A memory

Photo by  Jason Schuller

We let our feet dangle lazily into the water. I was writing down some thoughts that was going to become a blog post, while they were reading out loud from a book about life and wisdom and age. The sound of swimmers in the near distance while people were fishing on the other side of the lake, and of course there was a dog or two nearby. It was dusk and it was summer and the weather was finally nice for once in a place that was known for its rain.

And now the weather:
Beethoven's 5 Secrets - OneRepublic by The Piano Guys

~ Stacy N.

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I miss...

… my mom’s cooking, especially when it came to Vietnamese food.

… having freshly made rice waiting right there in the kitchen. So, I can prepare a small meal with rice and whatever meat we have on hand. Instead of eating yet another can of soup or ramen noodles or tamales or hot dogs.

… listening to Vietnamese music from my dad’s truck or from the radio speakers. And listening to people talk Vietnamese on television, whether it was the news in my grandparent’s living room, some cheesy sitcom, movies, television shows, performances, skits, etc. All the while, only understanding a little bit of what is being said.

… listening and watching some Vietnamese performances on screen. Or some kind of action movie that my dad bought home.

… eating pistachios with my dad during dinnertime.

… watching The Amazing Race or America's Got Talent or The Simpsons or whatever television show was on.

… petting my healthy, soft, Siamese cat. However, I do not miss it when he wants to play and decides to scratch me. Especially since the last time he did that, it made me bleed again (thankfully not much).

… my fluffy, white dog Chafer, and a terrier mix named Pony, and a pretty, little Chihuahua named Venus, before they were taken to the animal shelter.

… watching, occasionally helping, my dad fix up the cars.

… grocery shopping with my mom and siblings, especially when it involved going to an Asian store.

… walking towards the store, to pick up whatever it was that my mom wanted me to pick up. However, I still don't miss guys catcalling me or throwing stuff at me when they were driving by. Of course that didn't happen very often, which was nice.

… the days when I would randomly go out to my car, and just read a book or to simply think.

… I miss home, not the house that I currently live in, with the deer roaming the backyard.

… knowing that if I overslept and that school is going to start soon, I can simply walk or even run there because it isn’t too far. And make it on time.

… the public library in my hometown. Where I would usually go for the books or to volunteer or it was because I missed the bus.

… waiting for my dad to pick me up from said library.

… the bakery that used to be across the library and their delicious afghan cookies.

… the movie theater that was across the street from McDonalds, and how they had comfy couches in the lobby.

… swinging on the swings at the local park. 

… the library in my old high school and how it looked like it had more fictional books. Also it had a comfier reading space, with a couch and some armchairs.

… exploring the downtown area of my hometown with my twin, Tracy.

… having street lamps and sidewalks, because walking down a dark street is never ever fun.

… my neighbors decorating their yards for Halloween or for Christmas or for some other holiday.

… the town that I grew up in.

… walking to the library with my siblings when I was small.

… getting a free cookie at a Smiths grocery store because they were free samples.

… my older sister buying my siblings and me ice cream from Arctic Circle.

… riding my bike around the neighborhood.

… watching my dad fix the bikes up, so they can be ready to ride.

… going around the junior high that’s behind my house, most often riding my bike.

… going to the park as a family when I was a baby.

… going to McDonalds nearly every weekend after we picked up mom from work.

… the purple van my family used to have, before it was replaced by a gray truck.

… drinking canned soy milk that tasted very sweet.

… eating Asian style duck.

… watching PBS before and after school because there wasn't anything better to do.

… hanging out with various girls who lived in the neighborhood or at least nearby.

… occasionally going out into the yard at night to look at the stars.

… watching fireworks from my front porch or backyard.

… playing in the swimming pool that my dad would set up in the backyard during the summertime.

… playing Mario Party or even some kind of war game on the GameCube, with my younger brother, and with my twin occasionally joining. That was before the GameCube started to become pretty boring and the controllers having decided to disappear.

… playing various games on the Nintendo DS. Games that included Brain Age, Petz Dogz Fashion, Tamagotchi Cornershop 3 (before it got lost), Pokémon, and other games.

… it when my twin, brother, and I would go out to the broken white car that used to be in the driveway, and just hang out in there, creating various games and such.

… occasionally hanging out at my older sister’s friend’s front yard. Though I didn't miss it when her goose started to chase me around the yard that one time. Which was a scary thing for my young self to have experienced.

… playing on the swing set in the backyard before it got old and rusty.

… climbing onto the shed's roof every once in a while, because why not.

… going straight to the backyard after school, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and to read a book.

… drawing with chalk on my back patio or driveway.

