It’s Top Ten tuesday!

So, I’m gonna start some new things. 1) TUESDAYS ON STEPHANIE AUSTIN’S BLOG SHALL NOW BE KNOWN AS TOP TEN TUESDAYS! On these days, I will list a few of my top tens in any category I feel like. I’ll start today, AFTER I TELL YOU ABOUT THIRSTY THURSDAYS! Basically, I love to write. WHAT? Yeah. I write books and stories. On Thursdays, I will post excerpts and snippets from my books as long as you guys promise not to steal them. *Side note: If you guys comment on the excerpts and give me topics to write about (anything under the sun) I’ll write a short story type thing for the next week and dedicate it to your blog! I know it’s not much, but I thought it would be fun! Also I might start a Photo Friday type deal, but we’ll see.

Now I will commence to make a Top Ten List.

Top Ten Favorite Books/Series:

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
  1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  3. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
  4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  5. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
  6. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
  7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  8. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
  9. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  10. Divergent by Veronica Roth

Whew! I could have kept going.

Weekday Warrior

I forgot to mention this in my post on Friday. Basically, I’ll only be posting Monday through Friday 1) So I’m not forcing anything and 2) I just don’t feel like blogging on the weekends. 

When I say I forgot to mention this on Friday, I’m lying. I only just came up with the idea yesterday BECAUSE I forgot to blog. To avoid that again, I made the decision to only post on weekdays, unless I absolutely have to on the weekends or something. I’m a saint. 

ANYWAY so yeah. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next. But not the next after that. 

I am Banana Woman

Today, I looked like a banana, but a very cute banana. On my feet, I had yellow shoes. I wore a yellow dress recently bought in NYC, and yellow earrings which I purchased in Costa Rica last summer. They are butterfly wings. Shut up, Insect Activists. I didn’t kill the butterfly. I just bought its wings.

Today I also proved myself to be a bad friend. I was supposed to go to one of my best friend’s directing showcase thing. She was in a directing class this semester and for her final project, I guess, she had to direct a scene. Anyway, that was tonight at 7 but I missed it because I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 7:40. I felt really bad, so I bought her flowers and put them in front of her door for when she gets back. I know that’s not the same, but it’s something, right?

Also, I’m getting better at Penny Boarding. Remember cute pink board with the blue wheels? No? Go back and look at it STUPID. So, yeah, I am getting better, besides the fact that I look like an idiot when I ride it. 1) I’m tall. 2) I have long spaghetti noodles for arms and legs and 3) I’m just awkward, ok? So that’s discouraging, but such is life.

I’d write more but I have lots of due dates coming up so I have to focus on procrastinating. Ta-ta! Ew. Catch ya on the flip side! Still no. Later Gator……? I NEED A SIGN OFF.

Peace. Love. Heroes. (That works. It’ll change.)

Still not sure of a theme…

The most exciting thing that happened with me today was the nap I rewarded myself for about two hours. I’ve also decided something.

I’m going to be completely real on here. I have been honest thus far, I promise, and it was never my intention to fake anything. But like how I am in real life, I try my hardest to impress the people around me. Instead of doing that, I just need to be myself. No one else’s opinions matter but mine. It doesn’t matter if you think I’m smart, or funny, or pretty, or productive, or, I don’t know…. exotic? Do you guys think I’m exotic? God, I hope so.

Anyway… Yeah I wanted to say that, because maybe you guys didn’t get the vibe, but I myself felt like I was trying way too hard. I’m tired of doing that for people. Is not caring a bad thing? There is a difference between stone-cold apathy and…. geez, I don’t even have a contrastive word. Too bad, too. That could have become a famous quote.

I guess I’ll have to settle for another one. Quote me on this. Lizards detest the thought of sensitive salines.

Hemingway’s “Iceberg Theory” of Writing

I have trouble with this while writing all the time! I wish I was better at it!

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If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing. –Ernest Hemingway

Before I wrap up The Sun Also Rises (review coming tomorrow), I thought I’d take one more look at Hemingway’s writing style.

He called it the “Iceberg Theory,” and  it’s a great descriptor of his style.

Essentially, he gives you the facts—those hard facts are the tip of the iceberg floating above water. Everything else—the supporting structure—floats beneath the water, out of sight from the reader.

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A Poem

Sirens blaring

Fire flaring

Where is God when hearts are tearing?

 

People running

Love is shunning

Evil hearts prove dark and cunning

 

Crying babies

Hope and maybes

Woman bleeds by red Mercedes

 

Wishful thinking

Rapid blinking

All our hearts are drowning, sinking

 

History made

Farewells are bade

And for now, we all wait and wade

NYC Cuisine

Lean Cuisine. I am in firm belief that this is the microwavable food of the Gods. I have never before been so convinced. Each bite is like heaven, each forkful a blessing. Really though. I’ve never had such good microwavable food, and dammit, the serving size is measly! It’s as if they are meant for people going on diets. Psh.

Tonight I had Chicken Marsala, and it definitely put the mar in my sala, if you know what I’m saying. You probably don’t. I’m not even sure what I’m saying. You’d think it would taste bad, ya know? It’s microwavable chicken. Gross, right? No. Shut up. The gravy was sooo good, and the rice and peas were in this perfectly flavored sauce and I couldn’t get enough, I swear! I have yet to get a bad batch. Each one I have tried has been amazing! It’s like fine dining, except not at all. It’s like…a cuisine. HA!

I have some amazing news. No, there was no food fight in the cafeteria. This is better!

