Percy Jackson and Da Babiez, as well as NaNoWriMo!

Hai again. 

So, maybe it's just me, but I love babies.

I was reading The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, the part where Percy's thinking that maybe when he and Annabeth are older, they could live together in New Rome and raise a family and stuff. 

In The Mark of Athena, Percy tells this to Annabeth, and when she seems sort of shocked, he tells her to just forget it. And do you know how she responds?

"What? No! I mean...Gods, Percy, that's so sweet!" 

Maybe I'm just in a romantic mood, but thinking that Percy and Annabeth could live together in New Rome, and raise a bunch of little wise delinquents... *sigh.* It just seems so adorable and perfect to me right now. 

Can't you just see a bunch of little kids with curly black hair and clever gray eyes, or shaggy blond hair and mischievous green eyes, running around New Rome? Annabeth could teach them about architecture and engineering and Percy could teach them how to fight and be sarcastic.... *tears up.* It'd just be so beautiful!

Anyway, I've been re-reading the Heroes of Olympus series, which is why I'm bringing it up, I guess. I really like Rick Riordan's books and The House of Hades arrives at my house tomorrow! *bounces.* 

But remembering Annabeth thinking that getting married and having kids was such a sweet idea....it got me thinking. 

Do ALL people love babies?

I mean, obviously, I do. Obviously people who have them do. But if you see a cute little kid with a sweet smile and shoes on the wrong feet... Am I the only one who passes them and wishes I could just hug them?

Maybe my maternal instinct is stronger than most. Maybe I just like little kids more than others. But I was wondering if I was the only one who felt this way or if this is something across the board. 

I'm good with kids. I make them laugh, and I'm not afraid to act stupid to make them happy. Really, I like to make people in general happy. 

I'll just walk up to someone and give them a high-five, or send people random texts: "I <3 you. Have an amazing day! :)" 

You'd be surprised how happy it makes me, and how happy it makes others. 

And even if kids misbehave sometimes, even if they make a mess every now and then...I just can't help but love them!

I come from a big family. I have a decent amount of younger siblings. I know how to take care of kids, and when they need to be told no, and when they just need a hug. 

I'm a good babysitter, and when I was little there never seemed to be any future for me other than "growing up, getting married, and having kids"! Of course, I'm not just going to sit at home, cranking out babies. I still want to be a writer. I still want to change people with my words. 

And I don't mean to sound preachy, but staying at home with the kids is a pretty hard job, especially if I think I want to homeschool. 

Laundry, cooking, driving, church, teaching, extracurricular activities, sports, discipline, AND writing? 

Heck, yeah. 

I <3 da Babiez. Maybe I'm the only one. Maybe I'm one of billions. But I hope that the next time you see a little kid you know, you give them a high-five. Maybe they'll remember it in the future, and give some little kid a fistbump sometime. Wouldn't that be cool? 

On another note: Guys, it's October. 

Do you know what this MEANS?

That's right. It's time for NaNoWriMo again. 

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is an international organization for writers. It's run by the Office of Letters and Light, and was founded in the nineties by Chris Baty. Writers of all ages, genres, nationalities, races, religions, beliefs, and sexualities all come together to write a novel (or a book of poems, or a screenplay, or anything, really!) in a month. 

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is held every year starting October 31st at midnight on the dot. People from all over the world can participate. I have friends in the Americas, England, Ireland, and a couple from countries that don't even speak English! The community is amazing! 

There are three sites: The Young Writers' Program, ywp.nanowrimo.org is for writers ages 7-18, where you can choose how many words you'll write in November, and "The Real NaNo", www.nanowrimo.org is for writers ages 13-113, where to win, you must write 50,000 words. There's also Camp NaNoWriMo, which is held in two different months over the summer. This year it was April and July, but last year it was June and August. 

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is an amazing way to write anything you've ever wanted to. Millions of people across the world fill up on coffee, stretch their writing muscles, and write 50,000 words every autumn. It's a truly unifying experience. 

No matter what your background, who you are or how you live, people on NaNo accept you for who you are. After all, we writers are weird. Who cares? 

You can also get NaNoWriMo merchandise to help you persevere during the tremulous 30 days when you feel like you want to give up. Mugs, shirts, books, posters, survival kits, everything and anything you could need to make it through 30 days and nights of literary abandon! 

