A Meme for Me, and One for You, Too!

Say that five times fast.

Anyway, sorry for the lapse into silence. I've been pretty busy. As you can see, I sort of redid my blog a bit. I like it so far :] I have a MUCH more detailed profile page and book page up (you can see them under the blog title). Okay, the book page is not done yet, but it WILL be. Someday.

Today, I have a meme for you. I already did it, which kind of makes the blog title...incorrect, in some way. How I don't know. My brain hurts. The Venerable Bede has been chewing on it.

I found these memes here. I CANNOT vouch for the site in that I don't know if all of the memes are appropriate (I've only done two). But I liked what I've done so far, and I thought I'd share the memes with you.

Here's my favorite meme so far. It's UTTERLY confusing and you'll probably do the numbers wrong like me, but it was so fun to do. I would have posted my completed meme, but it's very long and garbled and I was asleep when I did it.

For the record, I didn't write this meme--I only found it online and have duly credited my source.

Have a great time :]

God Bless~

Elisabeth

PS. In case you're totally clueless like me, OC means "original character." Maybe I'm just weird XD

Reality TV Show Writing Meme!

Rules:

- Choose 6 OC's.

- Put your OC's names in list of numbers and answer the questions with your OC's names instead of the number, write at least 100 words to answer.

- Once an OC is evicted, you must choose the next consecutive number to fill in the question.

1. Welcome to the House! Introduce the OC's and what their luxury item would be.

[1] [2]

[3] [4]

[5] [6]

2. There are 3 bedrooms, 1 with 2 double beds, 1 with 2 single beds and 1 with only 2 matresses on the floor. Who pairs up with whom, is there an argument over who should get the better room, and how is this resolved?

3. Now they've decided where they're sleeping, they make their way to the living room but find that it is empty expect for a few large and heavy boxes which hold the furniture which [1] and [4] have been told to put together within a time limit, how well do they do?

4. The furniture's together, now for dinner and a rest! [2] and [5] are designated for cooking first. What do they cook? Do they work well together? Does their cooking go down well?

5. A few days pass and a relationship is growing between [3] and [6], is it a good one or is it a bad one? What measures are made to make their relationship blossom, or stop them from attacking each other on sight?

6. A week has passed and it's time for an eviction! Someone hasn't put in their penny's worth and needs to be gotten rid of. Choose one OC, and have them say their weepy, or exuberant, goodbyes.

7. There's a siren in the middle of the night! [1] has tried to escape with [3] as accomplice, however they are both caught, who blames whom, and what is their punishment? Do the other house-mates suffer for it?

8. The next task appointed for them arrives in the form of a letter and a pack of bendy wires. They pick up the letter and read that housemates [2] and [4] must make a cube using the fewest number of wires possible within 30 minutes of time.

Do they manage it?

9. That evening, they find alcohol [Elisabeth says: They mean root beer, of course :P] in the refridgerator and a karaoke machine in the living room. However, it is incredibly hard to set up and it's instructions are in Japanese. [5] and [6] are bullied into geting it sorted. How do they get on?

10. Eviction time! Eviction this time is based upon house-mates behaviour and performance in the last week, and sadly, [1] and [3]'s escape attempt has not impressed the higher hand.

[1] or [3] must go, choose, and have them say goodbye.

11. Confessions Time! Having been together for two weeks, how do the house-mates feel about the others? How do they feel about the evictions? Let's listen to them now.

12. [1] and [4] have become very close, and [6] is jealous and decides to confront [4] about it, what happens?

13. Their next task is to simply tidy the house, however, they have to do it blindfold, [5] cheats and [2] does nothing, such disobedience so late in the game earns them a time-out and their luxury item is taken away, how do they cope?

14. Due to the cheating in the previous task, the electricity in the building is cut, and the living room is locked off from them. [4] suggests a game of hide-and-seek, does anyone get injured in the dark? Does anyone take this moment to be naughty with another housemate?

15. The living room is open to them again and inside is a television, an XBOX and four Guitar Hero guitars, a not stuck on the television let's them know that it is a play-off between [3] and [6].

Who wins, and did they realise the loser would be evicted?!

