Of Patriots and Pioneers

A couple things:

1. I can't believe it's the end of July.  Where does the time go?  Father Time, that's what.  He's a tricky one, stealing and speeding time the way he does.  But it is the end of July.  This year is more than half way through.  And the month of Fireworks has come to a close: Independence Day and Pioneer Day.  The first I cherish; the second I tend to forget.

2. Today is Harry Potter's Birthday, in case you missed it and care.  For those who don't care I hope you had a delightful day, regardless, but Potter-ish things were afoot today, and I may have sneaked a few passages of reading a certain script during Church.  Naughty, I know.  You didn't take me for a rebel, did you?

Yup, I'm all kinds of rebel . . .

All I will say, for now, is that after reading the script I feel a little bad for choosing Team Valor in the Pokemon Go game.  Just a little bad.  Only a little.

 I do love Independence Day.  I spent that morning researching an ancestor who fought in the American Revaluation and found a treasure trove of information in the process.  Three pages of his account of the battles he was in, for pension purposes, scrolled out in delicate cursive, most of which I could make out. Brintnal (Brintnell) Robbins, born on March 22, 1756, who fought in the Concord portion of the battle at Lexington and Concord, the battles that started it all.

I went with my parents to the Colonial Days at Scera Park.  They had never been, and it had been a few years since I visited.  My brother Robbie and Lindsay joined us, and they had a good time.  It's like an interactive History lesson.

I love it.  I totally geeked out.

And then this happened.  That's not a bruise.  I was holding the program under my arm and the ink melted in the heat, so really I just found a new way to wear my patriotism.

And then there's Pioneer Day, which is a big deal in Utah, celebrating the pioneers who fled here, fleeing persecution.  I grew up in Central California where the only people who celebrated Pioneer Day were member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  In seminary it seemed every kid had pioneer stories to tell of their ancestors.  When it came time for me to share a story I said I had no Pioneer Heritage, so I was skipped.

The funny thing is, as I've begun working on my genealogy these last many years, I've found many possible distant cousins who are Mormon pioneers.  Joseph Smith is hypothetically my 5th cousin 7 times removed, though our "joining" ancestor is Thomas Gates born 1590, England.  Many names leading up to Thomas I'm quite unsure of, as there are sloppy genealogies all over the place, and I'm a natural skeptic, especially with genealogy.  I need proof and paperwork to believe I'm related to someone.

I don't know why it should matter if I have Pioneer heritage or not.  It shouldn't.  All members of the LDS church must discover and find their testimonies independently.  I appreciate the pioneers and their sacrifices.  It's funny, I do get a little annoyed when someone launches into some great story of their Pioneer heritage, and yet I have no problem declaring my pride for my ancestors who fought in the Revelation.  I read a few years ago that 1 in 10 Americans have ancestors who fought in the Revelation.  So I'm guilty of what I find annoying, or, technically, what I'm jealous of.

Not very virtuous of me.

Still, Summer is journeying on.  My Grandparents and Aunt were suppose to visit Mesquite NV this weekend, but it got up to 118 degrees there last Friday, so the trip was canceled.  Since experiencing humid Florida heat a couple months ago I haven't been bothered by dry 100+ Utah heat, which has been nice.  I'm just going to enjoy it.  Snow can be quite a bother at times.

Happy August.  You will be here in a few minutes.  It's 11:25 PM now.

I'm ready for this new month. 

Ready for the lessons it will teach me.

Time seems to rob so much from us, but he also gives, too.

Never forget that.

Never Be Afraid of the Truth; Never Be Afraid of Starting Again

Miss Stacey: Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth, Anne.  You see it frightens them, so they put up walls to protect themselves from it.  What we must bear in mind is that all these trails and tribulations that pop up in our lives, well they serve a very useful purpose.  They build character, as long as we can hold unto the lessons we've learned from our mistakes.  Remember, you can always start everything afresh tomorrow.

Anne Shirley: That is a tremendous consolation Miss Stacey.  Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.

Miss Stacey: Well, with no mistakes in it, yet.  As far as the truth goes, don't lose heart.

~ Anne of Green Gables, second part, right after the Intermission.

I love this movie so, so much.  Every year I watch it, and just recently I watched this movie with a good friend and my sister-in-law Lindsay.  The scene typed above is my favorite.  Whenever I struggle with my weaknesses and mistakes I repeat the line, "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it."

I've grown up repeating this line, but when I saw this scene I've always somehow missed the first lesson Miss Stacey was expressing to Anne.  And with everything I'm experiencing personally, and with what I'm seeing in the World, I'm very grateful for these words.

With the dozens of times I've watched this movie I've missed those lines.  Maybe my mind just always went silent, waiting for my most favorite line.  Or maybe it represents where I am now, personally.  Maybe I'm finally ready to let some things go.

Why Doesn't Anyone Name Their Pokémon?

Today, for the first time, I defended a gym and left a Pokémon.  A CP 1339 Arcanine that I lovingly named Heero, which is short for Heero Yuy, because he's a great character that fits the spirit of Team Valor well.

