Four Fun Facts! (Planting Chums)

It's the final week of Planting Chums, and the instructions this time is simply to post Four Fun Facts about yourself!

Sooooo...

Fact #1 - I climb trees. Even though I'm almost an adult. :) Who says you have to be a kid to enjoy the swaying of the branches in the breeze, and the songs of the birds all around you, and the rough bark on your bare feet? Besides, did you know that tree climbing is an official sport now? It's only a matter of time before it's admitted into the Olympics... (Or so I hope!)

Fact #2 - My room is crammed full of bookshelves (which are all filling up with books). I have three of them, and I live in the smallest room in our house! One bookshelf is devoted to non-fiction and my journals (I've got over twenty of those- I haven't exactly counted them in a while), and another is full of fiction and my novels that I've written, and the smallest one is for audio books, CDs, DVDs, and old used books that I want to turn into works of altered art.

Fact #3 - I never liked Barbies as much as Beanie Babies. Barbies were too girly and grown-up. (Though I did sometimes play with the smaller Stacy doll). Beanies, on the other hand, were: a) animals, which I love;  b) soft enough to throw at my brother and sisters without getting hurt when they beaned me back; c) my brother could play with me- we created a whole fantastic, imaginary world for our Beanies, called (of course) Beanie Land- it had everything from a city of roller coasters to gigantic rooms under the ground, from greedy creatures called "Anenemies" to rockets made out of Tinker Toys... and I'll never forget the time the Nanooks got lost in the Ban-yow Tree! I think the hours we spent adventuring in Beanie Land greatly influenced my writing when I got older. I'm thankful for all the wonderful memories with our Beanies.

Fact #4 - I am having trouble with this last fun fact... Okay, here it is. I LOVE PHOTOSHOP!

Some things I've done with it:

Family Fotos (Planting Chums)

I'm finally ready to put up my Planting Chums post for this week! (Better late than never, right?)

The topic this week is "Family Fotos." I knew at once what I wanted to post, but... These pictures were taken with my mom's film camera, so I had to go get them printed from the negatives. :) Ah, the joys of film...

Welcome to Assateague Island!  Five years ago, my family took a road trip to Washington, D.C., and while we were out East, we decided to visit Chincoteague and Assateague islands in Maryland. (Has anyone read Misty of Chincoteague? This is the place.) We were hoping to see some wild ponies, but they kept their distance, so we walked down to the ocean instead. A lady walked by and asked if we needed someone to take a family portrait, and we thanked her and formed a group by the water's edge. We smiled, and she snapped a picture of us. Nice family picture, huh?

Ah, but the ocean had other plans for us. With our backs turned to the waves, we never saw it coming. A giant wave zoomed forward and attacked us! All of us got very wet feet as we jumped and screeched and tried to get away. And the lady on the beach wound the film and took another picture of us, bless her heart.

After we escaped the angry wave, we all looked at each other and laughed like crazy. And the lady took yet another picture, bless her heart.

These pictures were not staged. What you see is exactly what happened! And we have a record of this hilarious memory, all because of that nice lady on the beach. Thank you, lady, whoever you are!

The World is My Classroom

I made the decision not to go to college right now, so that I can pursue self-directed study. That may sound crazy to some people, but with the support of my parents, I decided that this is the best path for me, for now.

So what am I doing? What is "self-directed study?" I'm using these years to hone my writing skills, to study, practice, and learn more about photography and photo editing, and I'm attempting to capture and compose the music I hear in my head. I'm studying language, the sound and flow of words in English and other tongues. I'm reading books on writing, and analyzing my own writing for ways to improve. I'm journaling, journaling, journaling. I'm experimenting with photography, I'm trying my hand at portraiture. All of these things and more.

I must train myself to think of these years as my "college years," even though I'm not actually going there.  I need to get into that mindset, so that I'll start acting that way, with focused intensity, dedication, and imagination, so that I'll be productive and gain knowledge that will open doors for me in the future. Above all, I'm placing my trust in God's hands. I may not see it yet, but I know he has a plan for my life.


