Lenten Reflections

Tags

lent, life, reflections

Well.

Today I’m thinking about redesigning my blog somewhat. I recently learned how to add HTML tags to change the appearance of text in WordPress, but I’m not going to do something that radical. I’m probably just going to change my preferences for default text. I’m also considering redoing my header images and changing my theme.

It’s spring. Spring cleaning time. I want to rearrange the furniture.

It’s also Lent.

As always, about halfway through Lent, I always have to take a step back. Resisting the temptation to eat candy is easy after about a week, and I start to forget why I’m doing this.

Obviously the intent of giving something up for Lent is to bring us closer to God. However, I have to ask myself if I’m being too easy on myself–if I should be giving up something else instead, if I should get creative.

Giving up TV? I barely watch it any more. Giving up the Internet? Pretty much impossible, what with school and work requirements. And giving up leisure Internet time is out of the question, too–the spirit is willing, but the flesh is very weak. I deleted a bunch of casual games off my phone, too–after a week where I wasn’t constantly distracted, I didn’t miss those any more, either.

This Lent, I plan to try to fast more–not necessarily the full fast, but at least giving up little snacks and whatnot. Just as a self-control thing.

But maybe it’s not a question of what I shouldn’t be doing, but what I should.

Maybe it’s time to get away from the computer in my downtime and sew those dresses that have been sitting on the dining room table for a year.

Maybe it’s time to grab my sister (https://tworoadsdivergedinyellowwood.wordpress.com/, hello sweetie 😉 ) and start planning our garden for this year. (It. Is. Going. To. Happen. This. Time. People!)

Maybe it’s time to just hang out with my youngest sister a bit more.

And to stay on track, maybe I should try journaling again. Or meditation.

Ultimately, Lent is for us. It’s not about restrictions. It’s about growth.

Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo, ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.

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A Few Updates and Current Projects

Tags

life, original stories, steampunk, writing

Hey, everyone! It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d give you all a sneak peak of what I’ve been working on! 😉

---

The hatch that sealed off the bridge was locked. Meghan was a little bit shocked to see Pennon take out a series of lock picks and try them on the lock, then select one and proceed to work on the lock more intently. He nodded to Meghan, who readied her strikers. Pennon threw open the door and rushed into the room.

It was a fairly typical bridge with a cluster of instruments and controls. However, at the far end of the room, grouped around the wheel, stood a group of strange figures with their backs to them. They somehow struck Meghan as strange and unnatural, their bearing awkward and stiff. Pennon somehow didn’t seem fazed. He walked forward and whirled one of the strange figures around. “Excuse me…”

Meghan cried out in fear and surprise. The face was distorted, immobile. A moment later, she realized it was a mask. She swallowed hard. Clockwork automatons. Pennon frowned.

The automatons turned around slowly, gears clicking. One of them stepped forward, the movement bizarre and unnatural. Pennon unsheathed his rigging knife and held it in one hand, his strikers in the other. Long, jagged blades, whirling gears rolling their centers, jutted away from the automatons’ hands. Pennon dropped into a crouch, beckoning with the blade. Meghan swallowed. The automatons stepped forward, hesitantly, their cogs grinding. “Use your knife to keep them away from you, and your strikers to disable them,” Pennon instructed. “Aim for the head, neck, joints. If you can hit them square in the center of the chest, that disables the spring mechanism, but you have to be quick and hit hard.”

“Right,” Meghan said, her voice high, frightened. Pennon glanced halfway round and gave her a quick smile.

“I didn’t intend to drop you into the deep quite so soon. I’m sorry.” Meghan swallowed.

“Right. Okay.”

“I’ll do my best to keep them away from you.” With that, Pennon leaped forward, dealing the first automaton a rapid uppercut that sent it staggering back without coordination.

---

In other news, classes start on Monday and I feel not at all ready. *sigh* It’s hard to believe that summer is over already.

Prayer Request

Tags

life, life sucks right now, please pray for me, prayer request, work

Hey, guys.

I’m in trouble right now. We were really busy at work yesterday night, I tried to prioritize, and long story short, the second customer to come up was a complainer and I could lose my job.

I try not to be rude and to help people. I try to smile. I feel like such a fake I’m worn paper thin. But I really need to not spend a month unemployed while I look for other employment opportunities. I really need to hold onto this job while I look for another one that’s a better fit.

