Hi

I don’t plan on using this blog again any time soon. I got tired of blogging and have other things I’d rather spend my time on. I do plan to continue to update my costume blog and probably my poetry blog.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

Prayer Request

I have a friend whose mother died today of complications having to do with lymphoma. Please pray for him and his family.

Movie Review: Taken

This isn’t a very detailed review or anything, just my thoughts on said movie.

“Taken” is about a girl who goes to France and is kidnapped by traffickers, and her father who stops at nothing to rescue her. The filmmakers handle the subject matter well and delicately except for a part we fast-forwarded.

But I could only stand to watch the movie once, not because of that, but because of the nature of the violence in it. The violence itself doesn’t bother me (it’s more Jason-Bourne than blood-and-guts), but the girl’s father kills a lot of the people related to her kidnapping – including some who aren’t armed or threatening him. That bothers me.

I like that what saves the girl from an icky fate until her father rescues her is the fact she is still a virgin. Perhaps that will have a good influence on teens (and others) who see the movie. I also like that we can consider how her father stops at nothing to save her, and compare that with our heavenly Father’s love for us. Also, maybe the film will raise awareness about trafficking. I hurt for those girls…

If you want details about positive/negative elements of the movie, read pluggedinonline.com’s review.

Dad, Writing, Sewing, Trust, and Singers

They discovered my father did have a heart attack that was caused by a blood clot, but very little damage was done. He came home the Tuesday after he was admitted to the hospital and he’s doing fine – back to running errands, cutting the grass, exercising…The doctor told him to take two weeks off his job.

I have little else to say that would likely be of much interest to much of anyone. I’ve wanted to get back to writing stories but while I had ideas and inspiration, I had little motivation. But I recalled a story I started last year and never finished and decided to go back to that. I don’t remember enough of the details so I’m skimming what I wrote before I start writing again, but I think I’m over my writing block now.

I sewed a lot last month and some this one – a dress, two bodices, two shirts/chemises, two hats, two pouches. I’m working on a skirt and another bodice now. I should update my costume blog. I have quite a bit to add, but I need to take some pictures of separate items first (I have pictures of me wearing many of them combined, at the Renaissance festival, but I think I want them separate for my blog so I can do separate entries).

I’ve been thinking about trust lately and wondering how to learn to trust people in general and more specifically after bad experiences, and wondering how much I should allow myself to trust them, how much I should open up to them, etc. It’s difficult, because I’ve discovered that good communication is very important and that when you close everyone out, you become hardened, distant, and lonely. But figuring out how much and how to trust people when they could hurt you isn’t easy. My expectations of people have been significantly lowered and I don’t know if it’s unhealthy or not.

I’m not sure I actually meant to write about that. Oh well.

I am so glad Kris Allen won American Idol and not Adam Lambert (any comments defending Lambert will be deleted; you’re entitled to your music tastes and I to mine – post them on your own blog) due to both ethics and talent. I like Kris’s singing much better. Adam has a nice voice when he doesn’t sing so high, but he usually sounds creepy and/or like he’s screeching, and he creeps me out for other reasons.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

Jousting Knights and Heart Problems

I’m tired of writing about unimportant and mostly uninteresting things, which is why I haven’t blogged in a while. My older sister took my younger sister and I to the Ren. faire again on May 3rd. I had fun, got to give the favor to the noble knight, was recognized and yelled at (though I didn’t hear him; he told me later on Facebook. He yelled my name and gave me grief about sitting in the other knight’s section, apparently. Hehe) by the “bad” knight, and bought a snood and a bottle of water (that cost a whopping $2.75).

I woke up to something very unpleasant this morning (er…afternoon). My older sister came in my room and told me our father was having heart problems and Mom was calling 911. He’s at the hospital now, doing better, but they don’t know what happened. The test they did in the ambulance said he had a heart attack, and the test they did at the hospital said he didn’t. Please pray for him.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

GARF

I haven’t updated in a while…and I forgot to comment that the title of my last entry, while it sounds interesting, doesn’t actually make sense.

I went to the Renaissance festival on the 19th. I enjoyed it, especially the jousts. I watched all three.

This one-eyed chihuahua was there, dressed as a pirate.

I took around 700 photos (though I deleted some while I was there and left with 670). Those are the only two I feel like posting because they’re already the right size and uploaded to Photobucket.

I wore my 42 inch-long sword. There are swords plenty bigger, but for me, it’s pretty big (in hindsigh I probably should have gotten a shorter one). A man at the faire said something along the lines of, “Holy cow, that sword’s as big as you are!” Or bigger than, or something. He added to his companion, “If she could actually wield that thing, I’d be scared.” Another man, trying to get me to come see the “Parrots of the Caribbean,” referred to me as “The lady with the long sword.” It was amusing.

I should practice being in character. When people at the festival (or, often, other places) say anything to me, my brain generally goes blank. My younger sister actually had a mildly witty conversation with someone. She usually has much better social skills than I do and doesn’t freeze in such situations. I did manage an accent a time or two.

I bought this dagger for $10:

We saw several different acts, including a juggling, whip-wielding, poodle-balloon-blowing-up fellow, a man who strapped firecrackers to his chest with duct tape and had the audience throw water balloons at him after they went off, a horse show, and a sword-fighting show. The first fellow I mentioned was funny except for some off-color “humor” but we thankfully didn’t run into much more of that. I had a good time and hope to go back again this year.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

The Faceless Face of Facebook

Facebook has grown slightly pointless. So many people that I don’t know very well have added me as a friend that any status updates, etc. that I post have to be rather impersonal and shallow (well, they don’t /have/ to be, but I’m not keen on bearing my soul to near-strangers. I suppose it’s a convenient way to contact people, though.

