Sewers Of Change

Moving forward

2009-07-15T22:06:00.001-07:00

In 15 days I turn 18. The legal age of adulthood. Sure I can't rent a car yet, or be president but it is the point where I finally can be considered an adult. I don't really know where I am going with this post, but its 12:08 am and I honestly can't think of anything better to do. I'm a little bit wired as I always get when I am searching for something and right now that something is my last paycheck, which seems to have slipped out of its envelope detached itself from its pay stub and wandered into the abyss.

So I blog.

Right now, I am blogging for me more than you. That is if there is anyone who can be considered you. However I am fine with the notion that no ones reads this, it allows me to be more open with my thoughts. This is now just me writing what comes to my mind.

I am partially excited cause I may have an opportunity to go on a road trip soon. My Aunt came to town with her husband on their way cross country, to eventually stay in Seattle. However mid-trip they realized it was too much and decided to take the train the second half. This leaves a car in town that needs to make it too Seattle. Now I am considering this opportunity. I already have plans for much of my summer and I wish to have more time to work, but I feel that right now as I take this step into adulthood I need some time to myself. Moments of reflection along 94. The more I think of it the more I think of how I can't ignore it. I always fantasize of those life changing moments, and I feel that often when the door is open I turn away. Not this time though.

Hopefully I will find time on the trip to really begin my writing and explore the deepest parts of my soul. It will test my ability to be independent. Thrust me to step outside my box of comfort and meet others along the way. Yet my mind still lingers in different thoughts.

Like my last trip to Mexico I could come back unsatisfied. Pained by the feeling that my optimism led me to dream about something irrational. It happens often and I rarely falter, but after reaching the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and not feeling the sensation of life that I did years before, I now find myself once again judging my general sense of things. I feel I view the world much differently then my peers and I wonder if I just missed a step somewhere.

Yet I don't feel as though I am off course.

-Daniel Mauleon

In the Lion's Den

2009-07-11T00:19:00.000-07:00

Spring 2009

My name comes from the Bible.

Daniel in the lion’s den.

It was my mom’s idea. I think. But I go by other names. I always liked Danny. That’s what I have gone by until last year. You can tell when someone met me by what they call me. If they knew me before I was sixteen I was Danny. After I was Daniel. Daniel makes it professional. Daniel in the lion’s den. Not Danny.

When I went in for my first job interview my boss opened up with “Hey DAN!”

I didn’t want to start my career correcting my boss. So I became Dan at work. Daniel was in the lion’s den. Not Dan.

At Open School people called by my relation to my brother. Little Pedro. Emmanuel’s brother. Dan-manuel. Finally he left and I became Danny again. It was Daniel in the lion’s den. Not Little Pedro. Not Emmanuel’s brother. Not Dan-manuel.

I was talking to my brother.

Hey it’s Danny.

Don’t you think its time you stop using that nickname.

Hey it’s Daniel.

Daniel was in the lion’s den.

Danny in the lion’s den.

Dan in the lion’s den.

Little Pedro, Dan-manuel. Emmanuel’s brother are in the lion’s den.

I am in the lion’s den.

Hmm updates part 2

2009-07-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Hey, remember when I said I was bringing this back? Remember when that didn't happen. I apologize, to all negative two of you. That's probably why I stopped. I wasn't really sure if anyone was reading it. Of course I should write to write, but I really enjoy constructive criticism. Alot. So if you do read these things please say so.

Out with the old-

So I deleted one of my other blogs, and the D-Unit one is going to remain inactive. Simply cause I won't have more to write, but in the case of a Fraquetball wikipedia page they have a semi source. So that leaves my focus with this blog.

In with the new.

So last time I wrote I mentioned changing up the blog a bit. Well I plan on that. First by uploading bigger files as PDFs, that way they can be easier on the eyes and easy to print out if you wish to.

Also, since my last post in December I have been accepted to and enrolled at Hope College. What this means is come September I will have new writing assignments and probably quite a few more. Hopefully I will upload them here.

Another change I will make is that this blog won't be limited to my writing but more updates on life, like my brother's blog just with more writings.

So here we go again... I hope it wont take seven months to my next post.