… me trying to create a little pond in the backyard, with my siblings’ help. But that only made my dad kind of angry for some reason.

… my dad's old messy room down in the basement before he gave it to my brother.

… going to the window by the front door of my elementary school, during the summertime, to see which teacher I was going to have for the following school year. 

… getting money in a red envelope at the Vietnamese New Year's celebration, before I got too old. 

… playing on the giant lawn out back of the cultural center where said celebration was taking place, with my siblings. 

… getting ice cream from the ice cream truck.

… going to school book fairs especially at the elementary school that I used to go to. And get a few books, some of which that I haven’t read, even after all those years.

… going to the elementary school fair or even the fair at my junior high.

… getting cookies or candy at the local credit union whenever my parents went there.

… getting candy, mainly butterscotch, whenever I went to my dentist. This was before they took the candy away forever.  

… going to see Santa Claus at my mom’s work place, and take a picture with him. However, the only reason why I bothered going was because I got a stocking full of goodies in the end, such as a new beanie baby and other various sorts of amusements.

… playing solitaire on my older sister’s first computer, before it decided to be a jerk and shut down.

… the old couple that used to live in the neighborhood, and how they used to hand out cookies to kids if we asked nicely. That was before they stopped doing it a few years back. And there wasn’t anything creepy and sexual about it at all! They’re just nice people who like handing out cookies.

… trick or treating and being one of the few in the family determined to stay up a bit late so I can get the most candy.

… making a blanket fort in the living room for no reason at all.

… watching Disney movies with my siblings, using the classic VCR that has been around since forever (or at least most of my life).

… my childhood in general.

… going to the beaches in California.

... playing with my gray-haired uncle’s pet dog, Koko.

… my paternal grandparents kicking my siblings and me out of the house and into their backyard, so we can get some exercise and fresh air. Even though it mainly included us walking around, before one of us suggests a game like tag.

… my siblings, dad, and I walking to the Payless store that wasn’t far from my grandparent’s place to get some new school shoes. And then, getting some ice cream on the way back and maybe stopping by the park.

… going to California in the summer before problems started to arise. 

And now the weather:

Drops of Jupiter by Train

~ Stacy N.

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Goodbye 16

Text reads: Sixteen favorite things from my sixteenth year of life.
[texture by roughseas]

1. Learning how to drive over the summer.
2. Knowing more about important things in life like rape culture, sexism, racism, equality, and how the patriarchy doesn't just affect the girls but the guys as well.  
3. The too many math parties that has happened during lunch.
4. Hanging out with friends and family and doing crazy stuff like staying after school on the last day of school even though we weren’t technically supposed to be there or the many trips around the city for various reasons.
5. Finding out more about myself, like how I like guys with great hair.
6. The beautiful, albeit late, fall season in the canyon. 
7. Reading great books in general and not having to worry about anything at the moment.
8. Getting inspiration from the most randomest things, like a picture of an unknown planet or plot bunnies invading writers everywhere.
9. [Surprisingly], moving to a new place.
10. Jumping into the cold water at the water park.
11. Joining a writing club at my new school.
12. Meeting my relatives on my mom's side via Skype, when my older sister was visiting them for two and a half months.
13. Failing horribly while attempting to speak French when my friend and I went to a French fair a few months ago.
14. Getting a 100% on a math test that dealt with trig, and feeling very smug about it.
15. My AVID class at my old school.
16. Joining a cookie fandom that all started out as a casual post on my tumblr dashboard.

Honorable mentions:

French fries

The last week of school in general.

Playing apples to apples at a friend's birthday party.

Eating too many Oreos at another friend's birthday party.

Having one of my friends drive me home from somewhere, and knowing that we won’t get into a crash anytime soon.

Seeing deer in the backyard

Bake cookies for fun.

~ Stacy N. 

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Goodbye sophomore year

Good job to Teddy Westside for helping to design the yearbook.
It is pretty awesome. And I have to go with Smarties on this one, that
the arrow does look like a house. 

This week has been the best week out of the whole school year because it’s the last week of school. It has been filled with skipping a few classes, because the teachers aren’t concerned with taking roll; hanging out with my friends; playing a lot of card games (specifically garbage); playing Life (Pirates of the Caribbean style), an intense game of Jenga, and Uno; eating candy; signing yearbooks; walking from here to there and back again before settling in a teacher’s classroom (the same classroom that my friends and I go to every morning); watching youtube videos such as Julian Smith, Studio C, and one or two nigahiga ones; and a few movies here and there. And it was fun because I wasn’t expected to work or turn in anything, the only exception to this was English class, of course. 

