Just An Update

My short story/novel, whatever it ends up being, is 10 pages, 4,271 words in total. Awesome.

Summer Continues

After my jaunt to Alaska and Canada, I feel my summer has, schedule-wise, "cooled" off. Lately, I've been hanging around my house, or friends' houses, doing a whole lot of nothing. Don't get me wrong, a lackadaisical summer can be a good summer, but I'm rooting for a great summer, full of accomplishments and memorable...err...memories. Yes, memorable memories. I said it. I want to finish my short story by the end of the summer, cross off some more of my bucket list, attend my cousin's wedding, go to Seaside, read a lot of books, exercise more (that one is actually happening, believe it or not), a whole lot of something! Unfortunately, I was sick yesterday and today, although it didn't really stop me from having fun.
Yesterday, three of my pals (for safety purposes, the girls will be known as Kat, Laura and Bea) and I went out for some YoYo fun. As I had already had the delicious ice cream the night before with my mother and psuedo-brother, I left my wallet at home so as to refrain from purchasing any of the irresistible treats. After "chilling" (get it; ice cream, chilling. ha.) at YoYo's for a while, and naughtily nabbing some ice cream in the little "tasting" cups, we decided to check out the dollar tree, and randomly ended up buying balloons and mermaid figurines. What was our intent, you ask? Well, being severely odd teenage girls, we decided to tie the balloons to the figurines and deposit them on some boys' doorsteps. I won't say who, just know I did not choose the boys and so had no personal connection with them. Yeah, we're weird. Next we headed back to Kat's house and watched the Justin Bieber movie. It was at this time that my sore throat, which started that morning, came back with a vengeance and I started feeling sickly. I spent the rest of the day in bed and did not wake up today until 1:30 pm. Yeah, embarrassing.
Today was not wasted, however. I got some sun, watched some youtube videos, and started my summer reading for AP Comp. Choosing from the two lists available to the class, I'm going to read Tuesdays with Morrie and am currently reading Columbine, the full disclosure on the school shooting tragedy of 1999. It's quite scary actually, and parts of it had my aforementioned sickness making an unscheduled appearance, but is also riveting and intriguing. I recommend it to all the nonfiction lovers out there.

So I Promised This Long Ago

An excerpt of my short story, as of right now titled Pass It On. Well, here goes nothing.

It was an atypical Sunday afternoon in New York: a day of crystal clear skies, white clouds dancing above the skyline, birds trilling lilting, musical notes. I was, of course, not outside, enjoying the first warm rays of the timid summer sun on my skin, but in the New York Public Library, researching British literature for my final thesis at NYU. It was my own fault, really, that I was holed up in the library, unlike all of my peers. I'm much too lazy for my own good, although somehow I managed to stay well above the class average due to my ability to work well under pressure, not to mention my uncanny knowledge on all things literary. If I hadn't procrastinated so entirely I might've gotten a few hours to myself that day, maybe to spend practicing for my lacrosse game that weekend or lounge lazily in the park with Norah and Stiles. Unfortunately, it's impossible to rewrite the past, and all things considered, that day turned out to be pretty eventful; but I'm getting ahead of myself.

All right, one paragraph at a time. (Please remember this is a rough draft)

My MadLib

Dear Ashley,

I don't really know how to tell you this, but our romance is over. I think I realized it when I tripped on sesame seeds outside of Chicago and I saw you sit on my best friend. I'm sure you're scarred enough to understand that there is no solution to this. I'm returning the couch cushions to you, but I'll keep your mom as a memory. You should also know that I always will remember your reincarnation as an eskimo.

Greetings to your frog Leonard,
Riley

This Seems Fun

It's like MadLibs, blogger version. Let's do this!

