On Resolutions & Reflections

Hello, all!

This isn't the typical start-of-a-new year post. It's a send-off to 2011 and the beautiful moments that made the year special, and it's me looking forward to this year with the only expectation being Happiness.

2011 was definitely an important year for me... I graduated from high school and went off to college, which is quite a life change. But this past year, I discovered friendships that I didn't realize would become so important to me. I learned about myself and had a few preconceptions be thrown out the window. I realized how important some people have been in my life and though I never actually thanked them, I realized that it's quite important to me to recognize my dependence upon others. So, to everyone that made 2011 special-- from hugs, adventures, advice, knowledge, or simply a kind word... thank you for making my year wonderful.

This year, though, I'm thinking that it's time for change.

I'm not going to make specific resolutions this year (and I realize that it's now slightly over a week into 2012, but in my defense I haven't had internet access for a while...), but I'm going based on concepts. In theory, I am not challenging myself to change who I am, but rather to try to become the person that I want to be.

For now, this means that my resolutions are the following:

• Create something beautiful
• Seek simplicity
• Make good decisions
• Have an adventure
• Fill life with happiness
• Surround myself with supportive, awesome people

These are not resolutions that necessarily have an end. I learned last year that I don't do that well with exact resolutions (with the exception of reading at least 50 books, since I was able to do that by volunteering at the library). These are not so much resolutions for the new year as they are resolutions for life, the kind that are applicable at any time of the year and ideas that could be implemented anytime.

As always, though, I'm looking forward to this year, and all the things that are ahead. Some of these resolutions are applicable to blogging, but I have some other projects that I'll be embarking on this year, and I intend to continue sharing some of these with you.

Anyway, thanks for reading as always and I hope your year has been beautiful so far. I hope that 2011 ended in happiness & joy and that this year brings you all the happiness that you deserve.

Love,

Aly

And So, September

Hello, all!

It's September at last and as promised to a few people months ago, I will be blogging every day this month. There's a lot going on right now-- hence the fact that I have yet to post despite the abundance of things to write about lately-- but I think this is an important month. This is my first month of college life, and I've also decided that for this month, I'm going to become vegetarian, just to see how it goes. Granted, I'll probably make a few exceptions this weekend since I'm returning home (and cafeteria food is more vegetarian friendly, though not always the most delicious).

At any rate, this is just the short intro post since I'm running out of time to write today and I desperately need sleep.

A demain!
-Aly

Novel Number Two

Hello, everybody!

It's DECEMBER again, which means that I haven't blogged in a few months!

Ha, not really (though it's true). December means that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is over. Another novel, DONE. [Last year's blogpost about NaNo]

Well "done", as in it has 50,000 words. But this one... it's not FINISHED. I want it to be, and I won't neglect it this time. So, I've written two novels. Even though neither of them are finished, and I dislike the first one quite a bit, I feel accomplished. This year, I wrote a story that's been bouncing around in my head for a while, rather than a story I forced myself to write. It's a different feeling, and the journey to 50k was much more pleasant this time around. Despite everything else going on this month (COLLEGE APPLICATIONS, yikes!), I managed to complete the challenge once again, and I'm proud of that.

I'm not as surprised at finishing this year, having already done it. Not to say that the feeling is less than it was, but I suppose nothing is quite the same each time you do it. Like running a race for the first time... the emotions at the end are much more overwhelming than every subsequent time. It's not a bad transition, but it's an interesting contrast. I wrote a novel this month, sure, but it's only halfway complete. The story I want to tell is still lurking around the edges, building slowly. Too slowly sometimes. Hitting 50k wasn't surprising, it was expected. It was something I realized I could do, and something I needed to do for myself.

