town (prompt substitution)

The road stretched out for miles ahead, full of cracks and pot holes, weeds struggling to grow up between the gaps between the pavement. The dusty sidewalk ran alongside the road, more grass and weeds growing on it as well. The Mint bar stood to one side, looming over all surrounding buildings. The outside was in bad need of touching up, paint chipped off the door, cracks in the brick walls, the windows covered in grime. Other, nicer buildings surrounded the bar, colorful houses and apartment buildings, old mom and pop stores that still sold soda for less than a buck. A shiny new convenience store on the corner, looking out of place with its shiny new sliding glass doors and sleek modern paneling. A few cars were parked on the street. Old beaten trucks with rusting stains on the hoods, small family cars filled with car seats and toys. Not a single person outside to enjoy the midday sun, just an empty road, filled with silence.

Prompt 10

“When I got AT&T it was ‘dropped call, dropped call, dropped call.’”

“Yah they suck, didn’t they just get the iPhone?”

“They have the iPhone 4, 4s, and 5.”

“I want one so bad.”

“I have one and their nice. I use it when I travel. I have the 4 so it doesn’t have Siri, but I’m not too worried. I think if I had Siri I would just turn it off because I think it talks by itself.”

“Actually I think it’s an app you have to open to use.”

“So it doesn’t talk by itself?”

 “No, it acts like a real person, you can ask how she is doing and she will say ‘I’m fine, how are you?’ and she will help you with anything on the phone. Don’t iPhones have face time?”

“Yah but I don’t thing mine does, and everyone I know who has it doesn’t use it, and I don’t know why, it’s the best feature.”

Prompt 6

Unlike some other women I don't collect purses, I collect wallets. I have a whole shelf full of them and I use a different one every few weeks, at last count I had over twenty all together. The oldest I have is a leather wallet from my trip to Florida when I was in third grade. I got it at the Epcot Center, it has horses embossed on the front, a saddle on the back, and a deer in the center. At the time I loved horseback riding and had to get the wallet. Another wallet made of cheep black vinyl covered in different colored skulls. I bought it at Borders, my favorite book store, a few years before it went out of business. Several wallets are ones I have gotten from anime conventions over the past few years, each one with a different video game character or anime that I was currently obsessing over. Many more wallets were ordered online, mostly anime, or bought in the mall. Some are checkered or stripped, some long others short. Some made of paper, some leather, others cloth or vinyl. Some have my favorite super hero logos on them or characters from one of my favorite movies The Nightmare Before Christmas. The last wallet I bought was last Monday. I actually bought two, one small one with a fairy on the front, and another long black one with the logo from the Legend Of Zelda video games. Over the next few years I'm sure that I'll buy many more wallets from various places, and they will all end up on that shelf, overflowing and falling off until I reorganize them.

prompt 7

My trip to Europe 2010. A red telephone box with people walking by it without a second glance. Magnificent Horse statues rearing up on their hind legs tossing their mains in the middle of a fountain. Giant fish wrapped around the base of a lamppost. Another fountain, this one topped with an angel firing an arrow from a bow, with construction going on in the background, giant sheets covering the buildings being worked on. The London Eye rising hundreds of feet into the air, taking passengers on a ariel tour of the city. Photos taken on the London Eye of old buildings. Big Ben, the giant clock tower, the House of Parlliament, the Palace of Westminster, and the Thames river directly below. I was only in London for a day but the sights and shops fascinated me. I hope to go back someday and explore the city more. Just that one day and I fell in love.

prompt 8

The first book I read all on my own as a kid was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. This was the first book I read all the way through with no help from a grownup. Since then I have read hundreds of other books. Longer, more detailed, more complex books from How to Eat Fried Worms to Harry Potter to The Lord of The Rings. The books I read in later life had more issues and story behind them that were much better and more entertaining than Green Eggs and Ham. I read fantasy and drama, Shakespeare and Arthur Conan Doyle, science fiction and non-fiction. All of these books could be considered better than Green Eggs and Ham. But Green Eggs and Ham was my first, the book I read all on my own, and it will always be one of my favorite books.

