All Things Beautiful

    Well, I actually really did not think I'd be submitting an entry today, but the days do surprise you when you're open to them.

    Have you ever brushed uncomfortably close to nature? I think the sort of strange horror (and beauty) from nature is when it is unfamiliar. People feel this when they're suddenly near an animal they're not accustomed to, for example. I think this must apply to dogs as well, at least when it comes to adults who have spent little time around dogs. Children do seem to be more fearless than adults in so many situations! I wonder why. Maybe it's just naivete and ignorance and lack of judgment and understanding...though it might just have to do with an unbounded curiosity that knows no fear. I think every human being is curious, and that this curiosity is naturally ordered to learning things about the natural world, or some other healthy pursuit. When it's not done so, people turn to things like gossip magazines instead. It's strange how many ways people have come up with to unhealthily vent their inherent desires and urges that should easily be ordered to the good and constructive! I know from experience, too.

    Ahh, but I went off-topic! Today, I was spending some extra time outside, just because I had the time and it was just really, really nice outside...perhaps the last really warm day of summer? That's a little melancholy, but if that's so, I'm glad I was able to experience it!

    When you spend time outside, so many extra possibilities become open. Like, I had to refill our hummingbird feeder, which I did outside under the tree we hang it on. There is one big boss hummingbird who hogs the feeder all to himself...though we've seen him get into long, zippy, strange battles with other hummingbirds. Just as I was refilling the feeder, I heard them zoom right over me and looked up to see them darting at each other like erratic fish in a strong stream, barely colliding before they zoomed off again, with their wings sounding like helicopter blades. After that, I went to hang up the feeder on the limb again, and the big boss hummingbird came back, hovering so close I could have grabbed him easily if I had wished! Of course, the thought didn't go through my mind. Even though he's such a tiny creatures, suddenly being so close probably made me more scared than he was when he realized how close he was and zoomed away after a few seconds. Still, it was such a strange encounter! I never would have thought I'd be so startled and scared of such a small creature. It was it being so CLOSE, so suddenly that really did it. It was strange and interesting. Though I can't help but think that I would definitely feel the same type of feeling if I was suddenly close to a deer, raccoon, any type of creature....mostly because they are WILD. They're wild, and we don't know what to expect from them. They're unpredictable and alien, and I think the combination of fear and intrigue that this stirs up in us is part of why animals draw humans to them so much.

The horse is God's gift to mankind.  ~Arabian Proverb

    Domestic animals can cause this, again. I think it's the bigger they are, the more you feel it though. Like how some people are afraid of horses. They are creatures that we can never really understand, but at the same time....well, they're so perfectly suited for us in a lot of ways. And there have been too many stories of their moving devotion to people (similar to dogs) to think that there's no compatibility of team-ship of any sort between us and them. And I just really love horses, I can't wait to start riding again next month, hopefully! Don't get me wrong...I'm not naive about them. I've almost fallen off in a strange way, I've had a horse bolt (both while I was on it and while I was letting another horse in the fenced area...I've never run so fast as I did right then chasing to rope up that runaway horse before it got out further into the meadow!) but I still really like them. I'm just....not very keen on galloping or stuff like that much anymore. Which I suppose I must get over if I want to keep riding well and confidently (enough.)

    I think one of the best (true!) stories to capture animals and how they relate to us in so many different ways is All Creatures Great and Small, both the original books (real memoirs by a farm animal vet) and the television series. It's all amazing and hilarious, but it's even moreso because it's all TRUE. You read these books or watch the series and...yes, truth is stranger than fiction!

