Nintendo Bros. Book Part 1

Did you read Haunted Games? If not, the two boys I take care of a few times a week are now interested in making their own stories. The other night, when I worked a double, the three of us created a book based on a few of their favorite characters from Nintendo. The only help I gave were a few drawings, some coloring and writing whatever they told me to. The rest was drawn and colored by a seven-year-old and his four-year-old brother occasionally threw in a line or two. The first installment in what looks to be an upcoming series:

Nintendo Bros. Book! Part 1

Mario is the hero of Peach. His brother is Luigi. And he always beats up Bowser when he is up to his usual tricks. He is also a plumber but rides a dragon named Yoshi. His other enemy is Wario. Mario loves Princes Peach. IT'S A ME!

Princess Peach always gets captured. Mario, her hero, always swoops in to save the day. She lives in a castle in Mushroom Kingdom with Toad and loves Mario.

Wario is the opposite of Mario. He is greedy for gold. His brother is Waluigi. He rides a motorcycle. He causes mischief all over the world. He foes gross things and shakes things up...even his booty!

Yoshi is the friendliest thing on the island. He has the same nemesis as Mario- Bowser! Yoshi popped out of an egg and he can shoot eggs too! He is always open to help.

Bowser is the eviliest, most terrifying koopa ever! He crushes everyone in his way with his shell. He kidnapped Princess Peach. He's the meanest and grumpy, too! Mario always kicks his butt when Bower is up to his evil tricks. He lives in a castle with lava and fire.

The End

Haunted Games

I've gotten both boys I watch into making their own books. The four-year-old told me what to write and helped with some of the coloring (he was rather bossy actually and I ended up doing most of the coloring while he told me to hurry up). I thought the project turned out to be cute (thanks to some Scooby Doo stencils) and I thought I'd share it. Plus my drawing of Daphne is more than worth the look. So may I present you with Scooby Doo: Haunted Games by me and a lil guy...

One day Shaggy went right down into the swamp. He tripped and landed right into the swamp. Shaggy turned into a zombie!

And then the zombie walked out of the swamp!

Fred was standing there with his shoe next to the swamp and his other shoe on the ground.

Then Fred turned into the wolfman on accident and stood in his own spooky way by the moon.

Daphne ran right down into the basement and turned into...

 

 (No, not a hooker)

THE WITCH DOCTOR! She put spells on those meddling kids.

Velma was standing right in her cheerful way but then changed into the ghost clown!

 *since taking this photo the story line has been changed. velma turned into the ghost clown on purpose*

And then ghost clown was standing there in the circus and he broke through the glass.

Scooby Doo words were floating through the air. ZOINKS! Scooby Dooby Doo! (Ruby Ruby Roo!)

Don’t Dress up as Judge Ito for Halloween

During the mid-90’s, right in the heat of the O.J. Simpson trial and one cool October night, I decided to dress as Judge Ito for Halloween. I was in seventh grade and while some may consider thirteen too old for trick-or-treating there was no denying my love for candy. I had my black wig, my mom’s old graduation gown, small glasses, a goatee and a giant pillow case.

My friend came over dressed as a baby and we intended to visit every house in my neighborhood. Really load up on the candy. We made it to every house and with good time! In fact, it was still early. Our pillowcases were already swollen with candy, bulging in all directions but I easily convinced her to travel across the street to another neighborhood to get more candy. We started in a small cul-de-sac that had about five houses curved in a row. When we rounded the corner of the last house a few high school boys, some wearing robes and masks, came running around the corner. My friend ran to the street while I stopped, like an idiot, and said, “Oh! You scared me!” I remember being confused right before they grabbed my arms. One boy tugged at my pillowcase, now just over half full, and I tugged back. I wasn’t worried at all about getting beat up by four boys…I didn’t want to lose my candy. Once they realized I wouldn’t let go two of the boys kicked my legs out from under me. I saw my friend standing in the street laughing at me while I fell down to the ground. They boys held me down for a few seconds while some got a running head start…with my candy.

“Thanks for helping!” I sarcastically yelled at my friend. My Ito goatee was half off my face and I was pissed. I dreaded going home. I shouldn’t have been so greedy. I’m sure three pounds of candy was more than enough. I caught my breath and we walked back to my house. When I walked in the front door my dad was standing in the hallway, on the phone with my grandpa. I tried to hold back tears but I just couldn’t. I swear steam came out of my dad’s ears when I told him what happened. Once he heard my candy was stolen he put the phone real close to his mouth and sternly said, “Dad, I have to call you back, some fucking assholes stole her candy……..I don’t know, but I’m going to get those fuckers.” Click.

My mom came running into the room by now.  “What happened?!” she asked with a worried face. Her eyes looked me up and down and doubled back to my hands. “Where’s my pillowcase?!” she yelled. She was more upset about her pillowcase being stolen than the safety of her daughter.  My dad left during this argument to go find his police search light. “I can’t believe you’re upset about a pillowcase,” he said to my mom as he returned. “Come on, we’re looking for them right now! You’re going to tell me what they looked like, we’re going to find them and get your candy back. Get in the car!” I was nervous. I tried pleading with him to just stay home, that I shouldn’t have gone into that neighborhood in the first place but I was still sitting shotgun, listening to my dad talk about “how those fuckers are gonna pay.” We drove around like sketch balls for a few minutes, driving no more than 10 mph and shining a giant spotlight on trick-or-treaters. I was humiliated and I never saw the boys that jumped me and took my candy again. My dad took me to the store that night and gave me twenty bucks. Maybe getting jumped while being dressed as Judge Ito on Halloween wasn’t so bad after all…

Coming Attraction: My Dream

I had the most fantastic dream last night. It was so bizarre but real at the same time. It's been stuck in my head all day so I decided to write it down tonight. It turned into a short story with names hidden or changed. It is after all, just a dream. It wasn't real, but the people I dreamed about are very much real and a part of my life and it would be only fair (and less embarrassing for me) to keep everyone anonymous. I'm excited to edit it over the next few days and I'll post it on here sometime soon.

I went to school for writing. Even as a little kid, once I learned my letters I was crazy about writing them. I couldn't spell and I could barely write, but I would write letters on everything and anything I could. My baby book is filled with upside down R's and K's and random groupings of letters that I drew. My mom told me that I couldn't wait to write words as a little girl. I think it's cool that I had such an interest in writing as a 3-year-old. I lost the passion of writing when school began. It became a chore. I didn't get back interested into writing until college when I took a creative writing class. After a few weeks I became excited and was writing semi-decent short stories and better poems. After being in college for about seven years I became a pretty good writer, concentrating on poetry. I'm one class shy of BA degree in creative writing. But I haven't written anything really in close to three years now. Work got in the way and I just forgot about writing. Just never made the time for it anymore.

My writing is usually dark, obscene and often disturbing. Not in a thrilling sense, but in a creative way. I don't think I have ever written a love story, unless you count the story I wrote a few years ago about the one legged hooker who was sleeping with her brother, but there was something about the story in my dream that caught my attention. It seemed so real and made so much sense with it being as random and unlikely as possible. It is a love story. But it has it's own unique qualities. There is only one "scene" from my dream that I am leaving out of the story I wrote tonight...and that would be when actress Charlize Theron was following me in a wheelchair and pelting acorns at my legs. It was in my dream, but doesn't fit with the rest of the story. I do assure you though that the story is full of equally bizarre moments.