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Writing Exercise Update, Promising Film Reviews

Hi. I should do what I always have done on this blog, huh? Ooops, I'm really sorry I've been gone so much. It's getting pretty hectic here with school/work/writing/video games/socializing and the blog has fallen behind. In any case, I apologize and I'll hopefully get back in the swing of things real soon. Until then, here's a couple creative writing exercises (free-writes) I've done based on prompts from school. Peep 'em if ya like.

"Mumbler on the Train"

                “Fetch the Queen,” this ratty old bum mumbled, slouching in the seat beside me. “she’ll want to see this.”

                What would you like to show her? I though, not daring to actually speak for fear of angering someone obviously off their rocker.

                “The chocolate rabbit took my baby,” he glared out the window. “See! There they go!” he jabbed wildly at the darkness of the subway tunnel outside.

                Chocolate rabbit? It’s not even close to Easter.

                He rubbed his runny nose on one of his filthy hands, and turned away. Perhaps he’d finished speaking.

                How’d the rabbit get your baby? Trying hard to use my thoughts to egg him on. We had a long ride before getting to my station, and I’d be bored as hell if this nut didn’t keep blabbering on.

                “traded him for a bottle of whiskey.” He hiccupped and an empty glass bottle crashed to the floor from under his jacket.

                Fair trade for both parties I’d say.

                “if the bastard hadn’t swindled me!” He bent down and retrieved his bottle. “He took all the fucking booze outta it!” He folded his arms.

                How’d he manage to do that? I wondered at him again, trying to keep it up.

                “Magic.” Again, he hiccupped.

                Did he just-?

                “Yeah, and if you’d shut your brain up, I’d like to sleep. Gotta be rested fer when I go after that fucking chocolate.” He leaned his head against the glass and dozed off almost instantly.

An Eavesdropping Father. In the key of: concerned.

                “Stop it!” She giggled, turning away from the doorway and my ill-conceived hiding place. “You’re so disgusting sometimes.”

                The statement was true though my darling girl shouldn’t be laughing about it. This guy she was “Dating” was grade-A scum and even though I constantly reasoned against their involvement, she went right ahead and saw him. So headstrong. Just like her mother.

                If only she could be her to see how our baby girl was behaving.

                “Wait until after prom. You can do that, can’t you?”

                I fought just about every fiber of my being to not rush into the run and tear that expensive little piece of shit phone out of her hands. Only seventeen and talking like this?

                “I promise it’ll be worth the wait. There’s some things in this month’s Cosmo that I think will make it, like, 10 times better.”

                Cosmo… that trash mag I bought her a subscription to for her birthday? I’ll cancel that right after this phone call, swear to God.

                “Yeah?” She twirled a lock of her hair between two fingers while gazing, unseeing, out the window at the old oak tree with the tire swing I used to push her in. The same tree I built a fort in when she was 12 ‘cuz she’d just seen Swiss Family Robinson and insisted on living just like them.

                “My dad said he’d be going out of town on business the weekend after, too, so that gives us, like, two whole days of being alone.”

                I’m rescheduling that. Right after I cancel that stupid magazine, I’ll reschedule that meeting and ground my daughter for the rest of her existence. Even when I’m long-dead, I’ll hire someone with what money I have left to ground her in my place.

                “Hey! Be nice! I love my dad, even if he’s been acting weird since mom died.” She rose from the bed and plopped down in her computer chair, swiveling back and forth while chatting away with her “boyfriend.”

                Fine, so what if I’d been acting weird? I was married to her mom for over 20 years, dated years before that. That woman was all I had before bringing you into the world, and I swear if you bring that dog into my house to have sex while I’m gone, I’ll send you and him to go hang out with mommy.

                Ok, maybe that’s a little extreme. I’ll just send him to see-- no, I don’t want him anywhere near my wife. Even in the afterlife.

                “Oh, on his bed? Good idea.” I think I’m going to be sick.

Saying Goodbye to Spider-Man

[Super unedited geek rant incoming, beware grammar and spelling mistakes. I ain't editing fer shit.]

Amazing Spider-Man just finished an arc called One Moment in Time (OMIT for short. Oh the irony), and I'm finished with Spider-Man.

Ever since I can remember, I've been a webhead. One of my earliest memories is playing "Spider MAN!" at my Grandma's house with a pair of briefs over my head I'd rigged up to be like a spidey mask. I'd running around doing kicks and pretending to spew webbing from my wrists at invisible bad guys. Later, I bought a few comics (Deadpool, Spider-Man etc) and read them. Though Deadpool was a bit edgy for my young self, I adored SM (we'll call him that cuz it's a long name) even more now that I'd read his print work. Fastforward to a trip along the California coast and I'm buying thick volumes that collect years of vintage SM comics reprinted for reading pleasure, which I do. Move to the overnight boat I took from England to Spain, and there I am sitting outside devouring SM novels like Revenge of the Secret Six, or me going nuts when I heard there would be a SM MOVIE of all things.

Fine, fine. So I've stuck with Peter Parker for much of my life and, up until the other day, had been buying each issue of Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) when it came out at my local comic shop. However, on a routine trip to the store, I talked to the employee about changing which comics I was subscribed to, and promptly removed Spidey from my list of titles. But, why?! Well, it's pretty simple:

I'm tired of it. Sure, the tried-and-true SM antics are still around, and his famous villains are all bursting to make returns in small story arcs that aren't too shabby. However, I simply cannot justify it anymore. In OMIT, Mary Jane and Peter Parker have a long heart to heart about their past, relationship, and what went wrong. The end culminates in revealing everything that went into reversing a nasty bit of recent history (which ruined Spidey's life) and features Mary Jane telling Peter that she cannot be with him anymore and that he should move on. Which he does, apparently. This is the issue; seeing SM declare a brand new day having just looked back on a print history I was very into throughout childhood made me feel like I was reading the closing chapter of the entire Spidey universe.

