Age: 36
Postmark: Scotland
This week...will you share a brief memory about a time when you were "making it up as you went along"? That could very well describe my experience with this project (which has evolved in wonderful ways I didn't anticipate), but also with life in general, no? For fun, let's make all this week's memories in the present tense, so when we read them we won't have any perspective about what's going to happen, either! Just drop us into a moment and try to render it as vividly as you can.
Tommy May
ReplyDeleteEngl. 103
SPYF
Present tense memory
Make it up as you go along
“Ben c’mon man.” I mumble under my breath as he goes on messing up the next joke again. What is my next move going to be? My best friend is on stage in front of a sold out auditorium messing up every line he was supposed to remember. Instantly I proceed to incorporate this into the act as if we were supposed to be screwing up the jokes. I start to walk around the stage shaking my head in disgust with him while whipping him with my bandana. At this point Ben picks up on my new act and continues to play along with everything going on. “Tawmmy, that’s you name right? Okay good, because for a second I thought you were actually trying to make fun of me for messing up a joke.”
At this point we are both exchanging jokes at each other and having fun with this whole new act we mysteriously came up with. After each joke the crowd erupts louder and louder. The fact that this entire part was not rehearsed seem to make this act so much better because it was an extremely natural routine which seemed to draw the crowd closer to Ben and I. As we are swapping line after I line I realized something midstream. It was as if I was just having a conversation with him in the hallways of school and it just so happened that we were on stage and all of these people were listening in on our conversation, but are we really that funny? Or is it the fact that we were on stage and have the guts to try to pull a move like this because all of the other acts were so planned out? Is it all the tension in the room that we seemed to loosen up and turn into our playground? I realized a lot of things in the middle of this performance that opened up my eyes to a whole new level of comedy.
“Hey Benny how bout we call it a night and go to the movies?” We proceed to hold hands and walk off the stage. The crowd erupts into a standing ovation that seemed to go on forever. With both thought it was only right to go out there and give them a bow. I felt like I was on top of the world. I could see my mom out of her seat clapping and smiling. She seemed so happy to see me succeed and to be happy as well. I know I would here about this performance for the next month to come because she is just one of those moms who loves to brag about her kids. At that point I did not care because I put a smile on so many peoples face and hopefully brightened their day.
I’m attending LISEF today, a research competition in which one’s research project must be presented to two or three judges. I put together my presentation board over the last week and today I have to present it, but I have not practiced presenting my information and to top it off, I am a terrible public speaker. I did write a twenty page paper on my research and created a powerpoint presentation based off of it, so I guess I’ll just make up this presentation as I go along. The judges have hundreds of students to judge, so I have to wait in my seat until they make their way over to me. I’m going to go over what I want to say in my head so I have some idea of what I should say. Soon enough I see the judges walking over to me. I stand up and introduce myself to them. I begin to present my research, trying to put all of my thoughts into words on the fly. Nothing that I thought of during my waiting period was coming out of my mouth. Surprisingly, almost everything that I was saying made sense scientifically. I was just about done and the judges seemed as if they were interested. I won’t be finding out the results for a weeks, but I did rather well for making it up as I went, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteOnce again my friends and I are driving around aimlessly with no destination on a snowy Tuesday night. Of course I am the one driving because there are eight of us and I am the one with a SUV. After leaving my friend Anthony’s driveway, I begin driving on the back roads of Woolwich Township. The snow begins to start sticking to the ground making roadways extra slippery. Directly in front of me is an eighteen wheeler, therefore as I start to get closer to the rig I slow down. Suddenly, my car begins to slip on what appears to be black ice. We are headed right into the truck. I quickly steer to the left heading straight towards the guardrail. I quickly steer to the right and thankfully regain control of the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI decide that it is too dangerous to keep driving in this inclement weather. Thus, I drive to Wal-Mart, where we can pass some time while the snow starts to settle. While walking around Wal-Mart, Anthony decides that we should have a scavenger hunt. He begins to gather up a list of questions, pictures, and items that we have to collect in a shopping cart. The hunt is scheduled to last two hours in teams of four. The first item on the list is to have a picture taken with the manager on duty. As I start to walk to the customer service counter I see a professionally dressed man with a nametag, who gives off the vive that he was the manager. As I approach him he says, “Can I help you with something?’ I reply, “Actually yes, it’s a long story but I was wondering if my friends and I can take a photo with you. It’s for a school project.” Thankfully he consents and we quickly grab another associate to snap the photo for us. One thing on the list is now checked off, only forty-nine left to go.
Two hours goes by and unfortunately we lose the game. It is now past midnight and we realize how hungry running around Wal-Mart has made us. I decide that I have never eaten at the famous White Castl,, therefore, that is where we are going. Luckily, as I walk outside and look up at the sky there is not a trace of any snowflakes falling. I think to myself, “Hopefully we don’t have another close incident with a truck.” Driving to white castle is an experience in itself. I drive around one circle which is then followed by another circle. This trend lasts for merely seven circles until I reach my destination. I step out of my car, now extremely hungry and dizzy. As I walk to the entrance of the “palace” I hear a roar of laughter. I look back to see one of my friends who had fallen and “busted his butt” on some ice. As he gets up, he suddenly falls back down. I guess he has no energy left at one o’clock in the morning. After eating the delicious mini burgers, it was time to end this adventurous night. Driving home I think about how exciting a day without plans has turned out to be. The only upside to this night is that I am now left with an empty tank of gas.
I'm attending a party somewhere off the campus of Vilanova."Dude she's looking at you," whispers Steve. "Who's looking at me," I whisper back. "That girl over there that's who," Steve answers. Steve points over behind me directly at a girl staring right at me. "Should I go talk to her," i ask. "Yeah go over there," all of my friends yell. "Fine, fine I'll go talk to her," I respond. I walk over to the girl and introduce myself. "Hi my names Dillon, whats your name?"
ReplyDelete"I'm Erin I'm a junior here at Vilanova." Now since I'm in high school I had to make something up. "I'm a sophomore transfer student from the university of Central Connecticut," I said. I was completely making things up off the top of my head so the girl didn't know i was in high school. "I transferred here for a track scholarship, Central Connecticut wasn't giving me enough money so I came here for more off my tuition." The girl completely bought everything I said and I received her number right before my friends left. "Vilanova parties are pretty good Kris," I exclaim. "Yeah I get that a lot," Kris replies. That is the end of my senior year overnight at Vilanova university.
Every single time I think about a presentation I have done in front of people, the word prepared never comes to mind. I tell myself I need to be ready, so I do not look stupid or unprepared, but I never go through with it. I guess because it never seems to be a problem when I am not prepared. Normally I go through the process of presenting my ideas as if I had studied the whole night before. This day was just like every other day I have needed to present my ideas. Naturally I had not prepared from the night before. I stood up next to my group mates in Engineering 101 and got ready to present.
ReplyDeleteI told myself, “Dude you got this you do this every time you do a presentation.” I began to stand up from everyone, with confidence. I thought to myself that I have never had a problem with public speaking. It’s one of the scariest things for some people, yet I never developed that phobia. We started our presentation, and I began explaining with much ease about our project. Even as I was speaking, I thought to myself that I sounded prepared. I did not stutter, and I was stating my facts purposefully. We continued with our presentation for about five minutes until our time was up. Then we were hammered with questions by the T.A.’s and the Professor. I answered their questions with ease.
My best friend Kara and I were on our way to the local movie theatre, The Roxy, in our small town. Her mom was along, since we were only 10 years old, and the movie of the week was Snow Dogs. The movie had just come out about two months ago and we were so excited to finally see it. We walk in the theatre and are greeted by the owner who always collects our ticket stubs. I quick look around and take in the familiar settings, since I have been there so often, and I still think the antique look to the theatre gives it much appeal. Kara’s mom lets us choose some snacks for the movie. Of course, we get a small popcorn each because a movie just isn’t a movie without some buttery popcorn! We walk down the aisle into the theatre, deciding what old, springy seat will serve us best this time around. We choose to sit fairly up close and a few seats in from the end. Kara and I take seats next to each other, Kara closer to the aisle, and her mom sits in another row than us, but right behind me. We are early, so we just relax, munch on some popcorn, and chat before the lights will dim and signal the start of the show. Soon, an older lady, and of large size I might add, appears at the end of our row. She starts to make her way down the row, so both Kara and I move our legs in a bit so she can get by us more easily. As the lady passes Kara, and with no warning whatsoever, she sits down on me. Yes, I do mean that she sat down on me, completely sitting on my lap – the lap of a ten year old who weighs less than a hundred pounds. She did not move, as if she had no idea that she was right on top of me. I was helpless. I just sat there, clueless as to what to do, and shocked that this was happening. I just went along with it. I could not even process the actuality of the situation right on top of me. Good thing Kara’s mom took the seat right behind me. She pushed on the lady’s buttocks until the woman stood up, walked over three seats, and sat down on her new, empty seat. She did not utter a word to me, to Kara, or to Kara’s mom. She made no indication of apology or of even knowing what she had just done. It was if she sat down, felt some strange force tell her to move, and then she did just that. I just stared in utter disbelief for a while, trying to wrap my mind around what happened and how I oddly did not feel like I was being crushed. I thanked Kara’s mom, because otherwise, I think I would have sat during the whole movie trapped beneath a clueless woman. And then I looked at Kara and stifled a laugh. Might as well find some humor in it all!
