Katelyn A.’s Weblog

This journal entry was inspired by the fact that four of my dear friends are going to be deployed to Iraq for long terms. They’re all leaving with an air of ignorance surrounding them. They don’t believe that anything could possibly happen to them. After writing this I fell in love with it. I love how the story is third-person-omniscient perspective, and how you know everything that the protagonist is thinking. I love how suspense is built by interrupting the supporting character’s speech with the protagonist’s thoughts. I love the parallelism between the first scene and the second, to invoke the same impatience in the reader that the protagonist is feeling. I also love how the protagonist doesn’t seem like a made up person, even though she is; I honestly feel that she seems like a real person that is dealing with a situation much as another would. But the thing I love the most about this story is the completely un-expecting, but finalizing conclusion. This has got to be my favorite, by far! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Jamie smiles, This weekend should be amazing, just like every other weekend’s been sense I got back from France. She fiddled impatiently as she waited for her fiancé, Wilson, to arrive. I wonder if he missed me. Oh! GOD! He’s leaving in four months.

OH GOD!

There will be no happy Christmas with the family.

There will be no more “worry-less bliss”.

Ripped away, he will be, from my outstretched, flailing, arms.

Soon he will be discarded, to a land of death.

Where murderers hate him.

Bombers aim for him.

What about Riley, she’s only 3, how is she supposed to understand that her daddy’s leaving and may not “come home soon”?

He’s going to have “shell fire” as birthday present and a shrapnel scar for Easter.

~Knock! Knock! ~

Wilson entered with a bundle of daisies, “Jamie! What’s wrong? Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?” Jamie sobbed louder, “EIGH LOBE YOU-WHO-WHO!”

“Please don’t cry! I hoped I’d see you happy when I left!”

Jamie’s eyes widened, “What?”

“My plans have changed; I’m going to Iraq tomorrow, urgent orders.”

[...]

Jamie smiles when the caller I.D. read, “Incoming Call: WILSON”. She had been fiddling impatiently all day as she waited for her husband to call.

~Click~

“Hello?”

“Is this Mrs. Wilson?” said a deep voice.

Jamie giggled, she loved being called that ever since the 2 a.m. rushed wedding in Vegas. “This is she!”

The voice suddenly became verboding. “Ma’am we bad news.”

“Jericho is that y-you?” she nervously stammered.

“I wish it wasn’t.” he murmured gravely.

“Oh God, Jericho are you alright?”

“Jamie I’m fine, but you need to listen to me!”

I have bad news; it’s about Wilson.”

Silence enveloped her, leaving nothing but the sound of her exploding heartbeat. Oh God no! Oh God no! OHGODNO!

“Please stay calm Jamie.”

No.

“Breathe Jamie.”

NO!

“There was an accident Jamie.”

NO! NO! NO! NO!

“There was a land mine.”

I can’t feel anything. Where am I? This can’t be happening. It’s just a nightmare. Tigger’s just joking. He can’t be serious. Wilson’s fine. This is happening. My heart is on fire. Make it stop, just make everything stop.

“The tank he was in ran over the land mine.”

Oh please no! God no! Where’s Riley? Oh God, how am I going to tell her, the sweet little girl that draws pictures of her daddy coming home? Why is this happening? What did I do? I can’t breathe!

“Jamie, breathe, Jamie, please breathe Jamie.”

Wilson was a hero Jamie.”

Wilson was my brother Jamie.”

“Was”? Why “was”? Oh god he’s a “Was” now, not an “Is”! No, GOD NO!

“Jamie, talk to me. Please Jamie talk to me. God Jamie just talk to me.”

She finally noticed that he too was sobbing.

“Jamie, I’m sorry, God I’m so sorry!”

“It’s not your fault,” she croaked.

“Oh, Jamie, I wish it wasn’t. I was supposed to be in that tank. HE switched duties with ME. I saw it happen. God I tried to save him, I lost an arm to the fire while I tried. I didn’t care Jamie. I loved him Jamie.”

No.

“All he ever did was talk about you Jamie. He loves you Jamie. I’m sorry Jamie, God I’m sorry Jamie.”

I can’t take this anymore.

~Click~

Jamie is still completely shattered as 5-year-old Riley clamors through the door, “Happy Birthday Mommy! Isn’t Daddy coming home soon?”

I love this one because it’s depressingly beautiful. Tell me what you think!

