Decision

I have leaned...leaned...leaned...FALLEN for one of those jumpers I showed y'all yesterday!  Which one you ask?

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/avocet/avocet_b.html

Actually, Number Two, the simple garter-stitch, button-less cardigan.  I like the drape and fit of it, and if I make the X-Small version, and hike it down a set of needles, and check my gauge, I think it will fit ME properly!  Now to scrounge up some yarn... I have about 340 grams of a nice navy I like (because that nautical jumper rubbed off some on me too) but I'm going to need something else.  I'm thinking white stripes.  I saw something like that at Old Navy in a jumper, and I like the whole sailor feel to it.  Fairly narrow stripes, by the way.

Yarn to be picked over on Friday (my birthday!) so updates then, y'all!
AMZi x x x x x

PS Brilliant friend of mine from Summit recommended GrooveShark to me :: a free, legal, easy music listening site.  I. Love. It.  I'm getting my fill of Nightwish on it at this very moment--"Amaranth," "Nemo," and "Over the Hills and Far Away."

Knittingbugs

Hahaha, I've caught it.  I neeeeeed to knit something.  And at present, it's looking like that something will be a jumper...sweater...cardigan.  Whatever you call it.  That's what I mean by jumper.

I've been surfing the interwebz for free patterns, all the while half-griping because I hate patterns.  So many of them annoy me.  And almost all of them are too...wide? for me.  Not politically correct term, I'm sure.  Whatever.  But I have found some I like--or at least I like the idea of them...

This one I like, but I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's the ukulele I actually like...

This one I like a lot... no buttons, simple lines... garter stitch. *cough* 

Can't show the picture for this one, but lose the stripes, and I like the shape of it.

Kind of like this one but it requires circular needles, which I have a phobia of buying. :P

Lose the flowers on this and I like it too.  I'm finding I'm liking the closer-fitting ones, or else ones that hang straight rather than just bulking everywhere.

This one I love... ditching the version with faux gold braid, but it keeps the nautical feel.  Love. It.

I think I like this one , though it may be just the color.  Problem being I don't think I could pull it off, with that low closure and all.  

I like how comfortable this looks, but it'd be IMMENSE on me.  It's a tending-toward-looseness type anyhow!

This one's really what I had in mind... the straight collar/edge thing, button-less, etc.  

So!  Thoughts?  Opinions?  As if I have any money whatsoever to be spending on yarn, *laughter* I know.  But I like to look around... I also kinda want to try my hand at this but... I've never been a hat-wearer, and I'm proud of it.  And it has NOTHING whatever to do with claustrophobia... *nods like crazy*  Of course not.  Heh.  Tight spaces all of me can fit in give me a thrill, actually, but wearing a hat or helmet that boxes off my peripheral vision drives me bonkers.  That style isn't in my way though, so I'm not sure... we'll see!

AMZi x x x x x

Ladybugs

I haven't really been crafting at all since coming home...that's one part of my old life I just haven't reopened.  But yesterday I did whip up something tiny.  And I mean TINY.

Actually, a little girl I was babysitting had an actual pair of earrings that looked like ladybugs.  I thought that was brill, but I didn't know where to get them (and I don't spend money--it hurts!) so I decided to make some myself.

All I did was take a pair of those crystal surgeon's steel studs you can get 6 of for like $2.  I happened to have two pairs of basically the same thing--medium "diamond" looking studs.  Using one pair, and some of my eons-old Sculpey clay, I modeled the ladybugs.  Stabbed the posts through a piece of paper into a teased cotton ball, so they'd stand up while baking.  Baked for only 5 minutes and that was it!  Super easy.  And I love the result. :)

AMZi x x x x x

Freeman Stand or Freeman Fall

Scots Wha Hae
by Robbie Burns, June 24, 1786

Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled
Scots wham Bruce have aften led
Welcome tae your gory bed
Or tae victory

Now's the day and now's the hour
See the front of battle lour
And see approach proud Edwar'd pow'r
Chains and slaverie

Wha'll be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let 'im turn and flee

Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw
Freeman stand or freeman fa'
Let 'im on wi' me

By oppression's woes and pains
By your sons in servile chains
We will drain our dearest veins
But they shall be free

Lay the proud usurper low
Tyrants fall wi' every foe
And liberty's in every blow
Let us do or die

More Like WHAT?

Haha, sorry, I just heard about this and needed to blog it.  Wow.  Still reeling.  You've got to be kidding.

In the words of el padre, "not all Christian music is created equal."  Listen to this...



Sound good?  Let's just pick this apart a little.

Give me rules / I will break them / Give me lines / I will cross them :: This is called Antinomianism.  More on this in a moment.