ReplyDeleteDon Gabel ENGL 103 SBYF
ReplyDeleteOh my God, Fred how do you expect me to remember all this procedure on these brake systems. Upon my tantrum, everyone in the room is laughing. Of course, Fred being mild mannered gave a smirk ans said,"Don you will be fine". I know he was training me for two weeks, and I am learning the procedures, but I have my brain fart moments. Fred and everyone laughts, and I get the teasing of the month in that small shop. While I am working on the bench, I turn around- hey no one here. Hey, Fred come over here and do your job-"TEACH" in a sarcastic tone but only joking. Fred is only days away from his new job in the electronics lab. His time left at the location is just days so he is like a giddy schoolboy. Fred, get over here and answer a question I need to clarify. Your walking around like someone running for political office. Hey, FRED come over here now! It is like a comedy club in the shop. Fred again makes the statement you are doing fine. I am an electrician, but I also have a mechanical background too. Fred is mainly a electrical/ electronics person. He needed more time for training than I required. But, his trainer never walked all over the building.
My may concern before Fred leaves is the fact I have a busy schedule. I am in college taking two evening classes. One is English 103 and Industrial Project. They contain a lot of work, and I have to learn these brake units. I think something will spill- out of my head. Again, Fred says don't worry. Well, he is only taking one course, lives the life of leisure, and has no major financial worry. Now, on the other hand, I have two livly grandchildren at home, bill, and it seems I'm always at the grindstone. Wah wah, Don is crying again. I want to ask some final question before he leaves, and he is off again on a journey. Well, if he believes I can do the job; I guess I can do the job. Fred, I yell as he rolls his eyes. I just want to say thank you, and maybe you are right I can handle all this info and work. Well, the next week Fred was at his new location. I seem to be holding my own, and I passed my mid-term in Industrial Project. I guess my brain didn't drain.
I’m walking with my usual group of friends down the ten-minute walkway that leads to my high school. It’s one of those days that senioritis is hitting pretty hard, and the last thing I wanted to do on this beautiful sunny day was attend class.
ReplyDelete“Did you study for the Calculus test?” Jess asks, and I scoff, like she doesn’t know already.
“Yeah right. Even if I had the entire night to study I’d still fail.” Which was not an exaggeration at all, either. Jess laughs, because we both know it’s true.
“Man it’s a beautiful day.” She sighs.
“Yeah, and we’re spending it in school. Seriously.”
Jess and I glance at each other, and it’s one of those moments where we are perfectly in sync, even without words. The rest of our friends are still just calmly strolling down the sidewalk, one step at a time closer to our doom.
“So,” she says conversationally, “if we didn’t have school today, what would we be doing? Hypothetically, of course.”
“Hypothetically, we’d be at the Build-A-Bear workshop, making fools of ourselves. Or in Barnes and Noble, drinking Starbucks and making fun of people.”
“Or, we could be walking down the streets of 5th Avenue, and buying really big cupcakes from Dylan’s Candy Bar and gorging on sweets.”
We exchange another look that only two best friends can share.
“I guess the Calculus test isn’t that important.” I murmur.
“Nah, we’d both fail anyway. And then we’d be all depressed about it, and even this weather wouldn’t be able to cheer us up.” Her voice of reason was all that was needed. The rest of the gang shake their heads.
And of course, that would be how our day was spent.
It’s a mid-Summer night as I’m sitting with my father and his friends in my basement. I’m observing my father and his friends playing poker. They are playing a different style of poker each round. I am eager to join them but I am clueless as to how each game of poker works, so I wait patiently until I am confident in how to play. Suddenly, my father boasts, “C’mon Beau! Get in this! Win some cash!” I tell my father I am very confused about how each game works, but he ignores me. “You’ll do fine! You’ll learn as we go along,” my father claims.
ReplyDeleteI am handed multiple stacks of poker chips, each stack possessing different color chips than the other stacks. My father’s best friend is handling the cards and states, “Okay boys, the game shall be… five card, no peek.” I start to worry because I have no idea how to play. My father’s best friend hands me five cards that are all faced down. I begin to flip them when suddenly my father grabs my arm and informs me that we are not allowed to look at our cards. I watch as the attention turns to each person at the table to see if that person will bet, raise, or fold. The attention is now on me and I call the bet without even thinking the scenario through my head. Unexpectedly, everyone at the table flips their cards. I now realize that the winner is the player who possesses the highest hand. I lose the round and the money goes to a young man who was holding a full house, a pair and a three of a kind.
I now realize that each game of poker is similar by the person with the best hand is the winner of that particular game. Now that I realize this, I become more observant of each player and learn how each player reacts to certain situations. We play a few more games and I learn more and more of each game until the dealer chip is passed to me. My Father and his friends put all of their attention on me as I begin to think of what type of game of poker I was like to play. “Is Texas Hold ‘em alright?” I ask. My father’s friends assure me that it’s fine and seem very eager to play. I pass everyone at the table their two cards and check my cards. I see that I have a pair of kings and I try to control my excitement. The group’s attention moves from person to person around the table to see if anyone calls, raises, or folds. Only two other people and I are left after the river cards are flipped over. I now have a full house and I’m confident I will win this hand. However, as the attention of the group is put on me to decide if I want to call, raise, or fold, I decide to only call the previous bet because I know this will make the others think I have a weak hand. The next two cards flip over and I still feel like I have the strongest hand. One of my competitors folds while the other decides to raise the pot. I respond to his raise by also raising. My competitor seems very confident and goes “all in,” but I realize he is bluffing based on watching how he has reacted to certain situations in earlier rounds. I call his bet and we both flip over our cards. My full house beat the hand he possessed, which was a flush. I now have over twice as much money as I started with based on just going with it.
The first thing I thought when I woke up was “what should I do today? I want to do something fun” But nothing specifically exciting came to mind so I just continued to lay here in my bed for the next hour waiting for a great idea to come to mind. One hour later and unfortunately nothing came to mind, so I decided to call up my best friend to see what she was up to on the beautiful day that is.
ReplyDelete“Hello?” She said in a tired groggy voice as she answered the phone.
“Hey!” I said “What are your plans for today?”
“Well, if you must know, I’m still laying in bed at the moment so by the looks of it my days not getting any better than this.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I said as a great idea sprang into my head “Let’s do something spontaneous, let’s go to six flags!”
“Six flags? I guess we could do that, I heard it’s a beautiful day out although I clearly have not checked yet.” She said as she glances at the clock noticing it’s 11 am.
“Yes! Now get your lazy ass up and get ready, were leaving at 12. No questions asked.” I said as I hung up the phone, not giving her anytime to argue.
Once I put the phone down I sprang out of bed and headed strait to the shower. I showered and made myself some breakfast and got dressed as quickly as I could. I was pretty excited for this spontaneous day to start. From the looks of it the decision to go to six flags wasn’t going to be the only “out of nowhere” idea that we have that day.
Around 11:50 I was finally ready so I grabbed my keys and ran out to my car. I knew I was early so I was going to be waiting for her about ten minutes once I got there because that’s typical Leila. I drove around the block and sat in the car for just what I thought, about ten minutes. As I was sitting there I began to think about the great time we were going to have. Every time we do something spontaneous like this we have a blast and I’m sure this time we will too. She finally came out around 12:03 and got in the car.
“Lets get this day started!” I yelled
“Hell yeah!” She replied with excitement
How am I going to talk for five minutes? I have one lousy page of scribbled notes and I had weeks to prepare. And now I have to speak by myself for five whole minutes? This is going to be embarrassing. Oh well, here I go.
ReplyDelete“I suppose I’ll start by reading my thesis…”
Oops, that was too quiet. I’ll speak up from now on.
“In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot there are many existential themes presented, which are also shown in the other works we have read.”
That sounded terrible out loud. Whatever. So I’m off to a bit of a rough start. I’ll bounce back. Wait, does that thesis even make sense? I should have looked into this more. And now I have to defend this ill thought out claim to my peers. A claim which links existential themes in a play I haven’t read to similar themes in two books I also haven’t read. And why can’t I remember what existentialism is? Something to do with loneliness maybe? Oh no, I’ve been silent for over ten seconds!
