Wednesday, September 29, 2010

around campus

I am crocheting a blanket- its a greenish color. I tried winding the scans of yarn into balls while I read.



Plant with GIANT leaves


I have NO idea why parts of this shrub are dead, and others parts are fully alive...







Most of the flowers in this section of garden are pink- but a few are blue, and even fewer are purple.  I love that bees polinate flowers the 'wrong' colors :)



A giant crane came and took the pointed roof off our clock tower...
giant pumpkin in my dorm's lobby. Yes, it is real.






Sunday, September 26, 2010

Isaiah 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Craft!

I got the idea from Erin, who got it from Julia. And it looks like Julia got it from Jessica.
I adapted the recipe. Jessica mentioned her recipe made entirely too much starch, so I cut it by four.
This is the recipe I used:

1/16 cup corn starch
1/8 cup cold water
1 cup hot/boiling water

Mix cold water and starch together. Add hot/boiling water, stir.

Thats it. I know, really simple!
So, you want to know what my roommate and I did with this recipe?
We coated it onto fabric we had already cut out (with a paintbrush). Then, we put the soaking fabric on the wall, and pressed all the bubbles out. We caught the starchy drips with a papertowl.

And it looks like this:

 

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
264 pages; published in 2007; I give it 5 out of 5 stars

Opening sentence:
"Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun.
Me."

 It is 1976, and Holling Hoodhood is sure that his seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him and is out to kill him. He can't complain to anyone, though, because the future of his father's architecture firm just might depend on Holling being on his best behavior. On Wednesday afternoons, all the students go to their place of worship for a ceremony of sorts. Everyone, that is, except Holling.  At first Mrs. Baker has Holling help with chores around the classroom during this time, but then she decides on the ultimate punishment: making Holling read Shakespearean plays!

I liked how Holling would relate what was happening in his life to what happened in the latest Shakespeare play. I have only read one of the plays he mentions, so I am sure there are many allusions I failed to catch. The ones I did catch, however, made me laugh. I have been meaning to read a few of Shakespeare's plays this year, and after reading Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, I am more motivated than I have been in a while.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

1,000 words

or, just some pictures :)
(the date on the pictures is the day/ the month/ and then the year, in case you were wondering)

Ollies Follies- that is, Olivet's class competition


freshmen are yellow, sophomores(yay us!) are green, juniors are red, seniors are blue

our ultimate frisbee team for ollies follies
our campus has this skull in the science building. EDIT: I cannot remember what it is of

my roommate long-boarding while I ride my bike and try to take a steady picture
I took this pic for Maggie.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I'm Smiling

each of these things are making me smile, making me happy
*because I carry my camera close at hand now, and randomly snap pictures
*because my friend has a free subscription to Chicago Tribune, for the coupons, and is giving me the newspaper to read when she has taken the coupons out
*because its fun trying to learn how to hold and read a newspaper
*an hour and a half phone conversation with this girl
*trying new ways to wake myself up in the morning. I fell out of bed one morning this week, trying to quickly get to my alarm clock. Not one of my favorite ways to wake up ;)
*editing my novel, The Silver Flower (again)
*talking to my sister, and us laughing (almost) hysterically
*taking pictures
*riding my bike for an hour
*remembering I can ride no-handed
*realizing I ride no-handed a lot better than I thought.
*riding my bike no-handed around corners and up and down slight inclines
*finding new and creative ways to write letters
*blogs
*this song
*life
*the weather here

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

So very, very many things are making me happy

*slightly warm air moved by a slightly cool breeze
*my sunburn is hardly noticeable
*class competitions on campus
*colored pencils
*that I get to read so much
*that teachers aren't out to get me
*that dishes don't take as long to wash as I remember
*that we have lemonade, and hot tea, and milk and orange juice
*that next week I get to/have to read aloud for five/eight minutes to a group of college students (for my 'teaching elementary and middle school reading' class)
*that I'll get to hear others read aloud to me for five/eight minutes
*trying to imitate accents from other countries
*having the windows open during one of my classes, feeling the cool breeze, and hearing it rustle the leaves in the huge tree right outside the window
*when the plot of a book finally makes sense
*that I sit next to a friend in class who writes very very fast, so that when the Professor changes the slide entirely too soon, I don't need to worry
*spell check, because I need all the help I can get!
*colorful curtains
*when the sun seems to shine, even though the sky is covered in dull colored clouds
*flowers that make me wish I was carrying my camera
*getting emails from my Daddy
*remembering the combination to my tiny mailbox, even if it is empty
*music
*especially the kind that makes me want to smile and sit under a tree, or in a tree, and just look at clouds and breath deeply
*that I've started editing again my Novel again, and already I think it is better
*that I look at my Novel differently after not reading for at least six months
*seeing one of my professors riding around campus on his bicycle,wearing his suit, carrying books and notebooks and pens in one hand
*that my sister writes, and lets me read it
*my sister
*all three of them, actually
*my entire family and extended family including second cousins and great uncles and aunts even people related farther than that, actually
*life
*seeing God's little blessings everywhere
*journaling
*dreaming
*learning
*living

Monday, September 06, 2010

Stars

by Sara Teasdale

Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me Spicy and still,

And a heaven full of stars
Over my head, 
White and topaz
And misty red; 

Myriads with beating 
Hearts of fire
That aeons 
Cannot vex or tire;

Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill, 
I watch them marching
Stately and still,

And I know that I 
Am honored to be 
Witness
Of so much majesty.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Psalm 145

A Song of Praise. Of David.
 1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
2Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 4One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
5On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
7They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
 8The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
 10All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!
11They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
12to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
   The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.
14The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
15The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
16You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
18The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
20The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
 21My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

English Standard Version. Biblegateway.com

Saturday, September 04, 2010

think think think. and repeat.

