griping

Griping:

meddling with time is a foolish thing

        I actually don't feel like griping right now, immediately after my joyous Once anticipation post, but I've been planning to do this post for most of this week, and so I figure I ought to do it. Plus, I'm running short on time. I'll outline the gist of this rant here and now: I hate and despise the illogical and flat-out foolhardy concept that is daylight savings time. I'll hate it more tomorrow morning than I do presently, but I always hate it. It's just... why? What cruel, sick person decided that we needed to suddenly get up an hour earlier at certain times of the year? It's simply ridiculous. I know, I know, everybody says Ben Franklin so cleverly conceptualized it to save on street lamp oil and whatall. But for one thing, may I point out that we don't have street lamps that burn oil anymore? And even if it weren't outdated, it's not like Ben Franklin never had lapses in logic. I mean, that whole, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" thing sounded brave at the time, but really, wise people know never to underestimate the power of words. As a writer, I know that words are among the most powerful things in all existence. And with the street lamp oil thing, I mean, I know we still use electricity and ought to conserve that, and so that's the modern interpretation of the concept, but I think most people nowadays get up before the sun rises anymore to go to work and school and whatall, and so we need light in the mornings more than we need it in the evenings. The week before daylight's savings time starts is always so lovely, because it is so sunny when I'm waking up for school and there's just more light than there normally is, and it's almost as if I can imagine that school starts at a reasonable time. Not that it does or ever has. But that's a rant for another time. There is just no logical reason for daylight's savings times. It is a cruel, evil, manipulative plot to rob people of their precious sleep and precious morning light and precious time.
        In a philosophical gesture of protest, I have not changed the clocks in my bedroom in accordance with daylight's savings time in years. Therefore, for the majority of the year, my bedroom clocks are among the only clocks in America that are actually correct. I am simply forced to get up an hour earlier for everything and it's mean and illogical and I need to post this so I can get one less hour of sleep than normal before church tomorrow almost-morning. (The next day) And so I got up an hour earlier, and really, it wasn't that bad, but the awful thing was that I still had to get ready so quickly. I feel like I could be alright getting up an hour earlier for everything if only the world would acknowledge that I am getting up an hour earlier for everything. I feel like if I'm getting up an hour earlier, it should mean that I have an hour longer to get ready, and that I shouldn't have to rush as much. Why don't we just acknowledge that we're all getting up an hour earlier? It is simply unfair for the world to pilfer away an hour of my life without my consent. Even if they do give it back later, there's simply no good reason to take it away in the first place.

        Beyond the violet mist, we realize that it is a dangerous and foolish thing to meddle with the workings of time, and are aware of the cruel conspiracy of the sleep-theives. 

Faeren Tales

Exclusive: Excerpt from Novel-in-Progress

Tales from a Faeren Lande: The Reine of Valila

        In the ever-present blogging spirit of "o gosh, it's 11:30 on Saturday and I still have two posts to do", I have decided to post for you all (my partially imaginary blog readership) an exclusive excerpt from my novel-in-progress, Tales from a Faeren Lande: the Reine of Valila. I would normally have a lengthy introduction to my excerpt explaining the full history and concept of my story idea here, but I have a whole rant to write in the tab to the left of this one and so I shall be brief. Tales from a Faeren Lande, or Valila for short, is the first of my stories to ever originate from a drawing I did. Some time later I may post a picture of this drawing, as I'm very proud of it. Long story short, I drew a faerie I really liked and I named her Valila and I conceived a story for her, and it became about much more than Valila, but the excerpt I'm posting here is all about Valila. Valila is also the novel I did for NaNoWriMo, a writing competition which I explained briefly in my very first creative writing blog post. I should also note that this is my own original portrayal of faeries (I also portray fairies, but they are different creatures in my world) and in fact I wrote this long before I started watching Once. Remember, all this is copywrighted to me, I intend to publish this as part of a novel series some day, and if you in any way shape or form attempt to take it I will hunt you down and sic my buddy Rumpel on you, toss you into the violet mist, and also attempt to somehow legally prosecute you or something. I don't know. I'm an author and don't steal my stuff. Alors, voici mon excerpt. This is the very opening of my novel as it is currently ordered. 

"        Valila was a truly great Faen in those days, ruler of what was quite possibly the most beautiful domain in all of the Faeren Domains of the Isle-Lande. The Great Willow, the Centre of Valila’s domain, was the largest willow in all the East, and its thousands of arching limbs danced and sung in the sweet summer breezes. Its ancient bark and thick, knotted trunk provided many a hiding place for the joyous and carefree faeries who were members of Valila’s Faendom, and her family and closest friends and advisors, who made up her Faecourt, all made their dens in the Willow’s trunk below Valila’s Great Den. The Pond over which the Willow’s branches hung was vast and sparkled dazzlingly as though filled with sapphires in the brilliant summer sunlight, surrounded by a kind family of lesser willows, and the area of the water in the soft shade of the Great Willow was a favorite spot of the faeries for swimming, especially in that hottest Sommer, before the strange things began. It was a lovely, secluded, tranquil spot in the heart of a great forest that ran all the way to Feraerca's domain in the south.
       Valila, as if to match her domain, was one of the most beautiful faeries who ever lived, as well as a gentle and kind ruler, and wise for the most part. Her hair was like the golden summer sunlight and the silver winter moonlight stirred together in a shimmering waterfall of silk. It was longer even than her splendid wings, and she fashioned a section along the left side of her face into a magnificent braid into which she wove the brightest and most colorful flowers from her garden. She wore her tiara only for formal occasions, but it was lovely, of the finest gold and silver intertwining in a way that echoed and complimented her hair without blending in, bedecked with luminescent gems representing all tones of the rainbow in alternating, delicate shapes of hearts and stars. It was the tiara worn by all Faens of this central eastern Domain since its establishment in days scarcely within the memory even of the historic texts, yet it showed no age. Her wings had a soft feathery pattern on top, purple and blue and green blending gently into one another, reminiscent of a peacock, and her lower wings bore purple and gold spirals. Her gown was of the flowing sort, long--a faeren foot past her toes but not longer than her hair--with draping sleeves and florally-patterned embroidery along the veed-neck and at the ends of the sleeves, and a diagonal woven belt at her waist. Like most faeries, she changed the gown’s color daily, but it was most often a color taken from her wings, probably predominantly a blue like the rich depths of the sky or a purple like the delicate petals of the violets in her garden. Her face was soft and pale, and her eyes were like the richly colored depths of the Pond. But of all Valila’s features, it was her smile that blew the stars out of the very sky. She smiled with all the joy and serenity of believing that everything in one’s life is just as it should be, a smile that assured her people this was so.
        All the Faeries in Valila’s Faendom admired her, and it was a time of great happiness, peace, and prosperity in all the Faendoms of the Lande. Indeed, everything seemed as if it were perfect in those days of the Faeren Renaessance.
        It was almost perfect. No one but Valila herself knew what was brewing, and even she underestimated it, hiding the truth from the Faeries of her domain until it was almost too late.       "

