Hope

More of it here:

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

Lin Yutang

Please, please, please keep reading and commenting on my first chapter. I want to hear it!

You didn't ask for it!

But here it is anyway. It's my not-so secret anymore project. You probably know, I'm a young adult librarian. I like young adult books. I'm giving it kind of a half a**ed go. Please, be brutal. Tell me what I should change do. There's only one think I'm super attached to, and it's the character's name. Tell me what I should change, or tell me it's plain bad, and to start over. Email a link you your friends, LET ME KNOW what you think:

I don’t know why they even invited me, thought Bel as the boat sped though the water. She looked around at her classmates laughing, drinking, flirting as normal. She never considered them her friends and until this weekend, she thought the feeling had been mutual. This past Tuesday Brianne had come up to her between classes and invited her to the party of the year. Thrown aboard her parents’ yacht, everyone important was going to be there. At least that’s what they said.

Isobel (Bel for short) had never put much stock in popularity. She was pretty content being on her own most of the time. She was busy with her art and preparing her portfolio for college applications next fall. But when she heard that Jonathan was going to be at the party, she swallowed the invitation, hook line, and sinker. There he was, leaning against a railing, and talking with Allison, or was it Abigail? Bel couldn’t remember. Whoever she was, she was standing way too close to Jonathan. And, Bel could help noticing, her butt looked great in her bikini, and she sure wasn’t afraid to wave it around either. She wished she had that kind of body, then maybe she would have that kind of confidence. She took a deep breath, tugged on her t-shirt coverup and went for it.

Bel strolled over and leaned on the railing next to Jonathan.

“This sure is a great party, isn’t it guys” she said.

Allison, or Abigail or whoever, looked at her and asked

“How would you know, this it the only one I’ve ever seen you at”

“Give her a break” said Jonathan, “She’s got other things on her mind.”

“How’s your portfolio coming along?”

“I’ve got a few pieces that I feel are ready, but there’s still something missing, you know? I don’t feel like it’s a complete set yet."

“Really? I’ve seen your pieces in the studio, and I think they’re great, I mean, I sure as hell can’t put something like that together.”

Abison, Alligail, what was her name anyway, snapped open her phone, and without a single word to either of them, started waslking away, texting, her fingers flashing quickly across the keys. Bel couldn’t help but notice that Jonathan took a not so quick look at her butt as she walked away. Jonathan turned to face Bel, who tought she might pass out and fall into the ocean right then and there. That is if he kept looking at her with those ice blue eyes.

“Why ARE you here?” Jonathan asked “I didn’t think this kind of stuff was really your thing. I mean, it’s cool, you’re here, but why the sudden need to socialize?”

Bel and Jonathan had know each other since kindergarten, making their way though the grades in tandem. They had never really been close, but this last year, in art class, they had started to talk, and found they had a lot in common. Like Bel, Jonathan didn’t really fit in to a single group at school, but unlike Bel, Jonathan seemed to be able to be a part of all groups simultaneously. Bel had always been content with a few close friends over the years. Amy and Piper were great, but like her, not the kind of people who got invited to parties on yachts. Jonathan, however had friends everywhere at school. Until this year, she had only seen him as Mr Popularity. He actually had a lot more going for him. He played in a garage band on weekends, and loved to read classic Sci-Fi novels.

Bel smiled and said “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I wanted to see how the other half lived”

“Oh really? So, have you made any staggering observations about the social habits of this so called “other half””?

“A few, like for instance, there is a direct correlation between the amount of clothing worn by the females and the and the size of the drinks in their hands.”

“Hey, that’s of benefit to us all, know what I mean? Let’s go put one of those drinks in your hand, and you can observe from the inside”

Bel’s heat skipped sixteen beats. Did that mean he wanted her to take off her clothes? Could he possibly want to see what she had under her enormous purple t-shirt? She had chosen the purple one because she wanted to be girly, but not part of the sea of pink she was convinced would be present on the boat. Plus, the t-shirt nicely covered up her thunder thighs. Bel wasn’t the skinniest girl in her class, by far, and she felt better wearing the shirt around all of those pink perfect cheerleaders.

Jonathan led Bel down a flight of stairs to a room with a bar. There was a fantastic view of the sun setting from the wall of windows that enclosed the back of the room. Jonathan handed Bel a drink and said “Cheers” . Bel lifted the cup to her lips and took a big gulp. After all, she wasn’t driving, she was on a boat! They wouldn’t make it back to shore for at least another 6 hours, and that was plenty of time to sober up from one lousy drink. Right? She polished off the vile stuff (it tasted like a cross between cough syrup and gasoline) and before she could protest, Jonathan had refilled her cup and was leading her back out on deck.

Bel felt like she was flying! Here she was hanging out with the hottest guy in the universe, at the party of the century. She was having the time of her life. Her knees were weak. Okay, she thought, some of that is the alcohol talking, what exactly is in these things? No matter, she and her new love were going to find some place quiet. Or so she thought. They emerged back on the main deck where most of the people were hanging out. In the red light of the sunset, Jonathan sat down on a bench and patted the seat next to him. Careful not to spill her drink, Bel plopped down beside him.