So... this year in comparison to last year.
1. This year, I was a LOT more active on the forums! I connected with people on the Elsewhere forums and those of my Home Region.
2. I attended (most) write-ins. I even helped set up a few, and dragged people into them with me, rather than people dragging ME into them! :D
3. I joined a Skype group of Nerdfighters (from the Nerdfighting & NaNoWriMo group on the Ning). These strangers, that live all over the world, word-warred with me all the time, and were a great support group. I feel like some of them are becoming really good friends of mine. A small group of us are going to collaborate on the Project for Awesome. I also met another nerdfighter in real life, and got to know a few of my own friends better.
4. The novel I wrote was fantasy, rather than realistic fiction. Last year, I tried out a completely new genre and kind of story, but this year, I stuck with the kind of story that I love to write.
5. I knew what my weaknesses were and tried to work on them. I'm TERRIBLE at dialogue, so this year, I tried to focus on making the dialogue stronger than last year.
6. My characters are largely unnamed. Last year, I found names easily, but this year... the characters exist independently of names, until I have the time to dedicate to finding the perfect names.
7. I did not have to write 5,000 words on the last day! I knew how to pace myself better, and even though I fell behind (I didn't write for five days), I was able to recover from that much quicker. I knew how to get my word count up and how to keep it moving.
8. My characters were better-developed this year. They have flaws, voices, and complicated histories. They aren't just right yet, but they're a lot closer than the characters from last year. They're more intriguing, and more independent than my characters from last year.
9. I loved my story. It was fun to write, and I honestly ENJOYED it. It wasn't an emotional test for me, because I was inventing something, rather than drawing entirely from my own emotions. The story was one that... moved, rather than staying stationary. (That probably doesn't make sense unless you're a writer.)
10. (Because this has to be an even number!) There are scenes in my novel this year that I LOVE. Words that I am proud of. The story I've written (so far) is one that I want to continue. I want to edit it and make it better, but more than anything, I truly want to finish it this time.

I've been collecting writing links and advice for the past month (unintentionally!), so I may write up a blog post sharing those soon. I may also share an excerpt from my novel, because I'm excited about it!

Once again, for the people that have helped me along this ride-- on the internet or in real life (text message or anything), THANK YOU SO MUCH! I honestly couldn't have done it without you.

<3,
-Aly

Day Six: Gare

28 Dec. 2009

Hello!

I promise that I’ll get caught up with my posting and fill you in on all the details of my overly-busy life! If you want to know all the mundane details, that is… and I assure you, I have plenty of those to share.

So, until I catch up (today is Day Eight Eleven), except posts like Day four/five; just PRETEND I posted this on time! ;)

D’abord (first of all), I’d like to say that le matin was not very interesting. Our NaviGo passes (for the bus and metro in Paris) had expired the day before, so our only form of transportation was our feet!

Dad had discovered that there was a Roman arena near our hotel in Paris, so after we had breakfast (some pastry; I didn’t like it), we walked until we found it. That was pretty cool; something so old (older than Notre Dame de Paris, I think), right in the middle of the city (MORE OR LESS; Paris is a very large city.) It was kind of like the “beautiful ruins” I told you about before, except these weren't exactly ruins and they were incredibly old… I would still say they are “forgotten”, though. There weren’t any tourists (except for us, of course) standing around admiring it.

A few locals were wandering around; there was a small playground behind the arena, and small families with young children were there. It was otherwise empty, which I guess is a good thing because for once in Paris, we weren’t two of the hundreds of people. The emptiness allows you to imagine the arena not surrounded by buildings and instead, filled with throngs of people watching some sort of likely-inhumane entertainment. xD

Anyway, we continued walking past le Jardin des Plants, which apparently has a menagerie. Unexpectedly, looking through the the bars of the fence surrounding the park, trying to catch sight of les animaux is quite time-consuming.

We took pictures of some of them:

(uhhh… just kidding. You can’t really see the REALLY CUTE ANIMAL in it. Silly animals, walking around being cute where we couldn’t get a good picture of them…)

Eventually, we found a way into the actual Jardin! (I think. Again with the not knowing what something or other is.)

*about to sneeze*

Once we had made our way out of that small portion of the Jardin, we returned to the hotel to pick up our bags and walked awkwardly (it’s impossible to NOT walk like an ape when you’re hauling far too many things) to the bus. Soon after, we had arrived at Gare de Lyon, where our train was arriving an hour and some later.

Quick side note: When’s the last time you took a train? Not a subway/metro/underground/etc., but an actual TRAIN?
The only time I’ve ever taken trains has been in Europe, and if you never have… you should experience it sometime. The confusion, chaos, and everything… it’s quite fun and you don’t have to go through security like at airports! You don’t even have to arrive an hour early! (Thirty minutes will do just fine, if you can figure out the signs, that is.)

Right. So, after a longgggg wait, during which we ate gaufres (waffles!) for lunch, the platform was finally displayed on the screen (they only show a color, for which area of the train station a certain train will be in until the train actually arrives) and we struggled through the crowd to the near the front of the train (which is the farthest away, naturally), and found our car.

(hahaha at the guy next to me.)

(this wasn’t our train, nor was it even the correct area of the train station. I’m just throwing this in there because it shows a bullet train and the station.)

Our train was actually two trains connected together, near where I’m standing.