Our closest allies and friends are the faeries from the Isle-Lande of the Faeren Domains, here in the Lande Beyond the Violet Mist. 

Returns

The Return of Once!!!

Once Upon a Time is coming back this Sunday!!

Update: That’s tomorrow now!

HUZZAH!!

        As you might possibly have gathered from many of my previous blog posts and the past two monthly 'something awesome's, I've become rather fond of Once. Meaning to say slightly obsessed. I can hardly believe it's been months already since my drama class introduced me to Once Upon a Time! It's become pretty much my official favorite television show of ever. We (my mom and I) have officially watched the entire series through twice as of today, and some episodes more than that. Skin Deep, for example, or the episode that establishes Rumbelle, I have literally watched five (or was it six?) times. It was the first episode I rewatched, actually. In the course of rewatching, I’ve even gotten behind on White Collar, which I formerly would have probably called my favorite show. It’s funny how Once is so very good it makes other shows seem somewhat less good by comparison. Not to say I don’t like White Collar anymore, because I do still like it very much, it’s just not my number one anymore, and re-watching Once became higher on my to-do list than watching new episodes of White Collar. I guess I’ve just always been a fan of fantasy, but as a genre it seems to be more widely available in books and movies than it is in T.V. series, and at any rate most of the T.V. series I’ve watched probably fall under the category of mystery, such as White Collar, which, mystery is like my second favorite genre. Once is probably the first real fantasy T.V. series I’ve found and watched, and it’s truly just about the best T.V. series I can imagine, what with the way it so beautifully explores fairytales and goes so far beyond them to make such a compelling fantasy series with so many intriguing plot lines and such incredible character development and so many other amazing things. And so I’m quite excited for it’s return Sunday (or now tomorrow)!!! Plus, like most everyone who has been watching the series, I desperately need to find out what happens next!
        This brings me to the real point of this blog post: my hopes for the return of the show. First and most obviously, I do not believe for a second Rumpel is actually dead. There is not an inkling of a way that the show could get rid of him and still be at all a decent show. As I said in my monthly ‘something awesome’ this month (at left), and as I’ve said elsewhere, though I can’t recall where (later I looked back and realized it was in my blog post on fantasy worlds) if the show tried to get rid of Rumpel, “hordes of angry fans, including me, would storm their metaphorical castle in which they write Once and force them to bring him back. He’s too quintessential to the show, and he’s just too awesome of a character!” and they must bring him back, “else mobs of fans storm the castle-esque dwelling or wherever of the writers of Once inhabit and force them to bring him back. We need Rumpel <3 :).” (the first quote is the one from my post on fantasy worlds, and the second one is my re-iteration of it in my monthly ‘something awesome’. Is it really necessary to quote both of these and re-iterate it here again? Yes, yes it is absolutely necessary.) I mean, we didn’t even actually see him die. A good quote from my... “research” on Once last night I found was by someone named Kate on http://tvline.com/2013/12/15/once-upon-a-time-storybrooke-vanishes-wicked-witch-of-west-season-3-recap/, and there she cleverly observed, “We only assume that Rumple died because he thought he had to, and then he disappeared.” It’s very true. It’s a conclusion we’re supposed to reach, but it’s not in any way proven that Rumpel’s dead. So clearly, he’s not.
        I mean, almost no one on Once is ever actually dead (and as I said in “fantasy worlds”, that’s part of why I love it so dearly). The show did fool me with Jimny in the Cricket Games, and I believed for a while he was dead, but then when he came back, I learned to never fall for someone actually being dead in Once again. I didn’t even believe the blue fairy was dead, because I’ve learned better. Also, when Belle lost her memories (which was almost like sort of killing her character), my mom thought she’d never get them back, but I knew she would eventually, though it took longer than I first thought. Really, this show is all about hope, which fits me well, because I’ve always been an optimist. It really does kind of bug me when I say I’m sure things will be alright in a show and people are like, “I wouldn’t be so sure. Just don’t get your hopes up.” I guess I understand that some people like to believe the worst so that they can be surprised when things turn out better than they expected and so that if they don’t they aren’t utterly destroyed, but I personally must always believe the best. I live with my hopes up. It's like that song, don't bring me down. And like I said, this show is all about the hope of a happy ending, and I don’t doubt that there shall be many happy endings. Regardless, I have no doubt that Rumpel’s not dead.
        Where he is, though, I am not sure. He and his despicable, evil, cruel, unloving, worst-villain-on-the-show-so-far papa disapparated in Storybrooke, but then a little while later, Storybrooke itself disapparated. So I’m not sure whether Rumpel was transported back to the Enchanted Forest with the counter curse, or whether he’ll suddenly re-apparate in the forest that once was Storybrooke, or whether he’s been transported somewhere else entirely. I find myself hoping that he’ll actually be back in the Enchanted Forest and back in his old form. I like him in his human/Mr. Gold form alright, but I want to see him in his giddy imp form again. I miss him running around almost skipping and giggling constantly and grinning all the time and just generally being the awesome Rumpelstiltskin we all know and love. I know it’s a form more associated with his being evil, but I think he could be in that form and non-evil and be happy. Of course, when he and Belle get back together (again, I say ‘when’ and not ‘if’ with utmost confidence. THERE SHALL BE RUMBELLE!!!!!!) I suppose he’ll turn back human and all, but maybe they can find a way for him not to. Even if they don’t find a way, I’d be happy with Rumpel just being back to a jubilant imp-creature for an episode or two and then finding Belle again and turning back human. He can still have his magic and kiss her, right? I mean, it worked in storybrooke. Even if he stops being the Dark One because of the true love’s kiss, he can at least still have some magic, like Regina and Cora, neither of whom was born magical and who learned magic by studying it and not by stabbing anyone and stealing their powers. Even if for some odd, illogical reason, the writer-people decided he couldn’t be magical and have Belle, Belle is more important than his magic, and he knows that now, and so I guess it’d be okay if he lost his magic. Though, man, that would be really weird, having a non-magical Rumpelstiltskin.
        So they will get together again, and at some point there will be a wedding. I mean, he almost proposed to her in the scene where they’ve all just come back on the boat from Neverland and he said that of all the paths his life could take, the only one he’s interested in is the one with her. I was very much wishing that he would propose in that moment, but even without a proposal, it was still a beautiful moment. I’ll be so happy when they do get married, though. Oh, that’ll be such a beautiful wedding! I found this picture on the internet last night (Friday) when I was starting to write this post but I was still mostly doing “research” aka perusing the internet and its Once-related contents. It could totally be a picture of Rumbelle dancing together at their wedding:

from http://rumbelleforever.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html found via google images, as usual. 

I don’t know who made this picture, but I love them and think they’re awesome and amazing and wonderful. Not only is it a beautiful picture of Rumbelle happy together, but it’s also a great reminder of the fairytale from which Rumbelle originates. It is, of course, clearly based upon the Disney version, not the version I mentioned in my previous blog post about my childhood storybook, but I guess the Disney versions of things have become widely accepted as the base of these tales, and it is very much a part of my understanding of the basic tale as well. It certainly is a reminder for me, to see this picture of where Rumbelle is coming from. While I do remember that Rumpel is the beast, at the same time I can sort of forget, and this picture clearly shows him in that role. It reminds me of the original story I loved and how the new story I love is that story, only deeper and more intricate. Plus, I think Belle could totally have a yellow wedding dress. It fits her. White is traditional and all, but I think it's cool to have a colored wedding dress. Some day I plan to have a purple wedding dress. I think this could absolutely be a scene from their beautiful and utterly fairytale-happy-ending wedding (though in the true spirit of Once, it wouldn't be the ending).
        So, yes, eventually I do hope things get figured out again enough for Rumpel and Belle to get married, and then possibly have a child. Oo, and while we were re-watching that somewhat horrid (after all, it does kind of manage to ruin everything everyone’s been working for for so long) but still enthralling mid-season finale on hulu today, there was a cat food commercial that featured this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25LjyojeyrI which made me think of Rumbelle (yes, I know I’m obsessed) and so I could see them dancing to this song at their wedding, and/or in the pictures below. But I mean, really, this song fits Rumbelle better than cat food. Just saying. It also reminds me of these other beautiful pictures of Rumbelle:

from http://www.pinterest.com/pin/259308891016234750/

This seems like what Rumbelle would've been like at their prom, if they ever had a prom. 

coincidentally the same picture on a different background, from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/once-upon-a-time/images/31892322/title/rumbelle-fanart

As prom night continued, they apparently moved to somewhere that looks an awful lot like one of the historical sites we visited on one of our field trips in Virginia. Is that Monticello, perhaps?

from http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com/2012/03/rumbelle-wallpaper.html, the same picture as the very first thrown in with some other pictures, entitled, "the iconic ballroom dance"

They just need to dance already! And have a wedding, and a child. Probably in that order, though the dance may be included in the wedding.

