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Aditus

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  1. Aditus

    WOW—Eight Years!

    By Aditus,

    Eight years ago I joined GA. Time to reminisce—a lot of firsts. Sorry.
    On September 21, 2011, I switched from lurker to member. I wanted to be able to comment and get notifications. Meanwhile, I wrote my first prompt story. Thank you GA for your encouraging comments and reactions. I became an author and wrote my first anthology story, The Wardrobe. Again, thank you GA for motivating and encouraging me to write my first mini-series, Four Perspectives.
    The next step was my first multi-chapter story, RedRunning Shoes. The story’s discussion thread is one of the best things that ever happened to me. It was so much fun to read you guys ranting and cursing my characters, suggesting alternate tattoos or secretly killing them off. So cool. Oh and then I wrote my first poem in English, thanks to Irri and @AC Benus’s newly invented poetry prompts. I loved the original version. We were a bunch of people tentatively taking our first steps into writing poetry, lovingly instructed and encouraged by AC and our comrades in ar....err verse.
    I found friends, you know who you are. I miss zombie, Lit Lover, Jo Ann, Lisa to mention a few. Oh and playing games like ‘Who am I?’
    After eight years the general rule still applies: Read! Write! Enjoy! And don’t forget to react, comment and review.
  2. Aditus
    Some time ago I became seriously ill. With seriously, I mean getting close to meeting Azrael personally, at least three times. With a white blood cell count considered extremely high even for the type of illness I had, the resulting stroke, hemiplegia, pneumonia, and cerebral edema, to be able to walk and talk again almost like before, I have to count myself lucky.
    What I learned: Life as you know it can be over in a blink of a moment. In theory, I knew this, but suddenly being confronted with the actual fact, brought it really home.
    Today, I rather do what brings joy to me and mine. I prefer spending time with friends and leave when I’m not wanted. This doesn’t mean I don’t speak up when I feel it is needed.
    I was personally invited to partake in something that was meant to be a reminder of the consequences of hate and marginalization.
    Finding out my poem has been ignored has hurt, I give you that. So much so, my initial reaction was a hissy fit and the strong urge to leave in a huff, LOL. I’m over being stupid now. I was reminded I still have a series to finish, friends to talk to, stories and poems to read and such. Thank you for that.
    Carpe diem.
    ~A.
  3. Aditus
    Poems with an accent
    I like to write. However, why attempt to write in a language other than the one I learned first. One reason: Over 130 Million people speak German (https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/culture/the-german-language-surprising-facts-and-figures)
    More than 3 Billion people speak/understand English. Duh.
    I’ve come a long way from
    There is a cat.
    The cat is fat.
    The cat lies on a mat.
    to my first novel long story written in English. Red Running Shoes.
    Which I could only accomplish with the tremendous help of my first editor @Lisa. I could write a whole essay about how much she helped me.
    Anyway, it doesn’t matter how it sounds when I read a story to myself. When one reads it in their head, they hear no accent. At least not my horrible accent.
    Of course, I had to write poetry next. I blame @AC Benus and his poetry prompts. However, poetry is an entirely different matter than prose. There are those pesky things like meter, rhyme, and rhythm among other phonetic hurdles. Fear not, I won’t launch into an explanation of poetic devices now. There are people who are much more competent than I am.
    The point is: It is important how a poem sounds.
    I had this conversation with Irri about oregano of all things. In English it’s oregano. In German it’s oregano.  Depending on which language you hear in your head it can screw with meter. Better not try poetry?
    Once started, I couldn’t stop. To me, a poem is a condensed moment. A poignant thought. A clarified feeling and many more. And always a song.
    Since @Valkyrie introduced me to the NaPoWriMo challenge, I learned how the perspective of my world could change for a month, an interesting, and addictive experience.
    I know my poems are not perfect. I grudgingly stopped aiming for perfection some while ago. It has to feel right. Therefore, I stubbornly continue writing poems with an accent.
  5. Aditus
    Around four pm, mini-cat became restless. She wandered around the house and followed me everywhere. Then around ten, she had her first contractions. The first kitten, a large black and white, was born at 11:15. Sadly Alpha was dead by the time it was finally born.
    The second (Bravo) came an hour later. It was barely alive and we quickly cut the umbilical cord and rubbed it dry with a towel. For a short time, we thought we would lose it too, but it got stronger when we fed it with dry milk for kitten. Whew!
    The third, Charlie, and fourth, Delta, came really quick. We had to cut the umbilical cord and rub it dry because mini-cat was busy with giving birth. After Delta mini-cat and her kitten went to sleep in one of three very cozy cardboard boxes and we slept on the couch beside her. You never know...
    Around three am I woke up because Nox barked in the next room. He was thirsty. When we looked at mommy and the babies, we found a fifth baby, Echo, lying before the box, crying pitifully. Obviously, mini-cat secretly had another one and left it outside because the others started crying. So, once again, cutting the umbilical cord, rubbing it dry and back to mommy.
    All is well so far, they are drinking and sleeping and mommy only leaves them to eat and drink. So cute.
    We hope it stays well and nothing more happens. Fingers crossed.
     
    I woke up this morning and Echo was really bad. On the way to the vet, but it doesn't look good.
  6. Aditus
    In 1788, Carlos III of Spain decided that he wanted some of the exotic plants, flowers and trees from his territories in South and Central America brought over to adorn his palace in Madrid. Trouble was the flora needed a stop-off point to become acclimatized to their new environment. The Canary Islands, with their sub-tropical climate, seemed the ideal choice, so Carlos drew up a Royal Decree on August 17th of that year declaring the establishment of an "acclimatization garden" in Puerto de La Cruz.
    Although known officially as Jardín de Aclimatación de la Orotava, or "JAO", it is actually in Puerto de La Cruz (there is a smaller one actually in La Orotava).
    It covers around 20,000 square metres, and there are plans underway to double its size, with the addition of landscaping and more modern facilities.
     
