Matt Writes Stories
One story a week. Every week. Or else.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Diary of a Space Pirate Introduction and Housekeeping
Hey remember last week's story? The one about the salesman? There will be more of it someday. I just got a little pressed for time and last week the imaginary deadline of Saturday night that I make for posting my stories meant a lot more to me than it did this week. So I will finish it someday, and it will probably be as underwhelming as the first part.
In my defense for this story being posted late, I would like to say I have been doing a lot of non-short story writing lately (specifically screenwriting), and because it's generally of a more time sensitive nature, it comes first.
Anyway, I hope you like this week's (and by that, of course I mean last week's) story. It involves space and pirates and diaries. I don't want to say too much more, because it involves precious little else and to say more would make reading the story unnecessary.
Diary of a Space Pirate
March 24, 5035
Only a few more days until Paul gets here and I have a big decision to make; robot monkey or robot parrot. The monkey seems like an obvious choice. It has hands so it can pick things up like credit chips, or pistols, or bottles of rum, but the parrot... that's pretty quintessentially pirate. I can teach it all kinds of phrases and songs. Plus my shoulders aren't very broad, so I think a parrot would fit better. A monkey would just make my head look small by comparison. Although I could teach the monkey to pick pockets. But a parrot can fly. It's a hard choice.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sales Pitch; Part 1
"I collect chess sets and play croquet on a semi-professional level."
"Thank you."
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Time Traveler Introduction and A Regular Introduction
Have you ever gotten a collection of short stories and the stories all have introductions by the author that reveal information about the story and the introduction is on the page before the story, so you haven't read the story yet, but you feel compelled to read the introduction first, because it is first, chronologically? That's what this is. I recommend reading the story before you read this.
Have you read it? Ok. This is the first time I've written non-master scene prose in a long, long time. It was not a smooth transition for me.
When I was in writing classes, specifically short fiction classes, I read a lot of bad short fiction. I also wrote a lot of bad short fiction. One thing that was discussed frequently in these classes was having a good hook; having a good lead that would get the readers attention and want to make them read more of the story. Some people wrote really good hooks and really terrible stories. I think their process was to come up with the most lurid, crazy thing they could think of, write that first, and then try to make a story around it. That's what I did with this story, and let me tell you, writing the hook first, then writing your story is not the way to go. I didn't know where this was going until about 3/4 of the way through it, at which point the story just became world-building and exposition, then I got tired of that, so I switched perspective and changed tone completely just so I could get this story somewhere close to an ending.
Anyway, I learned from Andrew's project to set the bar low early on so you're not having to come up with a masterpiece every week just to stay consistent. So there it is. Week 1. The Time Traveler.
The Time Traveler
"Bullshit." said Paul.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Harry Potter Fanfic
A few summers ago (apparently 6 summers ago to be exact), I had stumbled upon something called the internet, and on that internet there were things called Fanfics. For those of you that are unaware, a fanfic is basically a story about characters that are someone else's intellectual property, usually written by someone who is a fan of said characters and is frequently not a good writer. Fanfics can be pretty entertaining in their earnest terribleness, which is why I decided that my friends and I should have a weekly fanfiction writing competition. A topic would be decided on by the previous week's winner (who would also judge that week's competition), and all participants would have to write a 150 word (or more) short story about the topic and then read their story at the weekly reading. I think my friend Matthew and I were the only one's that enjoyed it, and to be honest, I was the only one that really enjoyed it, but we kept it going sporadically for several months.
The subject that sparked the fanfic competition was Harry Potter and because of that and my latent Potterphelia, several of the competitions were for Harry Potter Fanfics. So to celebrate the release of the second to last Harry Potter movie of all time (hopefully), I would like to share with you one of my many (MANY) Harry Potter Fanfics.
A little background; this was probably written around 2006, which was before Deathly Hallows had come out, so I had was mostly guessing at some of the events that would happen in the final book (and I think for the most part, a lot of my guesses were pretty spot on), and it takes place between books 6 and 7. It also contains one of my favorite jokes I've ever written. Also the formatting is a little rough, so be warned.
Harry Potter was sitting on his bed in his Uncle's house on Privet Drive. He was, once again, thinking about how unfair life was to him and how he was the greatest wizard ever, and how no one in the Order of the Phoenix ever gave him anything to do. Little did he know, at that exact moment several key members of the Order, were plotting something that required the talents of young Mr. Potter.
The phone rang at the Dursley house and Harry's cousin Dudley answered it.
"Dursley Residence, this is Dudley speaking"
"Hello, is Harry Potter there?" responded the voice on the other end.
"Yup" replied Dudley and then he hung up the phone.
The phone rang again, and again Dudley answered it.
"Dursley Residence this is Dudley speaking."
"Can I speak to Harry Potter?" said voice.
"No." retorted Dudley and he again hung up the phone.
The phone rang again and once more Dudley picked it up.
"Dursley Residence this is Dudley speaking"
"Avada Kedavra."
Dudley died.
Suddenly 4 wizards apparated in the Dursley kitchen. It was the third most interesting thing to happen in that kitchen since the Dursley's lived in the House on Privet Drive. (The second most interesting thing happened in 1994 when one of the floor tiles became sentient, the most interesting thing that happened in that kitchen occured two days later when that same tile tried lead a floor covering revolution and overthrow the shag carpet in the sitting room) Harry heard the sound of apparating wizards and ran down to see what was up. He was suprised and for some reason angry to see four of the Weasley brothers in his Uncle's kitchen.
"Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, why are you in my Uncle's kitchen?"
"We're on a special Mission and we need your help,” said George.
“It requires the utmost secrecy,” added Fred.
“Is Voldemort up to something evil? Are we going to fight some death-eaters?” inquired Harry.
“No,” said Ron, “something much more pressing. Bill’s bachelor party. We’re in charge of getting
decorations.”
A few minutes later at The Card and Party Outlet….
Harry: Look Fred, it sounds wonderful, but it also sounds just like a muggle blow job.
Fred: You’ll just have to trust me Harry. Wizard blow-jobs are the best.
Charlie: What do you know about wizard blow jobs?
Fred: Loads, my brother, loads.
George: Hitting yourself with the Infellatia curse is not the same thing as a real BJ.
Ron: Infellatia curse! Does it do what it sounds like it should do?
Fred: All that and more. It’s not really much of a curse. It’s more like a miracle.
Ron: When do we learn it?
Fred: It’s usually covered in the 7th year so… tough luck little brother.
Ron: You have to teach it to me!
Charlie: No one is teaching anyone the Infellatia curse. Now let’s just get the decorations and get out of here.
In the Streamer Aisle of that same Card and Party Outlet…
Voldemort: Should we get the green ones or the gold ones, Severus?
Snape: Don’t they have grey? To match his eyes?
Voldemort: No. No one sells grey streamers. That is ridiculous. Why would anyone want grey streamers. The point of streamers is to make things look festive. Grey is not a festive color.
Snape: Gold then.
Voldemort: I agree, then we can use the gold place settings. Oh this is going to be the best breaking Lucious out of Azkaban party ever! Can’t you feel it?
Snape: (sarcastically) Yes. It is quite an overwhelming feeling.
Voldemort: Don’t get all sarky on me. It’s going to be fun- Oh my god, look who it is over in the “adult” section. It’s Harry Potter and those Weasley kids. Wow, that Ron. He’s shot up like a weed.
Snape: Shooting up weed more like it.
Voldemort: What does that even mean?
Snape: (markedly silent)
Voldemort: Should we go over then and say high?
Snape: I really don’t want to talk to Potter. It’s been really awkward ever since I killed Dumbledore. Did you know he tried to murder me?
Voldemort: (shocked) No!
Snape: It’s true. Right on the front lawn at school. I mean obviously he was just acting out because I just murdered his mentor right in front of his invisible eyes, but still. Let’s just get out of here quickly before they see us.
Voldemort: Ok. Oh shit. Oh shit they saw me. I think they’re coming over here. Sorry.
Harry: VOLDEMORT!!! (Drawing his wand)
Voldemort: Hey there Harry. How’s your summer going?
Harry: YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!!! (everything is more intense with 3 exclamation marks)
Snape: (sheepishly) Hello Harry. Ready for school to start?
Harry: (turning on Snape) YOU KILLED DUMBLEDORE!!!!
Snape: I just finished grading papers from last term and already the next term is about to start. Where does the time go? Ha ha.
Harry: THIS ENDS NOW!
Voldemort: Well, we need to be going. See you later Harry. Bye Weasleys.
Weasley Brothers: Bye.
Snape and Voldemort walk to the cash register, pay for their streamers and leave.
Outside the store…
Voldemort: Wow. You’re right that was really awkward.
Snape: Yikes.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Pete and Kaylen's Wedding The Blogpost Part 2: The Hazy Recollections of a Groomsmen/Bullfighter
I think that I should apologize before we get started. Firstly, I'm going to apologize for taking so long to write the follow-up to what is easily my most popular post about Pete and Kaylen's wedding to date. I'm sure many of you were in suspense this entire time waiting to see whether or not Pete and Kaylen would ever get married and whether or not I'd have any more self and other people-deprecating comments and observations to make about said marriage. Sorry about that, and so you don't have to wait any longer, the answers to those questions are yes and yes, respectively. Secondly I'm going to preemptively apologize for how bad this post is going to look. It is my intention to include some of the pictures I took of the events which I took with my i-phone. However, I 'm really terrible at formatting and laying out these blog posts, so the pictures and text might not line up or make sense or it might just look so bad that I scrap the picture idea entirely, either way, again, I apologize. So without further ado: The Wedding!
Saturday Morning...
I was told to meet at Steve's house at noon, so I pretty much had the morning to do with whatever I wanted. I went for a run and then went to a mall to look at boardgames. This was followed by some Lion's Choice, the best roast beef restaurant in the world. Pretty boring stuff really. Cut to-
Saturday Noon...
I got to Steve's house at noon, but when I got there all the other men were tuxed and I was not. I got tuxed then drove myself and Steve to the church. This is still pretty boring. Let's skip to something interesting.
Saturday 12:30ish...
We hung out in the basement of the church before the wedding. Steve and Tim had to help all the men put their boutonnieres on. Steve put Pete's boutonniere on for him. It was adorable. At some point Pete left to go see Kaylen all brided up. He probably cried a bit when that happened because he's kind of a pansy. While he was gone the men continued to not socialize with the bridesmaids.
Saturday 1:00 - 1:45
Pete and Kaylen got married. I stood around and did some walking. There was a reading after the vows that was kind of interesting, but not interesting enough to go into detail about.
Saturday 1:50- like a million hours later...
We took pictures. Boy did we take pictures. There was something that was referred to as a "party bus" that the wedding "party" boarded. It had interesting seating and unorthodox lighting. It was driven by a man named Ace. Ace drove us to places, we would disembark and be photographed. One of the photographers rode the bus with us. I don't remember her name, but it was probably a girl's name (because she was a girl). Anyway, I kind of felt bad for her, because a certain member of the wedding party who I won't name (Pete) kept hitting on her. Anyway, we drove around, got photographed, drove some more, got photographed some more, etc. It really wasn't that bad, I just hate having my picture taken. (The pictures did turn out really well though, due largely in part to me not being in most of them) We got some free frozen custard out of it from Ted Drewes and it gave me occasion to take the following pictures:
Saturday 4:00 or maybe a little later. I don't really remember at this point because it was, like, a month ago...
We got to the reception hall none to soon because, after all those pictures being taken, I was ready to get my drink on. In this case my drink was Coke and Grenadine and, during the reception, I had at least four of them. I was so wasted.
I think everyone who was at Steve's wedding and witnessed Pete's best man "toast" has given him crap for it. It was one of those "from the heart" deals that lasted all of about 30 seconds. So after Pete's toast, the bar for Wissinger Wedding toasts was set pretty low for Steve. Steve could've just spat in the happy couple's faces and it would've been better than Pete's toast. Fortunately (I guess) he decided to go a different route and actually wrote an outline for a toast and delivered it with gusto and glass of hard liquor. After the toast was food and after the food was dancing, I enjoyed the food, but had no part of the dancing, though there was some really good music at the reception (this isn't surprising as Pete and Kaylen have excellent taste in music). Anyway, it all wrapped up around 10pm, after which I went back to Steve and Mary's and had some lovely conversations about whatever it is we talked about, this was followed by some me going to my uncle Kevin's house and some sleeping.
Conclusion... (I'm both showing and telling you that this is the thesis to this post. Take that English classes!)
I'm not a big fan of weddings. I've been to a lot of them, and I can honestly say they are not something I typically enjoy. However, I would say that the two best weddings I've been to have been those of the brothers Wissinger. The fact that these are two of the only non-Southeast Missouri weddings I've been to might be related to how much I enjoyed them, anyway, this wedding was a lot of fun.
Epilogue; Observations...
1. There were so many Arrested Development quotes happening over the course of the weekend, it was unbelievable. The best instance of this was when Steve recited this particular gem (0:52-1:01) while waiting around in the church during the rehearsal
2. After the rehearsal dinner a party kind of broke out at Steve and Mary's. Somehow a jam session started and one of the songs played during the jam was a little number called "Under the Sea", from the Walt Disney film The Little Mermaid. This was vaguely unsettling to me.
3. Steve Wissinger was a benevolent yet firm best man. We learned early on in the weekend that there was a reason that out of all of us men, he was the best.
