Write It Out

All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict to begin it
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
"There will be nonsense in it!"
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast --
And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
'The rest next time' -- 'It is next time!'
The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.

Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's wither'd wreath of flowers
Plucked in a far-off land.

~~Lewis Carroll

The other day, I was sitting in my favorite piercing place (waiting for my mom to get her nose ring tightened) when a girl walked in with her parents. She was there to get her belly button pierced. She was 14.

I'm used to seeing girls and boys of all ages with piercings and tattoos, but this particular girl looked absoluetly terrified. I couldn't understand, why did she looked so afraid if it was her idea to get it done?

Is it possible, that in the atmosphere we live in, we have conditioned our children to want piercings and tattoos before they're ready for them? I didn't get my first tattoo until I was 18, and even then I had been thinking about it for years and I paid for it myself. I even got consent from my mother.

I left before the girl got her piercing. I wonder if she went through with it.

Reading and writing, two things I have always been naturally good at.

I've always seemed to have a book or a pen in hand and tons of imagination to spare, but lately my writing skills have been extremely lacking. I have so much going on in my brain, so many different ways to start a story, but when I put pen to paper (or my fingers to my keyboard as I'm doing now) my imagination falters and my writing comes out utter crap. It makes me sick.

I've been wanting to write a book for longest, but it has never seemed like the right time. I'm afraid that, if I keep putting it off, I'll never get one done. Some days I feel like I should just give up. No, I won't let myself do that.

I just need to find the perfect story. The perfect angle. The perfect....

I've got it!


Gotta go! Bye!

Why do I write?

Someone asked me this question. I, in all honesty, didn't know how to reply. No answer rolled off the tip of my tongue, no words tumbled neatly out of my mouth, and my brain drew a complete blank. Why do I write?

I thought about it for a long while.

I write for myself. I write to express how I feel about things, people, places, and events. I write to save my thoughts; to share my thoughts. I write for the love of language.


I write...

I write...

I write...

Finally the answer comes to me.



I write because that is who I am.

I'm back! It's a new day and the flashbacks are still coming! Let's just jump right into the list...

Now where did I leave off? I was at N right?


105. Neverending Story
106. Oh Yeah! Cartoons
107. Outlaw Star
108. Parenthood
109. Pink Panther
110. Pinky and the Brain
111. Pippi Longstocking
112. Plucky Duck Show
113. Pokemon
114. Quack Pack
115. Reboot
116. Recess
117. Ren and Stimpy
118. Richie Rich
119. Rocko's Modern Life
120. Rolie Polie Olie
121. Rugrats
122. Rupert the Bear
123. S Club 7
124. Sabrina The Teenage Witch
125. Sabrina The Animated Series
126. Salute Your Shorts
127. School House Rock
128. Secret Squirrel
129. Sherlock Holms in the 22nd Century
130. Smart Guy
131. So Weird
132. Space Ghost Coast to Coast
133. Step By Step
134. Swat Kats
135. Tales From The Crypt
136. TaleSpin
137. Taz Mania
138. Tenchi Muyo
139. The Addams Family
140. The Amanda Show
141. The Angry Beavers
142. The Big Comfy Couch
143. The Cosby Show
144. The Disney Club
145. The Famous Jett Jackson
146. The Fresh Prince
147. The Jamie Fox Show
148. The Magic School Bus
149. THe Nanny
150. The New Addams Family
151. The New Smurfs
152. The New Snorks
153. The Powerpuff Girls
154. The Secret Life of Toys
155. The Smurfs
156. THe Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper
157. They Sylvester and Tweetie Mysteries
158. The What-A-Cartoon SHow
159. The Wild Thornberry's
160. Timone And Pumbaa
161. Tiny Toons
162. Toonami
163. Trigun
164. Twisted Tales of Felix The Cat
165. Ultimate Muscle
166. Vampire Princess Miyu
167. Wedding Peach
168. Weird Science
169. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
170. Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego
171. Where's Waldo
172. Whose Line is it Anyway
173. Wilds & Crazy Kids
174. Wild C.A.T.S
175. Wishbone


That's it! I'm done! 175 shows that I can't live with forgetting. I really miss being a kid in the 90's!

I wasn't feeling too well this evening. My stomach hurt and I sort of felt like I was going to...well, you know. My boyfriend told me to lay down. I did, but after a while of trying to sleep (and not being able to) I decided to watch an old video of H.R. Pufnstuf on youtube. The show is actually from the Sixtys but it triggered flashbacks of Saturdays spent in front of the television watching cartoons and people in giant costumes.

They say everything lasts forever on the internet, so I decided to make this list. It's a list of the shows I watched as a kid. A list of the show's that I loved and that I miss. I never want to forget.


And just so I'm not playing favorites...I'm doing this in ABC order! Also, this could take a while...

Let us begin!

