College applications are ALMOST done and I'm finally starting to do what I love.
I've checked out a TON of books on China (I'M GOING TO CHINA IN FEBRUARY WITH MY SCHOOL!!!) and I'm already a hundred pages into Red Azaelea which is turning out to be really lovely.

I'm also simultaneously reading Beloved and Atonement, (I'm a dysfunctional reader...) and I'm loving it.

And I'M WRITING. Which is probably the best part of my day. I'm going to upload this fun contemplation that I wrote for one of my literature classes because I'm proud of it and I have a FANTASTIC idea for a new story about my dad. And vampires. If everything goes according to plan, it'll be funny.

Finally, FINALLY I am coming to terms with Alexandra. My real name that I have always abhorred. But seeing it at the end of a piece of writing that I'm proud of and on my college applications makes me...happy. Alexandra Solmaz Sharabianlou sounds like an enchantment; something magical and cherished and strong. Just as well, I feel like I deserve to be Alexandra, which means protector of the small/mankind because my dream is to become a child therapist or someone who cares for kids. Now I'm fulfilling that mantle.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Alexandra Solmaz Sharabianlou to the stage.

So: If you have no real experience editing, writing professionally, publishing, or analyzing applications essays, THEN WHY WOULD YOU THINK YOU ARE SUPERIOR TO SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY DOES????


SOMEONE who shall remain NAMELESS seems to think that just because they read a lot they are the better judge between professional writers, publishers, editors and admissions people.

I would like to state for the record that I am the EDITOR of an INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED and PRESTIGIOUS LITERATURE MAGAZINE, a many times published POET and AUTHOR in INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS, and a goddamn good WRITER.

I meet once a week with my English teacher, (who not only has several college degrees in Literature but has worked as a successful publisher, editor and writer) on my creative writing and my college essays. I'm applying to some of the best writing schools in the country. I know when my work is 'acceptable' and when it's 'exceptional'.

Now:

If you are a BIOMEDICAL ENGINEER WHO LIKES TO READ CHEAP PAPERBACKS and you think my final draft (that I spent MONTHS working on with SEVERAL editors of actual status) is POORLY WRITTEN then you can take your POMP and ARROGANCE and STICK IT SIDEWAYS UP YOUR ASS.

THANK YOU.

I just got back from my fourth Freshman and New Student Retreat on the south fork of the American River. I was a counselor for the third and final time and dear god was it something to remember.

Here's how it works:
before the new school year, a few teachers and a few students (designated Peer Counselors) put about a hundred freshmen on a bus to a campsite RIGHT on the river, (the last thing I saw every night was the water and the stars) run them around, keep them from choking on things, make them play silly games, be nice to each other, introduce them to Bentely life, and such and such.

I'm the only female Peer Counselor who has attended all four years (but I wasn't the Head Peer Counselor, boo). So I knew the drill. My group was great, really spirited and lively which is so incredible. My other groups were...not. At all. We had a lot of fun with them, (me and my co-leaders), and I really think we'll be able to stay friends throughout my last year.

Stories:

1) Every night, the counselors herd the students into sleeping bags, (inside or outside tents) and then we spend the rest of the night being innappropriate and hilarious around the campfire.
a. We were ten minutes into a game of ten fingers, ( I had eight fingers still) when there's this awful shriek coming from the girls' tents. I volunteer to go check it out and see two girls bursting out of their tent.

"Girls!" I scream, "what's going on?"
"A BEE!" they shrill and giggle together. And of course the other girls are getting out to see what's going on and I'm kind of annoyed. So I go in, take care of the bee and usher the girls back into their tents. I say goodnight and walk two steps.
Then they're screaming again.
"What is it?" I ask.
"A SPIDER!"

Do you see a sweat drop on my forehead? Like on of those big animated ones. WEll yeah, it was there.

2) Ten fingers. I won and lost. Meaning I was the prudiest senior of them all. Grrr. Need to change that sometime...

