Contemplations of Writing

My honors English class that I'm taking this semester requires us to read Huckleberry Finn. Since I'd never read it before, I was eagerly looking forward to delving into it. Well, I hope no one has a heart attack or anything but I do not really care for the novel. Now, I have not finished it yet; I have roughly 100 pages left.

I can't seem to get "into" the book if you know what I mean. It's slow, boring, and no matter how many "adventures" they have, nothing changes in the. They just go back to the raft and float down the water. Now, Where the Red Fern Grows, is my favorite book and I also really enjoy the book Because of Winn Dixie. Both are slower, country reads...but this? Nope, I can't seem to get into it.

One of the reasons I attribute this to is that satire is completely lost on me. I am a literal reader and a literal writer. I don't put undertones or hints of hidden meanings into my own writing.  Therefore, I don't pick up on it in other short stories, and novels. I know that in literature classes, we study the why of stories so I do try to look for the subtleties in what we're given to read. I just can't seem to ever find it.

I read for enjoyment. I pick up a book and if it interests me, I read it. If it's boring, dumb, or uncomfortable, I put it down. Reading fiction is for enjoyment. That's my opinion. There's nothing wrong with reading for knowledge, though.

Going hand in hand with that idea, I write for enjoyment. My writing is very shallow. It may be a good story or a fun story, but it's not deep. That's for sure. There is no body to my writing; it is exactly what you see on the pages in front of you. Part of that has spread from hating how people haphazardly pour allegories into novels never meant to have hidden meaning. It just bugs me, so I figure if all my writing is just what's on hard paper, people won't really have the option to do that. Also, I really don't feel like being satirical or pointing out the flaws of the government and society. That's not what I think writing is for.

Today, though, something hit me. None of the great novels (like Huckleberry Finn for example) were written for simple entertainment. They all have a point to them. This made me think. Could I write a great novel and still have it be dessert instead of a steak dinner? I don't think so.

Now, I don't know if I can ever truly write a great novel. Or, if I can put enough depth into one of my novels to have it be at least in the entree category. Still, I'm going to endeavor to do it. I don't think I'll write cryptically, 'cause that I flat out don't like. But, I'm going to put more behind my writing: more complex characters, two-sided characters...and other stuff I can't put names to right now. 

Joys and Torments of an Author

I'm quite proud of this poem. :) Tell me what you think.

Stories

Swimming in my head.

Plots 

Prancing up and down my brain.

Characters

Chatting up a storm.

My mind is not my own, 

Run down by the business of others,

People that listen to me, and 

Do whatever they want. 

I lay out their destinies.

I introduce them to their spouses.

I crush their dreams.

With the tappings of my fingers,

I can unseat the evil rulers

Or extinguish a life.

These are the things that haunt my dreams.

First day of school!

Hello gang! Today I started my journey into the academic forest of college. I was rather excited about it, too. College is a whole new experience, and though I've been on campus and doing dual credit for over a year, it's different. It's the difference of just being able to say, I'm in college. I can't say I'm a homeschooler anymore. Sad, yes. It's been a bit weird for me to have to shift that thinking. Oh well, I shall grow used to it. But, the idea of plunging into college, as the idea of college is rather cool. Yes, I was indeed looking forward to it. I'm taking a total of 4 classes this semester: Spanish 1, Philosophy, Algebra, and English. My classes for MW are Span. and Math. 

First class was Spanish at 8:00. My very first 8:00 class, and it's at the Montgomery campus of Lonestar to boot. Anyway, it was a very good day. I like the teacher. I think her style (the whole class in Spanish) is interesting. And, I'm excited to learn more of the language I started learning in high school. You know, waaay back then. 

After chatting some with my friend who's also in the class, I hopped in the car and we drove to Tomball for Math. I'm not going to go through the whole story. But, suffice it to say, I sat through the entire period...and it turned out to not be my class. I don't have Math on MW, it's scheduled for T/Th. To boot, I missed the first day of my English class. *Sigh* Oh well, something to put down in my embarrassing moments, right? And one of those stories to tell to the kids, "So, there was this one time when your mother went to the wrong class of Math and never found out till she got home." Haha! 

