Daddy/ Daughter Campout

Early Friday morning, dad, Lydia, and I went up to Skookum for the daddy/daughter campout. We arrived there around 11:00 to reserve the camp and set up the signs and then we went geocaching.

When we went to find the geocache, we parked at the bottom of a hill and hiked up through harsh brush. When we got nearly to the top of the hill, we found another road that we could have parked on. I decided not to go on when I saw the last stretch since it was so steep.

I waited for dad while he climbed up to search for the cache. He didn't find it. Coming back down later, we made our way down the hill, following the road. On our way down, it started pouring. It was freezing, so we decided not to find the other ones. Altogether, I've decided that the cache was definitely the worst cache ever.

We got back to camp and the others soon arrived. We had chili dogs for dinner and sat around the campfire to dry off.

That night was freezing. I think part of the problem was that we were all wet from the rain that fell.

The next day, it was dry most of the time. Dad and I took three of the younger girls around the lake to find a geocache. We found this one.

Before most people left, we had a shoot off with a BB gun. I got second place with a time of 21.12 seconds to knock over four cans. The person who got first was only half a second faster than me.

After we packed up and left, we went geocaching again. These both involved a bunch of hiking. The second one dad and I hiked up was exhausting, and it started to rain as we hiked up the road.

On top of the mountain, we found patches of snow, and it was raining more slush than actual water.

I found the geocache by chance and it was full of smokey the bear stuff. There was one amusing thing though. The geocache had a small bag of marbles and on the bag there was a note that said "For those who have lost their marbles". It was pretty funny since with all the hiking up in the rain and looking for the well hidden geocache, a person could easily loose their marbles.

In other news, in the past week, I have seen a total of five rainbows, one a double rainbow. I wonder if that is significant in some way?

We had the potluck at our house this month and we had steak. It was really good, especially since I've been craving steak since Friday night when we had some streak roasted over the campfire. That streak was better than I expected and I think it makes a much better roasting expereince than marshmallows or hotdogs.

~MajorBookworm~

Thoughts About Writing

Easy reading is very hard writing. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it. ~Jules Renard
I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. ~James Michener

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don't start sentences with a conjunction.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a
great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
De-accession euphemisms.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.
~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum. ~Graycie Harmon

Writer's block is a disease for which there is no cure, only respite. ~Laurie Wordholt

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one. ~Baltasar Gracián

When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. ~Enrique Jardiel Poncela

What no spouse of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when they're staring out of the window. ~Burton Rascoe

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake. ~E.L. Doctorow

If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness. ~Carrie Latet

An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere. ~Gustave Flaubert

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades, 1947

Being an author is having angels whisper in your ear - and devils, too. ~Graycie Harmon

Having imagination, it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that, if you were unimaginative, would take you only a minute. Or you might not write the paragraph at all. ~Franklin P. Adams, Half a Loaf, 1927

The writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself, to satisfy himself; the publishing of his ideas, though it brings gratification, is a curious anticlimax. ~Alfred Kazin, Think, February 1963

I keep little notepads all over the place to write down ideas as soon as they strike, but the ones that fill up the quickest are always the ones at my nightstand. ~Emily Logan Decens

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate. ~Chateaubriand, Le Génie du Christianisme, 1802

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. ~George Orwell, "Why I Write," 1947

Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such. ~Samuel Butler

My stories run up and bite me in the leg -- I respond by writing them down - everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.
-Ray Bradbury

"Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him." -Mel Brooks

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. -Cyril Connolly

Treasure Hunt and Thoughts About Writing

Today was interesting. Mom and dad hid a can when then went on their walk this morning and Lydia and I were sent to find it using the GPS. It was fun. We found it after only a few minutes of searching but then we hung around the cabin for awhile.

Simba, Lily, and Sandy had followed us down to the driveway, so they were exploring the area. Simba was pretty freaked out, though, because that is out of his territory.

Lydia was talking about how when she moves out she should move into the cabin, just put electricity, carpet, and furniture in and it would be great for a one person apartment. She said she was even willing to pay mom and dad rent. She thinks that there's a great meadow behind it for a horse even.

I think it would take a lot more work than she's thinking but whatever suits her.

