Monday, March 08, 2010

A Torturing Brain!

Why is it that our brains can be our most fearsome enemy at times? Shouldn't our brain help us through our endeavours and aide us in our tasks instead of creating problems that deter us from our goals? It just doesn't seem logical for our brains to trip us up and yet they do constantly on a sometimes daily basis.

During tests and exams, those most crucial brain moments, they choose to wander away, leaving a blank mind to stare at blank questions. When we hope to say something intelligent in order to impress people, the brain steps away and BAM! mistake city here we come! Embarrassment Avenue, we seem to be in the need of a vacant lot. Oh! That torturing brain. It likes to watch us struggle, eh?

The worst part is, we don't always see it coming until it's two late. Think of twenty words, we were told. Twenty words pertaining to a sentence selected by the rest of the class. My sentence ended up being, "If the sun were purple would light be different?" First torture technique right there! I didn't really have anything on my mind and so my brain stepped in with something random as it usually does.

All right, so I have this sentence. Next, twenty words. Okay, no big. I can think of twenty words. Here we go:

surreal, laughing, water, space,
crocodiles, river, stars, awake,
golden flowers, world, dreaming, fields,
blue, borealis, grey, mountains,
valley, rural, pale, tinge


Okay. Can you see the next mistakes already? My brain thought of CROCODILE! Geez. Where that came from I will never fully know. I will blame the colour purple. It most likely hangs out with crocodiles when it's not being used and decided to bring it along for the ride. Purple is very social, don't you know.

Anywho, so there I was, sitting at home with these twenty words, trying to think of how I could squeeze them all into a poem without making it sound forced or retarded. Well, at least my brain was good for something, I must say. When in doubt, use SYMBOLISM! Hip-hip-hooray for 4 years of high school English! Symbolism is now emblazoned upon my cerebral cortex.

I must admit though, I enjoyed trying to think of what different words could represent in my poem and I am proud of the outcome. If I had had to rhyme the poem... well, let's not even consider that torturous endeavour now, okay?

Anywho, I entered the poem in a contest through my class and cannot post that here on my blog, but I will share with you the short story that I made at the same time, using the same 20 words. I hope you enjoy!


~Rachel

A Purple Sun?

"If the sun was purple, would light be different?" I ask my mum as we walk through Walmart. "Would colours be the same? Would the world be different?"

My mum glances at me sideways, an eyebrow raised to the side as a smile tugs at her lips. "Well," she begins, "I think they would pale in comparison. Things would be grey, dull--or they might adopt a bluish tinge."

"Hmm… Makes sense, I suppose. Without a yellow sun, there'd be no golden flowers, orange-red sunsets or vibrant green fields and valleys. The river waters may no longer be so in-depth." We turn down an aisle and slow our pace to study the many paintings that line the walls. "That's kind of sad, really. To think that a mountain sunrise would be lacking a primary colour… It would be surreal!"

"You want to see surreal, take a look at this painting," my mum says from a few feet away, "This artist has painted a crocodile in space. Just look at his pink neon spacesuit! He clashes like crazy among the stars."

We start laughing at the absurdity of the piece and turn to look at the next. Equally obscure, a cow grazes in solitude under the aurora borealis, completely oblivious in his rural landscape. I tilt my head to the side and see an eye hidden in the colours of the borealis.

"Awake and Dreaming," my mum says, "that's what this piece is called."

I chuckle. "Well, I certainly don't think that cow is awake! Can you imagine the craziness that would ensue if the world was indeed different? Who knows, maybe if the sun were purple, crocodiles would become astronauts…" I shudder. "On second thought, I think I like the current colour."

My mum chuckles.

Things I've learned about France (or at least Normandy)

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