Write on Wednesday: 12

The Write On Wednesday Rules: Get creative with the writing exercises - there isn't a right or wrong. Please do try to visit the other members of Write On Wednesdays and leave a comment of support and constructive criticism. 


Write On Wednesdays Exercise 26 - Look at the photo at the top of this post. What does it inspire in you? Set your timer for 5 minutes. With the photo in mind, write the first words that come into your head until the buzzer rings. If you aren't a visual person, you could try lighting a few candles and writing by candlelight. Different sensory experiences can be useful for inspiring creative writing so please play around to make the prompt suit your writing needs. If you do try writing by candlelight, let us know. I'd love to know how it works for you! 

Inspiration from the picture above.

Immediate follow up of the previous WoW story that you can find here. 

I walked quietly through the silent building, that day was finally coming to an end. Never really understanding where I was and what the drawings on the walls represented, the boy had called it a church. I had wondered how he had learned that. I didn't have the energy to think about that now. 

My shoes echoed across the walls as I walked further into the hollow halls. The boy was kneeling on a small step at the end of the building. He had cried with the rest of them and he still cried inside. Maybe a church was a place to release what lingered inside of your heart. I looked up at the symbols again and couldn't help but feel envious of the boy. 


When he stood back up, he turned to the side to light a single candle that stood on a metal platform. The pieces of old candles littered the metal surface, never to be lit again. As the flame erupted from his lighter I couldn't help but twitch. The metallic click echoed across the stones and the boy looked at me. He wasn't crying anymore. His face was hard and strong. And all I could do was envy his resolution as my eyes flickered to the single candle surrounded by the fragments of its brothers.  

 

Monday's recommendation

To celebrate the start of the Christmas season (in my opinion as an excited Christmas lover) I'll start off the season with my favorite Christmas book of all time.

A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens

I'm pretty sure you all know it but read it again and you'll love it even more. If you've only ever seen it and never read it then I really recommend that you do because there s just something about Dickens' way of writing that sets the mood so beautifully.
In this story we follow Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy old man with no love for the Christmas spirit, as he runs his dingy old tax collecting office and works his employees all through Christmas eve. It is on this fateful night that the Christmas spirits think that his bad ways have gone too far and, knowing that he has the heart to change, they will issue one last warning before it's too late.

Feelings

Just Smile!!!

Giving thanks

It's that fabulous time of year again, wearing coats, watching beautiful leaves fall to then be replaced by the snow, eating loads and loads (who doesn't love that?) and the coming Christmas delights.

I had one of my first actual American Thanksgivings the year before last, when I celebrated it with all my friends in San Francisco. Such a great experience and I can't help but miss them all the more when I think back to all the good times. My favorite part was when everyone was giving thanks for something or other that they have or have had or are going to get that they are grateful for.

Even though I am far from, well everyone, I want to write a list of the things I'm thankful for so that they know that I appreciate them.
I am thankful for...
* My Family.

-My Mother for being the greatest person alive and putting up with me calling her at any time of the day because of silly problems but also for being such a supportive positive person no matter what.

-My Father because on top of all his ridiculous jokes and things that might annoy me at times, he is one of the most caring parents anyone could ask for and I'm insanely lucky to have him for a dad.

And who could forget my brothers.

-Tim, because he's fun-loving and because I'm sad that we were separated just when we were starting to get along more and more but I'm happy that our relationship is getting so much better.
-Glenn, because we are basically the same person except he's a million times cooler than me and more talented and it makes me happy when I talk to him.
-Floris, because lets face it, we're the best team ever little bro.

* I am grateful for being able to study and work in two fields that I love more than anything and I really enjoy doing. And being able to do that wherever I want to in the world.

* I am grateful for my best friend, even if he is across the ocean at the moment, Jess.

* I am grateful for the life I lead, having warm water, food on my plate every day and a roof to live under.

To top of all of that I'm adding a little list of the smaller things I am thankful for:

books

movies

dogs

cats

cinnamon Rolls

coffee

bookmarks

warm showers

music

christmas

christmas music

my fireplace

skype

poetry and the English language

friendly strangers

fall colors and clothing

a smile

hugs and kisses

Love

I hope everyone has many things to be thankful for this year and I that you can't stop having new things to cherish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Coffee

I have more and more appreciation for coffee since I've come to Vancouver. Not only is it the place I've been meeting up with friends after a long day or before a good movie, but it's also lovely on a rainy day. And also I shared a cup with a handsome face yesterday.
I love what people are able to share in just a warm place, listening to a nice piece of music and sipping on a warm home brew.