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.  ~Corey Ford

    Still, there's just no underestimating what animals can do for us if we treat them well, like we should, as stewards of all in and on the earth. I spoke to a lady today who was walking a dog. The dog had been rescued; it was found starving and abandoned. Because it was rescued, the lady was able to adopt it, and recently the sweet, sweet dog had helped her through a very hard time. There's something about good animals, especially good dogs, that really just soothes the soul. Especially dogs, they just want to be part of your pack and to be with you, have your approval, attention and companionship. And I can't even get started on all of the true, amazing and moving stories of how dogs have proved their loyalty to their owners... (just think of Hachiko, the dog whose owner died in World War 2 in Japan....the dog went to the train station every day to wait for his owner to return, without fail. The dog was noticed and fed by neighbors, but he never turned to anyone else, and kept waiting for his master...and when he died they put up a statue in his memory. And I know he's not the only dog who has done such things! Honestly, they're just too sweet.)

     Ah, now for the picture.

     The prompt for this one was the scent called "Noir", made of black cardamom and white musk. The combination of the two opposites along with the word "noir" which for some reason sounded very romantic to me (I have no idea what it actually means) really made me want to do a couple. I wasn't exactly planning it that way, but having the guy be the musk and the girl be the plant works well (especially if you think "flowers are plants" and stuff.) Again, these are just rough. Either way, I had a lot of fun doing this one! Sorry if it's hard to see the lady's face; you might have to adjust your screen a little on contrast.

     I'm going to two club meetings over the next couple days...I am definitely excited! Here's praying they will be good!

Honeymoon Period, Mouth of Wax Version!

   Today is hardly over, yet it's a big day and I'm thrilled! I finally got my braces off today! It's such a very strange feeling, not having them there...their unnatural presence now feels like it was more natural to me than how I feel without them! But I'm still happy they're off. Everything is all smooth, like candle wax! I want to take good care of my mouth from hereon out....taking care of your body is important! It's the only one you've got...

    So far this week, I've been to all of my classes, and have gotten involved in the online one. I'm really liking the look of them so far. The timing is not convenient, but they have lots of variety! What intimidates me the most is definitely the Italian class, even though I've just had one, but I'm not a natural at languages...and heck, I don't know how I'll do in my math class for that matter.

    But still, I think there's something good to get out of every class, like, learning something that is actually important, something you'll actually remember and take out into the world with you. Sometimes it's very obvious...like the Italian class. Knowing a second language, even some, has all kinds of uses in different circumstances, and can open different opportunities. But sometimes it can be almost like a fight to get something good out of a class.

    Classes are like boxes of jewels. Inside is an assortment of different types of rocks, some valuable, some not...and sometimes the most valuable ones are those we ourselves have to polish or cut, or in short just put some extra effort into making it shine and making it worth keeping with us throughout our life. Even in a class that's full of rocks and fool's gold, you're sure to find a pearl, or maybe something that looked like a rock but had a diamond hidden on the inside. These gems can be the material itself, or maybe just the people or a person you meet in that class. I think, this is all part of learning in general. I will also do my best, I pray...I'm aware I'm in the sort of honeymoon period of a semester, in the beginning where you don't have much, if any, homework and no big assignments. But when the going gets tough, the tenacity to bring the best out must get going!

     The other night I went to the Newman club for the local Uni. It was pretty fun! Though I think I was over-thinking things. Basically, I need to recognize that there are all different kinds of friends in all different sorts of scenarios, and I just need to be more open to this and just take this time to learn and get to know others. I love getting to know other people, and for now, I think I should just leave it at that and not worry. Friends will come or won't come when God decides! And this group looks like it'll be a lot of fun, and I want to make the most out of this and all the different situations that come my way. Though, I can't help but thinking that college would be a lot of fun...if we didn't have homework and tests! (Papers, I love papers, so I'm just fine with that part of classes.)

     The other evening as I was driving home from the Newman club, the sun was setting, and the sky was this lovely shade of pink. It was all over the sky on the clouds, streaking here and there with subtle depth, and I probably shouldn't have looked as long as I did, since I sorta swerved and didn't drive as safely as I oughta, but still! It was very brilliant, yet the richness that was missing from it indicated...that summer is coming to a sort of early close. And the weather was very mild most of the morning, nearly cool at times, with a definitely cool breeze. It's still definitely summer though, it's hanging in there, and who knows when the first breeze of autumn will come tumbling in? Hopefully in mid-September. Proper autumns are the way to go!