They sat there for a while not saying anything. Bel hoped that the sun was catching her mahogany hair in the right way. She’d spent hours that afternoon making sure that it was smooth and shiny, and just right for the party. She hoped that the mascara she’d dabbed on was highlighting her deep brown eyes. She hoped her lip gloss was still shiny and inviting. Finally Jonathan looked at her.

I love these feet

They belong to my wonderful husband. They are all flippery, not because he is some terrible mutated freak, but because he is out fishing in his float tube! It's the most complicated thing you've ever called a tube. It is shaped like the bow of a boat, all pointy and has a million pockets for his tackle. I may get to try it out this weekend.

The Bachman Books

I just finished reading a collection of books that Stephen King wrote under the name "Richard Bachman". I found them all to be depressing, and not exciting like I have found other books of his to be. For me, Stephen King doesn't match up to Dean Koontz for a just plain good book. That's not to say that I don't enjoy his writing, because I do, I read "Duma Key" a few weeks ago and it was great!

The three books included in this compilation were:

The Long Walk
Roadwork
The Running Man

My favorite of the three was The Long Walk. It dealt with an alternate reality (I think it was intended to be the future when it was written, as was The Running Man) in which contestants competed in a contest that was no more than "let's see how long you can walk without stopping" except if you slow down or stop, you get shot. I think if the stories had been in a different order, I wouldn't have read the rest. All of these boys are walking, knowing that they will all die, except for one, whoever wins, and they talk and get to know each other etc. They drop off one by one. It was grisly, but not so much that I put down the book. I felt there were quite a few loose ends that were never tied up, but not so much that It made me angry.

Next up was Roadwork, a story that showed me how we have learned nothing. It took place during the gas/energy crisis of the 1970's. But, that was only the setting. The protagonist was a man whose house was scheduled for demolition in order to build a highway. Bypasses have to be built, that's how it is. It drove him insane. It was pretty good too, but made me angry about the gas stuff. Which, by the way, if oil is at $96, why are the stations here in Indiana still charging over $4 a gallon. I think it's gouging. But since it's everybody, I don't know what to do.

Last was The Running Man. In this future, a large part of the population has been relegated to ghettoes, and life is bad. The only way out seems to be to risk your life in the reality show like games that air on the free vee. So, the protagonist goes down, registers himself and find himself in the biggest and most dangerous game, one where he runs for his life, and is paid for every hour he survives. This one got to me the worst, because it seems too much like real life sometimes. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class disappears. All anyone ever does is watch television shows in which people risk their lives for less reward than you'd expect. Thinking about it gets me back down in the dumps. HEy, people out there! Tell me it's not that bad!!

Indycar Season Finale

This blog begins with an entirely random picture. Yeah. A tenderloin. Random yum.

Life? It’s okay. I’m not going to get in to my recent struggles with worry. I’ll just say that this is something I’m continuing to work on, but it isn’t easy.

Catching up! Let’s see, we went to the Indycar season ending race in Chicago. I was especially upset because of the news about, as Jason calls him, Dario Speedwagon. Dario is fine, he’s not a bad guy (I don’t think), but I was mad last year when he won the championship, and immediately defected to nascar. Then, after a season of complete fail there, he decides to come back. That’s fine; it’s the change reaction it caused that is the problem. Dario wants to come back. Ganassi wants him. Bump --> Dan Wheldon. A good, race winning driver, kinda strange in appearance after his fiancée made him fix his teeth and grow out his hair. He looked better before. So Dan, who has been good for his team, is now hanging out there without a ride. Here comes the pain. Panther. Panther picks him up. Bump --> VITOR. Vitor who has been nothing but classy and never has anything bad to say about Panther, whom he’s suffered slow pit stops with for years. Vitor has taken Panther’s second tier equipment, and consistently put it into the top bracket. Vitor was a big story this year, because he’s never won a race. However, he’s been involved in 3 of the five closest finishes in Indycar history, as the driver who didn’t win by less than a second. In case you haven’t read any of my racing posts, I’ll let you know, Vitor is my favorite driver. I picked him after we met him at a downforce party because he’s a nice guy, and cute in the way that you want to go give him a hug. Or at least I do. So, all of this coming back from napcar (we call it that because it’s good to sleep to) junk leaves my guy dangling. The general consensus is that he’ll find a new, better team (it had better be better), but I’m angry about it all. Back to Chicago.

You know it’s a good race when you cry twice. Okay not really. Vitor had something break, and wrecked in what seems to be his last race with panther. I was sad to see it end that way. But, then Jason (reluctantly) called my attention to what was written on the wall in front of panther’s pits. Bingo, cry number two.

You REALLY know it’s a good race when you crush your husband’s hand. The championship was on the line. It was down to Dixon and Helio. Helio would have to win it and see Dixon finish worse than 9^th to get that championship. Dixon wasn’t having any of that. Various leaders at various times ran three wide all the way around the track. I think even the announcers were scared. They sold me the whole seat, but I only used the edge (I know, terrible). At the finish, we couldn’t tell who’d won. It was the closest finish in Indycar history. Wow. Helio pulled off the win, but with Dixon on his tail, he didn’t get the championship. I guess dancing with the stars will have to be enough for the moment, but he’ll be back on it next year.

We ate at Red Robin on the way home. It was no great shakes! I was shocked. Five guys has way better burgers and way better prices. MMMMMMMMM. I’ll do more catching up soon!