And the mad lib winner is....

First off, here is the latest pic from earlier this afternoon. Goodbye 2010!




And secondly... the winners are...





Your all winners! I read through all of the possible answers as I plugged in all of your answers into my story line and I honestly couldn't pick just one favorite to post. But since you all have been good sports and entertained me I will take a little extra time out of my extremely busy new years eve party being hosted in my room with hot pockets and video games and post them all! So with each entry I will underline the answers you gave me, but I won't number them so try to remember what you put, as hard as that might be.  Here's a refresher

And The Awards are as follows:

Best kind of field to run through : Cake fields by Wendy Pelletier!

Best time of day to be waking up : 7:24 p.m. by Mynx!

Best villain : Man-eating Unicorns by Bruce!

Kinkiest sounding superhero finishing move: Wonder Woman's liking loving upright horse ass smash by Bouncin' Barb!

Best all around party game: Little Big Planet by The Adorkable Ditz (Momo)!

And a special honor for the most randomly entertaining mad lib I read: Bruce's entry with his uncanny ability to seductively give into peer pressure while dreaming about man-eating unicorns being defeated by invisible woman only to be woken up by 22 clones of his wife making noise! Haha!


I really wanted to end the year with something funny so I might be able to start the new year with a smile and something to laugh about. So with that, Happy 2011 to everyone and enjoy the randomosities!

By Mynx:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 7:24p.m. to the sound of 23 Crickets outside my window. So I flung my superman blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local cheese market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Captain Jack Sparrow costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and Rode to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Jason who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Scrabble . By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I softly gave in and joined them all as we stared quickly at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating Koalas. Everyone jumped in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, batman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Kicking Kissing sideways tiger big toe smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a carrot field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such an old dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 68 airhorns in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Wendy:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 9a.m. to the sound of 8 drums outside my window. So I flung my Miss Brooke blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local spaghetti market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Captain Jack Sparrow costume fresh out of the laundry. I threw it on in a hurry and shipped to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Doris who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Monopoly. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I groggily gave in and joined them all as we stared spritely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating wolverines. Everyone 13(verb)ed in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Superman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the sleeping conjuring bending cheetah eye smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a cake field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a sweet dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 7 bells in a frenzy outside of my window...

By The Adorkable Ditz (Momo!)

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 11:11a.m. to the sound of 13 seagulls outside my window. So I flung my sailor moon blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local pizza market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Kung pow's chosen one costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and 7(verb involving movement/transportation) to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Methusala who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Little big planet for PS3. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I graciously gave in and joined them all as we stared ecstaticly at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating tazmanian devils! Everyone squawked in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Captain Planet showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the whining baking crouching badger spleen smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through an udon field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a random dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 40,952,784,092 shoes in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Bouncin' Barb:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 3:33a.m. to the sound of 13 washing machines outside my window. So I flung my Davey Crocket blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local liver market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my dirty harry costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and hitch-hiked to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Albert who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of dominos. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I quietly gave in and joined them all as we stared extremely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating donkeys. Everyone plowed in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Wonder Woman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Liking loving upright horse ass smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a peanut butter field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a big dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 50 blow dryers in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Bruce:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 8:03 to the sound of 803 of my dogs outside my window. So I flung my Alex Karras blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local Cheeseburger market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my John McClane costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and drexted to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Molly Ringwald who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of some sort. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I Seductively gave in and joined them all as we stared smoothely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating unicorns. Everyone ran in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Invisible Girl showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Hiding eating upside down goat buttocks smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a carrot field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a round dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 22 of my wives in a frenzy outside of my window...

Hope you all enjoyed and thanks so much for playing and giving me something to do! Happy New Years everyone!

Make a wish

I wish for...



some real people!


Here we go, another new year is right around the corner (for me at least) So here is where I get to say all the cool cliche things about best wishes for the future and my new years resolution and all that crap right? WRONG!

I'm going to spice it up with something totally awesome... A MAD LIB!!! maybe even a new years themed mad lib? or maybe not.. I have a few written up and can't decide which to use.

For anyone who doesn't know, a mad lib is basically a story with a bunch of blank spaces asking for specific literary devices to help make it interesting. So for this activity I will need something I have not yet recieved.... ACTUAL COMMENTS/ FEEDBACK!!!!!

Yes, I know that little view counter keeps going up, and there is proof that there are readers out there somewhere, but until there is a name and some intelligent words next to it, you are all nothing more than another single increase to that view count number, which makes you all nothing to me. So why not be a little more friendly and get some interaction going ya? Ok so here we go. I'm going to list the things I need you to supply, and you will leave a comment with the answers, listed as follows:

1 specific Time of day
2 Number
3 Something that makes noise
4 childhood hero
5 food
6 movie character
7 verb involving movement/transportation
8 name
9 game (board game, video game, sport, party game etc.)
10 adverb (verb ending in LY)
11 another adverb
12 creature/animal
13 verb
14 superhero
15 verb
16 verb
17 directional position (backward, forward, sitting, standing, crouching, lying, etc)
18 animal
19 body part
20 food
21 adjective
22 number
23 something that makes noise



So lets see what we can come up with ok? I'm really looking forward to it! I'll pick my favorite answer combo and feature it in the story I wrote, and post it in a day or two. Thanks in advance for all you random nobodies who want to become somebodies and put a name and face to some of my readers! This is gonna be fun! =D

Inbred doesn't begin to describe...

So if any of you random nobodies have been following along in any of my older posts, you might remember this girl named courtney who I dated for 8 months only to find she was cheating from the first day, and dumped me for no reason out of the blue and got married to this one armed cancer-ridden 46 year old sex offender the next day... yeah, that one. Well she obviously decided to get so drunk and high, either that or so miserable without being able to pick fights and win anymore since I was the only man in her life who let her speak her mind without beating her, whatever the case, she decided to leave me some offline messages on my yahoo. it went something like this: "-blush- I love you. JKJKJK. HATe. I HATE U. U R WEIRD. N UGLY." Now mind you, this poor girl never went to school, never learned to read or write until she was 16, and was raped by her sister, her brother, AND her dad, and the only guys she ever dated treat her like trash...So when we broke up and i found out all the crap she was doing behind my back, I tried to be nice and forgive her and told her I wish her good luck and sat and talked with her and gave her all her crap back.... then she goes and pulls this crap trying to get a responst... well it worked.