It was also a little sad because this year might be the last year at my high school. Meaning that by the time my junior year starts, I’ll be at a new school trying to work harder than ever before as well as trying to belong in a place that I don’t know by making friends with strangers people. So in order to lessen the sadness I decided to ask my friends the question what was a random memory from this year?

Some of them are funny, others a bit nostalgic, and the rest, well, really random. And hey, you might recognize a few of the people who also made a random quote from two years back, that is if you can figure out who’s who first. Well, here it goes.

-          The homecoming football game. ~ SeaBass

-          There was this day that I was more clutzy than ever before. I fell down the stairs 7 times, fell up the stairs 5 times, ran into lockers on a constant basis, ran into people all throughout the hallways, and just about every doorway I went through I ran into the bar between the two doors… that was a very interesting day. ~ Rebelious Smarties

-           BRIAN IS AMAZING ~ The Doctor

-          At Matheson half of the 7^th graders knew me before I was an assistant director in the play, Aladdin. I felt pretty awesome because of that. ~ Alice

-          When ‘Smarties’ ran up and down a dark hallway screaming ~ Hermione

-          Throwing a granola bar across the classroom ~ Bad Wolf

-          The conspiracy is real. One day you’ll be sorry you didn’t listen. Maybe it isn’t too late to go to the computer lab and rip the A+ poster down. ~ Alyssa

-          In my ASL (American Sign Language) class, our teacher was asking about our favorite activity. I signed “signing” and she called me a brown noser and made fun of me for the rest of the class. It was hilarious! ~ Teddy Westside

-          So I was trying to talk to this guy who I thought was cute. He asked some person, “Hey have you seen How animals eat their food.” His friend replied, “Yeah I have.” So I jump in and say, “Oh my gosh I love that video.” The guy looks at me then starts working again not saying a word. MOTED! Oh it was so sad! ~TayMay

-          Caylin and I were sitting in the hall & an apple exploded and went EVERYWHERE! We didn’t do anything and when Carson came out of the closet! LOL!! :) ~ Nicole

-          When we practice fire drills!!! xD and I run out of school screaming. ~ Caylin

-          During lunch, my friends and I played a game of truth or dare using a truth or dare app on my friend’s nook. It was a bit wimpy because the truth questions weren’t that great and most of the dares we couldn’t do because we were at school, but it was still fun. ~ nocturnal_owlette

My thoughts can’t really think up of a response to some of the memories that were mentioned, but for the moment I’ll go with [suppressed] laughter. And if you guys were able to figure out the people mentioned above, congrats, because I either know you outside of the internet, or you’re a very good online stalker, or you know them in real life as well.

Also, if I do know you in real life, just remember that I’m not entirely gone yet.

And as for those of you who I don’t know outside of the internet, well, I hope that you have a wonderful day/night.

And for the students who are near the end of their school year, good luck! And I know that you can make it till then, also have fun and just know that I believe you can do it.

Love,

 

P.S.
Dear followers, readers, viewers, etc,

Can you name a random memory from the past year?

Music:
Some Nights by Fun

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Goodbye 2012

2012, in a way, felt like the shortest year for me. In fact, all I can really remember about it is the 'end of the world', Kony, too much time on tumblr, writing, reading, and my birthday. However, I also remember other bits and pieces of 2012 as well, such as the time in my ninth grade English class that my teacher made us sit in a circle to talk about Night by Elie Wiesel. I also remember other memories of that ninth grade English class, however the memories seem to be a bit more recent, meaning that I cannot remember much before 2012 started.

The same thing happens to other non-2012 memories as well; they soon are forgotten as newer memories start to bury them even deeper into the vast contents of my brain. The memories become dusty, having a very small chance of ever being remembered again. The only way, I (or anybody really) can remember forgotten memories is if they are recorded in some way. Whether it may be a journal that I wrote, someone else remembering it, one of my yearbooks, pictures, etc. And it doesn’t matter if it is the most amazing memory that I would remember forever or the most horrible memory that I will kick out of my mind, if I had the chance.

This leads me to my next point of ‘conversation’. For all 365 days of 2013, I shall write two sentences. One sentence will be completely fictional and story like, it’s to help encourage me to write stories whether it is on paper or in the brain. The other sentence will describe my day, so I can remember my life. The reason for this is simply to remember my life, so I can draw inspiration from it as I write my stories. Plus, I think it will be fun in a way, as I laugh on the last day of 2013, about some of the silly things I will do in the upcoming year. And it also might help me accomplish my 2013 New Year’s resolutions.

Speaking of New Year resolutions, remember that post that has some of my 2012 resolutions. Well, it now ended up looking like this. 