4. Other than the Cape/Cairo posse, I talked to Frank more than anyone else, often whilst standing in front of large, wedding reception volume speakers. These conversations were both challenging (from a technical standpoint) and fascinating.
5. Lady Gaga music seems to have some sort of power over girls/gay men. I don't entirely understand why, but I don't think I'm supposed to.
6. This is the second post in a row in which I haven't discussed Scott Pilgrim (although you can bet your ass there's going to be one/some coming in the near future).
7. Formatting those pictures was a huge pain in the ass. There's got to be a better way to do that than how I did it.
8. Pete and Kaylen are the bomb.
Monday, July 12, 2010
What is Sure to be a Completely Epic Post About Pete and Kaylen's Wedding: Part 1
Dissolve to:
Friday, July 9th 11:30am - 2:00pm: The Drive
It was raining when I left Cape. This fact isn't important, but it is true, much like that fact that the capital of Ethiopia is Nairobi (Note: this fact is neither important nor true). My trip to St. Louis wasn't eventful. I stopped at the same Jack in the Box in Herculaneum I always stop at and got the same Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger and Chicken sandwich I always get. I will say that the staff at this Jack in the Box was of noteworthy incompetence. They acted like they had never had a lunch rush before, and that a lunch rush consists of 5 people. The soundtrack of my drive up was the four tracks on Emotionalism by the Avett Brothers that I always listen to, the two tracks of Grand by Matt and Kim that I always listen to, and probably some Wings.
Friday, July 9th 2:00 - 3:30pm: The Fitting
After making it to Steve's (on my first attempt!), I hung out with Steve and Mary briefly before being joined by David "Kibbles" Kiblinger and BaBrendan McMeel at which point we journeyed to "the loop" to get our tuxes from the rental place.
Int. Rental Place - Day
STEVE, B, DAVID and MATT are all in separate dressing compartments. Matt wins, because he was the first person to make the "follow someone into the dressing room joke". (This joke consists of walking into the same stall as another person when you're going into a dressing room and then acting surprised when that person calls you out on it, usually by saying "What?". This joke does not work well on strangers).
Matt: (opening the bag that contains his tux) Hey do you guys have shirts in your bags?
Steve, B and David: Yup.
Matt: Bullshit.
Steve: Seriously. Do you not have a shirt?
Matt: No.
Steve: You should go get a shirt.
Matt: Are you sure you have a shirt?
Steve: Yes. Go get one from the Guy.
Matt leaves, momentarily, then returns to his stall and puts on his tuxedo pants. Shortly the Guy pops his head into Matt's stall and hands him a shirt. Matt puts it on quickly and then steps out of the stall to see the other men already well tuxed.
Steve: We look like robots.
Matt: Why is my collar different from your collars?
Brendan: You have a different collar.
Steve: Go tell the Guy.
Matt leaves to tell the Guy about the collar situation. The Guy is a lot more apologetic about it than he needs to be, and brings Matt a new shirt with great haste.
Matt: Does your guys top button button?
Steve: Don't worry about it. Put your tie over it and no one will notice.
And nobody did!
Friday, July 9th 3:30- 4:45pm; Intermission
I bought some shoes at Target, and Brendan and David revealed the story of a Cape Girardean that had recently died of dehydration while hiking in Mongolia. This tragic event would become the punchline to many (although, to be honest, not quite enough for my taste) sick, sick jokes for the remainder of the weekend. Also at some point we played spades, but that wasn't till we got to Steve and Mary's.
Friday July 9th 5:00- 8:00pm; Rehearsaling
It was at this point Tim, Frank and Jason joined our party. Tim was the only "late in life" friend that was a groomsmen (Pete was the person who used the phrase "late in life" to describe Tim. I think Pete thinks he's an old man or he knows something about his mortality that the rest of us do not).
Tim and Frank (who ushered) went to college with Pete and Steve, and when I would go on trips with Pete and Kaylen and Steve and Mary, Frank or Tim and I would be the fifth and six wheels respectively. We usually resisted the urge to hold hands while walking around whatever city (usually Chicago) we were in, waiting to do whatever we were waiting to do (usually going to a concert), but that's not to say we lacked chemistry. Anyway, it was good to see those guys.
