Apologies

     When I was little my mom was insistent that my siblings and I would apologize any time we had misstepped. While I was fortunate enough to learn how to create an effective apology I'm learning that quite a large faction of society has not been so lucky.

     Apologies are pretty straightforward with three key components: 

1. Take responsibility for your actions/ the situation
2. Express regret 
3. Request forgiveness & assure will not happen again/ you will attempt to prevent a recurrence

For example: 

Dear Person I Have Wronged, 

I am sorry I (hurt your feelings/ broke your object/ what did you do which requires an apology?). I did not mean to do it. In the future, I will (consider your point of view/ look where I'm going/ not do it again/ etc.).  I hope you can forgive me.

Sincerely, 

Signature

The important part is to be sincere and actually mean what you're saying when you apologize. I hope this helps. 

Just a thought....

Stephie

Holiday Traditions - The Cinnamon Bear

     In 1937 radio was the entertainment method of the day. Transco (a radio transcription company out of California) developed a fantastic story of two children who are sent to find Christmas decorations and find themselves in a land of make-believe to air in the Portland, Oregon market area. "The Cinnamon Bear" is designed to be listed to six days a week in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

      After several years financial difficulties prevented Transco from releasing new transcriptions of the series, though some stations played previously released transcriptions. In the 1950s the program was picked back up and has been aired in Portland and Eugene, Oregon, as well as the Chicago, Illinois, area. 

     Through the broadcast, twins Judy and Jimmy are sent to the attic in search of the family's silver star for the top of the Christmas tree. There they meet the Cinnamon Bear Paddy O'Cinnamon and travel into Maybeland chasing after the Crazy Quilt Dragon who has stolen their star. Along the way, Judy, Jimmy, and Paddy O'Cinnamon are captured by Ruthless Ink Blotters, befriended by Pirates, encounter a Giant, threatened by a Witch, helped by the Queen of Maybeland, foiled by creatures great and small, and they meet Santa Claus. But will the twins make it home with their Silver Christmas Star?

     I grew up listening to the Cinnamon Bear broadcast each year on the radio. The show is short and sweet with twists and turns as the children chase their star across Maybeland. They're interrupted and helped in turns as they adventure back to the attic and family tree waiting for the Silver Star. "The Cinnamon Bear" has inspired a cult-like following of people whose lives have been touched by the story. 

Flaming Geyser State Park

     This past weekend, for Father's Day, my dad decided it would be fun to take the dogs and go exploring at one of the Washington State Parks in the area. It sounded like fun - (non-sarcastic) yay hiking! So my mom, being the over-prepared mother that she is, looked up a few parks and decided on Flaming Geyser State Park near Auburn and Black Diamond, Wash.
     The park surrounds the Green River and has some pretty neat features including a playground, remote-control airplane areas, and picnic areas, along with the geysers and hiking paths. Some of the reviews we came across described these paths as relatively flat with some challenging options.
     While that is true of the short jaunt up to the Flaming Geyser, the main River Trail which goes down along the river is both gentle and challenging. It goes up and down along the hills the river snakes through, and if you're planning on going down to the river there are several places where you'll want to take your time on the steep inclines.
     The trek up to the Bubbling Geyser is much more challenging. It does have the convenience of several flights of stairs, but they are steep and the wooden treads have gouges behind them where people have walked away the dirt of the hillside. At the crest of the hill, before you'll go down to the actual geyser, is a bench and sort of platform which (when we went in late June) is made of a slick shifting dirt. Our dogs seemed to handle it fine, but the footing was not exactly comfortable for people.
     There is another set of trails, called the Ridge Trail, which goes around the office buildings and park ranger station. These trails were our first foray around the park. They are not meant for the faint of heart: the entrance goes straight up a hill for about 75 - 100 yards, the rest of the trail jogs up and down along the top of the hill until it begins a steep switchback to lead down to the main picnic areas. The duration of the trail was probably only about a mile, but the grade at the beginning and toward the end made it one I do not plan on trying again for quite some time.
     Flaming Geyser was an enjoyable park, fairly close to the Seattle Metro-area and with sights to interest various levels of outdoorsman.

