Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Monday, 1 June 2015
Meg
Tomorrow one of my dearest (and sometimes deerest) friends is moving away. Her name is Meg McKellar, and she is one of the most wonderful, hilarious, gorgeous people I have ever met.
Meg and I met on the first day of seventh grade. I was twelve, by the way. Our first hour class was science with Mr. Jackman. It may be spelled Jackmann or Jachman or Jachmann. I don't remember. He was a good teacher, though. Anyway, Meg sat either right next to me or right behind me. We started talking, and I thought, "wow, she's really sweet!" At that point I didn't know the extent of her insanity and thought she was a pretty chill person. She always wrote in gel pens, which I thought was awesome (who doesn't love gel pens?), and she had a pretty cool sense of humor. I didn't know exactly that she would become one of my dearest friends, but I had a pretty good idea that we would definitely be friends.
Meg also happened to be in my seventh grade math class (well, she was one trimester, anyway). One day, we bonded over the fact that we both had teeth that grew in exactly backwards-- as in, facing 45 degrees the wrong way. Also, she told me about rainbow waffles, which was life-changing. We grew closer, in an odd way.
Meg also became friends with Emily Derricott. I didn't know Emily very well that year, either, but I considered her my friend, too, as I'd known her since I was ten. Anyway, the three of us eventually grew closer together. I don't know exactly how it happened, because at the moment I wasn't really concerned with it. I was just enjoying my time with them. It just happened, and I'm so very glad it did.
Now, three-ish years later, I can say with confidence that I love Meg. She is a girl of many talents, including percussion skillz, acting skillz, speech skillz, fangirling skillz, and the skillz that are required to be a good friend. I don't know exactly what those friendship skillz are, but she definitely possesses them. Meg is a really good percussionist, and a really good actress, and whenever she gave a speech in our speech class (Mrs. Chaffin's second hour) I was enchanted by her word choice and energy and I was basically just really proud of her and glad I'd made such a good choice in friends. ;) Meg can and will fangirl over anything cool, which is nice when I just want to freak out about something. She can tell stories that just make you want to listen, because they're filled with drama and humor and hilarious facial expressions.
I could go on. I could pretty much write a book about the awesomeness of Meg.
I might.
But not here. It's not the time or place for that. For now I will just leave this blog post.
Deer Meg,
I want you to know that you are wonderful. You have amazing ramen hair and your face is also good and I love the way you speak and communicate with others. That sounds really weird, but it truly is a remarkable skill to have (well, obviously, as I've just remarked upon it). I am very, very sad that you're moving, for I shall miss you terribly. Not seeing you five days of the week will be devastating. However, I am so so glad to have met you, and I would rather you move now and still have made all these lovely memories that for you to have never moved to Idaho. You have made my life so fun and made me a better person in ways you may not even recognize. Plus you're almost as fashion as Clint, and he's the epitome of phasion with a PH. So, that's pretty wizard, I guess.
Love, Olivia
Meg and I met on the first day of seventh grade. I was twelve, by the way. Our first hour class was science with Mr. Jackman. It may be spelled Jackmann or Jachman or Jachmann. I don't remember. He was a good teacher, though. Anyway, Meg sat either right next to me or right behind me. We started talking, and I thought, "wow, she's really sweet!" At that point I didn't know the extent of her insanity and thought she was a pretty chill person. She always wrote in gel pens, which I thought was awesome (who doesn't love gel pens?), and she had a pretty cool sense of humor. I didn't know exactly that she would become one of my dearest friends, but I had a pretty good idea that we would definitely be friends.
Meg also happened to be in my seventh grade math class (well, she was one trimester, anyway). One day, we bonded over the fact that we both had teeth that grew in exactly backwards-- as in, facing 45 degrees the wrong way. Also, she told me about rainbow waffles, which was life-changing. We grew closer, in an odd way.
Meg also became friends with Emily Derricott. I didn't know Emily very well that year, either, but I considered her my friend, too, as I'd known her since I was ten. Anyway, the three of us eventually grew closer together. I don't know exactly how it happened, because at the moment I wasn't really concerned with it. I was just enjoying my time with them. It just happened, and I'm so very glad it did.
Now, three-ish years later, I can say with confidence that I love Meg. She is a girl of many talents, including percussion skillz, acting skillz, speech skillz, fangirling skillz, and the skillz that are required to be a good friend. I don't know exactly what those friendship skillz are, but she definitely possesses them. Meg is a really good percussionist, and a really good actress, and whenever she gave a speech in our speech class (Mrs. Chaffin's second hour) I was enchanted by her word choice and energy and I was basically just really proud of her and glad I'd made such a good choice in friends. ;) Meg can and will fangirl over anything cool, which is nice when I just want to freak out about something. She can tell stories that just make you want to listen, because they're filled with drama and humor and hilarious facial expressions.
I could go on. I could pretty much write a book about the awesomeness of Meg.
I might.
But not here. It's not the time or place for that. For now I will just leave this blog post.
