Posts Tagged ‘Ohio State University’

Some Thoughts on “Dodi Li”

Posted: October 18, 2012 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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For those of you who have no idea what that title means, Dodi Li is a short story that I started this summer and that I’m rewriting before National Novel Writing Month starts in two weeks. It means “my darling” or “my beloved” in Hebrew and should not be confused with a popular Jewish song that is sung sometimes on Friday nights by Jews everywhere.

Dodi Li features a succubus, a demoness who visits men at night as a beautiful woman and steals their sperm in order to create demonic children or steal pieces of their soul through fornication, depending on what myths you believe. However my succubus, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a name a succubus would have, right?) is not the antagonist of the story. Instead, she struggles to protect the other protagonist, a male she’s fallen in love with. Succubi have fallen in love with humans before, according to the folklore and stories I found by people who say they’ve had experiences with succubi (it’s on the Internet, so I can’t be sure if the writers are crazy or not, but I try to keep an open mind), and I decided to tap into that for this story.

The first draft was very plot-oriented, and sucked immensely. I decided to leave it alone until I could think of a way to make it better, and if I couldn’t, then it’d make a great learning experience. But yesterday in creative writing class, my teacher gave me an idea on how I could improve the story. So I went back and started to completely rewrite it, going until half-past ten last night, and then resuming for a little while this morning before class.

As I was heading to class, I realized something about my story: the main character, whose nine years old, and the antagonist, a 40-something with some mental issues, are the only male characters. All the rest are female: the doctor, the head nurse, the head of neurology, a possible detective character, and of course the succubus Umuruk, are all women, and all are women in positions of power that they use to help people.

I started to wonder if that might mean something, if my psyche was trying to tell me something through my writing. If it’s that I respect women in positions of power and that I think there should be more of them, that doesn’t surprise me at all; I grew up in a house full of women, my mom’s a rabbi, my boss is a woman, her boss is a woman, and I took a Women’s Studies course my first year at Ohio State, which I did very well in. So no surprise that powerful women show up in my story.

However, if it has something to do with the fact that Umuruk is able to help the main character more than these women, then I wonder what that might be saying. Perhaps even if women are educated and in positions of power, if they don’t occasionally open their minds to the impossible, then a mentally unbalanced man will hurt an innocent nine-year-old? That’s also a possibility.

In any case, once I finish the story I might understand more, and if I manage to get it published, you might be able to read it and give me some suggestions on what my Muse is trying to tell me.

Anyway, I’ve got some homework to do before I go to work, so I better get that taken care of right now. Have a nice day.

Oh, before I forget, something funny I have to tell you: I was talking to my history teacher after class today, and we had a really great discussion on the way out the building. You see, at the beginning of the semester, my teacher, whose focus is African History, told us that if any of us intentionally failed his class, he’d used magic he learned from tribal priests to enter our dreams and scare the heck out of us. Ever since then I’ve been trying on and off to get him to agree to teach me how to enter people’s dreams (can you blame me?).

At some point during our conversation, my teacher revealed he’d been joking, but I thought he’d been serious because he said it in such a serious way. This led to a discussion on witchcraft in different cultures, which led to a discussion on using magic and summoning stuff. That led to a discussion on spirits and possessions, and in the end, I ended up recommending my teacher to go see The Possession, which I reviewed back in September. Turns out, he agreed to see it. How about that?

Anyway, I think it’s funny, I have no idea what you think.

Edits and Construction

Posted: October 17, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Well yestereday I edited two short stories. One was Doll’s Game, the short story I’m writing for class, though I might decide to edit it again if I can get this idea I got today for the story to work somehow. I also edited Hunt in the Slaughterhouse, a short story I wrote back in April based on a dream I had. I’ve been trying to get around to editing it for a while, but I’ve had some trouble doing that. But yesterday I had the chance and I have to say, it loooks much better. I’ll have to figure out whether or not I want to send it to a magazine right now or if I want to wait and show it to someone else beforehand.

