Lifescouts badge #16: Skating and me

It all started when my family went to the fun center when I was little. We went roller skating and I was horrible at it. This wasn’t unusual considering that it was my first time and all. Some time later, my dad bought home a few pairs of roller skates. I ended up with a white pair tinged with orange, but I didn’t really care about its look; all I cared about was skating. And I practiced and practiced getting better at it. And despite an accident that may have involved missing four days of school due to some vanity issues, I continued roller skating till the skates didn’t fit anymore.

By now, the only times I roller skate is when at one of the fun centers in Utah, inflating my ego by showing off to my friends and family. 

~ Stacy N.

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Lifescouts badge #15: I serve the fairy queen

My first taste of being on stage started when I was in fifth grade. By then, I joined the school musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I was part of the chorus, which was pretty easy to get considering that I didn’t have to audition or anything. And it was fun, even though I mainly got put backstage.

Later that year, my class put on a Shakespearean play called A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I ended up playing the first fairy. It was an easy audition, considering that I was the only person auditioning for it. That too was also pretty fun, but it was pretty embarrassing to be up on stage in front of the whole school.

And in sixth grade, my school did a Wizard of Oz musical. I ended up being a fairy again, only to fail miserably when I didn’t show up at the rehearsals. 

~ Stacy N.

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The Shadow & her Lover (nanowrimo 2013)

Nanowrimo checklist:

Come up with a plot

[x]

Character sketches.

[More or less, I still need to work on it]

Conflict

[Still working on it but I get the basics of it]

Villain who actually has a good reason to be “evil”

[More or less]

Main characters who end up being annoying in a lovable way.

[I don’t know them well enough to know if they’re annoying]

Interesting background stories.

[More or less there]

Everything else?

[I’ll improvise if I need to]

Do I feel ready for it at all?

[…]

How it all started:

I had a dream. It was a riveting dream, one that I had no control over as I was sucked into the world right along with my characters. It lasted a long time. And, once I was done, I didn't want to let it go because a little part of me would be gone, washed away by reality and replaced with other dreams. So doing what any writer should be doing, I wrote it down, determined to turn it into my next nanowrimo novel.

That was from the summer, and it evolved from there. But the basic plot of the dream is still the same. A girl runs off with a guy and avoid getting captured by her mom (who’s also the villain), and then in the end the girl is forced to come back to get back what’s hers. This involves shadows, twins, lies, outer space, books, falling in love, and a past involving piracy.

Not the usual romantic story that involves saving the world, overcoming rivalry, finding out that the other person might die soon because their cancer came back, immortality, or any of the other stuff that you would normally find in romance plots nowadays. Instead, it’s almost a combination of all of them; some elements are tarnished and unrecognizable, while others are polished, eagerly awaiting their turn in the spotlight. The whole book is about falling in love with an alien (literally), which as far as I've seen is rare.

Music:

America by Imagine Dragons

Monster by Imagine Dragons

Bars & Mixed Drinks by Emma Shepard

Paris by Yael Naim

A playlist for my two main characters       

                                                                              

~ Stacy N.

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Hello 17

Text reads: Seventeen things I hope to accomplish within the next year
[texture by roughseas]

1. Figure out the basics about what I want to do after high school.
2. Take the ACT test a few times.
3. Love myself even more.
4. Read a few great pieces of literature like Emma by Jane Austen, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
5. Have the nerve to ask somebody out on a date or a dance (though I doubt that will happen).
6. Volunteer.
7. Get my driver’s license.
8. Write on one of my novels.
9. Take care of myself.
10. Learn about what’s happening in the world.
11. Attempt to accomplish one of these goals and any other goals that I make.
12. Work out for fun.
13. Attempt to do yoga.
14. Find a way to make money.
15. Apply for scholarships.
16. Try to accept others as they are.
17. Be happy.

~ 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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