Jason is a camp friend of Pete and Steve's. Pete and Steve's "camp friends" are a unique breed of genuinely nice people that never quite seemed to gel completely with Pete and Steve's non-camp friends. I may be speaking out of turn, but that was always my experience. That being said, Jason was a really cool, really fun guy and one of the two male members of the wedding party that danced at the reception (unless you count Pete as part of the wedding party, which for some reason, I didn't when writing that last sentence, so technically 3 male members of the wedding party danced. And to be completely honest, I couldn't with complete certainty say that Tim didn't dance at the reception, so it was possible that at least 4 male members of the wedding party danced, but I'm 80% sure that Frank didn't dance, and nearly 100% sure that me, B and kibbles didn't dance, so let's just that that Jason was part of the simple majority of the male contingent of the wedding party that danced). So yeah, Jason was an usher.
Anyway, the rehearsal was at St. Margaret of Scotland Church (I think), which was, incidentally the same church where the wedding was held the following day. I don't think this was a coincidence. The rehearsal consisted of some walking and standing. There was also some sitting. I should mention that Pete and Kaylen were both there at the church too. I know you probably assumed that they were there, but since I had failed to officially introduce them into the narrative, I figured I would do so now. So yeah, from this point on, Pete and Kaylen are in the story, unless I say they're not.
Also there were some bridesmaids there too. I don't remember most of their names because when I meet people I'm probably never going to meet again, I don't remember their names. I know one was named Emme because she's the one who I had to walk with (she also was, and as far as I know, still is Kaylen's sister), and one was named Marci. I remember her name because her head was green and pink (at least the part of her head that was her hair was those colors). I think one of the other ones was named Sarah, but I think that's just a really common name for girls and the odds of one of a group of five girls being named Sarah is pretty good.
Right so the rehearsal was pretty simple. The rehearsal dinner followed. It was at a vegetarian diner. This lead to a discussion about what the differences between vegans and vegetarians are. This discussion seemed a bit unnecessary since everyone involved agreed as to what the differences were, so it wasn't as much as a discussion as an opportunity for four men to revel in their mutual know-it-allness. The highlight of the dinner was dessert: Imagine a hostess cupcake. Are you envisioning it? Can you see it's moist cakey base, topped off with a layer of hard chocolate icing, with the curly cue white icing on top? Can you see the creamy white filling? You can? Do you have imaginary x-ray vision or did you already take a bite out of it? Oh. Well wait till I'm done painting this word picture before you start eating it. You know what, never mind, go ahead and imaginary eat the imaginary hostess cupcake, I was pretty much done anyway.
Anyway, the diner make it's own hostess cupcakes, only they are much bigger than the ones you get at the store and that's what we had for dessert. I pretended to like them a lot more than I actually did. They were ok cupcakes, but the ones at the Cupcakery are much better. Jason, however, seemed to like them more than anyone has ever liked anything before. He was really open about his admiration for the cupcakes. Jason was a really interesting guy.
Later...
After the rehearsal dinner we went back to Steve and Mary's. It kind of turned into a party pretty quickly, and as such, I tried to get out there as soon as I could. At one point a jam session broke out. I ended up staying a lot later than I had intended due to several interesting conversations I became involved in, the contents of which I can't quite remember. I'm pretty sure both dying in Mongolia and vuvuzelas were probably involved. At some point I left and went to my uncle Kevin's house to sleep. There was some pizza eaten and some attempts at card writing that happened too, but certainly not at blogworthy levels, so I won't go into detail about them.
End Part 1.
NEXT TIME ON PETE AND KAYLEN'S WEDDING BLOG:
Matt: Steve, do you have the rings?
Steve: You mean these rings? (Steve punches Matt in the face)
Matt: Oh God! Not my face, that's my third least favorite place to get punched!
--------------------------------
Brendan: Hey guys, I have something I need to tell you about...
Everyone: *stunned silence*
-------------------------------
David: Oh God, it's so hot out here.
Steve: You mean these rings!?!!!?? (Steve punches David in the face)
------------------------------
Pete: This is my favorite Lady Gaga song, but just barely because I have so many beloved songs by Lady Gaga, it is hard for me to chose!
-----------------------------
Kev McMeel: Let me show you how non-tenured Semo Professors drink scotch.
TUNE IN NEXT TIME!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
POST!
LIST TIME!
Here's a list of things you will probably never here me say without irony:
1. You know what this pizza needs? More olives!
2. Wow Justin Spaeth, that was so witty. You are so clever.
3. I'm so tired of Halloween.
4. I need more crocs.
5. Let's go see that new staging of (insert any Shakespeare play).
6. The Beatles are so overrated.
7. Looks like I'll be staying in tonight; there's a Glee marathon on.
8. No, I don't think I would like a Twizzler.
9. Let's go people-watch!
10. Man, that (insert Athlete) really got (hosed, robbed, lucky, etc...) in that (sport jargon), am I right?
So there, I posted. You're welcome.