Monday, February 7, 2011

reminiscent

An interesting situation happened a while ago:

There has only been one girl whom I've seriously been interested in in my young life. It was a few years ago. I never pursued anything with her because we were both too young and I didn't want to end up scarring both of us through a broken relationship, so I backed off.

A week after I backed off, she started going out with another guy.

Last month, they got married.

I've been over her for years, so this isn't a whining heart-torn-to-shreds blog post, but it's weird to think that the only girl I've ever been seriously interested in is now a Mrs.

I remember one time when we talked for hours. I started making up a half-humorous, half-almost-cool story. I said I'd write the story out. A few weeks later she was dating another guy.

I wrote over 200 pages of the story. She still doesn't know I did that. It's probably for the better that she doesn't know. I wrote it within a year-ish of when we were interested in each other. Now, the Word documents still sit on my hard drive like an old unloved stuffed animal tossed amongst rags.

I was reminded of the story when they got married.

I'm happy for them. He's a great guy; she's a great girl.

We would never have worked out so it's definitely for the better this happened. I've barely seen or talked to her in nearly 3 years but my Word document still rests untouched and unread by anyone aside from me.

Friday, February 4, 2011

literature

For the first time... I love literature.
My professor this semester is so intriguing; it is almost impossible not to enjoy it.
Even though I aspire to be an author, I have never liked literature classes, with my ongoing excuse of, "I am never assigned interesting things to read. All the classical literature I have to read is old and boring. I want exciting and gripping."

Although that excuse is semi-valid, my professor of one week helped me realize that although nothing "interesting" may be happening circumstantially in the story, the marks of a true literary genius is the art of weaving masterful prose and gripping the reader through the mundane of everyday life through poetic verse.

He altered my view of "boring literature" forever. I look forward to this class eagerly. I cannot wait to be immersed in the vicarious ups and downs of poetic adventure and masterpiece.

Monday, January 31, 2011

back in black

The month of January has been interesting. I'm not going to sum it all up, but basically I decided to take a break from the internet (which was outrageously refreshing and almost unheard of in the modernized world).

I did a lot of writing. I wrote about 50 pages in the last 2 weeks. It has been very productive. I also have been doing a lot of reading. I'm engrossed in the Stieg Larsson novels. I'm currently half-way through The Girl Who Played With Fire. The sequel is in the mail right now, headed to my dorm room.

Today is the first day of classes for the Spring semester. I have an 8am class every Mon/Wed/Fri. So, I've decided to wake up at 6am to work out, do devotions, and eat breakfast. I did that this morning and it was wonderful. I hope I can keep this up through the semester. I'll have to go to bed every night around 11:30pm, which actually isn't all that difficult: I did it last night.

Yesterday I had 3 flights to get from Minnesota to Indiana. Yes, that's right, Indiana is only 3 states away. I landed in Wisconsin, then Michigan, and then Indiana. Roundabout much? I'm not going to complain though, because I love traveling. I have officially flown 33 times. Yes, I keep track.

I spent my travels yesterday people watching, reading, and occasionally writing my book. It was wonderful.

Now that I am back in the dorm and seeing all the guys again (many of whom grew too much facial hair over the infamously lazy J-term) which has been nice. My roommate and I are in 2 of the same classes together, one of which is Political Thinking, which I'm looking forward to a lot. I've not taken much politics before, and i'm ready to start.

As far as my novel goes... it is actually going wonderfully. I solved my writers' block that has been bothering me for so long, and am getting far in the story. Also, I am setting up a few interviews with real-life computer hackers. (They're the good guys, though. Technically their job titles would be something like: Cyber Security Analyst). I cannot write 2-3 chapters until I conduct the interviews, but they live in MN, so I have to wait until Spring Break. Oh, dang.

I'll be updating much more frequently, especially now that I am not taking a break from the internet.

Have a wonderful day, and make it a point today to make someone smile!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year

Before I talk about the New Year and all that jazz, I need to make a quick correction about my last blog entry before I keel over from sheer shame. Hemingway is not spelled: "Hemmingway". There is only one M in there.

I barely did any research about Hemingway (still going to do it, just haven't gotten around to it quite yet). My thought process is thus: I am a writer. I must learn about the best writers that ever lived so I can be awesome like them.

Logical assumption, right? I read Hemingway = I get a book deal. (Slight sarcasm there. I still think wishful thinking means probable future. Why limit yourself?)

If you look at the link of this blog, it is everydaynewyear2010, which is a long name and corny, so I wish I could change it, but hey, whatever. The origional intent was to set a daily resolution for myself to accomplish.

Hah.

In the months following, it has transformed into something... different. But, that cannot go to say that I can't set New Year's Resolutions for myself and still hope to accomplish them.