“So Vladimir is waiting on Godot to come and he is hopeless but yet he wants to wait for him and thus is dependent on him and through this Beckett seeks to portray that he wants to show that he is lonely. This is depicted here on page 16 paragraph 3 where we see this quote here let me read it aloud here it is.”
Well there’s no getting around it. This is complete and utter bullshit. Gotta keep talking, though.
“Um…”
Oh god I’m really nervous. What if someone calls me out on not knowing what I’m saying?
“Um… as you… as you can see this defends my thesis.”
Oh look, there’s a hand up. I hope she doesn’t ask how the quote defends my thesis.
“So in what way does that quote support your thesis? In fact I’m a little unclear as to what your thesis actually is. It’s pretty vague.”
This can’t end well. “Well you see… it uh… represents the way that… uh… Vladimir was waiting on Godot. You know what I mean?”
“No.”
“Oh. Um I really don’t know how else to explain it.”
Hmm. The teacher is up out of her desk. This is different.
“Andy, please return to your seat.”
“Oh. Okay. Has it been five minutes already?”
“No, but I’ve heard enough.”
Haha, she had enough of that nonsense.
Delete"Hey so lets begin with Psych presentations for today, Nancy your sitting in the front so you can start"
ReplyDelete"Hey umm my presentation is on Gender Roles in Society, there are certain behaviors/personality traits that are linked to genders, when you look at toys or advertisements you can see certain behaviors that are stagmitized in society"
"What specific behaviors and where do you see this"
"Umm well think of Toys R' Us, or any toy store for that matter and umm just think of commericials, where you hear grungy, intense music played in the background when toys for boys are being advertised while on the other hand when you see a toy marketed for girls there are lots of cooking or baby dolls involved"
"Good, do you happen to have your copy of data or research"
"Umm I left it in my car"
"Ohh well its gonna take you awhile to bring that up here so just turn it in tomorrow"
I just arrived in class and I am supposed to have prepared a response to the reading about globalization in foreign countries. I clearly have not read the text so I am hoping that the professor does not call on me to explain my thoughts about it. He is going down the rows calling on every person to give their input. Now he calls on me.
ReplyDelete"Ashley, how do you feel about the development and globalization that Haiti has experienced?"
"I feel like they have had a lot of development in their country. They are much more advanced than before and are getting gaining more technology to keep in touch with the rest of the world."
"Can you give me an example from the text on how they developed and gained technology?"
"Well, I didn't really understand that part."
"Ok. Does anyone else know?"
It is an inferno; my wool shawl prevents any cool air from alleviating the heat. The lights inhibits my eyes from behaving normally, resulting in a dust filled curtain of light. This screen hides the audience from my sight. I grip the basket in my arms as if it will give me balance not to fall off the platform. For imagination purposes the outcropping is a bridge, and we (my other two cohorts) are the bridge keepers. Sophia steps up and asks for passage across. The typical prewritten banter ensues, until there is a sudden echoing silence. I can’t remember my response. Sophia’s face is blank, confused that there is emptiness instead of my small voice filling it.
ReplyDelete“Is the bridge safe to pass?” She repeats.
Out of the heat haze that took over my mind, I began to form thoughts appropriate for the situation.
“Yep it’s safe, but be warned, the bridge will take you where you want to go, but is that where, you should, you know, trespass?”
Sophia smiles and eventually we manage to get back to script. Minutes later when we are finally off stage, my friend asks, “Where did that come from?”
I hold back the hysterical laugh that’s forming and say “What? Isn’t that my line?”
I wake up and see that I am running late. Crap! I have a presentation on cells today. Okay, there are fifteen minutes before the bus gets here. I get dressed in a blur and quickly scramble to find some materials for my presentation. I grab a mesh laundry bag, a Ziploc container, paper, and beads. The bus pulls up in front of the house and I sprint out to get on. I take a seat and start cutting up paper and taping it together. I throw the constructed paper crafts and the beads into the Ziploc container and throw the container into the laundry bag. I finish up just before the bus arrives at school. I run to class and sit down at my desk. The teacher starts class and one by one students give their presentations while I wait for my turn. Finally, the teacher calls my name and I walk up to the front like I own the place. I take the laundry bag and hold it up to the class while explaining that it is a representation of a cell. I open the bag up and grab the Ziploc container. I tell the class that the container represents a cell’s nucleus and inside is all of the information needed to replicate. I open the container and pull out the DNA strands that I made out of paper and tape and describe how the DNA is put together and the process of replication. The beads come out next and they represent genes. After I finish, the class claps and the teacher is very impressed. The next day I find out I got an A and the teacher commented on how creative I was.
ReplyDeleteMy team of grey armbands starts in the corner closest to the right angle in this right triangle arena. The right angle is the top of the hill, and is loaded with boulders, bushes, and fallen trunks (an obvious choke point), while the path along the hypotenuse is slightly downhill, with some rocks for cover. I’m not scared, but I am alone. I had come to Poco Loco to test out my new paintball rifle. While I watch my team of youngsters eagerly plan out an elaborate strategy and their fathers talk off to the side, I weigh my gun in my hand and the barrel dips up and down with my wrist acting as a hinge. Not long ago, I was where they are now, for I had only come twice before. I know, however, that plans rarely work: you can’t always predict what the other team will do. I haven’t played on this course, but I imagine the other team wants control of the hill since their corner has minimal coverage.
ReplyDeleteThe kids want to take the hill. Their small bodies will fit in small crevices between rocks, they say. I opt for the sideline with less cover. I want to try out my new gun, and the brush by the boulders will break my bullets before they reach their targets. The whistle blows, and we scatter. During the chaotic time when everyone is scrambling, I take up a good position where I can peak between a tree and a rock. The typical firefight breaks out. The few kids who came with me retreat, while a two dads hold their ground behind me, towards the hill. They get flanked and shot from the incline, but the L-shaped rock formation protects me from sight, and from harm. I wait. The enemies taking the hill lose interest in my side, and there are people advancing to me. I plan my attack, and wait until a boulder separates them from each other’s line of sight. I take one, then switch sides of my cover and take the other. Let’s go.
I break from my spot to take the ground I just claimed, but an experienced player pops out from his nook and lights up my area. I had seen his green mask during the earlier firefight, but I thought he had flanked up the hill. I reacted before he shot, and made cover by a tree. His gun shoots faster, but mine is more accurate. I try to think of a way to get him out of cover, but I can’t. I move from tree to tree, reducing his line of fire. He moves, and I see my chance: he is peeking out of one side of the tree to shoot me, but if he curls around it too much, he is exposed. I draw fire, shuffle sideways, and aim to right where he was popping out from, but on the other side of the tree. He can’t see me from where he is, he must switch, I think. I am exposed, but I have the advantage. He takes the bite and regrets it immediately: I splatter the left side of his mask with pink paint. He’s mad.
I breathe quickly, my adrenaline is now blasting and I feel every part of my surroundings: beads of sweat on my brow, the bits of dirt on my knees, and the breeze on my neck. I take, once again, the land I won. I grin, and nearly laugh, as I realize I am right next to their starting point. I’ve never been here before; this should be fun. I crawl. Uphill. Smiling deviously. I approach their rear line that consists a few kids my age who are making a plan. I make eye contact with the ref, who waves me away: I am too close. I back up and shoot them both in the shoes; I’m nice. I proceed to eliminate everyone else (seven) on the other team from behind. Twice, they think that someone on their own team has shot them. I wave to them as they pass me and trudge back to the picnic table area. I like to make the most of situations like that. Finally, I hold my band up so as to not get shot by my own team. The ref calls the game, and congratulates me on my “heroics”. I’m satisfied.
Choosing a memory of when you just made it up as you went along I guess could be applied to life in general. As I grew up through a variety of inspirations in my life I constantly changed what I wanted to do. I grew up watching the old Free Willy movies and I said I wanted to become a whale trainer. As I got older I started reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and watching Law and Order and all these crime related things. Before I knew it I wanted to become a crime fighter. I had a friend whose father is a federal prosecutor and he mentioned an internship they held for high school students. I wanted to take it but never heard back from him. Now I am majoring in music which I have been doing since I was five. So you can never really say what you want out of life as you go on you just pick up on things. Your life is not set in stone you make it up as you go along.
ReplyDeleteI am an architecture and interior design student and every week we have to show our instructor our progress on our current project. Sometimes the weekends get the best of me and I don't get as much work done as I need to. I have to meet on Monday afternoon to go over my work. I take some time before to brainstorm things to talk about and go over. This helps them not focus on what I didn't get done. As the meeting goes along, I keep coming up with different ideas and questions to keep them occupied until our meeting is over. I have yet to be scolded for not getting a lot of work done. I guess you could say I can kind of manipulate people by "just making it up as I go along".