As you can probably tell, I’m bouncing between stressed and depressed constantly. The last time I got a verbal reprimand, I spent two days trying to get out of the depression I found myself in. It was almost impossible to motivate myself to do anything and everything I worked on suffered as a result.

Please pray for me that I find the job that God wants for me at this point in my life, hopefully one where I will be happier and more capable of completing my duties with a smile.

Chilly Peppermint Shakes

Tags

food, fun stuff, life, milkshakes, recipes

This is a blog of many pursuits. As proof of this, I present my latest culinary attempt. A triumph? Well, that’s up to you to decide!

• 1 2/3 cups milk (I used low fat, but two percent or whole milk would also be lovely!)
• 14 peppermints, crushed
• Approximately two pints vanilla ice cream
• A couple more crushed peppermints, for garnish; alternatively, several small candy canes or a few fresh mint leaves

To begin, pour the milk into the blender and add the peppermints. You can either give it a pulse or let the peppermints sit for a moment to dissolve a bit. Scoop in the ice cream. Don’t forget to put the lid on the blender!

Begin running the blender at a lower speed, then increase the speed slowly so that all the ice cream is blended in. Pour into glasses and add garnish. Serve immediately. Makes about four servings.

My siblings loved this, but I’d love to get more feedback! Comment and tell me how the shakes turned out.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Warning: This Post Generated By Extreme Frustration.

Tags

can i have my turning space back now?, life, long rants, people are dumb sometimes, this problem slot has been a problem slot which people park in FOR YEARS

This is a car.

This is my garage door.

This is the relation of the car to my garage door.

I drive a ’96 Volvo 850.

Not mine, but almost identical to mine.

It is a longer vehicle than a sedan. Thus, it can’t turn as tightly as a sedan.

Because I need more turning room, it’s very difficult to pull out of the driveway with that sedan sitting there.

If your feng shui is headed for the dump like that, please just don’t park there. There’s a whole stretch of street up the sidewalk where you could park without being in anybody’s way, yet you save yourself walking thirty feet at the possible cost of a totaled car. What gives?!

(I have another rant about the man who consistently parks eight feet from the stop sign, but that’s one for another day.)

Thank you for your attention. God bless you, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

“Paralyzed Dreams” Book Tour

Tags

books, c.b. cook, life, paralyzed dreams, reading, reviews

Good morning!

Today, I’m joining in the Paralyzed Dreams book tour, in order to get the word out about my good friend Proverbs31teen’s new book. She’s published, people! It’s seriously exciting! 😀

While I have not yet read this book, it looks like a great story about faith and overcoming adversity. Here’s the blurb:

Fourteen-year-old Pam Wilson’s life is going perfectly. She and her best friend, Lauren, are becoming an amazing volleyball duo, and her dreams of playing in the Olympics are coming along wonderfully.

Then a car accident paralyzes Pam from the waist down, and her dreams for her life are shattered. No more volleyball, no more walking, no more future.

Now, I’m going to pass the post on to Proverbs31teen!

I’m working on typing up yet another fanfiction piece when I hear a knock at the door. “Yes?” I call.

Benedict, my secretary, sticks his head into the room. “Bri, Pam is here.”

I smile. “Okay, send her in.”

Benedict ducks back out, and then a dark-haired teenager comes in. She looks like she’s about fourteen or fifteen. She’s wearing a navy blue volleyball uniform, and her smile lights up the room. I make a couple notes on her appearance and smile back at her. “Hi, Pam. Go ahead and take a seat.”

Pam obeys and leans forward. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to change after practice. I’m super excited about all of this.”

I smile. Teenagers always seemed to have this extra energy flowing out of them… well, the athletically inclined ones, at least. “I’m glad to hear that. I know you’re short on time, so we’ll keep this fairly short, all right?”

She nods. “Okay. I’m ready.”

“How old are you?” I ask.

“Fourteen,” she answers, grinning. “Fifteen in a couple of weeks.”

I type in her answer. “What do you love doing?”

Pam gives a little bounce on the edge of the chair. “Volleyball. I want to be an Olympic volleyball player someday. Lauren and I are both helping each other out.”

