Thursday, February 18, 2010

asdf jkl; [writing sample]

Couldn't think of anything catchy for the title. I figured I may as well put up a little sample of my current stories so that you guys can tell me if it's good and what I need to work on to make it better. I have several unfinished, but I'm not sure if I want to show all of them here. So I'll let you guys see an exerpt from my main story that I'm working on. Here;

The black shape moved toward me, eyes reflecting electric blue. Like a shadow amongst shadows, it crept closer. I stood, long brown hair flying behind me, as if trying to coax me into running. But that wasn’t how you handled these situations. You never ran from a wolf. You never ran from any predator. That made you prey, and you’d get taken down like a helpless fawn. You must stand your ground, show them you’re not scared. Most importantly, you have to believe it yourself. They will smell it even if you try to fake it. You never run, never scream, and you have to believe that you have no fear.
Besides, I couldn’t run. There were two more behind me. The breathed out in gravelly huffs, and I could picture their breath steaming on the air if it wasn’t the middle of July. I smiled at the black one when one of the others snapped a twig. They’d left great gaps to either side of me. That still didn’t coax me into running. The black one, the leader of the gang, growled. In a moment he was in the air, flying toward me. I leapt to meet him, with the other two at my heels.


The thrill of the change was amazing. If anyone ever captured it on camera, someone would cry at the slow-motion replay. When you watched, you became addicted to the sight, and when the change was done, you wished it had lasted longer than a split second, just so you could watch it for longer. But when it was you changing, the adrenaline rush was the big thing. To feel your muscles pack up tight where you can literally feel the energy in them, like some instant steroid, it gets you going. You really want to laugh or scream, but then you don’t have the right equipment anymore. You’ve got fur all over and canines four inches long, and you suddenly feel huge. Because you are. You’re the size of a Clydesdale, or bigger, in some cases. It truly is a beautiful thing to witness.

The impact was practically nothing to me or him, but it got a snarl out of both of us. The dark one snapped at my shoulder, grabbing at fur rather than skin. We fell to the ground twisting and turning, nipping and snapping, snarling and growling. The other two were in the mix in a moment, joining in with another cacophony of noises. The four of us crashed into trees and crushed logs as we tumbled along, a jumbled mess of fur and teeth. Sometimes I was facing the little silver one, and in a moment I was clawing at the other brown one, and then in an instant I was back battling the black one. And then the cycle would start again.

We ended up on the creek bank where the water hissed at us to get away. Squirrels chided us to stop making so much racket, and dogs down the street had begun to howl. Finally I got the brown one down on the ground. I nipped at his chest and legs until he surrendered, and then I backed off. The black wolf and the little silver one were gone, replaced by a pair of humans. They stood watching, laughing as I took my opponent down. I phased again as I stepped back, once again the girl in tattered jeans and a t-shirt with brown hair down to the middle of her back.

“Ha! You’re it.” I said when my voice was restored. The boy that stood before me was about a year younger than me, with chocolate-brown hair the slung down over his forehead. He was somewhat scrawny, but I knew better than to think he was useless.

“No, I’m done,” was his reply. “This game gets boring.”

“Oh, come on, Toma, don’t be such a baby.” This voice was feminine, belonging to the girl whose wolf form was small and silvery. We called her Ema, which was her middle name. Her real name was Miroslava, and she hated to be called that. She rolled her eyes at her twin. They were nothing alike, of course, in personality or looks. While Toma had dark brown hair, Ema’s was a more silvery shade of light brown. They were both quick, but in size they looked to be completely unrelated. Toma dwarfed his sister, with her only at around five feet tall, and him closer to six. He wasn’t afraid to remind her of it, either. Ema was witty, thorough and thoughtful, whereas Toma was more impulsive, reacting before thinking. And easily bored.

“I’m serious!” he cried. “How many times have we played this game before? It’s the same thing over and over again. It’s really boring.”

