Day #8

...day #8 of writing, that is...it's been a while.  Would you believe i forgot what the blog was called?  I had to look in my browser history.  O_O

Anyway, this one is still called a "Vacation Hiatus", and last time i promised i would write about a vacation i would like to take.  Those who know me well have heard me talk about going to Australia quite a bit, and someday i will make it there.  From the time i was small, the idea of a small, isolated continent fascinated me.  So many animals and plants and fish and beasts and landscapes...all of it unique from the rest of the world.  I wanted to see it for myself.  I want to climb Uluru:

I also want to scuba dive the Reef and attend a performance at the Opera House.  I want to hike the interior and see how people live in the stark beauty there.  I want to see penguins.  I want to know how the people think and live and philosophize and view the world. I want to learn the accent.  :P

Someday, i will go to Australia.

Day #7: Vacation Haitus

I'm not sure if this means i don't have to post anything on day 7 or if it means i can post whatever i want about a vacation.  Because day 8 and day 9 are the same thing, i shall post first about a vacation i've actually had that i thought was fun, and then i shall write two posts about two different vacations i would like to take.

My family doesn't really go on vacations a lot, at least to travel.  We like to go camping and will take off to the middle of nowhere and set up and chill there for a week, and it's a lot of fun.  But when we actually Go Somewhere, it's different and a sort of big deal.  The last major vacation we had was when i was in high school, and we took a trip to Maine just for fun.  We were living in Michigan, so we drove through New York and up into Vermont and through there. It rained the entire way through New York, but that wasn't what i remember the most.  It was on the way back, and we'd stopped at a campsite by a lake in Vermont.  Just randomly, there's a law in Vermont that says that you aren't allowed to have any sign rise over the trees because they don't want the visual clutter.  Interesting.  Anyway, camping you have to go to bed shortly after dark unless you want to waste fuel on a light and draw lots of bugs.  So it was after we'd gone to bed that the loons started. I've never heard them before in my life, and i have to admit that it freaked me out at first.  But it was amazing, listening to them.  The laugh was haunting and unhappy, and it struck a chord in me that i didn't know existed, that i didn't really know what to do with.

Either way, that was one vacation, and one memorable part of that vacation.

Day #6 - "Something that excites you and fills you with joy"

At the moment, I'm listening to Alfie Boe sing songs I love and having a "happy place" experience...but I'm not sure that counts.  :D  But I thought up a list of stuff: 

- getting a new book (or two or three or seven) to read...reading takes me to another universe and shows me new experiences and lets me meet amazing people that i wouldn't otherwise. 
- traveling somewhere, like a road trip...my mother has told me that when i was a baby, i was the happiest in the car going somewhere.  I love seeing new places. 
- tea!  ^_^ 
- going to a concert or play, because i love music and drama.
- seeing family or close friends again after a long time...like going home after a semester of college or when i came back to school after sitting out. 
- the nearly almost sure possibility of going to Red Cliff Bible Camp this summer again!  That's super exciting, like wriggle-in-my-seat exciting. 
- fireworks!  I love fireworks with a passion. 
- the wind in my face, like during a storm.  It stirs something in me (prolly happy-juices and endorphins and other prosaic chemicals) and awakens a response to the beauty.  It's like if it were any more intense, i would split into pieces because of the immense filling of me to try and appreciate it. 
- going clothes shopping with money i don't have to feel guilty about spending on clothes...doesn't happen very often, but it's fun. 
- hearing that something i worked hard on actually won something.
- hearing that someone close to me is expecting a baby or got engaged or something. 
- singing! well, making music in general.

There are a lot of other things, but that's a start. 

Day #5 - Something in life that gives me balance...

That's easy, and i was just talking to a friend about it last night. Simply put, it's my relationship with Jesus Christ. And when i say "relationship", i mean relationship because it's much like any earthly relationship...best friends, courting, marriage, Father/daughter, mentorship, whatever...only with what i call the God-factor thrown in. The God-factor is that spin on life that comes from factoring God into the equation, and it super-sonic-sizes everything beyond belief. Life is far more joyful, more peaceable, more exciting, more colorful, more meaningful with God there.

And note that when i said peaceable, i didn't say "peaceful". True peace will never come to this world until the Prince of Peace returns to establish His kingdom on earth. But knowing that He knows everything, controls everything, and is working for the individual good of His children is what stabilizes my world. In all actuality, i can't see how people can live with themselves and with life without having God there to ease the pressure simply because of His saving presence. I know i would have committed suicide multiple times up to this point of God hadn't been there to stabilize me. And it's stupid, so stupid, to not tell despairing people that God is hope! Not only did He create the very universe and it's laws that have been turning scientist and philosophers on their heads for centuries, but He also has a plan to fix its fallenness. All the sin and pain and horrible things and natural disasters...that's not normal. That's part of the Fall that happened way back in the garden of Eden, and Adam's decision affected all of nature and mankind. But God's wrath toward all that was appeased through the person and work of His Son, Jesus. Basically, God the Son took on a human body and died in it...and then resurrected it in a perfect state to give us hope of a like-perfect state! This is hope, a living hope that functions as an active anticipation rather than wishful thinking. It's a certain hope, a saving hope...a hope there for the taking should mankind but accept it. Based on that hope, I can have all those other things i mentioned...joy and peace and love and stability and so much more.

