In the middle-class conservative Christian subculture that I've been born into, college is nigh a given. Going to a Christian college is highly, highly recommended unless you want to become a partying relativist who makes Cheese-Whiz towers in his or her spare time.
Thus when I chose to go to a local community college I did it to save money and perhaps to be a rebel.
But after a few weeks of commuting to classes (look at experienced me :P) I think even if I did have the money to pay the steep admission rates of a Christian private school, I would still make the same decision in a heartbeat. I know this will come as a shock to many, so here are some of my reasons (in list format, of course, because my brain is too fried right now for a logical sequence of ideas):
1. Exposure
My college English professor is a somewhat angry liberal who pushes the PG-13 rating in every class, and I wouldn't have it any other way. As a homeschooler I haven't had much interaction with the rest of the world except for online, and it is SO different in real life. I think going to a Christian college would have been nigh similar to homeschooling because I would still be around people who have the same general beliefs and language and boundaries, whereas here I can practice appreciating and learning from people who are vastly different from myself.
2. Faith
Even thinking about God in college is SO HARD. I've realized that for my whole life I've been just going with the flow around like-minded people.
3. Practicality
Now for the obvious: this college is much cheaper than any private college. Not only that, but here I can actually major in the subject that I love the most: music. And the professors and students are all plugged into my hometown community, which means that getting a job in music will (hopefully) be relatively easy. Also the professors here are amazing at what they do, and chosen specifically for their abilities rather than for their religious background.
In conclusion, I figure that I might as well pay for challenging and practical lessons in my area of study than for a Christian community that I'm already plugged into for free. So there you have it! A condensed version of my current thoughts. *ducks a barrage of Bibles and VeggieTales DVDs* What do you think about going to a Christian college? Feel free to disagree!
Like a twenty one pilots concert, this post will start out angsty and hopefully become something full of ukulele and bright colors. So here we go.
Mushy Oscar Speech Part
Skip this if you want to read the stats, grab a piece of pizza, and go on with your day.
A lot of the time I feel like no one "gets" me, for many reasons but especially since so much of me is invested in stories and characters and quotes, and many people don't value those things in the same way I do so it's hard to connect.
Of course, I've learned over years of experience that stories are not everything, and if I only relate to someone because he/she likes the same things I do, the conversation shuts down eventually once we've made all the fandom references possible.
But it is good to know that there are other people out there who invest as much as I do in stories (and much more, in fact). You guys inspire me to read and also to write, and to remember that it's okay to be different.
All you great bloggers I've had the privilege to discover this year have driven home to me the fact that difference is beautiful. Some of you have minimalistic blog settings, and use lots of superhero gifs. Some of you have flowery backdrops and talk about period dramas. Some of you mix all of those things together, and some of you are just weird. ;)
Some of you are introverts. Some are extroverts. Some write detailed posts on Meyers-Briggs and some don't know what that is, or don't care.
There are so many different kinds of people, and I don't think I had realized before how beautiful that is.
So thank you all for being awesome in unapologetically different ways. You remind me that fitness buffs are just as interesting and important as Marvel buffs.
Not that they necessarily have to be separate people.
Celebratory Review Part
Including screenshots of blog stats because these are necessary for posterity.
We've made it, everybody! Through a year of GIFs, ranting, reviewing, and awkwardness.
(For nostalgia purposes I'd like to link back to my first post ever, published, of course, on June 30 of last year. *hugs little me*)
Looking back over the blog, I've changed a lot. At this time in 2016 I didn't know there was such a thing as a blogging community, I hadn't written any ukulele songs, I had not written a first draft of a novel (or even gotten close), I wasn't as comfortable with my writing voice, I'd never heard of VlogBrothers, I had not seen High School Musical, I had never listened to twenty one pilots, and I was relatively normal, well-adjusted and productive.
Most of these changes are thanks to you who have been reading this blog, commenting on the blog whether online or offline, and just plain making amazing stuff on the internet whether you know I exist or not.
And now here's what you all have been waiting for: statistics.
To whoever seems to be reading the blog regularly from France (and maybe Russia... ?), hi, and that is awesome that you are reading from so far away!
Interesting.
Anyway thanks again, guys, and it seems only fitting that I end with Martin Freeman drinking tea...in an endless loop.
Comment below if you have anything in particular you'd like me to write about this coming year. Or if you feel like telling me about one of your favorite childhood summer memories. :)
Starting March 1, I won't be posting or reading y'all's posts until Easter.
"Are you out of your mind?" you say.
Well, sort of.
*cue epic narrator voice*
We Catholics celebrate forty days known as Lent as a preparation for Easter. It's customary to find something to give up and/or do during Lent that will help you grow closer to God. Usually this is something that we prize too highly for our own good, something that keeps us back from loving God and neighbor to the fullest.
In past years I've given up sweets, tv, stuff like that. But this time round I aim to give up something that is (unfortunately) a much bigger part of my daily life: the Internet.
*Imperial March plays*
That's right: 40 days without the Internet (excepting music, email, and school-related work).
You could say I'm not really giving up the Internet so much as I'm giving up the part of me that spends so much time online that I have trouble focusing on anything else. That checks Pinterest at least five times a day. That relies on YouTube videos *cough* Vlogbrothers *cough* to get me pumped up in the mornings.
I'm hoping to use the extra time to talk with friends in person *gasp*, spend time with family (including my new nephew!!! yes, I have a new nephew and he is adorable), finish schoolwork, and read a lot (most of which will probably be Neal Shusterman).
So this is a tearful goodbye, but as Gandalf says, "Not all tears are an evil."
Farewell, awesome people. Seeya on the other side.
*runs away from the computer chair and pretends that wasn't a Hamilton reference*
Those who are longtime acquaintances know that I have the Sherlockian habit of forgetting to tell people, even the friends I see every day, about little things such as going to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I do, however, remember the important things, such as release dates for new Brandon Sanderson books, or old songs that I just discovered on YouTube and that I think are the coolest things ever. :P
Speaking of songs on YouTube, have you heard of Steve Moakler? The youth minister at my parish
(who is awesome, by the way) looooves his music, and because of her I just recently discovered his
song "Slo Mo." It's hilarious, and so chill! I can't say anything about the rest of his music because I've only listened to a few songs, but "Slo Mo" is clean and cute. Hehe, cute like the music artist...in this picture, doesn't he look like a mixture between Orlando Bloom and Jordan Taylor (for those who watch Blimey Cow)?
Oh yeah, I was talking about vacation. Well, Mom, Dad, and I were just on vacation to Hawaii and it was fantastic. Swimming in the surf, boogie boarding, teasing my dad about how much I love Ed Sheeran (because Dad can't stand him), practicing the ukulele and actually going to a ukulele festival (!), eating lots of pizza, hanging out with my sister-in-law who joined us for a few days, watching Lilo and Stitch and stranger sci fi films, sleeping in (sometimes), reading, racing for quarters at the bottom of the pool, working on my novel for NaNoWriMo...it was tiring but enjoyable.
For those who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it's a celebration in which maniacs challenge other maniacs to write a 50,000 word novel (novella?) all in the month of November. The official website lets participants log word count progress and win badges on the way to the finish. It sounds ridiculous, but this competition has actually produced rough drafts for published novels such as Cinder, the first book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles.
So I, being another maniac, have decided to take up the challenge. This decision was perhaps aided by the fact that I'm homeschooled so I'm creating my own writing program this year. Guess what I have scheduled for the whole month of November! :P
Anyway, I'm allowed to plan as much as I want as long as I don't actually start writing the book. So far my plot consists of a few hastily scrawled notes in a planner purchased at a Hawaiian ABC store, and it involves dragons, pirates who zealously worship said dragons, villagers, and a super cool dragon hunter. I'm not sure how he's going to be super cool, but he will be. Oh yeah, and an old guy who sells explosives. In short:
12% is optimistic. xP
If I have time in November I'll give you a few updates on how the story's going. I've dabbled in short stories, but I've never endeavored to formally plan something this long and actually finish it. Hopefully it works out between school and work.
Also, my parents generously gave me a ukulele for my birthday so it's one of my favorite instruments now, as you may have guessed from the Hawaii description. It's much easier to play than the guitar, but there are still a ton of possibilities for songs. Heck, I started playing "Hotel California" on it! The intro is a lot of fun.
In Hawaii Dad and I sang Will Smith's "Men in Black" rap while I played the chords on the uke. It was fantastic. I tried doing the rap part, which was not the most beautiful and I ended up dissolving into giggles, but it was a good time. We're thinking of starting an informal YouTube channel where we can post random covers, and our band name will be the Bad Cover Bandits. I'll keep you posted on that. xD
That's what's going on right now, although I'm pretty sure I must have forgotten something important like an alien invasion. Ah well, you'll find stuff like that on Facebook when it becomes a problem.
P.S. I just received Hamlette's gorgeous bookmark from the Tolkien Party giveaway! Thanks again, Hamlette! I'll have to post a few action photos later. :)
Have you tried NaNoWriMo before, or heard horror stories about it? Is writing something you enjoy? Bonus question: what's your favorite song on the ukulele?
So, I was sitting in my computer chair (probably in my "comfort" posture, which is when one leg is tucked in with the knee leaning up against the armrest--my parents think I'm crazy for this and for many other reasons) and browsing Pinterest when this showed up.
I don't know who Elizabet(h?) Scott is, but in case she reads this blog post, I'm sorry, Elizabet(h?). I just want to correct this little thing here and I'm sure you're a cool person, it's just that this quote makes my blood pressure rise every time I see it.
Seriously, I saw this Pin and was nodding happily with the first sentence but then when I read the rest of it I was so upset that I saved it and thought, "I NEED to write a blog post about this." So here's my rant.
No, I wasn't just annoyed by the incomplete quotation marks. What concerned me was the philosophy behind the quote: namely, that fiction is way more interesting than real life, and therefore it's better to immerse yourself in fiction than to immerse yourself in your life.
This has always been one of my greatest temptations. When I discovered The Hobbit for the first time I read it over and over, trying to ignore the outside world as much as possible.
Family:
How about a card game?
Me:
I could never resist a world where anything could happen, where there were dwarves and courage and enchantments.
If you think about it though, the problem with living in fiction is that nothing can happen.
Really, immersing myself in fiction to fulfill my desire for adventure was like trying to satisfy my desire for meat by eating tofu (no offense, vegetarians). The real adventure was right in front of my face, if I would just look up from my book's latest cliffhanger.
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with fiction, I just think it's important to keep in mind...well, Gandalf (ironically) says it better:
I like to think that when you and I were born that was God's way of saying, "I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."
The kind of adventure in which we can make a difference, in which we're not relegated to the sidelines watching other people make decisions in the world of a book or movie. The kind of adventure in which every action matters, in which every decision leads us closer to Him who loved us into existence, or further away.
Let's see the literary genres beat that.
(I can't resist leaving you with Stephen Curtis Chapman's Home." Take it away, Stephen!)
I thought I'd share with you some of Pope Francis' speech from the prayer vigil on World Youth Day. Thousands of people were there from all over the world, and I think he gave it in Spanish so there were radio broadcasters doing live translations of the speech into various other languages. It was amazing to hear Pope Francis' voice and to know that he was really close to where we were. We were behind the stage so we couldn't see him, but it was still amazing!
Have you heard the Simon and Garfunkel song "I Am a Rock"? Here it is, and I assure you it's related:
This is one of the saddest songs I've ever heard, but also the most relatable. It's so easy to get wrapped up in books, poetry, blogging (!) and forget that there's more meaning to life than enjoyment.
That's why what Pope Francis said about "couch-potato happiness" really resonated with me.
"[…] the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. Picturing them can help us come to appreciate all that God dreams of accomplishing in our lives, in us and with us. That day, the disciples were together behind locked doors, out of fear. They felt threatened, surrounded by an atmosphere of persecution that had cornered them in a little room and left them silent and paralyzed. Fear had taken hold of them.
Then, in that situation, something spectacular, something grandiose, occurred. The Holy
Spirit and tongues as of fire came to rest upon each of them, propelling them towards an undreamt-of adventure.
We have heard three testimonies. Our hearts were touched by their stories, their lives. We have seen how, like the disciples, they experienced similar moments, living through times of great fear, when it seemed like everything was falling apart. The fear and anguish born of knowing that leaving home might mean never again seeing their loved ones, the fear of not feeling appreciated or loved, the fear of having no choices. They shared with us the same experience the disciples had; they felt the kind of fear that only leads to one thing: the feeling of being closed in on oneself, trapped.
Once we feel that way, our fear starts to fester and is inevitably joined by its "twin sister”, paralysis: the feeling of being paralyzed. Thinking that in this world, in our cities and our communities, there is no longer any room to grow, to dream, to create, to gaze at new horizons – in a word to live – is one of the worst things that can happen to us in life. When we are paralyzed, we miss the magic of encountering others, making friends, sharing dreams, walking at the side of others.
But in life there is another, even more dangerous, kind of paralysis. It is not easy to put our finger on it. I like to describe it as the paralysis that comes from confusing happiness with a sofa. In other words, to think that in order to be happy all we need is a good sofa. A sofa that makes us feel comfortable, calm, safe. A sofa like one of those we have
nowadays with a built-in massage unit to put us to sleep. A sofa that promises us hours of comfort so we can escape to the world of videogames and spend all kinds of time in front of a computer screen. A sofa that keeps us safe from any kind of pain and fear. A sofa that allows us to stay home without needing to work at, or worry about, anything.
"Sofa-happiness”! That is probably the most harmful and insidious form of paralysis, since little by little, without even realizing it, we start to nod off, to grow drowsy and dull while others – perhaps more alert than we are, but not necessarily better – decide our future for us.
For many people in fact, it is much easier and better to have drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa. For many people, that is more convenient than having young people who are alert and searching, trying to respond to God’s dream and to all the restlessness present in the human heart. The truth, though, is something else.
Dear young people, we didn’t come into this work to "vegetate”, to take it easy, to make our lives a comfortable sofa to fall asleep on. No, we came for another reason: to leave a mark. It is very sad to pass through life without leaving a mark. But when we opt for ease and convenience, for confusing happiness with consumption, then we end up paying a high price indeed: we lose our freedom.
This is itself a great form of paralysis, whenever we start thinking that happiness is the same as comfort and convenience, that being happy means going through life asleep or on tranquillizers, that the only way to be happy is to live in a haze. Certainly, drugs are bad, but there are plenty of other socially acceptable drugs, that can end up enslaving us just the same. One way or the other, they rob us of our greatest treasure: our freedom.
My friends, Jesus is the Lord of risk, of the eternal "more”. Jesus is not the Lord of
comfort, security and ease. Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths.
To blaze trails that open up new horizons capable of spreading joy, the joy that is born of God’s love and wells up in your hearts with every act of mercy.
To take the path of the "craziness” of our God, who teaches us to encounter him in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the friend in trouble, the prisoner, the refugee and the migrant, and our neighbours who feel abandoned.
To take the path of our God, who encourages us to be politicians, thinkers, social activists. The God who asks us to devise an economy inspired by solidarity.
In all the settings in which you find yourselves, God’s love invites you bring the Good News, making of your own lives a gift to him and to others.
You might say to me: Father, that is not for everybody, but just for a chosen few.
True, and those chosen are all who are ready to share their lives with others. Just as the Holy Spirit transformed the hearts of the disciples on the day of Pentecost, so he did with our friends who shared their testimonies. I will use your own words, Miguel. You told us that in the "Facenda” on the day they entrusted you with the responsibility for helping make the house run better, you began to understand that God was asking something of you. That is when things began to change.
That is the secret, dear friends, and all of us are called to share in it. God expects something from you. God wants something from you. God hopes in you. God comes to
break down all our fences. He comes to open the doors of our lives, our dreams, our ways of seeing things. God comes to break open everything that keeps you closed in. He is encouraging you to dream. He wants to make you see that, with you, the world can be different. For the fact is, unless you offer the best of yourselves, the world will never be different.
The times we live in do not call for young "couch potatoes” but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced. It only takes players on the first string, and it has no room for bench-warmers. Today’s world demands that you be a protagonist of history because life is always beautiful when we choose to live it fully, when we choose to leave a mark. History today calls us to defend our dignity and not to let others decide our future. As he did on Pentecost, the Lord wants to work one of the greatest miracles we can experience; he wants to turn your hands, my hands, our hands, into signs of reconciliation, of communion, of creation. He wants your hands to continue building the world of today. And he wants to build that world with you.
You might say to me: Father, but I have my limits, I am a sinner, what can I do? When the Lord calls us, he doesn’t worry about what we are, what we have been, or what we have done or not done. Quite the opposite. When he calls us, he is thinking about everything we have to give, all the love we are capable of spreading. His bets are on the future, on tomorrow. Jesus is pointing you to the future.
So today, my friends, Jesus is inviting you, calling you, to leave your mark on life, to leave a mark on history, your own and that of many others as well. Life nowadays tells us that it is much easier to concentrate on what divides us, what keeps us apart. People try to make us believe that being closed in on ourselves is the best way to keep safe from harm. Today, we adults need you to teach us how to live in diversity, in dialogue, to experience multiculturalism not as a threat but an opportunity.
Have the courage to teach us that it is easier to build bridges than walls! Together we ask that you challenge us to take the path of fraternity. To build bridges... Do you know the first bridge that has to be built? It is a bridge that we can build here and now – by reaching out and taking each other’s hand. Come on, build it now, here, this first of
bridges: take each other’s hand.
[Here, the whole crowd started shaking each others' hands.]
This is a great bridge of brotherhood, and would that the powers of this world might learn to build it... not for pictures on the evening news but for building ever bigger bridges. May this human bridge be the beginning of many, many others; in that way, it will leave a mark.
Today Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life, is calling you to leave your mark on history. He, who is life, is asking each of you to leave a mark that brings life to your own history and that of many others. He, who is truth, is asking you to abandon the paths of rejection, division and emptiness. Are you up to this? What answer will you give, with your hands and with your feet, to the Lord, who is the way, the truth and the life?"
YEAH! When he finished this I was pumped.
I guess killing orcs isn't exactly building bridges, but you know what I mean, right? :D
What are your thoughts? Hopefully you weren't too distracted by the fact that the pictures somehow became Tolkien themed. xD
Sean Astin <3 (I had vowed never to use one of those heart emoticons, but I'll do it for him)
Hail, friends! I have returned! I returned about 3 am yesterday morning and after checking my email and some other stuff I went to bed. And then I slept until 3 pm. It felt amazing because traveling home took about 2 days on and off airplanes, since our flights were really messed up.
I feel really epic now because I woke up this morning at 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so now I'm perched in front of the mac playing Tim McGraw really quietly so that I won't wake up my parents, and trying to give you all a semi-coherent post. Right now I'm thankful for the wonder that is blogging, because even though it's 4:25 am right now I can still talk to people. If this counts.
Anyway, I'll get to what you (hopefully) have been waiting to hear about: World Youth Day!
First of all, it was not fun. Definitely not fun. There were 118 people in our group (made up of people from Alaska and Oregon), and traveling even with about half that group for the Ireland part was still difficult, so when we got to Poland and the whole group was together it was definitely a pilgrimage experience. Lots of people were late for things, so our group was always behind schedule, and whenever we walked somewhere we had to wait up for the slower people in the back so everything took us forever.
But that's not a bad thing: as our group leader pointed out, the trip was really easy compared to old-fashioned pilgrimages, in which people would have to ride camels through the desert for weeks. Also, the point of a pilgrimage isn't to have fun; it's to grow closer to God and to offer up the resulting suffering to Him. And as far as that part was concerned, I think the pilgrimage worked out for most people, including me. *jazz hands*
Wow, I'm tired.
Anyway, let's get to the actual trip! I'm too lazy right now to talk about all the particular places we visited because there were a lot of them, but I feel like giving you some random facts about Ireland and Poland, so here you go:
IRELAND
Roundabouts are really confusing, since everyone drives on the left side of the road.
Also, the roads are, say, 24 feet wide and each lane is 12 feet wide. This is fun when you're in a 12 foot wide tour bus, and another tour bus comes along. Our bus driver, Fergal (don't you just love that name?), got a lot of cheers. ("Fer-gal, Fer-gal, Fer-gal," *cheers* *applause* etc. With about 40 teenagers on each bus there was a lot of enthusiasm.)
Live music! In the streets there accordion players, guitarists, Irish dancers accompanied by a bass and other tradition instruments, etc. Being a music freak, I loved this. Also because of the no-technology policy, I was happy to hear any music.
Oh, speaking of music, the Irish seem to like American stuff a lot--one of our chaperones said that when he was in a bar the only live music they played was Simon and Garfunkel. We heard Adele quite a bit too, which I guess makes more sense because she's from the UK.
*trots off to get snacks*
*holds apple slice in right hand and uses pinky finger for the letters on the right side of the keyboard*
Their butter is to-die-for.
They have random ruined castles everywhere in the countryside. We started out our trip freaking out about every ruin that we saw, and by the end when we saw one on the side of the road we were more like:
There's way more to write about Ireland, but for now I'll move on.
POLAND
This country does not believe in toilet paper, evidently, since there were a lot of shortages. Also, you had to pay to use a lot of the bathrooms. These are the main reasons I'm overjoyed to be back in good ole America. ;P
Pirogies really aren't that good. Ok, that's more my personal preference than a fact, but I'm just throwing that out there.
There are so many gorgeous churches! This is true in Ireland too, but St. Mary's basilica, for example, (pictured in the…er…picture) is ridiculously amazing. Actually it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. When I walked in, I realized a few minutes later that my mouth was hanging open. The ceiling is so high! It goes all the way up to the top of the building, and the gothic architecture on the inside is stunning. The pictures don't do it justice, but here's one that I found online (picture sharing from the trip hasn't happened yet, and I prefer not to take pictures in churches):
It's way cooler in real life, but this gives you a taste.
The Poles like their sparkling water.
There are so many awesome saints from Poland! Pope St. John Paul II, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Faustina…awesomeness. It was amazing to see the same places they must have seen, especially when we got to go to John Paul II's actual childhood home, and to the chapel at St. Faustina's convent.
Accordions! They were a big thing. We saw three guys playing the William Tell Overture arranged for 3 accordions, and it was fantastic. They were playing Vivaldi later, too, about which I briefly fangirled. :D
Stuff is really cheap there. I got a largish, hand-carved chess set for 65 zloty or so, which is about 16 bucks. (A picture of it is forthcoming.) Needless to say, souvenir shopping there was rather addicting!
*leaves to get candy bar*
Wow, this Snickers bar is really good. I don't know if it's the early morning or the fact that I haven't had American chocolate for two weeks.
All right, I should try to get some more sleep so here ends my first WYD post, with more to follow!
Wow, that emoticon looks really weird in the title font. Like it has a half reverse mustache or something.
Anyway, yes, I am going on an adventure! One that has a name: World Youth Day 2016.
For those who are unfamiliar with World Youth Day, it's a gathering of Catholic youth every few years and the pope (right now, Pope Francis) comes to whatever country World Youth Day is in and celebrates the Mass in a field with millions of youth there, and talks to the youth. There's also other catechetical stuff going on, but I think the part with the pope is the awesomest.
This WYD is in Krakow, Poland, and some of my group is going on a pre-trip to Ireland, which means that I leave on July 17 and travel around Ireland for a week, then go to Poland and travel around for a week and SEE POPE FRANCIS. How cool is that???
It's thumbs-up-from-Pope-Francis-cool!
This also means that since I will technically be on pilgrimage, I can't bring technology with me. Which means…I can't blog for two weeks.
I'm kind of disappointed about that right now but I'm sure the disappointment will vanish when the actual trip happens and I'm gallavanting about Ireland and Poland with other youth and going to all kinds of cool pilgrimage sites. And you'll be getting a nice break from my blog posts, so it's a win-win! ;)
Please pray for me. I'll be praying for you. Farewell!
Isn't Matt Smith adorable? I guess I really do need a break from technology. ;P