Hmm Updates

2008-12-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

So I feel bad for never updating this, though I feel that currently it has no common viewers. The reasons for no new updates are, well, I haven't had much to put here. Plus I have been busy, with what? School, multiple forms of it. From play, to the college hunt, to crazy changes.

Anyhow in fantastic news I was accepted to Knox College. Plus a $10,000 renewable scholarship if I go there. I also sent in an application for Hope College in Michigan, they are sending back the first results Dec. 15th so I should hear from them after that. I think I am going to stick with just applying to those two colleges. I am more the happy to go to either one. Deciding is going to be the problem.

So anyhow back to the blog. I have somethings to update this with, I also think I am going to take down the Sewers Of Change Story it is not made for a blog, and I lack the HTML skills to make it into a sort of website. I may pull excerpts from it however. So hopefully I can get back on track with updates. Oh and if you do read this, feel free to comment, it is nice knowing someone is there, and I enjoy constructive criticism.

Finally, for those out there who wish to know what I am doing at every waking moment. It is finding out how my day was, without actually asking it. You can check out my twitter account www.twitter.com/tonuchi

Corwin and the Magic Toliet Paper Roll

2008-10-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

I believe this was written in 11th grade for creative writing. The assigment was to tell a story about your childhood.

Corwin and the Magic Toliet Paper Roll

It was a staple in my household when I was younger to have what is known as the craft box. Said box was filled with every little thing my mother saw fit from bits of string, colored paper to glow in the dark sticker sheets. It was from this box that my brother, Emman saw to make a smoke bomb. Now being quite young and having no real idea of the basics of pyrotechnics my brother’s smoke bomb was fairly simple. He had filled a used toilet paper roll completely with flour then covered the ends with paper and finally stuck a piece of string through the top for a fuse.

So the bomb was made and showed off to the friends of the apartment. We all thought it was brilliant but realized that when you are less than 10 years old there is really no reason for one to have a smoke bomb. So after a bit of brainstorm the plan came into effect to trick the neighborhood idiot, Corwin. Now unlike the rest of the kids we normally hung out with in my apartment, Corwin lived two houses down. He was always coming up with one way or another to try to get the girls of my apartment to kiss him but it never worked and would usually backfire.

The plan was simple the three girls in the apartment, my sister Michelle and the two girls who lived downstairs Nichole and Stephanie would dress up in genie esque attire, which was also used during our home made performance of Disney’s Aladdin where I played the role of the Sultan, and they would hide behind the big tree in the backyard. My brother would then set off his smoke bomb next to the tree and out would pop the girls to trick Corwin. My role in the whole thing was to make sure Corwin would never advance far enough to see the girls behind the tree. So we put the plan into action and as the girls hid behind the tree trying their best not to giggle, my brother lit a match and put it to the fuse of his McGiver smoke bomb. Lighting flour smoke bombs in attempts to make and explosion is as pointless as playing catch with Stevie Wonder. However my brother didn’t give up just yet. In an act of desperation he picked up and threw the toilet paper roll at the tree with such force that the contents exploded everywhere. So when the dust settled all Corwin saw were three genies.

Doing an impressive job as genies the three girls semi danced their way forward to Corwin while my brother and I tried our bests not to laugh. Corwin was completely dumbfounded, whether it was the makeshift bomb or the elaborate costumes, he fell completely for it. So then of course was the time for wishes. The three “genies” asked him his request and to what should have been no surprise he immediately asked to kiss the genies. We had no plan for this but, thanks to the cunning wits of the girls and our extensive knowledge of Aladdin and therefore the rules of genies, he was told that genies cannot grant wishes of love and the three girls scurried quickly inside leaving Corwin shocked and utterly disappointed

Sermon

2008-09-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

This was a sermon I wrote and read at church last year for Youth Sunday. I meant to post it last week but things happen and I became very busy. The sermon is about the passage John 9:1-41

The first time I heard this story was about a month or so ago during Sunday school. Then last weekend during the youth winter retreat we found out it would be our scripture text for youth Sunday. We went through several exercises and different methods of learning the text, including acting it out in two different groups. I will never forget the long awkward pause as Jeff rubbed imaginary mud into Jordan’s eyes. But for the first time I had spent a weekend really looking over one story of the bible. And with each reading you look deeper into it and see things that may not have jumped out at you the first time around.