The world is my classroom... and now is the time for learning.

Script Frenzy Elevator Pitch!

Check out my *first* YouTube video, featuring the plot of one of my screenplays, "Merrily!" For more info, see this post.







Ha, I just realized how dorky the preview picture is. *slaps forehead*

Fun Games (Planting Chums)

Yes! I'm doing Planting Chums, which a fun event hosted by Hannah at Aspire!
So, the topic this week is Fun Games.


First of all, I'm not much of a game-person. I always used to cry whenever I lost Mouse Trap. (Of course, for some weird reason, I always lost). That's the one where the players spend most of the game building this incredibly intricate "trap" as you move your little plastic mouse around the board, collecting cardboard cheese. It was a fun game until the very end, when you find yourself under the basket at the end of the trap, and your opponent sets off the chain reaction with a silver marble. I remember the feeling of dread as the Rube-Goldberg-esque device teetered and tottered and flipped and spun around. If the marble fell off, or something went wrong, I was safe, but if not...
CLUNK!
The basket fell on my poor mouse, and I was caught. GAME OVER! Muh ha ha ha!
For a seven-year-old, it was traumatic.


And SORRY! wasn't much better. You never knew when one of the other players would decide to send you back to the beginning, claiming "SORRY!" in a gloating manner. It was so frustrating to be so close to the end of the game and then end up at the start again!


And I was never very athletic, so I didn't like outdoor games like Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, or Kickball.


So what games DO I like?


For one, I adore word games, like Scrabble, and particularly Boggle.

My whole family loves Boggle. It's a word-search game that can get very competitive between my parents (who are both excellent spellers), and more recently, me and my brother.

But I think the best game for passing the time is a game that my brother and sister and I made up. We call it... THE RANDOM GAME!

Heh. It's best with two or more players who are in a random mood. In other words, silly. Here are the rules:

-the first person starts out by saying a random word,

-the next person says another random word,

-and so on.

-You can say nouns, verbs, colors, feelings, names, quotes, punch lines from inside jokes, moo like a cow, anything, as long as it's random. :)

-No repeating words,

-and if your word is related to the previous person's word, you get "booed."

-Gameplay goes on until everyone gets tired of it and decides to do something worthwhile.

Like I said, it's random. We love it.

So what games do you enjoy--- or hate? 

Diving into Script Frenzy!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner. I've been back for over a week now, but things have been so crazy!  And I now have 40 followers! Thanks, Margaret Rowena! :)

I'm right in the thick of Script Frenzy right now. It's a fun challenge to write 100 pages of a script during the month of April. I did it last year, and loved it, so this year I'm doing it again, this time with a goal of TWO screenplays! Heh. I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Here's a brief summary of my two projects:

Project #1
"The Twin Confessions of Melody and Harmony"
A screenplay, teen/family (and a hint of comedy)

Melody is a friendly girl with an academic mind, a gift with people, and a love for the great outdoors...  and she's clumsy.

Harmony is a solitary girl with her own ways of doing things, usually with her computer or a paintbrush, but she's socially awkward.

They’re both stubborn, creative, competitive... and they each have their secrets.

Filmmakers. Rivals. Twins.

Project #2

"Merrily"

Another screenplay. This one's a humorous fantasy action thriller. *grin* The kind that makes you want to eat Milk Duds while watching.

Merrily is a girl with a secret. She’s on the run from the FBI and a group of maniacal killers, even though she’s completely innocent. But that’s not her secret. 

Phoenix is a boy with a secret. His adoptive father works for the FBI, and his own inventions are sometimes purchased by the government. But that's not his secret.

They can fly.

When Phoenix is sent across the country on a mission to catch Merrily, he discovers that she's a whole lot more than anyone could have imagined. Together they search for the truth, and along the way, find that they're part of a much larger plan.

Ha! I finally have a plot! Yay! *ahem*

So, what do you think?  Can you picture these two ideas as movies?