Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Oda a mis gafas


I wrote a poem in Spanish and thought I'd post it on here (but no, it does not have a translation, so you'll just have to become bilingual to comprehend my genius).

Oda a mis gafas
Los suéteres se desgastan,
el ambiente eventualmente destruye los pantalones,
y los zapatos no duran para siempre,
pero cada día me pongo las gafas.
Amigos fieles, siempre me ayudan.
Sus montas rectangulares abrazan a sus lentes.
Sus ventanas claras me dan pasamiento al mundo de color.
He perdido el arte de ver.
Paso por las gotas de agua en las hojas de los árboles,
los arcos irises por encima de mi cabeza,
las sonrisas tímidas en las bocas de los desconocidos, 
y los nubes sonrojos.
Mis ojos escogen mirar a las calles, las fechas, y los informes.
No quieren recordar su ceguera,
pero siempre están allí mis gafas.
Amigos sabios, esperan silenciosamente
el momento de recordar.
Tristes sin lágrimas, no dicen nada
mientras camino rápidamente a la clase.
Sienten sin movimiento en mi nariz
cuando cruzo la calle hablando por teléfono.
No me piden nada.
Anticipan que los me ponga
y pare por ver brevemente,
que observe las gotas de agua y los nubes,
y que mire la lluvia con ojos fascinados.
Mis gafas, guías leales, me enseñan silenciosamente
a ver.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

If you're a student in college...

If you're a student in college, someone is bound to ask you what you're studying.
When you answer this question, they will ask you what you want do with your degree.
This impromptu interview will remind you that you really should be studying, so you will quickly dismiss yourself and hit the books.
Doing your math homework will remind you that you really don't like math, so you will go buy a snack instead.
As you buy your breakfast cookie at exactly 3:27 p.m., you will remember that you were supposed to call your mother before your breakfast.
When you make the call, you will see a clipping of job advertisements on the cork board.
The advertisements will remind you that you really need some work experience.
Your need of work experience will remind you that you really have no idea for what field you need it.
This quandary will remind you that you that you really need to declare a major.
And when you declare your major, someone is bound to ask you what you plan to do with it.

(Modeled after If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)

I seem to be very fond of parodies lately. For my Honors assignment, I had the idea of writing a poem instead of a standard essay, and my prof approved. It is a parody of Dante's Inferno from Muhammad's perspective, written in iambic pentameter and (almost) terza rima. It has been quite fun to write, but more than a little painstaking. This song has helped a lot, though. Heh, heh.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Hello, and a merry Christmas to you all! I can still hardly believe that Christmas has already come and gone. Ever since coming home from college, I've been working just about nonstop in a major department store. It's been a blessing to have the job and the OCD part of me has enjoyed folding and refolding all the clothes in my department, but I'm not sure how I feel about the grown-up part to it all. I work from either 11-7 or 9-5. The long shifts drain me of creativity and energy, and I haven't been able to write on my novel hardly at all. Nevertheless, before work started I almost finished it and now have just a chapter to go. I'm currently reveling in a few days off of work, and I plan to use this time to finish my book and to write a support letter for...wait for it...AFRICA! Yes, you read that correctly, I am one hundred percent for-sure going. I just have to raise a ton of money since I'm a broke college kid, so this could get interesting. I'm seeing a lot of lemonade stands in my not-so-distant future.
This Christmas, I had the brilliant idea of recording a CD of improv piano for my friends and family. However, as I continued recording, I decided to put the CD on the internet. Completely ridiculously, I now have an album for sale on bandcamp and a couple songs for free on noisetrade. Keep in mind that all of this happened in a matter of days, since this is improv piano and one can't exactly polish and practice improvised songs. So this is pretty much my insane life. I don't want to accidentally get rich or famous, though, so up until July all proceeds (if there ever are any) will go towards my Africa trip. Huzzah!
Anyways, it is two days after Christmas so if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play with the best Christmas present ever, my TARDIS and Doctor Who action figures. (Jealous?)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

My brain is a hostage.

