Thursday, August 13, 2015

Poem (Writing Challenge ) - The Ocean

As I approach IB, I have been thinking a lot about the future. I've been thinking about IB, grades, university, family, friends and our mortality. Deep ish, I know, but this summer I haven't been thinking that much, I've been more focused on enjoying and living my life. I travelled, I worked, I learned a lot about myself, my friends and my family and I've joined new communities. I'm afraid school will crush my hopeful spirit, but I hope that my positivity thus far will trump any obstacles I face in the following years. I wrote this poem to kind of release that anxiety and fear I feel towards what's to come, and to act as a reassurance that I will be fine, and everything will work out. I hope you like it!

*****

The Ocean

The waves crashed on the shore
As the thoughts looped in my head
Failure, fear, regret and more
Thoughts that tuck me into bed
The waves reach my ankles now
As images flood my brain
My feet move faster than I allow
The panic begins to leave a stain
Water approaches my thighs
And the rejection burdens my heart
Sadness fills as I yearn for goodbyes
It's now to my stomach, as the images dart
Could it be as bad as I recall
Could all the tears be truly called for
All these memories still make my stomach fall
As it reaches my shoulders, and I near the core
Screams, pain and joy
It reaches my neck
Too many recollections to destroy
As I take one last breath
My head submerged completely
And my mind goes blank
All I feel is the water 
Surrounding from every side
In a loving embrace, it all fades away
I no longer have to hide
In this big, vast ocean
Full of promise, love and opportunity


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Six Word Stories -Writing Challenge

Guess who broke their promises again? me... :(

To be fair, I have been busy. I have been reorganizing my room, which has taken three days, as well as volunteering at ILearn Center for kids with learning disabilities. Also, I'm lazy. However, I'm back and I want to try out writing six-word stories. As some of you may know, Ernest Hemingway was the first to make six-word stories popular in recent literature with his story: "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." There were other news articles out at the time that had similar titles, such as "Little Shoes, Never Worn," which was written about a woman who had lost her baby to death. Anyways, he was definitely the one that popularized fast fiction, and I will attempt to do so myself.

My first step was to find a website that gave me random word lists and then scroll through and stop without looking. Whichever word/phrase I land on I will write about. Some are sad, some are jolly, I tried to make it a mix between the two. Here are my results...Enjoy!

1. Highway


Slowing cars, nosy drivers, two bodies. 
 

2. Eyes


Her passionate eyes destroyed obstacles ahead.

3. Water


Both droughts and tsunamis can kill.  

4. Signature


Written in ink, signed in blood.

5. Gemstone


Amongst the rocks, lies a gemstone.

6. Bowl


Two bowls, one choice: Eternal Happiness.

7. Spot Light  


Bright lights aren't seen amongst others.

8. Man


Hope: abandoned. He crouched and wept.

9. Solid


Solid evidence: it was love, indeed. 

10. Umbrella


Fought rain, couldn't fight the thoughts.


*****

 I hope you liked those, and I would love to see any of you try it out. Have a great day!




Saturday, August 1, 2015

August Challenge

Hello there!

It's been a while hasn't it? I don't know what's gotten into me, but I had a new found interest in my blog. I love to write, but I realized that I've been downplaying myself. I want to step up my game. Therefore, I have decided to set up a challenge for myself, and hopefully you'll come around for the journey ahead...

My challenge is to write something (anything!) every other day, and if possible everyday. Since it's been a while since I sat down and typed out priceless literature, I decided to go to the subreddit /r/WritingPrompts/ . The link shows a site that posts ideas for writing, and although ideas aren't what's keeping me back, my fear of rejection or failure to write something good is a big barrier. Hopefully, if I started out writing based on ideas I know are good, I will transition to ideas of my own. I hope you like it, and if you were to take up the challenge with me, it would be awesome if you were to send a link to your own blog so I can check it out.

After that less-than-brief introduction, let's move onto the first writing piece of this month inspired by user huphelmeyer: "A novel where the antagonist becomes omnipotent and starts to fight with the author for control of the story."


I Want To Be Free! 

 

Just like everyday, he woke up, and dragged himself to the kitchen. He sat at the table as one of his minions prepared his coffee, and another prepared his omelet. He blankly stared out the window, going through his checklist for today, when the cook brought over the plate. He didn't want to yell at the poor man for dropping his plate, in fact, he wasn't angry at all, but somehow an outburst exploded out of him; so powerful and intense the minion was on the floor bleeding and crying. He wanted to lean down and comfort him, apologize even, but something held him back. Everyday, he realized this force controlling him to do things against his will. They were malicious things that sucked at his soul, but he had no ability to change it...at least that's what he thought.

