Merry Christmas!

Heaven is not beyond the clouds, it's just beyond the fear.

I have no idea what song that's from, but I heard it on my way home tonight. I haven't decided whether I like the song at all. I know it's not theologically correct. But this particular line stood out to me.

It's true, in a way. In this life, we get closest to heaven through our love, through the trust we place in God, through not letting fears and worries hold us back. We need to trust that His plan for us is good and that He is taking care of us, no matter what we see with our own limited vision. We need to trust His unfailing love for us; trust the tiny baby lying in a manger as a real example, one of the most real, of God's unfailing love for every single one of us.

Gaudete! Christ is born!

A Combination of Christmas Music

Light to the World

Or light up the world. I went to the Trail of Lights in Austin a few nights ago. It wasn't quite Domino Farms (of course, there isn't quite a Domino Farms anymore, not as far as lights go), but quite a few lights and a larger variety of displays than I've seen elsewhere. Except in a Thanksgiving parade. Following are the pictures that turned out best, as, despite having a camera that takes good night picture, I lack a steady hand to effectively use the ability.

The pictures are out of order, as blogger loads them in a strange way, which is none of my doing whatsoever. There are very few pictures of people, which is partially my doing, as I successfully (though completely unintentionally) managed to lose the rest of the group, and was stuck walking around by myself for most of the night. Somehow taking pictures of random stranger just isn't quite the same. In my rush to keep up I failed to take a good picture of my favorite display, one which I think was modeled after the Jetsons, and either way was a wonderful setup of futuristic buildings and Santa in a flying car.

The whole thing was enjoyable and worth seeing. And that's not even counting the adventure afterwards, for which my first thought was, "Cool, it's like we're camping! Only without the sleeping part." I wisely (or so I assume) refrained from actually voicing this thought. But I'm becoming very used to the sort of adventures that other people find unpleasant, which is possibly good, as they no longer phase me in the least. Granted I'd rather go have adventures in Europe. Happily be stranded there any time!

NaNoWriMo Continued

I did not do a week 3 end post, partly because Thanksgiving and getting sick and picking up a car and helping out family and enjoying people's company all got in the way, and partly because I had written so little that it was complete embarrassment to think about posting. Mainly, also, because even by the point I was starting to realize that I would not finish this year. I'm happy with the decisions I made, but posting my wordcount still would be a bit too much for me.

Now that we're in the final week, I've gotten somewhat of a second wind. I have to write slightly over 7,000 words per day to make it, and that's given that I have a house to clean, people to pick up from the airport, sleep to get to make sure I don't get sick, and rehearsals during what I had originally hoped would be my final hours on Friday. It's doable, but it'll be tough, and I'm not going to cry if I don't make it. (Of course, if I'm close enough, and feel well enough, I may very well stay up a bit...later...on Thursday, trusting that I can go to bed earlier Friday and sleep random hours throughout the day Saturday).

So that's where I stand right now. As far as the story goes, I'm on chapter 4, page 38 (single spaced), my heroine just became kidnapped by a large well-worn dragon ala the Velveteen Rabbit, and my hero just met his narrator who's job it is to help him along into having the best story possible...beginning with the one where everyone stays at home and is happy, which, however, he has now lost all possibility of doing. Both the dragon and the narrator already have more life than my characters, though I think I've realized the main personality and flaws of my heroine.... one obvious place where I'll have to go back and rewrite later in order to give the main characters more life in the beginning as well. I'm still not posting a word count.... if I wind up by some miracle making it, perhaps I'll boast by posting how much I wrote each of the last five days.

Wish me luck!

Week 2

Word Count: 11,228/50,000
Time Left: 15 days, 0 hours, 12 minutes


I'm still not quite where I was last year, which means still very, very behind. However.. this is the product of about three actual days of writing. I've discovered (through "I'm desperate, and being given incentive through having been mentioned in other blogs, and can't dare back down now" type desperation) that I can write about 1,000 words in around half an hour. Which includes a limited amount of time to think about what's happening and make decisions about the story.. about half of every minute can be spent doing that to get the 1,000/30min speed. So even spending 15 minutes thinking about each 1,000 word section, I need only 20 hours to successfully reach my goal. Entirely do-able! And this story is going so well (when I make time for it) that it's practically writing itself.

As of now, the "uh-oh, things are starting to go funny..." scene is written, as well as all the scenes surrounding it, my two main characters have gotten themselves into an entirely unexpected disagreement, and I've found out that I actually am capable of writing conversation, at least moreso than I ever was before, which might not be saying much. I've already found myself foreshadowing things I never intended to include in the story but now, naturally, am going to because it fits so well; and even I don't know who the mysterious note-writer is, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

In the real world, I've discovered that dinner isn't actually important unless eaten at someone else's house, and there's no such thing as too much Halloween candy or too many cookies. Laundry, however, still needs to get done, no matter how few people are in this house. And having someone else to talk to sometimes is good.

Shocking Saturday

I had to fit in a post of celebration at some point - especially as I've had no one to jump up and down and excitedly scream in front of.

This morning I went to Mass with the goal in mind that, afterward, I would be singing with someone for the specific purpose of being told exactly where I was failing and what I needed to work on, a bit of criticism I figured was coming one way or another, and ought to be taken care of on my own terms and in a way that would also be beneficial to me. It has, after all, been two and a half years since I've had anyone give me any real suggestions or helpfully tell me what to work on after hearing me sing, and I'm not the best person to be doing that for myself.

I walked away from this meeting with plenty of suggestions - and an invitation to join the Schola at my church, at least for long enough to see whether I can fit in.

And I now have one more reason to be very grateful to my old choir director; I half considered emailing her just to mention this opportunity and express my overwhelming thanks. Instead, I'm placing those thanks in an area I'm fairly sure she'll never actually see, but what's a girl to do. Thank you Ms. Silva!!!