I need more than a truth to believe in / I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes / To sweep me off my feet :: So your faith is therefore based on a feeling.  Does this mean that when you feel like you're all alone, your faith doesn't exist?  Does Christianity become any less of a "truth" when it's difficult?

More like falling in love / Than something to believe in / More like losing my heart / Than giving my allegience :: Am I the only one who sees the insanity in this?  Feelings, emotions, no thought.  The minute you STOP feeling like your head is spinning and your heart is leaping, where are you?  What do you have left?

Give me words / I'll misuse them / Obligations / I'll misplace them :: And did we want to actually identify this as a bad thing?  Because it isn't something to be proud of.

Cause all religion made me / Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet :: No, the word for that is the "law."  The law that man couldn't keep.  The law that requires perfection, which nobody can achieve.  That's the REASON for GRACE.  That's not "religion."

Back to Antinomianism.  Definition :: The belief that moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation.  YES, "By grace you have been saves, through faith," and NOT by works (that belief is called Legalism :: earning your way to salvation) BUT ALSO, "By your fruit they shall know you" and "so also faith apart from works is dead."  Antinomianism, taken to its simple, logical conclusion, leads to a "I have my ticket to Heaven because I prayed a prayer, so till then, I'll party!" mindset.  If you truly have faith, the Holy Spirit should be working within you, convicting and weeding out the habits of the world.  Give me rules / I'll break them is NOT a Christian worldview, it's just another form of Postmodernism.

I don't have anything personal against this Jason Gray guy.  Till today I never knew he existed.  I'm not pretending to know anything about the state of his salvation--that's not my place.  But I do know that on this account, he's wrong.  I can only hope he never has to "give an account for the hope that is within [him]" because saying, "I just...it just swept me off my feet!  It's like... falling in love" will NEVER cut it with a thinking questioner.

AMZi x x x x x

Reef All Sails!

Now we can actually GO somewhere!  Pretty sweet, yes?

And you can see my awesome cannon now, shiny and such.  Don't worry, we'll put it back inside the ship where it's more useful.  :)

Now... if only I had a rudder!
AMZi x x x x x

Piece of China

Here's one ::

And here's another ::

I'm very lucky to have un abuelo fabuloso who travels the world.  Muchly.  Like eight times, they've been on these world cruise things.  The cool part is, every time they go somewhere, el abuelo brings me back some rocks!  I have quite a large collection now, rocks from various places around the world.  It makes me happy. :)

This is the rock that started it all...

I have lots more but can only share a few with y'all...

From Jordan... yes, the red sandstone one changes color in the sunlight!

...The southernmost city in the world, I believe.  The very tip of Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Argentina, South America.

So... needless to say, this is VOLCANIC rock. :P

Generally the rocks are interesting (like that melded Devil's Island one) just geologically speaking.  Or sometimes they're just sentimental.  I've got several from railroad lines... have I mentioned my love affair with the railroads?  The old kind.  The real kind.  I caught the bug from the very same abuelo who made his fortune on the Illinois Central line and is just all about trains!  Something about them... even just coal carriers these days.  Love it. :)

AMZi x x x x x

Ahoy!

Time for another update on the progress of my shipbuilding!  Rather, the building of MY ship by el hermano who is savvy.  Check it out!

Dude!  Masts, bowsprit, dude!  And you can't see it (poor you) but my cannons are actually fully modeled and historically accurate.  *nods*  The water/sky contrast is a nice touch, yes?

This rocks my socks.  El hermano, being savvy, but not ALL-savvy, wasn't sure how to pull this off, but he did!  I love how you can see the flash of red from the bunk inside. :)  Yes, yes, brill, don't I know it!

Today I'm hoping to buckle down to another area of my "real life," that being writing...  So far I've acclimated back to laundry, reading a lot, room-tidying (as in, actually having materials in said room to tidy, rather than living conveniently out of a 4 sq. ft. suitcase!) and my piano.  Still need to get back into the swing of violin and writing.  And get my schedule under control.  I never sleep past 7 am, and lately I've been rolling out of bed around 9!  Siiiiigh.  Ah well.  We'll get there.  Eventually. :)

So I'll type up what parts of Ch 8 I wrote while on my trip, and then we'll see about some actual action!  

AMZi x x x x x

The Report, Concluded

Really this post is just an excuse to use the pics I took at the park.  There's a great big park just a little ways away from Summit, and three times a week we'd go there for the afternoon.  Volleyball nets would be set up, games of soccer, football, ultimate frisbee, you name it!  Plus a lot of jam sessions in the shade.  Time to catch up on reading and for some of us, sleeping!

 And they had swings! :)

And tennis... see, the closest I've come to playing tennis in the recent past has been Garage Pong...which is a completely different sport!  So, not knowing how to hold a racket, much less SWING it, I set off to play tennis.  Ha ha.  Wipe that look off your face.