I also had an idea for Dodi Li, the succubus story I wrote over the summer. Although the plot for that story was really bad and I ended up deciding this story was best left as a learning experience, I decided to rewrite it after my teacher in my creative writing class gave me an idea. You see, she had been discussing the story we were critiquing today, and how the author was able to make it difficult to tell what was reality and what was delusion in his story. Listening to that, I just had a burst of inspiration for Dodi Li, which I plan to get to work on as soon as possible. Got to say, those workshop critiques can do wonders for you.

On, and before I forget, remember how I rewrote the outline for my serial killer novel Snake and that I mentioned I’d set a scene in a construction site? Well today I finally reached the man who could help me get onto the site. We’re going to try and find a time that works for both of us so that I can tour a site and ask some questions. This is a big oppurtunity for me because I want my readers not to have to suspend their disbelief too much and what’s better than actual experience?

Well, hope to have more good news for you later. In the meantime, I’ve editing to do.

President Obama At Ohio State

Posted: October 9, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership
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Isn’t that the most winning smile? Too bad I didn’t take it with my own camera.

Unfortunately, I have no photos. Well, I do, but they were taken from a great distance with a camera that’s better suited for close-range shots. So all I have are some grainy images that are a little shaky. So, instead of showing you those, I decided to go with a stock photo from Google Images (above).

Okay, so President Obama’s speech at OSU. I’m assuming you wanted to know the details, since you’re reading this post. Well, I got into line around 1, which extended around Thompson Library, across the street to Lazenby Hall, around the corner from that, and heading back to whatever’s beyond that. I entered line around the driveway for delivery trucks into Lazenby. There I saw a few friends whom I allowed to cut in line, and the usual pro-life protesters who always look like they just got back from a hunting party or tailgating. Around 2 the line started moving, and I bought a decorative press pass from a vendor.

When we got to the Oval, where the speech would take place, we were halfway between Orton Hall, where Obama would be speaking, and University Hall, which was where everybody was entering and getting their bags checked. In short, I was in the middle of the crowd, which is why I got bad photos. In addition, everybody kept moving around, so at times I was getting squished by people saying “Excuse me” and shoving me and everyone else around them. Plus the weather decided to be like early September, so I’m a little sunburned.

But besides that, everything was great. First Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus came on and gave a little warm-up speech. Then we had the Pledge of Alliegance and the National Anthem. Some students, including one I knew from volunteering, made some speeches on how Obama’s policies were helping them get the education they needed. Senators John Glenn and Sherrod Brown also made speeches, which I thought were very good, though I thought Senator Brown said something that might come back to haunt him later: “If you’re here at this rally, it shows you are more knowledgeable about politics than your friends or family.” That’s paraphrased for brevity’s sake, but you can see why some might have a problem with that statement.

And then will.i.am, one of the Black Eyed Peas. showed up and started DJ-ing for the whole crowd, using his songs and others. It was an awesome time, awesome enough that we forgave him for DJ-ing from a small blue tent where no one from the audience could see him. After that, President Obama came out!

He stood up there, told us how important Ohio was, and how because of the auto bailout, 1 in 8 Ohio jobs were now automotive-related jobs. He also spoke about other policies of his that had benefited the American people, backed up his sayings with statistics, used examples from people he’d met on the campaign trail, and compared his plan for the future with Mitt Romney’s plan. He also brought up Big Bird, which got plenty of laughs from the audience (I swear, Governor Romney is never going to live that down).

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I may have stood for several hours, which brought up back pain, but I feel inspired and I’m so glad I voted about a week before the rally. And I bet a lot of other people felt inspired too, because after the rally there were buses that could take you to vote early, which many people got on (of course, they may have gotten on just because will.i.am was supposed to be DJ-ing there too, but I’m an optimist).