Deer Meg,
I want you to know that you are wonderful. You have amazing ramen hair and your face is also good and I love the way you speak and communicate with others. That sounds really weird, but it truly is a remarkable skill to have (well, obviously, as I've just remarked upon it). I am very, very sad that you're moving, for I shall miss you terribly. Not seeing you five days of the week will be devastating. However, I am so so glad to have met you, and I would rather you move now and still have made all these lovely memories that for you to have never moved to Idaho. You have made my life so fun and made me a better person in ways you may not even recognize. Plus you're almost as fashion as Clint, and he's the epitome of phasion with a PH. So, that's pretty wizard, I guess.
Love, Olivia
Friday, 29 May 2015
I don't exactly know what this is, but you can read it if you'd like.
We emptied out our lockers, took our final exams, turned in our textbooks.
Our backpacks got lighter and lighter as we got less and less homework.
We started to plan more parties, to make sure all our assignments were in, and think of what we were going to write in each other's yearbooks.
When we actually got the yearbooks, we knew it was almost over.
People came to school with multicolored pens, memories of inside jokes floating back into their heads.
We practiced our signatures for when we're famous.
We copied down our phone numbers and email addresses.
On the last day of school, we could skip classes if we wanted.
We got doughnuts.
Everyone gathered around, lightsabers in hand, to go to the park.
The bell rang, and everyone started talking louder, screaming in joy because school was finally over.
And then, well, it was over.
Our backpacks got lighter and lighter as we got less and less homework.
We started to plan more parties, to make sure all our assignments were in, and think of what we were going to write in each other's yearbooks.
When we actually got the yearbooks, we knew it was almost over.
People came to school with multicolored pens, memories of inside jokes floating back into their heads.
We practiced our signatures for when we're famous.
We copied down our phone numbers and email addresses.
On the last day of school, we could skip classes if we wanted.
We got doughnuts.
Everyone gathered around, lightsabers in hand, to go to the park.
The bell rang, and everyone started talking louder, screaming in joy because school was finally over.
And then, well, it was over.
Monday, 27 April 2015
This was supposed to be posted in November, but I didn't finish it and then forgot about it. Oops.
Well, I'm a day late (and may be two days late by the time I actually post this, depending how long it takes to write), but I'm still going to post my giving of thanks. I'm not entirely sure what it will turn into or how exactly I'm going to organize it, but here goes. In no particular order, here's some stuff I'm grateful for.
I am grateful for my wonderful, amazing, superfantabulistic friends. They support me in all my endeavors, however weird, and love me in spite of (and possibly because of) my utter craziness.
I am grateful for the friend with whom I fangirl over a ridiculous amount of things-- the one who forced me to get a Pinterest account and is now probably regretting it. This is the friend who has lots of Ramen and hosts fabulous Halloween parties and who understands everything I fangirl over and joins me (very, very enthusiastically).
I am grateful for my friend whose voice carries across a whole room, whose obsession with hedgehogs and Martin Freeman is bordering on unhealthy, who occasionally has hair of an alarming shade of pink and never ceases to make me laugh.
I am grateful for the friend who is crazily obsessed with girls, who is super hyper and sometimes acts very drunk, who is always available for a big hug, and who has adopted me as his sister.
I am grateful for my friend who stays up until all hours, who seriously only requires an hour of sleep to function, and who I can goof around with constantly. She supported my idea of demolition bagels and has lots of other equally ridiculous ideas along with me. She is also a member of the Pancakes of Arizona Celebratory... something... or perhaps it was the Pack of Aquatic Cerulean Elephants. Either way, that's pretty cool.
I am grateful for the friend I have known most of my life, who filled in the spot of my best friend for a few years without even knowing it, whose older brother is best friends with mine and who, like many of my other friends, is one of the weirdest people ever in the best possible way.
I am grateful for my friend I went to elementary school with who is obsessed with weapons and explosives and has a soft spot for cats. We are secretly stalking each other, and it's not even that weird.
I am grateful for the friend who moved in to my neighborhood and stopped me from being the only girl in my Sunday school class, whose name is very punnable and who shares my taste in books.
I am grateful for my wonderful, amazing, superfantabulistic friends. They support me in all my endeavors, however weird, and love me in spite of (and possibly because of) my utter craziness.
I am grateful for and to my friend with whom I share the most inside jokes, weird foods, and occasionally pants. I am so so thankful that we could have so many opportunities to share with each other and that we never seem to have anything to fight about. I am honestly a bit jealous of her gorgeous hair at times and I am so proud of her for all her amazing talents and basically just love the crap out of that girl.
I am grateful for the friend with whom I fangirl over a ridiculous amount of things-- the one who forced me to get a Pinterest account and is now probably regretting it. This is the friend who has lots of Ramen and hosts fabulous Halloween parties and who understands everything I fangirl over and joins me (very, very enthusiastically).
I am grateful for my friend whose voice carries across a whole room, whose obsession with hedgehogs and Martin Freeman is bordering on unhealthy, who occasionally has hair of an alarming shade of pink and never ceases to make me laugh.
I am grateful for the friend who is crazily obsessed with girls, who is super hyper and sometimes acts very drunk, who is always available for a big hug, and who has adopted me as his sister.
I am grateful for my friend who stays up until all hours, who seriously only requires an hour of sleep to function, and who I can goof around with constantly. She supported my idea of demolition bagels and has lots of other equally ridiculous ideas along with me. She is also a member of the Pancakes of Arizona Celebratory... something... or perhaps it was the Pack of Aquatic Cerulean Elephants. Either way, that's pretty cool.
