Chapter Two

“Hugo!”

I opened my eyes. It was dark outside my window.

“Hugo! There’s food if you’re hungry,” said Mary.

“Woah! Mary! Wait a second,” I said, hurrying to get up off the floor.

I threw the door open and Mary was waiting with her hand on the banister, poised to head downstairs.

“What’s your problem?” she asked.

“I was just about to ask the same thing. Don’t you remember what happened about an hour ago?” I asked her.

“Hugo, what are you talking about? I was asleep,” explained Mary.

“You don’t remember anything strange happening? Nothing at all?” I asked.

“No… should I?”

“You let out this freaky scream. I thought someone was killing you or something,” I said. “When I came into your room—“

“You came into my room?!” she exclaimed.

“That’s beside the point! You gave me this really possessed look. I mean, it looked like you could have been sleeping, but you were more animal-like than human… it was weird.”

“I can’t believe that you’re already invading my privacy! We just moved here!” said Mary exasperatedly. “Seriously, Hugo…”

I looked down at my feet. This was not going how I had hoped it would.

“Maybe I gave you that demonic look because you woke me up. Did you ever think of that?” demanded Mary.

She stomped down the stairs and I was alone on the second floor.

That night, after eating a plateful of Chinese food for dinner, I crawled into my sleeping bag and went to sleep. I slept with my windows open to let the air flow through.

In the middle of the night, I became completely cold even though it was still summertime and I was in a sleeping bag that was meant to keep you warm in negative thirty degree weather. I pulled the blanket closer to me to prevent any more cold air from getting in. It was surprisingly easy to fall back asleep.

Next morning, I woke up to find my sister sitting on my knees. I let out a small yelp only to have it stifled by my sister’s hand.

“Shut up! Mom’s still asleep!” she said.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked her.

“I had to tell someone, but mom would have been too upset,” said Mary.

“Okay… what is it?”

“I think dad visited us last night,” she said.

I just stared at her.

“That’s ridiculous… you know as well as I that that’s not possible,” I told her.

“I’m not so sure anymore, Hugo,” said Mary. “Last night, when I was in bed, I swear I felt someone brush my face and kiss my head. I know for a fact that it wasn’t mom. I was half-asleep, but when I felt something touch me, I opened my eyes and there was no one there.”

“Mary… I don’t know what to say. I think you’re still getting used to the idea that he’s gone. You still want him back,” said Hugo.

“Of course. He’s our dad. Don’t you want him back too?” asked Mary.

I didn’t answer her question. She didn’t know about everything that happened.

“Can you get off me now?” I asked her.

She nodded and got up. She made to leave the room, but then stopped in the door way.

“I’m sort of surprised at you, Hugo. After everything that man did for you…”

With that, she left and went downstairs.

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Here you go! Chapter two.

The reason I wrote this so fast is because it was all I wanted to work on last night. It was one of the few things I thought about. If I have another night like this, you'll have chapter three (currently in progress) in a day or two.

Tell me what you think of it. Just leave a comment below!

--Jude Rosenberg

Chapter One

We started building our new house about a month after the funeral. Mom called an architect and a group of two or three of them came out here a few times to help her draw up the plans. Mary and I got to help design our rooms. Mary made hers relatively large (I noticed some erased pencil marks after the architects left. They trimmed off about thirty square feet from the original fifty-five square foot room). I kept my new room roughly the same. Even I couldn’t adjust to change that well.

One year later, and the entire house was ready to move into. So we packed up our things in our car and the moving van and started the drive to the new house that lay one hundred miles away. It was sort of a surreal experience because I was leaving my home only to go home to the new house.

Mary cried all the way until we got to the half-way mark. I expected nothing less. After that, she texted her boyfriend until she fell asleep. That’s when I took her phone and told her boyfriend that she’d text him in a couple hours when she woke up.

We finally got to the new house. Mary was still asleep, so we took everything out of the car and put it into the house. I took a good look. It was even better than the computer animations that the architects showed us and all of the pictures they drew. There were high ceilings and the banisters look like they had been varnished recently. Someone had thought to put flowers in the vase in the middle of the dining room table. The shades on the widows facing the sun were put down half-way and the candles on the mantle were lit casting a glow against the family picture that mom had put up upon her first visit.

“That’s really nice that someone put flowers in here,” said mom.

“That wasn’t you?” I asked.

We heard a creak and we jumped, only to realize that Mary had woken up and was just coming in the house just now.

“What’s your deal?” she asked.

I shook my head, dismissing the matter.

“Why don’t you go find your rooms?” asked mom.

