Dinosaurs

Oh oh. The dinosaurs ate my gymnasium.
We climb obstacles and flip through hoops,
rings of fire.
Yet I am waiting on the dinosaurs.
Were they really lovely neon-orange and sapphire blue
like we dreamed them to be?
They were everything that we aren't-
massive as cities, non-judgmental,
more beautiful than God's cheekbones,
scales and stoned spikes
to shed a monster into blood.

Childhood and Teenage Memories

Sometimes I really miss those days. Back when my family still all lived together and my parents weren't divorced. Usually when I think back on those hard times I am bitter. But I've become strangely nostalgic for those lost years. Mostly I miss us all eating dinner together, back when my parents actually ate carbs and we had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. (Of course, my mom makes the best spaghetti in the world.)
I also miss my best friend from those times. He actually called me the other day and said "Now we've known each other for ten years." It was amazing because that was the exact day when we went to the freshman homecoming dance together in 2000. That was the first time I ever slow danced with a guy. I was fourteen and he was fifteen. And we are still friends after all this time-after all the fights, arguments, and confusion.
I also miss my house-the big one where we grew up, my brothers and I. All the flowerbeds and trees and woods, the swimming pool and the park. The elementary school that I could walk to and my classroom with its old wooden desks and my bologna sandwich lunches. The old non-mechanical pencil sharpener, and those damn standardized tests. My group of girl friends and our crazy sleepover parties. In addition to the bad, there were some really good things back then.

List 2

Words that describe now for me:
Busy-it sucks.
Perfection-Why can't I stop.
Tired-Willing to take naps.
Hard Salami-What makes it hard. What would soft salami be like.
Iced Coffee-Never cold enough.
Stress-Turns my back muscles into rubber bands.
Weekend-Doesn't come up enough.
Banana-Costume.
TupperWare-Never enough and too much in my cupboard.
Hot-It really needs to cool down around here.
Violet-A pretty sexy color.
Navy Blue-A pretty solid and stable color.
Thrifty-Very good at this.
Hardwood floors-Nice wood smell.
Chocolate Chip Cookies-Yum.
Ravens-Purple.
Flash Drive-Always there. Always there. Get out of my life.

tiptoe

rambled up in three parts,
i scramble to untangle your order.
ages moving forward in battle,
blue and gold on your shield.
only blood shed would taste
truly to sweet to one like you.

never one for aromas,
light as the tiptoes of supper.
let your toughness give you life.

navigation/graphics

I don't know a lot about navigation and graphics, but I would want it to reflect me (but not in a tasteless way.) I guess for color I would choose blue and the navigation would have to be straightforward (there would have to be more than five links, though, so there would be enough to read.) I really like graphics so there would have to be some photographs. Maybe the way Juked.com does it, I will have "Kristi" moments. : )

All-encompassing website/more ideas about content

Maybe I could create a website that is a bit of everything. A writer's website that talks about what I do, who I am, and the type of writing I like, etc. It would also have a bit of fun to it, such as some photographs I have taken. (artistic ones.) I think visual impact is very important for drawing attention to something. I've seen these kinds of sites before, done by classmates, and I always wanted to make one.

A few ideas for website content

I never really thought about what kind of website I would make, if I made one. Here's my chance. I think I would make a sort of "author website" telling about me and my artistic goals. Maybe it will just be more of an explanatory blog, in that sense. That's all I can think of right now. Maybe more ideas will fall out of the sky later. I hope.

This would be a lot of work...

Because I'm an writer, I think there should be one massive, comprehensive online site that has everything one would ever need to know about the English language. I haven't yet found one that is as complete as I would like it to be, although perhaps one does exist. This would solve the problem of having to buy lots of different books(dictionary, thesaurus, grammar guides, style guides, etc.), and wasting trees.This site would need to be certified somehow and reviewed critically for errors. It would just be a lot easier if everything one needed to know was in one location in cyberspace. It would save those writing papers a lot of time and energy finding the correct book or wondering whether the site they visited is accurate. I know this would be a major undertaking, but wouldn't it be great?

