ohhh man

oh man wow hello

my last post was over a year ago

i am sorry for abandoning all of you

so many things have changed; life is really good

i am having a mild existentialist crisis that i believe comes with being in your late teens

i have so many things to do and write and remember and say and be and i get really overwhelmed with it all, but it's okay

...i wrote a novel while i was gone and it is closer to my heart than anything i have ever written before (you'll hear me talk about it a lot, it's called pictures of you and it's about the beach)

i also started writing poetry

i am not sure why i am trying to rejuvenate my blog because between writing and life and school and sports, i don't have the time for it, but i thought it might be kind of an online journal

or a stream of consciousness, as this is

in the past two years, i have grown up a bit more (i am a much different person than when i left)

i have all but abandoned my relationship with God, not out of disbelief, but out of apathy, and it is breaking my heart and i know that he still loves me but i have such a stubborn heart and the devil tells me things such as, "it's been so long now, you have so much work to do to get back into his favor"

and that's not true

and i miss Jesus

and i am going to fix that

aside from God in my life, or my personal lack thereof, family, friends, writing, and volleyball have become the most important things to me

okay wow i'm sorry for this post i just don't know how to reintroduce myself because i am so far from the person i was when i left

but i am happy to be back, for however long it is :)

It's been over a year since I last posted here...and I doubt anyone reads this, actually I'm quite sure no one is going to see this post...but anyways. In the slight chance that anyone does, I just wanted to let you know that I'm now blogging/tumbling over at darling-everythingsonfire-x.tumblr.com. If you have a Tumblr, follow me! :) If not, feel free to come visit. Miss you all! 

-Caroline

Hey!!!

Just another reminder that I'm not gone for good and even though I don't blog here anymore, I still blog at my Tumblr, She Dreams of Paradise. If you want to hear my thoughts and my fangirling, head on over and check it out, and do follow me if you have a Tumblr :3 Be forewarned: my blog is basically my brain. There's nothing dirty, of course, I'm just a tad odd/crazy. Hehe.

Adios for now :) AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

The Road Goes Ever On

Oh hey. Uh, yeah. I guess there's nothing I really need to say. It's kind of obvious I haven't been here in a while. I don't feel like writing a whole post on this, so I'll just say that I've really fallen out of the blogging habit and I'm just not interested in doing it anymore. Plain and simple, there it is. I'm not deleting this blog, but I'm not really going to be here. However: all is not lost! I have a Tumblr that I update frequently; read it if you like: There and Back Again

I just feel like my tumblr is a much easier, quicker way to blog/express myself. And I like it a lot more. If anyone actually read this, which I doubt, goodbye and good luck!

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, stepping out your door..."

I am not of this world's

*edit: I just reread this post and it's jumbled and difficult to understand...but I'm posting it anyway. If you can make some sense of it, then good for you.* :)

Hey. So yeah. It's been 46 days since I posted, and I'm reallyyyyy sorry. I've been a horrible blogger. It would be fun to update you on what's been going on in my life, but that'll be the next post, because I have something else I want to talk about first. :)

Do you know what freedom is?

I think I do. Don't take my word for it, but recently I totally got an idea of what not being free is. Not in a physical way, but spiritually. I spent the night at a friend's house, and at about 4:30 in the morning the radio started going off. There was a radio show on, and it was

1. Shallow
2. Stupid
3. Shallow
4. Pointless
5. Shallow
6. Made me want to cover my ears with my pillow

Well, I'm not going to say what it was about exactly, but it involved clothes and women, and it made me think, "Wow. Could the world get any more shallow?" (And yes, I'm aware I've used that word four times now, thank you, it fits this post very nicely.:)

So the world sees a woman's body, not her heart. Do they care what's in her heart? Nope. It's like, "Hey, if she's hot, that's all that matters."

I'm having trouble to convey what I'm talking about...what I mean is, the world is bound in chains of depravity that they're perfectly content to lounge around in, but what happens when God comes in and the chains are broken?

