Thoughts on Facebook and People Needing to Grow Up

I have always been really tolerant of people and their opinions. If they strongly believe in their religion, power to them. If one of my guy friends loves guys, power to him for being happy with who he is - self-acceptance FTW.

But what I don't have a tolerance for is people that come onto my Facebook wall when I've posted something and state their opinion so rudely. Congrats to the fact that they have an opinion, but did they ever listen to their mother? If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all.

Thoughts on Disappointment, and Youtube Song!

I really get tired of being rejected. It seems to be a major, reoccurring theme in my life.Yes, it's a terrible idea for me to be a writer if I don't like being rejected, but I file that under a different type of rejection.

But every time I try to better myself, my life, or my career, things never seem to go my way.

I don't know whether or not I'm just "doing" life wrong, or that I don't have any luck or good karma on my side, but obviously, someone karmically doesn't like me. I feel like I must have angered someone somewhere to make it so that nothing ever goes right.

Thoughts on November's End, Anxious Days, Drink of the Holidays

When NaNoWriMo is over, I get really sad. I get so used to writing endlessly on my laptop, that when December rolls around, I have no idea what to do with myself when I sit at my laptop. It just feels so weird to think that this happens.

Sure, I start planning for next year - especially since it's a Post-Apocalypse novel - but I do that in notebooks and with some research. I don't sit and actually put a whole lot of physical words on the page.

So, now,  here I am sitting with a few other members from my write-in, back at our coffee shop. We're mostly writing, or working on other projects. But we're getting together for the community of writers and the comradery of hanging out with fellow writers. I'm really glad this is continuing. It's a fantastic way to break up the week and just spend time relaxing somewhere in an environment that isn't my home.

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Thoughts on Write-ins (again), College Apps (some more ), and Plotting

I've met a lot of great people this year at the local write-ins. Yeah, there have been quite a few that are utterly scary beyond all belief - but really, aren't all writers? However, there are some that truly take the cake.

I'm sure all writers are in their own way, socially awkward. Yet somehow, we get along with each other fantastically. It's always tough to find people in the "real world" that you can converse with about anything and everything, and it still all relates to writing. We all come from different walks of life, but we all hold the same passion for writing and creativity that we just click.

It's a surreal sense of camaraderie that you could only experience on sports teams, or basically any "team" situation. But it's why we're all drawn together like moths to a flame in order to converse about our stories, our characters, and this shared passion that is a complete opposite of our lives.

And here's to hoping it won't end come November 30th.

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Thoughts on Write-ins, Shuffle, and Next Year

In previous years, I could never make it to a write-in. There were plenty of them out there, but I never had a means of traveling to them. This year I can finally drive to write-ins and hang out with fellow writers. There are definitely a lot of great people I've met so far.

That's the best part about NaNoWriMo. The community of it all. There's nothing more thrilling than writing during a word sprint and succeeding in getting the highest word count of the group. Well, not always. I have a terrible  habit of backspacing and fixing the typos. Any writer does. So I've been adjusting to that while writing during sprints for 10 minutes. And wow, I can type really fast when need be.

But actually, I tend to type much faster when writing dialogue. Suddenly my story is full of ridiculous amounts of dialogue that has nothing to do with the plot. Thank you, brain.

And I'm getting a lot written in a write-in. Like, easily 3k in four ten-minute word sprints. It is truly awesome. What's even better, is that I don't realize how many words I've written until the night is over.

Thoughts on Flash, NaNoWriMo, and Epic Halloween Costume

As some of you know, I write a lot of flash fiction. In fact, I pretty much love the idea. But currently Flash Party isn't open for submissions - and hasn't been since the summer.

So I've been mulling over the idea of starting a flash fiction site. I like the idea of writing flash fiction and having somewhere to submit it to. I suppose the only problem would be I can't submit to my own site. That would be unfair.

But I would call it "Flash" and have the Queen song "Flash" playing in the background. Or at least in a small portion of the site. Tis just a dream though.

Thoughts on Hope, Sites, and Lady Is A Tramp

I grew up attending church. In fact, it was common for me to attend every Wednesday and Sunday with my mom. Not to mention participate in various activities put on by different groups within the church body.