 I let her know exactly what I never wanted to tell her. the truth. I very descriptively told her about how I felt about the way I was treated as well as the fact that her entire life amounts to nothing higher than sex and alcohol and that by the time her freak of nature husband is through with her she'll be so misshapen and deformed from all the drugs he put her on that even her dad brother and sister wouldn't get with her anymore, so she can take her inbred screwed up life and end it before she wakes up to realize what a retarded mess she has made herself. Among a few other choice words I said, I basically let her know that if she wanted to taunt me and get a reaction, then she wasn't going to get a buttered up response. I told her that I forgive her, but I will not tolerate her harassment any further. Can you tell I was pissed off and hurt? I mean come on, I thought I loved her, and she put me through hell, only to throw cheap shots at me while I'm still trying to recover from the life I almost threw away on her. Give me a freakin break!

 So here is the official end. If by some chance anyone related to or in contact with courtney reads this feel free to send her this message:



"Dear courtney koker,
           Good riddance. You could have been a good person but you chose sex and drugs over a life with a man willing to sacrifice for you. If you ever come emailing or texting me again, ill download the necessary programs that i still have access to and make sure your every email and form of contact info is erased and your phone will be shut off since I still have access to the phone I PAID FOR. and if you find yourself in danger when your psychotic husband who raped you when you were 14 turns on you for the THIRD time and you come crawling back for help, i will show you no kindness. you are not welcome in my life no matter what happens. You can move down here and start going to the same church or school as me, I will not acknowledge your existance, even if your name shows up in the obituary i will show no emotion, because as of right now this very second you are dead to me and I rid myself of your memories. Enjoy your life with the choices you have made and don't say i didnt warn you. you are married to someone who tried to kill you.. you fucking idiot. Good bye."

So now that that's off my chest, I apologize I didn't take the time to spell check and correct myself where needed, I just want to get it over with and put it behind me forever.


And in other news, I am happy to announce that I have 5 toes on my left foot and am totally cool with that. Never again will I make the mistake of falling for someone based on looks and first impressions, because I finally figured out how easily used I am and how hard it is for me to stand up for myself. Poop... I feel like poop. But it's all good, I got a girl who is my best friend before we ever made any kind of other connection, and by no means are we putting lust or any superficial ideal above our friendship. Don't be surprised, I mean sheesh it's been like 2 months since i've been single... I'm allowed to have a new girlfriend by now aren't I? But that brings me to my next awesome announcement.

Today Momo finally got the ok from both parents and myself to officially call me hers. We have been "together" for a few weeks but her parents and a few other people still loidering in her personal life were keeping us from making it official. But today I can finally say I found a girl who actually likes dorky nerdy funny stuff like I do and for the first time in years I have a friend with something in common with me. (Rose and the McDonalds gang, we have some stuff in common too, but personality wise you will all agree when you finally meet her, she is my other half, no joke.)

And on another note, I have one more week and then its back to school for the first time in 5 years!!!! So excited! I'm only able to take one class since I'm working 60+m hours a week, but still... its a chance at a social life and possibly a career building opportunity to get me out of this black-hole that is my job. Ok, I can't think very clearly this week, stress and sleeplessness getting the best of me, so for now I'll just say goodnight before I start making sense and scaring people... Til next time.

~sw23

Christmas...lol

First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Yeah, I know, a little late. Deal with it. =P

So today I was posting a photo



And while writing the description on my flickr I included a "Merry Christmas" and it dawned on me that many of my flickr friends and regular friends who will see that still try to play the "X-mas" game. You know... trying to make such a blatant and visible point of how opposed they are to acknowledging Jesus' place in their lives. So I went ahead and put this little side note for them to better understand how pointless their mockery is:
                     "I do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. And for those of you who don't celebrate the birth of the Christ, don't feel awkward or offended, since the 25th of December is nothing but an observance derived from "Yule" or winter sulstace, also called the "birth of the sun" which early catholics thought they could more easily convert people by observing a religious holiday on the same day as a non-religious observance."  Most biblical and historical scholars will gladly tell you that Jesus was NOT born in december by any means.

And that's just it. All these people get in such a hissy fit and bad mood when someone says merry Christmas, as if the name of the holiday is going to offend anyone. It's like me getting all pissy when someone says happy St. Patrick's day because I have a problem with everyone named Patrick or something. Seriously. Grow. Up.

And then you get the other side of the pengelum with some of the more radical Christians trying to act like they're offended when someone says happy holidays, or when the Savior of the universe is replaced with commercialism and consumer-based messeges...even if you claim to be "Not of this world" you still live here and you're going to have to live with 'worldly' things taking control of ... the world. Deal with it. The only attitude you can change by arguing about God Vs. Consumerism is your own.

So this is my OPINION, I'm just going to throw it out there before I get blog-raped by all the people who didn't bother reading the historical fact quoted above.

I see the 25th as merely a chance to spend time with loved ones and family, 'cause if someone came to save the world, His birth and life should be celebrated every day, not just once a year. Even those of you who think I'm an idiot for Who I believe in can still agree with that. If someone is THAT important to the universe, they would have Christmas every day, which is actually what we're called to do anyways, though few will follow through. But no matter what your beliefs are, the holiday season is meant to bring family and loved ones together to share love and fellowship with everyone. So no matter what you believe in, understand that the 25th of December is a great opportunity to tell someone that you love them. And for those of you who call yourselves Christians, don't get offended by someone taking 'Christ' out of Christmas and start getting upset. Is God so weak that He would need you to come to His defense????? We are called to correct our brothers and fellow believers, not to scold and mock those who don't even know if they're doing anything wrong. So everyone. EVERYONE please just get along and get over the whole religious debate, if only for one day of the entire year. Those of you who don't believe, please enjoy your holidays, and for those of you who call yourselves Christians, start using all 365 days as they were intended to be used, not just the one day.

So to sum it all up, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying one side or another is right, wrong, or the other. What I am saying is that the most offensive part about Christmas to me is just that; taking sides and trying to put everyone else down for not observing the day in the same way they do.

Well, there you have it. That is my rant for the week. And it just so happens that I'm a Christian. Not catholic, not mormon, not any other look-alike, not even a religion. I'm not the best example, but I have a relationship with the One who denounces all religion. Including the one that claims to be named after Him. Blows my mind sometimes how hypocritical I can be, so I'll just take the chance to apologize for those of you who read this post and automatically label me. I think Dogwood said it best in one of their old punk rock songs on stage to thousands of onlooking Christian teens: "If you see a perfect Christian, you know damn well he's not."

Please be safe and have a great New Years! Can't wait to step into a new decade with a fresh start as well as (hopefully) a fat tax refund. Haha!

AND DON'T FORGET THE COOKIES!

'Til next time all you... reader(s)

It's wearing me out, but I'm wearing you down.

So here you have an interesting video to accompany a song from one of my favorite bands, Anberlin. Give it a look-see and see what you think about it.

My first impression after hearing the song was that he was in love with someone who was otherwise impossible and being difficult to work with, but he believes he can crack her shell. Even though he's being worn out, he's eventually getting through to her and breaking down the walls she put up.