Crunch Time

     A couple months ago I shared that my sister was engaged, and has asked me to be her Maid of Honor. I'm still excited, but the timeline for all of this has been shortened significantly--from a year and several months to (at the time) 69 days. We're counting down and at day 14 now. That comes to just two weeks before we're inundated with family and friends for the event, you wouldn't believe what goes on the to-do list when the time gets so short. For example:

• laundry
• flowers
• hair & nails
• insurance certificate
• chairs & tables
• people to help decorate
• grocery shopping

Just because there's a wedding doesn't mean everything else stops--June is a busy month and on top of all the preparations cleaning the house and finding the manpower to complete tasks on the to-do list becomes the most important. 

     It's exciting to have such a milestone coming up for someone in the family, but how do wedding planners do this all the time? I'm off to get some more things checked off that to-do list. 

Stephie

Cribbage

     When my family gets together we're the usual giant family that you see in movies--loud conversation everywhere, kids running pell-mell through the house, snagging food on the way through the kitchen, and videos or games after dinner. Mostly that's when everyone gets together, when Gra'ma comes to visit we do pretty much the same stuff: television in one room, stories and conversation in another, and after dinner card games or dominoes.
     Gra'ma came to visit last week arriving in the late afternoon and proceeded to teach my brother and me to play Cribbage. It's not a difficult game once you've got all the rules down.

• Sum of 15 gets 2 points
• Sum of 31 gets 2 points
• Doubles get 2 points
• Runs of 3 or more get 1 point per card
• Face cards are 10
• Aces are always low (1 points of value)

Then are the more confusing rules: 

• If you draw a Jack from the pile you get 2 points
• If a Jack in your hand matches the suit of the card drawn you get 1 point
• Last card played gets 1 point (if it's not 31)

     The game starts with a deal: five cards each with four people, five each and one in the kitty with three people, six each with two people. Everyone puts a card into the kitty (which goes to the dealer at the end of play) to equal four. Then the person to the left of Dealer starts. 

     Each person plays a card in front of themselves, hoping to peg points. As you go when a person or team (usually when you have four players you play teams of two) gets one of the things I listed (drawing a Jack you get the point right away, matching the draw you wait until the end) you move your peg in the board. Everyone goes around until there are no more cards. 

     When everyone's hand is gone (the Kitty is still face-down and untouched) you count your cards. If you can make sets of 15, runs, any of those things I listed at the top, you get points and you peg those points on the board. This includes all possible combinations between your hand and the draw on top of the pile. So if you have three fives, a Jack, a Queen, and a King is drawn you get 2 points for each combination: K5, K5, K5, Q5, Q5, Q5, J5, J5, J5, 555, two points for each double (6 in this case because you have three of a kind), and three points for your run of three (assuming your Jack doesn't match the king, if it does you get another point). This would count: 15-2, 15-4, 15-6, 15-8, 15-10...15-20, triple for 26, run of 27, 28, 29, and Jack for 30. Such a hand is nearly ideal and if you got it take pictures--it rarely happens.      After everyone has pegged their hand, starting with the person to the left of the dealer and ending with the dealer, the dealer counts the kitty. You count it just like you count your hand and Dealer gets the points. The deal rotates and you continue until someone pegs into the final hole.
     The standard board has 120 points on the track and when it comes to winning and counting your wins there are two things you should keep in mind. 1: If you are behind the Skunk line the win counts for two games 2: If you are behind the Double Skunk line it counts for four games. The Skunk line is usually at 90 points--thirty points back--and the Double Skunk is at 60 points--halfway around the board.
     I'm sure some of the rules we play with are wrong, but it's a fun game once you've figured out the strict rules and regulations. I am still learning and I've been slowly learning off and on for years. Good Luck & I hope you enjoy your game!