Just a Bit Late for Halloween

I watched Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow last night. I have to say, it was a bit creepy. I was okay with creepy once upon a time, even went out of my way to watch creepy/suspenseful movies. (Not usually gory, mind you, but plain old frightening was fine.) I'm one of those odd people who started watching horror movies at eight, who watched the Ring and wasn't fazed at all, who would watch (or read) whatever scary movie (or story) I could get my hands on in the dark alone late at night.

Anyway, back to Sleepy Hollow. It was a creepy movie. It was a very well done movie; but it was a creepy movie. I was joking when I refused to go back to my own empty house, but the fact remains that I don't handle these movies anywhere near as well as I used to. So while trying to give this movie what should be a glowing review, I'm fighting my own "yeah, it was good, why would I ever watch this again?" sort of thinking.

I think it would have been more frightening had it not been quite as surreal. There was so much in the way of imagery (use/lack of colors, appearance of certain characters, recurring significant moments, etc.) that it detracted from the reality of the movie enough to keep it from being quite as frightening as it could otherwise have been. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and the imagery was certainly well done - there was one particular place where color was not drained that struck me immediately as perfect contrast and showed before the actual events did just what was going on in the area.

This has got to be one of the strangest movie reviews I've ever done. Anyway, I do recommend the movie, fairly highly recommend it, on the condition that you don't mind creepy.

Week 1

Word Count: 5,013/50,000
Time Remaining: 22 days, 00 hours, 44 minutes


Well, I'm behind even where I was last year at this point, which was still behind, but not so behind as to have lost hope yet or be embarressed about posting it. Scratch that.. maybe a little embarressed, but that will only encourage me to speed up. And given the point at which I finally got around to starting this I'm improving at a decent rate. AND, maybe I will even write some more tonight.

So far, we have a main guy introduced, and main girl introduced, one living constellation introduced but not yet involved, and the lead up to the big scene that will lead into the true fantasy/fairy tale part of the story rather than just the modern world. Oh, and we have one major epic battle with a courageous wizard. I'm very pleased.

My only losses so far are a large portion of a bag of candy (consumed while writing), and the odd occurance of actually forgetting to eat dinner three nights in a row. Tonight might be four, but then again, I actually feel a little bit hungry... and I will be spending all day tomorrow in an active wrestling - oops, I mean restraint - class. No extra sleep loss at all! At least, not beyond what I would have had anyway, as I'm trying very hard to stay healthy.

Completely unrelated to this particular post, or maybe not as it did give me a bit of extra time tonight, I've been given a chanting reprieve due to an overbooking. I'm scheduled to be tortured Saturday morning instead. And, strangly enough, I'm neither hopeful nor nervous. But all the better to relax and write! (Unless you want angsty scenes. And let me tell you, I am good at those.... there should be some type of prize for that).

Aging Backwards

As if telemarketers weren't bad enough... I just had someone come to the door and ask if my parents were home. I don't think I look that young. Even if half the people I talk to asume I'm still in (high)school.

And yes, I did point out to him that my parents live in Michigan. Now that I'm in my second 23rd year, I think I have that right.

enChanting

I find myself in need of a bit of help. In particular, I'm looking for internet resources for Gregorian chant - something with sheet music and (preferably) easy to hear recordings. I'm sure I'll get somewhere by continuing to look myself, but my luck so far seems to consist of recordings without accompanying sheet music, and, to make it worse, recordings which seem to all have been recorded on a cell phone from the cry room of a packed church. I would still trust my luck and not ask for help, but - I need this by Wednesday night. As in this Wednesday. As in... I'm doomed.

Anyone know of a good internet site for obtaining written chant music?

NaNoWriMo!

Despite how skeptical I am of my chances this year, it is now currently November, and National Novel Writing Month. My goal once again is to write 50,000 words by 11:59:59pm Nov. 30th. This year, I have a full time job that is really full time, as in life-time, and didn't even find time to do a blog post about the event until tonight.

On the other hand, I am also insane, and so I invite anyone and everyone to join me in this endeavor to create. (I already have one little brother joining me again; yay!) Go to the website, read about the event, sign up, add Myth as a writing buddy, and most of all, start writing! Or at least do me the favor of cheering me on - since unless I decide I will be embarrassing myself way too horribly by posting, I will have my word count right here on this blog at least once a week. The embarrassing myself thing could happen. Again, that job thing. But if it goes well, I hope to have another (and a better) book in editing by December.

And there are two things in my favor. I finally saw Orion for the first time this fall a week ago Friday night (I've been looking for a while, but always had bad conditions one way or another), and he is the ending and therefore an important part of the rest of the story; and I'm in generally the same mindset I was when I did all my best writing back in my later 'teens, though in a bit more matured form. All of which leads me to pretend confidence that it will come out well. Wish me luck!

(The link remains on my sidebar as well, where it has been for the past year; only and always for your convenience, and because I like to recruit.)

Hehehe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOMENIC!

Leaves

This is what fall should look like.

Not that, y'know, I have any problem with Texas.

Jus' sayin'.

October Again, Isn't It?

I have two friends who are both turning (*gasp*) 25 today. Sadly, I am scarce on pictures.. but as the one I don't have a picture of doesn't read this anyway, I don't feel quite as bad as I might. Either way, a very happy birthday and many blessings to both!

And I'm still one year short of ancient.

Three Things My Parents Did Right

This is from a group writing project over at Et Tu?. I don't often do this, but the topic struck me.. and I certainly didn't seem to be getting around to doing a post of my own topic any time soon. I did not pick out what I think are the three best things, or three most important things, or even three things that had a big impact on me personally. This is simply the first three things I thought of that, in my opinion, they did right. (If you want to join in, the deadline is coming up on Thursday.. that's this Thurs., the 11th).

My dad played games with us. We played the ABC game and word games constantly in the car whether on trips or the way home from school, we played board games while sitting around at home, we played card games wherever we happened to have a pack of cards, we played computer games (and learned how to program on his old computers) that were usually educational but always enjoyable, we played sports multiple times a week (he was always at our team practices and games, encouraged us to join in any and every sport, and spent hours of his time practicing and playing with us on his own), and even, eventually, joined in our games when my brother got an xbox and proved to be fairly decent competition. He gave me a love for every sort of game imaginable, a love that I have never lost, and that has been the source of much enjoyment on my own and of much use when dealing with all the children around me now. I learned how to win and lose gracefully, I learned to think in ways I never would have been taught in school, and I learned the value of just sitting around (or running around) enjoying the company during whatever activity we happen to settle upon. Through his games, he also showed me an enjoyment of life that, however childish, I have managed to carry on. And that is a wonderful thing.

