Yay! It's March!

Hey Guys --

 I know it's been a while but I figured I'll take a break from my studying while my brain is on overload and I'll finally get a post up on here.

I was accepted this past Thanksgiving break into Virginia Commonwealth University, and I moved into my tiny little dorm space in January just after my 20th birthday. Quite a way to start my new year. School has been great though -- I'm very happy to have moved onto my Criminal Justice major here at the school and I feel like I am accomplishing a lot despite how stressful it has been to rush and jump into a new environment as rapidly as I have.

I've since joined a Criminal Justice honor society here, and I never once imagined myself being in any form of society -- let alone one that seems to be so promising to help me in my drive towards graduation and nabbing a career.

I have a lot of plans for this blog as soon as I find another time window to start expanding. I think posting a lot of character profiles on here will be nice, and other information about my experiences at school, writing, and even some of my cosplay work as I try to expand that more into my personal life as well as my public persona. I'm not quite sure how well having a 'public persona' is going to help in regards to my future career but it is something that I enjoy and want to try to explore to the fullest I can before I get sucked into a full time career in law enforcement (or whatever element of the Justice system pulls me in first).

The reason I haven't been writing much is how interesting the past few months have been for me. While transferring to new environments is always a tough experience for anybody, I've been having a little bit of a harder time just because of my unique circumstances and past experiences that I've had in my life. Between the recently illuminated emotional disorders I have been attempting to overcome, and some serious family and interpersonal issues I've had in the past few years and more so in the last 9 months, I've had little time or patience to keep any form of journal. I have still tried keeping a written journal for the sake of recording events and progress I've been making, but my blog has definitely fallen by wayside since it takes a lot more effort to maintain it and keep all the material together for it. I also waste a lot of time on here updating everything appearance wise in order to make it look like it's active and up to date.

For the story writing - I've been writing here and there and I'm on a version of the story (The Artemis Recovery) that I can work with now. It's a lot harder to write and get into my writing frame of mind for this story but it's because of how detailed I've been trying to make it. I have a few partial chapters and 2 full ones, consisting of the Prologue and Chapter 1. I have also written quite a bit of a story that I worked on for a scholarship. I did not get anything from it, but it was still a fairly exerted effort on my part and I would be happy to share it for now. ((I ended up pushing out about 63 double spaced pages for it...))
 I may have shared it under a different name in the past, but it is now named How To Be a Guardian Angel (Prev: Guardian Angel)  I'm sure the name could use some more work and uniqueness, but it was just enough of a change for me to differentiate the editions which at the time was all that mattered.

As I mentioned I'm also wanting to share some of my other activities on here. I've been dabbling in cosplay since 2012, and I'm hoping to be devoting a lot more time to it now that I'm out of my house and starting out on my own. I find cosplay to be an amazing artistic outlet and I'd love to be able to teach myself to make better and better cosplays as I work at it. To see some of my previous cosplays and what is available on my previous DeviantArt page, please follow the link here. For future updates and my new work, please go here --> I have now transitioned more fully to TheDormMouse on my various pages so that is where I'll be.

I also now stream on Twitch occasionally under the same name, in case anybody is really interested.

In addition, I'm exploring the great world of tattoos and in addition to tentatively drawing out the ones I want by my own design I'm also looking to practice drawing tattoos for other people. All of my work is slowly being put up on DeviantArt as well and I can't wait to share some of it on here as well.

Hope this is a sufficient update when paired with the chapters I've written. I'll write again as soon as I get the itch/time.

[Finished Paper] Tragic Victims or Truly Sinners? Heroes in the Hands of Angry Gods

This is a finished and graded paper that I got a 97% on from my World Literature class -- I would not advise copying it for your own as I will be doing my best to ensure it's posted to counter-plagiarism sites. It seems to have impressed most of the people who have read it so I figured I would share it here since it is something that I have written and it's been so long since I have posted anything (I've really wanted to - but I've been so terribly busy.) This was a five page paper - double spaced - so it may be slightly long. Or short, really depends on your perspective! Enjoy.