Freedom.

Sometimes it seems like, as Christians, we don't have the so-called "freedom" of non-Christians: we gotta dress a certain way, act a certain way, be "good." And it can look like our non-christian friends are having all the fun, living however they want to, not held back by any restrictions.

But hey. That's not how I want to live. And I never will want to live that way. Because those without Christ are bound up in chains too, just like the world. Chains that they don't even know are there.

Christ came. And he broke away each chain, each shackle, and each manacle binding our wrists. He used love and sacrifice and forgiveness and grace. He turned what was rotten into something that is blossoming.

And he gave us freedom. Freedom to love him, live for him, embrace beauty, and to want to cry because he's just done so much for us that we can't even fathom.

Our chains are gone. We've been set free. Christians, we are not of this world. We may be sinners and we've made mistakes every single day of our lives and we will make mistakes every day onwards, but we do not belong to the depravity and shallowness of this world. We are Christ's.

Listening to that horrible radio show talking about something as stupid as "should women dress provocatively for job interviews" made me want Jesus. It comforted me to know that I had a reason not to listen to that junk, that I was set apart from it, and that I had someone to run to. I am not alone in this world. I am saved. What the heck, I'm not perfect, and here on this earth I never will be.

But my chains are gone.

Even as I'm writing this I'm feeling a bit hypocritical. It may sound here like I'm some amazing super Christian who's got it all together and lives a perfect Christian life every day. I'm nowhere near close to that. I can't remember the last time I sat down one morning and had devotions. I've told God I want to do better and live for Him and I haven't. Sometimes I feel so shallow and inadequate and concerned with worldly things that don't matter.

My friends, let me ask you: What is that battle worth? What is worth to fight for something like looks or popularity? 'Cause even right now, I'm thinking, That's not what I want. I want a life lived for Jesus. A life that in the end is going to mean something. God is waiting for us and how many times have we turned him away in favor of things that will pass away? How many times have I done that? I can't even count. I can't count how many times I've done that in the past month.

So I can live a life in chains and bondage and slavery, in a world that will only pull me down and fill my mind and heart with shallow, stupid talk. Or I can fall at the feet of Jesus and beg for forgiveness and cry and thank him, again and again and again, that he saved me from the world. Saved me. Rescued me. Redeemed me.

Dear Lord,
I understand what it means to be in the world but not of it. You are a great and amazing God and I want to cry out to you and fall at your feet with tears from what you saved me from. I don't have to stumble aimlessly through life alone in a world that hates You. I don't have to die and be separated from you for eternity because your love was greater than my sin.

God, I don't want to be just another random person living for the world, not now or never. I've been set apart for You, for Your Glory and Your Kingdom. For an eternity WITH you, not without you.

I can't even begin to fathom the depths of Your Love.

And that is perfectly okay with me.

My life is your's, Lord. Not mine and definitely not the world's. You hold my heart, and I pray you always will. I love you.

All my love, which is nothing compared to all of yours,
your daughter,
Caroline

Shout-out

Heyyy! *starts singing Hey, Soul Sister* ahem.

I'm just posting quickly to tell you about this amazzzing giveaway hosted by one of my besties, Katelyn.

She's giving away a $20 giftcard to the Etsy shop Paper and Ribbons. The designer has some INCREDIBLE pieces of jewelry--lots of French and vintage looking stuff--so I'm sure you're gonna love it. It ends on March 17th, so go and enter!!!

xoxo,
your "I'm going to ask for season one of Robin Hood for my birthday!", Phoenix Burning writing, giveaway entering, homework doing, photo-taking blogger,
carolion :)

Caroline has finally figured out what eyeliner is good for

Eyeliner doesn't work on me. Period. I mean seriously, you're supposed to put it on your eyelid like right against your eye, but it never goes on. I dunno what it is, I guess I just have special eyes.

