i blogged a blog in time gone by

Yet another dorky, not especially meaningful blog post.

"There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler’s mind."

~ Douglas Adams

I suppose if I was really interested in blogging, I would blog more. Oh well. Interests change.

.....Adios for now, young whippersnappers.

~ Diana

P.S.   *facepalm* What a uninteresting and inspiration-less post!

P.S.S. None of the photos are mine.

11 tag

Savanna at Pandas, Lightsabers and Cameras, Oh My!! tagged me for "The 11 Tag". This particular tags seems to be going around the blogging world like a virus, and while I'm late to the game, I shall endeavor to participate. Thanks, Savanna! <3

The Rules:

1) Post these rules.

2) Post 11 random things about yourself.

3) Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.

4) Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

5) Go to their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged.

6) No cop-outs in the tagging section like, “If you are reading this” or “if you follow me”. You have to legitimately tag people!

11 Random things about myself:

1. I adore the numbers 5,7 and 77. I like 7 because it is a special number in the Bible, and 5 because it is so neat and mathematical, like a building block. I would like 5 kids when I get married (someday, if) because then the total number of people in my family would be 7. How cool is that?!

2. I don't like socializing. At all. One or two new people I can handle, but people in large groups terrify me.

3. I want to earn an M.D. someday just so I can say "I'm a doctor, not a ----!" to someone, courtesy of Dr. McCoy.

4. These are kind of boring random things. Is this cheating?


5. I really cannot stand most country music. It makes me want to either throw something at the radio or jump off of a cliff and drown. 


6. I consider myself a fangirl for War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I really liked the book. 


7.  I raise sheep and chickens. 


8.  I never ever lie. However this virtue is minor when compared to my numerous other faults.


9. My room is painted blue, and I have the words "Don't Panic" tacked up above my bed.


10.  I hate winter. 


11.  I don't really like Jane Austen books. I think her characterizations are fantastic, but they just aren't my type of book.




SAVANNA's QUESTIONS:


 1. What do you think of homeschoolers?

I support homeschoolers, being one myself. Independent learning is the way to go.

2. What was your favorite TV show as a child?

As a child we never watched TV (excepting the occasional movie) voluntarily, strange as it sounds. Thank you to my mother for not getting me hooked on it! Now I still don't watch much TV, but I'd have to say Star Trek (from the 1960's; I haven't seen much of the spin-off series yet) and Get Smart, which is vapid, amusing, funny and has the greatest retro looking outfits. 

Star Trek I like because it is really neat, and strange. The original series of Star Trek has the most entertaining characters. TNG (The Next Generation) characters don't come close. It also has some really neat storylines, and amusingly hokey battles and special effects. Plus, it has Spock. :D

3. What is your main passion in life?

Hmm..

follow where God leads me, and I want to accomplish something big. Something that will last beyond me.

4. If you could choose one song to represent your life, what would it be?

....... I don't know. Hopefully an epic movie theme!

5. Ice cream or Popsicle?

Ice cream all the way. Support the dairy industry. Coffee ice cream especially. And vanilla bean.

6. Who is you favorite villain (from a movie or TV show)?

Darth Vader (duh) Klingons (because they're awesome) and Borg (resistance is futile). I'm sure there are more but it escapes my mind.

7. Who do you greatly admire in this world?

I admire great people who stuck to their principles, like John Adams (and Abigail Adams), Winston Churchill, Steve Jobs because he started Apple, and I can't think of anymore right now.

8. How would you describe your clothing style?

Classic, bohemian, retro, practical.....my clothing style isn't particularly unique.

9. Do you like thrill rides (roller coasters, etc) at amusement parks?

They make my stomach hurt, and I detest crowds. No.

10. Have you ever been to Disney World or Disneyland?

Nope, and not particularly interested in going either. Too crowded, expensive, and I'm not really a big Disney fan.

11. How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

Self-absorbed, capable, introverted.




