For the majority of my posts I like to hover around that 80’s theme. For this assignment I thought to share this story because it is hilarious. Towards the end of 6th grade my parents finally felt comfortable leaving me around the house when they had other matters to attend to. This mostly meant watching my younger sister, but this time they left me alone in the house the entire day. Immediately when my parents left I called over so of my friends to come over, which was perfectly fine until an hour or so later. Me and my friends at the time weren’t doing anything in particular we were probably just playing video games or something like that.

A little bit after 2pm I heard a knock at the door which I ignored at first because I was a 6th grader and didn’t have any responsibilities to whatever was outside. Shortly after the person knocked on the door for maybe a minute straight. At that point I figured out it was my friends little brother looking for him, because no one else knocks consistently like that on my door. I would have answered it earlier, but I wanted to make sure that my friends weren’t breaking anything or eating all my food. Once I squared that away the first thing I thought was to run to the door so I could make the knocking stop sooner. As I’m running to my door I trip on a box, slide on a small rug in front of the door, then finally my arm went through the window pane near the door. The first thing I see my friends 6 year old redhead brother covered in my blood standing on my porch, he immediately ran home crying. At that point my first thought was “wow I cut this poor kids nose with the glass I shattered I hope he’s ok.” As I thought that I pulled my arm out of the window, and their was a gaping gash in my left arm. For some reason my first instinct was to take a lap around my whole house screaming and waving my arms around. During my lap all my friends saw that I was spewing out my arm and they also ran away from my house screaming (great friends.) After that I came to my sense (kinda) and wrapped my wound up with a bunch of paper towels and a normal towel. After everyone left me I went and sat on my neighbors driveway just rocking back and forth. Thankfully luck was on my side and my other neighbor just happened to pull up and saw that I was bleeding through both the towel and the paper towels, so to the hospital I went. Before I left I called my mom and told her that I was bleeding really badly, and the first thing she said was “it will be fine I’m getting so food for your sister.” The hospital at the time was a block and a half away so it was no time before the doctors got me stitched up.

Lunar Dependence

The time was almost upon them. They had waited twenty-three hours for this. The moon was almost aligned. Maybe this time they would learn their lesson.
It had been ten years since the global power outage. Now their only source of power came from a solar plant on the moon. An enormous tower would connect with the moon every day to temporarily restore Earth’s power.
When the power ran out the Earth became static. The winds died down, the clouds rolled in, and the Earth was left in darkness. The sun still warmed those upon the planet but could not penetrate through the cloud fortress to power anything. The human race had to rely on archaic technology and animals like their ancestors had once before. Watermills regained popular but their main purpose became food and textile production. Without gas powered farming equipment, food quickly became scarce.
The hour of which the moon provided for the Earth formed a calming ritual. It was a symbol for hope and a better future. They had learned their lesson the hard way. They would give anything to correct the past . Maybe someday.

Tweeted version

This assignment asked for me to create a fiction story. I am choosing to create a story that evolves within the 80s time.

During the 80s, there was all types of music being created and published. There was a man named Bill Lyons who was becoming a famous singer for rock music. He was 30 years old, had a steady job, and always wanted to become a famous singer. Well one day he decided that he should focus on becoming the famous singer he had always wanted to be and left his job. He started out playing on the streets, in local bars trying to get his name out there. Eventually, some of the bars invited him back to play because they loved his music. In a year, he had a band, and crowds that followed him to different cities in New York. He loved his life now.

Then, one night he got too drunk and accidentally offended one of his crowed members. He and the band were kicked out the bar that night. When he woke up the next morning he realized that he is not living the life he wanted to. He is letting drinking get in the way of his success as a famous singer. He decided to quit drinking, and once he did that someone came up to him one night and asked him to make a cd for this production guy. Bill was thrilled. All his dedication and hard work was starting to pay off. He created his fist set of songs, they got realized and BAM, Bill Lyons was on the cover of billboards for concerts. He became famous.

Overall, this story was to show you that everyone has a dream and you have to be willing to run after it because its not going to run into you. You have to learn lessons and go through trails in order to learn the right path to go down. He quit drinking and then later down the road it actually helped him land his first set of songs with the production guy that introduced himself to Bill. Life is going to be tough, but only you make your life what it is. Bill made his and faced some challenges. As long as you climb and learn from your challenges you will reach your goals or dreams.

