Caramel Apples

Happy October!!

2009-10-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

It's finally October!!

September could not have been longer. That was the longest month of my life!

But it's finally October, and in celebration, I wore an orange tank top with a black cardigan, black and orange striped socks, and last night I actually painted my nails (black). I haven't painted my nails in over a year, lol.

Oh yeah, and today at the swim meet, on the 50 free, I actually got first place!! It was really close, but yeah! First!! Woohoo!!!! :DD

I got like a 2nd degree burn today in chem. On my left hand index finger at the tip. Why? Because I was stupid and touched the hot glass we were bending. Yep. Hayley's a dummy.

But yeah. Today has been, aside from Mother Nature dropping my not-so-pleasant monthly gift on me late last night, a pretty good day. :]

That Iambic Pentameter Poem I Mentioned...

2009-10-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

The Dawn of Dusk
by Hayley Swanson
Summer’s reign is falling short; giving way
to nature’s rapidly approaching dusk.
Crimson leaves make graves on the ground they lay
and corn is waiting for the final husk.
We kiss the earth, who sighs a numbered breath;
she knows very well that her time is near.
We weep with joy as she walks into death
confidently and devoid of all fear.
At winter’s peak she is reborn again,
’Round the wheel turns, forever with no end.

Now here's the poem with the stresses.

SUMmer’s REIGN is FALLing short, GIVing WAY
to NAture’s RApidLY aPPROACHing dusk.
CRIMson LEAVES make GRAVES on the GROUND they LAY
and CORN is WAITing FOR the FInal HUSK.
we KISS the EARTH, who SIGHS a NUMbered BREATH;
SHE knows VEry WELL that her TIME is NEAR.
we WEEP with JOY as SHE walks INto DEATH
CONfiDENTly AND deVOID of ALL fear.
at WINter’s PEAK she IS reBORN aGAIN,
’ROUND the WHEEL turns, forEVer WITH no END.

2009-09-20T17:54:00.001-07:00

I have to write a poem in iambic pentameter due Tuesday. It's really hard!

Also Mabon is coming up here real soon; it's Tuesday!! Holy cow!

The air outside is thick with the smell of autumn. I smell Halloween and rain, faeries and chills, and the creeping hint of Death's breath. The same inspirations for my last year's NaNoWriMo story, Caramel Apples. I'm finding myself thinking almost constantly of Halloween. I cannot wait for October.

I don't really want to miss Mabon like I missed Litha and Lughnasadh. Let's see if I can't figure something out in under two days. ;)

Shark Week

2009-08-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

Shark Week is this week! I missed tonight's episode, but I watched yesterday's. Though, it's rather early for Shark Week, which normally airs during the last week of August. Lol, perhaps the Discovery Channel knows how I need to get my biological clock back in working order, and so they have presented a Shark Week for me that I will still be up to watch, as I'm waking up at 8:30 this week.

Tomorrow's the full moon; I really want to honor this esbat. I've only ever "officially" done it once, at the last new moon with Rachel and Emmie (though it's not the first time I've admired the moon; and I suppose you could say sneaking out of Anna's house because you can't sleep to sit on the deck and talk and sing to the full moon for nearly an hour could be considered honoring an esbat). I'll not be doing any fancy ritual or, like last time, a spell (at least, probably not; you never know what might strike my fancy), just simply lighting a white canlde and sitting in the garden spending time with my mother, the Goddess.

Well, anyway, I'm typing this blindly; I'm too lazy to retrieve my glasses from my nightstand (I had been attempting sleep). While that doesn't in the slightest hinder my typing ability, it's pretty annoying, and I'm awfully tired, so I'm going to get some sleep. :)

Perhaps in the morning I'll make a second blog, one for my spirituality alone, where I'd write my spells, rituals, prayers, etc. A "Blog of Shadows" so to speak, hahaha.

Blessed Lughnasadh!

2009-08-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Merry meet! Today is August 1st, the day we witches celebrate Lughnasadh, the sixth Sabbat of the Wheel of the Year. This is the first of the three harvest festivals. We are halfway between Fire and Water, and nearing the end of summer.

I have almost reached a full year of my official study of Wicca. I'm so excited :) I have learned so much in the year that felt so long and yet flew by. It seems like only yesterday I was sitting in this very chair texting Adam ideas about using banishment spells (which, truly, I just pulled straight out of my ass) to get rid of the evil spirit that seemed to be possessing him (I had a mild paranoia of fairies back then; I've since realized that Adam is probably schizophrenic). It was near the end of August 2008 (which, I just realized, is actually very funny; it was a waning moon at the time, the perfect time for banishments), and the idea just came to me. I searched the internet for spells, and my old interest in Wicca that I'd stuffed away since it was born when I was ten sparked. I did some research, went out and bought a book.... and here I am.

Despite not being allowed to freely express my faith, due to the fact that my mom did not know and my boyfriend Marc told me not to, I have grown tremendously. I dumped that boyfriend last week (even though I should've dumped him last month) and now I feel freer and like I can change and grow however I'm meant to.

