Life Post...#4 - Wackiness is Natural

If there is one thing that I have discovered as a student at Word of Life - Hungary, it is that I do not have to write Pangaea...that is not cool, I know. But it is where God has lead me and I have to accept that right now. BUT it is the Christmas break and that is why you are getting a post from me. So be glad! And I'm sorry for being absent this long.

At Word of Life, God has allowed me to grow in subtle ways. In some ways, I still do not understand why He brought me here. I had started looking into the possibility of studying at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, three years ago. And for about an entire year, I was sure that that was where I was going. But God closed that door, leaving me quite shocked. I believe all of this has been about trusting God no matter what. Word of Life has very strict rules and things that I do not fully agree with...But I know that I can be used by the Lord there. So I endure it all and focus on the goal: Serving Jesus Christ. Please pray for me. I really miss my friends there, but it is a hard decision to actually get on the plane and go back to Hungary.

Today I did sit down to write Pangaea and something in the first chapter called my attention...I just thought it was a bit too serious at a certain point. And I know that the main idea that holds Pangaea together is a very serious concept, but it didn't sound like me! I'm the guy who wrote flirate stories, Fleedle Tales and Kate's Task, hardly a laugh-free book... Not to make you think that I am now planning on turning Pangaea into a children's book. Not at all! But as the movie played in my head today and my fingers typed what I saw, something natural to me came about...Wackiness. One of the characters went from being whiny to fairly unintentionally humorous. And ultimately, I believe that that is what makes a good book: Balance. You can have a good story but if it is heartless or humorless it will most likely never be great.

That's it for now. I hope to update you more frequently.

A List of Fellow Inmates

Login: eletszava123
Password: *******

Logging in.................done.

Command: Load /Docs/Inmatelisto9.txt
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WOL INMATES LIST - 2009

///Janzen, Artur./// Germany. Age 19 (20 in December). Convicted after stealing a toothbrush from a 3-year old child. Sent to WOL rehabilitation center for good behavior. Although not required to attend classes, his musical talents have forced him to play the piano more often than his fingers can handle (See bruises on page 76). His work hours also include working in the castle basement and bringing trays of coffee to untipping professors.





///Mahon, Abi & Steckley, Trisha./// Canada. Ages 18 and 18. Transferred from the Canadian Maple Tree Asylum for hiding chocolates in their socks. Classes, work assignments and required study have been imposed on them for major shock treatment. Results have been as expected: Both subjects have experienced brain-altering symptoms such as a small concussion and temporary loss of conscience.






///Houle, Antoine./// Quebec, Canada. Age 18. Forcefully taken down a pyramid in Cairo, Egypt by local authorities. Convicted for crimes ranging from playing with a Pharaoh's mummy to playing with face cards. His work and/or ministry assignment includes raking leaves into plastic bags and playing himself on the WOL play, Born Again to a Living Hope.






///Parker, Miscayla./// Brazil. Age 18. After being bitten by a vicious rattlesnake, subject was sent to the Budapest Medical Center for immediate treatment, where they thought she had died. But they were wrong. At exactly 12:03am, Miscayla broke out of the hospital wing and escaped, taking a Christmas bow and using it to fly herself to the city of Tóalmás, where she fell on the WOL Castle. Perfect place for a bow thief. She now serves a full one-year sentence as a student and is required to make her throat sore in musical performances every morning.









///Tatera, Karol./// Poland. Age 22.

ERROR CODE #526. SUBJECT REMOVED OR DATA ERASED.

Just a Quick Post

I'm still alive!

On August 31st, I got myself on a plane heading to England! So yes, you can imagine how fast-paced life has been these days. And I mean it, you can only imagine. But I'm with my family and they have many places to take me to. For those of you who do not know, I am British but living in Brazil all my life. So this is the first time I have been to my country since I was 2! And I love it here.

Just yesterday, I rushed my eyes through London, looking for the perfect writing spot. I did find a fair few. So do not think for a second that I have abandoned Pangaea and all that comes with it. I very much plan on getting back to work but for now, things are insane. Hope you all understand.

Writing in a Bookstore...

Just thought I should update my blog again with a few interesting bits of news...

First of all, I feel the need to say that it has been hard to write recently. My sister is getting married in 3 days and just two days after that, I'll be on my way to England! So things have definitely been busy and emotional and stressful. All the fun stuff, really...But I am confident that I will have time to write in Europe.