"1-800 Contacts? They can't have my brand." *looks into the distance* "I have special eyes."
"Look! Look with your special eyes!" *shows box*
"My brand!"
--1800 Contacts commercial (it's cheesy, but I love it :)

The night before last night, I had a revelation. Kind of. I took my useless eyeliner pencil and begin drawing elvish designs next to my eyes, or attempting to anyways, cause they turned awful. I showed my parents and they got a good laugh out of it. Then I went back to the bathroom mirror and managed to draw half of a mustache before my dad saw me from the hallway and we both cracked up. I finished the mustache and showed my mom, and I think she was partially mortified. I added a unibrow and a goatee before the night was over!

So, if you have special eyes, too, and you're sad that you wasted money on eyeliner that has no purpose, now you know what to do with it! I told Molly this is what we're doing at our sleepover on tomorrow night. She draws mine, I draw hers, and I plan on taking pictures :P

_________________________

This video.

I know Gwen likes this. This made my day!! "U is for ukilele..."

__________________________

Soon, I'm going to be busy, busy, busy. My birthday is in just over two weeks (and one of my bffs, Katelyn, has her b-day in exactly two weeks, on St. Patty's Day!!) Then the weekend after that I'm going on a retreat with my youth group. I have never, ever, been anywhere more than two days without my sister, so this is really a leap of faith for me. About two weeks after that I'm probably traveling up north for my grandfather's funeral. Also, volleyball starts the same week I'm going on the retreat, and I'll have schoolwork and classes to juggle too. I get anxious when I have so much stuff going on like this, and just thinking about the next few weeks is like a weight on my shoulders, but I just gotta give it to God and trust that He's gonna help me through it.

I have a new blog!! It's for photography! There are no posts up yet, but I'll be working on it. I'd appreciate it if you'd give me a follow :) Click HERE

I realized there's no pictures in this post so I should probably add one.

Pictures of you,
pictures of me
hung upon your wall
for the world to see
pictures of you
pictures of me
remind us all of what we used to be

*ahem*

Sorry.

Well, this was probably a pretty boring post and not one of my best, but what's been, like, 9 days since I've posted?? So here you go! Hope you enjoyed :)

xoxo,
your vb-obsessed, phoenix burning day dreaming, robin hood loving, mustache drawing blogger,
caroline

Bet on it

I went for a mile and a half run yesterday.

My muscles hurt.

Haha, I know what you're thinking--wimp!

But cut me a little slack...it's been aging since I've been running. And then when I do go running, I do it like once and then don't do it again for a few months.

Wanna know a little secret?

Oh, I knew you would!

Volleyball season starts in just over a month. I am NOT in shape. I'm not overweight, I'm actually pretty slim and the right weight for being 5'8", but I'm not very fit right now. This is proved by how tired I am today after last night's run.

So here's what I'm gonna do about this. I believe running, as will any other form of exercise, help me during volleyball. And I've got one month to get one shape, so why not get started? :)

Caroline's list for getting in shape

1. Run at least three times a week. I'd like to do it four times, but my mom and I are going to work out a schedule for which days I should run and which I should walk.

2. Upper-arm strength. I think part of the reason my over-hand serves don't go over the net is because I don't have enough power in my upper arms. I'd like to change this by doing ten push-ups each night, and gradually working my way up to more.

3. Crunches. It would would be nice to have my middle nice and firm.

4. Eat. Healthier.

Bleh.

I'm not a healthy eater.

But it's worth it to become a better volleyball player.

5. Practice for at least half an hour outside each day with my volleyball. This includes setting (hitting the ball off your fingertips), passing (hitting the ball on your forearms), hitting and over-hand serving (slamming the ball with the palm of your hand), and under-hand serving (bending down when you serve the ball and hitting it from the front of your hand; this is the serve I use during games, since my over-hand serves still can't get over the net.)

