Dream poetry

I've been keeping a dream diary for over a year now. It's fun and enlightening but possibly a little bit useless. I thought about maybe publishing my dreams when I'm a prolific author instead of an autobiography - however, I've been told nobody wants to read pages and pages of fragmented scenes and incidents. Aw man.

Ever since I did Psychology in sixth form, I formed an interest in it and follow the tweets of a psychology website. One of the tweets recently directed me to this article. I'll wait a while if you want to skim-read it.

Done? Okay good, let's move on.

Ley City Runners - part III (final)

Four of them emerged from electronic portals rising from the ground, snarling in their programmed tone, robotic eyes flashing angrily. They were all sparking wires and clumsily bolted joints. The tranquil feel of the park evaporated the instant the relaxed families saw the cyberdogs and reached for their children, shuffling to safety while Astra swept Rigel up in her arms once more and broke out into a run.

The cyberdogs were after her right away, their ugly faces morphed in vicious attack mode. Sharp metal teeth threatened to rip into Astra’s legs if she slowed down. Her eyes cast about for anything that would give her inspiration for an escape plan. A branch, a hedge, a tower-

A tower. A transmission tower pole was perfect. Now she knew where she was running to, Astra’s speed picked up and she was going at full pelt towards the tower. The huge structure dominated an entire edge of the Sen Eugena Park with its intricate twisted metal features. It didn’t look particularly dangerous and that was the beauty of it.

Ley City Runners - part II

Hovercrafts raced past, the reflective surfaces shimmering from the light of the orange sun. The air was muggy, despite hydrogen gas being the only fuel and Astra found herself marvelling at the inconsistency. They were near the top of the city now so she expected the quality of the view to have improved greatly. Aside from being able to see the bottom of Ley City in all its grungy brown glory, being on the roof offered Astra no comfort. She looked up and was inspired in part by the glimmering glass decorating the exterior of the buildings at the top of Ley City. The wealth divide was ever-present.

“Hold it! You’ve got nowhere else to go, lady.” Astra spun around; building security stood at the door leading from the stairs, an electric dagger in one hand, holographone in the other. A flickering miniature of the police officers downstairs projected from it, ordering the quivering gentleman to detain the suspect. The security guard advanced on Astra, causing her to back away. They moved in a cautious dance of intimidation until the backs of Astra’s legs touched the low wall surrounding the roof. Trapped.

Ley City Runners - part I

Another losing competition entry. This one was more prestigious so I'm not really surprised I didn't even make it on to the short-list (still, a speical mention would have been nice). I guess when it comes to the Commonwealth, my writing isn't at the top of the food chain. I've split it into three parts because it's quite long for one of my usual posts.

Ley City Runners

Loud stall owners yelled above the clamour of the mid-afternoon shoppers, desperate for a sale before the day drew to a close. Astra and her son dodged between the shoppers and late commuters, passing a sea of disgruntled and grim faces while they focused on minding their own business. Rigel, the boy struggling to keep up with his mother, winced when he glimpsed a dirty young android mechanic being beaten by his employer. Rigel was dragged onwards by his mother as she marched over to the trading end of the market.

Script writing

I've actually had enough of Marvel and their lack of female superheroes as the main focus in their TV shows and films. Women are always in the supporting role and I'm sick of it. Do the people in charge have no knowledge of the comic books? Where are Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Lady Sif, Scarlet Witch, Wasp - where is the love of my life, She-Hulk??

I've only seen about three episodes of Disney XD's cartoon series Avengers Assemble but I understood that the cast is made up of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Falcon and Black Widow. Hey look, a token woman! (Don't even get me started on the ethnic "diversity" of the group). I tweeted and emailed Disney XD about their lack of gender representation, highlighting the fact that as a show about superheroes, Black Widow doesn't even count because she doesn't have any superpowers and-

I'm going to stop myself there before this develops into a full blown rant.

Disney XD's twitter account only has like five tweets; I wasn't expecting much from that platform so wasn't surprised when I didn't get a reply. Their email account on the other hand did reply to me, claiming they had passed on my comments to the creative team who would consider them. Yeah, I bet they'd passed on my comments. And humans will soon evolve to not have toenails.

In the mean time, I've decided to take things into my own hands. In the midst of intense procrastination, I began a new project: plotting the script for a She-Hulk film.

Ask a question, get the answer (and more)

This week, I discovered Orange is the New Black, the Netflix show. I was aware of it prior to this week, obviously, but didn't care much for the hype surrounding it. I'm like that with most popular things: ignore them until they go away. I decided to check out the first episode because my mum's friend compared me to Suzanne a.k.a Crazy Eyes which got me intrigued.

After the first episode, I was hooked. It was no longer about wanting to know who Crazy Eyes was - it was about the stories, the women, the kitchen drama! For a show about women in prison, it has some pretty hilarious parts. I stayed up until after midnight watching the season finale, sending my friend a live feed of my reactions via messaging. The cliffhanger was too much for me to handle and sent me into a spiral of obsession.

That obsession recently manifested itself in a poem, which my creative writing group of friends thought was about me before I explained it was from the perspective of the main character in Orange is the New Black.

Scared of Who I Am

Am I not myself locked behind these walls?

I had no need for hidden trades of contraband

To earn an apple that was fresh once,

When I was on the outside.

I did not use these crude blunt words

Or threaten others with my eyes;

Everything is different now and I do what I can to survive.

The worst would be if I were myself in here,

That *this* is who I am:

The girl with limp hair whose dull eyes invade my privacy

Each time I catch sight of a grim mirror.

This girl who could be me has stolen, fought, intimidated, broken hearts, used, tattled and more.

Who is she? Is she me?

Do I like her - and if I do, is that wrong?

Please get me out.

A different kind of writing

I've finished classes for the year already. All I have left to do for my second year of uni is hand in six essays (four of which I've done) and sit two exams - completing them all to a pass grade. It's a scary prospect to think that I'm basically done. Another year and the whole degree will be over. What will I do with my time??

Existential crisis aside, I've come to appreciate a different form of creative writing. Those two exams I mentioned last paragraph? I've started revising for them already (they're in May). And... I sort of like it. I mean, I know it's just copying out facts and quotes to help me formulate a coherent response in the exam - it's not a recreational activity I would choose on my days off. Yet, it does have a creative element to it, mostly because I'm a big fan of doing colourful thought clouds. I also doodle little images that relate in part to what I need to remember.

If I'm going to be stuck inside doing revision, I might as well enjoy it, right?