Category: Junior Literary

“Last blog of junior year?? No way!” “Way.” Anyway I’m going to start off this blog with this amazing thing I did to my brother when I was about 12. Little backstory, my brother had this really old really crappy android. I can’t remember what type it was but it was bad. Anyway, I, being the amazing little sister I am, decided to do something about it. I searched and searched until finally I found the perfect gift for him. I wrapped it up and gave it to him. My exact words to him were, “Thomas I know you’ve been needing a new phone and I’ve been saving up my money so here you go.” and he got really excited. He had this huge smile on his face as he ripped open the wrapping paper to find a brand new Samsung phone. He was so happy and hugged me. I told him to open the box. He opened it. His smile faded. It was a rock.

On a side note, I have no idea what I’m going to write about for the exam for short fiction. I thought of something and then I remembered we’re in short fiction not short non fiction. Oopsies. Anyway I have these window planters on the front of my house and since I moved in there almost two years ago, they’ve been filled with dry dead plants. It looks nasty. I decided to do something about that. I planted rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and lavender in them. As I was clearing out the dead plants I found a screw?? What?? Anyway, next I was going to clear out a section of my front yard full of weeds and more dead plants. I quit after about 5-10 minutes when I saw multiple black widows. I’ll leave the rest for my mom to deal with. Also, I planted this plant on easter. I think it was a flower but I can’t remember for the life of me what type. It’s growing. I replanted it into a bigger pot this past weekend. I hope it doesn’t die. I’ll update the plant situation in my first blog next year. Stay tuned.

Oh also, I took the AP English exam today and I get time and a half due to accommodations for lots of things. Anyway I divided up the time I had to write each of the three essays and it was 67 minutes. The first essay took 61 minutes to write, the second took me 23, and the third, 19. I think I made a 1.

P.S. Cooper if you’re reading this, your bag kind of reminds me of Indiana Jones’s bag.

Frogbloginning (Frog-blog-beginning) 

The end of the school year is just around the corner, and thus, this is the last of my blog posts for the year. Of course I have to send this off with a final frog blog! I hope you enjoy these final friends. (Or at least final until next year.)

 

Emei Moustache Toad (Leptobrachium boringii)

(Source)

CHOCOLATE CHIP MOUSTACHE FROGS. (Every toad is a frog, but not every frog is a toad.) How could you not love these guys. They look so adorable with their fancy spiky faces and cat-like eyes. It’s actually only the males that grow these moustache spikes, and they do so during breeding season. They use their moustaches to battle! That’s right, I’m not calling them spikes just because they look like it- they’re actually spikes. Tough and stabby spikes. They’re absolutely wonderful!

 

Wallace’s Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)

(Source)

I am SO SUPRISED that I haven’t shown off these amazing guys yet! Flying frogs! Flying frogs! They sound super duper cool, and they look amazing! I really love the patterns on their webbing- it’s so distinctive. But, ahem, as one might expect, these frogs don’t actually fly like birds or bugs. Launching themselves from the trees they live in, Wallace’s Flying Frogs are able to glide up to 50ft to the forest floor. Incredible.

 

Mutable Rain Frog (Pristimantis mutabilis)

(Source) (Source)

Relatively, this frog was actually discovered somewhat recently in 2009. The mutable rain frog is a super cool frog that is able to change the texture/shape of its skin to match its surroundings. It reminds me a bit of an octopus because of it! And, if that somehow wasn’t cool enough, the original specimen was named “Punk Rocker” by the scientists who discovered it. A fittingly awesome name for an awesome frog.

 

Frogblogending (Frog-blog-ending) 

That’s it for now, but don’t forget that there are plenty of frogs to discover! May the frogs be plentiful and eternal, and goodbye!

This year has been a wild ride. A lot has happened…Ok…enough of the coming-of-age melodramatics. In all seriousness this year did contain a lot of growing for me specifically. A lot of it is way too personal to name specifically in this blog, saving that for that one three-person group chat (this is a joke PLEASE). I have begun to shed some of my people-pleasing behavior finally, hope to God that my saying it isn’t going to jinx my future. I am sure I am going to struggle with it more in the future but at least that seems bearable now. I have connected with a lot of people and met people I sincerely hope the best for. I am not sure if I am overall more mature probably not, to be honest, still very juvenile. I have come to terms with accepting the person I am now…not that that won’t change more in the near future but I think whoever I am currently is an alright person. I think my goal of being happier has been accomplished for the most part, I definitely still have hard days but it has been looking up as of recently. I am getting out of my Peter Pan syndrome as well thank goodness. It was becoming very concerning for a moment there. I have begun to stop being so dependent on others to determine my self-worth which has also been very freeing. I have become more ok with change I think. 

 

Academically I am still fairly the same. Read a good amount of books this year more towards the beginning but nonetheless still proud of that. Wrote a lot as well but that was inevitable. I have been attempting to give myself more grace and allowing myself to have off days. Which at times was hard to come to terms with but I eventually was able to cope. 

 

I was able to immerse myself in new things and become a fan of them. I am also open to exploring new interests, broadening my horizons, and breaking my shell. Also not allowing the idea of embarrassment discourage me from enjoying myself. I think this has contributed to my overall happier demeanor recently. 

 

Yeah, that’s pretty much all excuse the brain dump about this year. It’s kind of a mess but at least it was honest. Share your feelings about this year if you want or don’t. 

Soooo, um well you read the tile let’s just get this over with. 

It was quite in the small new York apartment. The only sounds where the cars on the highway. The apartment was small, but it was also cozy, almost like home. Laying on the couch in the living room was two bodies one looked to be of a young man with messes black hair. He had a strong build to his body. He was staring at the body on top of him. A teen girl with blond hair. She had a California girl body. Half her body was hanging off of the black-haired boy. The boy was looking at the blond girl with so much love in his eyes. The girl let out a small sigh as the boy begin rubbing small circles on the side of her hip. 

     The two were enjoying the silence that took over the apartment and them. There was peace and the boy was starting to fall asleep with the blond girl when loud knocking broke the quit of the apartment. The two hurriedly sat up and it looked like the both reached for something beside them before realizing that whatever they where looking for was not next to them. The girl picked up a cap that was siting on the coffee table. The black haired boy nodded to her and slowly made his way to the door. Another loud knock was heard from the door. The knocking was getting louder as the boy walked closer to the door and more frantic at the same time. The blond girl comes back in to the room and throws something to the black haired boy that he catches.

   “Who’s there?” The boy asked not really expecting an answer. Who would be out this late in New York knocking on someone’s door. He could hear people talking outside the door from what he could tell there was a big group of people out there maybe 4 or 6ish people. “Ah. Hello is this the Riddle residence?” one of the voices asked. Riddle residence? What is this the 1800’s. The black haired boy looked at his partner, who just shook her head she didn’t understand either. “Open the door Seaweed Brain.” The blond told ‘Seaweed Brain’. He opened the door and standing there was six people. Three looked to be around seventeen years old. Next to them were two grown men one was full of scares that reminded ‘seaweed Brain’ of the many kids at camp.

 

Well that’s it follow me on tumblr to read the rest. 

I’m still not tired of talking about Summer yet. This is why you will all read about some more summer topics. Don’t worry though, this time it’s not requests or ratings.  This is about me and some interesting stories that involve my family and me.  

WE THOUGHT THE WORLD WAS ENDING

It was a hot Saturday evening when my sisters and I were interrupted with the loudest sound, it sounded like an explosion.  It was insane.  The second oldest sister, we gone call her Dru, was almost out the door for work when she suddenly covered her head and slammed the door shut.  My twin and I were like; “Girl? You, okay?  What was that?”

She made the funniest expression, then she nervously laughed and said “Yea. I’m okay.  But should we just be sitting here?” We all looked at each other then we heard the third oldest sister, we gone call her Meme, saying “We should maybe look out the door and see what that noise was first.”  We all looked at her because what she said was crazy.  

Dru shrugged; “I need to go to work, so whatever it is, it better be gone by time my car starts.”  

We all didn’t know what to do, so we just watched her as she opened the door. 

And I kid you not, as soon as she opened that door we heard the noise again, and following after it all the lights in our house went out.  Meme and Ciara started screaming, Dru was laughing (She laughs when she’s nervous) and the commotion went on for about 7 seconds before Dru tried to open the door again.  We heard the noise then we saw this big spark in the sky.  It literally looked like some kind of big ball of fireworks were formulating in the sky.  

Dru said in a high-pitched tone; “Ya’ll what is happening?” 

Meme responded with; “Clearly we are looking at the same thing as you.” 

