Cognitive Dissonance – CW 241 assignment

Ok. Here is my piece on CD. I figured I would work with my novel characters on this, since this is probably something that will come up as I work on my novels. I hope that this is what was wanted from the assignment:

Cat knew better, but she couldn’t help it. Being near him was like being near a fire on a cold night. The warmth from the heat beat off the chill and the happy glow just pulled one closer to it. She made a point of never looking at him, though it didn’t stop her from being aware of him. She could feel him, like a small sun orbiting the school hallways, an almost constant presence in her thoughts.

It didn’t help that Vi kept asking why Cat had such a goofy grin on her face in their shared classes. Or when Vi would interrupt Cat’s daydreams. Nor did it help when she answered something a teacher asked, the class laughed, and she had no clue of either the question or her answer.

Cat finally pulled herself from her way word thoughts. “I have got to stop. This is ridiculous!” She shoved her books into her locker and shut the door, cringing at the clang that no one else seemed to notice. Vi, whose locker was just down the hall from Cat’s, looked up with narrowed eyes. Much more calmly, Vi placed the books that she wouldn’t be taking home into her locker and closed the door before hefting her bag onto her shoulder.

“You look messed up, girl.” She shouted over the din of the over-crowded hallway. “Have a bad salad at lunch?”

“No.” Cat sighed, placing her history book into her backpack. Vi stood, her pupils condensing as she looked at her friend, and waited for Cat to expand her explanation. Cat didn’t. She lifted her bag and flung it over her shoulder, almost smacking an innocent bystander (well, bywalker) in the face. “Sorry!” Cat shouted after the girl, her face growing warm.

“You cannot be that hung up over a guy. It’s impossible.” Vi commented after a few seconds.

Cat glanced around the hall, “geez, Vi. Why don’t you announce it on the loudspeaker?”

“Chill already. No one heard me. It’s much too noisy.”

The two girls made their way down the hall, Cat tried hard not to but was unable to stop herself from looking around, trying to catch a glimpse of a familiar dark head.

The moment they were outside, Cat felt as if a weight lifted off her shoulders. Now she wouldn’t have that urge to look around. She didn’t need to search all the passing faces for a pair of liquid black eyes, or that ready smile.

“You should just tell him.” Vi tossed herself onto a bench, at the same moment, throwing her hair elegantly. Cat frowned at her. It was unfair for one person to be able to have so much grace and fluidity. If Cat tried that same move, she would have ended up making a fool of herself, probably tangling her hair into the back of the bench, or worse, missing the seat entirely and landing in the slushy mud of the sidewalk.

“Um, Vi. We don’t date teachers, here.”

“Why not? First of all, he’s not a teacher, he’s a tern.” Vi had a habit of messing up words with her accent. Cat didn’t bother to correct her, knowing that the other girl meant intern. “Second, it’s not like you are taking his class. He’s probably hot into you, too. I mean, he did stop you from getting plowed by a bus the other day.”

Cat felt her jaw fall open at the comment. “Are you from another planet or something?”

“Of course not. But that seems like a stupid rule. I mean he’s only, what-? Three years older than you? And he is totally hot.”

“I am not listening to this.” Throwing her hands into the air, Cat stalked away from the dark haired girl. For a second, she wondered if she would talk to Vi again, but instantly dismissed the thought. Stupid Violet, she thought, stomping through a puddle. The mud splashed back at her, as if in retaliation for her rudeness, splattering her favorite jeans with sidewalk grime and an old soggy leaf. Her already trickling temper flared to life. She wanted to scream, to hit something. Her temper was almost constantly at the surface lately. And she knew why.

The moment the thought entered her head, her temper started to dissipate. In her daydreams, she was thinking the same things that Vi had just told her.

Gifting of music/ poetry

For my creative writing class, we were assigned the task of “gifting” a song or poem to each of our classmates. I feel that this is too personal to be done lightly and thankfully my professor has allowed me a slight modification of the assignment. Instead of “gifting” my colleague students, I will be “gifting” my characters, who are still developing for my novel.