ReplyDeleteI have recently become treasurer of an organization that is slowly falling apart. There are five main active members and I know that we are all making it up as we go. While we have guidelines and people to help us, it feels as if we are on our own trying to pick up the puzzle pieces of an organization that we have never seen complete. I don't think I've ever googled so many things about money and SAFAC and other money related things in my life. I've been emailing people non stop and making appointments, constantly in contact with the other members, which is a nice change of pace. It's hard to make this up and figure it out as you go along since there are so many guidelines that need to be followed. And truth is if I mess one thing up we could crumble and it would be all my fault. We might not have all the puzzle pieces, but slowly we are making the frame of the puzzle and working our way from there.
ReplyDelete“Ugh, Brian get the door, you’re closer”
ReplyDeleteMuttering to himself my brother opens the door and response with, “It’s for you, its Robs, Dano, and Duri.”
Thinking to myself why my friends would be at the door on a Saturday Morning, “what’s up guys?”
“Get in the car.” Rob replied
“What?”
“Just get in the car.”
“Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you after we leave just bring your wallet.”
“Ok, just let me call my mom”
“No time”
“Ok, fine”, I closed my phone, grabbed my wallet and left. In the back of my head I asked why am I doing this, it’s not like me but I have come to know just to trust Rob. I decide that there was no point in fighting it beside Rob probably had plans to go on a road trip. He pressed play and we were listening to the sounds of Avenged Sevenfold while just talking about what ever came to mind. Forty five minutes of who know what we were talking about passed when we came to a sign the read ‘welcome to Pennsylvania’. Duri was the first to respond asking, “Dude where are we going?”
Rob cracked a smile “Where do you think”
By force of habit when someone asked where I always said “Narnia?”
“You wish, no where do we always go to in PA?”
Dano, Duri, and I looked at one another, the only conclusion we could come to was that we are on our way to Dorney Park. We asked if this was correct but Rob responded with, “you’re half right.”
Fifteen minutes of guessing later we gave up, where could we possible be going?
Seeing our defeat Rob opened the glove compartment and pulled out four tickets’ “we are going the Avenged Sevenfold concert after the park.”, he paused then continued,” I want to go out of senior year with a bang.”
We were just all in shock. Our minds racing as to what today would be like. We soon were at the park. Rob asked for cash for the tickets to both the park and the concert, we never expected him to pay but just the idea that he was pulling this off was amazing.
I asked him, “How did you know that we would be free and come along?”
His response was short and simple, “Because it’s me, I know that you guess will just follow me, cause you know that I’d do something like this”
I began to laugh. This was true. Rob was one of those people who lived life on a whim and could just always be trusted to do something like this. That day made our senior year go out in a bang and it’s all because at one point I just said forget it and just went with the flow.
As a high school student, I was often required to make presentations in front of the class. One day during my senior year I had a presentation due in my history class about Abraham Lincoln. I had no idea I was supposed to present until the teacher called me up. I decided rather than delay it and pretend I forgot to do it, I would make it up as I went along. I then proceeded to go on a five minute rant about everything I knew about Abraham Lincoln. I ended up getting a B+ on the assignment even though I never put one minute into it outside of the classroom. This is just one of the many examples where I've made things up on the spot as I go along.
ReplyDeleteI have a blank, white page and half of Rachel Bilson's face in front of me. Ms. Steele gave us the assignment a couple of days ago. She said to find any type of picture in a magazine or newspaper or even online, but this picture had to be black and white. I was going through magazines and I found the picture of Rachel Bilson, black and white, with her hair tied up in a bun and a lost and dead, but calm look in her eyes. I decided I was definitely going to draw her.
ReplyDeleteYesterday though, Ms. Steele said to cut the drawing in any specific way using a scalpel, so I cut her picture diagonally. All that was left was her hair, eyes, and nose: her mouth and neck were missing. She then told us to finish that picture by sketching and filling in the rest of the paper with whatever we could think of. This is where my problem began.
I can draw and definitely sketch, but my problem is I do not understand exactly how to let my imagination run and I guess fill up the rest of the page; so I start off my drawing her jaw line, making her neck and then her mouth. She looks perfect, just as she is in the original picture. Now I have to start using my imagination. I start by making a somewhat curved line of pencil-eraser-sized circles from the left to the right of her neck. I make pearls! She looks elegant. The rest of the paper - left and right of her - is blank.
Ami and Ashley look at my drawing and they love it, but they have no suggestions as to what I should fill my page up with. I start twirling my pencil and playing with my hair and then I start making random squiggles around on the paper, and that is when I decide to make floating little strands of hair. I start attaching lines and squiggles to the picture of Rachel Bilson, trying to make it seem as if her hair is extending on to the page. By the time I am done with her extended hair, I have around 15 or 20 minutes of class left and I need to hand it in, so I panic because the bottom half of both sides are empty and too many squiggles will make her look crazy. I look up and see trees and leaves, so I start making strands of her hair turn into leaves on the bottom half of my drawing. Looks somewhat crazy, somewhat interesting, but there is only a couple of minutes left and I have to hand in my drawing and leave for my next class.
P.S. A couple of days later when Ms. Steele is handing back all of our drawings, she holds up my drawing. She shows the class of not only a "good job on sketching", but also an interesting approach to making my drawing "imaginative". I guess making things up as I continue to draw does pay off.
Ok, right at this very moment I am officially and formally making a vow and a promise to myself. THIS WILL BE MY FIRST AND LAST BLIND DATE. Ugh, my stomach is turning at the thought of this. I hate blind dates, never even considered one. WHY AM I EVEN DOING THIS??? How, did I even let her talk me into this? “Oh he’s such a nice guy, divorced 4 years, nice-looking, blah, blah, blah...” My life is just getting back to some space of normalcy. I am no longer Freddie’s caretaker and nurse. I am finally getting back to happy, and the LAST thing I need is another distraction to get me off-course.
ReplyDeleteWhat time is it? 6:25pm, well I am waiting just 10 more minutes. I’m starving. I really wish he would hurry. God I love my shoes today!
“Nicole??”
“Yes? Keith? Hi!” Hmm, nice and dark. Check. Bald, like I like them. Check. Check. Nice build, but he could be a little taller. Small check. Melon color button-down shirt, nice pants. Good shoes. Check. Check. Check. Okay so maybe this wasn’t a bad idea after all. Lord, just make him healthy – I am no nurse and my Florence Nightingale days are over.
“Have you been waiting long? I really do apologize. It was so foggy on 295. Everyone was driving very slowly, including me. Wow, you look nice. Are you ready to eat? I’m hungry.
“No, not long at all, I just got here myself. Yes, I am starving. We should have no problem with getting seated they are ready for us – just waiting for you.”
“Oh, good! Well I’ve heard a lot about you from Kim.”
“All nice things, I hope.”
“Yes, all nice things.”
“Well, thank you. Kim tells me you do a lot of volunteer work. Would you like any bread?”
“Yes, I would, thank you. I really enjoy it too, volunteering that is. I donate a lot of my time at the dialysis center in Trenton. I am there at least five to six days a week.
“That’s nice. Wow, that is A LOT of time spent there. How do you do it, how do you fit it in with the rest of your life, schedule, work?”
“Well, you know I am on dialysis myself. I am on the transplant list, number 3 in New Jersey and number 7 in Pennsylvania. I just saw so many people there who were sick and couldn’t even get around, that I decided that since I am in pretty good shape despite needing a kidney, I would do all that I needed to in order to give back…”
WHAT, WHAT.???!!!!! DID HE JUST SAY HE WAS ON THE TRANSPLANT LIST, NUMBER 3 IN JERSEY, 7 IN PENNSYLVANIA???? WTF???? UGH!!!! WHERE IS THAT CAMERA THAT MUST FOLLOW ME AROUND? GOD I SURRENDER!!!!! I’M GOOD, AND I’VE HAD ENOUGH WITH THE DATING….
Ok, ok, ok… calm yourself Nicole, just get through dinner and then RUN as fast as you can…and then I am on my way to kill Kim.
Ha! Love this Nicole.
DeleteAs I stood before the class, my heart starts to race. I feel blood rushing to my face, body shaking, slurred words, all eyes on me. I was in the process of delivering my first public speech, and I was already off to a horrible start. While fumbling my flashcards, loosing my train of thought and try to regain my footing my entire class was aware that I was going to bomb it. In my head I kept dreading the thought that I was going to have to try to drag this out for another 5 minutes. My professor, video recording my every move was also keeping a time check to see if I could meet the requirements of a public speech. This put a lot of stress on me, and the situation. I was never able to deliver a public speech throughout high school and now the time has come to improve my habits. I kept throwing out bullshit, nothing made sense to me, I just wanted to meet the time requirement. When I thought I had filled up the time slot, I went to sit down. My professor then told me the time...."2 minutes and 43 seconds" thats a D. So I pretty much failed my first public speech due to the fact that I tried and tried to make up a successful speech within the hour before it was due. Procrastination will always get the best of you.