So see ya, Spider-Man, may you web swing forever and stuff. I've enjoyed reading the comic, and  seeing the second movie. It's time for me to migrate to greener pastures both in comics, and in .. well ok maybe just comics.

"Brownie" Short Story

Edit:

I've taken it down just so it doesn't get jacked in all its awfulness. More updates coming soon! 

Same Scene, Two Perspectives

[Wrote this during a prompted free write in Intro to Creative Writing and I thought I'd just throw it up here to show that... you know, I actually do write a little bit. Granted, it's not really been edited beyond that first draft I did in class, but if you're bored give it a read. The prompt was describing a scene from your memory, and then doing it again from the perspective of someone else who was there.]

The performer drew back his longbow with great strength, all the while telling the crowd about the medieval battles fought here in the vast green fields that led up to Windsor Castle. He then let fly, striking a small straw man some yards away. The onlookers, myself included, applauded from under raincoats or umbrellas, the English grey sky showering us with a light afternoon rain.

Once the show was over, my family and I returned to the castle, walking along a rocky footpath with the rest of the former audience who chattered in different languages about what I imagined was their response to the performance. The castle itself seemed less like a fortress and more of a mansion, really. Sure, it had its fair share of towers and buttresses, but the interior felt more like a great manor, hundreds of rooms that were done up to mimic the living environment of old. It certainly smelled old, anyway.

Where the grounds met the castle, there was a small cafe with the tables set out in defiance of the rainy weather. The eatery offered the traditional English fare; pasties, tea and scones, softer serve ice cream with a chocolate flake, and a variety of puddings.

"Anyone hungry?" Dad asked us. Mom passed, but my little sister Lexi looked as though she'd been waiting for this question her whole life.

"Can I have some ice cream, daddy?" She asked, her face glowing with anticipation.

"Of course, sweetheart," was his loving reply.

--

Though perhaps embellishing his tale a bit, this employee had his facts right. The battles he spoke of while swinging around his imitation broadsword and bow and arrow did certainly take place, but what's left out in these damn tourist shows are the cold realities of being a medieval foot-soldier. Nothing glorious about that job, I'll tell you that much.

However, Jeff seemed to be enjoying himself well enough. As a son of two historians, we'd expected some level of interest in the past from him, yet he'd curiously exhibited very little. Perhaps here he had been enjoying the dramatics rather than the history of the performance. No matter, so long as my children are happy, I am happy. Shifting my grip on the umbrella, which I held over the kids to keep them dry, we applauded this actor and walked back up the path towards the castle. There was a garden beyond, with amazingly trimmed hedges and statues of animals, but my stomach was grumbling a bit. 

Luckily for me, ahead there was this adorable cafe serving the standard fare, and I imagined I could nab a spot of tea before continuing the tour of this historical location. Granted, I much prefer driving out into the countryside to see ruins of castles that were not renovated for travelers but again, the children must be considered. Besides, the lush green of everything coupled with the pale brown pathway really made for some startling beauty, and the mansion castle ahead would have made a wonderful postcard to send back to my parents.

"Anyone hungry?" I asked, half expecting to be the only one inclined on eating anything. Stephanie, as I'd expected, turned down the offer though Lexi seemed to be expecting the question.

"Can I have some ice cream, daddy?" She asked cheerfully. I wish she would learn to use, "May I?" rather than, "Can." Ah well, we'll get there eventually, she's still young.

"Of course, sweetheart," I replied, grinning. The two of us went into the cafe while Stephanie and Jeff waited outside, content in the rain.

Junior Year Mini Reflection

College - Junior Year

Welcome, boys and girls, to the third year of our college career. Gone are the days of Freshman year where it was, "Party at all costs," or the, "Well, maybe let's party a little less this time" Sophomore year. Here, instead, we grow ever-closer to (hopefully) graduating and moving out either to a grad school or the workplace, putting our school careers which have dominated the majority of our life behind us in order to join the job-stream. My question to you heathens is: How does this make you feel?

No psychiatrist, I'm curious because I'm damn unsure what it is that I feel when I think about finishing college which always seemed so far off in the future that I didn't have to think one bit about it. On one hand, I'm still trying to have as much fun as I possibly can while in school, but on the other a part of me wonders whether it's time to stop all this shit and just focus on my schoolwork and writing in order to better prepare myself for a time when there isn't a classroom to go to. I wonder if I can even stop doing things like playing video games? Drinking with friends on the weekends? Do I want to stop these things?

Would my life be richer without these pastimes and hobbies? Probably not but they do certainly detract from my studies and writing time; how worrisome.

Anyway, have a good school year and let me know how you're feeling about things if you'd like!

BBC Essential, DnB Youtube and more

Sup, welcome to October everybody. Hope you're all doing fine. I'm currently working on a short story I'm planning to post up on here in the next couple of days, but I thought I'd just list a couple links of things I'm digging right now to tide y'all over until I can get this tale into a spot I'm happy with.

http://bbc.co.uk/radio1/essentialmix/

Wouldn't it be nice if the radio didn't play absolute filth all the time? Well, other countries seem to have a handle on... better music. Check the above link about once a week if you're into house or electro, they switch it up to a new mix by a different established DJ each week and it's always fiya.

http://www.youtube.com/user/UKFDrumandBass

Like Drum and Bass? Me too. Loads a videos in that channel, check them out!

Love you,

GT