We nodded and headed up the stairs. We knew exactly where our rooms were. They were on either side of mom’s room, which was the biggest room upstairs. I opened the door to my room and the first thing I saw was the setting sun. It was beautiful.

“Hugo?” called mom.

“Yeah?”

“The moving truck came across some mechanical complications and they won’t be here until tomorrow. So you can sleep in your room, but we’ll have to use sleeping bags for a night,” explained mom.

“Okay. That’s fine.”

She nodded and left the room.

I looked around the empty room.

It was a little strange, knowing that I wasn’t going to have to share a room this time. I could only imagine what Mary was doing in her room. The walls were sound-proof now. Nothing went through them. But I figured she was probably texting her boyfriend; typing a million miles a minute.

I got up and went to look around the rest of the house. I started in the basement. It was a finished basement, covered in carpet and just waiting for our furniture to be moved in. There was a sun room off the side of the house. That’s where we would put the piano that dad used to play. Mom claimed that she would take lessons so that at least one person would play it. It’s a beautiful, black grand piano and it would be a shame to just see it sit there standing idle. The kitchen was a dream with its perfectly clean granite counters and wood floors. I was a little scared to walk on or touch everything for fear of smudging anything. I left the kitchen and went back to my room.

Mom had put the sleeping bag in my room, so I unrolled it in the middle of the floor and lay down on it. I closed my eyes with the intention of getting a minute of rest.

I was awakened a few moments later by my sister’s high-pitched shrieking.

“Mary! Shut up!”

She didn’t shut up, so I got up and went two rooms over to her room. I opened the door to her empty room, but she wasn’t there.

“Mary, this isn’t funny. Where are you and what are you screaming about?” I asked her.

I held my breath because I was breathing so hard that I couldn’t hear anything. I heard tiny sobs. They were coming from the direction of the closet.

“Mary?” I called to her.

I could hear her breathing again. It was almost like she was getting ready to scream.

“Mary, Mary! It’s okay, I’m right here!”

With that, I threw open the closet door. There she was, just lying there, curled up in the fetal position. She tilted her head up towards me. She had dark bruises all over her face and her hair was tangled. She looked like an animal. I had never seen her this way before. My fears were confirmed: girls really were demons.

“Mary, what is your problem? Why did you scream?” I asked her.

She just stared at me. She had given me freaky looks before, but none were as sinister as this one that she was shooting at me now.

Finally, she broke her gaze and closed her eyes. She was motionless, and then suddenly, she gave a huge breath, like she had been choking and now her air ways were clear again.

Mary looked peaceful in her sleep now; there was nothing wrong in her world. I took the blanket that was around her ankles and brought it over her shoulders, taking care not to wake her. I stopped short when I noticed something on her ankles: there were gruesome, red rings around them and scratches up her calves.

With a pounding heart, I left the room and barricaded my door with my body so no one could come in.

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So here is Chapter One. Again, this is pure fiction. I'm kind of excited about this. I don't really know where it's going exactly, but if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. It takes me a couple days to write a chapter (because I want it perfect for you guys). Of course, I might read this and I'll end up making a few changes. I'll let you know if this happens.

Originally, the narrator was a ten year old girl named Elizabeth (she went by 'Eliza' even though her mother really liked 'Lizzy') but now it's a sixteen year old boy named Hugo. Of course, you wouldn't know that just from reading the story. I'll try to make it more apparent.

The reason I changed the gender was purely because I wanted to have the narrator make a comment about how girls were demons. If Elizabeth were narrating, it wouldn't make a lot of sense because she herself is a girl. I changed the age because as I scanned through the piece, I was trying to think of one ten year old I knew that talked like that. I couldn't think of any.

Any way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Novel Which Still Doesn't Have a Name.

I'm sorry for throwing blog entry after blog entry your way. I really don't like to see the same post for a long time. Since it's summer, I can change it very often. This will probably change once school starts again though.

--Jude

I just wanted to share this :D

This isn't mine, but I found it on one of my Google searches and I thought it was beautiful!

A Long, Long Time Ago

Thanks to Scribd.com, I now have access to many of my favorite songs. Among them is this song, which you can listen to on YouTube. This is a cover by one of my favorite piano dudes. His screen name is ‘CalikoKat.’ Look him up and watch his other piano videos.

‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (the original Spanish title is ‘El laberinto del fauno’ literally meaning, ‘The Faun’s Labyrinth.’). If you have Netflix, you can watch it instantly (that’s what I did). If your first language is not Spanish, you don’t have to worry, because it has English subtitles throughout. This is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. It’s beautiful and the music is simply haunting. Do you see why I wanted to find sheet music for the lullaby (titled: A Long, Long Time Ago). Any way, I just thought I would share this with you.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Phantom Craze

So I have started watching ‘Phantom of the Opera’ again. I think I took a little break after my birthday treat of getting to see the show live at the State Theater (I think it was the State… I don’t think it was the Orpheum…).

I read a blog entry by Beth who wrote something about the movie. It made me get a little nostalgic because it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The music is… every word I can think of just isn’t adequate enough. I need an incredible synonym for ‘beautiful.’ The costuming is stunning, colorful, and artfully done. Carlotta’s seems to be the most complicated while Christine’s is rather dramatic—very fit for the theater and an opera singer.

A few of my personal favorite songs are ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again’ (if you’re familiar with the movie or the musical/play, it’s the song that takes place in the cemetery. I seem to be impartial to cemetery scenes in cinema. Sort of a morbid fascination I guess…),

(Courtesy of the YouTube user 'carolynroxsox')

Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental
Seem for you the wrong companion, you were warm and gentle
Too many years
Fighting back tears
Why can’t the curse just die!

‘Past the Point of No Return,’

(Courtesy of the YouTube user 'carolynroxsox')

Past the point of no return

No backward glances

Our games of make-believe are at an end

Past all thought of “if” or “when”

No use resisting, abandon thought and let the dream descend…

and ‘All I Ask of You.’

(Courtesy of the YouTube user 'Julinhaaaa')

Say you’ll love me every waking moment

Turn my head with talk of summertime

Say you’ll need me with you now and always

Promise me that all you say is true

That’s all I ask of you…

Seriously, I have watched this movie so many times that I can now sing along with just about every one of those songs. I try my best to hit those high notes and in a few songs, I get them, but notes like the one at the very end of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ (the song) I cannot reach, no matter how many times I’ve tried. My voice cracks terribly, and I really shouldn’t even attempt to hit that. I can only imagine what wonders that does for my vocal chords… of course, I don’t do the songs much justice any way. It’s just for fun.

The only annoying thing I can find with this movie is Eric (that's the Phantom's name. It pays to read the book, no matter how tedious Christine's dialogue is) starts out with sleek and shiny black hair that you just want to run your hand over constantly and then, as soon as Christine takes off his mask at the end of 'Point of No Return,' it magically turns to blonde. Not white blonde, but blonde enough to tell that it's not the same color is was two seconds ago. That and when the Phantom chokes Raoul, he has a huge snot string (I know, gross and crude terminology) hanging from his nose. He must have had hay fever when they filmed this part or something like that. How unfortunate that they used that frame among any others the director might have filmed. I challenge you to look for that if you're really bored one day. I didn't even notice it until my little sister pointed it out.

Other than that, it’s just an amazing movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you go to your computer and get it from Netflix or go to your local movie store or Redbox and rent it there. Or borrow it from a friend, whichever comes first.

Bad Habits/New Habits

So I found something interesting just by watching a video called ‘Life in a Day’ by Alex Day, also known as Nerimon on YouTube. He took a moment to show us his bracelet and tell us what it was for.

As you might be aware, it takes about twenty-one days to break a bad habit or to create a new one (thank you health class!). So what you do is, you make a goal; what is it you want to do differently? Alex Day’s goal was to complain less. So what you do is put the bracelet on one arm and then go through life normally.

If Alex is going through his day and he complains that, “Oh crap, I forgot to put gas in the car, now I have to go all the way over to the gas station…” you get the idea, right? Now Alex has to take the bracelet and put it on his other arm and his twenty-one days start over again.

To me, this sounds like a spectacular idea. I might try it. Maybe to stop biting my nails or something like that.

As far as I know, you can use any bracelet, as long as you remember to switch arms if you continue that bad habit.

Any way, I thought that was kind of cool and I wanted to share it with you guys.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Preface

I'm going to try something slightly new. I'm trying to write a horror novel (something I've never done before) and I'm going to post it here because I want to know if it's worth writing. So please, leave a comment below. Anyone can do it. I would also like to note that the work I will be sharing with you is completely fiction. Not one part of it is true. I'm not reporting things as I figure them out.

If I decide to do anything with this later, I will take this (and the other chapters) down for legal reasons, I guess. As of yet, I do not have a title. If you have any suggestions, feel free to throw them out there. I read every comment that comes in.

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My mother wanted to live somewhere new. After the death of my father, she wanted nothing to do with the house. She loved my dad very much. They had been married since they were eighteen years old. They had their first child (my sister, Mary) when they were twenty-four. They’ve been married for twenty-two years.

Mary didn’t take any of this very well. It’s never easy losing your own father, especially when you’ve had him for sixteen years like she did. In our old house, our walls aren’t sound-proof. I heard her cry sometimes because she had lost so much in such a short space of time. Now this move was taking a toll on her.

