Failure of The Most Epic Proportions

Yeah, I totally failed when it came to NaNoWriMo. I didn't even come remotely close to my goal. I procrastinated way too much and my head almost exploded when I tried to write anything legible. So yes, I lost. I might as well accept that I may only ever win NaNoWriMo once. I have a few ideas buzzing around my head for new novels, one invloving the kidnapping of the teens of North America and another being fan-fiction for a few different books. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this need-to-write attitude long enough to get at least the former into a rough-draft like thing. Well, I'm sure this is borning you please, enjoy this photo of a cute baby eating cake


(this is my cousin on her first birthday)

Now isnt that adorable? Anyway, now that we are sufficently off subject, let us switch subjects.
I hope to start vlogging soon, I have become so desperate that I have decided not to wait till I can afford a camera and just use my iPod touch to record till I have said camera. The only hinderance being that I have almost nothing to talk to the dear YouTubers about. I have a few ideas bubbling in my mind, but I must compose them into a thought before I turn the camera on. So all that to say, look out for a post about videos soon...ish.

Look at me still typing when they'res sleeping to do.
well, I hope you enjoyed reading of my various thoughts and musings and looking at the adorable baby eating cake!

-Caite

Chapter Two: The First Glimpse

            In the blackness around him Aidan could feel nothing, nothing but the hand inside his. A voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“We’re in between.”

Aidan tried to speak but no sound was made.

“We’re almost there.” The voice said.

There was a tingling all over his body, it felt like he was being pulled from all sides, figures danced before his eyes and nothing seemed to stay still. Then it was all over. He stood in a dark hallway with Sonia. The walls seemed lifetimes away and the only thing visible was a door, a simple, brown door.

“All you have to do is open it.” Sonia whispered.

Aidan grabbed the cold metal knob on the door and turned it. On the other side was a beautifully decorated room. Tapestries were draped on the walls and a sparkling chandelier hung from the ceiling above them. The doors at the end of the corridor swung open as they approached, revealing a whimsical town. The houses were of every shape and size, some long rectangles and some stout spheres. The people milling about were as dissimilar to each other as their houses, some had oddly colored hair or skin and others were as plain as a plot of dirt. Together Sonia and Aidan walked down the main street. Shops on either side of the street were opening, some sold bread or groceries, but some sold more thrilling things, like mermaid scales and pet dragons. Everything was new and exciting, how was he supposed to take it all in?

“What are we going to do?” Aidan asked excitedly.

“We should visit Olaf first, he has some supplies for us. His shop is right up there.” Sonia pointed to a cylindrically shaped building.

Inside they found a stocky man with an overly large nose. He greeted them with a large smile. “Sonia! To what do I owe this pleasant visit?”

“I’m here to pick up the supplies you had for me and Aidan.”

“What supplies?” Olaf scratched his head thoughtfully.

“Remember? The supplies you put together for us?” Sonia tried to jog his memory.

“I’m not following you.” Olaf said.

Sonia sighed. From the door behind the counter emerged a tall thin boy with shaggy red hair. “Hello, Sonia. Here for the supplies, I suppose?”

“Yes, Milo.” Sonia was relieved that someone had remembered the supplies.

Milo turned back into the room behind the counter and began rummaging around. Aidan looked around him, the store seemed to be suspended between the past and the future. The wood paneling and old-fashioned barrels of sugar and flour suggested 19^th Century America, but the sleek telephone and high tech computer on the counter shouted futuristic spaceship. The whole place seemed to be a collection of contradictions. Soon Milo emerged with two black backpacks. Milo handed one to Sonia and one to Aidan.

“Inside you’ll find enough food to feed the two of you for three days, a first aid kit, a flashlight for each of you, three star candles and a change of clothes for both of you. I packed an extra bag just in case, well, um, just in case you wanted to, um…” Milo stuttered.

“Would you like to come with us, Milo?” Sonia asked.

“Yes.” He answered quickly. “I mean, sure, if it’s okay with you.”

“Of course it is, Milo.” Sonia laughed. “Now, lets get going.”

Chapter One: A Stranger At The Back Door

(here is chapter one of my NaNoWriMo novel)

Aidan opened the door to find a strange girl reading a magazine on his couch. Upon his entering she turned and smiled plastically.

