What a Wonderful World...Go Screw Yourself!

Has anybody ever heard the band Tears for Fears? I was listening to Seeds of Love, one of their best cd's, just now. If you like alternative music, you'll like them. (I deserve to be hanged because I actually don't know the definition of "alternative music", but TFF aren't really definable in their style.)
School is alright (school is really the only thing left I have to talk about today...blech). Our math teacher gives us like twenty problems each night. Good day, though, because I got graded on two projects and did not so bad. I'm one of those good grade students. And the thing I hate about it is that you get labeled as that and nobody wants to think anything but good of your work and nothing but bad of you...damn! I'm not mean, dishonest, or a dumbass, or a gameboy-ethic. I'm just sane, which a lot of people these days aren't. For instance:

-4 out of 5 people at my school have not heard of Layla by Derek and the Dominos. (and if YOU haven't, listen to this epic song!!)
-11 out of 12 people have never read Tamora Pierce. And I just don't like that because I have and Tamora Pierce, in my opinion, is an AWESOME writer.
-2 out of 9 people, approximately (and this one makes me angry and also amused), think the Beatles are "Uh...something like Paul Lenin, Joel McCartney, Ringo Starr and...er.....Harrison? I don't know his first name..." Paul Lenin! Really.
-4 out of 5 people have heard one cd from the 60's and 70's: Dark Side of the Moon.

And because I am well read, get good grades, know the names of the Beatles and love the same music as our 45 year old teachers, I am labeled as some kind of nerd. Just because they all listen to c-Rap and mix up Paul McCartney and Vladimir Lenin means theyr cool!!!!!

In conclusion, I am pissed.
TFATF!!!
-Ahaneen

Something Like the Force

It's the fact that there's a dark side to everything. You know the thing I wanted most of all two years ago? To be in a pirate play. And by a simple twist of fate (y'all ever seen that Steve Martin picture? I haven't.), no joke, I got into one. That's where I learned that I actually wasn't very good at acting. Dark side. And you know the thing I wanted most this year? My own room. Well, I've been wanting that for nine years, but back to the point. I just got one because we moved. And now, let me list the dark sides of having my largest wish:

-it's hardly your own room if your sister comes in every five seconds.
-you discover that, in sharing a room with your sister for the past near-decade, you have obtained virtually no furniture to call your own.
-however much time is spent decorating your room is doubled when you think of the time you took to design it...

those are my top three. They also happen to be on my all-time bottom ten.

If you guys didn't bother to look at the quote-en-quote "archives", (i don't mind because they're old and musty and from like two weeks ago), you WOULDN'T have seen my "awexome" band idea. Basically it goes like this:

...if you are in a band and need members/are not in a band and would like to be in one/want to promote yourself/want to promote your band, post a comment on the most recently designated posting of mine. As of now, the moment you read this, the most recently designated posting for advertising, promoting and band searching is HERE. If you don't get it, read the posting "Band Idea: Awexome." If you do, be sure to follow these guidelines if or when you post:

if you are looking for a band:
-post your username and where you live, as well as what instruments you play and what kind of music you like.
if you are looking for band members:
-post the band name if you have one, what you need, where you are located, and who to contact. also what kind of music you guys play!

If you want to promote yourself, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Go ahead, as I said; try it!!!
TFATF! -Ahaneen

How the Hell is "Algebra" Arabian??

Well, I'll tell you. Back in the Baghdad day when it was the center of mathematical commerce and not a place where bombs drop like bird poops, there was a guy named Al-something who wrote a book using early what-we-call-algebra. His book was called Al-Jabr. You get it? Al-Jabr--Algebra??...
Yeah. More like Al-jabber to me. That there, with my bird-poop commentary was the beginnings of one of my math classes. I am good at algebra and it is taught by who I consider to be a fascinating teacher, but tonight a certain formula (n!/n!(n-r)!, in fact) is particularly bugging me. Ahhh! I just can't WAIT until my father comes home and explains it all to me...for three friggin hours!!
So I'm sitting here, writing in the blog that my math-centered parents...don't...know...about...and wondering what to do. Stewing in my pissed-off-ness won't do. Though I AM pissed off--it is my last year at the school I am going to and they choose NOW of all times to combine the middle school drama program with the fourth and fifth grade one. Sorry, but, the fourth and fifth graders can't project their voices to save their lives. I'll drop out of the school drama and just take a class at the SCT, but the school plays are more fun than the SCT ones unless it's in summer. (Which it's not, Mr. Masters Degree or Resident). So to get that off my mind I guess I'll put in some more writing I've done. Just so all y'all know I'm not trying to do this just to earn complements or anything--my head's not that big--even though all comments/complements are more than welcome, heehee! And if you have writing (like creative writing) on your blog GIVE ME THE URL!
SO: on to the writing.