Here are a few of mine. Some will be extremely difficult to complete, others are crazy easy.

1. Be able to bench my own body weight.
2. Be able to do the splits. (Recognize this one from last year? Shame is written all over this)
3. Finish writing my book. (By far the hardest one)
4. Learn a new talent.

Sure, there are only four of them, but hey, they're hard. Okay, none of them are: "Crazy easy" as I stated some would be before thinking about the list. But, they'll stretch me. (The splits especially. Haha)

I've decided to stay home over J-term (or interm, whatever you prefer it be called) to work. So, instead of having a ton of fun with my friends for a month at college and get 3 free credits over J-term, I will be staying home and working. Sounds like a blast, right? This month is going to be hard. I love my family like crazy, but I'd way rather be at college right now. I hope the new year starts of with a good month.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Hemmingway

So, I realized that I have never read Hemmingway. I'm not even sure what Hemmingway's first name is. Arther? Nathan? Fitzgerald?

I call myself a writer. Hah. No writer is a writer without reading Hemmingway. He is the master of the iambic pentimeter, and has conquered the literary community with a fictional fist - and he still does. And my mind has not yet been exposed to his brilliance. How sad is that?

My small goal: to familiarize myself with Hemmingway's biography and some of his writings, so I can better understand how and why he is so revered.


Oh, and as a side note: Christmas music is the best thing ever. I love it. But, it cannot be listened to before Black Friday, or after January 1st. Anytime in that time perameter makes everything magical and wonderous, but if listened to outside that time perameter... something bad is bound to happen.
So, enjoy the Christmas music while you can.

Monday, December 6, 2010

finals

My entire world is shrinking into a tiny bubble of late nights, caffiene, books, and memorizing. You've guessed it... it's finals week. Or, to be specific, the week before finals week, which is much more work. The week before finals week is all the studying, and finals week itself is just tests.

Kill me now.

I spent 6 and a half hours studying for a Spanish test last week. I will be lucky if I get a C. I don't understand Spanish at all. I used to love Spanish in high school (when I had an amazing teacher) but now I have a horrid teacher.

Class time consists of him telling us stories of his childhood and college life and travels around the world. Sometimes he plays spanish music for the class. Then he realizes that there's only 10 minutes left in class time, so he crams an hour lecture into 10 minutes, leaving everyone confused.

The result is me knowing no Spanish and being punished for my teacher's failings. If I was quizzed on his life, i'd get an A. But when it comes to prerite, present and past subjunctive, and indicative... i'm lost. No hope for survival.

This is the first class I am scared I may fail in. I'm a good student, and I average A's in all my classes. But, this just might kill me.

All my other classes are going wonderfully. I enjoy them.

This week I was introduced to the classic TV show: Friends. Growing up my family never had cable, so I never watched any TV; we would occasionally watch movies. So, I have never seen Friends before. I cannot believe what I have been missing! This show is the basis for all sit-coms/soap operas/witty TV shows. It is the formula for success.

This is a revelation to me. I'm glad I discovored it, especially since i'd like to one day write scripts for TV shows, it's good to know the formulas for the most successful shows in TV history.

Anyways, I hope I survive the week. Afterwards I get to go back home to Minnesota on a long 12 hour car ride. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will keep me entertained as my friend drives.

Monday, November 29, 2010

break

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was relaxing. It was heart-warming to be with family. It was hilarious (had a party Friday night, tons of laughing involved). But, the one thing that was missing from the yearly tradition of Thanksgiving is this: the feast and Grandma's house.

Every year my Grandma hosts Thanksgiving for their side of the family. My mom, my aunt, and my Grandma are all incredibly amazing cooks, so it is a joyous time (especially for my mouth).

But, this year, my Grandma had surgery on her fingers. She has been ridden with artheritis for years, and just recently decided to have surgery on her fingers to do whatever the Doctors do to make it better. Anyways, she couldn't cook. So, we decided to have our Thanksgiving meal at an Inn. Weird, right? It was nice though. We had a great time, and the food was very good.

Overall my break included:

* Staying up until 3am wathcing movies and talking with my family
* Showing off my first published piece of writing
* Shopping
* Drinking Caribou Coffee (I miss it so much since there aren't any Caribous in Indiana)
* Hanging out with friends
* Being lazy

It was a very nice weekend. Now I am back at college and prepared to conquer my tests. Spanish is killing me, so I am pulling out the big guns and ready to battle verb conjugations, tenses, and verbage until Spanish begs for mercy.
Wish me luck.

Oh, and a goal that I just completed: I ran a mile in 6:30. I had been getting a little slow, so I set a goal for myself to complete a mile (only breathing out of my nose so it helps my breathing as well) in 6:30.
My next goal is 6 minutes flat. That will take me a while to reach; bring it on!