"...there wasn't much for me to put on this.  I grumbled a little about your failure to italicize titles and  I disagreed with your characterization of Job, but I thought this was an amazing essay.  Indeed, so far this is the best essay I've received in this class and one of the best essays I've received this semester.  Your writing is cogent and carefully thought out.  Well done!" -- Prof. Amey, NVCC

Patricia H

Prof. Amey

English 251

10/17/2015

Tragic Victims or Truly Sinners? Heroes in the Hands of Angry Gods

            Throughout religious mythology, the question has been raised as to whether or not the suffering of men is brought on solely by their actions. In both the Odyssey and the Book of Job, the main characters' fates are ultimately determined and destroyed, then remade at the hands of gods. Though both live very different lives, redeemed and unredeemed, they both suffer in similar ways and it perpetuates the question – do bad things only happen to bad people, or do gods act destructively regardless of the loyalty of their worshipers?

           In both The Odyssey and the Old Testament's Book of Job, the main characters and their companions sacrifice willingly to their gods. Entire families and communities give up their finest livestock to represent their love for their deities in the hopes that this will mean safety and blessings. In both stories, despite the practice of religious law, both men are robbed of everything in their lives. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has served in a war between both man and the Gods. Despite this service, he is robbed of all he knew in his previous life and must push through repeated trials and tribulations in order to find his way back to the life that he knew. In the book of Job, a religious man is also robbed of everything he knew – despite having been known as a religious man – and is forced to suffer illness and ridicule from those closest to him. They are both placed there through the actions of the gods in control of their lives. 

          However, neither man is truly innocent. Both Odysseus and Job are extremely prideful, and particularly in Odysseus's case, this has a direct impact on his fate on repeated occasions in his story. During his visit to the Land of the Cyclopes, he destroys Polyphemus's eye and then in his pride

declares his name to Poseidon, Polyphemus's father. This leads to Poseidon personally attempting to ruin Odysseus at every turn on his journey back to Ithaca. In the case of Job, he puts his pride in his family, his wealth, and his achievements in life. He allows his children to act sinfully, but simply expects immediate forgiveness through material sacrifice to God. “When their time of feasting had concluded, Job would rise early in the morning to send for them and consecrate them to God. He would offer a burnt offering for each one, because Job thought, “Perhaps my children sinned by cursing God in their hearts.” Job did this time and again.” (Job, 1:5) His blind belief and adherence to ritual keeps him from seeing that his faith in God is actually minimal. His near false-idolization of his lands and livestock interfere with his close relationship with God. The scripture suggests that although Job says morally 'right,' things, he only ever speaks about God – never with Him – and that it is Job's fear of God himself that keeps Job faithful. (Job 4:6) Though God Himself never seems to recognize this as a flaw in Job in His discussion with the character Satan, it becomes all together apparent after discussions between Job's friends and the over-all flow of the story. 

         The two stories are unlike in that, while Job eventually becomes repentant and maintains his positive faith in God, Odysseus's actions and personality remain relatively stagnant in the story. His pride fails to diminish as he eventually makes it back to his home in Ithaca. “Throwing off his rags, resourceful Odysseus sprang to the wide threshold with the bow and the full quiver, poured the arrows out at his feet, and addressed the Suitors: ‘Here is a clear end to the contest. Now I’ll see if I can hit another target no man has as yet, and may Apollo grant my prayer!’” (Book XXII:1-67) He proceeds to slay not only every suitor to have remained on his grounds, but the families of the suitors who come to seek revenge after the massacre. In Odysseus's case, while his livestock may have have been whittled away and his home intruded, his family remains and as does his title. This does nothing to reform Odysseus's behavior, or serve as his redemption after years of massacre and destruction at his hands.