Then upon watching the video it seemed to come to life as the girl is like a manakin (however you spell it) and not making any effort while the lead guy has to try to literally force her to love him, and in the process the beads seem to represent his life force, so as to say he's pouring his life out, or in some sense she is seemingly sucking the life out of him with her cold behavior.

Then I found this little article quoting the lead singer's take on it. "Love is a friction, a chemistry, said Anberlin's front man, Stephen Christian. We need to fight it out in a good way, not with threats of leaving, but to, in love, find an understanding." -Chacha

As trippy and unusual as the video is with the lead singer sporting the Johnny Bravo / fonzie look, the song itself is still amazing and I can't stop watching it over and over. So I figured hey, why not just share it? So enjoy it, and check out the rest of their album. Especially the songs Down, To The Wolves, Pray Tell, and We Owe This To Ourselves. Can't get enough of these guys!


Okay, well I just was feeling an overflowing amount of creative juices and after failing to find a good photo idea to create an outlet, I decided to write somewhat of a review or perhaps just share the video that is stuck in my head. =P

'Til next time!
             ~sw23

I'm going to give you something awesome. Hold out your pinky toe and open your nose.

WOOOOOOOOOAH! Has it really been that long? Oh well, my one and only follower sees me on a near-daily basis, so I guess slacking off on this blog isn't the biggest blunder of my month now is it? So what have I been up to? Let's see, well last weekend I finally got to edit a picture on sunday and even wrote a short song-ish poem thing to go with it.



Then later I got together with Momo again and we watched some funny movies; My cousin Vinney, The Whole Nine Yards, and I can't remember the other. It was a blast as usual, and I got to introduce her to my dad and one of our local fav's, Lombardo's Deli. We had a really good meatball sammich. Then for dinner we went to Red Robin and got matching burgers. And after that we went to the parking lot outside of the Coffea Bean by her house and played guitar sitting on my trunk. It was nice. She even got to hear me humm and pretend to sing for like 5 seconds.

Then on monday my buddy Gabe asked me to go shoot after work with him because it was so foggy and eerie. We went right back to the same place Momo and I visited the night before. So I figured Momo was only 40 yards away why not call her and see if she could come hang too. This time we went behind the Coffee Bean where I discovered an entire harbor and a field with this creepy looking tree in the middle of the fog. The way the lights hit the foggy air just made it that much more creepy and I simply had to get a picture.



We took a bunch of other pictures in the night, and eventually we ended up on the bridge going over the harbor as we were surrounded by 5 security patrols. one in a car, 3 on foot and one on bicycle. And we had some random cat making "Mow" noises, but it honestly sounded like a middle aged man mixed with a cat being stepped on. It was hilarious. We took some awesome shots from the bridge, one of which I actually thought looked better crooked. Get what I mean?



 I got to the middle of the bridge and laid down in the middle propped up on my bag. Gabe took pics of me looking like a bum and then the rent-a-cops started closing in, so we headed out.

Then things calmed down a bit as the regular work week ensued. But last night Momo told me that her mom actually insisted that she come hang with me. WOW! So we came back to my place so I could do some wash. OH YEAH!

Ok new side story 'Cause I don't feel like going back and finding out where this fits in the week, so deal with it. On sunday while Momo was over I tried to do some laundry and found that the washer was broken. I haven't washed my work pants in a whole week and I really needed to wash some socks because I had none clean. But since I didn't have time to go to the laundromat with my schedule, I just went ahead and bought some socks at K-Mart. 10 pair for 5 bucks, not bad! Finally I ask my landlord what's up. He says he is looking for a new one but can't find any good deals on craigslist in Camarillo. I turn around, walk to my computer and type in "washer" on craigslist, and the very top, first listing available, posted less than an hour ago, is a washer, in Camarillo, for 50 dollars...Epic win.

So anyways, he got it and we watched Shawshank Redemption while I washed my work clothes and such. Yay.

Today was alright. The first 4 hours of my day went by pretty fast. We had a company luncheon with a professional taquiador or however you spell it. Basically he makes tacos for a living. And they had hundreds of little cheesecake bites, so naturally I had to take 14. Mmmmmmmmm.  And the next 6 hours of my shift was meh. It was raining all day, and still is right now. Thanks to my website upkeep and enrolling in school I just so happen to be in debt and can't afford a rain coat or an umbrella, and my boss informed me that he couldn't get one today so I had to try to do the paperwork in the rain without getting it wet...Yeah, right. Long story short I had a pocket full of wadded up wet papers to scan. I also had to think like mcguyver and wrap an empty coffee filter bag around my scanning gun and tape it up so it didn't get wet. Then I snuck over to St. Francis (my old job) and steal their staple gun so I could ensure that the wet barcode tags would stop getting blown off by the wind and rain. Man, if I wasn't the only person who witnessed my creativite and quick thinking I swear I would have been tested for halucinagins and then promoted to some awesome position where my brain could better be put to use. But alas, no dice. But my Uncle did bring me this nifty rain suit, and he just so happened to get my favorite color, green! I looked like the forest-green...lime flavored kool-aid guy. But the self-proclaimed "Mexican spokesman" in the office got the other guys to start calling me avocado man. Then I remembered I had a $10 WalMart gift card, so I took my half hour break and got a matching green umbrella. They all had a good laugh when I got back. =P

So that's my week in a not so nutshell. Oh and I found a buried treasure in my unfinished photos folder that I totally forgot to post back when I actually shot this a year or so ago. So here you go. Booya!



And now I will return to my not-so-ordinary life, listening to Pandora radio and chatting on yahoo while racking up my killstreak on black ops. An hour ago I went 23/1 in a TDM, yes, I'm a beast. But what can I say, representing the world's finest requires a good deal of ownage. Don't believe me? Here's my 3rd highest K/D ratio from Modern Warfare 2.



Yeah, yeah. Video games. Nerds. Whatever you want to say, I'm fine with that. That clan tag is there for a reason, and if you want to put the conrtoller down and feel what it really is like when I'm hunting you, we can have that arranged. No I'm not gointg to kill anyone, I'm referring to paintball. DUH! You wan't to kill people, go enlist. Otherwise you're all mine mwahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaapickle.

Ok, back to socializing with Moomoo. Weeeeeeeee!

IT FINALLY CAME!!!

My day off that is!

So yesterday after a wonderfully short 4 hour work day I called one of my co-workers / photo buddies, Gabe, and asked if he wanted to go shoot while I still had some daylight. He suggested we hit up the Ventura pier. We took turns with the tripod, because he's a bum and doesn't believe in getting his own. I took shots mostly while the light was still up, while he took some pretty amazing night shots from on top of the pier.

Long exposures + water = <3    :)




Then today totally took the cake.

