During my sophomore year, I had a lecturer tell the class "Never believe anyone who claims something is 'for the children'."
This sounded exactly like some of his other crazy sayings like "Koalas are my third least favorite animal ever" and "My life goal is to punch a manatee." He also went through a blow-by-blow on how to disarm a guy wielding a grenade. So I knew he was only reliable when it came to lectures (my homework was graded by someone else so I was safe not worrying about his sanity).
Anyway, the third paragraph on this article in the Guardian mentions something about saving the children. So now I have one piece of evidence for his side.
11 June 2011
31 May 2011
I Write Like [insert author here]
I randomly came across this one site that takes an excerpt of what you have written and analyzes the word choice and stuff to see which famous author your writing style is most similar to. So I took a section I deemed acceptable from my current work in progress and put it into their analyzer. The story is about a government resistance group and their mission to evacuate the leftover population in a space colony before the colony's destruction. The result was this:
excerpt from Untitled:
I've only read one thing of Dan Brown and that is The Da Vinci Code in high school. From what I remembered of reading him, I translated this as "I write the basic facts and don't spend time on elaborate description." Of which I objected to because I can totally write cool description when I feel like it. So I went back to a very short story I wrote at the end of last semester and analyzed that. The story is about a young woman who finds a tree with blossoms of ice that can cure a frozen heart when swallowed. This is what I got.
From Blossoms of Ice:
I have a feeling this woman is right up my ally in terms of reading material. Sadly, I've never gone out of my way to read her. I can only name Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned off the top of my head. This was a better result than Dan Brown, I figure. She's more cult classic fantasy whereas Dan Brown is more mainstream international thriller.
Now, you can't try something just twice, so I had to do it a third time. This time, I used something short and sweet and already published on this here blog. You might be familiar with it. If not, click the link below and read it yourself when you have time. It's about two trees. When the website analyzed that, it gave me this.
from 100 Things to Write - Love
I had to Google this guy. He's famous for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and all its subsequent sequels. According to Wikipedia, he wanted to write fairy tales that were not as gruesome as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. Yes, there is still gore involved in his stories, but at least the tone is completely different. I think we can all attest to that.
People I normally read include Scott Westerfeld, Patrick Rothfuss, and Tamora Pierce. I find it funny how I don't write like them and instead write like people I don't really read.
I feel very versatile.
excerpt from Untitled:
I've only read one thing of Dan Brown and that is The Da Vinci Code in high school. From what I remembered of reading him, I translated this as "I write the basic facts and don't spend time on elaborate description." Of which I objected to because I can totally write cool description when I feel like it. So I went back to a very short story I wrote at the end of last semester and analyzed that. The story is about a young woman who finds a tree with blossoms of ice that can cure a frozen heart when swallowed. This is what I got.
From Blossoms of Ice:
I have a feeling this woman is right up my ally in terms of reading material. Sadly, I've never gone out of my way to read her. I can only name Interview with a Vampire and Queen of the Damned off the top of my head. This was a better result than Dan Brown, I figure. She's more cult classic fantasy whereas Dan Brown is more mainstream international thriller.
Now, you can't try something just twice, so I had to do it a third time. This time, I used something short and sweet and already published on this here blog. You might be familiar with it. If not, click the link below and read it yourself when you have time. It's about two trees. When the website analyzed that, it gave me this.
from 100 Things to Write - Love
I had to Google this guy. He's famous for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and all its subsequent sequels. According to Wikipedia, he wanted to write fairy tales that were not as gruesome as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. Yes, there is still gore involved in his stories, but at least the tone is completely different. I think we can all attest to that.
People I normally read include Scott Westerfeld, Patrick Rothfuss, and Tamora Pierce. I find it funny how I don't write like them and instead write like people I don't really read.
I feel very versatile.
25 May 2011
On Journaling
Journaling is good for the creative soul. It forces you to write every day, it boosts your memory, and it's a healing process of sorts. Stressful day? Write about it. Day that Never Goes Your Way? Write about it. How did you solve that day? How did you get through it? If you managed to complete nearly everything on your to do list on the Day that Never Goes Your Way, write about that and then print it off and frame it because it just goes to show that you are an awesome person, and the next time you have one of those days, you know you can get through it! Not that I do that or anything . . . .
Whenever I sit down to journal, I usually don't recount my day as it has been going. Or how my week has been if it's been a while since I last wrote. I just sit down and type down whatever I am thinking at that moment. It's a nice way to jump-start my head into doing what it's supposed to be doing. "Journaling task is done for the day. I feel productive. Let's do something else now."
I first started journaling before I went to college. About two weeks before I left, I had a private freak out and I wasn't comfortable telling my parents about it. So I wrote it down on my new computer because, hey, it's my computer and totally private and I can do whatever I want on it. So I wrote in a WordPerfect document everything that I was freaking out about. Boy did I feel awesome when that was done! It was great. I wouldn't have been able to take on the world, but I at least knew I could learn to adapt. And that was all that mattered back then.