Some good sites already available:

apastyle.org

www.oed.com

http://www.thesaurus.com/

Image from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/

Teapots and Knitting Needles

Debbie Macomber is a popular writer who creates uplifting stories. Her website reflects this tacky, artificial spirit of positivity. It is set in garish blues and rainbow watercolors, reminding me somehow of a Thomas Kinkade painting. I get the sinking feeling that her target group is middle-aged women who like drinking tea and baking cakes. You can also join a "knitter's club" and knit with Debbie at a reading. I wouldn't mind the site if it's aim wasn't to sell badly written books to aging women and perhaps men. There also seems to be a religious agenda behind all of this, as many of her books are about angels or God. But for what it is, it certainly does it's job. That's why I think nothing about it needs to be or can be improved. Okay, I'm done being mean.

Debbiemacomber.com

image from graphics.cs.berkeley.edu

hypertext

This is such a neat hypertext site. It looks really good graphically and there are so many possibilities for creating a unique story. The authors of the site are calling it "machine text" because it is set up to generate itself. I like the philosophical bent of the narrative as well. Another fun thing is you never know whether the page will have one, two, or three different links you can click on. You can also click on a link at the bottom of the page to expand the narrative downward. So in addition to reading forward through pages, the story can go a different direction. Like life, this website teaches you as you move along. Love it!

http://www.ebbflux.com





In print form, from the website.

Pictures from the Adirondacks

Photos from my vacation. : )

Juked: Awesome Online Literary Journal

"In Transit" photo by Jeffrey C. Kotanchick, Gili Trawagan, Lombok, Indonesia. 2-2-2005.

http://www.juked.com/

"Tree Line" photo by Leigh Wells, 6-2-2010, outside of Georgetown, Kentucky. http://www.juked.com/moments/

"Segunda Pascua" photo by J.D. Wang, editor of Juked online literary magazine. 7-8-10, Barcelona, Spain. http://www.juked.com/moments/

It took me quite a while to find a really great online literary journal. After a lot of browsing, I finally came across Juked. The nice layout of the website attracted me initially. The gray background, contrasted with a nice looking index overlaying an angled shot of a building, really looks professional.

One of the best features about this journal is that it’s free. They take donations and somehow, through luck or some other feat, have managed to stay alive and running. Their stories and poems are fantastic. I clicked on a few random ones in the archive section and was quite impressed.

My favorite part has to be, however, the “moments” link. The main editor, J.W. Wang, has put together a collection of stunning and artistic photographs from places like Barcelona, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Ise Sanjou, Japan. For anyone looking for a really cool online journal that stands out from the crowd, Juked is worth it. The only thing about it that was inconvenient was the “comments” link at the bottom of each piece of writing. It took me to Microsoft Entourage, which I do not use. It would be easier if there were just an e-mail address that I could send my thoughts to. That is a minor point, though.

http://www.juked.com

Exercise-ing

I have been working out so much lately. I think it is killing my soul. I can't believe it is so much work to lose three pounds...!
I have to write this poem for class and start it with the line "I am fourteen." I can't think of anything except for age that will work. I am stuck on that right now hopefully I'll figure it out before Wednesday.
I love and loathe exercise-ing.

Sky drop lightfighter

Name for our future daughter. Lately I cannot stop thinking about giving birth. I wonder about the pain and the nine months when we're physically connected.

Questioning/A Cool Blog

Graphics are from: http://givetheemperorsomeclothesplease.blogspot.com/ by Anne Artist.

I'm done with questioning anything for this week. Speaking of questioning, here is a cool blog that is based on asking questions. It deals with life's paradoxes, which are things I constantly turn over in my mind. It has fun drawings in it too. The illustrations are cute little cartoons. They are just simple line drawings but very charming. Overall it's very clever. The author, Anne Artist, (who is an artist herself) says that "what seems to be an answer is simply the birthplace of more questions." The questions she asks are not what you would expect. Some of my favorites are: "If sandwiches were made of tranquility, what would the bologna be?" (Posted on August 22nd, 2010). "If I were to throw it all away, would I dress up for the occasion?" (Posted on August 11th, 2010). And my very favorite: "If it's never too late, am I always on time?" (Posted on January 20th, 2010). The main thing I like about this blog is that it is open for people to answer these questions and leave their comments. She doesn't answer them herself but waits for people to respond. And she gets a lot of responses! I think, however, it would be nice to see some of her own insights into the questions she poses. ( Read this cool and unique blog at : http://givetheemperorsomeclothesplease.blogspot.com/
Okay, maybe I'm not done questioning.