Life at the moment

I have three eight-page papers to complete in the next four weeks, at least three four-pagers (I haven't counted em yet), a website to design and launch, and a couple finals, on top of my typical homework for my seven classes. I've also volunteered to help prepare posters for the senior projects of the honors kids graduating this year. I'm not sure why I did, as I'm a tad busy already... probably the same reason I'm taking the time to write this post. Maybe it's terrible priorities.

On the upside, I've finished my internship duties for a month or so, and as of last Saturday, also finished the production of Alice in Wonderland in which I was the Mad Hatter. It sold out for six out of eight shows, but we couldn't extend the run for another weekend, which is just as well, as next Saturday I'll be attempting to shoot an entire short film within one day.

I was hoping to do Nanowrimo this year, too... But I do have a week-long Thanksgiving break coming up. I might be able to dash off 50 thousand words.

Newswriting exercise

The Assignment:


To reformat the opening of a newspaper article so that it's less clunky; punchier.


The Opening: 


"Maria Ramero, 23, of 154 East Lansing Blvd., in Riverdale, and her daughter, Jessica Ramero, 4, of the same address, were killed when their car collided with a milk truck at 4:13 p.m. at the corner of Wayne and First streets at Riverdale yesterday."


My Answers:


"Milk isn't always good for your bones. Maria Ramero, 23, and her young daughter were killed early this morning by a renegade milk truck."


"Got milk? A Riverdale mother and her four-year-old daughter wish they hadn't."

Hundred Dollar Bill

   I just had an interesting experience... Yesterday, while studying for my research paper on tricksters in folklore, I found an African American tale about a guy who kept a one hundred dollar bill in his pocket solely so that he could offer it to pay for a 50 cent haircut. When the barber couldn't give him change for a hundred bucks, the guy would get away without paying anything since it was technically the barber who couldn't pay.
   Then, today, I attended a swing dance that cost a dollar at the door. All I had was a twenty, and the cashier couldn't change it, so he let me in free. The trick works in real life!

Hilarity Ensueth

On my iPod, I have a place where I can write notes to myself. A few months ago, after noticing that I rarely use it, I decided to fill the time that I spent on a bus heading to college by typing in random thoughts. Most of these thoughts are either merely random boring phrases, or are useful ideas for stories which I don't wish to disclose, but I have two of the more entertaining notes posted here.



The first note is:

Guy goes onto his run down shed and finds out that it has been taken over by a giant clump of grass.

Hilarity ensueth.

...with, as an afterthought:

Actually, the guy should have a philosophical conversation with the grass. That would be funny.

The second note simply says:

Apple farm.

Apples become sentient?