On Pangaea, I am currently working on 2 chapters:

Chapter 2: The Governor is halfway done. Still have to work on Deodatus' character introduction.
Chapter 3: The Virus (formerly D.A.C Positive, that should give you ideas)... I only just started this chapter yesterday, in my favorite bookstore. It was a wonderful experience. I was sitting on a table upstairs, enjoying two cups of coffee. Unfortunately, however, there wasn't that much progress. A friend of my dad's showed up and talked to me for a while. I shared about my book, but my pen was resting on the table most of the time. Will get back to it as soon as I can.

If I can carry myself into a coffee shop, I promise Pangaea will get all the attention it needs. For now, please allow me to excuse myself for a week. There are many (exciting) happenings to attend to.

Chapter Titles

I cannot begin to express how excited I am!!! Yes, I do have a terrible cold and yes, my life is currently limited to my house. But I have had so much time to work on Pangaea and I can't believe that the plot has come to me so fast! Now I have heard of cases such as Toy Story 3, where Pixar's writers came up with a story over lunch, but I've never been particularly gifted in speed. Kate's Task took me half a year to draft and Pangaea (although not completely resolved) has only melted my brain for 2 months!
That scares me a little bit. I'm terrified that I have put together a marvelous assemble of written rubbish. But I know that the best way to escape that feeling is to write some more! Kate's Task was a lot more mysterious, I suppose. That takes lots of planning... Pangaea, on the other hand, is complex because of the world surrounding it.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of today's accomplishments with you. I have outlined the entire plot and divided it all in 21 tentative chapters and an epilogue. This is important because it helps me know exactly where I want to go throughout the book. Along with each chapter, a title. And here they are for your curious eyes.

1. The Doctor
2. The Governor
3. D.A.C Positive
4. The Therapist
5. Riders
6. Pure DNA
7. A Rush of Intel
8. The Perfect Year
9. Change of Plans
10. An Unexpected Arrival
11. D.A.C Again
12. The Beginning of it All
13. The Blood Plot
14. Separate Ways
15. Pangaea
16. Kidnapping
17. The Search Party
18. Defenseless?
19. The Imminent Battle
20. Fearless Pures
21. Charis Aspasia
22. Epilogue: What Happened to the Doctor

Mesmerizing...

Don't you just love that word???

Great Progress on Pangaea!

I'd like to let all of you know that today has been a VERY productive day! Allow me to walk you through some of the important decisions I have made that will directly affect the storyline.

1. I was having trouble with Deodatus Ariston's character, that is, our main character from the pure lineage. I wanted to make him and Cassius have something in common even though they were completely different in nature and that was hard to achieve. BUT alas, it's off of my to-do list.

2. I have added something unexpected that should hopefully be great for people that already know what Pangaea is all about! I'm keeping it a secret, though. You'll just have to wait 'til you're halfway into the book or so but I'm sure it will come as a surprise.

3. The epilogue, that is, the last chapter of the book, was finished today! I wanted to get a feel for where I am and where I'm going, if that makes any sense. It helps me focus on the purpose of this book.

4. Another issue was trying to determine how and when Deodatus and Cassius will meet each other. This has also been marked with a big green SOLVED! on my Pangaea Notes document.

5. Something else I haven't told you (it did not happen today) is that I have also started to write Chapter 2: The Governor, which deals with presenting the pure lineage and Deodatus. I haven't gotten much of that done yet, but I can say that the moment it starts you will be treated to something I am very excited to experience in Heaven. Also, I do believe I have contrasted both groups of people the way I had hoped for.

I cannot wait to finish Pangaea and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Just A Tweet

Although I usually find no use for Twitter (we have facebook statuses), I thought it'd be a good place to post little snippets on the process of writing a book. Follow me on twitter.com/hpis2cool

The Beginning of Pangaea

Ring the bells, strum guitars, bang on drums. I hope you enjoy this post.

I probably haven't been writing as much as I'd like to, but there are definitely exciting ideas in the brewing. And ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to invite you to read the first pages of Pangaea*. I know it's not much, but hopefully it will give you an atmosphere for the world I'm creating. As you will see, it seems a lot like our own world to begin with, but by the time the first chapter ends, I believe many people will be quite surprised.

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Chapter 1: The Doctor

The alarm clock went off at precisely 5am, like it always did. Cass ignored the ringing, using his right hand to search for a pillow instead. Stupid, he thought, remembering that for the past three hours his face had been buried in the feather-filled sack. Then, after waiting for a few more seconds, it had become unbearable. He grudgingly smashed the clock against the wall with his pillow, sacrificing sleep for good. But it had to be done eventually.

