I Will (Not) Miss Living in a Residence Hall

1.  I will not miss sharing a bathroom with 20 some odd other girls.
2.  I will not miss my next door neighbor singing opera at all hours of the day and night.
3.  I will not miss the boys on the floor below me blasting their rap music and yelling at video games.

4.  I will miss the programs and the bulletin boards.
5.  I will miss having an excuse to cover my door with my name.
6.  I will miss dancing in the lobby to "Build Me Up, Buttercup."

7.  I will not miss stupid people.
8.  I will not miss washers that explode.
9.  I will not miss drunken people stumbling down the hallways.

10.  I will miss the fellowship created amongst RAs who all have to deal with the same stupid people year after year.
11.  I will miss having a close enough relationship with my boss that I can rant and cry in her office and not feel awkward.
12.  I will miss having Desk Aides to rant to and their looks of bewilderment when they have no idea what I'm talking about.

13.  I will not miss random strangers following me into the building.
14.  I will not miss stains on the couches and needing to report said stains.
15.  I will not miss the people who leave the TV on in the lounge.

16.  I will miss having a friend down the hall who I can bother on a daily basis.
17.  I will miss piling into one person's room to watch a movie.
18.  I will miss rolling on my tile floor.

19.  I will not miss sweeping up broken glass.
20.  I will not miss the oodles of flyers that I have to find somewhere to post in the lobby.
21.  I will not miss people posting their own flyers on the front desk and in the elevator even after the million times I've moved them.

22.  I will miss the conference room and weekly meetings that are a lot more fun that I could have anticipated.
23.  I will miss using my mailbox as a storage compartment.
24.  I will miss being an RA.

First Lines and Openings

In my Writing Fiction class, we had to write openings for stories.  Five per week, and post them on a class blog.  If anyone's interested in reading these nuggets of creativity, you can find them here: http://455fictionopenings.wordpress.com/

Today we had an award ceremony for these openings.  My classmates and I nominated lines within six different categories, and today we learned who won.  I won three out of the six categories.

Best Dialogue:
"So I got an e-mail from an April Diamond," Seth said, taking a long drag on his cigarette.
Lucy shook her head, "Sounds like a stripper."

Funniest:
He never understood the appeal of Marilyn Monroe and even standing by the statue on Michigan Avenue staring up at her gigantic white panties, Steve still didn't get it.

Best Overall (because it was unopposed):
I told him because I'm afraid.  Afraid of everything that might happen, and everything that might not.  Most of all, I'm afraid of being happy.

Actually, three of my openings were nominated for best dialogue.  It's fun because all of them sprang from real life conversations that I had before I submitted my first lines.  This one actually happened.  It's a part of a tradition of my school's chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary to send out these cryptic e-mails from an e-mail account that's registered to April Diamond for the induction ceremony.  It's super creepy, I remember being confused about the whole thing and not really wanting to go to the quad after dark to be jumped by a stripper, because that's what April Diamond sounds like.  Luckily, people still show up and induction happens and everything's good, but it still worries me that one day someone won't come and won't even realize that they're a part of NRHH.  That would just be strange.

I personally don't think that my line was the funniest of the nominees, but hey.  There's a statue of Marilyn Monroe in downtown Chicago.  It's based on the still from Seven Year Itch with Marilyn's billowing white skirt.

Spring Break in Chicago.  Two of my friends are scandalized.

This statue is near the Tribune Tower, and honestly, I thought it was a pretty ugly statue.  I was more interested in taking pictures of the Tribune Tower, so this picture is one of a grand total of two pictures that I have of the Marilyn statue.  And I honestly don't really understand Marilyn Monroe's appeal, part of me feels like I should probably figure out because she's technically an American icon...if I'm correct.  But the Marilyn statue was kinda like The Bean for me.  I don't really get it.

My last line shouldn't have won, but it did.  Only because it was unopposed.  If it had gone up against someone else's line, I have no doubt that other line would have won, and it would have deserved it.  Meh.

NaPoWriMo #3

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt had to do with writing about weddings, an epithalamium.  It's technically supposed to be a poem written to a bride on her way to her marital chamber, but I wasn't really feeling the poem to a bride, so I wrote a poem based on a wedding that I went to in November.  I was thinking about this when I was standing in the receiving line because I don't really understand why receiving lines exist.  Sure, the bride and groom should be met and congratulated, hands shaken, but what about everyone else in the wedding party?

To the Best Man in the Receiving Line
April 3, 2012


Why am I congratulating you?
You didn't get hitched,
you didn't kiss the bride,
you didn't trade rings,
and you won't get some
tonight.
Why are you in this
receiving line anyway?
I will never see you
again.  You won't
remember me.

Okay, I will congratulate
you on the cut of your tux
because that cummerbund
really shows off your waist
and your jacket is extremely flattering.
You won't remember me,
so I'm Lola.
     Wanna dance?

NaPoWriMo #2

It looks like today's prompt has to do with the song that was #1 on the day you were born.  So, this is mine:

I didn't realize that I had indeed heard this song at some point in my life until the song really got going.  Not really sure I understand the music video, but that's something else entirely, I'm sure.

April 2, 2012

It must have been love

and the breezy projector

screens that made you leave.

You took the backdrop

and the car keys,

but you left me my wheels.

Take the chess board,

but leave the pieces.

It's over now.

You rocked out

at my bedside,

leaving me unsatisfied.

It must have been love,

because what else

would tell us

"Matching haircuts

are okay."

"Lay a whisper on my pillow,

leave the winter on the ground.

I wake up lonely, there's air of silence

in the bedroom and all around."

- Roxette in "It Must Have Been Love"

NaPoWriMo #1

Today I learned that National Poetry Writing Month was a thing in addition to National Poetry Month, and it's April!  You can find information here: http://www.napowrimo.net/.  And there's a Twitter account that you can follow.

I wasn't feeling too creative, but I did write a small bit of a poem-ish on April Fool's Day based on the first line that my friend gave me.

April 1, 2012

I'm pregnant,
only not really because
I thought I'd make
an April fool of you.
I really thought
you'd believe me
while I carry
my food baby.

I promise on my soul that these will get better.  I've been doing my Poem-A-Day Project for 7 months now, and the first couple in a month are usually rough.  So we'll see how this goes.  Ready?  WRITE!