expository

A gut-level hum came from the incandescent bulbs surrounding the gas pumps, spirit-white and hot, attracting the insects for miles around, clouds of them swirling, ramming, scraping ghostly exoskeletons as they mated, continuing their cycles in front of the blinding artificial eyes of the Goliaths surrounding. The sun was setting but Jack couldn't see it. The creamy warm colors were muted by that overwhelming white.

Here is a 4-part piece in which Ira Glass of "This American Life" talks about the building blocks of storytelling. Click the links on YouTube after Part 1 is done to see successive parts.

Before I start, I have to say Dungeons and Dragons is one of the games I have an enduring love-no, a passion for. It's combination of creativity and well developed rules make it even more rich than the hi-res video games of today, yet it's simple mechanics render it as intuitive as a game as ancient as Go. I lead a Dungeons and Dragons group, and I must say it's one of the high points in my schedule. Anyways, without further ado...

i.
Some people walk through life wondering how their peers cna have a hard time trusting others, to them it is like breathing, but to their peers... It is another story. So they go through life, asking unanswered questions and wondering how people can stand holding everything inside. (they can't)

I work towards putting the stand down.

I’m not good at beginnings, and yet they’re the most exciting. There’s so much promise at the start, so much uncertainty and possibility.

I can hear everything more clearly when the stand is down. I set aside the books and carefully push back the curving black wood.

If there is a book of music left on a shelf, never played, is it worth anything?

This year I am doing the fishing derby, and so is my friend, Hunter. I might see him there. I have been doing it since 2007. I have one trophy for catching the biggest fish. Whenever you do the fishing derby you will get a shirt with a fish on it and a name tag. Here are some clothes you should wear when you do the fishing derby: rubber boots, old pants or old shorts, a hat. When you fish make sure you have a fishing pole, tackle, worms. Make sure you have a parent with you, so in case you get hurt casting your pole or anything you will have a parent to help you if you get hurt.

The scent of spices wafts through the room. Spanish music dances behind my parents’ chatter. Lifting up one of my tortillas, I start to pile on sizzling chicken and feel the warmth of the food pervade my body. As I bite into the steaming fajita, my taste buds savor the ambrosial mouthful. At the end of the meal, we all raise our frosty glasses and make a toast to my mom for another year of happiness.

I have something to look forward to every Memorial Day. I can always count on it to be an annual ritual that comes every year on that weekend. My spring lightning soccer team goes to Needham, Massachusetts for a tournament. It doesn’t matter if we win or lose, I get to hang out with my friends and get better at soccer. I am so lost in the excitement of the soccer tournament that I don’t acknowledge the fact that Memorial Day is really about those who served their country. To me, it is just a weekend of fun and an extra day off from school.

I do not know anyone personally who has ever been to war, so I do not personally know anyone who has died in war. I do not know their pain. But I can just imagine what their friends and family went through.
But I can't imagine the shock. Those people went to battle fully aware of the risks and danger, and death must be a regular sight to them. And yet they stay. Their families must have been half-expecting the time to come. It would have hurt no less, that hurt would have been prolonged from that expectation.

You live in the world's most free country, and you cannot show your face.you cannot speak, for if you do the world will see you as something to be cured, and you will be destroyed.

The only way you can exist is by hiding behind a mask, speaking through a personality not your own, becoming a fascimile of another's life.

You are shown a place where you can be yourself, where no one will care who or what you represent, or so you think.

so i have this friend. there is really only one way to describe her... okay thats a lie, tis really just a dramatic way of introducing my littl eblog. (the "e" was a typo.... but im too lazy to delete it, honestly, who has time to DELETE???)
but anyway, she is a rather amazing person. she has a few issues with boundaries... by that i mean, she doesnt like when people enter hers, but she has no regard for other peoples boundaries. she has many lovers... well in her heaed anyway, (come ON you cant tell me that YOU dont have people that you WISH were your lovers...)

Daddy, you don't realize it yourself,
but as you stack items on the shelf
I feel how hard you try
to just manage and get by.
I know you're reaching so hard it hurts
to move on and leave behind the worst
but you're my hero, don't you see,
to me perfect you will forever be.
so although this chapter has run amuck
soon we'll find much better luck.
Imagine me with you there,
together we make the perfect pair
So Daddy, carry my promise in your pocket
and know that my heart-you've caught it.