...Suddenly, as if an answer to princess Talya's thoughts, a man's--her father's--hand flicked around the door and it creaked open. Talya stiffened, like she always did in the presence of the king.
"Hello," said her Papa, peeking in and smiling in that sugary way. She hated him for it; grinning foolishly as if she were still a small child. He sat down beside her on the bed. Talya wished that she were just alone.
"I was just wondering how things are coming along between you and your new friend," her Papa said. Talya started--did she know where Lonan was now?
"Fine," said the princess, a little too defensively.
"I never really got to know him," said the king. "Is he nice?"
"Yes." Talya answered in as flat a tone as possible.
"Charming?"
"Yes."
"Handsome?"
"Marginally."
The king chuckled and stood up. "I thought you might quite like him. Did you ever consider--"
"Why do you CARE?" burst out his daughter. She couldn't take it anymore; she stood up to her full height. "You hired him as your jeweler, your peer, why does it matter what you thought I'd think of him? Didn't you take his skills into account when you picked him?"
"Well," said the king uneasily, taking a breath, "I judged those and other things, but also his qualities as a possible--"
"SUITOR?" cried the princess. "You didn't care about his real talent? Just chose him because he was my age and was a potential LOVER?"
"Why not?" challenged the king. "You do love him don't you?"
"Not anymore!" she bellowed fiercely without thinking. "I thought I did, but not now, not now that I know that what I thought was love was actually a silly little game set up by a low, prejudiced, condescending oaf like you!"...

There it is. Okay, now my mind's no longer on drama, at least, haha.
-Ahaneen

"The Power to be Strong"

"...and the wisdom to be wise...all these things will come to you in time...."
Sorry. I'm learning to play "Son of Man" on the guitar so I've got the lyrics stuck in my head. Disney movies are pretty weird but I like the Tarzan soundtrack for some odd reason.
It's kind of weird to think that in another month I'll be starting applications out to high school. Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences is top on my list, and so are Lakeside and Northwest, but I am sort of torn. In beginning high school at a given place I am, unless I transfer, determining what my future four years are going to be like. And going to any of those three schools will basically be like going to the school I am going to now--fuzzy, small, expensive, and narrow-minded when you really think about it. I would get basically no difference in atmosphere. What a waste of almost half a decade!
On the other hand, if I took the plunge and stopped going to private school, I would get a sense of what public is like. My best friend since kindergarten goes to public school and she hates it. So I suppose even if I did get the benefit of a new experience I might get sick of it once the third week rolls by...
I suppose my real dream would be to go to high school in another country. Somewhere in Europe or Africa, perhaps? Seriously. My only trip I've ever taken outside the USA is to Vancouver Island, which is nested in the crook of Washington's Puget Sound. So one of my main long-term goals is to travel A LOT. If I went to high school in another country I could be introduced to a whole new culture...cool!
(And though the whole part about not seeing my family for months at a time doesn't appeal to me, I think I could handle it. They're really pissing me off right now.)
Where do I apply?? The question is hanging in the air like a bubble weighed down by miniature plankton...
TFATF! ~Ahaneen

Break out the Crosby Stills and Nash

Helpless..helpless...hel-el-elpless...
Haha that's how I feel right about now. My sister and my and my mom and my dad are at her soccer game, so I am stuck checking out thousands of blogs and trying to play Scottish Folk music and Neil Young on my guitar. (In short, Boo!) I can currently think of a number of things I'd like to be doing. For one thing, we just moved into our first house!!! I lived in an apartment for twelve crapping years and now I have a house in the best part of Seattle. If my family was home, maybe we could go out to Home Depot and get a new window panel for my room and some wall paint. IF they were home they could tell me how I could make our house look even better and I would gladly do it (even if it meant weeding...ah!) And maybe if they were home I could walk to the library and get Shiva's Fire, or walk down to Green Lake.
Green Lake must be the nicest spot in our neighborhood. The city lied and the lake most certainly is not green, but it has a lush green island in the middle which I once paddleboated to. My dad used to say that his mother lived out there, haha. The park surrounding the lake (the lake's got, hold on, 2.8/pi miles in diameter) is green-grass-ed most of the year, and there is a public theatre on one end of the lake heralded by a pathway flanked with huge scabby elms. It really doesn't seem like you're up in the Northwest. It seems like you're in the Southeast where girls still think their futures are determined by the designs on their spoons. (no, really!) And it seems doubly good because it's the weekend and I finished my horrendous homework last night. Sweet!
But returning to the fact that I'm locked up at home...
-Ahaneen (TFATF)