Strong, Strong Winds

It was windy in Vancouver yesterday. And when I mean windy I don't just mean the cartoon inspired cloud, blowing a breeze down to unsettle the natives.

picture found here

No. I mean honest to God -move those nannies out of the way 'cause Mary Poppins is landing- WIND.

Monday's recommendation

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Have you ever read this book? I'm not talking about movies or TV shows or children's stories. I'm talking about the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, also known as The Modern Prometheus. Personally I actually like the other title better, as opposed to just using the name of the main character 'The Modern Prometheus' really explains the story and the basis of the idea she had writing this book.

Just like Prometheus stole the fire from the gods to give the humans, Frankenstein steals yet another power that is solely reserved for the gods -paying the price just as Prometheus did- the spark of life. Through the power of electroshock therapy Dr. Frankenstein creates life from a body that had never experienced life before. It is with this creation and his betrayal of the laws of God that he starts paying the price for such a power.

I'm not a religious person but I loved the idea of God in this story and the character development. Mary Shelley really creates characters that you can relate with and uses the power of night and day frequently to reveal some of the more disturbing sides of the people we come to know in this story.
A must read.

ps: As an extra bit of information. Did you know that this book was written because of a bet between Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and John Polidori on who could write the best horror story. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, one of the first Science-Fiction novels and Polidori wrote a vampire story that was completely overshadowed by its follower Dracula by Bram Stoker.
Polidori's novel was not remembered. A clear winner.

Write on Wednesday:11

The Write On Wednesday Rules: Get creative with the writing exercises - there isn't a right or wrong. Please do try to visit the other members of Write On Wednesdays and leave a comment of support and constructive criticism. 


Write On Wednesdays Exercise 25 - I heard a song on the radio during the week and I thought the lyrics would make an interesting prompt for WoW. So, write the words "The saddest thing I ever heard" on your page, set your timer for 5 minutes and write the first words that come into your head based on the give prompt.

This is another part of the story from this post.  This is a reverse perspective of the boy character. The feelings experienced in this story are ones that I have personally felt but just in a different situation.

The saddest thing I ever heard was the sound of the childrens' screams. It was not the violence that day or the loss that so many people felt that struck me but the sound of all those children as they screamed at the burning building that held their parents. Parents that had never loved them and never would but that would always be loved by the children they had thrown away. 
I can still remember the smaller ones clawing away at welded doors, trying to get through and into the skyscraper. Their little hands covered in blood and burns as the others dragged them away. But what I remember the most was her. 
She had always had so much love in her, she had even loved me as I had loved her and I knew that if there was ever to be peace between the Neo-generation and the normals then it would be through our bond. I knew that but... When I watched her on that day. I knew that she was the one that would carry everything on her shoulders, the weight of all the responsabilities of the Neo-generation and of our parents. 
She was silent and her eyes were dark staring straight at the flames, and as the first of the adults fell from the windows -trying any tactic to escape the flames- she was the one that walked up to them. The whirring and clicking of the guns that replaced her fingers still resonates in my ears now and as every bullet blew through her fingertips and the empty barrels shot out of the back of her wrist, a new tear carved its way down her cheeks. The other Neo-generations could do nothing but watch her silently as the oil spilled for the lives of those who had banished them.
It was the end of the Neo Depression and the beginning of the Resistance.

Manuscript

I've finished all I can do on my book and just about one hour ago I went to the Post Office to send out my manuscript.
Excitement, worry, happiness and maybe a little bit of pride is all swarming around in my head right now.

A beautiful girl

Have you seen these photos of Frances Bean Cobain? The daughter of the late great Kurt Cobain.
I'm not one to dote much on the famous people and I have to say I don't really listen to much of his old music and none of his wife's music but I do appreciate how beautiful this girl is.

 I found these pictures here along with a lot of other great pics

And, if I could pull it off, the style she is sporting in these pics would totally be mine.

How to cope

picture found here

I was 'insulted' many times today and I feel that it's kind of sad and annoying that people resort to such means to get at you.
Have you ever heard the old adage "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."? I think this is probably the most incorrect adage... ever.
Bones heal but words will hurt forever because you will never forget. You can forget momentary pain.
So if you have been called any of these names as I have been in just one day ("All in a good day's work") than let me enlighten you to the real meaning behind these insults so you can as I did today, brush them off sufficiently to be able to smile at the offender.
And not resort to what happens in the picture.

Loser: Enjoys working or the person saying it does not have the same clothes style as you (note: the only people that say that about clothes are 'fashionable' people who all wear exactly the same thing and look like clones. Be glad you aren't them.)

