Visual Dare: Climbing

Woah! I have a blog!  :O 

Yeah, I've neglected this blog for a while.  But creating a new blog has rekindled my love for blogging.  And I've decided to make this blog strictly one for flash fiction and writingish things, and my new blog for whatever the heck I want to blog about.  It's pretty exciting.

So, to begin my new writing adventures for this blog, I decided to do Miss Angela Goff's Visual Dare for this week. So here it is!!

Visual Dare: Climbing

Photo Credits!
My Entry:

"The Tree"

They swing, they dream,
They laugh, they sing,
Up up up in the tree
Where are they from?
Where do they go?
Up up up in the tree
Soon the sun sets,
Soon darkness comes,
Up up up in the tree
Though still they climb,
Though still they rest,
Up up up in the tree

~~~~~

Ok so my poetry skills need a little work, or a lot of work, but I'm practicing.  And I've discovered I actually like writing poetry. :O This is a huge shocker considering my reaction to Dickinson in lit class last year. 

I like Edgar Alan Poe and Shel Silverstein though. :)

--Mary

Visual Dare: Stuck

Well, here is my entry for the lovely Miss Angela Goff's 'Visual Dare' she hosts on her amazing blog.

~~~

Why?  Why shouldn't I be allowed free?  I've been good.  I've taken this punishment with nothing but completely silent tolerance.  I've never left, even after all this time.  I've been staying in this prison, waiting until "the day".

Well, when will it come?!  I'm tired of this.  It's been more than I deserved.  I want to be again, to laugh again, to run.  This has gone on long enough.

I'll just free myself.  Why not?  Maybe they've forgotten.  If not then I suppose they'll just have to face me.

Now, what were the magic words?  Oh yes, "hold your breath".

~~~

Let me know what you think! :)

 

Summerishness

Now that June has come, things are really beginning to feel truly like summer.  It felt like summer when school let out back in May, but something about entering June just makes the summer seem so much bolder, at least to me. 

Usually summer is my least favorite season because of the scorching hot Georgia weather that is normally so humid you might as well go swimming through the air.  But this year things are different. 

I'm loving the bright warm sun and the long evenings.....

And the wildflowers/weeds-with-blossoms that are everywhere...  They're just so happy. :)


The other day I went outside and took many random pictures of all the pretty things. (Hence the pictures above.)  It was some extremely enjoyable fun and I highly recommend it. :D

I think part of my excitement for this summer comes from the fact that it's my last summer as a high school student. *yikes.*  Therefore, I'm kind of determined to make it a special one.

I've contrived a list of goals to accomplish this summer in order to hopefully make it more memorable. Not any kind of serious goals like conquering the world or winning the Nobel Prize...

Much more practical goals.  Like completing my novel's very-rough-draft, dancing in the rain, learning to speak at least 3 sentences in Hindi, getting a job, spending lots of time with my amazing family and friends, and painting so many pictures my hand will feel like it's going to fall off....

I'm just so excited to see what this summer will entail :)

What about you? Do you have any amazing summer goals? Or any other random comments regarding summerishness? I would love to hear from you!    

  

Contest Entry

Here is my entry for the Once Upon a Time writing contest....  I had fun writing this, but I've put off posting it until the last minute because I wasn't sure if I liked it.  But I decided I do :)

(347 Words)

---

            The lady sat peering out the window at the dripping trees in her rocking chair of wood.  Her face sculpted a solemn look filled with knowledge that could only have been attained through centuries.  She rested in front of her television, but her thoughts were deeply placed elsewhere.

            As the rain beat against her cottage roof and the chair rumbled across the hard floors, she started to hum a soft tune.  Once she began, everything throughout the small room seemed to faintly glow, and all other sounds faded.  On the mantle above the fire, the doll with the golden hair looked like it might smile, the top on the floor seemed on the tip of spinning, and the teapot on the table appeared it was going to pour itself.  Everything within the room had small glimmers of life.  The rain began to stop.

            Her small notes ended as a motor car parked outside the cottage.  The room became dull again, and the rain began once more.  A young gentleman jumped out of the car.  The old lady carelessly grunted.  Edward was always easily prone to panic.

            The door swung open.  “They know, Grandmother,” panted Edward.  “Come, hurry, we must go.  They know!”

            “We shall do no such thing,” the lady said, never taking her gaze out of the window. 

            “But we must!”

            Three men suddenly entered through the door way.  “You’ll be coming with us, Mrs. Morte, and your grandson,” smirked the leader.

            “Is that so?” she asked coolly, placing her sharp icy eyes upon them.  Beams of light choked the room and then vanished as quickly as they appeared.

            Edward stood breathless, his grandmother with a crooked grin on her thin lips.  Where the intruders once stood were now three candles.

            “We do not run, Edward,” she said bitterly. “Have I taught you nothing?”  Her face returned to the window.

            Slowly Edward exited the cottage, never glancing back.  As the door closed and he started pacing toward his car, he heard faint humming creep from behind the walls.  Sparks of sun light seeped through the trees.

---

100th Anniversary

The 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic is today.  At 2:20 this morning 100 years ago on April 15, 1912, the British ocean liner, which was the largest built ship of the time, became fully submerged in the Atlantic Ocean.  

It all started around 11:39pm on April 14, 1912, when the Titanic lookout Frederick Fleet, whose binoculars had been lost, spotted an iceberg.  Less than one minute later, the Titanic fatally hit the iceberg.  Sometimes only about 10% of an iceberg is visible above water.  Therefore once spotted, though it was ordered for the ship make a sharp turn, there was no way of avoiding the iceberg.  

Captain Smith ordered the ship to be inspected about a minute later, and Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, did so.  At midnight, Andrews informed the captain that the ship had only an hour and a half to remain afloat.  

Imagine that.  Knowing you have an hour and a half left to your life.  The very thing considered "unsinkable" would bring you to your death of either drowning or hypothermia.  It was completely unexpected.  The idea was not even considered until the hit.  And for many people, their arrogance cost them their lives. 

Approximately 706 people were saved on the sixteen lifeboats and four collapsible lifeboats the ship had on board.  The lifeboats could have held from 65-40 people, though some departed with as few as twelve.  This left around 1,517 people to die in the disaster.  Between all the classes(including the crew), about 157 women and children survived, and about 374 died.  Of the men on board, around 332 survived and 1,360 died.  Whole families were killed, including the infants and elderly.



I've had a keen interest the Titanic for several years now.  I even started writing a book about it, which is currently in the back of my "creative writing closet" because I kind of over planned it, and need to take a break.  Why do I have an interest in it?  Well, it was not a result of seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's characters fall absurdly in love in the oh-so-famous film.  I think it all started after reading this fictional diary of a girl who was a passenger of the ship.  The whole subject fascinated me.  The sadness of the disaster, yet the beautiful memories that are left of the ship.  It was a floating work of art.  "Women and children first".  A major act of true chivalry from a huge group of people.  A rule that was mostly held during the sudden disaster.

Stories like that of millionaire passenger Benjamin Guggenheim, who once he realized that the last life boat had departed and that he had no chance of surviving, went to his cabin with his valet where they dressed in their evening suits, and then returned to the deck.  Guggenheim was reported to have said, "We are dressed in our best, and are prepared to go down like gentlemen."

The elderly Isidor Straus turned down an offer to board a lifeboat.  His wife Ida also turned down the chance with the words, "I will not be separated from my husband.  As we have lived, so we will die together."  And they did.

The band who played until the very end.  Supposedly the final piece they played was the hymn, "Nearer, My God, To Thee".  All the members of the band were lost.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown, who took charge in her lifeboat and rowed toward the rescue ship, the Carpathia. 

Captain Edward John Smith:  It was supposed to be his last voyage before retirement.  The captain was last seen on the bridge before he went down with the ship.

There are so many breathtaking stories that occurred during the Titanic's maiden voyage that ended so abruptly.  The event of the Titanic is an example showing us that even during that extreme time of panic and desperation, there were people who sought to find and give hope, even when they knew there was none.  It is a story of bravery, courage, and honor earned most respectfully.


My resource for this blog post was the book Eyewitness Titanic by Simon Davis (DK Publishing, Inc.). It's a wonderful book with lots of amazing pictures.  You should check it out.  :)     
      

Just to Let You Know....

I'm about to start playing with the look and layout of my blog, so if you notice anything acting weird, that's probably why..  Hopefully I'll be able to create a new look quickly..  Sorry for any inconveniences!

Many Things...

Yeah I know, I'm pretty bad at posting regularly.  I haven't forgotten about my blog, honest.

I think my problem is that I really don't know what my plan is for this blog or how I want it to be, and I'm still trying to figure that out.  I have a tendency to over think pretty much everything, especially when it comes to this kind of thing.

I have an extreme level of shyness to the blog world at this moment in time, but I'm hoping that will wear off soon.  I'm not very extroverted, and I've just been having a hard time finding something to blog about that was moderately interesting.  It's kind of overwhelming.  But I realized the other day that I didn't get a blog to write perfection, I got a blog just to write.  

I know by far I am not a superb writer.  But I'm hoping this whole blog experience might increase my writingness.  Or at least help me to get these words out of my head...

I'm working on setting my blog "goal" for posting and all that stuff..

Anyway, there have been some wonderful things that have happened this past week or so, and I'm gonna share them with you:

Well, for starters, my best friend went to her cardiologist yesterday, and she received great news: her heart murmur is gone :) This has been something that I know has been weighing over her shoulders, and now it is no more :D God is just amazing beyond what words can describe.


Also, I received my first letter from my Compassion Correspondent child in India about two weeks ago!  This was the sweetest, most humbling letter I had ever read.  In reading it, I could really see this precious little seven-year-old's strong faith in Jesus :) I am so glad I am able to write him :)


Well that's it for now.  Oh! I'm going to visit a college this weekend..  This is exciting, just a little scary in a very eye-opening way...


I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful weekend!!