    Source: http://www.tenerife-information-centre.com/botanical-gardens-puerto.html
     
    Of course I had to visit. Here are some more pictures:





    (Click on the thumbnails)
  7. Aditus
    We had a bad storm in February, which meant our carnival parade has been cancelled. My city is famous for its political floats and we couldn't just not have a parade, which means we had it today.
     
    The weather was perfect, so were the floats IMO.
     
    For those who speak a little German, although most of the floats are self-explanatory.
  8. Aditus

    Caesura - Delays

    By Aditus,

    There's no talking around this: I'm stuck. The first chapter and prologue is written, but I'm not happy. Beside some minor things I'm struggling with perspectives. I'm experimenting with authorial (omniscient) narrator perspective, but I'm afraid I end up head-hopping a lot. The other option is I change the perspective mid-story, not ideal either.
    Then my summer antho story is nudging me. In my head it's almost written and I itch to actually start the piece. There's some beta-reading too.
     
    I need to think and maybe talk it through with people. I promise I will solve this soon. Rant over.
     
    ~Aditus
  9. Aditus
    M. has to memorize and recite a Shakespeare sonnet for school.
     
    Most important criterion: No ‘thee’, ‘thou’ and ‘hath’ and shit.
     
    My comment: I never found ‘shit’ in a Shakespeare sonnet before, so I googled it. I didn’t find any, thank God.
     
    His final decision fell on Sonnet 130.
     
    Next step: How do I pronounce this shit?
    Again with the shit… Anyway, for a German student that’s not an easy task. He needed some help and he found Stephen Fry:
     
    http://sonnets.touchpress.com/titles/shakespeares-sonnets/130/My-mistress-eyes-are-nothing-like-the-sun/
     

    SONNET 130



    My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;



    Coral is far more red than her lips' red;



    If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;



    If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.



    I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,



    But no such roses see I in her cheeks;



    And in some perfumes is there more delight



    Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.



    I love to hear her speak, yet well I know



    That music hath a far more pleasing sound;



    I grant I never saw a goddess go;



    My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:



    And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare



    As any she belied with false compare.


     

    M. didn’t care this poem is a parody of the overdone love poems of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, nor that, in the end, it still displays ultimate love. But hell, after listening to Mr. Fry many times he did an almost perfect recital.
  10. Aditus

    I Say No!

    By Aditus,

    I am embarrassed and ashamed. I hoped that people in my country would never say things like ’Fucking niggers! Let them drown. We should burn them.’ ever again. But they do. Out in the open, not hidden anymore in some back room. And they do more. They burn down refugee homes, they organize torch parades, they post hate speeches on facebook and other the social medias.
     
    We are a democracy. They are allowed to do at least some of this. But I say No! Loud and clear. I neither tolerate nor accept racists.
     
    You may ask why I’m doing this here. I saw a comment by Anja Reschke yesterday. She asked us to say no and that is what I do.
    For those who speak German, here is what she said.
     


  11. Aditus

    Killing Of Cecil

    By Aditus,

    Cecil was an African lion who primarily lived in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. On 1 July 2015, he was shot to death by an American dentist and big-game hunter, Walter James Palmer, who had wounded him with an arrow two days earlier. Cecil's death resulted in international outrage and condemnation. (wikipedia)
     

    Killer of Cecil the lion was dentist from Minnesota, claim Zimbabwe officials
     
    Cecil had a rare black fringed mane and has been studied by scientists from the Wildlife Conversation Research Unit in Oxford since 2008. He became famous and with that obviously a trophy.
     
    This is not about where the hunter came from or even about hunting, but how unscrupulous trophy-hunters from all over the world flout the law to kill for their record books, not thinking or not caring about the consequences. Even the consequences for themselves. I know it's 'in dubio pro reo', so either this man is lying or he is incredible stupid and blind (Cecil wore a collar), in which case he should really not bow-hunt.
  13. Aditus

    A Short Update

    By Aditus,

    I'm not here as often as I used to or want to. If I read stories or forum entries, I do that in the car, a hospital room or some hallway on my phone. Therefore I don't comment on them and I apologize. A member of my family is seriously ill and although she isn't my favorite person, she is still family and I support my family.
     
    I am writing and Cole agreed to beta-read for me. If it is any good there will be a new story from me, probably when summer is over.
     
    Thank you.
    aditus
  14. Aditus

    Vampires

    By Aditus,

    Vampires. Since they started to glitter you think you read it all.
     
    I loved/feared vampires since I secretly watched Christopher Lee with my best friend Natasha and hid under the comforter when it became too much. I think I was eight. Count von Count was one of my favorite Muppets. Later I got the shivers watching Count Orlok, tried to imitate Bela Lugosi's accent and wow how I loved 'Lost Boys'.
     
    I could go on and on, telling you about 'Blade', Vlad the Impaler, Irish myths or even admit I read and watched 'Interview with the Vampire', ditto Twilight and vampire documentations. Bite me.
     
    When I saw W_L's thread I had to choose the vampire. After a few days I had a vague story idea and did my usual thing: Started to write, wrote myself into a corner, wrote myself out of said corner, deleted half of the story aka edited it, sent everything to Lisa, did the suggested changes, re-wrote some passages without telling her, decided it was utter crap. Thankfully Jo Ann remedied that.
     
    If you want to learn more about Dermot Radu Serban and Skylar Landen Porter read my story 'From the Ashes Springs New Life'.
     
    Make sure to read and review the other stories as well. I personally am looking forward to read rustle's debut story.
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