Books and Homework

I hate doing homework. But Creative Writing homework is fun, and frustrating. I hate describing myself. Well, I can pick all the bad things, but I’m not very good at picking good things. And for my Acrostic, I was having trouble coming up with enough words. I finally caved and called my Grandma. She supplied my ‘N’, ‘I’, and ‘L’.

Nocturnal (I really wonder if that is a good one, seeing as how that usually leaves me moody during the day.)
Imaginative
Creative
Outgoing
Listener
Erratic

That last one is kind of funny, because I kept wanted to put Neurotic, instead of Erratic. Mainly because I thought Neurotic was what I wanted, but it turns out I was pronouncing it wrong. Because of losing my ‘N’, it took Grandma and me forever to actually find an ‘N’ word that described me. Though, she offered several funny ones right off, but I couldn’t actually use them.

Because of the trouble we were having with the ‘N’, Grandma kept asking me if I was sure I didn’t want to use my first name, but since everyone knows me at the Academy as Nicole, I wanted to stick with that.

My six word memoir was easy.

I love to read and write.

Took me about three seconds. Haha.

For my two hours of reading, I went to the library to pick some new books. Most of the reading I do is just rereading my favorite books, or reading stories online, so I figured I would get myself something new to read.

Death of a Witch by M. C. Beaton. M. C. Beaton is a pseudonym for Marion Chesney. All her Hamish Macbeth books titles start with the word Death of a. I love mystery stories, I could have sat and looked through all of the books they had in the mystery section, but I was pressed for time when I went.

The books pretty good so far, I haven’t found out who the killer is yet, but I will in the next few chapters. I’m so bad at skipping ahead and finding out what actually happens, then reading the rest, but so far, I’ve kept myself from doing that. It’s very hard.

I thought it was kind of funny that I picked this one in particular. I mainly picked it because I liked the title out of all her others, but what got me was this one is one of her newer ones. Released just last year. She has another one out this year called Death of a Valentine. I just found it ironic that I’d pick one of her newest written ones without even knowing it. Haha.

Her Hamish Macbeth series was actually turned into a three season series. I’m thinking about trying and finding them so I can watch them. Her books with Hamish Macbeth sound interesting in all, and I really like this one I’m readying. I had been put off about reading it before because I had just glanced at the cover and read the name Macbeth. I hated that play. I don’t know why, I liked all the other Shakespeare plays, but that one I hated so badly. And, for some odd reason, I had been convinced the book had something to do with the play. If I’d just picked it up and read the back, I would have found out I was being stupid. I would have had this book read weeks ago if I’d done that. Haha. All well.

Tid-Bit

Okay, I’m a daydreamer. And well, dreaming, or daydreaming is how I come up with my story ideas. Well, I was laying in bed last night and I couldn’t get to sleep, so I started to think about this story I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and I just couldn’t think of a way to start it. I can’t start books well. I suck at it. I’m much better going once I’ve already gotten it started, and I’m even better at endings, but not starts. But, while I was thinking, I came up with this. And I thought it was really funny. Though, I thought it was just me, but I asked a friend, and he found it funny to.

I stared at his green eyes. They were wide. Probably with fear, maybe something that I just couldn’t read. I didn’t know why I was doing this. Maybe it was just my curiosity; it had finally gotten the better of me.

Everything about him was unique. The shade of his eyes, his ruff skin, his large mouth, long tongue, small hands, large feet, and even the way his legs curved up when he was hunched over, ready to jump. Everything was special about him. No other had one thing the same about him. And I had seen a lot that looked just like him. But I knew that there was nothing about them that was truly the same. There was just something about him that felt different. I had never felt this way about any of the others. As soon as I had held him, touched him, I knew something was different about him. Something that made him special, in more then just appearance. I was about to test that. With one little kiss. That’s all it would take. One little kiss, and maybe, just maybe, he would turn out to be my Prince Charming. Or, maybe someone better, or just as good. I leaned in ever so slightly. I was ready to find out. I wasn’t afraid to take such a leap. I never had been.

“Croak!” I squealed as the frog jumped from my hands and hurried away from me. I laughed as I watch him retreat. Like I would have actually kissed him. That thing, covered in warts and who knows what else. No, I wouldn’t have actually kissed him. I didn’t want my Prince Charming that much. I was never going to let my mother read me another fairy tail as long as I lived. They gave me weird ideas.

