Musical Interests

"But I must have some sense of normality in a world of ballgowns and drama, tuxedos and treacherous affairs. Take me fishing, Ahen, please," I said as I paraded around the room in the style of an actor reciting a monologue, "Is it because I live here, Ahen, and this is only you place of work?"  Ahen looks at the ground, revealing no emotion. "I've known you all my life!  You are like a brother to me!"  I took a deep breath, "So can I come?"

An  awkward silence followed. 

"I thought so." I huffed and started to storm out.

"Ezriel, wait," I turned around with a hopeful look on my face.

"I'm sorry, Ezriel.  I'm so so sorry," I heard him shout.

And then the whole world went dark.

That was a little blurb that I just came up with on the spot, based on something that I said to my mom when she made me take off all of my bracelets to go to my uncle's birthday party. The exact words were "But I must have some sense of normality in a world of ballgowns,"  Not exactly related, but still.  I might add on to it in my next post.

So I was listening to Sweater Weather by THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, and it makes me think of  how many artists there are that almost no one I know has heard of because they're too caught up with what's new and hot.  Everyone knows Iggy Azalea, Maroon 5, Katy Perry.  But who knows THE NEIGHBOURHOOD? Down With Webster?  I've asked my friends, and they have no idea.  It's sad, really.  Also, watch THE NEIGHBOURHOOD'S videos.  Thery're awesome.  My personal favorite is Female Robbery.

So, next week I'm going to camp.  I've imagined so many scenarios of when I get there, I've even considered going by my middle name, which is Anna.  But then that would get weird.  Because I know someone that is going to camp with me.  Last week, I read The Secret Identity of Devon Deanley, and for a few days I thought that maybe I'd be popular at camp? Maybe I'd be like her, not in the lying part, but where she becomes popular all of a sudden.  Four days later, I laughed that I had ever even considered that.  Pathetic, right?  But a girl can only hope.  I hope I make friends right away.  When I first came to the school that I'm at now, It took me five months to make my first friends, but now, they're my besties for life!  Believe it or not, this is my first time going to camp not with my school.  I went to Space Camp, and Science Camp in 5th and 4th grade, but that's about it.
Today, I want to the mall with my friend.  I know what you're thinking, big deal, isn't that what every girl does, she's just writing this to make her post longer.  After the trip, she showed me a texting conversation that she was having with a friend of a friend that she had never met.  An hour later, she had to try and talk him out of a suicide attempt. Suddenly, he stopped responding.  I hope it was just his battery dying.  Earlier, he was telling my friend a really outrageous story, and I called him a phony.  I feel bad for saying that now.  I hope he's okay.

Don't do it Nick.

Please Don't.

~Nikole    

Thoughts on a Summer Day

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I've heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

                      ~Emily Dickinson

I really enjoy reading the works of Emily Dickinson.  She was a really talented poet.  Last year we had to pick two poems to memorize and this is one of the ones that I picked.  I enjoyed reading, and then memorizing it because it has a pattern.  It doesn't always rhyme, but it has a bit of a rhythm, sort of like a song. Try singing it.  It's kind of an odd song, and it would be different for everyone, depending on the tune they choose, and if they choose to repeat certain stanzas (I chose to repeat the first one after I went through the poem once.)  

This next poem, also by Emily Dickinson, I can relate to.  

THIS is my letter to the world,   

  That never wrote to me,—       

The simple news that Nature told,          

  With tender majesty.  

 

Her message is committed                  

  To hands I cannot see;

For love of her, sweet countrymen,       

  Judge tenderly of me!

                       ~Emily Dickinson

This blog is my way of leaving a mark on the world, even if it isn't a large footprint, even if it is only a smudge of the windshield of all eternity, all existence, it'll still be there, and maybe, one day, somebody will find it, buried under centuries worth of technological junk.  But then again, if it's only a smudge on the windshield of the universe, then I'll most likely get wiped away by all the newer, bigger, better things that are made.  

