I know that I have not posted a blog in a while. That is mostly because I wanted this blog to be purely about my art and funny observation of things that I see in every day life, like this:

But for the last couple of months I have been so wrapped up in political debate on facebook. Those political discussion turn me into someone that I'm not. Well, maybe I am, but I like to repress that side of me, but facebook won't let me. The most recent being the second amendment, Boston as a "Police State," what's wrong with the Republicans, West, Texas, CISPA, and other malduggery. Is that the word I'm trying to say? It just ruins me for artistic inspiration but I wrote nearly a novel's worth of comments and status updates voicing my opinion (facts :)).

In the mean time I HAVE been doing some creative things for school. Well, life goes on. I haven't written about them, but I still have assignments to do. I am working on an animation for my team production class. I have been entrusted with the last 4 seconds of the animation that my class is working on as a group. My professor pissed me off today because the 3 little drawings that he drew that I am supposed to go by do not give me any kind of detail as far as what the character is doing or which way she is facing. So basically I am just guessing at what he wants her to do. He wasn't happy. That's all I want to talk about on that subject. I am just so angry right now.

On a happier note, I am working on an animatic for a story that I have been working on for years. Well, I gave it a break and haven't really touched in a while. But I started it in 2003. I turned it into a 10 page script. After a couple of years I realized that not only was it too short for a script, the way it ended didn't make any sense. I kept the whole story but expanded it to something like an 86 pages along script with a full blown Conlang to go with it. All of that was completed in something like 2009. I haven't touched it since. Matter of fact, my full typed out script is on an external hard drive that crashed and I was quoted something like $1200 to retrieve my files. I will one day. But in the mean time, I still have the hand written story that I used to write the script. Currently, I am in my first portfolio class. In this class I am preparing to create an animation for my portfolio. This will be done over the course of 3 school quarters. 3 classes. This class, I am working on story development, storyboards and animatics, character design and modeling. I have taken characters and some of the storyline from my script and turned it into a approximately 3 minute short. And, while he had a few suggestions to make my story better, my animatic was well received by the aforementioned professor. 

Although he did not feel that I should be working on an "old" character/story. It's not like I have been obsessing over this constantly for years. I haven't touched this story since 2009. Unlike someone's story that I can't animate the way he wants me to that HE has been working on since like FOREVER!

I've also been reading a lot of stupid blog lists. Like 5 Horrifying Details Hidden in Classic Cartoons and 5 Recurring Movie Extras You Won't Believe You Never Noticed. Stupid but fun to waste your life reading. A nice reprieve, though, from the aweful, angry rants of people who think that the gubment is trying to take away their guns when really they are trying to take away their right to privacy (CISPA). It's so funny. 

Since we last spoke, I also added my twitter account to my website and I created another twitter account and added that, too. The second account is strictly for the funny stuff that I see and photograph. Well, that's what I use it for, mostly. And, while my first twitter account is for random stuff like my run tracker and getting birthday retweets from my favorite stars 

....my second...my God, it took me so long to log into this twitter account, zoom in on this tweet, print the screen, copy and paste it into paint, save it as a jpg and post it here, that I forgot what it was that I was going to say in this statement about my twitter accounts. So I said all of that because it was probably more fun and interesting then what I was going to say. Whatever it was. Oh, and then I followed myself. Is that pathetic? I don't know. But it can't be as pathetic as taking a Justin Tiberlake quiz because whoever posted it will follow you if you get 100% and then cheating on it! SMDH.

Shouldn't You Go To The Doctor For That?

So, I went to Home Depot today. I paint on wood. Either 2'X2' or 4'x2'. I almost always get it from HD. I may pick up some Gorilla glue and hanging hardware for my art. (I said that this is an art blog, didn't I?) Well, I was going down the plumbing aisle because apparently I need to do something about my toilet, and I found this. Do people really go to home depot for these issues? Shouldn't you go to the Doctor? I don't know...










So I was watching this video that a Facebook friend posted. And it got me all goosebumpy. It was awesome. I've seen other people do this. But this one has to be my favorite.

It is a video featuring a young man named Jon Cozart titled After Ever After. He has recorded himself in four part harmony singing various Disney Princess movie songs rewritten to illustrate what happens in the lives of the princesses after the Disney story is over. Not only is his singing beautifully arranged, but the writing is awesome and the timing is on point. He is also a very convincing actor. I'm not really good at writing critiques. I just wanted share this video.

Is anyone reading this from my original Down Off The Dragon blogspot webpage? If you have been around long enough to be aware when I add a new post to this blog, congratulations for sticking in there and thank you for following. That out of the way...because more than likely it is not the case...welcome to my new website.

 I decided to keep and post all of my old blog posts to my new website, despite the fact that it has not been updated in almost five years. I have also changed my theme. Previously, my blog was dedicated to talking about my writing and talking about things that I like to talk about, and talking about whatever came to my head randomly that I felt like talking about. Now...well... it's the same thing. Only this time I am adding my art. Talking about my art, writing about my art, posting my art...and whatever other random things come to mind.

 I will also likely post images of interesting things that I have found along the highway of my life. Because my blog is now linked to my webpage, most of my art will likely be posted there. My blog will likely involve making of videos, fun stuff I photographed along the way, video blog entries and whatever random stuff that comes to mind. Did I say that already?

 Oh, yeah. Also, the stuff that I won't put on Facebook because I have nosey relatives who will complain about the content not being appropriate for the eyes of older and younger relatives and everyone in between.

So, here is my WARNING: This is an art webpage/blog. There will be content created by a mind too creative to concern itself with censorship. What comes to paper is what has regurgitated itself from my head and heart and hands. There may be an occasional boobie, or penis or reference to such. There may be poop jokes and references to incontinence. I don not curse unless I'm mad so don't piss me off. And we will all get along just fine!!!

 So how has this all turned out for me so far? I mean, starting my website, that is. Let me tell you. It has been a big pain in the patootie. The website itself isn't the problem. It's been google and its products.

 A little while back I guess that all google products required a gmail log in, including youtube? Well, at the time, I did not have a gmail account and lost access to my youtube channel. Odd thing about it was that they did assign a gmail account to my youtube and my blogspot. But it was an account that I did not own so did not have access to. Somehow the phone number that they would send the reset code to was mine. WAS mine. So I had them send it. And then I called the number crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that who ever answered it wouldn't think that I was crazy and hang up on me. A woman answered. It was Saturday morning and she sounded as if she had been asleep. I told her that I needed the code that I had texted to her phone. She GAVE it to me!!!! I was very grateful, thanked her and hung up so that she may go back to sleep.

 I retrieved my account and prayed that who ever owns it does not change the pass word and turn me in to google. I checked the email, and it definitely is NOT my email. But it doesn't looked like it is used much at all. I am hoping that Mr. H (I have talked to the previous owner's sister. I promise that I am not lying about this account not being mine!) has abandoned the email and will never give me problems with it again. I am unable to change my primary account on blogger and I need to keep my good name!

WE WON!!

Uh, yeah, so Obama is the country's first black president. And that's great, but it occurs to me that South Africa which had been run by an Apartheid government since 1948 elected its first black president 14 years ago! And if you're not familiar with apartheid, it's basically the polar opposite of democracy! Why are we so backward?

All that doesn't matter now, because Barack kicked butt. Last I checked McCain was stuck at 156 votes and Obama rose from 280+ to 333! Seems to me that with these kind of numbers, not only did people who didn't vote before vote, but perhaps people that previously voted republican changed their minds this year! Either way, Oh, yeah, we kicked butt. And by WE I mean ANYONE that was hoping and praying for the change that Obama promised and more than likely will bring about in DC.

School

It is now almost official. I am going back to school in January. I sat down with an academic councilor to discuss which classes I will be taking. My major will be liberal arts. I will receive an Associates Degree in liberal arts and then transfer to Old Dominion University for a degree in English (creative writing emphasis) with a minor in communications. I will get at least a baccalaureate, but I'm hoping to get into the accelerated Master's program. It's not too bad. You just take 4 or 5 classes that are at the 400 level, but they can also be counted for 500 level. That way, when you've earned your bachelor's degree, you have less classes to take to earn you Master's.

I will be taking Math 240 (statistics), Bio 101, Public Speaking, and Psychology 201. I'm so excited. Not so much about the classes, but just going back in general. And I'm not taking any of these courses online. I'm going to go to a real class with real students and real teachers. Did you know that you can take Public speaking online? Does that make any sense to you?

Oh, yeah. I've also cut all of my hair off. I love my hair short. I haven't cut it all off since March of 2005. I was determined to grow it long, but all I managed to do was have a whole bunch of damaged hair from perming. It looked so aweful when I went to the hair dresser. Now most of the damaged hair is gone. I think that I might wear a mohawk like I did the last time I cut it this short!

Why Should I Vote For Your Man?

This election year I have recieved several pieces of mail from the Republican Party of Virginia. Not one piece of litterature mentions McCain or Palin except for their websites. All it does is say why we shouldn't vote for Obama. This is the message I sent RPV.org. I can'r wait to read the response I get if any.

"I would like to start by saying that, although I will not be voting republican this year, I do have a lot of respect for McCain and I believe that it is sad how poorly his supporters are representing him. Let's start with you. I have recieved my 3rd piece of mail from you. Not one item has his picture on it. Not on item lists his platforms, what he stands for, what he believes in. It all just bashes Obama. It's ok to have a stance against your opponent, but don't you have anything else to say? Growing up, I was always warned against friends/aquaintances that make them feel better about themselves by putting others down. Instead of highlighting your candadate's qualities you're focusing on your apponants problems. And it's not just you. I hear it on the radio and the tv, too. It's kind of childish. What's worse is that it reinforces the anti-American/anti-constitutional/anti-democratic activities of those that threaten and harass Obama and his supporters. Two young men were discovered having plotted to assassinate Obama and black people in general until they are caught and killed if they have to. Or the email saying that republicans are to vote on tuesday, and democrats are to vote on wednsday. This is reminiscent of countries where dictators rule. And people that partake in this kind of activity/thinking are anti-democracy. They are no better than the people in countries that we are historically at war with who kill the supporters of the opposing party. Is that the kind of country in which we live? When I've spoken to republicans, their first argument is Obama this and Obama that. "Obama is anti-gun." Ok, so what is McCain's stand? Better yet, what's his running mate's stand? We all know, she has no stand because she is utterly clueless. By sending me literature about why you think Obama should not be president, you have failed in convincing me that McCain should. At the very least, you could send me something telling why Sarah Palin should be let anywhere near the White House if she couldn't even tell you what the Vice President does!"

Stupid People With Popcorn

When I was in Navy Electronics Technician School in Great Lakes, Illinois I lived in a large berthing with hundreds of other female sailors. I don't know if you know what it's like when hundreds of women required to live together in the not so optimal conditions. Four girls to a small room, marching to class in "Lake Effect Snow," bad food in the galley and annoying Barracks duty officers. Not to mention the multitude of backgrounds and cultures that must be transended to live together harmoniously.

But the greatest obstacle was the stupidity that many of us displayed when preparing food. Being a barracks for mainly E1-E3s there were no real cooking facilities. Just a couple of microwaves where the vending machines were located. So needless to say, there was a lot of popcorn being made.

Then, unfortunately, many a sailor would leave a bag of popcorn in the microwave unattended assuming that the directions on the bag would work on any microwave, despite the fact that the directions also say "microwave ovens may vary." Right?

So after several microwave fires they banned food from the barracks completely. Originally, it was only banned from the original berthings but ok in common areas. The result was many girls ouside in the Lake Effect Snow freezing their butts off eating delivery pizza at the picnic tables.