And the best part is, if you reach the goal you set for yourself, (anything you want on the YWP, or 50K in the real NaNo,) you'll get a promo code for Createspace. And when you finish editing anytime before June 30th? Createspace will send you five free paperback copies of your very own work of fiction! All you have to do is enter the code and pay shipping. 

It's a really spectacular experience, and I strongly encourage you to participate if you are or have ever wanted to be a writer! 

If you end up doing it, I'm Writer-Girl4 on the YWP, and RaineSummers on nanowrimo.org

I hope to see you this November! It'll be a blast. 

Anyway, I'll stop ranting about children and NaNo now. I hope you guys have an awesome day/night/afternoon/whatever, and I'll see you sometime! 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

(Written sometime in October and was never published because I'm a derp.)

Contemplating Names

Names. Such strange things. 

I mean, really, to humans, everything must have a name. A name gives something an identity, a picture we can form in our minds of the concept we have named. 

If I say the word "dog", what's the first image that pops into your head? My guess would be a scruffy-looking stray cocking his head with his floppy ears, begging you silently, with his melty chocolate eyes, "you don't really want that hot dog, do you? And when's the last time you ate? A few hours ago? I haven't eaten in days."

Because of the name "dog" each of us immediately forms an assumption about what that dog will be like and how it will appear. 

It's the same thing with human names. 

If I say the name "Jessica" or "Aubrey" or "Brittany", unless you know someone by that name or have that name yourself, you'll probably think of some preppy high-schooler with a perfect smile who a lot of other girls hate. Typical stereotype. 

But if I said the name "Odette" or "Genevieve" or "Luna", you'd probably think of someone totally different. Someone with long, wavy hair and a shy smile, who likes to wear things other people would never consider, but they look super cute on her. 

See how different those are? And that's just a few syllables and letters that are different. 

And people can also have totally different ideas of someone with a common name because they know different people by the same name. For instance, this summer, I met a wonderful girl named Cassidy. Wouldn't you think of her up there with Audrey and Brittany? Well, she was totally different. 

She was gorgeous, and definitely could have been popular if she wanted to, but she wanted to be different, and it made her all the more beautiful to me. 

She had lovely brown eyes and short-ish brown hair. She liked to wear boots up to her knees with skinny jeans and loose tops. She liked lots of those rubber bracelets with messages like imagine and strength and hope on them. She also loved to wear an alien beanie her grandma had given her. 

She was always super nice to me, and at the end of the week, she totally opened up to me and made me feel really special about myself because she trusted me with her deepest feelings. 

So what about my name, Adalyn Roe? Well, Adalyn is actually my middle name, and Roe is my mom's maiden name. I won't tell you my real last name, but do you wanna know my real first name? 

None of you have ever seen pictures of me, so you may have conjured up an image of me inside your lovely little brains, and now I'd like to absolutely ruin those images for you. 

I'm going to give you five names and descriptions. You have to guess which one is my real self. 

Ready? 

Set....

Name! 

~ Rose. Short auburn hair, watery blue eyes, and a splash of freckles across my pale nose. The freckles are especially annoying because I have one on the side of my face, and whenever I'm eating with people I don't know that well at youth group or something, they ALWAYS think it's food on my face! 

~ Daniella. Soft brown eyes, thick dark eyelashes, olive skin, and and brown hair that is constantly attacking my face. It's untamable. :p

~ Sabrina. Curly reddish-brown hair that just reaches my broad shoulders, hazel eyes that have been known to change colors sometimes and are framed by rectangular glasses. And a sort of slim waist that doesn't like to fit into skirts. 

~ Marie. Straight hair with streaks of blond and light brown with darker brown undertones, a million flyaways, and gray-blue eyes framed by dark lashes that I think are the one lucky thing about my appearance, other than maybe my hair. But that's really straight. 

~ Abigail. Wavy light blond hair, newly cut bangs, green eyes, and a tan complexion. I look like I'm from Southern California, but I'm really not. I just have French and American Indian blood combined in my veins. ;)

All of these could be names that my parents gave me. They all fit with my last name, I guess, but I have a question for you. 

