#storymooc

[iwritestoriesandcodes]

Yey! Thus ends the course. I'll take all the lessons learned to heart. Here's to more storytelling!

[aurelia-gould]

Aunt Renie bought me this typewriter as a contribution, she said, to my writing efforts. I can't believe it! She's so generous and supportive! I am still slow, but I will get the hang of it eventually!

[paoloargentilli]

So, the story went like this. I scanned the QR Code that I found, and I discovered a link to the web site http://treasurehuntpn.tumblr.com. I found only one post, saying

Congratulazioni! Bravo! Ce l’hai fatta :) Ci vediamo il primo gennaio 2014, ore 15:00 alla casetta che trovi qui: Latitudine: 46.010268 Longitudine: 12.728873

Basically, there were congratulations and a meeting date, exactly for today, at 3pm. There were also the coordinates of the meeting place. I looked up the coordinates in google maps, and I found a place in an area I know quite well, because I do some research on birds there.

I had to go there, definitely!

A couple of hours later, I went to the meeting place, and I found a group of people gathered. I parked my car and I joined them. They seemed to be good friends, and I didn't know any of them, but I recognized the girl that put the signs in the park.

Everybody looked at me, somehow surprized.

-- Hi, are you all here for the treasure hunt, like me?

They explained that it was Elisa's birthday party: the treasure hunt was her idea to make it somehow different from usual. They thought that nobody would have noticed, and they were surprised that I did.

They invited me to join the party, what I did with pleasure. I made friends with them and we talked a lot, until an hour ago. I hope I'll meet Elisa again, she's really a great person. :)

[iwritestoriesandcodes]

Output: The Future of Storytelling - Chapter 7

YOUR TASK IN GENERAL

Go transmedia! Go wild! We are a huge community, so let’s make use of that and do some collaborative storytelling. Let’s create a transmedia project together.

HOW? Meet Aunt Renie.

Renie is a little, elderly lady, who’s always enjoyed lots of company. When her best friend dies, she decides to not be sad but instead use the time left to travel the world and explore as many new countries and cultures as she can.

YOUR TASK IN DETAIL

Help Renie travel the world:

Write, draw, compose, film, design Aunt Renie little adventure in your neighbourhood. Tell a day in her life in your hometown, write down a recipe she has collected, or paint the contents of her suitcase.

You are absolutely free in regard to what medium or format you use to tell your story. Just make it about Aunt Renie and her adventures.

_____

Her name was Aunt Renie. She was soaked with rainwater when I met her at my apartment's guardhouse last weekend. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't pick you up. I had to do a million things at work since, you know, I'm going on leave this coming week."

Her smile was as warm as ever. "It's alright, my darling. Thank you for having me here. We shall have lots of fun these next few days."

I held my bright red umbrella over her head, tapped my access card to open the steel gates, grabbed hold of her well-worn luggage, and led her in.

It was Mangangarap who told me that I should invite Aunt Renie over. Mangangarap said the elderly lady was a globe-trotter. Her best friend died recently, but she decided to live each of her remaining days on earth to the full, instead of living inside a bubble of melancholy.

"Oh you will not believe what a grand time I had in Cambodia. And Thailand. Their temples are amazing! Everything was so... pointy."

I chuckled. "Well, Aunt Renie, everything here in Malaysia's going to be so... curvy," I said, thinking of all the bridges and mosques.

"How darling!"

"You better get some rest, Auntie. Tomorrow's going to be a big day. We're going to see the Twin Towers first."

And so we spent the next five days touring. 

In Kuala Lumpur.

At Bukit Tinggi, a French Village near the capital.

In Melaka, two hours south of the city.

In Penang, five hours north. (We spent two days there).

We had great fun, though the driving tired me out a bit. And we took lots of pictures. I took lots of pictures of her, rather.

"Darling, we don't have a single photo together!"

"We don't? We should have one, then, before you go."

And so a friend of mine took this shot, outside a coffee shop where we spent time before I sent Aunt Renie off to her next destination.

See you around, Aunt Renie! Jumpa Lagi!

[daisycrowndreams]

Aunt Renie's World Tour by maureen maher

TOUCH this image to discover its story. Image tagging powered by ThingLink

A lovely picture that shows Aunt Renies adventures!

[daisycrowndreams]

Helping Aunt Renie

Aunt Renie called last week. I was surprised she remembered me at all, we only met once and that was years ago. She made a great impression on me then, so when she asked to meet me I decided I could take a day off from work. She had a very important question for me, that she was confident I would be able to handle. Feeling honoured that such a resourceful lady should need my help, I agreed to meet her that same afternoon.

We met in Bewley's, on Grafton Street. It is a lovely, fancy place to have coffee in the middle of town. Aunt Renie was sitting at one of the small tables in the front room. She had both hands around a cup of coffee, staring over it into nothing, lost in thought or memories. Old ladies have lots of memories. It was the first time I realised she is old, somehow I never thought of her that way before. Then she noticed me and smiled, and that familiar Miss Marple sparkle returned to her eyes.

