Rejected

Yesterday, I got this letter in the mail:

Dear Megan;

Thank you for applying and for taking the time to come in and meeting with us for the position in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office.

As I'm sure you can imagine we have several applicants therefore making the final decision was not easy. Your interview skills were commendable and you also did well with the writing exercise. However we have offered the job to another candidate. I'm certain with continued persistence and given your experience you will secure a work study or other job oppertunity in the very near future.

Good luck with the upcoming fall 2009 semester.

*Insert Name Here*
Financial Aid and Scholarship Office


So, yes, I got rejected from the job. I remember that as I read this letter yesterday, I wasn't really that disappointed or stressed out about it. I was hoping that I would get the job, sure, because the hours were good and the money was decent but it never really hit me as something else to be stressed out about. There are 2 other work study jobs that I'm going to apply for this week and hopefully, with some luck, I'll be able to find something. What really bugs me about the letter, now that I read it over, is the fact that it lacks punctuation and proper grammar. I mean, hello? The first sentence of the second major paragraph is severely lacking. It's almost painful to read. I almost want to correct the entire thing and send it back to them. I realize they needed to type up a generic letter to send to all of us that they rejected but they could have at least put a little effort into it. Seriously!!!

Oh, and on top of this, when Jo and I went to the mall on Friday, the lady at the Orange Julius place remembered us and asked if we have found jobs yet, to which both of us replied "No." So she said she would dig our resumes back up and give us a call. I hope she will but I kind of doubt it. Anyway, work study is more of what I'm looking for at the moment.

Changing the subject, last night we went to see the Time Traveler's Wife.
I just recently discovered that Eric Bana actually played the bad guy in the new Star Trek film (which I loved, by the way) so I was very intrigued by this movie. Also because I love Rachel McAdams (and Jo's in love with her because The Notebook is his favorite movie of all time). So, after much pleading, we went to see it last night and, I have to say, it was money well-spent.

I knew I would cry. I thought maybe I would cry throughout the whole movie (like you do in The Notebook) but when the tears came at the end of the movie, it was a total relief. And then came the thought of: I need to buy and read this book! because the movie hit me that hard. What really affected me the most (warning: SPOILER) was that, when they were trying to have a baby and continued to have a miscarriage, it was because the baby kept trying to time travel out of the womb. How amazing is that? The author must have put so much thought into this book.

So, now, after writing prompt #3, I'm inspired to work on my own novel. I'll leave you all to my latest edition of crazy prompts while I run off to go and play writer. (By the way, just so you all know, I'm a novel writer so writing these 1 page or less prompts has been very difficult for me and, because I do them on a whim, I'm unsatisfied with most of them. So if you don't like them, chances are that I had a tough time with them too because I either wanted to make them longer or just not approach the subject.)

Prompt #3: “You know, they invented a word for guys like him.”

“What? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?”

“No. Imaginary.”

Jane looked down at her computer and then glanced back up again at Linda and Kristina. “You’re going to hurt his feelings if you say stuff like that. He’s a very sensitive soul, you know.”

Kristina took Jane by the shoulders and gave her a hard shake. “No, you’re sensitive. Bruce is not real, do you understand? He’s fake.”

“But he’s real to me.”

“She’s hopeless.” Linda took Kristina by the arm and let her towards the apartment door. “She’s in love with a character she’s writing about. We can’t help her now. Maybe when Valentines Day rolls around, we might be able to get her a blind date or something…” They exited the apartment.

Jane released a sigh of relief, pushing back her long bangs that had fallen into her face just as her closet door open and out stepped Bruce, looking highly uncomfortable. “Did you have to stick me in the closet?” he asked as she flew into his arms, burying herself in his shirt. “It smells like old shoes in there.”

“They wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain it to them,” she replied. “They would call me crazy and stick me in some mental institution and lock me up forever. My own friends.”

“Yes, yes…” He patted her on the head, like a good little child and wrapped his arms around her waist. “That’s the downside to schizophrenia. But, on the other hand, you have me. And I’m much more important than they are.”

Jane nodded in agreement and then settled down on the couch with Bruce for another long night of watching movies and talking until the sun came up. “Imaginary. Hah,” she said to herself. “I bet they couldn’t get anyone better.”

Watching Them Fall

Last night, Jo and I joined our friend Ian and seven of his friends in watching the movie Taken. I have to say, I had been a little afraid to watch it but I love Liam Neesson and we decided that the movie was basically him playing Qui'gon Jin physically instead of using the Force in Star Wars. If you haven't seen this movie... it's really up to you to decide whether or not you would like it. It covers the issue of the trafficking of women, which is something I've learning in my women's health class last semester. It's a very sad movie.

After the movie, we piled all ten people into two cars and drove north to a little elementary school, where we hopped the fence and watched the meteor shower. It wasn't a bad meteor show; if I hadn't been as cold as I was, I would have liked to stay longer because the clouds were beginning to burn off (we stayed until 1:30 am). I know for sure I'm not cut out to be a crazy college student when I hop the fence of an elementary school at midnight and spent the entire time afraid that cops are going to show up and throw us in jail and wondering what my mother will say when I call her because she is 7 hours away and cant just come and get me.

My favorite meteor shower took place when I lived in Tehachapi. We had broken down on the side of the freeway while coming back home from Bakersfield after a Condor's game (hockey). The girls (my mom, my sister, and I) had to ride in the van on the back of the tow truck (which is VERY illegal, by the way) while my dad rode in the passenger seat with the driver. By the time we got home (which was around 1 in the morning), the meteors were falling at full speed and we had our faces pressed up against the glass, not able to keep up with all of them. Then, after we had gotten home, my parents pulled chairs and blankets out on the deck and we all had stayed up until 2, watching the sky. The Tehachapi sky is magnificent at night. I miss it.

Anyway, today's prompt was a little ironic because it reminded me of the movie last night. I apologize if the subject makes you all a little uncomfortable but it was the first thing that came to mind when Jo presented the prompt to me. So, here it goes:

Prompt #2: A priest is attacked for being a pedophile. He is innocent of the crime but guilty of something far worse.

There were tales that St. John’s Abby was haunted. Others just said it was cursed. It was something, indeed, for in the past year, eleven of its alter boys had disappeared. Father Bernard knew better and, when the royal guard broke into his office that fateful evening, he knew that they knew better as well.

But they were wrong.

“Pedophile!” Captain Rolf shouted, pointing an accusatory finger Bernard.

Bernard stood, a trace of a smile on his face. “My dear captain of the guard, you cannot possibly mean to say that I have done anything to my boys…”

“I want my son back!” a mother shouted from the doorway. As she pushed in, another mother appeared… and a father… another mother… They continued to pour into Bernard’s office, despite his objections.

And then they were on him, beating him, biting him, screaming how they wanted their sons back and how they would do anything in order to get them.

Rolf searched Bernard’s office, ignoring the priest’s pleas. In a drawer he found strange papers with the names of the missing boys. In another he found locations of far off places and new names that were associated with each place. He continued to search, sneaking through a door exiting Bernard’s office, a different door from that he entered. Rolf found himself in a hallway, with doors on either side. He opened one door, finding a boy dead on a bed, his face completely pale. Soon, he was running down hallways, opening doors, finding boys either dead or half alive. And, when he inspected them closely, they all had the same needle holes in their arms, the same chapped lips, the same pale faces.

Rolf came to the terrifying conclusion.

Bernard wasn’t a pedophile. Others were. Other’s who bought these boys.

Bernard ran a trafficking business behind the back of the church.

By the time that Rolf returned to Bernard’s office, the priest was dead. Even so, this did not stop him from putting a bullet in his head for each of the missing boys before assisting the broken-hearted parents with taking the children out of the secret passage.

