Sunday, Bloody Sunday

It's Sunday again, yeah I know, big surprise, I wasn't expecting it either, but it's here, and you know what that means? Another gosh-darn blogpost. So here it is.

I guess first I'm going to talk about being a bouncer. I know, I've said a few things about it before, but it is quite an interesting experience, to see and interact with hundreds of people, all of whom, are pretty much plastered. Seeing these people stumble outside, half-dazed and mumbling, really makes you realize just how crazy we all  are. We go out, purposefully damage our brains and livers, turn ourselves into bumbling idiots, turn our rational mind off, not to mention spending large amounts of time and money, all just to 'have a good time'. And how many people actually drink too much and have a shitty night, regretting it the next morning? It is literally insane, especially for college kids. Yes, drinking and going out is fun, but the amount of time and money spent, the idea that 'getting wasted' is like the best thing ever in our society, is absolutely ridiculous. But anyways, I wasn't even planning on ranting like that, I probably sound like an old lady mumbling about 'those darned kids these days'.

And skirts/dresses in 30 degree weather? What is wrong with some of you girls? It just doesn't make sense in my head. Maybe I'm just too practical.

Anyways, what else have I been doing? Substitute teaching. In ways it's easier than being a full-time teacher. You deal with different kids every day, you start at 8 and end at 2:20, with no need to do work outside of the school day, which is nice. It has it's difficulties though. Knowing a kids name helps immensely with getting their attention, and as a sub, you don't know any of their names. Also, the kids try everything they can to see what their boundaries are, and just how serious you are, how many times you will tell them to stop before you actually get angry. And it's hard to discipline these kids, as you have only just got there, only have a bare knowledge of what is allowed and not allowed, so you have to figure out very quickly how to deal with noise issues, distractions, and whatever else comes along.

I subbed for a PE teacher, because I thought it would be fun. It was, but it was also highly irritating and incredibly loud. I'll be absolutely honest, it was chaos, and my job was to attempt to control that chaos. Little kids screaming and running around all over the place. By the end of the day, I felt worn out. Apparently little kids do not feel pain either, because they were falling all over the place, bashing elbows and knees but not even noticing. Crazy savages, hooping and hollering. It was a loud day.

I have this idea running around in my head, basically a detective story set in elementary school. It sounds incredibly silly, and is, but I can't quite get rid of it. It sounds funny in my head.

In other news, I have begun to think about my brother's zombie idea, attempting to think exactly what I would want in a zombie novel, essentially a group of interesting characters struggling to survive. It would begin with each on their own experiencing the outbreak and living, eventually finding each other. The character's goal is obviously survival, but you need more than that, you need events, conflict, something other than simple survival. They need another goal, even if it's something like 'get out of the city'. In Dawn of the Dead, the goal becomes to get to an island. You need more than just 'zombies are here aaaaaaah!'. The Walking Dead show is doing a good job, with a cast of interesting characters facing terrible events in the zombie apocalypse, figuring out their goals and dealing with new situations. If I was going to write a zombie novel, The Walking Dead would be very good inspiration.

I've also been thinking about my soon-to-be fantasy novel idea. I have a setting in my mind, that I've been thinking about for awhile. The basics are this, in this world, people use magic by connecting to a higher plane, essentially connecting to another world, this connection gives them power, gives them the ability to use magic in specific ways. In the olden times, life was good, magic was used to make life better, society flourished. Then, various powerful archmages wanted more and more power, began experimenting, doing anything they could to increase the connections to the magic world, eventually creating an event called The Opening. Magic flooded the world, turning people into monsters, destroying cities, bringing nightmarish creatures, and essentially plunging the world into a chaos filled with violence and death. A man came, began banding people together, driving off the monsters, building a new society in this savage land. Eventually things calmed down, one kingdom of men grown strong. Then this man, now king, outlawed magic, burned the magic out of magic-users or simply outright killed them, blaming them for the Opening. Now, three young children, each with a powerful connection to the world of magic, must attempt to escape this society where magic is punishable by death or worse.

Blah, that was a mouthful. A very quick and sloppy summary right there. Ah well. I am thinking of trying to keep the events of the novel contained within one large city, so that I only really have to create that city, without paying attention to fine details all around the world. Start small and all that. Anyways, that's it for today. Next week, look for some actual pieces of stories that I am working on. I'm off to watch some football.