Stephie

Society's Dictates--Young Love

     There have been an awful lot of posts on various blogs and articles posted about what kinds of romantic relationships we should be developing as a society, when we should be getting married, and why not to get married so young. I should point out that "so young" is usually early twenties. While they're all interesting, they point to a society able to dictate  kind of lives we lead--you should be married with three kids before you're thirty; you shouldn't even think about getting engaged until you're thirty-one; you should have a relationship that makes you fight to find things in common because you're such different people and opposites attract; you should do this; you should do that. Personally, I don't care who you fall in love with, or marry, so long as you treat your partner with respect and don't go showing disrespect to me and my decisions because of the life I choose to lead.
     My younger sister and her boyfriend got engaged at the beginning of the year and this dictatorial society we've developed became a huge problem in my life because of her decision--she had friends and random people telling her she was making a huge mistake because they got engaged when they're only twenty-one. If they are going to make the commitment to each other, why not? What do you, as a single, twenty-two-year-old college student have to show this young woman that is any different than what she's learned from her single older sister, her friends who've gotten married and had kids, her parents, her cousins, aunts and uncles, and the people both married and divorced in her life? Why does society allow us to crush the dreams of young women who do want to get married and have a family?
     The answers I've received to these questions have all been that Feminism tells us she should be focusing on herself as a woman and not giving her life over to a man, depending on him. When did Feminism become so warped?! Feminism is about women being able to make the choice to either become career-women, become mothers, stay single without being criticized, or choose to live a life of serial monogamy. It isn't about destroying the traditional family values, it is about giving women the choice to be what they want.
     Another line I've gotten says getting married so young and committing to a single person will cause problems down the line because they'll grow apart. They still need to grow and develop. I was watching a show on television and the female character put it perfectly: marriage is about finding a person that will grow with you.
     While these opinions are wonderful, and I'm glad there are people who hold the views, what gives society the right to crush the hope of young people when life isn't cynical enough to keep us within other people's opinions? In recent history people would say something when a friend was making a leap without foundation, but for a stranger to tell you you're too young to marry is overstepping their place.
     Why can't we be happy someone has found joy in love?

Just a thought...
Stephie

Valentine's Day 2014

     This year I'm celebrating Valentine's day a little differently--spending the day with my dogs. It isn't all that much different than my usual relaxing night at home with a book, but this year my family went above and beyond.
     You see, I'm house-sitting for my parents and they left something behind for me. The dogs didn't get the awesome-ness of the family, but they're not allowed to have any chocolate. It looks like this year I get not one, but four valentines; it's a great improvement!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stephie

Happy Tidings!

     Just a two weeks ago my younger sister sent me a text while I was at work. Unfortunately so did all the rest of our mutual friends. My sister was trying to tell me the wonderful news: her boyfriend asked her to marry him! While I'm completely ecstatic for my sister, I am a little frustrated with everyone else's responses. They ranged from "I thought she said they weren't getting married" to "How do you feel about this?".
     I am kind of stunned that my friends would want to talk to me rather than just wish her congratulations, but at the same time I understand that they might want to confirm what they're seeing on Facebook and other social media. Not only am I not the expert on their life together, but I was supposed to be pleasantly surprised by the news. A surprise that was ruined because of this instant communication we now live with.
     The one surprise they couldn't ruin was her request upon seeing me for the first time: "Hey, will you be my Maid of Honor?". I have never been so proud of my sister as when she started behaving like the adult she is with a request rather than expectation or demand. And I am honored to be asked to share such an important part of her most anticipated day.

Congratulations Kaitlyn & Robert!

Night Before Christmas Surprise!

     One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Christmas Eve gift. My parents have been doing this since I was born and it's a little odd to think it might be ending soon.
     Each year Mom and Dad will pick a present for each of us to open. When we were little my sister, brother and I were super-duper excited about it because it was the one time we got to break the no-presents-until-Christmas rule and we never knew what it would bring. Now that we're older and have had many years of this same gift we know what it will be, but we're still excited to follow through on the tradition.

Aren't these guys just rockin' the pjs?!

     So what was the gift? Pajamas! Well, one year they were robes (bath robes not wizarding robes) and another they were slippers, but the Christmas Eve gift is always something comfortable we can wear when we open our gifts.
     I think the excitement now isn't so much that we don't know what we'll get. I think it's more that we can still feel like little kids getting to open that one present when all the others are forbidden. I'm sad to see the tradition fade, but it definitely will be something I start with my children.