Especially after this past summer counseling at a camp, the world looks different with an awareness of God. He's always been there, but you start thinking about someone more and more often the more you spend time with that person. I spent so much time with God this past summer, and just knowing Him better changes my outlook. It changes how i love people and why. Love has so many facets...sometimes i think there are as many facets as there are people. It changes how i view my circumstances. Like this past week, i've been really agonizing over graduate stuff...over getting a campus job to pay for a master's degree, about being officially accepted into the program, and finishing my undergraduate work. I've been concentrating on a certain direction and position, and i found out that the position i wanted was now taken. But in the same email that told me that, it said that there was something open far greater than the one i actually "wanted". It was like God saying, "Well, while you were kicking that wall over there, I was working on this! See what I am doing for you!" That's God...working in spite of me, through me and for me. Life is an adventure when God is holding your hand and guiding your steps. Each turn is delightful, even through the pain, because you know that the end is so sweet.

So that's my balance. When it comes to my Friend...i know i can tell Him anything at all and that He's always there for me. When it comes to Lover...He leaves notes for me to find, He's written a book telling me how much He loves me, He orchestrates things on purpose to help me grow and to delight me because He delights in my delight in Him. When it comes to Father...i can ask Him any question and He answers, He always has time for me, He chastises me in a perfect way, His arms are always open to support me and His shoulder has borne a world of tears. As my Teacher...this is mixed with everything else because He's always teaching me about Himself through life in general. Everything that happens He allows for a purpose, and that purpose is to show me more about Himself to the purpose of glorifying Him. He is a Person, a Being concerned for me and interested in molding me like a Creator shapes what He makes. It's an amazing life, a meaningful life. I don't have to keep my balance on my own because He is there and I'm His child. It's that simple.

The trouble with writing...

I love pens. Pens with color, pens just black, pens that sparkle...i think the only pens i don't like are blue pens. For some reason, they are dreadfully uninteresting. The best pens write very fluidly, and i can write small if i want to. The worst pens are scritchy-scratchy, and they dry out in my pen holder until i clean it out and throw them away. ANYWAY, all that to say...i was looking through a notebook i have of stuff i wrote in high school. It's fun looking at how i wrote and how i write now, and there are lots of similarities. I was obsessed with limericks at one point, and i thought i'd share this one. ^_^

I once had an old squeaky pen -
Oh, what a pen i had then!
Whenever i'd scribble,
The ink would just dribble
All over my paper and pen.

Then finally this wearisome pen
Squeaked ink in gallons of ten;
So i threw it away
At the end of the day
And went and bought a new pen.

Fun, innit? ^_^ lots of things i would change and make better, but i still like the poem...after like 10 years.

Day #4 - something about my routine that i enjoy...

...this one is easy:

On MWF, my first class isn't until 9am, which means i can putter. Puttering depends on the time of day. Late at night, i'll be blogging, researching something interesting, or kicking around on Pinterest or something useless like that. In the morning though, i have two hours because i get up at 7am, and that's my "get ready for the day" time. I have started an exercise routine, like lunges and stomach crunch things and leg lifts and chair pushups, and i do that until i'm done...takes maybe 20 minutes. Then i'm awake enough to have a meaningful conversation with God. So I make tea and we sit down and talk for a while. Sometimes it's an hour, especially if there's breakfast there too. That's my favorite part of the routine. After all that, i get dressed and get ready for the day...fix homework, do some last-minute things, tidy up, etc. Then it's off to class! ^_^

Day #3 - Something I'm struggling with...

...I've been procrastinating on this for a while, which is why i haven't posted anything on it. The reason is because I'm struggling with a lot of things. Some of them weigh me down periodically, others are more peevish than serious. Either way, I don't want to blog them for all the world to see...and I think I'll leave it at that.

So much for Day #3...

Day #2 - Something i regret not having done last year

Regrets from last year? I don't have any because I don't like going through life regretting things or wishing I could have done something differently. I think it's a waste of time. Yah, it's good to look back and see what you could have done better and learn from that; but there's nothing you can do about it now.

30-Day Challenge, Day #1

...just randomly, does anyone care that i don't capitalize "I" when referring to myself? Word has made me lazy, always correcting it for me; and in formal settings, i correct it myself and i'm more careful. But i tend to just rattle along and let my fingers do their thing, letting my thoughts flow unchecked, and sometimes i go back and edit and sometimes i don't....

Anyway, i found a 30-Day Writing challenge thing, and hopefully it will help me get started again. Day #1 says to write about something i'm looking forward to this year. It's March, early in the year still...there are a LOT of things i'm looking forward to. For one, i'm giving a piano recital in less than 2 weeks. My parents and aunt are coming, close friends are coming, classmates are coming...so exciting seeing everything finally fall into place. It seems like it's been such a long time since i started on this whole college trip nearly 6 years ago, and yet it's weird thinking that undergrad is almost done. After that, further up and further in!

Another thing i'm looking forward to is starting my grad degree.

And finally, a third thing is Christmas. I love Christmas. As of today there are 9 months and 16 days, and between now and then is the whole year...months and weeks of seasons, fun, tears, surprises, lessons, trials, and the joy of living life. Plus the coming of fall after summer and the anticipation of the holidays...making food, cold weather, singing with friends, enjoying the birth of Christ all afresh. It's wonderful.

Can i just say it? I'm looking forward to life. Period. ^_^

Resolution

I'm going to write more...in this I am resolved. Writing is an art that grows rusty with disuse, and I need to keep it in good repair. That's what this blog is for. Sometimes I'll ramble, especially at first; but hopefully I'll start being able to channel my thoughts on paper again.