Just remember that Jackson Pollock was an artist.

I really don’t understand why people feel the need to say that they “suck at drawing.”

I understand that some people weren’t born with the creative part of the brain. I also understand that some people just give up too easily. But this phrase has confused me for a very long time… Were they expecting to be instantly better at drawing than someone who’s been practicing for years? I started out drawing things that hardly even looked like shapes, for Pete’s sake!

I have a proposition for you, whoever is reading. Instead of instantly giving up at the sight of someone else’s success… Give it a shot yourself. You’ll never know if you can draw unless you try to draw! If you need to, start from the bottom! In fact, I helped myself learn how to draw by tracing things over and over again until I decided to take my guide out from underneath my paper.

 

(Picture source here)

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.

Santa is my favorite thing about Christmas. Even though some would consider me WAY too old to believe in him, I just can’t stop loving him! When you’re the embodiment of joy and selfless giving, you deserve a LOT of respect! This is why I always get excited about looking over and seeing Santa at the mall. Even though I just wave at him now, I still see him every time. I guess it’s my belief and love in Santa that I’ve always considered myself to be one of Santa’s elves. I became a full on elf since the time that I made my mom buy me a Hannah Montana guitar so that I could be a secret Santa to a little girl that I didn’t even know. One of my favorite times of the year is the week of school before Christmas break. People bring in presents for their friends or the teachers. I usually bring my friends some little things that they can play with (like slinkies last year and lanyards this year) and bring the teachers a box full of homemade stuff (oatmeal cookies and pumpkin raisin bread this year). I just love the look of surprise on someone’s face when you tell them, “Yes! That’s for you!”

As a junior, the freshmen here at school would probably laugh if they heard that I still believe in Santa. I can’t help it, though! I’ve always been a fan of mysterious characters, but Santa is mysterious only in his appearance. We don’t really know if he wears a red suit. But at the same time, we DO know that he wears a red suit. If we know Santa as the red clad giver of joy, then let him wear red! If we know Santa as wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt, then let him wear that! It doesn’t matter if they have a big, white beard or not. If someone gives a gift out of the goodness of their heart, then, by default, they are Santa.

Merry Christmas!

How Convenient…

Share a time when you narrowly avoided disaster.

As I’m typing this, my group members for a project that we just presented are placing our holiday decoration outside. We literally JUST avoided disaster. The project was about the electromagnetic spectrum, lights, and music. The class period before this one, my group member came to ask me if I had her flash drive with our presentation on it. She had left it near me yesterday, and expected me to know it was there without telling me. Therefore, today, we had to quickly edit our power point and hope no one noticed. Personally, I think that they did notice. In fact, we were the only group to get more than one question about our project. It could have been worse, though. You win some, you lose some… literally.

The panicky and intrepid one

Tell us about the time you rescued someone else (person or animal) from a dangerous situation. What happened? How did you prevail?

I am not very well known for being the bravest in most situations. However, when I know that I am the only one who can either do something, or motivate someone else to do something, I’m one of the bravest people that I know. Linking back to the prompt, I have actually saved someone’s life. More specifically, my former best friend’s bunny, Easter.

Easter was a really grumpy bunny before the incident. She would bite anyone who tried to pick her up, and hid any time anyone thought to come near. I don’t think she liked anyone who lived at my friend’s house, and probably with good reason. The house was full of 7ish-year-olds. They were mean little buggers. The house was also full of dogs. There was one dog that lived inside, and 3 that stayed outside. The three outside dogs had a habit of getting loose, running around, and getting into trouble. One day, Easter had escaped and my friend and I were tracking her down (not to brag, but I am an expert bunny catcher :o) ). Easter was hiding under a broken down car in the neighbor’s back yard when I heard my friend’s grandpa yell for the dogs to come back. The dogs came right for us, probably looking to play, and turned instantly toward where the bunny was hiding. Jake, the leader of the dogs, got under the car, and the bunny bolted off. My friend was freaking out, and I was the only one fast enough to reach where the dogs had cornered the bunny against a fence. I couldn’t leave it there even if it was mean. I shoved the dogs away, and grabbed the bunny. I held onto Easter as the dogs were taken and put back in the pen. They jumped at me a few times to get the bunny back down, but I didn’t let them take her.
From the moment I saved her life, Easter became a changed bunny. She became the sweetest thing, and would always let me pet her. That was the most fulfilling moment of my life. I can’t even express how proud I was after I saved a life.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified…

People are afraid of all kinds of things: spiders, the dark, or being enclosed in small spaces. Tell us about your greatest fear — rational or irrational.