Freak and Weirdo: There's something about that is different from everyone else. You are unique.

Nerd: Either you like studying and will get a good job or you enjoy Sci-fi and fantasy. In which case you are awesome.

Idiot: Either you are a simple person and will not let complications mess with your life (which is brilliant in relationships) or the person who is accusing you of this is threatened by you.

Sets in Vancouver

My good friend Juan returned home the other day to suddenly find himself in a hospital as he entered his building. He had no idea what was going on until he saw the camera crew and the lighting team of film crew that was setting up.
Isn't it such an interesting thing to have that happen to you when you come home? It happened to me once going home when I lived in Paris, but of course, it was MontMartre so it felt normal to shoot a film there. This set felt so real.

 

If you look at that blue sign (I don't think you can actually see what it says in this picture) but it's a sign for a hospital. They go all out when they set up these things. 

The best was Juan exiting his apartment today and seeing an American post box for the films purposes. It's the little things that count. 

Monday's recommendation on Tuesday

I'm going to step past the books for one second only because this film is a dedication to the beauty of the written word and some of its greatest contributors.

I'm usually not a fan of Woody Allen movies so if you aren't either please listen to me when I say this movie would be an improvement to any home collection. To watch this movie is like curling up with a good book by the fire and you won't want to pause it until it's finished and you have no choice but to end the experience. The feeling you get is not unlike a warm cup of cocoa on a very cold day.
If you love the written word and the works of Hemingway and such then you will like the way this movie is written. Plus I have no idea what it is about Owen Wilson's voice but I always liked it.

The story is about a young man, affianced to a rather annoying woman, who is traveling with her and her family to Paris for a vacation. As he visits Paris he is reminded of his previous time there and dreams of the past, the 1920's, that he  idealizes over the present time.
Everything changes for him when, at midnight of a soft evening on MontMartre, he finds himself hailed by an old 1920's Renault car full of overjoyed people calling him over to travel with them. He follows them and finds himself at a 1920's inspired party. Or is it just inspired?

Picture found here

To my brother

picture found here

My brother is heading out on an adventure. An adventure that is just as great and wonderful as that of any novel or story passed down through history, books and memories. There are few people that experience an adventure, or have the heart to follow their story through. So my heart will be with him on his adventure and with him when he when he achieves his dreams. 

A lover's heart is not one to be tamed by the ocean's vast expanse!

All my courage will be his for this thankful November.

picture found here

Write on Wednesday: 10

The Write On Wednesday Rules: Get creative with the writing exercises - there isn't a right or wrong. Please do try to visit the other members of Write On Wednesdays and leave a comment of support and constructive criticism. 


Write On Wednesdays Exercise 24 - This week is  a Choose Your Own Adventure week. Look to your left...In my sidebar you will find a list of the WoW writing exercises. Pick a prompt that takes your fancy and  make it work for you. Maybe you will work on your NaNo story or another writing project or perhaps just a bit of creative exploration. You might even like to share your favorite book genre with us and then use the prompt to work on a similar theme.

Since I'm working on my novel that I have been working on for 2 years now I don't think I'm going to work on a NaNo story though at some other time and when I'm not at a strenuous school I would love to join in something like that. I picked one of the prompts from before I joined the WoW project.
I want to send a shout of encouragement to the people participating in the NaNo project however and I hope something great will come out of such a dedicated idea. Good Luck to all!

Write On Wednesdays Exercise 4: Two Fat Ladies (88!):  I am sticking with the timed theme. It is much easier to find a spare 5 minutes than a big chunk of time to write.  Grab the 8th book from your bookshelf. Open it to page 8. Scroll down to the 8th sentence. Write this sentence at the top of your page. Set your timer for 5 minutes and write the first words that come into your head after your writing prompt.  Stop when the buzzer rings! Do this exercise over and over if you wish. It will be interesting to see where all our different prompts take us

I'm writing the two sentences on the 8th line because they're pretty short and I feel that they go hand-in-hand. My favorite book genres are Science-Fiction and Fantasy but you may have guessed this already from all my other WoW works and the books that I recommend. I also exclusively write in those two genres, books are my escape to whatever is missing and those two are the ultimate escape. So for the purpose of showing off both of my loves I'll meld them together for you.

