t exactly the world’s luckiest teenager, had neither a phoenix nor a birthday card. It was sad, really.
Lea was a girl of the forest. Although she lived a lonely and solitary life, she had not let the last seven years go to waste. She knew how to knit-it was one of the few things that her mother had taught her before that incident, and her parents had raised five llamas, six sheep, four angora rabbits, three alpacas and a goat in a small enclosure off the back of their house, which they successfully bred-sometimes breeding one of the llamas with one of the alpacas, or other crossbreeds that turned out really strange-and used the fiber for yarn. It was often a hard life for Lea, who lived almost literally in the middle of nowhere. In Lea’s case, nowhere happened to be a forest. The forest in question happened to be a very good spot for a knitting addict to live-it had an amazingly diverse ecosystem that supported everything from oak trees to bamboo, and provided enough of the right kind of herbs to support a semi-vegetarian, more than a few pets, and many sources for dyes and fiber. Lea used all of it, but was sure to not take more than would hurt the forest. She mainly stuck to the earthy tones of her animals, only sometimes going out for certain berries or roots that would add a bit of color.
Lea made all her clothes. She knitted a lot, obviously, but that was mostly for trading purposes. She designed all the things she made. Lea whittled the needles out of bamboo shafts, and had six pairs-two thin ones, two thick ones, and two in-between ones. None of her needles had back ends, so she could work gloves in a seamless circle if she wanted to, or work a sweater on them because they were all long. Lea also weaved blankets and rugs. She also had a special loom that weaved very tightly and was ideal for making fabrics. Lea also used bamboo for sewing needles.
There was, of course, a bit of magic there, and Lea was well aware of it. Lea knew that her mother was a wood nymph, and therefore very in tune with the forest. Lea had inherited some of that one-ness, but nymph qualities favor girls, and Leo had none of the magic.
At this moment, however, Lea was not thinking about her parents, nymphs, alpacas, llamas, sheep, goats, or bamboo. She was thinking about how stupid it was that Leo had not sent anything for her birthday for the seventh year running. It couldn’t hurt him to remember that he was NOT an only child. True, he HAD been an only child for twenty years, but now he had a sister, and he was going to have to put up with it, or else. Lea sighed. Even in her head the words sounded like utter rubbish that would have been thought out by an eight year old. In a way, she still felt like an eight year old. She had nobody to talk to, and nothing to stimulate any emotions except Jack the goat, and he didn’t speak human, and she didn’t speak goat. Lea really hated being so lonely all the time. She did go into town sometimes-to sell knitted and woven objects or trade them for food that the forest did not provide, but that was the extent of her social life. She was very good at making sure she wasn’t cheated, but on the other hand, up until around two years ago she had been treated badly by a lot of the merchants. Two years ago heralded puberty. Although she was still treated like a piece of dirt, she was treated more like a piece of dirt that might have gold in it. Lea did not like that feeling, although it did make it considerably easier to get low prices on things.
The next day, Lea had to go into town for some provisions. Since the cold season was coming, she had to go to town to get a bunch of extra fruit, vegetables, and grains. Even though it was still early fall, she wanted to stock up on the things she couldn’t grow when the farmers and traders still had food to give. Calypso the llama, as always on a town day, was burdened with sweaters, hats, rugs, blankets, scarves, gloves and mittens. Lea was also leading Franz the other llama, who would aid her in bringing back most of the food. While there, she had run into a girl she had known from her school days while leading Calypso and Franz down the main market street. Lea had nearly walked into the girl, but then sidestepped quickly. The two girls recognized each other and Lea smiled shyly. Lea remembered the other girl’s name was Molly Lewis, and that they hadn’t left school on very good terms. However, Molly seemed more than willing to stop for a chat. It was a very odd encounter-they hadn’t seen each other in years, and here Molly was talking to Lea like only a night had passed since they last met.
