Sunday, 12 February 2012

Why people write

11/2/2012,
    Why do people write?
 In my opinion, people write when we get get bored and to keep ourselves from going insane.
Why this extremity in my thinking, you ask? It's because I'm waiting here, alone, wanting to do other things, wanting to be in other places and wanting to see other events. I'm sitting alone, with no appealing sources of entertainment, but myself, and so- before I (as I usually do) start over thinking and confusing myself, or, not thinking at all and boring myself flat.-I pull out this notebook to write.
 To keep myself from going straight down insanity lane .
And that is why I think that writers write-to keep themselves from going insane.
Just sayin'.
--
(I'm exaggerating of course.
I can't possibly know why everyone who writes, write. People usually do it because they have stories to tell-and writing is a means by which they can share these stories to other people.
And besides, I know a lot of perfectly "non-insane" people who don't write all that much.)

Monday, 6 February 2012

Things you never thought you'd do someday.

Hey there,
       There are probably millions of THINGS you could do.
Mostly, in our minds we decide, we plan and we wait for the perfect moment to announce itself; and sometimes we actually do the things we want to do. And along the way, we end up doing a LOT OF NEW THINGS, that we never thought we'd be doing someday.
We may end up :
1.dyeing our hair a different colour
2.breaking a world record
3.holding a silk worm


yep, today, I actually held one of these guys/ girls :D
Er.
To those of you who find this gross/ weird/ wrong, here's a picture of a puppy:

YAY!
 : D 
Swiftly moving along,
 besides the things that you are forced to do  do because you have to, there are some things that you can actually choose to do, if time permits. 
AND OH MY GOSH, IT'S ALL UP TO YOU TO PICK OUT THESE THINGS AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY DOING THEM . 
(I'm exaggerating of course, it's not so difficult to pick out the things you like to do-sometimes- And in retrospect, God chooses what we'll be doing and who we'll be meeting.) 

 I'm still trying to figure these things out, really.
The things we choose to do, sometimes accidentally-without giving it much thought, turns out to be things of great SIGNIFICANCE, later in life.
And how different would Life have turned out to be if we didn't do the things we did or did do the things we didn't?  
If this is what your reaction was to that last sentence, I totally understand..
It was mine,too, after I wrote it..
Read it again, and feel better about your brilliance :) 
 We'll never know how it would have been. All we know is : HOW IT IS.
That's all.
And that's all we need, so it's okay.
I don't have all the answers, to all of the WHY?s the HOW?s and !@$#%$^$@^&**(?s
But.
I know that it's important to enjoy the little things in life, to make the tiny moments count-not just for yourself, but for others as well ( and in doing so, you're back to making it count for yourself : D !) and we don't really need to know the answers to all these questions about life, in order to LIVE.  
love
   -jeff

   

Sunday, 15 January 2012

Book Review #1- The shining (written by Stephen King)

        This is a story, quite simply put, of what happens to a little 5 year old boy(Danny Torrance) who has psychic abilities ( or has "the Shining" as Mr.Hallorann from the story puts it), his father (Jack a.k.a John Torrance- with an abusive past) and mother (Wendy Torrance) when they move into 'The Overlook Hotel' which sits on top of an icy mountain in Colorado, for the winter. Jack lands the job of a Caretaker at the Overlook hotel-which Danny realizes (on premonition) is haunted.                                           


Cover Design by Keenan
Title : The Shining
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
No. of Pages: 512
Price: Rs. 350/- (M.R.P-India)
Language: English
Publication Date: 31 May 2007
Genre: Horror