So, anyway, an hour ago I pulld up in front of the local 7-11 when I saw this lady writing down the name and phone number that you call when you have a complaint. I noticed that she had a Connecticut lisence plate. I was hoping that she was military and not really from CT because she had a stupid "Uncle Sam Wants You To Speak English" bumper sticker. I never found out.

I went inside and I heard the manager and the cashier talking with another customer about what had happened. Apparently this woman got a bag of popcorn, didn't pay for it, popped it in the store microwave, burned it and brought the bag to the counter wanting retribution of sorts. Apparently, the directions on the pack did not work with that paticular microwave. That's why anyone over the age of 14 aught know that you listen for the pops and you stop it when they only come one every five seconds or something like that, reguardless of the minutes it's been in there.

So of course the question was, did she expect her money back, or another bag of popcorn? She never paid for the pack she burned!! Isn't that theft? Is she going to call the number and say that she didn't get a refund or a replacement? Doesn't she realize that they will probably ask for a receipt number and when she can't produce one it will make her out to be a theif?

OK, that's all.

A Bit More On That Last Post

I've started writing the faerie tale on my computer. Usually I do all of my primary writing in a notebook. I like how my computer tells me how many words I have written.
The biggest challenge has been that I have decided to write this in the first person. Of course you know, that is, if you read my blog, you know that I've been writing a screenplay for so long that writing in this manner is a huge challenge. What is really difficult is not writing everything in the present tense!
Anyway, I think that I addressed this issue in an earlier blog. So I won't go on about it.
Also, I have to take a break from writing all together with the exception for an occasional spurt of idea writing. I have an advancement exam to take in February and I have a lot of studying to do.
Ok, that's all.

New Story and Newly Found Friends

About 15 months ago (I only specify the number of months instead of "a little over a year" because the subject came up earlier today. Someone wanted to know the exact number of months ago an event that took place around the same time occurred. So, yeah, about 15 months ago I got an inspiration to write a dark faerie tale. I won't talk about where I got the inspiration because it takes me back to a dark time in my life that I do not wish to relive.

I had some basic idea of what I wanted to write. I then started writing an outline. After a few pages of outline, ADD kicked in and I put that notebook away. I started working on the Jonathan Livingston project of course. I always went back to that when anything else failed to keep my attention. I believe that I even, at some point, forgot about my faerie tale. It sat in its notebook on my bookshelf for over a year, waiting for me to remember it and to get the inspiration I needed to develop my ideas and start working on it again. Of course, I needed to complete Jonathan Livingston, which I did, sort of, recently.

But a couple of months ago it all came to me. I hadn't written in a while so I pulled out that old notebook and started reading over my old notebook. I started thinking hard about the story that I wanted to tell. There were still gaping holes that I could not fill. So I got the idea to read the masters of dark faerie tales: The Germans and the Russians. Thinking hard about my story, I realized that basically what I had written, or rather the premise that I wrote, could be kind of a reverse Sleeping Beauty. The princess is being raised by a kind uncle, the kingdom falls asleep, the prince is the bad guy and the princess must go complete harrowing tasks to save the day by confronting, and defeating the witch who had no part in bewitching the kingdom in the first place!

I found several Russian faerie tales that gave me some ideas where I'd been stuck before. She has several tasks that she most complete before she can save her kingdom. The idea was for three. I could only think of 2 the first time i stopped writing it. Coming up with the 3rd is part of what held up this story for so long. Not only did reading classic Russian faerie tales help me figure out how to write the third task, it's helping me develop the witch that she must defeat.

Ok, enough about that. The second thing that I wanted to talk about is something that happened to me the other day. It is one of the things that makes me MOST happy in life. I found a friend that I have lost. Actually I found 2. One that I have known since middle school. The other I have known since first grade. I wanted to take this time to tell them that I really appreciate that they continue their friendship with me. It has always been treasured and finding them, thanks to the internet, has been a serendipitous surprise. I hope that I never lose touch with them again.

Did that come out too mushy? I hope not.

Kimya Who?

I am so not writing about writing in my blog. Or am I?

So, I was looking through other people's blogs as I am tempted to do when I need a break from the daily grind. What grind you ask? Well, I don't know either 'cause I really am not doing much. Writing, studying, stuff. But I need a diversion from nothing once in a while. Anyway, I came across this music player in someone else's blog and it was playing this song that totally caught my ear (does anyone say caught my ear? well, I did.) So I listened to it a few times, looked up the lyrics, sang along. It was fun. So then I googled the artist. Aparently she's an antifolk songstress, whatever that means. But this one song I loved too much not to share. It's not the one from the blog, but just as, if not more interesting. And how does this relate to writing? It does, I promise. I now want to pick up a guitar, learn to play, grow out my natural hair into a big afro again (I promise, I did have a big afro once) and write really cool songs like this one. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbqrNPJXlQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKBS7YPNLPU&feature=related


Ok, so I couldn't embed the video into my blog. You will just have to go to youtube yourself, please and enjoy these two songs.

I had to, just for a moment, wonder away from my usual banter about writing to give you guys a treat for your funny bone. Well, I thought it was funny. I may get in trouble for posting it here as I do not have permission to use this photo. Well, not in trouble, but it may get pulled. Or not; I don't have a whole lot of traffic to this sight. Who'd know? Anyway, it has delighted me to notice over the years that those in the fitness industry (something that very much interests me) have moved away from tanning their entire bodies and leaving their faces pale for competition. For those of you who do not know why they ever do it in the first place, a nice tan makes your muscles really pop. You can better see deffinition and striations if there are any. Although it has always been and still is rather ugly and over done, or the colors are unnatural, it is nice to see that people are starting to use tanner on their faces, too. This makes the overall affect less comical, I think. But this picture that I found recently really gave me pause, before laughing hysterically. Ok, maybe not that hard. But I did think it was funny. My question is, why would someone go through the trouble of tanning his face and neck but completely neglect his ears? It's just funny to me!

Not Writing a Screenplay Right Now, But How?

I have been straying away from my Jonathan L. project for some time now. I've needed a break from my screewriting. I've also needed to explore other genres. First thing was that I started writing was a horror story that I have been telling for years. This is actually old news, but I haven't written here since May 18th! I'm such a slacker! Anyway, I started a story a little while ago that was inspired by a Writersdigest.com forumite. I just suddenly got the idea to write down this story that I've had in my mind about how to get rid of my husband's body should I actually kill him. And of course, how to kill him.

It was going great. I was submitting sections of the story in 1000 word spurts. I originally thought that it would only be about 1000 words, but I am on Part 5 and every part has been +1000 words. But the best part is that I got a lot of good feed back by the critiquers in the forum.

Now for the worst parts: The story is extremely disturbing. Apparently not by those that are reading it on WD.com. It has been kinda difficult because the story contains a lot of nonfiction. There are a few things that didn't really happen, my husband's death being one of them. But the main characters being me and my ex husband, it makes it very difficult to seperate myself from the story and write it without letting my emotions and my stomache getting in the way.

The other problem is that I have been writing a screenplay for so long that I am having trouble writing from someones point of view. No first person, no getting inside of someones head. Even using past and future tense is becoming a challenge. One of the most important critiques that I recieved is that they want me to get into my main character's head. It's not only difficult for me to do that because it's not the kind of writing that I would do for a screenplay, it's difficult because that main character is me. And if you read it, you would be just as scared as I am to journey too deep inside of my head.

I wrote another "horror" short story for the Friday the 13th contest that has been extended for the second time to the 20th. It could be so much better if I could write it in first person from the main character's POV. But I no longer remember how to write like that. The story is already written, but I would like to rewrite it before I submit it because it could be so much better.

I think that what I will try to do is spend the good part of tomorrow reading short stories so that I can rewrite with a fresh understanding of how to write like that again.

Not Quite Done

I substituted for the first time in a couple of weeks this past Friday. While in class I managed to complete my screenplay. Well...sort of. I had decided that 74 pages would be acceptable. I had completed the script from the story as is. But it isn't enough.
What's driving me crazy is that I feel like I added so much to it today and yet it still isn't adding up to much.
And I was very careful to make the additions relevent and not filler. I wrote and wrote but it only added up to a couple more pages. But thankfully, they were significant additions that really mean a lot to me.

Good Mommy Cat(?)

The last blog I posted I mentioned how wonderful a mother my cat is, despite her youth. Well, today she tested my confidence in her motherhood. She and her babies sleep in my boys' room. Usually. Well, apparently she go the idea last night that she doesn't like it in there anymore. I think that it's because of their friends coming over often.
So this morning at some point she went outside because I know that she was in the house when I went to bed last night. Since I'm not the first one up in the morning, it didn't surprise me to see her outside. So I let her in.
When she came in, I realized that I hadn't checked on the babies yet. So I went into the boys' room and looked under the bed and they were not there. I turned to Thierry and asked her where her kids are. She just looked at me and meowed. We walked all over the house looking for the little 4 musketeers. What bothered me was that she kept calling to them. Even in the spot where they were when I went to bed last night.
Crazy cat didn't know where her kids were!
Granted, they do like to wonder, but I've never seen them wonder further than a couple of feet from their mother. Although, at least 2 of them are very adventurous and I wouldn't put it passed them to venture a little further out on their own. But we really couldn't find them.
Finally we found them in my daughter's bedroom on the otherside of her bed. Her bed isn't on a frame so we really had to look for them. But we found them. Happy and healthy.
So why have I wondered from my blog toppic again? These 4 little bundles and their crazy little "adventures" that never happen are inspiring the children's stories that I was talking about before. And my script is almost done!

Finally Done Except For Apendices

I just this morning completed the story of my screenplay. Erm... that is, I have finally completed the story that will be a screenplay. Well, it was a story that I wrote based on another story that someone else wrote. Then I turned it into a screenplay. Then I wrote the backstory, then I adapted my backstory into a screenplay. Then I rewrote the original screenplay into a story (which is what I just finished doing) and I will now turn this rewrite of the original screenplay into a new screenplay! And you wonder why it has taken me 4 years to write this! Well, I am now on the fast track to "complete screenplay under my belt" land. And hopefully soon after that I will be on a fast plane to "sold screenplay" country. And then maybe oneday there will be people actually interested in reading my blog.

My only fear is that when I am finally done with this, will I miss writing it? Will I think that there is something that I should have said? Nah, if someone buys it, I will be for certain that it is the way that it is supposed to be. But if no one does, I will just.... You know what? I need to just concentrate on getting it complete and shopped. I fear nothing.

The appendices can wait until I get to those moments in the script to worry about, I think. I don't even know if appendices is really what they are supposed to be called. It's just stuff that I thought about later that I needed to add and I was going to write them later and add them to the final script as I am writing it. Whatever. They'll come when they come.

Happy Mother's Day Thierry!

Today I decided to break away from the theme of my blog. Today is mother's day and I would like to acknowledge a very new mother today. She is my cat. Her babies were born on April 27th. I have heard of cats, and other animals rejecting their babies or not having a natural instinct to motherhood. But Thierry is very protective and aware of her babies. When it is time to eat she licks them gently to wake them and position them. There have even been times when I would ask her about her babies and she would look in the direction of the room where they sleep and meow. As if she knows what I am asking her.

It is not the fact that she is actually a good mother, but the fact that if you were to look at her, you'd think that she is a baby herself. We've had her for a year and she was about the same size as she is now, then. I believe that she is still a kitten, but I couldn't tell you how old she is exactly. But she seems so young, so small. And when her babies are asleep she plays and jumps around like a kitten.

I think that my fascination with my new mother cat is that she is much like me. When she is in mommy mode, she is MOMMY. But when she has time to herself she is still the kid that she really is inside.

This picture show only 3 of her kids. She still had one more that wasn't born until we all went to bed thinking that she was done. This one is black like his mom with white paws and belly. They all sleep under a bed so it is difficult to take a new picture with all five!

Man With His Head in a Box!

I am less than 3 pages from the end of the original script that I am rewriting. I am very excited because that means that I am almost done with it. When I am done with the rewrite of the story, I can work on converting it back into screenplay.

But knowing that I am almost done; seeing the end of the road, the other side of the rainbow, I managed to get myself distracted as usual. Fortunately, this time I got distracted with something that has to do with the story. And although I was sure that I would be done with the rewrite tonight I let another element distract. So now I will not be done until tomorrow. But let me tell you about what distracted me. Because I am very excited about it.
About a year ago, I guess. I'm sure that it was less than a year ago because I lived at the other place and I was only in that lease for a year. So, about a year ago when I was on revision #2 of my script's back story I decided that I would try my hand at conlanging. For those of you who may not know, conlanging is the art of "constructing a language." If you are familiar with movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy or tv shows like Star Trek, you may already have heard other writers' conlanging. It is the business of writing a language that does not already exist. Elfish, Ramulan, Klingon. You know, stuff that forty year old virgins are made of.
Anyway, I am not a forty year old virgin. Well, I haven't been a virgin in a while, and I'm not quite forty but writing is a passion and writing a language makes for a wonderful challenge. I at first wrote "made for a wonderful challenge" but it is an ongoing process. You will likely ever have a library of vocabulary that includes the entire scope of words in your mother language.
So, I wrote this language for 2 reasons. The first was that I had studied so many languages that all had their own positive points but many things about them make me crazy. For instance, German and its many cases and articles. Or Welsh and its crazy sentence structure. So I created a language that completely lacked those difficulties that have stumped me on each successive language I have studied.
The second reason that I wrote this language is to add a different dimension to the script that I am writing. The back story involves ancient folks, magic and other stuff that made me think that it would be wonderfully appropriate to have a constructed language as part of the script.
So, what distracted me was that got to a point in my script, the third or fourth point probably, where I would need to use the language. So I got a hold of the notebook in which I wrote the language and started translating dialogue. I did not intend on writing the whole script in this language. Just key dialogue. But most specifically, a song that is sung several times.
The song was originally a poem that I wrote for Writer's Digest.com's April's poem of the day, day 30. I took out a few lines out of it to make it shorter and I have started translating it. It's very exciting. But now I have to finish writing the story tomorrow.
And now I bet you're wondering what inspired this language. You're going to laugh. You know that geni from Pee Wee's playhouse? The one with his head in a box? You remember when he would say Mekalekhay mekahaineeho? I created a language based on that silly little phrase. It combines elements of Spanish, German, Japanese and Arabic. It borrows and adapts words from Spanish and German. It uses Arabic's word structure and a lot of Japanese pronunciation and concepts. It flows the way that I would like to hear a language and is easy to learn, I believe. And if any of you have ever read my myspace blog, you had to know that this one would eventually revert back to dialogue involving Pee Wee Herman. And I'm sure you know that it won't be the last.

Welcome Home To My Lovie

Today I’ve got to write about how happy I am. Not only has returned to my life a major inspiration for my writing, but the one who I hope that I in turn inspire. Did I say that right? My lovie has returned from the sea. He has been gone for 7 months. In the nearly 8 years together, both of us in the military, this is the longest that we have ever been apart.

I was very happy to see him again.
It was like looking into the face of an angel that you had somehow forgotten was there.
Kissing him was like tasting something sweet when you’d been eating something bitter for too long.
Holding him was like living again when all that you can remember is surviving.
And hearing his voice was like hearing Bach after a decade of Soulja Boy.

There, are you happy? I wrote poetry. I rarely write poetry. It’s not me. But if I get the right inspiration (in this case, to be honest, is an hour or so of good ole welcome back after being gone for 7 months fun [trying to keep this PG]). But it’s still not my cup of tea. I like to throw in something silly, unexpected or whatever when I write poetry. Otherwise, it get’s too corny.

People Just Don't Need Stories Like They Need Houses

Today I have read the most inspiring stories. Not inspiring in that they make me want to go out and do great things but…well, perhaps I do want to go out and do great things. They made me want to write children’s stories.
The book is an anthology of short stories inspired, by Japanese folktales, retold and illustrated by a Ms. Yoshiko Uchida. It just made me want to write children’s stories.
But if you know anything about me from reading my other blog entries you would know that this is just my ADD kicking in. Or not. I don’t know. I do know that I need to finish the script that I am already on. But part of me is pulling me toward the stories that I have not completed and part of me is pulling toward the stories that I have not started.
I guess this is a good thing. To always have incomplete stories at arm’s reach. This way as a writer I never have to worry about running out of things to write about.
It’s like being a builder in a market where no one has a home. There will always be work available. But of course, a builder in a market where no one has a home, will probably get paid. Whereas, a writer with a bunch of stories to keep him or her busy will not necessarily get paid for them. Hmmm.
That is why I am here trying to teach the ugly children of other people. When I took this job, I’d forgotten how much I hate other people’s children. Did I go off on a tangent?
Well, at least this class isn’t too much trouble. There is a little more cursing then I would like to hear from 6th graders, or children in general. It really could be worse.
So, I think that what I will do is, instead of taking the time to write children’s stories, I will start writing down ideas. Just ideas as they come to me. That way, when I find that I have the time to write them, I will have a bevy of stories to begin.

These Ugly Kids Don't Belong To Me

This is my third week substituting. I finally got an English class. But it is 6th grade English and the kids just keep letting me down. I wonder if I will ever get a class that gets their assignment and is just quiet and does their work. They will be quiet for the few moments that the other teacher is in here threatening to call their parents, but they do not take my threats seriously. So that they cannot take advantage of the fact that I do not know their names, I decided to write down random names. The hope is that they will not want to get each other in trouble and subsequently ending up getting themselves in trouble.
Well, one can dream, can’t they?
I have just looked at my manuscript that is to be the second half of my screenplay. Today is the 24th and the last time I wrote was the 21st. I had a brain fart I guess. It would be different than the original story so I’m trying to rethink it. And I’m having trouble. The way that the story originally went, the guests that were coming were to determine whether the adoptive parents are fit to keep the main character. They’re like representatives from the state. But now, the adoptive parents are going to have a baby, and the guests that are coming are representatives of a boarding school where the main character will be spending the rest of his childhood to make room for the new baby.
So what she I do, or preferably, what movie should I watch? I know what I want them to say. I just don’t really know when or where to put it. And the last thing that I wrote just sounds cheesy. Another problem that I am having is that I am trying really hard not to let the characters sound like very well known characters that have graced the screen in another movie. They do not look like them in my head, but they kind of sound like them. But I guess that it is unfair to think that you own the market on evil stepparents.
I am at school now, and although I have not done anymore than change one word, cross out several others and change the date, I have used a different pen. I hope that it will be able to bring a freshness to this story that comes with changing pens. “Fresh Horses, “ I think it’s called.
Just last week I had a class that pissed me off so much that it inspired the feelings required to write at least 2 pages of prose! And it was only half the period that I was there! This first class today has turned out to be relatively reasonable. Relatively. I look around and half of them are gone! Anyway, I’m hoping that by the end of the school day, I will have felt enough emotions that will inspire me to write another 2 or 3 pages.
So, I’ve just made it through the second class period with some problems here and there. But it still has not topped the list of the worst school that I have subbed for. Well, it’s not the school but rather not the worse classes that I have subbed for. So far. Fortunately, I got a planning period. So there are no students for an hour and a half. Usually around this time they find some other class for me to sub but no one has bothered me yet.
Unfortunately, I just recently realized that I did not bring the script that I was changing, so I can’t work on it right now. I know where I am supposed to be, but I’m not sure of the order. So instead, I will read a book.