So that’s my day. And if you’re American and registered to vote, I urge you to do so, no matter who you’re supporting this election (though you know who I hope will win the election). Your vote counts, despite what you may think about voting in masses, and when you make your voice heard, you get the right to complain whenever something happens in Washington you don’t like.

Happy 30 days or so till Election Day, everybody.

President Obama’s Coming to OSU

Posted: October 9, 2012 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership
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Did you know the name Barack means “lightning” in Hebrew? So that means the President is “Lightning Obama”. Why do people say his name would be “Baruch” if he were Jewish?

Yes, President Barack Obama is coming to OSU today. This will be his third time visiting Ohio State in the past couple of months, so I’m super-excited that he’s coming this time. Why, you ask? Because this time I’ll actually going to be able to see and hear him speak! The first time I was working, so no way I could go; the second time I didn’t even know he was on campus, which I blame on lack of advertising; but the third time, it’s less than a month from election day and will.i.am’s supposed to open the darn thing, and no one’s sure if he’s giving a speech or a free concert. You bet I found out about it and that I got a ticket!

I don’t know what my readers’ political beliefs are or if you guys even like Obama, but I’ll tell everyone about it after the rally. They’re allowing cameras, so you bet I’ll be taking photos up the wazoo!

Hope to have good news later. Talk to you soon.

Ohio State’s Homecoming Weekend 2012

Posted: October 6, 2012 in Living and Life, Uncategorized
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It’s Homecoming! O-H!

Last night started OSU’s homecoming weekend, which is always a blast on our campus. There’s a huge parade that goes right by my dorm, and I had one of the best spots along the parade route. Why was it one of the best spots? Simple; not only did I see our university’s president, Dr. E. Gordon Gee, up close when he passed by in a shiny red Corvette, I got to shake his hand when I called out to him and he noticed me! Me! Out of all the cheering people, he noticed me and shook my hand! I did wash my hand later, but I was pretty reluctant.

This was my second time meeting and getting to talk with President Gee, the first time happening last year when he visited my dorm during an event (photo to the right). And speaking of events at my dorm, the Illibuck trophy, a turtle-shaped trophy that is brought out during Ohio State-Illinois games and is held by whoever won the previous year’s game (pictured below), made a guest appearance at my dorm during an event involving quesadillas and a Mario Kart tournament.

The Illibuck trophy may not seem like much to those who aren’t crazy fans of Ohio State, but to major fans who know what it is, it’s a big deal.

I got to take a photo with the Illibuck, and let me tell you, it’s pretty cool. That’s a piece of Ohio State football memorabilia and it’s right in my hands. I really enjoyed seeing it and holding it in my hands (once again, see below).

Me with the Illibuck, with the past 5 OSU-Illinois games and the scores on it’s back. Don’t I look happy?

Right now I’m watching the homecoming game, after which I’ll tune in to Saturday Night Live. During commercial breaks I’ll work on the final edits of Reborn City. In the meantime, before I do any more work on RC, I’d like to congratulate my relatives in Michigan on their football team getting a victory over a Purdue. Although I like Purdue slightly better than I like Michigan, I admit your victory was pretty impressive, with a difference of 27 points.

All for now. Bye.

“Aasif” In My Class?

Posted: September 11, 2012 in Living and Life, short story
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Today in my history class we had a guest speaker, whose focus was African history, particularly in her native country of Liberia. While discussing the civil war in Liberia, she also broached the topic of child soldiers and Kony 2012 and how they related to her research. After class, I went up to her and told her that I’d recently published a short story titled Aasif (here’s the link for those new followers who haven’t read it yet: http://mobiusmagazine.com/) and that I thought it was interesting that she’d mentioned child soldiers and Kony 2012, which were the inspirations for Aasif. Not only did our guest speaker ask for the web address, she also gave it to my teacher, who also happens to be her advisor in the graduate school.

As we were all leaving the classroom, both my teacher and the guest speaker said they’d take a look at it…and possibly discuss it in class. Discuss my short story in class? Now that’s some exposure! And in history class too! What’s next?

