A Random One

So, without further adieu, the last poem I've been promising for a while:

Silhouetted Censorship
Through silhouetted eyes the world sees
Blinking lights glamour minds
Curving wires bind us to our universe
within a universe

Only seeing what we want

a bubble prison, never popping

Trapped by our own design

Never questioning content

Worshiping the Gods of silicon

Sacrificing time to Deities of the useless

Gorging on the meaningless

Creating monuments to nothing

The vast amount freedom

endless flow of information

has closed our minds

censoring ourselves

We see more

than we ever saw

We here more

than we ever heard

We do less

than we ever did

So, this poem wasn't written with any form in mind; like most of my previous, non-college poems. I just went with content and style. One day, when re-visiting my older poems, I may re-work this one into some type of form. I'm not sure how I'm going to address the older ones in the revision just yet. Regardless, I still like this one, and it's not really that hard to interrupt what I was going for, but I guess you could still see something different.

I wrote this one a few months back, I think. It was far before I considered jumping back into poetry writing as I still think there's not much to be done professionally with it; however, it has been very therapeutic; a big stress relief for the most part.

Now that I'm all out of already written poems, I'm going to have to get back to crafting some new ones!

Speaking of therapeutic, this blog has been pretty stress relieving as well. I'm pretty much only talking to myself most of the time as I don't think anyone else really sees it! Though, it's been pretty fun regardless. 

I really dig the social network stuff, too. Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and all that jazz. So much can be done with them. Just gotta master it!

So, I was watching extra credits again, and their topic on Gamification was awesome. I've thought long and hard about the concept and how it can fit into everyday life. I mean, there's so much I get done in games that could really be useful in real life. So, using gamification would be pretty awesome. I first thought about it when wanting to lose weight and how I could make a game of it. After that episode, I think I'm going to give it a shot again.

I didn't beat Infamous 2 last night, but I am so, so very close now. If I get to play today, I should be able to wrap it up. However, I do have some daily quests in WoW to do, and I kinda wanna play some CoD with Dawson. Not to mention a little minecraft. >_>

 Oh, and I have bills to go pay, some groceries to pickup, and gotta bring the headset back to ship off for a replacement. So much to do always! I also need more money, so I wonder if overtime will be available this week.

At least I got a bit read in the SC2 novel! Only 60 pages or so, but that's better than zero! It is really well written. People always trash talk the licensed novels like this one (including the WoW stories), but I've always been entertained and felt like they were pretty quality. I guess it depends on how much you enjoy the stories of the Blizzard Universe games, and I like them. Which is why I'd like to write in them!

Anyway, poem down! I think I have some HTML to review! Later!

Blank Verse

And I'm back! Later than I thought, but here nonetheless. I'm actually about to go to bed because I'm going to continue with Overtime tomorrow and Sunday. But, tonight, I bring you my Blank Verse poem recently crafted for my poetry project. Blank verse doesn't have a rhyme scheme, but usually is in iambic pentameter. I tried! Here we go:

The Titan

The weary days end with such a whimper

Mediocrity holds no excellence

But still the mindless work drudges forward

Forcing the handicap worker further

His mind already decayed with dreams crushed

An empty shell looking toward the past

Deep within hoping there is still a chance

Salvation in a distant memory

Something to keep him awake day to day

A drive from a mythic land, a legend

Hoping to become the hero once dreamed

The stubborn empire swallowed all he was

Despite praise, despite the pure offering

Knowledge decapitated for what, nothing

Efforts ignored for such ignorance

The perpetually insane devours

Nothing left of his creativity

Your passion incited death; burning all

When rational, they said you didn't care

When jovial they called your fluff nonsense

For your facts, they whittle down to the bone

With your silence; they felt you ignored them

You understood the horrible truth

You had the position to give them the stakes

No winning, no, only degradation

And then he was gone in a puff of smoke

The worker, the drone, the husk of a man

His passion, his soul, his love burned away

A mere sacrifice to the soulless gray

The cold machine rumbles on, unending

I was actually pretty happy with how this poem turned out as well. I had my reservation in the beginning, but the subject came together for me once I got to the middle section. It is about a certain situation, or at least it was when I started with it. At this point it can be about a lot of different things, but I'll always think of at least two, and to pay tribute to one of those things, I gave it it's name. One of my friend's put a comment that I considered really positive after I posted this one, so now it's one of my favorites. I'm not that bad of a writer! :p

So, overtime went pretty good today; however, day ended with a lot less "umph" than I was hoping. Maybe I can do better tomorrow since I'll be doing more OT.

