high school writings

a couple weeks ago i found copies of my high school literary magazines. writings by the students, for the students. it was fun to read through them again. brought back a ton of memories. my god were we dark, though! there wasn't an issue that didn't reference death or violence. there were issues without one cheery piece of writing.

how the world has changed.

in light of the VA tech shooting this week and the commentary on the pieces he wrote ... i don't think we would have been encouraged in our writings, let alone been allowed to publish them. we all would have been pulled in to the principal's office to discuss our writings. police and counselors would probably have been involved. i read the samples of his writing posted on-line. we published darker.

most of us have grown up to be productive members of society despite our dabblings in and exploration of the darkside of life through our writings. there are a few who became starving artist types. a few who had minor dealings with the law - drugs, drunk driving. and some of us would be considered reasonably successful by most definitions - professionals, business owners, parents.

i look at my old writings now and part of me wonders about my 'old' self. but i remember my author heroes were the likes of anne rice and stephen king and some of my writings were reasonable homages to them. there was a lot of exploration of death and darkness while we still felt young and invincible. the dark writings were definitely an expression of a phase of teen angst.

i'm still a fan of horror writing and movies. i still enjoy the 'goth' scene to some degree. never once did i consider turning any of my fiction into truth.

how do you determine if a work of fiction is a cry for help or a phase or the next best seller? what makes the difference?

-s

100 things about me

1. i'm not blonde, but at times i'm very polish
2. i like to be silly
3. i have a beautiful little boy
4. i'm a brunette
5. i love my mom
6. i wanted to own a spa when i grew up
7. i love being pampered
8. i don't like sitting still
9. i'm not a big spa person
10. i do like occasional spa treatment
11. i wanted to be a pediatrician
12. i don't think i could give a child a shot
13. i wanted to be a lawyer
14. i am a software developer
15. i accidentally found my career
16. i enjoy my career
17. i'm good at what i do
18. i stole the idea for an annual 100 things about me list from another site
19. i can't remember the name of the site to give it proper credit
20. i'm having trouble listing 100 things about me
21. i'm difficult to categorize
22. i don't like being categorized
23. i love music
24. def leppard is my favorite band of all time
25. i never thought i'd be a mom
26. i love being a mom
27. i never thought i'd date a cop
28. i don't like reality tv
29. i'm a buffy-geek
30. i'm a dork
31. i like being dorky
32. i love my camera
33. i'm learning to snowboard
34. i knit
35. i like knitting for others
36. i'm always surprised when people think knitting is a huge talent ... you just follow directions
37. i love and hate the internet
38. i'm not sure i like being this open on the internet
39. i wonder if people read my blog
40. i hope they don't
41. my teeth need to be bleached
42. i like to travel
43. my favorite trip was to italy
44. i want to take rj to italy
45. i speak a little italian
46. i learned italian for my trip
47. i'm teaching rj italian
48. i like my house
49. i'd like to spend more time on my house
50. i wish my neighbors weren't so visible
51. i'd like a bigger lot
52. i like to dance
53. i don't like cauliflower
54. i like asparagus
55. i used to hate asparagus. recently.
56. i used to hate most vegetables
57. i used to live on pasta
58. i never understood the obsession with 'the sopranos'
59. i like kelly clarkson despite american idol
60. carrie underwood, too.
61. i'm doing better with this list than i thought i would
62. i can be easily distracted at times.
63. i'm distracted by CSI right now
64. i like chocolate
65. i ate too much chocolate today
66. i'm sick - i have a cold
67. i need a haircut
68. i want to re-do my kitchen
69. i like to cook
70. i have a dog
71. i want my MBA
72. i'm not really sure why i want an MBA
73. i'm not motivated to get my MBA right now
74. i'd rather take music lessons
75. i like to read
76. i couldn't handle police work
77. i like horror movies
78. i cover my eyes more often during horror movies as i get older
79. i like to be organized
80. i'm not always organized
81. i like crossing things off my 'to do' list
82. this is a thing i can cross off my 'to do' list
83. i've procrastinated this list for over a year
84. i'm proud that i'm finally doing it
85. i'm not sure why i put it off as long as i did
86. i want to do it again next year
87. i wonder what i'll make of these lists 5 or 10 years from now
88. i'm looking forward to the summer
89. i'm hoping we have one more snowstorm so i can take a snow day
90. i'm dehydrated
91. my lips are chapped
92. i like quotes
93. i like pretty sunsets over lakes
94. i love the city ... wouldn't want to live there
95. i love the country ... not sure i'd want to live there again
96. i don't like NYC - it makes me claustrophobic
97. i tolerate NYC for short burst for theater and dining
98. i like boston and its crazy streets
99. my favorite big city is rome
100. i love italian food.

what do you get when a 6' tall man lies down with a 3' rifle? hot flashes, but that's just me ...

frustrations with public school

why must we hold back and not encourage gifted children to become the best they can be in their own skins? granted, they may not fit in with the pack ... but what makes fitting in with the pack so good? why force our kids to fit in with the pack instead of teaching them how to accept their uniqueness and accept the uniqueness of others? and why do we feel the need to apologize for our gifted children???

in researching ways to advocate for rj, i came across this article on a site about gifted children:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/apology.htm

i know this article was published back in 2003, but i'm just starting to face the issues she lived thru as i try to find the best possible education for my son. it saddens me that we feel the need to apologize for our children who excel. if our child is a skilled soccer player, it's a gift; if our child is academically skilled, we're looking down on other kids? and the argument against her example of ana finishing work quickly ... we applaud the system for providing resources to bring developmentally challenged kids 'up' to 'normal' ... but we have to accept the system bringing our child 'down' to 'normal'? each child has their own unique set of gifts, yet, as public schools seem to stand today, we seem to be doing our best to suppress those gifts and bring each child into these artificially created definitions of 'normal' instead of doing out best to bring out the best in each child. granted, many schools (especially public) do not have the resources to do this, but it forcing everyone to a standard definition the right solution??? and because a child has a special skill, we can't encourage them to be proud of it and their uniqueness without appearing to be disparaging others? it's a sad situation.

-s

today's away message

when bill’s online but away from his computer, he’ll leave away messages for me. doesn’t happen too often now because he’s not online as much anymore, but he was this morning and left me this one:

I've been wrapped around her finger
Since the first time we went out
Every day and every night she's all I think about
I need that girl beside me
When the lights go out
I think it's time to put a ring on the finger
I'm wrapped around

and i’m such a sap this morning that it’s making me cry :o)

-s