Let's go back

Let’s go back to the beginning
To before you said, “I love you.”
To before I said, “I don’t care.”
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Please won’t you meet me there?

Let’s go back to the railroad tracks,
To where we would lay our heads,
To when we just needed to talk.
Let’s go back to the railroad tracks.
Do you think it’s too far to walk?

Let's go back to those happy times,
To when we'd jump at the slightest noise
In case a train was right around the corner.
Let's go back to those happy times,
To when the air seemed warmer.

Let’s go back to those conversations,
To the ones that were so personal,
To the ones that were simply not.
Let’s go back to those conversations.
We both liked that place a lot.

Let’s go back to those words you said.
To “I love you.” What does that even mean?
To the moon and back? Forever after?
Let’s go back to those words you said,
Because I want to change my answer.

Little Brielle

Little Brielle set off with her shovel and pail,
At the shore of the vastest, bluest sea.
The clouds of the sky seemed to merge with ships' sails,
And when the tide crept at her toes, Brielle would flee.

Little Brielle set up camp far from the tide's reach,
And dug her plastic shovel into the soft, golden beach.
She said "I'll build a sandcastle fit for the finest queen.
It will be the biggest, grandest castle you've ever seen!"

Little Brielle dug dug dug, up to her elbows in sand.
Her eyebrows gravitated towards each other while she worked,
And she looked so charmingly serious, shovel in hand,
And when the sand did not go her way she sweetly seemed irked.

When suddenly, through the sand she'd shifted away,
Little Brielle could see stars though it was day.
She looked in the hole that was like a tide pool,
But did not find shells, sea urchins, or a fish school.

Little Brielle saw in the hole that she had made,
What looked like the vast depths of outer space.
There was a nebula cloud with colors of every shade,
With swirling tendrils of dust that seemed fine as lace.

Little Brielle wondered, "What if it sucks me in?
Then I'd have to start my castle all over again!"
So she pushed sand over the puddle of space, hid it away,
Turned her back to the spot and continued with her play.

Pending inventions that will make the world a much better place

Seems like a lot of the technology actually makes our lives harder. I have to keep up with over three different email accounts to stay informed, keep track of ipods, cellphones, laptops, etc., and I can't really say that these things actually make my life easier... They can entertain me sure, but they aren't exactly life changing tools.
So I'm going to invent some actually useful technology, things that will change people's lives.

1. A Perspectimodifyer:
A device that changes the color of a calculated vicinity by turning a dial. So with the turn of a dial the area could go from looking colorful and vibrant to a scene resembling an old photograph. This device also aids in decision making when you simply wish to see things in black and white. Also, the principle reverses so that gray, dreary days and your mood can be transformed with more cheery colors.

2. A Happy Inhaler:
This device is like an asthma inhaler and has a similar purpose. When your throat closes up in panic or sadness just take a reassuring puff from the inhaler. The chemicals react with the memory part of the brain as well as the pleasure centers so that you are not happy for no reason, but a special memory is recalled giving the Happy Inhaler a longer lasting effect. The chemicals are non-toxic but should be used in moderation not exceeding 5 puffs. It is not intended to replace your therapist or other healthy coping abilities.

3. A Mood Ring...
... that actually works. The world would be a much more conscientious place if you wore your heart on your sleeve, or your finger. However, if you wanted to hide your feelings then you simply took the ring off. Though having a unimposing "Do Not Disturb" sign on your hand could have its purposes. An add on would be the Proper Theme Music Diamond insert. This gem contains a tiny micro chip that can store up to 100 songs and transmits waves to a nearby radio to play the music. When the chip senses a significant mood the music will play.

4. A Unicorn:
This cross breeding marvel will greatly aid the police forces in major cities. A police officer would look far more imposing atop a unicorn, with it's sharp, yet magical horn glinting in the sun. However, special guards would need to be fitted around the horn to prevent the possibility of a civilian being impaled.

Also, unicorn bone marrow, though not human, has special properties benefitting leukemia patients due to the high white blood cell count. The unicorn's horn is actually a byproduct of their insanely high white blood cell count. You see "horn" is somewhat of a silly term because the protrusion is actually a bone.

It will be a lot of work creating these marvelous inventions, but it will be worth it to make the world a better place. Should my efforts fail, I wish for someone else to carry out my dream.

Hogwarts, A History

Off the top of my head I can tell you that there are 142 staircases in Hogwarts, one of which has a step that will trap your foot like quicksand.
But if you asked me to name the United States' 34th president I'd have to spend a few minutes singing a song I learned in the fifth grade to have a prayer of getting it right.

I can tell you which secret passageways lead where and which ones are blocked, but I don't remember when exactly the French and Indian War started.

