Creativity and Electrolites

I want to make something, but I don't know what. It's why I got into computer science, why I love Lego bricks, and why I have a blog. The problem with wanting to make something is that either you have to have someone else give you set of plans, in which case you're basically a glorified factory worker (not that there's anything wrong with factory workers, it's just not what I want to do), or you have to have some amount of creativity.

I used to have some creativity. I think that I used up most of it that year we had a haunted house in my grandpa's attic. Jury-rigging ghosts to the door so the room came alive (or un-dead, perhaps) as the door opened, I still think that the thought and engineering that went into that was fairly creative. But I fear I used up all of my creativity when I was young.

Anymore, I get halfway through writing a story and can't figure out where to go from there. 'Sure, he fell off a cliff to certain doom as the lightning crashed around and his body cascaded toward the piercing rocks below. But what happens /next/?' It's such a pain to try to figure out where to go from there. Obviously I could have the magical albatross swoop in and save the day, but really, how believable is that? Everyone knows that magical albatrosses gallop, not swoop.

So I find that I'm stuck, without a speck of creativity left. Unsure of what to do, but still filled with a huge desire to create. A need to build. A thirst for anti-entropy.

Which honestly would make a pretty darn good sports drink. Anti-Entropy, with added specks of creativity. Now in fruity lime!

The Missing Princess

Once upon a time, there was a princess. Of course, she didn't know she was a princess, but a princess she was.

---

Breathless, cheeks rosy from her run through the crisp spring morning, she bounded up to the open cabin door. "Mother! Father!" She had a basket from the market and knew breakfast was going to be mighty tasty. But first things first.."Mother? Father!" They would love the fruit, she knew. But why weren't they answering? "Mother! Father!!" She called out as she ran into the building.

Where she froze, dead in her tracks. The place had been torn apart, the belongings strewn recklessly across the place. A couple was laying in the middle of the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. The woman, dead, the man was dying. Dropping her basket, she knelt by them.

"Child.." the man said, feebly taking her hand. "You have been a blessing to us, we've never regretted taking you in." Noticing the surprise on her face, he continued, "yes, child. We found you on our front step one morning, oh so many years ago. We search far and wide for your true family, but found nothing--no child was missing, noone for many days' journey was looking for a missing baby. Wherever you're from, it must be far, far away."

He paused to cough weakly before pulling her hand to the woman's. As the three of them sat there, her sobs the only thing breaking the silence, she knew that nowhere would be better than living there. But she had nothing there to live for anymore. "You're lucky, you know, my dear," he said, breaking the silence. If these bandits hadn't come, you'd end up having lived here forever--you need to move on, though. You have great things ahead of you. After we're gone, go..go out to the wood shed. When you were found, there was only one thing with you. Not enough to say where you were from, but enough to say that you are very special, very important. Take it with you and find your true home."

With that, he breathed his last and joined his wife. And so, the girl looked in the woodshed and there, behind a pile of wood, she found a crown. Her crown. She gathered together everything the bandits left and began her journey.

---

On her journey, of course, she had many adventures. They're mostly unimportant here, and shall be reserved for another time. On one of her myriad of adventures, though, she gained a companion, a wolf that helped her out of a sticky situation, a wolf that grew fond of her and wouldn't leave her side, saving her life more times than she cared to count.

And it was the wolf that led her safely across the ocean, the wolf helping her sneak aboard the ship, as she was unable to afford payment. The wolf that showed her the way around bandits on the road, close enough that they could see the campfire, hear the laughter, but still safe. And finally the wolf that led her to a mountain upon which was a palace on which was a tower in which was a room wherein she had been born.

As they approached the palace, she knew she had been there before, as they grew near she knew that they were finally there. Her search would soon be over, she would soon be "home". She would never again be with her family, but she would be where she knew they wished her to. And so she began the long climb up the mountain to the palace.

There was no village along the mountainside, there were no inns or taverns, no farms or houses. It was simply a rock cliff, with narrow stairs cut into the side of the cliff. Ten stairs, twenty, fifty, a hundred, she quickly lost count and gave up on knowing the distance. Twice she stumbled, twice she almost fell, and twice she was again glad that the wolf continued to help her along. Twice he grabbed her with his teeth, twice he pulled her back from the edge, twice he kept her from tumbling the ten, twenty, fifty, however many stairs she'd climbed. And both times she caught her breath before continuing, proceeding on her long trek skyward.

Finally she made it up the stairs, finally she was at the entrance, the gates to the palace. And when at first she knocked, pounded on the gold-encrusted doors, she wasn't recognized and yet again the wolf prevented her from tumbling down the stairs. But when she revealed her crown, the king, the queen, the guards, and even the stableboys knew who she was, who she must be. Well, after lots of magical tests and a lengthy multiple-choice quiz, anyway.

And so the princess returned home and lived happily ever after. Until the author gets around to the first revision of the story, anyway.

Sleeplessness

Angela and I were going to meet, back in the other cabin. Camp was ending, that cabin wasn't used, we'd been together since camp started, it's expected, right? The counselors told us that they didn't use the cabin because the mattresses were older. Or at least that was what they told us during the day. Around the campfire, they'd tell us it wasn't used since it was so close to the woods, and there was a mad axe killer out there. Or that an evil ghost lived in it. I just thought that it wasn't used since they could fit the guys into five cabins, they didn't need six. Whyever it wasn't used, we'd decided to meet there, as soon as we could sneak out.

As soon as the campfire was done, everyone went back to their cabins, us guys to our side, the girls to theirs. We sat around for a while, telling ghost stories, trying to freak the younger campers out until the counselors finally made us go to bed and turned out the lights. I doubted she was there yet, so I gave people some time to drift off to sleep before I made my way out. I dunno how long I was there waiting, I guess it was probably around an hour, although it seemed like days. I finally got up and did my best to not wake anyone as I snuck out. Sure, I bumped into a couple beds and practically shined my flashlight into my counselor's eyes, but I guess everyone else had a hard day. I stepped out under the porch light, wincing when the door squeaked closed. But no one woke. So I trotted over to the other cabin. She wasn't waiting outside like we'd planned, so I sat down by the door, on a little log, and waited.

The sky was so clear. I could have sat there and counted stars until the sun came up, and still wouldn't have had time to count them all. But I was too excited. Angela was going to be there any time. So I waited. I thought maybe they had been up talking about guys, or whatever girls do at camp before they go to bed. I knew she couldn't be much longer. I mean, how long _can_ girls stay up at night talking? So I sat there for a while before I wondered if maybe she'd gone _inside_ the other cabin. I stood up and turned toward the window, so I could whisper in, 'cause maybe she hadn't heard me. I guess those ghost stories spooked me a bit more than I thought, 'cause when that door opened, I took off 'a runnin'. It didn't just creek open, either. It _flew_ open. I just ran, tearing through the trees, before I thought that maybe one of the counselors had found out our plans, and hid out in there. Or maybe Angela was just playing another one of her jokes. It didn't matter which. Either way, if anyone found out, I'd never live it down. I had to go back and see.

Of course, I'm no fool. I was already in the forest, so I could sneak back up without being seen. No one would notice me, as long as I didn't step on too many branches. As long as I didn't start thinking about mad axe murderers, I was fine. Of course, you know how it is when there's something you _know_ you shouldn't think about. So of course, two steps later, I was expecting an axe behind every shadow. It's really hard to be quite when you're that frightened. But I had to go on. If the axe murderer's didn't get me, my reputation would the next day.

By the time I actually made it to the edge of the forest in front of the cabin, I think I had somehow managed to step on every noisy branch in the area. It's a miracle no one actually woke up, but I couldn't hear anyone, and had seen no one go out the front door of our cabin, which is plainly visible from the forest, so no one was outside anyway. So I was at the edge of the forest, looking at the other cabin, trying to figure out what I should do next, when I saw this freaky light inside the cabin. It was an eerie green, you know? It just barely lit up at one end of the cabin. At first, I thought it might be a firefly, since it was so dim. But it didn't blink. And it started getting brighter. And larger. I guess it was only a couple minutes later, but it was bright enough that I could've read a book by it, and it seemed to be about 4 or 5 feet tall. I couldn't really tell, and was still afraid of all those axe murderers.

Well, I guess I thought that the counselors must have somehow found out, and were playing a joke on me, so I'd have to get them back. I still had no idea where Angela was, but by this time, I wasn't really thinking about it. Since the forest extends all the way around that cabin, I decided to go around to the door in the back, hoping whoever was inside there wasn't expecting that. So I walked as quietly as I could around the cabin. Somehow, I managed to miss the sticks, but I did find a hole, that I don't think anyone's known about for years. One second, I was tip-toeing along, the next, there I was. One leg stuck about a foot deep in mud. Have you ever been stuck out in the middle of the woods, at probably one or two in the morning, with a freaky cabin beside you and axe murderers all around? No, I suppose not. But I was. And wasn't very happy about it. But there wasn't much I could do about it, other than get out and keep going. So I reached out to grab a tree to help pull myself out, and I touched this. See? It's Angela's necklace. I know it is. I'd seen her wearing it at the dance. She said she didn't go anywhere without it. But she wasn't anywhere I could see. So I started whispering to her, hoping she was around. I was hoping for a good evening, but now I was just ready for this nightmare to end.

So there I was, one leg stuck in a mudhole, a necklace in one hand, whispering as loudly as I could, when the front door of the cabin flew open again. I was so preoccupied, I hadn't noticed the light inside the cabin again until now. It had moved, and was still moving. It was now outside, and coming toward me. And it really was a light. There was nothing _there_. I could see right through it. There's no way the guys could've pulled this one off. I didn't know what it was, so I screamed. Sure, I wasn't going to have my rep after that night, but I didn't care anymore. I wanted to be safe in my own bed. And I wanted to know where Angela was. And I really wanted to know what this giant eerie green floating light was, and why it was coming toward me.

There I am, this light floating ever closer toward me, and I notice how quiet the entire area is. A pretty dumb time to do so, but it just struck me. Generally, there're some crickets around at odd hours of the night, but not then. There was _nothing_ making any noises. Nothing but my own heart pounding, anyway. That was probably the most frightening thing about it. But somehow I managed to get my foot out without hurting myself and I took off running. It's pretty hard to run through the trees, especially with branches slapping you in the face every three steps, but I managed. It's quite a bit easier when there's something following you. Well, by the time I got the twenty or thirty feet through the woods to the waterfront, I had cuts all over my face, which stung pretty bad as I jumped in. But thankfully that thing must've been afraid of the water, since it didn't follow me past the waterline. Now I was cold, wet, tired, afraid, and ready for the night to be over. All I had to do was get back to my cabin, and claim it was all a bad dream or something.

Well, there was a big glowing green thing and several axe murders in the woods, so I had to swim over to the dock area to get out. It was either that or the girls cabins, and I didn't think that they'd appreciate a large, wet, cold, muddy, frightened, upset person around at that time of night, which must have been around three, although I didn't have a watch on, so I couldn't tell. So I swam as quickly as I could, seeing how I was still clothed, holding onto Angela's necklace for dear life. Thankfully I was to frightened to even _think_ about the sea monsters and other stories the counselors told us. So I finally made it to the dock, and actually got out before I noticed the necklace I was holding had begun glowing the same eerie green color. It was freaky, so I dropped it, right there on the beach, and started running again. The necklace was behind me, the green light to one side, so I had to go the only place left... the girls cabins.

There I was: tired, wet, freezing cold, muddy, and out of breath, when I began banging on the door to the girls cabin. I suppose that wasn't the best time to find out where Angela was, but I had to say something, and I didn't really think they'd believe that I was being chased by a glowing green light. So I asked. And of course she was there, she'd been there all night. Or so the counselor said, until they actually checked. Now everyone knew that Angela and I were friends, and that I wouldn't get her in trouble if I could help it, so that's when the female counselors started to worry a bit. I mean, when one of the prettiest, sweetest girls, who never does anything wrong is suddenly missing in the middle of the night, of course they're going to worry. But why'd they have to drag me back to my cabin? I mean, couldn't we have found her on our own, and it have been our little secret?

One of the female counselors stayed with her girls, and the other dragged me along over to the guy's side of camp. Of course, along the way she tried to make me tell her what had happened, but all I could tell her was that Angela and I were going to meet, but she never showed up. That didn't really explain why I was soaking wet, or why I was terrified, but she wouldn't have believed me anyway, and would have probably thought it was all some sort of sick joke. So I didn't tell her. I guess now that I should have, but we all do things that we look back on and think we should have done differently. But it was the best I could do at the time.