I nod. “And Lauren is…”

“Lauren’s my best friend,” Pam says, leaning forward even more. “We’ve known each other for ages. Volleyball is one of lots of things we have in common. She’s amazing, the best friend I could ever ask for.”

I grin. “It’s always nice to have a really good friend. What would you do if you couldn’t play volleyball anymore?”

Pam’s face turns serious, and a bit of confusion flickers over her face. “Not… not play volleyball?” She bites her lip and stares at the ground. “I don’t know. Volleyball’s all I really ever want to do. There’s no way I could give it up.”

“Ah.” I make a note of it. “Well, what are some of your favorite things?”

Pam smiles. “Chocolate, hanging out with Lauren, church, volleyball…” Her face gets red. “Talking about guys with Lauren,” she admits.

I laugh. “Sounds like pretty much every teenager.”

She blushes and glances down at her watch. “Oh, I need to get going. Anything else before I leave?”

I glance over my notes. “Your personality…” I pause. “In three words.”

She stands up, grinning and heads to the door. “Fun, energetic, and passionate,” she calls over her shoulder.

I smile as the door closes behind her. Somehow, she reminds me of myself. I type the last few words onto my laptop and shut it, leaning back and wondering what will happen next.

But that’s a story for another day.

---

C.B. Cook is a teen author with many short stories under her belt, and now a published novella, Paralyzed Dreams. She has been blogging for over a year and is working on writing a middle grade fantasy series. When she’s not balancing homework or writing, she can often be found messing around in Photoshop or talking to her dog. You can visit her at www.theworldofthewriter.wordpress.com.

Well, that’s all for today! Don’t forget to drop in for the rest of the Paralyzed Dreams virtual book tour and go visit her web site! Thanks for reading, and God Bless. 🙂

Just a quick post…

Tags

college, communications, computers, humor, journalism, life, mice, rodents, studying, technology troubles

Because something happened during class this afternoon that was well worth sharing, I think.

There was a bit of a bother today, because neither the mouse nor the keyboard of the computer in the lecture room was working, and the mouse that got borrowed so that the lecture could continue turned out to not want to connect either, so the teaching assistant loaned her computer, but that didn’t have the huge HDMI port, so we were stuck. Oh well.

But when the professor was wrapping up his lecture by asking us to fill out our course evaluations (yes! It is that time of year again! Bah!), the TA squeaked. Or squawked. Or shrieked? I think it may have been a combination of the three… anyway, we asked her what was wrong. And she said, “There’s a mouse!” And the professor (not THE professor, sorry, my professor, who is a doctor of journalism studies I think?) said, “Of course there’s a mouse–it’s right here!” Of course, all of us students cracked up at that. It took the doctor to realize we meant a rodent mouse, not a computer mouse.

There are fun moments to be had in college after all, right?

Gordimer’s Law Now Has An Antithesis!

Tags

gordimer's law, humor, internet, life, nanowrimo, nanowrimo 2014, national novel writing month

I was bored on Nanowrimo.

So were a lot of other people.

We were all waiting for the site wipe, which is supposed to happen October 1st but still has not yet occurred.

Anyway, we discovered the antithesis to Gordimer’s Law!

Gordimer’s law states that any discussion on the Internet that goes on long enough will eventually break down into people calling each other Nazis. (I’m not kidding.)

Its antithesis (I would suggest Remidrog’s Law for a name) states that:

Any discussion on the Internet in which the contributors are bored enough will resolve itself into either tea parties or rolelay. (Or both.)

Enjoy the madness! 😛

Two Stories (And A Spider)

Tags

college, extremely random posts, humor, insanity, life, rambling musings, real life, science, selay'uu (sort of), small rants, stories, yes this really happened

The title is in tribute to Professor V.J. Duke, who suggested that I post on this. It seemed only natural to make the title Punchy-ish, to me. 😉

Now, to get on to what I am really posting about.

I am sorry I have been so absent recently. It’s really a matter of college (which, I think, secretly wants to eat my soul, as I mentioned to the Professor earlier today.) But anyway, something that’s actually fit to print (or rather, two somethings, as the case proved) happened starting on Wednesday and ending on Friday.

On Friday morning, I had been innocently going about my business at my horticulture class, and I saw a daylily (hemercallis spp.) with an actual seed pod on it. Our daylilies at home look something like a cross between a regular lily and a firecracker. (Added to that, they’re a vibrant orange.) They actually have double petals, which is a hybrid thing, which is probably why I never saw them ever actually setting fruit.