Dear (the last person who left a comment on your Blog). I don't really know to tell you this but ___1___. I think I realized it ___2___ ___3___ and I saw you ___4___ ___5___. I'm sure you're ___6___ enough to understand ___7___. I'm returning ___8___ to you, but I'll keep ___9___ as a memory. You should also know that I ___10___ ___11___. ___12___, -Your name-

1. What's the color of your shirt?
Blue - Our romance is over
Red - Our affair is over
White - I'm joining the monastery
Black - I dislike you
Green - Our horoscope doesn't match
Grey - You're a pervert
Yellow - I'm selling your house
Pink - Your nostrils are insulting
Brown - The Mafia wants you
No shirt - You're a loser
Other - I'm in love with your sister

2. Which is your birth month?
January - That night
February - Last year
March - When your dwarf bit me
April - When I tripped on sesame seeds
May - First of May
June - When you shaved my head
July - When I fell off a cliff
August - When I saw the shrunken head
September - When we skinny dipped
October - When I quoted Santa
November - When your dog ran amok
December - When I changed tennis shoes

3. Which food do you prefer?
Tacos - In your apartment
Pizza - In your camping car
Pasta - Outside of Chicago
Hamburgers - Under the bus
Salad - As you ate enchilada
Chicken - In your closet
Kebab - With Paris Hilton
Fish - In women's clothing
Sandwiches - At the Hare Krishna graduation
Lasagna - At the mental hospital
Hot Dog - Under a state of trance
Other - With George Bush and his wife

4. What's the color of your socks?
Yellow - Hit on
Red - Insult
Black - Ignore
Blue - Knock out
Purple - Pour syrup on
White - Carve your initials into
Grey - Pull the clothes off
Brown - Put leeches on
Orange - Castrate
Pink - Pull the toupee off
Barefoot- Sit on
Other - Drive out

5. What's the color of your underwear?
Black - My best friend
White - My father
Grey - Bill Clinton
Brown - My fart balloon
Purple - My mustard souffle
Red - Donald Duck
Blue - My avocado plant
Yellow - My penpal in Ghana
Orange - My Kid Rock collection
Pink - Manchester United's goalkeeper
None - My John F. Kennedy statue
Other - The crazy monk

6. What do you prefer to watch on TV?
Scrubs - Man
O.C. - Emotional
One Tree Hill - Open
Heroes - Frostbitten
Lost - High
House - Middle - Class
Simpsons - Cowardly
The News - Mongolic
American Idol - Masochistic
Family Guy - Senile
Top Model - Scarred
Other - Ashamed

7. Your mood right now.
Happy - How awful I've felt
Sad - How boring you are
Bored - That Santa doesn't exist
Angry - That your pimples are at the last stage
Depressed - That we're cousins
Excited - That there is no solution to this
Nervous - The Middle-East
Worried - That your Honda sucks
Apathetic - That I had a C-section
Ashamed - That I'm allergic to your hamster
Cuddly - That I ogle garbage men
Overjoyous - That I'm open
Other - That Extreme Home Makeover rocks

8. What's the color of your walls in your bedroom?
White - Your ring
Yellow - Your love letters
Red - Your Darth Vader poster
Black - Your tame stone
Blue - The couch cushions
Green - the pictures from LA
Orange - Your false teeth
Brown - Your contact book
Grey - Our matching snoopy-bibs
Purple - Your old lottery coupons
Pink - The cut toenails
Other - Your memories from the military service

9. The first letter of your first name.
A/B - Your photo
C/D - The oil socks
E/F - Your neighbour Martin
G/H - My virginity
I/J - The results of your blood sample
K/L - Your left ear
M/N - Your letter of resignation
O/P - My common sense
Q/R - Your mom
S/T - Your collection of butterflies
U/V - Your criminal record
W/X - David's princess tutu
Y/Z - Your grades from college

10. The last letter of your last name.
A/B - Always will remember
C/D - Never will forget
E/F - Always wanted to break
G/H - Never openly mocked
I/J - Always have felt dirty before
K/L - Will tell the authorities about
M/N - Told in my confession today about
O/P - Was interviewed by the Times about
Q/R - Told my therapist about
S/T - Get sick when I think of
U/V - Always will try to forget
W/X - Am better off without
Y/Z - Never liked

11. What do you prefer to drink?
Water - Our friendship
Beer - Senility
Soda - A new life as a clone
Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri - Your reincarnation as an eskimo
Milk - The apartment building
Wine - Your obsession with scarves
Cider - A passionate interest for mice
Juice - Our Oprah Winfrey imitations
Mineral Water - That embarrassing rash
Hot Chocolate - Eggplant infatuation
Whiskey - To ruin the second world war
Other - To hate the Boston Celtics

