Good morning.

This morning I somehow managed to step on my debit card in such a manner that it snapped in half.





I don't even know.

"The Attack on the Mill" Abridged

I guess this is just a thing I do now. I abridge works of literature by drawing (sometimes quite insensitive) cartoons of them.

Anyway, this is a cartoon of the last part of Emile Zola's The Attack on the Mill, also known by its original title, L'Attaque du moulin. I read it in French, and then I wrote a paper about it.

So when I was goofing around and talking about how my life was The Legend of Zola? This is it.

THIS... is The Legend of Zola.

Apparently I've just finished the dungeon in which I write the first draft and give it to a classmate to review. It was pretty hard, I won't lie. I died at the beginning once and had to start almost all the way over-- didn't collect enough concentration and inspiration crystals to survive the Distractoids. But along the way, I found a cool Caffeine Potion which I think really helped me get through.

Uh... spoiler alert? The mill burns at the end?

I realize that this cartoon is probably in bad taste, but I'm afraid that's just the state of mind I'm in right now. I'm sorry if you're offended. You can address your hate mail to the comments box below.

Captain America (Spoiler Free)

This post will probably be nothing more than an extended Facebook post, but there will be no spoilers, so rest easy!

I just got back from seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I loved it.

Still processing the movie in my brain. But the initial reaction is still excitement.

Better than the first Captain America. Definitely the best movie I've seen all year. The best Marvel movie since The Avengers. Sorry, Thor... you're still my second-favorite Avenger, though.

Lots of action and excitement, but enough slower moments to balance it out without dragging it down. The movie really kept you on your toes the entire time. Lots of surprises.

Obligatory Stan Lee cameo: very amusing.

Marvel trademark after-credits scene: I must admit I only saw the first one. I thought about staying longer, just in case there was another scene, but I was there with a friend and I didn't wanna keep her waiting around for nothing. And so I missed the second scene. And I feel like an idiot.

(but not as idiotic as the people who started leaving right as the credits started rolling. really, people? haven't you learned by now?)

But I'm really excited about the scene that I did see. Very excited for Marvel's future.

Awesome movie. This movie really is every bit as good as people are saying it is. Go see it. Go see it twice. Take me with you! I'd like to see it again.

You Got The Pen!!!!!!!!!

I've been poking around in the Legend of Zelda franchise lately (because I need just one more distraction in my life), and I found that I actually really like it. I considered buying Skyward Sword, but then I realized you have to buy the Wii Motion Plus thing as well, and when you consider the amount of time in my life that I actually have access to a Wii, it's really not worth it.

So instead I just watched Let's Play videos and daydreamed about what my life would be like if it were a video game like Legend of Zelda.

It would probably be the most boring video game ever. Instead of a sword, I'd probably have a pen. A really super-cool awesome pen. The Master Pen. It sounds pretty neat.

But then I'd just go around correcting typos and writing papers. The people standing around would remind me which controls to use to write a good thesis statement. The boss battles would be giant literature anthologies out of which I'd have to cut pieces of evidence, which I would then synthesize to form a strong argument.

A game like that might actually be kinda fun for English majors. But since the majority of the people in the world are not English majors, The Legend of Rebecca would completely tank.

Wait, if I'm the main character, then I can't have my name in the title. Hmmm...

I've got it!

The Legend of Hemingway.

Yesssss.

Maybe it's just me, but that title sounds kind of badass.

I could make a different game for every writer I study.

For instance, right now I'd be playing The Legend of Zola. 

Zola actually kind of sounds like Zelda, so that's EVEN BETTER!!!!

THE LEGEND OF ZOLA: coming soon never to a store near you!

New Addition to the Online Portfolio

Just a little heads-up that I put a new poem on my online portfolio (which you can access via the tab at the top of this page).

The poem is tentatively titled "Mardi" (if George Lucas can edit his films as much as he does, I'm allowed to change the titles of my poems a few times).

Go ahead and read it real quick, and then I'll say just a little bit about it.

No, go ahead, it's okay. I'll wait for ya.















Didja read it? Cool!

So I gotta admit, I don't usually put a ton of effort into poems, even if I'm turning them in for a class. Poems for me are often just a dump of emotion using pretty words. When I write in free verse, it often ends up being some kind of stream of consciousness.

I actually put a decent bit of effort into this one, though.

The assignment was to find something out in the outside and use it to show an inner truth about ourselves. I'm not sure whether I showed an inner truth about myself or just confused a bunch of the truths about myself, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

It was something that had been brewing in my mind for a while, just waiting for the right opportunity to come out. The poem is based on my experience marching in the Knights of Revelry Mardi Gras parade in Mobile, Alabama. I went with my university's marching band. Mobile is a pretty cool city. It's kind of got a New Orleans feel to it, except it's much more family-friendly. Mobile is actually where Mardi Gras as we know it in the U.S. began. Beads grow on trees there. Well, I mean, sort of. They're really just stuck there from past years. But it looks like they grown on trees.

