No, it's not fun, not at all. Thanks though.

@ Enzeru:
I see, I see~
Thank you for clarifying that for me.

One more pick question: is it alright to have several chapter / installments to a story?
It would still be a story, only in parts?

Well, seeing as how there are a lot of people that are going to be reading it it would probably be best to choose your best chapter.

How we going?
hopefully we'll get enough contestants eh?

>.< More storieres!! Yay.

Ugh my net kept going down yesterday and on thanksgiving i was barely home. How is everyone?

Hi Winterwolf
I'm good thankies
whatcha up to

I was reading your story Woop.... but I haven't finished. I saw that it was long, but then longer than I realized. XD I'm gonna finish it though. It has grabbed my attention from the beginning. ^___^

I promise to read everything when my head clears, right now I'm terrible sick.

sorry to hear that enerzu =( get well soon I think ill change my post

The entries we have gotten are pretty good. ^^
Also, we need at least 2 more qualifying entries for the prize to be enabled. xD
We MUST have 5 entries to give out prizes so get to writing!!!

Also Winter ish HAPPY!!!! I got Skullcandy lowrider headphones yesterday with my aunt's christmas/birthday money and OH! they are they best pair of headphones I have ever owned and sound great and are comfy. xD THEY ARE EFFIN EXPENSIVE THOUGH!!! xD I would never buy them with my own cash. xD

I think I'll write a story. This sounds like fun! ^^

haha that sounds great I wish I had a good pair of comfy headphones. I like headphones better then those earphone things

Yay ^^.
Lol, yeah, the earbuds hurt my ears. xD

I got some gummi headphones and I luff them.

Lumi I am glad you are finding it interesting ^^
its been my best bit of writing for ages as I've
had horrible writers block so yeah couldn't write anything
good for ages.

Poor Enzeru
being sick sucks

Winterwolf yeah earbuds hurt my ears
and never seem to stay in my ears either
plus they break way easy

o.0;; I have never had any break on me, but then again I get fed up with them quickly. xD

Woop // Yeah, I haven't written anything in a while... so we'll see if I have writer's block or not when I try. XD

Winter // Oh headphones break on me a lot.... mostly 'cause they're plastic without any cushion. XD;; So I have a lot of them too. o 3o;;

Lumi I've had bad writers block for ages and was
so happy when I finally wrote that ^^
can't wait to see others writings though

Can anyone whip up two more entries? I might do one but I didn't want to enter my own contest.

I would whip up two more entries if Im allowed too xD. I dont mind there being 3 entries 3/3 chance of winning sounds good to me =o xD. Headphones ftw!!! All writers suffer from writers block tis our enemy sometimes though the only thing ya can do is stop writing. You can usually tell when someone gets the block by when their writing starts to go bad like in mine xD

Only one entry per person.
And also, we must have 5 entries to give out prizes. That is our minimum, as not to have automatic win. It makes things too easy.

It's not very long... or good. However, it is something I've had on my mind lately.

Enzeru
The Reason For the Season
Charity
Some people have forgotten the meaning of holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are a few people who still know the meaning for these holidays.The people you see gathering canned food for food drives. The people standing in front of stores ringing bells. The people who work all year round trying to make sure no one goes hungry. These people know what 'thanks giving' ans Christmas are all about. It's not about who gets the biggest turkey or the most expensive gifts. It's about making other people happy. So next time you see someone out in front of your local Walmart ringing a bell, don't ignore them, say hello and maybe give up some of that annoying pocket change. Remember, it's cold out there and they're probably freezing.

my entry (might not rly fit the topics, but its something ive been wanting to write about for a while):




The following are some short stories I’ve encountered throughout my life:

I was born in SiChuan, China in a small town called NanChong. Compared to other cities of China, NanChong was pretty unindustrialized. The population was small, there were few cars, and most people lived in poverty. But the poverty they lived in was in my standards: growing up in the United States, I lived in far better standards than these people will ever live and every time I came back to visit, I couldn’t help but to be shocked. They had little “taxis” there: men on bikes with a small carriage behind for the customers to sit. There was no motor, no electricity; any sort of generated power. The driver would literally have to use his muscles, biking with a few hundred pounds dragging him back over hills, over gravel roads; anything the customer wanted. Because NanChong was so small, most rides usually only cost a couple of Yuan (the Chinese currency). There was one time I took one of these taxis with my two older cousins. It was around 8PM and our driver was a pretty old man. He was small and skinny with wisps of white hair. After a few minutes, he struggled to pull us along the road. When we reached a hill, I started to feel really bad. I whispered to my cousin, “we should get off! We should tip him a lot!” but since she was used to the life here, she refused. After a few more attempts, all three of us pitied the old sweating man and we asked to get off, making up an excuse since we didn’t want to hurt the driver. He nodded, embarrassed and stated that our fee was 2 Yuan. I was shocked. He just spent 15 minutes straining his muscles, biking in his sweat and the price wasn’t even enough to buy something at the 99 cents store back in the US. I wanted to pay him more, to buy him dinner and a big warm house. My cousin once again refused, allowing me to only tip him a few Yuan more. She told me that it was okay, everyone was like that and it was enough. Later on my mom told me that some people would amputate their own children and bring them out the main streets and beg, claiming the money would go to the surgery. It never did.

A few years later on another trip back to China, there was another experience I could never forgot. This time I was around the famed lake at HangZhou. It was my birthday and my dad and I were trying to find Haagen Daz to celebrate with a traditional ice cream cake. Along the way, there was a long street of beggars who targeted tourists like us, rich (at least in their standards). They had no shame; they tried their best to look poor to be pitied. Some sent their children to us. The small kids grabbed on my dad’s jacket with their small skinny hands. My dad brushed them away. There was one old lady who wouldn’t stop following us. She followed us for a block and then my dad stopped ignoring her. He confronted her and yelled at her and then she finally left us alone. I asked him later why he didn’t just give her money. He told me that it happens so often, he couldn’t just give everyone money. I didn’t know what to say to that but when I was eating my ice cream cake, I was thinking about all those people a block away, not even having enough money to buy their next meal.

It wasn’t just in China however. This year, with the economy being all screwy and whatnot, there was a huge rise of homeless people in New York City. I take the subway to and from school every day, for about 2 hours roundtrip. Usually, I would only see about one homeless person per month but the last couple of months, it increased about a tenfold. Some people went on every cart and sung—to those I would always donate a dollar. There was one lady who had such a beautiful voice, strong with a large range. To see someone so skilled begging shamelessly, it made me realize poverty can’t be easily avoided. It wasn’t just the crackheads or the dumbasses that end up homeless. It could be anyone.

Over the years, I’ve gotten a new perspective on those in poverty. I used to think, they should have worked harder when they were younger. It was their fault for doing whatever drugs they did. My Sunday youth group leader told us a story of when her boyfriend bought a McDonalds breakfast for this homeless guy, he threw it out without even touching it. But that’s not always the case and I shouldn’t be so narrow-minded to ever assume that. Everyone should get that benefit of doubt. There are people out there who’ve gone through so many misfortunes of life, the last thing they need is everyone accusing them of being a fake.

I just want to stress that this year, I am not only grateful for everything that I have, I am also grateful to be able to see things in a new light. I’m not afraid of homeless people anymore. I don’t try to avert their eyes or walk nonchalantly away from them anymore. Poor or not, druggies or not, they’re still human. They still want to grasp onto their life and that alone is enough for me. A dollar or two will probably not help them at all but if everyone pitched in, giving whatever change they have, that’ll be one less person missing a meal, one less person dying from the freezing winter. I’m not trying to save everyone and end world poverty, but if I can even make even the smallest change to help make that old taxi driver or those poor shameless women or that homeless man around the corner’s life better, then I will try.

I believe it fits what this contest is about swannie. Fits it perfectly actually. Although it is not exactly giving, it shows that we should not disregard those around us living in poverty. Espicially now with the world economy becoming very unstable.

Ooh I thought the deadline was tomorrow for a second. Dx ....So yay, I have a bit more time. -sweatdrop-

But whoa, Swanniee! Your entry is so good... *o* It's going to be tough to enter now. >w<;;;