Yeah. It's my birthday. 19 today. (mission, here I come!)
And I just feel retrospective, and I'm going to post some things about myself. (there were going to be 19 originally, but I started this post way too late. so I've got like 10. oh well.) Things I love, things I've learned, things I'd like to leave behind.... So here we go.
love- READING. I've always been a reader, as long as I can remember. I've lived thousands of lives and been to a million places and books have saved me and inspired me and amazed me and I absolutely love them. The Chronicles of Narnia. The Harry Potter Series. The Books of Bayern. The Cry of the Icemark. The Bartimaeus Trilogy. The Percy Jackson Series. Just to name a few. I grew up in worlds of ink and paper, with my dad reading us stories and bringing words to life. Reading is amazing.
learn- What other people think doesn't matter. And I don't mean ignore your parents or your very best friend's good advice. What I mean is, it doesn't matter if the girl in your class thinks your pants aren't cute enough or if the boy doesn't laugh at your jokes or if your hair/face/laugh/thing you love/hobby isn't fashionable or whatever else. If you spend your time worrying about pleasing others, it is far too easy to lose yourself in the disaster that high school and society can be. You're the only person who lives with you 100% of every day, and you need to be okay with who you are. And who you are is brilliant and bright.
leave- Insecurity. Because of what I just talked about, I've also realised that insecurity is something I can live without. Yes, it's scary to talk in front of people, and I'm nervous about singing or performing or auditions, and sometimes I may not like the way I look. But letting insecurity eat away at my love for myself is never worth it.
love- MUSIC. I've been singing for as long as I can remember, playing piano since second grade, bassoon since sixth, saxophone since ninth, writing music/songs since eighth grade. And music is a wonder. Ink on a page and creations of wood and metal can change moods, break hearts or mend them, hurt and heal. Music expresses what words cannot, and it is miraculous.
learn- It's okay to be weird. I spent ridiculous amounts of time in high school trying to be less weird than I thought I was. But ya know what? It's beautiful to be passionate about something, whether that's cars or Broadway or painting or calculus. There's no need to shave off the ragged edges of your weirdness, because that's what sets you apart from everyone else, what makes you powerful, worth talking to. Love the thing you love, do that thing you do, and know that you will be all the more interesting because of that. No one ever made history who wasn't called weird at some point.
leave- Toxic people. There are times when you may meet someone who brings you down- they guilt trip you or make you feel bad about yourself, they make you doubt yourself and your abilities, they make you question your worth. Don't let those people take up your time and eat away at your soul. Surround yourself with those who bring you up and encourage you and make you feel valuable and wonderful, because YOU ARE.
love- WRITING. Well, if you've been reading this, you know I write poetry, songs, words. There is something incredibly therapeutic about watching my soul come to life on a paper, organised and beautiful. And writing has been an incredible outlet for me, when I've been sad, lonely, happy, excited, angry, confused... Words are magical.
learn- Life is scary and hard and wonderful. Take chances. There will always be things you can't plan for, and unexpected events, but if you never try, you'll never succeed at anything. You will never know how much you may love something if you don't give it ago, and you will never know how much someone may mean to you if you never say hello. Don't let the things you're afraid of stop you from living.
leave- Unnecessary worry. If you can't change it, don't let it ruin your life. Make the changes you can, but accept that it may rain. Bring your umbrella, and enjoy it. Don't let tiny stresses take the joy out of life.
last, but not least- The Gospel is true and God loves you. That's it. That's the most important thing. I've had times of doubt and been lost, during high school. But the Gospel of Christ always ended up being the only thing that made any sense. And it always will. He will always be there, because He loves you.
Yeah. I guess I've grown up, some. Let's see the next 19?
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
Here I Go!
Well. I have a lot of feelings today, so a short post is in order.
After finally getting the last piece of medical clearance that I needed, I've submitted my mission paperwork online! On to the interviews. I AM SO HAPPY.
