I've got the skillz

100 words

Speedtest

You wish you could. Haha.

I was really bored--can't you tell?

♥Heather

days bunch up in weeks collaborating months

I have nothing to say really other than it's been pretty hectic yet calm around here. I have so many things to do, lots of books to read, a project to finish (that means a research paper to write) and a house to clean.

What I do have is a poem that I want opinions on. Of course. What else?


how is it, that you can
see what isn't there,
a hole in the whole?
hear what hasn't been
said, the silence that
reverberates?

what is it, in the missing
pieces, that allows
them to exist? I listen to the
silence, hearing the music
that it makes.
I look at holes, they
are objects in themselves.

how is it, that emptiness
is something, is filled and complete and
heavy?


It goes with my current story, one I'm working on in my very little spare time and when I'm not writing my other story. It's actually more depressing than it seems, when it's in context.

But that would make sense since (it's repetitive!) it's about a girl who's mother commits suicide (me and you, Caroline, need to stop using the same brain wave. Because this not only is coincidental with the Twyla story, but this is the one I wrote the same day you wrote that one thing...weird, I know) and in the suicide letter, her mother tells her that her father is alive and where he lives. So she goes to North Carolina to see him even though she's never met him. It's a happy sad kind of thing.

But anyway, opinions?

♥heather

same post, different title, different words

So yeah, I'm late. I said Sunday, but now it's Wednesday and I'm just now editing this post to say stuff.

I decided to skip talking about the play (until I can get the videos uploaded) and to go straight to the wedding:

It was fun, sunny, and hot. The actual wedding was beautiful with the waves in the background and the sand wasn't really hot so I was wiggling my feet in it the whole time. The only problem was that you couldn't hear anything. That was kind of disappointing. But her dress was GORGEOUS! It was the perfect beach wedding dress. It fit really well, too and she got it made so she could wear it again by taking off the outside layer and the bottom. (it's really cool how she does it, but I would be any good at explaining it, so just suffice to say that it turns from a lacy, silky floor-length gown into a silky, soft cocktail dress in a really smooth manner)

And afterwards, during the reception, Jess and I had fun with those little shiny peices of plastic in the middle of the table. These were particularaly unique because they were flamingos, toucans, palm trees, monkeys and ones that said luau. (oh, it was Hawaiin-themed. I don't think I mentioned that). And the food...mmm, the food. It was DELICIOUS!

And then we learned to hula dance, I saw a girl I haven't seen in forever, I saw Richard Nixon's twin (no lie. Richard Nixon has a twin. But he's not an evil twin, he's the other one. Nixon is the evil twin), we watched a fire dance...(i'll--hopefully--have a video of that piece of awesome, too, but for right now, all I can say is it was, in fact, a piece of awesome.

The only bad part about the wedding was leaving. And the cake. It wasn't very good. It looked cool (monkeys on top of it instead of the usual bride and groom), but it wasn't good.

But, you know, after the wedding, and after getting a little pink on my cheeks, I got to...get ready for it...BUILD A PORCH! yay!!!

not. The destroying part of redoing our back porch was fun. Extremely. It was a lot of banging and hammering and ripping and tearing and yanking and 'argh'ing and fun. But putting it back together is...not so much. It's a lot of riding in the car and going to Lowe's and carrying lumber and nailing boards and hammering said nails (and my thumb...ow) and arguing and manuevering myself over, through, under, and around an incomplete structure/support.

I might actually have a informercial set of pictures for you when we're completely done (almost...there...). You know, a 'before' and 'after' picture? Except it'll be more like 'old porch', 'new porch'.

Nothing really interesting on that front.
Or on any others.

Except (of course) a new poem. This one is a sonnet (non-rhyming) inspired by John Green and Looking for Alaska


It's a long way out of here, exponential
twists and turns, continuous dead-
ends and obstacles, 'cause
it's a long way out
of here, this place, a holding cell for
what this really is, a maze of
a holding cell-with bars and
doors around the labyrinth.

It is, however, a short way out
of here. If you choose the right way
it sure is a short fast straight path
with just a few road-blocks,
dead-ends, that is, of
course, until you reach the very end.


so?
♥Heather

IM IN!!!!!!!!!!

EEEK!!! I CAN'T BREATHE. I REALLY CAN'T. BREATHE.

I MUST TYPE IN ALL CAPS! I'M IN, I'M IN, I'M IN! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN MY HAPPY DANCE!!!!! JOHN GREEN WOULD BE SEVERELY ENVIOUS!!!!


AHH!!!!!!

CONGRATS EMILEA!!!!

I HOPE YOU JOIN US CAROLINE!!!!!!!

CAN'T. BREATHE. EEEKK!!!!!!!!!!!

=D

This will, most likely, unless I start rambling be short and quick. I'm just excited about so many things that I have to write them down and celebrate with the WORLD!!!


AHHH!!!!!

They're home!!! They're really, really, really home! I've missed them so much. (sorry emilea if you're reading this. Let me explain: Dante and Dominic, our friends, moved to California in January and aren't coming back until the end of the school year, but they're visiting for spring break and I'm totally excited!!)

So I'm freaked about that, but I'm also 100% freaked and psyched and waiting for 2, count em TWO!! free books! Ahh!! One, is Chasing Windmills by Catherine Ryan Hyde and she's so ridiculously kind that she sending it to me for no reason, only to review it on Plenty of Paper. The other (because yes, I did say two) is I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone which doesn't even come out until July but I entered a contest to win and I'm way way way in the lead and not only is it going to be an ARC, but it will be signed, yes SIGNED by Stephanie Kuehnert, the author. I'm completely psyched!!!!

Actually, the truth is that The Grand Prize is a gift certificate to DownloadPunk AND a signed, Advanced Review Copy of IWBYJR plus swag packs including bookmarks and, most exciting, official IWBYJR guitar picks. enough swag to keep and some to pass out around town.

EEE!!!!

and I'm kind of counting down the days until the letters. I really hope mine is positive.

♥your freak of a friend Heather

(oh, yeah. Emilea, please read the poem below and comment. )

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

for a very important date!

I'm sorry, I felt the need to exploit Alice in Wonderland there, and I do not mean to say that I am in any way mocking the magnificent creation that is Wonderland. It's easy to do so, but I'm not.

So, I realize that I said I would post Monday, and I did have a break in the massive amounts of homework, but I also realize that I'm lazy. I'm a slacker. That's come to be known fact around people that actually know me. I'm Heather The Slacker. Okay, so you guys don't actually call me that, and some of you still expect me to do a little smidgen of my homework and madatory reading, but not quite like the rest of Waccamaw. The rest of Waccamaw just assumes (and you know what happens when you assume *wags finger*) that because I'm smart that I actually do my work. But, come to think of it, doing all my work is a very rare phenomenon, and you would have to study the species that is me for a while before you see this phenomenon occur. I'm not saying I never do my work, either. I just don't do all of it.

But enough about how lazy I am. I'm not Hassan.

Now, I promise to uphold my promise. I'll post a poem. =D


the ever-present evanescent*
quick like vapor
to come and go
as she stares it down, intense

the pen's in her hand,
the orange on her skin
as she scribbels on the page
and the glow soaks in

shafts of light catch the
dust; pollen dancing
shimmering golden specks
in the golden light

her hand reaches out
trying to catch a dot, a needle point
but it jumps back
towards the glowing source

and she's looking up, again
blinding her irises
as the others grow around her,
sprouting color

her pen stops, pauses
the ink stain enlarging
it's pulled away, a line
emerging, words have formed

a picture's painted
of the faint orange glow
with bright blue rings
and specks of dust gleam

she closes the notebook,
grips it tight,
holds it to her chest,
exhales (eyes closed)


Okay, the asterick (*) is not actually part of the poem, I'd just like to say that you, Caroline, will not call me teacher's pet!

that's all I really had to say. Have a great day. And I'm sure, the next post will contain a poem because that one I'm not just putting up for fun, I need opinions but I'm not done with it yet. So, next post, look for that. Happy Easter! (as I'm sure this is my only post before then)

♥Heather

Books, books, and more...ponchkes?

I introduce you to...sufganoyit. Or rather, as I prefer to call them, Muslim Doughnuts. And, hey, ponchkes works too, I mean, that's what we called them today when we had to present...Okay, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself...

Let's start from the beginning.

"We're going to completely forget about the book. The book doesn't exist. Those stupid people that make the book don't exist. We're going to use...dun dun dun...the Internet. I want y'all to pick a religion among the world's top 8, you'll do this in partners, and research it. Research everything. I'm giving you free reign on this. Two groups can go to the library, the other four, use the computers in here. On your mark...get set...Go!"

I kid you not, those are almost her exact words. I'm talking the dun dun dun, the mark...get set...Go! and everything.

I have the best social studies teacher ever.

The only requirement, was that we make a food. This, is where the ponchkes came in. Me and my partner picked Islam, the second largest religion in the world. We researched and researched and, surprisingly, learned things. I actually learned a lot more than I had ever learned from a project. This 'free reign' stuff really does work. The book just tells you what you've heard before, maybe adding in a few people and dates you haven't. The Internet, however, that wondrous place that holds the everlasting e-bay (okay, we didn't use e-bay, but it is a mythical place of great magical power), tought us a lot.

Like, I'm sure you didn't know that it's considered rude to use your left hand at all when eating. And did you know that when dining with ones other than just your family, males and females are to be seperated? What about the fact that Muslims don't actually have to adhere to any rules in order to be a Muslim? Really, I'm being honest here. There are no beliefs that are mandatory. Well, except for that one really important one about believing in God. So, I guess that's why it's the second largest religion in the world. There are no rules. Nothing to follow. Nothing to break or bend. It is free-reign.

And I don't want to be wrong on here, so sorry if I am about anything. I'm just telling you what I know.

So, as we are learning all these things, me and Kayla go on the 'Perilous Recindex Hunt'

I'm saying it's perilous because you really never know what you're going to find. I mean, beef filled apples? Eww! and then, of course, we mistakinly looked up what schmaltz was. Ew to that too.

But finally, with a giant breath of fresh air, we clicked on the funniest name in the visible square that the computer screen offered. Sufganoyit. :D

And, thus, Muslim Doughnuts. They are essentially jelly-filled peices of fried dough. Doughnuts. Don't call them anything else. They may be special becaue they have orange extract and zest in them, but they are doughnuts.

Except, we, of course, destroyed them.

Kayla is, supposedly, a good cook. At least, she says she is. And you have to understand this, Kayla is probably one of the most humble people I know. She's definitely not one to brag. So, I believed her. I trusted in this skill to help us along, becuase, despite many attempts, I'm not a baker.

Sadly, though, the dough didn't set, and we hung around her house for four hours, varying between eating Cheez-Its, Tostitos, and graham crackers, and watching the various gameshows that we all love: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, and that singing show...with Wayne Brady...yeah, that one. And let me tell you, I would make an awesome contestant on Wheel of Fortune, not so much Jeopardy!, not really on the singing show, and a spectacular, nobody could ever beat me, impossible to lose sontestant on AYSTAFG.

so, while we were doing all this, our project was falling into dismal failing range. ah.

And then, Kayla's mom comes home.

And she, with her amazing powers of awesome, suggests...Bisquick!

and voila, we have ourselves some instant, two-minute dough, whereas the other stuff took nearly four hours. Yeah, way to go people who made the terrible recipe that DOESN'T WORK!

UGH!

Apparently, though, we're going to sue them, so it all turns out fine.

But, we do that, then, then we get to the deep-frying. DANGER ZONE! FLASHING RED LIGHTS AND ALARMS SCREAMING! DANGER, DANGER, DANGER!

We(and by this I mean Kayla) burn the oil and have to evacuate the house for a full two minutes because we cant even breathe. but, after that, all goes smoothly. And now, it's Larkin's favorite food and he ordered us to make more. He actually begged us. And he's not the only one that liked them. Everyone in the class said they were the best food among the six projects. Good sign I guess. haha.

So, that's the story of the ponchkes.

Now for the books.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom asked me to make a list of the books I wanted because I got my new bookshelf and have plenty of room and she's kind of been denying me the nourishment I need from those wonderaculous things known as books. (yes, caroline, I stole your word. Now and forever.)

And so it begins.

You see, I already had about 30 or so books in mind. I wrote those down instantly. But then, I abandoned my task for a week and a half, nearly forgetting I was to be writing it. But, you can never forget books for too long. :D

Soon, I was typing away, 90 wpm, a very long list of books. You see, I happen upon books I want a lot--I read reviews for them, have them recommended, see them floating around the school (not as likely seeing as the top five favorite books in Waccamaw on facebook are such that say how the person doesn't like to read or should read more). And other times, when the happening isn't happening, I spend hours perusing amazon and BAM and many other sources. That even includes myspace. And sometimes, I'll happen upon a book, or find it in my perusing, and forget what it's called. And, in my search for the title, I'll stumble upon (see how I changed it up there? DO YOU? I used 'stumble' instead of 'happen'. Did you see that?) other awesome titles.

So far, just doing this in my very limited spare time, my list has increased greatly to 91 books. 91!

that's a lot of paper. And it's subject to change all the time, and a few of them might come into my possession soon, and I haven't added six of them because there is that great possiblility that I will (definitely hopefully want to so bad) win that contest for the page flipper. Then, and if, I'll get 6 brand new books! Wow. I really, really want to win that contest.

So, I'm asking for help (because my goal is 200+). Any recommendations?

realizing exactly how long this post ended up, thinking about that one book I was just looking at, going to crawl in bed with the first free time I've had in about a week and read Maximum Ride (so excited I got it. It's pure wonderaculous-ness),

♥heather

(oh, p.s. If possible, a poem on monday. And that's a big if, seeing as the homework hasn't reduced...)