SOA

Here's my guestblog post for Rhinestone Armadillo's Summer of Awesomeness. Check her blog out -- and try not to die from the cuteness that is her child :)

If you’ve read much Stephen King, you may recognize the name “Utica” from a book or two. He seems to think it’s a rather dismal area – which it kind of is. Utica’s heyday was sometime around the end of the 19^th century. However, I’m a teenager, raised during the nineties. Watch an old Britney Spears music video for proof that grunge can be cool, and so can urban decay…

Especially if you pair it with a “Marie Antoinnette” dress. Awesome. (Two guys came out from the garage this is behind to ask us what we were doing. They were fine with it, although I’m sure they both told some stories about the two crazy girls taking pictures with tires that night over dinner)

Picture taken by Marissa, behind the Utica Uptown Theater

It’s kind of a strange picture, I know. We did that on purpose – resplendent white and gold brocade dress in front of a pile of tires and rusty box springs. But isn’t it fun? Aren’t you glad that you got to see those tires as something cool, rather than just another heap of trash downtown? I am. We all need to appreciate what we have more, after all. As Mr. Fox says, “Sure, these gibblets are made from artificial squabs, and even these apples look fake – but at least they have stars on them.” (Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2010) So, this summer, I challenge you to go out and find something that you take for granted (or even downright unappreciate, like the tires), and find the hidden beauty in it.

Although I’ve been thirsting to leave Utica since about the moment we moved here, it really is a cool place. Apart from the utterly glamorous pile of tires, one of my favorite spots is the Uptown Theater. It’s an old theater that still has the cool golden molding in the lobby (and in the theaters, although we weren’t able to go in one, as there were features being shown in every theater), and in front of each screen is a little stage for the live pre-show entertainment that used to be the norm. One of the reasons it’s great is that it’s never quite as crowded as the chain theater ten minutes away – another is that the cost of the movie tickets and popcorn is actually affordable, and they sell their old movie posters for five dollars each!

Model: Marissa. Location: Utica Uptown Theater

There are also some great parks in the Utica area, and no matter where you go (assuming it’s not winter), there’s greenery. Flowers grow everywhere. You don’t have to work hard to find somewhere to skip a rock – which is another thing, I’ve realized, that I take for granted.

Photographer: me. Victim of candid shot: Rick

We wanted to go to MWPAI, the local arts museum/school, to take a look at their sidewalk art show, but it was raining a little, so most of the art was covered up. However, Marissa and I are much more water-resistant than charcoal and pastels, so we were able to take some pictures outside. It could be an archway…

Or, it could be an archway in a courtyard where a Very Intelligent Princess is having the time of her life away from her courtly duties and suitors!

Picture taken by me, of Marissa, at MWPAI

And that could be a mere door… or it might be something more. What do you think was hiding within?

Picture taken by Marissa, at MWPAI

I haven’t the slightest idea what you might uncover, were you to open that door. When I tried it, it was locked.

One thing I do know, however, is that people only lock things up if they’re worth something. Bring your lock-picks, and find some beauty, people!

Snapshot *ching ching*

Reaching into the archives for something I wrote, but never posted, because I don't feel like using my brain today.

These were little snippets of fanfictions I wrote a few months ago. They're based in the world of Harry Potter, but you won't need to be familiar with HP to get these. These two are just snapshots of kids -- high school kids figuring out love and life. (Methodology for writing these two was: put your ipod on shuffle, and write a piece for each song. When the song ends, stop. The title of the song these are based on is the title.)

I’m In Love With My Car by Queen

Sirius rode a Windflyt broom, which was about the standard of Hogwarts quidditch players. James rode a Cleansweep seven, and he was the envy of most of the Hogwarts Quidditch players.

He spent hours polishing it, and he’d been getting charmed polishes and waxes for it for his birthday (and Christmas, and whenever he could winangle someone into buying them for him, really) for ages.

James was in love with that broom.

So was everyone else.

And that, Lily thought, was why they liked him.

Take You With Me by Maria Mena

Around the year that Lily decided that James had matured enough that she could begin to give him the time of day, Sarah Clintock decided that she had matured enough that she no longer had to try to give Sirius Black the time of day (at least not every minute – not any more). She stopped watching him when she was sitting in class, and she stopped hoping to bump into him whenever she was in the same side of the school as Gryffindor tower.

One year later, she began her Auror (police) training, and she saved his life during what was supposed to be a harmless street exercise.

She couldn’t decide whether she was going to let him give her the time of day yet.