Tidbits: May Edition

Picture/Photo Find

Something I Did

So I got my silhouette done a few days ago. I've been dying to get one done for a while; silhouettes, to me, are magical things. I love how anyone can suddenly seem mysterious and beautiful, yet look exactly like themselves, when they are captured in a shadow. I entertained the thought of learning how to do them myself, but I soon found that it was just far beyond my skills at the moment. It would have to wait in line behind the other skills I want to teach myself how to do this summer, including storyboarding and making pop-up books. I went to Disney, the Magic Kingdom, and sat down for my silhouette. The silhouette isn't very expensive at all - I think it's $8 if you don't want a frame. I gawked at the stall when I first got to Main Street and admired all the elaborate shadowed scenes on display. I kind of wanted them too - Ariel looking up at the surface and Wendy flying - but I had to remain focused. I was here to start with me.

I actually ended up waiting almost an hour to get it done since, when I first got there, the silhouette artist was on his lunch break. So I sat in the chair and waited. I saw one of the smaller parades and watched the balloon guys expertly tug balloons down from their floating bouquets for eager children. I was so relaxed and enthralled by the sights that I didn't realize that the artist had come back from his break. He, in turn, never bothered to ask me if I was indeed waiting for a portrait. He just assumed that I was resting in the chair - apparently something many people do in the park. I didn't know this (I guess you learn something everyday). After smiling at each other, flustered and apologizing, he had me sit up and look straight ahead. I couldn't see what he was doing, but in a matter of minute he had carved out my silhouette. We chatted about art school and novel writing while he placed my silhouette in the frame. I went home a happy girl.

I scanned it and here it is:

Cool, eh? I had planned to do it with my glasses off, but because of the mishap I was so flustered I just sat with them on. Realistically, I don't use contacts, so I'm always wearing my glasses. It's true to life. But I've always admired eyelashes on silhouettes, so I missed seeing that. But yes, my hair really is that thick. It's totally correct, haha. No straightener can hide the volume :) I want to stick it on my blog somewhere, but I'm still wondering where. Hm.

A Quote from a Book I Love

I just finished reading Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. I've actually have the book in my room for an entire school year, abusing the privilege graduate students get by taking out books for months, not weeks, at a time. I renewed and renewed and finally, when I felt for a moment that I could breathe, I sat down and read this in one sitting. Which is a big deal since it's not a tiny book. It's all about adventure, mysterious creatures, airships, and old-world charm. Here's one of my favorite parts of the airship Aurora's liftoff. It inspired me to randomly shout "Up ship!" in my daily life:

"Pull up the gangways! Close the hatches! The cargo was all loaded and tied down in the holds; the last of the passengers were on board. There was a cry of “Up ship!” from the control car. The two-hundred-strong ground crew cast off the mooring lines, and with a great splash we were dumping water ballast, and the men and women on the airfield sent up a cheer, and we were rising now, the passengers swinging caps and handkerchiefs from the open windows, and the people down below waving back, and we were rising, the airfield already far below us, and the spires of Lionsgate City spreading out to the north, and we were rising into the dawn sky, sure and smooth as an angel."

Song I Can't Stop Repeating

"You Will Be Mine" by Lenka

The melody alone is beautiful, but the combination with the lyrics is just romantically haunting:

But every time she turned the lights down low

He thought he heard a voice calling out so slow

Come take me away from all this pain

And he said

I see you sitting there at the window sill

Looking for shooting stars

I wanna get closer and closer still

I wanna take over your heart

You will be mine, mine

Over time, time

You're gonna find, find

I'll make you mine, mine

A Writer Thing

Fiction is where the fun happens. I love to spend time crafting magical worlds and strange characters. If I didn't have to eat and sleep and participate in the world, I'd probably do that all day. However, creative nonfiction is where it gets tricky for me. My writing voice actually changes; the humor I always carry with me comes out, and I ramble way too much for my words to have any kind of poetic effect to them. And creative nonfiction is draining to the writer who is not used to it.

I just finished revising my final workshop piece for the semester. I really feel like I revealed a giant secret of mine in that piece - it was refreshing and incredibly exciting. My heart pounded in my chest as I wrote it. But having to revise took longer than I thought. Every change in structure and sentence, every new section written, took a lot of energy out of me. And it's not because of revision itself. More so, I dug deeper into my heart. Pulling that gunky, delicate stuff into the light left me breathless at the keyboard. I rubbed my eyes. Downed more soda. Stayed up late.

And finally, it's done. Until the next revision. My goodness, I have such respect for creative nonfiction writers. They're just plain amazing.

Video I Watched Too Many Times

I don't think I've posted this on here yet, so here we go. This video gives me chills. Good chills. The nostalgia here is just wonderful. I want to have tea in a river with a moose figurine on my table.

Food I'm Craving

SUSHI. Like, good sushi.

All photos except for my silhouette were found on We Heart It.