i. random

For the reason that I was probably going to just have to come up with the most random picture in the world to fit this post - and since it takes forever to load new pictures on - I have decided that this is a - wait for it, wait for it... - pictureless post!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!! :D

Anywho, Merry Christmas!! :) I realize it's in a few days, but I'm going to be crazy busy doing stuff, so I just thought that I'd say it now. :) We've got some snow on the ground and everything's great. :) How are you guys doing? :) Going anywhere special for the holidays? :) Do any of you guys have any special Christmas traditions that you guys do? :) I hope it's an awesome, God-blessed day!!! :)

Christmas time has been one of my favorite holidays. I love all of the decorations, all of the food (CHOCOLATE?!?! JK hehe :D), most of the music ;), getting to see familiar faces and, most of, celebrating Jesus' birth. I've got some Christmas music that I'll get to play on my cello, which makes me really excited. :) (remind me about the cello later - got a story! :))

(now, where was I...?)

Ah, yes. I'm hoping to able to change my blog design on here real quickly (we'll see if that happens, and if it does, how that goes - I feel like I haven't designed a blog in forever haha ;)) with a Christmasy kind of design, which makes me happy. :)

So what have I been reading?

(blank)

Yeah, that's right, not much. =P

(and that doesn't include Bible reading, because I try to read my Bible every day.)

In the Bible, I've been reading in Isaiah. You know like that famous passage about a voice calling from the wilderness? I finally got to that part. It's really cool to think that you're reading a prophecy and then you see it fulfilled later! I just think that that's really awesome. :)

This is kind of random, but I'm pretty sure I promised something. And you know what that is? A review on How to Train Your Dragon 2. That would usually go on Dragonmaster, but whatever, I'm on here. :) This probably won't be "full length", but I'll write it anyway. And the good news? Most of us have probably watched it by now!! Yay!! aka here come the spoilers. :)

I thought that the movie was pretty good overall, but then we get to the part that I'm sure you're thinking of since I just started saying this part of the sentence. Yup. Stoick's death. That was just pretty much... *sniff sniff* awful. Especially since he'd just reunited with his wife!!!! I just couldn't figure out why on earth they'd want to kill off Stoick in the first place.

Because the actor wanted to quit? They could've made him mute. (I mean, if just Hiccup's leg can get burned off and he doesn't die in the huge explosion of fire, can't just Stoick's voice get blown away?? I mean, makes sense, right?) (and plus, these movies are pretty popular. I couldn't really figure out why the actor would want to quit.) Something happened to injure the real actor? Could've made him mute. They just wanted to kill him because of the emotional reaction? I seriously don't know why. It made me like the movie wayyyyyy less. :(

I don't know. But I liked the movie pretty well other then Stoick getting killed. What about you guys? Thoughts?

You probably noticed that this is post is called "i. random." Yup. That's because it's a new series of posts (like recap) entitled "random" - when there's simply too much content to pick a topic!! YAY!! :) Good news, right? ;)

Oh, right! Cello. So guess what? I got to play "Love is an Open Door" (from Frozen) on the cello! It was awesome. :) I had so much fun. :) I got to use my Frozen piano book, and then I just played on the bottom level. (in the bass clef) I'm having more opportunities to play the cello, which I think is really awesome. :) I'm excited. :)

Good news! I think I found something that kind of puts a clincher on the beginning of a new series. (and it "kind of" has a magical world in it. I might tell you guys more when I get more specifics.) And I have another story idea that I'll have to pan out. (because I have an idea, I just need a story to go along with it. :))

I'm getting the writing bug just thinking about all of this stuff, so I'll see you guys later! :) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! :)

God bless,
~Anna :)

P.S. Here's some holiday awesomeness from me to you. :)

thoughts (that are slightly random)

it’s so weird finding out what you like, and then really knowing what you like. you know, blog designs, clothes, music, food, whatever. sometimes, you don’t know. but then you just see it - everything you ever dreamed of. and you know - “that - that right there. that’s it.” i love choices. seeing enough of something that you actually have to choose between things. example - clothes. actually finding a store where mostly everything they have you love, and you just think “DUDE I WANT TO BUY THIS WHOLE STORE RIGHT NOW!!” other times, you walk in, you think, “that’s okay,” but there’s nothing really that catches your eye. or like music. you hear lots of music, think, “hey that’s not terribly boring,” where other times you’re just like, “man, i love this song!” or blog designs. i love looking at people’s blog designs. it’s like admiring great paintings. as for the food? you got me. i still have no idea what’s my fave. (i’m guessing chocolate doesn’t count as a food group...)

one of my favorite things about being a photography - cough cough owning a nice camera cough cough - is that it really shows me how great things are. sometimes i see things with just my own eyes that i wish that i capture on the camera. something completely ordinary that suddenly looks beautiful. it happens at strange and random times - holding a pencil, staring up through the leaves of a tree, sitting in a seat. and i think, “that’s just beautiful.”

i’ve been kind of - kind of - wrestling with stories lately. everyone always says, “write what you know,” (sometimes i really wonder who first said that...) but i can’t help but think that the things that i know about aren’t very interesting. i don’t know. i guess that’s partly why i love writing about magical worlds. because no one’s ever been to one, so you can’t write about it because you “know” it. you can just let your imagination run free, and you won’t be rewriting history or something. but, you know, i’m kind of trying to find the happy medium between writing in things that i do know about - extensively - and things that i want to explore. should be an interesting journey.

i hate feeling out of my element. i realize that’s obvious, but i really do. i hate it when i go into something not feeling prepared and not knowing what i’m doing. it’s like having this insane fear that can’t be calmed and you just want to run screaming and jump into a hole and pull a house over you. (well...) and you what else is kind of hard? being the new person. being in a place where everyone else knows what they’re doing, and you don’t. i think if a new person ever comes into my life and doesn’t know about something that i know a lot about, i’m going to help them out. but for now, i’m going to trust God that He’s going to get me through whatever situation that i feel totally out of my element in.

by the way... Happy Late Thanksgiving! :) you know, i thought about doing a Thanksgiving post, but then i was so busy - especially on the day of - that i didn’t really get around to it. hopefully, when it comes, i’ll be able to get in a Christmas post, eh?

gotta go!
be a hero,
anna