Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween to everyone out there in cyberland! I do love this holiday. ^_^ Costumes are so much fun! Though, I will say that it never made sense for me to really love Halloween, since I don't really like candy much... But, Halloween comes with costumes and cute little kids, apple cider and hay rides, haunted houses and piles of dried leaves to jump in... Yeah, it's a nice holiday.



Fall is finally upon us here in the Mid-West. I do miss living in the North East, fall comes earlier there and is just so... pretty. And I miss living in a place where I know where to go. My yearly trip to the graveyard to sing to the dead peoples, the best haunted house in the world- if for no other reason than because I know everyone who works there- the old lady that always set aside a 'kids room' at her Halloween party so we could come in and have cider and popcorn balls and candied apples without being disturbed by the 70 year old people dressed in "sexy costumes"... Halloween was never boring in Connecticut, I must say that.



Well, I'll be spending the night at my friend's house, helping her hand out candy to all the munchkins and entertain her family. It won't be quite as good at the disturbing- yet still sweet- old lady, but it'll have to do.

You know, I always wanted to be like that old lady when I was younger. She just seemed like she must have had such a fun life, and that she wasn't going to let a little thing like age stop her from enjoying life. I'd like to think that I'll be like that when I'm older.

So this year, I am dedicating Halloween to the little old lady with the best apple cider in the world and a spirit that's no older than 20. May we all be as happy and carefree as her this year.

Happy Halloween, y'all! Stay fresh!
~Swanky Read More...

Story: Blithe

A while back I took a creative writing class. It was a lot of fun, and I wrote quite a few short pieces for it, so I thought I would share them with you.

This was the first assignment, which was to write a story which follows someone. I chose one of the many actors at our local Renaissance Fair, and the title is his character name. I hope you enjoy it!

Title: Blithe
Date: 10/13/05
Assignment: Follow Someone


Blithe

His leaves blow about him wildly in the strong autumn breeze. His face, painted with grain designs in brown and greens, shows how he loves his work. Children giggle and point as he passes them. Mothers and father cling tightly to their little ones as they try to follow the man in his strange costume. Brutal teenagers laugh at what they think is his misfortune; to have to be The Treeman must be a fate worse than death. But he always gets the last laugh, jumping out from a well hidden nook amongst the other trees, making the toughest of the boys squeal with fright. He has done this for many years, has mastered the art of being The Treeman. The Faire would not be the same without him.

He slips silently into the little trailer, moving as gracefully as ever. With the utmost care he removed his leaves and branches, his makeup and tattered clothes. He emerges back into the world as just another faire-goer, making his way home after a long day of games and food and shopping. No one notices that with each step his tall frame seems to sway with the breeze. Unconsciously, the children stare at him as their parents drag them off, away from the magic of the faire, to be washed and fed and put to bed. As he makes his way out of the painted wooden gates he is all graceful nods and smooth gestures, waving his farewells to the other members of the staff, silently congratulating them on another well worked faire day. He drives his small car the short distance to his quant home, taking the back roads. He is surrounded by trees, and he is comfortable, after all these years.

He bounds from the car, excited that for once he is Home and not at some dingy hotel in God only knows where. Its dinner time, and he can already smell the sweet sausage as it cooks. Everyone is inside, most likely washing up for their coming meal. Making as little noise as possible, he creeps into the house and sneaks upstairs. He can hear his children splashing each other in the bathroom, but practices great restraint and continues to his own room to ready for the meal. He is not supposed to be home yet, but the Faire will continue short The Treeman tonight. He listens contentedly as his children race down the stairs to their dinner. He slowly sneaks down after them, careful to avoid that third step; it squeaks. Tonight he would sit down to eat, surrounded by his beloved family, as nothing other than himself. Tonight, The Treeman can rest.


Authors Note: Blithe is the name of a mythical forest fairy/spirit from English medieval folklore. He is portrayed as ‘The Treeman, Blithe’ at several Renaissance Faires, namely The Connecticut Renaissance Faire. Read More...

Because I can

Ok, so, starting tomorrow, I'm going to be posting my original stories to this blog. I'll put up one story per day, and most of them are pretty short. I'd really like to know what you guys think of them! Yeah, that would be awesome...

