In Which Sunny Makes a Cop-Out-Ish Sounding Statement and Shares her Plans September 19, 2010

Wikipedia definition of cop-out: To avoid or shirk, either by failing to perform, or by performing in a grossly insufficient, negligent, or superficial manner en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cop_out

My definition of a cop-out: A statement made (either hastily or after thought has been given…or both) in which one covers one’s butt and takes back something that could have been misunderstood, or was understood to be rude/mean/innappropriate (ect).

Okay, so in some of my previous posts I’ve kinda slammed my suitemates and their friends (specifically a certain dude named L) and as I was riding my bike around at various times today, I was thinking about it. So even though I do have freedom of speech and those people will (hopefully) never read this, I’m making a public apology.

For those of you on my side saying, “But Sunny, you have every right to protest something you find offensive!” Yes, I know. But I do forget that I can be sharp and…well you’ll get it if you keep reading.

For those of you who don’t agree with me, saying, “You’re so judgemental.” Yeah. I can judge people. Everyone does. This does not make it a good thing, but it is something that happens. Keep reading.

Though it is true that L and 2 of my suitemates are drinkers and I’m pretty sure at least 2 out of three smoke weed occasionally, I think I gave the wrong impression. Do they have the right to do whatever they want? No. They’re breaking the law. Do I have the right to judge them for it? Also no. I think that the impression I gave was that I was a better person/superior/high-and-mighty/opinionated…take your pick.

I don’t think they’re bad people. I think they make bad decisions. I think that they need to be more mature. But I once heard a character named Seely Booth say that he thought a person had to be bad to learn how to be good. And I think that this may apply to these people. I personally don’t think I need to drink and smoke to get the wild out of my system (but then again, I don’t think I have a wild party animal in my system.) Lots of people act out in college and grow up to become responsible people. So however much I rag on them and complain, I want you to remember that that’s mostly me venting and deep down I don’t think they’re bad people, just a little misled.

On the subject of L: Yeah. He annoys me. I don’t like his language. I don’t like his attitude. But he is not like that 24/7. Sometimes, he can be reasonable and polite. He can be nice. He’s not a single-state person, and I think that portraying him as such, though it may be how I feel, isn’t accurate. When he’s not around me, he could be different. (I realize this sounds a bit like a battered woman defending her abusive boyfriend, but refer to the paragraph above about judging and whatnot.) Not that you should stay in an abusive relationship. Or that I condone it. MAN being politically correct and taking things back is hard. Remind me never to go into politics.

Okay, so tomorrow I have a buttload of stuff going on. A RAD class (which is a women’s self-defense class), church, Irish dance, a film I have to see for class, and an audition for the women’s a cappella group. Wish me luck, little sunny-followers! I have much to do and little time, so I’ll fare thee well. And in response to your mental question, the novel is still going well. Haven’t written it in a day or two, but this is okay. Have a great one!

Sunny

Ohmygosh a NOVEL? July 30, 2010

So…the awkward silence could quickly get dull…therefore I propse we move along with the blog post. All in agreeance? Of course you are. And if you’d rather I stop right now, BEAT IT and go find another blog to harass. If you didn’t want to read it, why’d you pull up the page you dummy?

A very good afternoon to you all, (or morning or evening, depending on your time zone and when you read this.) I hope you’ve been well since my last post? Great. (Or ‘sorry man, that sucks.’)

Since we parted I have continued my work on the possibly-a-novel that I’m working on. And I was laying in bed last night (because I couldn’t fall asleep because we didn’t have any nighttime cold medicine, which I needed because I somehow managed to contract a cold in the summer) and my brain provided me with plot bits. And not to jinx it or anything, but this is the farthest I’ve gotten on a novel since freshman year, when I finished my second novella. (It was terrible, like the first, and it’s gotta be called a novella because it was about 100 handwritten pages, and with my handwriting, that makes 50 typed pages, give or take. So it was more of a really long ‘short story’. But I called it a novel because it felt like one. But I’m getting off topic.)

The gist of things is that it looks like my story will be growing and developing and I have high hopes for it. But–I have a long way to go and I figured I could ask for the love and support of you guys, my readers. This entails me asking for help when I get writer’s block or questions pertaining to my book that Google can’t answer (heaven forbid.) I may not even need you guys, but if I have your support, then I can be guilted into writing when I don’t want to or don’t feel like it. So what say you, my troops? Are you with me?