Mary’s seventeen years old now. She has another boyfriend, but she claims that he’s totally different than the others. I beg to differ, but I digress… She’s having a hard time packing her things because she knows what she’s leaving behind.

I’m leaving things behind too, but probably not as much as Mary. I don’t have a large group of friends. My best friend moved away from here years ago. I’m not well-liked by the other girls in my school, I don’t have a boyfriend… the only thing I’m leaving behind is the house.

Dad died a year ago. We miss him, but we’re still alive and we can’t go to the grave with him.

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Thanks for reading thus far. I'm working on chapter one right now. Please leave critiques in the form of a comment below (I believe there is a button that says comment).

A Review of 'Life as we Knew it' by Susan Beth Pfeffer

“When Miranda first hears the warnings that a meteor is headed on a collision path wit the moon, they just sound like an excuse for extra homework assignments. But her disbelief turns to fear in a split second as the entire world witnesses a lunar impact that knocks the moon closer in orbit, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate.

Everything else in Miranda’s life fades away as supermarkets run out of food, gas goes up to more than ten dollars a gallon, and school is closed indefinitely.

But what Miranda and her family don’t realize is that the worst is yet to come.

Told in Miranda’s diary entries, this is a heart-pounding account of her struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar time.”

Let’s get it out now… TEN DOLLARS A GALLON?!?!?!

Are we better?

Okay. Moving on…

One of my favorites! I have read this book three or four times at least. It’s a survival story, it’s science fiction, it’s heartfelt… it’s amazing! I have read other books that were in diary entry form (I think they were called the Young America Series? It was something like that…) but this is totally different than the other diary-form books that I’ve read. Miranda’s perspective was awesome. She’s just your average teenage girl who just needs to get her thoughts on paper.

I liked that the parts were split up by season. As I read, I felt like it gave me a better scope, or rather, something to compare to what was happening in the story. It was very interesting how Miranda and her family survived. They basically changed up their houses, utilized the wood burning stove that they had in their sun room, and rationed their food. I guess it was sort of like Y2K with everyone freaking out and buying back-up generators (I was too young to remember this time). The only difference is something actually happened in this work of fiction.

‘Life as we Knew it’ is part of a trilogy called The Moon Series. I have read each one of them. The others are entitled ‘The Dead and the Gone’ and ‘This World We Live In.’ The second one, ‘The Dead and the Gone,’ is narrated by a boy named Alex who lives in New York. Same circumstances; a meteor crashes into the moon, so now their family must survive. The difference is, they live in an apartment, their parents are gone, and there are three people. Maybe four. Because of the gravitational pull that the moon controls, New York starts to flood. So Alex’s family has different problems. Miranda and Alex both return in ‘This World We Live In’ and continue their adventures when they come together.

This is a truly amazing series. I really do recommend it.

I do have a warning for younger readers: there are suicides in this book and some mild language. Be wary.

On top of this, the author, Susan Beth Pfeffer (I’m still not sure how to pronounce her last name) is a blogger. Who knew? Any way, I’m following her (a slightly creepy way of saying I read her blog as she updates it) and what she writes is humorous and witty. Check it out it you have the chance! All you have to do is click her name in this paragraph and you should be taken to her page.

Thank you for reading! Have a great week!

--Jude

Update: You just take the "P" off and you have the pronunciation of her last name; "FEFF-er." Thank you Google language tools!

A Review of 'Beastly' by Alex Flinn

“I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite a wolf or a bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright.—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking about fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly… beastly.”

I haven’t read this recently. In fact, I’ve read it once. But do you want to know something? It was so good that I remember it pretty vividly even though I read it maybe a year ago.

Originally, I borrowed it from the library (which is what I usually do. I hate buying books and then finding out that I don’t like them). I picked it up one freezing cold winter day and just started reading. I devoted probably six or seven hours to it. Maybe more… I finished it that day because I simply couldn’t put it down. I only stopped for bathroom breaks and the occasional snack.

I think it’s very interesting when you take a traditional fairy tale (in this case ‘Beauty and the Beast’) and give it a twist. This book (if you can’t tell from the description that I got from the back of the book, which you can read above) is from the perspective of the Beast. Alex Flinn uses a chat room called the Unexpected Changes Chat Group where we meet other familiar characters like the Little Mermaid and the Frog from ‘The Princess and the Frog.’ I thought that was very cool to make it as modern as possible.

You start out hating Kyle Kingsbury (who later changes his name to Adrian) because he’s conceited, rude, and just a horrible child. Unfortunately, there’s always going to be someone like him in every high school. I was so glad he was turned into a beast.