ReplyDeleteAs I am sitting in the meeting with all the writers of the school paper, I noticed a new face that joined our team. I wrote newspaper articles for the school paper for about a year and I was very familiar with all the writers. When I saw the new face, I got excited and decided to introduce myself to him.
ReplyDelete“Hi, I’m Yong, what’s your name?” I said.
“Sheldon, nice to meet you”
“So where are you from?” I asked.
“I am from North Philadelphia, where are you from?”
“I am from…”
Before I can answer my friend Danny answered for me,
“He is from Siberia, and is an exchange student”
Danny loves playing jokes on people and this time he released his wrath on me.
“uhhhh, yeah” I played along with Danny’s joke and thought that Sheldon caught on to it, but he believed every word that came out of Danny’s mouth.
“I didn’t know Siberia had Chinese people” Sheldon said.
Danny continued, “well… his parents were in the war and they were sent to Siberia”
I almost fell out of my seat from laughter because Sheldon was buying everything he was saying.
I continued make it up as I went along as Sheldon was captivated by meeting a person from a far distinct Country.
“What do you do for fun there?” asked Sheldon.
I didn’t know how to answer, so I thought of the first thing that came into my mind, “uhhh… ice hockey”
“That is pretty cool”
“Yeah, we are big on ice hockey in Siberia”
“What do you eat in Siberia?”
“uhhh… polar bears and elk”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah… uhh… my parents make jerky out of it”
I can’t believe Sheldon is buying this, how much more nonsense can I blab out before he catches on?
“I think that is the bell, I’ll see you tomorrow”
“see ya”
Sheldon never caught on until three weeks afterwards when I told him that my parents owned a Siberian tiger. That eventually did it.
Please excuse my grammatical mistakes.
ReplyDeleteMy friend Ian, Brandon, Andrew, and I are at this party off of 18th and Diamond. My shirt is drained wet because the house is so hot and there are so many people in it. I look to my left and see Ian talking to this group of guys that seem pretty friendly. I don’t know why but, every time most white people get drunk they turn into the friendliest people. Anyway, I see them talking so I go over there and start to engage into the conversation myself.
ReplyDeleteI approached and stated, “whats up bruhs.”
The 3 white guys replied, “whats up bro! How are you man? Looking good.”
The odd thing about this comment was that they were talking like they have known me for a long time and I just met them. It was all cool though so I continued the conversation. As the conversation continued, I started to get a little tipsy and I noticed my friend Ian was too. My other friends Brandon and Andrew come over and join the conversation with us. The whole entire time we were talking about these two sexy Asian girls that were sitting in the corner making out and not letting anyone join. It was pretty steamy and enjoyable. Anyway we finally get into introductions about ourselves and who we were. They ask my friend Ian his name but, out of nowhere he makes up a fake name and states that his name his “James.” I am tipsy at this point and I want to laugh really badly but, I continue to go along with the joke.
So, they look at me and say, “What’s your name bro?”
I replied, “Lebron.”
One of the three white guys state, “Ohhh shittt…Your name is Lebron and your friends name is James! That’s some crazy shit!”
I replied, “I know, we are brothers and I was adopted. James’ mom wanted to have kids named after Lebron James so she named James, James and adopted a kid named Lebron.”
All three white guys reply, “Ohhhh Shittt! That’s awesome man! This is the sickest shit I ever heard!
As you can tell we made up everything and by the end of the night, Ian, also known as James, was a porn star from Scotland that did porn to get his visa. Then, I was Malcolm X’s lost grandson that was a refuge from Egypt. Turns out this semester, the white guy that noticed our names were Lebron and James was my partner in my Development and Globalization class and remembers everything. Morale of the story, only make up fake lives if you know for sure you will be highly unlikely to see them again
Mrs. Saul announces to my chemistry class that we will be instructing a class at Salem County Science Day. Science Day is a county-wide event where there are many exciting science demonstrations geared toward elementary school students. She explains how excited she is and how we will be making glow-in-the-dark slime. How cool! I love glow-in-the-dark anything, not to mention slime – who doesn’t? She continues to say that Nick D. and Ivy will be teaching the class and the rest of our class will be assisting the students. Yeah, you heard that right, I am supposed to teach 25 eight year-olds how to do chemistry. Has she ever met an eight year-old, let alone taught them how chemistry? Obviously not if she thinks that slime-making is a good idea. I am pretty sure our students will like the end result though.
ReplyDeleteOver the week, Nick and I practice what we are going to say and create a timeline of what we are going to do. We realize that we are both incredibly unqualified to be teachers, but we continue on anyway. We make up visuals and prepare props of glowsticks and ceiling stars. When Science Day finally arrives we are ready to go. The bus drops my chemistry class off at the local community college where the event is to be held and my classmates help Nick and I set up the room. We confirm that there is newspaper, borax, a tub, a lid, and other essential materials at each desk and we assign our classmates to work stations. Some will be working with more than one student; they are excited about this.
When the students finally come in, they run to find seats and can barely wait to get started. My classmates begin introducing themselves and talking to their protégés. Immediately, I come to the conclusion that there are not enough seats or work stations for all of the students. In fact, there are not even enough chairs and desks in the room. I run around flustered, searching for supplies and places for students to work. My classmates suddenly have to meet new students and become oriented at new work stations. Now everyone is flustered. This causes so much confusion. Some of my classmates and fellow teachers are forced to take on three students and make do with fewer materials. I feel bad as preparing all of this was Nick and I’s responsibility and we failed.
Eventually, I find all of the students someone to teach them and make glow-in-the-dark slime with them and they all get to go home with a tub of it. They are quite thrilled despite the confusion; in fact I do not think they even noticed the mix-up. The students are just excited to go play with the slime. They hold it up to the light to charge it and then cover it with their hands to prove that it glows just as we taught them. We attach warning labels to the lids encouraging the students to keep it out of the mouths of their siblings and to not play with it on the carpet. I never hear about any bad results, so I deem the event a success and decide to be proud of my adaptability.
For this memory I will choose to be unusually literal and say that playing music in a live setting involves improvisation whether you like it or not (that is of course assuming you are any good at it). The slightest technical mishap could lend cause to an entire improvisational solo section. In my shows we involve free improvisation in our music. To me this is funny at this point to think of as "making it up as I go along" because to me it is being possessed by the moment - I'm not making it up as much as channeling the present. This may come off as a cliche description of a jazz solo but that is how it feels. I'm not a jazz musician so the freedom is all the more profound; in a true free improvisation you could play whatever you wish, any note, it could sound disgusting, it could break every rule of Western composition; sometimes it's even better that way. We play a certain song where we have a 30-second section where we all just play what we want and every single time it's completely different; the only thing that stays the same is the relative tempo so we can go back into the song as-is. It is my favorite part of playing, every time.
ReplyDeleteI'm talking to my friend Mark, he just got out of a serious relationship. I ask him again and again why they broke up, because neither of the two are telling anyone what the problem was. So I start to spit ball. I say what'd you do, sleep with her mom, kill her cat, use crack? He says how did you know about me and her mom? I immediately realize that I have all the cards in my hand and I'm about to get Mark to tell me why they broke up, on a random guess! This is playing it by ear at its finest. I'm just blowing his mind up right now. He's like did Michelle tell you (his girlfriend)? I'm like yeah, which he couldn't believe but hey its her mom ya know. I keep asking questions until finally he truley admits that he slept with his girlfriends mom and I know for sure, because he tells me that his girlfriend walks in! Holy crap. Wow. Im just amazed. He tells me , that I'm the only one that knows and that I can't tell anyone. So I keep my word and immediately tell only 5 of my closest friends. I realize that I had just perfected the art of knowing when to bluff and when to fold.
ReplyDelete“I think that was the turn” I said to Perry as we zoomed by exit number three. The sign clearly states that exit three takes you to Nationals Park. Exceeding maximum capacity in the suburban, one could barely hear them self think over all the side conversations and classic rock being blasted out of the few working speakers that remained. What could we say? It was summer and this was one of our unique traditions. However, we had never done it quite like this before.
ReplyDeletePerry Blake and I were die hard Nationals fans. We had been going to games since the Nationals were D.C.’s new expansion baseball team, newly relocated from their former home in Montreal. Usually, after a few beers we’d head down to the subway station for our ride to the game. Coming back from the game was never as easy since the metro station was always packed. Deciding to drive, we loaded our biggest car and organized an outing. First, we gathered enough people that might be interested in seeing a ball game. After explaining our intentions to tailgate, even more people were interested.
From there, the next stop was Safeway to stock up on all the tailgating essentials. Collecting money for party favors is like pulling teeth. Until of course, we run out of or lack something and the lowest contributor is forced to make the journey for whatever’s needed. Once the car is loaded with food, drinks, grill and chairs, then and only then do we begin to cram our friends accordingly as if it were a game of Tetris trying to fit everyone into the car.
Exit five also gets you to the stadium but most people freak out and take exit three; fearful that it is the one and only way to the park. Once we get to the Naval Yard, the hunt for the cheapest yet closest parking spot begins. After a few loops around the block, we find a lot with a yard for grilling and other recreational tailgating activities. Pulling into the grass, we set up shop and slowly more and more cars from our caravan begin to arrive. After a lengthy tailgate, we close up shop and gather the masses to head to the park. I ask Perry if he thinks everyone had a good time and together we look around. Bros shotgunning between cars, the football whizzes by us to its intended target, girls are snapping pictures and doing their hair before we head out. Without a word, we high-five each other and head to the gate. I must say I had my doubts but everyone enjoyed themselves. It was originally our tradition and now it was all of ours. People began inviting more friends from outside our circle of friends and time after time people kept coming back for more. Nationals tailgates were the best and although I was worried, everything always comes together and works out the way we hope for it to.
Who was going to fix the television? There was the obvious answer the man, my grandfather who for the sake of his manhood had to fix it. We had twenty-five minutes before the super bowl, the Patriots and the Rams were about to take the field. As a Massachusetts bred family this was a big deal. That crucial moment was a upon us, that moment for every fan of a team that has been consistently really bad but for the first time that you could remember was finally kind of good. That moment was going to broadcast in twenty-four minutes. My grandfather should have fixed the television, but he had already tried twice to no avail. My mother, my grandfather and I were huddled around his brand new flat screen television, a symbol of the weight and breath of this occasion. Now I myself have always been a right brain child, technology was something that I understood on the most basic level, purely because of my youth. But I had no authority or expertise in the area, but this close to game time, anything was worth a shot, so I offered my youth. My grandfather begrudgingly moved aside, bruised patriarchal necessities and all. I gave it a go, it was your basic plug and play, and I followed my colors. The red socket is compatible with the red cord. Then make sure the settings are right, right? The television must be on the “TV” setting not the DVD player setting, maybe if I hit this button…and sure enough there in satisfactory high definition was my team and their colors, a small victory for women with no technological sense everywhere, not that my grandfather would ever admit that such events ever actually transpired. Me and now you, we know the truth.
ReplyDeleteWe walk off the plane and into the airport. Amsterdam is already what I expected. Dazed tourists, thick air, and a foreign way feeling that whiplashes my face. I don’t know where we are, where were staying tonight, and if we’re even in Amsterdam yet. We walk over to s kiosk in search for directions. It’s in Dutch. How do we convert it to English? We need to exchange our money, we have no plan.
ReplyDeleteWe get onto the train that’s going to take us to Amsterdam. I keep looking out the window to see windmills and rolling hills, but it’s cloudy and rainy. It looks cold. I whip out my 2-dollar cell phone to see if it has battery. It does, but there’s I’m outside my network range. Vince’s phone will work.
Vince is a tall skinny guy, the only guy on our study abroad trip. I’m thankful he’s with me because I couldn’t be here alone, with no plan.
We get into the heart of Amsterdam and decide to just start walking. It’s beautiful despite the clouds and cold. He shrieks for me to step back, I’m a foot away from being rocked by a trolley. The trolleys don’t run like they should. They’re going at odd angles and cutting across any path they choose. It feels chaotic and unorganized.
We keep walking taking in the culture. It’s bright and social, and I want to be a part of it. It’s starting to get dark and we still don’t know if we can stay with Nigel. We asked Nigel a week before if we could couch surf at his place, and we weren’t positive that we could. My phones not working so Vince pulls out his phone to try to get a hold of Nigel. Were not sure if the text will send through.
We grab a slice of pizza, and I feel good that I can get pizza anywhere in the world. The text sends through and he tells us where to meet him. We grab a map and try to figure out what he’s talking about. I’ll see where this takes me,
Joseph Wahl
ReplyDeleteProf. Smith
English 103
February 16, 2012
making it up as you go along
Today was a very cold and rainy day at Drexel. The weather made me decide to try and have some fun. On my way to class, noticing that I forgot to read the chapter Therefore; Being unable to explain the chapter to the class, I had to come up with a plan which detailed making it up as I go along. Once arriving at class, I began speaking with a friend of mine, convincing him that it was in his best interest to help me. Contemplating what I have told him, reluctantly he agreed. I began to smile, thinking to myself how much of a life saver, my friend Hasin was! Once the class arrived, I began explaining the chapter to them. After about 2 min expired Hasin stepped in to explain the rest of the chapter to the class. After forgetting about reading the chapter, the professor said that I did an excellent job. I'm in class daydreaming, the teacher called my name is Joseph it's time for you to explain the chapter to the class. In the back of my mind two things popped up, I already explained the chapter and secondly was I daydreaming the whole thing?
Race and Poverty in the Americas. I liked the topics but despised the class because my professor gave out the most obscene amount of reading I've ever had before. She gave a total of 5 reading quizzes throughout the semester. There were some occasions where I took the risk of not reading. As luck would have it, one of those times I said screw reading I walked into class the next day with quiz questions ready on the board. I pulled everything I knew about slavery and colonialism out of my head. Turns out, I got a 90 on the quiz because I had learned about those things before. I owned that professor and the class by getting a 96 using the same methods as I did with that quiz on other quizzes and projects. Victory was mine.
ReplyDelete"Where are we meeting this kid again?" Andrea asked.
ReplyDelete"17th and Norris," Kate responded.
I am really excited at this point because every time I had been to Temple before for a party, it had always been awesome. The people I know there are just people that I can easily joke around with and have fun with. We finally reached 17th and Norris and Kate called her friend Alex.
"Yo fool, meet us outside!"
Finally, he came and we decided to walk around to find a party. This is usually what we try to do when there and typically we will find one after walking around for a while.
We found a party drank a little and then moved onto gallivanting across Temple’s campus. This idea was probably not the best, seeing as how it was 12:30 am. And North Philadelphia. But we stayed in the secure areas for the most part.
We finally made our way to the Temple running track. By this time in the night we were all pretty buzzed. Alex wearing jeans, a sweater, and Timberlands (we still have no idea why, to this day) decided he was in the mood for a race. I somehow figured I was up to the task wearing jeans and flats that were about to fall off my feet every time I lifted them up.
We stood beside each other at the starting line ready to race. Kate made the effort to yell out something resembling, “On your marks, get set, go!”
We both bolted down the track. Apparently the both of us are extremely competitive people because what began as a harmless foot race turned into a full on Olympic 75 yard dash. My flats were falling off and I could not keep up with Alex’s Timbs. Finally, I gave up around 50 yards out and just stopped running and stood in my place. Alex, however, kept on running and then finally realized the race ended a full 30 seconds before.
He beat me that night but, next time I party at Temple, I’m wearing running shoes.
Once when I was in my world studies class in high school, we had to do group presentations. It was based on a book that none of us had read and we had to relate it to a modern day thing we discussed in class. None of us in the group really wanted to work on the presentation in class, so we just sat around talking to each other. When it was our turn to go up, we all just decided to make it up on the spot. We let our best speaker go first so he could give the rest of some ideas to talk about when it was our turn to talk. Some how we all made it up and related it to the book. We stretched it a little, but we sounded confident about it, so the teacher was positive we actually discussed it before presenting it to the class. I got an A on that and it was the easiest presentation I have ever done.
ReplyDeleteI was standing by my locker, it was an average day at school. A girl that i was sort of friends with randomly runs up to me and asks me if i was doing anything that Saturday. I wasn't a huge fan of this girl, and neither were my good friends so i was reluctant to tell her what i was doing. Regardless I responded that i was free and she then proceded to tell me how she had an extra ticket to bassnectar in Alantic City, and i could go with her if i wanted. The only thing was that she didn't know how she was getting there or where we could stay. Not knowing much about bassnectar at the time i figured i'd go hoping in some way things would fall into place. I then remembered i had nothing appropriate to wear at this type of show, and had a feeling the entire night was just going to be a huge fail. The next day, my friend Tom runs up to me and tells me he got a hotel room in AC and we were welcome to come in his car and stay in his hotel room. Then i went home and went into my moms closet and found the perfect outfit to wear. The trip there was a little awkward since we all weren't to fond of the one girl with us, but it was all worth it because it turned out to be one of the greatest nights of my life and i definitely could never regret accepting that ticket.
ReplyDelete11 p.m.
