Decisions

Well, yesterday in athletics, just before we went outside in 32* weather to run our butts off, Coach Crite came up to me and asked if I would like to play basketball. Astounded, I told her that I would think about it. I was in volleyball, but we ran so much that we never won a single game. Just goes to prove how much PRACTICE helps.
Anyway, so that night I lay in my bed, staring at my ceiling, waiting for an answer to come to me. I hate athletics, but if I'm going to pull through it for the rest of the year, then I might as well play a sport. I climbed out of my bed and walked to the corner that I stored my old basketball shoes. I looked at them, fingering the Nike checkmark. I sighed, my brain clogged with the two ways to go. Basketball? Or time to write? I know how much that coach made us run for volleyball... but Basketball is a running sport.
I moved into my chair at my desk and took out a sheet of paper. I wrote down what I was doing. Nothing in particuar. Just about the staring and the shoes and then I remembered the last basketball game that I was in. We were playing against the team that was our enemies.
To this day, I still don't know what happened. Maybe it was because I knew it was my last basketball game. Maybe it was the fact that my cousin- the baseball/football/basketball star of the district was watching from the stands and I wanted to show him that I could play sports too. Maybe it was because of the other team- who had spray-painted and egged our school just the night before.
I don't know what it was, but I had an unfamiliar sensation rush over me. The want- the need- to win.
I came back to my bedroom and looked at my paper. I knew what I wanted to do. I put my basketball shoes on my table so they'd already be out for the following day.
I don't know if that was the right decision- I'll probably regret it after the first week. But after I feel what it's like to win again, then I'll know what it's like. And I'll be with my friends and away from the off-season girls who honestly don't care. I guess I'll live through all the running. :)
So did I make a good decision? Yes. I think I did. And I don't care what anyone else thinks.

2011!!

In about an hour, it will be New Years Eve... almost the end of 2010. I love New Years. It's a chance for a new beginning, but where would we be without all the chaos that happened over the past year? Here's a little year-in-review... song in the tune of the Can-Can rhythm...

2010, this is farewell...
About to ring a brand new bell!
We will miss you, yes we will
But what about those crazy times?

Iran has a bombing threat,
Our country cannot pay it's debt!
I wonder what will happen next!
In 2011!............

This has been a crazy year, year!
With friends we hold dear, dear!
So let us begin! (la la la la la la la!)

There was an oil spill, spill!
Healthcare= no pills, pills!
And people can't pay bills! (No, no, no, no!)

With nuclear threats, threats!
We cannot pay our debts, debts!
2010, you brought us such bad luck!

And now we are about to start all over,
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver!
Hopefully a solution is getting closer!

I know... I'm not a song writer... but that's not bad... ish! So have a safe New Year... and blah blah blah.... :)

Congrats!

I am proud to say that my bud on a website called KidPub.com was published!! I'm so proud of her (and a little jealous!) that she managed to get herself on FoxNews in Oklahoma and in the newspaper. Her book, Addy Love is available on Amazon.com and the KidPub bookstore. To get to that, you just have to go to the KidPub website and go to the bookstore option at the top of the page. Good job, Kay!

Well, as I was sitting here with the family, watching Shrek Forever After, I was awakened at how my vacation time is running out. I mean... I love school. Who wouldn't like being around friends and learn things about the world you live in? (Except Algebra. It can go to Hades and I would be celebrating like it was New Years Day if that happened.) But I mean... after a while, you snap into a routine.
Wake up super early and get dressed and ready to go.
Go to the school. Depending on the way you get there depends on how much fun you have.
With my case, I have to face the school officer before I go into school, and she gets on my nerves. If you don't have your school ID, you're sentenced to an awkward interrogation of "Well why don't you have it?"
"Uh... I just forgot it. I had a long night and a lot of homework and chores and-"
"Well why didn't you put it in your backpack?"
"Uh... well, I normally do, but-"
"You owe me a dollar for a temporary one."
When I walk into school, that's always the first thing I hear.
Then you have to go through your periods. Science- Meh. Algebra- bleh. Social Studies- fun, but hard. Band- we go through the same thing every day. High School band will be so much better. Health- don't know yet. New class. I had to take careers before taking Health. I'm not looking forward to it. L.A: Seriously? I have a 98 in that class!! :) And then there's athletics.
D:
That's all I have to say about that.
But anyway, that's my schedule every day. And when you go through that every single day except weekends, you want to pull your hair out. But if you go through the motions and just say Yes Ma'm and No sir and such, you're willing to be able to suffer through it.
Aw, who am I kidding? It's always the misbehaved people who make history.