I love this because it’s one of those things, that when you start reading it, you think it’s something else, but then something happens, or something is said, that you suddenly realize, it’s about something completely different then what you thought it was by how it started.<—Confusing much? Haha.

Personality Problems Update

Well, I’ve officially passed my twelve-thousand word mark on my Personality Problems. Took me less then a month. That’s the most I’ve gotten written in less then a month! Woot! I have fifteen-thousand six-hundred and ninety-six words. And I’m only on chapter six.

This is the layout I made, and add to as I finish a chapter:

Chapter One; 1765 words.
Chapter Two; 3424 words.
Chapter Three; 2796 words.
Chapter Four; 4117 words.
Chapter Five; 2517 words.
Total; 14619 words.
(the other words I have written haven’t been added because I haven’t finished the chapter they are in yet)

I hope to get it done before the middle of next year. Hopefully, far before then. Then I can begin my editing (which I have done non of, nor will until done); adding, taking things away, checking grammar mistakes I may have made, and other things.

This is the most I have gotten done on one story. Hopefully once I get this one finished, I can start on The Nymphes again. This is actually pretty exciting for me. Because, even with all the story ideas I have, and keep gaining more ideas, this will be the first I will actual complete. Let alone get even close to being halfway done

Cell Phones and Driving

For speech, I’m working on a persuasion speech on why driving while talking on cell phones are bad. Tristan is doing one on why using hands-free cell phones are good. That was kinda ironic that we both picked cell phones. Morgan is doing about abortion, which is also ironic, because I almost picked that as my topic.

But I was just doing some RPG’s with my internet friends, when I suddenly got an idea for a short story I could do for my speech. It’s not a true story, but it gives the consequences with what happens if you talk on a cell phone while driving, and get in a wreck.

Warning; I’ve been told I can write something sad, and not even realize it until someone is bursting into tears. >.> So, I’m going to label this with a sad warning, just encase.
___________________________________________________________

The little girl sat on her bed, holding her stuffed animal. A small green rabbit. Oddly colored, but she loved it. She held onto it, just as a child did when they were scared, or happy, or even lonely, It was her friend. A friend she knew would never leave her by way of death. Even if the seams tore, and the stuffing came out, the mother would repair it. The mother would re-stuff it. She would sew it up. She would clean it. She would make the rabbit look like it had before, as if no harm, or wear had come to it. The mother would comfort the child till the job was done, and the oddly colored rabbit was back in her little hands, and she was smiling again.

But as the child sat on her bed, holding onto the rabbit, staring at the door to her room, waiting. She was waiting. She would always be waiting. For the moment when her father would open the door and peek around the frame to smile at his daughter. Checking to see if she was still awake. She would always be awake for him. Because she would never go to bed without her father reading a bedtime story to her. Like he did every night. Every night since she was born.

But she would always be waiting. Because her father would never come through that door again. She would wait for the one she loved, and he wouldn’t come. That was decided the moment the driver of a red truck, had picked up his cell phone, to call his wife, and tell her he would be going to the store, and wondered if there was anything she needed. He could have waited till at the store. But he couldn’t wait to hear her voice. They had just gotten married a few weeks ago. He wanted to hear her voice and see how she was doing. She was already pregnant.

He picked up the phone, dialing, he was distracted. He wasn’t, for the briefest of moments, looking away from the road to dial. He hadn’t even noticed the stop sign. He hadn’t even noticed the small blue van pull out. The small blue van. The father driving it had traded their last car in so that they would have a safer car for their daughter. Their four year old daughter.

The truck driver had look up, but not in time to stop. His red truck, rammed the small blue van. The father died immediately. The soon-to-be father didn’t. He sat, bleeding from the neck, for five minutes, before fading from life.

The pregnant mother. She waits. She waits for her husband to come home. To come home to her and their unborn child. Just as the wife of the driver of the small blue van, waits for her husband. Just as they both wait, the daughter waits. Holding onto her green, oddly colored rabbit. Waiting. Waiting for her father to peek into her room, making her laugh. Waiting, for him to come home, and read to her a bedtime story. Just as he did every night since her birth. Waiting for a bedtime story, that would never come.

She would wait. And she would wait. Because she was to young to understand, that her father, was never coming back.

P.S. I noticed I think I may have used the word ‘wait’, or ‘waiting’, a little to much. XD

HTML

Purpose Sentence: The purpose of this speech is to talk about HTML

I. Introduction
A. What is HTML?
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML is more used for web language then most others.
1. What can I do with HTML?
Using HTML, you can create a structure for documents by using headings, paragraphs, lists, etc. As well as links, quotes, and other items. It allows images and objects to be embedded and can be used to create interactive forums. It can also be written in the form Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to define the appearance and layout of text and other material from the HTML.
B. Pros and Cons of HTML
There really aren’t any cons. Unless you don’t know how to use or setup HTML. That can be a pretty big con. Without HTML, your site will be just a blank page with text. It will be as if someone had written something down in a notepad document and signed it HTML. That will cause it to hope with a web browser. Some webpage’s, if they don’t have HTML, can confuse the people that view it. Especially if you were to set up the CSS, but leave the HTML layout out. It would cause things to run together and sometimes, some words won’t show. Without HTML, it would be just a plan text document on the web.
II. Body
A. Creating a webpage
1. Basic webpage layout
HTML is much like writing a speech. In the layout, you must have the HTML tags to begin, kind of like an introduction. Then you have the body, which will contain everything you wish to display on your webpage. The first thing you will place within the body would be your header. Then, you will close off the HTML tag, as your conclusion. That’s all there is to making a webpage.
B. Designing a webpage
1. Basic HTML designs
Designing a webpage is a little more difficult. First, you would decide what you wanted your page to be for. Most used webpage’s are used for businesses. But other webpage’s, ones mainly used for fun, are forums. In forums, the CSS is more widely used. In the CSS, you will already have the basic layout of a webpage already in, all you would need to do in the CSS is add codes for forums, posting, and registration for members. A forum is easier to create then a forum for business.
C. Decorating a webpage
1. Basic font and sizes styles
To decorate your webpage once you have finished setting it up is pretty easy. First, you would decide on fonts. Some fonts are not really good with webpage’s. It really depends on the size. If you wish to use a certain font, it would be best to check the size, to make sure the font is easily read with a small size, or if you would need a larger size to read it. Times New Roman, Helvetica, Comic Sans, Courier, Verdana, and Georgia, are the most used fonts. They are easy to read small or large.
2. Basic font colors
After you choose your size and font, color is next. On webpage’s, if you don’t set a color, it will automatically colors your words black. But for each different part, you can color them anything you want. You can even choose to color each letter differently. You can use hex colors, or simply type the name in. On some webpage’s, typing in the word of the color will only work if it is one word. Like blue. But navy blue, might not work.
3. Pictures
Another thing to decorate your webpage, is pictures. Pictures can be placed within the body. Certain sites host links for pictures, but only the direct link will work. The size of a picture will effect the way you webpage works. If it is to big, the page will stretch, and load slowly. It’s better to crop pictures you find that are to big.
III. Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to add, that to use HTML, you should know how to, and you should know where everything goes. Putting a code in the wrong place could cause quiet a few problems.

Seven-hundred words exactly. It’s the biggest speech I have written for speech class so far.

Horror Speech

Well, my brother and I have been taking these Home School Academy Classes for the pass few weeks, and one of them is speech. (which I am actually enjoying. Me, the one who hates talking in front of people. While my brother, the person who just LOVES to, hates it.)

Are teacher asked us to make a speech on scary movies. Just a prompt-to speech. I was thrilled. Tristan, the little whimp, not so much. Neither was the other girl in the class (one who I can never remember her name). I asked if we could give a scene from a horror movie we had seen, and she said yes. I, of course, with my bad memory, couldn’t remember the movie the scene was from, nor the name of the person. The teacher said that was okay, I could just use any name for the person. But I didn’t want to do that. It would ruin the scene. So, I wrote my own.

My brother ended up talking about which movie seems like a scary movie, just by it’s title. The other girl in the class ended up making a little scene about grasshoppers. Which she said at the end she was afraid up, so it fit. (once again, whimp) Tristan decided to just talk about what a scary movie would be like, since he himself has seen none. And Butch decided to do a speech on the definition of scary movie. It was pretty funny. We all laughed.

Here is the speech I made:

Tim threw the door open and looked into the room. He saw no one. It was empty. He was sure he had heard the scream come from within this room, but there was nothing. Tim slowly, carefully, stepped in. He looked around again. Still nothing. Tim looked behind the door to the room; nothing. He looked under the bed; nothing. He could not find the source of the scream. Tim noticed another door. He assumed it was the closet. He slowly walked over to it. He reached for the door knob, his heart racing. He jerked the door open. Once again, nothing. Tim turned around when he heard a low creaking noise. Suddenly, a shadowed figure ran at him. He felt a blinding pain to his forehead. Everything went dark.