Apparently, Molly had dropped out at the same age that Lea had. Unlike Lea, Molly hadn’t been abandoned and forced to search all day for herbs in order to keep herself alive. Instead, Molly had gotten an apprenticeship with the astrological healers. They were basically medical seers-they observed the stars and predicted what might happen to a person in any given time. It was a suiting job for Molly-although she had been something of a socialite, she had always had a side that wanted to help people. True, she had always scampered from blood when someone fell on the playground, but she had always had her heart in the right place.
Then, she ran into Isaac Griffin, another person that she had known as a child. She hadn’t exactly been friends with him, but they still had had each other’s backs if they needed it. She gave him a small smile as she led Calypso and Franz along, and he noticed and fell into step with her, starting a conversation. He, apparently, had stuck with school for another two years, and then dropped out at age ten for an apprenticeship offer as an international messenger. He had always been athletic, and apparently he had to go through a lot of training in order to be a messenger. Although being a messenger was typically regarded as being an inferior sort of job, Isaac seemed to love it. He loved running and riding and riding and running all day long.
Eventually he asked Lea what she did, and she replied, “I’ve just been around.”
“Do you have a job?” he inquired.
“No,” she admitted. “I live in the forest. My brother basically abandoned me when I was eight, and so I learned to live alone in the forest.”
“Alone? In the forest? At age eight? How do you live?”
“My mom taught me a few things when she was alive, but mostly I taught myself. She was a nymph, so I’m half nymph, which has helped.”
Lea didn’t know why she was telling Isaac all of this, but she somehow felt that she could trust him.
“But how do you get money? How do you stay warm and dry and get food and whatever else?”
“I don’t need a lot of money. I have nineteen fiber-providing pets, counting Calypso and Franz, plus a dog. I do all the spinning myself, and dye some of the whites with plants from the forest. I grow my own food, for the most part, but I do collect some stuff like wild strawberries sometimes. I also go and get my own healing plants. I dye my own fibers-cotton and bamboo, mostly. I whittle knitting needles myself, and then I use them to make most of this stuff here. I weave some stuff, too, on the loom my mom had. And my dad had built a house before he died.”
Isaac just stood there, staring.
“How do you do so many things?”
“Practice, my friend, practice.”
Isaac did some more staring.
“Wow,” he said. “Wow. How does a girl do all that?”
“I have no clue, but I do it.”
Then, Isaac seemed to remember that he was on a mission in town as well, so he then bade Lea farewell.
When Lea arrived at one of her favorite food stands, there was another surprise waiting for her. However, it was not a friend from her school days. It was her brother. He had obviously gotten a pay raise-when Lea had last seen him, he hadn’t been dressed in what looked like purple velvet. If you judged them by their clothes, it would be hard to tell that Leo and Lea were related. Velvet was very expensive in these parts, and wearing it obviously meant that Leo was earning quite a good wage. He looked better groomed than the last time Lea had seen him too. His hair was brushed, at least. Lea’s long brown hair had basically become dreadlocks because of lack of brushing. But, kind of unfortunately for Leo, he also stood out, and he also seemed to have a bit of an ego and even more of a temper. He seemed to be arguing with the shopkeeper, who apparently did not want the money that Leo was offering him. Lea recognized the shopkeeper as Joe, a tall and rounded man with kind eyes and a sharp tongue when necessary. Lea knew him well-she did a lot of trading with Joe when his harvest was good and he gave her the news when there was something big to report.
“Leo?” she said, startled.
“Lea! What are you doing here?” Leo asked, startled.
“It’s called trading for food,” she replied. “Try it sometime.” Then she said to Joe, “I’ll give you two rugs and three scarves for a bushel of apples and two bunches of bananas.”
“Three rugs,” he said.
“Two rugs, three scarves, and a pair of mittens,” Lea answered.
“Gloves,” Joe insisted.
“Fingerless,” said Lea.
“Done,” Joe replied.
“Thanks,” and handed over the agreed payment.
“Do you know this guy?” he whispered as they tied the apples onto Franz’s back.
“Yeah, he’s my brother,” she replied in equal tones.
“No offense, but you’ve got a brute of a brother.”
“I know it, and I’m saying I’m glad he’s back. He acts like I don’t exist most of the time and he treats me like dirt the rest of it.”
“Tough luck.”