I am grateful for the friend I have known most of my life, who filled in the spot of my best friend for a few years without even knowing it, whose older brother is best friends with mine and who, like many of my other friends, is one of the weirdest people ever in the best possible way.
I am grateful for my friend I went to elementary school with who is obsessed with weapons and explosives and has a soft spot for cats. We are secretly stalking each other, and it's not even that weird.
I am grateful for the friend who moved in to my neighborhood and stopped me from being the only girl in my Sunday school class, whose name is very punnable and who shares my taste in books.
Yo
I was recently reminded by some friends that I need to update my blog. I will admit, it has been a very long time. I'm not very good at writing on it consistently.
Obviously, a lot of things have happened in however many months it's been since I last posted anything, but I still can't think of anything to say. Or, you know, type.
Yeah, I really can't think of anything.
Obviously, a lot of things have happened in however many months it's been since I last posted anything, but I still can't think of anything to say. Or, you know, type.
Yeah, I really can't think of anything.
Saturday, 22 November 2014
Monday, 10 November 2014
Ghost?
The detective leaned over to pick up the butt of a cigarette between two gloved fingertips. Just as he suspected-- the infamous serial killer who'd traveled all across the country, murdering people left and right without a hint of remorse-- the powerful, the dangerous, the terrifying...
The unfortunately nameless. Though the chain of murders up and down the country were undoubtedly committed by the same person, the problem was, nobody knew who this person was. He left no clues as to his identity-- no aliases, no signature way to kill-- just a cigarette butt at the scene of the crime. The cigarettes weren't smoked by anyone-- just burned. The detective wasn't even sure if this nameless person was a man or a woman. Sometimes, on his more intoxicated nights, he wasn't sure the killer was a person. Perhaps a group of people, or no human at all...
He stood and dropped the cigarette butt into an evidence bag. Now to the more gruesome part of the investigation-- actually seeing they way the victim died.
The unfortunately nameless. Though the chain of murders up and down the country were undoubtedly committed by the same person, the problem was, nobody knew who this person was. He left no clues as to his identity-- no aliases, no signature way to kill-- just a cigarette butt at the scene of the crime. The cigarettes weren't smoked by anyone-- just burned. The detective wasn't even sure if this nameless person was a man or a woman. Sometimes, on his more intoxicated nights, he wasn't sure the killer was a person. Perhaps a group of people, or no human at all...
He stood and dropped the cigarette butt into an evidence bag. Now to the more gruesome part of the investigation-- actually seeing they way the victim died.
***
The seventeen-year-old girl's scream echoed for miles. The neighbors called the police, who arrived within minutes-- just minutes late. They entered the home to find the teenager's body sprawled in a pool of blood on the floor. Her neck was twisted around and she had stab wounds and slashes all over her body. Between her left index finger and middle finger was the still-burning end of a cigarette.
Once again, the detective was forced to consider the possibility that this brutal killer wasn't human-- at least, not entirely. No person could escape the scene of a crime that easily-- and the part of the detective that had not been hardened by years of gory crime scenes and other glamorous aspects of the job wanted to believe no person could be so very cruel. He downed another glass of beer and tried to think of think of any possible way this killer could escape so easily. There was certainly lots of killing that occurred before the detective arrived. Stabbing that girl would have taken a long time-- the whole thing would have taken a lot more than the few minutes between the neighbors hearing the scream and the police arriving. And why--how--had none of the neighbors seen anything? Nobody in the whole neighborhood saw anyone enter the house except the teenager and saw nobody leave before the police pulled up by the house, sirens wailing.
The detective was out of beer for the night and has no desire to go out for more. He kicked off his shoes and almost immediately fell asleep. He dreamed about a ghost of a man who left cigarette butts with no DNA on them near the bodies of people whose DNA was spilling out of them.
***
There was another body the next day.
"It's a real shame," said the head detective. "He was a good man."
"You knew him?" asked the junior detective. It was her first day on the job, and she was certainly having an interesting time. At this particular moment, however, she felt a bit queasy. She hadn't though crime scenes would be quite this messy.
The head detective smiled grimly, opened one of the desk drawers, and pulled something out of it.
"What is that?" asked the junior detective.
"The worst thing you will ever see," he replied. She doubted that a bit; she was standing in a puddle of blood and could see spatters of the same blood arcing up and down the walls.
In the head detective's hand was a wallet.
"I don't understand."
He opened the wallet and out fell a detective's badge and a cigarette butt. He caught both objects with his other hand.
"This man," he said; gesturing to the body lying face-down on the floor, bottle in one hand, "was one of us."
The body of the detective was carried away in a black bag. Eventually, everyone departed and his house was left vacant. The rest of the police force tried to find the killer, but after months and months with no more murders to link together, they moved on to other things. The story of the mystery person, the ghost man who'd slaughtered the detective, became a campfire story told by teenagers to scare their friends.
All this time, nobody ever figured out it was me.
[This is a short story I wrote for my English class, entitled "Ghost?". Creepy, huh?]
First Trimester of Ninth Grade, Briefly, With Most of the Interesting Things Not Actually Part of the Post
So... ninth grade is not bad. Marching band is crazy fun. Also, just crazy. My classes are mostly good and lunch time is only 25 minutes, but it's 25 minutes of pure awesomeness. I no longer have any classes that I absolutely and totally despise with a burning passion (passion del fuego!), which is good. Even math is enjoyable.