I commented with; “Maybe the world is ending?”

Ciara suggested; “Call Momma, maybe someone on Facebook knows what’s going on.” 

Dru shook her head; “We don’t have time for all that”, then she opened the door again which made the lights come on just to come right back off. 

Meme yelled; “Dru stop!” 

Dru whined; “I’m not doing anything!” 

It was so chaotic that the neighbors had to look outside and stare at the sky with us. 

Also, I didn’t mention this, but our family friend, Smiley, was cutting the grass which he stopped doing when the commotion started. 

Dru asked Smiley; “Do you know what’s going on out here?” 

Smiley responded by saying; “I think something got into the powerline because it was sparking.” 

Meme groaned; “Dru? What we gonna do?” 

And Dru said; “I guess I’m taking y’all to work with me.” 

THERE WAS A ZOMBIE OUTSIDE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT 

Everyone was sleeping peacefully in the night when suddenly we all heard this big old “UGHRGHUGHRHH!”  This is the only way I can explain it.  It sounded like a zombie was pulling out its brain and it hurt really bad.  It sounded so disgusting and scary. 

I was committed to sleeping through it. So was Dru and our mom.  Then there was the oldest sister, we gone call her Popo, and Ciara.  They were closer to the sound, and it was louder to them, and they made that known greatly. 

“Tiara, Dru?  Do y’all hear that howling?”  Ciara whispered that in my ear, as I was trying to sleep.  I don’t remember what I told her, but I remember her asking a sleepy Dru the same thing.  She said, “Y’all wake up! It’s getting louder.” 
Which, she wasn’t lying.  The howling hybrid gurgle was starting to sound like someone was suffering.  I tried my best to sleep through it, but I failed.  I got up out of my good sleep and followed Ciara to where the sound was the loudest.  

When I got to the room, I saw Popo looking out the window.  She had her headphones secured tightly to her head so she could find the source without bursting her eardrums. 

“Welp.  I don’t know what that sound is, I can’t see anything outside.  I ain’t going out there…”  Popo stated while she was shutting the curtains. 

“I think a cow, or something got loose,” I said. 

“URGHUGRUHGRU!”  We covered our ears when it got louder. 

We didn’t know what to do, so most of the time we just walked around the house like chickens with their heads off. 

We just wanted to sleep. Sadly though, all we could focus on was the zombie out there fighting for its life as it choked on its heart or something.  It was awful.  Wouldn’t recommend. 

Anyway, Popo ended up going to sleep eventually because she just kept her headphones on. Ciara and I on the other hand, were up until our mom had to get up for work in the morning.  She was also irritated by the noise, so she ended up calling a friend of the family to come and check it out. We didn’t go outside to watch the friend investigate but we all heard gunshots outside. There were about two of them.   

We didn’t know what was going on, we just knew that the suffering of the “zombie” seemed to stop. 

Then our mom and the friend came in. Our mom was laughing and crying.  Then she said. 

“Y’all can go asleep now. The problem is gone.” 

Ciara asked; “What was it though?”  

Our jaws dropped when we figured out what the “zombie” was. 

The answer was unexpected. 

THE SNAKE THAT TRAPPED US IN A KITCHEN (makes me mad till this day) 

I was about five or six when this happened, but I remember how chaotic it was.  

I was leaving my mother’s room because I was in there watching the big TV and I wanted to see my Team Umizoomi in ultra form when I heard a scream coming from the main room.  I bucked it so hard – towards the source (*head smack* should’ve just stayed in the room) because I was scared that one of my sisters was in trouble. 

As soon as I made it to the edge of the hallway that led into the main room I was snatched up before I could even see anything.  Then when my brain finally processed what just happened, I realized all of my four sisters were standing in the kitchen crying with the door shut. 

“What’s wrong with y’all, what happened?” I had asked.  

Dru basically balled, “Twin! There’s a snake out there.” 

I was ready to cry too, our whole family was scared of snakes, and for our mom not to be home to help us somewhat, we were ready to faint or something. So of course, we were all asking where and how she saw it, and she responded by crying; “It’s black and it’s just out there in front of the living room door!  Y’all what are we gonna do?  What if it goes into the kitchen?” 

In long story short, we were all trapped in this kitchen panicking and crying.  We did that for a while until we decided that we were just going to let it sit there and prayed it slithered out the house. 