Also, I found this video today:
Which is AWESOME. And doubly cool because he served in the same mission as my older brother, and my bro had told me to look him up.
So I just have a lot of mission feelings. And I'm STOKED.
After finally getting the last piece of medical clearance that I needed, I've submitted my mission paperwork online! On to the interviews. I AM SO HAPPY.
Also, I found this video today:
Which is AWESOME. And doubly cool because he served in the same mission as my older brother, and my bro had told me to look him up.
So I just have a lot of mission feelings. And I'm STOKED.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
World Domination
So, I've been texting one of my friends from Podunk, Bon, this whole summer, and recently, our conversation has been awesome. I feel the need to share.
But first, a little background. I met Bon in the sixth grade, and he was one of my best friends from then until I moved to Myneton. We sort of lost touch... But have recently reconnected. He's definitely still AWESOME.
I met Tas in the seventh grade. He's a wonderful, one-of-a-kind hilarious, and I ADORE him. So. Now that you know who these two people are, I'm going to relay the conversation between Bon and I.
This part of our texting conversation began on July 21, and has continued sporadically since then, becoming better and better. The scene opens here, a few days after I visited Myneton:
*as always, typos are left as they occurred in the conversation*
Me: I adore you people. I'm totally gonna crash your ten year reunion!
Bon: Haha, do it. We'll still be the same. Just older. Except maybe Tas, he's going to go crazy in college
Me: I really will though! And Tas is *already* crazy. He raises carnivorous plants and ships his friends and if he goes crazier in college, it'll be something to see.
Bon: Oh yeah, Tas will become like An insane genius who will try to invent a death ray. He'll also become a pro gamer and set up a fake dating site, then lose it all in a bet. Then solve world hunger and become wildly rich. That's my prediction.
Me: Wow. That's ambitious. But, I could see it. Also, he plays oboe in the New York Philharmonic the whole time.
Bon: Of course. Still though, I think I was on to something with Tas bring a pro gamer.
Me: Oh, yacht. That's totally a valid option for his future. I can see it. ;)
Bon: For sure. He'll probably have a yacht too. Oh yacht. :)
Me: Thanks for just running with that. ^_^ The only question remaining is whether he'd still associate with us peasants when he's got all that crazy stuff going on.
Bon: Indeed. Then again, I'm hoping to be just as rich and knowing how smart you are, you could be too, so we should be good.
Me: With our combined genius, anything could happen. We'd be the most POWERFUL trioin the fire nation, and together we'd DOMINATE the world!
Bon: First if all, loved the reference. It was quite sharp. Be careful, with that Wit you might pierce the hull of a fire navy battleship killing thousands.
And second, heck yes'm. Take over the world in days.
Me: Ahahaha YAAAS! And even if our own mothers think we are monsters... Well, we'll rule the world, so who cares?
[note: those last three messages reference the Avatar: the Last Airbender tv show, which is AWESOME.]
Bon: Exactly! Because power and money at clearly the most important things!
Me: Indeed! Nothing else matters in life!
Bon: Plus then we'd be super villains,which is awesome!
Me: We'd really have to work on our presentation, so we'd really be super villains!
[note: Megamind reference!]
Bon: Of course. Does that mean Tas will be the super hero? Because that would be a great backstory.
Me: No, we're all three supervillains together, an unstoppable team! Somebody else will have to be the superhero!
Bon: I don't know. At best Tas is the villain who turns good and betrays us. Tas is just too good.
Me: Hmmm... You're probably right... He'll give away our secret weaknesses.
Bon: And right after we catch the hero too.......what a drag.
Me: *sigh* Why does it always go that way? I want it to be like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. I want the villains to win!
Bon: Ummmmmm......but then who is the one who dies? I really don't think that Dr horrible had that happy an ending for anyone.
Me: I dunno, it was pretty good for the E.L.E. Also, I never specified happy... I just said the villains win!
[note: Dr. Horrible is AMAZING. Go look it up on Youtube and watch it.]
