Friday, February 26, 2010

Mama's Losin' It - weekly prompt

Mama's Losin' It
 
 
3.) “What images inspire you immediately? Open a magazine and create a piece of writing (poem, story, essay) about the first image that captures your imagination.”
 



She glanced up the stairs, the sweat dripping down her face, stinging her eyes, and she swiped at the droplets with the back of her sleeve.  She had been on her twenty-fifth run up and down the stairs, a nice rhythm in her head that matched the beat of the music pumping through her headphones.  And then mid-step she had seen him standing at the top of the stairway, dressed like Mr. Hot Shit with a smirk to match, leaning against the railing.  She immediately felt betrayed by her own body as her face flushed and a nervous rumble formed in the pit of her stomach.  She hated that this guy, who had no real job but passed himself off as the next great rock star, had decided that she was his next prize.  She hated even more that she wanted it.

She continued to stare up the moss-coated stairs, trying to slow her breath and think of something witty to say, but there was nothing - great comments always came to her minutes too late.  Finally, she jogged slowly up the stairs, almost slipping on the cracked step, and stopped in front of him. 

He looked her over bemusedly and smiled.  She prepared herself for some lame attempt at humor, something that made most girls swoon, probably would do the same to her if she allowed it. 

"Hey," he said, not moving away from the railing.

She met his gaze and said, "Hey."

"I almost didn't find you out here."  She didn't respond and he finally stepped away from the railing and moved closer to her.  "I've never come this far into the park."

"Did you need something?" she said.  She was proud that she managed an air of annoyance.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?"

She motioned to the stairs. "I'm kinda in the middle of something."

"It'll only take a few minutes."

It was then that she knew she was a goner and truly understood how many women had fallen under his spell in the past.  He could go from looking like a Jim Morrison wannabe to an innocent little boy within seconds, flashing a smile that could melt steel and staring with such determination and adoration that a girl couldn't help but fall victim. 

She wasn't surprised when she heard herself saying, "Sure.  Let's get some coffee."

a new way to look at things...



Yeah, gotta start
Looking at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying
We only got 86,400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we're dying - "Live Like We're Dying" by Kris Allen

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

journeying through life...


The girl stood in the forest, allowing the silence to wrap around her with the mist.  She stared ahead and then glanced back, against her better judgement.  It scared her.  Moving forward.  What was beyond that curve?  What lurked in the foggy camoflauge of the trees, ready to reach for her and pull her down a road she didn't want?  What if she got lost?

She stood there and took a deep breath, reminding herself that there was a reason that every wannabe-zen-hipster-or-godly-believer repeated the idea that life was a journey

Life was a journey.  An uncontrollable one at times, while other days destiny was firmly in her reigns.  It was just a matter of staying on the path and not fearing what she couldn't see ahead of her.

She didn't have to be scared any more.  She had climbed steep cliffs, battled through the brush, and here in this clearing, she knew she could continue.  Come what may.  Life was a journey.

Monday, February 22, 2010

LuShae Jewelry Giveaway

stud earrings


LuShae Jewelry is currently running a $5,000 Sweepstakes, with $ 200.00 monthly winners.  What's the harm in a little jewelry?

does this help with Mr. Oscar?


Bigelow becomes first woman to win BAFTA director prize.  Yay!  It's about time women directors get noticed for the good work they do.  I really hope she takes home the Oscar and not just because James Cameron is an ass.  I think Hurt Locker was an amazing film and the direction was spot on.

Olympic hockey


Not only am I very happy with Team USA kicking butt last night in the hockey game.  I'm even more happy that Martin Brodeur was destroyed.  I hate him.  I want to see him cry like a little girl.

I still wish that they kept hockey for amateurs and not professional players, but it's still hockey and I'm a tad obsessed.

books, books, books


My brother and sister-in-law have a reading blog, the Kansas Reading Society, so check it out if you're like me and always looking for new books to read.

I just started reading Graceling by Kristen Cashore.  I'm only three chapters in as I started it last night, but so far, so good.  It's really hard to come up with much in the way of discussion when you're not very far into the book. 

I did recently finish both Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan and Last Words by George Carlin.  Opposite of Fate was a great read.   It's essays of Amy's life and how it affected not only who she is now, but the writer that she became.  I love the way she puts sentences together, she's obviously someone who loves language and it shows in her writing.  I think this is a book that anyone can relate to - we all have family tales - but if you're a writer or wannabe writer, I always enjoy learning about another's creative process. 

Last Words managed to be funny, interesting, and sad.  It's a reminder of the great comic genius that we lost.  Again, George Carlin was a man who loved words  and the meaning that simply the way you phrased a sentence could bring great connotations to it.  Plus, he never failed to make me laugh.  My favorite still remainds, "You can get on the plane, I'm going to get in the plane."

Friday, February 19, 2010

creativity in the bathroom...

Maybe I'm like a five year old, but I think this shower curtain would be very cool.  Too bad all three of my full bathrooms in the house have glass doors. 


You get to make your own design - pick your color marker and draw it yourself.  Of course, it would probably help to have a modicum of talent, but I still think it would be cool.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

my mind is a foggy place

 

I can't remember where I found this picture.  If it's yours, please let me know so I can give proper credit.  I just adore it.  I love the foggy, quiet feel of it.  I love how you can't see the end of the bridge - where does it go?  What's waiting on the other side?

I haven't been feeling very creative lately.  Slightly drained, a lot emotional.  I'm guessing a large part of that was due to the first anniversary of my mother's death a few weeks ago.  The other part of it is just annoyances with work and life and whatever else I allowed to get under my skin.  The problem is that when I'm not able to write, even crappy sentences that no one will ever see, I feel even more disconnected and crazy.  Vicious circle.