The sound of rain is peaceful. The pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof makes me fall asleep into a dream of colors. A blue sky, the white clouds, the green grass, everything. Everything the rain touches is pretty and wet. The smell of freshly fallen rain makes me go tingly inside. I wish it could rain forever, but I know that it’s impossible.

The helicopter drones on. I can’t hear anything except the wings of the plane beating the air as we go higher and higher. I’m gonna be all right I tell myself. This will be easy. It’ll be fine.
I adjust the straps on my shoulders and waist. I take a deep breath. In and out. In and out. The instructor gives me a thumbs-up and I use all of my strength to overpower the fear and give him a weak smile.

As I walk into the room, I know I’ve made a huge mistake. The teacher closes the door and the whole room goes silent. The only sound I hear is the synchronized breathing of the teachers and my classmates. There are too many people! I think as my throat constricts. I gasp for air and ignore the sick feeling at the pit of my stomach. The walls close in around me, making the people seem closer. Panic grips me hard in its vice-like claw as the room gets colder. I feel light-headed as I picture my face… pale and scared, eyes wide as I gasp over and over.

I love a rainy Saturday when it’s dark, cloudy, and cold outside. All I want to do is wrap myself in blankets and sit down with a good book all day long. Those kinds of days are prime for reading because there are no distractions of wanting to go outside or something of that sort. The days that are like these are ones that most people probably hate because they want to get outside and work on the garden, but to me, they are the perfect days because I only want to read.

I don’t mind the rain, never have. I especially love the rain that makes all the leaves look greener, the road blacker, and the air smell fresh. Standing in the summer rain is my favorite thing to do, letting the rain pound on my open arms giving me goose bumps, having little patches of hair plastered to my face and grass stuck to my toes. These are a few of my favorite things about rain.

Hey, guys. Click the link. Add your name.
It's important.
_________________________________

Hi,

Have you heard that right-wing groups like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association are insisting that gays and lesbians should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court?

It's outrageous. With a Supreme Court vacancy opening up after the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, I just signed a letter to President Obama insisting that sexual orientation should NOT be a factor in selecting his Supreme Court nominee.

The game is the ultimate game. Everyone is playing it at all times.
If you think about it, you lose.
There are two ways to win the game.
One is to make everyone in the world think about the game at once.
I guess a piece of writing could do that.
The second way is to say, “Moo, moo, moo” in that exact order.
Cows eternally speak the language of “Moo” but we don’t, so we have to be extremely lucky to win that way.
So....
We all just lost the game.

Vermont's Weather Report and News:

"Today's weather report is high 60's with
a chance of showers, followed by a thunderstorm
and low 20's. Soon after it will snow one to two
feet. At night there will be
a flood and tropical breezes will blow
in bringing upper 80's. Midnight will be
hailing baseball-sized hail and shortly followed
by a drought."

The news today is: "Vermont has been
kicked from our country due to a
new law that is: 'Any state that accomplishes
more than our country as a whole will
be expelled from the union.'" And more news

Every hot summer day almost everybody goes to the Cremee Stand so they can get something cold in their mouth. It is sooooo fun to go to the Cremee Stand because you can get a lot of kinds of ice cream, like blue goo, chocolate, vanilla, mixed chocolate and vanilla, orange creamsicle, and last, peanut butter.

I have alot of friends. Here are some: Maddy, Saige, and Sydney. Maddy is a great friend. She is always there for me when i need help or i am not feeling well. Saige loves to play with me. Syd loves to write notes to me and get notes from me. Those are three of my friends.

About three years ago my family had a fire. My brother, David, was sleeping. My sister, Amber, and I were in our room. I went out of our room and all of a sudden I smelled smoke. Then i saw fire. I went to go tell my sister, Amber. Then i called 911. Then i woke up my brother, David. The fire got bigger and bigger. Then the fire department was here. They got us out safely. Then we explained to our mom what was going on. We said we were fine. Then we had to spend three weeks at our upstairs neighbor's. Then they repaired our house. Then we said that was scary.