Peace, Love, Write
~Shelby Becker

I'm sitting in my bed, a dolphin pillow pet behind my back. My brothers and sister are asleep and I should be too, but... I'm not one for sleeping. I mean, I'll go to sleep, but not naturally. I know, I know... when I get older and if I want to be a writer, I'm going to look back at these days and regret staying up so late for no real reason. But I guess I'm preparing myself for that. It's not going to be easy. The road's going to be rough and the people who love me are going to have to put up with the due dates and the sixty billion cups of coffee.
I have the same problem as always. I want to write, but there's that concrete wall with graffiti that reads "No writing here". I hate author's block. It makes me want to rip my hair out. Could you blame me?
Well, it's really late... and there's rustling in the room beside me. Within the next thirty seconds, I'm probably going to hear a little voice say, "She-ie?". I better fake being asleep.
Peace, Love, Write
~Shelby Becker

Practice

First of all, Merry Christmas! I hope that whoever's reading this had a good holiday.
Okay, so I was just sorta bored, and I decided to take a break from writing and read some of my work from 6th and 7th grade. I hate to admit that I laughed... a lot. It was pathetic... I misspelled so many words, the font was so big that my grandmother wouldn't have trouble reading it and the plot continued to change.
That was only two years ago. Maybe even one.
But something that I realized about my writing now: my vocabulary has expanded. My characters have their own personalities. My font's a lot smaller and more clean. And the plot is a lot (a lot!) more along the lines of the road map.
I guess what I'm trying to say is... practice really does make perfect. Sure, the moment you walk out on a basketball court, you can easily put the ball in the basket, or maybe the first time you have a song and a list of moves, you may be able to snap right into it and dance. But that doesn't mean it's good. Trust me, I speak from experience. But after you practice... it gets a lot better, believe me.
Here's a few paragraphs of my hopeless work:

The next morning, I opened my eyes. I must’ve fallen asleep, as well as Tiffany.

Tiffany was standing up, looking down at me. “Good morning, sleepy head.”

“Did I fall asleep last night?” I asked.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” She said, placing her hand over her cell phone, well, it wasn’t really a cell phone. It was her sword, disguised as a cell phone.

“Come on, Maria and Chris are probably wondering what’s taking us so long.” Tiffany said, grabbing the rope. She swung herself over it and made her way down the oak tree.

Last night, we were the lookouts, and that didn’t go too well. My worse enemy dropped in for a visit, and, bottom line, he tried to kill me and Tiffany.

I climbed down from the tree house without using the rope. I guess that was my monkey instinct working there, since I was the god of nature.

As soon as I landed on the ground next to Tiffany, she grunted and mused, “Ape.”

“Hey, apes don’t climb!” I exclaimed.

Tiffany chuckled and glared at me. “Race you to the Athena home?”

“You’re on.” I said. “No flying.” I reminded her. She grunted, but promised not to fly. Tiffany was the goddess of flight, but to me, she was still a daughter of Apollo.

Tiffany got ready and said, “Go!”

We sprinted to the bricked houses in the far distance. From the air, Tree House Island looked like a mere speck, but if you’re on the island, it’s huge. Or at least big enough to train the children of the gods.

------------------------------------------------

So yeah... compared with the other pieces of what I have written... this isn't good.

Right now, I'm listening to Celtic Women singing "You Raise Me Up" on YouTube. It's what I'm going to start doing every Christmas. They have such beautiful voices- something you don't see anymore. If you've never heard them, then go and look them up.

Well, that's pretty much it!

Peace, Love, Write

~Shelby Becker

Texas Bound!

Tomorrow my dad, his girlfriend and I embark on the crazy nine-hour road trip from Owasso, Oklahoma to Houston, Texas, which is where I live most of the time. I'm so excited. I guess you can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the girl.
Watching the Polar Express right now, for what seems to be the fiftiest time. I had it on continuous rerun last night while I was sleeping. I would wake up to the beautiful song "When Christmas Comes Around". I would smile to myself and go back to sleep to the lullaby.
But when I wake up to that know-it-all kid... I have to restrain myself from tossing a pillow across the room at my TV. I can't stand his voice. Oh, the thoughts that would race through my mind if the Polar Express came by my house! I wouldn't hesitate a heartbeat. Tom Hanks wouldn't even have time to give me the introduction.
My dad surprised me by cleaning up my room while I was in the shower tonight. Is it sad that I didn't notice until I was hanging up my bathrobe and realize that I wasn't tripping over dirty socks? I was able to see my floor. I had no idea it was tan carpet.
I'm thirteen. Don't judge me.
Well, I'm off to write some more of The Lost God. I might have to delete some of it, again. It's getting a little overwhelming for the reader and for the main character. I don't want everything to be revealed to him the first day of godlyhood (is that a word? No? Godlyhood is now a word, then).
Peace, Love, Write
~Shelby Becker