You see, he came from a long line of villains. His great-great-great-grandfather was the first of a long line of villains. He was feared by all for his talent of arson and world domination, even his nemesis attempted to avoid him at all costs. His son carried on the tradition by starting a League of the Malevolent (he was also a poet on the side), and thus, his fate was determined: he would be evil. 

At first, it seemed like a blast. He remembered his grandfather tell stories of defeating Superman, taking over cities and terrorizing teachers (his worst enemy at the time). He recalled his father appear on the news, name sprawled over every network in big, bold font. He had memorabilia for all of his favorite villians; The Joker smiling at him as he slept, Magento chanting demeaning phrases to him as he brushed his teeth, and Cat Woman adorning his lunch box for school. That was his destiny, his future, and he yearned for the day he could take over the League and see himself on the news taking down the ever-so-beloved superheroes. Then it happened, just a week after his father was crippled by The Avengers, Azazel Cor took over the League at the young age of 24.

Finally! This was his dream being achieved! He signed that contract with gusto that couldn't be shaken off...for about a year. It turned out the process was much more morally bruising to him than he thought it would be. With every innocent person he killed, every bank he robbed, and every superhero he dramatically left on the verge of the death, his excitement died gradually. He realized this isn't what he wanted, but he couldn't escape it. He could never tell anyone how much he hated holding a school bus full of children hostage, or that he wanted to go to Paris, or that he thought his wife's hunger for hurting others made him hate her even more. Thirteen years of this miserable, vile life, was...

"What are you doing?" Azazel said to the...WRITER?

What? How...? Are you talking to me?

 "Yes?" He said hesitantly, "Why are you reading to me my back story and explaining all of my inner thoughts?"

I must be going mad. YOU'RE MY CHARACTER, I CONTROL YOU, OK? There's no way...

"Wait, you're the one who has forced me to do all of these malicious things all my life?"

...yes.

"How dare you! All this time? Oh my Go...this means my entire life is a piece of literature, dictated by some loser at some computer?"

Hey! I am a...

"No! You have no right to be offended here. My whole life is a lie, every action I've ever done has been written by you, and I had no choice but to comply. I can't believe this."

He rested his face on his...

"Stop that!" Azazel sh...."I mean it!"

Sorry...I don't know what to do here, man. I've never heard of this ever happen. I didn't even know it was possible. Is there anything you would like me to do as compensation for all of this?

He paused for a moment, deep in thought.

"Yes, actually. I want you to...I want you to make me not evil. I want you to write that I left the League, I divorced my wife, and will be boarding a flight to any exotic European country by tomorrow."

Hmmm, well there are a lot of nice places in...Wait! No! That will make for the most boring story ever! I can't do that, I refuse.

"Oh really?" He said with a smirk, "How do you think people are going to respond when they realize that their lives are being written for them, I bet it would lead to a pretty tragic story for you, huh?"

Actually, that sounds like a great concept for a book. It would be a more enjoyable read than seeing you go to Spain and take up salsa lessons. 

"What? No. I don't want that!"

I don't really care anymore Mr. Cor, my story; my rules. Very simple. 

"How dare...." Azazel said slowly in a whisper as the author regained power over the character. 

Against his will, he walked down to his lair, where the camera was set up for a live broadcast to the world. He sat at the desk, and delivered the news to the people of Earth. At first, they doubted him, but as he explained it more, they could sense that pull to do what was demanded of them. Fear spread though each individual as the viewers sat, paralyzed, absorbing these facts given to them by the person they had once all mistrusted. It appeared that their world was all a lie, and even the most evil man in their universe was not as he appeared. The live broadcast ended, and time paused as Azazel looked to the author.

"Thank you," he said with a sigh of gratitude, relief beaming on his face.

The author smiled at him, through the screen, preparing for taking over the load of being the villain. 

***

What did you think? I would love to know if you liked it or not, and I would love to see your own responses. Have a great day!

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Anna Akana and Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. It's February the 14th and everyone is talking about love and how much they love their significant other and their previous experiences they had on this lovely day. Personally, I believe that this is way too commercialized and overrated and love should be shown everyday. However, its origin is very romantic and noble, and sometimes people showcase their love on this very day in the most creative of ways, and that's pretty cool.

It was apparently named after St. Valentine, a priest that would marry soldiers in private, after the Roman leader of the time banned marriage, due to his belief that single soldiers perform better. When the Roman leader found out, he placed him in prison, and St. Valentine, allegedly, fell in love with the jailer's daughter and wrote her a letter before his execution, signed "To my Valentine".