ReplyDelete“Mom’s about to come home and I am just leaving the movie theatre. Its take me thirty minutes on the bus to get to the bus stop that is three blocks away from my house. Im running, and that darn bus better be there before I turn this corner. She might be home be home before I get there. Crap. I still haven’t finished all my chores. But wait, she gets home between 11:40 and 12:00 pm. Maybe I’ll get there before she does and I can just pretend that I was doing the chores late.”
11:30
“AAAAAAAARGH! The bus still hasn’t come. I’ve been waiting for an entire hour. I will never take the 40 bus ever again in my life. The route is so stupid. Why in the world would someone make a route that has a loop inside of it. Even during the day it seems like one of those bus’s come every hour. They are just as bad as the G bus after 6pm. Just makes me want shout expletives like sonofabi….. is that a bus ? Yes it is, it is the 40. ABOUT TIME! I was about to start walking. I wonder how I’m going to explain this to mom.”
11:45
“She’s home, I know she is. But why hasn’t she called me yet? Is she looking for me? Maybe I should call her… NO! She could hear noise of the bus in the background while we are talking.
11:50
“Buzz buzz!”
My phone. She just texted me.
[Where are you?]
(Where am I, where am I? Im not in the house, so where am I. Im supposed to be in the house so where am I?)[I’m in my room].
11:52
(Finally im off the bus. Now I just have to walk the three blocks home. Gotta be as quiet as possible. I don’t want her to know that I was out most of the time she was at work.)
“Buzz buzz!”
Another text
[Liar, where are you?]
(Where am I, where am I? Im not in the house, so where am I. Im supposed to be in the house so where am I?)[I’m in the basement]
11:55
(One block away. I’m making good time. Maybe I could say I was outside finishing putting away the garbage and I was out behind the house.)
“Buzz buzz!”
Another text
[Quit playing, where are you?]
(Where am I, where am I? Im not in the house, so where am I. Im supposed to be in the house so where am I?)[Im in the coat closet.]
12:00
(“Okay, Im at the front door. Why does the lock in the doorknob have to be so loud when I turn the key. I’ll have to turn the key as slowly as possible. Slowly…….slower……..slower…..clii…cliiii….CLIIIIIIIIIIK!!! AAAAH!!”)
“Buzz buzz!”
(Where am I, where am I? Im not in the house, so where am I. Im supposed to be in the house so where am I?)[ Im at the front Door]
“This situation is hopeless”
life. I chose my paths, I chose my roads and that is why I'm where I am today. I made it up as it went along...
ReplyDeleteAs the sun’s rays sprinkled throughout the trees and entered the campsite, Ben and I put the final things we were going to need in our dry bags, a began to pack up our tent. This morning marked the second to last day of our canoe trip that was provided by the 4-H camp. As we are the first group to be awake and ready to leave we sleeked out counselors permission to begin the days adventure. As second to last day of our trip, we were thrilled to have the privilege of canoeing alone with a partner. With radios and all the necessary tools in hand we pushed our canoe off shore and franticly jumped in before it snuck out of reach. As we are looking at the map we plan out our route, and anticipate a short portage over a small island, we I began to row from the back. As the day moved on our skills only saw improvement, which was welcomed as the first days together we fell behind. As our ores sliced through the water like butter knives, propelling us faster and ever so smoothly on the calm morning river, we caught ourselves gazing at the surrounding scenery. We welcomed short breaks to take a quick drink, or catch our breath, and we seemed to have a mutual agreement to not talk and just take in the nature. While neither of us are hardcore nature lovers, it is hard not to appreciate the beauty and scenery upstate New York has to offer. We followed the map for what seemed like hours un till we reached our short, quarter mile portage. As we were pulling the canoe up the shore and prepared to carry our supplies, we realized the path we chose was relatively untraveled and had lots of brush in the way. As a result, we picked up our canoes and began walking around the island, on the thin coastline, hoping to find our way. After about half an hour of carrying the heavy canoe and materials we took a break in a small inlet, with a nice swimming area. We jumped in the water and relaxed for a few minutes, floating by a small waterfall flowing of a large rock. As we continued we met up with another group that just had taken a break too. WE told them about the small swimming area and we actually backtracked instead of continuing on our route to the final destination. As we spent another hour swimming and eventually had lunch, something that was not planned and put us far behind the other groups, we finally boarded the canoes again and were on our way. We pattled over a calm lake and took in the suns rays that dried our wet clothes and made us much warmer. We paddled around a few more hours, going wherever we wanted, as we saw the finish area about a half mile ahead of us. As we finally approached the area, we settled down on the dry land and made a fire and waited for out counselors to reach us. Ben and I then went on a short expedition in the woods to find birch bark, where we saw a family of rabbits, a deer and another small cat like animal. We returned to the site with piles and piles of the very flammable birch bark and by that time the counselors were back and had started making hot dogs and smores for our final lunch out in the wild. The week long canoeing expedition was unforgettable and Ben and I hope to do it sometime again.
ReplyDeleteToo many times I find my self without plans set it stone. They always seem to be changing and shifting in all different directions. My friends and I like to go to a lot of local shows at the Blockley. Almost every time, it is a scramble to get there. We never really plan it well. It will be the day of the show and we won't know who is exactly going, or how we are even going to get there. We always have to improvise and usually end up squeezing everyone into one car. After the show we have no idea what to do. If it goes really late a lot of people end up sleeping at the house so we have to make sleeping arrangements which usually ends up with a couple friends sleeping on the floor. All in all every time we go to the Blockley we end up having a great time, so I can't complain.
ReplyDeleteI am very comfortable with my chubbiness, especially in the winter when I can claim that my fat gives me the ‘whale effect,’ and keeps me warm. So when I prodded myself – through my own ambition, no less – to go for a run, I knew something was afoot.
ReplyDeleteI changed from my pajamas (a very comfortable set, I might add—plaid pants and a t-shirt) into the high-tech expensive running gear that my mother bought me in hopes of making me See The Light, which is to say, make me start exercising more. Hey. It was a good effort on my mom’s part. Can’t say that it worked though.
I step out into the bright sunshine with my sneakers on too-tight and my brain freezing in the winter air. One does not realize how cold winter is if one lives one’s entire life inside in the comfortable, warm, warm, warm, really nice inside environment where there are nice things like thermostats and blankets. Outside, it’s just the too-intense sun that doesn’t seem to warm anything despite its ultra-shine, and stupid spandex that is supposed to be cozy but isn’t really insulating at all. Who advertised this stuff, anyway? Isn’t false advertising illegal?
After shivering and muttering angry words at myself, I start walking in a random direction. And it’s still cold. So I guess the only thing is to start running. So I run. And it sucks.
I’m wheezing by the first half-mile, and by the end of that mile, I think I want to die. I pass one neighborhood and enter the next. The road is lined with thick pine trees.
And then I see it.
The dog.
It’s a wiffle wuffle widdle cooty wooty doggie woggie, about as tall as my knees and black as the television screen when it’s off. And it’s following me, tail wagging like a flag.
Thankful for the excuse to take a break, I slow and pet him. (I decide it’s a ‘him,’ despite lacking evidence.) And then it’s time to go, so I say, “Bye bye doggie,” and trot away, expecting him to go bother someone else.
And then I trot away faster.
And faster.
…and faster.
And the wiffle wuffle widdle cooty wooty doggie woggie is matching my speed, stride for stride. He’s prancing, actually. I’ve never seen anyone prance half so good as this canine.
I can’t shake it. I’m no spy; I can’t dodge into corners and slip into alleyways to lose my tail (not that there are any corners or alleyways to slip into in this New York suburb). I start to panic. The dog thinks it’s a great game, and he happily lopes by my side. He seems to have adopted me. I resent his easy stride and ability to breathe while I huff and puff trying to get away from him.
It’s obvious that I can’t get away, but I stop trying after a while. If you can’t beat ‘em… join ‘em. And I wouldn’t mind letting him play for a while. My strides take us home. I name him Fred along the way.
No-one’s at the house; both parents are working through winter break. If they were home, they’d flip! Mom claims to be allergic to dogs and dad claims that he doesn’t like dogs anyway (both of them are liars). The dog has its tags on, so I check them. He’s from the next town over—I have no idea how he got five miles away from home. We muck around the house for a while; I’ve always wanted a dog.
Long story short, my parents arrive home and Are Not Pleased. We take him to his home, but for a while he was an adventure.
I never saw Fred after that, but sometimes I keep an eye out for him when I’m on my run.
With a prompt to write about a time when I’ve made something up as I’ve gone along, I suppose I could write about the many papers for English class I’ve made up as I went along. However, I’m electing to expand on prompt raised to a different level: a time when I was paid to make something up as I went along.