theme week 2

A black brown and white tiger cat hiding underneath the Christmas tree. A pine branch is blocking the lower part of his face and one eye but you can still see the whiskers and white splotch on the left side of his face. The only part of the tree that is visible in the photo are a few small branches at the top of the picture and at the bottom you can see the bright red and blue tree skirt covered with pictures of horns, pine, and drums. The cat is lying on the skirt staring at something out of view with eyes that if you look closely enough at you can see cataracts in. he is an old cat, I got him in 1998 when I was 8 or 9 and even then he was several months old when we got him. I remember not being able to name him for the longest time, so my dad called him Snot and called his brother, my sister’s cat, Booger. After a while my sister named her cat Ferret, because she wanted a pet ferret but was denied one. At 8 I copied everything my sister did so I called my cat, the one in this photo, Weasel. Ferret and Weasel, our tiger cat twins. The first Christmas we had these cats Weasel tried to run up the Christmas tree, he never tried it again. I remember him escaping outside before he had all of his shots and attempting to outrun us and enjoy the outside air. When I got my other cat, Lily, on my thirteenth birthday Ferret and Weasel would chase her around the house and terrorize her. Now that Ferret is gone Weasel dose this less then he used to and Lily has started to fight back.

 Weasel would bring us presents to show his love, such as dead mice, birds that were still alive enough to fly around the house, and on one occasion, a half live mole that my sister and I found on the kitchen floor when we got home from school, that one we had to have a neighbor come over and get rid of. After a while once he realized that we did not appreciate these gifts as much as he thought we would, he began to mostly leave them outside.

 He only drinks water directly from the faucet if he can get his way, and sits at the sink for minutes, waiting for one of us to turn on the water. He is beginning to slow down now because of age, but he still runs around the house full of energy at times. He is getting skinner and less inclined to go outside in cold weather. Thirteen or fourteen years old now, I’ve had him more than half my life. My dad did the math and found out that in cat years he is over eighty years old, an old man, but he still acts like the child he was when we got him and he attemted to climb the christmas tree.

You

You were never a fan of writing, you even hated reading when you were a kid because of your dyslexia. words always switched themselves around and flipped themselves over, making it impossible to concentrate on the pages. Coming up with topics was also hard, you always had thousands of half formed ideas in your head but you could never decide which one to write about. Even when you did settle on a subject, you somehow could never put the words onto the page. No matter what you wrote the words never sounded right or did not describe what you were trying to portray. After reading classes you started enjoying reading more, but writing was still a pain. The increase in reading only gave you more ideas to right about that you could not put into words. School eventually forced you to write more and more and over time you found that it was becoming easier. Writing is still difficult for you but it is much more enjoyable for you than it once was.

She

She used to hate writing. She could never come up with anything to write about and it frustrated her. Whenever the teacher assigned writing homework she would dread doing it more than any of her other homework, besides math. Often as a result she would turn in writing assignments a day late because she would either put off doing it or simply stare at the computer with no idea how to start. Over time, as it got less and less acceptable to turn in homework late, she was forced to turn assignments in on time. this made her try harder to come up with ideas and write them down. Eventually she realized that writing was not as bad as she had thought and actually came to enjoy it more, though she still struggles with it sometimes.

Jan 19

Today I helped my mom clean the house then had lunch. After that I went to work and stayed there for seven hours. I went home and had dinner. After dinner I watched more Supernatural, I'm halfway through season seven now and when its over I will have to wait for season eight to come out on DVD unless I can find all the episodes on Hulu. Once I finish the current seasons of the show I will probably start re-reading the Hobbit.

I

When I was a kid I did not like writing much. I could never think of anything to write and would sit in class for what seemed like hours, wishing that I could be outside on the playground instead. As I got older I got more tolerant of writing and started to enjoy it more, I still struggled finding things to write but it was getting easier. Writing assignments got a bit better to do and as long as the teacher gave me a topic to write about I could come up with a piece. Eventually I got better at writing without being given a set topic and found new things to write about. Today writing still can be difficult for me but I have more fun doing it and am glad I never gave up on it entirely.

What do you see?

