50 BOOKS 2008
1)) I Am America and So Can You by Stephen Colbert
2)) The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

( Rambling related to #2 )

According to the Belief-O-Matic, I am 100% Neo-Pagan.
(which surprised me, actually. I didn't expect to get 100% anything)
( Complete List )

I wonder what 42% of me is Scientology. That seems like way more than neccessary o_O

The last two days have been amazing. On Sunday, the roomies and I went to the Adler Planetarium and were complete 5-year-olds. There was this section on the first floor where you could dress up in "medieval robes" and go on this playset that was like an old classroom. There was also this game where you stood in a life-sized model of a boat and had to steer by the stars. 'N stufflikethat.

Then yesterday was the Senior Week trip to Six Flags. Despite me not being a senior, Roomie!Em was able to sneak me a ticket so I could spend the day with them ^________^ We arrived at 11 AM and didn't leave until the park closed 10 hours later. I was too chicken to go on the roller-coaster that drops you from 20 stories up, but I did go on many other coasters. Superman, the first ride we went on, was crazy-fun. We also went to the water park before the sun went down.



Roomie love to the max.

You scored as The Willow. In Celtic astrology, you're a Willow. The animal symbol that accompanies this tree is the hare. The ancient Druids say Willow people have good memories and are resourceful, articulate, shrewd and inventive. However, Willows may be prone to being moody, indecisive, stubborn or overly emotional. </td> The Willow 80% The Rowan 75% The Hawthorn 70% The Birch 65% The Ash 55% The Elder 50% The Hazel 50% The Ivy 50% The Vine 50% The Oak 45% The Alder 45% The Holly 45% The Reed 35% What Tree Are You? (Celtic astrology) created with QuizFarm.com

Willows always were my favorite trees when I was little :)

Multiple-post day, I know. But I have ideas I feel like sharing and the time to share them. It's one of Those Days: the sun has warmth in it again, today is the last day of the school quarter for me, and last night's dream put me in a very particular mood. I want to be aware of everything and poetic about everything I notice.

This morning's musings led me on a train of thought about the nature of sharing one's faith. I and others in my circle often grumble about not being able to open up to others about what we believe for fear of looking like card-carrying members of the Crazy Society. But it occurred to me this morning that this view isn't limited to believers in New Age-y things. If anyone strong in their beliefs--think not even a fundamentalist Christian, but just a person who is secure in their faith of the Christian God--starts opening up about it, people who don't share that are likely to think they're a kook. I realized this morning that I'm guilty of doing that. Most likely everyone is at some point or another when confronted with a faith they didn't share.

I don't want to seem cavalier about it, but I wish it were possible to share my personal view of life and magic with the world, just as I'm sure Christians wish they could express the beauty of God to everyone without getting the cold shoulder. But since that is always a possibility, we all divide into our safe little bubbles of belief and cling to the others who'll assure us we aren't insane. I suppose the beginning to a meeting of the faiths is to realize we're not all that different after all. Moral codes, not truth of spirituality, divide us. It's that old adage about the blind men and the elephant that I love telling so much.

I don't know why this bothers me so much. Religion-and-faith things get to me. As do issues of communication. So it's a double-whammy.

I seem to have inadvertently celebrated the Solstice by walking in the woods with lanthiriel and talking about life, the universe and everything.

Now I am going to advertently celebrate it by meditating.

Is "advertently" a word?

<3 Peace, Love & Joy.

Comment and I'll give you a letter; then you have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Afterwords, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own.

( rocknlobster gave me... )

50 BOOKS
37)) Firefly: the official companion vol.1

Making this as a separete post because I didn't want to put it in with all the spoilers.

So yesterday while futzing around the internets, I suddenly remembered this very cool Numerology website, where you enter a name and it tells you about the nature of the person. I've found it to be accurate, or at the very least interesting, a number of times. So on a whim I went and put in "Captain Jack Sparrow".

( Check out the results. )

50 BOOKS:
12)) Practical Solitary Magic, Nancy B. Watson
^ LOVE.
Every once in a while, when I stop by Barnes n Noble, I'll take a stroll through their New Age section, where my reactions generally range from, "Hmm, maybe, I'll have to check the reviews on Amazon" to "Seriously, WTF???". But this book I picked up, flipped through a few pages, and thought, "MUST HAVE". Luckily for my bank account, I was able to hold off on buying it until, through a combo of Amazon and MTurk, I was able to get a copy for only 95 cents out-of-pocket.
And, yeah. Seriously recommended for anyone with interest in this sorta thing. Very straightforward and very personal, with plenty of room for one to shape the information around their own beliefs--while still being very informative!

Love love love.

Moving on.

New Layout! Bros Grimm/Into the Woods lasted me about 5 months, but it was time for a change. So now we have Magic Butterfly. Definitely my... shiniest of layouts to date XD and also the most subtly fandom-connected: the Magic Butterfly was a creature in the video game Earthbound, that restored one's Psychic Power when you came in contact with it. That's the sprite in the background. ^__^
Also, new Default icon. Compare:


Same scarf, new haircut. :P

On to more real-life stuff. herophelia and rosesfade are in town, for the second time ever, and that makes me shiny. We went into Chicago tonight to see Josh Charles perform in the new play, 'The Well-Appointed Room'. Some very good monologues in that, must get a copy of this play when/if it is published... if it isn't already. (ETA: It is not. Sadface.)
We also got pics with Mr. Charles, but they're on herophelia's camera, so I has them not.

Time to answer some questions from ye olde meme.

( Ask and ye shall receive )

50 BOOKS:
10)) A Little Book of Mirror Magick, Patricia Telesco
( a brief review for those who might be interested )
11)) The Winter's Tale, Will Shakespeare
Reading this reminded me of why I looove Shakespeare. Some of the lines in the first few acts are just... wheeee. XD
Beware of Act 4, Scene 4 though. It's... lengthy. o_O

Today my extensively-revised short story went before my Fiction class for workshop. I was the last in the class to get workshopped, and the only person who wrote anything of the fantasy genre, so I was a wee bit nervous. But a majority of the comments I got were really positive. One girl even said she'd been waiting for someone to write fantasy in our class, and that I had a "knack" for it. Squee!
All I've got to do is explain the world a little more and make one character more sympathetic, and then I can hand in my final (at least for the class... we'll see) draft.

The skeletal draft's up in my writing journal if you're friended there, but keep in mind that the story's now six pages longer, three characters fuller, and everything's been moved around. Oh yeah, and it's titled differently.
And if you read it before and were wondering: yes, I in fact did edit that horrendously cliché speech the king had.

Anyway, I may not post the revised version, but I'll gladly share the soundtrack with y'all (i.e., the music I listened to while I was writing it):

Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name) // Chumbawamba
Requiem for a Dream Remix
Beyond the Sunset // Blackmore's Night
In Too Deep // Davey Ray Moor (I have declared this the story's theme song)
Closing Credits: Bolero // 'Moulin Rouge' soundtrack
Funeral/Rebuilding Serenity // 'Serenity' soundtrack

Rock on.