3) So I go to bed, meaning I go to my sleeping bag, chill under the stars for a while, then I went to sleep. At about 2 AM I hear a bit of sniffing. Of course I assume it's my groundmate Hailee whose sleeping a foot away from me. I think it's cute. Then, I hear the sound of padding feet really close to my head. Really close. It takes a while before it occurs to me that something is within touching distance of my head and I don't think it's Hailee. Then, I feel the nudge, just the tiniest little pressure on my cheek. I shoot out of my sleeping bag with a freaked out gasp and a "HOLY FUCK!!!!!" and see a small, black, furry body, too small for a racoon, too fluffy for a cat making a bee line for the trees.

Summary: I got skunk nudged. maybe even licked.

I couldn't sleep for hours afterwards. Everyone made fun of me when I told them the story. Some expected him to visit me again and make his "intentions" known. O_O

What is it with me and animals???


4) So one of the campsite guides put out the fire around midnight and we all migrated to the bathrooms on the far side of camp out of the teacher's hearing reach. So we were just sitting and deciding what to do when I decided I wasn't feeling so good. Queasy.
I went into the girl's bathroom which is about seven stalls, four toilets, three showers with only curtains for doors. I sat on a toilet, (you know, with the intent to release bowels and things) when this girl from the frat party on the same camp site tore open the curtain.
She said, "Oh my God I'm so sorry!" swished them closed and I was still recovering from the exposure when I hear a deep voice from on of the stalls, "Baby, are we going to do this or what?"
and the girl responded, "Oh yeah, we're going to do this."
It occurs to me that the girl was wearing nothing but a bra and jeans.
It occurs to me that the deep voice could not belong to any female.
Then the shower turns on.

So I get the fuck out of there before someone starts screaming "HARDER!!!", tell the other counselors what's going on and they laugh while I look severly traumatized.

5) The next morning I'm packing up my sleeping bag, talking to Nikoh and Hailee when all of a sudden I feel like somebody's punched me in the back of the head with a steel fist. So in the middle of the campsite I sort of tumble forward with the force of the hit and scream at the top of my lungs: "FUCK!!!!"

...Ms. Grajeda didn't appreciate that.

Stupid freshmen with their godammned frisbees.

That's all I can think of for now, but I'll probably tell more in person.

Always,

Lexie

Is sooooooooooooooooo good. I want some RIGHT NOW.
I'm also going on this crazy crazy crazy crazy writing binge today. I finished two college essays, started a vignette series based on a universe my friends and I played in, wrote a poem, edited the poem, wrote another poem and wrote three entries in my livejournal account.

I'm going on a new student retreat as a counselor. Wah
freaking
hooo.

I'm going to sneak some peanut butter with me. I'm very excited about this expenditure. The peanut butter that is.

HEY
you guys have any requests for poems or stories? I'll take them! Specially poems. la la.

i should go to bed...

I kind of like them. Better than vampires anyway. They're cuddly, you know? All furry and playful and stuff. Warmth. Alive! Vampires are made of sex appeal and teeth. And cold. (I'm going off of Twilight's definition of vampires and werewolves by the way. Was anybody else rooting for Jacob? I don't like the books much, too much Bella goo goo over Edward goop. Yuck.) So vampires don't appeal to me, I'm sure they have excellent seduction and sexiness strategies, but I'm more attracted to the non undead.

Because it is my curse, I couldn't resist not knowing what happened in the Twilight series even if the writing makes my stomach churn, 'sides there were some interesting twists. (there's a movie coming out in december based on the books, I'm going to see it just to see how it's done).

So once I finished Breaking Dawn, I was hungering for some werewolf literature or show or something. I had read Blood and Chocolate, (an excellent read by the way), the movie isn't in my local rental place, and well, i dont want anyone getting ripped to pieces. So here is where my REAL problem comes in:

I'm a writer. So as somebody once said, "writer's write because it isn't there." It isn't there, I want it to be. But I need more resources before I can even attempt. And I'm lazy. Anybody have any good werewolf reads they want to recommend to me? If they even bothered to read this....

Also: Werewolf or Vampire? What is your opinon?

And another thing, how would you want to be flavored? I'd like to be flavored like Chilean Hot Chocolate, chocolate with a little spice so i get a little tingly tasting too