        So, other than Rumbelle, do I have any hopes for this coming half-season? Well, I guess just generally that those crazy, plotting people who write this show fix everything they managed to mess up, which is everything. Obviously, Emma and Henry will have to somehow get their memories back. Then I suppose they’ll have to go to the Enchanted Forest and have adventures there and deal with whatever tragedy it is that has apparently befallen Snow and Charming. I do hope Emma and Henry get to see Rumpel in his giddy imp form, because neither of them has ever met him in what is really his coolest form. I think that’d be neat, for Henry to get to see the fun, crazy version of his grandpa he’s never seen. I think Emma will be quite put off to find that the calm, practically demure Mr. Gold is really Rumpelstiltskin, how he is. I mean, she knows he’s Rumpelstiltskin, but she doesn’t hardly know who Rumpelstiltskin is, at least not how her parents know him. I think Emma will be a little perturbed to see him like that, but I think Henry will find his grandpa pretty cool. At least I would. But I’d be Belle, so anyways. Then, they’ll all go off on adventures, and then Emma will get back with Neal. I know a lot of people seem to want Emma with Hook, but I don’t. It’s not at all that I don’t like Hook, because I really do, although he did get off on the wrong foot with me by going against Rumpel, who is still my favorite guy on the show. I’ve always kind of liked pirates, and I think Hook is cool and nice and fun and dashing and all that, but I simply don’t want him with Emma. Emma and Neal just belong together. I could go into a lengthy argument about the many reasons why, but that’d be a blog post of it’s own, and so here I’ll simply say the hugest reason I want them together: not only are they lovely and sweet together, they’re Henry’s parents. They’ve had a child together. Everyone seems to overlook that as a reason, but it’s huge. They had a child together, and intentional or not, in doing so they made a commitment to one another to be together. It is a fundamental belief of mine that the parents of a child belong together and ought to stay together. Enough said.
        That’s the bulk of what I want in the coming half of a season of Once Upon a Time. I want Rumpel alive, back in his jubilant imp form, at least for a while, I want Rumbelle to get married and possibly have a child, I want Emma and Henry to recover their memories, travel to the Enchanted Forest, meet Rumpel in his old, not-exactly-human form, have adventures together, Emma to reunite with Neal and maybe have a fairytale wedding in the Enchanted Forest, then, hey, maybe Henry could even get a new sibling! Then they could go on pirate adventures together on their dad’s friend Killian’s ship, and Killian/Hook could be together with someone else, because I do definitely want Hook to be happy with someone (just not Emma). Sometimes I almost think he and Regina would do well together.
       I mean, I know they’re trying to set up Regina and Robin Hood, and... maybe it could work. It just feels a little too... predestined to me. I don’t like the sense that she’s being told who to love. It’s not a natural love, where they casually meet and fall in love of their own accord. Plus, I think Robin Hood and Mulan would be better together. I mean, they’re both the same sort of person, and I think they could be epic warriors for good together and in the course of doing so fall in love, and Mulan does need somebody now that Phillip has committed to being with Aurora. I felt so bad for Mulan when that happened, though I wish Aurora and Phillip all the best. I know that feeling, of having a crush on a guy and then finding out he’s already with someone, and it sucks. I know that feeling several times over. So I definitely feel for Mulan and I deeply hope she can find happiness with someone else. Someone who’s a warrior like she is, who believes in and fights for good. Someone like Robin Hood. It would really, really suck for Mulan if they started setting her up with Robin and then Regina came in and ruined it. I want Regina to be romantically happy with someone, too, like how you feel so bad for her in that scene back in Neverland where Rumpel and she are instructing Ariel and Rumpel sees that she’s jealous of having someone like he has Belle. Regina truly only has Henry, and now he’s been so cruelly ripped away from her, though they must bring them back together. But you know, I think she could do well with Hook, I really do.
        Oo, and on romances I want together, I also want Grumpy/Dreamy and Nova to finally get together! I’ve been waiting so long for them to come back to that. I think they had such a beautiful romance and that Dreamy should’ve let Nova give up her wings if that’s what she really wanted to do. I mean, it’s really her choice, and I think she should be able to choose not to be a fairy if she wants to. The writing people just started that romance and they haven’t gotten back to it, and I hope they do. I want Grumpy to be able to be Dreamy again. Maybe Rumpel can help set him up with Nova as a way of thanks for Grumpy helping give Belle her memories back again. There could be a really weird, cool friendship between them. I ship Dreamy and Nova almost as much as I ship Emma and Neal who I ship almost as much as I ship Rumbelle, they just aren’t in the show as much and I wish they would be more. Then they can sail off and have adventures together and see the world! Rather like Ariel and what's-his-name-oh-yeah Eric.
       You know, three paragraphs ago I was trying to start my conclusion. But I’m glad I remembered to go through all these other things. This post turned out to be mostly about ships, didn’t it? I guess a lot of this show is about romance, but there are lots of other wonderful things in it, too. It’s just that it seems the ships are the topics of the hottest debates. Speaking of ships, I really want to ride an epic ship like Hook’s through a magic bean portal like this one:

from http://royalhelpers.tumblr.com/post/71413585426/faceless-once-upon-a-time-gif-hunt-under, a site which has many cool Once gifs, or moving picture things, as I am in the habit of referring to them. It does take forever to load, but I think it's worth it.

        But I mean, seriously, does that not strike you as the most fun thing ever to do, to ride an epic, olde fashioned pirate ship through a swirling vortex into another Lande? It's like a roller coaster but 10,000 times cooler. I’m just random, aren’t I? :) hehehehe. But if I had an endless supply of magic beans and a pirate ship, I could really make a hobby of just going through portals and back again on my ship. That would be an awesome hobby.
        So, I think that pretty much covers my hopes and dreams for the coming season. This is one of those rare blog posts that actually gets to be fully as long as I want it to be and where I get to cover everything I was planning to. And I’m looking forward to Once coming back TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! I’M READY FOR THE EPICNESSSSS!!!!!! Are you?
       We beyond the violet mist are braced and ready to embark upon an epic adventure.

Scholarshipping

Scholarshipping

        Tonight, my posts are coming a little later even than their normal lateness, because, like many other students at my school, and probably across the country, I have been finishing my dollars for scholars stuffs (on top of having speech contests today!). Ah, scholarships; yet another layer of stuff they throw at us among the many, many tasks we must do as seniors. I once said to my friend in an e-mail, “I think Senior year is simply designed to drive people insane before they are allowed to become adults. Maybe we can test out of this since clearly we're already acing the whole insane thing.” And, I mean, doesn’t it seem like this is what’s really going on? Maybe senior year is just a huge conspiracy designed to make every future adult lose their mind o.O But anyways, thinking about scholarships and all the different things they have them for made me start thinking, and I have thought a little about this in the past as well, about, when I’m rich and famous, what scholarships I might establish with my vast and undoubtedly realistically guaranteed wealth. I’ve been working on this list of scholarships I think ought to exist and that I might establish, were I rolling in dough and running around giving it to children like myself.

Here is the working list of scholarships I could make:

The Scholarship for Procrastinators and for the Absentminded:
        Write an essay explaining how procrastination and/or absentmindedness plays a role in your life, and yet how you are still able to succeed and flourish in spite of or even because of these factors. Or, write about how your procrastination and/or absentmindedness has been detrimental to your life and how you have no reasonable clue as to how you can ever, ever begin to overcome them! The essay may be as long as your absentminded ramblings lead you to write, or it may be as short as your procrastinative tendencies leave you the scarce time to write. This scholarship is in two parts. For the first part, the Procrastination scholarship and the Absentmindedness scholarship are taken separately; an applicant may apply to one or both of them. In the Procrastination scholarship, preference will be given to applicants who apply as close to the deadline as possible without missing it. Applications will still be considered for four months after the deadline, but it’s best if you can get your application in, say, at midnight on the deadline. The deadline will be announced when we get around to it. Then there’s the absentminded scholarship and there are details on that... By the way, did you know Once Upon a Time is coming back in a couple of weeks? I’m so excited for that! Gosh, it’ll be hard to watch it one episode a week after devouring season one by, like, at least two episodes daily... and, yes, so, scholarship for the absentminded. And there was something about a second round where the two categories will be combined and judged against each other due to their innate similarities and occasional interdependency, but we can get to that later.