I could go on for hours about Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, but all I know about British General Cornwallis' involvement in the American Revolution was that he was defeated at Yorktown... and I did a paper on him once.

Honestly, I don't even know what the OU library hours are, but I could tell you that the Hogwarts library is located on the fourth floor and closes at 8 p.m. every night.

Strangely, I don't find all this information useless.
I never saw history happen. I never saw the past form into the present.
History is like a story, I just find Professor Binns' take on it a bit more interesting.

We've been told our histories over and over since we were kids. Now it just seems like a story, a story that everyone believes without question.

There are a lot of errors throughout history, and a lot of information that has been covered up.

History is all up to the people who write it.
So who's to say that the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 was of no importance?
I'd say it was the beginning of a long time war against the discrimination of goblins and should be taught in schools. Goblins are important too and deserve representation in Wizengamot. I am happy to say that my family was in no way involved in goblin discrimination. Was yours?

Mom's present

What if every tear you ever cried was stored in little vials.
I’d sit and sort through them all even if it took a while,
Just to find the tears you cried the day that I was born.

What if every time you sighed I caught it in a jar,
And used the little puff of air to blow your worries far,
Leaving your heart feeling feather-light, calm, and warm.

What if every time your shoulders ached an angel got its wings.
Then those angels could protect all of your precious darlings,
And praise God in too many magnificent ways to count.

What if when you said “I love you” the sun came out from behind a cloud.
Because warmth is what I always feel when you say those words out loud,
And I never get tired of hearing them no matter how the number mounts.

What if every time you laughed a new star formed in the sky,
Shining and twinkling like the playful sparkle in your eye.
That way the night would no longer seem so dark.

What if when I made you proud the ocean would raise its tide,
As if to show your warm emotions welling up inside.
Just know that you are the inspiration for every adventure I embark.

What did we lose when we gained comfort and control?

"I'm so glad we're doing this." she said swinging her leg over the cold metal fence, "I needed a little adventure, besides, doing something that's kind of illegal just makes things more fun."

"Kind of illegal? kind of illegal?," his voice rose incredulously. "Try just plain illegal." She laughed in the dark.

"Only if you get caught."

"How would we explain this to a police officer?" he shone the flashlight on her. "He just found two college kids out in field. I don't think he'd be very understanding."

"It's not like we're stealing or damaging anything. We just want to go somewhere where we could see the stars."

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd buy that."

They trudged through the field. The grass was dried by winter and smelled as though it had been freshly cut. The moon above was so bright it was like the bulb of a lighthouse, beckoning the wanderers forward into a strange place of nothingness. There was no one else, only they and the moon.

"It's so peaceful," he said as they lay back on a slightly sloping hill. The night sky closed over them like a blue bowl trapping them there in that moment, in that separate world. Constellations were visible, but the moon's brightness made them seem small and insignificant. Their hands reached up, tracing pictures in the stars and outlining the man's face in the moon.

"He's kind of ugly," she said wrinkling her nose.

"Do his eyebrows kind of go in? I see him too!" They rolled on the ground laughing at the scowling man in the sky. He looked down on them haughty and disapproving.

"It's funny, I never really took the time to look for him before."

Thoughts seemed numb in their minds, and the silence enveloped them like a cold, yet still comforting, blanket. It felt strangely like being underwater. The pressure of the quiet, the chilled breeze that was like a current, and the blue moonlight made the illusion all the more believable. Perhaps the moon was a round jellyfish and they were drowning in the universe's magnitude.
They were flecks of dust in a desert, bubbles in the ocean, fireflies compared to stars.

"It's almost like..."

"An out of body experience." She had the habit of finishing sentences for him. "Like we're watching someone in a movie. Characters do things like this, see things like this. Normal people like us just don't."

"Yeah, exactly," he breathed to the blinking stars.

It was strange how simplicity had become magical, and how all that was ancient seemed strangely new and undiscovered.

What if...

What if when you wished on a star your wish really came true?
What if dramatic music played at your first "I love you?"
What if girls had little locks and boys had tiny keys,
Then there probably wouldn't be as many romantic crises.
What if all the dinosaurs had never gone extinct,
Then we could ride on their backs to work, or so I'd like to think.

What if leopards could trade their spots like stickers?
What if double chocolate fudge could be made even thicker?
What if the imagination didn't have trivial boundaries,
Then you and I could become rulers of whatever we pleased.
What if little children never learned how to read,
Then that would lead to a terrible world indeed.

What if man had never really landed on the moon?
What if the whole event was filmed in a studio room?
What if the Titanic didn't fall apart and sink,
Then Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn't get so much as a wink.
What if all need for war suddenly went away?
I don't think it could happen suddenly, but maybe gradually someday.