Bon: True. Still gotta decide who has to die in this scenario, though...
Me: Well, that's depressing.
Bon: Yeah, so let's not shoot for Dr horrible. Maybe like mega mind or something?
Me: But... The villain turns good. I guess we could go that route, but I think it would ruin the 'betrayal by Tas' storyline.
Bon: Yeah... What movie has the villain win but isn't a tragedy???
Me: Umm... Umm... Umm...
Bon: We'll have to make it own (gasp!)
Me: Original thought? Perish the idea! How MARVELOUS.
Bon: Let's see... The story will open in a large city all black and white like a detective show. The camera will slowly zoom into a large building...
Me: Where the three of us, stylishly dressed and in the most dramatically furnished room, are plotting our takeover of the world.
Bon: Yes, Tas would be like a well dressed spy, whereas I would be a crazy scientist with crazy gadgets. I'm betting you woulds be the mastermind
Me: I can definitely go with that. So, what's the evil plan?
Bon: Hmm... That's the hard part. An evil plan that hasn't been done to death... You're the schemer, any ideas?
Me: Kill all honeybees, except from our personal farm, monopolise the honey and beeswax industries... Go from there.
Spread socialism as we go.
On our way to communism that we run, and world power.
Bon: I like it! It's big. Just needs some death ray and freezing ozone, and we'll have a master plan!
Me: Alternatively, we drain the oceans and transfer them to Mars (you up for portal use?), so we'll control BOTH planets... Twice the landmass, twice the potential, all the GLORY.
Bon: Love it. We can then create star ports, speed expansion and science and make a galactic empire. All by thinking with portals.
Me: Exactly! Now, the only question left is why Tas would defect from a plan as astounding as that one?
Bon: Clearly he is not a fan of our totalitarian government. Either that or he is secretly a tree hugger and loves bees.
Me: Well, I'm not a fan of totalitarian governments either... But it's TOTALLY different when I'm in charge! Oh! Maybe Tas wants to be the Supreme Overlord, and since he can't be (because I AM) he betrays us?
Or, the honeybee thing.
Bon: I'm betting on the supreme overlord one. But then, even though he turns good because of selfish reasons, he finds he likes being a hero and narrowly escapes to reform a rebellion that he quelled earlier in the story. Then all we need is some giant monsters somewhere in there and we're good!
Me: We're brilliant. We engineer and control the monsters ourselves. They're nearly impossible to defeat, but Tas knows all their weaknesses. It'll sell millions of copies!
Bon: Brilliant! We'll be rich in no time! We better get someone on the movie rights. We night even get rich enough to really take over the world.
Me: Infallible. We're marvelous!
Bon: Best crime trio/duo this side of Jupiter!
Me: Yes. It'll be MARVELOUS.
Bon: Let's do it. I'll get on the death ray and scary monsters.
Me: Good. I'll work on the details of the plan, and hiring underlings.
Bon: Just make sure you get some good underlings. Ones who can aim, not like storm troopers and every other henchmen ever.
Me: I know... We'll have to find a way to counter 'shooting against the hero' syndrome. ALSO. We need villain identities!
Bon: True... Never really thought about the identities... Any good ideas?
Me: Tas can be Sir Sneaks-a-Lot, you'll be Dr. Gizmo, and I'll be the Mastermind.
Kidding. Totally kidding.
Bon: I feel like... Those names give away our jobs. Is gotta be subtle.
Me: Hey, I don't see you with any ideas. ;) C'mon, the Mastermind is good! You can be Dr. Maniac... And Tas is... Is... Midnight Malice.
Okay, I'll admit, Dr. Maniac isn't OPTIMAL, but as a set, the names sound cool! And, Tas can change to Midnight Marvel or Midnight Miracle or something when he betrays us. It's totally perfect!
Bon: OK, midnight marvel does sound awesome. I like them, though could we drop the Dr? I don't have a Phd, nor do I really want to get one in being crazy...