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

An Evening On The 8th Floor

Posted: September 9, 2012 in Living and Life
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8th Floor Improv, to be exact. You see, this evening I went with some members of my dorm to see the campus improv-comedy group, 8th Floor Improv. I’d never seen an improv show before, so I was expecting the show would be awesome or a total fail. Luckily, it was awesome.

Of course, that’s not what I’m here to write about. I’m writing about something the members of 8th Floor did that was very special to me. You see, at some point during the show, the cast asked for a volunteer. Guess who got picked? ME. They sat me down for a candid interview al a Jon Stewart at the Daily Show to talk about who I was, my political impressions, and I got to plug my blog and short story Aasif (which may explain the sudden rise on my stats counter). I also got to show a little of my creepy side, perhaps a little more than I intended, but still enough to show that I’m serious about being the next big wave in horror, and I got to talk about Hunger Games, the book of which I’m reading for the first time, and how I would use economic warfare to bring the Hunger Games to a grinding halt.

It was pretty fun, and afterwards the actors used the discussion to “portray my dreams and nightmares”, which was pretty funny; the actress playing me nearly got me confused with Mitt Romney, couldn’t pronounce my legal name, tried to kill someone criticizing her by writing that person into a short story, and nearly got sued by actors playing Stephanie Meyers and Suzanne Collins.

To 8th Floor Improv, thanks for making me laugh till I nearly puked. In return, I’ll put the link to your website here for anyone who’s interested (http://8thfloorimprov.com/). And if anyone from the group wandered onto this blog, here’s the link to that child-soldier short story you sounded so interested in (http://mobiusmagazine.com/). It’s the fifth one on the list right under “Fiction”. Enjoy.

Oh, and to those who follow this blog and write also, I got a question or two for you: have you ever been interviewed? And if so, do you have any tips? Because like I said, I got to show my creepy side, but I worry sometimes that when I show it, I show too much of it.

A Trip to the Clubs

Posted: August 26, 2012 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
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This is very similar to what I saw this evening. Rock on, dude!

Okay, this evening I went clubbing (and by the time you read this it’ll probably not be evening anymore, but whatever). It’s not something I do often; outside of weddings or bar/bat mitzvahs, I rarely go out and party, and as I’m only 19 I never drink while doing it. Last year I even got invited to a frat party, but instead decided to go to a late-night pancake buffet at my dorm (which paid off; I met OSU’s President E. Gordon Gee, who decided to make a surprise visit, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it too). But I felt like doing something different tonight; heck, SNL”s not going to be back for another couple weeks, and I didn’t have anything better to do, so I went clubbing.

See, I told you I had the proof; way cooler than a frat party. O-H!

The club I went to, Rio, is close to my dorm and allows anyone 18 and older in. Lucky for me too, because what a night it was: the music was crazy loud, the laser light show was crazy, the DJs knew how to remix popular music (I swear, Gotye sounds so awesome with an electronic beat), and I even saw a few friends there who went to the same high school as me.

But what was most awesome about Rio? I’ll tell you: the fact that I got inspired and had an idea for both a short story and a poem, which just goes to show that if you distract your mind with something, you’ll come up with something great (and there’s a clip from The Big Bang Theory of Sheldon waiting tables on YouTube that proves it; I would’ve embedded it here, but the embedding was disabled). The short story I’ll use for my Creative Writing with a Literary Bent course (not the title of the class, but you get the idea), as all the other ideas I had for that class suck. The poem, which came to me while watching the lasers interact with the smoke coming from the stage, I think I’ll see if I can get it into a magazine.

And of course, if anything gets published, I’ll make sure to let you know. Now, I’d like to write some more about clubbing, and another post about something someone said to me recently and what I thought of it, but it’s past two in the morning and I’ve got to get up later for a meditation course, so go find that Big Bang Theory clip and have a lovely morning coffee (if you’re like me, you drink something to wake up in the morning while surfing the net, in my case tea).