16. With only three house-mates left, tension starts to rise, [1] becomes super-competitive and starts taking over any tasks given to them. [1] accepts a task before even hearing it, and it's challenging them to sit in a bath of maggots for half an hour.

How does [1] react and do they complete the task?

17. Another Confession. Poor [2] is starting to suffer from cabin fever and is sure the others are out to get them. Let's listen to their ranting.

18. The house-mates realise they are quite quickly running out of food, and find three unlabelled tins in a cupboard, with blindfolds next to them and a letter explaining that two tins are sliced peaches, one is dog-food, they must each choose a tin with their blindfolds on.

Who gets the dog-food, and evicted?

19. The final task denotes the winner of the entire game, the final two house-mates are given an envelope, inside is the instrutions of their last task, they simply are.

"Choose."

Does this shock them? Do they choose themselves as the winner or the other? Do they give their own victory up, or are they selfish?

20. Now it's (quite abruptly) over, tag someone!

Where Do I Start?

DRIVING IS FUN.

Yes. That's a good place to start .

I got my permit two days before we left for the beach. And let me tell you, the beach was a good place to go out on the roads for the first time. I scared a few people, yes, but I know they forgave me. And those who didn't eventually will. I think.

SO THIS IS MY CAR.

Actually, it isn't my car, and that's not me in the picture. But it looks like my car (red, has wheels, same model, etc., etc.). That person doesn't look like me, no. KNOW WHY?

*suspense*

Because I have a black and white feather tucked safely behind one ear, yes sir, and I love it. It's going to be a bit long after I get my hair cut, but I don't mind :3

Did I say get my hair cut? Yes I did. You haven't even seen my hair, and so you shouldn't weep for it. I'll do enough weeping for all of us. But I've hit that stage where short hair = grown up and not old. And so I shall give in to my instincts and go for a bob. Or maybe shorter. We shall see. I'm going to be all steel and nails until the first lock falls onto my lap. Then you'll see weeping XD

This is the Lusitania. It was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank off the coast of Ireland in May of 1915.

Did you know that my great-great grandmother had three names? I didn't either, until my grandmother started spinning yarns in her whimsical way after dinner one night. The story she told captivated me, and so I started taking notes (which is obviously what anyone does when something captivates them).

My great-great grandmother was named Anna Maria Yentz at birth, but was always called Mary Anna by her mother. She hated the name Mary Anna (which she thought was her REAL name until her mother told her otherwise) and so she called herself May. She was the third of eight sisters and fell in love with an English interpreter during the First World War when he was in the United States. This chap ran off with their two small children and life savings only a couple of years into the marriage, leaving May to find a note he'd left for her when she returned from work. Well, apparently May didn't accept that, because she saved up enough money for a boat ticket to England and was preparing to set sail after her missing children when her mother basically had a nervous breakdown and forbade her from sailing away. The boat she missed was the Lusitania.

May eventually got her kids back, sailed home for America, and married a man who guarded FDR and was even chief of police in Philadelphia, PA.

The story struck me as fascinating. And so I've undertaken the task of hunting down facts and trying to contain them all in a manuscript, or maybe even a book, about May. It might just be sort of a family history thing, or I might try my hand at historical fiction and use May's life as the basis for my plot. But I fell in love with this story, and I want to learn as much about it as I can.

Besides all the above mentioned, our last vacation of the summer was a real success. It's colder now--I'm wearing a sweater, and it makes me happy and a bit sad at the same time. It seems that fall  has REALLY arrived, and it's time to bid a fond farewell to shorts, T-Shirts, and flip-flops until next year (if my mom doesn't raid my closet before I can dig them out again).

My classes are starting for REAL this week, and I'm super excited.

Time to look up some German verbs.

~

Elisabeth

Inspired by Insanity

My journal doesn't look exactly like this--it has lovely rainbow stripes. But it's made by Iota and I'm happily scribbling away in it.

A strange way to begin a blog post, you say? It is not. It's just insane.

My friend showed me a nifty little notebook the other day. In it, she'd jotted down random quotes that struck her fancy. Some of them obviously struck my fancy and knocked it down, because I've thrown my whole being into starting my own "quote journal." Some of the first names to grace its pages have been Victor Hugo, Winston Churchill, Peter Pan, Oscar Wilde, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Lucille Ball. It's a great mix, and I'm absolutely loving searching my books and the internet for random, inspiring quotes.