They were safe. They were being cared for. The little animals weren't mine to raise, Frey had made that clear enough. I knew this but I didn't want to admit that they would be in better hands with the scientists. The thought that they would be tested on, or worse, left my heart feeling hollow. Frey knew something about the labs that I didn't but he just wanted to get rid of them and didn't really care what would happen. They must have been feeling so alone. I had giving them away while they were sleeping. They were so adorably when they slept. Frey had once said that that was the only time they were manageable. It's true that it was hard to keep them tame.
I rose to wash my hands. The cool burst of air blew my hands clean, the scars there would never disappeared no matter what I did to them. The mirror in front of me would show the scars on my cheeks and hair that I was missing too. That was what had made Frey do this. The accident hadn't been anyone's fault. Besides hats had always looked good on me.
I looked over to their bed. The four of them had always loved to cuddle with me in my bed but whenever Frey was over I made sure that they didn't crawl in with us.
The tears were running down my face before I even felt the sting of their warmth reach my eyes. I wanted them back. I had been the one to raise them from eggs to the fledglings they were now. They were mine to care for and I was the only mother they knew.
I had to get them back.
There was a slam at the door and I swiveled round ready to run to the holding cell. I was halfway across the room when the door slammed open and I braced myself for the Spine Spiders to test me but I didn't feel any lights or hear the skitter of their feet. I opened my eyes and they were there. Standing in the doorway. The tears poured down my cheeks without restraint as I opened my arms to them.
The four little dragons paraded into the room their claws scratching their way across the new carpet Frey had bought.
I'd never really liked it anyways.

Vancouver Public Library

picture found here

Went to the library today with one of my classmates and had a great time. I love going to places with people, especially new friends, because you don't know much about each other so you learn not only about them but get a great conversation out of it. Especially with people that have a similar mind and a challenging one at that.

 

found this picture here

Have you ever been to the Vancouver Public Library? It looks like a cloning facility, which makes it pretty darn awesome. I love the idea of a library, like a collection of knowledge, and there are so many more subjects than you could imagine there were words to write about them. It's also really refreshing to see people reading actual books in our day and age (I love real books over that digital nonsense).

 Amazon, can be purchased here

A great book that shows you all the markets for your writing needs.

I went there to find a publisher in the Writer's Market book and got a pretty good list of publishers in America and Canada. There was an older man sitting next to us and when I had finished my search and stood up to leave he smiled and told me "Good luck with your book"

I love sweet people.

Remembrance day

 

image found here

I've always been impressed by people who lived through a time of war. We are pretty lucky to be living in a moderately peaceful time (I really don't understand what's going on with America and the middle east. I don't even know how that started....).

Whatever it is that is happening we should appreciate peace while we have it and try to teach each other and our future generations that if we stand together our community and world can only become greater (We are in one of the best times for inventions and innovations.)

PS: I never understood why we didn't use my favorite flower to remember. Can you guess what it is?

   

picture found here

When You Are Old

Here's a beautiful poem that my brother told me about. So wonderful.

When You Are Old 
by Wiliam Butler Yeats

WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced among the mountains overhead
And hid his face among a crowd of stars.

Bad Grade

Urgh I hate getting a bad grade. OK so it's a passing grade but I should really have done better.

 

the image was taken from here

To tell you the truth, I knew this was going to happen. I'm surprised I went into the test with a positive attitude, I guess that saved me from doing horribly bad.... It was a physics test and the terminology and time limits and math make me super stressed out and super nervous and I know those are the same but I'm still nervous now!.......!!!
I'm hating on myself right now. It's total depression in TV land. Oh sigh. I'll apologize to the teacher tomorrow.

Good luck to everyone in the world taking a test right now!!! I'll send you all the points I couldn't get!

Write on Wednesday: 9

The Write On Wednesday Rules: Get creative with the writing exercises - there isn't a right or wrong. Please do try to visit the other members of Write On Wednesdays and leave a comment of support and constructive criticism. 


Write On Wednesdays Exercise 23 - Write the words of Margaret Atwood at the top of your page "We are learning to make fire". Set your timer to 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Stop when the buzzer rings.

We are learning to make fire. Or at least that is what the boy calls it. He doesn't look like us, he doesn't even smell like us and he won't accept the bots when we offer him some. I've seen him ingest the circular fruit that grows on the trees that grow in a meadow near the center. He is the same age as us, he is from the Neo-Generation. But he wasn't altered. His mother must have been healthy even during the years of the plague. Why would his parents reject an unaltered child? 
The others don't believe that he is unaltered, they don't want to think that the parents wouldn't want us even if we were normal. They think he has alterations in his inner systems. If that was true he wouldn't be able to eat plants. I sparked him once. I wanted to show my appreciation for his helping us and teaching us new things, like this new fire. That was when I knew. Knew that he didn't have an electrical current in him. 
I looked down at my hand. The wires clicked and wired to move the digits that way I wanted them to move. They could turn down into themselves and alter into guns. The others thought it was useful but it was just something else that made me different from him. 
He moved over to my side to help me with the fire and his shoulder brushed mine. The twitch wasn't part of my system, something left over from my parents but as I involuntarily moved away one of the sticks I was holding cut him. The blood ran from the wound and I slapped my hand over the cut quickly to keep the others from seeing. 
"You're different from the others." he whispered smiling, "You've known from the beginning haven't you?" 
"I'm so sorry." I said.
"I'm fine."
"No I'm sorry there are no others like you here."
The wires in my eyes were becoming warms and I could feel the bots squirming there.
"You're more like me than you think." he whispered.
His fingers brushed against my cheek and I was surprised to see dark oil staining his fingers as he drew away.  

