Sick Days

So, I haven't been to school in a while, and I'm actually starting to miss it. I don't even know what's wrong with me; I'm just tired and nauseous and sore and my head is pounding and I feel like vomiting but don't. My doctor thinks it might be either a virus or my thyroid meds need to be adjusted, so I got blood drawn today. Blah, blah, blah. Not really interesting.

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. A few weeks ago, I saw The Human Centipede. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There wasn't anything I wasn't prepared for. Three people are attached from mouths to butts. The more interesting thing to me is that they used to do this in concentration camps during World War II. They did a lot of scientific experiments there, like injecting dye into eyes to see if they'd change color and sterilizing people with hereditary diseases. These things were definitely horrible, but I find it kind of fascinating that Nazis would kill Jews in all different ways for research. Like, "We may be murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the name of religion, but hey, at least we're being productive.

On the subject of Nazis, I also saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It was incredibly sad. I was not expecting Bruno to die. I was thinking that maybe the mother would take him and Gretel away from the father, or maybe the father would find out that Bruno was friends with a Jewish boy and punish him, or even that Shmuel would die and Bruno would start asking questions about why Jews were dying. I have to say, I kind of liked Gretel's character. She was all feminine and nice at the beginning and she played with dolls, but she started going all Nazi-chic towards the middle. She started wearing her hair in double braids and she stripped her dolls naked and threw them in the shed. She's like eleven, and she went total badass in less than a month.
Lastly, I saw Letters to Juliet. It really sucked. I think you kind of had to speak Italian to really get it. My favorite part was the end when Charlie said, "I live in London, a gorgeous, vibrant, historic city that I happen to love living in. You live in New York, which is highly overrated... But since the Atlantic Ocean is a bit wide to cross every day, swimming, boating or flying, I suggest we flip for it... And if those terms are unacceptable, leaving London will be a pleasure, as long as you're waiting for me on the other side." There were some really funny quotes throughout the movie, but the whole "Romeo and Juliet"mushy-gushy-love-story-thing isn't really my taste.

Ideas

I really liked the ideas for the Scholarship dinner that were discussed today. The 'What the Fuck' box and the Thought Balloons are really fun, interactive things that people will see and want to be involved with. Also, I'm pretty excited that we'll be doing sketch comedy. I didn't really have any ideas during STAC, but when I got home I started brainstorming. This is what I have so far:
-How to make a sandwich from the flesh of your enemies. (a Food Channel-style recipe)
-Teaching a grown man with amnesia how to do things such as tying shoes, swimming, riding a bike, etc.
-A football game played on all fours and without the use of your hands to catch the ball.
I'm not sure what I want to do for my Inquiry. I might do writing, but I don't think I could do much research on that. I was thinking about learning how to make films, but they'd just be mediocre anyway and I think I need more experience with a camera first. I would really like to do hair; learn how to do really intricate, complicated hairstyles, but I've been told that that doesn't really count as an art form. Of course, anybody can do a simple braid or ponytail, but it really takes an expert to do a lot of hairstyles I see online.

Rushing

Today, I found out how busy I am this week. I have the singing workshop tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, and the writing workshop on Wednesday. I still have to critique the other writers' work, and finish the book I was given, and I'm just starting to feel very stressed with midterms coming up and all of the homework and tests I have this week. I'm not complaining. I'm really looking forward to the workshops, but I just have a lot on my plate. On top of this, I learned today that the StacArt project is due Wednesday and I had no extra time to finish it. All I had left to do required special materials, but I decided to use all I had available and finish today. I needed assorted garbage, so I called my mom and had her bring in various candies. I think everybody enjoyed that. I let everybody else eat them, I just told people I needed the wrappers back. I needed a plastic cup-shaped thing, and I was going to use a plastic cup, but I couldn't find one so I just drank all of my water and cut up my water bottle. I was going to use sandpaper for a cement sidewalk, but I ended up just painting the squares tan. Lastly, I was planning on using pictures of myself, but I ended up taking a picture of the red M&M from a wrapper and a picture of a random guy from the newspaper. Since I was hurrying myself to finish, I think the project was messy, but hey, it's something.