Me: Valid. Mastermind, Maniac, and Midnight Malice. Now we have identities- we can REALLY take over the world!
Bon: OK! Let's do it! Next Tuesday seems like a good day! Let's shoot for world domination by then.
[note: that text was sent August 6, so Tuesday was August 11.]
Me: Wow, that's an aggressive deadline. Are the monsters going to be ready?
Bon: I'm getting there I've made them, but so far all they're done is try to tear my face of.... Hungry little guys. We do have Tas....i mean midnight malice is going to Hungary, so I figured we could have an agent in Europe.
[note: Tas entered the MTC on August 5 for a mission to Hungary. Bon enters the MTC August 19 for a mission to Louisiana.]
Me: I'm not sure if those monsters rote
sound ready to use. Also, Midnight Malice won't be in Hungary for a few weeks, so we won't HAVE a Europe agent.
Bon: Meh, he's getting there. And monsters are better if you can't really control them anyways
Me: Valid point. I mean if we can't control them, no one else can, right?
Bon: Exactly! Besides, I'm sure we can figure it out before they kill tons of people and rebel
Me: Nawh, stopping them can be Tas's job, after he betrays us.
[note: it's now August 11.]
Me: So... World domination today? We've got like six hours left...
Bon: Oh Uh.... Sure? Not really sure how to start. I didn't think we'd get that far. I thought for sure the monsters would get free and easy my face by now...
Me: Well, that's not productive. It was YOUR deadline, buddy! ;)
Bon: Yeah... But in my defense, you are the planner. So what's the plan.
Me: My plan was a later goal for domination, sometime when the monsters are ready and we actually have an agent in Europe. :P
Bon: Oh fine... If you don't want any suspense... It would have been so exciting, but no, you want a "well thought out" plan with a chance of success...
Me: Yes. When I say world domination, I mean it. :D
Bon: [sigh] fine......it's just so much less fun
Me: What part of actually ruling the world is less fun than a failed attempt?
Bon: It's the excitement of not knowing if you will succeed, the tension of thinking you're monsters will eat your face, then the relief as you wrest control at the last second. It's exhilarating! Or painful...
Me: I prefer the exhilaration with as little pain as possible. It that's boring, then I guess that's me!
And that is where the plan for world domination currently stands. Watch out, we're coming. ALSO. I LOVE my friends!
But first, a little background. I met Bon in the sixth grade, and he was one of my best friends from then until I moved to Myneton. We sort of lost touch... But have recently reconnected. He's definitely still AWESOME.
I met Tas in the seventh grade. He's a wonderful, one-of-a-kind hilarious, and I ADORE him. So. Now that you know who these two people are, I'm going to relay the conversation between Bon and I.
This part of our texting conversation began on July 21, and has continued sporadically since then, becoming better and better. The scene opens here, a few days after I visited Myneton:
*as always, typos are left as they occurred in the conversation*
Me: I adore you people. I'm totally gonna crash your ten year reunion!
Bon: Haha, do it. We'll still be the same. Just older. Except maybe Tas, he's going to go crazy in college
Me: I really will though! And Tas is *already* crazy. He raises carnivorous plants and ships his friends and if he goes crazier in college, it'll be something to see.
Bon: Oh yeah, Tas will become like An insane genius who will try to invent a death ray. He'll also become a pro gamer and set up a fake dating site, then lose it all in a bet. Then solve world hunger and become wildly rich. That's my prediction.
Me: Wow. That's ambitious. But, I could see it. Also, he plays oboe in the New York Philharmonic the whole time.
Bon: Of course. Still though, I think I was on to something with Tas bring a pro gamer.
Me: Oh, yacht. That's totally a valid option for his future. I can see it. ;)
Bon: For sure. He'll probably have a yacht too. Oh yacht. :)
Me: Thanks for just running with that. ^_^ The only question remaining is whether he'd still associate with us peasants when he's got all that crazy stuff going on.
Bon: Indeed. Then again, I'm hoping to be just as rich and knowing how smart you are, you could be too, so we should be good.