Monday's recommendation

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by C. S Lewis

This is the perfect story to read to your children. The whole series is great, even the stories that cut in between the characters of the first book, CS Lewis makes the whole universe come to life. My favorite story, actually, was the last story he wrote in the series.
In this first book of the story we follow two sisters and two brothers as they journey away from their family in a time of war only to fall into a completely new world where they will discover magic and mystery, what it means to be an adult and the importance of embracing your youth.

The Magician's Nephew

This is actually a prelude to all the rest of the books and tells the story of the creation of all of Narnia and the beginning of the Lamppost.

New Haircut!

Went to a great place in Bangtown down near Gastown, Vancouver. The hairdresser, Andrea, was super sweet (even though she's strong as an ox, I felt like my hair was going to leave me with that brush at some points of the cut). And the cut was great. The style of the shop is fantastic too!

So I went with the asymmetrical. and I love it ehehehehe. They never wanted to do it in France, all the hairdressers were saying,
"No, that's weird. Do something normal." Thanks hairdresser but what if I'm not normal eh?
But then again they're always asking you sixty times if you really want to shave your hair when it's pretty long, which I do a lot as well (My hair grows pretty fast). But I understand that because you can't turn back when you've cut it all off. I mean when you cut it asymmetrically you can always cut the long side short. Tssss french people. Yay Vancouver instead!
One point to North America!

Pillows by Poppy

Such wonderful lovelies created by the mother of the lovely blogger Naomi at The Rockstar Diaries.
The pillows are all handmade and a portion of the profits are donated to charity. Such good people. And then if the beauty didn't convince you than the good cause probably will. But I'm betting on the beauty. The detail behind all of them is just fantastic.
You can find them here at Pillows by Poppy.

I love Books!

image found here

 Don't you just love books? Reading them, writing stories, imagining things about the characters in stories. I used to imagine how I could fit into a story as my own kind of character, of course I would boost myself with some kind of attribute that would help me in the setting of the story (i.e. sword fitting skills or super intelligence or the ability to talk to animals).
I also had a whole inventory of stories of my own that I would pull out on long car rides and were only ever created for the sole purpose of entertaining me when I was in a good chair and didn't feel like reading.

Yes, yes I am one of those bizarre people that can just sit somewhere and daydream for hours, hence the more boring recommendations on this blog about symphonies and whatnot. 
"What's that 21 year old doing sitting around and not enjoying her youth!" I can hear the stereotypical people yell at me. Well I enjoy sitting and dreaming! Thank you world!

But anyways back to books. This is just a post with a small rant in the middle - gosh I seem to do that a lot - to wonder at the greatness of books. Old books, for their lovely smell of old paper and the history and people who could have seen them, New books, for the way the hardcovers crack slightly when you open them for the first time and how you now those pages are yours to savor and only yours, and even Borrowed books because you know that the second you read them you can share it all with someone who has a similar interest.
Ah books. I love you so.

PS: Sorry if this seems bizarre and misplaced but I am a bizarre and misplaced person.
And! I still can't get over the fact that I'm 21 now. Yay legality worldwide!

VSO

Last weekend my new friend Juan and I decided that a trip to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra was due so we knew if it was good enough to plan more trips over there.
We went to see Dvorak and Shostakovich's cello concerto. From Dvorak we heard Three Slavonic Dances and Symphony n°8 in G major.
And if you wanted to know if the Vancouver Symphony was good, well I will tell you, in my opinion, it was pretty great.
I'm not a fan of Shostakovich's music in itself but I can still appreciate something when it is well played. The Orchestra had a few tiny slips but nothing than doesn't happen when you are playing a longer show. And in slip ups I only mean like the violins were slightly out of sink for two seconds so nothing horrendous.

Halloween horror

To stay in the spirit of Halloween, or the aftershock of it all, voila! Photography by one of my dear friends, Nabeela.

 

Here is some of her other work.