Friday, April 8, 2011

Final Story

Allie Moore


P.2

Final Creative Writing Story



“Kids, your mother and I have very exciting news for you!” Mark turned to his family at the dinner table. “The first payment for the lease went through at the empty building on the corner! We can start that restaurant we’ve always dreamed of!”

The five, seven, and ten year olds jumped up and down like kangaroos. This had been something the family had wanted for a long time. Mark had always dreamed of opening up a Greek restaurant to honor all of his Greek ancestors. He had gone through years of cooking school, but they never quite had the resources to be able to afford a building. His wife Lisa had been working for years to be able to help her husband’s dream. She was going to quit her job after the restaurant was established so she could just be there for her family. Hopefully it would be enough.

The next few days were filled with a million meetings with interior designers, contractors, and health inspectors. Everyone in the area would walk by the building and wonder in excitement about what the empty space would be. Everything would be done in about ten months. Mark’s family helped with any painting and tiling they could to help the contractors get it done faster. The kids Jane, Christy, and Tom would bring the contractors sandwiches everyday to make sure they were happy! For the next ten months, everything was pretty happy in their small town of Stonefort. Lisa would be able to quit her job in about a year, too!

The interior of the restaurant had a green and white color scheme. Every table had fresh flowers, white tablecloths, and black chairs. There were pictures and maps on the walls from Mark and Lisa’s adventures to Greece. People would walk through the double doors, down a short hallway, and into smaller-sized dining room. The doors to the kitchen were immediately to the left of the door entering the dining room. The family hoped they would be able to extend the walls of their dining room after a few months.

The restaurant opened, finally, exactly ten months from the start of the project. People waited at the door to enter and finally taste Mark’s famous homemade pita bread and gyros. The menu had a wide variety of Greek salads, cheese, chicken and lamb gyros, Moussaka (eggplant casserole), among many other different kinds of ethnic Greek foods. All the people living in the area raved about the food at the restaurant. Food critics and newspapers rolled in after a few months. All the critics loved the food, and the newspapers wrote extraordinary reviews telling everyone to eat there when in the area. Mark and his family were ecstatic.

Lisa was still working her job at this point, just until the remodel. She didn’t really like working at the publishing house, but it did help out the family a great deal. If they were able to pocket most of the income from the restaurant, they could use her income to pay for the remodel. They would have a bigger restaurant which would mean more customers. More customers meant more money for the family. She was happy to see her husband so happy.

Five months later, Mark and Lisa decided that they had enough money to go through with the renovation. They would shut down the restaurant for two weeks.

Five day into the renovation, Mark received a call in the middle of the night. There was a fire at the restaurant! The cause was from the gas line running to the main stove. Mark rushed over to the building immediately while Lisa stayed home with the kids. He talked to a police officer. The officer explained that he wouldn’t be able to go inside until it had been inspected and deemed structurally sound. Mark just had to wait for the call.

After two quiet days in the house, Mark received the call from the inspector. He was able to go into the restaurant now. Lisa went with him while the kids stayed with their grandma. They passed through the door and into the burnt dining room. The once white tablecloths were now black, the flowers gone, and the chairs now matched the whole room. The green walls had a darker tint to them. Everything in the kitchen had been eaten by the flame. The couple started tearing up as they saw their creation was ruined.

People from all over the city came to Mark’s house to offer sympathy. He knew he had a lot of support, but he was still disappointed that his dream was not in reach at the moment. He wondered if he would ever get the restaurant back. The next day, the insurance company got in touch with Mark. If they wanted to repair it, they would have to pay $50,000 in damages. Clearly, they didn’t have that kind of money.

People in the town would walk past the building and hope they could eat at Mark’s restaurant again in the future. It was a shame that such a great place would have such an unfortunate event happen.