No Title...Songs

So tanx all of you who posted comments on my song a couple of days ago. I'll post the second half here and part of another that I don't have a name for yet.

so...nothing more to say..jump to the lyrics. this song doesn't have a tune. from the first refrain forward, "Estrelle" goes like this:

They'll say, "Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
There's a chariot in the driveway
And everyone's staring on the lane
There's a chariot in the driveway
And everyone's staring on the lane"

Halfway to your destination
For a drink, you stopped your car
And in that moment
You considered the rosy moonlit bar
Through the sword shaped crack in your windshield
You saw the barman on crusade
Who in that moment
Dressed himself in your clothes of the day
You tried to hold the tears of joy
In the room that you prepared
Still the mad laughter choruses
Echoed through the evening air
You're bleeding out the lyrical
While hoping for a miracle
That destiny's not yours to sell
And you know what the dead men they will tell.

Refrain

Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
Everyone wants to be you, belle
See the sun god smiling on them
From the day above their hell
Dear Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
Dear Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
But you won't look down any longer
To where the other stars once fell
Everyone wants to be you belle (echo…echo…)

Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
Everyone wants to be you, belle
(echo: Estrelle… Estrelle …Estrelle… Estrelle…)

this one actually has a tune, though I just made it up today!! try to imagine it kinda like a city in the sky.

Perhaps it's my eyes that see you
But they only see one half
Perhaps it's the lies that grieve me
They're the only ones that make me laugh
And in some wave that you make...
There's a minor chord in my soul.
Somewhere in a magic city
You're there waiting...
...for me...

Never did a shadow play games with my mind
A fool made out of me
Hardly ever before did these voices wind
And there's nothing that I can see
There's a cord that you pull...
Something in me awakes.
Somewhere in a starry kingdom
You're the king and you're waiting...
..for me.

ok. maybe i'll have a name for it by the time i post next time!
TFATF!!! :D
-Ahaneen

Katrina Through the Eyes of a Helpless Bystander

I never thought I'd live the day when I'd hate to be in Seattle. But I tell you, it is infuriating right now. Hurricane Katrina devastates thousands of lives thousands of miles away. At hundreds of miles an hour Hurricane Reda speeds through the Atlantic/Gulf of Mejico, preparing to do much the same thing. The double threat--two times the worst natural disaster in our country's history.
AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!
You must understand this is a terrible blow to me. I am a girl who is used to working--and earning--what I strive for. I set my heart on acting and 6 months later passed an audition. I wanted to write a series and am now working on the fourth installment. There, I was up against fate. Now, I am up against Mother Nature--a force which I try to respect by saving energy, even though our president doesn't necessarily. Do you understand?
I keep thinking--how can I help? Clothes? Not the biggest need. Money? Don't got it, sorry. And now, when I attempt to start a food drive with my friends, my stupid principal goes and asks us if there's REALLY A NEED. Why don't I print out the homepage of Second Harvest and shove it in his face??
I read this newspaper article recently: it said, in short--20,000-40,000 ppl were crammed inside of the (american) football stadium in New Orleans. Young women were admitting being raped by gangsters. Racist fights break out every day, and urine and shit were everywhere. People fainted from the very stench of it and had to be carted away.
Two of the grossest stories I've heard: One, police got into a wrecked hospital and found a ton of elderly folks lying there, dead. The nurses and doctors had thought they would be safer on their feeders and fled the hospital without them. Two: a bunch of dolphins who were flushed out of their aquarium were tugged out to sea, but as soon as they could fought their way through starvation and debris back to the city they were born in--a city where all was destruction.
Phew.
I'm glad I got that off my chest. I was really angry at my principal for delaying our progress on the food drive, and really mad at our government (perhaps injustly) for not providing the equal resources for relief for everyone, black or white, poor or rich, who has been hit. But there still is hope. I will, with as little physical force as I can keep back, show Mr. Princi the documents he wants. And the dolphins were taken in by kind owners. (sigh...)
If you read this far, good for you. You deserve a medal by all accounts!! Trivia: from where does the word "disaster" originate?
TFATF,
Ahaneen

Zippity-Here's-My-Post-of-the-Day!

I suppose having a new blog is like running the mile: you start out okay but halfway through your first lap you begin to wonder why you didn't call in sick to the office. Maybe after two weeks I'll stop bugging you guys with my daily e-mail.