This situation turned into a bonding moment between us as we stayed in that kitchen for such a long time.  I mean, Team Umizoomi was over by then. 

Then finally, Popo said; “Y’all, come on now.  Get a broom, a mop or something, because we can’t stay here all day.”  

Since she was the oldest, we listened to her without question.  

We ran out the door about to do – nothing, because we all knew we were a bunch of scaredy cats, just to find out that we weren’t even dealing with a snake. 

It was a cord.  That was attached to the back of the vacuum.  We will never let ourselves live that down. 

HOPE YOU ENJOYED 🙂

So, season 2 of Smiling Friends just dropped, and I wanted to share how I just recently got into the show.  I don’t remember where or when I first heard of it, but I do remember it being introduced to me by my roommate. It was one of the first shows we watched all the way through. (Without him watching ahead.) 

 

 

At first, the show put me off. The interesting yet disturbing animation, the use of 3d models as well as 2d.  the pace and ideas for episodes. It all nudged me in the wrong direction. But it quickly became one of my favorite shows the more I watched. I really like the dynamic between Charlie and Pim. And the conversation/dialogue between all the characters feels real and genuine. 

I really like Charlie, I love his melancholic attitude toward everything. I like how he’s the most cool-headed of the group, and that he’s kind of just…. there. I also really like his character style. I also think he’s the funniest character personally. His voice is really funny. 

I find Pim’s character really interesting as well. The colors really mix together and his attitude is really up beat and exciting.  I always love the 100 vs 0 personality tropes. Pim always trying to keep things bright, while Charlie is more of a realist. 

He kind of just really freaks me out. At first, when my roommate was showing me this show, I thought it was a meatcanyon video, by the way this character acted and talked.  Yeah, I’d rather keep talking about him a little short. 

Other than Charlie, Allan Red is my other favorite character. I really like the way he acts and goes about his job. I’m glad he finally got some more screen time in season 2 of the show. 

Little green guy. He’s so small and awesome. I like that he speaks gibberish too and that everyone else can understand him. And I forgot to mention, but there was a scene in season 2 where they showed all his information and it basically proved that the show was set in the year like, 300. 

Anyway, that’s all. I can’t wait for the next few episodes to drop. I really enjoy them so far.

Look, the rest of the world has some weird looking animals, but I think the US needs a look. Where’s our self reflection. Where are our weird little creatures right at home? That’s why I’m doing in an investigation–at least four creatures, count ’em–into the strangest of guys right here because they’re not examined close enough.

Coatimundi

So, this guy isn’t from the southeast. He’s from the southwest and most prominently Arizona (if you don’t count the areas outside of the United States.) He yawns big like a dog and has a long snout along with two big black eyes. Why’s he shaped like that? Why’s he snouted like that? They gotta stop making wild animals cuddly with and teeth sharp enough to rip skin and paws that’ll rip you like a bear. That’s not fair.

Star-Nosed Mole

Okay, have you ever thought about how weird moles are? Like genuinely, it’s something I ponder. They’re weird dirt diggers who can’t see and just burrow in the ground, and the only reason they’re normalized is because they’re from north america (specifically the northeast and parts of Canada). But we let this guy get off too easy! His claws? Paws? Deserve a mention on their own I mean look at those things. He’s semi-aquatic? What for! What do you need to be! There’s so many things going on with him, and the further you look, the more is going on with him.

Alligator Gar

(man in photo not identified)

I didn’t think this animal was that strange until I realized he’s a fish. A FISH!!! HE SHOULD NOT BE THAT LONG. HE IS LONG AS A MAN. IT IS 100 MILLION YEARS OLD. Imagine catching one of them and you don’t know what it is. Imagine seeing one of them under your boat. You’ll think you’ve been visited by a cryptid, an honest to God. It should replace the Lochness Monster in all honesty. And the cherry on top? This guy is found in Dallas, Texas. Do not let that thing near me.