Merry Christmas!
Stephie

Samhain

     A few years ago a friend asked why I'm so okay with all the "devil worship" of Halloween. I was really confused what she was talking about so had her explain. She was taking the Christian perspective of the holiday while I had already integrated my Celtic background into my Christian faith. Somewhere along the line All Hallow's Eve became a day to be feared because the dead were walking the earth.
     Halloween started out as the precursor to All Saint's Day, November 1st, when all the souls of the dead from the year wandered the earth in hopes of finding rest. Then, on All Saints Day they would travel to the next realm, whether that was the realm of the good (heaven) or evil (hell). We wear masks so that the evil spirits cannot recognize our human souls and therefore take us with them or manipulate our souls after they've gone on.
     Samhain itself is about the transition from summer into winter. It is the time when livestock is brought back from summer pastures and people prepare for the winter. It is one of four holidays in the Celtic calendar, resting almost halfway between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. During the festival bonfires are lit as protective measures against spirits and fairies, but the souls of lost loved ones are welcomed to eat at the table with the living. Samhain pre-dates Christianity, and when the Christian All Saint's Day was moved to November 1st the two began to meld and became something like modern Halloween.
   The holiday is called by many different names and celebrated with different practices
, but most have some connection to the rebirth and celebration. It isn't about terrifying children, or about demons wandering the planet; it's about remembering the people we've lost and indulging in the "what if".

Old Family, New Friends

     I love it when I can visit with family. It's been a long and frustrating few years since we all lived close to each other and gas prices made it easy to just plan a trip for the weekend. When we were little it was easy because our family lived in Portland, Gra'ma and Papa lived in Central Oregon, and out of my seven aunt-uncle sets the furthest lived in Central California. Since we moved everyone else has moved too, but it seems we're moving closer together.
     What is it about Central Oregon that draws us all back? Is it that my parents' generation grew up there, or is it that all of our best memories are there? I don't know, but for me it's that my family is mostly close by no matter where in Central Oregon I am.
     I came down to Madras to visit my aunt and her kids. I wasn't expecting to see much of my oldest cousin, but I've been given the opportunity to meet his children and I absolutely adore them. The older two are girls and sweethearts. They're brilliant for a nine and seven-year-old, they love to cook, they're outdoorsy, and we all get along so much better than I'd have thought with our age differences. The youngest is a four-year-old boy who looks just like daddy. Their boy is a ladies man, as young as he is, and I can't sit in a room with him without him curling up next to me.
     My cousin's kids are wonderful, so is his wife, but I'm most glad I got to know him again. He's several years older than me and when the family started going its separate ways he was just starting his family. Now that we're adults it's great to become friends as well as family. There is something to be said for creating friendships with family, even the ones you don't see very often.

Just thinking...
Stephie

Vacation Time!

     This September I've been away in Wisconsin. My grandmother and I went to visit her third husband's cousin's wife (very complicated, I know) in Madison. It was a wonderful trip and we got to see a lot of different places and sights. Some highlights were the American Players Theatre production of Hamlet, the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue, and spending a week in the Northwoods.
     Hamlet was a stunning production. The American Players Theatre is centered in Spring Green, WI and has both an indoor and outdoor stage. This summer the woman my Gra'ma and I were staying with, we'll call her Mrs. Lucas, went to see APT's production of Hamlet. She absolutely loved it and insisted we go to a production. I have seen a couple different versions of the play, including Kenneth Branaugh's movie and Laurence Olivier's performance, and I wasn't expecting to be impressed, let alone blown away. Matt Schwader as Hamlet was stunning. I absolutely loved it! Mrs. Lucas also took Gra'ma and I to The Night of the Iguana, a Tennessee Williams play, and I was still spinning from how completely the cast of Hamlet took me from my here and now and transported me into the story like only a good book does.
     I think my favorite part, however, was that afterward the audience was given the opportunity to speak with the actors and have questions answered. I learned that Eric Parks, Laertes, attended my Alma Mater and I got to speak with him about that as well as the play itself. A bonus was that one of the women in the audience also attended Pacific Lutheran University, and her son roomed with Matt in college. Not only was the experience amazing theatrically, but it was driven home to me how interconnected the world can be, and how influential collegiate connections can be.