I did have an AHA! moment on a current project.  It started as a screenplay, but as I began the second draft and noticed the plot holes, I realized that the narrative set up of this piece was much more suited for book format.  Unless I'm Quentin Tarantino, I can't get away with such a wordy screenplay (maybe once I win my first Oscar) that's not very visual at all.  So I have the basic outline/general story for a new young adult piece.  However, I'll need to start thinking up new and meaningful ideas for screenplay. 

I think I need to make some time for myself tomorrow or Monday (probably Monday as tomorrow is my sister's birthday) and just let my mind go blank and go with the flow.  Just write whatever comes out.  After all, crappy sentences are better than no sentences.  And crappy sentences can always be fixed.

100 mile fitness challenge - weeks 5 & 6





Week #5 (January 29th - February 4th)

Jan. 29 = 0 miles

Jan. 30 = 4 miles

Jan. 31 = 5 miles

Feb. 1 = 0 miles

Feb. 2 = 3 miles

Feb. 3 = 2 miles

Feb. 4 = 4 miles

Total miles for week # 5 = 18 miles

I had a much better week.  Got in more of my miles.  Not much with walking/running, but with bootcamp and such.  It's been too cold for outside walking and running right now (my co-worker calls me a "wuss" and I don't disagree - I hate the cold weather). I also haven't been feeling like using the treadmill.  I feel like it's too much of a metaphor for my life at the moment - keep running, but getting nowhere.


Week #6 (February 5th-February 11th)

Feb. 5 = 0 miles

Feb. 6 = 2 miles

Feb. 7 = 0 miles

Feb. 8 = 3 miles

Feb. 9 = 0 miles

Feb. 10 = 6 miles

Feb. 11 = 6 miles

Total miles for week # 5 = 17 miles


The week started out with me in hibernation mode with the first of two blizzards hitting us.  I did some shoveling, but that was it, and I ate horribly to add to it.  Being snowed in makes me feel trapped and icky.  Anyway, I decided to push myself hard at the end of the week to make up for it.   Sometimes a hard workout is what's necessary and it actually released a lot of stress I was carrying around.

To work on:  I need to get back into a better routine.  I allowed myself to get thrown about by the weather and emotional blahs. 

To be proud of:  I made it through advanced bootcamp without nearly as many modifications  (i.e. - I did real push-ups!)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

let's get creative with the boring...

Today, over at Creative Every Day, we were asked to ponder how to make those icky, sticky, un-fun tasks (like organizing documents) creative?  To be honest, I never really thought about it before.  I always play music when I'm doing things like cleaning, going through papers...and I admit it, I'm that girl who makes up her own dances as she cleans her counters or sings into the mop like it's a microphone, and the germs I'm dooming to death are my audience. 

You can't cover your ears, Mr. Bacteria.  My voice is everywhere.

At work, I tend to do yoga moves intermittent to my boring, desk-forced tasks to give me a way to get out of it for a minute or two and move.  I'm sure I look ridiculous to my coworkers, but it helps me stay focused on my projects and it helps break the day down a little.

I guess the way I'm creative with those un-fun tasks is to add movement into them.

As for rewards, that part I've always been very good about.  I always tell myself that if I finish this required boring thing, I can then write whatever I want for the evening.  Or I'll sit down and doodle once I'm done with something and my brain is fried.  Or just read and daydream.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

touch the precious purse...


When I win the lottery, I will totally spend $ 465.00 dollars on one of these bags.  It's funny because while I love Project Runway and to see fashion, it's not a must have in my life as far as clothes - mostly because I'm poor - but that all flies out the window where purses and shoes are concerned.  I have a problem.  In fact, if there were anyway to justify buying this purse instead of paying my bills, I totally would.

And the nominees are...

Happy Oscar Nomination Day!!! **

pic from here

I wasn't sure how I would feel about ten movies being nominated this year as that is ten movies I need to see before the awards show.  And by need, I do realize these are arbitrary rules that me and my friends made up before watching the Oscars.  It's our Superbowl.  We have lots of fun with it. 

List of nominated Pictures:

Avatar - Visually stunning, plotwise it was okay.  It was enjoyable and didn't feel three hours long, but it was pretty predictable within the storyline.

The Blind Side - must see

District 9 - Creepy, interesting parallels to the place it was set in, very good

An Education - must see

The Hurt Locker - must see

Inglourious Basterds - must see (i'm a bad Quentin fan as I still haven't seen this)

Precious - Loved it.  Pretty damn depressing.  It does make you think about life and what you might take for granted on a daily basis.  the acting was phenomenal. 

A Serious Man - must see

Up - must see

Up In The Air - Really good.  I loved George Clooney in this movie.  I loved the characters, even when they horrified me or did things I just couldn't fathom.  I love how it doesn't all work out in the end and you're left like the protagonist trying to figure things out.
 
I have favorites in other categories already, but I'm not ready to commit to anything.  And you never know with the Oscar voters who might come out with a win.  I'm still recovering from Roberto Benigni winning over Edward Norton for American History X and his whole "make love to the audience" spiel.  ::shudders::
 
My new non-health related goal:  To see the 2010 oscar nominated films
 
**Happy Groundhog's Day to those who rather celebrate that.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Read Your Name Challenge


I thought this challenge sounded cool.  I'll have to figure out what books to read, but basically, the idea is nifty - where I read books with titles that spell out my first name.  So eight books...hhhhmmm...

Monday wishlist...


I want this vintage typewriter.  Sure, it would take me forever to type a sentence on it, but it's so pretty to look at.  More can be found for sale here, so please feel free to wish really hard that one comes to me.  Think of Tinkerbell and the "I do believe in fairies" mantra, but change it to "i do believe Mare should have this.  I do believe Mare should have this."