By that time they had finished tying up all the food.
“Just letting you know,” Joe told Leo and Lea. “There have been some strange folks around these parts. Some of the teenage apprentices came down to investigate. They brought an astrology healer, apparently, although I don’t know why. I think that the government thinks that there might be a war or something soon, and they want her around to make sure they can avoid danger.”
“Thanks, Joe,” Lea replied. That explained why she had seen Molly and Isaac around earlier.
“Lea, what are you doing here?” Leo demanded after Joe had helped Lea pack the apples and bananas onto Franz’s back.
“I told you, getting food for the winter. I’m running low on some stuff and I don’t exactly want to starve. Do you want me to get some extra stuff for you, or are you not staying the winter?”
“I’m staying, of course I am. The astrologers are saying it’s going to be the coldest winter in years. It won’t be a good time to travel. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to rent a place for myself in town. No offense, but the forest doesn’t exactly seem the greatest place to stay.”
“Leo, how come you haven’t been around since April and never intended to stay longer than one night in our house or any other, then suddenly show up six months later and intend to stick around for an entire winter?”
“Work. My job makes me move around a lot.”
“But surely you’ve been to towns better equipped than this one?” It was true-although Ameos was a decent town in most regards, it definitely not the finest town in the kingdom. In fact, it was not what most people would call fine, unless they were very, very poor.
“Well, yes, I have been to better towns, but I wanted to come home for the winter. It’s what I always do.”
“You mean you’ve been back more than the times you came to the cabin? And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t think you had to know.”
“Why? Because I’m your sister? Because you’re the only family I have? Because you basically abandoned me and left me virtually no future because you have to have a guardian to go into apprenticeship?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s just that I didn’t want to see you and get super attached to you and then have to go off again.”
“That’s fair, except for one thing. How is it fair that you haven’t sent me a birthday present for seven years?”
Leo hesitated. He didn’t want to offend his sister by telling her that he had forgotten about her birthday in all the work he had been doing, but on the other hand, he had to admit that it was a pretty huge error to forget about it for seven years running and never once think about how she might feel if he forgot to send a present, even a card, even when it was late. To be quite honest, he had even forgotten when her birthday was.
“You know, you’re awful at hiding what you’re thinking,” Lea commented in a less-than-pleased voice, and giving a slight “humph” of displeasure, she moved on to another stall selling vegetables, and haggled some more, making her way around the square. Leo watched, amazed at how well she traded, haggled, and bargained until she found a decent price to pay.
When Lea had finished her trading, she led the two llamas out of town. It wasn’t a hard climb, but she had a lot to think about. Who exactly were these mysterious strangers that were around town? They at least gave Molly and Isaac a reason to be around town, but she was not sure what suspicious people would do in Ameos. She wasn’t entirely sure what was so interesting about Ameos that would lure even non-suspicious people to its gates. As far as Lea knew it was, in all probability, the most unexciting town in the entire empire.
But maybe, she thought, maybe it was that lack of interesting things that made it a perfect hideout for people of a suspicious nature. It seemed like a good idea, now that she thought about it. The townspeople of Ameos who weren’t farmers owned the shops or had small-town apprenticeships if parents couldn’t send their children abroad to study the big jobs, like Molly and Isaac were able to do. News traveled fast there, but people of a suspicious nature would not care if the rumor traveled faster than the speed of light in a town that small. They would only care if the news was speeding faster than light in a direction away from the town limits, which almost never happened in Ameos. Even though something as minor as how so-and-so’s horse accidentally kicked his master’s new girlfriend on their first date traveled around like fire to wood, everyone knew that the only way that the news would be important enough to get out of the town was if the horse had kicked the lamp and set the barn on fire, leading to an epic destruction of the entire wood-built village. Even then, the news would only go so far as Lea and the few other forest-dwellers who lived higher up the mountain, who would have to help accommodate everyone in their small huts. What happened in Ameos stayed in Ameos.