Which one of them suits ME? 

Because of the different names and descriptions, you have discovered five completely different mental pictures of me. 

If I told you my first name was any one of those, you'd revise your mental picture of me, and even if you thought it was weird that that was my real name, not Adalyn, you'd have to accept it because it was my real name. 

And so, since I don't want to wreck that gorgeous, confused, probably inaccurate image you lovely people have in your noggins, I'll go ahead and say my name is just Adalyn, no fancy tricks, no confusion or lies. My real, actual name is Adalyn, and that's how I shall be known from this day forward. 

Does it really matter if it's my real name? I don't think so. Because of my name, you have formed an image of me, and I'm willing to bet it's an image I'd like. 

Believe it or not, I think we rely sometimes TOO much on names, forming opinions and stereotypes based on what we've heard about this person or that person who bears a certain name. 

On to another topic in the same general subject in our one-sided conversation, am I the only one in the world who feels that sometimes my name doesn't really fit me? As if it belonged to someone else and the person who lives in this body needs to be named something else. 

Am I the only one like that?

I mean, if somebody asks you who you are, some epic people will say "Your worst nightmare", but most will simply state their name. 

"Me? Oh, I'm Lindsay Lohannn. No, not that Lindsay. It's Lohannn. Like....it's different."

Because your name just so happens to be the same as the girl who was in The Parent Trap and made a few (a lot) of bad decisions, people might think that your parents are really weird, (which they probably are,) and that you have potential for getting really messed up later on in life, even though you're scheming and everyone likes your red hair noww...

ANYWAY.

What I'm saying is that names are important. Names describe things other words can't. Can anyone describe the color purple to someone who's blind?Who's  been blind their entire life? It's a mixture of red and blue? It looks like bruises? It's the color of violets? 

Yeah, no. 

What I'm saying is that since we've named things, we don't have to use words to describe them anymore, because if everyone uses one word for the same thing. You can see it, and everything that's purple is just purple. You don't need to describe your favorite nail polish any further. It's the sparkly purple one. 

Uh, duh. 

What's in a name? 

A whole heck of a lot. 

Anyway, now that I've wasted several of your inherently valuable minutes, you can go back to browsing YouTube or googling "I ate five slices of cake". 

(Sorry, inside joke. ;D)

Oh, and a shout out to Anna from California, my fellow nanoer! ;D You make me ineffably happy, Anna. <3

I'll be posting sometime soon, but not this weekend because I have a reunion to attend for the weekend on a gorgeous vineyard. I'll talk to all y'all soon! <3

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~ (mystery) Adalyn (more mystery!) <3

Thoughts on Us.

In midst of my crazy summer schedule, various thoughts of camps and trips within the next two weeks, buying new clothes, worrying/being excited about birthdays, trying to pen 20,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo, and ranting about how angry I am when they use different actors and actresses for the sequel of a movie I enjoyed ((BATMAN)), I realized that today, (shocker), is Friday. 

And...I felt the need to stop, take a deep, calming, relaxing breath, and a long, hot shower, and write something about the mysteries of the universe and why we all love them so much. 

This is gonna be totally random, but since I've been running around like [insert un-scarring analogy here, since I couldn't think of one], I decided that doing a little theorizing might do some wonders for my poor, addled brain. 

In but a moment, I will write out several subject neatly on a peice of notebook paper, cut them apart, fold them evenly, and place them, one by one, in this hat. 

I will then commence wearing said hat as I turn your thoughts to the workings of us humans or the universe or something amazingly spectacularifying like that. 

Prepare to be dumbfounded by my intelligence. 

I will now do the whole subject-paper-hat whatsyamadoohicky. 

Here is my list:

Yes, I spelled "business" with a "y" the first time. It's summer, and I'm in NaNoMode. Gimme a break. 

Here are my little bits of paper inside my wonderfully summery hat, which isn't nearly as colorful on the inside as it is on the outside. Bummer, right? 

And now, to CHOOSE!!! 8|

That says laughter, kiddies. Let's get theorizing! :D

Soooo...laughter. 

'Tis a strange thing, most definitely. 

Who could have ever thought of it if it wasn't already just a natural thing to do? Even the smallest babies can laugh. Even children have a sense of humor. 