After Rome became a more Christian society, Valentine's Day became more popular to replace the Feast of Lupercalia (a Roman feast of fertility), as well as it being reported as the beginning of the bird mating season. However, then it was only letters, and then it evolved commercially as it became more global.

Yesterday however, was February 13, on a Friday. Yup! Yesterday was the Friday the 13th. Apparently this year we're having three Fridays the 13th, so be prepared. I wrote a poem I would like to share, for you to enjoy, and probably use the next time someone messes with you.

May all misfortune be lain upon you
And this unmerciful day take all rights and virtue
I hope thy days are colorless and bleak
Following this horrid day, Friday the Thirteenth
May the salt shakers around you spill
And the cracks on side walk cause you to take pills
May the black cats flood your streets
And infinite ladders tower over your sheets
May every devil spawn known to man haunt thy spirit
And the screams you release mute to those who can hear it
May every passing hour feel like a hell hole inescapable
And the fate you will be lead to remain undebatable
May all misfortune haunt you for the rest of your days
As all around you hell is raised

MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm evil...

Anyways! Now it's time for an update. A lot of things have happened since I last wrote a blog post. All of them very exciting. Firstly, I was part of the Frozen play, which may have been the first show in Amman to have seven nights fully sold out. It was tiring, long and so very fun. I met so many new amazing people, and being on stage is such a thrill, even if I was only a maid-that-turns-into-a-royal-due-to-clothes-transformation. It was very fun anyways, and everyone was very nice. If I wasn't in IB next year, I would probably audition again.

After Frozen finished, I didn't really do much. Finals happened, they sucked but I did okay on them. After that, I started working on my personal project, which is taking me FOREVER to finish even one piece. I WILL NOT GIVE UP THOUGH. My idea is to take recyclables and transform them into art, by making two-three paper mache sculptures and multiple crafts of smaller sizes. 

Another very exciting thing I would like to share was on my resolutions list last year. I placed a resolution to contact my favorite YouTubers via social media. Lately, I did and this happened:


THE NOTIFICATION AT THE TOP^^^

YES! Anna Akana, one of my favorite YouTubers favorited my tweet I sent to her for a SnapChat contest! It's exciting, ok?

That's all I have for now, but whenever exciting things are to happen, you shall be informed.

Goobye...for now.

-Yara

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Chronicles of Huge Eye - Chapter 4

Before you read this, read Jad's Chapter 3 blogpost first: 

throughmyseriouseyes.weebly.com

Enjoy! 

****************************

Intertwined hands broke her fall. They were soft and merged together in a shape of a pentagon. She smiled as they tilted her to the side. She planted her naked feet in the soggy soil and took in the smell of fresh flowers. She started walking across the muddy path dividing the field of daisies from the field of black dahlias. As she reached the end of it, she took a swift left and raised the hem of her white dress off the floor as she started to run.

She ran with her arms widespread and her hair flying back. The wind slapped her face with great intensity and she welcomed it like a hug from a loved one. She ran and skipped and leaped and twirled. She was overcome with euphoria; blinded by elation.

In the distance, she saw a train come to a halt. She rushed towards it and climbed aboard. She headed towards the window seat and relaxed her head on the seat, her view fixed out of the window. She exhaled deeply in relief as the sights passed by her. She was alone on the moving vehicle, with only the driver at the very front.

Solitude in a land filled with all the views she wanted to see. For years she had drawn out the plans for this place. Every reflection, corner, curve had been perfectly planned and orchestrated over the course of many tiresome years.

As the train moved along the track, she smelled a peculiar, sharp smell. It was a distinct metallic smell, but she ignored it as the smell of the flowers overshadowed it. However, as the vehicle continued its path it kept coming back to her attention. She walked to the railroad engineer's cabin, knocked twice, then opened the door. While she was opening it, several bodies fell out of the cabin, many more falling behind her. She backed away in shock as the bodies continued to fall at her feet. They were presumably endless in supply.

Scared, she searched to find a way to exit the train, but the entrance she had come in through was blocked by the pile of humans drenched in blood. She then thought of hiding under the chairs, until the bodies stopped flowing out of the engineer's cabin, but she heard a whimper from the direction of the bodies. The one closest to her looked up at her and whispered:

"Tristan, 2015."

Confused, she scratched her head at the mention of the boy's name.

Was he coming to the Land of Huge Eye? Did he know about this land in anyway? Was he already here?

