Lucid Waking

Archive for December 31st, 2006

The Best of the Blog 2006

“Hello and welcome to the unveiling ceremony of Best of the Blog! I’m Calliope, your host for this event. This year, the nominees were taken from votes that you, the reader, chose. First, let’s take a look at our nominees:

• Madren’s Choice
• The Music Box
• Wearing Black
• Genevieve’s Kitchen
• The Man Who Will Never Die
• No one wants to hear…
• The Red and Black Autumn Ball
• My Life
• “I would like to make an exchange.”
• The Gift

“And the winners are:

• Madren’s Choice
• No one wants to hear…
• “I would like to make an exchange.”

“Thank you to all who voted! The links for the winners will permanently go on the Best of the Blog page. If you wish to read them again, please visit. I hope to hear from you all next year and thank you again for taking your time to vote!”

The 2006 Review

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really care what happened during the past year, I would like to focus more on the future. While looking back is a good thing to do once in a while to see how much we’ve grown, it’s also a dangerous return to the past where we might get stuck wondering where the time went to do things we were too afraid to do. And quite honestly, wondering where we went wrong to get us here today. The past is depressing because you have in black and white what happened and what didn’t; simply put, cause and effect. The future has so much in store that while more realistically, bad things may happen, we have an equally good chance of good things happening. In the past if bad things happened, bad things happened, so I want to focus on things that might happen that are good.

NASA has been proudly stating all their accomplishments over the past year, including spotting evidence of water flow on Mars and Enceladus (one of Saturn’s moons). This new discovery started scientists bubbling over the possibility that eventually, we would be colonizing Mars. The triviality and status of saying you live on Mars, I believe, would be enough to get people off of Earth and out elsewhere. Eventually (the way I’d like things to go), the human nature sprites who care about our mother, Earth, will stick around and do all that they can with the technology we’ve obtained to help fix it’s problems and make her healthy again.

That’s quite easy to say coming from someone with daily Internet access and excess food on the table. The fact of the matter is that most people on this planet don’t have the option to pay a huge sum of money to go to Mars. People in Africa are living in less than standard conditions in the middle of a desert and drought. Yet, with help from the United States Mercy Corps millions of dollars are spent for food. Children are staying in school because they are getting fed there and people living in small villages are getting the nutrition they haven’t been getting because of drought. These efforts have been helping keep children in school and help rural families with taxes and bills mostly by setting up programs to give out food. If we all help out in whatever ways we can, eventually this problem should cease to exist.

Personally, things have turned up around my life as well. I’ve become a much better writer and will continue to improve as I keep practicing. I’ve kept my promise from last year and have art submissions piling up in Erato for you to enjoy; I’ve also gotten quite good at drawing and painting. I’ve made several new friends who I can relate to and work with. They’re people who love me as much as I love them. My family has remained healthy and I’ve acquired a new fuzzy sister. And while the beginning of the year remains a hazy memory, I’m sure wonderful events have occurred then, also, to keep me thankful for the advances we made and looking forward to 2007.

(By the way, for a quick pick me up about the news, click here.)

The Best of 2005

Originally published on December 31, 2005 (and the last of the flashback posts)

           According to the US media, 2005 was a good year. Those that made it on the Joe Siegel’s top ten are (from ten to one) Syriana; The Constant Gardener; Cinderella Man; A History of Violence; King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia; Munich; Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck; and Brokeback Mountain. This year seemed a good year because there were so many to see that didn’t seem stupid or bad. The Oscars this year were interesting: Jamie Foxx won for best actor, Hillary Swank for best actress, Morgan Freeman and Cate Blanchett for best supporting actor and actress, respectively, and Million Dollar Baby won best film.
            Things weren’t all bright and cheery for 2005, however. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Hundreds of people gave aid to the victims and several different schools donated to the cause.
           As for me, things have been busy. My friends and I came up with a D&D group, which meets together on Sundays. This Hanukah I received several wonderful gifts. My room was painted lavender and pink this summer. I also discovered Cat Legend and Inverloch this year, which, to me, are the best comics I have discovered yet. Hopefully by 2006, I will be able to show you some art submissions as well.
           Blog wise, I started this blog in September and somehow managed to keep it going. In late November I changed my first blog into a completely new website, Muse.  Here is my very first post I’ve written on Lucid Waking:       

Weekend in the country
It could be a gift or a gathering-
A word. A weekend. A whisper.
In shades of chocolate, honey, and biscuit
The perfect partner  
Summer day heat wave
Sugar and spice
a chameleon hiding in plain sight,
our island universe
you asked for it
it is ending…

            Here’s today’s post (you didn’t think I was going to go without a post did you?):

            Megan was always a busy bee when it came to parties. Last night she baked eight-dozen cookies. Today she was running around getting shrimp and salsa for the rest of the meal. Chaos was her structure and in the end, it always paid off. She lived for the this-is-so-good-where-did-you-get-this and I-can’t-believe-you-bought-this-I haven’t-had-it-in-years. Tonight was a little different because she had her friends over and their family, but the basic principle was the same. She ran out and got presents for the little ones and then ran out and got presents for their parents. She made bagel dogs for the kids and shrimp for the adults. When she was done, she had too much to carry down into her basement, where they would watch movies until eleven and then watch the ball drop. She anticipated a fun party with tons gossip and playing with the kids. Her only mistake was letting her friends pick the movies.
            Alexandria and her family came fifteen minutes early with more food and three different movies. She looked at the selections and inwardly groaned. Stupid humor that she knew she wouldn’t enjoy. She thanked them, gave them their gifts and told them to start on the food. Their oldest, Todd, took no time in diving into the food, conversing in between bites of quiche. Chrysanthemum was quiet and opened her present in the corner of the room. There was a short moment of panic when she slipped past Megan and walked downstairs, but soon everybody joined her. Megan was right, she hated the movies her guests brought, but at eleven o’clock she stayed and watched the party in New York City. Her guests fell asleep by eleven thirty, so she flipped channels between New York and Navy Pier. Finally twelve o’clock struck and she shut off the television. She smiled at the sleeping family and started cleaning up. At four in the morning, she finally collapsed on her bed and fell into a deep sleep.