“Hello, Aidan, my name is Rachel.” She said.

“Hi Rachel.” Aidan walked past her and to the kitchen. Aidan was used to things like this, every day his mom hired a babysitter to watch him and his sister while she worked over time. Every day a new sitter would treat him like a five year old till his mom came in the door and dished out the cash. By the time she got home, Aidan usually had eaten dinner, had a bath and watched more Playhouse Disney than one would ever want to in one’s life time. Aidan would then be promptly sent to bed, because there would be school tomorrow, because, ‘a good education sets you up for success.’ As his mother says.

            Aidan pulled open the fridge and peered inside. A half eaten banana and two cups of yogurt lay on the shelf at his eye level. Aidan hated yogurt. Ever since he ate spoiled yogurt in kindergarten he has despised yogurt. He grabbed the banana and began eating it as he walked down the hall to the bedroom he shared with his sister.

“Aidan, Lydia is sleeping in there.” Rachel came up behind him. “Let’s go to the living room and watch some TV, k?”

Aidan sighed and followed her back to the living room. As Aidan watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for the seventh time that day he heard a gentle laughter coming from behind him. He turned and saw only Rachel, engrossed in the TV. He shrugged and returned his eyes to the television. Again he heard the playful laughter accompanied by a knock on the back door. Aidan stood up and walked around the couch to the back door. Another knock sounded when he reached the door. Rachel didn’t seem to notice the knocking at all. Aidan turned the knob and pulled the door open slowly, on the other side of the door was a little girl of about six. Aidan stood unsure what to say.

“Hello, my name is Sonia.” She said cheerily.

“Hi, I’m Aidan.” He said shyly.

“Aidan, what are you doing?” Rachel asked.

“I’m talking to Sonia.” Aidan said.

“Who?” Rachel turned.

“She can’t see me.” Sonia pushed a little of her long white hair from her face.

“Why not?” Aidan asked, looking at Rachel.

“Because she doesn’t believe anymore.” Sonia shook her head sadly. “Now, we must go before the door closes.”

“What door?” Aidan looked around, all the doors in the house were closed, except the back door, which he still held open.

“The door to Paxis.” Sonia’s eyes sparkled as she said the name. She took his hand and pulled him outside.

“I’m going to play outside, Rachel!” He shouted as they ran into the yard. Sonia led Aidan to the tree on the edge of their lot.

“The door to Paxis is on the other side of the fence.” Sonia explained. “We have to climb the tree to get over the fence.”

Sonia began scaling the tree; within a few moments she was at the top, beckoning Aidan to follow.

“Are you sure its okay?” Aidan asked.

“Its fine, I promise!” Sonia called from the top.

Aidan looked up into the pale green leaves of the tree, it was really tall, what if he fell?

“Come on!” She called again.

Aidan shook the fear from his body and began climbing. Higher and higher he went till finally he sat on the branch beside Sonia’s. The view was spectacular, everything seemed so far away, his mom’s job that took way too much time, his dad’s anger that made him leave, nothing seemed to matter anymore.

“See down there? That’s the door to Paxis.” Sonia pointed to the ground below them. Aidan was shocked to see that instead of grass and dirt, there was a hole in the ground. “The only way in is to jump.” Sonia took his hand. “Will you come with me?”

“What about my mom, and my sister?”

“They’ll be right here waiting when you come back.”

Aidan thought about it, he could get away from his problems for a little while and come right back whenever he wanted to. But what would his mother say? She wouldn’t care. Aidan hardened. She never cares enough to even tuck me in at night. She hasn’t once said ‘I love you’ since dad left. He thought.

Aidan gripped Sonia’s hand tighter. His heart began racing. He took a deep breath, and jumped.

NaNoWriMo

Insanity. The one word that can  pretty much sum up the whole gist of National Novel Writing Month.
         Before I proceed, I will give further explanation as to what National Novel Writing Month is so that I may help you further understand what I have gotten myself into. If you already know what NaNoWriMo is, you can skip this paragraph. Anyway, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, as it is lovingly called, is an entire month out of the year where several participants all over the America (maybe the world...) write novels. The said participants simply come up with a story line and, depending on whether they use the Young Writers Program or not, set their word count goal and begin writing on November 1st of every year. If you reach your word count goal you win and get bragging rights for pretty much the rest of your life. The required word count goal for the adult site is 50,000 and the default on the Young Writers Program (YWP) is 50,000 as well, although it can be changed.

