The Bucket List 12/20-12/24

If I could do anything before I died I would have a list eight miles long. Not kidding. But here are a few of them anyway. You’re welcome. I would probably travel all over the world, especially Japan. I love Japan. As far as the places where I would travel goes, I would probably go where my past ancestors have been. This includes Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, that place where the Dutch came from and Germany.  Maybe I would travel to a bunch of other places if I got around to it. But I’ll still need time to finish the rest of my eight mile list. Before I start pushing up daises I should probably go around and visit my friends. Might be a good idea. Another thing I would do is a lot of stupid stuff. This would include stunts, hang gliding, climbing very tall mountains (maybe Everest), cliff jumping, parachuting, and a bunch of other risky stuff. Any suggestions? Next I would probably sell some stuff so there are no expenses for my family to pick up after I’m gone. Just the stuff I don’t like though. If anything I would give my family and close friends the things I did like. One of the very last things I would have to do would have to be traveling to the place I want to die. Kind of sounds funny coming from me. But the place I would really like to be is Japan. I know, I know, Japan again? Yes, Japan deal with it. I think I would be nice looking at the cherry blossoms in a park or something. But then again I can do that is Washington DC. There are a lot of other stuff I would really like to do before I take an eternal nap but like I said that list eight miles long. It would take forever to name them all. I just names some of the things I would really, really want to do. But first I really need to get money to do those things. It would suck if I couldn’t do any of those things.

Why I Don't Have a Hamster 12/20-12/24

I remember when I was about four years old my family had offered to baby sit my cousin Dana’s hamster while her and my aunt, uncle and second cousin are away. I at first thought that we were keeping the little furry hamster forever. But then my mother told me that we were only baby-sitting it.  I cried a little. But then after a little kicking and screaming, hissy fit routine I finally settled down. I was a horrible spoiled little brat I’ll have to admit. My mother instructed not to take it out of the cage unless she was there. Can you guess what I did? Yes I pulled it out of the cage thinking “Oh she’ll never catch me.” Wrong! She found me in my room trying to get the little creature out from under my bed. She yelled at me and I cried yet again . . . loudly, very loudly. She finally said that if I did it again I would have to speak to my dad about this. Speaking to my dad about something I had done was bad news. So this time while it was in its little travel ball thingy I took it out and tried to play dress up with it. The hamster was way too big for my Barbie dress up clothes.  Man that thing was fat. Of course it bit me and I set it down next to the TV stand.  The hamster decided to run away from me for whatever reason and hid behind the TV. Try as I might I could not reach far enough to pull it from behind the TV. I ended up pushing the TV over with a crash. Then I put the hamster back in the cage and running up stairs so my mother wouldn’t catch me. Well she caught me anyway as you might have guessed. I had to explain to my father why I broke the TV and why I disobeyed my mother. I got a mild sentence of going to bed early. Stupid hamster.

12/20-12/24 December Plans

During the month of December my family does many things. My birthday is December seventh so we usually celebrate that first . . . obviously. Usually like the day after that we go and pick out a nice Christmas tree.  I always did like that nice pine smell. It takes me back. Soon after the youngest in the family would decorate the tree while the rest of the family messes with him or her. I am so glad I am not the youngest child in the family any longer. After that the family shops for each other in secret. We’re ninja’s, if you haven’t noticed, so we are very sneaky. Pretty much we all try to hide our presents from each other. We all end up failing at that except for my parents. To this day I do not know how they hide those presents. For the life of me I cannot figure out how they manage to hide all those presents without any of us little children finding them. It is truly ridiculous. When it gets closer and closer to Christmas we start breaking out the eggnog. God that stuff is good. It used to be on Christmas Eve I had to go to bed. This is mostly because I’m the youngest and I have to preserve my innocence or something like that. But now that we have a child in the family younger than I am, I can actually help with the deceiving process. You know . . . where you write the nose to Santa and set the presents around the tree. I hope I get to eat the cookies because the cookies my step mom makes are amazing! But I really can’t wait to see every open their presents from me. I really hope they like them because I really had no idea what to get anyone this year.