(Pause in hopes of a heartening cheer…and the cheering would be good right about now.)

Seeing as you all are here, you may even get…*gasp*…spoilers.

Of course you don’t know what the story’s about. And I don’t wanna give too much away because if I do then it can:

A) Be plagerized

B) Become useless to read the book if I ever get somewhere with it.

C) …I had a C I think, but I really don’t remember it right now.

SO! Final request for you all.

If you want to give me some advice, offer encouragement, or just say something (it doesn’t have to be relevant) then COMMENT! You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that people are reading this and responding to it. Seriously. It makes me really happy.

Wish me luck on my book and on kicking this cold to the curb!

Sunny

PS: Your funfact was the novella thing. I’ve written 2 novellas. Wasn’t that a FUN fact? (Probably not, but you can deal.)

PSS: My story/book is a fantasy piece about a girl who finds out that she’s a fairy. It’s more complex than that, but I don’t wanna give away the plot.

Vampires Beware: I Bleed Ink. May 22, 2010

Newest fun fact for you: I’m an editor in my school’s literary magazine. (It’s cooler than the paper and the yearbook, is entirely student made (except for publishing), we fund it ourselves with ads and fundraising, and it contains ONLY student writing and art.)

Well folks, it was crunch time at the literary magazine (I’m gonna call it the lit mag for short) this week. Our printers (the people who print our magazine into the glossy, beautiful piece of literary sexiness that it is) came Tuesday, we got our deadline extended to Thursday (when all the computers were down for 2 hours), and on Friday we gave them the ‘book’ (the layouts, cover, everything, all stapled onto big pieces of construction paper and bound with a rubber band) we had and one of the editors in chief took another copy home for extra edits.  Before you hear the real story, a tale of rushing, stress, ink, and adventure, we must lay down some rules.

1. During crunch time, you do not slack off. Work or get away from the computers.

2. If you have nothing to do, get an assignment. Ask the editors, EICs (eds-in-chief, our lit mag has 3 of ’em) or the managing teacher. If they give you nothing, refer to rule 1.

3. The editors (esp EICs) WILL micromanage. They ARE prefectionists and they’re in charge for a reason. If they see something on your screen, lean back and let them do what they need to. Ask what they need (maybe you can do it) but if they say no, drop it. (This can be a hard one for me.)

4. Everyone is stressed, short, and snappish right now. If they snap, it is not personal. Cut ’em some slack. (Also can be a toughie.)

5. There is a time for goofing off. Now is not it. If you do it now, prepare to be killed painfully by EICs.

6. When asked to do something, do it. If you are incapable of doing this, say it. Better ‘I dunno how to switch the photographs to tiff format’ then sitting around wasting time.

7. Odd as it sounds, have fun. It may be crunch time, but it’s also an adrenaline rush.

Allright, on to the lit mag adventure. The cast: (names will remain the same so if you’re one of these people don’t take it personally. I’m trying to be accurate.)

Deziree (Deci)–EIC. Perfectionist & often micromanager. Yes, she’s a tad grouchy now, but she’s also getting it done. She puts in all the hours, has the experience, and is one of the reasons we have less mistakes than last year. She is great with editing and precision in layouts. One of the ‘Boss Lady’ EICs.

Alexandra–EIC. Micromanager and fix-er. Up there with Deci in the InDesign expertise, just without the extra dose of perfectionist. One of the ‘Boss Lady’ EICs. She’s quick and to-the-point. (No, it’s not personal.) Yes, that needs to be fixed. Someone needs to work on this. You? Do it. Daughter of our fearless leader (who I’ll call MT for managing teacher. No last names.)

Sarah–EIC. Businesslike but more gentle than the other two EICs. Yeah, she’s in change, but doesn’t have quite the ‘Boss Lady’ vibe that Alexandra and Deci have. Red pen is her favorite weapon and I addressed her as a ‘grammar Nazi’ in junior year. Still knows a lot, but is more of a people-person than a computer person.

Yours Truly–Writing Editor. This is a title I was only recently informed of. I essentially am told what to do and I do it. If I have questions, I ask. If there’s something wrong, I’ll call the MT or an EIC.