I've been thinking that since my 'Marauders reading...' story got taken off of fanfiction.net, I'm going to post it up in blog form so that the author of the story that the marauders are reading actually gets to read the finished thing. I think she'd like that since she was pretty disappointed when it had to be taken down.

I had the story half written too, thirty chapters of story, which is by far my longest story, even if most of it wasn't even mine, but still.

I'm surprised Lost is still coming along as well as it is. I've written at least a chapter a day for the last week, which is more than I've worked on any story. Hopefully, I can keep it going and finish this one.

It's been a year since I first had the idea of my Haley Potter fanfiction, and I'm only three chapters into it. It's kind of sad. I had it written up to third year at one point, but then decided that it needed to be rewritten. I have a lot of scenes written for it, but they're all later scenes. I have years four through seven planned out nearly completely. I just have to get years one through three written and it'll flow perfectly how I want it.

I had another fanfiction that was completely written, all the way up to seventh year and beyond, but then I changed a detail in the very first chapter and it ruined the whole story so I had to rewrite the whole thing.

I really should attempt to pre-write before I actually start a story so things like that don't happen.

I have a sort of pre-write for Lost, but I've changed so many things that it's pretty much worthless now, I hope I don't end up having to rewrite the whole thing.

I had a plot-bunny attack awhile back and wrote a whole bunch of ideas down, or perhaps wrote just the first chapter, and then never got back to them. Now I can't remember what the brilliant idea was. It's sad when a good idea for a story just gets abandoned because you forget it.

Then again, Lost has been wandering my brain collecting dust since fourth grade and it's finally being written. I guess it just takes time to process everything I want to include in the story to actually get it written. Or perhaps enough motivation to actually get what I want down on paper...

Anyway, that's all,

~MajorBookworm~

A New Language!

I just found this language I had invented saved on my computer from awhile ago. It isn't really a new language, more of a code, but when you type it out, it does look like a whole different language, and I think it might be possible to speak as well...

1. Take any two syllable word.
2. Take the first syllable and put it at the end.
3. Next, add an -re to the end of the new word. That is two syllable words.
4. A one syllable word...
5. Write the word backwards.
6. Add an -as to the end. That is one syllable words.
7. Take a three or more syllable word.
8. Take the first syllable and put it at the end.
9. Add -asi to the end. That is three or more syllable words.

1. Tiger
2. Gerti
3. Gertire
4. Same
5. Emas
6. Emasas
7. Animal
8. Imalan
9. Imalanasi

Rules:
1. Names don't change.
2. There are no double vowels. If there is, take it out (except in names).

Let's try it out...

Osas, tahwas odas uoyas knihtas foas ymas edocas? Erehas sias as domranre tencesenre tahtas sias nas cellantexasi amplexasi foas llas eerhtas epytas foas drowas. Ecnoas uoyas tegas ehtas gnahas foas tias, tias sias tuallyacasi typretre plesimre.

You definitely wouldn't be able to translate that without knowing how.

~MajorBookworm~

Church

Today was going to be a relaxed day. I didn't have anything I had to do, just go to classes and sit through them and maybe nod off during Sacrament meeting since I got very little sleep last night...or not.

I was asked, a few minutes before the meeting started, to give a short talk about girl's camp. So I had to think of what I wanted to share and without any notes at all, speak in front of the whole ward. Not fun. Lydia was asked too do it as well as Kati and Anne but it was still really nervewracking. Seriously, I've been expecting to have to give a talk anytime now, but like that was insane. I appearantly did very well though.

Then classes today were kind of boring since I've had the same Sunday School lesson the last three weeks and the same YW lesson twice in a row. All well, I knew all the answers.

Lydia made me go in the office and try out her new tablet the second we walked in the door after church. It wasn't very exciting or new and I think until you got used to it, drawing with the mouse would be easier, but whatever.

For dinner we're having hamburgers and mashed potatoes and it sounds so good since I'm starving. I think some of my problem with not being able to sleep last night was that my stomach was growling, and I never ate breakfast this morning.

I think I'm going to write at least two more chapters for my story, and then I'm going to take a nap, because I am wiped out.

~MajorBookworm~

Sleeping In and Lydia's Birthday

I slept in until noon today. It was fun.

I was thinking a lot about my story and I can't wait to get into the third book of the series I'm planning, but of course, I have to wait, since I'm still only on the first book.