Now that you hopefully have a thorough grasp of what NaNoWriMo is, allow me to tell you what I will be doing during the month of November. I have signed up with the YWP and set my goal as 6,000 words, I desperately hope I can at least reach that, which is not very many at all. I currently do not have a title for my novel but I know what I am writing about. If you want a summary it can be found here, but I didn't do a very good job of explaining my story. I hopefully will be posting my novel as it is written, probably a chapter at a time. Depending on how long the chapters are and how much I write very day you can probably expect a chapter every week or so, but don't count on it. If I can't post it as I write it for whatever reason I will probably post it as a whole or in a few parts consecutively. If I don't post it at all by like, January or February then you can safely assume I didn't reach my goal and if I do end up posting after then, well you can be pleasantly surprised!

Miniscule Things That Don't Add Up To Anything In Particular

so yeah, more posts didn't happen, i suppose you should get used to the few and far apart posting i tend to do.. i kind of had nothing to do all summer, but i totally forgot i had a blog. so yeah, i played Sims 3 (Ambitions baby!!) and Minecraft, and i also beat Portal about 6 times. if i haven't mentioned it before, I'm kind of a nerd. yup. a big one. i love video games and i like reading and writing and i really really want a ThinkGeek giftcard. (that will definitely be on my birthday list...) I'm teaching myself sign language, just because i think its cool. so yeah, that's a shortened list of my nerdy qualities. i don't think that's really relevant to anything. i don't have anything to do right now, its Sunday, as you can see from the little date of post thing up there^^^^^ and down here in Louisiana we're experiencing a tropical storm and its been a torrential downpour for the past few days. not like i play outside or anything, but i cant go anywhere and i think it pretty much sucks. =/ so I've been on the computer almost all day, watching YouTube, doing absolutely nothing on facebook, listening to music and doing minuscule things that don't really add up to anything in particular. i wish i had a video camera so i could vlog. i have my phone (not really, its an ipod touch 4th gen) but the camera pretty much sucks. if i could vlog i would be posting videos really often and talking to my mirror much less often. yes, i do talk to myself in my mirror, like a vlog, i know, really weird, but hey, I've always been 'that weird homeschool kid' ever since i was little i talked myself to sleep and did little plays and role playing games by myself in my room late into the night. i guess that's what you get for being an only girl. =]

Summer =]

yes, summer is finally here and i am almost i wont see some of my NHEA friends as often but I think i can deal with it becasue I DONT HAVE ANYMORE SCHOOL!!! i will hopefully be writing more often here and maybe even posting a few excerpts and rough drafts of some stories i may or may not write this summer. i will probably be posting more during the time i'm on crutches after my surgery on Wednesday. well im about to watch glee with mom and this postition is terribly uncomfortable.

Sorry! =/

Sorry about how long its been since I have posted. I have a super busy life. So yeah. About my picture a day thing, it failed. I forgto aboutit and wasnt able to keep it up. Maybe this summer... idk.
But there have been lots of things that have been going on. first i have been starting to get ready to make videos with my bffaeaeaeaeewtkuootnh, Maleah. I'll post our first videos soon. the ohter major event is me and Maleah are the leaders of our Velocity Drama Team. the first drama is this Wednesday. Pastor Jason is going to tell us what his message is about and we'll either write a drama or get one off the internet. =] so yeah thats a sneak peek of my life... hehee
EDIT: it seems that we will not start dramas till her dad gets back from a six month service in another country. (hes in the Marines) so yeah...