Justin–I’m unsure of his title. I don’t think he’s an editor, but he’s great at making layouts.

(The EICs, the MT, and I are really the main characters of this story, but whatever.) (This story is slurred between days because with lack of sleep, I blur some events together.)

It started sometime last week that we really began the hardcore assembly of the litmag. Before now we chose which layouts went in (by we I mean the MT and EICs) and were working on order, but now was the time for hardcore editing, the fix-its of art credit and placement, for the assembly of the staff page, the theme explanation, the table of contents.

Monday-Wednesday

Sometime in here I am either named or self-appointed person who is in charge of art credit. For every piece we have in the litmag, I need the artist (how they want to be known), their medium, and a title. This sounds easy, but in a school with over 2000 kids, you need to locate art teachers, have them recognize artists so we can locate and talk to them, and then there are the mix-ups, the lost information, the kids who you can’t get ahold of. So my main missions are dashing to art rooms to talk to students (and as desperation grows, locating them in whatever class they are in), and updating the table of contents. This involves a lot of errend running, a lot of typing, and soon, a memory for which pieces are what (or at least remembering where I put my notes.) I am not alone of course. I have Cristal and Jenni to help me along (two students in one of my writing classes) and Justin began the whole project, so I have him to thank for the large amount of work already done.

As things get more desperate, we make a list of kids whose credit we are missing. One girl I manage to track to either a health or PE class. So with two minutes on the clock, I dash from a certain teacher’s art room across the school to PE. The artist I am seeking is not there. I hurry up to the health rooms and as I am about to reach the top step, the bell rings. Students slowly trickle into the hall, and then it is a flood of bodies. I call the artist’s name, waving the photo of her artwork, hoping someone will recongize it as her own. I ask passerbyes if they know Artist’s Name Here. I get no ‘yes’es.

I somehow acquire the duty of putting page numbers on the layouts. (There are 64 numbered pages.) All page numbers must be aligned a quarter inch from the bottom and a quarter inch from the edge. (It takes me several tries before it is established by Alexandra exactly the alignment I need. It is time-consumning, but I enjoy it, though my eyes do get very tired.)

We make a list of the students we are missing and call them at home. I leave polite but urgent phone messages. Then comes coffeehouse, the last of the year. Poets and writers read their work, musicians play, coffee, tea, and snacks are sold for relatively cheap prices. I am waiting on Alexandra to finish something. I do my spanish homework (well, I eventually get it done.) I do a lot of talking and spacing out, and once my two cups of tea with several shovels of sugar kick in, some dancing and laughing.

Deziree does homework, chats with alumni, sips tea, and looks the least stressed I have seen her during crunch time so far. I am half-asleep until the sugar kicks in, then begin to enjoy myself. Sarah arrives late and chats. We (alumni included) chat about college, croquet, and spring break plans. Alexandra, I believe, spent her time working on layouts in the classroom.

Thursday morning–disaster strikes. Our school’s network is down for two hours. Our extended dealine makes our litmag due today. We manage to get it extended to Friday. (Our printers are actual people and are wonderful with us. If you are reading this, men in the unintentionally coordinating blue outfits, we thank you.)

Friday

Deziree has a checklist-chart. Every layout must pass each category of her chart to be considered ready. About 5 of the 32 layouts do. So we work. I manage to get out of some class to work the litmag. I also work it during my lunchtime. After school, I come back to find that we have sent it to the printers. Alexandra and Deci are still there though, typing away on their computers, fixing little things. Our MT is editing pieces that have errors or language/references that we can’t use. I stay after school to print up a new ‘book’ for Deci to take home and edit. We are almost done, so close I can taste it.

Friday Night

Deci is not happy. Her edits revealed many issues, but if not for this anger, the issues would never have been spotted. Perfectionist, yes. Would we do half as well without her? No.

Our literary magazine will actually begin the complex process of printing (we’ll get to see a preview first of course) on Monday sometime I believe. Which means Monday morning, I may be with the EICs and MT making last-minute adjustments, sending our now-perfect copies to the printers.

If you are the praying type, say a prayer that we pull this off. We always have so far, but prayers never hurt. If you aren’t the praying type, do it anyway.

All EICs and editors, DO NOT spell-grammar check this. It’s 12:30 AM and this is not the time to quibble.