Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ballet

maybe it is because Summer Dance started up this week and I am currently sweaty from my first  ballet class in almost a month but I want to talk about ballet. I know there are some people out there (my husband for one) who don't get ballet. and really in some cases I understand. some times the plots of the ballets don't make any sense. I recently saw a ballet that I was contently thinking What is going on? I don't get it, wait who are those people? I thought that the prime was a different character, wait how did we end up in a gypsy camp again. and this is a dream?"  but it was beautiful. oh I love the ballet.

And the company I dance with is amazing. I am not as thin as I once was, most likely i will never be that thin again. Some times I feel like one of the hippos from Fantasia, but you know what the teachers are the Wilmore Christian Ballet are amazing and they are not intersted in getting their dancers toa particular size, they want to share the joy of dancing.

I think one of the greatest things is that after 16 years I am part of a company again. Do I don't dance in the big recital/ballets at the end of each term but I am a part of it. I know that it will still be there next term. I love the girls and the teachers and all the students. I love dancing again.

See when I was really little When I grew up I wanted to be Shirley Temple so my parents put me in dance classes. I learned Jaz, Ballet, and Tap then when i was twelve we moved. we moved to a town that had no dance studio. oh several people tried to start one up but it wasn't till after I went to college that one finally stuck at least for a little while.

two of the teachers at Wilmore Christian Ballet
But now I am back to dancing and learning. I love it, even if my body hates me afterwards. It is always worth it. I think dance is a special expression of the soul and it can be beautiful no matter what your shape. some people don't get it, but for me it is as if the music takes control of me and I become  part of it. one of the great things about the company I dance with is that it is a christian company. the Head teacher dance with Ballet Magnificat. we pray together a s a class and often our dancing becomes a form of worship. it is amazing to be a part of a group like this and to watch as Hannah brings scriptures to life for the recitals. this last spring she had a dance which depicted The Archangel Michael defeating the dragon.

Really what this all comes down to is that I love ballet, and that I am so happy I get to do something that I loved so much as a kid. now if only I could find a band that wanted a saxiphone player who is not very good.

any way till next time God speed and open roads.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Writing the people I want to be like

It's been a wail sense I talked about writing. I've been thinking of the professionals that I want to be like and why. they will probably surprise you. I mean every one would like to have a career that looks like Steven King or JK Rowlings, make it big and write something so awesome that it makes lots of money So that if you write a book publishers won't even care what it is they will publish it any way because you have the name recognition. but they are not the kind of people I am talking about. I'm talking about people who I want to emulate in they way they view their own work and they way the treat their fans.

First I want to be like Scott Sigler.

no I don't plan on writing horror or about space foot ball but I would like to emulate the way our future dark over lord has taken control of his career. If you haven't been over to the Siglerverse you shoudl check it out. Scott has published hsi works though a small press, self publishing, and even one of the big 6. yet his focus is still on his own company Dark Lord Media with A Kovacs. The thing I really love about Scott is how he treats his fans. they are a part of the book making process. He invites them to join the site where they can talk in the forums up date the Siglerpedia, and most of all when Scott needs a name for a character he goes to the list of people who have signed up with a profile and picks one from the list. also most of Scott's works are available for free in audio book format. he writes what he loves gets it to the people who are interested and then rewards them for it. there is no doubt that Scott is in control of his art and he loves his fans. -grant it when the Evil Overlord takes over the planet I don't know if the Junkies will be any better off then the rest of us. Yeah as I work to start a career in writing I keep what Scott is doing in mind because what he is doing is working. and he is a great guy.

Second I want to be like Stan Lee.

Why  because Stan is his own biggest fan. he thinks every idea he has is brilliant. Me? I am my own worst critic.  I think just about every idea I have is crap, or when I have finished something it is crap. which is probably why I've hardly looked at the novel I wrote of Nanowrimo. I want to think about my work the way that Stan Lee does, that what I am doing and attempting is the bestest think sense sliced bread. and like Scott he is a great guy, He is not as young as he once was and yet he continues to make appearances at cons and comic book stores and heck even in the movies based on his works. Stan loves the spotlight, he talks to his fans even though lets face it he doesn't have too. he isn't the face of marvel any more he isn't writing for them. but he still goes out to see his fans and treats them well. there are some authors who seem to only grow contempt for their fans as they get older. But not Stan, and I hope that I will be like that when I am no longer young.

So those are the authors I want to be like and why. who are the professionals that you want to emulat in some way?

Till next time God Speed and Open Roads

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Neverending Story 4: Morla the Aged One

Yes I know you had given up hope that I was going to continue this series. well guess what So was I, but here it is the next installment of The Neverending Story:


Before we get to far into today's post we must say goodbye to Cairon. we will not be seeing him again but we do learn that "His destiny was to lead him over a very different and unexpected pathways but that is another story and shall be told at another time." I have to say that this refrain is one of my favorite things about this book and I will point it out every time it comes up.

Any way moving on to Atreyu's quest. Atreyu knows only one thing about his quest the goal. He must find the answer to the Childlike Empress's mysterious illness. He has no idea where to go or who might have an answer.  So he rides out to many wondrous and mystical places. Now one thing I would love to do is sit down and talk about all the wonderful places that are described in this book. But there is no time, and it curtanly would surve only to prove that this book, mostly forgotten by modern fantasy enthusiasts is just as vivd and vast as tolkien and lewis. but that would make ever post from here on out well over 5,000 words. So we will only talk about the highlights. for everything else you will have to read it yourself. purfurably now, you know this blog will still be here when you get caught up. I promise

So Atreuy leaves on his jurney but he really has no clue what to do or where to go, just that he needs to go. Luckily Fantastica is a magical place so direction comes from a some what unusual place a dream. it is a dream that repeaters over and over again. it veries but in each Atreuy is unable to kill a particular Purple buffalo. remember the hunt Atreuy was pulled away from to go on this journey was the one that would have mad him a man. these dreams crisendo to a fiinel dream where the buffalo gives Atreyu guidance, he is instructed to go see morla the ancient one.

there is a problem though, Morla lieves in the swamps of sadness, but before we get to that place Atreuy and Artax have to go through the Howling Forest, and there he sees for the first time with the horror that is the Nothing. Now if you have seen the movie you know that thethe nothing is protrayed as a Storm. this makes the Nothing active and agressive, which the nothing is but in the book the noting is just there. here is how Atreyu describes it:

"The tops of the trees nearest him were still green, but there leaves of those father away seemed to have lost all color; they were grey. a little farther on, the foliage seemed to become strangely transparent, misty, or better still, unreal. And father still there was nothing, absolutely nothing. not a bare stretch, not darkness, not some lighter color; no, it was something the eyes could not bear, something that made you feel you had gone blind. for no eye can bear the sight of utter nothingness. Atreyu held his hand before his face and nearly fell off his branch. he clung tight for a moment, then climbed down as fast as he could. He had seen enough. at last he really understood the horror that was spreading through Fantastica." (58)

It is there and growing but it happens slowly and not devastatingly though the world like a tempest wind. it is painless, Atreyu meets three bark trolls who have lost a part of themselves to the nothing and they say:

"You don't feel a thing. there's just something missing. and once it gets hold you, something more is missing every day. Soon there won't be anything left of us." (57)

It is almost more frightening this way. to actually see nothing is hard to really understand. but it is there and more things are becoming nothing.

on that depressing note let's talk about Morla the ancient one who lives in the swamps of sadness.

Now the Swamps are named as they are because as someone walks through them they become sad and lose hope. which makes their hearts heavy and they sink. Thanks to the GEM Atreyu NEVER  Sinks beneath his knees. It protects him, but not his horse Artax. I should mention here that in the book Artax is a talking horse.

First Artax loses faith, in his master, in the dream, in their ability to complete their quest. then he loses hope, lastly the horse says he can't stand his own sadness and that he longs to die.  Artax sinks despite Atreyu's begging and pleading. It is a scene I can't describe and give it justice.  Basian is so moved by what he reads that he literally weeps.

The result is a very small thing, something which can easily be tossed aside as unimportant Atreyu stops worrying about where to set his foot down.

it seems small but it is when he lets go that he is able to be led by the forces which are guiding his quest. before he knows it he get so the Tortoise Shell Mountain.

Morla is the Tortoise who makes Tortoise shell Mountain. she is Old, very old and apathetic. she simply doesn't care. interesting that the one person who lives int he Swamps of Sadness is a old complacent tortoise. She doesn't care about the nothing, about Fantastica, weather she lives or dies, weatheror not the childlike Empress Lives or dies. She Describes her point of view thusly:

"Sakes alive!" Morla gurgled, "we're old, son, much too old. lived long enough. Seen too much. when you know as much as we do, nothing matters. things just repeat. day and night, summer and winter. the world is empty and aimless. Everything circles around. Whatever starts up must pass away, what ever is born must die. It all cancels out, good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Everything's empty. Nothing is real. Nothing Matters." (64)

Morla does know the answer to his question, but she at first she won't tell him. she sees it as a fools errand, but Atreyu is persistent and she tells him.

the Childlike Empress needs a new name, but no one in Fantastica can give her a new name.that is why Morla thinks the task is pointless, the only person who might know where the Empress can get a new name is Uyulala, the Southern Oracle, but she is 10,000 miles away. "your life is too short" she says, "you'd die first." (65)

If it isn't enough for Bastian to learn about the hopelessness of the quest, if it isn't enough for him to weep over the death of the loyal little pony.  Bastian learns that something has followed Atreyu to the swamps and is gaining on him.

but what about our hero? what about Bastian? well I'm glad you asked. he thinks about he classes he is suposed to be in, mostly geography and gym. He momentarily wishes that he was a strong as Atreyu, then his class mates and gym teachers wouldn't laugh at him when he can't climb the rope. but mostly he thinks how starnge it is that all the Childlike Empress needs is a new name. because thinking up new names is the one think he is good at.

anyway that is all for now, till next time. God Speed and Open Roads.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Share time!