01. 101 Dalmatians: The Series
02. 2 Stupid Dogs
03. 7th Heaven
04. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
05. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
06. Action League NOW
07. Adventures for the Book of Virtues
08. Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy
09. Adventures of the Gummi Bears
10. ALF
11. All Dogs Go to Heaven
12. All That
13. Allegra's Window
14. Alphabet Castle
15. Alvin and the Chipmunks
16. Angela Anaconda
17. Animaniacs
18. Animorphs
19. Archie's Weird Mysteries
20. Are you Afraid of the Dark?
21. Arthur
22. As told by Ginger
23. Avengers
24. Babysitter's Club
25. Bananas in Pajamas
26. Beetlejuice
27. Bill Nye: The Science Guy
28. Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon
29. Bobby's World
30. Boy Meets World
31. Bug Juice
32. Bugs & Daffy
33. Caitlin's Way
34. Camp Candy
35. Captain Planet
36. Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue
37. Casper and Friends
38. CatDog
39. Cave Kids with Pebbles and Bam-Bam
40. Chip 'N' Dale Rescue Rangers
41. Clarissa Explains it All
42. Clueless: The Series
43. Courage the Cowardly Dog
44. Daria
45. Darkwing Duck
46. Dexter's Laboratory
47. Digimon
48. Disney's Doug
49. Donald's Quack Attack
50. Double Dare
51. Duck Tales
52. Ed Edd n Eddy
53. Eek! the Cat
54. Eureeka's Castle
55. Fivel's American Tails
56. Freakazoid
57. Garfield and Friends
58. Gargoyles
59. George and Martha
60. Ghost Writer
61. Goof Troop
62. Goosebumps
63. Growing Pains
64. Gullah Gullah Island
65. Gumby
66. GUTS
67. Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
68. Happily Ever After
69. Hey Arnold!
70. Home Improvement
71. Honey, I Shrank the Kids
72. Huxley Pig
73. I Am Weasel
74. Living Color
75. In The House
76. InuYasha
77. Johnny Bravo
78. Johnny Quest
79. Kablam
80. Kenan and Kell
81. Kids Say the Darndest Things
82. Kids WB
83. Lamb Chops Play Along
84. Legends of the Hidden Temple
85. Life with Louie
86. Living Single
87. Looney Tunes
88. Madeline
89. Malcome & Eddie
90. Married...With Children
91. Martin
92. Mega Babies
93. Men In Black
94. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
95. Moesha
96. Monster Rancher
97. Mother Goose and Grimm
98. Mr. Bean
99. MTV's Celebrity Death Match
100. Muppet Babies

(I said I was only going to go up to 100 tonight, but I want to add the rest of M first!)

101. Muppets Tonight
102. My Life As A Teenage Robot
103. My Little Pony Tales
104. My So-Called Life

Now I'm off to bed. I'm sure to dream of cartoons long past and happy childhood memories. Maybe tomorrow I'll get up and see if I can't find those My Little Pony figures that my mom stashed away!

In any case, I promise that tomorrow I will start on N - Z!


Good Night!

Every year my mother and I make a point to head out to the local drive-in. We get popcorn and pizza slices and, when we feel really sneaky, we'll buy candy at Rite Aid or Walgreens and sneak it in. We get there early and listen to music until the previews start to roll. We leave the windows down on open up the sun roof. We talk and laugh and joke and make fun of the people on the screen. All in all we have a brilliant time.

This evening, morning now, we went to the drive-in. It was a double feature, as usual, for $8-something. We went to see Toy Story 3 (they couldn't have taken any longer getting that one out...I was nine when the last one was out...now I'm 19!) and Grown Ups. On the screen behind us they played Eclipse (never have I seen so many teenage girls at the drive-in!) and Letters to Juliet.

I slept through Toy Story 3, having already seen it with one of my best friends, but my mom wanted to see it. Grown Ups was so funny! I'd go see that one again! ...Actually, I really might.

The real fun of the evening was that the lot to screen #2 (showing eclipse and juliet) was filled to the brim! I had figured that would happen. I had actually wanted to see Eclipse too. It played through and, on my walk to the concession stand, I heard that it was a good movie. Then everyone cleared out.

There were only about 8 cars left to watch Letters to Juliet...

Sad.

Prompt: Electricity is a recent discovery. Think of 12 things to do when there is no power.



01. sleep
02. board games
03. indoor flashlight tag
04. tell spooky stories
05. light candles
06. read a book
07. write a story
08. listen to your battery powered mp3 player
09. talk on your cell phone until the battery dies
10. use your laptop until the battery dies
11. color, draw, cut, and collage something
12. write a list of things to do for when the power goes out again

When my neighbor Mrs. Daisy, also known as Mrs. Green Thumb, asked me to come out and help plant flowers I was absolutely thrilled. I had visions of digging in the dirt and getting close to my planet, but those visions were dashed by skinned knees, dirty palms, and a ruined pair of jean shorts. The flowers, however, looked very pretty after they had been planted. I guess pretty flowers makes up for ruined shorts and mosquito bites.