Because he is turned into a beast, his father puts him in solitary confinement—an apartment where the doors are locked and the windows blocked so that no one can see him. He is given a collection of DVDs, a blind tutor, and a computer with internet, among other things. Throughout his confinement, he takes up botany—roses being his flower of choice.

If you know how the original story goes (even if you’ve only seen the Disney movie version, it’s very similar to that) then you know how this will turn out… minus the part where he and the girl he chooses (her name is Lindy) get married. They just become an item (was that a horrible way to say that?)

What I liked is how Kyle (Adrian) became his own person throughout the book; turned into that guy you wouldn’t mind hanging out with or the character that you can actually like and appreciate. I like the modern twist on an old story. This whole book is beautifully written.

I can’t say there’s anything I need to warn you about.

If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend picking this book up at your local library or borrowing it from your friend, co-worker, newspaper salesman, shoe shiner… You won’t regret it. If you like this one, read Alex Flinn’s other books (I read one of her books called ‘Nothing To Lose’ a few months ago and it was quite excellent).

I have found that I can not read nearly as fast as I would like to, so I may do more reviews of books I’ve read in the past and liked. Why not review books I hated? Because if I read them a while ago and I hated them, chances are I returned them to the library and did not buy them. Sorry I can’t throw you a warning beacon…

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

RetroFit Follow-Up

YouTube is a wonderful thing. It's way better than the blogger video uploader.

If I remember correctly, I promised that I would upload the videos that I captured at the Beatles thing I went to (if you're interested in reading about it, the post is entitled 'RetroFit.'

"Here Comes the Sun." I think? I can't remember which songs go with which videos. If it's wrong, I'll edit this little description thingy... no big deal! Did I mention that I love my sister to death? :D She's the Jumper towards the end of the video.

"With a Little Help From My Friends." Personally, I love this song. It's a 30 second video, so I can't really remember if this was one of the better ones we heard.

The people that attended this event were definitely the best part! I wouldn't be surprised to find that there were old hippies there. Great fun!

A Review of 'That Summer' by Sarah Dessen

"For fifteen-year-old Haven, there's just too much going on. First, there's her father's wedding to Lorna Queen, the local television 'Weather Pet.' Then, her sister Ashley's wedding to boring Lewis Warsher, who doesn't seem to suit Ashley at all. And Haven can't ignore the fact that she's nearly six feet tall and still growing. Haven can barely figure out who she is anymore, or where she fits in. Then Ashley's old boyfriend, Sumner Lee, shows up and sparks Haven's memories of the summer where her parents were happy, her sister was plucky and carefree, and everything was perfect... or so it seemed."

Another surprise review! I know for a fact that I warned you about these, so I'm not lying to you this time!

I thought this book was okay. Not my favorite novel, but certainly not the worst one on the face of the earth. I enjoyed the book overall, but it was the characters that really got to me.

Haven was a good character (but I suppose she had to be, seeing as she's the narrator/POV). She had hang-ups that were real and I'm sure a good number of people could relate to. It was fun to get in her head. I liked Haven's mother too. She was charming and sweet, even after a tricky divorce. Haven's father didn't know what he had. I am not a big fan of Lorna Queen or Mac McPhail (Haven's father and step-mother). Not because I'm completely on Haven's side, though. Every time one of her father's friends would come up to them in a restaurant on one of their evenings out, he would immediately shift his attention away from his daughter and focus solely on them. Haven is just left hanging while her father tells the other person how great they are (which he tells everyone, no matter how well he knows them) and then talks about sports. It's like he's trying to connect with his daughter, but only because he has to. To me, that's kind of sick. Lorna is just stupid. Sarah Dessen even goes so far as to get Haven to talk about how stupid or insensitive Lorna was in the beginning of the book. Casey was okay, but she was your stereotypical teenage girl; falling head-over-heels over every other boy she laid eyes on, smoking up a storm in her bedroom... that just didn't really click well with me. She was fine once she snapped out of it, but she was never promoted to favorite character. Sumner was awesome. I'll say no more, because you'll just have to read the book to find out! Ha!

I've only read 'This Lullaby' (which was amazing, by the way) and that gave me high hopes for this one, but I wasn't completely impressed. I will say that this book is different because even though there is romance, it wasn't the main character that fell in love this time (even though I really thought she would).

I plan on reading more Sarah Dessen novels in the future, because I like a good romance thrown in here and there. I'm not going to lie.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer

View more presentations from JudeRosenberg.

Alright everyone. Some of you may have picked up on the fact that I am in summer school for the month of July. One of the assignments that was required of me was to make a slide-show (PowerPoint) about a non-communicable disease of my choosing. So enjoy learning about breast cancer! I hope you become as enlightened as I have.