             This was hardly how it was for Job. At the hands of Satan, by permission of God, Job is stripped of his livestock, his lands, and of his children. His wife is driven insane with grief and Job himself is stripped of his good health and is plagued during his trials. Unlike Odysseus, he refuses to curse his god, despite repeatedly being tempted to – not only by his wife, but by his friends as well. “Then his wife told him, 'Do you remain firm in your integrity? Curse God and die!'” (Job 2:9) He is then openly blamed for what has happened to him, as his friends claim that surely nothing like that would have happened to him without Job having sinned against God. (Job 4:7-9) In this, Job is far more a victim in his circumstances than Odysseus is. Not only is Job proclaimed a sinner and ridiculed by those remaining whom he holds dear (Job 12:4-6), he is stricken will illness and what he lost he never fully recovers. Though he is eventually granted new children and his wealth is eventually restored, he no longer has his grown children and the memories he once had with them. It can never possibly be the same for Job as it could be for Odysseus at the end of their stories.

In the story the Odyssey, the gods are figures who can take multiple forms and often accompany the hero Odysseus on his journey. Odysseus's aid and advocate was the goddess Athena. She protects him in a majority of his struggles, swears her fealty in battle to him (Book XX:1-55) and even communicates with Odysseus's son, Telemachus. In the Old Testament, God and his angels appear only a select few times to God's devoted followers. An appearance such as this, however, never happens to Job. Despite the different mythologies in which the two characters exist, both Odysseus's gods and Job's one God have many elements in common. Both are attributed with every aspect of the world – from weather to disease and the creation of new life. In contrast to Greek mythology, the Old Testament of which Job is a part holds that there is a covenant between God and man against the needless deaths of humans. If this is to be applied to the story of Job, Job's indiscretion notwithstanding, it paints the Old Testament God as a violent and senseless being who does coincide with the violent and tempestuous gods of Greek mythology; neither parties giving regard to the wellness or purity of their worshipers, who would exact violence and childish revenge

upon those they see fit. 

             In The Iliad, the gods chose sides on the parts of either the Trojans or the Athenians. Amongst the gods who later influenced The Odyssey, Apollo aided the Trojans – Hera, Athena, Poseidon and Hermes sided with the Athenians. This speaks to the fact that despite the Athenians having served as pawns in a god's game, and therefore despite Odysseus's service under the gods, the same gods whom he'd served later became perpetrators of his suffering. Poseidon destroys his ships and attempts to kill him on several occasions, while even Zeus – the neutral god of the Trojan War – aids Poseidon in sending storm that washes Odysseus ashore and reshapes his journey yet again (Book V:262-312). It is in this way that the Greek gods are often known – influenced by emotion and often childish desire, a magnified expression of elements of humanity. The God of the Old Testament is much the same. In the books of the Old Testament there are tales of great destructive plagues (Moses) and the destruction of entire towns in a flash of fire (Genesis), brought on by a wrathful God. He brings suffering to both the innocent and the sinful, before and after the covenant He creates with His people. With little regard to life given by both the Old Testament God and the gods of the Greeks, it leaves the question as to if the sins of Job and Odysseus can be said to influence their stories at all – or if the gods simply would have done what they wanted regardless.

 

             In conclusion, neither man is innocent and in many ways they were deserving of their gods' anger. Odysseus's pride and capacity for cruelty and brutality against his fellow man leaves him up for judgment not only by his fellow man but by the powerful gods to whom he prays and serves. He was robbed of his family and his property because of his participation in the Trojan War. His personality and willingness to exact brutality does not change despite the lessons and repeated punishments he receives during the Odyssey as he attempts to return to Ithaca. Despite this, he is allowed to return to his family and his home, with comparatively less lost than in the case of Job from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, Job's empty faith and pride in his accomplishments, land and family blind him to the fact that Job fears God more than he truly loves Him. This is something that Satan recognizes and attempts to exploit in taking away everything from Job – anticipating that Job's reaction would be to curse God and prove Satan's predictions true. While Job is stripped of everything he refuses to curse God and damns himself, wishing for death. After his tribulations, he is blessed by God with a new family. Compared to Odysseus, Job's only sin is his false pride, and therefore it makes it a question as to why their punishments seem unequal. Odysseus is only separated from his loved ones until his return from Ithaca. Job completely looses his children, and new children to raise and love will still never replace that initial loss. In the case of Job, I feel that a man who knew no better was punished unfairly by his destructive god – stripped of everything he knew at the hands of a notoriously destructive Old Testament God. Therefore, in the case of Job I believe he suffers an unjustly severe punishment at the hands of an angry god. Odysseus receives a punishment fitting many of the deeds he perpetrates, but then is returned to the life he once knew. So bad things do in fact happen to bad people – but the severity to which they happen is determined by unfair and heavy handed gods.