Me: With our combined genius, anything could happen. We'd be the most POWERFUL trioin the fire nation, and together we'd DOMINATE the world!
Bon: First if all, loved the reference. It was quite sharp. Be careful, with that Wit you might pierce the hull of a fire navy battleship killing thousands.
And second, heck yes'm. Take over the world in days.
Me: Ahahaha YAAAS! And even if our own mothers think we are monsters... Well, we'll rule the world, so who cares?
[note: those last three messages reference the Avatar: the Last Airbender tv show, which is AWESOME.]
Bon: Exactly! Because power and money at clearly the most important things!
Me: Indeed! Nothing else matters in life!
Bon: Plus then we'd be super villains,which is awesome!
Me: We'd really have to work on our presentation, so we'd really be super villains!
[note: Megamind reference!]
Bon: Of course. Does that mean Tas will be the super hero? Because that would be a great backstory.
Me: No, we're all three supervillains together, an unstoppable team! Somebody else will have to be the superhero!
Bon: I don't know. At best Tas is the villain who turns good and betrays us. Tas is just too good.
Me: Hmmm... You're probably right... He'll give away our secret weaknesses.
Bon: And right after we catch the hero too.......what a drag.
Me: *sigh* Why does it always go that way? I want it to be like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. I want the villains to win!
Bon: Ummmmmm......but then who is the one who dies? I really don't think that Dr horrible had that happy an ending for anyone.
Me: I dunno, it was pretty good for the E.L.E. Also, I never specified happy... I just said the villains win!
[note: Dr. Horrible is AMAZING. Go look it up on Youtube and watch it.]
Bon: True. Still gotta decide who has to die in this scenario, though...
Me: Well, that's depressing.
Bon: Yeah, so let's not shoot for Dr horrible. Maybe like mega mind or something?
Me: But... The villain turns good. I guess we could go that route, but I think it would ruin the 'betrayal by Tas' storyline.
Bon: Yeah... What movie has the villain win but isn't a tragedy???
Me: Umm... Umm... Umm...
Bon: We'll have to make it own (gasp!)
Me: Original thought? Perish the idea! How MARVELOUS.
Bon: Let's see... The story will open in a large city all black and white like a detective show. The camera will slowly zoom into a large building...
Me: Where the three of us, stylishly dressed and in the most dramatically furnished room, are plotting our takeover of the world.
Bon: Yes, Tas would be like a well dressed spy, whereas I would be a crazy scientist with crazy gadgets. I'm betting you woulds be the mastermind
Me: I can definitely go with that. So, what's the evil plan?
Bon: Hmm... That's the hard part. An evil plan that hasn't been done to death... You're the schemer, any ideas?
Me: Kill all honeybees, except from our personal farm, monopolise the honey and beeswax industries... Go from there.
Spread socialism as we go.
On our way to communism that we run, and world power.
Bon: I like it! It's big. Just needs some death ray and freezing ozone, and we'll have a master plan!
Me: Alternatively, we drain the oceans and transfer them to Mars (you up for portal use?), so we'll control BOTH planets... Twice the landmass, twice the potential, all the GLORY.
Bon: Love it. We can then create star ports, speed expansion and science and make a galactic empire. All by thinking with portals.
Me: Exactly! Now, the only question left is why Tas would defect from a plan as astounding as that one?
Bon: Clearly he is not a fan of our totalitarian government. Either that or he is secretly a tree hugger and loves bees.
Me: Well, I'm not a fan of totalitarian governments either... But it's TOTALLY different when I'm in charge! Oh! Maybe Tas wants to be the Supreme Overlord, and since he can't be (because I AM) he betrays us?
Or, the honeybee thing.
Bon: I'm betting on the supreme overlord one. But then, even though he turns good because of selfish reasons, he finds he likes being a hero and narrowly escapes to reform a rebellion that he quelled earlier in the story. Then all we need is some giant monsters somewhere in there and we're good!