Of course now as I write this at 9:48 PM, an hour after I placed Heero, the gym was regained by Team Mystic.  And no, I'm not going out to retake it.  I'm watching a delightful episode of Road To Avonlea and I'm really quite content.

But for the last week or so I've been looking at the stats of one gym to the next, seeing what Pokémon were placed there and their accompanied CP.  There's also something else I've noticed, all the Pokémon bare their original Pokémon names.  When I placed Heero his name shown right next to him, and it was a really fun sight.

I've been having fun naming my Pokémon.  Today I got a Jolteon that I named Tesla and an Electabuzz that I named Faraday.

And last week I got a CP 666 Ponyta I named Demon's Mare.

And for the record I caught this Ponyta at a 666 CP.  Heh, had a good laugh over it, so I'm not evolving or increasing its power.  I wonder if I left him at a gym if anyone would freak out a little ;0)

Why One Writes

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

~Maya Angelou

I profess that the above statement is true.

It is agony.

An agony I'm working through.

 I found this quote while reading through other inspiration quotes on Buzzfeed about writing, and why we write, or just simply finding motivation to write.  I've got stories inside me.  Characters.  Worlds.  Ideas.  Some of them I wonder if I'm too late in telling, and that worries me.  But it's cluttered.  My head and heart are cluttered, and after all this time I'm working through getting some of what is in my head out on paper.

It's a frightening process that works against my insecurities.  Not reading until the 3rd grade and so forth, those burdens that still haunt, even though I've overcome those weaknesses years ago.  But for me the real trial is turning what I see visually and feel emotionally into words.

It wasn't until I was a senior in High School that I learned people thought in words.  I would have small conversations in my head, but really everything I experienced in my mind was jumping from one image to the next, living through one scene to the next.

It was late at night and my friends and I were lying on the ground starring up at the stairs, inventing constellations.  And as we gazed into the heavens we began talking about thought processes.  Every single one of my friends thought in words.  They didn't see pictures!  I was amazed and baffled.  I though everyone sees things happening in their mind like a movie.  One day, after that, I asked one of my friends who was there that night how she writes stories.  Does she really not see the characters moving about?  And she told me that when she writes she hears the words in her head, but that was it.  No pictures.  No movements.  No buildings or scenery.

And all I could think was how boring that must be.

But the problem I'm having is translating what I hear, see, feel, and experience into words.  And most of the time I'm not there, simply an observer watching, laughing, crying.  I just got to find the words.

It's a process.

I'm learning.

This nice thing about writing is that there isn't an average age or expiration date.

And so many writers who have found success did so later in life.

Imagination is for the young and old alike.

I found the below image on Facebook and had a good laugh over it.

And don't worry, I'm still working on my music as well. ;0)

How to Find Happiness

"Happiness comes a lot easier when you stop complaining about your problems and start being grateful for all the problems you don't have."

~ Anonymous

 I have no idea who wrote this quote, but it's awesome!

PS. This sign was close to the apartment I stayed in in Paris. Everyday when I walked to the metro or bus I passed by it and had a good laugh. :0)

Astrology, Our Fate, Our Choice

I don't believe in astrology.  My Grandpa R. does, and he's been particularly obsessed with it as of late, which is why it's been on my mind.  My Dad takes him weekly to a lodge in the mountains, and there my Grandpa gives these waitresses at the restaurant their astrology predictions.

For me astrology is amusing, but that's it.  Nothing more.  Something to laugh and moan over.  Mock at the predictability or randomness, knowing full well that everyone born on my birthday isn't just like me and not doomed to the same written fate.

We have the power to steer our own ship.  No amount of power from the stars is strong enough to change the wind in our sails, though you have to be careful not to get trapped in ocean currents.  Currents can be powerful and overwhelming, and it's easy to get stuck and not realize you're still moving forward willingly or unwillingly.  Time moves whether we wish it to or not.

Steer your ship, don't let it steer you.

 

My Blog, and other Tidbits

I'm still here!

Heh, hard to believe, right?

I realized yesterday, looking through my lack of tweets as of recent, that my last blog post was June 22, and with yesterday being July 22 I realized it was time to once again post something.

In all honesty I got a little burned out with this blog.  This is a hobby.  At one point I was getting enough views to get AdSense, or whatever it's called, but then I decided against it.  As nice as it would be to get paid for this, I didn't want to start a precedence.  There's such a problem now with blogs and Instagram posts being geared towards profit.  Topics being discussed or dresses photographed in the name of product advertisement, unknowingly to the reader, because they were paid to do it.  When I write or talk about something it will be because I truly feel and believe it.  You never have to worry that I've been bought.

So this blog is a hobby, for now.  When Talea stuff starts happening again I will be talking and sharing stuff about that, and it will be promoting my business, not someone-else, so it's still genuine.  But I did get burned out, and it wasn't for a lack of stuff to talk about.  I have so many things I can talk about!  I just needed a break.

That break is done!

I'm going to blog every day for the rest of the month so I have have nine posts for the month of July, and then in August my goal is to blog a minimum of four days a week.

I've got trips to talk about, France and Disney World, movies to review, and other fun stuff.