Fighting the Current

Filling in the blanks for the month...

Some bad thunderstorms went through last night. They were only around for an hour, and I think the worst of it passed North of us. I penned off five or so poems in that our though. One of them was this weird little three or four stanza poem which I'm still trying to decide the name of. It's written in a pirate-like vernacular (if that's the word I'm searching for) and I'm thinking of calling it "The Windbag in the Crow's Nest", but it's a little too comical for the poem. I sat in the near-darkness of our back room, so I could still see the rain and the lightning. The sky was so dark that the west looked darker at sunset than the east.

Speaking of poems, I wrote a three page one the other night outlining the history (that I could remember at the time) of the Middle East. To my knowledge, there has never been peace in the Middle East. The actual physical conflict there is nothing compared to conflicts there in the past. From the Crusades to wars between the Babylonians and Persians and various other ancient societies and tribes. The Jews/Hebrews/Israelites/Israelis have never really gotten along with their neighbors, no matter where they were. From the present-day conflict with the Arabs, to Hitler and the Russian pogroms, all the way back to their enslavement by the Babylonians and battles with the Canaanites, Phillistines, etc. The only reason the world is paying attention to this is because of politics, which never before affected the entire world like it does now.

I got a digital camera for my birthday. Mainly so that I don't steal my mother's anymore and use up her memory card. The only problem is that it's very sensitive to movement and aparently my hands shake enough no matter what I balance them on to make pictures blurry. It was much more complicated than my mom's too. It's one of the few things I've had to read the book for... Most of the time I don't even both with the book unless I need to find out something like temperature range or why it's not working.

It bothers me that no idea is original. I thought I had this excelent idea and I had something I wanted to write on it and then I found out that many other people had had it too. Well, at least I may be the first to write about it in the way I am planning. But I've been planning for months and right now I'd rather write fiction and poetry.

Speaking of poetry (again... what a circular entry this is becoming...) I have to post my poems on this site once again. I took them all down because I don't have an upgraded membership and I was afraid they'd be deleted otherwise. I'd rather have all of them taken down by my own accord than ones at random by other people. And there's no guarantee that it would have been poems deleted either.

I hate how every site on the internet is now charging for services and yet they keep banner and pop-up/under ads. Maybe for people like me who refuse to pay... Anyway, I am a big advocate for the penny-a-page idea, as long as it is controlled and people weren't charging an exorbitant amount of money to view a single page. That would be hard to control, but much better in the long run than being bombarded by ads and MEMBERS ONLY. I do not sign up for anything unless I either really need the service or it is extremely appealing.

We got new hummingbird feeders for the backyard because mine had broken. Three feeders, each with one spout. Two (a red and a blue, I would have prefered red and red because that supposedly attracts them better, but that's all they had) are on curving metal stands and one is in my rock garden, the other is in my mom's. The third is a light bluish-greenish bubble-like glass feeder that hangs on the fence.

I got my summer reading list. (I don't know if I wrote this in the last entry or not. I doubt I had it when I wrote that one.) For English, I have to read Dracula, 1984, Drowning Ruth, and Pride and Prejudice. And for Trig/Pre-Calc, I have to read Rocket Boys, the book October Sky was based on. I've read 1984 before and thought that it was pretty good. I started Pride and Prejudice and so far I'm writing summaries at the end of each chapter. So far I'm bored nearly out of my mind. I'm on chapter 5 I think. I'm a little leery of Drowning Ruth, just because it was on the Oprah reading list. Hopefully I'll get a pleasant surprise and find that it's not as sappy and insanely boring as it sounds. I have no comment on Dracula right now, but no doubt I will by the time I finish it. Rocket Boys, from what I've heard, is very good, but that is pending opinion as well.

On my birthday, my youngest brother, my mom, and I went to a wildflower preserve. I hadn't gotten my camera in the mail yet so I was using my mom's. I let her take pictures too though. Does anyone know if frogs can make a noise like a rubber band twanging? We were walking near a pond and there were a few crickets and a few birds calling and then all of the sudden, TWANG! We looked down into the water and there was a bright green frog sitting in the water, perfectly camoflauged with the waterplants it was sitting in. A painted turtle was sitting on a log, but I don't think turtles make much noise. Most of the wildflowers weren't in season. They were mostly Spring flowers.

Oh, and I came to a conclusion. Taking optical zoom shots from a moving vehicle never yields good results -- especially when your mother is constantly telling you not to drop the camera out the window.

My sociology course has now ended. I got an A with a comment of "Outstanding!" on the midterm. It seems like most people got A's, but I think mine was the only "outstanding", lol, humble person that I am... ::ahem:: Anyway, I only have two grades for that course. The teacher was extremely easy. The final had to be 8 pages long. Mine was 12. I checked with her first though, and she said it was fine. It turns out I may have been one of the few who actually wrote my own paper for the final.

Chemistry starts next week. I highly doubt it will be as easy as the last. If it is, I'm all for it. If not... well... we'll just have to see how I deal.

A readers' theatre group I belong to has started up. Because of chemistry (unless it is like the other course, yeah... right...) I won't be able to make two of the four possible shows. For once we have the play far in advance. Usually we decide about a month or less beforehand, but now we have about 6 or 7 weeks to practice and get our roles. The play is about a half-hour long and is children's SF, with the most cliched ending I have ever heard. It ends with the main characters waking up. We're trying to think of ways to change it. I'm opting for several of the characters to be in the kitchen with the mother for breakfast.

Wow, this is a long entry. This is what happens when I don't update this thing often.

Alright, I am done rambling for now. I have to go eat lunch, and download pics from my mom's camera. Adieu!