friends
I had coffee this morning so I'm kinda hyper right now. I have tae kwon do later and it can't come fast enough. My throat felt weird this morning, but now it's okay. But the awesome thing is, PROJECT RUNWAY IS ON TONIGHT!!! WAHOO!!! Yes, I like Project Runway. The only problem is that it's on at ten, which will probably be the cause of my parents not letting me see it. But whatever. I can always see it on monday morning. Even though it's showing at eight on monday morning. Eight is early for me during the summer. And ten is not that late for me during the summer. However, school starts in three weeks, so they're probably going to be all, "you have to get proper amounts of sleep missie, which means getting in bed at TEN O'CLOCK!!! IS THAT CLEAR??" but whatever. And my mom's probably going to throw something in about how I have piano tomorrow. But my brother gets to stay up until midnight or later. Heck, midnight is when he gets HOME from hanging out with his friends. I have friends, I just don't hang out with them until midnight every single night during the summer. I barely hang out with them at all during the summer, for that matter. Except with my tae kwon do friends. And my friends who were on Pamlico and my friends who worked at camp with me. But other than them. And my friends at the pool, whom I have to work with. I don't normally hang out with my school friends during the summer. I don't normally hang out with them after school during the school year, for that matter. I'm just too shy to hang with my school friends during the summer. That and the fact that I lost all their email addresses. Even though I'm friends with all of them on facebook, but still. My friends just don't seem the type to hang out until midnight every single night. And according to my brother, they don't normally even get started with hanging out until, like, nine. Wow. I'm just antisocial, I guess. Or socially challenged. Or just prefer to hang out alone than hang out with people. I mean, I'd be willing to hang out with people. It's just people don't seem to want to hang out with me. And what's wrong with that? Okay, aside from being unliked and all that jazz. Maybe I'll just be MORE social during the year and not guard next summer and THEN be able to hang out with my friends during the summer. I don't think any of us are the hang-out-til-midnight type, though.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
my new favorite game
My new favorite game is officially "The black knight." google it. it's amazing. and really good stress relief. and my other new officcial favorite game is "bloons tower defense," numbers 1, 2, and 3. you can google that, too. okay. going now.
Friday, August 14, 2009
ONE MORE THING!!!!
Well, if any of you have heard of the movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," (which you probably should have, knowing me), then you will find my newly discovered ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS SUMMER HOMEWORK (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) somewhat interesting: an actual article about crystal skulls. Of all the summer work I have had to do thus far in my life, having read the opening page of the website had made me think that this is going to be the COOLEST summer reading ever, and that Ancient Civ is going to be the COOLEST class I'm going to take next year. Except for maybe chemistry. Or algebra. Surprisingly enough, I actually like algebra. People say you're either an algebra person or a geometry person, and I definitely think that's true. I didn't exactly enjoy geometry, but I liked algebra. Partly because the teacher was oblivious so I could be totally zoning out during class and he wouldn't notice. I shouldn't have admitted that with mom in the house... oh well... anyway, I'm probably going to have to pay attention in algebra 2 because it's probably going to be a bit harder and the teacher probably isn't going to be so oblivious. But algebra is fun, just so long as dad doesn't have to tutor me...again... I hated that. I really did. It was annoying and completely irritating.
Anyhoo, the POINT IS that my Ancient Civilizations summer homework actually seems kinda interesting.
Anyhoo, the POINT IS that my Ancient Civilizations summer homework actually seems kinda interesting.
Creative writing blog?
I was just looking at my school's website (because I'm such a nerd) and I was thinking...I'm probably going to have to get a blog for creative writing. Maybe that's just the middle schoolers, but maybe not. But either way, I might be able to use this. If not, I'm not going to. But I WILL be able to link the two, I think, because Blogger is awesome like that. But whatever.
I'm honestly thinking I'm going to have to make an honest theme for this blog, instead of me randomly posting my thoughts. Other blogs do, so why not me, too? (no rhyme intended). I wouldn't know what the theme would have to be, though, so...yeah. I'm going to work on that. Maybe.
I'm honestly thinking I'm going to have to make an honest theme for this blog, instead of me randomly posting my thoughts. Other blogs do, so why not me, too? (no rhyme intended). I wouldn't know what the theme would have to be, though, so...yeah. I'm going to work on that. Maybe.
blog for money...?
So I was googling "ways teens can make money" just now (no idea why. I have a job.), and apparently I can earn money by blogging. So my question is, how does it work exactly? I got one of the links, and I don't get it at all. Well, theoretically, I get it. I mean, Blogger even has a link to monetize the blog. But then, of course, you have to set up an ad-sense account and yadda yadda yadda, with a lotta hassle that's not exactly worth the time, so I'm not gonna do it that way. Or do it at all, maybe. But oh well. It's worth the thought. I guess.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
something better-muppet treasure island
i couldn't help it...
Jim: I look around here and I want to cry,
Gonzo: Yeah, me too.
Jim: I feel like the world is passing me by.
Rizzo: Hey, it is!
Jim: And I just can't help but wonder,
Am I doomed to wash and dry?
And if it's a curse I'm under
To do it 'till I die?
Gonzo: Gee, I hope not!
Jim: When I could be an explorer,
Sailing off to distant lands,
Instead of spending afternoons
Just getting dish-pan hands!
My future looks like nowhere
That I want to be,
There's gotta be something better,
Something better,
There's gotta be something better than this for me.
Gonzo: Yeah!
If it's weird and wild we'll go and find it,
The crazier the better is what I say!
Rizzo: To tell the truth I really wouldn't mind it,
Gonzo: Mind what?
Rizzo: If we found some place with ten square meals a day!
Jim: Let danger call my name!
Rizzo: If it does I'm gonna hide
Jim: I'll put my courage to the test,
Gonzo: And I'll be by your side
Rizzo: He'll be by your side.
Jim: There's gotta be something better than this,
Gonzo and Rizzo: Something more than this, to see
Jim: I know that there's so much out there to see.
And I know this life I'm living,
Can't be my destiny
Gonzo and Rizzo: Destiny
All: There's gotta be something better,
Something better,
There's something better than this for you and...
Me!
Jim: I look around here and I want to cry,
Gonzo: Yeah, me too.
Jim: I feel like the world is passing me by.
Rizzo: Hey, it is!
Jim: And I just can't help but wonder,
Am I doomed to wash and dry?
And if it's a curse I'm under
To do it 'till I die?
Gonzo: Gee, I hope not!
Jim: When I could be an explorer,
Sailing off to distant lands,
Instead of spending afternoons
Just getting dish-pan hands!
My future looks like nowhere
That I want to be,
There's gotta be something better,
Something better,
There's gotta be something better than this for me.
Gonzo: Yeah!
If it's weird and wild we'll go and find it,
The crazier the better is what I say!
Rizzo: To tell the truth I really wouldn't mind it,
Gonzo: Mind what?
Rizzo: If we found some place with ten square meals a day!
Jim: Let danger call my name!
Rizzo: If it does I'm gonna hide
Jim: I'll put my courage to the test,
Gonzo: And I'll be by your side
Rizzo: He'll be by your side.
Jim: There's gotta be something better than this,
Gonzo and Rizzo: Something more than this, to see
Jim: I know that there's so much out there to see.
And I know this life I'm living,
Can't be my destiny
Gonzo and Rizzo: Destiny
All: There's gotta be something better,
Something better,
There's something better than this for you and...
Me!
behind these hazel eyes-kelly clarkson
seems like just yesterday you were a part of me i used to stand so tall i used to be so strong your arms around me tight everything felt so right unbreakable like nothing could go wrong now i can't breathe no i can't sleep I'm barely hanging on here i am once again I'm torn into pieces can't deny it can't pretend just thought you were the one broken up deep inside but you won't see the tears i cry behind these hazel eyes i told you everything opened up and let you in you made me feel alright for once in my life now all that's left of me is what i pretend to be sewed together what's so broken up inside cuz i can't breathe no i can't sleep I'm barely hanging on here i am once again I'm torn into pieces can't deny it can't pretend just thought you were the one broken up deep inside but you won't get to see the tears i cry behind these hazel eyes swallow me then spit me out for hating you i blame myself seeing you it kills me now no i don't cry on the outside anymore here i am once again I'm torn into pieces can't deny it can't pretend just thought you were the one broken up deep inside but you won't get to see the tears i cry behind these hazel eyes here i am once again I'm torn into pieces can't deny it can't pretend just thought you were the one broken up deep inside but you won't get to see the tears i cry behind these hazel eyes
BACK!!!
