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writer girl plus internet equals blog

February 2009 - Posts

  • escape

    As I face important choices, as I am overwhelmed by responsibility, as I realize that I am sorely lacking in good decision-making skills, there are many, many times that I want to just escape, in many ways. Of course, there’s the feeling that physically escaping the situations will make it better, the desire to just leave, but that’s unproductive. And then, the need to escape back in time a few years.

    I’m rereading all my Animorphs books (and getting a lot out of them, surprisingly; they are remarkably complex for endless-series-ghostwritten books written for ten year olds). I’m immersing myself in that world, in a fight against slug-like brain-controlling aliens that sounds ridiculous when voiced aloud by a near-adult (and only slightly less ridiculous when voiced aloud by a ten-year-old, I’ll grant you that). I’m ignoring all my more recent interests and responsibilities (blogging, for one, as you may have noticed, and I’m also not answering my email for the most part, so don’t be offended if your communication with me has ceased). 

    See, I’ve never been very good at coping with stress. It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a driver’s license because then I would take that first escape route, and while reading the Animorphs is relatively harmless, leaving the state or country to escape your problems can create new (major) ones. 

    I’m enjoying this journey to the past, though. Over the course of fifty-four books (plus four Megamorphs, four Chronicles, and the two Alternamorphs (which I like to pretend don’t exist)), you get to know these characters. This story goes from being a relatively light one to a kind of serious and intense war story. There are ambiguous moral choices. There is violence and death. There’s a lot to take in here, a lot more than is suggested by the format (the never-ending series that we all read at least one of when we were ten or so–my favorites were the Animorphs, Sweet Valley High, and the Babysitters’ Club, at different times). 

    So it’s pretty intense and absorbing if you’re reading anywhere from three to eight of these per day (I’ll run out soon, though). It’s enough to distract me pretty thoroughly from all the things I don’t want to deal with. Not only does it take me back to the Animorphs’ world, it takes me back to my own childhood as well. However, when the books run out, I’ll have to deal. 

    As stress-coping strategies go, however, I’d say this one is pretty awesome. 

    Plus, if you never read these books–do so immediately!

  • 25 Facts

    Amy asked for 25 facts. These are my 25 facts.



    1. When I love a chunk of music (be it a song or an album or all the songs of an artist or even just some random playlist), I listen to it repeatedly for days and days until I get sick of it and can't listen to it for a few weeks at all (right now, it's the Rent soundtrack).
    2. I have discovered that I am terrible at making decisions. I still don't know where I'm going to college. I have about three weeks to decide.
    3. I woke up in the middle of the night last week and realized that I actually really do love writing. I don't know if that means anything for my future or not, and, yeah, I'd known it before, but it just REALLY hit me more than before.
    4. When I found out about unschooling, I wished I had been unschooled. However, halfway through high school is not the time to shake up your education, even if my parents didn't think anything excepting traditional education was insane.
    5. I've spent the past two weeks obsessively rereading the Animorphs series. I loved these books years ago and they are now a welcome escape from my stress. Plus I can read like six of them in a day when I'm not too busy so I feel accomplished.
    6. I have, at various times, considered taking a year off before going to college. I wish I still felt like that was an option, but, for a lot of reasons, it's not.
    7. Now that I really see myself leaving this place in the near future, it's finally started to feel like home (after thirteen years), and I've finally started to love it. It's bittersweet.
    8. I have serious trouble following through on commitments. I'm working on it.
    9. Sometimes, my friends and family drive me crazy, because the vast majority of them don't understand why I didn't apply to any colleges closer to home than New York City (which is pretty far from North Carolina). They don't understand that I want to experience more of the world than our corner of it, and I don't know how to explain it to them, except that..."The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." Saint Augustine. I think that applies to living in more than one part of the world, too.
    10. One of the things I fear most is feeling trapped, both in a literal sense (restrained) and a more figurative one (trapped by geographical boundaries or money or in a certain role in life or whatever).
    11. I have told five of my friends about RED. Three were very impressed and supportive. One was just excited because she's mentioned (not by name) in my essay. One was...not supportive.
    12. I don't know what happens to us after we die.
    13. I wonder what my life would be like if the internet had never been invented. Very, very different.
    14. I lack tact sometimes.
    15. I believe strongly in free expression. My school does not. Sometimes we have conflicts. Such as when I spam the censoring email filter. I have my own disciplinary file now, thanks to my fight against censorship. My favorite censored phrase to use: "Dick Cheney." True story.
    16. I used to write horribly embarassing fanfiction. No longer. And no one will ever find it. We all make mistakes, okay?
    17. There are moments in life when things are clear. These moments of clarity happen randomly and spontaneously, but never when I need them. Like right now.
    18. I worry about other people when I'm worried about myself because it distracts me. So it's still selfish. I'm working on it.
    19. I'm the only person my age that I know who writes regularly in cursive. Most of my assignments are written in cursive. Also in ink, I almost never use pencil. When we take the SAT, we're required to copy down a statement in cursive, and it takes everyone else ages because they're not used to it. 
    20. I love to draw, but I'm not actually any good at it.
    21. I don't have a driver's license, and I'm almost eighteen with no plans of getting one. Instead, I'm moving someplace with public transportation! I just can't decide which place.
    22. I'm almost eighteen and I've never had a boyfriend or kissed anyone. And lately, I find myself not caring. Which is good, I think.
    23. I'm not going to prom. I've been to one school dance and it was horribly dull. Also, full of people creating unnecessary drama. Not my thing. People think I'd go if someone asked me--but if someone asked me, that person obviously doesn't know me at all! 
    24. I don't like my name. In eighth grade, I changed it for a few months. I made people call me "October." After awhile, I changed back, because that didn't fit me, either, and it's easier when you don't have to convince people to call you something else.
    25. I'm a work in progress.
  • Paper Towns

    Thanks to Adele, I now know that my review of Paper Towns has been quoted on the Australian edition of the book! Wow. I've been quoted on books before, but a. nothing else this awesome and b. usually not as myself (they're reviews I wrote for other sites). Although sometimes I kind of wonder, what books are out there with my words that I don't know about? The publishers don't notify reviewers or anything. Check out Adele's post here with the quote from my review: http://persnicketysnark.blogspot.com/2009/02/paper-towns-john-green-and-great-ya.html. This is a pretty amazing book, if you haven't read it. Hint that it'll be awesome: there's a road trip involved. And who doesn't love a good road trip? It's the ultimate freedom. Being in the car with your friends, music blasting, the open road ahead of you.... Especially if it's a no-destination-in-mind kind of road trip. I want to take that trip so badly; however, I can't actually drive, so I'm recruiting friends who can. And live on the same side of the country as me. And then, who knows, maybe this summer we'll see the world's largest ball of twine and eat in greasy diners and stay in roach-infested motels and all the other road trip essentials! I can't wait.
  • Helium

    Helium (http://www.helium.com/) is a super cool website that will appeal to a lot of you--it pays you for your writing! Any of it! And, okay, the upfront payments are like $.50 at first (it's based on a scale of writing stars), but if you write ten articles, that's five dollars you didn't have before. Also, if you wouldn't mind too much, send me an email (pearcejm@gmail.com) and I'll send you an invite and then I earn a little if you do and then you can invite your friends and pass around the good karma! You can check out my page at http://www.helium.com/users/495254. I've written articles about choosing where to apply to college, participated in a debate about intelligence vs. wealth, reviewed some books, written a short story--there's a place for all different kinds of writing there.