Me: We're brilliant. We engineer and control the monsters ourselves. They're nearly impossible to defeat, but Tas knows all their weaknesses. It'll sell millions of copies!
Bon: Brilliant! We'll be rich in no time! We better get someone on the movie rights. We night even get rich enough to really take over the world.
Me: Infallible. We're marvelous!
Bon: Best crime trio/duo this side of Jupiter!
Me: Yes. It'll be MARVELOUS.
Bon: Let's do it. I'll get on the death ray and scary monsters.
Me: Good. I'll work on the details of the plan, and hiring underlings.
Bon: Just make sure you get some good underlings. Ones who can aim, not like storm troopers and every other henchmen ever.
Me: I know... We'll have to find a way to counter 'shooting against the hero' syndrome. ALSO. We need villain identities!
Bon: True... Never really thought about the identities... Any good ideas?
Me: Tas can be Sir Sneaks-a-Lot, you'll be Dr. Gizmo, and I'll be the Mastermind.
Kidding. Totally kidding.
Bon: I feel like... Those names give away our jobs. Is gotta be subtle.
Me: Hey, I don't see you with any ideas. ;) C'mon, the Mastermind is good! You can be Dr. Maniac... And Tas is... Is... Midnight Malice.
Okay, I'll admit, Dr. Maniac isn't OPTIMAL, but as a set, the names sound cool! And, Tas can change to Midnight Marvel or Midnight Miracle or something when he betrays us. It's totally perfect!
Bon: OK, midnight marvel does sound awesome. I like them, though could we drop the Dr? I don't have a Phd, nor do I really want to get one in being crazy...
Me: Valid. Mastermind, Maniac, and Midnight Malice. Now we have identities- we can REALLY take over the world!
Bon: OK! Let's do it! Next Tuesday seems like a good day! Let's shoot for world domination by then.
[note: that text was sent August 6, so Tuesday was August 11.]
Me: Wow, that's an aggressive deadline. Are the monsters going to be ready?
Bon: I'm getting there I've made them, but so far all they're done is try to tear my face of.... Hungry little guys. We do have Tas....i mean midnight malice is going to Hungary, so I figured we could have an agent in Europe.
[note: Tas entered the MTC on August 5 for a mission to Hungary. Bon enters the MTC August 19 for a mission to Louisiana.]
Me: I'm not sure if those monsters rote
sound ready to use. Also, Midnight Malice won't be in Hungary for a few weeks, so we won't HAVE a Europe agent.
Bon: Meh, he's getting there. And monsters are better if you can't really control them anyways
Me: Valid point. I mean if we can't control them, no one else can, right?
Bon: Exactly! Besides, I'm sure we can figure it out before they kill tons of people and rebel
Me: Nawh, stopping them can be Tas's job, after he betrays us.
[note: it's now August 11.]
Me: So... World domination today? We've got like six hours left...
Bon: Oh Uh.... Sure? Not really sure how to start. I didn't think we'd get that far. I thought for sure the monsters would get free and easy my face by now...
Me: Well, that's not productive. It was YOUR deadline, buddy! ;)
Bon: Yeah... But in my defense, you are the planner. So what's the plan.
Me: My plan was a later goal for domination, sometime when the monsters are ready and we actually have an agent in Europe. :P
Bon: Oh fine... If you don't want any suspense... It would have been so exciting, but no, you want a "well thought out" plan with a chance of success...
Me: Yes. When I say world domination, I mean it. :D
Bon: [sigh] fine......it's just so much less fun
Me: What part of actually ruling the world is less fun than a failed attempt?
Bon: It's the excitement of not knowing if you will succeed, the tension of thinking you're monsters will eat your face, then the relief as you wrest control at the last second. It's exhilarating! Or painful...
Me: I prefer the exhilaration with as little pain as possible. It that's boring, then I guess that's me!
And that is where the plan for world domination currently stands. Watch out, we're coming. ALSO. I LOVE my friends!
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