R.J.
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Posts posted by R.J.
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Little Things
Little things—like the brief second
When your hand makes contact with mine,
Or the moment when you close your eyes
And I can freely, really, look at you—
Whisper into the cracks of my stone resolve.
And I find myself yielding
Inch by inch—turning seconds to minutes,
Waiting for the moment you’d open your eyes
Just to catch a glimpse of what they hide.
But.
The fear of the unknown blinds,
And I’d never know whether the little things
To you remain as little things,
The way they tower over my consciousness,
Or not.
Or not.
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Thanks, Camy :D I'm still not sure I intended for this not to be bleak though...
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April Fools' Day, My Ass!by R. J. SantosThey say a picture paints a thousand words.So, imagine my shock when I came home to clothes, two sets of them, scattered across the living room of the apartment I shared with my boyfriend, making a trail that led to our bedroom. I thought that picture right there was worth a million words. But try as I might, my jumbled mess of a mind couldn't come up with even one.I stood frozen at the door for a moment, just unable to think of what to do, until I heard a crash from inside the bedroom followed by laughter. My shock instantly burned into anger, recognizing the owner of the other voice. And though I was naturally a coward, I found myself nearly unhinging the door to our bedroom."They're naked", was the first thought in my mind upon entering the room, immediately followed by a couple of homicidal ones. They were quick to cover themselves up with blankets though, before laughing and screaming "APRIL FOOLS' DAY!" at the top of their lungs.I was just totally and utterly aghast.Then, I was angrily striding across the room and picking up the other guy, my brother, by his armpits. "April Fools' Day, my ass!" I told him, before knocking him back down the bed with a punch.I threw my boyfriend a look before slamming shut each door I came into contact with on my way out of the apartment.
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Thanks guys. I don't know if I'd ever write more on this - though I do want to - because it's scary! If I do though, might be a year or two from now, just because it's constantly inside my head. As for the ending, I don't know, James. It felt complete to me when I wrote it.
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Facing Extinction
by R. J. Santos
"But, your majesty, sending people to the surface had already been done before, and all attempts had failed!" Lord Guvert of the Toser Valley was pleading.
"Our kind could hardly exist outside of the polar waters, my king. But the surface─it would be suicide!" piped in another lord, who sat down on his chair after his interjection almost as if he had lost all strength to stand. Immediately, worried chatter began to spread across the royal hall among the Council of Lords even in the presence of King Arcttus XVII.
He allowed it. After all, the worries they had right then were the same worries he had when he first thought of the plan, the only plan he could think of to prevent his species' extinction. It didn't matter if the Council would not agree. He was the king, and they knew it.
Silence reigned the moment he raised his right hand. He stood up from his throne, swallowed the lump in his throat, and began to address the Council.
"Lords of the South Pole, it has been decades since our brothers from the North Pole had started migrating to our waters, decades since the North Pole's ice began to melt and lessened the habitable waters for our brothers. Although it may take centuries before we realize the direness of this situation, we are now faced with the same threat.
"The surface of the Earth is uninhabitable to us, but there, we could find a solution. Humans have the technology to help us make habitable places, but asking help from them poses the problem of our discovery and the danger of possible exploitation of our people when that happens. Being able to go to the surface means nothing. We need to make contact, and we need to ask for help."
The hall broke out into loud objection which almost made Arcttus grin with amusement. Like what his father had said, the Council would be afraid of things they've never heard or thought of.
He raised his right hand again. "Of course, we won't go into anything without careful planning. We will spend a lot of time observing and studying who to approach. The humans have built bases up there, and many of us have observed them before. As far as paying for their technology, we all know we are richer than them. The only impediment before us is if they say no, and even then, we will only move on to the next person. Besides, the rumors that we have human contacts are indeed true, but only the king, the kings before him, and his successor know their identities. I can assure you that once we're able to send them a message, they will help us."
As if the Council wasn't stunned enough, Arcttus told them one more thing.
"Also, as a part of this plan, I hereby appoint myself the task of making contact with the humans. Council, I am sending myself."
