Winter

Good grief! It depends somewhat on your opinion, but WHO STARTED THE
POPULAR ASSOCIATION WITH WINTER BEING DEPRESSING??? It's not!!! Winter
is one of the best times of year. I appreciate Narnia for its symbolism
and archetypes, but the whole "always winter and never Christmas" would
be bad any time of year. Period. It's BORING to have no seasons.
Spring's rebirth would get old after awhile. Summer's heat would drown
people in their sweat after not too much. Autumn's winds and harvests
would drive one nuts (no pun intended) if it never ended. WHAT'S WITH
WINTER? Everything's asleep! It's a wonderful, lazy quiet time of year.
Time to think.

Of course, if you have enough books, you can outweather quite a few
boring events...

Bracelets

My friends must think I'm a jewelry person.

The July before last, we had a bunch of people over and everybody gave
me a necklace.

When my friend Kelly left for America last summer, she gave me a
bracelet.

When it was my birthday, my friend Kiana gave me a bracelet.

When it was Christmas, my friend Sherry gave me a bracelet.

When we had a playdate with Kiana and her sister we made jewelry.

Look at my picture; AM I a jewelry person?

Poor Me!

Alas. My school assignment was to write a short story--one or two pages
long--that used flashbacks to tell the main part of the story, like
"The King's Fifth" by Scott O'Dell. Thankfully, it could be about
whatever I wished. So I came up with my favorite story that I tell to
myself, which has undergone massive changes along the way (Mainly:
changed a main character's name, replaced the villain, changed the
personality of a main character's sister, changed the name of the
imaginary country). I wrote it down, getting very caught up in it and
doing, if I may say so, a fairly good job, for me (but that isn't
saying much, truly. You've never read my fiction). Now, the shortest
"short story" I have written has been eight pages long. I completely
missed (and I would swear to that in court) the part that said "two or
three pages", so I wrote away and submitted it, thinking, "Well, at
least it's under twenty pages, unlike the time I retold the Greek
Myth." No. It was 23 pages long.

My punishment was this: Shorten it. To two pages, but if it was over it
would be accepted. I did all I could and it's still three pages long.

Alas. When I write a short story it's too long, and when I write a
novel-length story (I can dream, can't I?) it's much too short.

I'm learning to write more, to include more descriptions, to edit
myself and lengthen myself. It works. And if I had known about the
limit I would have come up with something else, entirely. The problem
is I don't notice. (Now: do NOT say I "need to notice" these things. I
know that, and I am working on that. The LAST thing I need is a million
people saying that to me.)

Alas, I must learn somehow to actually write a short story that isn't
8+ pages long. My poor, poor, homeschool evaluator!

It's a Wonderful Life....

....and what came over me at Micha's and Kiana's house where I cried
buckets over Return of the Jedi? I have never cried so much over a
movie before or since, though there are plenty of runners-up: "It's a
Wonderful Life", "Narnia", "Fiddler on the Roof" (Especially the scene
where they're cleaning up Tevye's house and Tevye is looking up with
his hands spread out). Why? Why? Why? I LIKE to cry buckets over a
movie.

I guess that's all for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year and here I am starting ninth grade (we always start our
school years in January). I am reading absolutely fabulous books!!! Of
course, as soon as I got to the folks planning the mutiny in that one
book, I knocked my glass of water off the table. Somebody go hang Scott
O'Dell for me, will you? Thank you. Anyway, my sister is in fifth
grade. If we weren't going to homeschool all the way through twelfth
grade, she might be starting middle school next year! AAAA! My baby
sister. :(

Anyway, I asked Mum if we were sending me to public school at home this
year (ninth grade) what middle school would it be? Asa Mercer?
Washington? Something else? She said she really didn't know.

Anyway, that's all for now. Happy New Year.