Also, my brain has been spinning with different ideas for the "Something New" section of my recommendations. I can't wait to do some of them, but I really want to have other people doing them along with me, so I guess I will have to. *sigh* If anyone other there has any suggestions, leave me a comment! We'll get to them eventually, I'm sre! and I know that in another month or two, my ideas are going to run dry and I'm going to need all the help I can get! o_0

Ok, well, I am going to bed now. For the next... week and a half or so I'll be updating this thing twice a day, once with a story and once with a journal post. After that, it'll just be once per day. Yeah, I promise, I don't usually update a million times a day. Just on the first day. ^_^

See you all tomorrow! Sweet Dreams!
~Swanky Read More...

Something New Challenge 001: Take a Pic of Your Life!

me as Sprout- DDParty Fri 10-26-07, originally uploaded by Swanky o 0.

So, this is my random picture for "Something New Challenge 001: Take a Pic of Your Life!" This is me, dressed up as Professor Sprout from the Harry Potter Series- who is dressed as a mandrake for Halloween. It was taken this past weekend, at Wrockstock Spooktacular 2007, which was the time of my life! So much fun, so much love, so much music, and so much Harry Potter! It's a pretty good representation of my life- love, music, books, and costumes.

Things you can't see about my costume, but I want you to know are there: On my cloak (which I did make myself) there are three pins. Two from my cabin mates which say "The Cabin We Have Is LOVE" and "Wanna be my fanboy?" and then also my one pin from CatchLove to support ending the Genocide in Darfur. Under the mandrake there is a Hufflepuff crest clasp. On the skirt and hat are some flowers and sprouts. And the Mandrake had Cabbage Patch style toes, finger, knees and elbows, belly button, and yes, even a butt crack. lol

This costume took me a long while to do. Two skirts, a cloak, and that hat had to be made by hand. So much effort, and so much love went into this thing, and I only got to wear it for an hour! lol Yeah, that's me for ya. lol ^_^

Ok, so, if you've got a random picture that represents YOUR life, let me know! Leave me a comment and I will go see what you are all about! ^_^

Much love!
~Swanky

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Wrockstock is LOVE

The wonderful thing about having a place to blog where no one reads what I write is that I can be as much of an ooc mushy mess as I want to be without ever having to worry about my image.

Cause, yeah, I worry about my image a lot. /sarcasm

Anywayz! WROCKSTOCK WAS AMAZING!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how bloody friggen awesome the whole weekend was! The Lodge we were at all weekend was litteraly the Hogwarts of the Ozarks, Abby wasn't lying about that at all. The area was so pretty, and when you stood out on the back deck over hanging the lake at night and looked back at the lodge, the GIGANTIC fish splashing lightly in the black water behind you, and all the lights twinkling out of the windows... Oh god, it really did look just perfect. It felt magical there. And then you add all the great people who were at/working/playing the shows, and it was heaven.

We had a little set back because Rachel was supposed to be picked p from my place by 11 so that I could leave by 12, and her ride ended up being TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATE, but other than that, the weekend was perfect. I had thought I was going to end up crying like a baby when I heard "Snape vs Snape" by Ministry of Magic, but I didn't. I DID cry when Oliver Boyd and the Rememberalls played "End of an Era", which I didn't expect until I was there and he was playing his set. I still screamed with everyone else for him the play the song even though I knew it was going to make me cry at that point.

Like I said, so very concerned about my image.

I met some great people, and actually got like a million diferent ideas for fics, and I met great people, and I heard almost all my fav wrock songs, and did I mention the people I met? Yeah, it was so awesome.

So much so, that I have decided that I am not even going to bother trying to go to Wrock the Boat or Prophecy next year if Wrockstock is happening again. I can only afford to do one Harry Potter thingy next year anyway...

And THAT is if m father doesn't kill me because I am going to drop all my classes this semester because I am failing them all. Yet again. This is getting ridiculous, but I really don't know what is wrong with me. I just need to suck it up and go to class, that's what. No matter how much I do not want to sit in class bored to tears, or how much I think my teacher is an idiot, or how much I don't want to put up with the students... no matter how much I want to crawl back into my bed and hide from the world for a day or two, I have to figure out how to get my ass to go to class.

I need more will power. Anyone wanna lend me some? And could you send me some bravery, too, so I can tell my dad that I am dropping out for the semester?

And a fly swatter? We've had a fly for about 2 weeks and it is going to drive me insane and I haven't been able to kill it yet.

Anyway, I'll be putting my video and pictures up soon, hopefully. As soon as I figure out how to get them off my phone, anyway. Oh! and I have others on a disposable that I need to develop. So, yeah, funness to come, promise!

Later!
~Swanky Read More...