Endangered World

Hello all!

So for those of you who don't know, I am a bit of a story writer. I never finish them but boy do I enjoy writing them... until I get bored that is and hence the reason why I have never finished one. I just can't seem to get passed writing those boring scenes that turn out to be Oh so important to finishing a book. Most of my stories are in the fantasy realm, some having to do with vampires, others with the elements, elves, princesses and queens.

I usually quit after writing between 5 - 10 pages. There is one exception though. One of my best friends and I started a story called "Endangered World". We started it when I moved here to Sacramento as a fun way of keeping in touch with each other. Well six years later we are now 145 pages into the story. It has taken so long because one of us would write then we would lose contact with each other and then one of us would text or call out of the blue and then we would start it up again and so on.

Well after a year or so of lying dormant and untouched, it has now been brought back to life. I am so excited to be writing again and to be writing with such a great friend. So how it works is I write for as long as I can (which is usually about 2 pages) until I can't write anymore either due to boredom or lack of inspiration. Then I copy what I've written onto an e-mail and send it to my friend, who in turn write until she can't write anymore and them emails it back. What's awesome is that our writing style are very different from each other. Where she prefers writing conversations and interactions between two or more characters I prefer to write descriptions and the inner monologues/feelings of a single character.

I must say, that for having been started and written more than halfway through without a plot or clear ending figured out between the two of us, that it is actually quite an interesting story and is coming together nicely. What is even more fascinating is to look at my writing from six years ago and then compare it to my writing now... things that I could only guess at while writing about certain topics and situations I can now write with ease thanks to experiences that I have since had.

I figured that since I have talked about it for so long I may as well share a snippet of the story. So without further ado I present for your reading pleasure "Endangered World":



Melissa writing:

The world had long forgotten about elves, dwarfs, and the magical creatures that had once ruled it. Now they only live in the story books of children. Their deeds confined to ink on pages and their beauty subject to the artists' insufficient hand. Or at least, that's what we thought...

It was one of those days in Tehachapi. The first morning after a violent storm where everything seems crisp and fresh. The kind of day where your eyes seem to see better, see sharper color, and see more than you ever thought capable of human eyes. Everything was still, almost as time could not find this place, like in this valley surrounded by mountains was a place untouched by the world.
"Look out little squirrel!" Melissa shouted in concern as the squirrel ran out of the way of her car. The 4-runner sped on down the steep hill going way past the speed limit that was posted on the side of the road. Cheryl laughed at her friend's silliness as she gently fed the CD, she had burnt and presented to Melissa as a present, into the CD player.
"We can't end our trip without singing our song now can we?" She said smiling.

Melissa's smile was replaced with mock arrogance as she replied, "Of course not. It's tradition." She skipped through the other songs on the disk till it came to number 5. The music started, a simple tune played on the piano, soft and gentle with a hidden sadness. Melissa turned it up and Cheryl smiled in approval. Neither thought themselves to be good vocalists and the louder the music, the louder they could sing with confidence they could not be heard too well.

They both inhaled at the same time as the music signaled the lyrics were coming. "I can't stand to fly. I'm not that naive. I'm just out to find.... the better part of me. I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane, I'm more than some pretty face beside the train and it's not easy to be-he ME!" They emphasized the last word with added drama and both laughed at how they had both had the same idea. On they sang, two best friends, unaware a great adventure lay before them.



Cheryl writing: (the friend lol)

After they stopped laughing, Cheryl, with a smile still on her face, asked "So what are we supposed to be doing today? Besides enjoying the fact we're out of school and all that."

Melissa thought for a moment (Cheryl commented she thought there was smoke coming from her friend's ears) and said "Well......I actually do have some chores and stuff. But, you know, it doesn't have to be done right now. Just by today."

Cheryl nodded. "Ditto." Grinning evilly at each other, they had to stop at the red light. Someone in the next car saw them, and suddenly feared for his life. When the light turned green ("My turn!"), the man eased slowly away from them so they could continue scheming. Turning onto the freeway, he was seriously frightened now, because they were on the freeway as well. Poor soul-he didn't realize that they were only going to Barnes and Noble, completely opposite his own destination.

"So any books you've read lately that you liked?" Melissa asked her bookworm friend. Cheryl frowned, as if trying to go through a file cabinet of the books she's read and enjoyed. Melissa now commented that Cheryl looked like she was going to give herself a hernia.

Sticking her tongue out, Cheryl said "Nope, not lately. More reason to browse though, right?"

Melissa nodded. "And Starbucks."

Nodding her head vehemently, Cheryl also said "And mall? Is the mall good?" Melissa seemed to be considering the suggestion. Cheryl added "We like the mall, remember? Girl's day out and all that. And if your chores are anything like mine, that's where we get 'em done. Shopping, right? There's a grocery store next to the mall too, if we need it." Melissa merely turned up the music again, leaving Cheryl glaring at her before turning to the window. "I knew I shouldn't have come," she muttered just loud enough for Melissa to hear.

Melissa grinned. "I heard that. You didn't have to. I gave you the option of staying home. My car, my rules." Before Cheryl could answer, Melissa swerved slightly to avoid an onrushing car that had cut into the lane. "Stupid person! There's rules, you know!" Melissa yelled indignantly.

Cheryl raised an eyebrow. "Says the person going...73 in a 65 mph zone?"

Melissa harrumphed. "Be quiet. Or no Barnes and Noble."

"Yes ma'am."

