I, Curtis

Assignment:
Write a scene with two people in a kitchen. Describe the cookery, the food being prepared, and SHOW (not tell) us how all of this helps us to understand their relationship.
Response:
     The kitchen smells of garlic and tomato, the smell penetrates the air and is the first thing noticed upon entering the house. The sauce has been cooking all day, Jon has been preparing for this dinner since he woke.

     Jon stood silently at the stove. He was stirring his sauce with a wood spoon in his large black metal pot. Light streams of steam poured out of the pot as he stirred. The doorbell rang, and before he could turn from his pot, his little brother Eric stormed in. Eric goes directly to the kitchen, passing his brother, nudging him out of the way to gain access to the pot containing the bright red sauce. Eric liked Jon’s sauce at this state better than any other, pure red sauce, with some basil, oregano and garlic. Eric grabbed a small steel spoon from the drawer beside him. He dipped the spoon into the sauce and tasted it, satisfied with the taste, he turned to his brother and said “hello”. Jon laughed at his little brother’s behavior and grabbed two heavily worn wood cutting boards from the wall behind the stove. Eric grabbed two knives from the wooden block on the island, placing one on each of the cutting boards. The knife placed on Jon’s cutting board was very old, with some light rusting on the rivets keeping the heavy steel blade firmly attached to the cracking dry wood handle. It was Jon’s favorite knife. The knife in Eric’s hand was much newer, the handle and body of the knife both made of steel, the blade shining from its recent honing, and the handle coated in a thin plastic for comfort. Eric grabbed a bell pepper from the basket in the corner. He picked one that was dark green with firm skin and a glossy appearance. The ridges were deep and perfectly curved. Jon selected an onion from the same basket. The onion he placed on his cutting board had a dull yellow skin, and a few brown hairs of root still left on the bottom.

     Jon and Eric started preparing their vegetables. Jon peeled the onion, and then sliced it into 4 wide disks. Eric cut the bell pepper in half and used his hand to clean out the seeds. Jon lined up his disks of onion, then chopped them into several rows, and then turned the knife the other way and cut the columns. Eric mirrored the same behavior with the pepper, slicing it into strips, and then into small cubes. They finish at nearly the same time, and scrape the contents of their cutting boards into the pot with the back of their knives. The vegetables began to sink by themselves, but were quickly assisted by Eric using the wood spoon to stir them in completely. While Jon was slicing mushrooms very thin, Eric was watching him, looking as though he wanted to say something. After many moments of fidgeting and appearing anxious, Eric spoke up and asked “Jon, you ever thought of making meatballs to go with your sauce?”

Assignment:
Try to observe one of the following everyday actions and describe it in as much sensory detail as possible in two-three paragraphs or more: A person peeling, unwrapping, mixing, or in some other way preparing food and then eating it; a person pumping gas from drive-up to drive-off; a person dressing for an athletic practice or event, or a date; ten to fifteen nonsleeping minutes in the life of a dog or cat.
Response:
[July 1, 2007]
     He walked out of the house, across the yard. His feet sank into the ground as he walked across the dewy wet grass. He squished out across to the apple tree. The tree was green with many leaves, and bright red apples hanging from the branches. He approached the tree with great caution, circling, breathing in the sweet aroma of apples. He looked up and continued circling. He spotted the apple of his desire and flung himself at the base of the tree. With great struggling he climbed the tree and stretched his arm out as the other clung to the tree, the rough bark holding his skin firmly in place. Stretching his arm to its fullest reach, his gets a hold on his fruit. He plucks it from the tree and pulls it to himself, then jumps gently from the tree, almost losing his balance on the damp grass.

     The apple is fresh, smelling strong of its parent tree. The moisture from the air is beading in droplets rolling down the side of its shiny red flesh. The vibrant fruit was held firmly in his hand as he walked back across the yard to prepare and consume his breakfast. Following along his footprints of compressed grass he returns to the house. He entered his home, walking into the kitchen, grabbing a sharp knife out of the wooden block on the island as he entered.

     He doesn’t like peeling his fruit. Normally he will eat the peel of his apples and eat his oranges directly from their rinds. The apple is rinsed gently under cool water, then tapped dry on a bright white terrycloth towel. The apple was placed on the wooden cutting board, and held firmly in place. He plucks the stem with his free, and tosses the ugly brown wood obstruction aside. The knife was raised above the apple, and pressed firmly into its flesh until it pops open and the knife penetrates the course texture of the meat of the apple. It is sliced in half, then quartered.

     He places the first slice between his teeth, and bites down. The juice of the apple flows into his mouth as he chews. The smell of apple fills the air as a breeze blows off of the fan above where he sits eating. He is immersed in the experience of the apple. He is focused on the flowing cool juices and the increasing smoothness of the texture.

Assignment:
Write a story in which someone is snooping around in his or her ex-boyfriend/girlfriend’s apartment.
The ex- comes home with his/her best friend and the person has to hide in the closet. Describe what he/she finds there and what happens.
Response:
[June 16, 2007]
     Susan woke up to the sun coming through her bedroom window, the brilliant glow almost blinding. She had broken up with her boyfriend, Jake, several weeks ago in an argument she later herself declared to be stupid and juvenile. She had been doing well and not thinking of him most of the time they had been apart. This morning was different, it was Jake’s birthday, and she remembered. She remembered his birthday, and missed him.

     Susan laid in bed until she found a way to appease her emotions. She tossed many ideas around in her head. She thought of things like calling him and trying to be friends, or trying to apologize and maybe salvage the relationship. Both of those options seemed terrifying to Susan, the thought of facing Jake that way made her pull the covers over her head. Susan then had a memory, she remembered one of the last times she had hugged Jake, she remembered the smell of his shirt, a very faint scent of cologne, mixed with a slight vapor of sweat, which she found very pleasing. She began to cry, as suddenly all of her emotions of missing Jake came back to her stronger than they had before.

     Susan finally got out of bed and got dressed. She ate breakfast and headed out of her house. She wondered if Jake would still be asleep or if he would be at the gym working out as he often does in the mornings. Susan decided to walk to Jake’s house instead of driving, to give a little more time for Jake to be awake, and herself a little more time to think about what she was going to say to him. It was a thirty minute walk to Jake’s house, when she arrived, she felt calm, relaxed and prepared to talk to him. She ran up the front steps with a great burst of energy, only to discover that he wasn’t home. Disappointed, Susan turns around to leave, but halfway down the stairs, she remembers that Jake always keeps a spare key to get back into his house somewhere in the yard. Last time she saw him use the spare, it was attached to his basketball goal. She checked the goal, nothing there. She checked under his front mat, nothing there. She checked under the back mat, nothing there. She finally went to the front yard, and sat down under the small oak tree. She sat down and then looked up at the clouds, trying to give herself something to focus on while she waited for Jake. A breeze came through the tree, and she saw something above her head glowing gold in the light, dancing with the wind. It was the key, attached to a string and hanging from one of the lower branches. She tried to reach it, but was too short, she jumped, still too short. She looked at the tree and thought to herself “Jake always did say I needed to be more of an outdoors person”. She thrust herself at the tree and climbed towards the branch. She was clinging to the trunk with one hand and trying to reach the key with the other. She grabbed the key, but then lost her hold on the branch and went flying to the ground with the key in her hand.

     The stairs were calling to her. She looked up to them, picked herself up and headed back to the door. She was a little nervous. She was worried that someone would see her going into his house, something she wasn’t worried about when she was swinging from the branches of Jake’s favorite tree. Susan slowly pressed the key into the door. The key clicked against the chamber of the lock cylinder. Susan’s world fell silent. With a deep breath, she turned the key, until the click of the lock opening rang through her ears like thunder. She opened the door with a hiss and a squeak. She scurried inside and quickly closed the door behind her. She stood there, on the threshold to Jake’s most private world. She looked out across his living room, she was shocked at she saw, it was spotless. Then, she noticed, on the far wall, there was something different. The very thing that she had been so unreasonable about that ended the relationship, a graphic movie poster for “Doom”, was missing. In its place was a poster size copy of a picture that she had taken of a waterfall on a trip she took with Jake to the mountains. She hated the movie poster, but he thought it was “cool”. During the argument, he refused to give it up and sacrifice his personality because she didn’t like it. She asked herself out load “Why would he change that if it meant so much to him?”. She worried that she had somehow ruined his self-esteem, or in some way managed to take away something he cared about. She walked around the room, and then wandered into his bedroom to find that it too was fairly clean, although, not as sterile as the living room.

     The trance of awe that had overcome Susan was broken as she heard the sound of the front door opening. She heard the voice of Jake’s friend Mike “Dude, You have to stop working yourself so hard at the gym, you are going to hurt yourself”, then she heard Jake’s reply “shut up, I have to do something to keep my mind off of Susan”. Mike sighed and agreed that after such an abrupt end, things would be hard for him. Jake then reminded Mike of what he had planned weeks ago, “I was going to propose to her the next day at dinner, and then she lost her mind and went on a rampage about my tastes in things and the way I maintain my home”. Susan was surprised, she didn’t think that Jake was that serious. She heard Jake’s footsteps getting closer to the bedroom, so she dove into Jake’s large walk-in closet that she was so envious of. As she got in and closed the door she thought to herself “what does a guy need with so much closet space?”. She was soon glad that he had so much space. Jake walked into his room with Mike following behind, he headed for his closet, he undressed himself, then opened the closet door and threw his clothes into the basket in the corner. Luckily, Susan was able to hide behind some of Jake’s hanging clothes and the closet was dark. Susan reached for the clothes that Jake had just taken off, she picked up his shirt, and felt the warmth still contained in the shirt from being on Jake’s torso.

     Jake and Mike continued talking, primarily about the plans for Jake’s party in the evening. Jake mentioned that he might be able to have a good time if he goes back to the gym for an afternoon workout to ensure his ability to clear his mind. Susan stood at the door of the closet, and peaked through the grate. Jake was still naked. She had never seen Jake naked before. After previously having a relationship based purely on physical infatuation, she swore she would never allow herself to see a man naked until she was certain she had emotions for him for the right reasons. Susan couldn’t help herself, she admired Jake’s body as he stood there and talked to Mike. She noticed how well defined his chest and abs were, the gentle sloping curves, and the visible tension in his abs from his morning workout. Chills went down her body as she analyzed his body, and realized that she had given up her dream of having both sides of what she wanted, someone to be emotionally attracted to as well as physically. She breathed deeply from Jake’s shirt while she watched him put on his shorts and another t-shirt, both of which he had laid out on the bed before he left. Susan planned to leave Jake’s house as soon as he was gone himself, and intended to wait in the closet until that time. She sat in the closet with Jake’s shirt in her hands. She was reviewing everything that had occurred in her head, focusing so much on the thoughts that she didn’t hear Jake announce that he was going into the closet to get a different pair of shoes. The door to the closet flung open and the light came on. Jake grabbed a pair of shoes from the shelf in the closet, beside where Susan was sitting, he then sat on his bed and put them on. He then looked up and asked, “Susan, are you planning to come to my party tonight?” Susan was stunned. She knew he had seen her, but she didn’t expect him to be so calm. She didn’t say anything, she just sat there stunned. Jake walked over to her, stood in front of her. At six feet and four inches tall, he towered above her as she looked up at him. He reached his hand down to her, she reached up to his hand, and he lifted her from the floor. Jake had a ridiculously happy smile on his face as he looked straight into Susan’s eyes. “Well?” he said, “Are you going or not?”. She responded, “Sure, I’ll be there, that is, if you really want someone who is overly dramatic about neatness” He chuckled and sighed, “Of course I do”.
Note: This is quite obviously the straight version of the story. I will consider re-writing it.

Assignment:
Describe the best time of the day.
Response:
     The best time of the day is the night. The night is deep and dark, mysterious and quiet. I like the night. During the night I am the only person around, but yet I am not alone. In the night I am not disturbed by anyone and I can focus on everything I need to eliminate distractions from.