When we found our seats (after dumping our excessively huge bags on the storage racks), we discovered that they were taken! Luckily, the guy sitting there spoke English so we could communicate the mistake. Trains are confusing like that; there are multiple cars with the same seat numbers, and sometimes, like with our train, there are two different trains and you have to pay attention to know which one you SHOULD be on. xD

Finally, we started moving; through the beautiful French countryside, heading to Nice. There wasn’t internet on the train, but they had outlets, so I wrote the Day Four blog while on the train, which took up most of the ride when I wasn’t staring dreamily out the window, listening to music on my iPod (Owl City, probably; I’m only a little obsessed), or watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince :)

The entire ride, Dad was trying to get a picture of the trains that would pass us. It was rather funny; he’d reach across me, holding his camera near the window, just waiting for another train and then jumping when one passed before finally trying to take the picture. He mostly just watches the countryside, though; this time, he was talking a lot to the people across from us, who seemed to be playing musical chairs, as there were three different people that sat in those seats at different points in time. Apparently they (the two women whose seats were actually across from ours; the other one was this guy although I don’t know why he was sitting there) live in a town near mine.

The sky got darker, and at last, we arrived in Saint Raphaël, the town next to Fréjus, where my host family was waiting to greet us.

I admit, I had no idea what they would look like, but I guess Dad knew or they knew or something, because when we reached the end of the escalator at the main entry, they were standing there waiting for us and smiling. Immediately, they took the suitcase that Dad was hauling (the heavier one xD), and gave us bisous. (That was unexpected, though it shouldn’t have been.)

[I will explain bisous more later on in this post or another, but what you need to know is that bisous are the air-kisses on either cheek.]

We all piled into their car (a Ford Focus) and drove to their house for dinner. Nathalie (pronounced “Natalie”), my host-mother, was worried that I would be picky, but I’ve kind of promised myself (and my dad) that I would at least TRY everything. Nathalie’s daughter, Alexandra, came to dinner as well—she was on holiday from university in Paris, where she is studying to become a translator (so she knows French, English, Spanish, and a little bit of Russian). Quentin acts just like a younger brother; in fact, I think he would get along really well with my “other” little brother, being Molly’s brother Christopher. Olivier is a bit of a goofball; he and Dad get along with signs and broken phrases.

Anyway, it was nice to finally meet them, and it looks like (from here) I will get along with them quite nicely.

From the top left: Nathalie, Olivier, me, and Dad.

-Aly

Day Zero: Takeoff

*waves*!

Bonjour, PARIS!

So, it's 2:40 pm here in Paris, and only 8:40 in the morning at home, which means that most people should still be asleep. My stomach is telling me that it's foodtime, but the time of day disagrees. xD [McDonald's is basically downstairs. Disgusting fatty food, anyone?]

Since it is now Day One of my Grand French Adventure, I have observations to share! YAY! (Oh, and pictures. Mostly taken by my dad, despite my protests.) This post is "Day Zero" because the day we left is a different day than when we arrived... being at the airport can't be considered Day One since it's not in France. In case you were a bit confused there.

We left at 12:20 (LATE!) from our house yesterday, and magically we made it to Charlotte on time. I had to leave the HUGE jar of gumballs in Dad's car, which means they'll be going back with him to New Orleans rather than to Molly, who would appreciate their deliciousness fully. Whooooops.

(above: plane to Pennsylvania)

Anyway, I slept the entire plane ride from Charlotte to Philadelphia; the airport in Philadelphia is HUGE, which made hauling my bursting-at-the-seams laptop bag (blame all the secret chocolate) and awkwardly-shaped "Europe bag" (it's not actually called that; we just happened to buy bags like this two years ago for our Europe trip in '07... thus, "Europe bag") really frustratingly painful.

I watched Pink Panther in the airport until it was time to go again, and Dad insisted on taking pictures of the plane and me.

That is definitely a dolphin-shaped travel pillow. *is cool*

I watched Julie & Julia; unfortunately, that was the most interesting thing I did the entire flight . We actually noticed when we flew over Great Britain, and attempted to take pictures through the windows when we spotted France, which didn't work that well due to the fact that we were (as always), near the wing. I'll put one in here anyway, since I don't know what else to do with all these pictures. =P

(See it? Right there? That's France. It's snowy!)

After we arrived in Paris, we had to find a photobooth ("photomaton") to take passport-style pictures. The machine said to have a "neutral" expression, and I was looking really rough after all the traveling, what with the awkward sleeping positions and such. I SHOULD put a picture of the AWFUL pictures on here, but that would just be embarrassing, so you'll have to live with a picture my dad took of me on the train to Gare d'Austerlitz; you can still tell that I'm a mess.

So, onto the less-boring stuff! :D [There aren't many pictures yet! YAY!]