ReplyDeleteI had been instructed to show up around 4:30 to make sure stuff was setup. I knew very little about what was going to occur, just that I was supposed to be the sound engineer for a kids’ Christmas concert. Although I had more than a decade of sound experience under my belt, I was still rather new to this particular venue, and had never even seen an event of this format here. Still, just a few minutes after four, I stepped in, assessed the existing setup of choir risers and music stands before me, and began to wonder how on earth I would make whatever was set to occur here sound good. A few hours later, the director wandered in, introduced herself, commented on my youthfulness to the extent where I figured an explanation of my qualifications was in order, and then supplied some abstract descriptions of what specific setup was expected of me. After this brief and pathetically indescriptive discussion, a significant amount of tinkering and some continually vague, “no, like this,” setup was as complete as I could muster a mere thirty minutes before the concert was scheduled to begin. I had received no script and no cue sheet; I had no tech director over me, and no knowledge of the show itself within me.
My experience with sound and youngsters combined had taught me that these sorts of events, with youths of widely varied skills and experience, can be difficult at best for a sound engineer. As the lights dimmed and I was finally handed the same program as the audience members, my very existence felt nervous. And yet, the event went very well. Transitions between portions were slow enough that I could readily adapt to the situations changing around me. I don’t really remember a whole lot of details about my performance during the event. After the deal, though, I was told that it was the first time the audience could readily hear their children in years. As a sound guy, that’s mission accomplished, even though I winged it far beyond my personal comfort.
I basically go about day to day without a specific plan (besides attend classes)but I've learned not to wing the important things. One time specifically was when I got my sister, Veronica a job with me as a busser at a restaurant around the corner from our house, and had to train her two days after I myself was trained.
ReplyDeleteOn the first day we work together we walk in the front door. The man at the bar tells us to start using the employee entrance. This is the back door which is closer to our house anyway. Knowing I should have known that I turn a little red and lead Vera to the back to hang up our coats. As we head towards the back station where we will spend most of our time I tell her what I believe the table numbers are and our day to day routine for when we arrive.
Five O'clock rolls around and the place begins to fill up. Our three main jobs are clear tables, clean and set tables, and polish and roll silverware. I am aware of two of those jobs, therefore so is Veroncia. As the night progresses I had a hunch about the silverware because it was piling up and no one was touching it, but I had other things to worry about. We both struggle with more dishes than we're comfortable carrying, and by the end of the night have a total of four broken glasses, one lantern and three appetizer plates. In other words the night was a fiasco. Before either of us could leave we discovered that all the silver ware needed to be "done". The pile of cutlery was literally as high as a math text book in a three by three foot wide tray. They made us stay to finish all of it, that we were there so long that all the mexicans in the kitchen had already gone home. The bar tender and the manager were the only two left and they were only there so we could finish the job we had been ignorant of the entire night.
The original busser was fired two days after I was hired which is why I had to train Vera. Her being a below par busser and the fact that I had only worked two days were the two main reasons I had to make up the training sessions as I went along. From that experience I learned not to wing a training sessions and don't be afraid to ask questions because it can bite you in the back when your responsible for yourself.
It's starting to become clear to me that I need more time than the normal person does to think about things. When a writing assignment is given in my English class, it takes me days to come up with the topic of my piece while other students probably know instantly. So it is no surprise that the assignment is due at 6:30pm tonight (the start of class) and I still do not know what I am going to write about. The prompt is to write about a time where I “made it up as I went.” In my mind what that says is write about EVERY MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE.
ReplyDeleteIt's around 11:30am and I'm riding the train down into the city. Normally I can find a power outlet on board to plug my laptop into but today none of them are working! Well, I guess I'll have to wait until after work to type this assignment.
It's 5:30pm and I'm finished at work. I have an hour to type this thing before class starts. While sitting at work earlier, I realized how accidentally genius this is. With only an hour to write this up, I am forced to “make it up as I go.”
I just hopped on the regional rail to head over to 30th Street from Suburban Station. The train just stopped and the lights turned off. What happened?? The conductor says over the intercom, “we have lost power in all trains. Please, we ask for your patience.” Patience? Not only do I have an assignment to finish (start) but I NEED to get my usual grandfather chicken combo platter from the Chinese lunch truck. This can't be happening.
After 15 minutes, the power finally kicks on and we are on our way. I bust out of the doors and run all the way to campus. It's 6:15pm and my lunch truck is closed! What now? I always get my dinner there thursday nights. I can't remember the last time I went somewhere else with my business. Class starts in 15 minutes and I'm starving and have nothing written. I guess I'm going to Taco Bell.
The employees here are taking forever and class starts in 5 minutes. I quickly devour one half -pound burrito, two hard shell tacos, and a fountain drink. Time for class
This is the first time I have ever been late to this class and it annoys me because I really enjoy it. Apparently we are listing what cliches we know. I can think of literally NONE. But then again, it takes me longer than most people to think.
Author's note: I ended up not posting this until days later (sorry for the late submission). So the “make it up as you go” feeling was not as authentic as it could have been but I certainly learned my lesson about procrastination.
Perhaps the best time I can remember making something up as I went along, simply put can be my own personal life. What better moment than the present that I am making up this assignment (that I am doing late and apoligize for) as I am going along. In certain aspects I greatly enjoy making up my life as I am going through it. Every day can be an awesome new adventure, or the most boring day in the world and I truely beleive that, that power is up to you. At the same time, I do have a lot of major plans set up in my life as well as little goals i try to acheive, but the fact remains that I enjoy to go where the wind takes me. Meeting new people happens when people make things up as they go and I feel that because of this I have been destined to be around the people that I am today, and this is all because of making things up as we go along. Things that can become important to someone can all happen from not having a plan and letting things fall into place. This leves me with the thought that although everyday people can act and apperar as though they are making it up as they go along, perhaps they are not really making it up, but what if everyhting is already planned out and destined to happen.
ReplyDeleteI've always procrastinated my work for school for as long as I can remember. Senior year in high school was probably one of the worst for it, I suffered from the notorious "Senioritis". My English class has multiple papers due throughout the year, one final at the end which is worth over 20% of my entire grade. Today I turned in my final paper. My teacher is an old hag, known for being a bitch to all of her students, taking slight favor to the ones who sucked up and kissed her feet. She's always hated me personally after calling me out on the first day of school in front of the entire class, shouting at me, "Be a man!" or "Grow a pair!" She had personally made it out to make my year horrible ever since. All of my papers have been procrastinated until the last few days or so, earning me a half decent grade throughout the year. I had made each and every single paper up as I went, not writing a rough draft or editing whatsoever. It had shown in my grades because the making it up as I go along motto had ruined my GPA. My final paper has been the worst for procrastinating, it's topic is Human Rights, citing three specific examples in which these rights are violated, and three in which they are confirmed. I literally have procrastinated it until the very last night. I stayed up until 2:45 a.m. writing the lousy paper, to not even get it done. I woke up at 4 a.m. in order to finish it before leaving for school at around 7 or so. I stayed up until 6:30 writing the paper, making sure to blow my teachers mind with the improvement in my writing. I actually worked hard on this paper but regret procrastinating it until the last night, because now I am dying of sleep, about to pass out on my keyboard. So overall from senior year English class, I learned that procrastinating and making it up as you go are terrible things because the key to a good piece of work is planning and consistency.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I have a lot of homework I like to isolate myself from the rest of the world. Either lock myself in a room or go to a place in the library where no one can find me. Quite often, my friends will ask me to spend time with them and I don't have an excuse other than I have homework to do. So I decided to try something new. I'll tell them that my sister is visiting Philly and I haven't seen her in awhile. Their next question was, 'what are you guys doing?' I tried to make something random up like watching a movie at 7 o'clock. What a coincidence?! They are also watching the same movie, at the same time, at the same theater. I had to change my "made up plans" and choose another place. Lie after lie, my story started to become strange and unrealistic. What can I say? I can't makeup something as I go, which is why I'm never good at improvisation speeches and presentations. Everything I do is always planned and set in stone. Without this sort of plan, I am bound to be clueless and confused.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of those days you don’t have a plan and just go with the flow of how things unravel. Emily sat on the cough beside me as we both stared blankly at the television showing That 70’s Show in front of us. This was not what we had planned for the day. We both thought there would be a day filled with daring adventures and memories that would last. At this point it looked like that idea was in the past due to the fact that our original plans went down the drain. Our day was looking very dim as we sulked in front of the television.
ReplyDeleteEmily could not take the idea that our day would be ruined and she stood up and told me that it was time to do something with our day. She said “we have this great day in front of us not need to waste it”. And with this we were up from the couch and out the door. We had no idea where the day would take us we just went with all that happened. We walked out my front door, jumped in the car and just drove. Without a plan we took the initiative to be spontaneous.