Below is where I posted this story on my Twitter in a single tweet summarizing the take home message from this story.

“First, go to your blog and tell us a story. Any story. Fact or fiction. Make it as long as it needs to be to tell it well. Then, go to Twitter and retell your story, distilling it down into a single tweet. Embed your tweet at the end of the original blog post. “

For this “Tweet it/ Tell it” assignment I’ve written a very short story that is personal and true. I went to a coffee shop one day with my boyfriend and had a wonderful time escaping the cold weather with him. I love to write and write in a personal journal frequently so when I though of something to write about I thought about the day we spent in the coffee shop and let the rest flow! The only tools I needed to type up this short story were my thoughts and fingers.

The cold reminds me of a weekday last winter, we didn't want to spend another day cooped up in the house but the air was too chilling to spend much time outside. As a happy medium Kullen and I gathered our coats and the books we were reading at the time and journeyed to Georgetown to sit in a warm coffee shop for the afternoon. We arrived and found a nook to nestle in, out of the path of the cool air that circled in each time the front door opened. We ordered drinks and when I stood waiting for them I admired the metal of the espresso that bent each image before it. That day we sat and read in silence, enjoying the company of each other and shared glances. I finished Colin McCan's "Let the Great World Spin" and I recommend it to anyone looking to gain a bit of perspective.

After, I adapted it to a tweet, which was also not difficult, except for it took me a while to upload it because my wifi was not working!

Lesson to learn here that sometimes just writing something by hand is the most relaxing way to express yourself without having to deal with wifi and connection. But Twitter CAN reach a larger audience… give and take.

I’ve decided to choose the assignment Tell It for 3 stars. This story is about how I chose UMW. As everybody knows I play tennis and wanted to play in college so I started looking at places where I could play. I originally wanted to go D1 and look at schools in the South. I figured I was good enough to play and thought it would work out in my favor.

I originally reached out to Elon in NC but they didn’t even return my call. So did Furman and a few others. I then realized I needed a way in because I was tired of being rejected. I ended up enrolling in a summer camp at Butler University where I fell in love with the school and the team and the coach. It was my number one choice and when the coach offered me a roster spot I was all in and said yes.

Fast forward to the beginning of my senior year. I start to lose contact with the coach and he begins to not return my texts and calls. I start seeing that he is bringing in a lot of guys who are much higher ranked than I am. I know he wanted to keep the team at 8 guys so I got a little worried. I called him one night and he told me the news. “Yea we don’t have a roster spot for you. Maybe you can walk on one day.” I was heartbroken and nervous as to what my next steps would be. I didn’t know where to look and even where would be a school for me. I didn’t know if I wanted to keep putting myself through this rejection and figured I shouldn’t play tennis anymore.

Then my mom brought up the University of Mary Washington and told me about all the benefits of the school and how good they were. I didn’t even think about it because it was D3 and I felt like I was a D1 athlete. I ended up humoring my mom and visiting and I am so thankful I did. I fell in love with the team and campus and ended up committing the next day. It is the best decision that I have made in my life.

I regret to inform you that the title pretty much gave away the plot of this story: it is about a sad puppy on a rainy day. But I promise if you stick around, there’s a happy ending. I got the idea to do this assignment here, and I will explain it further in my Weekly Summary #3.

Once upon a time (because all good stories start out with once upon a time), my girlfriend (now fiancé) Heather and I were driving back to her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. We had just gone out to look at a sale on camping gear. It was pouring down rain, and pretty chilly too. We turned onto her street and continued our discussion on whatever lengthy topic we usually have, but something had caught my eye and I slammed on the brakes.

On the right hand side of the car, 5 feet from us, was a little brown dog, shivering and stopped in his tracks. He made eye contact with us, this little dog that was no more than 10 pounds, and scurried away to a house. We assumed that this dog was probably living in the house to ran to, but as we continued to observe him, we saw that he was just running house to house, possibly in search for warmth. I quickly got out of the car, Heather whistled, I bent down, and he came running to us with so much enthusiasm it made my heart hurt. He was so dirty, with matts in his hair and trash attached to his underside, and he was shaking violently. He didn’t have any sort of collar, so we took him to Heather’s house, where we fed him some dog food and water, wrapped him in a towel, and found a leash to attach to him.