The speech was only suppose to be thirty seconds to a minute long, other wise I would have done more. She gave us five minutes to write that, and it took me about two.

She said I did very good on leaving my audience wanting more. Which I told her about my obsession (yes, it can really be called that), with cliff hangers and how evil I can be with them.

Tristan said that my speech had actually scared him. I was shocked. But then he told me he was only joking.

Since I watch so many horror movies, and they are my favorite, I never noticed how they bothered other people. So far, other then me, Max, who goes to the same history class as my brother and me, is the only other out of the twenty or so people that go, that actually likes horror movies.

Butches mother picked us up that day, since she was feeling better after having her baby, and I told her about speech class. She really doesn’t like horror movies. Butter and I got talking about them, but we had to stop because we were scaring her.

The one thing I noticed about me giving a speech, or talking in front of people, is that my mouth can’t keep up with my eyes, if I am reading from a piece of paper. I read faster then I speak, so I end up repeating words, stopping, stuttering, losing my place, and even having to reread a whole line. Our teacher says that I need to learn to slow down when giving a speech, that way my words come out clear.

That ends up being a problem in history to, because we have to read the papers we typed up for the people we looked up. Though, I also noticed that the others take pauses, while I don’t. I guess I am destined to become a speed reader.

Next week, I will be doing a speech on HTML. A subject I picked on my own. Butter will do his Poke’mon book he made, Butch will do his guitar, whats-her-name will do something, I wasn’t paying attention, and Tristan will do a speech about his Ty-qon-do. (I think I spelled that right)

Well, I put the title as Horror Speech, and I ended up rambling about other stuff! XD

Personality Problems

I found this contest. Or, more of a challenge. It’s NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.
I have decided to enter. I will kick myself if I don’t keep to the schedule I have set up for it. I’ve already got over three-thousand words written.

The story idea I am using I’ve had for quiet a while, but I just never did anything with it. The story is called Personality Problems. It’s the first story I’ve started on that my mom actually likes, at least since The Birth of a Night Flower. >.> But I haven’t been typing on that for a few weeks. Which isn’t making her happy. She read the first chapter I had and came bursting into my room, saying, or, rather, piratically screeching (yes, my mother screeches when she is happy), that she loved the idea. Apparently, it reminds her of a Disney movie that she watched when she was little. Next time I have a story idea she’s going to like, I’m going to have to wear ear plugs. >.> She didn’t act like this with Birth. And I am glade of that!

I have set my word count to twelve-thousand. It’s the lowest amount that would still be a challenge for someone my age. I mainly set it for this number because I didn’t know if I could get Personality Problems up to fifty-thousand. I can’t go under my count, but it’s okay to go over. So it’s just encase I can’t get Personality Problems up to high.

And, of course, I couldn’t resist. I just HAD to make banners. One for the name of the blog I am using. Makes it much easier for mom to read it as well, since she doesn’t like using my big computer, and that’s where I am typing it up.

And a banner for the stories name. And the little phrase I have going after the title.

Preview;
The way they stood, or the way they looked around didn’t surprise or bother me. Maybe it should have. But I was still stuck on who they were.

Everyone of then, everything about them, was an exact replica…
…of me.
(short, but it doesn’t give to much away, and it leaves you hanging! I AM EVIL WITH MY CLIFF HANGERS! I just love them!!!)

Drabble; Barn, honor, stick, and bucket.

Banana brought up the subject of drabbles and said that she was going to make her own. So she asked me what I thought would be four good random words. I said, barn, stick, bucket, and honor. We were walking in the woods when she asked, so they aren’t completely random, just things that I happened to lay eyes on when I was naming things. Honor, I don’t know why, had been floating around in my head all day and it gave me the opportunity to spit it out.

Well, here’s mine, I actually found it easier then I thought it would be.

I looked up at the red barn, wondering whether I would find an old bucket in it, or maybe an old tractor. It was dark and the barn looked scary, but I had been dared to enter. I stepped forward, pushing on the barn door. I heard a loud snap and froze. I looked down to see a stick, snapped in half by my stepping on it. I sighed and continued into the barn. Once inside, I did find an old tractor and sat on the old seat. It wasn’t as scary on the inside. I had kept my honor.

It took me about two minutes to finish the drabble.

The date says March 4, but it is really March 3.