    Around the local Uni there's a bunch of gorgeous older neighborhoods, with huge trees and lovely houses, small and large. The other day, I sorta took a wrong turn when trying to get to where the Newman club was meeting, and wound up driving in the neighborhood for quite a while. I'm glad I did. I love looking at houses and yards, imagining what it must be like to wake up and see such a lovely place, what it must be like to see it when there's a snowfall, how relaxing it must be to have all these large trees with their shade...I just wonder how the people who live in some of the most grand or adorable houses feel about where they live. Do they like it? Love it? Hate it? Not even notice it? I think the last is the saddest. Some of the houses really are lovely, and I've love to just go walking around the yard, looking at the landscaping. I just love yard and garden landscaping of all different kinds...as long as there aren't too many bushes!

    And I have to admit, the local Uni does have some nice landscaping. And really, it's just a lovely little college in general (except for much of the modern art.) Huge old trees, nice decently ornate old buildings, thousands of squirrels invading the system as we speak...awww, but we love them. They're all so cute! I love squirrels and just little critters in general. They definitely sort of capture how all animals are meant to be like our strange (and sometimes erratic) and pretty dumb younger brother or sister that we must look after.

    Recently I ordered Shannon Hale's newest book, Palace of Stone which is a sequel to possibly my favorite of her books (so far) Princess Academy. I can't wait to read it!

    This was done off of the Bath and Body Works scent "Beach Cabana." Ahh, I'd love to go to the tropics some day, especially somewhere more mild, like Hawaii! This one is a lot more simple than the last (I guess?) but I'm still very fond of the colors I chose, and I like the girl's outfit. And that beach towel! And....ahh, I want to go to the tropics someday~ I just love the beach and the ocean! I just love the ocean.

If I ever go or move to the beach, I hope that I remember to treasure where I am and live it to it's fullest. Though I guess that applies to anywhere, any time.

End of "Vacation"

    This was my last day of my official "summer." It really is amazing how summer goes by so quickly, how the dreams you had of summer when first getting out of your Spring semester seem to disappear in a haze of heat and humidity. Still, there's a lot to be said for summer, even as it seems to be winding for a premature close, even where I live. Down south in the US, you usually don't get mid-low sixties for nighttime lows until September. Well, guess what temperature it is getting to this week at night? Seems like the seasons are moving more along with the school year...at least the college school year, where I live at any rate.

    But still, summer is a lovely season it's own right. Everything can be dry and bony, or muggy, or sometimes to painstakingly green that the whole world seems to have been turned into a bright emerald, only punctuated by occasional black asphalt or the bright colors of summer wildflowers. The world becomes a special type of painting the summer, and it's a painting with the strong effects of a heat wave or the humidity literally weighing down the plants and people. And then the sky gets the most brilliant colors in the evening, not crisp or pale like the rest of the seasons, but as rich as summer fruit. Then of course, the variety of it all in how people chose to travel. Some go to the mountains, some to the beach, but everywhere it's summer, summer, summer. It's like the season that refuses to be ignored! It even intrudes in the other seasons, forcing some heat even into the heart of winter. Of course, storms and natural disasters are another hallmark of summer...but it can still make for some lovely sights.

http://snowflakeclockwork.blogspot.com/2012/08/minnesota-photos-mostly-water.html

     I'm going to make it no secret how much I love water. It's definitely my favorite element, and I feel so uplifted by it in all it's different forms. From a river to rain to ice and snow, I just adore it. And I love incorporating it into my own art, too, no matter how badly I may be at handling the subject. Water is tricky, with it's mirror and rushing and raging and frozen, detailed perfection and even more qualities that could not be listed...it's like a beauty that can't be described.

