I decided to take a break from the saga of how Jessica and I met and became friends and eventually roommates tonight in order to do a free-for-all, because I am nothing if not lazy.

I have an unorganized folder of files that I’ve amassed over the years.  Everything in this folder pertains to reading and writing.  Most of the files and papers I have on reading contain quotes and comments on books I’ve read over the years.  You see, I am virtually incapable of merely reading a book and setting it aside.  I usually either highlight/write in the book or, more commonly, I copy passages down on paper–by hand!, the horrors!  This can get quite lengthy, and usually any given book will fill up several sheets of paper.  As you can imagine, this means that it takes me significantly longer than it normally would for me to get through a book.  The majority of the files and papers I have on writing are my own writing, and the remaining are things on writing.

As I was paging through my beloved folder (That’s an understatement; I would cry were I to lose it, and I don’t often or easily cry.), I ran across an in-class essay test I wrote in high school.  The Honors/AP English classes frequently had in-class essay tests that we received and had to write in the course of fifty minutes.  I hated those, and I still assert that they show nothing of one’s writing or reasoning ability other than the ability to perform under pressure while the person next to you beats on their keyboard like it’s a freaking bongo, but this particular one struck me, and not only because I did really, really well on it.  I don’t know if you ever go back and look at writing you did months or even years ago, but it’s always kind of shocking for me, because I tend to be very critical of my writing and think it’s complete rubbish at the time.  I nearly always look back at the writing and find myself thinking, “Wow.  I wrote this?  I don’t remember writing this, and it’s actually pretty good.”  This was one of those examples, and being that it is two and a half pages that I wrote in about forty-five minutes, well, I’m duly impressed.  The part that really impressed me, though, was the first half of my opening paragraph.  I thought I’d share it with you.

A glimmering sliver of silver slices through the air.  Moments later scarlet encrusts the edges.  The jaws of injustice clamp down unyieldingly as life seeps out slowly upon the floor.  A pool forms as the sanctity of life is violated.

Ok, not the world’s greatest writing, but I was a teenager and under a major time deadline.  I think it’s good.  Or maybe I’m just watering down my opinion because this is the internet and I’m expecting someone to storm in and tell me my writing is awful when I think it’s really good.  Hence the reason why I am emphasizing the points of TEENAGER! and IN-CLASS ESSAY.  I’m harsh on my own writing and fairly critical of most everyone else’s (not quite so much blogs and the internet, because this is all colloquial), and it’s not often I ever really look at something I write and think, “That’s really, really good.  Someone should’ve slapped me when I said otherwise,” but this is definitely one of those times.

However, so as to not stray entirely away from the topic of my roommate, I’ve decided to post two photographs of her.  She is aware I am posting these photographs, so I am not actually mean for doing so.  As it turns out, my roommate has a sense of humor, and she thinks they’re pretty funny.  She’d be more likely to comment on her looking fat than comment on the fact that she frightens small children.

I think the black and white factor really adds to the classiness of the photo.

Notice her tank top.  She moonlights as a supervillain. She’s Super Fly. (Note the double entendre.)

The red eyes in this one definitely capture her eBay auction moods.

She will stalk the auction page for up to an hour or two before it ends, and she will update you on it every five minutes whether you want her to or not.  And so help you and everyone else in a mile radius if she does not win.