Nikole

My Writing, and my Cat

Sup!  Long time no see!  I'm so happy finals are over!  This was my first year taking them, and it was worse then being Irish danced to death ;-)  Not like that's ever happened to me, but I can imagine that it would not be pleasant.  Lately, I've been really into drawing anime.  It started when I was in my mom's office at the hospital that she works at, and I wanted to draw something.  For some reason, all the how to draw sites were blocked... I wonder why... so I Googled anime, and I just started drawing.  I haven't drew anything amazing yet, but I'll post a pic when a really one pops up.

A few days ago, I got an account on wattpad.  It's a really cool site, where you can read novels that are user contributed.  I haven't added anything yet, but I'm thinking of adding this story that I'm working on about three siblings.  The older is Ginni, and the younger twins are Adrien and Quincy.  They just moved from London to Chicago, and they're dealing with life.  That's the first part.  In that section, Adrien and Quincy are in 4th grade, and Ginni is in 6th.  It starts out with a couple of flashbacks from when they were younger, and still living in London.  I had the first 5 chapters done, and was working on the 6th, but now I have a problem with my computer and it's at the help desk at my school.  Sucks, right?  I have part of it on Dropbox, so I'll include the first chapter at the end of this post.

Today is my cat Lily's 1st birthday!  I'm so happy for her.  The sad thing is that both my parents work full time, so I'm with my sister and my grandpa at his house, and Lily is at my house all alone.  I made this really cute flipgram on my phone to honor her special day.

Here's the first chapter of my story:

Chapter 1: The Family Penguin 
My name is Adrien. Just in case you’re having any doubts, I’m completely normal. The only 
thing remotely interesting about me is that I lived in England until I was nine years old. I’ve got a twin 
brother and an older sister. I’ve got a mum and a dad. I live in a nice flat in Chicago with my family. I’ve 
even got a little gray tabby named Penguin. He got his name about five years back, when we first found 
him. I was six years old and didn’t know any better, so I thought the he was a penguin. Here’s how it 
happened: 
I was walking home from school with Ginni (my older sister) and Quincy (my twin brother), and I 
saw a little black creature with a white bow shaped marking on its chest. Since we were learning about 
penguins in school, I, just like any other six year old would, thought it was a penguin. When I asked 
Ginni if we could keep it, she just laughed and said sure, we’ll bring the penguin home. When we got 
home, Quincy and I showed Mum, who simply went with it. This was not the first time that one of us 
had brought something odd home. 
“As first order of business,” I remember her saying, “we will give the penguin a nice warm bath, 
and then we will look about why this penguin was so from home,” 
And that’s exactly what we did. At first, he squirmed a lot, and might have hissed, but if he did, 
then nobody heard it because we were all screaming and trying to keep the Penguin in the bathtub, but 
eventually, we got him clean. I think it was Quincy that noticed first that it was gray. 
“Look,” I remember him saying, “He’s gray,” 
“Then he’s not a penguin,” I remember Ginni interrupting. At the time, she was eight, and 
thought that she was loads better then Quincy and I, “Penguins are only black and white, and sometimes 
have little yellow stripes. Also, penguins do not have fur,” 
That’s when I started crying. I was really sad that we hadn’t found a penguin. 
“Look,” Mum started, “I think that it’s a-” 
That was the exact moment that Dad decided to come home from his job at the bank. He was 
the president of the bank, and Mum thought literature at the university. 
“What the-” 
“Ronald, the children are present!” Mum shushed at Dad. That’s how it usually went when dad 
got angry. He would start to say something that Ginni, Quincy and I weren’t supposed to hear, and 
Mum would stop him just before he said it. 
“Sorry,” he murmured, “Why is there a wet kitten in the bathtub?” 
“I found it!” I started, 
“And then she thought that it was a penguin. What a moron,” Ginni finished. “Ginni, don’t call your sister mean names,” Mum scolded. 
“Mum, I wasn’t being mean, I was just stating the truth, and as her loving sister, I owe her that 
much,” Ginni might have been eight, but she could talk her way through almost anything. At school it 
worked, but at home, she usually got in trouble. 
“Don’t be smart with me, Ginneva!” 
“Can we keep it?” I asked excitedly. 
“Sure, why not?” Mum said, 
“I don’t see how it could do any harm,” Dad answered, a little more reluctant then Mum. 
“It still looks like a penguin to me,” I said. 
“We can think of names later, Adrien,” Mum shushed. 
“We need to take it to the vet,” Quincy stated, even when he was six, he was smart. Sadly, my 
talent didn’t reveal itself like Ginni’s and Quincy’s did. I found mine two years later, at a family reunion 
in Sydney. 