I was sitting at my computer, writing sun-drenched, rain-splattered songs, when I remembered a time when I had been completely lost. Do you ever have those experiences? I had no idea where I wanted to go with my life, what religion I wanted to follow...I was questioning my sanity and wondering if I was depressed..and then there was my dilemma: to be loyal to my tight circle of rather unpopular friends or to try juggling many cliques at once. That was when school ended. Fortunately for me, drama at the SCT began and solidified my convictions: I am going to pursue acting, am agnostic for the time being, and think friends too much fun not to have as many of them as possible. But before drama, before all that solidification, I wrote the following song to myself. I am an amateur songwriter and it's probably not that good. Here's about one half of it:

You told me once you had a dream
--You were standing at a junction
And in that moment
There were one thousand ways to run.
You said on every magazine
There was a dead face you had seen
Who in that moment
Erupted onto every path before your feet
You try to silence your alarm clock
But it then begins to choke
Sweet, you try to write a letter but
Your fountain pen just broke
A single thought has entered and
You know it is self-centered
An everlasting song quarrel
You know what your parents they will tell.

They'll say, "Estrelle…dear Estrelle…
There's a chariot in the driveway
And everyone's staring on the lane
There's a chariot in the driveway
And everyone's staring on the lane..."

Basically the synopsis is: I was at a crossroads where I didn't know which path to follow. All the different outcomes--the dead faces--were battling with each other to get me to follow them. I thought that my time was running out and whenever I tried to make contact with new people something held me back. I just wanted to get away from the confusion.
-Ahaneen

While You Were Sleeping I Was Websurfing

Hey guys! I was just checking out who else in this universe of many bloggers likes acting/What About Bob?/song writing, and such. For one thing, I noticed that all the people who seem to like Yes are 46-year-olds. And I've nothing against them. But why can't the current generation at least listen to some of the 60's and 70's music? For me it's my favorite. Especially The Band, The Police and Yes. Santana too. For any of you who haven't heard any of these, here's some good songs to check out:

-Hell's Half Acre by Robbie Robbertson (of The Band)
-Unbound by Robbie Robbertson
-Mood For A Day by Yes (I can play this one on guitar! :D)
-The Revealing Science of God by Yes
-Synchronicity by The Police
-If You Love Somebody Set Them Free by Sting (Sting is another of my favorites; originally from The Police)

So go to your nearest Silver Platters or music store; or go to iTunes/Napster if you have it, and check 'em out!
But I'd really like to complement the work of the author of this blog I found, This is my Mind. The first post I saw was a totally incredible song and I'd be honored if whoever posted it would post a comment or two on MY BLOG some of the time. Kudos to you!
I just finished a song called The Alchemist. I might post it once I'm done editing and once I'm satisfied that it's not going to be stolen...just in case it's any good.
TFATF!! (Thanks For All The Fishsticks)
-Ahaneen

Writing of Mine

Just thought I'd post a clip of my writing up on this blog. If you want to share any writing, feel free! I love to read other writers' stuff. Here goes.

...Lonan had stopped listening by then. His eyes wandered once more to the walls and ceiling of the tunnel, where snatches of ragged fabric that had once been elegant and beautiful hung. It was still lovely, in an unusual way, with the pieces of different cloths all sewn together and the greenish light bouncing off of them...they were like perversions of castle tapestries. And near the water there were half-circles of blue rhinestones stuck to the stone, and inside each half-circle was scrawled a name.

"Graves," it dawned on Lonan suddenly. "They're memorials." Some were grander than others, with bits of stolen jewelry, fabric, and other fancies attatched. "Look!" whispered one soldier in a canoe behind Lonan and the king.

Ahead of them, vines hung from the ceiling of the arched tunnel. Flowers, too, and little gems that were glowing like stars were caught in the vines. The king looked repulsed, Lonan saw, looking over his shoulder at him, but the youth himself felt a strange happiness and longing: the Algera half of him was home.

As if her memory had caused it to appear, Lonan saw suddenly a great altar built upon the small bit of stone between wall and flowing water. It was covered with flowers, and bits of golden jewelry, and one magnificent idol of the Sun God. Lonan gasped at the name written in silver letters below the idol: Algera. This was the most adorned memorial. Street rat as she was, Lonan's mother had been honored among her kind.

"Aughh!" spat the king as their boats floated under the vines, the memorial slinking away beyond Lonan's vision. He swept the decorated vines from his face and gasped in wonder at the sight before his eyes...