I must confess that I have quit a cappella club. I really did try to like it, since I adore singing, but I just couldn't do it. Instead, I've been going to Scottish country dancing club. I have yet to master the skip-change (the central step in Scottish country dancing), which makes for an interesting evening of Rosemary holding my hand and proclaiming in a British accent, HOP- two-three, HOP-two-three. Despite the embarrassment, it's really quite fun. Since I'm an idiot and raised my hand when she asked the everyone who had been to club night in class, I actually got to perform one of the dances for the class's enrichment today.
My novel is also coming along really well. I'm at 49,321 words, which is pretty impressive (50,000 words is the NaNoWriMo goal), considering that all my professors assigned huge projects, essays, and readings due around the same time. Of course. The problem is that I can barely make myself focus on the aforementioned work. My characters have taken my head hostage, refusing to let it think about anything else or do anything productive other than writing them. I have never written any characters as fleshed-out and real as these, and they genuinely haunt my head. When telling a friend about this "problem," she said something about the book not being real and I stared at her for a second. I'd actually forgotten that the entire story and characters only existed in my head (and in my computer, of course).
They are so real to me that, when I had to write something painful for my MC, I had to buy myself chocolate as an incentive. I've stared at people crossing campus that look remotely like my characters. I've broken down crying about the story and laughed out loud while crafting a joke. A difficulty (and blessing, sometimes) about being a writer is the intense capacity to feel. I feel everything my characters do, whether it be depression, rapturous bliss, or fury. It's wonderful and awful at the same time. Ah, well. The life of an artist.
On a different note, since I love causes but have next to no money, I was quite euphoric when I discovered GoodSearch today via NaNoWriMo. Basically, it's just a search engine that donates money to the cause of your choice for every Web search you make (and it's free!). Oh dear. I sound like an infomercial, don't I? Anyways, you should definitely check it out if you're, like me, broke but wanting to help out a cause!
Well, I'm off to write on my novel...I mean, work on my essays. Heh, heh. Oh! Before I go, I must bestow some wonderful news upon you. Instead of a cappella club, I went to a readers' meeting for my school's literary journal called Jeopardy! today. I think I'm going to be a reader, which basically means that I'll read submissions, vote on them, and critique them a bit for the magazine which sounds a lot more amazing to me than singing for an hour (sorry, a cappella. I promise I still love you! Will you accept my humble offer of vegan brownies and black licorice?).

Sunday, October 23, 2011

I've been tagged

I won! I won! I WON!
Hehe. Occasionally I get a little over-excited about some things (read: everything). But that's okay. A hilarious Sparkler just gave me this award, which I've never heard of but am assuming it's the blogosphere version of a Pulitzer prize. I'd start preparing my acceptance speech, but I do need to tell seven random things about myself and then tag seven bloggers with 100 words or less. Let the good times commence...

My seven things:
1. I am so indecisive that I almost couldn't decide which "thing" to start with.
2. I just applied on a mission trip to go to Africa this summer.
3. I'm a broke college student and peanut butter is my hero!
4. I work in an art gallery.
5. I am a bibliophile and write just about all the time.
6. When in the presence of (vegan) sugar, I've been known to eat way too much of it.
7. I have seven younger siblings, all of whom I got to see today.

Now, onto the seven bloggers:
1. The life story of a chick drummer named Kat, - she's a drummer and just generally awesome.
2. christellingstories -  his passion for God and for people is so inspiring.
3. Confessions of a Debate Nerd - who could possibly resist that title?
4. Faith Like a Child - everyone could use a little more faith like a child.
5. five.minute.anyday - I really like the premise of this blog.
6. A (Not So) Normal Teen - she posts wonderful poetry.
7. A Snapshot of Motherhood - well...my mom's blog is pretty cool.

Huzzah! I'll consider myself officially "awarded."