     Ahh, so today, my last free day, officially.....I had wanted to do so much with this summer, and I didn't get much done. Not to say I got nothing done...and perhaps I could have done more if I didn't take summer classes. Who is to say? But I know I learned invaluable things in (one of) those classes, so I wouldn't say I wasted the summer. And even though the summer was hot, especially in July, I'm pretty happy with how I was able to spend it. The first thing I did was go to a freezing camping trip in June...well, that was very nice, except it felt like very early spring instead of late spring. The wind chill was both lovely and horrendous. Still, it was time well spent, as is pretty much any time spent with nature....despite any bear warnings.

    But now I'm going off-topic. This day was very nice, I think. The weather was good, good enough to go the the Student Convocation the local Uni was having. I was looking for the Yoga Society, but they weren't there....but I still got in contact with a few other clubs, and met a really sweet elderly lady. For some reason there's just something about interacting with the elderly that's just refreshing. I don't know how....but it's something with how they interact with you, their bearing and open but....sort of calm manner? It is hard to describe it. I suppose it might be another beauty that can't be described? Anyways, there were a lot of neat coincidences. I met a co-worker, which I was completely just not expecting at all...I got in contact with the Newman Club, and I am definitely going to do things with them. I also gave my e-mail to a couple groups that focused on local events and commerce, one art history club and then also a small Bible Study club, mixed denominations. I considered, briefly, while driving home if I should have joined the International-something-rather group that aimed at people with very loose and "liberal" views on sexuality and SSA and things like that...but because I don't agree with them on certain things, I'd probably get kicked out or something. Heck, just my belief that sex has a meaning and things like that alone might get me kicked out....but I think that people need to realize that pro-traditional marriage doesn't mean anti-gay, because most pro-traditional marriage people don't base their ideas off of sentiment (that is, emotion.) Because people who do think this way do actually have a lot to offer gays...especially in religious groups. Just look at Eve Tushnet and many others...but people don't seem to be very up front about it? It's mysterious.

It reminds me of a story I've planned...it's basically pro-gay and totally pro-traditional marriage at the same time. Though, I don't really explore the latter much, at least I don't think so. But I can't help but wonder if some people might find it hard to believe that I will be able to write sympathetic, human characters with SSA and all and explore the good qualities that can be found in their feelings of love and all....yet not support gay marriage. I suppose it'd seem a contradiction. I understand why people would think so, yet it saddens me that it's seems like a default kind of thought, and I wonder how many people could get around it when they're in the mindset? I wonder. I wonder how things will change. I wonder how my books and characters will be received.

I guess I'm thinking about this more because I finally managed to start my real, good, final rewrite of my story The Silent World. One of my old e-mail friends was an absolute wonder and edited the first few chapters of the sequel to that, and gave me all sorts of tips. I really want to incorporate them into this first story, and while I can't wait, I know it'll be a lot of work! But I've got to keep working; I've set a deadline for the last day of October, Halloween, because that's when I start another project. I've got to have these two stories shipshape so I can go and try to lure agents with my charms! Or something like that. I'm sure writing in classes will help so much!

But I've gone off-topic...aside from the Convocation and editing, I also did a few minor things today, amongst which is doing a picture for a series I'd like to do.

    I love getting inspiration from titles and ideas. There's so much potential in just a few words! And one of the things that really appeals to me....is the titles and ingredients for things like body wash/perfume and scented candles! Mostly from Bath and Body Works and from Yankee Candle, respectively. But I've always fancied doing pictures based off of the titles and ingredients of certain scents in such things. Some of them sound so elegant and lovely, while others sound down-to-earth and homely, while others are surreal and mystical. They all appeal to me so much! These drawings won't be at all complete....nor the best quality, frankly, there's a decent amount in the above picture that does bother me. But I'm happy enough to leave it as is. I don't want these to take up too much of my time, and that's that. Oh, this one was based off of the Bath and Body Works scent "Aqua Blossom"...it's description included things like "ocean-drenched flowers" and "beautiful world underwater." With my love for water (and flowers, no matter how lazy I may be with both when it comes to painting or drawing), I could hardly resist!