Please comment.  I really want to see if anyone's reading this.

~Niko

Day Two

Wow!  This is my second day doing this, and I already have 21 page views!  (At least 5 of them were me, checking out how other people would see my blog.)  So, how did you like my last post?  Was my poem any good?  What do you want me to write about?  I can do book reviews, but keep in mind, I'm twelve, so I can't read everything.  I can also post some of my writing, if you liked my poem.  Comment some suggestions.  Even if I don't post every day, I'll try to check for comments and page views.

 For today, I'll start with a book review.  Right now, I'm re-reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  It's about a boy named Andrew "Ender" Wiggin who lives about two hundred years into the future.  All of the events are taking place after two invasions by the Formics, also known as Buggers.  During the invasions, an military called the International Fleet (I.F.) was created, and is basically an army to represent Earth.  The I.F. has created an academy located in space called Battle School where they launch the brightest and the best kids to train to be military commanders.  Ender is one of the ones that gets launched.  He is a third child, and his murderous brother Peter (4 years older) and loving sister Valentine (2 years older) didn't make it into the program.  The books starts out when Ender is 6, and follows him until he is twelve.  I first read this when I was a few months from turning eleven, but I didn't fully understand it then.  I would recommend it to middle and high-schoolers.  It's a really amazing book, extremely well written.   It also has like 15 or 16 sequels, and another one is coming out this fall.

Please comment if you actually read this.  I really want to know how I'm doing.

Nikole

Why I'm Doing This

I'm a nerd. I'll just throw that out there. I like school, my favorite subjects are math, science, and English. This is what I do for fun. I'm doing this because I want to do something unique. I don't think that there's a lot of middle schoolers with blogs. Honestly, I hope that this blows up. I hope that it has thousands of views a day. But I know that'll that's not likely. I just hope that someone reads this, and that it's not just my family.

I really like to write.  I haven't won any big contests, and I haven't been published, but I have recently won a contest just within my school with a poem titled "The Ocean." I've typed it below, in case anyone wants to read it.

"The Ocean,

Waves of deepest blue.

A sunny day,

 Clear and calm,

Gentle,

Kind.

The dark of night,

Monstrous,

Sealing,

Holding,

In it's deathly bind.

The land.

Our roots.

They call to most.

But of me they will never take their hold.

Calling loudly as they may,

The ocean I will seek one day!

Landlocked.

Hopeless.

But one day I will run,

I will escape...

To cast my life among the sea,

My only chance of being free."

I also really like to listen to music. I like bands and artists that sing about something with feeling. Something human. Not just their experience at a party, or how they broke up with their boyfriend, and then what him back, like in Cher Lloyd's "Want You Back."  The exact lyrics are "...I thought you'd still be mine, when I kissed you goodbye..."  If I could go up to her in the song and say, "You broke up with him.  He's free to date other women," I would.  Actually, I wouldn't.  I'd chicken out.  For those of you who are fans of Cher Lloyd, this is the only thing I have against her.  She has a great voice, I love her fashion style, and her music videos are amazing, without being over the top.  For some people, like Katy Perry, big, and bold, and exotic, and sometimes over the top works, but Cher Lloyd has it all under control.  It's a shame that she's not that famous in the U.S. as she is in England.

As far as artists go, I really like Ellie Golding.  She has such a unique voice, and she's so good!  My favorite song by her is "Anything Can Happen"  It's amazing!  She shows so much emotion, and you can really tell she believs every word she's singing.  The music video is also fantastic!  

I also really like alternative rock, and pop punk.  Bands like Fall Out Boy and Imagine Dragons are what I listen to the most.