After what seemed like forever, she had managed to push through the sea of bodies to get to the door and jumped off the train with fright. After a while, she had become accustomed to the bodies, but what scared her was their constant supply, the blood they were drenched in, and the mention of Tristan's name.

She walked, with remorse, on the flower fields, since the track was now fully occupied by the train. She strolled along thinking what could have caused such an occurrence. As she thought about it, she saw a blood stain on her dress. She grunted with frustration as she realized more and more of the stains on the white fabric.

Joan turned and started running back to the place she first arrived to. She remembered drawing a stream there, so she could then...A possible answer suddenly came to her along with feelings of vulnerability and blame towards herself. Could she have been so foolish?

She ran faster to her initial spot, where her sketchbook lay on the muddy land. She started sprinting at the instant she saw its faint shape in the ground. She picked it up quickly and flicked through the pages. At first, Joan searched the pages vigorously, but as she viewed more of it, her fingers moved slower, eventually coming to a halt.

She collapsed to the floor; stunned.

This was her chance at being free, but she missed out on that because she left her sketchbook with Tristan. Hours, days, years spent sketching out this magnificent land in invisible ink...wasted because she had instead grabbed her Art sketchbook, instead of her planning one.

As she began to rock herself back and forth, she pieced it all together. Tristan must have found her backpack containing the sketchbook and presumed it was empty. He must have drawn out the gorey, violent scene on the pages already filled with the invisible sketches Joan had drawn before. It was reasonable, especially knowing that his artwork was very dark, very detailed and very bloody.

Joan enjoyed sketching out scary scenes, but this was her world. She wanted to live in a world of tranquility, where she could be one with nature, where everything was black and white and went according to her plans. She meant for no interference from the Universe, but instead, she got the interference of a dark Tristan.

She lay on the floor for several hours after that. The stains had become permanent, now matched with mud splots.

She was dumb, foolish, ignorant and beyond the limits of negligence. She had one thing to do, and she couldn't do it. She had one sketchbook to carry with her, and she couldn't do that. She could have brought both of them, but no; she couldn't do that either.

Apparently, she was incapable of doing anything at the time, but now she had to think of something she could do to bring Tristan's attention to his actions. She had to find a way to communicate with him, and show him his impact on the Land of Huge Eye, and there was one person she knew could help her.

**********

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! This is so long overdue, it's disgusting. I really hope you liked it, the thought finally came to me after many weeks of writer's block, void of inspiration or motivation. However, it seems that today I have found both in such capacity as to write this belated chapter. A lot of new things and updates have happened in my life, and I plan on sharing them with you all very soon in an upcoming blog post. I will not set a specific date, since I don't really stick with those, but I will try my best to have one up by sometime next week.

Have a great day!

-Yara :)

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Chapter 2 - The Chronicles of Huge Eye



BEFORE READ THIS CHAPTER, MAKE SURE YOU READ CHAPTER ONE ON JAD'S BLOG.
......................................................................................................... 

As she fell down the black abyss, she realized why the volunteers at the foster home worried about her. As the people of Huge Eye stood on the walls of the pit, reenacting the scenes from her drawings and paintings, she was terrified. She kept her eyes closed, and distracted herself from the gory images by playing over the events that lead her to the situation at hand. 

Like most peculiar people, the early stages of her life were…abnormal, to say the least. Her mother passed away during labor, which made Joan’s birth, practically, a miracle. However, her father could not appreciate this miracle daughter of his. His love towards Joan’s mother was too strong, that he couldn’t handle it anymore and committed suicide one week after Joan’s miraculous arrival.

Obviously, her life was not destined to be ordinary, or cheerful for that matter, from the start. As if sensing this unusual beginning to her life, Joan kept to herself. She took to corners at all times and would read all of the books available to the orphan children at The Sunshine Home for Orphan Children. She would participate in the mandatory events, eat her meals with the other kids and make socially obligatory conversations.

This persisted until the age of five, when an artistic couple named the Mayhems came to the orphanage and gave the children an art class. As soon as Joan placed the black marker on her paper, she could feel its calling. It almost yelled out to her:

“Joan. Join. JOan. JOin. JOAn. JOIn. JOAN. JOIN. JOOOOAAAN. JOOOOIIIN.”

And to its calling, she responded. At the end of the class, she went to Mrs. Mayhem and asked her if she could come here every single week, because she wanted to learn as much as she could from the talented duo. Mrs. Mayhem laughed and promised she would, and Mrs. Mayhem was a woman of her word.