Greater Siren

No. No because what is that thing? WHAT IS THAT. nonononono. no no no. that’s it i’m done

so for today’s blog I wanted to try something, something that I don’t usually do when it comes to this form of writing. i would say that for the most part these blogs have become something that i use as an outlet to even out the tone of my pieces. i think, at least usually, these blogs have a softer tone so that i can better equal them out with the relatively serious nature of the rest of my pieces, but i wanted this one to be different. 

i wanted it to be something that I could write down how I feel so I could reduce it to nothing more than just words on a page. most of these thoughts are about the end of the year, and luckily I have the privilege to not say that this is the end of the road for me, even though it feels like with the coming of summer that it will all suddenly come to an end, the people I have met, the way that I feel, all of it will turn into just something that once happened. but as I sit in my new seat that erin handed down to me I’m coming to realize that summer isn’t an end, just an intermission. 

i don’t think that this realization was something that suddenly came to me, instead it was something that came to me on the day that i read the senior’s last blog posts did i realize. another thing that i realized was that when i go back to me in august, go back to that version of me who would think about how monumentally important my last blog of junior year would be. i feel silly now. i thought it would be perfect, but now i am sitting here, my pants are dirty, i have a sty, the room is hot, and i am writing anyway. maybe that is what it means to be perfect, maybe I’ll never know, maybe I’m not supposed to.

The universe has aligned for me to tell you all about random things I have perceived. (It’s time to talk about moments again.)

I don’t consider myself a superstitious person, but that is stabbed in the foot by the fact I tend to avoid bad superstitions if a person I’m with does. Sometimes it still comes to mind, though- like the morning of the day I’m writing this, where I saw a dead butterfly in the road. The dark asphalt was criss-crossed with an absurd amount of skid marks I had never noticed before, and in the midst of it, laying on its side, was the corpse of a tiger swallowtail. The wind slowly carried it across the ground, stopping and starting, but the swallowtail never flew. In that moment my brain remarked something about a bad omen, but the most I felt was sadness. The sight was remarkable in a way I wish it wasn’t.

Yet, on another, happier note taking place the same day, my window has once again allowed me to see an adorable animal. There’s been a good few times I’ve found turtles (safely) around my house. You can tell they’re turtles and not tortoises because of their claw structure, by the way! Turtles swim in water, so they have flatter, webbed feet. Tortoises, meanwhile, don’t swim, so their feet are much more rounded, bulky, and not webbed. BUT BACK ON TRACK. The turtles I find hide away in their shells, because, they’re turtles, of course they do, I’m a big scary thing that’s making weird cooing noises. However, this time was different. Through my window I was able to see a turtle walking around my back lawn, chomping on grass and leaves littering the ground. I squealed with utter joy. They move fast for a turtle when they’re unbothered, and their scaly skin bunches up around the joints. It’s beak was so shaped, too… I’m pretty sure it was even a turtle I had seen before, due to comparing the patterns on the shell with past pictures.

I wondered if instead of the geese we had last year, this year we would have a turtle frequenting the lake. Last year there was a pair of two geese that stayed throughout the seasons. I never got close due to stories, and thus, they remained peaceful. They would take turns- one would watch for danger, and one would eat. As time progressed, they had little gosling babies. They were absolutely adorable little brown-yellow fuzzballs. I got to watch them peck around in my back yard and grow into adults. It was really interesting to see them in their teenage years. They were, quite literally, just full grown geese but smaller. They had the same coloration and shape.

What’s Up! So, yesterday While I was talking to Tiara and Ciara we started talking about weddings and prenups, and this inspired a new story that I want to try and write when I finish some of the other unfinished stories that I have.

 

This Story is called “Broker than Broke”. (Yes that is the title and i will take all the criticism on it.) 

 

So, I don’t really have any character made or any in mind for this story but anyway the gist of the story is that the main character is a recently divorced woman/man (I don’t know which one yet). The story is going to follow the divorced person and how they live their life after everything with the divorce is final.

 

There are still a lot of things that I have to think about with this story. Like should I involved kids in this story, should I make the story form the POV of both sides of the divorce or should I just have the one POV. Also want to know if I should make this story like a Korean drama or just an everyday type of story. I’m probably going to have to do a lot of research and gathering to make this story fun and enjoyable to read. 

 

This has nothing to do with the story but I’m doing a writing program this summer at JSU and I might play with this story while I’m there. 

 

Now there isn’t really much I can say now about the story because like I said before I don’t really have much on this story because I haven’t really thought about it much since yesterday and I hoping that by getting feedback on the questions in paragraph 4. I might actually start on a draft so the idea isn’t just siting in the back of my head waiting to be forgotten. 

 

So that’s the blog for this week. We only have a week left of school this is going to be something. Hope y’all have a great rest of the week. Chao!