12. To which country would you prefer to go on a vacation?
Thailand - Warm regards
USA - Best regards
England - Good luck on your short-term leave from jail
Spain - Go eat a rag
China - Disgusting regards
Germany - With ease
Japan - Go burn
Greece - Your everlasting enemy
Australia - Greetings to your frog Leonard
France - In pain
Other - Greetings to your freaky family

Gone (and back)

Greetings all people of planet Earth! I realize I've been absent from Blogger lately, which is unforgivable of me, especially when I left you in such suspense after my last post. Don't worry, I haven't given up on my short story yet, it's just not far enough along to be revealed as of right now. Be a little patient people, seriously. Anyway, last week I returned from my trek around southern Alaska/Canada and let me tell you, it was FABULOUS. Onboard the cruise I ate every two hours, sucked down several virgin strawberry daiquiris and won many rounds of BS, Egyptian Ratscrew and Kemps. Overall, a pretty relaxing and eventful week. Off-board (if that's even a real term), I got to dogsled, hold adorable baby Alaskan Huskies, watched six killer whales spy-hop not ten feet in front of me, zip-lined hundreds of feet up over Alaskan ground, saw reindeer, exited the United States for the first time in my life (CANADA COUNTS AND IS AWESOME), ate freshly baked salmon (delicious as it sounds), and acted like a crazy tourist, which I didn't really like honestly. I would much rather have pretended to be an integral and long-lasting part of my surrounding environment, but the tour buses and multiple cameras/camcorders made that an impossibility. Alas, I had an exceptionally good time. Met some new people (cute people, to be quite frank) and some not so cute people (someone wanted to watch me sleep) who scared the living, sorry but, hell out of me. I hope I do not offend anyone with my curt and coarse language but really, I feel like I should have a pass on that one. It's not everyday a seventeen-year-old is stalked on a cruise ship by a nineteen-year-old Texan. So, come on, cut me a little slack (MOM). Other than my persistent follower, my cruise was spotless, although it was pretty chilly and I did have a serious case of homesickness and even a little seasickness. Open waters are no joke people, not even with a giant hunk of ship like the Golden Princess (How lame does that name sound, on a scale of 1 to 10? I give it a 7.5). Anywho (word?), I have videos I will upload to share with everyone, as soon as I get them back. My camcorder didn't have enough memory space so I had to save some on my friend's laptop during my vacation and I still haven't gotten them back. Trust me, though, the whale videos are worth the wait. Speaking of whales...

I know I already said this but...WE SAW KILLER WHALES! How awesome is that? If you think that's no big deal, I really should explain more. Our whale watching expedition took place in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Our tour bus drove us from the cruise ship port to the whale watching port and we boarded a cool double decker along with maybe two hundred other people. I was pleasantly surprised as they had a giant buffet inside the boat and a bar where you could order drinks. I wasn't really hungry, plus the buffet was savagely attacked by all the other passengers, so I settled for some goldfish and a diet coke, which I shared with Brie. Anyway, the whole point of the excursion was to spot some humpback whales and see some of Juneau's glaciers, which are pretty cool, all tucked away in between two gigantic mountains. Seriously, those things are huge. Pictures do not do them justice. Moving on. We did see some humpback whales, but not as much as we'd like. There were only two, a mother and her calf, and they were looking for food, diving down deep to get krill, the only fish they can actually eat. Did you know that the size of a humpback whale's throat is so small, you couldn't fit your foot into it? If they get so much as one salmon in their mouths with krill, they have to spit everything out and start over or risk choking themselves to death. It's ironic, a mammoth this size and they can't eat anything over maybe 4 inches. (Our tour guide was really cool and very informative. She also had a very nice speaking voice.) Anyway, the humpback whales were cool, but once they dive down to get food, they can be under for up to 20 minutes, so we moved on. Amazingly enough, we happened upon a pod of six killer whales. Now, the reason this is so amazing, our guide told us, is because they usually only encounter killer whales 10% of the time they're out on expeditions. We were extremely lucky, especially because the pod was pretty large. Six whales, one of them a calf, four females and one male. You could tell a calf by its size, and by a slightly orange tint that occurs because their blubber is so thin at birth. Therefore, you can see the blood vessels beneath. Another awe-inspiring occurrence was something called a "spy-hop." That's where whales jump out of the water to get a look at their surroundings. Basically, looking at us. The calf spy-hopped probably 6 or 7 times, which is crazy because our guide told us they only see spy-hopping once or twice out of 4 spottings of Killer whales. We really must have been a lucky bunch, because the day was nice and we saw something only 25% of 10% of people whale-watching get to see. You'll get to see the video later, hopefully soon. I know this was a long post, but my mom says that blogging is my summer job, and if I don't continue, I'll have to get a real job. Yuck. So long for now!