Note: Some of you might have read this story before. :)
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Me too. I got the same email through my AD account. :)
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:D Hehe... no offense, but I don’t want to. Not anymore. I don’t like having to think of check lists, which I never had before starting to write anyway.
How about checking out one of my stories and telling me your thoughts about it (feel free to butcher it). The link is in my signature. I wrote most of those before having read any guideline. I don’t think they are bad, but I might be biased. :D If you think it's absolutely horrible, then I'd be glad to read the references you cited. :)
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I think these "guidelines" could get stifling. Before I started writing, I've never really read one of these "guidelines". All I knew was that a story is supposed to have a plot, characters, and a setting. That was all I knew. When I started writing, I just wrote according to the plot inside my head.
Back then, I can read a book in recreation. I read it and I only notice the characters and the plot, their "lives" -- those were what drew me to a story.
Now that I've read these "guidelines", I can't read a book without noticing if it's written in the first or third person (some in second), in the present or past tense. I don't like it. I just want to enjoy a story. So if I had known then what reading these "guidelines" would do, I never would've read them.
I'm glad though that I read these "guidelines" after I started writing, or I never would have. At least, I can say that it was my heart that I followed first.
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Hi guys!
Hi Blue!
I just want to say that the blogs look awesome!
Really awesome!
!
!
:D!
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I based my observation on the population of both India and China (just look at how much time it took them to get to their numbers right now). From what I had read of Dan's story, it sounded like there are at least 20 human-occupied planets (all of The Kingdom, Republic, and Federation governments). Reading what Dan wrote of how he figured out the population by that time, I could agree with his numbers if the people actually have no odds against them. But what is natural life without odds?
Still, I'm only just nit-picking.
I like the plot. I especially like the debate of whether clones have souls -- I think it's a brilliant, brilliant take on human nature and how religion works. The population bugs me, but hey, a lot of things about the story could bug other people.Rad
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The only thing I disagree with Dreams is the population of humans. I can't remember the exact dates, but Dan dated the story at about 2400 or 3400 -- I'm not so sure. But even with the latter date, I have trouble believing that the population could explode that much. Right now, 2008, we only have one planet where we live in. In Dreams, there are three main planets, and each of those governments also have a bunch of planet colonies. Besides these governments, there are also the space nomads and their various clans.
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I think Dan has a thing for teenagers in authority. Except for Mists of Fate, his stories tend to be that. And I don't mean a bad thing about it, just an observation.
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Thanks, Pecman. I plan to keep on going, like that Energizer bunny.
It took me a while, but I'm glad I was able to snap myself out of my funk.
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Hey guys,
No big announcement really. Just thought I'd inform everyone (who's concerned) that I had changed my pen name from Rad Steven to RJ. I hope there'd be no confusion about this in the future.
For anyone curious about my reasons, please read this blog entry of mine: "Amazing Grace".
Thanks.
:)
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OMG!
Chapter two is already available. And I'll be reading it as soon as I can.
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Not that I'm defending the Muslims, but I think that they became used to thinking that a man is always superior to a woman, and therefore with most of man-vs-woman conflicts, it would always be the woman who is at fault regardless of whatever the circumstances are BECAUSE good Muslim men can't sin. Unlike man-vs-man conflicts, where investigations tend to be impartial, most of the time. I'm not sure if what I said is an accurate definition of the Muslim way of thinking, but if it is, then I can understand why it was the woman who was condemned in the example AJ gave. It's almost like the story of Mary Magdalene, the prostitute. She's a prostitute; therefore, the men who "goes" with her pays her and should have been considered as sinful as she was. But it was only her that was almost stoned to death.
I don't think it is an "American attitude" to promote individual attitude, or to promote it more than the rest of the world. For me, it is a basic human attitude, because at the end of the day, no matter what one society says, an individual only has himself and would do everything to protect his interests, whether it be a pet dog or his entire family. Though sometimes, one's interests are totally different from what we think is right, and that's not all; he also finds a few who shares his views. But are they wrong? I think they are. But they also think I, too, am wrong with my views.