Online Publishing 12/13-12/17

What have you learned about yourself as a writer since you've been in this course? Describe your writing process. What do you like to write about? What do you not like to write about? What impact, if any has this class had on your writing?

When I first took Online Publishing I thought, “Oh god, this is going to blow so much.” But then when I finally started to write articles and blogs and such my writing skills started to improve. I used to pu5t sentences together like I was trying to sew . . . and I can’t sew worth crap. Now I can actually make a decent four hundred word paragraph without trying. Well I try a little bit, that much I can say. Usually when I write something I go through it twice. I do this because I want to make my paragraph better, maybe put in some fancy words, maybe a little razzle dazzle if you know what I mean. Now that this course is almost over I can go over it four times or more. With two editors I can edit my work and then go over it to see if there is any “Razzle Dazzle” I want to add to it by chance. Also there has been this story I have been trying to get started to for some time. Now I have four chapters of my story in and it’s actually good. I feel like I have a sense of accomplishment because of this and I am extremely proud. To be honest I actually wish I could take this class a second time because I think it’s so awesome. In fact that last statement was not an opinion, that last statement was a fact. To be clear this was the boringest blog I have ever typed in my entire life. Congratulations Mr. Currin. Eat that for breakfast you beautiful person you.

What is Beauty? 12/13-12/17

Beauty. It comes in all shapes and sizes. It doesn’t have to be a woman nor does it have to be a man. It doesn’t even have to be a person or a thing. It can be anything in the world. It can even be an act or the way someone does something. It can be anything that appeals to you senses. Personally the best example is the photograph I have posted right next to this blog. I have always love this picture, especially since in japan, a geisha is the ultimate symbol of beauty. Everything they do is beautiful. The way the housed are built, the scenery, the clothing, everything.  They are possibly the most beautiful people on the planet. They’re calligraphy is beautiful even. To be quite honest I even find their religion beautiful.  It’s just their entire being is beautiful. But off the subject of the beauty of Japanese culture.  To be honest different things are beautiful to different people. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Like I said I can be anyone or anything in this world that can be beautiful. One trash can be another man’s treasure. I know this because most of the stuff in my room someone has thrown away or tried to get rid of in some way at one point or another. Yes it was all clean but I have to admit I like weird stuff. I am a very weird person, but some people like me because if it. I’m not sure what exactly they with my freakiness but it is just their perception of beauty. It’s just something you find pleasing to one of your senses. I’m sorry I’m blabbing on and on about this but I really need to get this blog to three hundred words. And guess what, I made it. Eat that for breakfast you beautiful person you.

Poem Responce

 Counting (first stanza)

By Douglas Goetsch

I'd walk close to buildings counting

bricks, run my finger in the grout

till it grew hot and numb. Bricks

in a row, rows on a floor, multiply

floors, buildings, blocks in the city.

I knew there were numbers for everything--

tires piled in mountains at the dump,

cars on the interstate to Maine,

pine needles blanketing the shoulder of the road,

bubbles in my white summer spit.

I dreamed of counting the galaxies

of freckles on Laura MacNally,

touching each one--she loves me,

she loves me not--right on up her leg,

my pulse beating away at the sea

wall of my skin, my breath

inhaling odd, exhaling even.

This part of a poem seems to show some sort of confusion of the senses. It seems as if the poet long for the flesh of another human being but at the same time resents the human race. The writer’s mind seems to be spinning as if on some sort of druggie trip. To be quite honest the way it’s layered it be a sort of dream. Either that or in some way he is dreaming of traveling the beautiful body that is mother earth. Just saying. There are so many meanings to this poem its making my head spin! He might just be comparing the exotic beauty of a woman to the common beauty of his surroundings. One thing is for sure, he is definitely showing some love. He’s also showing a sort of confusion. Perhaps he was confused about the new feeling he has for this person. Then again he might be on his death bed and trying to take in natural beauties in his everyday life if which he may never see again. These are many, many possibilities that could be a meaning to this poem. Who knows, this poem could mean something completely different to someone else. This is just my own opinion; it doesn’t mean it’s the only opinion.

When I was little, my friends and I used to play with Barbie’s. It was awful and I regret every moment of it. If I could go back in time I would slap that Barbie doll out of my little hand and scream “NO, NO BAD!” and run away. Just kidding, but seriously I am really disappointed in my child hood. Other than Barbie’s me and my friends liked to play hide-and-go-seek tag. Good times. At that time I was really good at hiding . . . I’m not very good at that now because I’m too big. What a downer. But pretty much we would all desert one child as we all ran away and hid. We didn’t even have a safe base. If you were the last to be caught, you won. I was very good at winning. That really isn’t the case now-a-days. Yet another downer. When I was little I also liked to steal things. I was such a little kleptomaniac. Goof times. I would steal toys from my friends and candy from stores and gas stations. I didn’t understand they had video cameras. I just thought it was some sort of magic I had to hide from. Wow I cannot believe I turned out ok. A little sarcastic, but still ok. The point is I was a really messed up kid. I’m still a messed up kid! I’m sure most of you would agree with me. I have nice friends. My best friend was a real brat, she liked to steal my toys too. I still so disappointed in my childhood.

Childhood TV Shows

Of all the childhood television shows I watched when I was younger; my favorite show would probably be one of two things. The first show was anime; it’s called “Sailor Moon”. I am kind of ashamed of this because it is such a girly show.  It’s basically about this group of girls who have like the super powers of the planets or something like that. Then again they are all teenage girl in the show so they do such things like chase boys, shopping and squeal. Very interesting show. I recently went and watched that show, and I figured out why I stopped watching that show by the age of eight. To be honest, I got scared by how up-beat and girly it was. Never again. The second show I thought of when o thought of childhood shows was “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”. That show I’ll have to say is fluffen amazing. And if you don’t agree I’ll have to say you must be banished from the land of Alden until you sacrifice yourself to the volcano.  I apologize for that I am in quite a random mood. You deserve it though. I also watched the power rangers movie and it was better than I remember it. This is mostly since my memory of my childhood is a bit fuzzy. Good times. Now my next goal is get this blog to two hundred and fifty words. I’m not sore ill make it now. I like cookies. . .you can’t have my cookies they’re mine. Bye.

The Gnome

 “Come on Spencer!” The young girl padded her knees happily as a small gold retriever puppy galloped over to her. “Come on, gimmie the ball!” She giggled and tried to pull the ball away from the pup’s mouth. As she wrestled with the small pup she heard so rustling in the bushes near the hole in the fence. “Uhg, rabbits.” She scoffed as she walked towards the rustling. She pushed the bushes away with her hands and found a little, old, dirty garden gnome.  She rolled her eyes and reached out to push it aside when it let out a ferocious screech. The girl fell back in surprise and stared at the little man with wide eyes. “Y-you’re alive?!”Her voice trembled. “Of course I am child, all gnomes are.” Its voice was shrill and unnerving. The little man treaded towards her slowly as she was frozen in fear. “I’m going to make a deal with you.”  He has a sort of sinister grin on his face. “What kind of deal?” She was trying to keep her voice from shaking but you could tell it working at all. “Well.” He paused. “I propose you allow me to take anything I want at any time and any place from you. . . .” “No.”  She interrupted. Slowly her fingers felt the soft grass searching for anything to grasp in her hand. “Don’t disrespect me!” He growled as he shook his little chubby finger in her face. “If you don’t give me what I want, I’ll tell everyone what you have done. She swallowed as her fingers rested upon the wooden handle of a shovel. She gripped the handle firmly and said softly. “Well . . . here’s your answer.” She quickly jumped on to her feet and swung the shovel towards the evil little gnome. The shovel collided into him and smashed him apart sending pieces of his body everywhere. She dropped the shovel on the green lawn and walked towards the porch. “That fixes that problem.” She brought out a hose. “Now to clean this porch!” She slowly rinsed the wooden porch cleaning it of her sins.

What is art?