     Over the course of my four weeks in Wisconsin, Mrs. Lucas did not have internet. This is understandable: she gave up her computer when her husband became ill several years ago and there was no reason to continue paying for internet when she had no ability to use it. This did make for some complications though. You'd never realize how much we depend on the internet, or any of our other electronics, until they are taken away completely. I learned this when we trekked into the Northwoods for a week. It was a wonderful week full of visiting with friends and exploring the beauty of Autumn descending on the Midwest, but it was also a week without television, internet, cell phones, or even a landline! The next nearest neighbor was ten minutes down the road, and the nearest internet connection was an hour into town. In contrast I got a lot of reading done, wrote about the books I'd read, and just relaxed. With Gra'ma and Mrs. Lucas reminiscing about everything and anything they could come up with, it was nice to have some time to myself. Especially in such a beautiful setting.
     In our last couple weeks in Wisconsin, Mrs. Lucas wanted to expose both Gra'ma and me to as much of the area as possible. We started with a trip to the Overture Center where we had a beautiful dinner atop the building at the rooftop restaurant Fresco. Then we explored a Swiss town to the south west that didn't seem much different than any Midwest town I'd been to, but it was some sort of tourist spot. Next Mrs. Lucas took us to Baraboo and the surrounding area where we went to the Railway museum and rode the train.
     The Mid-Continent Railway Museum is in North Freedom, Wisconsin, and houses several steam and diesel engines. They both restore and run the trains that are donated to the Museum. All the work is done by volunteers, with some experts called in for specialty work, and the only paid workers are the ticket agents and the gift-shop employees. It was a wonderful place, the people were friendly and wanted to share their love of railways with everyone. The train rides are over three miles of track owned and operated by the museum and its volunteers. The rides run over the summer, ending the third week of October each year, with special events in November and February.
     We got to ride the train first class in the dining car. It was exciting; I've always loved trains and getting to visit the Jamestown, California, train museum made this trip no less exciting. Trains on the west coast are different than trains in the Midwest, though most people wouldn't think so. Gra'ma kept telling us about her experiences on trains when her father was a roundhouse foreman. She even knew the name of a particular train when no one else did! It was interesting to see such a vibrant recreation of the past in a small town in Southern Wisconsin.
     On the way back from the Railway Museum, we stopped by the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue. They have twenty-nine cats that have been donated, rescued, or born at the rescue. We were there around naptime so the cats weren't very active, but they were beautiful! It was a nice foil to a small zoo we visited in Baraboo, WI. The zoo wasn't anything near what I've always considered a zoo, only three or four acres. They had some pretty cool animals, most of which are from North America. They had a bear, a couple wolves, deer, llamas, and a couple golden pheasants. I wasn't too impressed, but it was in a beautiful park and it was a free zoo, so I'm surprised they had so many animals from outside the area.
     I had a great time in Wisconsin; caught up on reading, explored the area, and had fun with family. I missed my parents, and especially my dog. But It's always fun to get away from daily life. I hope everyone gets a chance to do something like my trip, something out of the ordinary, and something to simply get away.

Stephie

Graduation!!

      Yesterday was Graduation Day for my university! On one hand I'm ecstatic to be finished with my undergraduate years, but on the other I'm going to miss all the friends and the experiences and I'm terrified of the "real world." These last four years have been some great times, starting with my freshman year and learning how to function again after tearing my knee apart and having surgery to fix it and finishing with this last year and the insanity of Capstone and preparation for today--my first day as a college graduate.
     There's that worry and stress about "What are you going to do after college?" Well, apparently I'm going to sit on my computer and talk to the world... I don't have a long-term job lined up like some of my classmates, but I'm positive about discovering what I enjoy and working toward the goals I've set for myself. I'm willing to let those goals change, and move with where the world flings me. I'm not exactly just letting it happen, as my family thinks, but I will look around and maybe do something a little unconventional for a while.
     What will I do after college? I will have fun, make people smile, read for pleasure, do my own research on topics that fascinate me, and I will cultivate the relationships my undergraduate years have allowed me to develop. But I will start all of that by packing up my apartment and moving back home until I have that semi-permanent job and can afford my own place.