To go back to AJ's questions... for me, no one has the right to impose his views on another -- we already had Hitler for that. And if there is an absolute set of ethical standards which apply across all cultures, I hope it would be "respect". I think respect alone -- for every individual -- is enough to live in harmony with anyone. Sadly, that seems to be too hard for some people.
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I've only experienced an earthquake once, a weak one, but it was in a multiple story building, so it was still a bit scary. Anyway, I hope all of you living in the area are okay. :)
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WTF, are these people so bigoted and stupid?
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I didn't get the impression that this is a "protagonist" story. To me, this is a story about the town/city where this story takes place. Jake was just the first domino, and the one that will cause the change. (I even expected him to die - sorry, Cole.)
And EVERY chapter Cole writes is a cliffhanger, regardless if it's technically not.
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Yeah. Superhero is really super. It's one of those stories that had me saying "wow!" after reading the last word.
I can't make up my mind about the protagonist though. I suspect I never will, unless Graeme himself tells us what he thinks of the character. If by mixed, Graeme, you mean that the readers felt the character was either insane or a real "superhero", then add me to the fence straddlers group. What's even more great about the story is that it was narrated so casually, and the effect was really great.
I'll post again after reading Bruin's.
:)
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I don't find this as annoying as the fabricated evil character with no saving graces whatsoever.
The perfect hero is frustrating, but at least he is a worthy fantasy.
Better if he has a fault or a vulnerability, I will agree.
But I would rather read about a fantasy Robin Hood, than the drug-crazed, raping, murderer, thief who has no quality with which I can empathise except the outward appearance of being related to the human race.
I just don't give a hoot if this fellow gets himself in a jam or killed or not.
But give him just an ounce, (or a gram), a smidgen of compassion for even just his pet mouse and I will watch/read.
Too many of these evil characters have not been given a justification for their attitude problem. We don't even get informed of their motivation for any of their desires or actions. Without that human interest, I don't care if they rob, steal or cheat, because for me they aren't as real as the make believe hero, who at least wants to maintain his perfect world.
I agree. I *HATE* uber wicked antagonists without any motivation at all. I would understand if he was actually a psycho who had the most traumatic childhood, but when he just does all those evil things just because the author needs an antagonist, it becomes unbelievable. The character becomes totally unnecessary.
As for the most believable wicked antagonists, for me, Grasshopper over at IOMFATS does them very well IMHO.
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I usually don't read this kind of thread because it makes me paranoid of my own writing. But I was bored, and I shouldn't have been. Anyway, most of stuff listed here are stuff I saw on some of the stories I like. But anyway, list on.
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After all, I think he's gonna be better off, safer and less likely to reoffend or develop more destructive inclinations if he's around people who are decent
Exactly.
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I think that the prosecutors are looking too much at making a sample out of Brandon.
I agree with Cole that he should not be tried as an adult. We should have faith that people, even the worst kind, can change, and throwing away their chance at a young age is too heavy a punishment. Rick is right. There simply is no perfect solution. But 50 years? I'm sure Brandon knew that what he did was wrong - more than wrong - but he is not a murderer. He wasn't brought up to kill people. He was brought up in an environment where certain people are hated, and because of that, he acted out. Not that the hate made it alright to kill, but that it made it easier to kill. But doesn't he have the right to repent and change his ways? He has the rest of his life to pay for the murder, maybe not in prison, but he will be carrying the guilt of taking another person's life in his conscience until his death.
I disagree with WBMS though. If what Larry was doing was sexual harassment, then girls flirting with gays is sexual harassment too! :D
Nevertheless, I agree with the lawyer that the murder was partly the school's fault. Though for me, it wasn't because of Larry's flirtation, but because Brandon was able to slip the gun past the school's gates. Of course, I'm assuming here that the school has guards at their gates.
I like the plot. I especially like the debate of whether clones have souls -- I think it's a brilliant, brilliant take on human nature and how religion works. The population bugs me, but hey, a lot of things about the story could bug other people.
It took me a while, but I'm glad I was able to snap myself out of my funk.
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Little Things
in Poets' Corner
Posted
:) Thank you, guys. Glad you like it.