Though it's quite funny how the reason why I've finally found my spiritual path is because of that dumbshit, Adam. There's one good thing about our summer experience. Lol.

Blessed Lughnasadh. :]

Libraries and More Heat

2009-07-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

Really, now, I didn't quite finish any thoughts in my post from yesterday, did I? Lol. Silly me.

My room was too hot to sleep in last night, so I slept in the tent in the backyard again, like the night before. It was better this time though because I'd put my sleeping bag on top of two others for more cushioning. Surprisingly, the dry, 100+ degree heat outside doesn't bother me. What does, of course, is the heat in the house. No one in Washington needed air conditioning till this summer, really... we usually don't get over 80 (except in Eastern Washington). So, yeah. Freaky winds make temperature changes. =]

On the plus side though, I've gotten some color in my skin over the last month (I don't purposefully go out and try to get tan; but I love the sun, and my skin is usually lily-white, so simply being in it gets me some color), and I smell like the sun! :D

So I just got another mental whipping from myself for not looking harder for cheaper prices :/ I bought a ton of stuff that came too late for my intended purposes anyway, and in larger quantities than I'd expected. What the hell do I need a whole pound of cinquefoil for? Or a pound of chicory root? Especially now I found a site where I could've gotten the smallest amount I needed for like, six bucks. Ah, well... everyone makes mistakes. On the plus side, I'll have plenty of cinquefoil and chicory root for years and years to come. Unless it goes bad... in which case, I've been totally f*cked out of almost $90. Maybe I can sell it. Hmm... I still have the boxes and the filler stuff. Hmmmm..... My thinking box is ticking...

Though I'd never get what I paid for it. The shipping alone was $40, almost half of what I paid.

Alas! I am a stupid fool. A lesson has been learned here... And thus, my beginnings of a ramble in the post I made yesterday about having to live meagerly. I'm down to only $280. Next summer, I will be getting a job, for absolute certain! (I don't think I'll have time to work part-time during the school year...)

So, as part of my new living-poorly-and-spending-as-little-as-possible plan (which in all fairness isn't that hard, considering I usually spend as little as possible, if not at all), I have made a terrifying deal with myself. Most of my money is spent on books at Barnes and Noble. And books are expensive!! So... sadly... I've decided. This year, any books I want to read that I don't already own, I'll get from... *shudder* the library.

"Okay, so, what the hell is wrong with the library?" you might ask. Well, I like the new book smell, the this-is-mine feeling on top of the I-have-as-long-as-I-want-to-read-this. I don't like library books because so many people have used them. You could turn the page and find old blood, coffee stains, dried-up boogers, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm living sparingly, and living sparingly means giving up luxuries. Luxuries such as books from the bookstore. *sigh*

I know I can do it, though. I'm a tough cookie. =]

Heat, Laptops, and CSI

2009-07-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's very, very hot in this stuffy room of mine. I'm hoping Mom gets her Macbook soon so I can have the Sony laptop she uses now; I hate not being able to use my computer without suffocating in this oven.

...

I asked my mom if I could use her laptop while she watches yet another episode of CSI. I'm in the living room where it's nice and cool. The heat outside I don't mind; no, it's the heat inside of the house that's insufferable; particularly upstairs, as heat has that nasty inclination to rise like a helium-filled balloon and not want to move. The heat outside is dry, and though breezes are few and often warm anyway, it's not unbearable.

These hot, lazy summer days gives a person time to think. Plan. Create. I've been doing bits of all three myself. In between reading Tamora Pierce's The Will of the Empress and watching CSI with my parents (mostly, my mother), I've been on Facebook playing Farm Town and imagining someday having a farm of my own; a long-had dream of mine. I've also been thinking of my writing dreams, my family dreams, my goals for this next year of school...

I have to live poorly, meagerly, for a long while now. I've been thinking casually of what I could possibly own that I wouldn't mind selling or giving away. Yes, my newly-bought clothes I'd keep, as well as my video camera, my iPod touch, my books and my faerie figurines. But what would I sell? I would keep my DVD player, but I wouldn't mind if I had to sell my TV. Or, at least, in the sense that if I ever live someplace where I'd have to pay money for my cable, I'd probably not pay for it. I'd just use the TV to watch movies and such; but I don't need sixteen hundred channels when I only watch, say, two or three. Quite honestly, only the History Channel is worth paying for, and even then I wouldn't pay for it if I couldn't afford it. I don't watch a lot of TV anyway, and TV is a luxury; I don't need it; nobody needs TV.

(Oh man, though, this episode of CSI is pretty damn intense; season six I believe, the one with the vaporizer gun. Episode 611, "Geurillas in the Mist")

Anyway, so where was I? ...Lol actually, I really don't know; I think I was rambling beforehand.

I wonder if I can keep this blog up longer than two days. Like in terms of updating regularly. Considering every day for me seems to last much longer than I'd like, and I've nothing else to do, this blog has a good chance at staying alive for the next few days or so, lol.

Well, we'll see.