REBLOG: Seizing Adventure

This originally from A Deeper Story (http://deeperstory.com/seizing-adventure/)

I walked into the parking lot of a shopping mall in the California desert: a hot air blast as we left the polar extreme of the movie theatre. I was only 14 but I was inspired.

“O Captain, my captain.” “Carpe Diem… Seize the day!”

Now we see it as a sort of cultural embarrassment, a throwback to the nineties. How Robin Williams of you to quote “The Dead Poets’ Society”, you’re thinking. It’s a little like telling jokes straight out of “The Princess Bride” script.

But then it made so much sense to me.

I longed to be inspired enough to stand on a chair and address my teacher with the same passion as those students in that movie. Later, I opened journals under florescent desk lights of summer evenings trying desperately to write something of worth.

A few of my friends had seen that movie that same summer. We entered September with fresh pens, new backpacks and clean notebooks and in private we asked one of our English teachers to sponsor a secret club of ours.

{And who DIDN’T idolize their female English teachers. In only one hand they held the keys to Shakespeare and the rest of the literature universe and in the other hand the keys to the school.}

Behind drawn mini-blinds we sat on the tops of desks, opened brown sacks of lunch and we met without real purpose.

And our amazing teacher indulged our silliness.

A few of us tentatively shared poems or parts of essays we’d been working on. So vulnerable and so exposing.

I think I secretly wanted a reason to stand on my desk. I wanted to be inspired and I know now that I was simply looking for a story to live.

Fear kept me caged up, only tiptoeing through familiar classroom doors with half-sheets of half-poems, pencil through the base of my ponytail, living out an internal adventure rather than an external one.

I’m an introvert, I’d reason.

I like being alone, I would say to myself.

But who could have made me understand that internal adventures and valuable lessons come while engaging in external ones. These are priceless.

Maybe I should have jumped off the low bridge into the water those nights with everyone else. {They were so brave}

I should have figured out a way to do that exchange in France. It was ripe for me but I was too scared.

I should have.

I should have driven fast and stood up through the sunroof of my older friend’s Mazda.

Instead I huddled and hid behind my journal and an extra 30 pounds. I longed for a reason to stand up on my chair and

be

inspired.

I can’t go back and “seize” the nineties {and I’m not sure I want to}, but I can seize today. The external adventure, the kind that makes a heart race and blood flow all the way to my fingers, the kind that gives me something to write poetry about is the kind that creates the INTERNAL adventure of the soul.

And the best thing about it is that I don’t have to go to France or Africa to find it. I can, if I want, and I’ll have some amazing stories. Some of life IS finding the grandiose adventure, but most of it is more like:

Walking up to a stranger and becoming friends. Allowing a family to live with us while they find housing. Giving my money away. Giving my time away. Staying up late with friends while we try to solve the problems of the universe. Taking my girls on a flashlight hike or a nature walk.  Confessing my dark struggles to a friend.

This is all adventure. This is the stuff of inspiration. And I feel like running out and grabbing it.

I’m not too scared to stand on my desk this morning and seize today as if the dandelions and the new faces and the old ones too gave me a reason to live. And to write.

Are you going to grab today and let it inspire you?

I miss NZ...

Came across this picture on satellite true and it made me miss New Zealand.

When my family was in New Zealand (late '98) we visited the Kelly Tarlton Underwater World/Aquarium. He was the first guy to develop the necessary technology for the walk-through tunnels often seen in aquariums today and seen in the picture above. It was so cool to see a giant stingray just 3 feet above your head!

from the wikipedia article on Kelly Tarlon's aquarium tunnel

It was also kind of weird to know that this tunnel was built in an long-unused sewage pipe in Auckland!

I love randomly scrolling through all the blogs I follow in Google Reader (something like 71 blogs) and seeing pics that remind me of life, of love, of the little things I like.

Compressed Movie Prints Show Film Moods

Check this out... I like the "Matrix" one. :) Click here for the original post 

True Colors: Compressed Movie Prints Show Film Moods

By Delana in Architecture & Design, Gadgets & Geek Art, Technology & Futurism

When you watch your favorite movies over and over, you might start to acquire the ability to recite every line. Every frame of the movie looks familiar and you can predict how the light will change with every scene. But would you recognize your favorites if they were smooshed down into single pictures? (Above: Requiem for a Dream)

(Blade Runner)

(V for Vendetta)

These impressive works of art were created by MovieBarCode, a website that takes every single frame of your favorite movies and compresses them single-frame pictures.

(Se7en)

(Princess Mononoke)

The resulting images are surprisingly lovely, like colorful bar codes with hidden stories to tell. All of the colors of each movie are expressed in the thin vertical stripes, making for some truly impressive new pieces of art.

(The Lion King)

(The Matrix)

It is even possible to tell the mood and overall feel of each film just by the color scheme in these abbreviated representations. Some are predictable, like the cartoons with plenty of bright colors and the overly-green Matrix. Some exhibit long stretches of the same scenery, such as in The Big Lebowski.

(The Big Lebowski)

(The Fifth Element)

The website has an impressive number of movie bar codes posted already, but the artist behind the site also takes requests for any that haven’t yet been created. Prints of the amazing works of art can be purchased from the MovieBarCode website.

REBLOG: "Royalty Demands Modesty"

This was written on the 29th by Heather Patenaude, the author of "Emotional Purity: an Affair of the Heart".

I rather like her take on the royal wedding... and Kate's dress. What do you think?

04/29/11 - Royalty Demands Modesty

Yesterday on the radio they were talking about the wedding dress of Kate Middleton. They were speculating about who made the dress and what it was going to look like. They said they knew one thing, "Her arms will be covered because Royalty demands modesty."

Yes, royalty demands modesty.

As Christian women we are daughters of The King, we are Royalty. We should be setting the standard of modesty, not stoop to the world standards. We should be distinctly different!

I hope others take notice of her beautiful dress and the simply way she honored her position as the new Duchess and maybe one day the Queen.

I also hope wedding dress designers take notice that not all brides want to wear strapless, which is pretty much all you find if you go wedding dress shopping. They need to give brides a choice. (Although you can have a wedding dress alter to make it "chapel ready" which would add straps or sleeves to a dress.)

Let's hope that Kate's dress sets a new standard in Wedding Dresses!