Woke up like any other first sunday of the month, got ready and left to go work the projection at the church. But between first and second services I had the pleasure / honor to pick up Momo and bring her with. I felt bad because I had to make her sit alone as I still had to run the tech, but she seemed to have a good time during service despite having a hard time sitting all alone (IM SORRY!). Then things just started getting awkward in a good and bad way. For the first time since I started going to Calvary Chapel Camarillo, I was invited to go to lunch with other people. We went to a restauraunt that I used to work at back in high school, Burger Barn! MMMMMMM chilly burger! And oddly enough, dispite Morgan's claim to being shy and bad around strangers, she somehow fit right in! She didn't necessarily walk up and introduce herself to anyone, but plenty of people walked up and introduced themselves to her! The ONLY thing that made the whole lunch thing awkward is when I found a seat at our big table with the group, my first Ex-girlfriend, Jill, just so happened to take the seat RIGHT NEXT TO MINE while I was in line... so I had to ask Momo to switch seats with me so she could be between us. (Trust me, it was necessary. Jill is the very reason I never get invited to church events anymore, and the reason I have gone for 6 years without a single friend. To this day she still makes my life awkward and uncomfortable at the very sight of her and her hateful eyes. As if the rumors she spread weren't ridiculous enough, she has to sit there, SEVEN YEARS since the last time she's ever even seen me, and give me dirty looks in front of everyone including our pastor.) But the drama-queen aside, Momo made incredible progress as it seemed everyone on our side of the table, except Jill, was throwing bombardments of questions at Morgan in a genuine interest. Every couple minutes I threw a joke into the mix when Mo said something funny, just to remind them I was still at the table, but either way it became apparent to me why I was finally asked to spend time with people... Because I had a genuinely interesting person at my side. Thanks Mo!

Then after lunch Momo and I headed to the Ventura cross, with a few random detours to the wrong streets and back to the freeway 3 times. We got to the top of the hill, amazed at how beautiful the sky was and how perfect it was for pictures, only to find 30+ cars lining the entire hillside as there was a wedding going on. UGH! But no worries, we went down a little ways towards the bottom, found some parking, then walked back up to the small park/benches area just below all the crowds at the top and continued our picture picnic :)

And now I have the pleasure of sharing the first two shots from today's epic adventures
I finally got to use my new lens! I had it for over a week now and never even had a chance to take it out of the box and shoot. <3 day's off!



And then after the photos we snuck back to my house and tried out my newly added netflix I got on my PS3. We watched 'About A Boy' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' while talking about how much fun we had today.

All in all, this weekend was a total success. Even though I gotta get up in 5 hours to start another work week at the job I never thought I would hate as much as I do now, I'm not gonna let it get me down because I can truly say that this weekend brought me enough happiness to last the rest of the week at least, haha. Doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy my work or not have anything to complain about, but it definately means that instead of complaining about it, I'll simply think about the happier things that keep my mind off of the unhappy things. Thanks again for the awesome time, Gabe (no homo) and Morgan
Hope everyone else (whoever you are... you internet stalkers, you) is having a great holiday season!

~SW23.

Where has my heart gone? An uneven trade for the real world...?

Well, It's not much of a surprise to me, but I may as well just admitt it for those of you, whoever you are, who don't know. I'm a bit of a flake. Not like I had a specific daily word count quota or anything, but I do tend to not manage my updating priorites very well. But better late than never right? So what's been goin on lately? Oh boy, too much.

So I'll just throw it all out there randomly for the sake of not pretending to be any more organized than I really have been. Last week was decent. Went to work, did my thing, went home and eventually got over being sick. Saturday I went to Momo's house and spent the day with her family playing Farkle and Apples to Apples, then we watched a movie called House of D. The movie was good, very touching story and all, but hit a little too close to home at some points and I had to turn my head from Momo before she noticed my eyes watering. (Yes I get sucked into good stories, but stuff that is still fresh in my memory can only be pushed so far down before the right movie or song baits it back to the surface again) But then we went to see the new installment of the Harry Potter series. It was pretty good, though I'm not sure how 2 hours passed without me even realizing. Then we went to her house for an ALMOST midnight snack with pumkin pie and plenty of cool wHip then made my way to my car, only to run back and knock on her door to make her come out and see the HUGE moon.

Sunday was very nice indeed. Momo came over and we watched some more movies and spent more time getting to know eachother talking and quoting more random movies. That is, of course, until I fell asleep. I didn't sleep much the night before, so I kind of ruined the "go out and play" plans as she decided to forego waking me up to instead sit and stare at the adorable wonder which was my sleeping face. Yeah...women. Since I was so out of it, I can't 100% recall the events of the evening after Momo went home, all I know is I went to bed early because Monday was a day I would not soon look back on with fondness.

Monday was hell. Not going to sugar coat it. The last three days have been hell actually. I got moved to a new facility and no longer have my old job. My manager is also taking over management for another company and told me I would get a small pay raise, health benefits and PLENTY of hours. The only thing he didn't mention was that the work is near-impossible for someone with a short mental capasity like me. Oh that and the "plenty" of hours actually means a schedule that will suck the life out of me. Not to complain about having too many hours during a recession, but lets be honest here, I'll be working from 9a.m. to 7 or 9p.m. from Monday through Saturday, year round. Sounds great for a hard working man right? Well guess what, I work at the church on Sundays and that means I dont get a single day off... all year. Yeah, yeah, boo-hoo no more social life no more hopes of spending time with friends let alone finding someone who might marry me. And that's just it. If I was married with a house and family to provide for, this job would be perfect because I know when I get home from work I have my beloved wife and kids to keep me company and share in their happiness and such. But I'm not married, I don't have anyone but myself to provide for, and I am trying to put myself through school so I might be able to rise above 10 bucks an hour. That's a pretty nice wage, but here in southern California, 10 bucks and hour for 60 hours a week won't even get you an apartment, and I know I'm not going to rent rooms in a stranger's house for the rest of my life. I need to get to school, but my boss said very specifically: No days off. if you're too sick, he want's a doctor's note releasing me from work. There is no other reciever to cover me if I take classes.