My mom found time, despite working full time and caring for two increasingly difficult kids, to make whatever she could with her own hands. She gave us excellent homemade food year-round, and I find myself going back to her over and over now for her recipes, whether for the Christmas candies we made in abundance every winter, the pies she made all summer, or the baked goods we had filling our home all year. Someday I know I will also be going to her for her regular meals and dishes, when I have to provide food at my own house; and I hope I will also be turning to her for her breads and jam recipes. She always patched our clothes, sewed and resewed the arms and legs and noses of our stuffed animals (and made many herself to give to us), made us clothes and costumes in whatever pattern our hearts desired, and passed on the extra materials so we could make capes and bags out of the scraps. Most of our clothes were store-bought, but she kept our favorites in good repair, and I was always proud to have a mother who not only knew how but actually made matching clothes for my closest friends and I. Having entered into the Catholic world now, or at least the circles I've come into, this doesn't seem like such an odd thing, but it was strange and wonderful at the time. If these were not enough, she spent her free time outside, planting flowers on our balcony and later all around our house to make the outside look as nice and welcoming as possible, and kept up as much of a vegetable garden as space would allow. I never did catch her love of cooking/sewing/growing, but I can look back and see how wonderful it was to be around that, and I have something to aim for - if not to do it and love it as well as she did, then to know which parts I think are most important, and to try and instill at least those few into my own life away from home.

Both of my parents tried their best, in whatever way each knew how, to show their unconditional love for us and to let us find our own path in life. We were never pressed into any particular job or career, or even particular classes at school; whether we wanted to do AP classes or take only art electives, it was our choice. No change of future career goal was met with anything other than advice on what would skills and types of classes would be needed to get into it and how to start. If we became interested in a particular subject, we were given books and materials in order to continue with it. After years of continued interest in astronomy, I was given a telescope; when my brother and I, each at different times, became interested in music, we were given books and instruments and space and offered lessons. I was always encouraged to persue my love of theater, and of singing, and of writing and reading. When I wanted to draw, I was given sketch books and pencils. My dad helped my brother open a bookstore when he thought he might like to try running one - not by any means a small thing, even for such a small store. When I first showed a vague interest in what I thought was a necklace, my mom bought me a rosary for Christmas, despite not being Catholic herself. They wanted us to always be free to learn about anything and everything and to make our own decisions. They believed that we could do anything we set our minds to, and tried in every way they knew to make us believe it as well.

Ready for a Home

I found my future residence this evening. It is a gorgeous mixed use neighborhood with a bookstore and cute little grocery in easy walking distance, seafood and Italian restaurants also in walking distance, fountains and statues, and the coolest outdoor fireplace with chimney and actual fire. And the apartments start at only $900 a month.

Hmm. So maybe I won't be moving in any time soon. Either way, I was stuck waiting around in Austin after school let out because it was the preferable alternative to driving an extra hour and a half to spend an entire one hour at home. And I discovered what is possibly my favorite area in all of Austin, as it was more similar to some places in Europe than anything else I've encountered since.. well.. Europe. I wandered around in awe for forty minutes, and didn't even have time to enter the bookstore. I did make my way through the cool (and unfortunately expensive) grocery, examining all the shelves and eating my way through their samples (all of which sufficiently impressed me so that I'd consider buying something if I was rich.... and oh my gosh do they have a nice selection of cheese!), and admiring their wines and desserts (I tried a small coconut pineapple rum cake; mmmmm).

I also discovered that it is, despite my general strong opinions to the contrary, possible to eat by yourself in a restaurant and actually enjoy it. The key is bringing a good book along so that you have somewhere to look while eating and some enjoyable alternative to conversation. It helps if you go to a very fancy seafood restaurant where all you can afford is an appetizer and soup, and proceed to enjoy the best coconut shrimp you've ever tasted with an amazing relish to dip them in and a surprisingly tasty seafood corn chowder. (It also helps if the book is Orson Scott Card's newest book. However, it doesn't help if you're squeamish and trying to read a particularly squeamy medical chapter while eating.) I also now, after a year, have discovered my first favorite restaurant in Texas. All my others are back in MI.

So, I probably really can't move here any time soon, but I may go back and explore again, even just to sit down on their fun benches, admire the fountains, or find a spot near the fireplace when it gets cooler, and read or write. I mean, all that was really missing from the near-Europe picture were travel companions.. (Hey, Domenic, if you read this post, come back to Austin! Our birthday is on a Friday, we've got the weekend to celebrate... ;-) ).

The place, by the way, is The Domain in Austin, and the restaurant therein is called McCormicks.

Apples and Eggs

So, I would have posted the Pledge or something yesterday, but my computer refused to connect to the internet.

I would have posted about the Sunday Gospel reading on Monday, but my computer refused to connect to the internet, and I didn't want to keep the computer I stole for any longer than necessary.

I just realized there is a Texas pledge. I'm not sure how I feel about having to pledge allegiance to TX. I mean, I've come to like the place, and I assume I'm staying (God rarely lets me know what I'm doing more than a few months in advance; generally it's more on the level of number of days), but I haven't been here long enough to consider myself a Texan. Of course, at the moment it looks likely that I won't actually be in the classroom long enough to have to worry about it. Such is the life of a TA.

We received students today. Hand delivered, at that. I think fifth grade will be fun, and I'm somewhat disappointed that I won't be able to do any actual teaching or working with most of the students. I'm not disappointed that we won't have to wear the school shirt to work every day.