Writing Workshop

It was very, very strange for me to have to criticize the workshop leader's piece. It's one thing when you're at school dissecting other students' work or a core book. With students my age, I don't expect them to write at an award-winning level, so correcting their grammar or spelling or formatting is simple. Even with John freaking Steinbeck, you are able to either commend or criticize him, because, well, he's dead. It's not like he can defend himself. But when you are sitting in a room with a person and you have no choice but to tell him things that he did wrong, it is kind of nerve-wracking. I mean, if I were in the position of the workshop leader, I would want to get that advice, but as I am the type of person who hates hurting people's feelings, it hurt me to do so. Especially since he was 25 and I am only 14. It felt like I was in no position to judge him. I understand that criticism helps you and makes you stronger, but too many people get offended when people are only trying to help them with their work. Even though Alex told us to rip him apart, it was still uncomfortable because I'm not used to helping people by giving my own negative opinions.
I was not very proud of the writing I did for the workshop. Towards the end, I sort of just winged (wang?) it because I was sleepy and partly delusional. I quoted this guy named Alan Watts, really just because I found a quote from him while I was procrastinating. It didn't really have anything to do with what I was writing, but I tied it in anyway. Throughout most of it, all I was writing were my past experiences at trying to make friends. I hated how self-pitying I sounded. I think I tend to do that a lot, make people feel sorry for me because I didn't have many friends growing up. At first, I only told three stories from my early childhood, but I didn't have enough pages so I wrote one for every year of elementary school. I sort of ripped apart this girl named Lee Ella, but to be fair she was awful to me, and now she lives in Israel so it's not like she'll ever know, anyway. One thing that I think I did well, if I must say so is that I made my horribly embarrassing experiences sound humorous. I think that people like to do that when they feel bad for themselves. They feel like making a joke out of it will make them feel better, and like I said in my writing, embarrassing moments make for great stories in the future. Immediately after something happens, you think that you'll never tell anybody because it was too awful, but in a while, it's just a funny story.

My Very First Shostegigi and My StacArtistic Revelation

I had a wonderful time today. Everybody's gifts were so creative! Even though I didn't get a gift myself (which I really don't mind), I was laughing my butt off at everybody's voodoo dolls. Especially Emily's, which I still don't understand. And Michelle Marin's (it was so realistic). And Lisa's, which was just perfect. The entire affair got me in such a great spirit for Christmas.
Also, yesterday was StacArt. What first started out as a simple Inside-Outside idea in which you can see inside of a garbage can has turned into a utopian New York City where the grass in green and everybody throws away their trash. I've started getting so many ideas for incorporating different supplies and I think even though I may not be very good, this project might turn out great.

Tanka

Basically, Tanka is a form of poetry that originated in Japan and is now popular amongst English-speaking poets, also. Traditional Tanka is written in 5-7-5-7-7 form in terms of syllables, but it can be written free verse. Syllables do not matter so much as the words and spacing. Tanka typically does not have a title, capitalization, or punctuation unless the poet wants to include it. Tanka usually tells a story or describes an experience that the author had. The first two or three lines describe the experience, and the remaining lines provide commentary, emotions, or thoughts. Sometimes your third line can be a "pivot line" that is shared between the first two lines and the last two lines, but it's not required. A type of Tanka is Kyoka, which is more humorous, opinionated, and slightly mocking. Tanka do not usually follow rhyme schemes, but sometimes use assonance and consonance.

The Seven Questions

1. What is the first creative moment you can remember?

     

The first creative moment I remember is when I was about five and I was at my nana's house. I was always really bored there because my Nana, aunts, and cousin, Chris never wanted to play with me. My sister hated me and I hated my brother, so we never really wanted to play together. I got the crayons and the paper and sat on the couch to draw. Soon after, I got very bored. I was never much of an artist. My aunt Betty had a cold so there were tissues on the table (the same table that took my vision not too long before- but that's another story). I got an idea and took the tissues. I found tape and started taping the tissues together to make clothes for my American Girl doll. They were pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, but these clothes met their tragic end when I got mad at my brother the next day. I ripped up the clothes while my parents were in another room and blamed him. I was diabolical even at that age...

2. Was anyone there to witness or appreciate it?

My mom thought that the clothes were adorable, up until my "brother" ripped them up.

3. What was the best idea you've ever had?

Once when I was seven I was eating Ferrero Rocher chocolates and I thought, "What if they just sold the chocolately-hazelnutty part seperately, and people could put it on sandwiches?" Soon after, I discovered the cosmic deliciousness that is Nutella. This might also work as my worst idea, but Nutella is simply one of the best things on the planet.

4. What made it great in your mind? 

At the time, I thought that maybe I could pitch my idea to the Ferrero company, sell it, and make millions.

5. What is the dumbest idea?

The dumbest idea I've ever had was when I thought, not too long ago, that maybe scientists could find a way to air condition the entire world, so that you don't get hot and sweaty when you're walking around outside (or in underbudgeted classrooms).

6. What made it stupid?

Obviously, there is no way to air condition the world, plus some places need to be a little hotter or cooler than other places so that life as we know it can survive.

7. Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea?

I was at Camel Beach with Jessica and Emily and it was very hot. Whenever I would go inside, I would think, "Why can't everywhere be as cool as this?",  which led me to thinking about global air conditioning.