 (Here's the not so simple version):
 Jack Torrance's character, is depicted in the beginning as a normal american husband/father who is out looking for a job to support his wife and child. Once the plot moves further along, a few flashbacks-in the form of stray pieces of conversations and thoughts- reveal that there is more to this man, who was once a raging alcoholic and had broken his son's arm in a fit of anger. Wendy Torrance, is almost constantly torn between her desires, of wanting to run away from her husband and wanting to stay because of her love for him-which is growing thinner by the day.
Mr.Ullman, Manager of "The Overlook" is unwilling to hire Jack Torrance because he came with a family, just like the previous Caretaker, Mr.Grady, who had ended up murdering his wife and kids before shooting himself due to "cabin fever"- a slang for the reaction that resulted from Claustrophobia.-irrespective of which Jack takes the job.
I am ze OVERLOOK HOTEL and I plan on TERRORIZING YOU , until you lose your mind. 
Danny Torrance is warned several times, by his "imaginary friend"-Tony- of the dangers that lie ahead if his father takes this job. But, not wanting to disturb the peace that had come upon the family after a long time, he says and does nothing about these premonitions. The family drives up to The Overlook as it is closing up for the winter on the last day and catch glimpses of it's last visitors. Here, they meet Mr. Hallorann (who also "shines" i.e. has the ability to know and feel certain things that not everybody does.), staff at the Overlook. He, privately, mentions to Danny that he has the biggest 'Shine' out of all the people that he'd ever come across. Also, that if anything went wrong, to call for him ( telepathically) and to stay clear of room. 217 and the playground.
Everybody soon leaves, and the first few "snow-less" months go on pretty smoothly, apart from the time when  the animal-shaped-hedges out in the lawn by the playground, try to attack Jack Torrance (which he brushes off as hallucinations) and Danny's nightmares and general uneasiness because of the things he begins to come across as well.
Once they are snowed-in, and have no where else to go, the hotel seems to be teeming with monsters of all kinds.
The worst of the lot being the Ghosts of Jack's past that were beginning to catch up with him-and making him relive them all over again.


Just found out that they made a movie out of the book.


Being the first Stephen King book that I've ever read, I didn't really know what to look out for- and it was definitely nothing that I could have imagined. I admit there were some parts that were boring, especially in the beginning when the plot was just warming up.The middle, was when I was starting to get creeped-out and truly getting to know Jack Torrance. Towards the last hundred pages, however, things were quite the opposite to how they were in the beginning, and the suspense of what exactly happens to Jack, Wendy and Danny Torrance is (quite amazingly) kept up to the absolute end. Definitely worth a read, if your looking to read up some good horror or just to try out something new. Not for the faint-hearted.





I haven't actually seen the movie, yet, but what I get from some of the clips that I've seen on YouTube  is that the book was waaayyy scarier.
I could be wrong though. Perhaps sometime I'll actually watch it, and add an update :)

This video, I did actually find pretty cool:



(I take absolutely no credit for it)
Have a great day you guys!  Have you read "The Shining" and/or watched the movie?Would you recommend it? ALSO, are there any other Stephen King books/ Horror books that you'd recommend? (although I don't think I'll be reading horror for a while...) Thanks! :D
love
     jeff
hello, HELLO!
P.s. It's 12:30am. I just felt the need for that to be told. kbye. 

Saturday, 7 January 2012

Getting down to it.

It bothers me sometimes, when we have writing work or a test of some sort to do in English class, and everybody in class always finishes before me. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that I stare long and hard at the questions- waiting for the perfect answer to magically appear in my mind, complete with the right punctuation.
But of course that never happens.
And so, as the hour dwindles to the end, and the teacher announces that we are in the last 5 minutes of the test time, I scribble like a maniac. I get completely mindless, and write and write and write. I don't quite remember what it is I write, though...
True story. 
It's during those last 5 minutes that I realize that getting some marks is better than getting a zero- i.e. writing Something is better than writing Nothing at all. (I only wish that I'd realized that MUCH  earlier.)
That's the thing that happens when you want to write, you have this automatic tendency of wanting to write well- which is all fine and dandy,as long as you write something.
It doesn't matter if you don't really have a clue about what you're going to write about.
 Just Write.
[This is the best piece or writing advice I've ever received] You probably will make mistakes, and probably will want to rip the page apart at times- but there's no need to worry, because you will learn from these mistakes you make- and learn to write better, the way you like it. And don't worry- it's okay to write something mind-numbingly boring than to write nothing at all, that's just how it is.
This is not so easy to remember at times, especially when you feel like you've been drained of all your inspiration and creativity, or when you really want to impress people with your work.
So, just write-figure things out as you do it.
BUT, then again, everybody's different. =] So, there are people out there who like to think on a ,say, story for a book for years and years before actually sitting down to actually write it; but the point is that they get round to it at some point.
Everybody makes mistakes. 
so don't let the fear of making them stop you :D
Relax, though, and have fun with it. Whether you're writing because you want to, or because you have to- like for school or some place else- remember that, in the beginning, it's always a good thing to write something rather than nothing at all. (nobody's going to get to see how great that idea of yours is, unless, you write it down.)
You can ALWAYS correct your erroneous, yet awesome, collection of words a little after you write it.
Okay, now I'm off to work on a couple of writing assignments I have, from college. Have fun writing!!
love
      -jeff <3

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

A lot of different kinds of fun.

GAH. 5 minutes ago, I was wondering why I don't have fun anymore (this of course is not true,well.. not completely true). Writing is a LOT of fun for me and I'm really glad I have the resources to do it, for long periods of  time.
But the downside is of course, little or no "external interaction", which basically means that it involves spending a lot of time holed up together with a computer in some corner of the house (not have my own laptop=not being able to write outside..) for long periods of time and not really talking to many other people.
 Which leads me to believe that there are a lot of different kinds of fun =0!  ( I know you're going like, Duh, that took you so long to figure out?..Well yeah. Yeah, it did.)
And ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS of fun is mind-boggling and AWESOME. Thank goodness for that.
Sometimes I don't like the fact that I'm a small person ( really, who is completely accepting of themselves? If you are, good for you :D!) But, being small, enables me to do a BUNCH of things. Climbing things, getting into things, getting out of things, being carried around for things. As a kid, whenever we got something that came in a big box, that box would serve as my playground for days. Like the last time we got a fridge, that box lasted for weeks. Of course, I've grown a little bit bigger over the years, but that's not going to stop me from trying to fit into things. (uh,yeah..)
So, five minutes ago, I walked out that gate of my house and I...tried to see if I can still climb on top of our car! And I could :D. (okay, I think anybody can do that one. And everybody should. It's fun.)
Uhm, moving on. I think we all need to see that there are a lot of different kinds of fun. Whether it's something we used to find fun a long time ago and still do, whether it's trying out something new, whether it's talking to someone you like talking to, whether it's dressing up, whether it's running around an empty field or playing a game that you really enjoy, whether it's watching an awesome movie/drama or reading an amazing book, whether it's holding somebody's hand or singing in the rain, whether it's playing a video game,watching videos on youtube/TV, whether it's creating, discovering or learning something absolutely cool-there a lot's of different kinds of fun.
running is FUN! :D
You don't need a reason to have fun. You just have it, because you should.
It's okay to miss out on a few things, but not everything.
Gosh, I've been wanting to share a vlogbrothers (youtube) video for a while now-just because they're soo awesome. And cool.
And...well just watch and be happy :D


So,yeah.
 I guess that's why I started blogging. To try something a little different and to have FUN with it.

Now I realize I've come to that awkward part of my blog posts where I don't really know how to end it- and so I just keep writing and then click "publish post" very very quickly. Maybe I should come up with some sort of signing off-thing. bsbiewubtkjlslkfgnlsfbla.
hey,how bout "love,
                             -jeff. " Ok, let's try that.
love,
         -jeff.

Sunday, 1 January 2012

Night of Awesomesauce.