Lisa and Mark talked about it a bit and decided that Lisa should keep her job and they should wait a while to open the restaurant again. The whole family was disappointed as they wondered if they would actually be able to open the successful restaurant again.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Creative Writing

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It was fun to be able to just take a break in the day to write. In the morning, I have a little more energy but I find it harder to focus on classes with a lot of precision like physics or math so early. Taking two writing classes this quarter made me enjoy writing a lot more and made me realize I'm better at it than I thought I was. It was interesting to learn about technology tools for writing. My favorite part of the class was doing lyrics everyday. This class overall made writing about anything at all seem more accessible. I had always been a little afraid of writing because I thought there was always going to be someone better at it than me, but now I see that it doesn't really matter. Anyone can do it, and anyone can get better at it.

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I probably would have enjoyed this class a little more if it wasn't on the computer. Personally, I like just having  pen and paper and then typing when necessary. I know this is different for many people, though. I liked the times when we learned about technology tools, but I thought they kind of took over the class. We would spend a lot of time learning about tools that I probably wouldn't use. I like the idea of having a blog, but I would just prefer writing on my own, privately. Another thing about this class was that I didn't feel like I got a lot of feedback about my writing. It was a really good pair with Advanced Composition because I got a lot of feedback, and then could use it in this class, but it would have been nice to have two sources of that. Just taking a little more time for general things like a review of how to use dialogue in stories would have helped a lot.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Food

A couple of years ago, I was really craving potstickers. I had made them before so it wasn't really a big deal. I was on the phone with the guy I was dating at the time and then all of a sudden the pan start smoking really badly. The smoke alarm started going off and it was really embarrassing to have to get my sister to stop freaking out by explaining what was going on, the potstickers to stop burning, and then go to the garage to stop the fuse box all while on the phone with this guy. He pretty much still laughs at me whenever we talk. I'm never going to live that down apparently.

Then, another time, I was making macaroni and cheese and I forgot to put water in the pot. More smoke alarm time. Fun stuff. I melted part of the pan.

Despite all of this, I'm actually a good cook. I'm not lying. Seriously! Ha.

As far as other food experiences go, I am apparently really sensitive to germs in food and have had like five different cases of food poisoning. The worst of it was probably in sophomore year and I was throwing up for like four days because of some milk. I basically sat at home for that time and consumed only gatorade because for whatever reason, it's one of the only things that calms down my stomach. That is one of the worst feelings in the world. Ew.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Restaurant

I've always liked the idea of opening an old 80s diner. I'd have all my waiters and waitresses skate on old roller skates to serve everyone. They'd also wear older clothes to look like they're in the 70s! There would be old hangings on the walls and the whole place would have a light blue and red color scheme. There would be one long counter for people to sit on and a bunch of tables with smooth red upholstery. Kind of a stereotypical diner. The hangings would show tacky things like the day it first opened and the first dollar earned in a special frame. People would be able to sit at the counter or at tables to order a burger, fries and a shake. The place would be really family friendly so everyone could enjoy their time there. And, what is a 70s diner without a jukebox!? People could pick whatever they want to play. That way the diner would seem even more lively. I'd want the diner to be near/on a pier so that it could look out at the water. It would be a fun stop along the way for families just wanting to have some relaxed fun.

Monday, April 4, 2011

The monster under the coffee table!

Well, looking back on it, throwing that chair probably wasn't the best decision I've ever made. But hey, there was a freaking monster in the floor! I wasn't really sure what was going on, but next thing I knew, the floor was moving from underneath my coffee table. My first reaction was to grab the chair from next to it and throw it down. The monster came out from under the rug! I ran behind the wall connecting the living room and kitchen. As it turns out, my imagination went a little wild and my cat was actually under the new rug NEXT to the coffee table. Whoops... Harry wasn't too happy that I tried throwing a chair at him. Luckily, I missed and it wasn't too much of a drama. He's still mad at me, but I've given him a new thing of catnip everyday this week. Then, I scratch him behind the ears when he's just about to fall asleep so it makes him purr. He really likes when I do that. Hopefully we'll be able to work through this and be better by the end of the week. We have to go to my best friend's house next week so our cats can play together. I don't want harry to put up a fit and attack her cat. That would probably get ugly. Who wants a catfight? But hey, Harry would totally win. He wins every time. I love my kitty.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Science Fiction