This is something of an update. Besides my lovely journal, I've finally gained my permit after weeks of stressing, studying, stuttering out answers to my longsuffering sister, and banging my head on the wall. I drove around a very quiet community for the first time today and came home convinced that all of the cars were out to nom me. They were probably only afraid of me. Driving is fun, I can say, but quite scary. I suppose if I was a boy I'd think differently.

I sound sort of like Jo March--I guess it's not much of a surprise, since I've been chewing through Little Women. I actually like it, which is a big surprise since I don't usually like novels dealing with young women coming of age (you should have seen the Elsie Dinsmore books after I was through with them). Little Women is somewhat unbelievable and so sweet it's almost sour, but it's a good story and the characters have thoroughly engaged me (especially Jo, as you already know). I'm also working on Alice in Wonderland and have decided to tackle Anne of Green Gables after resurrecting my love of the story by watching the trilogy starring Megan Follows.

I outlined today. It was unbelievably hard. I found that I could hardly remember the plot of Avaria. It's time to get to work, it seems--and it's time to work hard. But unfortunately, the only work I'll do this week is on paper. Yes. I'm going away again--back to the shore. I love the shore. REALLY I do. I must love it a lot since this is the third time we've been down this year :3 But I've resolved not to bring my laptop and rely instead on my pen, paper, and the cooling September air to inspire me. I hope it works. Otherwise, Fozzy'll murder me.

I hope you're all enjoying the start of the school year. The very first co-op class is finished, and now I get to go meet "The Venerable Bede" as I plow through The Ecclesiastical History of the English People for Brit Lit. Joy.


I'll miss you guys! Let some little insanity inspire you every day, and you might end up with a rainbow-colored journal filled with quotes from Jane Austen to Jack Sparrow (I hope you do!)

~God Bless

Elisabeth

It's Coming....

Fall. I can smell it in the air in the mornings and feel it under my toes in the afternoon. The leaves aren't changing quite yet, but there's a sense of anticipation, as if all of nature is holding its breath before the plunge. I don't know what the calanders tell you, but for me, autumn is September.

I love September. It contains a lot of happy things. My sister's birthday, the beginning of a new school year at co-op, the last beach vacation of the season, the first walk under the crisp red leaves. Fall means leaf parties, where my entire family converges on my grandmother's house and chases down every leaf in her spacious yard. It means breaking out the boots and scarves and insisting on wearing said accessories every single day. It means school, which can be fun and can sometimes be...well, not so fun. New classes excite me--what will we learn? Who will I meet? How will the classes change me? Fall means finding leaves the color of my dreams and trying to photograph every single one before they start to fade right in my hands. It means shorter days but long, cool, starry nights. It means that soon, we'll all be able to puff out huge clouds of steam into the colder air.

Fall excites me. Even though it's still hot and humid here, I can begin looking forward to sweaters and boots, hot chocolate and long nights studying and occasionally writing like a madwoman when the tingly air completely overpowers my sanity. It's not my favorite season for nothing.

As I head off to my very first class of the year at co-op, I just wanted to invite you to join me in the anticipation =)

Happy Fall~

Elisabeth

More Than Words

I can't believe that 9/11 is almost ten years behind us. Today, two magazines came in the mail. Both of them were special memorial issues. I sat down and just looked through the pictures, not even reading the articles. The emotion, the bare, raw emotion on the faces of the people in those pictures can't be recreated by anything I write. They're surreal, those emotions. They were singular and unique to every person who felt them, and they will never be felt by anyone else. It's very hard for me, as a writer, to see those deep emotions. They're things that I can't touch, that I have never experienced. Researching and practicing and imagining don't help. There's a time when I need to simply say, "I can't imagine." And it's so true.

There is something about pictures that fascinates me. I feel that as writers, one of our hardest jobs is to actually create a picture with words. It's certainly something I've struggled with ever since I first put down "Once upon a time..." on a piece of notebook paper. Those awful, heartbreaking pictures speak more than words.

I don't want to make the tenth anniversary of 9/11 a writing exercise. It's so much more than that.