Cass was not known for late arrivals. The hospital had never seen such a devoted doctor in all of its 80 years of existence. His previous night had been filled with every kind of paperwork imaginable, but that had never slowed him down. A real cup of coffee goes a long way, he liked to tell his friends whenever they expressed concern, and yet today seemed different. Breathing in deeply, he got up to look in the bathroom mirror.

Staring back at him from the glass was a fearless sort of man. His square-like attributes were intimidating to say the least. He was admired for his stand against the pures, as they were called. Ever since his father had died, he had sworn allegiance to the rebel cause, studying medicine all his life. But people kept dying. And the blame was certainly never placed upon him. Even as Cass himself had administered the drug, there was never room for lawsuits. After all, all patients and their families had been notified on every possible risk. They had chosen their own graves.

“Do you remember their faces?” his psychiatrist's voice echoed in his head as he shaved.

“You mean...”

“The faces of the patients who lost their lives, Cass”

“I didn't....no. I didn't kill them. I...Why would you say I-”

“Cass! I didn't say you had killed them! Do you remember the faces of the people that died?”

“Oh...I thought...yes. All of them. Why do you ask?”

“Because I would like you to concentrate on them for a while. Now if you would kindly close your eyes”.

Cass had obeyed him, but a little hesitantly.

“Focus, Cassius. Picture all of them in your head”

“All at once?”

“Whatever suits you”.

Cassius had tried his best to bring them all back. The thought of dozens of people running around in a park played in his head like a movie. A young boy slurping down his milkshake, a pregnant woman waving to her husband on a ferris wheel.

“Ok...Now what?”

“Make them blow up” the psychiatrist's cold voice hissed.

“Excuse me?” Cass opened his eyes.

“You heard me, Cassius. Now execute the order. Imagine a bomb explode in the midst of all those innocent people” he finished whispering: “they're all dead anyway”.

Cassius had done as he was told. He had certainly learned how to ignore guilt by now. And finally, after years, all the haunting faces had disappeared. If people were to be saved, there was no room in his mind for past casualties. Someone was knocking on the door.

“Just a second!” he yelled, rushing to shave off the last bit of hair on his neck. Then, throwing on the first shirt he could find, Cassius ran toward the door as it was fiercely knocked on again from the other side. Who would need him at 5:30 in the morning?

“Are you Dr. Aeschylus?” a short, slightly overweight old man inquired.

“Depends on who's asking”, Cassius replied suspiciously.

“Toren. Toren Lexley. I am sorry to disturb you, sir. But this is an emergency. They told me I could find you here”.

“What kind of emergency?”

“It's my daughter. She was coming back home and some sort of animal attacked her”.

“What do you mean 'some sort of animal'? This isn't the jungle!”

“We live near the zoo, sir. Have you not read the news lately?”

Cassius remembered yesterday's headline before muttering an unpleasant “great”.

“Are you not coming, then?” asked the man called Toren because Cassius had turned away from him and was now going through his drawers.

“Not without this,” he said, returning to the door and holding up a handgun. He smiled.

“Good Heavens, sir. What kind of doctor are you?”

“The prepared kind”.

______________________________________________

That will be all for now, folks!

*This is a very early draft in production. Changes can and most likely will be made to the final text. However, these changes should not affect the story.

Life...Post #3: It's been a While.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my absence. It had most definitely been a while since I was on here. BUT I have really good reasons and I hope my posts will make up for the lost time.

July is always a hectic month for the ministry in Brazil. We have American groups coming down and helping out with both medical clinic and English Camp programs. This year was just as time-consuming as any other year I can think of! But it was also amazing to see God's hand at work. As I share more about what was accomplished this month, I would like to encourage you to pray for World Renewal Brazil.

I had to give this picture enough blog space to capture how beautiful it truly is. We were somewhere in Carpina called "The Big Dump". And they couldn't have chosen a better name.
There, entire families live their lives sorting out garbage. The dump has been made a priority in our ministry, as we return year after year to ensure the people are cared for. When young teenagers are running around with half-naked children covered in dirt and germs, you know something special is going on. And we were in awe of God's love.































The medical clinic also went to the towns of Ameixas, Tracunhaém and Lagoa de Itaenga. On most occasions, it was my job to help my friend Seth take pictures. Well, I translated as he offered to take their pictures, anyway. Then, we would print them out and give them as gifts.
Many people had never had their pictures taken before! My favorite case was that of a young girl. She kept coming back to Seth and pointing to her mouth in the picture, then to her own mouth as she smiled.