I sat down with here and she explained that she needed a good, new winter hat. Not because she didn't like the hat she was wearing (a horrible thing with a felted flower on the side), not that it was falling apart as it was a very sturdy hat, a once-in-a-lifetime buy that was worth every penny, no, simply because it was not as warm as it needed to be for some of the places she intended to visit. A good, sensible young woman like myself should have no problem in finding a decent winter hat for her. She didn't know it, but a few days earlier someone else had asked me to select a scarf for her as a gift. It had already been sent, but luckily I knew that her new hat had to combine with the colour red.

We set off immediately, Renie's coffee unfinished and before I could order anything.

It was cold outside, windy and overcast, the kind of weather that suddenly makes everyone love hot chocolate and roaring hearth fires. Christmas lights were trying to spread some cheer but most people walked by briskly. As did Aunt Renie. My God, she keeps up a pace! No leisurely window shopping, but marching on with a purpose! Just trying to keep up had me warm and flustered.

We went to several stores (she didn't like the hat store, said she wasn't old enough to buy one of those. But she hás one of those, ah well). Before long Aunt Renie had her mind on a white woollen hat with ear flaps that you could tie together. And actually tied them together. Of course that is possible, but that really doesn't mean that you should. If you know Aunt Renie, try to picture here in this hat, with the ear flaps tied under her skin (with a neat bow) and the pompom sticking out high above her head. I had to save her from this.

I made several arguments, but the saleswoman joined us and started countering each and every one of them. According to her the hat was cute and timeless. Which is true, but only if you're a six year old girl forever. In between us Aunt Renie didn't seem in the least bit uncomfortable. In fact, she had started striking poses with the hat in the mirror. In the end, she offered us the solution herself. We would look at a few more hats and unless we found something better, we would return for this one. Saying this she undid the bow, placed the hat solemnly back on the shelf and with a friendly nod to the saleswoman, strode out the shop. Outside she started to giggle. Despite myself, so did I.

This is the hat Aunt Renie settled on finally, in H&M. It is not what I had in mind, but at least there's no pompoms and it will not collide with the colour red. I did my best. It does suit her somehow.

just before she left, she said something that left me wondering. "Life is a bit like an oven," she said, "whatever you put in comes back to you changed. But if you put nothing in, all you end up with is a lot of hot air." There was no more time to ask her what she meant. When I thought about it, it seemed kind of a sad thing to say.

[daisycrowndreams]

Dream Song

It's been a crazy busy week. A lot of last minute, high priority clients (that always come with high levels of stress for everyone in the office) and an unexpected visit from an old acquaintance of mine Aunt Renie. I was surprised she remembered me at all, but more on that another time.

In between all that I've been trying to find the song from my dreams. I just know I did not make this up and if I figure out where it comes from, it will be easier to understand why I am dreaming this, I am sure. I've asked Sarah, who's boyfriend works in a music store and knows about a lot of different types of music. I've asked colleagues, other friends, and even managed to contact a private investigator. They all ask me what the song sounds like and then I go all mumbly-dumbly because I don't know how to describe it. It is really hard to remember details, even when I've been dreaming this for weeks now. An overall feeling, yes, but being specific, not so much. But if I'm to find this song I need to be able to explain it.

So. Here we go. Attempt number seven today.

First of all, it is like nothing I normally listen to. I love music like Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys (love her!), Beyonce and many others. I love a good ballad, but often prefer a little more upbeat, danceable music. The song of my dream is none of that. There is not much more to it than a voice singing. I think it is a woman, because the song is quite high in pitch and even though I've heard men sing that high, few can do it. So it could be a man, but I think it is probably a woman. And a good singer. The voice is beautiful, full, expressive, round with a bit of an edge to it. It isn't sweet or soft, but strong and flawless. There is no vibrato (that wobbly singing that opera singers use a lot), the voice is very clear and steady. There are some long notes in the song so you can hear that well.

There are no instruments in my dream, but there might be in the real song. It is a slow song, it could be a lullaby. So if there is instruments at all, I would not expect there to be a heavy beat, drums, no loud guitars and such. Maybe an orchestra, or maybe something acoustic like a piano, a guitar or something folksy. Or maybe nothing, just a voice like in my dream.

The best description of the song I can give, is beautiful. Beautiful in a timeless, Audrey Hepburn meets Kate Moss sort of way. And then some. It makes me feel safe, held, loved. It is as if whoever is singing knows me, better than my friends, better than my parents, better even than I know myself. Hmm, I seem to be rambling.

There are some long notes in it and some shorter that come in between. The longer notes keep getting intenser as the go on, when I think of them they make me breathe deeper, relax and go quiet inside. The shorter notes seem to drive the melody forward. There is no words.

This is frustrating, I'm not sure I'm going to have my colleagues read this. I hope it is helpful at all.

Other than beautiful the song is loving and sad. It has me waking up feeling I lost something that matters. (I wonder, is this what grieving feels like?) No, it makes me feel I am about to lose something so precious to me, I can't live without. But I don't know what it is and so I can't hold on, can do nothing to stop it. That is how I feel every morning.

If anyone can help me find this song I would be most grateful. Even if you're not sure, the name of a singer, a song similar to this might lead me further. If you have any idea at all, please let me know. You can find me on twitter ( @daisycrowndream ) or send in your ideas here.