Actually, that's a funny story. So, see, the school got us shirts. They have our school name on them, and a little picture, and everything. I got a medium. Most people got mediums. Most people working at the school are women. The shirts don't seem to understand this, and presented themselves to us in the form of overly large men's shirts. By overly large, I mean that the men's medium, which normally should be somewhere in the vicinity of a useful length if a bit wide, came almost down to my knees. Luckily the shirt was 100% cotton, so I decided I could successfully shrink it and set about this endeavour. Unluckily (okay, so there might have been something more than just luck involved), I did not get home until around 10pm. Now keep in mind that I had to get up at 6am today.. 6:30 at the latest. Sometime after 10pm, I throw the shirt into the hottest wash possible and let it run. Sometime around 11pm, I empty out the dryer and throw the shirt into the hottest drying cycle possible, then see that the dryer thinks this cycle will take over an hour. Being used to washing shirts that don't wrinkle badly, and wanting to give this particular shirt every possible second in which to shrink, I leave it in the dryer and head off to bed.

Then morning arrives. A very early morning. Yes, I slept in until 6:30am. The drive to school, in little traffic, takes half an hour, and I have to be at work by 7:30am. Somewhere after 6:30 I wander downstairs in a sleepy haze to find my shirt sitting faithfully in the dryer, a completely solid ball of mushed up wrinkles. After untangling it, I discover that it is, however, successfully shrunken; it only comes about halfway down to my knees now. I spend five minutes wandering through the house in order to discover an ironing board and no iron, which is probably a good thing, as the most likely outcome would have been a beautiful unwrinkled shirt with an equally beautiful blackened burn in the middle. Naturally, my burn would have been beautiful, but probably not in the acceptable-business-wear sense of the word. (I didn't realize until too late that I do have access to a hair dryer, which does get hot, and which had I strategically wrapped a cloth around it... It's probably a good thing I didn't realize this, as it either wouldn't have worked, or still would have burnt the shirt.) The running-hot-water-in-a-shower thing has never worked real well for me, and takes way too long anyway. Option number three? Soak the thing and dry it again. At this point, it's somewhere between 6:40 and 6:45, about the time I ought to be leaving in case there are other people awake (and therefore traffic) at such an insane hour of the day. Ten minutes later, the shirt is warm and still undeniably wet - but wrinkle-free! I've got at least a half hour drive and TX isn't exactly cold, so I figure the remaining water will evaporate by the time I get to school. In another minute I discover that I may have too successfully shrunk the shirt, as I can't get one of the buttons undone, and others are also proving difficult. By the time I get the shirt on, it's wet and cold, which may be nice later on in the day but isn't at not-yet-7am. Given that it's overly large, I can't feel most of the shirt anyway and this doesn't make too big a difference.

Naturally, there is traffic, but only a little bit. During the drive I turn the heat on full blast to help the evaporation process. This lasts until I get off the highway and am almost at the school, at which point the heat is making me too sick to continue and I'm forced to turn it completely off. Around 3/4 of the shirt has dried at this point, I'm at the school only ten minutes late, and since we have extra staff on hand for the first day, all is well. Later on, I discover that somehow the washing/drying process left yellow stains on the front of the shirt, which no one else seems to notice or care about. I also discover that some people were much smarter than I, and wore the shirt over another, better fitting one, so they wouldn't have to worry about buttoning it and trying to make it look normal. Also, that one of my teachers didn't even wear the shirt.. and no one seemed to care.

And I think that's the only "first day" story I'm willing to share online. But a brilliant illustration of just how insane...err, resourceful... I can regularly be.

Author Madeleine L'Engle Dies at 88

A brief article about her and her books.

Not my favorite author, but there are elements of her work that I like. I read A Wrinkle in Time and some of the following books, and I'm thinking I should at least try out one or two books aside from that series. She had some good ideas.

Finished Product

I Found the Cliffs of Insanity...

...while driving in stop and go traffic in a stick shift while only half awake.

I fell over the edge on the way back, when it started raining so hard I could barely see.

Anyone know how to do lesson plans for P.E. class?

NaNoWriMo 2007

No, it doesn't start for two months, but since I've mentioned it already: here are the two main characters, both pictures "drawn" about a week ago. They both look rather serious and/or depressed, but that's not a constant factor.. just the particular scenes I happened to be thinking of when creating them.

As usual, both were created using Candybar Doll Maker 3 at eLouai.com (the link is also on my sidebar; and they've added some new things, including an RPG room maker, in case that catches anyone's interest. I use the site too often.)

August, in Conclusion

August has always been sort of an odd month. It's the month when, as a kid, I had to give up my summer and softball games and head back to school. The month when, as an older kid (some might say adult), I typically found myself moving out of the house; to college in one state or another, then to TX. When the family would cram in the last minute vacation, have a reunion or two, head out to the lake... An eventful month, ending with the start of a new year, especially when so much more was begun anew at the end of August than ever at the start of January. I haven't bothered saying much about what I've been doing recently, and despite being out of school, the tradition of new things has held, so in summary:

I have created the most difficult and the least difficult desserts of my life (cream puffs and a mock "french silk pie," respectively) and found success with both.

I managed to get a promotion (including a small raise.. and benefits!) before actually even starting my job.

I have finally given in and officially retired my car of three years. I'm trying to sell it. I've also found a new car. It's a lighter blue, it's also old, and I'm paying for it with oatmeal raisin cookies.

I've accidentally (unintentionally?) accepted a dinner date, for whatever point in time the guy actually visits TX. I think I've got at least a month.

I have decided on the general story idea I will use this November. It includes a story ending I've been sitting on for maybe a year and a half now, trying to find the right rest of the story. It fits this one perfectly, and I've got two months to come up with a detailed outline before I have to start writing.

I managed the most horrible singing I've ever done in front of people in my life. This is new in that I did not run screaming from the building. I did, however, verify with the choir director that I could practice further ahead of time in the future.

My brother turned 21. This isn't something I personally did. Actually, I had no hand in this at all. But it does emphasize my age.

I'm about to build the coolest cake in the world. But I'm sure I'll get a post and pictures later (and that won't actually happen in August).

And, in case it ends up mattering to anyone, I have designed my kitchen, and come up with themes for most of my house. I don't actually have it yet. But I've so far been successful with foundations made of dreams.

Not for Arachnophobes.

Experts debate origins of giant spider web. Right here in TX!

And all I can think of is The Hobbit. I wonder how carefully they've looked at the web.....

Friendship Posts

Look, I've discovered another way to avoid a post where I actually have to say something! However, there is a post over at Words, Words, and another over at Heart Speaks to Heart (that pointed me to the first), that ask and explore a lot about the idea of friendship and particularly Catholic friendship.

I'm not offering my own thoughts because a lot of what these two ladies have written are questions or thoughts I've wondered about myself, and I certainly don't have any more or better answers. But they're good posts (especially for anyone who grew up outside of Catholic circles; I can't vouch for what answers/knowledge someone used to those circles may already have) and worth heading over to read.

At Least I've Read It...

I've feeling far too (un)intellectual to do any sort of post with actual content lately. Or maybe just too introverted. Anyway, I generally try to avoid too many quizzes on this blog, but I have a weak spot for books, as in reading books, writing books, collecting books, going into used bookstores and staring at books, and knowing what particular book I personally am.

This quiz (stolen, though I wasn't tagged or anything, from DarwinCatholic) applies to the final in that list of weaknesses. The answer?

You're A Prayer for Owen Meany!

by John Irving

Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire
faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest
this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking
moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT
SOUNDS LIKE THIS!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I suppose I could be an agent of higher powers. Though I really do try not to be so loud about it. Mysterious, maybe. I can do mysterious.

Older Every Year

Before the day is completely over, I need point out a very important birthday today. My dearest brother has reached an amazing and happy 21 years. Here's to many, many more.

Happy birthday, kid!

New Toys

I've added a beautiful selection of music to my sidebar. If it causes problems, leave a comment and I'll switch it so it doesn't start automatically.

Also, perhaps I'll get around to fixing settings to show the scroll bar. Because everyone wants to see all my music. Anyway, I had fun putting it together and playing with my new toy.

Domesticities

I've finally hit a road block in my cooking endeavors here in TX. I have utterly failed in the realm of pies. See, for the first time, I attempted to make a couple the other night. Yes, starting at night. Which might have been my first problem. I set the smoke alarm off twice sometime around 12:30am, turned the oven off without realizing it while attempting to set the timer, forgot to poke holes in the second set of pie crusts until halfway through the cooking time so they nearly exploded, and wound up annoyed enough with the whole process that I opted for playing a game of Age of Empires as a short break between attempts.

Final result: going to bed at...
5 in the morning, and waking up with..
4 failed pie crusts
3 hours of sleep
2 burnt fingers
1 batch of pie filling that I did, in the end, figure out what to do with
0 actual pies

But I can make a wonderful pineapple dessert.

I have high hopes for trying again, but before then, I have other things on my list, such as zucchini bread, cream puffs, and starting my own cooking show (Food Network, 3am; stay tuned! sure to become a favorite of nighttime chefs everywhere). And maybe a couple more games of AoE. Now that I know other people are playing regularly around here, I need to keep my skills up...

Harry Potter #7

I finally finished reading Deathly Hollows at 2:30am Tuesday morning. I had no plans to stay up that late, but the final hundred or so pages offered nothing even remotely resembling a stopping place, and it's only fitting that I lost sleep at least one night for this book.. as any other time I would have stayed up Friday night/Saturday morning instead and had it finished by Saturday night.

Deathly Hollows is, by far, the best book of the series. It is also not a children's book, whatever the series may have been earlier on. But this one more than any other was worth every minute stolen to hide away and read instead of whatever else I might have done with my time. The others were good, but I was a less critical reader when I initially went through them, and re-reading the first six books in the past two months I discovered parts that didn't live up to my new standards, that dragged or seemed off or missing something, that didn't entirely live up under my criticism, so that I was afraid I would be disappointed with Deathly Hollows. I didn't want to lose the enchantment the books originally had for me.

There were some places where I stopped and said "hey, that was clumsy writing, why didn't the editor fix that?" And there were places and scenes where I do think she led us to expect more than we got. A few, but this is a 700+ page book we're talking about, and despite this and my newly critical style of reading I absolutely loved the book. Rowling plays with and throws away stereotypes, showing plenty of good qualities in some of the bad guys, plenty of bad qualities in the heroes, managing to show how a larger range of characters than I'd ever be willing to deal with all change and grow and react, what their faults and strengths are, building beautifully from the previous books. She told a good story, with twists that completely surprised me, though others I was able to guess from the clues here and there throughout the earlier portions of the book.. and the series. Before this winds up sounding like too much of a love song, I do have criticisms as well, but as they're all more specific and involve spoilers.. oh, what the heck, I'll stop my "non-spoiler" portion here. Everything else below, so if you really don't care what you end up finding out about the book, then highlight to read....

Item one (and my major complaint): Pettigrew's silver hand. It's actions either didn't fit or weren't explained enough. At the very least, Pettigrew should have had a scene in the book where the power showed up earlier, before dealing with Harry, to show the hand's ability to.. I assume.. no, I'm not assuming, I have no idea what it was supposed to do. Help Pettigrew kill? What was included in the power to make it turn on him? Did it just act for his will to hurt/kill people, like it had a life of it's own, it's own desire to kill, and when Pettigrew stopped directing it the hand took action on it's own on the closest person? But he must have been close to plenty of other people and not tried to kill them. Did the hand hate mercy? It seemed.. anti-climatic.. for Pettigrew's debt to Harry to be so randomly paid by the silver hand, without any clue to the readers beyond the knowledge that it's... silver. That was annoying and didn't entirely make sense.

Item two: I want a better redemption for Percy, darn it! He can't just walk back in there and not DO anything! Actually, I thought he should have repented at the last minute, turning around to die to save someone in his family, but I'm sure there would have been other possible ways of showing a decent redemption than.. "oh, oops, I've been a prat, I'm here now, don't hate me, huh?" Then again.. I suppose real life often isn't so dramatic and perfectly arranged, and given that she's done such a good job of making this real in every other way, perhaps it's really much more normal for family members to come back from an argument, no matter what sort, express remorse and say a few things and go on like normal than for one of them to die at the end of every big argument. Still, I wonder if he's the one who got the reprieve..

Item three: I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO GEORGE. And I would have liked to hear from McGonagall again, just once. I'm even a bit curious about the Dursleys.. okay, I don't care about Vernon at all, but maybe Petunia and Dudley.

Item four: I was hoping Draco would get a chance to redeem himself. I wanted to see him make a choice. Well, no, more specifically I wanted to see him make the choice Dumbledore would have had him make a book ago, which he could have once more when he accepted Harry's mercy. But then again, I want a spectacular redemption for everyone who isn't already clearly evil. And he works well as a scared little blustery boy.

Item five: Snape. I was right! (Cue dashed hopes for big revelation scene where everyone suddenly realizes..). It was different, but I'm pleased.

Item six: The walking into death scene was absolutely amazing. Rowling managed to hit upon exactly how hard, and how easy, it can be to believe you're walking into your own death. His feelings and the whole setup were perfect. Also, I don't see how Harry could possibly have been more heroic. After all, he's defeated Voldemort plenty of times already, that one's expected and nothing new.. this was new. This was brilliant, and very well written.

Item seven: Why'd Ron have to go crazy for a while? It really isn't bad for the story, it's just that I hoped they would have a truly unbreakable friendship and loyalty to each other, minor bickering allowed but no running off and abandoning anyone. If nothing else, it would prove someone else out there believes this is possible.

Item eight: Except that Harry's feeling toward Kreacher seem to change unnaturally quickly (nothing beyond the first kind sentance seems to be a struggle), Kreacher was cool. Talk about there being more to a character than initially meets the eye... I liked this turn of events.

Item nine: Lupin and Tonks... so not fair. Not that I didn't guess, when Harry became godfather, especially after comparing himself to Sirius, but then I dismissed the thought because it would be too similar. Silly me.

Item ten: All my guesses at deaths, with the exception of Snape, turned out to be wrong. So did my guess on the "Harry is a Horcrux" debate.

Item eleven: Couldn't she have found a slightly better way for them to figure out R.A.B. then "Oh, look at this sign we never noticed before, hanging right on this door of our house!" I'd accept it if it had been mentioned before.. had it? I just reread the series and if so, still don't remember.. but unmentioned, it seemed far too much like, oh, by the way, this is here because I can't write a better search scene for them. I don't mind any other part of that series of events. Just the actual sign.

Item twelve (and final thought for now): Luna rocks. Also, I really liked Neville's part in this. It's nice to see how he's grown up and what a special wizard he's become.

Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics

In the past couple weeks I came across an offer to review two separate books. Both are offered on R.A.G.E Media. Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics, the first of these two, takes a different approach than many other books by presenting ten different questions for a Catholic to ask instead of answers to the usual questions we're called upon to answer. The book includes a Catholic explanation for each of the questions, and having read through them, they're fairly easy to follow and understand.. none of that "err..what?" language from all my theology books. What clinched it for me as a useful book, though, was the first chapter: Guerrilla Apologetics 101. It does cover the basics, including the fact that only God's grace (not you) can cause someone to convert, and the oft-missed fact - at least in most generic Christian-converting-non-Christian books I've had a chance to read - that being civil is, y'know, nice. And keeping a relationship is more important than arguing so much about beliefs that you end up unable to stand each other's company.

It's also only about sixty pages, not including space at the back for notes. Not quite pocket sized, though..

What's My Author Doing Now?

I've been a huge fan of Orson Scott Card's science fiction ever since I first read Ender's Game. Neither before or after becoming Catholic did I find much interest in his Mormon works, though I did eventually read Saints, and read all three books in his Women of Genesis series. I'm willing to follow him through fictional works that don't simply spout off full-formed Mormon doctrine, because, first of all, he seems to have a definite respect for Christians (including Catholics), and second of all, when you don't go too deep into the theological issues there isn't quite as much conflict. While I might deeply disagree in any discussion about which baptism is valid, whose prophesies to believe, or whether I can add rum to my coke, the surface issues are similar; there is at least faith that is not shared in any way by many people, similar life-issue standing points and moral values, and though I don't intend to get into a discussion about what is the same and different between Catholicism and Mormonism, I can respect and work with a faithful Mormon - not that I wouldn't still pray for said person's conversion, but that's not exactly the point I'm making. In fact, none of this is.

OSC had a fair number of fiction (science fiction, fantasy, suspense) as well as Mormon works already published by the time I started reading his books. He did not, however, have any strictly political works. Religion came up sometimes in his fiction; politics were present sometimes; but in no book or story I read was it clearly intended as a statement on the political and social issues present today. It was always a "what if," as much SF is, not a "here's where we are" that is common among some other authors.. not generally in the same genre, it's usually the political thrillers. The two newest that have just been announced on his website both seem to be political, or at least social, though only one threatens to be a political thriller.. similar to what Empire was, though I voiced my concerns about that initially as well (a review, finally, will follow, as having missed my "just read it" reason to review, I just discovered another).

One of these two new books is set in the Ender's Game universe. Simply because of this, I can guarantee that I will possess it the very first day it comes out. In fact, it's set during the time period of Ender's Game, while Ender is still at Battle School. It involves Ender. In theory, I couldn't be happier... but the description sets the theme of the book as a battle over religious holidays and gift giving. I avoid political books out of habit (actually, out of deep revulsion, I get so frustrated with them) (except Empire), and tend to avoid certain types of religious discussions - this type - the same way. The religious battle is a common one in the United States today. Common, and, where seen, the religion side of it is either entirely watered down or else so far-fetched that even most faithful Christians call it fanatical and not in a good way. (Yes, there's a good way to be called fanatical; my family thinks I'm fanatical all the time). Most prevalent though is the watered down, look, we can all be happy and love each other and celebrate this together and pretend we really believe the same thing even though I actually totally disagree with you because I really don't believe anything except that God is love and gosh, neighbor, I love you so much, let's all just be friends and embrace our diversity, celebrate our diversity, and, y'know, tolerate each other, because whatever you believe is right for you, and whatever I believe is right for me, and we've both got our own truths even though they're entirely contradictory, and isn't it wonderful because, after all, God is love. Err.. rant over. But I think I've made my point. And I have to wonder why my favorite author decides to write a book, in the Ender universe no less, that includes in the description the words "But Dink Meeker, one of the older students.....thinks that giving gifts isn't exactly a religious observation.....The War over Santa Claus will force everyone to make a choice."