Actually, though it looks like I abandoned the sport in favor of snapping macro shots, I did play!  What's more, I hit the ball!  What's MORE, the other time I played, I hit the ball in more or less the right direction (some of the time).  Ah well.  I had a lot of fun, which is saying something for someone who avoids round sporting objects like... *shudder* balls!

Behind the park they had some real nice trails, which I only ventured into once on our last park day, which I'm sorry about because they were lovely.  The red flower picture in my first report was taken there.  And the yuccas were blooming.  They also have this epic stuff in Colorado called spear-grass.  Let's just say it's pretty darn awesome and leave it at that.... heh heh.

Readjustment is rough. I felt great there, probably because the elevation raised my pathetically low blood pressure (like, I could stand up without passing out).  I like Kansas, but I miss the mountains, and the red roads, and the lack of humidity and mosquitoes!  Ah well.  This is real life, not that, but I'll do anything to get back there next year!  Everything about that place was so amazing....

AMZi x x x x x

The Report, Continued

The Sightseeing Report!

The Air Force Academy!  Dude, the highlight for me was the chapel.  It's amazing!

Architecture, what?  So cool!

I love how it reminds me of a paper airplane... folded and stuff.  Fitting, yes?

Organ...woah... *in shock*

I like this shot. :)

I also saw the Olympic Training Center.  This was somewhere just inside the front door....  The cool thing is, at that elevation, the balls go about 3 ft higher than they would normally, so the gym ceiling is WAY up there!

We drove up to the top of Pike's Peak.... the summit itself was under cloud cap, so we couldn't see anything from the very top, but we were literally in the middle of a cloud!  Which was cool.  :)

I love the sky and the lakes up that high....

Quite a view!

And this little guy we met at a lodge about 7 miles up I believe... must be completely tamed by visitors because he walked right by the car and sat down to pose for us!

There you have it... I still have pictures from the park to show y'all though, so we'll continue in this vein tomoz!
AMZi x x x x x

I'm Back!

After two weeks in Manitou Springs, Colorado, a day in the Black Forest, and a day on the road.  Plus a day of recovery yesterday.  I appear to be on Warp Time Zone--where I sleep on CO time, eat on Hawaii time, and lose track of all time regardless of what's going on.  Forget Kansas time!

So...the Report.  Y'all should check out the website, summit.org.  The Summit, student conference in CO, I can stand as witness to.  It roxx.  Epically.

No seriously.  It's hard to describe :: all of the awesomeness is still swimming around in my head...or maybe that's the change in elevation...  At any rate, it's a shock to come back, like I've got torn up by my roots.  Which is strange.  I wasn't homesick for home while AT the Summit (too busy making friends, learning new things, doing all sorts of stuff, etc.) but now that I am home, I'm homesick for the Summit!

I've always been looking for a place where I fit.  I remember distinctly trying to find it in churches we've been to. Waiting to fit in, to become like the other girls (and I wanted so badly to be like them).  It never clicked.  The church we attend now is very nice and I like it there.  When asked, I would tell my friends, "It's as close to a home as a person like me is ever going to find."

Well, I was wrong.  I found it.  Summit is a place where there are people like me.  Let me explain that, because it's not quite enough yet.  I have various "groups" or "classifications" of friends :: my writing friends, my music friends, my doctrine/theology friends, my friends who think, my friends who laugh.  I hope I can say that for every area of interest, every passion of mine, I have at least one friend I can share that with.

But at Summit, I can be ALL of me.  That means a lot to an introvert like me :: it takes so much work to bring myself into the outside world that it can be tempting to just drag out one element of my character--the entertainer, or the nerd, or the writer, or the musician.  Whichever aspect is most convenient.  It takes about three solid hours of interaction to get past whatever element I pulled out, and then you get closer to the real me.  At Summit, I don't need to be one element.  I can be ALL of me, every aspect, and people know it and they don't care.  They can see me, varying from hour to hour like every other human being.  See the music, see the thinking and arguing, see the joking and laughing, see the need for solitude and peace, see the joy or the pain or the anger.  It's a place where I don't have to review everything I say to check for politically-correct-ness.  THAT aspect alone is worth the price of the conference!

Not to say that we're all alike there.  Not by a long shot!  The difference is, you can disagree without getting stomped on.  You can sit down over dinner and have a nice logical conversation with someone who is vastly different.  People all around you are hearing new things, thinking new things, following their beliefs to their conclusions and seeing where they're headed.  And everybody knows it.

It is nice not to be such a minority anymore.  To have at least five people I can count on to back me up and help me out.  It changes my outlook from argument-weary to argument-worthy.

And this post has turned out super long, so I'll leave you with that.  Tomoz I think I'll give the report of what I did in between all of this home-niche-place-where-I-belong finding. :)
AMZi x x x x x