So basically, I just got stuck in a position that I can't keep up with. With the recent amount of stress I've been under, I reached a near breaking point today and asked one of the other managers what my options are if I could go back to my old position and find someone more suited for this one. I am perfectly fine with 30-40 hour work weeks with weekends off and a little more flexibility, even if there are no health benefits or awesome paychecks. I'd sooner get fired from my new position for all the mistakes I'm making anyways. And the best part is...It's not hard work at all. It's not like I don't understand it all, It's just too much at once and my brain literally can't process all of the things I have to do without getting nervous and making stupid mistakes. And if you know anything about shipping business, once you make a mistake in recieving, that mistake continues to go through the system all the way until we ship the wrong product, get billed for it and rejected, then my boss has to call the corperate and explain to HIS boss that he hired a reciever who is making tiny mistakes here and there that are costing the business thousands...And guess what; My boss called me into his office today to tell me just that! He said I'm only 3 days into the new position and I'm already getting worse with every day. He sees that I'm visibly nervous, and wants to know if I will show improvement. I wanted to say no please let me back to my old job, but another manager at the company was the one who referred me to that position (I didn't know that until today) and if I bail on this job, then that manager who stuck his neck out for me gets in trouble too. So I'm at a loss here. not sure what to do. If I keep this job, I will have to sacrifice social life, me-time, friends and family, school, and probably the biggest slam in the face, photography. That's right. If I'm stuck at work from the time I wake up 'til long after the sun is gone, every day of the year, I'll have to give up any hopes of booking clients or going out just to shoot pictures like this one:



I for one do not believe in the 'american dream'. I'd much rather work my butt off to piece together my rent, then spend all my free time chasing my two passions: photography and people. Without my artistic expression and the people close to me whom I share it with, my life would amount to nothing more than a weekly paycheck and reciepts for all the food I wasted it on, as I would do nothing more than work and eat and sleep simply to sustain my lifeforce while my soul deteriorates...That is NOT what I plan to let happen.


But wait! There may be hope! Although I'm not 100% sure on the details, I went ahead and enrolled for spring 2011 classes in the evenings anyways! If I lose my job, then I'm fine because I'm ready for change and if this is the way to bring it about then bring it on! But hopefully I can sit and talk with the boss and explain that I'm young and trying to put myself through school, so I signed up for classes that start at 6p.m. two days a week, so for those two days i can come in 9-5 and go to classes, then take saturdays for projects / field trips as required by the class. That way maybe, JUST MAYBE I'll be able to even out my schedule to include some free time and life-progression as I go to school. But this is all just hopeful thinking for now. I'm hoping I can take the classes I want, and hoping the boss doesn't let me go when he finds out I'm taking control of my schedule. and I'm also hoping that if I can balance school and work and continue my position, perhaps those health benefits and pay raise might help me put some money in the bank while I get my teeth fixed and finally start wearing glasses after more than 13 years without them. So since I know only one person who reads this blog; Momo, whoever else is out there, along with Momo, if you are people of prayer, I would appreciate all the help I can get. Both for my situation at hand, as well as my anxiety problems as I have come to realize my fuse is much shorter than I imagined and lately every little thing has caused intolerable amounts of pain even though I know everything's not all that bad. I think I need a break from life.

On the shores of Neverland



4:15 in the morning. Got caught up in pictures again instead of sleeping and keep coming back to this one. I put a different song and lyrics  on flickr, but was struggling with the right title. So for those of you reading this, THIS was the original title I had for this photo. The poem just kind of happened. Not uncommon at this time of day, especially after catching a cold and eating an entire family sized can of campells chicken noodle soup with Red Robin seasoning all over it, with pizza flavor-blasted gold fish crackers and a plain bagel to dip in the broth. Nonetheless, it's my first poem since age 15. Enjoy

On the shores of Neverland

   

Carried away in the arms of a dream

The journey neverending it seems

'Til finally I am washed ashore

To a place I've never been before

Though vaguely familiar, my memory askew

Imagination soaring as I breathe anew

My past, my present, all but forgotten

I embrace this new future, a path not foretrodden

Against the brilliant skies dance colors of fire and water

The sun sets, burning the clouds hotter and hotter

In the distance a small voice draws my attention

Color and sound fades, my thoughts caught in suspension

And just as I close my eyes for a second

My feet start forward as my heart now is beckoned

I open my eyes as she takes my hand

As we take our first steps towards neverland

That's what she said...

And of course, the title has nothing to do with anything. Take that cliche expectations!!!!

So what have I been doing all week? Simple. Wake up, do a bunch of stuff, go back to sleep. And just for the record, the weekend was a BLAST! Momo came over and watched some movies with me saturday, then sunday I made it to church an hour late and somehow managed to pull off all the projection duties without missing a beat, even after the band skipped a song and changed the order. With four hours sleep I felt so on top of things! And then sunday night I went to Rosalie's house with 10 other people to play a game called Curses. I won, not by choice though.

So if you haven't played any of those quirky social ice-breaker games like cranium or shout or whatever, then here is a really funny one that you have to have a video camera handy to catch the idiocy in real time. Trust me, you won't soon forget it.

The basic breakdown is that everyone is an actor in the game. There is a deck of "challenge" cards. Everyone takes turns picking up challenge cards and doing exactly what it says, then the other plays have to vote on whether or not the act was convincing. If the majority votes no, then the failed actor mus draw a card from the curses deck and do exactly what the card says. And if at any moment during the game that player is caught not following their curse, any other player can ring the bell and call them on it, and they get a strike. 3 strikes and you are out. And you must obey ALL curses, no matter how many you draw, which makes things interesting if you have one that says to cross all your fingers while another one says to  scratch your back every time you read a card (as if picking a card from the deck isn't hard enough with the crossed fingers)

So a quick example of the first 2 hours of our night? Well, at the table, To my right was Aubree, To her right was Krista, Steven on my left, Candice Rose and her daughter and Krista's brother Zack were across on the other side of the table. Here's how the shinanigans went down.: Krista drew a challenge card that said something like "You are a Vet. Demonstrate to the other players how to rescue a hamster suffering a heart attack." She started acting like a surgeon, asking someone to hand her a scalpel and and knife. For fear of future hamster-hack-n-slash horror film scenarios, we gave her a unanimous thumbs down. She drew a curse card that read: "Any time you speak you must pinch your nose." And so Krista had a hard time breathing and laughing without popping her ears the rest of the game, and she sounded ridiculous. Next aubree failed her challenge and got a curse that she had to pretend she was being attacked by deadly mosquitos every time she spoke and had to swat them away.... Try to imagine someone flailing their arms around their face every time they talked... it was like watching a live enactment of TIMMA!!!! from southpark. Maybe. I had some interesting challenges. I had to explain to Steven why I wouldn't marry him. Basically told him he had a weiner and I wasn't interested.  Then I had to ask him to the prom... and then break the news to him that he was pregnant... WHY DID THE ONLY TWO GUYS IN THE ROOM GET ALL THE WEIRD ONES?!?!?! Oh well, I failed one and had to be cursed with the rock star curse. Every time I spoke I had to strum an imaginary guitar... Looked more like I had some kind of twitching disease. Near the end of the game, to sum it up, Every time Krista read a card, Aubree had to bark like a rabid dog while swatting away mosquitos, And every time anyone made an animal noise, Rose had to be really itchy and scratch, at the same time any time someone named a food Rose had to clap her hands. Then any time anyone clapped their hands, Steven had to stand up and take a bow, While candice had to sneeze and make an animal noise every time she spoke while pretending her wrists were superglued to her forehead (watching her try to eat was histerical until someone had to help her out). Eventually every time anyone did anything, everyone else at the table had to react like an idiot or risk losing the game. It was hilarious.