     I want to say "Thank You" to all of my wonderful friends, my crazy family, and the myriad of professors, mentors, fellow students, and other people that have supported me, pushed me, and been the person I prove wrong when I accomplish the impossible--you have helped to create the person I am today.

Just a thought...
Stephie

New Obsessions: BBC America

     This last week was Spring Break for my university so I've had some free time on my hands, actually I've had a lot of free time on my hands. I started watching Doctor Who this evening--it's the first new episode since Christmas--but got caught by the new shows that followed.
     Orphan Black and The Nerdist were interesting: Orphan Black is about a woman who watches someone who looks just like her jump in front of a train. She takes on the woman's identity and strange things start to happen in the dead woman's life. The Nerdist is about all things nerdy. The host, Chris Hardwick, described the show as a place where any thing that people can obsess over, talk about, argue about, then talk about more can be explored and talked about. I thought it was an accurate description of being a nerd; it's also a description John Green used when talking about nerds and nerdiness in his vlog. But it's also an accurate description of Tumblr, so The Nerdist is Tumblr in a television show.
     It looks like we, as a society, are becoming more interested in talking about our interests in an informal and impersonal manner. What happened to book clubs and other organizations where people meet up in real life and talk about things?
     I know I'm a culprit of this same anti-social mingling; I am, after all, talking to you from my computer while you're out there on your computer or smart phone, but what happens outside of these glowing boxes? Will we revert to finding meeting places and talking about things just as people have started writing letters again? Or will we stay tethered to the magic box that allows us to travel to an alternate world where all the other people are traveling to talk about their obsessions.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Thyroid Cancer Prevention?

     I was talking to my grandmother recently and she was reading one of those forwarding e-mails, I don't know how true it is, but it sounds plausible. The info originated on Dr. Oz or some such television show.
     When you go to the dentist and get X-rays most people don't realize that your thyroid is right below your jaw. We're told that constant exposure to radiation can cause cancer and it makes sense that regular exposure to radiation at the dentist (or during mammograms for women) can increase your risk, or cause cancer. But there is a guard to protect you; a flap on the apron at the dentist's office and a "thyroid guard" to wear during mammograms are available, but most people don't know about it or don't use it.
     Why don't we know about it? I don't know, maybe it's just a lack of information. If so, let's spread the word.

Just a thought....
Stephie

Sherlock Holmes

     I watch a lot of British television. It all started with Doctor Who, and spread from there. The most recent show I've been watching is Sherlock and it's a modern take on the myth of Sherlock Holmes. There are so many different variations of the story--movies dating back to the seventies, and probably before, television series, and even fan-fiction based on the original tales.
     There are two different shows running right now based on the myth: BBC's Sherlock and CBS's Elementary and I really enjoy them both. Elementary is one of the first non-British shows to portray Doctor Watson as an actual partner in Holmes's investigations (at least, according to an article I read somewhere). The combination of Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller is an antagonistic relationship, but the male-female interaction has a different tenor than the male-male relationship.
     When Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman come to the screen the relationship is much different; they maintain the antagonizing interplay, but also have a difficult sort of friendship to describe. They don't seem to interact except when on a case, yet they know an uncanny amount about each other's habits and likes or dislikes. I've only gotten through the first two episodes, but when there are fewer episodes than there are seasons of other shows, two is numerically a lot. My sister and several of my friends are completely infatuated with both the men on the show and the show itself; I can see the draw, but it isn't going to be my life's blood, watching a show that doesn't have another season until next year.
     What I really want to do about this Sherlock Holmes obsession everyone seems to have is to read the books. There are plenty of them to keep us all entertained until the newest season of Sherlock comes on, so who is going to? Every comparison I've heard places these two new adaptations high on the list of "best" but we won't know until we've all consumed the entire canon.
Congratulations Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; you've managed to keep us all entertained for centuries after your death. I wonder what he'd think...