Going, Going...

Taking a cue from the bulletin outside of Deer Ridge Elementary School, I've titled this blog Going, Going... because there is only one day left of school for the 2010-2011 school year. In 24 hours, I will have finished my fifth and final exam of the year and will be officially on summer vacation. More exciting than that, 24 hours from tomorrow morning, I will be leaving for Chicago, to get on a plane to travel to Seattle (a place I've never visited before!!!) to board a cruise ship and sail to Alaska!!!!!!! How exciting is that!?!?! I cannot even begin to describe my absolute euphoria at being invited on a cruise with my friend's family. It's going to be epic. We're going to a mushers camp, where we will learn to dogsled and we're also going to go zip-lining in the forest! I'm so excited, it's ridiculous!!!! See how many exclamation points I'm using?!?!?!?! THAT'S how excited I am! Hopefully, I'll be able to access the internet from the ship so I can blog about my experiences as they happen and continue writing the short story I've started. Want a sneak peek? I'll bet you do. Be patient.

Hello, my name is...

It's come to my attention lately that unless you go to my school and are in my etymology class, you have no idea who I am. That's pretty funny, at least to me. I wonder if you'd still read my blog if you knew? Anyway, I'm prepared to introduce myself. So without further ado, here it goes.

Hello, my name is Riley. I'm seventeen years old and a junior in high school. Surprised? No, probably not. Anyway, at the risk of sounding like a giddy teenager finding herself on a social network page, I'm going to tell you a little about myself. As you probably already figured out, I'm an avid reader. Unlike my classmates, who only blogged in an effort to keep their grades up, I actually like blogging (as does my mother, although she'd rather read/tell everyone she knows about my own. Hi mom!). I thoroughly enjoy english class (at least, this year I started to) and it's unsurprisingly my favorite subject, thus my decision to hopefully go to college and study creative writing. As cliche as it is, I love music. I wouldn't go so far as to sound cheesy and say it's my passion because I'm not sure I have a passion just yet, although reading would probably be the closest thing I have to a passion. I like finding new artists and introducing their music to my friends. Recently, I discovered a new band called Givers. They were described as akin to Vampire Weekend, with a female singer and I am in accord with the assessment because they do sound extremely alike. I highly recommend the song Up Up Up if you are at all familiar with VW, and even if you are unfamiliar with them because it's a pretty fun song. I really don't like metal/hardcore/screamo and some forms of rap (like lil wayne). My closest group of friends is a group of miscreants whom I enjoy thoroughly. It's a pretty mixed group of friends, seeing as I get along with a lot of different people. I'd like to say, along with everyone else, that I'm quirky, and truly unique, unlike everyone you've ever met, but you'll have to decide that for yourself. I do count myself pretty cool because I inspired my older sister to start a blog. She wishes she could be me, no big deal. Check out her blog thatsall-caitnoelle.blogspot.com Au Revoir!

P.S. I was not privy to, in any way, the making of the hilarious video Hot Kool Aid, I am merely an avid fan. Sorry to dash your hopes and dreams. If I were as entertaining as Julian Smith, I would most definitely make videos documenting my hijinks, but sadly I have no such talents; just a sarcastic sense of humor that would probably not be entertaining to most viewers. Which is why I will stick to my guns, which I believe (as my mommy has told me) is writing/blogging. At least, I hope I'm good at blogging. You'll have to be the judge of that, as my readers, however few of you there may be. *sigh*