English 215-The first story of the semester.

I think this is going to be a fun semester. I don't have a lot of experience in writing in the genre of poetry nor script writing so it should be a nice challenge. Those are two of the genres this class covers. The others, fiction and nonfiction, I am slightly more well versed in and look forward to honing my skills in. I'm am most excited for the Drama and Script writing portion of the class. This is something that I hope will come in handy assuming I ever make it into the filming industry.

But never mind all that. Our first assignment of the class aside from reading the intro's to our two books, was writing a diagnostic piece of sorts. This is mine. I started out with the first sentence that seemingly popped into my head at random. I now believe it was destiny. Not the "chosen one" kind of destiny of course but I think don't believe that it was random. The first sentence initially read, "It was the fifth day of this crap." It eventually changed, as did the rest of the piece, "day" being replaced by "week" and then to what it is now changing tenses somewhere in there.

The whole thing isn't very long but it wasn't supposed to be necessarily. Maybe I'll make this a regular thing, posting stories in here. I guess maybe that's cheating since it's something previously written but I think it will encourage me to write more...maybe...

Anyways, without further ado, my short, short story. I hope you enjoy :D

It is now the fifth month of this crap. I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to take it. I mean what kind of a place was this? It was the same thing all day, every day. I woke up, sat around for a while, read or re-read my latest issue of reader’s digest, (I didn’t know you could get magazines in here) go to the cafeteria to eat whatever meal it was time for, go out for my hour in the yard, (an hour and a half if you were lucky) and then back to my impossibly small room. At first I tried to do pushups but then realized that I was horribly out of shape and couldn’t do them, so I would go back and lie on my bed and read the paper, of which, I also had a subscription.

For the most part, the rest of my inmates were nice. There were a few, however, that you just didn’t go near. Those were usually the ones that had been in here longer than the rest. The newbies who tried to talk to them were snarled at. I have made a few friends during my time here. We’d have Chess tournaments or shoot hoops out in the yard. These were the highlights of my stay.

Today I was told I had a visitor. This, I am excited for. I have been brought out into the commons area where some of my inmates are playing chess, and where people on the outside are allowed to visit with those on the inside. I’m sitting at a table, gray like the rest of the room. I glance at the gray clock on the wall and it’s been five whole minutes and finally my visitor arrives. It’s my youngest son.

“Hey Dad,” he says with a smile on his face.

I don’t say anything back but my face lights up and he can tell that his presence has made my day.

“Are they treating you alright in here,” asks my son as he looks around the room. This is the first time he’s been in here. He has been away at college or he would have visited sooner.

I nod.

“How’s the food?”

“Eh,” I reply and hold up my hand, palm level with the table and rock it side to side..

“So-so?”

I nod.

“We’re trying to get you out of here Dad; Mom’s going stir crazy at the house without you. They say your doing well and if you keep it up, they might let you out early.” This is something that I’ve heard from each visitor that I’ve had but it does him good to hear himself say it. And he’s right. I just don’t know how soon that will be.

“Time to go, visiting hours are over.” This is from my guard. His uniform is clean and has been recently pressed. My son gets up, a sad look on his face.

“We’ll get you out of here soon Dad,” He says as he leaves.

My guard follows him out and an almost identical one replaces him. This new one has a silver tray with a bottle of water and a small paper cup.

“Time for your meds Mr. Higgins,” says the new nurse. I stare back with a disgruntled look on my face. But he returns the same glare.

“Come on, Doc says one more week and then he’ll take you off to see how you do.” At this, I cave and take my pills, if only to get me out of here quicker. I hate nursing homes.

Writing: Creative vs. Intellectual

Second day of classes. Second day of english. We discussed the idea of whether or not Writing, as a subject, can be taught or if it is something that is inherently imbedded in us and is either there or isn't.

So what is writing? Is it just the rules? Is it the creative process? Is it something we all have and it just needs to be unveiled? Or is it something only a privileged few of us have. The opinions were somewhat weighted to one side. It was largely thought among the class that writing could not be taught...That you can learn the mechanics of writing and the rules of writing but that the creative process can't be taught. It has to be absorbed and or created...absorbed by reading other authors and mimicking or avoiding their styles and created as one thinks and reflects on those thoughts, expressing inner emotions. This is somewhat along the lines of how our teacher summed up the classes ideas.

I agree with this for the most part. I say "for the most part" because it seems like writing is a little of both and not just one or the other. A mutual symbiosis between the intellectual and the creative. Perhaps not the best explanation of the different aspects of writing but I feel that it gets the main point across. An analogy I thought of in class only when it was too late was that of Life itself. After all, what is living? Is it inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide for the purpose of fueling our cells with energy to make us go? Or is it growing up, getting a skinned knee, going to school, having a first kiss, graduating, going to college, getting a job, having a family, going to France or Italy on vacation and seeing the world... Or is it both? Because there's more to life than just breathing but without breathing, we would have no life. I think that writing is the same.

As you already know, I like-no-LOVE writing and is, to me, just as important as breathing, so the analogy was a natural one. I just wasn't quick enough. But to continue and recap, writing is something that fuels me just like oxygen. It's oxygen for my soul I guess.

Your's IN Writing.