Anyway, I thought that if I could get enough daylily seeds, maybe I could start them and grow some daylilies myself. The instructor did mention they would be easy to breed. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, as it turns out, I had a stowaway.

Hidden in one of the seedpods was a fat, round brown spider about the size of a large pea or a petite blueberry. And it must have been happy in my pocket–it was nice and warm, after all.

Anyway, I get home and I want to change after spilling something on my pants, so I take off my jeans and put on a skirt, and I go to take the daylily seeds out of my pocket, and while I’m at it, I feel something fuzzy and withdraw my hand. Oh look! It’s brown and a lot bigger than the other seeds… AUGH! It’s moving!

I jerked my hand away (I didn’t scream, though–you would be proud of me, beloved readers!) and picked up my jeans, holding them at arm’s length; took them to an area of the house with linoleum, and collected a clear plastic cup and a piece of card stock. Then, I move to flush the spider out of the pocket. However, by now the spider has moved to the waistband of the jeans, so I edge him off with the cup and onto the linoleum, trap him, slide my card stock under him, and my mother helps me take him outside.

Mission accomplished.

(Then I went back inside and did a bit of research to make sure I was not harboring a brown recluse *shudders* in my pocket, but that bit of the story is less glorious, so I’m leaving it out. 😉 )

The other story, which began on Wednesday, is a bit more puzzling, and it’s open ended to boot.

On Wednesday, my horticulture class was out and about, identifying plants for practice, and we had just gotten to the purple wintercreeper when I saw a pretty red berry in the foliage. I leaned down and picked it up. One of the boys from my class said, “Look, a snack!” I said, “I don’t think it is safe to eat,” and showed it to the instructor, who confirmed that it was probably from the nightshade family. The boy took it and offered it to me. “Enjoy.”

Two Days Later…

On Friday, I went back to the class and had a good time with some new friends I made. However, as we were all admiring the ‘Husker Red’ penstemon, the same boy offered me a mushroom of some unidentified type.

I think he’s making a habit of jokingly offering me things that may or may not be poisonous, but is he just being silly… or is he flirting?

What do you think?

Thanks for dropping by today, and God Bless!

Allowed in Writing, Forbidden in Editing

Tags

author, authors, c.s. lewis, confusing nonsense, description, dumas, editor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, life, living life unexpectedly, long rants, muse, rambling musings, rousseau, secret life, story dynamics, writer, writer trouble, writing

Or, How to Talk With Authors and Not Tick Them Off.

Have you ever compared a writer to a published author, only for them to become upset and irritated? It’s a common enough occurrence. I know that I myself have been subjected to this form of torture a few times.

Why do writers find comparison irritating? Well, perhaps because they are occasionally inadvertently compared to an author whose work they object to, or whom they simply know is not really very good at their craft. But more often, it’s like this.

While comparisons are the essence of description, they can also be trite and shallow. And when dealing with an author, it’s a good idea to not upset them. For one thing, it won’t change their mind or their writing if they feel antagonized. For another… have you seen those buttons around the internet?! You know, the ones that say “Be nice, or you’ll end up in my novel”?! There is truth to those, you know.

So, each event, no matter how commonplace, should be taken as a new and unprecedented one in the larger context. Also, an author may take you too literally when you compare them to Rousseau, for instance. They may think you are calling them unoriginal, that you think that their ideas are too similar to Rousseau to be taken practically. They may think that you’re secretly irritated with them for emulating Rousseau. (It’s true, writers oftentimes have inferiority complexes.) Instead, you should tell them, “Your prose reminds me of Dumas!” or “Your world-building brings C.S. Lewis to mind!” or “I love this description. It sounds like Tolkien’s work. I can really see it in my mind’s eye!” Rather than making a sweeping generalization, it’s better to compare different elements of their work to authors, rather than comparing their work as a whole. Remember, real life isn’t actually a paper you’re writing on how different mythologies influenced Lewis and Tolkien, making their work different, or comparing Dumas son to Dumas pere. Instead, you’re supposed to be giving useful feedback (not necessarily advice!) to an author who isn’t dead yet, so be specific.

Good luck.