Just More About Me

That picture on my first posting (it should still be on the page; I haven't been on blogger for very long) is of the mother city, the Jet City. You can't see it in that picture, but this one you can--my favorite place in all of Seattle: the SCT. Seattle Children's Theatre. I am crazy about acting; I've been in it three years almost; and every summer I manage to get into a Summer Stage production at the SCT. It's one of those places where you meet people like you've never met before. Ever had one of those experiences? This last summer I was in a production where half the cast was hard of hearing. I knew no sign language, but I made so many friends and all of my alienism from hard of hearing people disappeared. And learning ASL was SOO fun! It doesn't really seem like a foreign language anymore. I mean, I take Spanish, but I don't understand how it can be so familiar to some people.
The production we did was Scapina. Many of you actors, if any of you act, will know the popular Moliere character of Scapin. Well, this was the female version. Great play. Even if you don't act I suggest you see it. I think Bill Irwin made a movie out of it.
Do any of you have a favorite movie/play?

Band Idea...Awexome

So I had this idea. One of the things I love (though I never did put it up on my interests, dang) is guitar. I play my mom's old 6-string acoustic but my dad's got a steel string Martin. We're going shopping for an electric soon...sweet.
So I was thinking: how many people out there would love to be in a band but don't have the means or the guts to create one? I sure would. I know a ton of people in bands. Damn, even my sister's in a band, and she's pretty good. I'm not a professional guitarist, but I've taught myself some Yes and I'm trying out Little Wing. So here's how my masta plan goes:
-If you want to be in a band, post a comment on this posting.
-I'd advise your including any instruments you play (I play guitar, harmonica, and a bit of piano), what city/state you live in, your (approximate) age, what kind of music you like to play...the possibilities are endless.
-As more and more people post comments, bloggers can get to know each other and arrange bands. Not just for me..for everybody!
Go ahead and try it! Don't be 'fraid to put the first comment up. First time for everything, and all that jabber.
Thanks for the fishsticks!
-Ahaneen

Eldest Tirade

Man. I don't know about any of you, but Eldest--that new book by Christopher Paolini--why is it such a big hit? All of the reviews say basically that it is the best book in the universe. Please! Do I have to name all the books that it plagarizes? Lord of the Rings is a no-brainer, but I'm a writer and find it hard not to copy off him. (did Mr. Tolkien write LOTR just to piss off the rest of us by using every single fantasy idea?) Ursula K. LeGuin must be seething at his descriptions of magic. Star Wars, too--Mr. and Mrs. Masters degree--and just to all of those kids who say "Oh Eragon is in Alagaesia and Star Wars is in space", it's NOT a setting thing. It's a plot thing. And even though I haven't read Diana Wynne Jones, isn't there something in her books that's used in Eragon/Eldest as well? Great Mother Goddess. Why can't everybody stop praising Lord Paolini and start telling him to get a life! Or at least a creative idea!

Seattle Welcome

Hey y'all!
This, if you haven't guessed so far, is the domain of Ahaneen. I have kind of a round-table job here. You all are the knights, and I'm Arthur...(you ever seen that comedy "Arthur"? GREAT comedy). Nobody's greater, nobody's less (you know, the whole "there are no small parts, only small actors" jabber).
Anybody's free to join, but I would ESPECIALLY advise you to join/post comments if you:
-Like 60's or 70's music. Yes and The Band don't even begin to cover it.
-Like to read. That's not a high criteria, so you may sneer, but dude. I am what is considered at my school as a geek: somebody who is crazy about fantasy. You don't play Yuh-Gi-Oh? Neither do I. Don't buy $20 Pokemon cards? Fine, me neither. Don't think that people who have decent reading taste should be labeled as geeks? ME NEITHER.
-Are confused. Meg Ryan said "only some people live awake, and those people live in a constant state of amazement." I am constantly amazed at the most basic stuff.
-LIKE LOTR!!! Ok, so I can go on about my favorite movies. But I mean, they aren't THAT unpopular! Some other favorites of mine are ice cream as a favorite food, acting as a dream profession, and Venice as my favorite city.
-If you live in Seattle. Or even if you don't! I come from the Rainy City (hence the name, Mr. and Mrs. Masters Degree), the city of fit people, Death Cab For Cutie, and way too many fish sticks.
So there you have it! But don't think I'm restraining you. Male, female, deaf, hearing, blind, seeing, agnostic, Wiccan...talk to me! There's nothing more fun than talking, and that's no joke.
Until next time, thanks for all the fish sticks!
-Ahaneen