Thank you, Harris Burdick

A Strange Day In July

            Julie smiled as she felt the warmth from the sunlight against her fare skin. For the past week, anytime she would go outside she would only be greeted with the gloominess of the grey rain clouds above. She missed playing outside, she missed the smell of fresh air, and most importantly she missed her best friend. As soon as she got the okay from her mother, the six year old darted two doors down as fast as her little legs in her pretty pink dress could take her, to her best friend Josh’s house. Josh was just as eager to go back outside since he had been trapped for way too long inside his boring house. The two six year olds joined hands and made their way to their favorite place to play. The small creek that just took about five minutes to walk to, and held so many of their precious memories of growing up together. When they approached the creek, Julie grew tense and held tightly to Josh’s arm for protection. The once tiny creek that was peaceful and still, was now a running river from all the rain that had been fed into it the past week. Josh was too excited to be back to stop for anything, so he just dragged his smaller, slightly scared friend along with him. Since he knew that she was nervous to be around that high of water, he decided to teach her a game his father had once taught him. Together, the friends collected flat stones with a smooth surface. Josh taught Julie how to skip the rocks across the water. It took Julie a few tries, but she very quickly caught on. She let out a few chuckles whenever she noticed that Josh’s stones started coming back, causing hers to go farther than his. Josh soon grew frustrated, and his competitive nature kicked in. Julie suggested that they try and see whose can go the farthest since she realized that she was starting to have a slight advantage.  Josh quickly became determined to beat his friend he had just been trying to cheer up minutes ago. Julie went first, a tossed the stone across the water as they both watched in awe at how well the little six year old could through the rock. Her best friend went next. He threw with all his might, but the third stone came skipping back.

Memorable Passage

"I want to be free Michael. Just for once in my whole life, I want to be free."

"You are free. You just don't know it yet."

In this section, the girl is talking about being free from her pimps, and everything from her past that has always found a way to catch up to her. Being with Michael is the first place she's ever had that is actually safe. The only times that her past comes back up is when she forces it to by thinking about it too much or not accepting forgiveness that is given to her by both Michael and God. At the time, she was starting to become a little more open minded to the thought of there being a God, but she still didn't believe that he could forgive her for everything she had done, because nothing had come to her that easily before in life. I love this line because sometimes its easy for me to forget that God will always love me and forgive me for everything, even when I don't deserve it.

Famous First And Last Lines (About Books)

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."

The famous first line is from the novel "I Capture the Castle" written by Dodie Smith. She wrote it while living with her husband in California during WWII. The Novel is about a family living in a decaying English Castle during the 1930's. Poverty has struck the family as well as everyone else. The story is told through the point of view of a teenage girl who writes in a personal journal. Throughout the story she matures and transforms from a girl to a young woman. I don't think I would want to read his book mainly based on the fact that I don't find history very interesting usually.

"Tomrrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is a new day"

This quote is from the classic Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell in 1936. The story follows a spoiled girl who must find her way out of poverty. The story was written throughout the perspective of a slaveholder and is very controversial when it comes to slavery. I'm kind of torn with whether I would enjoy it or not. Again with the history, I don't think I would enjoy the language and all the different slang they would use, making it harder for me to understand whats going on. However, slavery can be a very interesting topic to me so maybe I would enjoy the novel. 

Quotes

Famous First And Last Lines

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. There are plenty of empty rooms and bed throughout this now lonely house I could choose from. So many memories flood the air in this kitchen, though, that this seems to be the only logical place I’d be right now. Three years of fun and happiness. Messing around and just enjoying ourselves. All of the good memories were so quickly forgotten during three weeks of disagreeing. My roommate, best friend, and soul mate, gone. He threw everything away over some dumb things that are so unimportant that I can’t even remember what they were. All I remember was being my stubborn self and not letting him be right. I should’ve, just let him win the argument. Then maybe he would’ve stuck around. Besides, he is way more important to me than anything. Including my pride. I need to apologize and find a way to get things back to my dream life with just me and him. He was and still is my everything. I would do anything just to see his contagious smile, or hear his laugh that could cure cancer. I’m not sure how, or when, but I will find a way to fix this all. I’d much rather be cuddling up on the couch watching a movie, or making dinner together like we always did. Instead I’m sitting in the kitchen sink like an idiot trying to figure this all out. I need to do something, and I need to do something quick. Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is a new day.