Due to OT, I didn't do too much else. Mark needed me again for raids, so I joined up and helped kill another Firelands boss bringing the guild to 6/7 down so far. They'll probably get the 7th tomorrow; though, I won't be there. Due to the learning curve of the fight, didn't finish up till late, so no Infamous 2 tonight. Hopefully, I'll get some time in tomorrow and finish it up!

I also need to read 3 books! Ahh! First, I need to get Starcraft 2's novel down since I have a due date, and then I need to finish up the video game story writing book. After those two are down, I can finish Anansi Boys. So much to read!

With all I have to read, I still need to do some more learning on w3schools.com for html experience. I'd like to get some wiki experience as well, but I don't really have anything to write on a wiki.

And speaking of things to do, I need some social media books. Ahhh! So much to do. And Dawson's trip home is coming soon. I wonder if things will settle down a bit after he's gone? Other than the house being a bit more empty...

Well, I hope you liked the poem! I'll be writing some more for the series soon, but I have one non-project poem I'm going to share next. Oh, any advice on cool people or companies to follow on twitter? Anyway, bedtime!

Ballade

Oh, now it's time for the Ballade! So, like I said last night, don't get it confused with the Ballad. The Ballade is associated with French Poetry of the 14th and 15th century. It's pretty hard for the English language due to it's rhyme scheme of ababbcbC (x3) ending with bcbC with the "C" being a refrain. For some reason I'm not sure of still, the closing bit addresses a prince. I think I worked it into my poem nicely:

Monument

Remember when days were so long

For us all, remember those days

Before everything went so wrong

Now it's all just a foggy haze

With only a dead god to praise

This was something we could foresee

No worrying, no time to laze

Time is short, hurry we must flee

The days are hot, full of death's song

And the tune is sung with eyes glazed

There they march, a horrible throng

Never stopping, even ablaze

We're just mere cattle set to graze

The streets became a bloody sea

Let us dance in the dead’s ballets

Time is short, hurry we must flee

My son, to the earth you belong

Farewell, my child, no more delays

I swear by your grave I'll be strong

Destroy these dead with endless craze

Oh, through the corpses I will blaze

I promise a killing spree

This, my son, is the parting of ways

Time is short, hurry we must flee

My prince, to the heavens I raise

I only ask forgiveness please

I cannot bear that final gaze

Time is short, hurry we must flee

I absolutely dreaded writing this poem. I didn't know if I could pull off something that made sense or had value (though I guess you could always argue that the one above doesn't have such either or anything anyone writes, I guess). Though, I think this one turned out pretty good, and I was actually able to write it far faster than I thought possible.

There is only one line (This was something we could foresee) that I don't like. I just feel like it doesn't flow with the rest of that stanza, and I do plan on going back to change it eventually. For now, though, I think I beat the challenge of the Ballade. This was also the first poem from the series that received a comment from someone who never really saw my poetry, and I believe it was a positive comment!

Anyway, again, I woke up early today! An hour before my alarm! No clue why, but it's my Monday. >>

Goals for this week: No money spending (in fact, hopefully I can go till next pay check without doing so >>), start exercising, start a solid house clean up system, and make some progress in writing that can help my career. Let's see if I can accomplish any of that!

I'm also thinking about doing overtime on the 8th through the 10th. Need more money. Stupid bills.

Time to get ready for work, but I should have another post tonight before bed at least! Also, if you haven't followed my twitter, do so! I decided I'd just use it to status update my facebook as well since status updates are my favorite part of facebook. I just wish I had more friends that used twitter.

Saturday and Ballads!

Well, I feel better now. Completely crashed last night after my last post. Figured I'd start the day off with another in my poetry series. This one is a Ballad as best as I could pull up at least, and I think it turned out pretty good. I went with the classic murder ballad because I didn't feel like a cliched romance one, but I've heard pretty positive things about it! It actually took me far longer to write than I thought it would. Brace yourself:
 