But as I got older, it became less and less a "thing" for me. It's not that I was sprinting away from the idea of a higher power. In fact, that is something I do still believe; along with the other morals I grew up with. However it's that I've been continuously losing faith in just depending on a giant spaghetti monster on the dark side of the moon that would answer my prayers. I'm not just going to sit around and wait for things to happen for me; instead, I'm much more of a do-er. I'd rather put my own effort behind what I want done than just have faith it will happen because of karma or blah blah blah.

However, the one thing I haven't lost, is hope. The idea that tomorrow will be a better day, or that things won't always be this hard financially. It's that silver lining or the light at the end of the tunnel -- and no, that's not a train. But it's seeing the glass as half-full instead of half-empty. It's all about staying optimistic and hopeful that another day will come and it will be brighter than the last.

Thoughts on Anxious Waiting, Essays, and November

Sorry for my serious lack of posts. I'm trying, but lately I've been super anxious.

Perhaps it's that the deadlines are approaching for all the applications. Basically everything is due November 1st. And I'm just frantically checking the Emerson application portal to make sure all that needs to be submitted is there. I'm ridiculous.

Thoughts on New Shows, Donating Books, Steve Jobs

Normally every season I find another show to add to the list I follow. Of course, I have my staples: Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Parenthood, Rizzoli & Isles, and Glee (yes, I know, I do follow that show, but I have my reasons). But of course, there's all the new shows that crop up and turn out to be really fantastic. This year I have fallen in love with: Raising Hope, Necessary Roughness, and my most recent addition, New Girl.

Plus, there are still shows I have yet to see  because they have a later debut; or they've already been cancelled. But I still need to check out Pan Am, and once it comes out, Once Upon A Time.

But the star rookie of the new shows is definitely New Girl. With Zooey Deschanel as a recent single, she's a new roommate to three guy friends who are just trying to find "the one", get a job, and get over an ex. While coping with her own break-up, she's helping them with their problems, mostly by accident and also gaining friends that are helping her. She's quirky, geeky, and just loves being herself, Jess, is definitely one of those characters I relate to automatically.

Maybe it's the fact that she's comfortable being herself, but will try and fit into a different shape when her friends want her to. However even after a while she needs to break free and dance to the beat of her own drum/kazoo/instrument of your choice. So this show is certainly a keeper for me.

Here's a plus: geeky references and Miss Deschanel's whimsical singing included.

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A while back I had done some cleaning out of my room. Mostly getting old books off the shelves and storing them in boxes. I planned on having a garage sale for them to try and get some spare cash in hopes of getting us either a real couch or replacing our slowly deteriorating television.

My mom inquired about all the books - two boxes worth - and asked if some people at our church could look through my books and pull stuff out for donation. They needed things for specific grades to send to China - why China needs our books, I don't know, but do they honestly need them?

Well, a few weeks had gone by, and I asked my mom if she got the books back. Anything that they weren't going to send to China, was supposed to be returned to me. Because those were my property. It was my choice what I wanted to do with them.

Low and behold, I inquire about it today, and find out the person collecting the books took all my extras and turned them into Half-Price Books. So essentially, I just lost out on extra cash on items that should have been returned to me because they were my property. Those books were in my collection for 21 years and many were even older than me. A simple apology won't do in my mind. Cause honestly, we had said the extra books needed to be returned to us. And it was agreed upon that I would get them back. So since they're long gone, I at least deserve the money from them.

That's the last time I ever donate to some stupid church thing my mom tries to convince me is for a "good cause." Humanity continues to disappoint.

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I'm not a fan of Apple products. Well, mostly just the company and how they are with their products.

However I can't say anything bad about Steve Jobs. He was a true innovator, inventor, dreamer and creator. Many of the items we rely so heavily on today were innovations from him. Continually pushing technology, he really knew what people wanted.

A true visionary, I'm sad to see him go, but happy to know that he passed peacefully with family nearby. I'm sure he's already working on how to make improvements to heaven. Can anyone say iPeter?

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs.

Thoughts on Affection, Justice, and Writer's Block

I always feel really weird about affection.

I'm not someone that acts a particular way to entice guys, or be a girl that knows what she's got and how to use it. Honestly, I'm just being myself.

Thoughts on Social Outings, Pronunciation, and Castle

I've never been comfortable around people that enjoy drinking. There's a wide variety of ways people express their drunkenness. Most people I know laugh a lot, or get really loud. And honestly, I don't care if friends of mine drink while we're hanging out, or over dinner. It's common in most countries to drink with dinner. That doesn't bother me.