I can't count how many times I've said, I'm gonna exercise! I'm gonna get in shape! I'm going to eat healthier, even though I've said this five hundred times and I never do it! Well, not this time. I realize what a hollow promise that sounds like, but this is something I really want to devote myself to and get done. It's not going to be easy, but I'll be in shape for volleyball season and beyond, and that will be my reward. :)

See number eight? My head is right next to her, smiling.

Oh yeah.

Volleyball.

It's coming.

xoxo,
your obsessed vb player

Life is Sweet, and I talk again about heroes

It seems my last post wasn't too popular, so I take that to mean that 1.) 98% of my readers aren't hoodies and 2.) Molly missed this post (she's as obsessed with Robin Hood, medieval things, and history as I am.) Maybe y'all will tell me about some of your favorite tv shows? Or just story/character obsessions in general? :)

edit: Molly said for some reason she wasn't able to comment on this post, so my Hoodie hasn't abandoned me. Not at all. :P

(Ara, would I be the first person to point out what a beautiful button that is?!)

1. The sweetest Valentine's Day story you ever heard: http://owlcityblog.com/2011/02/14/dear-taylor/

2. Talking on the phone to my cousin a couple nights ago and laughing so hard I nearly cried. I'm not sure why she brings out the hyperness in me. Plus I get to see her in a week and a half, and we haven't seen each other since Christmas. ♥

3. In Christ alone, my hope is found, he is my light, my strength, my song. That song is so stunning and makes me want to shout, "Jesus, I love you!"

4. Having sisterly talks with my...sister. :P

5. Saying something like "Did you know...that your name..." to your best friend and having her finish the line. You know what's really weird? We know each other so well we're telepathic. We have begun saying the same things at the exact same time.

6. Season three finale of Larkrise to Candleford tomorrow night, along with introducing my second favorite tv show--Merlin-- to my parents and grandmother

7. Lying on the driveway looking up at the siluhouette (sp?) of black trees against an orange and blue sunset-y sky.

8. Writing a prologue for The Labyrinth (new possible title--what do you think of Hero?) and actually liking it

9. Really hitting it off with my classmates

10. Thinking about going to camp in a month :)

_________________________

Not my most exciting list ever, but oh well. They're sweet things for me. :)

So, I mentioned writing a new prologue for The Labyrinth. When I was doing Nano, I hated this book so much. Hated it. I thought it was junk, and in some ways, it is. It doesn't make any sense and the ending was extremely rushed, because I wanted to finish it on the last day of November (and did!). But Shaynie just started editing her Nano novel too, so we made a deal to edit our books together and to pester each other relentlessly from time to time to see how the editing is going. I have 300 words of a prologue, but it isn't bad. And I'm beginning to see who my main character, Theseus, really is. I think during Nano, the pressure of the race really overshadowed him, and in all respects, he was pretty flat. But I can see that he has a lot of potential. Mind if I talk a bit longer? :)

I had an idea today about changing the name of the book from The Labyrinth to Hero. Because that one word is the essence--or rather, will be, with this draft--of the story. The theme is Theseus struggling with what a "hero" is, what they do, and how he doesn't want to become one (because 98% of the Greek heroes got really big heads about their accomplishments, so the gods zapped them or had them die painful deaths. He doesn't want that.)

What is a hero? What makes a hero? What will define who he is?

It would be a perfect title. Theseus (my version, anyway, forget the old legend about him) isn't the hero type. Alright, I know that sounds stereo-typical. But Theseus is more like a commoner than a prince; he doesn't think very highly of himself; and he doesn't even want to be king of Athens one day. Unfortunately, he's 6 foot 2 inches, built well, fights like nobody's business, and looks like a hero, and everyone expects him to go do something amazing and heroic, because, well, that's what heroes and princes do. But to be a hero isn't his aim. He doesn't say, "Hey, I think I'll go to Crete, because if I killed the Minotaur it would make me look really good!" He goes because his best friend, the healer's son Pollux, is among the group of youths and maidens who are captured to be fed to the Minotaur. So he really has no choice. And the word "hero" is the question he will struggle with throughout the whole book.