The second time looking at the text that weekend we were told to get into small groups and answer some questions. Among the list of questions was : who in this story is blind? Well the first thing to pop into my head of course is, well the man. That’s what the story is about. But as it was brought up in my group. I took another look at it. I made a sort of jokingly rebellious mark about how it was the Pharisees who were blind to Jesus when I realized there was actually some truth to that.

While the Pharisees may not have 20/20 vision they can most likely see. But as I am sure you can tell I am n not talking literally about their sight. But more so their inability to welcome a new idea, one that while it goes against a lot of what they believed, offers hope. When they first hear of this man being healed some say that Jesus cannot be from God because he worked on the Sabbath, while others think that no sinner could perform such miracles. For me nowadays I have always found it hard to imagine no one working on Sunday. So it requires a strong imagination for me to understand that this guy is doing a big no-no worthy of one heck of a time out.. But even so couldn’t they get over themselves and realize: man was blind - now sees - happened on a Sunday. They were so deeply rooted in that he did one wrong, they completely overlooked the right.

It was a year or so ago when I heard what was at the time dreadful news. The Followers were to switching rooms. We would be leaving the room that I and am pretty sure at least 15 years worth of followers have found a home in, to go the kids room. There were a few reasons why, a big one being that the group would be getting larger. But I and a few others wouldn’t stand for it. Sure I had only been in there for four years but that’s not the point. It’s the Followers room, our room, the room we would try to sneak peeks in before we were in the group, only to be shoved out by that age of Followers. Not to mention the walls adorned with writings of Followers past. We can’t just switch rooms. I was quite against the idea and that showed during Youth Council meetings. Although against my wishes the switch happened any way. I just couldn’t realize small room, big group, we won’t fit.

We need to open our eyes. Change is all around us and will be for the rest of our lives and we don’t have time to get hung up on every little bit of change that is wrong. We need to open our eyes and look at what good change can bring about. What if the Pharisees looked deeper and noticed this man who walked the earth with the ability to heal the weak. The could have helped spread his word like no other. It has been 6 months since Followers practice started this year. Now I can safely say, thank god we had a bigger room available. With high turnouts and way bigger youth group than before there would have been no way we could have fit everyone in the other room comfortably. Change happens, lets open our eyes and be a part of it.

[News] Plans

2008-09-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was thinking it might not be a bad idea to share some more plans for this site. As mentioned in the first post I am really wishing that somehow this will spread and many people can read my works and respond, letting me know what does and does not work. However there are many different things I write that could very well fit on here and I feel that I will over time post them. Here are some categories (Will also appear as labels):

Creative Writing Assignments: These are stories I have written for class such as "Knock Knock" there are too many of these right now.

Original Creative Writing: Things I write without an assignment and just for fun. In all honesty there aren't too many of these but thousands of ideas in my head. I might write some simply for this blog.

Newspaper Assignments: I have written many of these assignments but not many fall into the creative writing area. I might upload a few on a case by case basis.

Sewers of Change: My choose your own adventure epic. Too big for one post so it will be split up however check the labels underneath and click Sewers to view only those stories. These I will probaly upload once a week.

Timed Writes: Short snippets from writing 10 minutes straight. I have done some for class and I think I will make some original ones as well. Just to keep me on my writing toes.

Everything else: There are other forms of my writing that I have a want to put up. Check back Sunday for one.

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Now for how to upload I would like to hopefully update this 3-4 times a week. Eventually falling into some form of a daily schedule. So check back often.

Kid Satisfies Hunger

2008-09-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

While looking through old files I found this one that I did for the newspaper in 11th grade towards the beginning of the school year. It wasn't for the actual paper but just a practice assignment.

KID SATISFIES HUNGER WITH PIRATE SHAPED CEREAL
Daniel Mauleón

On a hot lonely night last summer hungry sixteen year old Daniel Mauleón feasted on a bowl of cold cereal. After entering the kitchen from the basement stairs Daniel inspected the kitchen in search of a late night snack. Opening a cabinet underneath the silverware he found something worthy of his pallet, a bag of Marshmallow Mateys. He poured the cereal and was about to pour milk when to his surprise he found out there was no more milk in the fridge.
“I was about to give up when I remembered that there might be milk downstairs,” said Daniel “, I’m glad I took the time to look.” After receiving said milk he ascended the stairs and poured it into the plethora of tiny shapes or grain and marshmallows that made up the cereal. After putting away the bag and milk, he grabbed a spoon and began to eat.
The contents of the bowl were consumed in about eight minutes while Daniel watched the rerun of Futurama where Bender sells his body for money. During the first commercial break he went back for a second helping.

Knock Knock

2008-09-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

10th grade
The assignment was to write a story and focus on a setting. I believe it was the first creative writing assignment for that

Knock Knock
Daniel Mauleón

In the small town of Glenmorewood on top of a hill stood a mansion. The people of the town rarely spoke of it and its inhabitants. It was surrounded by a black fence that was wrapped in weeds and vines that had not been trimmed in years. The was only one way there and one way out, and that was an old cobblestone road. On the days where the sun would shine in Glenmorewood a few clouds would always loom over the mansion.
* * *
“Your turn, truth or dare?” asked Ryan. Ted hesitated to answer and in the end chose dare.
“Ok let me see,” Ryan said thinking of a dare. His mind was drawing blanks when he looked out the window and glimpsed the mansion. Then with a grin on his face he said ” knock on the door of the mansion.” All the kids in the room shuddered and Ted near pissed his pants. Some of the kids objected the idea and told Ted he didn’t need to go through with it. Even Ryan regretted giving him the dare. “ Ok,” Ted said gulping “, I will do it, can’t be too bad.”
The group of kids left the house and walked to where the paved road met the cobblestone one. A few kids said their goodbyes and Ted began his trek up the hill. The higher he climbed the colder it got and soon he had wished he had brought his sweater. The green grass along the road began wither and soon only dirt lined the road. The sound of Ted’s friends cheering him soon faded and only the sound of his feet could be heard. Before he knew it he had reached the gate in the fence and pushed it open. They creaked louder then anything he heard before. He was now only about three yards from the door of the mansion. Upon walking through the gates the temperature dropped more than it had before and he was rubbing his hands together for heat. The air up here was foggy and you could feel it as you moved around. A few trees stood at the edges of the mansion and they had not bloomed in years . Some birds perched in them and stared at Ted following him, like security cameras. Now only a feet from the stairs that led to the porch Ted finally got a feeling for the size of the mansion. It stood about three stories high. The shingles on the roof had mostly fallen to the ground and where they used to lay was rotten wood. The house was lined with windows too dirty to see inside. The paint on the house had faded from blue to a depressing shade of gray.
Ted walked onto the porch and one of the floorboards he stepped on cracked causing him to trip and land right in front of the door. He stood up holding his head and looked at the door in front of him. He raised an arm.

Knock Knock.

A New Way

2008-09-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some great advice from a friends father I have decided to start a blog filled with my creative writings and other writings. Mostly this is to test out a public opinion on my stories and get a feel for what works and doesn't work. I plan on uploading stories from high school along with writing original pieces weekly to keep me practicing. I have thousands of ideas and here I feel I can finally put them to good use.

A bit about me- I am 17 and a senior at a small highschool in Minnesota. Ever since I was little I have been building elaborate stories in my head and depending on my age put them to use, mostly in the form of playing with Legos and little homemade comics. With my passion for art I had seen myself maybe growing up to be a cartoon/comic creator. It wasn't until 10th grade during a creative writing class that I realized that more than art, I had loved creating the stories behind it. I have since settled on a career in creative writing. From there I plan to take my abilities and write for Video Games, Movies, Televison and hopefully write a few books or short stories on the side. As time goes on I will probably write a bit more about myself.

[Edit] I should add that while I try hard I am not the best with grammar and punctuation. I do plan on presenting my older work with as little edits as possible as to maybe show improvement. If bad grammar disturbs you I apologize and am trying to get that down.