Journaling didn't really take off until October that same year. I've been sporadically updating everything ever since. I don't journal every day -- that's too tedious for me. But when I feel like I can't manage everything on my plate, journaling helps me bring things into focus. It tells me what I can put off and what has to get done right away. Whenever things are slow, I tend to write incomplete stories in my journals. There are at least five that take place in a science fiction world I've been thinking about since high school. And others have been random excerpts from daydreams and action scenes I want to exist in my life.
But they are usually my thoughts at any given moment in my life. To me, that's what a journal is. You might think a journal is a document of your life, and I guess it is. But I find it more of a document of thoughts. What was I thinking on the sixth of June in the year two-thousand-ten? Is there even an entry for that date? I don't know. I never go back to read my thoughts.
Do you keep a journal?
Whenever I sit down to journal, I usually don't recount my day as it has been going. Or how my week has been if it's been a while since I last wrote. I just sit down and type down whatever I am thinking at that moment. It's a nice way to jump-start my head into doing what it's supposed to be doing. "Journaling task is done for the day. I feel productive. Let's do something else now."
I first started journaling before I went to college. About two weeks before I left, I had a private freak out and I wasn't comfortable telling my parents about it. So I wrote it down on my new computer because, hey, it's my computer and totally private and I can do whatever I want on it. So I wrote in a WordPerfect document everything that I was freaking out about. Boy did I feel awesome when that was done! It was great. I wouldn't have been able to take on the world, but I at least knew I could learn to adapt. And that was all that mattered back then.
Journaling didn't really take off until October that same year. I've been sporadically updating everything ever since. I don't journal every day -- that's too tedious for me. But when I feel like I can't manage everything on my plate, journaling helps me bring things into focus. It tells me what I can put off and what has to get done right away. Whenever things are slow, I tend to write incomplete stories in my journals. There are at least five that take place in a science fiction world I've been thinking about since high school. And others have been random excerpts from daydreams and action scenes I want to exist in my life.
But they are usually my thoughts at any given moment in my life. To me, that's what a journal is. You might think a journal is a document of your life, and I guess it is. But I find it more of a document of thoughts. What was I thinking on the sixth of June in the year two-thousand-ten? Is there even an entry for that date? I don't know. I never go back to read my thoughts.
Do you keep a journal?
23 May 2011
Oh, look, a Podcast!
I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to check out this podcast about dialogue. Specifically, it's dialogue in sci-fi/fantasy, but some of the exercises they suggest can totally be applied to other genres. Here is the link. The podcast is only about fifteen minutes long, so it's short. And worth your time. Have fun.
13 May 2011
Kicking off Summer 2011
Finals week is officially over. Can I get a w00t w00t?
And now that finals are over, I'm now a senior. Scary. This time next year, I'll be graduating. I remember this feeling in high school, but this time I'm more sure of myself. Three years at college does that to you. But I'll handle this like I handled high school --- by making the most of it. In high school, I quit my job so I could spend all my time with my passion: theatre. Not on stage, mind you, but backstage, where the magic really happened. I had a plan to hunt down the local community theatre, but I'll be dividing my time in the summer as it is.
Here's my Summer To Do list:
*** research NaNo novel
I figured out while in Europe what I wanted to write during the next NaNoWriMo. But it'll involve lots of research, especially in fairy tales and folk stories and their tropes and common features. German superstitions and French bedtime stories and a personification of the American stereotype . . . with a steampunk setting. My main character is from Norway, his best friend is Swedish, and they travel the continent looking for a book. I can't wait to write this!
*** write my two novellas
I have two ideas that popped into my head at the end of the term. One involves aliens, the other refugees. I have no idea what'll become of them, but I gotta keep writing somehow. One was already a rough draft, but I'd like to write a second draft from another character's perspective, if only for a larger scope of world development.
*** summer classes
I signed up for an American Short Stories class as well as Kendo. Can't wait.
*** leading workshops
It's possible my student-run creative writing group will meet during the summers. The decision is still up in the air, but it's looking promising. The official announcement will be made next week sometime. Those involved already know about this.
*** Netflix
Because I told myself I would get it when summer comes.
*** work
I start working at the new union in about two weeks. I'll be on a 15-20 hour a week schedule starting in June.
*** family
My little brother is graduating high school and moving to my rival school. Sobs for graduating, angry fist shake for attending the rival school. It's a bittersweet moment. We'll also have some sort of vacation . . . maybe. The 'rents have been bouncing around the idea of Vegas, but we might reset to our Default Location instead. Both my brothers also have their birthdays in July, so there'll be time set aside for that. And then there's Independence Day, my parents' anniversary, I-miss-you-I-wanna-come-home weekends, etc.
*** reading list
Check the Goodreads link for details. Which reminds me, I should really get that library card . . . .
And now that finals are over, I'm now a senior. Scary. This time next year, I'll be graduating. I remember this feeling in high school, but this time I'm more sure of myself. Three years at college does that to you. But I'll handle this like I handled high school --- by making the most of it. In high school, I quit my job so I could spend all my time with my passion: theatre. Not on stage, mind you, but backstage, where the magic really happened. I had a plan to hunt down the local community theatre, but I'll be dividing my time in the summer as it is.