Little did they know that Barnes and Noble was going to be as far as they got. No-one knew that the characters that lived in books were still there. Alive, breathing, living. They just existed in on a different plane from the rest of us though. But what would happen if there was a bridge, a single bridge, wide enough for two people to cross between the planes? Oh, what tangled webs we weave.....

Charles Dickens

Hello All! What a day it has been. So I'm sure you all have been to or at least know what a Renaissance Fair is, but how many of you have heard of the Charles Dickens Fair? Instead of focusing on the renaissance era during the reign of such as Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) and the time of William Shakespeare this one focus' on the era during the reign of queens such as Victoria (1837-1901) and men such as Charles Dickens whom the Fair is named for.

An old and dear friend texted me out of the blue on Friday saying her and her family had been invited to the Charles Dickens Fair in Daly City (by San Francisco) and they had a pair of extra tickets. Two thoughts ran through my mind at the invitation. "OMGoodness I'd love to go!" and "Oh crud that's two hours away." Those of you who know me know that I have a slight phobia of driving distances of more than an hour... two at the very most and only when I'm well rested. This trip would involve me driving two hours there (no problem) but then have a full day and then driving back another two hours, and there the worry starts to creep in.

So my solution, invite someone to drive with me and one of could take the way there and the other the way back, that I could do. So right away I texted 5 of my friends who lived nearby and might like to go. I got a two "No" answers fairly quickly and through a few more texts the rest were eliminated. Then I had a stroke of brilliance. My sister Amber, she went to my mom's for Thanksgiving and she might just still be there. I sent the text hoping that I wouldn't get an answer back, meaning that she was still at mom's where there is no reception.

I got an answer right away that she was at home and two hours away... but she would love to go. I was excited because despite being really weird and sometimes a little embarrassing my sister is actually really fun to hang out with. But that still left me with my original problem of getting there and back. We texted back and forth solutions including her coming to Sacramento on the train and her or me driving all the way to the others house late that night. After a couple fake starts and a starbucks we decided to meet half way (In Stockton) and then we would leave her car there go to the Fair then go back to her house, spend the night then drop me off in Stockton the next morning and I would drive back to Sacramento.

It started out like we had planned... except I woke up 45 min late. Yeah, its so like me. My sister took it well though and I only ended up being a half hour late, giving her and a couple of friends that she brought enough time to stop and have breakfast at a local diner in Stockton.

We finally arrived at the Fair around noon. My sister's friends dropped us off at The Cow Palace (I know right lol) and then they went on to enjoy their day in San Francisco while we were at the fair. Once there we met my friend Cheryl, got our tickets and went inside.

The whole fair was indoors and the Cow Palace seemed like hardly that as we drove up and walked around the building. So I had little hopes for the Fair and its ability to hold my interest as we went in. The first section that we went into was a pretty decent size room with a stage where some people were performing... something (me and my great memory right). From what we could see the inside was completely set up like to be the streets of Victorian London. Stalls were set up on the sides with fake windows and doorways to simulate as much as possible old time shops. The first couple shops we went into were an old time bookshop filled with the oldest looking books I've ever seen. I know a couple friends who would have loved that shop. I wasnt much into the books but the shop didn't only have books like I thought... it had teacups.

I have a few weaknesses...anything shiny, expensive, pretty... (normal girl stuff) but one of my biggest weaknesses are teacups. I collect them. So while everyone else was looking at the books I was looking at the pretty cups, and I found one that was very pretty... almost Scottish looking in its design but still very feminine and delicate looking. I would've gotten it but I didn't want to pay the money they were asking for it. After that we went and looked at a stall that was selling crowns and headgear. We tried them on until our hearts content. There was one that looked like a giant sun, it was pretty cool.

Much to our surprise there was not just one room full of stalls but 5 rooms of equal size filled with stores and stalls of wondrous things all horrifically overpriced. A corset ranged from $660 for a plain one to just over $1100 for a more decorative one. There were a couple hat stalls that were amazingly fun. We tried on as many hats as we could and some were so cute! We also tried on masks, scarves, fur collars, head and hair jewelry and gloves. It was all tons of fun and we had a great time laughing at eachother.

My favorite stall however was one of the first ones that we went into. It was a coat stall. OMGoodness it was incredible! It had all the old styles of coats for men and women and they were all so beautiful! I only found one picture that even comes close to doing any of them justice. Unfortunately like everything there the coats were all very expensive ranging from $275 to over $1000.



The one pictured is one of the over $1,000 ones and it looks amazing on. A couple more promotions at work and I'll be placing an order. Most of the people at the Fair were dressed up in the outfits of the Victorian era. I cant really say enough about how fun it was or all the great outfits that we saw there.

We spent four hours there until we looked at all the stalls and had lunch. We met with Amber's friends and left San Fran. I guess they decided to pick up my car from Stockton and drive with me to my sister's house so they didn't have to make the trip the next day. At first I was a little dissapointed because that just meant that I had to drive two hours the next day instead of just one but as it turns out it was a really good thing we went to get my car. Turns out that I had left my keys in my car... and not only did I lock then in my car but I left them in the ignition and the car was running. Seven hours my car had been just sitting there running.

Luckily my sister has AAA and we got a guy to come out and unlock it for us. He said I was very lucky because no one stole my car. He guessed it was because the cops had been setting up alot of bate cars around the area where we had left it. Plus, my car still had enough gas to make it to my sisters house. God is good!

Who's up for coming with me to the fair next?!