I suppose what bothers me is the extreme spectrum moods can be. Then how everyone else must deal with said person. Certainly, when I've been in such situations, I vacate asap. I mean, if you're uncomfortable, the automatic response is to take flight.

Thoughts on the College Life

It's a lot of little ideas under one heading, which means it totally counts as at least three.  Plus, I'm a little preoccupied - leaving the country tomorrow, and all.  But I wanted one last post before I left American soil, to really tie the blog together.

I played foosball before.  I won't be able to do that again until January, and that's killing me.  I'm sitting on my friend's dorm floor, surrounded by my luggage and distracted by my friends.  I'm still thinking about starting a travel blog, but I still feel like people might think I'm a jerk for doing so.  Or maybe someone will actually care. Or maybe I'll just post everything on Tumblr and try to remember to make more funny pictures to share.

I finally set up my Internet here on campus, but that's pointless, seeing as I'm going to the Netherlands.  And the castle got struck by lightening recently.  So Internet might not exist there, just as I feared.  No Skype, no Twitter, no Facebook.  And my phone won't work and I can't text a lot on my crappy European phone.  Pretty much, I'll be so out of touch, it's insane.

But I'll try to keep writing and remembering, trying to find things to write about and talk about and send letters home about.  And I'll just keep dreaming about foosball.

Thoughts on Words Without Thought, Applications, Comparisions

It's official! Katie and I are working on a writing vlog with three wonderful writers! We call ourselves Words Without Thought. Please give us a view!

We have a lot of fantastic topics planned for the future. If nothing else, at least comment with tips on how we can improve or any topic suggestions!

Thoughts on That Morning

It was another morning where I had to get ready for school. I'd been in the 6th grade for about a week. Like most mornings, I got up and wandered into my mom's room. We listened to the radio together, which was part of our normal routine. She got up to let the dog out, while I continued to hear the news.

But it was a particular piece of breaking news that caught my attention. A plane crash in New York City? How did that happen? I got up and turned on the television, which was showing the North tower smoking from near the top.

Thoughts on Flat Tires, Application Submissions, and Searching

This entire past week has been quite a hassle. On Tuesday night, I went over to my Aunt's house to get some large manila envelopes from her - and then have my cousin take said envelopes to school with him to pass on to the school's counselor. At some point, I must have run over a nail, because by the time I drove home, my tire was completely flat.

Not that I knew to check or noticed anything different - a shame on my part. But for the rest of this week I've had my mom dropping me off at work. Meanwhile she's been trying to deal with getting me a new tire.

First big issue was that the tire couldn't be fixed. I managed to get the nail into the shoulder of the tire, which is basically irreparable. (Lesson learned - if you see a nail on the road, avoid it or make sure it pops your tire in the middle.) So after having taken the tire off and putting on the spare, I now had to purchase a new tire with the exact make and size mine was. Since my tires were brand new when we purchased the car, we weren't worried about buying a pair. They're all in really great shape otherwise.

Thoughts on College, Crushes, and Drinking

I've been saying for the past few years that I'd go to college. Or that I'd get back to school and start at least working towards a degree. But every year, nothing would happen. And I do regret not getting involved in the whole application process for college in high school. Then again, it makes sense why I didn't.

College was never a high priority to my mom. She, to this day, thinks that a person should be able to learn a trade via an apprenticeship like she did. I've tried time and again to explain that things don't work like they did for her.

So after three years of working and struggling with what I wanted to do, it's finally time to take the plunge. Yeah, I'm late on this, but I have the drive and the perseverance to get me through to the end.

Thoughts on Loss, Packing Up, and Something Adorable

Note: The first [and second] topics can be depressing. Feel free to skip to the second topic or straight to the bottom for adorable pandas.

I've had quite a few friends and coworkers discover they're pregnant this year. It's a strange concept for me to grasp, I suppose.

I don't imagine myself in either circumstance until I'm in my late 20s. This is that time in your life when you should discover who you are, do something spontaneous, and just live.

But just living isn't the same when you've heard news that literally takes your breath away.

Thoughts on Time, Homesickness, & 100 Posts!

I know, I know; time is relative.  But it feels like it's been quietly helping me along recently, giving me a few extra minutes where I need them and speeding along the process when I can't stand the boredom anymore.  Work (knock on wood) seems to fly nowadays, whereas I would have died of exhaustion, frustration, and sleep deprivation at the beginning of the summer.  Maybe it's because I'm down to the one, slightly less demanding job.  Maybe it's because I'm more confident now at the pool.  Maybe it's because I read a lot.  Whatever the reason, thanks for the boost, time.