Recovery

I had my surgery yesterday. It wasn't too bad, but it hurts like the dickens when I go too long without my meds. When I first woke up in the recovery room I saw the nurse and she had some sprite and a pill in her hand.
"Can you swallow this pill, sweetie?" She asked.
I nodded and I guess a look of confusion crossed my face because she said,
"Are you okay?"
It took at least two minutes for me to say,
"I couldn't remember how to open my mouth."
She smiled and helped me take the pill and wash it down with a little off-brand sprite. Soon after my parents came in and I was brought back to my room. When I got into my bed my knees started twitching like squirrel's tails and I couldn't help laughing. A few minutes later I was awake enough to want food. They brought me a red snow-ball and I ate it taking small bites and when I finished I had that nasty sugary taste in my mouth that lingers after eating red dye. They came in later to take my temperature, blood pressure and to take out my IV tube (they left the needle thing in) and asked if I wanted some graham crackers. I gladly accepted, but they weren't very good. M dad gave me half of his cookie and I munched on that for a bit till I fell asleep. I woke up and slept over and over for a while till about 2pm when the physical therapist came in to take out the rest of my IV and gave me some crutches training. Soon after we left and I spent the rest of the day on the couch in and out of sleep. Last night I slept well and today my friend came and brouht some cookies and get well wishes. =] It was an overall good expeirience and I can hardly wait to be better again.
Well, it's time for more medicine, I'll post again in a few days for an update... maybe...

Ranting and Raving

Its almost like this little black line that blinks on my screen where the word will be is mocking me. ‘Haha, you cant think of anything to write, you, the amazing writer, cant write a little teeny letter for your civics class, hahahahaaa!’ This is really hard and honestly I’d rather be working on something else because everything I write sounds like a scripted robot repeating a pre-recorded message, so here I am, wasting time by ranting and raving about how bad I am at writing letters. -sigh- but what can I do? I suck at this. So I might as well type whatever comes to mind this is the most honest and un-robotic thing I’ve written all day. I found out yesterday that I may be allergic to popcorn, random I know, but what else is there to say? Why is it right when you need your mom, she is busy with the little kids? Every. Time. I needed her help to finish my homework, but every single time I asked her, she would get distracted with one of the little kids while walking across the 15 feet between us and I'd have to wait another ten minutes. So yeah. I have more homework to do, so I'll post more later. Maybe. My surgery is tomorrow so itcouldbe a while, or it could be soon because I wont have very much to do these next couple of days. hmmmm.... idk.

Photo a Day

I've decided to do a photo a day for three months, I might keep going after that, I'm not sure...
but I'm starting today, and here is my photo for today =]

P.S. I might put more than one photo per post, because I promise I will not have time to post daily.

Homework and Surgery

I just finished my 600 word essay on Franklin Roosevelt. It's taken a couple of weeks, but its done and ready forturn in tomorrow. That is pretty much really boring, i know, but hey, its my life! Homework is a regular part of any given teen's life, and i have yet to meet anyone who enjoys homework on any level.

In nine days I'm going to get surgery on my ankle. I might as well explain now... -sigh- here we go!
So when I was 5 years old I started to take dance lessons and Icontinued till I was 11 when I started to have crippling ankle pain and had to stop. I was devastated. I had finally started to get really serious about dance and I was getting better and even had a great part in the recital. My whole life goal was to be a dancer and own a dance school, but now I could never do that. After X-Rays, MRIs, a cast, and lots of other tried and failed solutions, we finally found out exactly what is wrong. I have Osteochondritis Dissecans (os-tee-o-kohn-DRY-tis DIS-uh-kanz) which is a joint condition where a section of bone is missing and the cartilidge around the missing bone is being pushed into the hole with movement, causing intense pain. The cause of this was the repeated trauma of the jumps and such of ballet. I bruised the bone and to reduce the swelling my body automatically took a little bone away, and after repeated bruising and swelling it got to the point where the pain was so bad I could barely get through the first bit of class wihtout having to sit out. So first I was put in a cast. Then they found it was in both ankles, so they put me in two big imobilizing boots. Then we stopped doing anyting for a while and just prayed and hoped it would go away, but it just got worse till finally i could barely make a trip through Walmart without major pain. So backto the doctor we went and finally we hada name and a solution forthe problem. When I go in on February 9th they will put me under general anesthesia and cut a small incision in my ankle. They will insert a tiny camera into the incision and drill a couple of holes into my bone to induce bleeding which will heal the bone. Then after 6 weeks to 3 months of recovery I will go back and have the same surgery on my left ankle.
I'm really excited aboutit all because it will end this misery I've been goingthrough for the past 4 years and finally I will be able to do all the things i missed out on because of my ankles. =]