Monday, October 17, 2011

Bouldering, writing, and a cappella

Hello, friends. Sorry that I've been so sporadic about blogging; it's just that every time I sit down to write a post, I write a few lines, laugh at their corniness, and then shut off my computer. Despite my recent ineptness at blogging, progress on my novel is going really well (you know that one novel that I never mentioned in my posts? Yep. That one) and I'm at the proud landmark of 35,707 words. I started this novel in September and have not yet tired of it. For some reason, this one is so much fun to write and makes me laugh out loud and cry, sometimes at the same time (yes, I know I'm the author. That's beside the point). I wish I could tell you what it's about, but apparently it's not a good idea to put unlicensed material on the Internets for billions of eyes to see if one is planning on publishing it. (I know, right? Who would've thought?)
I have also become addicted to bouldering. In case you don't know what that is (and truthfully, a month ago I didn't either), it's rock-climbing in a  gym without a harness. It's dangerous, extremely difficult, and covers one's hands with perpetual calluses and blisters, but it's just about the most fun way to work out I have ever tried. The possibilities for creativity are endless: you can pretend you're a super-spy, trying to escape a flood, or were raised by apes. Personally I prefer the first option, since it's a little less stressful.
Anyways, these past few weeks, I have been going to a cappella club. I had a Great Plan that I would try out for the "Breakfast at Tiffany's" solo tonight, so I got all excited. However, when I arrived tonight they informed everyone that they'd cut one song out of the three for the concert. Out of "F* You," "Stand By Me," and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," guess which one they cut?
Yeah....
I would gladly have tried out for "F* You" if only they'd used the radio version--I mean, the range is perfect!--only, I don't swear. I still don't understand why it's cool to drop the F-bomb repeatedly throughout a song, but it's okay. They said that we'd sing "Breakfast at Tiffany's" later in the quarter, so I still have my hopes up for that shiny, beautiful solo! Eventually. For now, I'm just going to have to OooOoooO to my heart's content (gotta love altos). And even though I didn't get to try out, I was planning on it. That's pretty huge for me, the girl who won't sing in the shower for fear of someone overhearing. So that's something, I suppose.
I also am going to try to give blood tomorrow for the first time in a year, and then I'm planning on going bouldering after that, which may or may not be a good idea. Let's see what happens.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

College!

Hello, everyone! I am--officially--moved in. I'm a college student, guys. This is so weird. Do you want to hear about the adventure that was moving in and the first day of classes? No? Well...I'm going to tell you anyway.
My roommate and I decided beforehand that we wanted to loft our beds, but after getting all the bed parts, we changed our minds and bunked them, which meant that we had to carry all the parts downstairs and to the hall next door. It was glorious, awkward, furniture-carrying fun. But bunk beds are cool, so it was worth it. After we'd gotten semi-situated, my mom and I bought an "easy assembly" table for the microwave. There were somewhere around 30 screws, but no holes in the table. We didn't bring any power tools (and a sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood), so we had to borrow the RA's and manually screw in each and every one. It was quite the adventure, but now we are extremely proud of our little table. We're also apparently in one of the nicest dorms on campus (the honors program does have its perks) and we had enough room for a couch.
Monday and Tuesday were the gigantic info fair days on campus, and I signed up for Bad Wolf, the Vietnamese club, the Scottish country dancing club, and sailing (the last of which I will not be able to attend due to scheduling conflicts, unfortunately).
Anyways, that was all fun and exciting, and now I just finished my first day of classes. AHHHHHH! It actually wasn't as stressful as I'd thought, though. I found all my classes without issue (although I did have to ask a guy in my science literacy class if I was in the right building...I just had to be sure). My honors professor has a sweet Scottish accent and my Scottish country dancing instructor is a cute little British lady. My science literacy and Spanish 301 professors both also seem really cool. I'm also one of three freshmen in my Spanish class--but I understood everything that was said perfectly and am feeling pretty confident about my skills. The worst class for me will probably be honors, but that's only because I hate talking in class. I'm sure college will beat it out of me.
I've also had an interview in the library and a nonexistant interview at a museum since i've been here. The library interview went pretty well, but I biked halfway to the museum interview before calling the supervisor (I got lost, but in all fairness it was my first day) only to find out that the position had been filled a month ago and she'd sent me an email...Yeah, no. That email never happened, because if it had I definitely would have remembered it. Being a teenage author, I'm pretty used to rejection letters, but I always take note of a new one. Oh well. I have an interview at the campus art gallery tomorrow, so hopefully that goes slightly better.
OH, AND I MADE FRIENDS! I have no idea why this is such a shock to me, but everyone is super-friendly here. I had the hardest time meeting new people in East Wenatchee when I moved there and only made a few lasting friendships, but here everyone's like, "Hi! My name's ____. Friends?" It's quite a new experience for me, but I'm definitely enjoying it. I think by default I've become a little more outgoing simply because it's expected. Last night, I played Spoono (Uno plus Spoons) with my roommate, suite mates, and some other girls on my floor, and have already met a few people in my classes and around campus.
Yes. College is amazing. I have the strangest feeling I'm not going to need my unlimited meal plan, though; I've been here since Sunday and have only been to the dining hall about four times. I guess I won't be getting the freshman 15...