Here's my Summer To Do list:
*** research NaNo novel
I figured out while in Europe what I wanted to write during the next NaNoWriMo. But it'll involve lots of research, especially in fairy tales and folk stories and their tropes and common features. German superstitions and French bedtime stories and a personification of the American stereotype . . . with a steampunk setting. My main character is from Norway, his best friend is Swedish, and they travel the continent looking for a book. I can't wait to write this!
*** write my two novellas
I have two ideas that popped into my head at the end of the term. One involves aliens, the other refugees. I have no idea what'll become of them, but I gotta keep writing somehow. One was already a rough draft, but I'd like to write a second draft from another character's perspective, if only for a larger scope of world development.
*** summer classes
I signed up for an American Short Stories class as well as Kendo. Can't wait.
*** leading workshops
It's possible my student-run creative writing group will meet during the summers. The decision is still up in the air, but it's looking promising. The official announcement will be made next week sometime. Those involved already know about this.
*** Netflix
Because I told myself I would get it when summer comes.
*** work
I start working at the new union in about two weeks. I'll be on a 15-20 hour a week schedule starting in June.
*** family
My little brother is graduating high school and moving to my rival school. Sobs for graduating, angry fist shake for attending the rival school. It's a bittersweet moment. We'll also have some sort of vacation . . . maybe. The 'rents have been bouncing around the idea of Vegas, but we might reset to our Default Location instead. Both my brothers also have their birthdays in July, so there'll be time set aside for that. And then there's Independence Day, my parents' anniversary, I-miss-you-I-wanna-come-home weekends, etc.
*** reading list
Check the Goodreads link for details. Which reminds me, I should really get that library card . . . .
06 May 2011
tumbling away . . .
Next week is finals week.
My friend (super secret) codename Autumn introduced me to tumblr. Here's a link to my tumblr, all you gotta do is click it.
At the moment, I'm just reposting fun things I've found in other places. I do believe I created it with the intension to tumbl about the random ideas my friends and I talk about, most of which can be turned into stories of some medium or other. But then I found you can tumbl around certain tags and reblog things you thought were cool and, well, all of a sudden I got into this whole tumbling business.
So that's my tumblr. It's addictive. I've had it less than 24 hours and I have 15 posts, three followers, follow 10 people, and currently keeping track of 5-10 tags.
Now excuse me as I gowork on my film study guide tumbl.
My friend (super secret) codename Autumn introduced me to tumblr. Here's a link to my tumblr, all you gotta do is click it.
At the moment, I'm just reposting fun things I've found in other places. I do believe I created it with the intension to tumbl about the random ideas my friends and I talk about, most of which can be turned into stories of some medium or other. But then I found you can tumbl around certain tags and reblog things you thought were cool and, well, all of a sudden I got into this whole tumbling business.
So that's my tumblr. It's addictive. I've had it less than 24 hours and I have 15 posts, three followers, follow 10 people, and currently keeping track of 5-10 tags.
Now excuse me as I go
04 May 2011
Simple Chicken Pesto with Cheesy Bread
Ingredients:
1 - boneless chicken breast (frozen)
2 - pieces of bread
~1/2 bowl - pasta
~1/2c pesto sauce
~1/4c shredded cheese
Preheat oven to 300*F. Place bot of water on stove to boil. Put frozen chicken breast on a small plate and thaw in microwave for 8-10 minutes. (Step not needed if chicken breast already thawed).
While waiting, measure out how much pasta you want. Spread butter on pieces of bread and sprinkle with shredded cheese, preferably something that easily melts (such as cheddar or mozzarella. Colby not so much). Wait for things to heat up.
When water is boiling, add pasta. Insert break into oven. Take out chicken from microwave and cut into bite sized pieces. Fry on a frying pan until cooked through. Once done, turn off stove stop but keep chicken on so it stays hot. Keep mixing boiling pasta until desired tenderness. When pasta is read, drain water in a sink. Add chicken and pesto sauce, stir until pasta and chicken are evenly coated in pesto. Remove bread from oven.
Enjoy with a glass of milk.
1 - boneless chicken breast (frozen)
2 - pieces of bread
~1/2 bowl - pasta
~1/2c pesto sauce
~1/4c shredded cheese
Preheat oven to 300*F. Place bot of water on stove to boil. Put frozen chicken breast on a small plate and thaw in microwave for 8-10 minutes. (Step not needed if chicken breast already thawed).
While waiting, measure out how much pasta you want. Spread butter on pieces of bread and sprinkle with shredded cheese, preferably something that easily melts (such as cheddar or mozzarella. Colby not so much). Wait for things to heat up.
When water is boiling, add pasta. Insert break into oven. Take out chicken from microwave and cut into bite sized pieces. Fry on a frying pan until cooked through. Once done, turn off stove stop but keep chicken on so it stays hot. Keep mixing boiling pasta until desired tenderness. When pasta is read, drain water in a sink. Add chicken and pesto sauce, stir until pasta and chicken are evenly coated in pesto. Remove bread from oven.
Enjoy with a glass of milk.
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