*bold - I have done it for a short while. 

• Write everyday (Camp Nanowrimo counts in my book)
•    Read everyday (read at least 90 books this year) (only read 79 out of 90 books)
•    Get on the internet less often
•    Spend more time with family (mainly because the internet started to get a bit boring)
•    Sleep at a normal time
•    Eat healthier
•    Learn how to drive
•   Write on my blog nearly every day
•   Work harder in school (pretty self-explanatory here)
•    Stop procrastinating
•    Do something active (it was mainly for school). 
•   Write a complete novel (before June 30)  (Immortality Doesn't Exist) 

Well, I feel a bit ashamed to say that I only completed two of them, and kind of did four of them throughout the year. However, it is better than not completing a single one, in my opinion. Hopefully, next year will be better.

Happy New Years to the people on the other side of the world and Happy New Years eve to everyone who’s time zone hasn’t reached or passed 12 AM. And have a year that you at least like. 

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Memories

It's been a while since I posted a story of mine. And one that I just wrote recently. Well here's a non-fiction piece I wrote. (That's a first wow). And not everything is true. And it has one swear word in the end. Well enough putting it off already, here it is.

I sit on the base of the stairs, awaiting mother’s approval to go into the basement. It was spring cleaning day, the big white bins in the neighborhood was just waiting to be filled with junk. And since the rest of the house was tiptop clean, except for the basement. She decided today would be the day to clean it. 

            Only problem was that no one went down in the basement. Except to do the laundry or to iron something of some sorts, occasionally one of us would dump some clothing that we haven’t worn in a while onto the pitiful old brown couch. I would rarely see dad use his study that’s down there. Dust started to collect onto the cluttered books, and CDs. They were just simply unread, unused and unloved. But that’s just not all of what the basement is about, it’s about the memories that has gathered there. It was mainly about the old childhood schoolwork that has somehow gathered there. It was mainly my older sister’s schoolwork though, occasionally my twin’s and mine, and rarely my brother. It was like a pyramid. My older sister is dominating the base, my twin and I hugging the middle, and the teeny tiny top my brother. It was almost if at any moment, he would just fall off.

            Once in a while, I liked to come down here to see who the schoolgirl was for my older sister. Before she turned into a college girl living her life for humanitarian needs, barely giving her family enough fond memories to cherish forever. Yet enough that I can still remember her friendly enough. Her schoolwork mainly consisted of science, terms and formulas, and opinions confusing me, and yet somehow, someway I understand them. She was a genius like me that much was written by her hard work on her projects. There was something that had to deal with fashion for her ninth grade year, her handwriting almost like mine. Her grammar needed to be improved ASAP, unlike mine. Gosh, it was as if I’m rising up to be a miniature version of her, minus the fact that we’re very different. She was born to be a speaker, and I was born to be a writer, both having words wrap warmly around us.

            I blink getting out of my reverie. I just couldn’t see how mother wanted to clean the place up. That holds a piece of her children’s schoolwork selves. “Okay, you can come down now!” she yelled, finally done. I sigh and stand up, and descend the not-really-that-short flight of stairs. The others too attached with their technology to, even come down with me. I dodge some of the laundry that has missed their chance to go in the current washing, and enter the threshold. I don’t gasp, nor do my eyes go wide. My entire being seemed entirely blank, the basement was clean. And it looked oddly nice, the furniture not crooked but polished and having nothing on them the clothes on the couch was just gone, the carpet appearing not to have a hidden stain anywhere. The walls were white and spotless, but all that left was…

            I can hear mother holding her breath, as I make my way to dad’s study. I put my hand on the knob, expecting the whole room not to be dusty. I turned the knob, but it wouldn’t open, remembering that dad had locked it for some reason. Why? Because there’s a dead ninja in there? I think to myself, as I turn around and walk down the hall, to see about the schoolwork. I open the closet door, where it’s all kept. I slowly open the door, silently enjoying the suspense I’m giving mother. It kind of felt like there was a walking dead person, from the way that she’s not breathing. I could smell it before I saw it, my heart beating furiously, and yet I still have the blank composure wrapped securely around me. The smell was one of furniture cleaner, and a tang of ammonia. The closet door was open wide, and I said the three words that just came to my mind and pushing its way to my tongue demanding to be let out.

            “What the hell,” I say in a monotone. The schoolwork was gone; everything about our school selves was simply just gone. And I have a feeling that she just threw it all way, not giving a dime about the memories that have came with it. I can hear mother let out her breath, as I softly close the door. Wondering why it couldn’t be dad’s study to clean, and not the memories. All the while, the three words still continue to whisper around me. “What the hell?”

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