The Fire

Well blogging world, it’s been a while. I’ve decided to come back to blogging, at least for a time, right hear on Ruby’s Serendipity. I’m basically too lazy to start up a new blog, and I’ve decided that I really like having semi-anonymity for blogging. I mean, when I really think about it, I don’t actually want everyone that I personally know to read this. If I did, I would have plastered links to this across social networking sites long ago, shamelessly promoting my mental regurgitation, because let’s face it: I’m not going to edit and reedit anything that goes on here, and I really don’t want to put any raw material in front of all the English and lit teachers that I know (not to mention colleges considering my applications).

Anyway, let’s start catching up on life. College is probably a good place to start, since it takes up about 60% of my waking conscious. I’m in a couple of classes out at the community college here, which is…fine. I wouldn’t want to spend more than a couple of part-time semesters out here, but it isn’t too bad. I’ve sent in applications to the three schools I finally narrowed down after three years of intense searching and many campus visits, but I won’t find out about acceptance until March. I’m pretty sure I’ll lose weight from the stress of waiting. Oh right, summer—I skipped half of that, didn’t I? Well, it was pretty great. I got my license, and realized that freedom (minus the price of gas) really is all it’s cracked up to be. That must be a first. I spent two weeks down in Tennessee at a world view training seminar, Summit, and made some amazing new friends—not to mention gaining a crazy travel epic (it’s too long to just be a story…because I like to make it sound extremely dramatic) when flying down with a friend of mine. I laughed, I cried, I learned a lot, let my brain atrophy several hours a night to make up for it, I made new friends while realizing who my true friends were, and I hope that, through it all, I grew. I think I did, at least.

Growth, as I’m sure you all know, can be painful. In fact, I’m not sure that I’ve experienced any that wasn’t. Sometimes, as I sit back, rubbing my eyes that are smarting after endless hours spent researching at the computer, I wish that I could just skip this portion of my life—I just want to get on to where I’m in college, or where I graduate, or where I have a job, or just anywhere but where I am. I have to remind myself that our lives are refined by the trials set before us, and we must not only weather them, but learn from them. As Thoreau said, “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” Here’s to eternity, everyone!

I haven’t been writing. I think there’s been too much to say…and so it was better to leave it unsaid. Maybe?

Maybe not. Maybe I should have been continuing my therapy blogging. Anyway, I’m back now—at least for a while.

Let’s see…where did I leave off?

…Nope, nothing but reviews and tiptoeing around reality. Well, as a start, I think it’s time for me to move to a new blog; I need a fresh start that doesn’t come with just changing the background and font color. I need a new direction for my writing. AND a new background and font color. I’ll let you know when I’ve sorted it out. It’ll probably be something that I make public to friends—something that I never intentionally did with Ruby’s Serendipity. My life has become more serious, so I think my blogged should at least be focused…as much as anything I write can be. We’ll see how it goes—I might keep this one up on the side, just to rid myself of random thoughts rather than spamming my hopefully-deep and thoughtful writing on the new site.

I’ll let you know.

A Thought-Provoking Film

Fear not, readers--I'm not dead, I haven't been abducted and I don't plan on just using the blog for movies. Honestly--I have a few dozen book posts planned that I simply haven't worked my way around to. However, I only just finished watching Creation, and I feel the intense need to tell everyone and anyone that it is one of Those movies, a movie that is so worth watching and discussing that you simply can't miss it. For those of you unaware of this film, it is the tale of Darwin as he struggled with the should-I-shouldn't-I question of publishing his theory of Evolution. Darwin and his wife, Emma, are played by Paul Bettany and his actual wife, Jennifer Connelly.

Being a young earth creationist myself, I do not agree with the most famous aspect of Darwin's theory, that all creatures--including man--came from more basic life structures Evolving into something more complex. I do, however, embrace parts of his work, such as micro evolution, the change within a species. Do I believe that Darwin "killed" God? Certainly not. I think something that so many Christians fail to notice is that though they disagree with portions of his work, Darwin brought so much valuable scientific study to the proverbial table. Perhaps that was the reason that I became so excited when I first heard of the film. I've been taught to look at as many sides as possible of a subject, and in the case of creation versus evolution, you most certainly should learn about both sides. Obviously the movie is not fact, but I highly encourage you not only to push through the enormously depressing film (depressing because of its depiction of Darwin's inner turmoil over his theory and the death of his daughter, Annie--I admit to crying about every three minutes through the second half) but to watch the extras. There are fascinating discussions from scientists coming from many different world views.