Ok, so back to Monday... yucky work day! After stayin up all night playin games and watchin The Princess bride with the gang, and talkin to Momo after she woke up feeling unwell, I finally got home around 4 am, edited some pictures until about 6:30, then crashed. The sunrise, I might add, was INCREDIBLE! Anyways.  slow day at work, I got lifted up in a little basket with the forklift and had to clean pipes on the ceiling of the 3-story-tall overhang. Total yawn-fest until I got my ipod out of my car and just let the time pass as the world dissappeared and I cleaned the same pipes at least three times. Finally got home and got around to uploading my latest picture to flickr. Check it out!
Just remember to click the picture link and see the description, as there are lyrics and encouragement along with the imagery. =D



Then while editing the picture my old friend Jessica decides to randomly start talking to me again and takes a sudden interest in my personal issues and my so-called love life. I fill her in, catch up with her a bit, then make the mistake of mentioning that I found someone who could be worth the effort and BAM, she's all over me, just buggin' the crap out of me until I agree to give her some info so she can go do what girls do best and talk behind my back about me. Lucky me. But then again, life is finally getting interesting again after a mediocre routine-driven relationship with someone else not worth naming. So hey, why not let things hit the fan once in awhile? It could be a mess worth cleaning up after =P

So finally, I'm all caght up with the weekend and am about ready to settle down and have some me time. What am I going to do? not sure. Probably go to CVS and get a 10 dollar desk heater so my room might actually reach above 45 degrees tonight. This house is alright, but it is broken and has no insulation at all, the window doesn't even close properly, so the three blankets I use at night only do so much good against the 36 degree morning dew. I'm thinking 10 dollars is worth it as opposed to the money I'd throw away on cold remedies and possible doctor bills as a result.

But don't get me mixed up here, not tryin to complain by any means. I learned some scary facts about where my dad was in Kenya and the amount of suffering most people my age would never dream of and here these kids over there live it every day. Random scary tribal tradition: In order for a widowed woman to prove that she was loyal to her husband during his life, she has to sleep with her husband's corpse or face public humiliation and/or death for being unfaithful to her marriage. No joke...America has way too many things to take for granted, makes information like that just send shivers down my spine thinking about the differences in cultures and traditions. Here's a photo my dad took of a boy no older than I am. He admitted that most of the teens and men his age have to inhale chemicals and get high in order to numb the pain in their stomaches caused by starvation. Most of them know that they won't live to see thirty, if they're lucky enough to see twenty. Now I feel stupid for ever complaining about my tummy growling at work.

So tomorrow, hopefully, will bring some good news and answered prayers. If not, then I'll just have to make the most of it and keep up the good attitude. Hope everyone else out there is having a great week, whoever you are! Get well soon Momo!

~sw23


(Update: I ended up at dennys around 2:19 a.m. by myself after getting my 10 dollar heater from cvs. It was delicious, but I caught a cold)  

Collaborative free-write Chapter 5

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4
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Chapter 5

In the darkness I heard voices. One seemed like a low raspy male voice, while the other was familiar, but too far in the distance to recognize one way or another. "-know about his real parents. He turned seventeen and is going to want to know what's going on." the raspy man's voice became quieter, "He doesn't have much time."

"He has no more time than the rest of us had," the familiar voice finally became clear and as the darkness began to fade from my eyes. Topanga was speaking, and for the first time that I can recall, she was frustrated. "We can't be discussing this here, he's coming awake."

"That's exactly why we must discuss this now," The man's voice grew increasingly stern and irritated, "he is awakening too fast and may not realize the danger he is in if he cannot control it."

"No," Topanga corrected herself, "I mean look. He's actually waking up."

As I opened my eyes fully and finally shook the blurr from my eyes I saw what looked to be the school nurse's office. I could see Topanga and my Chemistry teacher, Mr. Quinton huddled over in the corner of the room, both of them staring intently at me. "What happened? Why am I in the nurse's office? Or rather, why are you two here with me?"

Topanga, with a look of what could have been surprise or even relief, took the lead as Mr. Quinton folded his hands on the table and poured his gaze into his palms. "You don't remember what you did back there on the bus?"

"Remeber what? The last thing I remember is getting on the bus and talking with you about something personal," I glanced back at Mr. Quinton to see if he was taking the hint that this was personal and he needed to leave. No dice. "And then the bus came to a really hard stop and all my stuff was on the ground, and the next thing I know is that I'm sitting here in the nurse's office." I thought about my own words for a second. "Oh my God, did we get in an accident? Are the other kids ok? That would explain why my wrist hurts so bad! But hey, wait a minute, why would I be in the nurse's office and not the hospital? What's going on here?"

"Calm down Jaden," Topanga giggled a little bit with a sigh of relief. "You obviously don't remember so I'll tell you. The stupid bus driver got freaked out when an old man went J-walking and slammed on his brakes. And apparently you couldn't handle the motion because you fainted. Luckily no one else was hurt and no one saw you kic-" She almost ghasped as Mr. Quinton's hand suddenly clamped her shoulder. "-And no one saw you kicking the floor with your face, so don't worry. I just told everyone that you stayed up the night before doing a project and forgot to eat breakfast this morning, so we brought you to the nurse and she got you some food and blankets." She pointed at the other side of the fold-up rolling bed where a tray of cafeteria food lay next to my belongings.

I didn't quite understand what she was getting at, my head was still a little fuzzy and I didn't feel like thinking too hard. I wasn't sure if I should believe her or not, but for now all I knew was my wrist and head hurt, and I felt as if I had just run a twenty mile marathon. "Then why is Mr. Quinton here?"

Finally, his expression changed, but his tone of voice remained low and bored as ever. His eyes still staring into his hands. "The nurse called your parents. Your mom was histerical and insisted that you come home. I happened to be in the room for other business and heard the conversation. Your mom has such a loud voice, you know! Anyways I told your mom that you were fine and that you were going to flunk my class if you didn't take the exam today, and told her I would personaly see to it that you get better and return to class by the time my class starts."

The story continued to get more and more confusing so I put my hands up and said, "Okay, fine. I get it. You're really a cruel teacher but thanks for sparing me from my mom's obsessive babying ritual. The last thing I want is to go home and be told not to leave my bed for a week. I'm feeling better, can I please get going?"

Mr. Quinton stood up and nodded his head. As he turned for the door, he leaned toward Topanga and whispered just loud enough for me to make out the last part of his sentence, "-him the truth or I will." Topanga lowered her head deep in thought, waiting for the teacher to make his exit, then turned to me with a smile.