Time can slow down, too, and I'm equally as thankful for that.  The minutes can take their sweet time passing into the wee hours and into a new day.  I don't mind the quiet of the night, the cool breeze.  I don't mind sitting down in the middle of the day to commit ideas to paper, realizing writing two and half pages took hardly any time at all.  I like looking my goals in the face and saying, "That looks easy."

Time.  It's a beautiful thing.

Thoughts on Hurricane Irene, Timothy, & the East End

A tree was uprooted on our block.  We were thankful to find that as the largest catastrophe to greet us on Cambridge Drive when we arrived home from mandatory evacuation on Sunday afternoon.

Sure, there were branches to clean up around the house and a den to reassemble, but we didn't flood, which is quite a miracle, and we didn't have any trees in our house, which was beautiful.  Also, our cats don't hate us all that much for stuffing them in the traveling cage and hauling ass to Granny's in the city.  Which can only be an act of God.

Thoughts on Riding the Bus, PAX 2011, and Chibi-Thulu

It certainly has been a few days since either myself or Katie posted some memoirs. With her being evacuated and me being in Seattle, we've definitely not had a lot of time on our hands. But fear not! While hanging in the press room waiting for it to close, I jotted some things down from Saturday. Hopefully I can read them and organise them into a post for you to enjoy!

For the weekend, I took the bus into Seattle in the morning and back home each night. It's fairly simple, as long as you know which stop you need to listen for. Thankfully I wasn't the only one on the bus that needed that stop - and this time I could actually hear the driver call out the stops too.

But for once, I was met with a strange happening. You see, I was waiting at the bus stop, about 20 minutes early because I wanted to be sure I was there on time. And this woman comes across the street and checks the schedule before inquiring about how much the bus fare is. I say $2.50, which was the amount I paid last summer. So I was pretty certain it hadn't changed. She shuffled through her wallet, trying to see if she had $2.50. When it didn't seem she did, she inquired about if I had change for a five. Unfortunately I only had enough for my fare for the morning and evening. But then an idea struck both of us. I give her my 2.50 and she uses her five for both of us. There, problem solved.

Well, since we were now fare buddies, we got to talking about the reason she was wanting to take the bus and what brought her to town. She explained that her company's headquarters were located here, and she was flying back to Brussels, Belgium in the afternoon. Her jaunt into Seattle was for a few hours to see the city. She'd been unable to since she was mostly working indoors or sleeping from her jetlag. We finally got to talking about places she could go in a few hours; which brought up Pike Place Market - the Space Needle was too far, and the bus couldn't get her there.

It's a great tourist location right near the water. It's an indoor farmers' market where the legendary Gum Wall, Market Street Theatre, the original Starbucks, and the Seattle Ghost tours are located. Definitely a great place to send her. Not to mention the Pike Place fish throwers. Yes. Fish throwing. You order fish, they throw it and get it wrapped up for you. Quite the sight to see.

We get on the bus - after a bit of trouble with the fare machine - and take our seats. Several other stops are made along the way, and it's not too long before we've hit our last stop and are taking the express the rest of the way into downtown. A family of three just got on the bus, and with it being busy, there's limited seating for three. With the dad carrying his daughter, he takes a seat next to a guy. His wife lugging the stroller goes to take a seat across from him after he gestures for her to sit there, that way they're close. The man by the window realises this and politely gets up and switches seats with the wife so that the family is all sitting together - daughter in their lap.

"Brussels" - as I've dubbed her since we didn't exchange names - smiled and whispered "That was sweet of him to do." And it's true. It was a very nice, polite gesture that sometimes you just don't see in this day and age. She and I talked for a time - as the main bridge was closed so we had to use an alternate route. But it wasn't long after the silence that we were both dozing from the gentle rocking of the bus.

I kept my ears peeled for our stop, and got out with her. Together, we walked to the street she would need to get her straight to Pike Place. She thanked me, which it truly was no problem, and we bid farewell. I wished her a safe flight to Brussels and she wished me good luck and that she hoped I could get into publishing.

Overall, it was a great bus trip. She was a cool woman to meet and talk to, while it was also nice to see that there is still some good in humanity.