With the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which was amazing!), I've started thinking "what else am I anticipating for the rest of 2009?" Turns out, the list isn't very big now that HP, Wolverine and Transformers have been released.
NEW MOON...first and foremost. As my favorite book in the Twilight Saga (hmm...perhaps tied with Eclipse), I can't wait for this next movie to come out. I just hope there isn't a whole wave of poser Team Jacob people.
GREEN...my favorite author, Ted Dekker, is releasing the last novel in the Circle Saga. I am so excited, words just can't contain how excited I am. Of course, every time one of his books comes out, I freaked out. If you haven't ever read Ted Dekker, you are missing out on life. Need a good couple of books to read? PUT DOWN TWILIGHT and pick up the Circle Trilogy: Black, Red, White.
[E]xcited, Can't Hide It
My Forest Guard Number: 7163
[E]merging With 101in1001
My 101 in 1001
The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie: no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie: represent some amount of effort on your part).
- Dye my hair
- Learn an axel
- Learn a double jump
- Make a CapriSun purse
- Make a duck tape wallet
- Find out (a) if I have a Roommate and (b) get to know them before moving in.
- Go swing dancing
- Go to the Opera
- Go to Hollywood/California
- Learn Clair de Lune on the piano
- Read "Phantom of the Opera" in one day
- Read "Crime and Punishment"
- Go to the Ted Dekker "Gathering" conference
- (Test) drive Edward's Volvo S60R
- Get a version of Twilight in French
- Learn basic French
- Frame and Pin-Point my vintage map
- Make a Jedi robe
- Make a lightsaber (hilt)
- Learn how to write Tengwar (LOTR elvish)
- Work on a theater production
- Learn 3 make-up looks: smokey eye, spring and fall
- Learn how to eat with chopsticks
- Learn to juggle (basic, 3 ball)
- Learn the Hoedown Throwdown
- See all Audrey Hepburn movies
- Get a pair of purple shoes
- Finish Freshman Year!
- (Learn to) Make Tirimasu
- Make a 50's dress (a la Hairspray)
- Meet Aly in person
- Go on a date
- Get a UNCSA school hoodie
- Go to a Coldplay concert
- Order an Omni-Blizzard (blizzard with ALL mix-ins) from Dairy Queen
- Get a Henna tattoo
- Read all of "Grimm's Fairytales"
- Read "Total Truth"
- Read "Liberal Facism"
- Watch all "Firefly" episodes
- Watch all movie versions of "Pride and Prejudice"
- Go a week wearing only one color per day
- Go see a gospel choir
- Go to a Vanessa Carlton concert
- Get a pair of TOMS shoes
- Get a Care Bear stuffed animal
- Get a high five from a stranger while driving
- Learn to make paper cranes
- Throw a message in a bottle into the ocean
- Surprise visit someone (out of town)
- Pay for the person behind me in a drive-through
- Memorize Yvaine's monologue from Stardust*
- Learn 10 facts about 10 people
- Learn all the words to "Ice Ice Baby"
- Bring flowers to a grave at the cemetary
- Give a flower to a random, sad person
- Do the princess wave while driving and wearing a crown up
- Meet up with Sarah Beth (NC), Emily (GA) and Elizabeth (VA)
- Mail care packages to Olivia (NC), Kameko (CA) and Megan (GA)
- Make a Fashion LookBook
- Write someone a lover letter
- Drink a cup of coffee (1 spoon of sugar, 1 spoon of creamer)
- Try all Jelly Belly jelly bean flavors
- Order custom M'n'M's
- Learn to change a tire
- Make a 4 course meal (salad, soup, entre and desert)
- Participate in Free Hugs Day
- Watch Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse in one day
- Go to a midnight movie premiere
- Drink an energy drink
- *Reenact Yvaine's monologue from Stardust
- Make "Beyond Belief" Petra MV
- Wear only heals when I go out for one week
- Make a ice skating dress
- Call a radio station (for contest or song request)
- Watch the sunrise
- Beat Minesweeper on Expert level
- Get together with 301ers - Olivia, Kameko and Megan (possibly for Olivia's 21st birthday)
- Watch entire Star Wars saga in one day
- Not disfigure my nails for a month (bite or pick)
- Watch the sunset
- Read all "Young Jedi Knight" books
- Read "Legacy of the Force" series
- Read "Ella Enchanted" in one day
- Read the whole Bible in one year
- Wear more rings
- Buy an entire outfit from the thrift store
- Sleep under the stars
- Unplug (no tv, pc, mp3, etc.) for a week
- Have a museum day in Raleigh (go to all the museums)
- Kiss a frog and wish for a prince
- Go to the ballet
- Go to a movie alone
- Go a week without sweets
- Go to the movies in PJs with stuffed animals
- Do my morning devotionals for a month
- Develop my wardrobe (and style)
- Exercise (jogging or taebo AND stretching) regularly for a month
- Create and stick to a budget for 3 months
- Finish writtinga book/story/novel
- Wear my bikini to the beach
[E]dward cullen
Okay, so I will be the first to admit that I am indeed a fan of Twilight (and as we all know, no Twilight fan is a mild fan). But unlike the other 99.9% of the fandom, Edward Cullen is far from the perfect boyfriend to me. At least, if he was the kind of boyfriend for me that he was for Bella, I would break it off before it started. Sure, he's got that gorgeous face (well, that's all opinion...), charming manners, protective/caring attitude. Sweet, right? Maybe not.