Art, it is something we all use to express ourselves one way or another. Whether it be writing, singing, dancing or painting we all use it. Personally I use drawing to express myself. It’s either that or writing and singing. Although, drawing is what I do the most of. I often draw what I’m thinking of or maybe who I’m thinking about. Usually it’s dark and disturbing but sometimes it has to do with love and passion. I can’t just draw any time though, there has to be a specific idea or a specific feeling. It might be a way for me to connect to other people too. I’m not too sure of myself. When I sing usually it is because i have a very annoying song stuck in my head. The only way I can get any song is either to sing it or listen to it . . . and if there isn’t any music I can listen to then I suppose singing works. When I write I don’t often write about my own feeling and actions. I am more likely to write a story of some sort describing a deeper means leading to how I felt during that time. It’s very confusing I know. Although for the reader I guess it’s the fact that I don’t want someone to find out how I really feel. It may not even be about the real world, it will just be off in some weird universe somewhere that doesn’t even exist.  That the beauty of art though. It doesn’t need to make sense; you can make it anything you want it to be. It’s what you think about your feelings and other people and the world. If anything that’s how we connect to other people, through utter randomness. It’s fantastic isn’t it?

“Happy Birthday Amber!” Every one screamed at the top of their lungs. She stumbled back in surprise and then smiled.

“You Guys! You didn’t have to go and do this for me!” She couldn’t help herself, she was grinning from ear to ear. She didn’t much like her birthday. She didn’t even like the fact people would go out of their way just to do this sort of thing for her. Numerous people ran up to her and hugged her, wishing her a very happy birthday. She slowly walked into the room glancing over the faces of those who were there. She had no idea this many people liked her. Two adolescent males came over to her and led her to a chair that was pained gold that had Blue and white lettering that said ‘Birthday Girl’ of the top. She rested her tired arms and crossed her legs wondering what would happen next. They put a cute burger king crown of her head and brought a big pink birthday cake with thirteen candles on it. She didn’t care much for pink but that didn’t matter much to her now.  Everyone around her sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and a few friends sang ‘what’s your boyfriend’s first name’ and giggled. She turned a bright red with embarrassment as her mother said softly “Make a wish sweet heart.” She closed her eyes a moment or two and blew out all thirteen candles on the pink birthday cake.  The small crowd around her cheered and someone finally yelled “open your presents why don’t you?” Her father bald and wrinkled brought her a large square box with a tag that said ‘pull me’. Amber’s eyes widened and she reached out for the tab. With one quick pull the four sides of the box fell to the ground. Amber gasped with joy as her eyes lay upon the steel wire cage. Inside the cage was a tiny baby parrot. “Oh she’s beautiful!” Amber exclaimed. “Oh can I hold her? Please Can I?” Her father shrugged and opened the cage, carefully pulling the fragile bird out. Amber held out of her hands eagerly. She held her gently. She whispered “I’m going to call you Louis, and I’m going to love you forever.”

11/29-12/3 Out West

With this photo it reminds me a lot of home . . . home being Colorado. Colorado is mostly like this picture actually. Since it is mostly built off of the Rocky Mountains, there are few parts of Colorado that has cities. This is mostly around the Denver city area. Other than that it’s pretty much all rural area. It’s a lot of dry land. Since I came back from Colorado I find myself loving the desert land more that I originally liked the lands of New York. This land might just be special to me because I was born there. But I guess going back there rekindled my love for the sun bitten lands. I’m also a very big fan of the mountains. This is probably because me my family and a bunch of close friends used to go camping practically every weekend. This place I call home, to me has a lot of spiritual value. When you look out your window in the morning all you can see around you is the mountains, it’s like a big bowl and you’re living right in the middle of it.  It’s a strange sense of security; like you’re being cradled in the arms of mother earth know that sounds majorly corny but that’s honestly how I feel. The tree in this picture kind of reminds me of my family that resides in Colorado. Kind of like a family tree, it branches off in so many places. Wow that’s also really corny. I have my Poppi’s side of the family there, which is completely nuts, and then I have my step family over there, they’re nuts too but in a good way. The winter there is just as dry as the summer. The winter is one of the main reasons people only stay during the summer. They say the white snow kind of makes everything look grey and dull. From the pictures and my memories I don’t think that at all. I actually think it’s quite beautiful. The snow gives everything a nice blue tint to it.