What war? What choices? Why are we even writing this book? And what does this have to do with Ender? In fact, in the Ender universe during the time Ender was at Battle School, religion was so suppressed that he had to have explained to him the psychological problems caused by having one Catholic and one Mormon parent, particularly in that they both wanted to follow their faith and neither could.. he was baptised, but they never observed anything. Presumably no one did. Where is this battle coming from? And yet I have to assume that OSC knows his own universe well enough to pull it off. And here is an author whose political newspaper columns (published online) I follow faithfully, NOT because he's OSC (because, quite frankly, there are many SF authors whose real life opinions on things I can't stand to read more than a sentence or two of lest I remember it while trying to enjoy their fiction), but because his opinions are often similar to my own and, when not, at the very least possess some sort of intelligence.

And I admit it: it's nice to see an SF author who not only isn't afraid to take a stand (I don't know when that's been a problem), but is willing to take a stand FOR good old fashioned moral values, when most SF writers tend to be on the far side of liberal when you look at the political, religious, moral scale. I only wish this guy were Catholic; we could use someone like him. But even he isn't well known except by hard core SF fans, and I joined a mailing list once centered around OSC and his works only to discover that, once I converted, I completely disagreed with nearly everyone else on the list on nearly anything important. So it's also nice to see one place, one other person, for whom science fiction and religion do NOT conflict to the point of being incompatible.

The second book comes out about a month or so earlier (Sept 18 vs. Oct 30), and is definitely more political. It's a thriller showing the "promise and danger of new genetic medicine techniques." I'll be getting this one as well, of course, partially because I can at least assume his final conclusion will be similar to my view on things, and partially because Empire did turn out so well.. but I can't decide whether I wish he'd stick to other genres, or whether to be glad that he's turning out something the general population is more likely to read yet that carries the opposite message so many other books present.

Somewhere in all this I've buried a point - I don't know whether I've succeeded in making it known just now - and I'd certainly welcome comments, if I've managed to write something intelligible, or even if I haven't. Or do these types of books, and these types of arguments, and the watery positions that usually accompany them along with the oft-repeated arguments and inability to listen to one another and, well, so on, not annoy anyone so much as they do me? Whatever my final decision on the matter of welcoming a new voice in these arguments in the SF field, I can't help but wish we'd at least get some intelligent debate; rarely do I encounter any argument that begs honest discussion when I'm unwillingly exposed to these tides.

(The books in questions, by the way, are A War of Gifts and Invasive Procedures, the second co-written by Aaron Johnston).

Pirates 3

Having now seen all three movies within a fairly reasonable time period, I take back part of my rant about character development. I don't necessarily like Elizabeth any better than after the second movie, and Jack Sparrow still isn't nearly as funny.. the entire third movie keeps the tone of the second rather than the comedy of the first. I wouldn't rate it with the first, but it's hard to compare, since they aren't entirely the same type of movie.. I do like it better than the second.

(Highlight to read more, because I guarantee, there will be spoilers).

Every character in this movie seems to have problems with constancy, not only with the people they love, but with everyone they happen to have any sort of relationship with. As constancy/loyalty/call it what you will is something I very strongly value, I found it hard to like any of the characters in the movie. I wouldn't have been interested in the outcome if it weren't for the fact that I'd followed them through two previous movies. I am, however, happy with the resolution at the end; it may be only once every ten years, but if Will and Elizabeth keep returning to see each other (and stay loyal to each other) I will be happy. Of course, it also means they can easily mess up this resolution by including Will and Elizabeth together in a sequel. One or the other could fit into a movie sometime in an intervening ten years, but their story is concluded. I'm surprised but not upset that it wasn't a generic, happy every after conclusion, either. Instead, they found a way for Will to honor both his commitment to Elizabeth and his (rash.. but I'll make allowances for family) oath to his father. I think the general conclusion the movie makes is that all the stabbing everyone in the back, changing sides back and forth, watching out for only oneself, etc etc etc, is wrong, but at times it's hard to tell except that it ends well. Since our culture doesn't seem sure either, the way everything from love to strong friendships to business relations mean absolutely nothing as soon as one person changes a bit or changes their mind, at least it's a good reflection.

Even Jack gives up his chance at eternity to help out Will and Elizabeth, for once not acting only for his own benefit. I'm not sure what to think about the scenes with Jack while he's dead; it should, in theory, especially with my studies and fields of interest, have been obvious that it was simply showing Jack having to live with himself in the afterlife or something along those lines, yet I remained completely confused throughout those scenes and my nearest guess was that he'd simply gone crazy(ier) upon dying. That, or the afterlife was not following regular rules and somehow strange, which would fit the movie's world well enough anyway. Something was missing either in my thinking or in the movie itself because it took someone else to point out the "obvious" to me. It's likely that the movie asks you to accept so much in the way of changing the way the world works that it becomes easier to accept a strange afterlife as well, even in place of a more real-world normal interpretation. And I've had a lot of experience placing myself into the workings of various worlds.

For little details, I missed the ruins from the second.. but I really like the riddle maps! Wouldn't that be fun?

MI Time Machine

Finally, a (brief) summary to go with my far too long list of pictures. And no, I still haven't flipped them all right side up. I'll get to that.

While home in Michigan, I spent something resembling two days at Mackinac Island with a very assorted group of people.. that being my family. That being, myself, my brother, his fiance, my mom, a friend of my mom, my father's mother, three dogs, and a fish that traveled in a water bottle. For the record, though I do want a dog or two once I finally settle down somewhere, I think I will almost certainly never travel with one. It's a bit limiting on what you can accomplish, in every way from making sure the hotels, restaurants, and any indoor or ticket-taking sites you want to visit allow dogs, to just stopping every so often to let them rest. I'm much more willing to make such accomodations for other people than for the pets. The fish was much easier to deal with; we only had to find him ice cubes once in a while. But putting the aside aside...

We used the Star Line ferry to get onto the island, which offers a ten dollar discount for every three adult tickets purchased at one time. Nice ferry, short ride, many views of water and shore lines and the Mackinac Bridge. In fact, they even use the cool hydrojets that shoot water up in the air behind you so it looks like you're going really, really fast.

We stayed at the Mission Point Resort, which proved to be an interesting experience. If I have any complaint about the hotel, it's my luck in finding two employees to deal with who were both extrememly nice, did everything they possibly could to try and accomodate us when we needed to make changes or had problems, and had a horrible aversion to writing anything down that kept causing said problems. Aside from that, the resort is huge, the rooms were a bit on the small side but very nice, one of our rooms was an amazing two room suite (free, as an appology for previously mentioned problems), and for people looking for a resort experience (we weren't, and only spent the night there), offers quite a few different options such as massages, wine tasting, various events, a pool and hot tub, and a list of other things that I don't remember as I personally didn't care about them. Oh, and free wireless, in case you're taking an online class and happen to decide to take a test while on the island. Word has it the connection can be a bit slow though. No air conditioning, but that's common across the island and comes only as a special amenity in some of the hotels, and they do provide fans that worked well enough for everyone in my group.

The island itself was interesting but very touristy, at least the main strip which due to time constraints we were unable to wander away from. We saw one of the four historic parks (Fort Mackinac), which is sufficiently large to occupy an afternoon by itself and contains many different buildings with historic displays throughout. There are also frequent re-enactments of things; troops with rifles at intervals throughout the day, and we also saw part of a court marshall, heard period music, and my brother and I participated in a quick dance demonstration. There are some excellent views of the harbor and the bridge, and one place we stopped for cold drinks and dessert later - the Tea Room - contains a long row of tables stretching across the top of the hill so that you look out over the main strip, the harbor, and the lake while you eat. Of the fifth park, this one natural, I personally saw only a small portion when the younger of the group wandered off and visited Arch Rock around midnight. Judging by the pictures my mom took when the saner members of the group wandered off that way in the morning instead, the view of the land is more impressive in daylight, but the view of the stars was one of the best I've seen at night and worth the interesting trip there (okay, so one of us had seen a horror movie a couple days earlier, one of us has an entire Stephen King collection and an extremely active vivid imagination, and the third of us elected to make animal noises in the background.. I'll let you sort out who is who).

Enough general review. We spent little time walking around, lots of time eating meals and snacks and ice cream, bought fudge (of course!), and overall enjoyed the ability to walk on roads with only bikes and a few carriages to worry about and the lack of motor-type sounds. Were it not for the extremely touristy aspect, I think I would have liked it enough to wish to live somewhere similar; I've always been happier when able to get along without cars, you could walk to any store on the island you needed to get to if you didn't want to take a carriage, and there are plenty of forest-y areas to explore if you have time. Oh, and the Catholic church there (St. Anne's) has a very nice appearance.. though I do decline to make further judgement without having been to a service there.

I think that covers necessary reviews and any highlights. Other highlights are still being eaten, having thankfully survived the trip to TX, and also hiding in my freezer until I'm ready to hand out/eat the second round. Fudge, people. Lots and lots of fudge, in 13 different flavors (there are more, but I resigned myself to only 13 - I have lots of self control like that).

Mackinac Island, Michigan

You wouldn't believe how many pictures I already deleted from this list. Bear with me until I get the appropriate ones straightened out...

What MI Does Big

A couple days ago, I was driving from my dad's place back to my mom's when I suddenly knew I was experiencing a real Michigan summer.

The revelation came as I spotted a certain sign.

"Construction: next 125 miles."

Checklist

To do:

• job interview
• pack clothes etc for two week trip
• make car smoke and coolant boil
• pick up Rudy's bbq sauce
• make Mackinac Island hotel reservations
• get brown gunk on new white shirt while examining car
• clean room
• learn new things about TX heat, ex. long sleeves = bad
• change into short sleeve, dark colored shirt
• experience life as shirt. change back into person
• pick out music and movies for trip
• go outside, make sure car hasn't exploded
• clean car
• find lots of cold water
• double check list, get ready to leave, prepare to shut down computer

All successfully completed. MI, here I come!

Wasn't It About This Time Last Year...?

I suppose not; I suppose I left my last job, the last time I officially left one, later in the summer. I'm not certain whether it's a habit better kept as tradition or left to eternal sleep by the wayside of (once this year is over) years past, this frequent coming and going. It provides some interesting changes, some more than interesting experiences, and a whole new perspective on numerous points of life each time a particular job is joined and, finally, left, and during all the moments in between. There's something to be said for that - for the people you meet, the things you learn, the new or deeper understanding of the world, humanity, and God, if only you pay attention each time.

This is beginning to sound like far too fond a farewell, isn't it? I wouldn't plan on working there again, but I suppose I did, after all, come to like some of the people I was working with, and for that, if not the store's sake, I'll let it go at a fond farewell and not edit it for the worse.

(Besides, it doesn't hurt that my final Friday was another steak and shrimp dinner, does it? Or that on my very last night - though the reason had nothing to do with me - they served Gatorade, fresh cookies, and all sorts of candy?)

All of that aside, or not aside, as the case may be, as it directly pertains to the fact of my leaving and the point of this post, I HAVE COMPLETED MY FINAL NIGHT at the BigMajorSuperEvilStore.

Somewhere in heaven, the angels rejoice, and sing praises in unending hymns; somewhere on Earth, I fall asleep, vaguely wondering whether they'll mail my last check or make me go pick it up.