Pt. 1: Interviews
Josh:
He was working as a security guard at Stop and Shop when he saw a guy walking in with really fat pants. He starts walking around and grabs 5 dvds from the dvd section. Who buys dvds from Stop and Shop? So the guy goes in the bathroom and comes out with 2 big plastic bags and skinny pants, no dvds. I got the manager to come watch him as I go to confront him when he tries to leave. I clotheslined him and we started wrestling in the parking lot. There was a lot of bleeding from the both of us. I managed to drag him upstairs to the office. I asked him for his ID but he said he didn’t bring it, which meant we had to call the cops to come get him. So the manager left to call the police and as soon as he left, the dude bolted and slammed the door on my collar bone. I chased him through the parking lot, by the liquor store and into into the woods, but he got away. The cops ended up yelling at me for detaining the guy even though that was my job. To this day I can still crack his collar bone.
Dad:
I was telling a joke at a large family dinner when I was 9 and when i got to the punchline which had the word shit, I said “Don’t make me say it”
Mom:
When we lived on Union Street we got our first cat. We were so excited, and started looking through cookbooks to find the perfect name – Gnocchi. Of course we pronounced it wrong, and forgot how to spell it, so she became Nooki. Pretty soon we realized that she was pregnant, and she had four kittens – Bibbity, Bobbity, Boo and Bumper.
We loved playing with the kittens, so much that one day, when someone left the attic door open, Nooki transferred all the kittens to a dark corner up there. They were at the wandering stage, and one kitten wandered over to an interesting spot; he fell down a hole! It wasn’t like the hole that Alice fell in, though. He landed one floor down, inside the wall of my bedroom. We could hear his little mews, and had to cut a hole in the wall to get the poor little guy out.
When I was born my parents rented a house in Griswoldville, a village in the town of Colrain. I don’t know anything about the house except that a little brook ran through the basement.
My first memory: I was outside the house on Congress Street with Betty, and she got locked in the garage. My memory has it being as huge as a barn, with horrible fluttering birds. It was a normal sized garage, and I think there was a pigeon or two. Betty claims I don’t remember this, that I just heard it.
My wedding day: We got married in the back yard – it was so hot, at least 90° in the shade. Josh and Joel were the best men, and Karen and Betty were the best women. We were exchanging rings, and it was hard to get on because the heat made our fingers a bit swollen. I started giggling and couldn’t stop. Aunt Ruth proclaimed loudly from the audience “Us Saunders always laugh like that when we get nervous!” And I giggled more. Either Betty or Karen whispered to me to breath slowly and deeply, and that was how I managed to regain my senses and continue with the ceremony.
We used to visit relatives in the Boston area once a month, after dropping my dad off at Crystal Research (a client). Aunt Elinor and Uncle Jim lived in Cambridge, at 16 Gerry Street, where Aunt Elinor was born. My Great Nana lived with them. She was in her mid-90s when she died. She had her own sitting room upstairs, and a jar of candied ginger sat on a piece of furniture. I was allowed one piece of ginger, so of course I chose the biggest one I could and loved to nibble away at it. I wanted to grow up to be a little old Irish lady with my long hair up in a bun, just like her. As I grew up, I realized that my height alone precluded that, let alone my nationality. So I shall settle for being a stately old American lady with my hair either in a bun or waving wildly around my head.
Pt. 2: Family Artifacts
See attached photos
Pt. 3: My Story
a favorite memory
I was three and spending my day at preschool, as usual. I remember running out to the main room where a few of my friends were playing with one of those toys that you run little blocks along pieces of metal. The one that’s always in doctors offices. They were sitting on a rug that was supposed to look like roads and yards and houses. I was really excited because I just found out that it was my half birthday. I told all my friends, but they didn’t seem to care very much, so I sat down to play with them.
an event in a place that’s really important to you
When i was studying abroad in Beirut I found myself at a birthday party for a Syrian guy named Majd. I was invited by his roommate, Troy from Montana, who was interviewed to be a roommate in the apartment that I ended up living in. It was kinda fun, then eventually some of my friends showed up because they didn’t want me to be there alone. We were standing out on the balcony, breathing the fresh air and listening to the hustle and bustle that was still going on out on Hamra Street. Suddenly I started to feel weak, like I was getting low blood sugar or something. It got more and more intense, to where I needed to bend over and lean on my knees. The next thing I remember is seeing my friend floating joyfully in the clouds, and then waking up with tons of people around me shouting. Everybody kept telling me I was going to be okay, but I knew I was ok. I just fell down, right? Somebody picked me up and carried me to the couch. Suddenly it felt like I was drowning. Liquid was streaming down my face and I couldn’t help but breathe it in. It wouldn’t stop. They kept saying the word hospital. I tried saying that I didn’t need to go to the hospital, that if someone just brought me home I could figure everything out, but a medical student informed me that I would absolutely need to get stitches. In my face. As I was walked out to the cab was waiting for me I caught a glimpse of my reflection. I couldn’t feel anything, but my reflection showed my face completely covered in blood. I thought that I had seriously messed up my face. This is it. One way trip to Ugly Town. Later I found out that I had only sliced up the area around my left eye, and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I could have lost my eye. I could have gotten scars right through the middle of my face. Sure, my friends were all super upset that I had hurt my face, but I was relieved that it wasn’t worse. I had the potential to make up some crazy stories about my time in the middle east, and I walked out with some bad ass scars. Win.
Pt.4: Education
I can’t lie, I’m not overjoyed about my education, currently. I’m not sure what the New Media program is really offering me, and I’m not sure what I want to do with it. Honestly, I just want to graduate so I can start working on personal projects. I have plans to create a cartoon with someone, but I can’t right now because of college. Even if I were able to incorporate that project into my schooling, I’m not sure I would be able to collaborate with my partner for it, since he is no longer a student here. I feel like my experiene with college right now is just about opening my mind to some new ideas, meeting people I could work with, and not having the time to do what I really want to do.
Pt.5: A day in your future
A list of my goals:
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I want to be cozy
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I want enough financial freedom to eat the food I want and travel at least once a year.
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I want love.
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I want laughter and goofiness.
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I want to let life take me wherever. I don’t have any plans and I don’t know if I will anytime soon.
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I want a dog and a cat and a cozy home.
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I want to work from home as much as possible.
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I want to be creative.
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I want to live in Portland, OR.
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I want to be involved in lots of activities
So how do all of my goals fit into a day in my life? I’ll start the day off under blankets with my pets and Jeff. I’ll put on some music and prepare a warm meal to put in the crockpot so I can eat it later whenever I’m ready. I’ll leave my apartment in Portland with my dog, and we’ll go get active, since my kickball league meets that day. After we probably lose the game horribly I’ll grab some fresh juice on my way home. Then it’s time to get to work on that website I’m mocking up. It’s fantastic.
What I want to do for a project: I would like to either do short stories about what happens after the fairytales are over, or short stories about the experiences an item have been through.
Stories I like: