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

It's the Avengers! {guest post by David}

A lot of us are excited for the Avengers movie coming out on May 4th of this year. Since some of us don't know who Hawkeye (Clint Barton) is, I'll explain that here.

 As with most superheroes, Clint's parents die while he is a young age. He and his brother Bernard (AKA Barney) are sent to a orphanage, and then they both run away to a circus, Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders), where he was trained by "Trickshot" (Buck Chilholn) and and the first "Swordsman" (Jacques Duquesene).

He sees Swordsman robbing from the circus, and Clint is asked to join him but he refuses and has a fight with him, which Clint loses and is left for dead. He then wanders around the country, until one day he sees Ironman in battle and is inspired to fight crime.

Clint decides to use the persona Hawkeye, but is mistaken for a criminal and ends up fighting Ironman. Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff, who is then working as villain) convinces him to join her so she can kill Ironman (Diana wishes she would have!).

But while in the act of doing so he changes his mind. He then decides he want to be an Avenger and breaks into the "Avenger mansion" in the hopes that he can join; Ironman vouches for him and he becomes an Avenger.
The movie seems to have changed the his history a bit, however.

As with other Marvel films, it will probably have a sneak peak to a film coming out next year.
Prophecy: at the end of The Avengers there will be a sneak peak to The Wolverine!

Go to my blog (http://tahdas.blogspot.com/) to participate in my upcoming character discussion of Captain America.
Thanks to Diana for letting me guest post!  

{sources: here and here.


Thanks for guest posting, David!
Love ya, can't wait until MAY 4TH!
~ Your sister

Psalm 1

 ¹Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

 ²But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 ³And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

 ⁴The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

 ⁵Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

 ⁶For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

little importance

Just things of little importance I photographed around my house.

Why? Because I have a weakness for taking weird close up shots.

Why cupcakes? Because a) I made them yesterday and b) they're delicious.

Why mini cupcakes? Because I ran out of large cupcake pans.

Why an Orangina bottle? Because I like to drink water out of it. And yes, we did get snow this morning.

Why a silicone potholder? Because as I mentioned in this post, I love them. Plus they're a pretty color.

Why a closeup of a throw pillow?

No clue.

Why take photos of the globe? I just like maps, that's why.

Why is my heart broken? Because Picnik is closing in April. How will I edit my photos? *sob*

Why are my sheep pawing the snow? Again, I have no clue.

Why is my little sister playing Christmas songs on the piano? Because her teacher told her to. Hmm.

Oh, and in the time from the duration of my last post, I watched Jaws (scary and amazing) re-read A Wrinkle in Time (terrific book) and read all three books of The Hunger Games trilogy on my iPod. (first book was great, second book was a hot mess, and third book was depressing, moving and emotional).

In the real, non-frivolous world, I'm going to get my working papers next week so I can get a real job, and am researching cob houses ( am reading this book), dreaming about building one, and planning on educating myself about different methods of education. (i.e., Montessori, John Holt, John Dewey, Waldorf, etc.) So that's life.

Have a great weekend! 

16 before 16: small goals

These lists seem to be all the rage in the   blogging world. For once, I'll hop onto the bandwagon and make one, completely ignoring the fact that my last birthday was over 4 months ago. Because I'm cool like that.

my list: 

1. Learn to drive a car.

2. Learn to shoot a gun.

YEAH!

3. Finish Algebra 1. Yuck.

3. Write a novel. 

4. Buy something from ModCloth. I love their clothes.  2/12

5. Go to Glacier National Park in Montana, and/or hike (part of) the Appalachian trail.

 two photos of Glacier Nat'l Park in Montana.

6. Get a job.

7. Learn to shear sheep! (or groom dogs)

{via}

8. Be an artist.  Do something drastic.

The Magpie by Claude Monet.

9. Witness the birth of an animal. 

10. Do a real finished painting or drawing and frame it.

11. Improve my relationship with God: stop resisting and let Him be in charge, rather than me.

12. Read an at least 600 page book.

13. Decide if I want to be a veterinarian or not.

14. Make a baked Alaska. And have it turn out right!

{via}

15. Make macarons.

{via}

16.  Stay out really late and identify constellations.

{via}    This is a close-up of Orion.

Oh yes, and I'm finally reading The Hunger Games. Pretty good so far, well-written, although part of me wonders why they don't have any guns, for Pete's sake...

I'll do a review once I finish reading it.


Adios....

sheepish

Sheepish antics.

{via}

 If you've never raised sheep before, you probably think of them as boring, rather stolid balls of wool, who happen to possess tasty loins. All of this is true; but there is much quiet joy and peace in their very stolidity. Hang out with a flock of sheep for a while and you can't help but realize the overarching rhythms which make up the animal world.

photo from gopetsonline.com

{via}
Sheepish actions never change. The things they do now (eat, breed, poop, give birth, play) are not new, and they aren't going  to change anytime soon.

{via} Babydoll Southdowns--AKA the cutest sheep ever.

And yes, sheep do play. They jump around, run and leap up with all four legs off the ground for no apparent reason, like a carefree young child on a beach. 

This is very amusing to watch. Not so amusing is the crazed rush of every single animal towards you when you're carrying their food....

{via} Irish sheepz.

{via}

Source unknown. I have this photo as our laptop background.

Ram playing 'king of the hill' in the Faroe Islands. {via}

Also for no apparent reason, I write out a sheep essay and post in on my blog.

I love sheep.

My two Katahdin ewes, with their goat friend, Billy.

Sadie the Ewe.

My girls. <3

"The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs."

~  Psalms 114:4