College and stuff

I'm graduating high school in exactly one week. In one week, an entire chapter of my life will be over. Am I sad? Not really. I'm not really losing anything other than the wonderful daily experience of people not knowing how to properly walk through a hallway and the privilege of having an 'honor card' that displays, in physical form, how far the administration trusts us. (Answer: up to six infraction before you lose privileges like 'wearing jeans occasionally.') Am I happy? Not really. I've enjoyed high school, for all my complaints. Am I scared/excited/nervous? Well.

Hell yes.

I'm about to make one of the biggest changes in my life ever. I'll be moving out of my parents' house. I'll be living with one of my best friends - with someone who I choose to live with, instead of someone I'm obliged to live with. Meanwhile, three of my other best friends are moving to a college three hours away (164 miles away according to Google) and I'll see them at best once a month - less than 5% of what I'm used to. I'm going to lose the security of having 90% of my time scheduled by someone else, and gain the freedom of getting to schedule that time myself. I'm going to have to do things like pay for gas and food for myself all the time. I'm freaking out.

But I'm going to do it. I'm going to rock it. I'm going to send my friends stupid texts once a day. I'm going to enroll in classes that make me happy, that teach me. I'm going to make awesome music. And I'm going to do it on as cheaply as possible, 'cause, you know, poor college student.

Rock on.

Teens Can Write, Too! Blog Chain

I'm a part of the wonderful Teens Can Write, Too! blog chain this month, in preparation for the absolute chaos of next month. The prompt was thus:

“What are you writing for NaNoWriMo? Briefly explain how this book idea come about. Then write a mock first page for the novel.”

I have to admit, I didn't - and right now, as I write these words - still have no clue what my NaNo is going to be about. I should probably set up another list of silly subtitles, as I did in August. That seemed to work pretty well. But this first page that I'm about to write may not have anything to do with the novel I end up producing. I'm a pantser, every time. Of course, this means that the middle part of the prompt is going to be answered last, once I know what I wrote for the page. Because I'm cool like that.

Hello. I am nobody. I am a figment of imagination, a thought floating on the breeze. I’ve been this way for a while now, but it hasn’t always been like this. I used to be completely corporeal, a person with hands and feet and a face. That was good. I never knew how much I would miss having a face until suddenly I didn’t have anything to have a face on. Faces are good – faces are important. Faces are what you keep yourself behind. 

This is the story of how I died, about life after death, and why being a poltergeist is harder than it is usually made out to be.

----

Back when I was a real person, I was somebody. I was important. I was a lady – I mean that in the literal sense, as in a woman of noble birth – with an interest in all things mechanical. I was tutored from a young age in the mathematical arts. This was more unusual than it may seem to the privileged reader of today – few of my companions during my youth knew anything beyond the sums necessary to run a household. It was not a special honor for myself, however, but a preventative measure to root out insanity, for my mother believed that my father was a mad rogue, and wished to prevent my following down that same path. I will admit that if I did inherit any such insanity, the mathematical training was successful in rooting it out. 

A new insanity took its place, however. I dreamt of inventions that would never exist in my lifetime, of machines that could calculate and more. I dreamt of numbers, dancing and forming new things beyond what could be imagined. Numbers were my plaything, and I, their mistress. A dear friend once called me the “Enchantress of Numbers.” I suppose that may not be the worst description of it. I know there were few enough others who understood what I did.

I was a cursed enchantress, however. I remember far more time spent ill than well. I died young, even for my era – not even a full four decades of age. I was scared of death – terrified. I even underwent a conversion of faith in my final corporeal days. As far as I can tell, that was just wasted breath. I’m simply a mind floating alone in the world, now. There’s no one else, and nothing else. Rather boring, to be honest.

... Nope. Still no idea where that came from. Might keep it though. The idea of Lovelace's ghost hanging around through computers might be fun to play around with. A lot of research, though. Should I keep it? Should I throw it out? Keep in mind, this beginning is going to be completely revamped. It's sort of awful right now.

 ****

The theme for this month’s blog chain is…

“What are you writing for NaNoWriMo? Briefly explain how this book idea come about. Then write a mock first page for the novel.”

Participants:

Want to follow our blog chain? Here are the participating parties, day by day:

October 5^th – http://www.lilyjenness.blogspot.com  – Lily’s Notes in the Margins

October 6^th – http://realityisimaginary.blogspot.com – Reality Is Imaginary

October 7^th – http://onelifeglory.blogspot.ca – One Life Story

October 8^th – http://gabrielletheauthoress.wordpress.com – Of a Writerly Sort

October 9^th – http://towerofplot.blogspot.co.uk – The Leaning Tower of Plot

October 10^th – http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com – This Page Intentionally Left Blank

October 11^th – http://whatupdates.blogspot.com – What Updates?

October 12^th – http://miriamjoywrites.wordpress.com – Miriam Joy Writes

October 13^th – http://cinderscoria.blogspot.com – Between the Lines

October 14^th – http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com – Inside the Junk Door

October 15^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com – Musings From Neville’s Navel

October 16^th – http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com – Kirsten Writes!

October 17^th – http://mirrormadeofwords.wordpress.com – A Mirror Made of Words

October 18^th – http://theteenagewriter.wordpress.com – The Teenage Writer

October 19^th – http://platonicpencil.wordpress.com – Platonic Pencil

October 20^th – http://markobrienwrites.blogspot.com – Mark O’Brien Writes

October 21^st – http://amandafoody.blogspot.com – It’s All In My Head

October 22^nd – http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com – The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer

October 23^rd – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com – Teens Can Write, Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)