The Happenings.

Things have been so crazy lately -- school, trying to find employment, advising friends on their many issues (a therapist's work never stops), and countless other random things -- that I haven't had hardly any time to update.

After a much anticipated wait I finally saw New Moon at the 12:01am showing on Thursday night. I'm definitely a self-admitted Twihard amongst other things and I must say that I was very impressed with the movie's accuracy to the book. Although it was definitely made for fans, I was pleased nonetheless that it came out so well. I have many friends who aren't the reading type so they have zero interest in the books, which is their loss because there is so much more detail in the book that wasn't explained in the movie -- thus it being made more for the fans.



I really wish my friends who aren't the reading type would just take a chance and crack open one of the books and see what happens. That was what I did. After seeing Twilight too many times to count at this point I knew that I couldn't stand to wait for the next movie, so I told myself "Lauren, you're going to Borders and your going to crack open New Moon and see what happens" and I was immediately hooked after only a few pages. Ever since then I've just given myself up to this series, having fallen in love with it and the concepts portrayed.

Plus, those friends who aren't interested in reading the series don't realize how much they are missing out on. Meaning that if you can be affected by the movie itself, which lacks a lot of the important detail (outside of the key points), imagine how much you can be affected by actually reading the books? They are such an easy yet extremely pleasurable read that it boggles my mind how people wouldn't want to learn more. But that is just the opinion of one person.

Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome and I look forward to the theatrical release of Eclipse in late June 2010.

In other news, I've been doing really well in school this semester -- I've gotten A's on everything but one paper. The creative writing class I'm taking (thanks in part to my newly found love for writing via Twilight Saga) has given me a lot as far as a class can go. I received a C+ on my first paper, which I used two different writing techniques and combined them: framing and braiding. Framing being that the beginning is the same the end and braiding is when you weave two or more stories or situations together.

The instructions were to write about a growing up place and use that as the center for the story, so I chose my freshmen year dorm room. I wrote it from a present tense reflecting back on the happenings from the year -- I was packing up the room to move out, including dialogue with my roommate Lisa, and as I would come across a new object, I would flashback to that point in time where the object became relative. For instance, I wrote in full detail about move in day, getting the key to my room, walking through the double doors of the dorm building, the congested stairwell, the upperclassmen who volunteered as move-in crew for the day, and the sound of the key being pushed into the doorknob upon entering my room for the first time.

The way I braided it was by starting out from the day we began packing and flashing back to the day I moved in and several events that occurred throughout the year and then finishing back up the day I moved out. I also braided in my current life and how the experiences from freshman year have shaped me, in part, into who I am today. It wasn't a very difficult paper to write, especially all of the details. The professor was pleased with the story itself but felt that I told rather than showed the story, which earned me the C+, and then encouraged me by letting me know she knew I had a lot of skill as a writer, but I just needed to find a different angle to work on it from.

However, the professors impression had an impact on me so for my next paper, I chose to challenge myself by writing a lyric essay. If you don't know what a lyric essay is than here's the answer to that question:

The "Lyric Essay" is quite simply a title for an odd range of hybrids. If it's not entirely a poem, fiction, non-fiction, or an essay, but straddles those categories, it is most likely a lyric essay. This is just a very rudimentary description of what a lyric essay entails, however. Aesthetically there is usually some sort of rhythm or logic to the language. The diction is often as carefully chosen as with a poem. Its paragraphs are organized like an essay's, with a topic sentences, and its whole is organized like a piece of fiction or non-fiction--leaping around is common if not encouraged between paragraphs and no underlying structure is necessary. Lastly, the lyric essay is different, it should not conform completely to any standards, it is an individual and fiercely so.
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_lyric_essay

I chose to incorporate entries from our respective journals; letters from our Dear Lauren & Dear Ben books; excerpts from Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled; poems by Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe; Shakespeare's Sonnet 14; and of course an excerpt from (the book) Twilight's Edward Cullen -- and together, with a third-person perspective, which narrates the story of Ben and I -- I was able to create my lyric essay. The entries and letters juxtaposed that of what Scott Peck says about idea of love and the reality of it. The poems, sonnet, and Twilight excerpt tied everything our entries and letters said together.

I wasn't really sure kind of grade I was expecting due to the professors strict ways, but I was very pleased to receive it back two weeks ago to see the letter "A" on the front along with a comment by the professor that said:

"Fabulous! You bring together all these parts in a really interesting and creative and intelligent way. This was hard to pull off! I'd say it could have become a disjointed mess! But it's a nicely unified collage. Wow!"

Challenging myself in this way makes me feel so good. The one thing I didn't know how to do when I started college was write a paper. Over the years, however, I've sharpened this skill up to a fine tee, but I've never even considered writing creatively. Which is odd considering I've been blogging since 2003 and journal writing for a good while as well. I feel like I've found another, more appropriate, creative outlet for myself and I plan on continuing down this path.

If anyone is interested in reading my lyric essay, shoot me an e-mail lauren.brooke.dickson@gmail.com.

Ben flew into Phoenix on Friday evening to spend Thanksgiving with me. Although we were only apart for a total of 16 days, it honestly seemed like 6 months. The agony of our physical separation was so much harder on the two of us than we had expected. However, this pain won't need be suffered for much longer because he's going to be moving here in the near future. We're in the process of planning every aspect of his relocation out to ensure success. I cannot wait!

There's so much I'd love to touch on right now, though unfortunately I must save it for later -- I've got a laundry list of things to do today!