Naming Characters - A Writing Rationale

I had this thought today, that I thought I might share with you. It's about naming characters - something that to some may seem mundane and pointless, but may mean the world to others. I want to give you my opinion on it because to me, naming characters well and with purpose can make or break your characters, and even your stories. I am always devastated by Plain Jane names or names used by an author that only come from one cultural element (Sorry, fellow anime lovers. You folks have to be some of the worst offenders. I would know - I was once one of you.) The act of naming your characters is an element in and of its own, as well as an art-form. Naming your character well and with good intention should be a goal of any aspiring author, and let me explain why with an example from one of my own pieces.

For example:
Damien Cain Foster. (From my story, "The Artemis Recovery.")

Damien. In my opinion, this is an impressive name. Damien is a popular name right now - inspired by TV Shows such as 'Vampire Diaries' (Character: Damon Salvatore), comic book characters such as DC Comic's Damian Wayne (Batman), and even movies such as The Omen (Character: Damien Thorn, the Antichrist).
The name Damien has it's own meaning: "to conquer, master, overcome, tame." (Source) Due to it's use with characters such as those from Vampire Diaries, and The Omen, it has it's own connotation. Just like regular words, names can have their own connotations. Not only does the name have it's own smooth and mysterious ring to it - the characters that have shared this name all have the same similar dark and mysterious characteristics, so to speak. The name itself can reveal or foreshadow what the character will become in the future of the story from the time he/she is revealed.

Cain. Likewise, the middle name can reveal a lot about a person's character. Cain can mean 'spear,' but Cain was most famously a biblical character, made legendary by his act of fatalistic jealousy against his brother, Abel. This allusion can be an immediate alert for your reader as to the nature and future of your character. So, it's a 'use wisely' element to your writing. I personally enjoy using middle names in my writing - not only because I love well formulated names but because they add a small (yet beautiful) detail to a person's writing. Names like Demetri Alexander (+Last Name) or Mara Alexandra Senth (The Artemis Recovery) can simply be eye-catching at the very least. At most, they can reveal a lot about your character.

Foster. Clan/Family names are a traditional and almost necessary detail to your character. It's almost natural to assume that if your character exists, they have some kind of family, and therefore some last name. The word itself (apart from it being a name) is defined thusly: "encourage or promote the development of (something, typically something regarded as good); bring up (a child that is not one's own by birth). "
The irony of this last name is that, of course, members of the Foster family were placed in foster care prior to the start of The Artemis Recovery's story. The contradiction in the name for Damien is that he is the furthest thing (or attempts to be) a sheltering, promotional, or outwardly good at the revelation of his initial character. An example of irony within the characters name. 

Damien Cain Foster. Therefore, put together the name kind-of comes together like this: The Conquerer/Master - Jealous Brother Killer - Promoter/Guardian. 
Contradictory on some levels, but yet, fitting for the nature of the character. For people who know their allusions - the middle name of Cain will give clues to the character's nature. For those who know their popular culture, the name Damien will have it's sultry and mysterious implications to it. Finally, for those who rely on the definition of names, Damien and Foster will reveal the more fixed elements to the character and allow the name to piece together through hard translation. Then again, for the readers who don't follow any of these elements, perhaps the name will just sound sexy or sophisticated - even a little dangerous - and will catch their mind's eye as they read. 

In summary, creating clever or detailed names for your characters can add a lot of elements to your writing. Names should never be just something  you come up with on the fly - if you wouldn't do it to your children (Tears shed for every child carelessly or cruelly named on this earth-) why do it for a labor of love like a character in your story (or even fan fiction)? Even if the latter is clearly more expendable than the former....
I hope that this article gave a little insight into the importance of naming your characters and into why I name my characters the way I do. Thank you for reading.