Well, here I am, ONCE AGAIN (I'm torn into pieces, can't deny it, can't pretend, just thought you were the one... sorry... couldn't help it)!! I am currently at my mother's office with nothing to do. So, here I am, in the spare office, doing this. I must say, though, the space bar on this keyboard is really resistant. Mind you, the one at our house isn't exactly what you'd call the most resistant keyboard of the lot. Anyhoo, I just got back from lunch with an amigo. We went to chipotle (sp?) and it was actully pretty good. That was the first time I've been to chipotle, so I didn't know what to expect. So then we hung out for a little while and then went back to my mom's office. It was really fun.
Well, ever since Pamlico, almost everything reminds me of a song that needs to be sung, as demonstrated above. It's kind of weird, and funny at times as some Disney song races through my head when someone says something. That was Kelly Clarkson in that first sentence, in case you were wondering. Behind these hazel eyes by Kelly Clarkson. It's a rather awesome song. Now I've got it stuck in my head... snap... DARN YOU STUPID SINGING URGES!!!
Now all I have to do is think of something else. Like pirates.
For when you're a profesional pirate, you don't have to wear a suit. hey ho ho...
snap...
well, now you know what it's like to get in my head. A constant stream of annoying kid's music.
Well, ever since Pamlico, almost everything reminds me of a song that needs to be sung, as demonstrated above. It's kind of weird, and funny at times as some Disney song races through my head when someone says something. That was Kelly Clarkson in that first sentence, in case you were wondering. Behind these hazel eyes by Kelly Clarkson. It's a rather awesome song. Now I've got it stuck in my head... snap... DARN YOU STUPID SINGING URGES!!!
Now all I have to do is think of something else. Like pirates.
For when you're a profesional pirate, you don't have to wear a suit. hey ho ho...
snap...
well, now you know what it's like to get in my head. A constant stream of annoying kid's music.
Monday, August 10, 2009
What Our Story Was
So there was this princess in a castle. She had relaly long, pretty hair but she was in a dilemma: she was out of shampoo. When she went onto the internet to buy some, the website had a popup: Acess Denied. So she called GeekSquad. When GeekSquad arrived, they assessed the situation, and then confirmed that they could help. Then the Princess thought she'd run away with one of them. Then Sir Lancelot came out from behind the curtain, brandishing his sword. Out of the sword popped a magical bottle of shampoo. Meanwhile, the GeekSquad guys were done fixing her computer and becoming confused about which one of them she was going to elope with, but she had changed her mind: she was going to marry Lancelot. Then the invisible Pirates and Ninjas came and started beating each other up, as well as the GeekSquad guys. The GeekSquad guys were still confused about the Princess' marriage choice. So they all ended up having a random dance party.
The end.
The end.
back
Well, I am back from our sea kayaking trip. It was fun. Tiring, but fun. I had to be towed on the last day, but whatever. We went almost 50 miles. 47, technically, as the crow flies, but once you factor in the weird turns that were at least a mile's worth, we ended up doing about fifty.
The first day we got caught in a lighning/ thunder storm, so we all had to get off the water. I was the slowpoke, and it was annoying, but whatever. So we were in the storm, and when we got out of our kayaks, my mom was FREAKING OUT because that is what my mom does, and she yelled at us a LOT. So then I had the idea that we could do one of those sentence story things where each person says a sentene. I'm going to post it in a new post.
The first day we got caught in a lighning/ thunder storm, so we all had to get off the water. I was the slowpoke, and it was annoying, but whatever. So we were in the storm, and when we got out of our kayaks, my mom was FREAKING OUT because that is what my mom does, and she yelled at us a LOT. So then I had the idea that we could do one of those sentence story things where each person says a sentene. I'm going to post it in a new post.
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