Snow Poems

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow!

I know it may look tasty
sitting there along the sidewalk
but trust me- it ain't lemony-sweet.


March of the Snow People

Snow people have rights too!
We don't say it, but you can see it in our eyes
Black as coal.

We're tired of being dressed up
Paraded as second-class citizens
Melted in the prime of life!

Snowmen unite! Snowladies too!
Snowbabes rise up and grab a shovel!
We're marching on Antartica!

We'll make a new country.
Our own country.
A snow country!

And with our corncob pipes,
and button noses held high,
We'll never fear the sun again!



Ice Ain't so Nice

Listen up, kids!
Adults don't really hate the snow.
They hate the ice.
Sliming up the ground,
Making their cars spin around,
Clogging up windows and doors,
Slowing their going to places,
Having to crunch and scrape with
Fingers frozen to the bone,
Wishing they could stay home with you,
Instead of running to work late,
Where even icier glares wait.

On the subject of Job Hunting...

A Nobody Like You

So you want a job, do you?
Have we got the perfect position in mind!

It's everything you're seeking.
Even the title is so alluring.
Benefits and everything!
And with a salary to be jealous of.

There's only a few requirements:
- At least 5 years of experience at Big Brand places
(because everyone who has a solid job like that will want to work with a no-name like us)
- Must have at least three degrees - all with relevant coursework to this job
(because that's what school is for - not knowledge)
- Must be proficient in every software known to mankind - the latest versions only
(because we know they're completely unaffordable, that's why we run ours 3 versions behind)
- Must have managed at least three different companies (babysitter)
(because if everyone loved you so much as a boss then why did you leave your last job?)

Still with us?
Don't be afraid.
We don't discriminate!
( We simply want someone who is
30-40 years old - we don't want people to see us as "fresh" or worse, "wise"!
Mulitcultural - but not truly, because different cultures and languages frighten us!
Straight - otherwise how will people take us seriously?
Good-looking - you want us to look the best for our clients, don't you? )

Oh.
( You you say you aren't?
Looking at your resume...)
No!
Don't worry if you think you're
over or under - qualified that is -
I think you'll find you'll
just fit in perfectly with us!
( We even saved a spot for you, you see.
It's right over here in the
round,
metal,
filing,
cabinet. )

Don't call us, please.
( We won't call you. )

Don't be disappointed.
It's nothing personal.

That's the way this business works.

And who knows?
One day we'll have no one else to hire but you,
Because everyone with experience will have died
And though you don't have any,
And are the only one to apply,
We still won't hire you.

We'll arrange a foreclosure deal,
make a fortune and sit on it,
Until we're dead too.

Because we'd rather do that
than take a chance
on a nobody

a nobody
like you.

A Box of Dreams

Change isn't coming
It has already arrived

I'm caught up in it
carried away by it
It's all here before me
rushing into this rapidly fading room
It's a Hurricane
knocking me off balance
tossing me in all directions

Oh, Winds of Change,
Won't you please take me somewhere new?
Where rainbows can be touched
Where hope is a snowcapped mountain
Where dreams are concrete sidewalks that never end

I don't want to make
the same mistakes
I did last time

I want this time
to be different
for not just me
but everyone around me

God grant me the courage
to be myself
to love myself
to forgive myself
to stand up for myself
to think of others beside myself

I've traveled too many of these dark pathways before
fallen down those same holes again and again
trapped in silver snares of my own design
creatures that snap and chew and tear
and never release

But I can fight them
with my box of dreams
tiny but intricately carved
in the palm of my hand
it contains no less
than everything
that is
and anything
that could ever be

The trick is not only opening it
But in coaxing them out
Giving these dreams of mine wings
setting them free

In them
I am

A New Chapter of my life begins!

Turning Pages

Only yesterday
I was curled up under the tent
in our living room
made of chairs and blankets
watching adventures flash by on the screen
thinking about what could be
what will be
what I want to be

Here I am watching another screen
keyboard ticking and tacking
under a blur of flicking fingers
looking around my room
thinking about what has been
what was
who I am

A feeling is growing
inside of me
a siren's call
I hold back slightly
my hands gripping the railing
but I have to let go
I have to fall

Leaping off the ship
Falling into the unknown
Drinking the dark water of mystery
Praying for bubbles to bring me life
An extra one if you would
To continue
To not just past go,
but find my way
to the end of the tunnel

And to come out on the other side

- Laughing -

With friends waiting there for me.