I've been taking some pictures recently, because it's fun. I am by no means a photographer, but I do enjoy it. Some of the pictures turned out nice, and the others were deleted.
I have nothing interesting to say, but that's okay because nobody reads these things anyway. Blah blah blah, chicken nuggets.
I have a goat! I got it on the band trip the week before Halloween. It is not a live goat, but it is awesome. His name is Maurice James von Derricson III and he is legit. His beard is adorable and his face was sewed on crookedly, but I kind of like that. Band trips are fun, even when the bus is insanely hot on the way home. It honestly kind of amazes me that a group of weirdos, ages 14-18, can do something so incredible. Like, really, some of the craziest people I've ever met are all gathered together in one place every morning for two and a half hours (or just one hour, now that we don't go to school at 7:00) and instead of lighting things on fire and stuff like that, we can actually (mostly) focus and accomplish things. It's pretty sweet.
Holy cow, I used to regularly update this blog thing... Weird...
Eventually, I will upload some of the pictures I took. Hopefully it will be in the next three years, but I do tend to procrastinate a bit...
Ian has been in England for four months ish. It's kind of weird, because it sometimes feels like he was here just yesterday and sometimes it feels like he's been gone forever.
I need Cheerios. Seriously, I've been craving Cheerios for hours. WHY are Cheerios so good? WHY?
I am auditioning for drum major this year, along with many of my freshman buddies (Drew [Jroo], Mason, Ryker, Jarsden, McKenzie, and Allyn, specifically). I probably won't be a drum major next year, but I am having fun trying out and everyone tells me I'm doing well (and doing well is good), so I have no problem with that.
Hmm, what else is a remotely interesting thing for me to write about?
I have no idea. Anyway, life is basically pretty good right now, though I don't really have anything to say.
I've been taking some pictures recently, because it's fun. I am by no means a photographer, but I do enjoy it. Some of the pictures turned out nice, and the others were deleted.
I have nothing interesting to say, but that's okay because nobody reads these things anyway. Blah blah blah, chicken nuggets.
I have a goat! I got it on the band trip the week before Halloween. It is not a live goat, but it is awesome. His name is Maurice James von Derricson III and he is legit. His beard is adorable and his face was sewed on crookedly, but I kind of like that. Band trips are fun, even when the bus is insanely hot on the way home. It honestly kind of amazes me that a group of weirdos, ages 14-18, can do something so incredible. Like, really, some of the craziest people I've ever met are all gathered together in one place every morning for two and a half hours (or just one hour, now that we don't go to school at 7:00) and instead of lighting things on fire and stuff like that, we can actually (mostly) focus and accomplish things. It's pretty sweet.
Holy cow, I used to regularly update this blog thing... Weird...
Eventually, I will upload some of the pictures I took. Hopefully it will be in the next three years, but I do tend to procrastinate a bit...
Ian has been in England for four months ish. It's kind of weird, because it sometimes feels like he was here just yesterday and sometimes it feels like he's been gone forever.
I need Cheerios. Seriously, I've been craving Cheerios for hours. WHY are Cheerios so good? WHY?
I am auditioning for drum major this year, along with many of my freshman buddies (Drew [Jroo], Mason, Ryker, Jarsden, McKenzie, and Allyn, specifically). I probably won't be a drum major next year, but I am having fun trying out and everyone tells me I'm doing well (and doing well is good), so I have no problem with that.
Hmm, what else is a remotely interesting thing for me to write about?
I have no idea. Anyway, life is basically pretty good right now, though I don't really have anything to say.
Monday, 25 August 2014
I Am Very Bored
School starts in two days. Everyone asks if I am excited.
Well, no, not really. It happens every year and will happen for three more years of high school after this one. I've been going to school since kindergarten. I'm ready for school, but I'm not excited. It's been too long since I've seen most of my friends, and I'm ready to get back to an exact schedule of classes all day and homework put off as long as possible, but I'm not really excited.
School is just something that happens.
And it's happening in two days.
Well, no, not really. It happens every year and will happen for three more years of high school after this one. I've been going to school since kindergarten. I'm ready for school, but I'm not excited. It's been too long since I've seen most of my friends, and I'm ready to get back to an exact schedule of classes all day and homework put off as long as possible, but I'm not really excited.
School is just something that happens.
And it's happening in two days.
A Poem
I wrote a poem at roughly midnight. Here you go.
The Spineless
Or, The Books We Dream About
These are the books we treasure--
The ones that have been read over and over
And over and over
For years.
These are the books we dream about--
The books we fall in love with
And get in trouble for reading class.
These are the books we will read until
We are old and grey,
The books we will pass on to our children,
And they
To their children.
These are the books we stay up reading under the covers
Into the wee hours of the morning.
Their ink is faded and they are lucky
If they still have
Any covers at all.
They have spines of duct tape
With titles scrawled on in Sharpie
And will, no matter what other great books we read,
Always be
Our favorites.
They have tattered, worn pages
Held in with shoddily placed Scotch tape.
These are the books that we buy multiple copies of--
And we wear down, wear out,
Every copy.