Isn't it neat how this cookie cutter completely describes a person!?

Write a literal love song. I like this one because I think it’s cute and catchy(but slightly Corny) if it’s sang to the tune of Landon Pigg’s “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop”.

I love you.

Oh I do!

You make me smile,

Laugh and sing

And on my cellphone,

You’ve got your very own ring.

I hold your picture,

To my heart when I sleep.

Because darling,

Without you I would weep.

This is a copychange of Emily Dickinson’s poem “Much Madness”. In this poem it talks about human society as a whole that is being looked at from the eye of God. I like it because it shows my idea of what humanity is completely.

MUCH hatred in the world’s since,

To the Overlooking Eye.

Many see the darkest hatred.

‘Tis the majority.

In people, of all, it prevails.

Rise up, and you are blameless;

Succumb, —-you’ve been lost,

And gather with the rest.

The cowards who shall follow,

are to die,

and die many times before their deaths.

The assignment was to write a paragraph or poem using personification to help a reader visualize something.

I think this one is more personal if it's handwritten.

 ”Serpent Song” is one of my favorite journal entries due to the complexity of the meaning. The song twists and turns around the crowd, mezmerizing them like a cobra would. But then after the song reaches it peak, it begins to die. The snake-voice falls slowly, as its life is prolonged. At last it falls to the earth, dead. But, the snake-voice concept is only a surface level examination. The poem also symbolizes human life, and how we meander pointlessly throughout our days untill we begin to decline. We will die and also stay upon the earth. I LOVE IT!

This is a copychange of passage by William Jennings Bryan. At the time of it’s composition, I was irritated  because the night before at work. Two arrogent marines came in and they were quite rude. When I was filling their glasses, one said, “Hey there, now why don’t you cut my steak for me?” “Why should I?” “Because you’re a woman, that’s what you do. Cook and clean. Hell, the marrage vows even say that you have to obey.” His creamy texan accent, was sour curdled milk to my ears. My face got red, and I told him that women have rights now and I would never obey a man. “Well then darlin’ why don’t you just fill up my drink, and sit right here by me. I’ll even give you the privledge of having my arm around me if you’re good.” My mouth tightened and I stomped away, in the background I heard him call a server, “Hey there skunk those are some extreme f****** highlights. Why don’t you go back and fetch me some rolls? Shew, shew, now.”

I don’t remember everything that happened after that all I know is that they had thrown tomatos and penutshells all across the floor I had just swept. This caused me to storm, fuming, into the kitchen, scream at the top of my lungs, “BRUCE! I’M ABOUT TO QUIT!” He ran to the front, because Linda, the head manager, would kill him if I quit. “What’s wrong?” “There are womanizing jarheads at C2. If I don’t clock out now you’ll have to fire me: I’m about to bash their heads in with a frying pan. I want to say a witty reply to their degrdations, but I can’t if I’m working. Let me off or I quit, I swear to God I’ll quit if you make me go back to ’serve’ them.” “Ok ok ok ok! Just don’t quit, you can go!” I furiously trode to the front door, only to hear a whistle and a “Mhm shake that thing baby girl.” from the jerks at C2, and a, “Quit harrassing the help, she’s only 16, pedo.!” from a familiar voice.

Okay! So after that introduction here’s the copychange:

Sorry Chizzy I have to disagree!

This entry is one about the best parts of silence. So, I thought it would be fun to give it a main character. Who tells about what she sees. I also love alliteration (if you haven’t noticed from my other entries) so this stories jam-packed with it!  Don’t forget to pay attention to details and picture them!

     I sat brooding, and looking out the window whilst my partner drove. Delicate tree tops danced daintily about the distant horizon; specks of wildflowers flashed by with their vast array of intricately painted blooms. Signs forged of steel stood brittle against the vibrant backdrop and the metal posts looked unsuited for their ill-fitted habitat. The banks of ditches glisten with crystalline waters that bobbed over bulbous rocks. Butterflies floated upon silent wings in a soon-passed field. Corn sprouted from scourged earth and stretched towards the sky for its essentials of life. Silence surrounded me and enveloped me in serenity. A graceful deer lept on agile feet across a barren field. But, without warning my soul-filling silence was stripped away when a young buck whirled into the road. Our car quickly veered and squealed out of control; I could only stare with bitterly thankful eyes at my quick-reflexed partner.