!0:55 pm : Before everything else, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE :D. Hope you had a great December :D!
 Alrighty, So first there's something that needs to be TOLD. After years of thinking about it, I finally got around to sitting and writing the first draft of an actual novel, in under a month. Thanks to NaNoWriMo(National Novel Writing Month-November. Check out the Nanowrimo website, you know, if you're bored.)
SO, the point of my telling you this, is that for the past month, (December) I've been working (extremely slowly) on turning my draft 1 into a draft 2. And thanks to my super-awesome-procrastination-skills, I-I haven't really gotten that far =I. I've re-done about 12 out of like 33 or 34 chapters, not so sure of the final number. And well, that sucks. AND SO, I've decided to to do as much as possible, by staying awake tonight. o.o. And I've decided to ramble here, as the time passes, so you'll get to see first hand, how things go. If I fail miserably at this, you'll be the first to know :D. It's worth a shot, yeah?
(btw, I have done this before, staying up all night to get things done. But I haven't recorded it before, AND I HAVEN'T DONE IT ACROSS TWO YEARS EITHER. so that's pretty awesome.) Going to start now, see yous real soon! IT'S NOW OR NEVER. (warning: slight insanity might prevail)
11:05 pm : probably not the best plan to keep my facebook page open. closing them. goodbye, facebook.
11:15 pm : Dad and sister are leaving to a mall close-by. Speaking of my dad, did I mention that because of the new year and everything, he decided it was time to experiment on his looks- and so he shaved off his moustache. My sister and I practically shrieked (no joke) for about the first 5 minutes, after we saw him in his "new look". Don't worry, he's lived with us for quite some time now, he's used to it-he didn't ,like, get defensive or anything, just observed it as normal behavior and moved on. I wanted to draw on a moustache on myself as protest- but then I didn't really see the point, so I didn't do it. OKAY. enough about my dad and his lack of a moustache, back to work.
11:30 pm : Gosh, it's so quiet. need music. Going to play a lot of Taylor Swift songs. I listen to her a lot while I write. I think she's pretty awesome.(no, I don't want to know what you think about my music choices)
11:35 pm: Just thought of all the projects that need completion in college. *shudder* 
11:45 pm: Today was a fairytale- Taylor swift C: 
11:54 pm : Dad and sister are back. IT'S ALMOST MIDNIGHT. My grandmum is suggesting resolutions for me. Interesting.
YAY!
:D 
12: 00 am : aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! IT'S 2012*updates facebook status* *starts throwing confetti in the air* HAPPY NEW YEAR : D (fireworks are going off outside :D :D)
12:05 am: Gosh, this was supposed to go so well. Things were supposed to go flying, into the skies. Unfortunately, it's dragging along a little too slowly. And... AARGH. 
12:25 am: *turns around to ask dad to turn down the TV's volume,stares at his moustache-less face,says nothing and turns back*
12:30 am: I am a lean mean editing machine. (obviously, I now deserve a facebook break.) 
12:45 am: Facebook.Must.Close. ( it's so LOUD AND NOISY OUTSIDE.)
12:50 am: Change- Taylor Swift :) 
12:55 am: Trying to get my dad to go to bed, so there will be silence. *starts waving hands saying"go to sleeep"*
1:05 am: Just walked in on my sister reading DRAFT 1. She know's she's not supposed to...why would she do this to me? When she could read the EDITED draft 2 (oh yea, 'cause I've been taking too long doing the editing...) I know you think I'm over-reacting. But seriously. OKAY, you want to know why? It's because Draft 1 has sentences like : Across the room was 15-year old Meena still slept soundly. 
There. now you know. *gets back to editing furiously* *wonders why family members are not going bed as usual*
1:23 am: Twinkly christmas tree lights. And Taylor Swift. 
1:36 am: my sister just sat down and started talking to me about the parts of the story she had just read. She noticed that I had written in parts of her character into parts of a character in the book. (I guess she's happy 'cause it's a pretty main character who gets to do cool stuff.) Oh and she also mentioned that if the ending sucked she was going to beat me up. she was kidding. ( i think. )
2:05 am: moving on to the jonas brothers now. Lacrymal glands don't fail me now! :/
2:30 am: I don't think it's natural for a person to sit around in one place for so long. Getting sort of hungry too. ..I recall that some of the resolutions that my grandmother had suggested included, starting to go to bed on time and waking up early.*coughcough*
2:55am: lip-syncing to Best of Both worlds- Hannah Montana. Oh/my/gosh/
flibbit
3:03 am: everything's okay. i've reached chapter 18, in case you were wondering. everything's just peachy.
3:40 am: .. . 
4:05 am: that wraps up for today I think :) I can't think very well right now, so no more staying up.
And if you've read until here...wow. good job :D
i know it's a long post, but it's been a long night. but awesome nonetheless. good night guys. have an amazing year C: