Retreat and Bill Cosby

The Retreat was awesome! The cabins weren't in true wilderness, a grocery could be found twenty minutes away and you could see houses on the opposite hill, but it was still pretty remote. Quiet, lovely six hours a day dedicated to silent writing, evenings filled with laughter and friends, twice a day lectures, delicious meals, the whole package made the retreat the most relaxing and rewarding experiences I'd ever been on. Better than a spa. I was able to rework some old ideas and come up with some new ones so over all I am very satisfied. Side note, this week I had a creative spark. I've had this long standing theory that no one believes that they're the bad guy. Usually anyway. I was at work when I came up with an insight into the mind of someone who is the complete opposite of me. ..... Someone may feel that it is just to put religion down because they would not subject themselves to what they believed was a right and good and just power which power was their own. “Religious fanatics are blinded by their faith. They believe, fight for, and die for something they’ve never seen. All conflict would cease if these people would just see past their God and accept everyone and follow the laws of the government. Though they are corrupt and sometimes someone may be wrongly put to death, it is still something all people can unite under. Not this God that most thinking beings don't subject themselves to. Of course, by accepting us and our values we know that we will not be satisfied until they are doing as we are doing or else they shall be forever different, and therefore, always a problem to the peace of society.” ..... Ok, for a fully realized idea its not great, but for a creative spark brainstorm it's excellent. I'm excited to meditate on this topic and see what other gems I can come up with. Bill Cosby came to our school. He's older and most of his jokes relate better to older people. I'd repeat some of it but anyone who know Bill Cosby jokes know that at least 65% of the funny comes directly from his voice inflections. So I refuse to butcher a legends jokes online. I'll just say that it was mostly worth the fifteen bucks I paid to go and see him. He got mixed reviews from a lot of people. But the reviews are complete opposites so I guess it just depended on who listened to him on whether it was good or not. Personally I enjoyed it so I guess that's all that matters. Randomly, the tickets were assigned and my roommate and I didn't know until we sat down that our other roommate had the seat right next to ours. It felt as though it was fate to sit together.

Poetry

I don't know what it is about this semester, but I keep wanting to write poetry. Here's the first and second draft of one of my poems. Inspiring images : Angles, Magnifying Glass, Romance Version 1 A girl may go depressed through life Thinking that a lack of dates, means that fate has it in for her. What she doesn’t realize, Is the angels by her side, Guard her from love’s Fast and quick flurries That never last too long. The heartless passersby See her through eye magnified By guardian glass that show to them The blemish and bag of an old hag Until the day the angels guide The worthy man of fair seeing eye By the fair God daughters side They’ll continue their vigilance And wipe every tear she cries Version 2 A girl may go depressed through life Thinking that a lack of dates, means that fate has it in for her. But there must be a compromise! Possibly the angels by her side, Guard her from love’s Fast and quick flurries That never last long. In favor for eternity Perhaps the heartless passersby Can only see her through eye magnified By guardian glass that show to them The blemish and bag of an old hag With this consoling thought she smiles And continues to walk with gentle whiles A nose proudly unblemished in the air Considering and then rejecting Confident of her virtue Continuing to hope Seeing all as little Minor regrets Until the day the angels guide The worthy man of fair seeing eye By the fair God daughters side A man of virtue and noble face Instead she turns her head To the other man instead He whose godly form sees another He, the one who would never come Never call Never talk Never see Her And so the Singles Ward saga continues And the angels shrug and sigh Still, they’ll continue their vigilance And wipe every tear she cries Truly I've been inspired by recent experiences. For example, I've been having this light-bulb moment all week and it's finally culminated into a poem. Chronologically it started on a Sunday. I was talking to this guy I usually talk to and he mentioned a girl he wanted to ask out. He showed me her facebook page which displayed six beautiful, blond, straight nosed, tanned, black eyed girls. I asked him to point out THE girl and he froze. He couldn't do it. As a girl I saw the subtle differences between them, he didn't. Later this week my roommate was distressed. She told me that she never felt uglier than at this school because everyone's expectations were so high. PS: She's beautiful, she just has really wide hips. Men were either afraid of her or wanted to change her. Anywhere else she's lived they just wanted to date her. She told me that if she took me to this one state both she and I would get dates at the drop of a hate. "Ok, let's forget school and go there right now!" I said, possibly with some seriousness because just like her I haven't had a date in a long time. And I'm not bad looking either I just don't look like a cookie cut model. It's hard to practice social skills or even feel like you have options when the guys aren't asking. We read this story call "The Birth-Mark" by Nathaniel Hawthrone. It's basically about this practically perfect woman who has all the looks and manners anyone could want. Her only fault is a tiny handprint shaped birthmark on her cheek that some have called blessed and others cursed. She sided with the blessed. Her husband sided with the cursed and changed her opinion over to his. He wanted her absolutely perfect so they removed it. Only once it was removed she became far too perfect for the world and died. Read it sometime, it's a good story. So this whole idea began to marinate in my brain. I realized that the men here have too many options to choose from so simpler, curvier, and plainer girls like myself and my roommate don't really stand much chance to attract them. Further, I was ok with that. Here's my poem that pretty much explains my feelings A Confession on Love As much as I think I love you As much as I know you’re wonderful As much as we seem to get along We both know You cannot love what you secretly despise You have an ideal You have an ambition You have too many options We both know That one beauty will meet your expectations Do not feel sorry for me Do not turn your hand to mine Do not regret what never was We both know We’d rather be alone than to be only loved almost Enjoy your quest Enjoy your straight nose Enjoy your slim hips and black eyes We both know That I sincerely wish you well with your dream. I am content I am glad of your goals I am glad of my own We both know That it’s not in me to dwell on things that never were Someday, there’ll be another Someday, I’ll be the Queen Someday, I’ll be the ideal We both know True love is always beautiful in the beholders eyes Isn't fun how the world can be your inspiration? I'm a novelist, but dabbling in poetry can be fun too and a quick way to exercise your creative juices if you're short on time.