The good books,
The really good ones,
Are easy to spot
Because
They are
Stained and ripped
And read and adored
Until they are spineless.
You're welcome.
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Ellie's Birthday Tribute
One of my very greatest friends, Ellie Anne Anderson, turned fourteen today. Ellie is funny and smart and cute and talented and just plain awesome. Plus, her name is very easily nickname-able. She's been called Ellie-beans, Ellie-phant, Ellie-vator, etc.
Ellie and I have watched many movies, eaten many desserts,ridden (roden? rided? rode-odendroneded? Yes, that one, definitely.) rode-odendroneded on many bike rides, written down ideas for many inventions and stories, and, among other things, shared many, many laughs together. Ever since sixth grade, when she said the word "phlegm" in an every day situation, I knew she would be an amazing friend, and she certainly has been.
Happy birthday, Ellie. I'm so glad to know you and to have done so many wonderful things with you. I hope your fourteenth year of life brings a billion more fun things for you. An entire billion.
Love, Olivia
Ellie and I have watched many movies, eaten many desserts,
Happy birthday, Ellie. I'm so glad to know you and to have done so many wonderful things with you. I hope your fourteenth year of life brings a billion more fun things for you. An entire billion.
Love, Olivia
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Procrastinationatory Things I Did In English
Once
upon a time, Olivia was procrastinating. This was not an unusual thing
for her to be doing; it was often a lot more fun than actually doing her
work. She even made a blog post about it once. She was thinking that
maybe she could do it again. Rebekah was reminding 5her5 to work on her
essay. She was also typing the number five. That’s why it says 5her5.
Obviously Olivia wouldn’t have done that because 5her5 is not a word.
Rebekah says “This is seriously your essay?”
Yes.
Yes, it is. It’s just the rough draft, though. The final copy will be
much better. I will probably find a way to include dinosaurs in it. I
just switched from third to first person. Oops.
Then
Olivia remembered how much work she had to do the last time she
procrastinated in the English lab. It was really not very smart of her
to waste her time like this.
Oh,
well. Again, it was more fun than doing the actual work. Besides, her
actual rough draft was at home, so she couldn’t do very much anyway.
Apparently,
almost everyone in Olivia’s class is also in a procrastinationatory
mood. That is not a word, either, but it is a better made up word that
5her5. It is very fun to say. It’s even better than just
procrastinatory. Procrastinatory versus procrastinationatory? I mean, no
contest, right? Olivia was very pleased with her new word.
Rebekah is not done with her essay. She actually wrote a real essay. But she’s not finished. She’s just done for now.
Kelly’s
broken keyboard was devastating for her and rather amusing for Olivia,
who was remembering to write in third person and past tense, not first
and present. She’s proud of herself for remembering that.
It’s official! Procrastinationatory is a word!
jsflksjflkjfasdpfsdfnweickaifnewieadf;odsjflihafiudglksdjflksdjfklsjdfaofihjvoidjflsd
is not a word, though. For some reason. If it was a word, it would be
pronounced “bob”. Just like Jayne.
“vt444444444444444444444444444444444444444444zKMN V.” Said Kelly. That’s probably also pronounced “Bob”.
In
conclusion, Olivia knew she would have to do lots of extra work at home
because she didn’t do it in the English lab when she was supposed to,
but didn’t really care because it was so fun to goof off with her
classmates. Kelly made frosting and not cake.
Suddenly, pineapple.
Friday, 28 March 2014
Own the Night (Part Two)
CHAPTER ONE [THE AWAKENING]
Leila’s eyes opened, for it was midnight, and she was alive again.
She
shook out her long, pitch-black hair. It reached down to her ankles.
This was not very surprising, seeing how she had never gotten her hair
cut. Not many barber shops were open at this time of night.
Leila looked around the room. It wasn’t the happiest place ever, she
had never really had time to decorate it. The four small walls were
gray and dusty. The bed was too small, and it sagged whenever she sat on
it. Her one room house was on the edge of town, or more like in the
middle of the forest. It blended nicely with the trees, so anyone would
have had to look hard to see it. The house was suspended 30 feet off the
ground in the branches of a grove of tall pine trees. You see, she had
been living there all her life. She had distant memories of food
appearing on her table overnight, but those times were long gone.
Leila wasn’t exactly the most cheerful- or lucky- girl on the
planet. She knew she had had parents at one time, at least she had a
mother- she didn’t remember her dad- but she had no idea where they
were now. All she remembered of her life before the curse was a small,
bright room. Her mother was holding her, and everything was happy, at
least until the hooded figure came. Leila was the only one who could see
him. He said a few words- ominous, chilling words- and after 57
minutes, Leila died.
At
least, that’s what it seemed like. She didn’t die exactly- just
disappeared. Off of the face of the planet. Never to be seen again. But
she didn’t die. Ceased to exist, she preferred.
Leila sighed. She’d better get down to business. She grabbed a
brush off the windowsill and proceeded to brush her thick, dark hair. As
she brushed, she hummed a simple tune. She had previously made up
words, but she could never remember them, except for a couple words. She
set down the brush and sang the few words she remembered. “And when you
wish upon a shining star...” she continued humming. She rummaged around
in the dark closet for anything to tie her hair up. There it was- her
lucky pink ribbon. She had no idea where it had come from. She tied up
her long black hair and wished she had a mirror.
