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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Pic a Day - 11/19 to 11/25

Mon. Nov 19, the happy scribe (Medieval Day)
Tues. Nov 20, start of Thanksgiving break
Wed. Nov 21, park at night (that's my brother's iPod)
Thurs. Nov 22, vegetarian Thanksgiving plate
Fri. Nov 23, it was Friday
Sat. Nov 24, Breaking Dawn Part 2
Sun. Nov 25, apple cider/peppermint

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Pic a Day - 11/12 to 11/18

Mon. Nov 12, first contact lenses
Tues. Nov 13, flannel anti-jacket
Wed. Nov 14, B&W color contrast
Thurs. Nov 15, honey bottle face
Fri. Nov 16, the window says "I wish my wife was this dirty"
Sat. Nov 17, condescending Internet games
Sun. Nov 18, scribe materials

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Pic a Day - 11/5 to 11/11

Mon. Nov 5, sunset from my study space
Tues. Nov 6, driving to the Eddie Vedder concert
Wed. Nov 7, the Parkington Sisters
Thurs. Nov 8, VW Bug
Fri. Nov 9, I went to the mall
Sat. Nov 10, practicing "Martha My Dear"
Sun. Nov 11, DoodleBops in cartoon once more

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Grocery-Store Basketball

How to play:

  • Go to any grocery store or supermarket. You can be going there for regular groceries or not.
  • First make your way to the toy section. Find a small bouncy ball (not so small you won't be able to throw and catch it) that fits comfortably in your palm.
  • Find any empty aisle that either has a random empty shopping cart or bring a new one in. Position the cart halfway down the aisle.
  • One player starts on one end of the "court", and the other player on the opposite end. Rules are adaptable. What my brother and I did was run to the midway point (halfway between their end court and the cart) or to center (where the cart was) and shoot the ball into the basket, pass back and forth with overhand and underhand throws, and knock down shelves of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals.
Have fun! It really gets your heart pumping when you have to chase after the ball if it has gone off-course so it doesn't trip someone passing by the aisle (too late, I'm pretty sure my brother let that one happen). So if you have a busy schedule or have kids or want to feed the kid in ya, give it a try!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

NaNoWriMo

Somehow I declined to post the single glory of the month of November on the day of its beginning. NaNoWriMo. It's wonderful and it's awesome and it's inspiring and it's motivating (and it's not for English class, sadly enough). NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the general rule is all participant writers have to write fifty-thousand words for their novel - and there are no criteria for content other than a) it has to be fictional, and b) it has to be your original work that you've written over the month - in thirty days.
It really is fun. This is my third year doing it(on the Young Writers site), and my goal for this year really is 50K. Last year I kept it at 30,000 and I don't remember what it was the year before that(honestly, I'm not even sure if I wrote anything for 2010). It is a great exercise for any and all writers. It keeps you on your toes and within quotas and you're zooming through it like a speed train. There is no room for writer's block, there is no room for editing or pondering the next chapter or the creation of this character: everything is an on-your-feet judgment call.
Last year I wrote what can only barely be considered fictional within semi-autobiographical writings. I created a character, Freddie Halsey, who was just as antisocial as I, and I put her in a Social Skills class for the year and she had to pass the class in order to graduate. I liked the idea at the time, but when I read it now, it really flopped. It just wasn't a compelling narrative. This year I'm writing a dystopian novel, somewhat related to Seeking a Friend for the End of the World in plot (the whole asteroid-will-hit-the-earth-in-a-month-and-all-humanity-will-be-lost type thing), centered around technology, and my main character claims to be the only literate person alive - the early stages of the story focus on the importance of her journaling to her and how it's rumored to be illegal... Anyway, you've likely already lost interest, which is well enough, because that summary was just a ruse. Not a lie, just a devious way of keeping my juicy dystopian fantasy to myself. (If you are interested, add me on Google Plus and I'll send brief excerpts of the story.)
So. NaNoWriMo. If you're a writer, you should think about it. It's fun.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Participant Observer(11/5)

Three red shirts
In an ordered school office
Someone else's tears
Dissuade my own

Just a misunderstanding

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Pic a Day - 10/29 to 11/4

Mon. Oct 29, a Homeric simile I memorized for Halloween
Tues. Oct 30, metro from a distance
Wed. Oct 31, Jason and Homer
Thurs. Nov 1, golden sunrise
Fri. Nov 2, NaNoWriMo's second day
Sat. Nov 3, Dali's loneliest painting
Sun. Nov 4, tasty vegetarian snack pockets