The picture-taking was going great until we saw how quickly the magenta cartridge was emptying itself. The town of Tracunhaém clearly holds the blame as you can see how much they enjoyed their flowers!
Our next program was English Camp, as I've mentioned before. Although I was mostly busy working on Pangaea at the time, I know the International School kids had a blast. "Very tiring", some of the adults involved were saying. And I believed them, considering they were at it from 8am 'til 4:30pm for three days! But they were glad to serve the Lord and I'm sure He was happy, too.

I was trying to think of a clever way to end this post, but my brain isn't sufficiently loaded with caffeine right now. Instead, I'll let you see some cool English Camp pictures:



For more information on World Renewal Brazil, please take the time to visit wribrazil.com
For a LOT more pictures of what I've been up to this month, this should do the trick: http://picasaweb.google.com/Brazilmedical2009

New Book Is Greenlit

After careful consideration and lots of praying, I thought I'd let you know that work on my new book is definitely underway. The plot is, of course, still in it's early stages but I have a working title for you: Pangaea (pronounced pan-gee-uh). The final title may take a while to reach you.

Some things I can say:

1. The story will be told from the perspective of two main characters. One from the lineage of sinners, the other from the lineage of 'the pure'. Their paths will be crossed eventually.
2. The world has, like the title suggests, never experienced the flood. Because of this, people will not age like we do. There will still be a layer of water in the atmosphere and yes, get ready for dinosaurs and dragons.
3. There will be a mix of technology and ancient. Throughout the beginning of the book, readers will be brought into a world that is believed to be our own, only to be surprised later on. You have unfortunately been spoiled by me in this aspect and I do apologize, though I am confident that the final work will still be well worth reading.
4. This post will be deleted in a few months to spare others from also being spoiled.
5. Thanks to my fellow Wikipedians, I give you the map of Pangaea:

What if...

It has been a very long time since I have had this happen to me. Too long, perhaps. My first book, Kate's Task, is nearly finished, but has been that way for a while now. It is true that my schedule is often crowded, but another reason has simply been a realization: How does this glorify God? After all, we should bring glory to Him in everything we do, right? I truly believe that. And my book isn't perverted or anything like that, but much of it was written before God had become my ultimate priority. So as a consequence, it has sat in my hard drive, still waiting for me. I do plan to finish it, but something else has caught my attention.
What if...? It is always powerful when a fiction writer sits back and thinks about it. After all, people have probably thought of it before, but has anyone truly taken the step? My most recent 'what if' might take me into dangerous grounds and I would most definitely appreciate your thoughts in comment form. So here it goes...What if Adam and Eve had had a baby boy and girl before eating from the tree that brought sin into the world?
And the answers and ramifications to those questions kept coming to me. Well, we would have a perfect and sinless lineage, wouldn't we? Most of the world would live in sin, but there would be many, perfect people still living in the world today. Then the main question here hit me: Would Jesus still have died on the cross for everyone else's sins? And my answer to that was yes.
There are issues. I do not want to write anything heretical, which would exclude any sort of words from God in this alternate world. But the main message would be what I have said: God is love. He gives everyone a chance. I have other ideas, since this definitely needs building up, but what do you think?

Life...Post #2

Well, because it has been over a month since my last Life Post, I thought I should go ahead and write a new one...got a problem!? Call Google and report me! I'd love to see you try...

In the midst of chaos and confusion brought along by incessant teaching, I have found an unwinding sanctuary... STARGATE!!! Ahh this show has given me so many good nights of sleep now that I simply do not know how to thank it enough. I would like to take this moment to congratulate all producers, writers and directors of Stargate. It doesn't matter if you won't read this, you're brilliant and you deserve it. Huzzah!
Alright, but seriously, I know you may be thinking that this does not deserve a place in my Life Post but it is the only portion of my life that is unrelated to work! Wellll I guess that statement isn't entirely true... I mean, there is Jeffrey and we hang out some...uhh...NO! Because he has also watched it with me!
Ok, now back to the seriousness of life. My documents have been sent to Crossroads! I was worried for a while because they were not answering my emails but they finally did to let me know that my I-20 would be here soon. This means good news. If all goes well, I should be able to get my visa with no problems. I trust you'll be praying for this. You will!? Aww you're so nice and special! I feel like I should buy you a toy!
My sister will be returning from Europe this Saturday! Crazy. It's been an entire year since I have seen her and this feels kind of strange... Is it terrible to say that we'd nearly forgotten we had a sister? But allas, there's a plane heading our way. She already bought her wedding dress and I'll definitely post pictures of the ceremony when it happens. Ooh and I'll get Dr. Pepper! Yes!
To be honest, however, what I am currently looking forward to the most is the arrival of one of my best friends. A certain Seth Bartal, if you must know. He'll be here July 1st and that is only a few days before school finally comes to a close. I cannot ketchuppy believe that I'll be done with school! But there are still three weeks left of that and seminary, so I'm trying my best to finish strong. The Lord is in control, yall. That's all I'm saying. Oh gosh I'm hyper right now. Seacrest out.