A dark, sneaky thought entered her head. She could simply walk down the street, crack open the window, and...
No. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t! That would be stealing. It wasn’t that important, anyways...
Again she thought of the mirror. It should be about eight inches
long, with a silver handle to match her eyes. There was a loud cracking
sound. Leila gasped and whirled around. There, on the floor, sat the
mirror she had been thinking of. She gasped again and scooped the mirror
up off the floor, or at least tried to. The handle was searing hot.
Leila pulled her hand away and stared at it. A long, thin burn was growing across the top of her palm.
“It’ll take a minute to cool.” said a voice. Leila looked around the room. There was nobody there.
“Hello?” she asked. There was no answer. She leaned down to pick up the mirror. The handle was cold now.
Monday, 24 March 2014
Own the Night (Part One)
I hadn't really forgotten about this story, but it was resting in the very back corner of my brain until today. It's called Own the Night, and it's a story I wrote with my cousin Claire. Her brother Isaac helped, too (he made up the backstory of the bad guy, among other things, and it's super cool), and Neil was supposed to but never actually wrote anything. Well, he wrote "I'm orange......ok?" and "…ºπWHºªππππππππ" and "CHAPTER THREE" (which still isn't finished) and "something", but that's it.
It's only about two chapters long, but oh, well. Here's the prologue.
It's only about two chapters long, but oh, well. Here's the prologue.
PROLOGUE
It
was late at night when the woman opened her eyes. She got out of bed
and walked down the hallway. In the dining room she found her husband
hunched over the table hard at work. “You shouldn’t do that.” she said,
and he turned around. “You need your sleep.”
He smiled. “So do you.”
“I just barely woke up. The baby’s coming.”
* * *
He hurried down the hall, worried. Master had called for him and he wasn’t there...
It could result in something a lot worse than simply being late for
work. The door to Master’s chamber loomed overhead. Not sure if his
certain death awaited him, Riplakish sucked in his fears, squared his
shoulders, and slowly entered the room.
* * *
It
was 12:03 AM. The baby had been born a few minutes before. She already
had a bit of hair; jet black, curly, and very soft. Her eyes were gray
and shone like the moon. She was the tiniest, most beautiful baby the
nurses -or any of them, for that matter- had ever seen.
Her mother cuddled her in her arms and tried to think of a perfect name. The baby cooed softly and closed her eyes.
“Leila.” her mother decided.
In
a sudden flash of light, a strange hooded being appeared in the small
room. Odd as it seemed, only the baby could see the figure. To all the
others it was lightning in the storm outside.
The
baby heard the man in the hood say something she couldn’t understand
with a chilling voice. Everyone else simply thought it was thunder.
After
the words stopped, the man vanished. Leila was taken away from her
mother by a kind-looking woman with red hair who said it was time for
her check-ups to make sure she was healthy.
* * *
His
mission was simple. When he heard the baby’s name, he had to go set the
curse. Flash in, do his job, flash out. Simple as that. The master had
been merciful. The conversation still spun in his mind...
“You are late. I could incinerate you for keeping me waiting this long.”
“
Master... a few minutes, that is all. I was only a few minutes late.”
he said it before he could realize that arguing was just going to get
him killed.
“Fool.. a few minute’s time is enough time for an assassin to sneak in and do away with me.”
“I understand.”
“You
have a mission. A very special child has been born. You must find it...
uncover the curse. I have been waiting long for an event like this to
come to pass.”
“Yes, master.”
He
had then set off to find the special child, knowing that if he didn’t
the master would not be so merciful as to just give him another
assignment. He shuddered as the thought of death crossed his mind.
Clearing his throat and ridding his mind of these thoughts, he had left
to find the child and do his job.
* * *
The nurses slowly stepped into the room. Their faces were grim.
“Missus,
we are ever so sorry. I’m afraid that she never had much of a chance.”
One of them said. It was the red-haired lady that had taken Leila for
her check-up.
“What
are you saying? It can’t be!!” the woman said, looking horrified. The
heartbroken mother’s mind was racing. The nurses looked at her sadly,
and another nurse spoke up, this one with long black hair in a braid
down her back.
“Leila
had heart failure. We are ever so sorry, missus. The baby was born too
small and could never have made it. You were lucky that you were able to
spend a happy moment with her.” she said.
The three nurses left the lady sobbing in her hospital room.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Sleep Deprivation and the Things That Follow
Something very frustrating happened to me today. It's actually been happening for a while now. It's called "being tired in the morning and all throughout school and then getting home and having way too much energy that is spent a little bit on homework and then on being bored because I already finished homework and practicing and I still have all this energy that lasts all night so I can't get to sleep until two and then I wake up and am super tired and start the whole thing over again", and it's extremely annoying. Sometimes it's fun because I get super weird and pretty much everything is funny and awesome, but mostly it's just annoying.
That is all.
That is all.
Glistening Palms (Wednesday, Part Three)
I'm finally going to finish this story. It may have an abrupt ending just because I really don't want to be working on this anymore, but at least it will be finished.