“Toma, you listen now,” Lindor jumped in, in a deeper voice than normal, imitating Toma’s father. “You have to keep up the work-outs. You won’t be of any use to us if you can’t fight.”

We all smiled, but Toma wasn’t giving up that easily.

“Can we at least make up a new game? Tag is so repetitive,” he whined.

“Oo, what a big word, Tom,” Lindor taunted.

“Oh, shut up,” Toma growled, lunging for a playful punch, but Lindor dodged out of the way. The two phased, and together the dark wolves gamboled toward the Răzvan house. Ema shook her head in mock disappointment, and together we walked along in the trail of dust left by our two companions.

When we arrived home, Caelia was there watching the boys romp. She smiled when she saw me and Ema approaching, gesturing for us to come inside. We were still quite a distance from the house. Ema looked at me mischievously.

“Race ya.”

“Yeah,” I replied, knowing she would win anyway. It was good exercise, though. Tested my strength and stamina.

We could have raced there on two legs, but that was too slow for us. You get addicted to the speed of four paws once you’ve experienced it. In half a second we were off, racing through the grass. It didn’t take long for Ema to pull ahead, and I watched the distance between us become larger and larger. Out of nowhere, a mass of dark brown fur blurred past, and crashed through the doorway. Luckily, the door was large enough to fit one of us through it, so no damage was done.

Keep up, girls! Toma shouted through the telepathic connection that ran in all werewolves’ blood. At the same time, the air carried the shout of “Toma!” to our ears. Ema and I snickered as we phased before going into the house. That was one of Caelia’s rules. No wolves in the house. I heard the hiss of the old cat Rancher as Toma blundered into the house. Caelia’s personal watch-cat, the enforcer of the rules. The wolf in Toma growled in return, but then he slid into the dining room, once again a boy with shaggy brown hair.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Judgement

I was just thinking about something else I could write about that would interest you guys, rather than my pets and life. Suddenly I thought about the other day, when a friend said something about a teacher looking or sounding gay. I asked her why she judged people, and she automatically said she didn't. I said that's a lie; you just did. But I didn't push it. So I just want to talk about judgement and prejudice for a while.

I hate it that people are always judging and gossiping and following typical stereotypes. My hometown and my school are pretty bad about racism and homophobia. Springtown is an extremely white town, so says Mrs. Lang. I agree with her, since our black and hispanic population is like five, total. But still, that is no excuse for saying crap like gay kids should die. It's absolutely ridiculous and stupid. And there is so much of it in Springtown. It's so easy to wish it would all go away, but it'll never happen.

So, why are people so judgemental? I think it's because we see in others what we fear in ourselves. We see stereotypes when we look at people who are different from us. It's unfair, but true. And it's so sad, because there is so much potential for America if people didn't have this whole thing about Obama being black or democratic. We judge our own president! Think about that, and try to tell me that's not wrong. And if we didn't worry about such trivial things like polls titled "Do you think gay marriage should be legal?" we would all be so much better off. If we didn't worry so much about what other people wanted to do with their lives and trying to control theirs, maybe we could work on controling our own lives. But ohmygod, her hair is so ugly and she's so fat and he's got terrible acne. Who cares?

I can't say that I've never judged someone or said something rude about a stranger, or even thought something demeaning about a complete stranger. Because I have. It is very hard not to think bad about anybody when you live in America. It is hardwired into our brains, because that is what we hear. I garuntee you there is not one kid in this country whose parents have not said something judgemental about a stranger in front of their own kid. And you know what, when we say or think something rude about someone, our subconscious goes "What if people say similar things about me?" And I think that's why everybody does it so often, because we think that if we put others down, that we become tougher somehow, and that their judgement really doesn't matter. But it doesn't work that way, and that's what gets most people.