Hopefully, I'll have one of these to put up with each blog.

Well, little more to say right now. Except, I'm pretty happy about this summer. Especially how it's gone with my family, especially my oft-gone older brother. It's sometimes surprising how much your family has to offer...we often don't think to ask, but you can learn and understand so much! And then, after a summer of rebuilding up your childhood vision of your older brother naturally being the coolest person in the world....he starts telling you some of his college stories.....well, childhood visions are nice while they last. But it's a good reminder that I should be open-minded to guys at college (within reason, of course!)

I hope you all have a good end of the summer/summer vacation. Ahh, remember how much fun shopping for school supplies used to be when you were little? Elementary school kids have no idea how good they have it! But life now is also full with good and fun, just different things and different worries. So, even going shopping for things now can be fun, too....though maybe not just quite as fun! If I ever have children of my own, I'll certainly try to make the most of little things like shopping for school supplies. Time sure does fly!

Until next time!

Dear Readers

    I've been thinking of using this blog in a much different way, and I want to do so from now on. I want to keep all my fan and rant-related stuff on my deviantart account, Mahira-chan on deviantart. Perhaps I'll start doing pictures on here as well, but I want to make them different types of places for different types of output. Moreover, I want to turn this account into more of a diary-type. I won't really be counting on much feedback, nor do I think I really want much...which must seem strange, since I'm using a blog...but I think I would rather do this type of thing online rather than in a "real" diary.
    Of course, this won't be a diary "pouring-out-my-soul-for-the-masses-to-read" type of thing, but more like a semi-daily journal of moments and things going on that I want to celebrate. In other words, it'll be like a Gratitude Journal, but longer.
    So here we go; I'll be starting with this past week up until this moment!

     But first, I want to say that I'll probably be quoting and referencing the public material on the "Simple Abundance" website a lot, especially for each months. Because I really do like them...a lot. Be sure to check them out if you can! It does get quasi-New Age at times, but if one approaches it with the right balance, then they can be just fine. I still want the book, but I'll probably go through the first year marking out the more dangerously ambiguous stuff and writing in my own ideas.

     I hardly want to think that summer is ending, but it keeps coming....I love autumn, but I hardly want to leave vacation at all. And plus, the weather has been getting both pleasant and exciting lately.

Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions
with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is a jeweled balm
for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can
become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.
--Ada Louise Huxtable 

    All I can say is...no kidding! I was not able to go on a real vacation this year, due to summer school, and it looks like this may be a rule, as it was the same last summer. But I don't really mind, because this past Monday, for the third year in a row, I went with all my family and the dog to DuPont State Forest, to the waterfalls and river they have there, which are both excellent for sight-seeing and for swimming. The river was running higher and faster than I had ever seen, and I, being a bit of a swimming nut, nearly got swept away a few times. But it was heaven, even if the water was much colder than it had been in the past couple years (but still, so refreshing!) As much as I love swimming, I'd much rather swim in such a place than any chlorine pool. We spent a good part of the day in the river. I ruined one of my favorite tanks by going in the water before I realized I hadn't taken it off....but it was worth it! 

     After that we went to Hendersonville, and that's just a lovely town. I went to my first pub, even though we ate outdoors, which sorta killed the atmosphere, but we did not have much choice with the dog, who was so hungry and tired she kept trying to snatch up things like pretzels and stale, old pizza crusts. And then after the pub, which was Irish which makes it 20% cooler, we went to an old-fashioned soda fountain. I had seen a cute, old-fashioned clock-maker's shop down the street earlier, and that got me thinking about "The Nutcracker Prince" which made me think of Christmas....which prompted me to get the fountain's peppermint ice cream. Boy, was it worth it...but sometimes it's a little funny when you realize you do everything for a reason, be it conscious or unconscious. 