At 7:30 on Wednesday night we had a band concert. I got to the Junior High ten minutes early, even though I had ballroom, had to go back to the dance studio to get my phone, changed into concert clothes, and ate dinner. I was very proud of myself. When I got there, I put my clarinet, Colette, together, and hung out with my friends until we warmed up. I talked about high heels with Nephi, Memily, and Jessi, which was really fun and weird. My friend Kira texted me saying "Good lick" and then replied "Sorry luck" (Punctuation is very important. this later became a thing I say often. Good lick, sorry luck.) After we warmed up, we sat in the reserved seats and watched the combined brass piece, the combined sixth and ninth grade woodwind piece, and the sixth grade band concert. I felt kind of sad while watching the sixth grade concert because my little brother was supposed to be in it but was at home, sick (we later found out he had mono). Then it was our turn to play. We got on the stage and played the first song, an arrangement of songs from Wicked. As we were playing, I realized it was a but hot on the stage. I didn't say anything, though, because I get hot really easily and thought it was just me (hardy har har, ridiculously immature eighth graders. Goll.). After we played our arrangement of Pirates, Klingler (no, seriously, it's Klingler, not Kringle) said quietly, "It's really hot up here" and there was a murmur of agreement. I turned to Lillian and said, "Seriously," and showed her my hands. "My palms are glistening." I said. She smiled. "Mine are, too."
And then we finished the concert and it was a lot of fun and I really like band.
The (Very Abrupt) End.
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Yorkshire
On Thursday night (two days ago), my older brother opened a letter from the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He read the first paragraph to us.
"Dear Elder Clifford:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the England Leeds Mission...
... You should report to the England Missionary Training Center on Thursday, July 17, 2014."
It was well exciting. For the next two years, my dad will, whenever possible, speak in a Yorkshire accent. Ian will, too, when he gets back.
I'm not complaining.
After he told us where he was going on his mission, we talked about how perfect it was for him, Wallace and Gromit, Hadrian's wall, and a little bit of Top Gear and Catherine Tate. Among other things.
"Dear Elder Clifford:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the England Leeds Mission...
... You should report to the England Missionary Training Center on Thursday, July 17, 2014."
It was well exciting. For the next two years, my dad will, whenever possible, speak in a Yorkshire accent. Ian will, too, when he gets back.
I'm not complaining.
After he told us where he was going on his mission, we talked about how perfect it was for him, Wallace and Gromit, Hadrian's wall, and a little bit of Top Gear and Catherine Tate. Among other things.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Happy Birthday to Miss Auricomous Melomaniac (AKA Kelly Pyper)
Today is my friend Kelly's birthday.
She is now fourteen years old.
She got balloons today as a delivery in the office and then this kid asked if he could have one, which she thought was weird. They're her birthday balloons that she got for her birthday! The idea! What a ridiculous person he must have been for thinking he could have one of her birthday balloons that she got for her birthday.
Kelly's hair was curly today, in lovely little ringlets. Her hair never does that, so it was rather exciting that it did on her birthday. It even stayed in through all of PE! Anyone who knows Kelly knows that this was an incredibly wonderful thing.
Kelly was hit in the head with some sort of flying ball in PE twice today, which was unfortunate. It was probably painful, too.
I assume Kelly had a good time in band, though. She generally does, as far as I know. Band is a place to have a good time, usually. Megan and I told Mr. Klingler that it was Kelly's birthday, and Mason ensured that he remembered so we would sing to her. Kelly had the wonderful opportunity of standing in the middle of a circle of boys who all knelt down around her and sang happy birthday to her. I could tell by the awkward way she stood, her breathless laughter, and the redness of her face that she wasn't at all embarrassed. (My computer for some reason insists on calling my band teacher Mr. Kringle instead of Klingler. It's actually pretty amusing. It makes me imagine him as Santa, and it's really weird but awesome at the same time. It would make that one scene in the book I wrote with Lillian in sixth grade a bit more confusing, though.) It's a good thing she wasn't embarrassed because Mr. Klingler was filming the whole thing.
Kelly got a Kindle for her birthday. (It has a problem with Klingler, but it says Kindle is fine. Just so you know.) She probably got a bunch of other stuff, too, but the Kindle and the balloons are all I know about right now.
Kelly also probably had a good time in advisory. I assume she did because she was laughing a normal amount. So she must have been having a normal amount of fun.
I will close this blog post (that was a weird way to put it) by writing a message to Kelly in Kellivian, which is a language she and I made up.
Dearest Miss Auricomous Melomaniac,
Asottishmalloryeverton hope youtube cavern cadillac t absolutely, totally, inconceivably, chron in all other ways amazingly fantabulously chocolate birthday. Ascottishmalloryeverton foe tie ken from experience, hypotenuse ascottismalloryeverton ist still confident in saying clam gourteen will be a grewat year steve youtube. Almost every feather in this (gorfot) is underlined in red chron oyster ist rather amusinf.
Well, wolf should umbrella foe do wolf's burplework now, though wolf is inclined to procrastinate. Wolf ist, hypotenuse, tryinf to break this (gorfot afain) gun hypotenuse nasty habit, chron will now leave youtube to cavern crab rest og t chocolate birthday.
Love,
Bolivia Clifford crab Grewat.
PS Ascottishmalloryeverton fair realized clam this isn't as ridiculous as wolf wouldst geek t letter to submarinewolf in Kellivian wouldst be. Oh, foodly. Ascottishmalloryeverton will try afain next year, ascottishmalloryeverton suppose. Oyster ist still t lottle ridiculous, spool ascottishmalloryeverton will survive.