Allie Moore


Creative Writing Story

Blue, black, and green lights were flashing all over the science lab of Dr. Savoy. The power had shut itself off moments before. The mad scientist was yelling out of anxiety that he would lose all of his progress on his projects. His most prized 100-year-old experiment was a cryogenically frozen woman. His great grandfather started the experiment, hoping that he would be able to test the woman’s reaction after 200 years. He heard a huge thud from the next room over.

Dr. Savoy ran into the room and saw the experiment broken onto the floor. There was a loud beep. Dr. Savoy directed his attention to the pressure gauge of the tube the woman was once frozen in. It was off the gauge. He gathered that there was too much pressure, and the tube with the woman burst. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye! All of a sudden, the woman was on her feet and looked extremely distressed. She bolted to the door. He started to chase her, but was too slow as she slipped out the door.

The woman was able to get out of the laboratory and make enough turns around the busy city to get the crazy professor off her tracks. She had no clue where she was. Exhausted, she decided to sit down by a tree in a park. A woman running past noticed she looked very confused and stopped to talk to her.

“Uh, hey, are you okay? I know I don’t know you, but you look pretty rough right now…” The jogger said. She helped her up. “I’m Andy.”

“My name is Celeste. Do you know where we are right now? It’s a long story, but I don’t even know what’s going on in my life right now” The woman hesitated, but had lost all other hope.

“Why don’t you let me help you out? You can come back to my place for a bit to clean up and maybe I can help you figure out whatever it is you’re confused about.” said Andy.

Celeste studied Andy’s face. She had pin-straight blonde hair. Her face had a thick layer of caked-on makeup. Her blue eyes were emphasized by the heavy black eyeliner. However, through all that, she looked vaguely familiar. Celeste agreed to go with Andy to her apartment. It was her only hope to figure out what was going on.

As they walked together through the city, Celeste noticed that nearly everyone looked the same. All the women had pin straight hair and the same amount of makeup as Andy. They all looked like clones of each other. They had tight clothing, small surgically corrected noses, and dainty figures. The men were all built. They had a lot of muscle and there didn’t seem to be any extreme flaws to them. She overheard conversations about how easy getting plastic surgery all over their bodies seemed, about all the diets they had tried, and bashing parts of themselves that they didn’t like and planned on changing. Everyone looked like they were in about their 30s, or younger. All the billboards and advertisements around the city looked like all of the people. Celeste realized she was in an extremely different place than she was used to.

They arrived at Andy’s apartment which was filled with extremely new looking furniture.

“Wow, did you just refurnish your apartment?” asked Celeste.

“Nah, the furniture is two weeks old. It’s getting outdated. I have to have the newest and greatest things. I’m going shopping later,” replied Andy.

Celeste had figured out that people viewed themselves a lot differently than she was used to. This new world was filled with more insecurity and obsession with having the newest thing. Was that where her world was heading too?

She strolled past Andy’s fridge, and the calendar caught her eye. She read the date: November 11th, 2111. She fell over from the shock. Andy rushed over and figured that time would be the best time to start discussing what was going on.

“Well, I woke up on the floor of some strange laboratory. All of a sudden, there was a scientist chasing me. I figured it wasn’t a good place to be if he had reacted that way, so I got out of there as fast as I could. Last I checked it was 2011. Do you have any idea what could be going on with me?” Celeste struggled to find her words.

“Well I don’t know, but maybe we should go to the scientist and confront him about whatever it is that is going on.” suggested Andy.