     During the night it is quiet and calm outside. The area around me is dark, but the sky is full of light. I often pull out my telescope to gaze off into far off galaxies and imagine what life would be like in places other than Earth. Some nights I get away from the optical enhancement and lay on the ground, feeling the cold dampness of the grass on my back. One of my favorite things is laying on the ground and feeling the cool night air dancing over my body.

     Inside the house is still and peaceful. Everyone sleeps except for me. Often it seems as though the others in the house think I am odd for my nocturnal behavior. What they do not realize is that I operate in the night because they aren’t around. I can listen to music without interference, and I can work on anything I want to work on without interruption. I am the classic computer science cliche. I stay up late at night, drinking lots of caffeine and working on my code. I also like to write in the dark. Starting with a blank page, I let my mind roll. I do not plan, planning takes too much away from the process and my feelings toward writing.

     At night I feel energetic. I feel completely and totally alive. Night seems to never make me tired, but excessive sunlight will always cause me to become exhausted. In the night I can make a list of tasks and complete them without a problem. I multitask and find ways to make logical sense of the most complicated problems during the night.

     Night makes me alive. It is my time of the day.

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing – A piece describing the detachment of a writer from his creative place as a result of a natural closing event in his life. In this circumstance, it would be the ending of an academic semester.
Response:
     “Silence, Silence you beasts!” the writer cries out. Weeks ago the writer entered the sacred chamber, wishing to find the depths of the white hot core. At that time the place seemed mysterious and worthwhile, and as if only good things could come from it. Now the writer is plagued day and night by the characters who enter and exit The Zone freely. It was such a difficult task to open those doors, it took weeks of trying to convince the doors to open and day after day many attempts were made to practice opening them. Now it is as though the doors are permanently open. The enemy the writer wishes to silence are the voices in his own head, the forbidden world that was unleashed.

     The writer’s primary task in The Zone is finished, rapid access to the characters is no longer desirable, but they keep coming. The writer no longer visits the core, because the core comes to the writer. Day after day, night after night, anytime the writer is in the dark, or is in front of the liquid crystal glow, they come back. All of the characters that have been dug up from the core present themselves openly. For several days the writer has tried to silence the voices, and usher the beasts back to their cave, but they simply will not go.

     The writer sits alone in the dark. A young French speaking gentleman with a Quebec dialect appears beside him, speaking phrases that the writer does not know how to translate, but yet understands with absolute clarity. The message seems to be “for silence, you must visit where the voices are loudest.” The writer brushes off the advice of Jean-Pierre and continues sitting silently in the dark. Jean-Pierre sits too.

     Out of the darkness behind the writer appears a sixteen-legged bug the size of a small dog, two brothers, a couple, and a character resembling himself, but very different. The writer doesn’t notice the presence of the characters, until one of the brothers stands beside of him with a spoon of red sauce. The brother speaks to him, “hey, try this sauce.” The writer knows the brother, and exclaims, “ERIC!” Eric jumps back near his brother. The writer turns around in his swiveling chair. He sees all of his characters assembled behind him, in an infinitely deep darkness packed in tight like molecules of diamond.

     The writer looks to Jean-Pierre, the character still sitting beside him. He gives a thought to the advice given to him before. The writer ignores the characters and spins himself vigorously in the chair, back to his desk. The monitor before the writer glows brightly. Focus is obtained. The writer stares intently at the flashing cursor on the monitor and begins following the familiar path back to The Zone. The orchestra begins to play, and the characters follow the writer through the darkness and back into The Zone. The instant the writer sees the white hot core, the characters are mysteriously gone from behind him. The writer takes a deep breath and marches with a determined stride directly into the core, he is absorbed into the glow of the core.

     The doors open immediately for the writer and a familiar voice announces “Welcome back, stranger”. A moment of silence occurs. All is quiet for moments, then a hundred whispers can be heard. The hundred whispers grows in intensity to become a thousand conversations. The writer walks forward into the open white field. The voices become a million screams. The writer begins crying as he runs across the white space, searching for a way out, looking for a space to hide from the voices.