At the age of eight, Joan could draw human faces to the exact detail. She drew still-life with ease and repainted artistic works of the likes of Van Gogh and Picasso in a matter of hours. Over the three years of working with Joan, the Mayhems attempted to adopt her five times. All five times were denied. Although popular in the artistic realm, the Mayhems could not generate a “realistic lifestyle environment” for little Joan.

This led to bouts of depression from Mrs. Mayhem every time she saw Joan, along with teary fits from Mr. Mayhem. The art classes finally ceased on Joan’s ninth birthday, declaring another unfortunate event associated with her birth. 

After that event, a switch turned on. With the Mayhems, she would paint life and celebrate its attributes. Without them, she would paint death, and glorify its dark themes. The volunteers gave her mandatory therapy lessons after seeing her drawings. As one volunteer said:
“This would be dark if drawn by anyone, let alone a nine-year old girl. She needs real therapeutic attention.” 

She would spend the weekly hour of “therapeutic attention” staring menacingly at the psychiatrist and answering all her questions with growls, until Joan finally forced her to burst into tears and demand that she be removed from treating “that sick little girl.”

However, the Home was not one to give up. As a replacement, they brought in Mr. Chilling. His name seemed very fitting, for chilling was what he was. He was very tall, with very, very neat hair combed to the right. He had two different colored eyes, one was green, and the other was blue. He always wore the same brown suit, with a plain white shirt. He walked with confidence that bordered on the lines of arrogance. His hand firmly grasped his suitcase at all times. If possible, he would avoid talking to anyone at the orphanage and head straight to the therapy room.

In their first session, Joan repeated what she did with the former psychiatrist. She stared menacingly at him, or at least attempted to; for his eyes made the task difficult. It was obvious Mr. Chilling would have none of that. He stared right back at her. Every time she would growl, he would growl louder, causing her to double back with shock. Eventually, she gave up, crossed her arms and grunted.
“Ask me your stupid questions,” she said with scorn and defeat.

“Firstly, thinking of something as stupid before knowing what it is, is stupid,” he said, with a chillingly smug look on his face, “And secondly, I don’t want to ask you a question.” 

With her interest peaked, she met his eyes with confusion and wonder.

“Well,” she replied, trying to imitate the smugness he displayed, “What are you going to do then?”

“Well my dear, I would like to read you an excerpt from a particular favorite book of mine.”

He pulled out a book from his briefcase and flipped through the pages with haste.

 “I shall read to you a poem. It’s entitled The Huge Pupil.”

He read the poem with a steady, cold voice, and Joan gripped onto every word with silent admiration. When he finished reading, he looked up at her with a proud grin, seeing its heavy effect on her.

“Is this…” Joan began, but wouldn’t continue, fearing she would be deemed stupid herself.
 
“Continue dearest,” Mr. Chilling said to her.

“Is this a true story?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“However…”

“Yes?”

“It could be.”
 
……

 Hope you like it...I am filled with anxiety and my nerve cells are freaking out. If you can comment below, I would love to know what you think of it.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Magazine, Short Story, Camp and Chapter 2

The flying elephant held onto the bundle ever so tightly. She flew quickly, searching for a home for her child. As she flew, she spotted a room with all the lights turned off. She flew to that window with speedy hesitance. Her size made the task of remaining silent quite difficult,  but Mrs. Grey was not one to quit, especially when facing such dire matters. After twenty minutes of quiet struggle, she had managed to open the window, put little Timothy onto the yellow couch and close the window once more, but not before looking one last time at Timothy's white face. As she increased the distance between herself and her son, tears streamed down her wrinkled face. Little Timothy, who was asleep this whole time, sensed his mother's absence. Without him realizing it, his body began to feel hollow, and slowly he fell to an eternal slumber.  The next day the girl woke up to see a fluffy white blanket placed on her couch. Thinking it was her mom's doing, she wrapped herself with the cover and felt instantaneous love and warmth. She would never know it was not only a blanket, but little Timothy, transmitting the warmth and love he had once received, one that he'll hold with him forever.

 ...................

I couldn't go to sleep and I realized my blanket looked like an elephant, so I wrote that little short story about the warmest blanket in the world. It's my favorite and I would wear it forever if I could.

A lot of exciting news, the first of which is the publishing of the school magazine, The Eagle: http://madmagz.com/magazine/377013 which you can read there. They spelled my name wrong, but that's okay, because the editor is super sweet and it shows she put a lot of effort into the project. So please read it my dears. 

Another exciting piece of news is that we're extending the deadline for the story. Instead of Tuesday, it will be Sunday, so we can have the weekend to write it.