Worldview Academy taught me to 'Think Hard. Think Well.'this summer.

I've learned in these two and a half months since camp that we need to think all the time.
For example: my cousin sent me a forward a few weeks ago. She doesn't usually send forwards, so I thought that this one would be fun. I opened it, and sure enough, it was interesting. It talked about how on the third week in August the planet Mars would be so close to earth it would be as big as the moon, and that it wont happen again for 200 years! I did not even stop to think.

It came from a trusted source, so I assumed it was reliable. Was it? Well, did you see any planet as big as the moon? No, I think not. It was a scam. I did not bother to check the credibility either. It would have been easy. A quick stop at the NASA website, or even a google search.

Another example? Alright: In Sunday school, one of the attendees (or whatever you call people who come to your Sunday School) brought up the verse that says 'I can do everything through him who gives me strength.' Sounds good and dandy, doesn't it? Well, if you're not thinking. But if you think, and decide to go look it up, you realize that IN CONTEXT Paul was saying he could be content in anything. Because it was in church, and in Sunday school, you might turn your brain off thinking that everyone knows what they are talking about. But you can't turn your brain off. (unless you want to believe everything that people tell you, and never think for yourself. And that could become very difficult, because people are going to tell you all sorts of things, and they will often conflict one another.)

Actually, I think that the times we think it is okay to lay back and not think about what information is being fed to us are the times we need to have our brains working twice as hard as normal. It is easy to think and evaluate things you arent sure about, but when you trust the credibility of the presentor you ought to turn your brain on. You don't want to just accept whatever people tell you as truth, no matter who they are, without checking it out a little. See if they have people backing them up. Look at the research, or the places they got their information, and see if all the facts align.

 It is those times we allow our minds to run slower that the Enemy bombards us with lies and half truths. We don't notice it because we trust the person presenting it. Beware! And keep thinking. It could be something as silly as believeing Mars will be as big as the moon, and just looking silly, but it could be something as big as the doctrine your faith adheres to. 

What does this mean for me? That even though I go to a Christian University, I don't want to just accept what the professors say. I want to look for information that backs them up, or that refutes what they say. I want to make sure I'm not getting information that is too biased (although, technically, I guess all information is biased to a point), and I want to make sure I am getting the truth. I want to keep thinking, and be critical. And sometimes (hopefully more often than not) thinking hard and well will mean realizing the professor is right, and accepting what they say.

Just don't stop thinking.

Ever.

Friday, September 03, 2010

All Things Bright And Beautiful

         Each little flower that opens, 
 each little bird that sings, 
 God made their glowing colors, 
 and made their tiny wings. 
All things bright and beautiful, 
 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.
The purple-headed mountains, 
 the river running by, 
 the sunset and the morning 
 that brightens up the sky.  
All things bright and beautiful, 
 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.
The cold wind in the winter, 
 the pleasant summer sun, 
 the ripe fruits in the garden:  
 God made them every one.  
 
All things bright and beautiful, 
 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.
God gave us eyes to see them, 
 and lips that we might tell 
 how great is God Almighty, 
 who has made all things well.  
 
        All things bright and beautiful, 
 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

One False Note by Gordon Korman

Korman writes the second book in the 39 Clues series, and overall I liked it.
However, there are a couple things that irked me.
For one, there is Nellie. She is Amy and Dan's au pair, their adult supervision as they travel the world on the quest for clues. But in this book, she keeps letting them go off on their own and then regretting it when they aren't back hours after they should have been. Maybe this wouldn't bug me if it happened once. But happens several times, and I lost respect for her and what seems to be her irresponsibility. I just didn't think that was the sort of thing Nellie would do.
I suppose this comes of having a different author for the first several books. They think of the characters a little differently than each other, and it shows in the way they have the character act.

Another thing I didn't like (Warning, MINOR SPOILERS) was that they decide to break into on of their competitor's rooms and steal something, and they justify it by saying everyone else in the quest is stealing. They even say they 'cant be the good guys if they want to win'. (END SPOILERS)
But here is what I think: if they break their moral code in the quest for the clues, what is to keep them from from not breaking moral rules if they win and have all that power? Honestly, what good will come of their power, what good change could they make, if they get to power having made these bad ethical choices? Maybe in a story it will all come out alright, but it doesn't work that way in real life. Thats what some kids reading these books might not realize, that it doesn't work that way in real life.

One of the many places that made me smile and laugh (again, MINOR SPOILERS) is when Nellie needs to provide a distraction. She loads her arms up with different CDs in the store, and the clerk says that she must really be a music lover. She smiles and says 'no, I'm a kleptomaniac,' and runs out of the store. (END SPOILERS)

Overall, I liked the story. It was interesting, (though slightly predictable, but the books were meant for younger readers than myself, I think) and although Korman provided some answers to Amy and Dan, there are still plenty left unanswered for the rest of the series.