Mass transportation is pretty cool. Other than the expected smell-of-gross that permeates the underground in every city, it's still an easy way to travel. There are so many people on the train; I felt really obviously not-French, dragging around far-too-heavy bags and trying not to trip on the stairs.

There are some really interesting characters on the Metro; in our car, there was this guy that was placing little keychains (or were they bottle-openers?) on empty seats with these tiny cards written in both English and French: "Je suis dourd(e): I am dumb and deaf" that asked the occupants of that seat to buy the trinket for 3 euros. Another guy just stood up from his seat with an accordion and started playing. It was pretty cool; I felt really bad that I couldn't give him any money (don't have cash on me), because he was quite good and as he moved along to the next car to busk (British term, but I like it), he just looked really disheartened.

The tracks are surrounded by cement walls, I guess to keep the noise contained (the trains are LOUD), which are coated in all sorts of graffiti. There's some that's stereotypical; the huge, blocky letters and such, but many are quite artistic-- we saw some that were splatter-painted, colorful, or have a message of love. I think that's really cool; I like to just sit and watch it all go by, trying to read the letters and figure out what it says, or the type of person that would write each spray-paint message.

Last time I was in Europe I did the same thing; I always find myself fascinated by what I would call "beautiful" ruins. They're not necessarily ruins, but there are these areas of town that are so grimy and dingy, so old or forgotten, that they have this charm to them. I like to imagine that somebody will see the beauty in the building or the area and make it as beautiful to everyone as it would have been originally.

There are advertisements for "American" products everywhere! Companies I didn't know where French have these HUGE factories along the Metro lines; LG, Samsung, Siemens, Sanyo... I'm often surprised by such things. There are posters EVERYWHERE for Pas si simple, which is the new movie with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin. I think I'll try to go see it while I'm here, though I know it'll be REALLY WEIRD seeing familiar actors "speaking" in French. I've noticed from the few American movies with French voice-overs that are currently playing on TV that they do a good job with that, so we'll see.

WELL, THAT'S ALL. (Sorry about not-interestingness.)

BYE!
-Aly

P.S. I can assure you that the rest of the day was not that interesting, either. We walked around, ate food (of the cheapest-we-could-find variety), and didn't actually find me a cell phone or a bookstore that had the books Dad and I are looking for. It's REALLY COLD here!

Goodbyes

Hello!

My plane will be leaving at 4:00(ish?) today to go to Philadelphia, and then on to Paris. We're flying out of Charlotte, so we're actually leaving a bit earlier than planned due to the fact that HOLIDAY TRAFFIC EATS TIME as if it were dessert.

At any rate, I'm really excited to leave, but honestly, the worst part of leaving is saying goodbye.

It's hard to say "goodbye" to somebody that you have every intention of staying in touch with. At the same time, there's that tiny pessimistic side that keeps reminding you that "things can never be the same". My goodbyes to friends go something like this:

Friend: Well, I guess this is it.
Me: Yeah. Kinda.
Friend: Why can't you just stay?
Me: I can't! I've been planning this for too long.
Friend: *sigh* I know. I'm just gonna miss you.
Me: Yeah, me too. *hugs*
Friend: Bye!
Me: See you in six months! Internet stalking! *waves and leaves*
(In my head-- Friend: Well, that was fail.)

Yeah.

It's not only the goodbyes to friends that are the problem, but when I leave for any trip that is longer than a few weeks (example: Europe trip in '07), I tend to say goodbye to everything (in my head at least).

I guess it's understandable, though. (Hopefully. If it's not then I'm just crazy and I like to think that I'm sane enough.)

As I walk from wherever I am for the last time (or drive. TECHNICALITY!), I'm watching everything go by (or that I pass by), and I'm trying not to wave to whatever it is. I will actually say it out loud a few times, and then look around anxiously to check that nobody is laughing at me. xD

So, as I leave my house today, I will be saying goodbye to everything-- when I get back, we won't be living here anymore, which makes this even more strange. This is the last time I'll be in my room, the last shower I take in my bathroom... so on and so forth. However strange and silly it is, I will miss sleeping in my own familiar bed with my pillows, driving my car (FRED!) around, and going to La Carretta with friends for lunch on far too many weekends. [No worries though! I'll miss my friends/family a lot more!]

I was going to send out a One Final Text from my phone letting everybody know that I love them and I'll miss them, but I figured it'll be easier to just write it in blog form and hope that you get it :)

Here are my final goodbyes:

To my "Last Brekkie" friends-- I'm glad we got to hang out one more time, and I expect extremely enthusiastic emails from you all the time.