AND NOW, my QUESTIONS:


1. If you could be anything you wanted to without working for it, what would you be?
2. Summer or winter?
3. Can you ski?
4. Would you rather live in the past or in the future if you couldn't live now?
5. Star Trek or Star Wars? Both?
6. Dogs or cats?
7. If an alien suddenly landed in front of you right now, what would you do first?
8. Define the word "awesome".
9. Do you think only drinking white (with milk) coffee is racist?
10. How many kids would you like to have?
11. Favorite number?




I tag, hmm.....Mary , Evelyn, Tanichcha, and David.  You're on!

middlings

Greetings, friends, family, and assorted sentient beings. 

The reason I haven't blogged in a while is the usual affliction: not having a single bloody thing to write about. 

What have I been doing:

watched The Phantom Menace in 3D which was fun

thinking about how to cram (yet not doing it) and get a a diploma early so I can be legally high school free

not really...I hope....

wishing for summer

wishing I was at med school hacking dissecting cadavers (sort of kidding...mostly...)

(oops maybe I shouldn't have written that)

listening to large Labs snoring

watching Star Trek

waiting

being cautious

reading Pride and Prejudice for school  (favorite characters: Mr. Bennet because he is witty and Mr. Bingley because he's so dumb and clueless)

hating on Peeta and Gale for being one-dimensional characters

.....

What I haven't been doing:

blogging (obviously!)

skiing (I wish)

hiking through wildernesses (ditto) 

making pasta salad

rescuing princesses

dancing

looking for the Holy Grail

playing Whack-a-Mole

working at SETI

joining Starfleet 

.....

What I wish I could do:

explore wildernesses

make my father's back heal instantly (prayers please)

write a novel

get an M.D. just so I could say legitimately "I'm a doctor, not a ____!" to someone

find mummies buried under the front porch 

or else an ancient castle

i'm not sure

go to the north pole

ensure that my sheep are pregnant

stop the human race from being so hopelessly stupid and blind

.....

That's it for today folks. Have a wonderful weekend.

~ Diana

to my mother

{yellow cake, cherry jam filling, Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, fondant}

sunglasses

I like sunglasses.

They are entertaining to me: how they make people look like bug-eyed aliens or sleek robots. I look really weird/funny/odd/nerdish in them, but I still like them.


I don't actually own a pair though.

{via}

Wicked hipster Ray-Bans.

O.O My goodness.

And the John Lennon glasses.

LIKE A BOSS.









Weird guy from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Okay, maybe they're 3-D glasses, but they're adorable. I want them.

I really like this pair from ModCloth.

And this pair. Cute and geeky looking.


And the

ANYWAY, my next post will be my 100th post!  *insert devious grin*

Maybe I should do a giveaway? Let me know what you think in a comment.

~ Diana

(photos from Tumblr, Wikipedia except ModCloth glasses)

a plea for disagreement

Okay, so I was reading a blog today, and I came accross an extremely (I think I use that word too much) disturbing GIF.


It was about gay rights (which is not our topic today), yadda yadda yadda, and ended with these two panels. Yes, that is Josh Hutcherson, AKA Peeta in the Hunger Games movies, but whatever.....AVENGERS. (Just had to get that out there)






Does that disturb you? I am seriously creeped out.


And futhermore, we're not gonna let anybody say anything bad about anyone.


WHAT?


It's almost like living in a dystopian novel, where no one is allowed to say anything bad about anyone else. They already label "hate crimes" in some countries. And in the early 19th century "libel" (or saying anything about the ruling party) was a crime.
I believe that disagreement helps shape us. for as C.S. Lewis says, "You are a soul. You have a body." Not the other way round.

Proverbs 24:6 ~ "For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellers there is safety." (i.e, not just one accepted view) 

How will we know the truth if we can't test it against untruth (rather irrelevant in a post-modern society sadly)? In America we still have the Constitutional right to say whatever we want, however loony it may be. If you want to say that you think gay marriage, abortion, or government interference is wrong, you should certainly be able to say so, without it being labeled as a "hate crime" or what-have-you. Conversely, the opposite views can say what they want. The truth is still there. Everything is biased one way or another.