The Scholarship for the Indecisive about Life:
         Explain the many divergent paths your life has the potential to take. List and explain the advantages and disadvantages of every possible decision you could make. There is no need to make any actual choices. The only decision you need to make is to apply. This scholarship is due the day before classes at whatever college you decide to attend begin, so as to give you plenty of time to decide whether to apply. Fortunately, we actually managed to find people who are good at making decisions for our judging committee, and so funds will be awarded within two weeks of application. All applicants get a free guide to making vastly weighty life decisions in five seconds!* I don't know, I'm not sure I'll establish this scholarship after all.
*results not guaranteed. May actually lead to increased stress and possible explosions of brains.

Scholarship for the Skilled Utilization of Somewhat Pompously Eloquent Locution:
Write an essay using fancy talk.

“But I Digress” Scholarship:
Write a lengthy essay in which you digress as much as you possibly can into as many random subjects as you can possibly think of. Some sort of logical thought progression should be evident and there should be flow and seamless transitions, but there is no need to have a plan or direction in your writing; write as your mind flows. Introductions and conclusions are completely optional. Blather on without cease. Well, the page limit is twenty pages single spaced, and this should be at least one page, though greater length is preferable. You know, this reminds me of that time when I ate chocolate while sitting in a lovely willow tree alongside a river. Did you know there are only two rivers which flow uphill in all the world, and I used to live near one of these? “These” is an intriguing word if you really start looking hard at it. It also resembles “thesis”. Oh, I need to write my thesis statement for my paper on the French Revolution for tomorrow! France is known for its production of fine chocolates.

Scholarship for the Unfinished:
And more!

Beyond the violet mist, we made ourselves chuckle heartily at our own wittiness. ;D

le Français

Le Français

    J'aime le Français, et aujourd'hui j'ai choisit d'écrire mon poste finale pour le semaine en français. (Ou peut-être je peut finir ce poste avant que mon autre poste qui est dans l'autre [tab].) Je vais [to edit] plus tard, mais pour maintenant, je vais juste écrire des choses [random]s en français, et je vais en mettre les mots que je ne connais pas dans les [brackets] parce-que ça travaille. Oú, je veut dire, ça marche. Alors, de qu'est-ce que veut-je parle ici? Je ne sais pas. Combien loin est-ce que un [blog] poste dois être? Je ne sais pas. Vous savez ce que je vraiment sais? C'est très cool et très, très importante. C'est un chose immense et si grande que quatre langue ne peut pas en comprendre suffice. C'est un chose si grande qu'un grand bête ne peut pas en manger. C'est un secret presque le même grand que le [mist] violet. Êtes vous très, très, très prêt pour ça?
    C'est le [fact] que
                         J'
                            aime
                                 du
                                    chocolat.

Ça regards de cool. Je sais, ma grammaire maintenant est horrible. [Atrocious], probablement. Mais je juste écrit des choses pour un poste. Je crois que ce vais être un très cool poste parce-que c'est en français et tous les choses français sont super-cools et le langue étrange fait des choses être mysterieux, et ça vas bien avec le nature du miste violet. 
    Probablement c'est un bon chose si tu ne peut pas lire le français, parce-que si tu peut, tu sais que ce poste n'est pas bien de tout. Mais je croix que c'est cool encore, sans les problems de grammaire et d'épelier et de le grandure du topique. Maintenant je juste invent les mot. Je dois en poster et je dois finir mon autre poste. 
    Parfoit un parle un peut de français ici, dans le lande traverse le miste violet. 

Fantasy Worlds

Fantasy Worlds

doing my first actual creative writing prompt

"You find yourself in front of seven identical doors. 

A voice from above tells you:

'These seven doors lead to seven places:

Narnia, Neverland, Wonderland, Hogwarts, 

Camelot, Middle Earth, and Westeros.'

Which door do you go through? Why that door? What happens?" 

        I have decided today to do something I have not yet done in creative writing: I am actually doing the prompt. It's not actually a prompt for our creative writing group, but there are prompts in class every day for the creative writing 1 people to do. I normally have enough of my own to blather on about, but today I really liked the prompt and so I decided to transcribe it above and to write on it. Actually, I hadn’t finished writing it all down when it went away, so I googled what I had of it, and I managed to find the original image with the prompt on it:

I like the look of it as well. It fits the mysterious fantasticalness. It could be a little more ornate and fanciful, perhaps, but it’s rather mysterious.