So, we went to the camp this weekend, and it was splendid! We went to Wadi Rum, and although we went to the same places as last year, I had a great amount of fun. The first day we walked through a path in Little Petra to get to . Then they gave us food and tea, which is like a little piece of heaven. 

Side note: Tea tastes so much better after hours of walking and hiking.

Other stuff happened, like singing in the middle of the desert as we were going back to the camp, and at night the stars were ever so clear. They all shined so bright, they looked absolutely gorgeous and I want to go up to the stars so badly. It's a true shame we have so much light pollution in Amman... I may write a blog post about that actually.

A couple of friends and I were such rebels that we "disturbed" some of the other girls, although it was only 12 AM, so they forced us to sleep at a criminally early time, which I am now thankful for, because the next day was super exhausting. We woke up at 6 then had breakfast. After that, we took an hour to get to Wadi Rum from Little Petra, and when we got there we did some hiking until we got to a waterfall-ish thing. We all soaked ourselves with its meager drops of water then one of the Captains gave us a demonstration on how we can tell if a plant is poisonous or not.

That was all to waste time until the other group finished their turn doing some form of mountain climbing, but downwards. I think I may have a picture below, because that sentence makes no sense. Anyway, from that exercise I got three bruises on my right thigh, because I kind of lost control, but then I did it so well, so it kind of evens out.

Went down the mountain to the bus again, to get to the next camp site, which had the most beautiful bathrooms I've ever seen in a camp. They kind of gave us a break here. We ate lunch and put our things in the tents and then they held a dance party. An organized fake wedding occurred and we danced around them and clapped for them, and we met an girl our age from India, who was traveling to Jordan with her family, and she taught us Indian dance moves. To add to that, I convinced two of my friends to dance, so that was amazing. Yay! VICTORY!

After that, we went on a walk in the desert, and three of my friends and I got seperated from the groups, so we were stuck in between the two walking groups, the guys behind us, and the girls in front of us, and all we could see was their flashlights. However, it was super fun, because we just talked and the stars were so beautiful. We finally reached a certain spot and an astronomy professor gave us a presentation about the stars, that was drowned out by the wind and the whispers of freezing students. They then gave us tea, also known as one of God's blessings. While we drank our tea they lit up two lanterns and set them loose in the sky, and they looked gorgeous with the stars as their backdrop. When we finally got to our tents, my tent-mates and I went to sleep so quickly, while the others played cards until 2 AM and got sick.

The next day we got onto the bus and came to Amman, where I showered, ate, then slept for thirteen hours. 

Visual evidence of the trip:

Me being amazing-Photograph taken by Nael 



Shunnar,     
   


Hope you liked this post! Until my next time...

-Yara:)

P.S: Nael is an amazing photographer, if you are friends with him on Facebook check out his entire album of this camp...He's so genuinely talented.



Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Chronicles of Huge Eye - Prologue

Joan woke up with the sound of the alarm echoing in her nearly empty room. As she climbed out of the covers stapled to the old mattress, she thought only one thought: "Today's the day."

This thought was repeated over and over in her head. As she brushed her teeth, she thought of it. As she combed her long, wavy brown hair, she thought of it. As she placed the sole item in her room - the mattress - near the dumpster, she thought of it. As she walked outside to get on the bus, she thought of it.

There was a single instance when she ceased to repeat that thought in her mind. That single instance was the pulling at her earphones. She turned around to see the owner of the chubby hand, only to find him laughing with his friends about his silly little trick. She grabbed the hand by the wrist with her double-jointed fingers and twisted it backwards, causing the boy to yelp in pain. She glared at the boys with him with piercing purple eyes, daring them to respond to her action. No one did. 

Her train of thought continued peacefully, while an Arctic Monkeys song repeated over and over. She closed her eyes and smiled calmly. 

"Just seven hours my dear," she whispered to herself, "and then all of this will go away."

The bus came to a sudden halt, pushing her body forward, hitting the seat in front of her. Anger filled her instantaneously, but she breathed slowly, putting a halt to the rush of external thoughts that clouded her serenity and focus.

The first four periods went on for what seemed like centuries, and the lunch period seemed to be the darkest of hells, as Mrs. Trac forced her to go to the cafeteria instead of the bleachers. All around her, the voices of stressed, hyper and angsty teenagers flooded her thoughts, blocking her focus on the main issue.

