Rock-On-inov!

Do you know that means? (Besides the fact that Danielle is capable of creating bad puns from the names of Russian composers...) I have officially jumped on the Rachmaninov/Rachmaninoff bandwagon! It all started with a four-CD set of various composers, including Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov and a few others. *is in awe*

Okay okay! I know ya'll are hanging on the edge of your seats for the next part of the Columbus the Pigeon saga, so here it is:

...He realizes that THE PERFECT THING TO PAINT is his family! So he goes home and does just that; finishing with only a few days before the contest to spare. However, life isn't carefree for Columbus yet. Just when he thought he was safe, the evil alley cat, Dominic Dupont (yes I am proud of my alliterative names), slashes the painting to pieces.

The End

...

Okay, that's not REALLY the end, that's coming in the next post, along with the pictures of Columbus I have been doodling on every spare scrap of paper I have. >:-) I feel so maniacal. :D

Soooo...We went to this really big, really lovely church called "Christ the King (CTK) Community Church". It was really "AAAAHHH!!! THIS IS A BIG CHURCH!" *dazzle* at first (which induced me to, upon seeing the auditorium seating in the sanctuary, dubiously remark that "Maybe we should've bought tickets..."). Thankfully, the entire attitude of the church seems very much to be that they would rather encourage and enlighten, and never entertain. So, it was much good; we shall probably be attending that church.

Raaaandom updates are...well, random! Here are some more random updates to finish it off:

-Valentine's Day confuses me.
-Facebook occassionally annoys me.
-I really enjoy drawing pigeons. I mean, REALLY enjoy...
-My family and I are participating in Lent.
-One of the horsies is gone for a competition, which means that the other is looking wistfully towards the road, wondering sadly..."Rosie, light of my life, WHERE HAVE YOU GONE???!!!"
-Algebra doesn't like me, and the feeling is quite mutually returned.
-American Idol is a worthless show. And yet, we continue to watch it and laugh/occasionally empathize with the poor people who put themselves out on a limb, and get sawn off by the ruthlessly sharp tongues of the...er, not very nice judges. :)
-I want to watch the Illusionist.

I miss everyone. :(

But I'd rather end on a happy note!

:)

"It was a blustery day in the 100 acre woods..."

Maybe Washington is acting as a parallel universe for the 100 AW, because it sure is windy right now!

So we now have Internet at our house and are abusing it dutifully (Facebook and Gmail are awfully addicting, after all...). I am teaching my siblings art, piano, and Latin; though we've only completed the first art class so far (We studied Van Gogh and his present of his own personally-amputated ear to his ex-girlfriend...Why are the best artists so weird?!).

We still have not found a decent homeschool group, which pains me greatly, as we have no friends in Washington and no real means to find them. Throughout our various bouts of depression/depressing thoughts, my siblings and I are desperately trying to not kill each other, which occasionally proves difficult. :)

I am composing a childrens' book, entitled Columbus the Pigeon (working title, of course). It is about a French fowl searching for the perfect thing to paint for an art contest in France. He travels around the world looking for such an object, and fails miserably until...

He realizes. What does he realize? You'll just have to wait till the next post! Muahahaha! The suspense is killing you, I know... :) I am also in the process of pre-writing a (fantasy-ish) novel about a young artist who works as an apprentice in the Great Library of Something-or-other-Cool-Town-Name. It is fun. It is painful to realize how much work it will require to ever become a good writer, let alone a great writer. (If any of you are following the controversy over Christopher Paolini's Eragon on Bubbs, please ignore it in this particular paragraph. :) It makes me sad that the writing and enjoyment of books has been over-commercialized; whether or not I ever get published in any way, shape or form, I only pray that I may do my best to the glory and honor of God. O, for Tolstoy and Tolkien and Tocqueville! Lewis and Locke! Hobbes and...wait a second...

You know, I'm pretty sure that, if I believed in reincarnation, I was probably one of the architects for the Tower of Babble, because I am rambling a lot on this post...:)

I miss my friends! Hope you are all well!

-Danielle

100% Humidity GUARANTEED!!!

...or not. So there we were; steeling ourselves for potential flooding and/or lots and lots of water falling from the sky, and what do we get? SNOW!!! Tons and tons of freezing, falling, flaky white snow!! I WANT A REFUND!!!