Anyway, we're just getting into view of the cabins, and I just couldn't force myself to look at the other cabin. Not the way it had been spooking me. So I'm walking along behind the counselor.. I don't even remember which one she was. There we were, when she suddenly just fell down on the ground in front of me. Having someone faint on you is not what you want to happen on a night like that. Really. But she did, and I couldn't do anything about it but get help. I didn't want to just leave her there but I couldn't carry her. And I didn't want to be walking around out there alone. So I started running. Quickly. But then I made a mistake. I knew that I shouldn't look at the other cabin. I just knew that something bad would happen. But I had to look. Curiosity killed the cat, you know? Well, the same thing nearly happened to me. But once I looked over and saw the other cabin in flames, I didn't know what to do. They weren't normal fire flames, though. They were green. I was kinda' drawn to them, and stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I looked. I tried to scream for help, but I couldn't. I was stuck. Until I started walking toward the cabin. Yeah, it's generally a bad idea to walk toward a green fire of unknown origin, but I couldn't help myself.

I guess that the cabin wasn't really in flames, really. But there were green flames coming out of the windows and door. It wasn't a constant thing, either. It'd start at one end of the cabin, and a flame would shoot out the far window. It'd stop, move down, and shoot out the next window. And so on, until it got to the end, where it'd repeat the process back. It almost looked like the flames were pacing the cabin, which may be what drew me to them. I dunno. I hadn't ever seen anything like it before, and I don't really want to see anything like it again. But I couldn't help myself, so I walked closer and closer.

By the time I was able to stop myself from walking any closer, I could feel the heat of the fire on my face. It felt pretty good, since I was still pretty wet from my late night swim, and I just stood there for a couple minutes, before the fire just stopped. I tried to run, I really did. I just couldn't. Anyway, the fire just stopped. Usually, you know how a fire will go down a bit? Well, this one was there one instant, and gone the next. I didn't have time to wonder about this before the windows and doors started banging. Just all at once, pretty much, they opened all the way and slammed closed. They kept on doing this, some more often than others, but pretty much all of them slamming at one time or another. This happened for a little while. I guess it woke the other people up, since a couple of them stepped out of their cabin. But by then, the slamming had stopped, though. I don't know if anyone else saw it or not. I'm sure I saw something glowing inside the cabin at that time, but the counselors ran up to me and seemed upset with me, so I'm not sure.

They dragged me back to my bunk, and one of them stayed awake the rest of the night, watching me. They told me I'd have to talk to someone in the morning, as soon as everyone was awake, and that I'd probably be sent home. I tried to tell them what had happened, but they just looked at me with a look of disbelief. I really didn't care that much, and just wanted to go as far away as I could. I think they thought that I was making all the noise, and getting into trouble. I quickly gave up trying, and went ahead and got in bed, where I found Angela's necklace. I don't know how it got there, and was pretty frightened of it by then, so I threw it across the cabin and hid under my pillow. Somehow, I guess I dozed off for a little bit, but it couldn't have been for very long. I woke up, and the necklace was on my neck. I've tried getting rid of it a couple more times, but it keeps popping up, so I'm afraid to try anymore.

Really, sir. That's all I know about last night. I don't know where Angela is. Now, I'd really like to go home, so if you'll call my mother, I'll wait for her right here.

The (Real) Legend of the Sleeping Cat

Once upon a time there was a child, a kid by the name of Jack. Jack had many adventures, but the most famous of his adventures began the day he found his ring. He'd left home early that morning, sent to the market so he could trade a bag of "magic" beans for a cow and spent the whole day at market, trying to find someone willing to buy his beans. But noone was interested.

Sad and hungry, he started home. Just outside town, something glinting by the side of the road caught his attention. He paused, and was amazed to discover a ring, set with a ruby that in the fading light of the sun sparkled with the color of a burning fire. He rushed home to share his discovery with his elderly mother. They might not have much to eat for a night, but on the morrow, surely all their worries were over.

"Look, mother," Jack shouted as he rushed through the front door. He thrust his hand into his pocket to pull out the ring, but his mother was quicker.

Before Jack could retrieve the ring, she asked, "Jack, dear, did you get the cow?"

"I'm sorry mother, but noone would trade with me. But look what I found on my way home!"