A Must-See

Yes, I went to see Knight and Day without great expectations. I figured that I would have a laugh or two; I figured it would be loaded with "questionable content," making the fact that my dad ended up going with me extremely awkward; I figured the featured parts for the preview would be the best. Let me admit without shame that I figured wrong, to sound thoroughly American. This movie is fantastic. It didn't take itself seriously (I mean, that's sort of obvious, as it IS a comedy, but this is in the extreme), it made fun of itself quite a bit, as well as the genre in general. Goodness, I can't gush enough about it! I've been feeling rather down about movies in general lately. I mean, How to Train your Dragon was fab, Toy Story III wasn't shabby, but other than that, I've been pretty bummed about the quality of what has been coming out of Hollywood of late. It's been trashy, boring and generic. Enough of trashing it, though. Just watch Knight and Day. I'm almost positive that you'll love it and walk out planning to persuade friends to see it so you can go again immediately. I had a quote to finish it up with, but I decided that it just wasn't satisfying without being there. Oh well. Watch the movie, come back, and see if you could figure out my favorite!

A Post of Shame

I think my swelling is going down! At least, I think I deserve to have it go down, considering the fact that I fell asleep holding the ice pack to my face last night. Or maybe the left side swelled more to make the right side look more proportionate...hm...I'll get back to you on that. Anyway, I'm still feeling too ADD to read (a first, pretty much), so I've been camped out with my laptop and TV yet again. To be honest, I might miss all of this terrible drama tomorrow when I go back to work. Ick. Oh! I did make myself pick out one movie today that I wouldn't be ashamed to mention, so I found The Diary of Anne Frank (the 2009 version) on my dear Netflix. It was actually pretty accurate, if I'm recalling the diary correctly. Check it out if you ever get your wisdom teeth out. The acting is good, although...you sort of don't need a big budget for settings, so I guess that isn't much of a stretch. Okay, I'm losing focus, so I'd better go find my ice pack.

A Day in the Life of a Invalid

I think I've watched enough day-time television between yesterday afternoon and today to fry my brain. Junior year? Wasted. I'm pretty sure that whatever I retained is now gone, lost in an abyss of sappy romance and corny jokes. At least I haven't sunk to the level of cartoons yet. Other than ruining my poor brain, I've had a breakthrough in my recovery: I actually managed to eat something other than broth without pulling at my stitches. Yay! I feel like I have some real food in my stomach. Sure, it was just a mush of melted cheese and re-fried beans, but it tasted like heaven. Basically my life consists of bad TV, broth, mush, pills and medicinal-tasting rinse that I can't spit out (apparently if you spit or drink through a straw OR get food stuck in the wounds that the oral surgeon inflicted, you get this nasty thing called dry socket that will kill for about a week).

Excuse me, I've been neglecting "What I Like About You" and "Everybody Loves Raymond."

I'm Alive...I Guess

Well, the teeth are out. The experience wasn't too bad. I had expected to be incredibly nervous all day, but I actually ended up sleeping in the car on the way. It was raining when I got there, so the misery of the day was pretty much a novel's take on misery. Instead of walking into a warm and inviting waiting room, it was pretty much an ice box in muted color palates. A peppy assistant took me back and kept assuring me that I would be fine, which made me assume that I already looked like death warmed over since I wasn't nervous. Great. After all of my stats were taken, they started me on the gas--that terrible, terrible gas. I'm normally aware of my surroundings even with my eyes closed, but this took away all sense of even the placement of my limbs. Everything I heard and said felt like a memory--I wasn't registering it as the present. Pretty strange. After that, I realized I could still open my eyes, the surgeon came in, and...um, I guess I fell asleep. Oh yeah, and I was so much bigger than the nurse, she had another girl come over to help me to the recovery closet-sized room. Yes, thanks for letting me know you're afraid of me crushing you.

Anyway, I need to go fetch my ice packs for a fresh twenty minutes. Ta.