Summer Movies - Update : Angels & Demons

I don't know how many of you have noticed, but a trip to the movies this summer will most likely be worth it. As a tough-to-please critic, I thought I should talk about this. I will present below my top 5 choices for the season and edit this post regularly as they get released. Note that I have already seen X-Men Origins, so I have it ranked as my interest prior to the release date.

#5: Star Trek

I have to admit that I have never seen the TV show. So do not expect any sort of hard-core fan anticipation. However, my excitement for this movie comes from the fact that it is being produced by a couple of LOST-surrounding names. These are, of course, Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams. And yes, I do love LOST, hence the proper capitalized letters. Star Trek was released today (May 7th).

***Update: Just watched Star Trek last night. 3 words: Go. See. It. This film will come as a great surprise to many people. My expectations were set very low and I was blown away. Stardust is one of the few movies that have had this effect on me. And this is David Moraes, a Star Wars fan! If I had known the kind of treat I'd be walking into at the theater, I would have brought more snacks... Overall, first class summer entertainment.

#4: Angels & Demons

Although in my humble opinion The Da Vinci Code was a flop of a movie (I read the book), I am, perhaps foolishly, hoping they will get it right with Angels and Demons. It is Robert Langdon's first adventure, a prequel to Da Vinci Code. Since I never finished this particular book by Dan Brown, it may stand a chance against my scrutiny. Angels and Demons will be released on May 15th.

***Update: I am writing this just a few hours after seeing the movie, in order to keep it all fresh in my mind. In short, Angels & Demons was everything I did not expect it to be. And that was good! Although the film did drag along in the beginning, it quickly recovered it's pace, restoring much of the key elements found in Dan Brown's novels.
The character of Robert Langdon became enjoyable once again, losing much of his annoying genius trait from The Da Vinci Code. The chemistry in between Langdon and Vetra is just about a million times better than the Langdon/Neveau fiasco. Unlike Sophie Neveau, Vittoria Vetra has a purpose to be following the Harvard symbologist around. Ewan McGregor is also a strong addition to the cast, wrapping up the movie with perfection in an explosive finale. If The Lost Symbol is handled like this, we will have at least two solid Dan Brown adaptations. Until then, my fingers are crossed.

#3: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

So as I have mentioned, this movie has already been viewed by the masses, including myself. It was a good alternative version of the classic Wolverine tale we all know, but was nonetheless an altered one. Even though there were definitely some slow-paced scenes, like the obsession with a car going up Canadian hills, it was well worth watching. I think I may have been spoiled by the likes of The Dark Knight and Iron Man. Overall, a slightly above-average production in the super hero genre. X-Men Origins was leaked onto the internet two weeks prior to its release, on May 1st. I saw it in theaters, though. You have my word.

#2: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This probably marks the first time in history that a Harry Potter movie is not my ultimate film desire. I have been a devoted fan for six years now and I will admit that Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book. But ever since Deathly Hallows came out in 2007, my Potter craze has been dramatically reduced. Still I was severely taken aback, together with countless others of the fandom, when the release date was pushed back from November '08 to July 15th '09. What Warner Bros. will do for money still makes me want to regurgitate yesterday's lunch.

#1: Up

And here we are at the top spot. As a long-time Pixar fanboy, I may be completely biased. But there cannot be a sane human being in this world who has disliked a Pixar movie. From Toy Story's originality to Wall-E's emotional and technical brilliance, this is the studio that has not disappointed us in any of their nine movies. It is true that Cars isn't exactly up to par with some of their best achievements, but it is still a long way ahead of any other pop-culture filled animation out there. The fact is simple: Pixar films will be watched over and over again by generations.
With Up, we have reached Pixar's tenth offering. The story revolves around Carl Fredricksen, a grouchy old man who decides to live through adventures and his little boyscout sidekick, Russel. Together, they will embark on their floating house for what will truly be an unforgettable journey. I should note that Up has achieved the "funniest Pixar movie yet" status, which is remarkable when we have all seen Finding Nemo. Up will be released on May 29th.