         Although I must admit, I can't help myself but edit it a little. I do have the artistic freedom as a writer; I even have an official, legally valid creative license I made in art class the other year. (Well, it's legally valid in Violetia, at least, but I think my rights as queen and founder of Violetia extend in some sense at least to this world). I also have the magic of wordadry on my side :) (that one’s already in my blog post idea list to explain, don’t worry; I’ll probably get to it eventually. If not, it may become a novel some day, possibly, or some form of medium or short story).
        So anyways, I think first I’ll change out Westeros, simply because I don’t know anything about it. I learned in creative writing it’s apparently the world in some show called, “game of thrones”, but I’ve never seen that and I don’t know much of anything about it, except apparently many people die, as was said in class, and our teacher was apparently warned in a previous class by one of the students that she probably wouldn’t survive there. An unknown fantasy world could be interesting and adventurous, but I’m more inclined to start with the worlds I know and love already, because I’ve wanted to go to most of them for quite some time already, and so I wouldn’t give up the chance to go to a world I already care for in favor of a world I know almost nothing about, which, further, is apparently quite dangerous. Although I have read on the internet that apparently Once Upon a Time even contains allusions to Game of Thrones, namely in the name of Belle’s dad’s flower shop in storybrooke, which is the Game of Thorns. So, I suppose that if Once alludes to it, that makes me think it’s more likely to be a worthwhile show, since Once is so amazingly wonderful and I trust their taste, but if lots of characters die, then I would hesitate to watch it. That is one of the reasons I like Once so very much; almost no one is ever actually dead. Thus I am almost certain Rumpel’s not dead, because they simply can’t kill him off; if they did, hordes of angry fans, including me, would storm their metaphorical castle in which they write Once and force them to bring him back. He’s too quintessential to the show, and he’s just too awesome of a character! But I do digress. (How surprising! Me, digressing? Never...)
        The basic point of the paragraph prior is that I’m changing out the kingdom of Westeros. Instead, I’ll put in... well, what I had said when I first looked at the prompt was that I’d make that door go the the Land of Elyon instead, but now my mind’s on Once again, and so I’m tempted to have the Enchanted Forest from Once behind that door. You know what, I have creative license and wordriad magic, so I’ll just add another door. I’m gradually turning this thing into a list of my favorite fantasy worlds, aren’t I? I think that’s almost unavoidable, though, by the premise of this prompt. I find myself looking at both Neverland and Wonderland differently now, though, having watched Once, but we decided that these are the original realms from their own stories, not the realms as they are portrayed in Once. I do love Once, very much, and their portrayals of these worlds do fit to serve their purposes in the plot of Once, but I must say that if I were to visit them, I would rather go to the original portrayals of both worlds.
         I would definitively and absolutley keep Middle Earth, Hogwarts, and Narnia on there, of a surety and without a shadow of a smidge of a grain of an inkling of doubt. These are, to me, the three most quintessential of all fantasy worlds, and I listed them in their order of quintessential fantasticalhood. The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are the two most classic fantasy series of all time to me, but I list Middle Earth before Hogwarts simply because it’s a far more expansive world. Well, at least it’s more separate. I get the feeling based on the context that Hogwarts is being here used as a blanket term for all of the magical parts of the Harry Potter world, including the magical places beyond the school itself such as Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic, as well as, probably, the other schools, such as those we see involved in the Triwizard Tournament, so in short, the entirety of the Wizarding World. If they don’t mean Hogwarts to refer to the Wizarding World, then one could still easily access the rest of the magical world from Hogwart, unless there was some sort of magical border put in place by the rules of the portal door to prevent one from leaving the Hogwarts grounds, but I could break this down with my wordriad magic. Still, I think Middle Earth is larger, better mapped, and more separate from the “real” world, because there is no version of our modern earth connected to Middle Earth, except perhaps if one was to make the argument that Middle Earth is possibly meant to be our earth in its distant path, which I think is a valid point, and the Wizarding World is more like a hidden part of our world, or, as I described it in one paper I wrote, a “backstage” area of our world, and as far as I’ve seen, J.K. Rowling has never drawn maps of it, though please, correct me if I’m wrong, because I love studying maps of fantasy worlds (one of my presents this Christmas was actually a lovely illustrated book called The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle Earth by Brian Sibley, which has beautiful and detailed copies of Tolkien’s maps plus many lovely illustrations and intriguing text. Some day, when I have my own library, (see dream outlined in “My Little Library”) I plan to have the map posters included in the book hanging on the walls alongside my shelves). I don’t mean this in any way to be evaluating the coolness of either of the worlds or the stories therein, because both are amazing and epic and classic, and as you may have noticed from my brief mention earlier, I have written multiple papers on each, including a comparison-contrast essay on the two of them together, because I particularly enjoy analyzing stories I love, hence all the Once Upon a Time stuff on this blog (Once could be called my latest obsession of many). But it also seems somehow more likely that one could access the world in which Hogwarts is found with more ease than one could access Middle Earth, and so Middle Earth seems more likely to require a magical door. I’m not saying I wouldn’t give it a magic door, because such a door would make the Wizarding World much easier to locate and to access, but I am saying that I think I have more of a chance of finding it without a door than I do of Middle Earth.         I think Narnia is a wonderful and splendid land and it would be a lovely place to visit, but the Chronicles of Narnia have always been a little less familiar to me than the two aforementioned tales, and thus it took the third slot. I’ve actually never read all of the Narnia series; I began reading the first book years ago but never finished, which is exceedingly abnormal for me nowadays but wasn’t as much back then. 
         It’s that time again! I always come to this moment (except upon rare occasions) when I am running short of time and my blog post suddenly begins moving much faster. Basically, I was going to continue summing up and discussing my favorite fantasy worlds and stating which ones were behind doors before proudly proclaiming in my because-I-have-magic-and-creative-license line of reasoning that I intended to go through each door in turn and explore each world over the course of weeks, months, or even years. But really, nothing in the prompt says you can’t go through more than one door. It’s simply not stated. So, therefore, I can go through as many doors as I’d like, because nothing in the rules says I can’t. Even if it did, I could still use my artistic freedom/wordriad magic to go through multiple doors. So, I’ll probably go through the door to Middle Earth first, if only because it’s the most ancient sort of world (which, I know, it’s arguable, but that’s my perception of it), and to fully ensure I can find my way back, I’ll tie some of my magical hair-woven cord to the inside of the doorknob and I’ll thread it through behind me as I cross between worlds so I can find the door again, just to be doubly sure. Then I’ll set off on epic quests and journeys and explore and meet characters and go places and do things and see people/elves/hobbits/fawns/goblins/pixies/pheonixes/magical-winged-cats/et-tous-les-autres in each of the worlds. I think really the point of this prompt was supposed to be telling the story of what happened once I made my decision and went through a door, but I’m a notorious decision-avoider and I’ve gotten so wrapped up in explanations on this blog I sometimes lose the stories. 
         I have been realizing that many of my blog posts on this blog take on more of an explanatory tone than one of storytelling. I suppose this is because I feel the need to explain things more when I am on the internet, and because I feel in some ways my blog posts are simply more explanatory by their nature. When I’m writing my blog posts, I almost feel like I’m speaking to some unknown person, because literally anyone on the internet could be reading this, though in all honesty it’s most likely someone from my school or one of my family members. But I have to be prepared if it’s not, and even if it is I’d probably still write these like I’m talking to someone and trying to explain all my thoughts. But while oftentimes I like to write in an explanatory, conversational way on my blog, as I am doing presently, I think I should try to put more pieces written in more of a storytelling manner on here. Looking back, I think the only things I really have in a tone of storytelling are my post on the secrets of the Lande beyond the violet mist and my excerpt of my work-in-progress short story, and the latter is even surrounded by explanatory notes. So perhaps it shall be my goal in the coming week to write a few more blog posts of a storytelling nature.

        Beyond the violet mist, we discovered another fine medium of interdomainal (in the Violetian sense, not Faeren) transport in a hidden and secret chamber of a potentially varied number of mysterious doors in a transdimensional space.

pre-Rumbelle

The Original Beauty and the Beast (to me)

re-discovering ancient forms of modern things

        This post can be said to be something of an offshoot from my box of lost things post. Originally, I began writing this as a digression within that post, but being as it is presently 10:30 on Saturday and I have two posts yet to post, it became worthy of being a post in its own right. Well, and I had plenty to say on the subject anyways, so it's probably for the best that it is now its own post.
        When I went down in the basement that fateful night to look for our Harry Potter books, the first thing that caught my eye, as it so happened, was actually my old Beauty and the Beast storybook. I had been thinking of this just the other day, incidentally, as I was thinking about Rumbelle in Once Upon a Time while riding on the bus (thinking about Rumbelle is becoming a common and favored passtime of mine) and by way of that I came to think of my old storybook. As though summoned by my recent thoughts of it, the book was suddenly before me, and I carefully took it up in my hands and reread the full tale with new perspective.
        It’s rather neat in that it’s also not the same version of the story as the Disney version of the tale, and I think I actually had read that book before I saw the Disney movie, and I still sort of think of it as the original version of the story to me. It’s different from both the Disney story and the Once story. Kittens feature much more prominently into this version of the story, which, of course, definitely appeals to me. There are many other differences as well, from the way the enchanted rose plays in (in this story, it spells doom for the protagonist’s (see note on protagonist’s name under second picture) dad when he picks a rose from the beast’s garden rather than for the beast by holding his life in the balance) to the way in which she returns home (in all the tales, the beast lets her go at some point on the condition that she returns; in this tale, it is by way of a magic ring; in Once, it’s with the promise of a story and without the expectation that she will return) as well as many other interesting differences--which could be potentially another follow-up blog post, if it turns out that way. This book used to have one of those boxes that had buttons on the side of it that played sounds to go with the story, as well, but I think the batteries in that part corroded or something, and it’s gone now, so that’s why there’s that blank cardboard part at the side of it now.

here it is where I'm keeping the book now on display beside two of the items from my lost box, my castle and my music box, which makes for what I fancy quite a lovely and fantastical display.

the front of the book. You can see that the girl, in this version actually named "Beauty" (which is probably the thing I like least about this book, that she's named Beauty and not Belle, which is just strange, but I guess they figured the name "Belle" would be too French and would go over small childrens' heads) also looks rather different from the Disney Belle. She has the magic ring on her finger. The book has very lovely illustrations as well, and all the pictures are quite pretty.

The first inside page, with Beauty at the side of her dying beast, and her kitten concernedly tugging on her sleeve. In this version, the beast nearly dies from Beauty’s forgetfulness, because he gave her the magic ring so she could travel home, but for no more than seven days. She didn’t realize it had been more than seven days, and so when she came back, the Beast was dying because she’d been gone too long. Of course, at this point she kisses him and he becomes human again (though no dishes sing about being human again--dishes don’t factor into this version of the tale at all, not even Rumpel’s precious Chip). In this story, the Beast is even given a name for when he is human: Prince Bartholomew. Not quite as cool as Rumpelstiltskin, but still nice. 

This is the moment when the beast catches Beauty (I still want to call her Belle, but I must remind myself that this one is named Beauty) in his private room, where there is a picture of him as a human prince, which she doesn’t get until she sees him as a human again. Her kitten happily frolicks at the side. You can also see in the text where there are symbols that once corresponded to the little soundbox thingy at the side, so you’d push them and hear the beast’s roar, for example. I really liked it when I was little. 

The classic ballroom scene is very prettily portrayed here, with Beauty in a pink dress and her ever-present kitten playing with the harp. I believe this is also the page where the text, while listing things Beauty and the Beast did together, mentions that the two of them played hide-and-seek with her kitten, which is an awesome line that creates a great and hilarious mental image. It’s particularly funny if you try to apply it to Rumbelle--can’t you just picture if Belle had brought a kitten with her and she and Rumpel had played hide-and-seek with it? ;) 

The final page in the book, that happily-ever-after pagespread with a beautifully painted sunset and the kitten climbing on the prince’s once jealously-guarded rosebushes. The book concludes talking about how Beauty and Prince Bartholomew were known throughout the kingdom as kind, gentle, and fair rulers. It’s a nice little book. I wonder if you can still find it nowadays. Anywho.

This tangent also reminded me of some other things I've related to Rumbelle of late...

This is my calendar and a program I posted next to it from a play my cousins' school put on not too long ago, both of which make me think of Beauty and the Beast and hence Rumbelle right now.

The program for the play, which just so happened to be Beauty and the Beast. It was largely based on the Disney version. Someone in their group did the illustration, which is a lovely drawing of the enchanted rose that spells the beast's doom in this version if he cannot find love. My one cousin played Belle's wacky dad, the inventor, another cousin played a milkmaid in Belle's town, and a third cousin played Chip himself. I hadn't started watching Once yet, back then, or I would have looked at the whole thing so differently. 

My calendar picture this month even made me think of Rumbelle/Beauty and the Beast. It's a cat with a rose, and I couldn't help but think that the rose fit as the beautiful thing, or Belle, and the cat could be the beastly thing, or Rumpel/Beast (though the cat is beautiful, as well. Of course, Rumpel's beautiful in his own way, too.) This calendar is themed "life lessons you can learn from your cat" and so this month's picture is captioned "see the beauty in something others cannot". It seems more likely they mean that the cat is seeing the beauty in the flower, but it can also be like how Belle saw the beauty in Rumpel or the Beast (depending on the story) when no one else could. It fits. And the fact that I made the connection also reveals how obsessed I am. 

