Poetry, Running, and Complaining About the Weather | April 2015 Wrap-Up

Image From This Month

April has been an absolutely insane month of weather in Upstate New York. It went from being sunny and 70 back down to 30 and snowing over the course of a few days. This photo is one from a mini-photoshoot I went on that is proof that there are things alive and growing in the world! 

What did I read this month?
[to come]

What was my favorite book?
[to come]

What Fun/Noteworthy Things Happened?

1. I Deserve an Award for Sappiest, Gushiest, Nerdiest Poet Alive - Last month, I ended my A Progression in Playwriting series with a bunch of gibberish-like praise about my 10 weeks of writing class and their impact on me as a person and a writer (yada yada yada.... you're probably yelling at me to shut up at this point). I am extremely happy to say that this will be continuing since I started Poetry and have already fallen in love with the genre, my extremely intelligent/eloquent/socially educated peers, and my teacher who is so awesome with what she does and pushing people just the right amount to get them to where they need to go as poets. I need say no more because there are more than 8 minutes of video to fill you in on my love for the class.

2. Why Does Anyone Choose to Live in Upstate New York? - So while the rest of the country has finally been defrosting, Upstate New York is still temperamental as ever. According to the locals it usually isn't even THIS dreary and miserable by the end of April. I had my first Track Scrimmage on the 27th and it was around 40 degrees of rainy torture. I run the 800 and 1500 which on a normal occasion, would have been a cakewalk. However, the cold, moist air did some serious damage to my muscles which refused to unfreeze and my lungs which refused to take in oxygen. Needless to say, I did not earn very good times, but I'm not letting it get the worst of me and there will be plenty of other (hopefully nicer) days in the future to break records.

3. Spring Break = Awesomeness - I had an entire week of blissful relaxation in the beginning of April which was extremely beneficial in rejuvenating me in all aspects of m life. I ended up getting a lot of good training runs in, read some good books, filmed a lot of videos, and spent a lot of time with my significant other.... which is always nice ;) 

4.  Another ELA Assignment to Take Over My Life - Does anyone find it completely unironic that your favorite teachers are usually the ones that give you the most work/most difficult assignments? Mr. Kline has assigned a Poetry Portfolio which wouldn't be that much of a commitment if I weren't a proud perfectionist. This one (thankfully) isn't as long-term as the World War Two Independent Study Project or the Career Research Project, but it's still been time-consuming. Luckily, it came right in time for me to use my newly acquired knowledge gained from Poetry Class, which may be a blessing and a curse since I am so much more aware of what kind of work I should be producing.

5. I Have SERIOUSLY Fallen Off the Blogging Wagon - On that note, writing, specifically of the poetry variety (surprise, surprise *rolls eyes* not!) has been the partial reason I have been so bad with blogging this month. Don't get me wrong, I started off the month strong with plans to schedule a ton of posts and be a good, productive little blogger. Then I went back to school after Spring Break and was tossed into the vicious cycle of business that comes with having a life all over again. I just haven't had the motivation, or more specifically the inspiration to blog. Everything I had wanted to do/write about seemed old or stale conceptually. With that said, there will most definitely be changes in terms of content starting in May and I'll have a whole post about that soon.

What Am I Looking Forward to in May?

1. Torturing Myself and Questioning My Sanity by Running 10 Miles of Hills - As everyone who has ever attempted to get back into shape knows, having incentives/goals helps immensely. What I have been working towards for the past two months has been getting back into shape for the Mountain Goat which will be my first 10 miler in two and a half years and I am extremely nervous and psyched for it. There are apparently three killer hills that make everyone wonder why they ever signed up for the race but I (am going to regret saying this) am looking forward to them.

2. A Weekend in NORTHERN California - In the past four months, I've gone to SOUTHERN California three times, but I've actually only been to NoCal once before. One of my family friends son's is having his Bar Mitzvah so we're making the trip over Memorial Day Weekend. I'm looking forward to spending some time with them as well as visiting Sacramento which is a place I've never been.

3. My Significant Other's Birthday - Sadly, I'll be out of town for his actual birthday, but the two of us are planning on an all-day wandering escapade which is something we have wanted to do for a long time because scheduling has always restricted us spending that much time together, but his birthday is an exception and I think I am more excited than him about it.

What posts/videos am I proud of?




This is my 2nd video with Francesca in it and I am quite proud of how it turned out as I wanted to give my viewers/readers an update on how all my New Years Resolutions were going in a creative manner and I feel I succeeded with this.

I got the chance to research the career of a content editor as well as interview New York Times Bestselling Author Jennifer Nielsen and debut author Sara Raasch because of it and learned some invaluable information I wanted to share with you.

This is the exact type of sketch video I set out to make when I resolved to be more creative in 2015. The purpose of the video was to serve as a static visual for my presentation but it was so self-deprecating and (at least in my opinion) an accurate representation of fangirl. 

My other passion and medium of expression is film, so Screenplay writing just blends the two worlds. I worked my butt off on my Code Name Verity Screenplay and knew people would want
to see the process and work behind it.

What was my favorite quote?

Of course, My Sister's Keeper ended up being one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read and it was inevitable that my favorite quote would be from the novel. I wouldn't say that it's the most prolific of all time, but I most definitely think it's inspiring and encouraging. 

Are there stupid questions?

We're going a little deeper with April's question of the month because I really want to know your opinion. The cliche first day of school opener is - there are no stupid questions, just stupid people. If you had asked me this in the beginning of April, I most definitely would have told you that there were both stupid questions and stupid people but my opinion on that changed when my significant other told me another variation of the quote he heard from one of his teachers. "There are no stupid questions, just questions that make people feel stupid." And this quote had so much resonance with me because as a student, I have both observed and asked questions that are met with not-so-positive response, whether in seriousness or a joking manner. To the person that is ridiculed or made to feel like an idiot for asking what may have been genuine curiosity, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. So now I want to know your opinion :)