To the friends that attended "The Last Lunch" -- I left with a bang! I'm glad you were there to laugh at me :)

To those of you that "Braved the Storm" to come to my birthday party -- I'm glad you didn't die on the way, and I'm glad we got to hang out and act like crazy people for a few hours. Your gifts were amazing, your creativity (ha. picture telephone...) was hysterical, and I'm sorry that my mom took far too many pictures. Don't worry, some of them are up on facebook already!

To all my other close friends, acquaintances, etc. -- If I didn't get to see you before I left, I'm sorry. It doesn't mean I love you any less. I WILL find ways to keep in touch.

I wish everybody a WONDERFUL Holiday season, a fantastic six months, and a great day.


SEE YOU IN SIX MONTHS!
-Aly

The Magical Sound of Victory

Tired, but happy. Winner's certificate :D

HI!

I couldn't resist, I admit it.

I'm far too excited to NOT blog about this.

For those of you that don't know it, November is National Novel Writing Month.

For me and eight to fifteen (I lost count) of my friends, that meant we spent a month slaving over a novel, which is defined by NaNo as having 50,000 words.

It sounds like a lot of words, and it definitely is. It's a huge project to undertake, and with everything else going on in November (such as life. That's a rather distracting thing.), it takes a lot of wise procrastination and even more not-so-kind nudging from friends to survive. At least, it did for me.

Over the course of the last two weeks, I have given up on my novel at least six times, fallen behind more than 11,000 words, and I've also had three days of extremely high word counts. It's been rough, but I made it. At 11:36 or something around there, I "crossed the finish line" with 50,207 words (though the website tells me it was only 50,178; still not sure why, exactly).

The moment of victory. Moreorless.

Since that moment, I cannot stop smiling. I'm filled with joy and I can't sit still; it's absolutely ridiculous. It feels like I just ran a marathon that I didn't train for in the slightest, during which I fell down enough that my entire body is covered in bruises and sore, but somewhere near the end, I go this KICK, and it held... for miles and miles. And somehow, despite the entire race and the aggravation about the quality of the run, I MADE IT. I'm not quite "finished" all the way, but I did it. I made it to my goal, and this may be the biggest thing I've accomplished in my entire life, by my standards.

I have a great feeling about tomorrow, or rather... today. Even though I can't focus on anything at all that isn't feeling loopily happy, I DID IT. I can do anything with the feeling I have right now.

Bring it on, December. Ups and downs and whatever's in store. I'm going to finish this novel this month-- fix it up and make it acceptable. It'll be great. And I'm certain that waiting on that finish line will be the same people that kicked, dragged, and shoved me through November.

Thank you SO VERY MUCH if you were one of those people.

I love you, and in case you're wondering-- that sound you hear? That would be the Magical Sound of VICTORY!

-Aly

Six Months is Too Far Away

Hello!

I wasn't planning on starting this blog for awhile... meaning, not until I left for France. But I figured it couldn't hurt. I might as well write about how I'm preparing for my trip to France and where things currently stand as far as plans go.

I'm going to copy and paste the post from "MAlly Chat" that I wrote a couple weekends ago when I spoke to Angela (Angie), the girl I've been in contact with in France.

* Saturday, May 23, 2009

Hihi!

Yesterday was awesome and I would write about it but I am BURSTING WITH JOY so I really can't focus on yesterday at the moment.

I AM TALKING TO ANGIE ON FIM (facebook instant messaging). RIGHT NOW. AS IN SHE IS IN FRANCE AND I AM IN MY HOUSE AND WE ARE SPEAKING OVER THE INTERNET.
AND IT IS AWESOME.
AND I AM JOYFUL.

But I seem to be unable to "penser en Franais" as Madame would like... ahhh! I AM TOO EXCITED!

Holy shigoodness, this has made my day like x 59,999 better.

*JOY!*

For Clarification:

I am massively in love with France. The culture, the language, the country. I've wanted to go to France since I can remember and THIS YEAR, I may have the chance to. You see, my dad is good friends with Pierre, who is French-Lebanese and has family in France. He knows of my desire to go to France as an exchange student, and is helping my dad and I plan my trip to France and live with Pierre's sister.

This would mean that I could go to France without the restrictions of going through an exchange program, which would be cheaper and safer. We would know the family (sorta) and it would just generally be so much more awesome. Regretfully, Angie (Pierre's niece) and I are TERRIBLE at emailing each other, which is why the FIM conversation makes me so happy. Even though I'm not speaking in French.
-Aly *

That explained some of it, at least enough for whoever is reading this to understand what my goal is.

I'll try to explain more in-depth at a later date.
:)

-Aly