Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Another Cool Writing--Make-up Post

This post is to make up for my absence in class on Monday.

I've decided to do a simple close reading on the song Turn by Travis. Travis is my favorite band, and I've listened to their music for years. I love almost all of their songs, but this one in particular, with Fran Healy's (the lead singer) desperate vocals and a smashing video (I'd provide a link if I could get to youtube on the school computers) really gets me.

Okay, so here's the lyrics:
I want to see what people saw / I want to feel like I felt before / I want to see the kingdom come / I want to feel forever young

I want to sing / To sing my song / I want to live in a world where I belong / I want to live / I will survive / And I believe that it won't be very long / If we turn, turn, turn / turn, turn turn / Then we might learn

So where's the stars? / Up in the sky / And what's the moon? / A big balloon / We'll never know / unless we grow / There's so much world / outside the door

I want to sing / To sing my song / I want to live in a world where I'll be strong / I want to live / I will survive / And I believe that it won't be very long / If we turn, turn, turn, turn, turn / And if we turn, turn, turn, turn / Then we might learn / Turn, turn, turn, turn / Turn, turn, turn / And if we turn, turn, turn, turn / Then we might learn / Learn to turn

Analysis: I think this song is talking about the infinite curiosity humans have. The word turn is kind of like a journey we take to learn something. We get a question, and then we look for the answer, and then we find it, and then we get a new question, always going in a circle from question to question and answer to answer.

Still, I think Travis also wants to show that the circles people travel in aren't always worth the time we put into them. The video really drives this point home. The video features Fran in the push-up position, trying to win a bet by staying that way until midnight. Then, when midnight comes, several hooligans come by chasing an innocent young man. Fran tries to help, but his muscles are so sore and tired from completing the bet that he has not energy to go help the young man. The money he gets from the bet looks like a waste in comparison to the safety of the man. Fran wastes all of his energy on something that doesn't matter and then has no energy for something important.

Holy Crap! I'm a Girl!

So, this is just another story about a time when I've noticed my gender in a particularly awkward way.

This one is about my self-defense class.

I used to take a self-defense class learning Commando Krav Maga.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3874023586448343804

For a long time, I was the only girl who went (and even then, the only other girl we ever got while I went was a married middle-aged woman) so it was really obvious when we would spar/train/etc. It was a blast and a half, and I greatly enjoyed the class, but I could tell that I was different. I was still treated as an equal however, as everyone who went there was a stellar person, but I learned different moves because of my build, both from being short and also from being female. It made for some awkward circumstances (learning how to escape a choke hold when someone is stradling you was particularly awkward), but it was actually a situation where being noticeably different didn't result in alienation or any negative feelings.

Anyways, that's just another way I notice being a girl.

Monday, December 8, 2008

A new sort of dictionary

Stemming off of a comment on a previous post, I have decided to catalog my new words, and the definitions I come up with for them. This post will be continually updated as I bring new words forth from that place in my head where definitions come from (now known as Hotarfes).

If I don't have a definition yet, I'll just put the word, so feel free to put up new (possibly better)definitions if I don't have one, or just if you have another one, I'll add it.

The dictionary has now been moved to the side of my blog (at the top of course) since this blog post keeps moving farther and farther down the page. Feel free to add definitions in whatever comment section you please though!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Just so you know...

I've decided that the random letters they make you type in whenever you post a comment often make awesome words. I've also decided it's important to share these new and unique words. Therefore, when I post comments from now on, I will include at the end, the word I must type to post the comment. I'm just tossing this out here now so people don't get confused as much, although it isn't really helpful to those who don't read my blog. I guess confusion is the price they'll have to pay for not checking it out (well, in addition to the intrisic loss of not reading my blog). Anyway, just wanted to let you know.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

An Interesting Conversation

So there are a lot of things in Slaughter House Five that remind me of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I feel like if Tim and Kurt had a conversation it would be really interesting, and seeing as Kurt is dead (for real this time), I think I'm just gonna have to improvise.

Tim: Hey Kurt, whatcha eating?
Kurt: Three Musketeers Bar.
Tim: I knew a guy who used to eat those all the time back in Nam. Said he used 'em to keep him mellow.
Kurt: What was his name?
Tim: Fred Periwinkle.
Kurt: Did they work? To mellow him out?
Tim: Yep, right up until the day he died. Shot in the head. Taking a whiz and then Boom down. He was gone.
Kurt: So it goes.
Tim: Yea, just Boom down.
Kurt: Wow, is that true?
Tim: Does it really matter?
Kurt: Nope.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Absurdism with Random.org

So, I just plugged 25 numbers into random.org, and this was the sentence I got. It's rather absurd.

Blossom coffee spasm it swell he beard Ryhmenocerous wink gray if fantastic strap mouse swift green they scarf verb link flower yucky howl orange we.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

By Request

By Request: A blog about Jenny's new haircut

Jenny got a new haircut.

Fin.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

13 More Blackbirds

I'm going to write a couple (if by couple I mean 13, which I do) of new stanzas for the blackbird poem based on my interpretation of what these different blackbirds are. I'm not going to tell you what I think a blackbird is in this context, because it's open to interpretation. You're just gonna have to guess what you think it is.

XIV
A scary cave with crumbling innards
A blackbird
Filled with pits and holes and shadows
Smiling in the jungle light

XV
A pink blackbird filled with air
Floating as a balloon
Well-rounded
Blunt

XVI
A shiny-minded mastermind
A blackbird huntress Queen
An Empress of Nothingness
On the prowl

XVII
A blackbird wingless
Broken and Swinging
On one leg barely
Not quite standing

XVIII
A blackbird with lucky feet
Or not, a long pink tail and whiskers
Loose beak, light wings
Both wings flying seperate ways

XIX
Clean
Feathers tied back with pins
Sharp sighted and quick to peck
Agressive elegance

XX
A wave on the ocean
An aquatic blackbird
Flowing ever out
But looping back to the same

XXI
An animal
Talc to Gypsum to Quartz to Diamond
A shattered mirror
A blackbird in a maze in a box

XXII
A blackbird in flight
With tied wings
Caught in the rope
Flying in the fun house

XXIII
A blackbird fighting a dragon
In a desert
In a different space and time
Than where the blackbird sits

XXIV
A drowning blackbird
Tied to an anvil
Already at the bottom
Too long to be alive, but not dead

XXV
A brooding blackbird
Covered in spikes
Steeped in acid
An unknowing wraith

XXVI
An albino blackbird, clean
Beautifully sharp
Sweetly chirping
Unknown perfection

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Transformation

So I was thinking about what I'd like to transform into after the POD we had about...well, transformation.  Putting aside the obvious first choice of a shapeshifter (somebody who can turn into anything whenever they want or need to) because that's probably cheating, I decided on a porcupine.

This wouldn't really be that big of change for me really, just a change of shape.  Still, I think that's a good thing though, because honestly, I like me, and there's not a whole lot I'd really want to change.  The things I do want to change are things I can work on just fine without turning into a library or what have you.

Basically, I just think it'd be fun to walk around as a porcupine.  I mean, I already have a kind of prickly exterior sometimes, and most of the people who make me really mad regret it afterwards, but I also have a more vulnerable soft squishy side to me too, similar to our spiky friends.

I think it'd be an easy change to make too, which is nice because you don't want to wake up one day to find yourself something completely different wondering what was in your mac and cheese from the night before.  I'm naturally low to the ground, so that'd be a pretty smooth transition and with the aforementioned personality traits, I think, if I were to transform, becoming a porcupine would be a solid choice.