Two awesomethings from Felicia Day's Flog. I mean awesome.

1. Tesla Tabby!
Nikola Tesla is by far the coolest scientist in my book. really ahead of his time he did so much cool stuff. check out this comic on The Oatmeal to find out why he was the greatest geek who ever lived. Oh and this pic comes from a Tumbler account called Cat Scientists. I am sure you will be able to find your favorite scientist there too.

2. Felicia has a new music video Gamer Girl and Country Boy. I love it, but I love all her music videos. but as one who grew up out west in the high plans of Wyoming and is a total geek this just makes me very very happy. 
well that is all for today. hopefully I will be back soon with more content but i think it is just best for me not to make any promises. till next time Open Roads and God Speed. 

Saturday, June 02, 2012

The Escape: Curtsy of Jessa


Well yesterday Jessa posted her Friday Flash Contest. at first I didn't think i could do anything with the prompts, again. but then inspiration hit. here is my entry I'd love to hear what you all think. 
Oh wait the prompts: 
Must use these words: 
Hope and Crackle

and one of these two pictures: 



which one do you think I used?






“It's coming”
“How did it find us?”
I lock the doors, Shay closes the curtains. “How long?” She asks.
“Not long.”
“We'll never make it.” Cinda says trying to arrange the necessary components on the coffee table. Rose, orange peel, surfer, mint leaves, Juniper berries, indigo and lavender. Her hands shake as she begins to cast the spell.
“We have to.” I watch from my post through a crack in the curtains, a sliver knife in each hand.
“But...” Cinda's voice falters as she sprinkles rain water over the mixture.
I don't take my eyes off the drive way. As far as anyone is concerned this small suburban house is home to three sisters. Th mortals have no idea that we three are more then that, that what we came for, what we found will keep the world safe from a new out break of magic wars, so long as we can get out. “Hope and luck, we have both, now do it!” She listens to me. She always does. Shay holds the box, Pandora's box. It will have to pry it from her fingers if it gets here. But it wont come to that. I'm their guardian, thy wont die or fail as long as I breath.
There is a crackle, sparks. And the rainbow comes through, it is our road. They take it first. I can see it, it is almost here.
“Tere!” calls Shay, “Hurry!”
I run for the rainbow road. It will take me home. As I reach the colors it crashes down the door. But we escape, we did it. In it's wraith it destroys the house, but what does that matter it was only a house.  

well now that was fun. 

Friday, June 01, 2012

May's reading

May was a good month for my reading goals. I read five books. I'm not going to talk about all of the books I fineshed this month but I thought i would just write out  little about them.

First Book Finished: Le Morte D'Arthur Vol One. I listened to this book on libravox while at work. this remains to be one of the few things my current job still has going for it, I can listened to books on the Ipod. This held many surprises in it for what Arthur and his knights were like. and I know I missed some things while listening. Sir Kay is a jerk who likes to give people mean nicknames- funny though most the honorable knights he gives this nicknames to turn out to be complete bad asses. the strangest thing was how Adultery was treated in this story mostly in regards to La'Belle Isolde and Tristan, I mean he loved La'Belle and Married another girl named Isolde and La'Belle Isolde got all mad even though sh was married to someone else. oh love compells us. but it is always fun to read about Knights going off and having adventures. oh you should also know most of the Damsels don't need rescuing, most of them surve as guides to the adventures which lie ahead. oh also two fun facts that i have learned. Merlyn told Arthur "hey if you marry that girl there, that Genevieve, she will b unfaithful, she will sleep with one of your knights, Lancelot,' and Galahad is Lancelot's son. 

Second book Finished: The Princess and Curdie by George McDonald. I really like this book, possibly more then the Princess and the Goblins. Curdie goes off to be an adventurous young lad who can see people for who thy really are. beware beautiful things may be the most treasonous, and ugly things may be the most noble. he must use his special ability to save the king and his country. this book is going on my list of book that every child should have in their library. 

the last three books I read this month were from the October Daye novels. and sense I will be finishing the last published book this weekend I am going to do a special blog post about all five of those books then. for now let me say that they are Fascination. and it has been a long time sense i burned though a series of books this quickly. 

Well that is all for now, till next time God Speed and Open Roads.