A Little on Life

   Life has been very interesting lately; even though it's the same-old routine of things, it still manages to take those 'interesting' turns when you least expect them... and not in big ways; small, little ways.
   Last night, I woke up at 3:30 to go outside and see if I could spot any meteors. I pulled on my coat and socks, groggily made my way to the door, turned on the porch light first to make sure there weren't any monsters hiding out there to get me, flicked it off and THEN went out. The air was cold and filled my lungs, but the sight of the stars filled my heart. There were thousands. Glowing, sparkling, shining like tiny pin-point diamonds in the night sky. I leaned over the rail and kept my eyes heavenward, shivering but not wanting to go back inside. A small smile appeared when I remembered that some friends were doing the same thing, and almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, there it went - a meteor blazing across the sky. I could only stay out there in the silence and cold long enough to see four stars fly and two very bright ones in the corner of my vision, and then went in... but for some reason those few minutes seemed sacred. No one else had gotten up to watch them with me - it was just me, myself and I standing out on the back deck gazing skyward. They have no idea what they missed.

 
 NaNoWriMo is still going, going GOING... I'm sadly behind on my word count. (I should probably be writing in Cafe instead of doing this post... but my brain is tired of dealing with Viktor right now. :P) I have, however, made considerable progress in the story. Here's my count:

Book: Cafe
Date Started: August 28, 2011
Page Count: 209
Text Size: 12
Text Style: DejaVu Sans Condensed
Chapter: 21
Main Characters In: Erica, Jungsu, Daehyun, Adriana, Viktor, Justin
Main Characters to Go: Youngbae
To be Added: (... that's a surprise...)
General Weather: Cold, Winter, Snowy
Characters Wounded/Hurt: (THAT'S a surprise, too!)
Word Count Thus Far: 117,281


It's coming, slowly but surely. I'd post more, but time escapes me and I have to write... again.
Keep working hard, everyone!


- hannah

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to my adorable friend, Caroline!
She's 17 today! My little friend is growing up. :) (Actually, most of the time, she's more grown up than me, anyway....)
Caroline, you're a special girl with a sweet smile. Thanks for being there when I needed a level-head. We've been through a lot together, haven't we? Ups, downs, in-betweens, and who knows what else. :P
These last couple of years, though, seem to have been pretty important for us, don't you think? 2011 and 2012 especially.
I've been your friend for eight years, but these past two years it seems that I've really just gotten to actually *know* you. And we've dealt with a lot of stuff. And we've come up with the craziest ideas (bleached hair with red glowing eyes in the window, anyone?). We've cried together, laughed like the crazy teenaged girls we are, and brainstormed our minds into nothingness.
And, well... I hate to say this, but... I didn't get you anything. :P

HOWEVER - I think you'll like the card I made. :) I'm forever in your debt, so... come up with something I can do to pay you back. (I'm going to regret saying that... =D) But anyway... I love you, girl. Keep calm and love the Cat, wot wot! *throws you a salute*
I hope we can continue to go on many more escapades and adventures, and keep going crazy over things like hair brushing the back of a shirt. ;)
LOVE YOU!

FIGHTING!
- hannah

Artbeats

I'm currently in the process of drawing this face.
This face. Who's face?
I don't know who's face it is. It looks familiar to me, but not quite; it's like, as I just recently read out of my friend's novel, "an echo without a voice".
I realized as I was adding the little details to him, making him unique in his own way, that every time I draw someone and begin the meticulous process of shading, adding fine hairs to the brows or lines to the lips, that in a sense, they're being brought to life.
The gift of drawing is an amazing thing. God has a place for art, and it should be used like He intended.
If you're an artist, you know what I'm talking about.
With every stroke of the pencil we breathe life into the thing portrayed on paper.
God is an artist - and He breathed life into us.

Picture Idea

I want to do this someday. :) It's such a cute idea!

Crayon

One word: EPIC. ^_^

Alright, all you Blogger people... can I get some comments over here? ;)
Even from those of you I haven't heard from in a long time - I'd REALLY love some comments!

- hannah

What I Really Need Right Now...

It's the end of a long day.... a long week, actually.
Everyday this week, all except for one, I've been getting up at 5:00 AM to write in Cafe for NaNo... wow. It pays off, but missing an hour and a half of sleep is frustrating. :P
We've also been stacking, unstacking, restacking and then stacking again about, collectively, four truckloads of wood. Ooh, the aching muscles!
I'm currently taking a mini-break from writing at the moment to rest my brain... and I decided there are three things I'd really, *really* love right now.
A delicious, steaming peppermint mocha, a heated keyboard so my frozen fingers can thaw out, and someone to rub my shoulders. :P
That'd be awesome. ^_^ Though I highly doubt anyone would be willing to stand behind me and rub my shoulders for any amount of time; they might start aching, too. >.<
Ah, well... life must go on. The joys of NaNo, haha. I've been so cramped up staring at this computer screen for I don't know how many hours on end, and then unloading all of that wood on top of that... but now it sounds like I'm whining, so I won't. :)
Not my intention... just a rant.
Alright, all you writing people - let's get back to it.

- hannah

My surge of inspiration right about now...

looks like this:

Tonight

Such a, beautiful night.

The air is frozen and cold - snow falls from the sky against neon lights... 

Tonight.

Guardian Angel

Write Like Your Life Depends on It

Yes... I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year.
And I'm going insane. 0_0
Okay, it's not that bad, but I've been getting up at 5:00 in the morning just to write for a couple of hours. I'm currently putting a main character in a burning building so he can rescue another character and they both get out... hopefully. >.> I actually just had one of my main characters surprise ME - he announced to a friend that he's thinking about quitting his job at the Cafe! Even I didn't see that one coming... he just... said it. --_--
It was very surprising.
Anyway... here's my NaNo page - keep up with my progress and kick me if I don't do more, haha. I'm a bit behind, but am hoping to catch up today. (And yes, I'm under the 'rebel' section because I'm starting with a pre-exsisting novel...)
All you NaNo-ers - KEEP WRITING!

- hannah

Excerpt from my story - it's a draft. :P
 

Smoke blanketed the air, screams and shouts echoed as people ran, firemen working to get the occupents of the building to safety as the searing heatwaves threatened. Onlookers were pushed back by officers; lights flashed and torrents of water directed at the upper levels with out any apparent effect.

Jungsu tore through the pressing crowd in an area less occupied by officers, gasping for air as he turned in a circle, eyes darting over those being rescued from the building. Hand raked through hair as he turned, lungs heaving.

"Jungsu!" he heard Erica's voice shout at him. He turned, looked, didn't see her. She shouted again, and through the chaos he spotted her, Minsung clutched in her arms.

"Minsung," he breathed, running towards them. Erica held the little boy tight, his arms wrapped around her neck and tears streaming down his face.

"A fireman found him in the hallway," Erica cried. Jungsu knelt down beside them, taking the boy by his small shoulders and speaking to him as gently as his strained voice would allow.

"Minsung, where's your sister?" he questioned, the shouts loud in his ears. "Where's Adriana?"

"I don't know," Minsung sobbed. Jungsu took the boy's face in his hands, trying to hide the pure fear in his eyes, trying to keep his voice level.

"Where did you see her last? Minsung, I need you to remember for me..."

"She told me to run outside," he choked, wiping a small hand across his eyes as more tears streamed. "But she didn't come."

Jungsu's eyes locked with Erica as she pulled the boy back into her arms. He looked up at the flaming building, heard the shouted order to pull back from the weakening structure.

"Jungsu no!" Erica sobbed as she grabbed his wrist when he stood. "She's probably already out!"

"You heard Minsung!" he yanked his coat off, laying it over the boy's shaking shoulders. "I'm not risking that."

"If the fire doesn't kill you the smoke will!" she begged, clutching Minsung tight. "She's already out!"

"Do you want to live with that?!" Jungsu shouted at her. He pulled the overshirt he was wearing over his head and immersed it in a pool of icy water before grabbing an abandoned fireman's coat that was hanging from the side of an ambulance. "I refuse to!"

"Jungsu, please!" Erica stood, tears running down her face as she lifted Minsung in her arms. The Korean picked up his soaked undershirt after pulling on the fireproof coat, scanning the scene swiftly to make sure no officers would stop him.

"Get Minsung outta here!" he shouted as he started towards the building, putting the shirt to his mouth.

"Jungsu!"

"Do it! Get him out of here!"

"Jungsu!" she screamed, breath escaping as a sob caught in her throat. She could only watch as he turned and ran, pushing past one fireman and into the collapsing building.

"Where's Jungsu-shii going?" Minsung cried, trying to turn and look. Erica pressed the little boy's tear-stained face into her shoulder, turning him away as she began to walk backwards, trying to keep the choke out of her own voice.

"He'll be fine," she tried reassuring him, closing her eyes and bowing her face into his small body at the same time, hoping that she was right.

November

     It's quiet, it's rainy; the skies are overcast.
     It's loud, it's bright; the skies are hidden.

     I'll never give up, never lay it down and say 'I quit'.
     It's all too important. Life... it's too important.
     We win souls for Him - we use the tools He's given us.
     But sometimes, those tools are invisible, bearing the label 'PRAYER'.
     We must pick it up anyway, though we cannot see it.
     We must use it, remember that faith helps us to see the unseen.
     Its more powerful than we know - more active than we see.
     And with every heartfelt word reaching to heaven, the angels are unleashed.

     It's quiet, it's rainy - the day is coming to a close.
     It's loud, it's bright - the night is just beginning.