I'm talking in circles. It just felt good to talk about that, and maybe, possibly, convey my ideas of what The Labyrinth is. It's amazing, but I'm actually liking my main character. I take that to be a good sign.

Wanna see a picture? Yes? Aw, y'all are just too sweet =D

left to right: Minos (the king of Crete, Ariadne's father, "played" by Keith Allan), Theseus (played by John Dagleish), Ariadne (princess of Crete, played by Selena Gomez), and Sarpedon (Minos's brother, played by Steve Coogan)

___________________________________

Well, that's about it from here. I must leave. Have a fabulous night, friends!

ALLAN!!!!!!!!!

So here's this funny story. Well, it's kind of funny, I thought it was. :) I start writing my blog posts out in my head, and my first line was going to be "Funny title for a post right?" And then the sentence got mixed up in my head (don't blame me too much, I am Caroline, after all :P) and came out as "Funny tist for a potle, right?"

I do make myself laugh sometimes. :) That wasn't supposed to sound like bragging, but hey, it's not healthy to take yourself seriously. So laugh at yourself, or laugh at me. It's quite good medicine actually =D

Anyways! Got sidetracked again. So yeah, that's a funny tist for a potle. Now where were we? Oh, right!

ALLAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite literally the best character in BBC Robin Hood anndddd one of my all-time favorites. That's right, he gets a very honored spot in Caroline's Character Hall of Fame! (Hey...that's actually a good idea)

So for the post hour or what I've been reading a RH blog and watching videos from season three. Are there better ways to spend my time? Yes. I admit it, so don't go all balistic on me. :P Here is what I have to--no, what I must--say about season three:

IT STINKS.

I can imagine the show's writers and producers just sitting in their little room with pieces of paper, cackling evilly about axing killing off one of the show's biggest characters and then writing out of the show two of the other best characters. Oh, and while we're at it, we might as well kill off the BEST guest star RH has EVER had! Why don'tcha!

(that's only at the end of season two. End of season three is a train wreck. What, three or four of the most amazing characters killed? About that?)

Alright, I know, it's only a tv show. But more than a tv show...it's a story. A story that gets to my heart, because I love these characters. Robin and the gang feel like my family. I've known them for so long (only about a year, but it feels like a long time). It's like your favorite book or movie, or your favorite show. It's more than just that. It's something we can relate to and that inspires us, just like any other great story. That does make sense? Probably not. I'm not very eloquent.

Thankfully, and yes I mean thankfully, they aren't making a season four. I can only sigh in relief. After the complete mess they made of season three and its ending, it's definitely for the best.

(oh, and why did this particular character who shalt not be named in case you ever watch it which you really should cause it's amazing have to be killed? It couldn't have been Tuck who is honestly one of the worst characters I have ever come in contact with? *gags* Nopeee. It had to this guy.)

It's 8:20 and I still haven't eaten dinner, so I should be signing off. It feels good to get that out of my system. But before I go, here's what I posted on my Buzz tonight:

ALLANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that pretty much sums it all up. That, and, the writers/producers of series three were morons. My feelings? Season three is NOT real Robin Hood. It doesn't deserve to be. That right goes to series one and two...can't be beat. Series three quite frankly ruined the show and ruined Allan and pretty much everyone, and Kate is....Kate is grr. That's all I'm gonna say. But series one and two? They bring back such good memories...Robin and Marian and Guy and the Sheriff and Much and Little John and Allan and Will and Djaq. Call me obsessed, I don't mind. :)
I've been looking at RH stuff like the past hour so I have to say: I ♥ Robin Hood...yes I'm a *cough* obsessed *cough* I mean devoted, Hoodie. :) (And Allan I love you too. Just sayin'.)
K I'm done now...I wish someone here loved RH as much as I do :) :) Abi? *grins hopefully*

Well, I know Molly loves RH as much as I do and was just as infuriated by the end of season two and horribleness of season three. We're both obsessed hoodies. :)

^ true, dat. =D

Let's take it from the top

Cymbeline has started a complete rewrite.

Yes.

I've been thinking ever since I wrote this prologue a few nights about posting it on here for everyone's opinion. What's this, you say? This, my friends, is an ambush! Oops, sorry. An Allan line got sneaked in there! How did that happen?! No, this isn't an ambush. That would be fun, but this, my friends, is a novel, which you should have already guessed! I'll give you a brief overview of what this particular novel is about.

My journalism teacher would be proud of me--I'm going to explain this using the five W's and the H of reporting. Ready? :)

Who--the main characters are Tresalde, the book loving, rather shy, but with an extreme sense of justice 14-year old MC (it's a guy); Saphira, a pirate and the ruthless, cruel, and angry captain of The Poison Ivy, who kidnaps Tresalde in order to help her find gold; Julian, Tresalde's half brother who's obsessed with becoming a world-class fencer; Elliot, Julian's brother and Tresalde's half brother, the oldest of the three of them who's pretty much got a level head and thinks clearly; Isabel, a friend of the family's from Spain, who claims that Saphira murdered her father; and Miriam, Tresalde's mother and Elliot and Julian's stepmother. (If any of you remember this post, there was another character, Finna! What happened to her? I cut her. Completely. She just didn't fit into the story. Sorry, Finna.)

Oh, and by following that link above, you can see pictures of my characters!

What--Pirates.

When--1764.

Where--Apeci (an island in the Atlantic, near Spain and Portugal, that I made up); the waters of the Atlantic; and possibly Spain and Portugal.

Why--Saphira wants gold, and since Tresalde is so smart for his age (I assure you, he's not a nerd), she kidnaps him so he can help her find it. Naturally, his brothers and mother don't take so well to this, and go after Saphira to rescue him. Joining them is Isabel, a friend of the Cervantes' from Spain. She says Saphira murdered her father, and she is determined to avenge his death. (I'm still working on that bit)

How--well, the story isn't finished yet, is it? You'll just have to wait. :)

Alright, so now you have an idea of this beloved novel of mine! Seriously, I just love Tresalde and Saphira. Their relationship is like one I've never written before. It's not romantic--he's 14 and she's 21 or 22--but it's one of tentative friendship. Saphira is holding so much bitterness inside from an abusive past. She doesn't want to let anyone in, and she covers up her hurt with anger and control and when it comes to it, physical blows. She's quite a piece of work. But, excepting perhaps Aeronwen, she's my favorite female character that I've created. And where does Tresalde come in? He both loves and hates her. She kidnaps, mistreats, abuses, and hurts him. Some kind of gal, right? But he sees something in her that no one else has seen, and he wants her to open up. He wants there to be healing for her, despite everything she's done to him.

The thing I love about Tresalde is how much strength, emotional and not physical, he has. One of my favorite lyrics is from Bryan Adam's You Can't Take Me--"Don't judge a thing till you know what's inside it, don't push me, I'll fight it." Tresalde doesn't look like a fighter. He reads books. And Saphira and everyone else mistake him for someone who doesn't fight back, whose opinion doesn't really matter. But he's built of stronger stuff than that. They judge him before they know what's really inside him. Did that make sense? I don't think so. I guess no one can understand a writer's character like the writer herself. Those lyrics describe Tresalde amazingly well, but only I can understand how well.

Alright, I've gotten really side-tracked! Here's the prologue I wrote for this the other night. Let me know what you honestly think.

Cymbeline

prologue

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”

The old sailors’ rhyme came to mind as she watched the red sunset with an impassive face. Behind her, crewmen rushed to complete their tasks before the evening meal, raising and lowering sails and swabbing the decks to make sure that The Poison Ivy stayed spotless. Now and then she would turn around and shout an order or scold them to move faster. They cast their eyes to the deck with worried looks and never argued.