For her birthday, Lydia got a tablet, something she's been wanting forever. Now she can draw for real instead of attmepting to draw on paint. It's pretty cool. It's quite amusing watching Lydia try to install it onto the computer.

I'm officially bored now, so I'm going to get off and find something else to do, perhaps write a few more chapters of my story.

Farewell for now,

~MajorBookworm~

So Much Stuff

It has been a LONG time since I last posted. Whoops, I got so busy, I didn't even think about it.

Anyway, a lot has happened. MusicFest, the piano recital, school getting out, the family reunion, girls camp, tons of kittens being born, etc.

Let's go down the list. MusicFest was...exciting. I've done it once, though, I'm never doing it again! I got a silver medal in one class I did...but then again, there was only two of us in the class, so I still lost, but it's nice to have a medal.

The piano recital, I messed up my song completely, but nobody could tell.

School getting out, really nice. I have a lot of free time now.

The family reunion was great. I spent a lot of time geocaching with dad. We found every one of those geocaches, and I get to brag that I found the very first one we ever found. That was pretty cool.

Girls camp was a lot of fun. The canoe trip was exciting. Kati and I were the only people to tip our canoe...and we tipped it 20 yards away from the starting dock. Then, our canoe was leaking. Oh, and I got hit in the head by a flying watermelon. Yep.

We have too many kittens to count right now. I'm thinking we really have to get rid of some. Although I'm attached to the older ones now, the younger ones can go. Except one. He's all black and we named him Voldemort. He needs to stay to rule over the rest of the kittens. Haha.

I recently got really pumped up about my story I've been attempting to write for about three months now. I wrote 53 pages in 3 days and now the story is 53 pages long. Yea, I hadn't gotten very far before, but now it's looking great! It already has nine chapters, and I'm just barely getting into the plot. I'm thinking that it is going to be a long book since I have a lot planned for the plot.

I started reading a horror novel. I got four chapters in and had to stop reading because it was creeping me out, but then again, it was the middle of the night so you can't really blame me.

Lydia's birthday was today. We went into town and watched "Aliens in the Attic." It was pretty cute and funny but I found it kind of disturbing how half the time there was a police man in the house talking to the parents, and they never suspected something big like an alien invasion was going on in their attic. Seriously, the little girl even told them it was happening, and they didn't believe her at all. Crazyness, I tell you.

Wow, it's almost Saturday. I should stop writing and go to bed, but I won't because there is still a lot to say.

I posted up another Harry Potter fanfic today. I found it in one of my old notebooks and thought it was pretty good. I have no idea where I'm going with it though, since the idea I started with has seemingly slipped from my mind. It should be interesting just going with the flow with no real ideas but all well, I seem to do that a lot.

I think I've practiced the piano maybe four times since school ended. It's sad and I'm really itching to go play the piano, but I don't want to start anything new and the only songs I know are the ones I've been playing for musicfest, which means mom and Lydia, and even me, are throughly annoyed with them. Once school starts up again, I'll probably practice more often, even though I'm not going to have a teacher.

So, in the last post I mentioned something about joining Student Council. I really got into it with writing the school constitution and everything. It was exciting and I even got a trip to Ellensburg out of it.

I joined the Key Club. It's starting new at WAVA next year and I signed up to be one of the starting members. The meetings for it have been going on since the first week of July and I haven't attended a single meeting. I always miss them for one reason or another, but I did vote on the presidency and stuff. I really need to start going to those meetings...

I think I'm just rambling now, but that's okay because there's really nothing else to do...except sleep. It is pretty much midnight.

Okay, more about girl's camp then. (Sorry, kind of talking to myself there...or typing to myself?) Since I arrived there halfway through the second day, I missed the exciting happenings of the first night. I heard some strange things went on. Something about a girl eating a moth and freaking out another girl who peed her pants? It sounded crazy. The rest of the week was about the same crazyness level. Since the theme was indians, each ward made totem poles. Our was made of duck tape (my idea, haha) because it was the only way we could think to make it.

I'm totally excited about being a YCL next year at camp. I want to be a fourth year YCL, so I can go on the canoe trip again. Unless, of course, they decide not to do it at Camp Neighborly since there was a lot of talk about changing the location.

I wonder if anyone is actually still reading this, or if they all stopped a long time ago...hmm, I should probably stop writing then.

Farewell till next time,

~MajorBookworm~