Just kidding. I love the snow and its chilliness. It was simply ironic to be expecting the legendary rains of Washington, and getting snowed into a house that has no Internet =o (though I have Internet now). Or washer/dryer. (BIG =0)

In other news:
-It is nice to have horses in your front yard, especially when your landlord pays you 50 dollars a month to feed them twice a day. :D
-It is not nice, however, to be in a bonafide country-fried town where your closest neighbor is half an acre away, and all the rest are at least four acres away. Much more difficult to make friends that way.
-It is also difficult to go anywhere to meet people when you are snowed in.
-Torrey is good. I miss it a lot.
-Friends are good. I miss them SO MUCH that I neglected most of my school today due to staring at the ceiling from my bed in a desperate attempt to fight off maniacal depression. It was quite a dramatic battle. Polyatomic ions (Chemistry!) are never as interesting as when you have so many other melancholy things to dwell on!
-Laundry is good. Too bad we can't do any, because our town doesn't even really have a laundromat, and it would take 10 minutes to get to it anyways.
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More depressed and angstily composed thoughts...
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-OKAY! Here's the good part about Washington, since I can't seem to think of any others. It is by God's grace that I am here, safe and sound, in a beautiful state. It is by God's grace that I can see his beauty in so many ways that smoggy L.A. would never allow. It is by God's grace that I am here to do as He pleases, and by God's grace I will certainly complete His pleasure!

It is by God's grace that I have friends I can turn to, a family who loves me and whom I love, and a future which he has planned for me.

Thank you all for your wonderful support. I love and miss you all, and hope you are well.

The Adventures of Kakie, Bunny and Squishy: An Epic Tale of Caffeinated Proportions

Once upon a time, there were three friends: Kakie, Bunny, and Squishy. Kakie was beautiful, Bunny was fluffy, and Squishy was...well, Squishy. They all lived in the sunshiny state of So. Cal., and decided to have an Adventure. This is how it happened:

In the morning, they set off to church, and ate donuts. But first, Bunny and Kakie decided it would be good to pray before eating:

Bunny is reverent of her donuts.

Next, they go to In-n-Out for lunch. Bunny is hungry, so she drinks soda:



Eats a French fry...


And part of Squishy's ear...0.o


Next, Bunny ponders the meaning of life.


After In-n-Out, Bunny is STILL hungry, so she munches on some Starbucks.


Luckily, Starbucks survives long enough for Bunny to try on some fashionable headgear...



...And peruse the artistry of Starbucks.


Squishy, meanwhile, rejects the camera. Buahahaha!!! :D


Bunny agrees that it is hard to be emo in pink.


Kakie knows what it takes.


Kakie, Bunny and Squishy agree that, after a fine day of eating and enjoying the world, it is good to have friends.



Finis.

Happy Birthday, and other Statements of Fact.

*Ahem*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!!!!

For those of you who are not aware as to who Scott is, he is Awesome. Along with that, he happens to be an excellent actor/speech-and-debater, an author, and an unusually efficient organizer of parties in which his parents are "murdered" with rubber swords and extract of grapefruit-seed juice. Unfortunately, my family and I are moving. On his birthday. Which is today. So I decided to try and make it up by posting on my blog how happy I hope his birthday is! :D Happy Birthday Scotty!

As far as other statements of fact are concerned, here we go:

-Staying up till 1:00 in the morning to pack for a trip (for which you must wake up by 5:00 in the morning) is not very happy for one's temper.
-Eating cinnamon rolls and bacon, however, is excellent for improving spirits.
-McDonalds gets really old. Really fast.
-The Peterson's van is stuffed more tightly than Betty Crocker's turkey on Thanksgiving.
-Going to Washington currently just feels like another vacation. It is, right?
-The Petersons are currently in Sacramento (more specifically Roseville). Next Stop: Oregon (I think).

That is pretty much the summupage of my trip thus far. I miss ya'll A VERY LOT!!! :(:(:(:(:( I will be sending many of you letters once we reach our FINAL DESTINATION. *dun dun DUN*

Coming Up Soon:
-The Adventures of Kakie, Squishy and Bunny: An Epic Tale of Caffeinated Proportions. (Complete with Pictures!)
-The Next Leg of the Journey

I feel special...

81 words

Touch Typing online

Isn't it wonderful that Saturdays yield nothing but pure lazi-/uselessness? :)

Alexis de Tocqueville is an interesting author. I'm not sure how much of his argument I agree with, but I do think that excellence in the arts, sciences (etcetera) in America is very much sub-par in comparison to that of Europe. Is there anything we can do to revive (or introduce, according to was Tocqueville thinks) a new level of excellence?

I wonder if it IS good for us to prize freedom and equality above all others...Do we?

One more week till lift-off...Washington, here we come! :) :P :( :D :'( :'(

:S

Well, that was fun!