I mean, hate IS wrong, but it only hurts the person hating, so unless it leads to unlawful acts, whose business of it is if you hate something?

It is only when people sit, think, and argue that the true course of action can be determined. Like Socrates. Like Jesus pitting His truth against the Pharisees and Jewish leaders. WHY do we believe a certain thing about a certain issue? 

The type of thinking that the estimable Josh displays leads to a creepy Orwellian society, where no one thinks but merely receives (e.g. public schools) and everyone doesn't care anyway because we're all distracted  by the endless predigested entertainment through our televisions, computers, iPads, iPods........

True thing, that.

Truly disturbing.

And I'm aware this really wasn't one of my most logical or best written posts, but bear with me, okay?

My dad got to come home from the hospital today, so we are all happy about that. Please keep praying for his recuperation. :-)

TTFN, ta-ta for now, if I may quote Tigger.

~ Diana


P.S. AVENGERS. See what I meant about endless entertainment? Still, May 4th IS coming.

libri

Well, I am alive.
*insert cheering and canned laughter*


My life is changing. 


My dad is in the hospital recovering from a serious back operation. He is in excruciating pain, so please put him in your prayers. 
I have spent the last several days at home (as usual; hermits hate going to new places) watching my siblings while my mother spent the majority of the day at the hospital. We watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 

The Joneses.

which was the perfect action-adventure movie: I loved it. So awesome! And we watched, on a whim, UHF, which is a little known comedy spoof with Weird Al Yankovic in it, which is why we watched it, because we're Weird Al fans. Hilarious movie, but very off kilter and weird. 

So that is life. 

I'm reading some books on education, Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and rereading Jurassic Park.I just read The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, and The Giver by Lois Lowry.

The Andromeda Strain was pretty good. I liked it.

It was written in a very dry, scientific,  and in some spots slow manner.The end was a bit of a letdown. It is about a germ that comes to Earth from space (hitching a ride on a space capsule) and kills off an entire town. Five men are sent to an underground secret location and they have to figure out how this germ (the Andromeda strain) works, and how to kill it.

The Giver....ugh, it was awful.

 Set in a dystopic futuristic society, where there are no emotions and everything is colorless, it tells about how one boy escapes. The Sameness of the society is intriguing, but not well fleshed out enough to be plausible. I suppose the author thought she was making a case how individuality and being able to make choices keep us human, but it came off as rather uninteresting and depressing. A very bleak book, written simply and sparsely (the writing is better than in The Hunger Games), this book goes on my Depressing Books I hated List, where it can share the space with Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, which was fantastically written but completely non-relatable to a teenager and absolutely tragic.

Oh, and The Hunger Games? After reading/suffering through all three books in the trilogy I feel entitled to state my opinions.

1. THG should have been a stand-alone book.

2. Catching Fire was the worst. I was confused and annoyed while reading it. 

3. Fangirling over Peeta and Gale misses the entire point of the series.

4. They're very violent. Don't read the second and third book if you are squeamish. However the first book wasn't too bad.

5. Suzanne Collin's characterizations weren't terrific. All three of her main characters could have been fleshed out a lot more, because they came across as flat in some places.

6. This series really shows the sadness and tragedy of war to its victims. In a society that glorifies violence we need to remember this, yet also remember that evil must be stamped out, and we can start in our own souls.

7. The movie looks like it is going to be good. Maybe they can fix the problems the book had.

There's a lot more one could say about THG, but I'm just going to leave it at that. There are many good, in-depth reviews out there. This is not going to be one of them.

Also I recently re-read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline l'Engle. I love that book! So weird and amazing.

A blog post you should check out:

Hi, I'm Socially Awkward by Jedi~Chick

Spot on.

Bye for now!

~ Diana