We went to the SPCA of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, where we tried to see if he had any sort of microchipping in him, but unfortunately there was no way of figuring out who this little dog was. Turns out he was an old dog, around 7-10 possibly. We took him home to give him a warm bath, and cut the matts out of his fur and eyes. Turns out her was black and silver, not brown. We posted on Facebook and Twitter about how we found this dog, was anyone missing a dog? No response. At this point, we started thinking we were probably going to adopt this dog. This poor little guy, who didn’t know any tricks or commands, had probably lived on the streets for quite sometime.

2 days had passed, and still no sign of a dog owner. We named him Patrick, because St. Patricks day was approaching us. Finally, a woman contacted us via Facebook, and told us that that was her dog, and we just had to…believe her. She had no pictures of him, but she had pictures of her other dogs. She called him Toto, and he didn’t respond any better to that name than he did to Patrick. I was suspicious, but also a little heart broken. There would be no universe in which he was my dog.

When the lady came by, she threw him in the backseat and said thank you. She hadn’t gotten out of the car to greet him, and he didn’t look overtly enthused to see her. But there was nothing I could do. I spent the night crying, missing my little Patrick, and as I was in the peak of my teary mess, Heather exclaimed, “WAIT-what if WE just adopt a dog?!”

And so the process began. We spent months and months trying to find the perfect puppy for us, and in the end we found my strong, brute of an Aussie, Declan. He means the world to us, and though he’s no Patrick, he is such a wonderful boy and I’ve enjoyed every second of him growing up.

We still think of Patrick from time to time-wondering if things would’ve been different, should we have fought to keep him? Asked for more identification? I was stupid, and I didn’t know what to do. But everyday, as I look at my Declan running around, I think of how great of a dog Patrick was, and if they’d be buddies. Would we still have gotten Declan if Patrick was ours? Regardless, one thing is for sure: Patrick changed the course of my life forever.

-Caty

A week or two ago my dad, sister, girlfriend and I flew out to California for my uncles wedding. this particular uncle happened to be my favorite, and i hadn’t seen him in a few years now, so I was pretty excited. i was also able to my the rest of my dads family in California, which I haven’t seen some of them since I’ve lived in California about 10 years ago. Me, my girlfriend and sister all woke up at 4am to go catch our 9 am flight out of reagan airport, my dad was able to sleep a little more because he took a different flight at a closer airport.

After driving us an hour and a half to dc, we navigated our way through the airport and then through security. After we found our gate we had about 45 minutes left until our flight took off. which was spent troubleshooting me email because some of my emails are now being lost in transit. After we boarded our plane we all find an empty row after passing 10-15 rows that have one person sitting on the isle seat with their things taking up the rest of the isle, like they deserve all three seats. Maybe we didnt see that option when we bought our tickets. At this point we find a seat towards the back of the plane. once we are up in the air our whole row is sound asleep until we landing at our connection in St louis. We notice we have to board in 15 minutes, we walked for what i believe to be is half a mile trying to reach our gate, even though it was on the same wing of the airport. But we were able to make it just in time for us to get inline and board. this time with better boarding position, so we decided to sit towards the front, which was much more enjoyable when it come to do-boarding. Another 3 hours and a viewing of “Crazy Rich Asians” we make it to san Jose, only to see a text from my dad saying there was bad weather in Richmond, delaying his flight, which caused him to miss his connecting flight in Atlanta. He was supposed to be our ride because our plans should have landed at almost the same time. Luckily the logistics were already settled and my grandma was waiting for us by the baggage claim. My dad would land several hours later in San Francisco.

I chose this Writing Assignment to tell about our hectic air travel last weekend for my uncles wedding. I found it slightly difficult to get across how hectic it was between flights, so i guess i have to work on my descriptive words. I did enjoy this though, the assignment may be a little rusty because its been at least 2 years since ive had to write something other than a research project. im sure i get it back soon though

#writingassignments #writingassignments2160
Over MLK weekend, my girlfriend, sister and I flew to California for my uncles wedding. We had to wake up at 4 am. Once to our connecting city. We had to almost run to make 9ur next flight. And our ride ended up getting delayed bc of — Michael Brown (@Michael48861254) January 28, 2019

Tell It / Tweet It (Writing)

First, go to your blog and tell us a story. Any story. Fact or fiction. Make it as long as it needs to be to tell it well. Then, go to Twitter and retell your story, distilling it down into a single tweet. Embed your tweet at the end of the original blog post. 