Once, one of them had argued. Ichto was still famous among the men for having stood up to their cruel, abusive captain. Her anger at him for questioning her authority had been that of the cold, stone-hard stare that was reserved for only her angriest moments. The men sometimes feared her more when she got that look than in her violent fits of passion and rage. Ichto had been let off easily; the captain dropped him off at the next trading town they came to on the mainland with only the clothes on his back and his name on his tongue. They hadn’t heard from him again.

But after that, no one argued with the captain.

“Good weather tomorrow,” said a voice from behind her. It was Edgaro, her first mate and the only person on the ship she really trusted.

“It seems so,” the captain replied shortly. She didn’t turn her head or look at him, her gaze on the red horizon unwavering.

Edgaro checked himself and stepped back. If she had wanted to talk, she would have, but trying to force the captain to talk when she didn’t want to was like placing yourself in front of a lion that hadn’t eaten for days.

“Edgaro,” she called back, but she didn’t turn around. Her first mate turned to face her back. It was a while before she spoke, first lifting her head towards the sky and then running her hands along the smooth grain of the railing. Finally, she asked, “Is there news?”

He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. Had he not been her first mate for so long, he certainly would have been fearing for his job at that moment. But he was too valuable for her to let go, and she knew that. “No,” he said. “There hasn’t been any news.”

She nodded silently. Edgaro walked away to finish his evening tasks, and the captain continued to watch the sunset.

__________________________

Let me know how I can improve it! Improvement is always good. :)

Oh, and here is where I exhibit my incredible graphic making skills once more! Click on it to see it fully. The words are from You Are More by Tenth Avenue North.

In the black and white photo is Julian, Isabel is with the black hair, Tresalde is the blond dude who looks like he's screaming, or singing, Elliot has the white scarf thing-y, Miriam is in the purple dress, bending down, and Saphira is Keira Knightley in the awesome pirate outfit.

As they would say in my novel, since Spanish is spoken sometimes...buenas noches!

Cup o' tea, how's your mum?

Have y'all seen that Geico ad? Where the Geico dude and the Gecko are drinking tea? No? Well, it's awesome. :) Now, I shall treat you to some excerpts from my life and things that I've been thinking about lately, so do enjoy =D (because all you want to hear about is me, right? It's all about me. NOT...I was kidding. Sarcasm.) :)

1. Flu. I don't have it, and I really, really, really hope I don't get it. But it's going around my church at the moment, and tomorrow morning I have to work in the nursery with two and three year olds. As I told Shaynie, I plan to keep my bottle of vanilla scented hand sanitizer with me at all times. This morning Paige and my mom and I were going to go get the Flu shot, until my mom did some research online and discovered that the flu shot often doesn't protect against the flu. So we're not going to do it, and I plan instead on taking preventitive (sp?) measures against the flu. Observe:

Eat healthier. I'm not good at this, but eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more liquid (I read that green tea is good) is one of the first steps to being healthy. It's actually probably the first step. Who knew? :P

Aerobic exercise. It's a bright, beautiful sunny day in the 60's, so soon I'm going to go take advantage of that and go on a nice long walk. And perhaps when I come back, I'll practice with my volleyball in the backyard.

Wash your hands. I already do this a lot, but this is one of the key ways to keep from getting sick. Also, cough and sneeze into the crook of your arm instead of your hand, so germs won't get all over your hands. And secondly, I mean thirdly, wipe down your
faucets and doorknobs with cleaning wipes so they're disinfected.

Drink lots of water and other liquids.

PRAY!

Check out this website for a list of what to do to prevent flu: http://www.ehow.com/how_3451_prevent-flu.html

2. Egypt. I'm sure you've heard what's going on there. Riots, protests, deaths, and the government dissolving? Normally I'm not into politics, but I guess that's when it concerns things like the Stock Market or the politicians or whatever. I find most of that boring. But this thing about Egypt scares me. Did you know that it's like the oldest country still around from the ancient times, from the very beginning? Persia is still here and Iraq is still here, but they've been renamed. Other civilisations like the Sumerians or the Assyrians have been wiped off the face of the earth. Egypt still stands. But with it's government like this, I wonder for how long...I don't mean to be a downer, but this is really serious stuff. Just watching the news makes you like, "Whoaaa..." and wonder about the outcome of the country (haha, sorry about the "whoa", it was the only way I knew how to describe it. And I call myself a writer). I really hope this thing with Egypt just a phase and that it passes.

warning: slight spoilers ahead for Merlin; Nahla, if you haven't finished season three yet, you might not want to read this. :) Molly, you too.