I have three main fears.

The first one is being deserted by everyone I love. This isn’t my biggest fear because I would be able to handle it. I would also be able to understand why, if it ever came to that point in reality.

I am afraid of screaming that I can’t understand. This is kind of ironic because I like listening to some metal bands, with Crown the Empire, Attila, Bullet for my Valentine, Escape the Fate are the ones I listen to the most. Those are great, but they don’t scare me like french screamo… Have you ever heard french screamo? Mon dieu… 

My biggest fear took me a while to understand. At first I thought I was afraid of ghosts… then I thought it was a fear of the dark… but now, I know that I am actually afraid of going blind. I remember seeing my brother getting glasses the first time, and I wanted some (I regret that now, haha). Over time, my eyes started getting worse, even though my understanding of what I see is increasing (I can see the slightest difference in color). I really started to realize that I was afraid of being blind when my friend blindfolded me and told me to try to find her. I felt lost, and even though it was a lot brighter than it could have been, it was still pretty dark. I am still really scared of the dark, but now I know that I am just terrified of being blind.

Daily Prompt

An impending new year gives rise to reflection and goal setting. What will your goals for 2014 be? It’s never too early to start thinking about self improvement!

before I get into what I want to do, I want to talk about what I have accomplished this year!

• I have started focusing on my own style of drawing. Before this, I used to be the Kirby of styles (put the style on and try to copy it).
• I have been trying to stop procrastinating. It has worked a bit! still needs work, though.
• I have been trying to broaden my speaking vocabulary. This has worked, too.  😀
• After nearly ten years of nail biting, I have finally stopped! My nail polish looks much better with longer nails.

Now… what I want to do.

• I want to pinpoint my drawing style. It’s a bit frustrating not knowing how you draw. Especially since my friends seem to have their style down  :c
• I want to stop procrastinating completely.
• I want to stop being so combative and easy to anger. It frustrates me when I can’t control my anger.  😦
• I want to stop chewing on my lip. I do this a lot. I have been chewing on it since the first word I typed on this post. Let’s see if I can make it to the end without chewing?
• I want to start making music. I mainly want to see if I can make dubstep or some electronic music.
• I want to clean my room and arrange my games. I’m not very well known for having the cleanest of rooms…
• I want to teach myself Japanese. I was doing pretty well, but then stopped. I know I can do it!
• And finally…
• I want to complete everything on this bottom list.

Super salad? (think about it…)

• the ability to speak and understand any language
• the ability to travel through time
• the ability to make any two people agree with each other

Which would I choose?

First, the ones I wouldn’t choose and why. I’m really skeptical about the last one. It does say the power to make any two people agree, but does that mean that they understand one another? If I had the power to make any two people agree with each other, does that mean that I can include myself? If I had the power to make any two people really FEEL eachother, then I know that I wouldn’t have arguments with my mom. She doesn’t really understand some things.

I wouldn’t choose the first one, surprisingly. While it would be funny to be able to speak any language and troll my friends, I love the challenge of learning a language. I’ve been trying to teach myself Japanese for a while now, and it is really fun to try to figure out how to put the words together. It is like a puzzle that I can put together and laugh at myself when I get it wrong. Maybe this kind of relationship with language has something to do with the way my mom raised me. When I was little, she taped note cards with words on them to every surface of the house. One day, she moved the cards, and when my bro and I noticed, we started “earning” words by putting them in the right spot. We would have our cards and could make sentences like “The blue cat ate the purple rug.” It was endless fun and it still is today.

The one I would choose is The time travel one, however, it sounds a bit sketchy. This especially since language is mentioned separately. If I could time travel, I would want to do it Doctor Who style. You know… pop right out of the T.A.R.D.I.S and be able to understand the people of the time. If language is included in a nicely packaged deal, then I’m sold straight away! I would love to see the world… I would love to see the world of the past… I would like to see how people walked and talked in the past. I think I would try to stay away from the future, though. I’m not a fan of spoilers as it is, so I wouldn’t like that very much.

What it has taken me 33 years to learn

These are just a few lessons and tips! 🙂

The Justin McElroy Institute

-You can be funny and kind or funny and cruel. The second one is easier, but the first one is worth it.

-Dip the french fry in the Frosty. Go on, try it.

-Habit is a powerful force we forget about until it’s turned against us. Be careful which ones you create.

-You will remember the most embarrassing crap you do in your life forever and in perfect clarity. Everyone else will remember the kindest things you do. It all comes out in the wash.

-If you’re doing a remote podcast, it’s worth it to record audio locally and mix it together. Trust me on this one.

-You’re the only one who can let go of your grudges. It’s worth it, I promise. They’re not doing you any good.

-Doing the good, brave, kind things can feel silly if you let your internal critic get in the way. Reminder: No…

View original post 333 more words

Writing Challenger Aproaching!

((I might be a bit late for the challenge? Oh well! I got really inspired to write this and didn’t stop until it was done, even though the)) ((ending is not that great… Please give me feedback! Link to the challenge))

This isn’t what she expected. In fact, it was the last thing she expected. Jenna was suddenly thrust back into her own thoughts as she remembered what lead up to this moment…
At 7, her parents would yell and scream. She didn’t know why. She didn’t want to know why. She wouldn’t be able to take the confirmation that she was the trigger to their yelling. What else was she to think? The only other time she has heard them yell is she made a really big mistake. She would hide in her room while the crescendo of Mom and Dad’s voices tried to stab their way into her mind. Gradually, the voices began to get quiet. The voices still echoed around the rest of the house, but for that moment, her room was a haven away from the noise. That was the first time she could remember seeing her visitor. He climbed through the window and stood up in the middle of the room as if he’d been there the whole time. Jenna’s mother warned her about “stranger danger,” but she felt instantly at ease with the strange man. He was dressed strangely, with a black tee shirt that hung off of him slightly and polka dotted pants. He looked like a clown. Jenna loved clowns! “That was really loud!” he complained, turning to look at her. “Is that better now?” He asked with a small smile. She didn’t really understand what he was talking about. “Who are you?” she asked back. His smile suddenly erupted into a full out grin. “My name is Alex Collins, but you can call me Alex!” He said, looking around her room. He made his way over to a shelf of hers that held the glass rocking horse that her grandma gave her. Alex picked it up and looked at it closely, but it slipped from his grip and fell first on his face, then on the ground. Jenna jumped up and ran forward to the mess of glass. That was the last thing her grandma gave to her before she died! She didn’t realize she was hitting Alex until he grabbed her tiny wrists. Though tears clouded her vision, she could still see the guilty look on his face. “I can fix it,” he said quietly in an attempt to calm her down. Before she could really process what just happened, He had scooped up all of the shards and was out the window at the same moment that her parents thrust open the door.
Jenna never could explain to her parents what happened with Alex. part of her mind just wouldn’t let her snitch on him. The day after Alex’s visit, the horse was sitting proudly on her shelf, perfect as the day her grandma bought it. Alex visited every time her parents were fighting and they played games to take her mind off of the screaming.
At 10, Jenna’s parents couldn’t stand the sight of each other any more. Her dad left, but the day that he left was also the day that he died in a car crash. She stood in the graveyard at the place where her dad would now rest forever. Even though she was surrounded by people who shared a common love for him, she felt like the most lonely person on Earth. Throughout the funeral, she received many hugs and pats and whispers in her ear telling her that everything will be okay. She knew that nothing would be okay. Jenna stood and watched the grass sway around where her father lay. She stood there for eternity before another pair of arms wrapped around her and a weight fell on her shoulder. “It’s okay to be afraid, it’s okay to want him back, it’s okay to be mad, it’s okay to cry,” The voice whispered in her ear, “Most of all, it’s okay to feel.” Where the hands earlier had been pushy, The hands that are wrapped around her let her have the freedom to stand in the same spot until her legs got tired. The only time the hands pushed or pulled was to help her sit on someone’s lap. Looking down confirmed who she thought the voice belonged to. “Alex,” she started with a quiver in her voice, “Is he going to heaven?” Alex only nodded.
He stayed with her in silence until eternity came and passed with only a nod in their direction. Several times, Jenna turned to Alex and cried into his ever present black shirt. After a long time, Jenna decided to go find her mom to leave. Alex waved at her with a smile as she turned her back on him. He visited her every day that she was feeling lonely without her dad. She still hasn’t told her mom about Alex’s frequent visits.
At 13, Jenna was bullied. It started with a note in her locker telling her that she was stupid and insane. The notes turned into face-to-face confrontations. Jenna had no clue why it was happening. Jenna’s tormentors made sure she knew what they thought of her. She started to believe what they said about her. She came home from school one day, lied to her mom about her day, and went to her room. She wanted to cry. She doesn’t want to feel so alone. The familiar feeling of Alex’s arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her close to him. She let everything out. She told him about the way the other girls look and talk to her. She told him about how she wanted it all to end. Alex gave her a smile and said, “If you leave, we can’t play anymore!” Jenna’s thoughts stopped. She didn’t want to leave Alex alone. She didn’t feel so alone anymore, now that Alex was here for her. She smiled at him and pulled out their favorite board game.
He visited every day that she was brimming with self-loathing. He would always do something silly to make her smile. One time, after Jenna told him that he looked like a clown, Alex painted his face like one to cheer her up. She couldn’t even try to stop her laughter after one look at that paint. She told her mom that she would have a friend over occasionally, but never said anything other than that about Alex.
At 16, Jenna was starting high school. She had a boyfriend, and everything was going well. Every time she tried to introduce her boyfriend to him, Alex wouldn’t show up. She was always saddened and sat near the window until Adam, her boyfriend, would coax her out of her corner. Her happiness came to a crashing stop the day that Adam broke up with her. He claimed that she was having an affair, when in reality, he was the one who had two more girls saved in his back pocket. That was the only night that she told Alex to go away. He looked like a kicked puppy with only one leg inside her window. He wouldn’t budge from shock, and she had to yell at him. With a sad frown on his face, he took his leg out of her room and left.
He visited, but only looked inside her closed window sadly. He would knock and try to get her attention, but she ignored his efforts. Her guilt and self-loathing reached a new high by the time she flung open the window and pulled him inside. She felt terrible for lashing out at him, and apologized multiple times before he quieted her with a laugh. He told her that he could understand why she did it and that she was forgiven. Jenna almost told her mom to
At 19, Alex shared a secret with Jenna that changed everything. He visited her as usual, but told her that he had something to show her. The nervousness in his voice put her on edge. Through all of the years that she has had Alex with her, she had never heard him sound nervous. She nodded, and he led her out of the window. To assure her, Alex told Jenna that she would finally be able to see where he lived. She followed after his smile.
They made their way through the very graveyard that her father was buried in 9 years ago. She made him stop as she laid a flower that she picked on top of his grave. Alex was silent during this. Jenna stood back up and offered her hand with a smile, saying, “Lead the way!”
The farther back into the graveyard they went, the more worn out the headstones looked. She looked around and saw one from the 1900s, then one from 1893. “It must be spooky living near all of these old graves,” she said as they kept moving further into the graveyard. “Yeah,” he started after giving her hand a squeeze, “Sometimes, I think ghosts take my stuff!” They started slowing down at a stone from 1869. After they reached last stones, they stopped. Alex was stared straight ahead for a while before taking a piece of paper out of his pocket along with a crayon. He gave them to her and told her to use them on the stone ahead of them. He never once looked straight at the stone. As she knelt down, she realized just how worn out the stone was. She pressed the paper to it and rubbed the crayon over it starting from the bottom. It read:

In loving memory of
Alexander Collins
Born
January 3, 1843
Died
August 8, 1850

This isn’t what she expected. In fact, it was the last thing she expected. She slowly looked up to Alex in disbelief. He smiled down at her and said, “Your dad wants you to know that he’s proud of you.”

What would you change?

    

 If given the chance to give ideas, how would you suggest to improve the look of your town?

With my graphic design class, I have been given the chance to offer ideas to my town on ways that they can make a specific street look more appealing. Today was the third time that I have presented to people of the town about our ideas. I’m REALLY excited to see which ideas they decide to run with, and which ones they use throughout the town!  Above is one of the ideas that I offered to the town.