Just a thought...
Stephie

Library Woes

     Yesterday I made a trip to the library with my grandmother: not a completely unusual occurrence, but it was not what I expected. Instead of going to the library we normally visit, we stopped by a branch closer into town and I was surprised at the difference between both size of the building and the selection. At our usual library the main room is probably sixty feet long and eighty feet wide. The entire selection of books, movies, audiobooks, music and the public computers take up that space. The fiction section at the library we visited yesterday was about the same size. What made it unexpected was the fact that we're in the same county and run by the same library system.
     My question is: why? Why is a library is the same system--in a more populated, yet more rural area--so much smaller than one closer to town? Wouldn't the thought be, if the library is one of the only modes of entertainment and public enhancement make it more varied and bigger? I don't understand. Okay, I understand that the system wouldn't want a larger library in an area where people wouldn't use it, but if the library was larger, it follows that more people would be able to use it. I guess my largest frustration is that I have read most of the selection at the local library, and now I have to go to other branches if I want to explore something new.
     On the plus side, I now know that particular library has a good selection of general fiction, and a spectacular media section. I think I'll send in a letter to the main office.

Just a thought...
Stephie

Music

    So my friends all think my taste in music is crazy. My brother can't stand it. And my sister changes the radio to the one preset in my car that holds her radio station. But what makes my music any different than anyone else's? Yeah, I listen to country, but I also listen to classic rock, modern pop, 80s pop, and anything but rap (I still don't understand the appeal of rap). My gra'ma only likes to listen to classical or big band, so I keep a nice selection of it in my iTunes. Mom prefers holiday music after Thanksgiving (if you don't like Christmas music, good luck near my mother after December 1st) but otherwise likes the eclectic mix of Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Electric Light Orchestra, and George Strait. Dad enjoys mostly the stuff that was popular before I was born--classic rock and oldies. What makes my preference of everything so different.
     Every day we're exposed to so many different sounds that mix together and combine to create music. It could be considered the music of our lives and its all those little sounds, like the sound of pages turning in the library, friends laughing, computer keys clicking, a family member's voice in the other room, they're all sounds that speak to each person differently. It's the reason STOMP has gained popularity even though they don't use traditional instruments.
     What makes one person like a particular type of music more than another kind?

Just a thought...
Stephie

New Year's Eve

     Every year I celebrate New Year's Eve with my family, everybody does their own thing while keeping the dogs calm as our neighbors set off fireworks. Occasionally my sister and brother and I will go over to the neighbors' house, but for the most part we don't do anything more than watch the fireworks and listen to the music on the news--kind of like the Fourth of July. But this year is going to be different.
     This year I am going to attend a party for the first time, well, a party that isn't a family get-together. And that's just kind of sad. Our party is going to be New Years themed, and I'm sure there will be an insane number of people being idiots, but what's a better reason to be silly than the end of the year? There will be music, movies, and the requisite game of beer pong. We've all made the decision to have fun and ring in the new year with some of our favorite people.
     I'm excited, Happy New Year!

Just a thought...
Stephie

End of the World

     Why is everyone freaking out about the end of the world? I'm only twenty-two and I've lived through more "end-of-the-world" scenarios than nearly any other era of history: Y2K and the electronics apocalypse of 2000, 9/11 and the terrorist attacks on the United States as well as the ensuing war, about twelve different dates for Armageddon, and now this--the end of the Mayan calendar. Is it that we have a fascination with death and destruction? Is it that we see something morally wrong with where we're all going? Or is it that it's really entertaining to propose a world-wide event and make believe that it'll happen?
     When I took a class on Fairy Tales, we discussed the stories as ways of coping with the moral dilemmas of our daily lives. The stories allowed us to live through these terrifying and traumatizing events without actually being physically harmed in the process, they were entertainment for the dark side of the human psyche. Is that what we're doing now, with these end of the world, death and destruction stories? Movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow have become manifestations of our fear of the end of the world, and turning it into something that fascinates and entertains us. Decades ago, these same stories would be the Grimm versions of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, Iron John, and so many more myths and legends. They've been extended beyond the individual level--a single person's world is falling apart--to the destruction of all peoples and their worlds.
     Long, rambling, story short: these stories of Earth's destruction are the modern stories that help us deal with the problems of society and the fear of what's coming next. There is a place for such stories, but we, as everyday people, do not need to believe them in a literal sense.

Just a thought...
Stephie

PS. We're still here.