3. I'm gonna move on to a more light-hearted subject: THE SEASON THREE FINALE OF MERLIN. I saw it last night, yes I did. IT WAS GREATTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Omigosh omigosh omigosh they HAD THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE!!!! ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE AND MERLIN AND LANCELOT AND GWAINE ( ♥) AND ELYAN AND PERCIVAL AND LEON!!!!!!!!!!! (+Gaius:) And then the Sword in the Stone!! I have been waiting for both of those things, for the show to actually resemble the ancient legends of Camelot and King Arthur, and last night, even though they took some liberties with it as they always do, it was the most truthful they have ever come to the old legends. It was magical :) I was squealing at the Roundtable and the Excalibur part--just ask Paige :)

l to r: Leon, Percival, Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, Elyan, and Gwaine

♥

But you know what's just not right? I have to wait until 2012 for season to come out. 2012! How will I survive until then?! As I remarked to Molly, the world can't end in 2012 because we have to see season four of Merlin.

4. I'm taking a Journalism and Economics class starting on Thursday (in addition to my physical science class which is also on Thursday). I'm really excited, cause I haven't been busy enough (isn't that the lament of all you people, that you're too busy? I wish I was) and a Journalism class is right up my alley. :) Plus, Katelyn is in it, which makes it all the better.:) I miss my classes. It's gonna be so nice (and busier:) to have them back.

5. It's a beautiful, sunny day in the 60's, meaning I should save this post for later tonight when it's dark out. We're going to a park in a couple of minutes (I'm gonna bring my volleyball:) so I'll continue this post later!

6. We went to the park and had a lovely time (including taking some pictures of Paige and I kissing Otis, our dog) and there was this big beach volleyball pit with a net, and I forgot my volleyball. Typical Caroline. :)

7. I made these for my characters in Enslaved the other day. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with this book--for those of you who don't know, Enslaved was my first novel, and it's been rewritten three times--but I want to do something. My ideas for it a new version all seem pretty floppy. It irks me, cause the characters are calling to me, but I don't have a plot. :(

Merien; the quote is one of hers

Will
The lyrics are from It's My Life/Confessions by Glee (I don't watch that show, but I like the song.)

Torene

There's a lyric in one of my absolute favorite songs, Viva la Vida by Coldplay, that says, "And I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of sand". I don't know if I was trying to copy that or not, I don't think it was, but it turned out sounding like that.

Lo and behold, those are my graphic making skills. I get excited when I make things like that, even though they're pretty basic. I have Photoshop on my computer, but I have no clue how to use it. Guess I'm not a graphic designer :)

8. BOOKS. Ha! I just finished my second reading of The King of Attolia today, making that the third book I've finished in 2011...I'm not a very fast reader (the other two were A Conspiracy of Kings and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, which I got for Christmas). Now I'm going to start On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (great title, no?:) and also waiting in my pile are Scarlet, Pegasus, and The Queen of Attolia and The Thief, both of which will be rereads. :) OH! I just realized (not for the first time) that I never finished reading the Benedict Society books. Those were really good. I need to go order them from the library. :)

9. Have you noticed that I've been using wayyy too many parentheses? (yes?)

10. A few nights ago I dreamed that The Patriot was actually a trilogy of three films, and I was the director of them *plus* the Percy Jackson movie. And we won Oscars. So, um, yeah. xD

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Have a wonderful night, my adventurous friends!! Maybe we'll all dream that we win Oscars. :)