Goodness, I hadn't realized how depressed/depressing my last post was...sorry...:)

I'm not sure how much better I've gotten since last I posted, but I have been more and more fully aware of my stupidity! *smiles cheerfully*

That...that's a good thing, right?

Anyways, serving me a good helping of humble pie was very good of God. Didn't taste very good, but I probably just need to get used to it! Bah, what's a bit of unpleasant meat every now and then? Makes ice cream taste a whole lot better, it does...

So, as far as the moving updates are concerned, our official leave date for WA (also known as WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH) is the 21st of January. Ah, Washington...Does everyone want to know how I feel about Washington? Of course! Here, I'll tell you...

The Ode to Washington

Once upon a time you see,
So very long ago,
There was a land of beauty
In which there was no snow.

O, this land was gorgeous
A second Eden in the flesh!
It never rained, never poured
The weather ALWAYS blessed!

Until, one day, it happened...
Inevitably bad
The skies transformed from rays to rain
Thus doomed, was the poor land

Hail and sleet and pouring rain
A veritable swamp
To where did such Utopia fly?
The sun was now quite damp!

The people left, the market died
They left, 'long with the sun.
With some disdaining, the few remaining
Renamed it, Washington

-Danielle

Thank you all for your encouragement as my family and I venture in the wet and wild world of Washington.

Smallness...

Currently I am feeling very small. Not merely small in physical stature, which I happen to actually be, but small in mind and heart and soul.

As far as mind, my intelligence is so much lower than so many people! My perseverance for learning in general is sorely lacking, and I cannot bear doing more-than-usually-difficult work. Also, I am fairly unteachable as far as "Don't-bother-me-I-can-learn-this-on-my-own" sort of thing...

Concerning heart, there is little to say but, "GROW GROW GROW!!!" My friends are so wonderful and compassionate that I feel low and vulgar on occasion.

My soul...Ah, the soul! So much growing for it to do! Never more than twice a week do I read my Bible, and quick blips of "prayer" before I shut off the light are the staples of my Christianity. I feel that my soul is small, small, small; and malnourished....

I am not complaining of my incompetence for practically everything, I just had the very stark realization that I am very, very low in the scheme of things.

And I am frightened. I am frightened for the people I am going to meet as I move to Washington; I am frightened for the potential damage and stupidity I could create there; I am frightened for all the people here who I have underappreciated and never loved as much as they deserve. My mind, heart, and soul are so shallow and unfinished that it feels overwhelming, and I am not sure what to do.

I have such a wonderful life! I am in nearly-perfect physical health, my family is wonderful, we are well-provided for, I have amazing friends, wonderful teachers and an excellent school. So then I look at the people around me who are suffering from health problems, who have endured incredible pain and who have grown incredibly through enduring pain. I see beauty, humility, joy and compassion, and a knowledge which far surpasses any found in your average A Beka textbooks.

What does it take to become as transparently lovely, in heart, soul and mind, as those who have endured the trials of life? I know we should not pray for trial, but what should we pray for? Can a good and easy life yield the same results? Were/are we all meant for this beauty?

Usquequaque...

...means "utterly", in Latin. It is a lovely word, and accurately describes my current mode of living. I am utterly thankful for being utterly happy, utterly sick, and utterly busy, and am utterly uttering these things to you. :D

I have spent the past week (in perfect physical health) moaning and groaning about pretty much everything and being melancholy. As of coming home from school yesterday, I found out that I was sick...

For some reason, I am utterly happy and thankful for life now!

And in Torrey we had the magnificent Thanksgiving devotional by Mr. Bartel, in which we discussed gratitude, seeing things for what they truly are (i.e., God's creation), and (I think) God's gift of life to us (initiation courtesty of Mr. Chesterton and his "Crazy Tale").

I wonder if part of being grateful for God's creation is enjoying it? As my teacher mentioned, we should certainly not idolize anything, but perhaps we end up idolizing something because we do not look long enough at it. Should we then look and enjoy and learn all the more?

There are so many amazing things to learn from God! I know that's a "Captain-Obvious" thing to say, but I haven't said or understood it nearly enough. Maybe seeing what's right under our noses, and realizing that they are important, is the first step towards seeing things properly at all.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

(Oh, and anyone who likes pretty, fluffy comics with Russian-named characters, they should read "The Phoenix Requiem", at http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/. It is happy. :)

Whee!!!

Yay!!! It is Friday, which means that "Vita est bona"!

I just wanted to share this lovely and amusing (to me) site with anyone who cares.

www.godtube.com

It is the "Christian equivalent" of YouTube.