Sweet Sally Shade

I have a tale to tell, my friend

Oh, a grim little verse

About red blood and blondes, so sweet

My desires, such a curse

Was late one night, if I recall

In my sweet, dark alleys

Where she hid from the wind and rain

Oh, sweet little Sally

Scared when she heard my steps behind

And she sheepishly called

Hello, anyone there

And I was so deeply enthralled

Silence at first with no reply

I reveled in the fear

Sliding behind her in shadows

On her pale cheek, a tear

Oh, little Sally Shade don't cry

I swear a sweet goodbye

No pain, no fear, only beauty

Like a star in the sky

Why kill me, she thought to herself

Melodies and sweet dreams

I replied with a quick embrace

Oh, she struggled and screamed

They always scream, I'll let you, too

Oh, struggle all you want

My cold knife to her neck, she cried

I am not one to flaunt

Oh, little Sally Shade don't cry

I swear a sweet goodbye

No pain, no fear, only beauty

Like a star in the sky

I'm an artist, please understand

With a quick swish she's slack

They won't find me now or ever

Please call me Mister Jack

And with that I'm gone in shadows

Please keep my tale in mind

When you wander my sweet alleys

Least you, too, end in kind

When I said brace yourself, I meant because it's pretty long compared to the other two so far posted, but don't worry, I think the Blank verse poem is even longer! So, I decided to go with Jack the Ripper (spoilers! if you didn't guess that by the end) and end with the murderer getting away but still giving the "warning". Generally, the murderer is caught and his warning is to not make the same mistakes at him, but hey, it's Jack! This is probably the most enjoyable time I had since getting back into poetry, writing this Ballad. Hopefully, all the poems to follow will feel the same!

I should probably text Quiz or something. Or something. Today's not to busy, just a lazy Saturday. No movies--as mentioned last night--to watch and no other big plans. I probably should go grocery shopping, and I need to get my hair cut!

Today is the normal raid night in WoW, but I think I'm going to take a break from that game for a while at least. I don't know, I need something else to play. After seven years, there just isn't much there for me anymore. I'm not a first string raider, and daily quests always make me feel like I have to be there. :/

Anyone else out there using Blogger have an issue with spaces and the "enter" key? If I hit it to make a line break, it doesn't always drop  the cursor down. It's pretty annoying. Any advice would be awesome. It's especially annoying when hitting it makes a new line, but the cursor goes all the way back to the first line. O_o

Anyway, I should be active and do something. Probably stop by later and write some more about something or another. Also, if you have twitter, I'm on there as @StetsonBlade! Just as entertaining as this blog! :p

Acrostic and Creativity

So, another from my poetry project! This one is an Acrostic poem which means that there are letters are words (generally the first in each line) that spell something else out. Maybe a hidden message, true meaning, joke, or whatever. Take a look:

Advice
During my life,
I have learned many things
Everything happens for a reason,
impossible isn’t guaranteed,
no one has the answer for everything,
and life is too short for so much worry
Forgive those that transgress even
if it is your greatest love or worst enemy
Remember, you’re only human yourself, and
everyone will see what you really mean.

I went the easy route and just used the first letter in each line; however, I would like to try a more complex version in the future. Now, how do I feel about this one? I find it humorous at least with the hidden meaning. I aimed for something serious throughout the whole of the poem, and wanted to undermine the speaker's "good advice". Now everyone can see what he really thinks!

I've been wanting to do something more creative for a while. I feel like I'm in a rut at work. It used to be what I lived for every morning, but everything feels a bit stagnant at the moment. So, I want more creativity in my life! That's why I started this blog, and why I plan to learn HTML (from w3 schools, awesome site!). I also want to learn some game editors like Neverwinter Nights (classic), Fallout 3, and maybe Dragon Age's editor. The Unreal UDK is on the list as well, but I've dealt with that beast before.

Outside of learning, I'd like to write more of my on stuff like the poetry; however, I want more prose as well. So, I'm brainstorming my original story (created concept back in highschool O_o). We'll how that goes!

And finally, webcomics! Quiz has been talking about making one, I've been wanting to make one, and now we found out Bob does, too. Luckily, Bob may also have the ability to draw--at least better than Quiz or me--so we may actually go somewhere. The only problem is concept. We need a story idea to build on! I personally want something serial and surreal. We're supposed to meet up and workshop this weekend, so we'll see what happens!

ABC Poetry

So, this is from my "Across the Literary Landscape: A Poem a Day" series. It's actually my first poem to write since starting the project, and it uses the ABC scheme. This one doesn't actually start with "A", and the fifth line isn't part of the order, so no comments on that! It's actually how the form works, the last line is a bit of summary to what the other four built up. Without further delay, a poem: 

Inevitable Ends

Earthly desire birthed in

Fire from the soul that

Grants immortality to

He who seeks

However, eventually endings are inevitable

So, I actually enjoyed putting this one together, and I think it's pretty strong. I've never been one to really use a scheme as I always went with free verse; however, free verse doesn't always help you when you're trying to create. Sometimes, it's a bit too free, if you know what I mean. I found forcing a set of rules--structure--really helps me get the creativity flowing. I may not always follow the rules entirely of a style, but even attempting seems to help me out. 

Take from it what you will, but I'm pretty proud of this one! For such a short poem, I feel it says a lot! Anywho, this is the first post of my blog! Now to actually keep on it. I have some backlogged poems I'll get on here soon enough to talk about, and I want to review Infamous II once I finish it. See you soon!