     Not much else has happened this week until I met up with a couple of my friends who are leaving for college this weekend. I had been planning to attend the same college as one of them, but the plans fell through, and here I am now going to a local college. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to go and spend more time with her and really strike out on my own, but I know there's still a lot I can do at the local Uni. It's not my top choice; I really wanted to go to a Catholic college, but they were either too expensive or too far or both, and it looks like I'll be getting a masters in the future, so I know I need to save as much money as I can. I really don't want to have debt weighing over me as I start my career (or maybe a family?) after college/after grad school. I would call myself practical if I wasn't getting an English major and aiming to publish my own fiction. Still, I really believe it's my calling, and I'm in love with writing, so there's no other way! To be self-employed would be hard, but lovely in many different ways. I've gotten a taste of being in a job I don't like and I do not want to be that way all of my life. 

    Anyways, to visit my friends, I had to drive one down to the other's house, which is down south, an area where I had little experience, and I have even less experience using maps. It was quite a little adventure, driving along and realizing that I might be completely on the wrong road and going in the wrong direction! Thankfully all went to plan on the way the way there, and we had a great time. Though on the way back, I tried to take an alternate route, since it went past a church I was familiar with and used to go to with my mum and sister to first Friday mass. Buuuut it looks like my memory was worse than I thought, and we wound up going in a very different direction. Though it took us pretty much right to my friend's house, so it worked out and was actually much faster than if I had actually been able to find my way! Life is funny like that sometimes, just little things that work out when you think you're driving in some maze! 

    So, yesterday not much happened. I took care of college transcript stuff, and more importantly went shopping with my sister. I remember reading in xxxHolic the idea about there being a type of rapport in relation to luck between people and objects. An object can or can not suit someone, it can bring good or bad luck...and you can be drawn to an object. I felt it! While we were shopping I spotted this purse...it was like it was calling to me. And plus, it was new and only twelve dollars! Now it's hanging on my closet door, looking down at me in all it's blue-bronze-and-brown glory, waiting for me to use it and sneak around a couple large novels and mace, or maybe enough snacks to feed a soccer team into the movie theater. I've always wanted a large purse, and it's positively perfect. I betcha I could put a good-sized puppy in there...or my cat, which is saying a lot.

     And so here we are today, Saturday, my last free Saturday for this year! And of course I'm spending it doing some much needed cleaning....which I have not finished yet! But I like working, especially just the feeling one gets at seeing everything tidy and clean. Somehow it makes you feel more tidy and clean on the inside. It's like, you are what you eat....so your interior is like the interior of your house! Or something along those lines. 

    Sure, I'll complain about college some, but I'm pretty happy with how this semester is looking. I've got a creative writing course (my first!), a class on detective novels, a silly, guaranteed A required class on "Human experience" (yay for online classes!), a Statistics class (it's the only Math I like!) and an Italian class. Hooray for the Italian class! I did not want to learn Spanish, or French, or German....and I'm 25% Italian, and I want to visit Italy someday, especially to go to Venice and to see my own hometown. So I really did luck out on that one, and considering it's got some similarities to Latin, I'll have some type of base for it. I'm pretty pleased! 

     One last thing....yesterday evening was lovely. We had a terribly strong and sudden thunder and rainshower storm, and the power went out. I read Dracula for a while, then took the dog on a walk. I love walking with her, especially when there are thunderheads out. There weren't as many great ones as there's been other days, but it was still nice....and I think we also saw the entire snail population of the street. They were all over the sidewalk! I had to walk real slow and stealthy sometimes to make sure I didn't step on any....and then after we got back, we watched A Bug's Life (which I've liked a lot since I was little) and every time I saw them using the snail shells, I couldn't help but think it was so gross...but still, thunderstorms are pretty awesome. And power outages. It really makes you think about how we really are tied to the daytime and the sun, and how much we owe the sun...of course, after reflecting on that, I stayed up way past sunset working on a picture and then slept in way past sunrise. Go figure...still, I would like to be on a pattern more similar to the sun! I'm not a nocturnal person at heart. School will probably set me right! 

    Well, that's all for today. Have a good weekend!