"Another grasshopper? Or maybe a butterfly? Or perhaps a mantis.. Jack, darling, it's lovely I'm sure, but what are we going to eat? With a cow we could have milk and cheese, we could get by."

"But mother, look, I found a ring! And it looks expensive!"

Finally, he managed to show his mother the ring, finally she began to share in his joy. As with most fairy tales, it wasn't worth trying to find the person that lost it, the ring was theirs, and Jack was going to bring it to the market the next day, hoping to trade it for a cow and maybe a chicken. So Jack, still hungry since they didn't really have much in the way of food yet, went to sleep.

But for one night, Jack's mother (notice how she's always "Jack's mother" in all fairy tales, she never gets a name), for one night she wanted to feel like a queen. So she put on the ring.

As the sun rose, Jack woke and was surprised to find his mother missing. In her bed, there instead was a cat, and on its collar it wore the ring. So Jack, having lived in the land of fairy tales all his life and knowing how magic works, Jack knew that his mother must have put on the ring. Jack knew that the ring must have been enchanted, that it transformed his mother into a cat.

"Mother! Mother, what happened to you?" he exclaimed, picking up the cat. But the cat didn't respond, just lay in his arms sleeping. Not knowing what to do, he tried to turn to his mother for advice, but no matter how much he tried to wake the cat, it continued to sleep.

Unsure of what to do, afraid for his mother, Jack began to panic. Just then someone began knocking at the door. Carrying the cat, he ran to the door and opened it to find an old woman there.

"Can you help an old woman, sonny," she asked. "My cow has run away from home, my chickens have died. My flour has bugs in it and my money was stolen. I am hungry, could you give an old woman some breakfast?"

Again, Jack knew the land of fairy tales, knew that any time an old woman comes begging at your door, she's capable of either helping or cursing. Or he was just wanting her to go on her way so he could get back to his problems. Either way, even though he was hungry himself, he handed the woman his bag of beans and wished her well.

She didn't seem to notice his hurry to get her out the door. But that doesn't mean she was oblivious, she just noticed the cat instead. "That's a pretty cat you've got there, sonny. Does it have a name?"

"Of course it has a name," an increasingly-hysterical Jack cried. "It's my mother!"

"Your mother's a cat? Where's your tail at then?"

Almost incoherently, Jack manages to tell his story, tell of the beans and the lack of a cow and the ruby ring and most of all tells of his mother, holding out the still-sleeping cat. The old lady smiles mysteriously and tells Jack of a tower on an island across the sea. She tells him about how the evil wizard, the owner of this tower fell in love with the princess of a nearby land and created an enchanted ring, a ring that would turn its wearer into a sleeping cat. How the wizard plotted to use this evil ring to capture the king and blackmail the princess into being his bride. And she told Jack how the wizard used a ship to sail to the nearby land, but while at sea a storm hit and carried the ring away.

"And so the only one that can break this curse and turn your mother back is this wizard." With that, the old woman handed Jack a pouch containing some herbs that would "take care" of the wizard. With her job done, she walked out the door and was never seen again.

So Jack journeyed to the distant isle in search of the evil wizard. But Jack knew that the wizard wouldn't just remove the curse, for the wizard was evil. And the ring was his, Jack hadn't bothered to try returning it. So instead of asking at the front door, Jack entered through the servant's entrance. Past the stables, through the pantry, into the kitchen, and that's where he saw her.

Even though the evil wizard's plot to blackmail the princess had failed, he had not given up. He entered her castle on the darkest of nights, stole her from her room, and dragged her back to his tower. His magic prevented her from leaving the island, no matter how she hated living there.

Of course, Jack thought she was the most beautiful person in the world, and would do anything to save her. So while the kitchen servants weren't watching, into the wizards food he emptied the contents of his pouch of herbs, and when the wizard ate it he fell over dead.

With the wizard dead, his spells began to fail. The princess again was able to leave the island, and asked Jack to come with her back to her kingdom. Jack would, of course, have been stupid to refuse. So he and the princess returned to her land, married, and lived happily ever after.

The cat, sadly, did not turn into Jack's mother. Either the wizards magic remained in the ring, or his mother hadn't turned into a cat in the first place. Either way, the cat did wake from its (exceptionally long) cat nap, and was well fed for the rest of its days. The princess thought Jack a bit daft for talking to a cat as if it were his mother, but figured noone's perfect.