I can honestly tell you that I try to catch myself when I say things about people, or when I think them. I try not to think bad about strangers, and if I do think things, then I try not to say them out loud. I always feel guilty if I say the things I think. I don't like to join in when my friends gossip about someone. I've witnessed traitors in action, where a group of people will turn on someone that thinks they're all friends when they are home sick. And it makes me angry and sad, because friends really shouldn't talk about each other bad. I understand venting, but when you have a whole group of people talking about someone else, it makes me want to walk away or scream. Too bad I don't have the courage to do that. I wish I did sometimes.

So next time you think something judgemental about anybody, think about what you're saying and why. I promise there won't be a good reason in there.

And thus my lecture on judgement is over. I hope you all enjoyed that.

Bye-bye.

Back to Blogging

Hey everybody. It's been a while since I've blogged, but I'm back! I have some news, but it's mostly about my pets and all that fun stuff, so feel free to just skip right over this. Some of you know, and some of you don't, but my animals are my life, so you should expect a lot of "Pet Posts" from me. :D

So the first bit of news I have is that Sunny is gone. If you don't know who Sunny is, I suggest reading my first pet post. So my little barn buddy is no more, and I don't know what happened to him. And Mufasa's back. I can't say I'm excited about his reappearance. I know it's mean, but his quality of life isn't great at the moment. However, there were two new additions to the barn cat family, Little Man and Baby Boy, later renamed Mutt and Jeff. <-- Mom called them that because they were always together, and it just kind of stuck. Little Man is Mutt, and Baby Boy was Jeff. They were brothers, and looked almost identical, except that Mutt has a white star on his chest. Regrettably, Jeff was run over by a car not too long ago, so it's just Mufasa and Mutt. But Mutt seems to be doing fine. He acts like a dog. When I get off the bus, he usually comes up the driveway to meet me. He comes when called, and "talks" constantly. He is my new barn buddy.

Also, Biscuit was sold to a guy in Wyoming to go into competitive Reining, and Mom got a fully trained Reining horse from Idaho, named Little Bit. Joker's still here, and it looks like she'll be here forever. Joker recently had a rear leg injury that almost completely severed one of her tendons. Luckily, it was one that won't cause her any complications and won't require her being put down. She is still healing from the wound(after four weeks delay because of some stupid vet's advice) and is doing very well. So she will stay and be the little cousin's riding pony for when they come to visit. I swear, the only reason my little cousins look forward to coming over is for the horses.

But on to better news. I am excited to tell you all that I will be buying an Australian Shepherd puppy in 2011, and I have big plans for it. It is from a local breeder, and the head of a local Australian Shepherd club. I don't know how this new puppy will fit into our house(the inside barely holds the two current aussies), but I will make it work. I've been waiting for a puppy for a while, and I'm saving up so that I can at least pay part of the cost. I can't tell you all how excited I am. I'm hoping that it will be born in the summer, so that I can spend as much time as possible working with it and training it and so that I won't have to be away from it for eight hours a day.

Unfortunately, getting a new puppy and devoting all of my time to it will require me to quit all of my Role-playing sites. I'm not so excited about this, because I've made some really good friends, but I can't keep playing on the internet every spare minute. I can't afford to have that distraction if I want to make this puppy a great agility dog. I won't be quitting any time too soon, because I have plots that need to be finished and some that haven't even started. But I will quit in 2011, as soon as my puppy is born, if not sooner.

In other good news, I am almost finished with Drivers Ed, so hopefully I will be getting my permit after this wonderfully snowy four-day weekend. On the bright side, I'll have an advantage over some kids, because I can drive myself to and from agility practice, which happens to be at night, so it will take me around ten weeks to get my ten hours of night driving. And I've been driving the truck and tractor since I was eleven, so I have some experience there. By September I'll be able to get my license, and then the real fun begins. :D

I believe that's all the news I have for tonight. However, if you would like to see Pearl's and my first Agility NADAC Q, you can go to youtube.com/Nicaussies and watch. There'll also be some videos of them in the snow yesterday and today. Have fun watching those. :D

See y'all later.