Sitting in my room I see the posters on my walls, bright vibrant colors. video game characters looking back at me through the cloth the are sown into. Stacks of movies piled up behind the door waiting to be watched. An old Nintendo 64 game console sitting on my desk telling me to relive the games of my childhood. I see book shelves reaching toward the sealing crammed with hundreds of books, old and new. All of my favorites like Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. Figures of more video game characters standing on the shelves, filling every surface not covered in books. My TV is on the desk projecting more Supernatural, casting lights and shadows across the room. An overweight white cat curled up on the end of the bed, sound asleep, surrounded by rumpled blankets. Last I see my computer in my lap open to my blog as I type this for class.

Jan 18

Today I got up at 8am and went to science class and sat through lecture. Then I went home and had lunch before going to Best Buy to work 12 to 7. After work I went home and had dinner. Started season seven of Supernatural. And did homework.

Jan 17

Slept in again then got up and ate. Went to classes then back home and did my science lab. For dinner my parents took me to the Long horn Stake House. After dinner we went home and I finished season six of Supernatural, (six seasons in three weeks, I love this show) then I set my alarm and went to bed

Jan 16

Went to science lab then went to the cafeteria to have lunch. Went to the book store and spent another $70 on a book for classes. After that I went to Writing and math. Then I went home and did homework. Made dinner then watched more Supernatural. Went to bed.

journal Jan 15

Slept in today. Had chicken pot pie for lunch. Went to my first Human Relations and Sociology class. After class I went to work and cashed people out all night. When I got out of work I went home and had dinner, then watched Supernatural, my latest obsession. After that I set my alarm and went to bed.

blurbs (prompt substitution)

Scrapping snow off my car so I can see where I’m going. Drive down the slippery highway to get to school on time. Its barely snowing but the roads are slick with water and ice. Traffic is backed up, two cars in the breakdown lane surrounded by flashing blue lights, pass them by. Traffic speeds up a bit. Two more cars pulled over not three hundred feet down the road, also surrounded by the lights. Police officer talking to one driver through their window, pass them too. Traffic slows again and another three hundred feet down there are two more cars but no lights yet, both drivers talking to each other. Pass them and look in the rear view mirror. The blue lights are just pulling up to the scene and traffic picks up again.

What do you hear? prompt one

The clicking of keys on the keyboards surrounds the room. The fan is humming, blowing air into the room to cool it down. There are voices talking back and forth, discussing assignments and how to make a blog. The door clicks as it opens and bangs when it closes. Restless students move their chairs around the room, wheels squeaking. There are noises coming from the room next to this one, chairs without wheels scrapping across tile floors. The voice in my head reading this as I write it to make sure it sounds okay. Listening closer I hear the ringing in my ears. It’s always there, never stopping, since I was nineteen, I’m twenty two now. Tinnitus, it runs in the family, my dad and grandfather both have it too. No matter how quiet a room is, the ringing is always there, it’s never silent for me. I’ve forgotten what silence sounds like.

How did you get here? prompt 3

Samantha Nasberg

How did you get here?

            After eating lunch at home I convinced myself to get off the internet and climb into my car. Setting my iPod to one of my new favorite songs I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway and headed to EMCC. Originally I had been going to school at the University of Maine in Orono. After a year and a half attending classes there I dropped out and took a semester off. The classes were too large for me at UMaine and I could not concentrate in them. My mind would drift off to faraway lands of books and television. I would get distracted by other things, what should I read next? Which episode am I on of that TV show I’ve been obsessing over? Do I work tonight? This caused my grades to drop and me to have horrible anxiety attacks. After a semester off I took a computer class at EMCC and found that the smaller classes made it easier for me to pay attention to and the instructor had more time to interact with the students individually. After that computer class I began to take more and more classes at the school, including writing, history, and Korean, things that actually interested me, not pointless classes I could care less about. One year ago I enrolled in the school full time in order to finish a degree in liberal studies, finishing what I had started at UMaine back in 2008. After I complete five more classes, including this one, I will achieve my goal of getting a college degree and that is how I ended up in my car, driving to this school, in this room, writing this piece.