I’m still (yes, still) reading The Watchers by Mark Andrew Olsen. The guy needs to join Clean Place and read MangyCat’s articles on various writing subjects. His writing is pretty bad. There’s too much telling instead of showing and he doesn’t seem to have much of a grasp at all on writing points of view well. A writer should immerse the reader in the character’s point of view. Mr. Olsen does not do this at all. You shouldn’t write like you’re telling a story; you should write in such a way that your reader lives the story. Mr. Olsen’s book is the former. Not to mention it’s hard to relate to, get to know, and like the characters when you never really get in their heads (this is the case with Abby. You do get in Dylan’s head more, which makes him a more interesting character, though he’s a bad guy [for now]). The writer also needs to balance dialogue with action, mainly in the first part of the book. When you write, don’t write pages of dialogue with very few actions. You will usually wear thin your reader’s patience, even if the character is talking about something fascinating (in this case, the character Abby’s dreams and visions). The only thing that keeps me reading is the plot, and the book has finally picked up the pace so I’m reading it more often now. The plot /is/ very interesting, and I think of Mr. Olsen improved in his problem areas, he could be a brilliant writer.

I should probably name this post “The Watchers” since I have a whole paragraph on it and about three lines on Facebook. Oh well.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

[Insert Title Here]

We (Mom, Laura, a friend and I, and possibly some other people) might go to the Renaissance festival next Sunday. If not, on their homeschool day. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been wearing my sword around the house to get used to it, so I hopefully won’t wack anyone with the end. I tried on several belts to see which is most comfortable with it and decided…to use the strap for my old camera case. The historically accurate people would have a heart attack and then excommunicate me, but it’s the only thing I have that’s long enough to wrap around my waist twice, so I prefer it to my cool-looking leather belts and a bruised hip.

We went shopping on Tuesday, and I got a new sewing pattern – Simplicity 6270. I’m going to alter (well, am planning on altering it) like this girl did with a similar pattern to make a sort of overdress/tunic thing. I also found a few shirts, and commented to my younger sister, “Aren’t you proud of me? I actually got something sort of fashionable.” She said something along the lines of, “At least they aren’t big t-shirts with writing-related things on the front.” Good-naturedly; she wasn’t being mean. But I /like/ my Clean Place shirts!

I was going to do Script Frenzy, but I didn’t remember it until close to the end of March, when I was rushing to finish my AAP story. Hence I had little time to prepare, and discovered I needed quite a bit more than that, since I’ve never written a script before. So I might check out a couple of books on screenwriting that someone recommended to me, and then try.

In the meantime, I have plenty of sewing I want to get done before the Ren. faire. I’m making a bodice out of brown microsuede, and if I finish that in time, I might make a chemise and/or hood.

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM

Writing, Reading, and Sewing

I’m really sleepy, so this entry might not be as coherent as usual. Last night, I finished the story I was writing for Clean Place’s current “Extra Credit Project”, Adopt-a-Plot. I’m not entirely pleased with the ending, but I like the story overall.

I went to JoAnn on Tuesday and Wal-Mart yesterday and got more fabric at both places. I had a 50% off coupon for JoAnn, so of course I had to use it! I bought 6 yards of dark brown cotton to make a dress. I’ve washed and ironed the fabric, cut the pieces out, and pinned some of them together. I’m not sure how it will turn out, since instead of doing princess seams, I laid some of the pattern pieces next to each other and cut a couple of things out as one piece instead of two. At Wal-Mart, I got some dark blue fabric for a skirt, green with a scroll pattern for a shirt, and some red stuff that reminds me of suede for a tunic. I was just going to get the blue, but the other fabric begged me to take it home.

The weather has been so rainy lately. I like some rain and storms, but I also like to see the sun. I am happy that everything is turning green. I think spring is my favorite season, aside from the humidity. Yesterday, with the sun breaking through the clouds, the light pink petals floating down from the trees, and the green buds everywhere, I was reminded of Narnia.

I’m still reading The Watchers, though not verra frequently. It’s rather odd.

Here’s a picture (it’s my picture of the day. See my Project 365 blog [the link is in the sidebar] for pictures from other days).

Well, that was pretty coherent, I think. Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM

Nostalgia, Cloth, & Books

I was reading the blog of a Clean Place member, “Anywhere”, who’s staying with some other Clean Place members who live in Texas. Her descriptions remind me of the Moot (the annual gathering of Clean Place members, held in Colorado, to hang out, write, get to know each other, etc.). I’m feeling rather nostalgic now. I miss hanging out with CPeeps. They’re such fun, kind people. I wish I could go to the Moot again this year, but it’s too expensive. I’d need about $800.

Here’s a quote from Anywhere’s blog that I really like and certainly applies to the Moot (a term taken from Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” books, where it means “a gathering of Ents”): “Measuring things in goodbyes is not a good habit.”

I washed some fabric yesterday to make a new skirt. I think I overdid it. It’s a bit rough now. Oh well. It’ll still work. I need to exercise some discipline and not buy any more fabric for a while after I use my 50% off coupon for JoAnn’s.

I have some dark blue cotton fabric that I’m trying to decide what to use it for. I originally bought it for an Eowyn-inspired dress (inspired by her blue funeral gown, more specifically). I’m not sure if I’ll use it for that, or for a cloak, or for something else. The fabric I buy rarely ends up being made into the item of its original purpose.

I may have mentioned that I started reading “Patrick” by Stephen Lawhead. Now I’m putting it off to read “The Watchers” by Mark Andrew Olsen, because Patrick is not a very engaging read so far. It’s written in first person, and I’ve never much liked reading books in first person.

I think I might change my blog layout/look soon.

Edit: Changed it.

Have an amazing rest of your life.
- WM