My Classes: Fall 2012

Posted: August 23, 2012 in Living and Life
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I got such great reception from my uncle the last time I used this image, I’m using it again. Go Buckeyes!

Well, I’m sure you all want to know what sort of classes I’m taking at Ohio State, seeing as we’ve moved from the quarter system to semesters and whatnot. Okay, maybe you’re not that interested, but maybe I’ll tell you anyway because you’re already here reading this, right?

Okay, so I’m taking four classes, the minimum allowed for a full-time student on semesters (I want to ease into the whole semester thing after just getting used to quarters). Yesterday morning I had my first class, a Philosophy course that studies how statistics can be faulty or misleading and how you can spot said statistics. It was interesting, especially since it’s an election year here in the United States, and everybody is using statistics in promoting one candidate or another. Plus, the course was in Hitchcock Hall, which meant that half the class was composed of birds, the teacher was a cross-dresser named Norman Bates, there was a rear window in the classroom, and one of the non-avian students suffered from vertigo (not really, but wouldn’t it be hilarious if all that did happen?).

The second class was a fiction-writing course, and apparently each one of us is going to be working on a single short story throughout the year and workshopping it and editing it as the semester rolls on. The class has a more literary bent than I expected, but thankfully the teacher is allowing supernatural elements in our stories, so you know I’m thankful, because some other teachers who teach this sort of class prefer not to have genre elements at all! Don’t know why, maybe they’re just insane.

After that I have a documentary class, where we’re actually going to be creating autobiographical works in a variety of written, audio, and video formats. It sounds like a lot of work, but it also sounds like a ton of fun! If I can, I’ll post some of the work from that class here on Rami Ungar the Writer.

And this morning I had my fourth and final class, Introduction to the Discipline of History. Basically we’re looking at the study of history itself, and how history has evolved over the years. It’s required for all History majors, and you have to at least get a C in it to pass and take more history courses. Of course, I’m aiming for all A’s this semester, so I’m definitely going to work hard!

Well, that’s all I got to talk about for now. I’ve got some homework to take care of, so I’ll see you all later when the urge to type up a good post comes to me. Have a great day and enjoy the weather.

Spring Quarter 2012: Half-Time Report

Posted: April 27, 2012 in Journalism, Living and Life, Writing
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It’s spring quarter, the last quarter of the school year, and since Ohio State is switching to semesters in the fall, the last quarter ever. So I have one thing to say to all those listening: somebody slow the quarter down! I’m not kidding, it’s going by waaay too fast. I mean, I’m enjoying my classes, and I’m doing well in them, so why are we already halfway through? I feel like we should still be in week 3, not at the end of week 5! This is why I hate the saying, “time flies when you’re having fun”.

Alright, now that I’ve told everybody in the blogosphere how I feel this spring is going by way too fast, let’s get into the particulars: grade-wise I seem to be doing well, if my quiz scores are any indication. I’ve scored consistently in the 80’s, 90’s, and 100’s on most of them, so I’m not too worried about struggling. I’ve also learned a lot, including that I actually enjoy very old English literature a lot more than I thought I would, and that literature in any period reflects a lot of what society it was written in and what the author was aiming for with the words they write.

I’ve also been pretty busy, what with writing two articles for the Pulse, and taking part in Holocaust Awareness Week and Cover the Night. Not too mention I’m at work almost everyday, and being the financial aid office, spring is busy season, so I’m rarely without something to do. But hey, I’m learning new stuff on the job and `helping out, and getting paid for it too, so what’s not to love?

As for writing, I’ve got three short stories and a poem I’m waiting to hear back on, and once a friend of mine is done looking at the first chapter of Reborn City, I’ll start looking for an agent or submitting to contests, I haven’t decided which yet (and on that, I’d like everyone’s opinions).

So here’s hoping to a good rest of the quarter, let’s hope it slows down and brings plenty of good stuff, particularly in the realms of grades of written works.

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