Finally, it was an art lesson. She knew sweet Mr. Harrison would let her stay for the lesson following the art, and if he was in a good mood, maybe even two lessons. She took her sketch book to the corner near the window and sketched with vigorousity, almost ripping the page with her deep lines. Mr. Harrison looked over worriedly, but he kept her to her thoughts, which was a good thing, for if he was to see what she was drawing, the whole plan would have been spoiled. 

Finally, the last lesson came. Mr. Harrison did indeed let her stay for two extra lessons, which was what she needed to clear her mind for what was to come. Unlike other times, she took the sketch book with her, insisting it was because of her strong desire to finish it over the weekend.

In biology, the teacher droned on and on about neurons and dendrites, many topics they've covered before. As the some of the students around her dozed off, Joan took out the sketchbook and started sketching once more. However, her detachment from the lecture caused Ms. Green to snatch the book out of her hand, ripping the page into two, due to Joan's thick, forced lines. 

"You can have this back at the end of the lesson," the slim witch bellowed loudly, waking up all of those who fell asleep, "for now, I recommend you take out your biology notebook, and take notes, not draw scribbles."

Her cheeks turned red, but not because of embarrassment, because of fury. In fact, her entire face became a red color. Her blood was boiling and her heart was beating fast. 

"What if she opens it?" She pondered internally with understandable panic, "What if she already saw it?"

She clenched her fists, drawing slight amounts of blood from her palms and slowed her breathing once more. 

"It's going to be fine. She didn't open it," she mumbled to herself, desperately trying to restore her initial feeling of calm, "and she won't."

She looked at her watch and sighed with relief.

Fifteen minutes.

The bell rang, and it was as if her heart beat increased with every ring. She hastily packed her things, and walked to Ms. Green, to retrieve her note book.

"I understand you're not interested in my class Joan, but must you always take out this forsaken notebook and scribble like a mad man," she sighed with exhaustion, "or in this case a mad lady."

"I apologize Ms. Green, I promise, it won't happen again."

As she took the sketch book, she knew it wouldn't, because tomorrow, she wouldn't be here. She would be over there; over there where she really belongs.

She ran up the stairs, until she reached the roof. Panting heavily, she pushed the door open and glanced outside. She laid her backpack in one of the corners and took out her sketch book. As she stood on the ledge, she breathed once more. She could hear the gasps of the students below, she even saw a couple taking out their phones, planning to document a suicide at their school. Little did they know, they'd be documenting so much more.

She could hear faint voices. This was her only chance. With no hesitation, she leaped off the roof, perfectly diving into thin air. Many of the onlookers looked away as she came closer to the floor. Expecting to hear a splat, some closed their ears, but no sound came. A black void appeared out of no where and swallowed her up. She had simply disappeared, for Joan was no where to be found. 

She had vanished, once and for all, into the land of the Huge Eye.

************

Hey! Sorry this was later than I promised, was preoccupied with many other things. I really hope you like it and remember to check out throughmyseriouseyes.weebly.com next week to read the first chapter.  Super excited to see how Jad will respond to this, and also excited to see what you think, so leave a comment. 

-Yara :)

Friday, October 3, 2014

A New Project

Hey!

So much time has passed since I had last laid my fingers upon this beautiful keyboard to write...but alas, it is now time. The main reason is a new project I'm working on with my fellow friend and blogger. Before I share with you the details of the project, I will entertain you with some thoughts that I have had over these past few weeks.

The first of which is death. I know that this is not a pretty subject, but recently it has been crossing my mind a lot following two deaths of people that were close to me and my family, one of which is my friend Tala Dissi, God bless her soul. As I think about it more and more, I am constantly baffled by the concept. I understand that the soul leaves the body, but it seems so odd that someone's soul is there, then it's gone. It still confuses me the more I think of it. 

Another thought related to this morbid process, is the effect of death. Death is easy on the person who dies, but for others close to him/her, it isn't at all. Worse even, what if it was. What if I just go away, and I leave no effect on the world? As I was discussing this with one of my friends, we both agreed we didn't want our time to be up before leaving something valuable behind. Some thing like a life-changing book or an invention that will change the course of history, but it is a known fact that we have no role to play when it concerns the time of our passing, and that's even scarier.

On a less serious note, glitter is made of plastic. Henry Ruschmann found himself with a bunch of plastic, and after he decided to grind it all into tiny bits, he discovered glitter. Yay! It truly is spectacular, the way random things can occur from an issue. I guess a lesson can be learned from this. If you have a bunch of issues, grind them and get some glitter!