______________________________________________________________________________

As darkness fell over the cityscape, wind gushed over the empty streets–howling into the night like animals locked in the throes of death. Heaving clouds spread their bloated bodies around the moon, and, as the light faded, the man at the corner store exchanged dollars for flowers.

He turned, satisfied. The scent of pollen brushed his nose like a soft kiss, and it, too, was spirited away. The shackling sound of panelling resonated through the empty alleyway–the man knew his cue to leave. The town was falling asleep. As he moved from the store he heard its owner lock the doors, and close the blinds slowly, like blinking an eyelid.

A man and his flowers. In a world without pressure, a world that thought him dead for twenty years. As he walked, he looked down, and counted each petal. Once, twice in the dim glow of abandoned traffic-lights, he lost count. The wind would screw him up. He could not hear it coming, his deafness obscured the approach, and the gusts would ruin his concentration. He cursed his old brain, rotting slowly; faster by the day. He blamed his broken mind, glued back together with the sticky hands of a child.

The man knew all too well that it could fail him–the tether of sanity, of reason, that kept himself together. He clung to his reasoning as if it was a blanket, but all grips must lax eventually–the ever-present reality of the matter was that everything in life must be let go. He’d known it since childhood. He’d known it during adolescence. He’d experienced it in adulthood, where he felt his existence slip away as he suffocated under the earth.

But he had come back from that.

At the intersection the man waited. The streets were barren, yet still, he took his time. Despite everything. He waited for the lights to change and watched them with a sharpened eye, counting the seconds in his mind. It was true in that all things end in letting go. But the man couldn’t. Not yet.

There was still so much to be done.

To the world that burned him, to the ones who tried to silence him, the man would stop at nothing to see them burn. To the organization that housed him, trained him, and then threw him to the wolves, he would hunt and stalk and drain the lifeblood from the system. They think of him already among the corpses–it’s a pity to think they still believe the dead don’t walk the earth.

Flowers persist through all else, and rebuild themselves when they wilt. From seeds that spill forth from dying petals, they emerge from the dirt fresh and reborn. The man had clawed his way out from the wreckage used to crush him–he had been reborn through soot and fire. For the part of him that died, for the lover he had lost in the crossfire, he would destroy the agency that had doomed him.

The light turned green, and the man walked forward.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

I chose this particular assignment from the assignment bank for a variety of reasons! Firstly, I wanted a chance to write today. I’m a Creative Writing major, and I love to take any chance I can to warm-up the old writing-bones. I took this assignment as an opportunity to get lingering old thoughts onto paper. Like cleaning out a dusty closet.

However, that does not mean my work is devoid of context. Why did I make this? I wanted to take a moment to exercise the character motivations, briefly, with one of my own characters. In one of my many stories, there is an antagonist who was betrayed by the secret agency that employed him. Double-crossed and left for dead, he spends twenty years regaining his memory and his will to live, and now seeks vengeance on the ones who “killed” him. It ties in very well with the secret agent theming for this semester!

Although the piece above is very abstract, I wanted to conceptualize on a surface level what this character in particular would empathize with in this scenario, and feel. What was important to me most was to try and convey the atmosphere through setting and thought processes. I had a very vivid image of the world in my mind before writing, and I hope I’ve conveyed the proper message.

MAKING OF THE ASSIGNMENT

— I wrote directly into the textbox of WordPress for this assignment. What was important to me was the overall flow of the piece, so not much time was spent brainstorming and thinking. The aesthetic of the work, the movement, the gradual rising and falling, I wanted to be unhindered and unedited.

— I narrowed down the basic principles of the story and placed it into a tweet. I looked at my work and thought to myself, what was most important? What was the root of my message? What is the one thing that stands out most, and can be seen throughout?

That’s really all there was to it! It was a fun, easy assignment that I wouldn’t have qualms with doing again. Thank you for the opportunity!

Until next time.