So, it all started off well enough. I got up early this morning and was waiting for Mrs. Daisy to call and let me know she was ready. She's up in years so I wasn't going to rush her. Besides, I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting in to. I had only planted a few flowers and veggies with my gran when I was little and I didn't remember it quite well.

When I finally did get the call I was in the middle of looking for cheap Cedar Point tickets (anyone got any?) so it took me a little longer than it should for me to get outside. Once I did, after about twenty minutes of searching, I realized I wouldn't be gardening alone. My god brother, who usually helps Mrs. D with her yard, was outside pulling weeds and talking with Mrs. D.



T, who works on our yard too, was quick to make jokes about me being outside to actually do some yard work. Before I knew it I was digging spaced out holes down along our fence. See, Mrs. D was giving me flowers to plant along the front of our fence and the side where our fence met her yard. It's a drive way actually, but there's a nice little strip of turned over dirt there thanks to T.

I was digging, watering, planting, covering and seriously sweating. I honestly didn't realize that T wasn't joking when he said he was sweating up a storm last time he weeded our yard.It was so hot, and I was so hot, that I sat down to work instead of standing or kneeling (which was hard to do any way because the concrete was digging into my knees), but little did I know that spraying a hose while sitting on the side walk was bound to get you a little wet. When I finally got up from the ground my shorts were soaked in water and I had dirt covering my bottom. Honestly, it looked horrid.

Once all the flowers were planted, which took me a good two hours, I came back in the cool confines of my home, stripped off my clothes and tossed them in the wash. I went upstairs, got in the shower, crawled in bed and drifted off.

In the morning I'll go down and check the flowers, but i think maybe that'll be all I do for the day...I'm so sore!


GoodNight!

-Lola

Prompt: Choose a poem you like. Take the last line of that poem and use it as the first line for a poem of your own.





In the empty moments
between the rising of the sun
and the falling of the moon


I think of days gone by
words whispered in the night
laughter and shared secrets

I think of pet names
Children's names
Family names

I think of times a part
of words said in anger
of words not spoken at all

I think of fairy-tales
and princes
and of happily ever afters

I think of cupcakes
and large kitchens
and cooking

I think of you
what you mean to me
what I mean to you

And when I think of you
happiness can find me
anywhere...

It's out there all around us. It's hiding in corners. It's between the pages of books. It's hidden in the depths of emails and phone calls. It is always there, lurking about, pulsing just beneath the surface, waiting for the moment when you let your guard down enough for it to pounce on you and drag you into its blissful embrace.


Now, I'm not saying that all love is blissful. Love hurts. It makes you cry. It makes you scream and shout. It makes you wish for things that will never happen. It isn't all sunshine and flowers and happy days. The bad ones come with good. And, in the end, we all must except that.

If you search the word "Love" on photobucket (as I did) you will find over three million pictures. Some of them are happy. Some of them are sad. Some of them are poetic. And a great many have nothing to do with love at all...at least not to the eyes of the world, but I'm sure to the posters they mean something special. The point, is that we all love.

It doesn't matter what your age is. Race has no meaning here. Gender does not define it. People cannot define it. Love will strike no matter what and there is rarely a way to be prepared. Not for lack of trying on most peoples parts. Love is just one of those things you can't escape.

It holds on to you. It rarely lets you go. And even if you find yourself falling out of love with one person, you're bound to turn around and fall in love with another.

I am in love with love.

I was raised on disney movies where everything turns out happily ever after. Where princes find their princesses. Where a kiss is the most magical thing in existence. Where good always wins. The bad guys always lose. And everyone is happier than when the movie began.

I find myself watching the male dreaded "chick flicks" at every chance I get. And, silly as it may be, the plot never changes. Boy meets Girl. Boy and Girl fall in love. Catastrophe happens. Boy and Girl break up. Boy and Girl think about break up. Boy and Girl get back together. Happily ever after.

Never changing, yet I can't stay away. Like I said, I love love.

Love may be painful, it may break hearts, it may even make you despair. What we need to remember is that love is only painful because we make so. Love only hurts because we cause it to. Love is made joyous by our willingness to love as we wish to be loved in return.

Love is wonderful.

Love is beautiful.

Love is painful.

Love is...


So, go out there and love like you want to be loved. Show the world that an open heart policy is better than a closed one. And if you break hearts, which most of us will, remind the heart broken that love will always be just around the corner, lurking and pulsing just beneath the surface.

All we have to do is find it.

--Lola

But I hope it's going somewhere.


I started up this blog because I needed somewhere to just write about anything and everything. I wanted to write day and night about the silliest, weirdest, and most random things, but I think I'm ready to turn this into something else. I don't know what to call it. I don't know how often I'll update it. But I want this blog to be special. Not just to me, but to him. And to anyone who reads this...though I'm positively sure the only ones who will ever even see this are my mom and, well, him.


That is all.


--Lola

Whoever invented the high road and decided how high it should be should get fired! -- sandra b.