Writer's As Readers

1.      Whenever I read, I just prefer to have my own space. Whether it be curled up on the couch or in the back corner of my room. I just like to be by myself so other people aren’t distracting me, and I can fully get into the book. Also, I prefer to be as comfortable as possible. Such as wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweat pants, whatever it is as well as wrapped in a larger, soft blanket. I can still read if I’m in something like jeans but I just wouldn’t enjoy it as much. And finally, I like to listen to music. I used to hate it, but ever since I read the Lovely Bones on a road trip, and used headphones to block everything out, it has become a necessity. That way the real world is completely blocked out and I can give the book my full attention. 

2.      Genres that interest include romance and mystery. The same goes with movies. I like romance because it makes me happy and it gets me the most attached to the characters. The entire time throughout the book I’m excited to see where the couple are going to go next and it has me rooting for them from the very beginning. In the sort of way I like knowing what I want, and for the most part know what’s going to happen. With mystery, I like it because I don’t know what is going to happen. It keeps me turning the pages and never wanting to put it down, so I can finally find out what is going on behind the scenes and what truly happened.

5.  There has been lots of books that I’ve loved so much that I couldn’t put it down. Back in middle school I used to read all the time and there were tons of books that I could finish in a day. When I first started reading the Pretty Little Liars series, that’s all I did with my life it seemed like. Every chance I got, I’d pick up the book and not want to put it down. The chapters switch to a different one of the four girls, and always ends with a cliffhanger, making you want to skip to their next chapter, but then you realize you’re going to see what happens next with a different girl and making you anxious to finally find out what happened there.

8. Going along with number 5, the Pretty Little Liars series is my favorite series I’ve ever read. I haven’t read too many series, but this is by far my favorite. I’m currently on book 13 I think (pretty sure I lost count), but I still have the desire to read and find out what happens. I’ve watched every episode of the television show too, but I have to say the books are better. The show has totally branched off on its own, so I no longer can tell what is going to happen next, but I have enjoyed the story line from the books better. They seem a lot more realistic and they are just a lot of fun to read.

9. When I finished reading “My Life Next Door”, I was happy because the two main characters finally just gave up everything else keeping them apart and were able to be together. It was a romance novel, but a teenage romance. I don’t remember the girls name because I read it in freshman year, but I remember every detail about Jase. If it’s possible to have a crush on a character in a book, then I definitely had one on him. In the end, he finally forgave the girl and her family for something her dad did to his family, and then they were able to be together and it made me extremely happy.  

Dream Threads

My dreams tend to revolve around going on a big adventure. Yesterday morning, I woke up in a deep sweat with my hair sticking to the now slightly damp pillow. Memories from the previous night’s dream rushed through my mind as I tried to piece it all together. There was a big mountain, and roaring river, and somewhere in there a flying tiger. The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. The first thing I remembered was hiking up a huge mountain in Arizona with two of my good friends. Despite it being a dream, I could feel my lungs start to burn as I tried to control my breathing while hiking up this ginormous mountain. Next thing I knew, I was diving down head first and landed in a river that was super intense. If I was looking from a bird’s eye view, I would’ve thought anyone to enter those strong waves of water, rushing past and swallowing everything in its path, would be done. They would stand no chance. Somehow I just stayed calm and floated on my back, as I took the exhilarating trip down the stream. An excited laugh escaped my lips from a mixture of both delight and slight terror. As soon I approached a large waterfall, I noticed something coming closer and closer in the sky. Next thing I knew I was running through the forest from a flying tiger that looked extremely vicious. That’s when I decided to be done dreaming for the night and finally escape from the threatening tiger. If a dream ever gets too scary, I just close my eyes and tell myself to wake up.

I know...