With Seattle being just a few days away, you can tell that I'm still in a period of transition. It always feels weird when you have to pack up everything you had. To think to yourself, this is the last time I'll be walking up these steps, parking in that spot and opening this door. To berate yourself for all the things you didn't do while here and equally to wish you had more time to do some things again. To realize just how short and fast time is and to smile knowing that you're making the best of it that you can. To be able to chill with a friend and laugh. Sure you might not see them again, but to hell with that, you'll enjoy the moment forever in your mind. Better than any DVR, being able to slow, fast forward, rewind. To see their smile. Feel their hug. To know that no one can take that away from you.

You have to believe in the hope of the future. I don't know what's in store for me, but I think if I had known what would happen to me here, I wouldn't have come, which would have been terrible. Yes, bad things befell me here, but good things did as well. If anything, I have clearer direction for where I want to go and I'm beginning to finally understand myself on a deeper level than just "How am I feeling today?"

I still think of her. It's something hard to let go of. I bet she's feeling the same. When you give someone your heart, it's not something you can just take back immediately. I'm confident someday our bridge will be rebuilt, but for right now I'm content knowing we made it through and that good things are on both our horizons. We might be going separate ways, but I meant what I said long ago. That's between just us.

So go forth young Joanie! Head due North! Seek new life. Seek new jobs. Seek what you want. Find what you need! It's all yours for the taking - and for the sharing as well.

- Joanie /^>

I Voted for Obama

The Blue Vote

A bucket of blue paint
has spilled across our nation,
joining us together.

We have come forward!
We have voted!
We have decided!

A New Hope is dawning!
Tears are falling!
Change is coming!

Let's stick together!
Let's work together!
We'll get out of this together!

God Bless us,
Everyone!
The Young and Old,
The Right and Left,
The White and Black,
And everything inbetween!

Today history is made.
I'm proud to be an American,
Awaiting the future,
Whatever it might be.


Words can't express how awesome a night this is. I woke up this morning feeling something rising in the air. I felt so confident throughout the whole day and now I know why. Instinct was telling me just how pivitol today would be. I can't believe it's happened in my lifetime! An African American President! As someone who studied African American History in college, this is so amazing. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be in a class like that now. To experience history in the making!

I'm glad to be able to look back on this day and tell my kids, "I voted for Obama." Having started out as a Republican - and now being Moderate for some time, I can say this is a new time for me as well. I'm shedding the old and embracing the new. I know no one's perfect, and Obama is bound to make some mistakes, but we're all only human. And I believe in the hope of the future and that no matter what, God will continue to bless our nation.

God Bless Obama and God Bless the USA!

Halloween Spirit

Halloween Cheer

Wear a mask!
Wear it proud!
Sing your song!
Sing it loud!
Walk the road.
Take a stroll.
Who knows what
the night will hold?
Take my hand.
Squeeze it tight.
With you all fiends
will run in fright.
Eat a treat.
Pass it on.
One more Halloween
has come and

gone.


Just a little something for Halloween. I love this time of year. I didn't really dress up this year, but wore something I normally wouldn't get away with in the light of day - my ye olde Renn Fest cloak and witch makeup. I always enjoy seeing everyone on the streets in costumes at night. It makes you feel glad to be alive and that the darkness doesn't always have to be a scary thing. It can be fun too. It's the one night even in LA people aren't afraid to be bold and walk the streets. Pretty amazing in my opinion.

Been working evenings and mornings with Lambent and crew and it's progressed to 7+ chapters! I can hardly believe it. I haven't felt like this in ages and I wish I never would have stopped writing. It's like Charles told me - when you love to do something it's like breathing. You have to do it. It's a need.

For a long time I've been denying my true nature as a writer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry for where I am. Things have been amazing for me this year. It's been a summer of complete metamorphsis with the promise of a brighter future. Things are clearer to me now. I'm more myself now and I'm stronger. I know what I want to do. My journey is long and hard, but it really is about that and not the destination. Sayings like that one are overused because you can't deny their truth. The bumps in the road make us into who we are and they make us stronger.

There will always be ruts in your road, so you gotta learn to buckle down, hold onto the wheel and manuever past them.

- Joanie /^>

Orange Outrage and a few Shots

ORANGE!

Round and speckled fiend!
Shoot me in the eye will you?
Stain my best shirt?
I'll not have you ruin my morning
with your pompous sections and bitter exterior!
I know just how to slice the likes of you.
After all, you go so well
squeezed into a tall glass.


Stupid Orange

What good are you to me?
Nothing rhymes with you.
No wonder there are no songs about you.
You should really change your name.
Maybe orangee - it's just an extra "e".
Think about it.

Past the poetry, on another note, I had my first three shots tonight - all natural ginseng empowered sake. Can't say it tasted awesome, but still, it was interesting watching me convulse like it was cough medicine. I didn't know why people do it, but after the warm rush and the giggles popping out of me like popcorn, I think I can see why. Dunno why I thought so badly of it. In moderation it's a nice way to spend an evening with two good friends.

Cheers to good writing and good friends! May we unscrew our convulted stories and create something others will also enjoy!

These poems are for Faith and Chris, thanks for empowering me to believe in myself. And for the record, Joanie is a good writer. :)

- /^>

Nightly Story Fodder 001

A young man came upon the closed gate. Having no desire to turn around yet again and hopelessly fish around for a better route out, he simply stood before it, contemplating what might await him on the other side. Intricate leave patterns of wrought iron clung to panes of frosted glass, obstructing any view of what might be beyond.

Thoughts he had been trying to push back into the corners of his mind were now charging to the front, each screaming loudly to be heard and the young man nearly plopped down to sit right there if he hadn't equally been so wary of the Garden already. Sitting was giving up. Giving up meant death.

How long have I been in here really? Was the first one to break free from the pack of ideas now overflowing in his mind. He glanced upwards for some hope of sunlight or moonlight, but the tiered buttresses of frosted glass above proved a frustrating buffer to the outside world. How was he supposed to know what time it even was? Would it do him any more good to know that it was six o'clock or eight? Even midnight? Noon? Knowing would probably only bring him more frustration. That was the last thing he needed more of.

His stomach growled fiercely again as another thought broke through. Hunger. Food was what he really needed. Now even the leaves of the hedges and densely thick flowered bushes and tree trunks looked appetizing. He would have found it funny under any other circumstance, but now it left him feeling slightly foolish. Perhaps the Garden would make him go mad yet.

He nervously rubbed the raw and now peeling skin of his face, still complaining silently that it was ridiculous for him to get sunburnt when he hadn't the least idea if this was real sunlight. A more sickening thought chimed in as well, perhaps he would not live to see real sunlight ever again.

Feeling a burst of apathy from this he reached out to the green iron gate handle and closed his sweaty palms around it, pushing down his weight on it until he could hear the metallic clicking, feeling the whole gate creak as if it would fall to pieces under his touch. Would this be the end? Maybe he wasn't being man enough about this. After all, would it not be better to die at least fighting with a creature than collapsing in some godforsaken corner of this wretched labyrinth? To go down like a warrior?

Though there had been much debate in his mind lately over what exactly he had become since beginning this journey, warrior seemed far from it, especially since he barely had anything to battle with. A rusted hand-sized pair of garden hedgeclippers seemed a pretty lame choice of weapon in his opinion. You didn't hear stories of the great and mighty hero's terrible hedge clippers. Oh better watch out all you neighbors with stray bits of hedge. He'll come for you alright. Sure you could do damage yes, but what's a pair of hedgeclippers versus a sword, axe or even a gun. Hell a plank of wood with nails in it would more than likely beat them anyday. He couldn't help but laugh nervously again. Any thoughts of having to defend his life with something so trite wasn't exactly helping any. At least with a gun there was less mess. But one often didn't come across a dead body that just so happened to be carrying a working weapon with bullets nearby - unless one was playing a video game - har har.

If that was the case, he would kindly ask the player to press pause now and get back to more important things. Or choose a game they could actually win.

As he continued to grip the handle, the marker of decision in his mind leaning back and forth between opening and releasing it altogether, he asked himself for the third time since he had awoken if this was really worth the effort.

The smell of vanilla filled his nostrils as Emily, his Emily, strolled towards him, stumbling a little on the sidewalk, her long brown hair flopping awkwardly in her face but laughing about it merrily as she flipped it back and let out a long whoop of laughter. Hers was the best laugh somehow because it was so genuine and it always brought more out of anyone who heard it. He took her hand and she immediately squeezed her fingers tightly around his, her pursed lips full of hidden giggles just waiting to burst like a volcano, leaning in close as if to whisper a secret joke that she couldn't bare to keep to herself. She held them back long enough to utter quietly, "I love you." Was that enough?

He opened his eyes. Then he pulled the handle towards him, opening the frosted glass gate.

Dunno how I feel about this one, just sort of needed to get into the habit and get started. I'm sure that more will come along. Post a comment if you like what you see and want more. If not, no worries, this is mainly here for me anyway. Feels good to write again. Writing just for me too. :3

Back from Comic-Con '08!

And boy are my legs tired. No, seriously. I'm so glad I have a sit down day-job or I think my legs might turn to jelly and I'll be forced to literally drag myself around. (A funny prospect but I'd rather not get my clothes all dirty.) Unfortunately on top of that a cold virus snuck up on me and I'm in the beginning stages of a bad first half of the week. But I won't that get me down!

Being it was my first con, it was INFORMATION OVERLOAD!

Just imagine being in a traffic accident involving a truck load of paint, a truck load of neon signs, a magazine truck and an animal control van. Now picture that mess combined with a few live wires falling amongst them and a crowd of onl00kers gawking and blocking any escape from the chaos. That's COMIC-Con! :D

Seriously though, it was a lot of fun and I spent this morning sorting through my schwag, booty, loot, freebies, whatever you want to call it -- tossing the stuff I don't want and hoarding the rest. Really makes you wonder if Dragons did this kind of thing in the Middle Ages.

I saw a lot of good panels too, ranging from Webcomics to Ghosts to Video Games to Movies and even some 90s TV Cartoon Stars. I had to leave early due to my rides pooping out and wanting to go home early, but I think I was basically done. I got some signed comic books and posters so I'm a happy little gecko.

Most importantly, I got a fun little vacation, got some sneak peeks at upcoming movies and games and I re-discovered my reasoning for coming out here in the first place: to share my stories and connect with other artists. I have a renewed vigor for my writing and drawing and I know something awesome will be coming out of it.

Will I do it again next year? Geez, let me recover from this one first why don't you?

- Joanie /^>

Game Industry Night

Just got back from another kick-ass Women in Animation event. We had this one over at the DreamWorks Studio campus in Glendale (only a few blocks away from my work, very convenient to find) with guest panelists from the Gaming Industry - writer, programmer, designer and producer - a good balance of people. It was nice to hear from their perspective about the industry. They totally nailed the Quality Assurance Testing part of it too. Now I know that everyone hires testers for 9 months out of 12 - so all I have to do is hang in there and get passed around until one of them decides that they want to permanently hire me! Ha! ;D I took Charlene and she seemed to enjoy it as well.

I'm seriously going to start going back to the Monday Night Writer's Roundtable over at the Animation Guild building too. I want to look into some classes there. Hopefully they have one on Illustrator - I could use it. Possibly some life drawing too. I miss that a lot.

Either way, prospects are looking good.

The most important thing I learned tonight: Keep at and don't listen to anyone who says you can't do it. :)

- Joanie /^>

Let the Nightcrafting Begin!

You're probably asking yourself why someone so happy-go-lucky and peppy as me (should you know me in real life) chose such a dark name and such for my writing blog.

The main reason is that I tend to be a writing creature of the night. I tend to create best late at night when the world is blanketed in darkness and quiet with only a few dim lights and the glowing screen of my computer to guide me. Most of my best ideas and writings come from the late hours of the evening.

Also the fact that as a writer I am both a creator and a destroyer. I have the power to create new life and along with that comes the power to snuff it out. Something I never take lightly. After all stories would be boring if everyone got along and no one died and the world was made of candy and it rained kittens... well maybe not the last part, but you get my point, I'm sure. :)

So let it begin! The nightly journaling of whatever I feel like writing. I dunno if any of this will spawn anything bigger than this journal, but you never know what happens when you open the door to your imagination...

... because anything could come out.

~ Joanie /^>