This left me thinking how glitter could be used as a weapon. As I was studying, I thought of how odd it is that Molotov cocktails existed. It's proof that humans can make weapons out of everything. At the very moment, I thought of how glitter and Steryllium could become a weapon, since they were in my peripheral vision. The end result is this: You add the glitter to the Steryllium then you shake it up. After you're done, you spray the mixture at your attacker. At this point, you can either run and be gunned down by a henchman, or laugh and be gunned down. You choose. If you can think of other ways glitter can be used a s a weapon, please tell me in the comments. I have too much glitter, too many enemies, and too little time.

Finally, I have stated in my previous that I joined the school magazine. On Wednesday, I sent the editor-in-chief my first article, and as soon as the school magazine is online, YOU WILL KNOW! I'm so excited about it! Yay!

Now! The project is a joint project with Jad, my friend and fellow blogger of the wonderful blog throughmyseriouseyes.weebly.com. The plan is to write a story with each other. However, I'm going to write one chapter, without telling him about what I'm going to write, and then he will follow suit on his blog. Each week one of us will write a chapter, until eventually we will reach the end. I don't know what we'll do then, but until then our writing will continue in this fashion. The first chapter will be written by me, so keep a close eye on this stupendous blog of mine during this Eid holiday.

Alas my friends, this is the end of our journey for now, until next time.

-Yara :)

P.S.: I bet most of you have realized the change in the blogs theme. Please tell me what you think in the comments! Thanks!

Monday, September 22, 2014

The Doppelganger

Hello!

So I got accepted into the school web-zine, and I have decided to share the short story I submitted that has granted me access to this beautiful opportunity. I hope you like it, however, keep in mind it is a thriller, so for those of you who are weak of heart, I must warn you

************************************************

Marian was taking her usual afternoon walk when she saw Mr. Clementine running in her direction.

“Why, good morning Mr. Clementine.” She said astounded.

He shook his head and placed a finger on his lips.

“No time to talk, I've finally done it Marian. I've done it!”

“I don’t believe you! Show me at once!”


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

First Day of School, and the Lost Notes from Canada

-Got into airport
-Went to check-in after going in the wrong lane
-Dad took my bag, then returned it after I tried taking Sara's
-Took a shortcut to passport control where a guy with braces checked our passports
-Went to duty free and saw a cool magazine with free stickers included...it was a card magazine (I want it even more now)
-We went to business lounge for about an hour and my sister and I explored the place and ate the food from the buffet
-Saw a place that served fruits (in business lounge) and it had turkey sandwiches with weird-smelling orange bread (apparently I also ate it...says a lot about me, hehe)
-Sara tried to put hot chocolate in a small mug, it overflowed and then she cleaned the mess and got a new cup and filled it from the machine
-She ate cheese with it
-Went to an isolated TV booth
-Wanted to go to Sara's booth, but instead entered a random guy's booth
-Went to Sara's booth and told her about it, we could hear him laugh as we laughed too
-Went to gate 216
-Wanted to run down slanted hallway to plane-request denied
-Went through a wrong turn into the wrong airplane entrance thingy, and a nice stranger redirected us
-Got on Plane
-Row 2 AC
-Got hot towels while I watched the little TV
-Listened to music

*Everything in parentheses is not original, added by me, as I was typing it

So...yeah, those were my Lost Notes From Canada that I found in my pocket on the day right before school started. Dearest father, this is what I was writing that I wouldn't let you see. I wanted to continue it throughout the vacation, but I didn't finish it.


Thursday, August 21, 2014

Woohoo! Diary Entry!

Hi there!
It has been while since I lasted posted a diary-like entry here, so I will warn you now. This post will be long, random and my thoughts will be ultimately scattered. 

Let's start out like the typical movie format. Start all the way from the back, and make my way to the front. At the beginning of the summer, I didn't do much. I swam often, drew a painting and went out with my friends multiple times. When Ramadan came, everyone became lazy and woke up at 3 PM. However...In the middle of July, my family and I went to Canada for two weeks, and it was super fun!

We went to an amusement park (Canada's Wonderland), which was superb! There were so many frightening and exhilarating rides. Multiple rides we rode flipped us over, so we were upside down. Then there was another one that we had to ride standing up, and so when we went on a loop, we were dangling from our feet. Although ALL of the rides were supertastically awesome, my sister and I both favored the ride called Canada's Mine Mountain (I think, it had 'mine' in the name anyways) above all the rest. 

Friday, August 8, 2014

The Girl Who Could Fly

There once was a girl who could fly

She had no wings, but could somehow reach the sky

I could always see her from the garden outside

And whenever I caught her eye I would run and hide

I never saw how she flew

But I guess it's just a thing that she could do