I know…

I want to have a job where I get to interact with children

I want a big, loving family

I want a little girl to be my little gymnast

I want my kids to be in love with music

I want to be able to take my kids to whatever concert or activity they dream of going to

I want my kids to love the Lord with all of their hearts

I want a husband that is loving and reliable

I want to adopt from Ethiopia

I want to be happy and love life

I don’t know…

What the heck I want with my life or how I’m going to achieve it

Maya Angelou Questions

3. I think she has a point when she says talking about dreams gives them too much power. If I have a bad dream or something then I talk about, but the more I talk about it, the harder it is for me to eventually forget about what happened in the dream. Same goes for bad news or other bad things. Especially when it comes to drama at school or just everyday life. The more people talk about it, the longer it is before it all just goes away. And with drama at school, the more people talk about it the angrier people get and it all just gets blown into a way bigger deal than it ever was to begin with.

4. The thought of dreams ‘telling the truth’ is kind of scary to me. I believe that it’s true that people dream about stuff that’s going on in life or most important to them. I heard once that dreams are a collection on what all went on that day and it is our brains way of processing all of it. Or that it’s just picking out small pieces that stood out. Lately I’ve had a couple dreams that I think support that. There’s been someone that made just a small appearance in a conversation but then they were a highlight in my dream that night, when I haven’t talked to them in a couple years. Dreams work in a very strange way in my opinion. I have very weird dreams a good majority of the time so is odd for me to think that that’s what is actually on my mind.

5. I do not think I would be able to go that long without talking. Five years is a very long time, so there’s no way that I could go that long. I don’t think that I talk too much, but I also don’t think I talk too little. There are certain times when I can fit either category, but for the most part I feel like I talk the right mount. Whenever I was younger, I was very shy and my uncle always said it was because I was listening to what everyone had to say and learn from it. Whether that is true or if I was just too scared to talk to people I didn’t fully know is something I’m not quite sure of. However, I do think that if you do just stop and listen, you can learn a lot more about the people and things around you than you would if you were talking the whole time. Sometimes it’s nice to just stop and listen rather than make sure you get your ideas and opinions in all the time.

7. I have a good memory, but not with everything. I can remember more from when I was younger than I can from yesterday. Also, I can remember a lot of different things from kindergarten, and even some from preschool, but I don’t have a single memory of my parents being together, or them going through the divorce. That all was happening around the time I was in kindergarten, so I don’t understand why I can remember stuff from school or playing with friends, but nothing about my home life. I’ve heard before that people block out things they don’t want to remember. However, I can remember things from just a couple years after that that I would rather not remember, but then happy and fun moments are a little fuzzier. The brain works in a very mysterious way.

Color Haikus

“Airy Blue”

The soft breeze flew by

Through the girl’s hair the wind blew

Blue skies clear and bright

“Storybook Charm”

The Prince and Princess

True love cannot be broken

Fought for each other’s love

“Knee High Grass”

Dancing through the field

Laughing, playing, singing

Lasting memories

"I Can Fly" (paint sample)

                The annual State Championships for level nine gymnasts were just around the corner. The pressure that came with this met was all Molly could think about as she stood at the chalk bucket, doing the same routine she always does to get the perfect amount of chalk on her worn in grips. She only had three practice left before the big day, so she knew it was now or never to get back a skill she had done a thousand times before. Last week when performing her routine, her grips slipped off the low bar when she attempted a bail and ever since there was a huge mental block that began to control her. Today she was determined, she wasn’t going to let this little fear stop her from victory next week. As she approached the low bar, she kept reminding herself of how m=badly she wanted this. Molly completed her lower half or her routine, but the nerves began to kick in was she jumped to the high bar. One time, that’s all it would take to beat this. She pushed all the nerves out as she did her long hang kip, cast handstand pirouette. She completed her first giant, spotted the low bar, and then let her body kick in. As she loosened her grip, she squeezed her body’s muscles and felt herself fly. Next thing she knew her hands were grasping the low bar and her coaches and teammates cheered loudly. Molly knew she was back, and could finally fly again while doing her bail. A small smirk crept its way to her face as she thought about how her chances to become state champion were finally in her reach again.