Prompt #1

Well, I am back home. I know that I don't have much money so last night I treated Jo and myself to our one night of luxury a month: shrimp scampi and pie from my uncle's restaurant (both of which I made). Also, I couldn't really eat either because I discovered that I'm not really lactose intolerant; I've just had the stomach flu. Which makes sense as to why I cant really eat anything. Anyway, now I cant spend any more money except on bill and groceries. Good thing I don't eat much in general.

I don't really have much on this side right now (besides the fact that I know I have an interview at 3) so I thought I'd post this first prompt and see what you all think. Mind you, it's the first of 1001, so it's probably not that good because I haven't really practiced short stories in a while. It's also a bit long (I've limited myself between a paragraph and a page and this one is a page) so if you dont read it, I totally understand!

Prompt #1: During her first trip to Las Vegas, a woman experiences the luckiest night of her life.

Beth stared out the window of the bus as it pulled up to the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas. She had been prepping for this trip for months, putting it off after her brother had come out of his coma and her mother had won the lottery. She had nothing against any of them. Of course she had wanted to spend time with her brother after he had awoke and of course she had been thrilled with her mother after winning half a million dollars and, instead of dividing the money for her children in her will, given half of it to a charity dedicated to saving goldfish and spending the other half on the most expensive cruise she could find and, while there, falling in love with the 18th wealthiest man in the world.

They were soon to be married. Of course Beth was happy for them.

But now she needed an adventure to herself. She had turned three her best friends down from coming along and, despite their complaints of her bad luck in large cities, Beth found Vegas to be nice already. The weather was the perfect temperature as she stepped down from the bus, fanny pack secured around her waist so she didn’t have to worry about her purse being stolen. She could see lights flashing from all the other hotels and casinos and thought that if she could get lucky in one, just one, she would never complain about her mother’s half a half-million give away again.

As she started toward the casino, there was a shout of “hey! Stop!” and Beth saw a man running with a woman’s purse, the woman pursuing after him. People just ignored it but, as he came running by Beth, she rammed her shoulder into his, knocking him flat on his back and dazed for a couple of seconds. The woman approached, looking grateful, and thanked Beth for saving her bag. As Beth was about to leave, the woman stopped her, digging in her bag and pulling out a ticket. “I know it will start any minute but I’d like you to come.” Beth looked down at the ticket to see it was a back stage pass to the show Excalibur. Although she had never really read any stories about King Arthur, she couldn’t pass up a dinner show.

She had time before the show to stop into one casino. She played a few rounds of blackjack and, then bored with it, stuck a quarter in a slot machine and… BING BING BING! She suddenly had millions of quarters pouring out of the machine for her. A crowd gathered as she tried to gather the quarters up and a handsome man offered her a bag to put them in. “Lucky girl,” he told her before winking and walking away.

By the time that she had to be at the show, Beth had to race there from standing and allowing someone to count and cash all of her quarters. A million dollars! She flushed just from the thought of it as she ran past casinos to find Excalibur. Once inside, she was seated right in front. Lancelot came to visit her, thanking her for saving Guinevere earlier, which was who the nice woman with the purse turned out to be. After the show, she was taken behind stage to meet the whole cast, introduced to her personally by Guinevere.

Yes, it was the luckiest night of her life. She would never live to forget or regret it.

My Idea

So, I mentioned that I was extremely inspired by the movie Julie & Julia. I've been thinking of a project that I could work on that was both long term and short term and I finally found the solution to it.

The book: The Writer's Book of Matches: 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction

By: The staff of fresh boiled peanuts, a literary journal (published by Writer's Digest so it's ok to use)

The goal: write on a prompt a day and post it here.

I'll, of course, update you all on my life as well. I just thought it would be a good idea to do some fiction writing a day to kind of spark my brain so I could get a jump start on working on my novel every morning. I used to write every day but, of course, school and life has kind of made me lose that good habit and gain a bad one. So, this is my challenge.

This process will probably begin on Tuesday since I have to drive home tomorrow from my aunt/uncle's house and will be physically/mentally exhausted by the time I get home.

I hope my daily prompts entertain you all!