RetroFit

I lied to you again. This post is quite obviously not a review of 'Mirror, Mirror.'

No... instead, I'm getting ready for the Beatles tonight!

Sure, I wasn't fortunate to be born when they were first becoming popular, which is why I must settle for pictures, recordings, and cover-bands like RetroFit. By clicking upon the word 'RetroFit' you will land on the website I just found while going on Safari through the wonderful land of Google. I tried to play the samples, but it turns out you have to buy them... since I'm kind of lazy (and quite honestly, I don't know what they look like or sound like) you should search for them on YouTube, and then I'll come back to this post with an update about tonight.

I have a mission for you: if someone could build a fully functional time-machine, then we can all go back in time, see the Beatles and scream like obsessed fan girls when we see them in person. It'll be great fun!

I might have another review or two before I actually get to 'Mirror, Mirror,' but I will eventually get to it! In the meantime, have a great week everyone!

--Jude

EDIT: Okay, what a fun night! It was fun to see all of these old hippies just dancing the night away (at least until 8:30 when it was time to go home). One of these days (perhaps on a Friday, when I don't have summer school) I'll try and upload some videos for your enjoyment. I'll do it through YouTube though, because the Blogger Video thing is nearly impossible.

As for RetroFit... umm... I was less than satisfied. They were quite disappointing. They couldn't sing very well (my ears started bleeding whenever they had to hit a high note in the chorus... ugh blah...), they played a crap-ton of obscure Beatles songs (they probably played a set of ten or fifteen and I recognized like... four. Epic. Fail. They didn't really get into the music, which made this gig seem like a job. You're in the music business! Your job is cool! Enjoy it!

So the people who attended were a lot more interesting than the band. If I had known that, I wouldn't have put so much emphasis on the cover band like I did (above). Oh well, it was a free concert.

It was still quite fun though :)

Teacher! She's Passing Notes...

I feel as though I must post something. This whole blogging thing is so much fun! ^^

Note 1: I have submitted 5 poems to Literal Latté! I really wanted to give them six, which was the maximum number of poems I could send them for ten dollars. Actually, I think I had six written, but I looked at one of them again, and it… I don’t know, it just wasn’t right.

I take that back.

It was horrible! I hate that everything I write regarding love or romance is too sappy/gooey/bleh/whatever you want to call it even though as I’m writing it, it feels like it’s coming from the bottom of my heart. Maybe this problem will amend itself. I’ll leave it alone for now. Maybe my version of poetry isn’t meant to mix with that subject. I’ll wait until I get better to try that again (you know this promise won’t be kept, right?)

Note 2: My family and I are taking or exchange student to a cabin for the weekend! I’m really excited. We’ll have access to the kayak and I’m able to take it out by myself and everything :D This weekend will also be a chance for me to sit down and take a big chunk out of my book (it’s in the sidebar, if you’re interested in knowing what that is). The faster I read the book, the quicker I can review it and pass on my judgment to you fine people. It really gives me something to look forward to. This weekend will also be a chance to prepare a little for NaNoWriMo. I’m not one of those brave people that signs up for that and tells themselves, ‘I’ll just wing it.’ No… I try to put a lot of thought into what I write. If I get the planning out of the way, then I’ll have something to follow and I can put more thought in and write my one-thousand-something words a day throughout the month of November.

Note 3: I really do need to write something… I have a writing buddy correspondence going and I really hate to leave any correspondent hanging. It’s like one big game of hot-potato with me. When I have to do something, I get this internal pressure put on me until I do it and then when it’s the next person’s turn, that pressure disappears. It’s so strange. I hate that feeling…

Note 4: I am half-way done with summer school. It’s definitely not as horrible as I thought it would be. I know I’m going to have to do it next summer. Next summer, I’m going to put so much effort into getting into that stupid online health and gym class so I don’t have to get up at 6:30 Monday through Thursday. I’m sick of it. I’m really tired in the morning, I’m exhausted at night. I’m typing this at 11:19 (not my brightest idea, considering I have to get up early tomorrow too) and my eyelids are burning and their heavy with tiredness. As soon as I’m done preparing for my weekend getaway, I’ll attempt to read another chapter and then I promise I’ll go to sleep.

Note 5: I plan to attempt my driver’s test in early August! I still have to get an appointment and then practice my parking and back-ups and stuff, but at least I have a time-frame to shoot for!

Note 6: I go to “Architecture Camp” (that’s not really what it’s called, but for all intents and purposes, we’ll roll with it) in August! I go to the University’s art museum and hang out there building miniature things for a week! I did a fall session similar to this, and I really enjoyed it. August will also be a less busy time, because I won’t have summer school any more. I’ll need to get school supplies because… because… (insert sob here) I START SCHOOL ON AUGUST 31^ST!