"Truth about what?" I insisted

"Nothing." She replied. "He wants me to tell you something but after today I think its better that I tell you some other time, you've had enough drama for one day. Nothing important, just some B.S. about our grades and stuff that he wants me to help you with. Now come on, get your stuff we're going to be late to second period. You don't want to flunk Quinton's exams after he stood up for you on the phone do you?"

As she started for the door, I reached for my bag, forgetting about the food laying next to it. My arm brushed the cup of juice and nearly knocked it over. To the best of my reflexes I retracted my arm in a jolt and instead of the cup, my bag came toppling over. For the second time today its contents spilled out onto the floor, with the exception of one thing I don't recall seeing on the floor of the bus. I reached down and grabbed the small red book, and the moment my fingers touched it I caught a vision of myself being seemingly thrown at some dark figure, and in a rage my fist made contact with what looked like its head, but the motion was so fast I couldn't quite make out what my body was doing. The vision dissappeared as I threw the book back onto the floor. My wrist suddenly hurt ten times worse than a few minutes ago. I looked over at Topanga, half-expecting her to run to my side and ask if it hurt. But instead she just stood there, mouth slightly open as she searched desperately for the right words.

"I totally forgot about that book. You remember what happened on the bus don't you?

"No," I winced, "actually I don't remember anything. But for some reason I just had a dream in which I beat the living hell outta some monster faster than my imagination could keep up with."

"Well you wanted me to teach you how to fend for yourself right?"

"Yeah, why?

"The reason I haven't helped you yet is because you already know. Or rather, the other you knows."

"Other me?" I could no longer disguise the histeria in my voice. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Her face became pained and worried. She was clearly hiding something about what happened, and by now my mind was racing, searching my memory for what might have happened. She checked the office to make sure the nurse was still on break, then closed the door, locked it and came toward me. "Sit back down. We're going to talk."

Chapter 3

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A response to Chapter 2 by Morgan
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Chapter 3:

 "You can't ignore me forever, Jaden." She leaned in closer as if to imply that if I wasn't going to speak then she may as well try to hear my thoughts.

"I'm not ignoring you." I spoke the words firmly, though not really believing them myself. "I just need to be left alone for-" I paused suddenly, considering the appropriate suffix. 'for a few months?' 'for a few years?' 'forever?' I tried to think of a nicer way to let her know, but the words 'left alone' were already lingering for too long.

"I can't leave you alone, Jaden. I still haven't kept up my end of the promise. You said no matter what happens, as long as I teach you how to fend for yourself, you promise never to leave my side. So even if you want to ignore me, you can't leave my side. I'm afraid of what those jerks will do to you if they see you alone again!"

"Why? What do people like that even want form me?! I'm a nobady with nothing of value! Topanga, I just can't do this anymore. Ever since I met you, you've been helping me and fighting my battles for me. Now everyone thinks that I'm incapable of doing anything but run and cry to you when I'm in trouble, and that just isn't right."

The bus came to an abrupt stop and the doors swung open as Leum started for the front. As he waved goodbye and hopped down the steps I watched with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as he was engulfed in the sea of faces turning into a river with laughter and screams of excitement flowing into the halls of his school. Oh, how I longed to be just another face again. No more friends, no more enemies, no more friends of enemies becoming enemies of my friends. The bus raced down the street again, with another 6 miles or so before we reached our destination. I returned my attention to Topanga, who apparently had not taken her gaze off of me at all while I was staring out the window. "Aren't you tired of being a nobody?" Her words seemed more like an honest question than a simple taunt. "Don't you get tired of never knowing what else you could be meant for?"

"No, I actually loved every minute of it. And now everyone seems to be out to get me all because of-"

"Because I kept you alive," She interrupted. "Are you really going to try to blame me for what happened that night? Jaden, those men were looking for someone else and thought it was you. They were ready to hurt, maybe even kill you! You should consider yourself lucky to have a friend like me who knows what I'm doing in a situation like that."

As she went on about herself and all the ways I should be thankful, I began to relive that night in my mind and I thought about what might have happened had she not found me pinned against the ground with three men yelling at me in some weird language. I remember the man with the switchblade standing over me, pointing at the sky and then waiting for me to responde, as the other two men snickered and cheered the other on. But suddenly the man was on the floor, followed by the other two within seconds. To this day I still don't know what happened in the confusion of the moment, nor do I recall seeing how she managed such an insane feat of physical dominance. All I remember is looking up a few seconds later to see Topanga standing over the three men with a dissatisfied grin on her face. She said something to the effect of "He's not yours to hunt." and then I blacked out. Or for all I know I may have dreamed the whole thing up and blacking out was just my brain telling me the dream was too much to process. All I can say is that Topanga was anything but normal, and ever since that day I see everyone around me in a  completely different light. A man walking down the street is now a potential threat instead of someone who might know the time. I just wanted to go back to a life of homework and video games. A life without fear or danger. The life to which I belonged. Or so I thought.

The more I thought about it, the more lost I became, creating more questions than answers every time I replayed the scenario. There were so many questions I had. But all that matters now is that she shows me this un-human power that allowed her to so easily cast a shadow on every aspect of my life, not to mention take out 3 armed thugs in less than 10 seconds. Maybe then she would trust me on my own and leave me alone! But my thoughts were soon interrupted again by the sharp screech of the brakes as the bus came to a much more abrupt and violent halt. Bags flipped every which way as books and belongings tumbled and scattered all over the isle and floor. A hush fell over the bus as everyone regained their composure and looked onward to the front of the bus, looking for the cause of the driver's unreasonably harsh actions. A tall dark figure in a black trenchcoat stood before us in the middle of the street, peering into the bus. Though his eyes were hidden by sunglasses, I noticed a smirk forming as his peering suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. My heart sank into my stomache as I came to grips with what I feared to be the inevitable truth; I recognized his posture and his smile, and it seemed the recognition was mutual as I gathered enough of my shaking voice together to whisper, "He's looking right at me."

My heart began to race as the man walked toward the doors. Dispite the driver's verbal protests and attempts to operate the mechanisms, the doors flew open and would not budge otherwise. And as he came closer I could see more details about his clothing and size. It was him; the man that tried to kill me a few months before. Only this time I noticed he had no knife, or visible weapon drawn, nor was he accompanied by anyone else. The only thing in his right hand was a small red book no larger in size than the hand that carried it. Knowing there were only seconds left before I would be trapped on the bus with this maniac, I felt the urge to make a move, but my body refused to listen. The only movement I could manage was the shaking and quivering of my knees and lips. And in my desparation I looked to the seat next to me to ask Topanga what to do now, but there was no response. She was nowhere to be seen.



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Chapter 4: To be written by Momo. Link will be available when complete
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Collaborative free-write. Chapter one.