My summer in review-Part 2

I didn't end up taking that shower and I didn't make it to work till a little after two but that's okay. Now let's see, where was I...ah yes.

Towards the end of the third week of working on the playground set thingy, I got a call from someone I know that I have a class with. He had just recently acquired a job, needed another person, and knew that I was looking for work.

"I have a job for you" says he.

We talked on the phone for a bit and I said I'd try it out. We would be cleaning the local movie theaters. The hours were crappy but the money was good. I said I'd do it and went in the day after. We just did the theater downtown to start with and then added the bigger one over on the highway a couple nights later. We had leaf blowers that blew all of the popcorn and whatever else was on the floor to the front of the room. At the bigger theater, we used one that went on your back and reminded me of the Proton Packs from Ghost Busters. After about a week, He took the larger theater and I took the smaller one. He was going to be staying on and I would be quitting once school began in the fall. There is no way I would be able to have classes on and off from 10-4 work my job at school AND work at the theater. I'd never sleep and my grades would suffer. Working at the theater was a wonder opportunity but it would have to be temporary. Today is Sunday, Tuesday night will be the month mark and will be my last night. I have a quick stint at Laptop distribution and then back as a Deskie.

It's interesting though. I half suspect that the theater is Haunted. But then I don't know if i believe in ghosts. I do believe in spirits, evil and good, though I don't know why either would be chilling in movie theater. The Delft is pretty old though. It was remodeled once or twice but that was a long time ago so that's old too now. It's mostly just noises from the ice machine in the lobby to the air vents in the theaters kicking in. Then there's the occasional muscle car outside with the bass cranked up as it's leaving the bars, rattling the buildings as it goes by. The power did flicker on me once as I was reaching for the breaker to close up for the night but it only happened once. As tough as the hours are and despite the eerie feeling I get when I go in the upstairs projector room, I'm going to miss the place.

Working at the theater has given me an idea for a suspense movie for when I become a writer/producer some day (I hope). I won't disclose the idea here because I don't want anyone to take it. Not that anyone actually reads my blog aside from my one follower as of present (thank you by the way :D ) and then anyone who I show it too. But still, ya can't be too careful these days. :P

Once again, summer has gone by horribly fast. I need to get out more. Go swimming, jogging, biking. I keep saying I'm going to but I never do. I've been biking but I don't know if that counts because it's to and from work. I did go swimming the other day that I will save that adventure for another time. Time to relax a few hours before work...although I've been relaxing all day so I don't know why I need to relax anymore than I already have. Perhaps I just said that to make a better ending to this blog rather than stopping it cold...

Your's In Writing

My summer in review-Part 1

Did somebody say it's August?

I'm beginning to wonder if I should have called my blog something having to do with some sort of pun on how time goes by so fast, because despite my early (and continued) ambitions about blogging, I can't seem to be as diligent as I planned. The last time I wrote, it was June. Now here it is two months later and school has almost begun.

A few things have happened since June. For starters, July happened. No I didn't say that in attempt to be funny although I won't complain if it brought a chuckle or two. My girlfriend and I went down to Marquette's Lower Harbor and watched the fireworks which were spectacular. There was a chance we weren't going to go because the clouds in the sky looked grim and it had begun to precipitate. The rain stopped just in time though. It was as though it was hanging around until the fireworks started and then stopped especially for them. While we were walking around before the show started, we ran into a couple people that she, and or, I knew. One was my friend Andy and his brother Ben. I know him from back home but have been out of contact for a while. It's nice to know that there are people that you can be out of contact with but are the type of friend that you can just pick right back up with. We did just that. He said that he was spending the summer here with his sister and that he too was looking for work.

About a week or so later, I got a call from someone a few blocks away who need help building something. Earlier that summer, Christy and I had put my name on the temporary student employment list. This is where I had gotten the call from. The "something" was a medium sized play-scape (the only real way to describe it because it had everything from all the usual play set items to a picnic table and a small climbing wall). My temporary employer asked me to come alone the first day and see how long it would take me and what kind of help I would need and then to come with them the next day. My first thought was Andy. I called him.

The first day, I went on my own and met the couple. They were really nice! They had five kids all under the age of 8. Three were there's and two were adopted but they were all very nice and visited the ongoing project frequently. I also sorted wood so that finding it would be easier when construction began. The next day Andy and I went and started piecing together the four tightly packed boxes of wood that were laying in wait for us in he garage. It was a great experience working with this long lost friend of mine. It was definitely God bringing us together to work. We'd quote movies, and talk about the old days and be silly in general.

It ended up taking as about three weeks to finish the thing due to both of us having classes with homework. We weren't professionals by any means and the final product wasn't perfect but our clients were more than happy to have it done. Another reason for the delayed completion was that by the end of the third week, I was blessed with another job. I'll save that for for later. Andy left on the fourth of August, and so that was my July. I ended up getting an A in Biology. After those six weeks were up, I started Mythology and Good Books in which I received a B+ and an A- respectively. It all went by terrible fast but I'm glad I did it because it raised my GPA and It got me to read some books I wouldn't have normally read. That too, I will save for later. Time for me to get some food, cool off with a cold shower (It's soooo hot right now) and get ready for work which today starts at one o'clock, which I guess is technically tomorrow.

Your's In Writing