Yeah, yeah… “Quit your crying, Jude, lots of people start school in August!” Maybe, but I’ve always started after labor day, because the school system I’m part of is just that cool… mmmm, debatable. I’m still not on very good terms with them. They just don’t know it.

Okay, I’m sorry to take you away from life and civilization. Enjoy your weekend! My next post should be my review of “Mirror, Mirror,” unless something totally awesome comes up and I absolutely need to share it with you.

--Jude

A Review of 'Twisted' by Laurie Halse Anderson

‘Everybody told me to be a man.

No one told me how.’

That’s all it says on the inside cover of the book. You know, where the description normally goes? I don’t know if there’s a scientific term for it… In case that didn’t tell you much about what this is about and you don’t have enough time or just really don’t want to read my review, I went to her website and I found a description for you. Here it is…

“In her latest New York Times bestseller, Anderson tackles a controversial subject—what it means to be a man today—as a string of events and changes has high school senior Tyler Miller questioning his place in school, in his family, and in the world.”

--Indiebound

Okay, now that you kind of know what it’s about, let’s mosey…

I love Laurie Halse Anderson. I’m determined to read all of her books. Well, the young adult books, any way… I think I missed the boat on the children’s… I started out with ‘Speak,’ which I’m sure a lot of you have as well. Because I was impressed by ‘Speak’ and ‘Wintergirls,’ I moved on to ‘Twisted.’

I couldn’t put it down. In the back of my mind, I knew I had to get up at 6:30 and go to summer school, but I still stayed up until eleven almost every night until I had it read in it’s entirety. Even after I reluctantly put it down for the night, my mind was reeling just chewing over what I had just read and I thought about what could possibly happen to Tyler now? I grew so attached to all of the characters (except for Chip… he’s such a wuss... if you read the book, you’ll know why).

I couldn’t stand looking at the page and “watching” as Tyler slipped into a state of depression and he was this close to losing it completely (if you know what I mean). It was painful to read his thought process towards the end. I didn’t want him to do what he planned to do.

This was Laurie Halse Anderson’s first male protagonist (at least that’s my understanding). Now, I’m not a guy, but I thought Tyler’s perspective was well written. Guys, you’ll have to read this and tell me what you thought.

I highly recommend this book! No one is paying me to say/write that, this is my honest opinion.

The only warnings I have to give you before you actually pick up this book are that there is talk of suicide in this book and there is some bad language as well as teen drinking (although I found Tyler to be very admirable in that scene, quite honestly). If any of these things bother you, don’t pick it up because I strongly recommended it to you. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable. Especially if it’s joy reading.

Well, I had better get writing. I still have two poems to write and they have to be postmarked by July 15. The problem is, I want to write, but writer's block has built its wall higher and I've just reached the bottom of that last wall. I'll get better at wall-climbing someday.

Happy reading, everyone!

--Jude

AVPM

Okay, I cannot promote/strongly recommend watching ‘A Very Potter Musical’ enough. It’s simply not humanly possible.

Being a Harry Potter nerd, I got every single one of those puns, was able to laugh at the original character’s parodies, and have started to memorize the songs that are in that musical.

Tonight’s blog is going to be based around their video update that they made on July 3 (yeah, I know that was over a week ago… roll with me on this for now…).

1^st: T-SHIRTS!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am now that there are shirts for that musical. Can you tell what is going to make up my Christmas/birthday requests? By clicking on the word ‘T-SHIRTS!!!’ a couple lines above, you will be taken to the website where you can see those shirts. They’re ‘Totally awesome!’ Now, if you have watched as far as ‘Going back to Hogwarts,’ you will have gotten that pun. It’s the very first part in Act 1.

2^nd: Now, if you were super cool and watched ‘A Very Potter Musical,’ and you liked it as much as I did, you will be excited to hear that there is a sequel coming out! Usually, sequels aren’t that great, but if it’s anything like Toy Story, it will be good. So the sequel is coming out on July 22^nd, 2010 at 8pm EST. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to watch it and start to memorize those songs as quickly as possible :D Don’t judge me…

Since I don’t own anything created to ‘A Very Potter Musical’ or ‘A Very Potter Sequel,’ could you tell me if this Blog entry is in violation of anything? I don’t want to get in trouble and go to jail for the rest of my life… so if it is, please (pretty please!) leave a comment below and I will remove it as soon as possible.

To give credit to the creators, here is the original video and their YouTube Channel (just click on the words that show up in different colors). The t-shirt website is on the original video that I’m basing this blog around, so it’ll be there again.

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

P.S. If you're going to Infinitus, I'm jealous. You'll just have to tell me all about it so I can live vicariously through you.

I'm Going to be a Host Sister!

This is really exciting! We get to pick up our foreign guest in about four hours! She’s from France and she’ll live with my family and I for three weeks (so until the end of July). I don’t really know where all that time went (here I’m going to go really nostalgic on you). It seems like it was just April (I think that was the month) and we were discussing whether we wanted to host another French student again or not. A few days ago, it was mid-April or early May and we were getting confirmation letters telling us that we had gotten our first choice of the students we wanted to host and we had started sending emails back and forth so she would know what she was going to do while she was here and what kind of things she needed to pack. And now… the day is finally here!

We’ll pick her up at the train station by the air port and then we’ll take her to her new temporary home. I hope she’s excited to be here. It’s kind of weird to think that at 5pm yesterday, we were in the same city.

I remember reading messages from her in French (“Une semaine!!!! J’ai trop hâte! Demain!!!”) and I was really excited

Tomorrow, we whisk her away to our family reunion. Three hours in the car and then we spend the night at my cousin’s house. So that’ll be adventure numero un!

Well, I had better go eat lunch, shower, and all of the things one should normally do in a day. Enjoy your day, bambinis!

(Oh! Did I just throw a little Italian in there? I do believe I might have).

A Review of 'Between Mom and Jo' by Julie Anne Peters

“How can you choose between two parents?

Nick has a three-legged dog named Lucky, some pet fish, and two moms who think he’s the greatest kid ever. And he happens to think he has the greatest Moms ever, but everything changes when his birth mom and her wife, Jo, start having marital problems. Suddenly, Nick is in the middle, and instead of having two Moms to turn to for advice, he has no one.

Nick’s emotional struggle to redefine his relationships with his parents will remind readers that a family’s love can survive even the most difficult times.”

That’s what the dust jacket says.

I thought this was a great read. I liked that Nick was actually in touch with his feelings to a point where he could talk about them (which is a good thing, because not only is he one of the main characters, he is also the narrator/POV). It’s nice to see that in a male character, because in most of the literature I get my hands on, it’s the female character that is weepy and an emotional wreck. So way to turn the table on us… kudos!

This novel also took place in a unique situation. I’m sure at least a handful of us has picked up at least one book at the local bookstore/library where a divorce or separation was occurring. I have, quite honestly, never come across a book where two women were having problems with their marriage. It gave me something to think about. It made me realize (or make clearer) that these women could have easily been your typical married couple having problems. So it made me solidify my opinion that just because your gender preference is different, doesn’t mean you yourself are completely different and are therefore unable to experience problems everyone else is familiar with. No, that’s not the case at all. For this, it made me appreciate this novel all the more.

I’ll be honest, it took me about two tries to get into the story. I can’t really put my finger on why that is, but it’s not that important I guess. After that little stumbling block there, I simply couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend it!

I would like to warn you, future readers of this book, there is some language in it, so it’s up to you if you think you can handle it. But other than that, there really isn’t anything graphic going on. Enjoy!

--Jude

Inspiration

I'm part of a writing group on Shelfari called Young Writers Group. One really cool thing that they do in that group is something called Picture Prompts. This means that the admins change the group picture (because there aren't any other places to put pictures that we've discovered at this time) and anyone in the group can post a story or a poem relating to that picture. It's really a lot of fun!

I think I've told some people that I would put excerpts of stories and poems on this site, but I haven't gotten around to doing that just yet.

"So... why are you bringing up picture prompts?" Well, I thought I'd give it a try here. You should too! I don't care how great or horrible you are when it comes to writing. It's just fun! And you don't even have to use the picture up there. All I did was go into Google Images and typed the word 'Inspiration' into the search box. Very easy :) It's choosing your picture that may or may not be the hard part.

Catching the Sun

Jump up and catch it

Grasped in your hands

Casts its glow

Holds your gaze

Lights up your eyes

Feeling lighter than air

Light up the town

Warm every house

When darkness comes

Shadows the day

Toss it into the air

And chase the phantoms away

Your compass

Your guidance

Your peace

Hardly a chance

It's really meant to be

It's yours to keep or share at will

Your anxiety

Your nervousness

Your burden

Think you can write a better poem than this? I think you could too. So if you are willing to share a poem/story that you wrote about the above picture, I'd love to read it.

Thank you for reading this entry! Enjoy life, have a good summer (or winter, if you're in a different hemisphere) and be sure to take plenty of dance breaks throughout the day :D

--Jude

Independence Day!

(This is not my picture)