So, my dad, for my mom’s birthday, bought her a hotel room and tickets to see Jersey Boys in NYC this weekend. Not just any hotel, guys. The Double Tree in Times Square. So that’s fun. Anyway, I went home yesterday, and my mom was like “Steph, you should come to New York with us,” and I was all like, “But mom, don’t you and dad want to have hot hotel room sex?” (I actually said that, yes). And she was like, “NOOOOOO!!!!” She was like yelling NO at me. How silly of me to think that husbands and wives like to have sex? What a funny person I am thinking such a thing. So then I was like, “Okay that sounds fun.” AND NOW I’M GOING TO NYC THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!

The room only has one king bed, so Tyler and I will sleep on the floor while my brother sacks out with my parents. He’s 16. He’ll probably want the floor. HAHA NOPE.

Tyler has never been to the city before so I’m gonna show him around, eat some amazing pizza from a place I shalt not tell you of (don’t want any stalkers), and do NYC type things, like hit people in the back of the head and run away. That’s such a NYC thing to do. I don’t partake in such things however. (self-righteous face)

The last time I went to New York, One Direction was there, so that occupied MOST of my time. Yes, I found their hotel. No, I did not wait hours upon hours for them to come out. I only waited like an hour and a half.

Shoot, I really wanted to talk about North Korea. Next post.

I ate pizza tonight, so that’s fun…

While I’m writing this, I’m singing the words in my head, so if you could do the same while reading this, that would probably be a good idea. Just this sentence though. Stop singing…..NOW.

I came home today from college to visit my boyfriend Tyler. We went to Belle Isle in Richmond for the day, laid out on some rocks, acquired a touch of sun burn, and stuck our feet in the freezing water of the James River. It’s actually a really beautiful place. It was so crowded today. There were literally people everywhere, including girls wearing very skimpy bathing suits. Cuuuuuuteeeeeeeeeeee.

I was gonna post a picture of myself, but then I thought, mmmmmm better not.

I had pizza tonight. CRAZY RIGHT?

I’m also extremely tired, and I had a headache but it went away. Jesus, I don’t know what I’m blabbing about. This is the most boring post I’ve ever written.

I’ll leave you with this:

What makes us “who we are?” Does this question carry any weight at all? Why does it matter “who we are?” I was thinking last night that no one can tell us who we are, or what we are more likely or unlikely to do. What I want to do at the time, I will do. I may be a super shy person, but sometimes I want to go party, dance, and drink with random strangers. So how can we know who we are then? I have come to the conclusion that there is no “who we are”, but instead, we are what we do.

You guys are never going to believe this…

Today, I was eating in the common area of my school. Everyone was merrily chatting away, eating their curds and whey when all of a sudden someone, a guy (6 ft. tall and chunky), stood up on the table and said, “HEY. THINK FAST.”

He let the mashed potatoes fly. That’s not a metaphor. He actually threw mashed potatoes. They whizzed by me and landed on the shoulder of some girl with really straight hair, wearing a bright yellow dress. She obviously wanted to look cute today. She was also very, very pissed. Some guy beside her stood up, also looking pissed (they must be dating), grabbed his chicken nuggets, and let them fly one after the other after the other after the other.

The Instigator dodged them all, and that’s when the whole cafeteria erupted into a moshpit of screams, whimpers, shouts, laughter, impacts, and collisions. People were even running into each other. Two guys in the corner of the room were actually wrestling while their friend poured the contents of his soda all over them. They didn’t seem to notice.

I sat in my seat, innocently trying to dodge the greasy missiles. Eventually, I stood up, hurriedly gathered my things and shimmied my way to the exit. I didn’t make it out alive. Right when I was at the door, a soggy, greasy, delicately spiced and seared cut of tuna slapped itself onto my back, and plopped onto the floor below me. I turned around to yell at the culprit, but when I did, a whole wad of mashed potatoes flew into my open mouth and I nearly choked.

I love mashed potatoes, but not when they make it into my mouth by sheer force from someone who possibly infrequently washes their hands.

I spit it all out onto the floor, and ran outside, where I was once again safe, and very much humiliated.

As I walked back to my room, I thought about what a great blog post this would make, so I here I am writing it out for you. But I must confess….

None of this actually happened. My day was boring as hell.

Silver Linings

So for class, me and a partner (John Michael) have to make a documentary on an elderly person. We were assigned to an old man by the name of Gordon Leaf. He is a retired Air Force pilot. He was born in Detroit but moved to Leeds, England when he was very young. Thus, the British accent. It’s adorable.
John Michael and I visited him today. I had my camera, and JM brought his tripod. We picked a camp outside on a patio where Mr. Leaf likes to sit on warm days like today. We asked him the usual questions about his life, and how it was to live in England, and fly in the Air Force. He told us he missed it. His wife recently died, who he said watches down on him every now and then. His mind would wander during silent moments when there wasn’t much to say.
“But I like it here. It’s so nice,” he’d say, smiling.
He said that a lot, to compensate for the lapse in conversation.
“Look at the birds,” he’d say. He kept pointing to the birds out to us. When they flew by, they monopolized his attention. I wanted to ask him why he was so interested, but I never did. Sometimes things are better left to ponder. I think when Mr. Leaf leaves this world, he’ll come back as a bird. I think they remind him of flying. He really did love to fly.
Mr. Leaf never corrects the staff when they ask if we are his grandchildren. He smiles, and makes a joke. He likes to make people laugh. He leads us around the retirement home, his walker, decorated with awards and ribbons, leading him. He calls all the elderly women “lady”, and asks them how they are holding up.
Today he walked us out to the car (I’m actually tearing up while writing this). He’s never done this before. I don’t think he wanted us to leave. He always says how much he loves our company.
When we got in the car, and sat in the parking lot, waiting to pull out onto the main road, I peered out the window to see Mr. Leaf standing on the sidewalk, waving us on. We turned right onto the street, rolled the window down and waved. He waved back, high up in the air until we were out of sight.