Now, I'm not just talking about when he leaves her and practically destroys her life in New Moon; that was just one of the effects of their far-from-perfect relationship. In Twilight, there is the favorite quote in which Edward says, "You're exactly my brand of heroin". Now, while it is obviously true that her blood effects him that way, it is easy to argue that he has the same effects on her. And as we know, heroin addictions are some of the most dangerous kind. Worse that a coffee addition...by far. (and no, I'm not saying that Jacob is coffee, haha).
In Twilight, the relationship between Edward and Bella blossoms not into a passionate romance, but a passionate addiction. Bella comes to rely on Edward to live and when he leaves in New Moon, she just stops living her life. She goes into withdraw. Of course, break ups can hard, but someone's response should never mimic that of Bellas.
The core issue: Edward is more than a boyfriend to Bella: he is her functional savior. This is a heart issue, a soul issue, a eternal issue. Much as one might depend on caffeine to get through their day or shopping, Bella relied on her relationship with Edward INSTEAD (yup, this is the big important point) of leaning on the True Savior, Jesus Christ. John 14:6 reads, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." INSTEAD of depending on Christ, the perfect Lamb, King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, Bella choose to depend on Edward, a morally imperfect being who has no power to save her eternally.
It's easy to argue that "No, Bella just loves Edward so much!" but if loving someone so much hinders us from loving our Savior more, than it is wrong. Matthew 22:35-37 reads, "And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?' And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
current mood: irritated-with-bella/edward feeling
currently listening to: "boston" by augustana
currently reading: "brisinger" by christopher paolini
[E]xtra significance
Last night I was listening to music from Stardust and I really got the drive to watch the movie and it got me to thinking about something. This something: so every has their favorite books and music and movies; the ones you really could read and listen to and watch over and over again and they never get boring. And when you haven't [insert action here] for a while, and then you hear it or see it on the shelf on you get really excited, like a kid in a candy shop over it. Like it's new, but you remember it and you feel awesome inside? I dunno, I get that feeling, haha. Here are my favorites that give me that kid-with-candy-feeling-awesome feeling:
BOOKS
-Ella Enchanted by Gail Levine
-Redwall by Brian Jacques
-The Young Jedi Knights by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta
MUSIC
-ZOEGirl
-Le Roi Soleil
-Cascada
MOVIES
-Star Wars Prequels
-Stardust
-Josie and the Pussycats
-Anything Audrey Hepburn
current mood: just-woke-up feeling
currently listening to: "rule the world" by take that
currently reading: "brisinger" by christopher paolini
[E]ssentially the same (for now)
First post, horray! Okay, enough celebration.
Well, I just graduated from High School last weekend and to be honest, life so far seems the same. Since my workload for school this last semester has been so light, I don't get that overwhelming feeling of "Ah...I'm done". And college is still three months away, so I'm not constantly thinking about the moving and changes related to that. Instead, things seem to be moving along as they have for a while, though I do know there will be giant changes when college does arrive.
But as for now, my week is the same, week after week.
Monday: Cleaning/College Stuff/Goofying Off in the morning, skating for two hours, coaching for an hour, come home, eat, goof off some more. (Just as before, except before "College Stuff" was School and "Goofying Off" was kept to a minimum.)
Tuesday: Pretty much the same as Monday, only skating and coaching are switched.
Wednesday: Meeting with my Sunday School teacher/mentor in the morning, church stuff at night. (If I'm lucky, sometimes I get to work too.)
Thursday: Nothing planned, sometimes I go skating.
Friday: The same as Thursday.
Saturday: Same as Friday. (Usually I work this day too...except lately.)
Sunday: Church in the morning, but nothing else that is habitual.
Looking at that, it seems I really don't have that much to do most of the time. You would think I would be putting it to great use! Well, perhaps I am, but just to clarify, "Goofying Off" is normally broken down into coloring with crayons, doing stuff online, playing the piano or just being bored...so does that count?
current mood: slightly tired with random energy bursts
currently listening to: "candles" by hey monday
currently reading: "brisinger" by christopher paolini