Procrastination
You need a title, maybe.
And
a hook! The hook goes here. It should be exciting, which is why I put
the exclamation mark. “And a hook” isn’t an exclamatory phrase; I just
put the exclamation point as a reminder. You’re welcome. After the hook
you put some stuff introducing your topic and your stance on the problem
you’re addressing. Except it’s not really a problem, so never mind.
Just state your stance. And borrow a literature book and a copy of Anne
Frank’s diary to help you with your paper. It’s a good idea. And include
the names of at least the Frank family so the thesis statement makes
more sense. Okay, after you delete all this and actually start writing
your paper comes the thesis statement, which is supposedly the hardest
sentence to write but that you got approved on your first try. M should
not have turned the Jews in the Secret Annex in to the gestapo because
the concentration camps were terrible, he sent eight people there to
save himself from jail, and he had a personal relationship with Mr.
Frank.
One
reason M shouldn’t have turned in the people in the Secret Annex is
that the conditions in the concentration camps were awful and inhumane.
Clearly I did not write a very good rough draft. I’m mostly just winging
this. I don’t even know where my rough draft is. The concentration
camps were horrible because of their lack of food and other necessities.
A rather large number of Jews died in concentration camps just from
lack of food. I don’t know how many, but I will definitely research that
and put it in here. I’m going to have a lot of homework tonight and
Thursday. Another way the concentration camps were awful was because of
the disease. Another large number of people died because of
illnesses-and some of those illnesses could probably have been cured had
they been at home or somewhere with proper care. I’m not sure on that
point either. The people in the concentration camps were treated
horribly. I’ll put an example of that, too. This paragraph needs lots of
examples. I can ask Ian about some of these things. He would know.
Better
transition. M should not have turned in the eight Jews in the Secret
Annex to save his own self from jail. I already mentioned the conditions
of the concentration camps, so here I’m going to compare them to the
situation of the people in jail. I imagine the jails weren’t uber happy
places to be, but they were probably better than the concentration
camps. My other example was to be the length of a prison sentence for
stealing money. I don’t know, I’ve never tried to fight a flaming,
rolling man while holding a bowling ball and a ferret, but M probably
wouldn’t have died before his prison sentence was over, unlike seven of
the eight people he turned in. Unfortunately, I don’t have a third
example for this one. At least, I didn’t write one on my packet, and, as
I mentioned earlier, my rough draft is both exceedingly lame and
missing.
A
final reason is that M had worked with Mr. Frank before the Frank
family went into hiding. He knew who was in there and may have even
known a little bit about what was going to happen to them. He’d already
stolen from his boss, and instead of making amends and trying to be a
better person (though he still would have been sent to jail), he sold
out one of his coworkers, eventually leading Mr. Frank’s entire family
to their death. Death is a good character in Terry Pratchett novels, but
not necessarily the best thing to send someone to. Going to jail for
stealing is better than essentially killing seven people. My brain is a
jumble. :) Of noodles. That’s probably why Alex continued eating ramen
even after brains landed in it. :) Spalash perhaps. :) I always feel
like an ood when I eat ramen. Serial killer. Goll, M. Goll. You should
be ashamed of yourself and your family. Dishonor on your cow... I was
going to put the whole quote, but then I didn’t. You may have noticed. I
really should not be typing when my brain is like this, but I am
anyway. I do it on my blog, too. But a blog is different. It’s not an
English essay. I wonder what would happen if I turned this in with my
rough draft. Mrs. Rector would probably not be very happy with me. This
isn’t a very professional thing to turn in. It’s better than rick
rolling a teacher, though, right? No, actually, no it’s not. That’s
awesome, and this is just bad.
In
conclusion, I am a horrible person for not focusing. Then the frog
jumped into the lava and died. The end. The moral of the story is, of
course, don’t give your mom a love you should be saving for your horse!
Thanks, Oedipus. Thanks a whole lot. Bananas. Ahem. M should not have
turned them in because of the terrible situations in the concentration
camps, he turned them in just to get out of jail, and he knew Mr. Frank
personally. Ta-da! I have no focus. If I were in a movie like, I don’t
know, karate kid or something, I would die. Because I have no focus, I
mean. My pants are periwinkle and it’s Kelly’s birthday and it’s ONLY
WEDNESDAY. I doubt I can survive the rest of the week. Just kidding, I
know I will. I just won’t be at all happy about it. I’ll be happy this
week, but not because there are still two more days until Saturday.
Cheese is yummy. I still have to finish making my present for Kelly- and
by finish I mean start. I know what I want to do, but I haven’t done it
yet. Just like pretty much everything else I do- or don’t do... or
something. I’ve ended almost all of my blog posts with “whatever”.
That’s probably not a good thing. Waffles are delicious. They make me
happy. Chocolate waffles are great, and so are normal waffles, and so
are blueberry waffles.
I
am a horrible procrastinator. This is probably obvious by now. The
first paragraph was telling me to do stuff, but clearly I’ve given up on that approach and am now just writing stuff about myself
because I feel like it and stuff. And things. And everyone and everything and lots and all those other
words Mrs. Rector hates. Stuff. Qwertys.
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