At the moment, my main characters are Antony, Catherine, Nikolai, Violet, Waya, and Naoki. I think that this will be a useful exercise as I will have to delve into what I know of my characters and possibly expand on that in order for me to create people that I would gift music to. The challenge is in not choosing a “favorite” song, or getting into my character’s head, but to gift a song that may, in some part, explain my characters to others.

~ Antony ~

My selection for Antony is the music “Rose of Arimathea” by Hans Zimmer. Antony is an enigma and the hardest of my characters to choose a song for. The reason behind this is that he is such a mystery, even to me. This voice reveals aspects of his character which allude to the mystery. Both modern and yet out of place in time. The music makes me think of primal, wild things, which reminds me of Antony. This song, like Antony, makes me think of times when the human race had to prove themselves to even survive the moment. The music hints at his somberness, but at the same time makes me want to learn more about him.

~ Catherine “Cat” ~

The song “Burned” by Hilary Duff is probably the best song to fit Catherine. I have searched long and hard to find a good song to introduce Catherine, but every song that I contemplated was off by just a hair. This song is the closest to how Catherine’s personality is. Desperate to fit in, but feeling like she’s apart from everyone around her, especially the ones who claim to love her. She is shocked by the strength of her own emotions and what she is willing and capable of doing when those emotions are evoked.

~ Nikolai ~

I think that the song “Eye” by Smashing Pumpkins does a good job at illustrating at the type of inner dialogue that Nikolai has. He is extremely mellow. A classic good guy who views himself in a negative light. Not like he is the major bad guy, and not like he thinks he will kill everything in his sight, but more like he doesn’t know if he can atone for his past actions. Not that he ever did anything that we would consider truly evil, but it was bad enough in his own conscience. The music in this song reflects the somber mood at which he looks at life and expresses himself.

~ Violet “Vi” ~

I chose the song “Dear Diary” by Pink as a song that represents Violet Dhamo. This song really fits Vi in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined. The lyrics and the rhythm at which they are expressed match areas of Vi’s life perfectly. The confusion she feels inside but never allows herself to express, the fear of being alone… all so well expressed by this song. The music behind the words make me think of the way that Vi is supposed to move in my story, with a liquid grace that is obviously well controlled, like every part of who she is.

~ Waya ~

I chose the song “Rain Forever” by Graeme Revell. The song reminds me of the more morbid mood that Waya is typically in. He seems to find little fun or pleasure in life, but demands much of himself. It’s almost like he wants to prove himself to the world, but in reality he wants to prove himself to himself.

~ Naoki ~

This is kinda cliche, but the song “Psychobabble” by Frou Frou is probably the best illustration of what Naoki is like. A collection of words without depth coupled the music reflects the internal dialogue that feeds Naoki’s out of control mind. Without Waya there to keep her together, she is much like an angry child in the midst of a temper tantrum that has no ending. The only thing she is passionate about, that keeps her going, is the thought of Waya’s love for her. That is the only anchor in her world, reflected in the repetitive rhythm of the music which is a symbol of Waya’s stabilizing influence.

Craft Projects

With Christmas coming so quickly, I have started to look for craft projects to make for my friends and family. I am big on making things by hand because they show the time that a person invests in it, not to mention the thought behind the project. I love getting things that are hand made, even if I am never quite sure what to do with them.

But with my curiosity, I ended up looking up various crafts and found a couple videos I would like to share. So here we go:

God’s Eye:

Dream Catcher:

I always make mine a little differently. Usually, instead of suede, I use yarn so I have a variety of colors at my disposal and they are better for giving kids.

Soap:

Candles:

We usually use parafin but I couldn’t find a good vid on it…

So there ya go. There are thousands of things that you can make for the people you love if you like to do that kind of thing. These are literally just a few things that you can do. Keep your eyes and ears open for other craft ideas. A quick tip, I usually start making presents about August so that I have plenty of time to get the supplies I need and make sure that I get everyone on my list.