     The writer stops running out of exhaustion and drops to his knees, then yells at the top of his lungs, into the white sky “PLEASE…. LET…ME… OUUUUTT”. A bright flash of light distracts the writer as a tall woman appears in front of him and the voices all stop. The woman speaks to him “You wanted in here so badly and now you wish to exit?” the voice is familiar to the writer, the voice that has always greeted him when entering The Zone. The writer looks up and responds “Yes, I need out for a while”. “I will warn you, it won’t be easy once these doors close” threatens the woman. The writer thinks and then commits, “I accept that, but I can’t handle the pressure of them being open anymore”. The woman responds “Done.”

     The write finds himself back in his chair, in darkness and silence. He stands up, opens the curtain and exits the room, free from The Zone. He is protected from the excitement of the white hot core.

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing
Response:
Waking in the middle of the night
The room is dark
I am awake and I am sweating
My breathing is heavy
My thoughts are fuzzy
Thoughts that have been tossed around in a hurricane
I can’t get back to sleep
The thoughts are spinning
My body will not allow me to sleep
I hate this feeling
A feeling reminding me that my body is in control
This is not about love
Pure hormone controlled desire is the fuel
Shouldn’t an intelligent male be able to control the desire?
The room is cold, but I still sweat
Hot is the feeling of my body
I feel the heat in my face
A friend is asleep in the next room
If I could speak to my friend
I believe I would feel better
The embarrassment I feel prevents me
What if my friend thought it was strange?
My waking arousal makes me believe I am perverse

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing
Response:
The database
Composed of similar information
Complimentary structures make it possible
The tables are fortified
The records are consistent
Keys provide fast access to the array
Transition between the technical and the logical
All tables must interact with grace
Relationships form
The server makes a cache
Queries are used for communication
SELECT will return all matching records
INSERT will tell the database something new
UPDATE makes it easy to adjust things
DELETE is a harsh instruction
Simple queries use a single table
With joins the power of the query is multiplied
Like an elephant a database never forgets
It is eukaryotic organism
The structures are modular
All components have a purpose
Each component makes an impact
Data goes in, data goes out
Logic and technology in the most complimentary relationship
The database

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing
Response:
My boots are leather
They are black and shiny
Standing one foot tall
From collar to heel
The surface is smooth
Leather near the toe is soft
Wrinkles along the forefoot
Showing their age
These boots have been with me
For several years
I’ve worn them for working
In the yard and in the garden
They have been with me
In my studio and out for a midnight walk
My boots are special to me
I wear them for most everything
Keeping my feet safe
Becoming so familiar
For what my boots do for me
I take care of them well
Once per month they are oiled
Once each week they are polished
When they are finally worn out
I will have them restored
I have several pairs of boots
But these are my favorite.

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing
Response:
Laying on the floor
Abs are tensed
The muscles are on fire
Hundred reps feel like an hour
Sweat rolling off my body
Abs, chest and biceps glistening
The more crunches I do,
The more the feeling builds
Somewhere between excruciating pain
And absolute ecstasy
Feeling of accomplishment with every new rep
Ignoring my body’s resistance to movement
Overcoming my mental limits for this type of pain
Pressing forward towards my goal
I must accomplish this
For myself I must persist
Through all of the sweat, tears, pain and even blood
I am the only one who can accomplish this goal for me

Assignment:
Journal Free Writing – Experience In The Garden
Response:
Beginning of July
Everything is so green
The garden is a sea of green
Green leaves are everywhere
The smell is definitely of tomato
Though none of the familiar red berries are near
Overgrown bushes overpower the garden fragrance
Bright yellow blossoms give promise of fruit to come
Cucumbers are growing long and firm
Hanging on the garden fence
Immature vegetables are thin and prickly
If plucked, they would be very bitter
Zucchini and yellow squash
Carrots and Peppers
All growing so well
Okra trees, six feet tall
Nothing in the garden is ready
Just the cucumbers
I have cucumbers up to my ears
I hate cucumbers!