For the entire duration of the parade (and I do not exaggerate), there was rain and freezing rain. Thankfully, I had a warm layer underneath my uniform and a poncho on top to keep most of the rain off, but it was still just a little bit miserable. I was really surprised that there were still a ton of people there to watch the parade. Despite the weather, I had a fantastic time. As we drove back home, the sentence "The rain can't stop the revelry" just kind of popped into my head, and I absolutely loved the way it sounded, and I knew that some kind of poem had to happen.

I tried writing in free verse at first, but it wasn't really working out. I ended up changing to a fixed meter based on "The rain can't stop the revelry" and picked a rhyme scheme that felt right. I didn't want it to sound too jingly or cutesy, but I think it worked out okay. I actually revised my first draft of the poem a lot. I read it out loud several times and changed things that just didn't sound right in my mind or to my ear. The final product is something I'm extremely happy with, and it got a good reception in class.

The poem is about the rain's failure to kill the Mardi Gras spirit. It's something I found very admirable and impressive in the residents of Mobile. However, during the class period in which I presented the poem, my professor and classmates pointed out that rain can also represent cleansing, which takes on Biblical connotations when it happens right before Lent. So in a way, the poem could also be about the human inability to shake off sin and whatnot while on Earth. Those two readings kind of conflict a little, cause a little confusion. Maybe the point of the poem is that the whole life/death/heaven/earth/sin/cleanliness/revelry/good behavior thing is confusing.

Okay. I'm the poet. I ought to know what the poet's real meaning is.

My intended meaning was the inability of the rain to quench the crowd's spirit. But to be honest, I enjoy the confusion that arises from multiple readings. Probably a little more than I should. I'm open to other interpretations. If you have thoughts of your own, feel free to post them in the comments.

Exciting Announcement

If you've been following the blog, you might have seen a post or two about my quest to find an internship for the summer (which was probably accompanied by some whining and complaining, as is my unfortunate wont).

I am very excited to announce that I have been offered an editorial internship with Virginia Living magazine in Richmond, Virginia. I have accepted the offer and I will begin the internship shortly after Memorial Day.

I feel that this internship will be a really good fit for me, and I'm so very excited to have gotten it.

Like, I ran around my room like a crazy person when I got the email. I would have done cartwheels if I'd only known how.

Some of you might be a bit puzzled that a girl from Alabama is going to work at a magazine devoted to the state of Virginia, but it's not as weird as it sounds. I actually lived in Virginia for three years, and I have fond memories of my time there. I also have an aunt who lives five minutes away from the magazine's office, so I've already got a roommate and a place to stay. In addition, it can be very helpful to have an outsider's perspective on something, and I'm just the girl for the job! It's just perfect.

Well, I don't know how to parallel park, which could be a problem, but my aunt said she'd teach me how, so it'll work out okay.

Speaking of parallel parking, I'm getting a car. A real one. My parents made a deal that they would help me get a car if I got an internship, and it's finally happened, so I'm finally getting one! I'm conducting research right now. Depending on what I find, I might be kicking some of my own money in. You don't know how much I've longed for a car these past three years.

Ah, but I'm so excited! I haven't spent a lot of time in Richmond, but I definitely enjoyed it when I was there. I'm really excited to get some real-world experience and put my Grammar Nazi skills to work in a task other than complaining about people's grammar on my blog. And I won't be laying around on my parents' couch all summer!

I'll be doing editorial jobs at the office, and I might even get a chance to do some writing and walk away with some clips and bylines! Aaaah! That'll look so awesome on my resume! I'll have to start a snazzy portfolio! I'm not as familiar with AP style as I could be, but where there's a guidebook, there's a way, and I've got a guidebook!

Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with me. Doing all those applications was not fun, but it paid off in the end. Woohoo! Richmond, here I come!

http://www.virginialiving.com/

Sketchdump

I'm getting close to a month without a single blog post. Shame on me.

To break the radio silence, I present you with a piece of scrap paper that I've been using as a running doodle page for the past few weeks. It'll give you some insight as to what's been on my mind lately...

...as well as some insight as to the craziness that happens in my brain on a daily basis. Notes, doodles- hey, there's even a pep talk on that sheet.

I think I'll do a handful of posts tonight, and some more over the next couple of days, hopefully getting back to a daily posting schedule.

I'm not exactly sure why I stopped posting for so long. Perhaps I just didn't have anything to say for a while. I know for certain, though, that I considered blogging my Spring Break adventures and couldn't even figure out where to begin. I'd like to hit a few of the highlights, though, because it was an awesome vacation.

Disneylaaaaaand.

Thank you for coming back and reading this. I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long. I'll do my best to make it up to you!