Still, it was a good day, and I'm excited for tomorrow with Philosophy...and MATH! :) 

The picture below is my carefully planned outfit. I was super excited to wear it all together. It's not the best picture; I need to start standing on an angle, but I always forget. Oh well, next time. Still, I like my clothes. :) 

"Don't you love New York in the Fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies." -- You've Got Mail

Pics of Philadelphia

I know, I know. We've been home for more than a week and the pictures aren't up here, let ALONE up on facebook. So, I'm going to post a few up here to give myself some excuse on the others. ;) Enjoy!

The M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I 

We had dinner at Cheddars which was fun 'cause 

we haven't been to one in quite awhile. 

Just one angle of the truly immense battlefield. 

The cutest baby in the whole world!!!! 

During our tour of Valley Forge and Washington's

Headquarters, I snapped this picture! :) 

On our last full day there, we drove to Lancaster and

a few other smaller towns around it. It was a lot of fun. 

I did a lot of editing on my book on the drive back. 

No pictures allowed inside, but it was just exquisite! 

I'll get the whole album up on facebook soon!. :)

Sum Fun!!! (8)

An additional chance to see another departing senior came not much later. Kathryn's and my friend Angelique came over for a "Disney Day." We owned a Disney waffle press and lots of Disney movies. So, we were going have breakfast for lunch and watch two movies.
 

Our Disney movies to pick from!

The waffle press

We had quite a few fixings for the waffles. Butter, syrup, chocolate chips, pecans, strawberries, Nutella (the only one not pictured, and whipped cream. Also, there was bacon to sprinkle a little protein into the scrumptious feast.

My waffles, each one a little different and equally delicious!

The movies of choice!

The three of us filed into Grandpa's room (where our TV is) and hunkered down to watch "The One that Started It All." It was quite a lot of fun, chatting some and then submersing ourselves in Disney magic and such tasty waffles. It was truly "sum fun," and we'll definitely have to do it again. :) 

Sum Fun!!! (7)

So, I just realized that the post I just wrote... I had already talked about Fiddler in another of my posts "Dos Plays." So, yeah.

"I feel sheepish."-- Aladdin

Of course, I could have deleted it, but I didn't feel like it. So, you guys just get two different takes on the same day. Haha! Well, don't worry, this post will be truly new.

Awhile back, I was realizing that all my friends who are seniors (of high school ;) would be leaving soon and I wanted to see them again. So, I set up a lunch date. My friend Caitlyn and I met at Chick-fil-A to catch up. We enjoyed scrumptious chicken, delicious potatoes, and quite tasty ketchup. It was so great to meet up with her and just spend time chatting. We were actually there fore several hours and had to keep turning down offers for refreshed beverages from the workers. (I love that they come to your table and offer table service; I think it's so cool!)

Lunch time with friends is always the best. Thanks Caitlyn! Let's do it again soon!

Sum Fun!!! (6)

Well, though I'm behind, I decided I had to write the last three Sum Fun posts. So, here's the first one. The community college 5 minutes from our house (Lonestar: Tomball) puts on a musical every summer. Well, this summer it was Fiddler on the Roof. This would on it's own be something I wanted to go see, because you know I can't resist live performances. But as a bonus, two of my friends were in the show. Also, three of my friends were going to come watch the show with us.
So, when the friends arrived, we had an amazing dinner of Mom's Mongolian beef and then ice cream followed--Bluebell happy tracks. Y-U-M!!! Does anybody *not* want ice cream? Have you ever asked, "So, who wants ice cream?" and someone says, "not me." 'Cause I haven't. My feelings can be simply stated with a movie quote, as seen below. Haha!

"You don't hear nobody say, I don't like no parfaits. Everybody loves parfaits!"--Shrek

Anyway, so after eating, we headed out to the show.

It was a truly wonderful performance! It was pretty believable and I just enjoyed seeing each new scene, so much. Some of that came from not really knowing anything about the story. We have the movie, and Mom loves the plot. Also, Dad will periodically come downstairs doing his own rendition of "If I were a Rich Man," but I didn't really know the story. Haha! Anyway, so I was excited to simply learn the story and the musical numbers were just so good! I had such a great time! Plus, getting to do it with friends and family just lumps bonuses on top of it. :D