        I had also intended upon getting into a digression on the Frenchness of Beauty and the Beast and how that appears or doesn't in the different versions and from there on how romantic it is to watch Beauty and the Beast in French, and how we did so in French class, and some other French romantic stuff. Yes, I do actually plan to digress sometimes. But now I must needs post.
        Beyond the violet mist, we rediscovered ancient and cherished tales and compared them in new light with more recently discovered tales, as well as with other pleasant visual mediums.

the Lost Box

A Box of Lost Things:

finally finding what you've been searching for,

just as soon as you stop looking.

        What happened last night (now a few nights ago) was like something out of a creative writing prompt. I almost expect that somewhere out there, on one of those websites that lists creative writing prompts that I've been meaning to look at but haven't yet, the exact scenario that occurred last night is listed as a hypothetical statement for a prompt, a "what would you do if..." statement. But it really, actually happened.
        I found a box for which I have been searching for three years. You may or may not know that about three years ago, we moved. I'm not going to say where being as this is on the internet and all, nor am I going to explain the details, but moving is moving and so if you have ever moved (or even if you haven't), you likely already have a picture in your head of a house filled with boxes in which all the stuff of one's life must be crammed. The particular box to which this blog post pertains was the very last box I packed from my bedroom. It contained what I then considered to be among my most select and favorite items in my room, carefully packaged away. It was one of the last things on the moving truck and so it followed that it would be one of the first things off, but in the utter chaos of unloading I did not see where it went. I unpacked all the boxes that had been put in my room and I was distressed to find that my treasure-box was not among them. I searched the boxes in my mom's room, and in the closets, and the living room, and throughout all the house, and I did not recover it.
        I still searched on and off as time went on. Whenever we cleaned the house I picked up my search, and I double- and triple-checked all the places I had already checked, and I still thought of it. It wasn't as if I was searching for it constantly, though, and quite some time had gone by since I had looked for it. I don’t mean by the subtitle of my post to imply that I had given up all hope of finding it, but rather that last night (or a few nights ago, as aforementioned) I was not looking for it. Instead, I was looking for our Harry Potter books so that I could find a selection for my Lit Program piece for individual speech. I know I’ve seen our Harry Potter books since we moved, but I couldn’t find them on our bookshelf, and I thought that the last time I’d seen them might have been in a box in the basement, so I went down there to check.
        The first thing that caught my attention down there is actually the inspiration for and subject of what is now my third blog post of the week which I have recently placed in another tab. But beneath it (and perhaps slightly to the right), I found my lost box, literally my box of buried treasure (it can indeed be said that it was buried, because it was under a thing or two in a pile in our basement storage area). I stared at it in awe, hesitating and questioning whether it truly was what I thought it was. The defining characteristic of my box of lost things was a rather large bulge in the top, where the castle tower came up. Indeed, my castle was probably the most defining thing that was in that box, and the item I remembered and missed most while it was gone.
        So I saw this box with a bulge in the top, labeled "Bedroom--fragile" in purple sharpy, just how I knew the box would be (and I couldn't help wondering how a box labeled "bedroom" so clearly could have ended up in a pile in the basement, but all's well as ends well, I ‘spose) and it was really a sort of dream-like moment because there was a part of me that had wondered if the box hadn't somehow been left behind, even though I'd handed it up onto the moving truck myself, or if it had been gotten rid of somehow, and I had come to doubt whether I'd ever see my treasures again, and yet here they were, in front of me. I picked the long-lost, near-mythical, treasure-filled box up at long last and peeled off the plastic wrap holding it closed, and I pulled open the folded cardboard lid-flaps, and I gazed in wonder upon my precious things which had been hidden from me for the better part of three years, which has felt in a way like forever (though at the same time like no time at all). The warm, caramel-vanilla scent of my candles mingled with the fainter underlayer of the oddly familiar smell of dust that seemed to be specific to my room back home flowed out of the box and transported me back to the moments spent packing it, carefully wrapping and tucking away my favorite things and entrusting them to the care of this little box. Deciding I could pursue the HP books later, I hastened upstairs with the box in hand and began uncovering each cherished possession, lifting them from the box one by one with reverence.
       Time runs short and so I fear my post must as well, but perhaps here I shall simply list the items that were in the box and insert the pictures of them I took the other night, and I shall explain each one’s significance in yet another promised follow-up post.

First and probably most significantly, my castle. Yes, it is the kind from a fishtank.

My beautiful music box. It's funny that it plays the Peter Pan song, because after watching Once, I definitely look at that differently now. 

a fish from my old fishin' around game. Remember, explanations later.

a little purple decorative "princess" box... which holds mysterious things...

mini-keys from a journal that had a lock on it and an ancient starburst in said box. There's an inscription on the inner ring of the box that says a little rhyme about wishing. It's not a famous one, I don't think. I'm away from the box right now so I can't recreate it here. You probably can't read it from the picture, but if you can, that's cool. 

some decorative do-dads from the gem show--a carmelly-gold rock, an amethyst pyramid, and a butterfly, which might be tourmaline, I don't recall. I should ask my mom. She knows her gems!

a translucent monticello keychain, of which it is very tricky to take a good picture. I think in this picture you can see the dome and columns fairly well, you just can't quite see the word "monticello" under it, and it isn't very clear. You can see some of the pictures on my wall, my lamp, a hat, the floral head ring I wore to prom last year, and a few other things, if you're observant like that. 

one of my yummy-smelling candles that scented the box so strongly. I don't recall exactly what the scent was called, but it is something to the lines of caramel-vanilla, perhaps with some note of spice or another. 

a thing of miniature cupcake cups; one of the few things the box contained about which I had completely forgotten. I believe I'd gotten them more recently, so they didn't have the time-honored-ness nor the connected memories the other items had. 

a small wood plaque-type thing I painted with a waterfall scene upon a purple background. Somehow it escaped my notice then that nothing is supporting the waterfall but for some floating rocks.

a funky-looking hand-operated back massager...

which works as a display easel for my wood-plaque-thing.

two plastic sword hilts

.... and more!

Beyond the violet mist, we rediscovered a long-lost treasure box and the cherished treasures therein.