Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things always get super busy toward the end of the school year and I never have time to write anything. I think I just psych myself out to think I'm busy, though, because whenever I look back on it I'm like, "Eh, that wasn't hard at all..."
So, yeah, eventually I'll have something new written that I can show you all... but for now, goodbye. =)
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Mormon Birds
~~
I stepped off of my front porch a few minutes later than I planned to. The construction workers on the road beside my house were making their usual racket with their big machines and indiscernible yelling. (Generally, they make about the same sort of racket no matter what they’re doing, but this time they were working on a bridge, so I guess they were making “bridge building” racket.) I debated walking on the left side of the road, away from the sidewalk, away from the path everyone else takes, but I decided to be, at least for today, like everyone else. I took the sidewalk.
The air was muggy. The sky was hazy, but bright. Each step I took away from home took me closer to my job. And, for every block I went, the temperature seemed to increase by a degree. It was hot.
I took a short cut through the parking lot of the Mormon church with the tall black steeple. The lot was surrounded by hedges that seemed to close in on you when you weren’t looking. I think their shadows somehow entered my mind because the lot grew dark, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun. Everything seemed sad and dark and lonely there. My vision fuzzed around the edges as though I was in a dream. It was as if I had entered another world.
I could hear the tweets and calls of many birds, but all I saw there were crows – Shiny black crows in the grass, crows waiting in the shadowy tree branches, crows sitting on low hanging telephone wires, all watching as I walked through their tiny lives. Why were there so many? Where were all the other birds I heard? I couldn’t see all the crows. I heard them call behind me, but when I turned to look there weren’t any there, just an expanse of pavement that ended in greenery.
I neared the grass at the far corner of the parking lot. There were only a few crows on the lawn. They shied away as I got closer, but never stopped staring. They were afraid of me and for one split second, in that dark parking lot with its claustrophobia inducing hedges, empty church, evil looking steeple, chirps and caws, and those big, black birds, for a moment I, too, felt fear.
I stepped into the warm, freshly mowed Mormon grass. Those Mormons really love their grass. It’s always well cared for. When I stepped into the grass, all the shadows of that place escaped from my mind. I was back in my world in Idaho where it was bright and shiny and way too hot for September. Any fear I felt had escaped with the shadows put into my head by those hedges. All went back to being what it really was – A flock of birds, a Mormon church, and some really tall hedges – and I was going to be late for work.
~~
- Elise O.
I stepped off of my front porch a few minutes later than I planned to. The construction workers on the road beside my house were making their usual racket with their big machines and indiscernible yelling. (Generally, they make about the same sort of racket no matter what they’re doing, but this time they were working on a bridge, so I guess they were making “bridge building” racket.) I debated walking on the left side of the road, away from the sidewalk, away from the path everyone else takes, but I decided to be, at least for today, like everyone else. I took the sidewalk.
The air was muggy. The sky was hazy, but bright. Each step I took away from home took me closer to my job. And, for every block I went, the temperature seemed to increase by a degree. It was hot.
I took a short cut through the parking lot of the Mormon church with the tall black steeple. The lot was surrounded by hedges that seemed to close in on you when you weren’t looking. I think their shadows somehow entered my mind because the lot grew dark, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun. Everything seemed sad and dark and lonely there. My vision fuzzed around the edges as though I was in a dream. It was as if I had entered another world.
I could hear the tweets and calls of many birds, but all I saw there were crows – Shiny black crows in the grass, crows waiting in the shadowy tree branches, crows sitting on low hanging telephone wires, all watching as I walked through their tiny lives. Why were there so many? Where were all the other birds I heard? I couldn’t see all the crows. I heard them call behind me, but when I turned to look there weren’t any there, just an expanse of pavement that ended in greenery.
I neared the grass at the far corner of the parking lot. There were only a few crows on the lawn. They shied away as I got closer, but never stopped staring. They were afraid of me and for one split second, in that dark parking lot with its claustrophobia inducing hedges, empty church, evil looking steeple, chirps and caws, and those big, black birds, for a moment I, too, felt fear.
I stepped into the warm, freshly mowed Mormon grass. Those Mormons really love their grass. It’s always well cared for. When I stepped into the grass, all the shadows of that place escaped from my mind. I was back in my world in Idaho where it was bright and shiny and way too hot for September. Any fear I felt had escaped with the shadows put into my head by those hedges. All went back to being what it really was – A flock of birds, a Mormon church, and some really tall hedges – and I was going to be late for work.
~~
- Elise O.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Weight
Originally posted on my other blog January 19, 2009.
~~
APRIL 20, 2008
Looking in the mirror, I would have guessed I had lost a few pounds. But, now that I'm standing on the scale, I see that I'm wrong. A 5 lb. weight gain? How can that be? I swore off candy, cake, cookies, sugar, pizza, bread, and coffee a whole month ago! How can I not lose weight?
I practically swore off everything edible, except green beans... I like green beans, besides that, though, yuck.
Food is stupid. Fat is stupid. Calories are stupid. Excercise is stupid.
How does a person lose weight? You see it all the time in the magazines, "So-and-so Lost Half Her Size!" And, you know what? They do it in, like, 3 months flat. Or is it a year? I don't know and it doesn't matter. It's just stupid. Dieting is stupid, so I quit.
Maybe I should take off my jeans and put down my bath supplies and try again.
~~
- Elise O.
~~
APRIL 20, 2008
Looking in the mirror, I would have guessed I had lost a few pounds. But, now that I'm standing on the scale, I see that I'm wrong. A 5 lb. weight gain? How can that be? I swore off candy, cake, cookies, sugar, pizza, bread, and coffee a whole month ago! How can I not lose weight?
I practically swore off everything edible, except green beans... I like green beans, besides that, though, yuck.
Food is stupid. Fat is stupid. Calories are stupid. Excercise is stupid.
How does a person lose weight? You see it all the time in the magazines, "So-and-so Lost Half Her Size!" And, you know what? They do it in, like, 3 months flat. Or is it a year? I don't know and it doesn't matter. It's just stupid. Dieting is stupid, so I quit.
Maybe I should take off my jeans and put down my bath supplies and try again.
~~
- Elise O.
Excerpt
Originally posted on my other blog on December 5, 2008.
~~
He was behind me still when I turned to look yet again, but my eyes never made it to where she was, they were instead caught by him. He was looking at me with a face that registered no emotion, though his eyes seemed troubled. He was worried, waiting.
He didn't turn to look at her, just kept his back turned, as if he was protecting her from gawkers like me. He was right and I was wrong, that was clear to me. What I wasn't sure of was whether or not he was actually berating me in his my mind for my lack of manners, or if I was imagining things due to his lack of expression.
No one likes it when people stare at them, but I couldn't help it.
I don't know how long our eyes were locked in our telepathic battle - maybe he expected me to say something, but I didn't.
I should have.
~~
- Elise O.
~~
He was behind me still when I turned to look yet again, but my eyes never made it to where she was, they were instead caught by him. He was looking at me with a face that registered no emotion, though his eyes seemed troubled. He was worried, waiting.
He didn't turn to look at her, just kept his back turned, as if he was protecting her from gawkers like me. He was right and I was wrong, that was clear to me. What I wasn't sure of was whether or not he was actually berating me in his my mind for my lack of manners, or if I was imagining things due to his lack of expression.
No one likes it when people stare at them, but I couldn't help it.
I don't know how long our eyes were locked in our telepathic battle - maybe he expected me to say something, but I didn't.
I should have.
~~
- Elise O.
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