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 For no particular reason other than a random thought to inspire creativity and cooperation, I proposed that Morgan and I play a blog-version of one of my favorite "finish the sentence" games. The rules are simple: One of us will write a chapter of a story, and the other must write the next chapter based on the first chapter, but no matter what each writer comes up with, the other must follow along and continue the story. So if I throw a crazy twist and kill off a main character that she just got done introducing, she has to continue the story wherever I leave it, and vise versa. Look forward to seeing the finished story and seeing how it turns out! (Mind you, I'm not a good writer, nor have I attempted to write anything in the last 7 years. So bear with me, I'll do my best to give morgan something to work with, but ultimately I am counting on her to save me, haha) Here goes!
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Chapter one.

It started out like any other day; the warming light from the sun bouncing off the walls and lighting up the room as a cool breeze penetrated the comfort of my sheets. I'm sure that at some point during the morning my alarm went off only to be pummeled by my half-conscious fist, but that didn't matter much to me. I had no desire to leave the haven of linen that envoloped my body in warmth. But just like every other day, before I even had the chance to properly adjust my eyes to the daylight, in came my little brother, Leum, with that maniacal grin on his face as he plotted his ritualistic morning attack on the pile of pillows covering my face.

"Wake up Jaden! Wake up!" He spoke softly, assuming I was still asleep until I rolled over and clamped the pillows over my ears as he placed his knees around my waist and tried to pry the pillows away, now yelling, "Daddy and Mommy said wake up or they're taking away your birthday and Christmas! Daddy means it for serious this time!"

"Really, Leum?" I feigned disbelief. "Really? Dad can make it so I was never born? What are you going to do if I skip school and stay here when Christmas rolls around, huh?" I tried to confuse him enough to loosen his grip on my barricade so I could adjust my feet to throw him off the bed, but I realized how impossible it is to win a psychological war with a five year old, as his grip only tightened and his knees dug into my chest. "Okay, okay! I'm up! Now get off before I take away holloween and eat all the candy for myself."
And to no one's surprise, the room once again fell silent as the intruder escaped down the stairs whining to my parents about me being a candy stealer.

Five year olds can be cute sometimes, but when the sound of my father's heavy duty combat boots come pounding up the hardwood stairs towards my room, all that is cute and laugh-worthy in my world fades as I make a quick retreat to the bathroom, abandoning my heated fortress for the sake of avoiding my dad's yawn-fest speach about being mean to my brother. The noise of his yelling faded as the shower burst to life and for the next twenty minutes It was bliss again.

Amidst the peaceful chaos of running water I thought about how unamusing and sometimes even irritating my life had become after turning seventeen a few months ago. I had always been fairly average and unnoticeable my whole life, which I found contentment in. I woke up, went to school, did what I was expected to and interacted with my family as any other nearly independant teen would. But as I finished my morning routine and grabbed my things as well as my brother to leave for the bus stop it dawned on me that everything would have stayed just as normal as it should be if it weren't for her. And as I dwelled on the thought of all the ways she disrupted my life, I found a seat at the bus stop with my brother still in-tow. And just as luck would have it, while I was wasting away in my own world of thoughts and concerns, the very cause of my discomforting state of mind came running over and makes an equally discomforting entrance as she finds a seat on the bench. Right next to me.

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Chapter 2: continued by Momo.
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Poetry Corner

WOW, So I dug through one of my old sites from when I was, I don't know, 13? I found all kinds of art and poetry that I thought was good, only to find how terrible I really am at writing haha. But I figured it would be amusing to post them and share them, as some of them even today hold true and mean something to me. some of them were written for specific people in my life at the time, and some were fictional scenarios I couldn't stop thinking about. Here goes...

Her last breath, my last goodbye

The wind blows softly in my ear

Soft sweet sorrow that I may hear

This lovely song brings me to tears

As I wish more than ever that you were here

Yet no longer will your presence last

Your time on this earth has come and passed

The life you lived was much too fast

You have no future now, only a past

My heart begins to ache and burn

As I sit and wait for your return

Those soothing words for which I yearn

I’ll never hear as I now have learned

So now ill lay here on this hill

Your voice whispers through the wind so still

The sound of it gives my soul a chill

I want to stop missing you, but I never will

So I fall to my grass stained knees and cry

As I beg my God and ask Him "why?"

Look up into His majestic sky

And say to you my last goodbye.

Soothing Words

Many have said it’s far too late

The burden I bear, oh how it gains weight

My choice has now become my fate

I’m stuck in this unsettling mental state

Up ‘til now I’ve done okay

I’ve gained and I’ve lost along the way

And now I ask in much dismay

Is this growing burden here to stay?

Those words you sing, they comfort me

I am hypnotized. It’s plain to see

The answer now is clear to me

The path I choose: eternity

Those words. Your words, they are so true

Could my fate be bound to you?

What is it that I must do

To conquer the things I must go through?

I have no choice for you sing to me

A song of a soothing melody

I follow you now in empathy

For my heart is locked and you hold the key

When your song is finally through

I could leave if I wanted to

But I just want to be here with you

Those words. Your words, they are so true

If I had one last thing to say

I wouldn’t have it any other way

I ask. I beg for you to stay

Here with me ‘til the end of my days

This next one actually was written before I ever had a girlfriend or even interest in girls in high school, yet here I am at age 23 and thinking of someone named Courtney that I wrote this specific poem for in future-tense... rock on!

Heartbreaker

 I must admit you had me fooled

The way you played me for the fool

The way you used me like a tool

Using my heart as a stepping stool

I wish I never let you in

I wish you didn’t make me sin

You ignited a fire that’s deep within

Then left my heart cold and empty as tin

It’s not that easy to let you know

How great I feel to see you go

‘Cause right now this is all I know

I’m tired of acting like some reality show

You left me with that bitter taste

That taste of letting love go to waste

And now the feelings that I chased

Have suddenly turned on me and changed their pace

This love that I once had for you

Was that of only a love that is true

But you couldn’t see this through

And now you don’t know what to do

 But everyone knows how just how you feel

The way you search for another heart to steal

To make some poor boy’s heart your meal

To feed the huger with which you cannot deal

But I’ll be ok without you here

Just don’t make me shed one more tear

For the next time that we meet I fear

That I will want to hold you near

And then the process will start a new

And I will end up hating you

And this song will be proven true

As you make my heart into a heartbreak stew

But I will learn better after long

And I wont have to re-write this song

For all the things that we did wrong

Will become better once you are gone

So please don’t expect my love anymore

Cause the first time you threw it out the door

And now you will get what’s in store

For all those hearts you stepped on before

You’re an earth shaker, a soul taker, a sorrow maker, a tear faker.

But most of all in everyone’s minds, you will always be known as the heartbreaker.

There are a few others, but I think Ill stop there for now. Can't think of anything normal to say or talk about tonight so I'm going to leave it at that.