They both agreed and began to walk back to the laboratory. All the conformity that Celeste noticed stuck out to her even more. Were people really this concerned with their looks?

As they continued to walk over to the laboratory, they saw Dr. Savoy running toward them. Celeste started sweating and tensing up. What would he do to her? He grabbed onto her and started yelling.

“Woman, you need to get back into my lab. I can’t let you get hurt or else the entire experiment is destroyed a lot of bad things could happen.” He screamed at her. He turned and saw Andy’s face and went completely pale. “What? You two found each other? Oh my gosh. How am I going to explain this to them? Oh my gosh. I am so dead.”

“I think you have a lot you need to explain here.” said Celeste. “I really need to know why all of a sudden I’m in a different year than I remember being in.”

“Okay, well you two should just come in and I can explain everything.” said the Professor.

They hesitated, but took the risk. The two women followed him in. He told them to sit down on the chairs in his break room as he made a phone call. After a few minutes, he came back in and was started to explain everything.

“Okay, well I know this isn’t going to make a whole lot of sense, but you’ve been part of an experiment for the past 100 years. You have been cryogenically frozen, so we could do a case study on incorporating the past and the subject’s future. You weren’t supposed to get out of that tube for another 100 years.” explained Dr. Savoy.

“So, how do I play into this exactly?” asked Andy.

“Well, I’ll just have the agency explain that…” Dr. Savoy trailed off.

There was a knock on the door, and three tall men in slick and shiny black suits stood there. They held up their badges that read GABS, for Governmental Agency of Beauty Sciences. As the professor stepped aside to talk to the men, Andy was able to talk to Celeste alone.

“Okay, well that’s the agency that controls pretty much everything about society. They have the most authority out of anyone. They control what advertisements can be published; make sure there aren’t any individuals who stick out too much, and anything else that needs to be done. Their power is pretty much limitless. But I have no clue why they’d be here.” explained Andy.

The men and Dr. Savoy came into the room Andy and Celeste were in. The men looked extremely cautious, but nonetheless began explaining the situation.

“Well, our branch of the government hired Dr. Savoy’s grandfather to start the experiment the professor told you about. We wanted to test the effects of how you would react to your surroundings in a different place in time. It would cause a lot of breakthroughs for our time travel kit that we are planning to release to the public. However, we couldn’t just wipe out your existence in 2011. The minute you were frozen as part of the experiment, the “slot” with your life was empty. It was illegal for that to be empty, because then it would appear as if we killed you. So then, we filled your slot with Andy. We scientifically created her not to age, so that she would never be able to die, and your life slot would be in tact until you came into the world again. This means that Andy will soon have to leave the world shortly, because you came out of the tube too early.” explained one of the men.

This took a while for Celeste to be able to process.

“So, what happens now?” asked Celeste.

“The only way that you and Andy can both stay alive, is if you are sent back in time, back to 2011. This must happen very quickly. Fortunately, Dr. Savoy has been improving this technology.” said the other man.

Dr. Savoy dragged out the machine. Celeste and Andy had to say their goodbyes. Celeste jumped into the machine, and reflected on everything she had seen. She knew she had moments where she was obsessed with and hated how she looked. If those thoughts continued, is this where society would be in 100 years? She made it a goal to love herself more, and spread that word to everyone else. She didn’t want the world to look like how she had just seen it. Celeste closed her eyes and saw light through her eyelids. She woke up back in her room in 2011. The machine disappeared after she stepped out of it. It was her first step to making a difference in the world.

Parachute

Behind her the noise escalated. The two friends she was with were cheering louder and louder. She was about to jump off the small plane and into the open sky. She had always toyed with the idea of going skydiving, but would never have guessed that her friends were forcing her to go on her birthday. She took the dive off the plane, finally. She had never felt so free. The world opened up around her. Cities and lakes gradually got bigger and bigger as gravity pulled her in. Finally, the man helping her pulled the chute and they floated slowly back down to earth.