Think about laughing, really think about the action, the science behind it, what it might look like to an alien who's never ever even thought of the concept of laughter or amusement. 

I'm sure an alien, looking on from his invisible ship, safely behind his über-safe, lazer-proof glass and hidden by a cloaking device...I'm sure he would be thouroughly weirded out by a room full of people, doubled over with some spasmodic episode and a strange liquid leaking from their eyes. 

Laughter is an action of the diaphragm, which is why you can get hiccups sometimes from laughing so hard. Hiccups are when your diaphragm decides to be a torture device and make you make embarrassing noises until people think you're dying. 

((The best thing ever is when you have the hiccups, and you try to sing something sort of fast-paced. Because then you're cracking up and hiccuping and singing and it's just the best feeling in the world. ^-^))

But seriously, when you get the hiccups, and you have that strange feeling in your stomach, your diaphragm is moving. Nothing to flip about. 

But WHY do we laugh, is my question. Because I'm just an inquisitive person like that. Why is it that even babies, newborns barely even introduced to our big, green, beautiful world, even they know that when something is funny, you laugh?

Isn't it just the most adorable thing when little babies laugh? My piano teacher's little girl is about five months old, and she's just the cutest baby on the earth. When she laughs, she gets this little sparkle in her eye, and she has this cute smile, and her laugh just...oh, babies just make me SOOOO happy! 

Sorry. ANYWHAZE!

Laughter is programmed into us. It's something we've always done, and something we always will do. Everyone has a sense of humor, and I guess that's because God knew we'd need the outlook and the ability to laugh things off. Embarrassments, problems, grief. 

They say laughter is the best medicine, and I think they're right. Nothing makes me happier after all the tears of sadness are shed then when one of my good friends takes me to a funny movie, or offers me a book they thoroughly enjoyed, or just sits and talks with me and makes me laugh because I just love being with them. 

I genuinely love to laugh, because I like being happy. I figure there's no use being sad all the time because life isn't about the sadness. 

Sure, sad things may happen, and they do, to all if us. But just remember you can't have the light without darkness to compare it to. If you're in a room covered in LED lights, painted white, then bringing in one candle isn't going to do anything. 

But if you're in a dark room, empty of everything, and you bring in a candle, it can be the start of something amazing. All the darkness in the world can't stand up to even one candle. 

And also, even when it's night, all you gotta do is remember that on the other side of the world, someone, right here, right now, is enjoying the sunshine, and when the time for their brightness has passed, it will move to you. 

It's never dark everywhere. There's always light if you're determined and hopeful enough to look for it. 

So keep laughing, because it's not worth it to be sad. If babies can laugh, so can you, because you can obviously read and navigate the Internet. You're big enough to laugh. 

I hope you're having a funtastic summer, as cheesy as that is. Maybe I've made you laugh. Maybe I've made you think. Maybe you're an alien and you're just discovering the human race. 

We're kind of a gloomy bunch right now, but I've kept my candle alight. I hope it spreads to each and every one of you wonderful, beautiful, amazingly perfect and perfectly amazing people, and together, we can banish the darkness with our glowing, shining, burning light of hope. 

I believe in this world. I believe in us. And no matter what problems you're facing, no matter how dark it seems and how hard it's getting to try and push through, I promise you, there's someone in the world who's gone through that. And there's someone in the world who's made it out of that as a better person. And there's someone in the world who's encouraging you. And there's someone in the the world who loves you. 

Promise me you'll never forget that. 

I leave you with a quote now, from Catherine of Siena, which really helps inspire me when I'm tempted to fake myself, cheat myself on what I'm feeling and who I am. 

"Be yourself, and you will set the world ablaze." 

Together, we can spread the light. Even if you only touch one person, that's one person more than you touched before. Wouldn't changing someone's heart for the better be worth all the pain and struggle and tribulation? I think so. 

Help me light the candles of everyone around the world, across the nations. Let's not cross the lines of race and color and religion and gender and opinions, but erase them.  Lines, straight or crooked, don't do anything in a world that is round. 

Help me spread love and encouragement and hope. Help me change the heart of someone who feels trapped, sunk unbelievably deep in the pit of despair. 

...Help me set the world ablaze. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn