Posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
30 Day Challenge: Day 1
I've decided to do a 30 day challenge. I'm also doing this over on my tumblr.
Picture taken by Christian Colburn.
- My family situation is so complicated that I can't tell you how many siblings I have without qualification. Short answer: between 1 and 8. Long answer: 1 half brother, 1 half sister, 1 brother, 2 stepbrothers I never see, 1 stepsister I've never met, 1 stepbrother and 1 stepsister that aren't legally my stepsiblings. Truest answer: I'm one of 6.
- I'm probably addicted to my devices. Especially my iPod. His name is Rory.
- I've been drinking coffee since I was 3 days old. These days, I drink it with 4 spoons of sugar and a splash of milk. Preferably a hint of flavoured creamer.
- My wardrobe is mostly jeans and t-shirts but I'm working on turning it into a more adult, grown up closet. Classy, sophisticated, but still comfortable.
- Though none of my biological siblings have children, I have a "big sister" with a daughter who I consider my niece. I am very proud to be Aunt Victoria.
- When I was 16, I was officially diagnosed with severe depression and more severe anxiety. This year is the first time I've been off my anti-depressants since then for more than six months.
- I have no idea what I look like with my natural hair color. It's some shade of brown but my whole head hasn't been covered with it since 2006. I enjoy dying my hair and changing it up too much.
- After being a student for 19 years, I graduated from a private Christian college with a degree in English (writing emphasis) and minors in Education (which was my major for 5 of my 8 semesters) and Communications (which I may go on to get my masters in).
- I was engaged for about three years. It ended November 2011 and though I miss who we were sometimes, I don't miss who he is now. I was obsessed with planning our wedding instead of our marriage.
- Most importantly, I am a Christian. Without the strength of Jesus, there are many things in my life that would be so very different. The way I handled my engagement ending, the way I'm surviving this year abroad, the fact that I'm off my anti-depressants. I can turn and point it all back to Him.
Gallifrey and Germany
Hello everybody! Long time no see. I've been knitting a lot lately which is not conducive to writing. And I honestly just haven't felt like it. If it's online and it requires brain power, I probably haven't done it in at least a month. Which includes blogging, checking my e-mails, reading blogs, etc. I haven't been on pinterest either-that giant timesuck-so it's not all bad. I did start using my tumblr (serendipity427.tumblr.com if you're interested). That's also bound to be a big timesuck when I start following more people. Right now my biggest tumblr suck is Gallifrey Burning. It's a Doctor Who (and other geekiness) tumblr (are these things called blogs or what?). She writes some amazing fan-fiction which I've also then been reading. And yes, that is just about the extent of my reading these days. If I'm taking a break from my niece's blanket to read, it has to be something so good I can't put down. Which Gallifrey Burning includes.
Speaking of Gallifrey... For those who don't know Gallifrey is the home planet of the time lords. What's a time lord? The Doctor is. Two hearts. Ability to regenerate into a new body when the old one is damaged. But only 13 times. And we're currently on the Doctor's eleventh regeneration. Which means either 1 or 2 more. Unless they change the rules. And it's Moffat so it's not unlikely. (No, I'm not explaining Moffat. Just glare and shake your fist muttering "Damn you Moffat" with me. Ready... Damn you, Moffat. Thank you.)
So speaking of Gallifrey (a planet with two suns, a bright orange sky, and silver leafed trees), with the money my parental units gave me for Christmas, I (paid my credit card and) bought a I <3 <3 Gallifrey shirt! I absolutely love it. It's so comfortable and so cute. It's long enough to not ride up when I raise my arms and the sleeves are longer than normal girl's T-shirt sleeves are. Which of course makes my tattoo only like half covered but that's fine. (I prefer either all covered or all exposed. With this tattoo it's normally the top rose is covered, the rest exposed because of short sleeves. Or all covered/all exposed. This shirt? Half the words are covered too.)
After we spent our time in Paris, we spent a few days in Prenzlau and then Schwedt. (While there I watched all 8 or 9 movies in the Love Comes Softly series. Yes, they are cheesy. But now I've seen them. Thank you Hallmark for cheese.) After a few crazy days there with nothing to do, three little girls to keep occupied, and not a freaking playground in sight, we were in Schwedt for one night so Daniel could conduct a concert. During the concert, Noemi and Kathrin watched and I stayed in Daniel's dressing room with Nuria and Ellie. I could hear the music, was playing with the girls, and had Tangled playing on my laptop for Ellie to watch. (They also ate a million slices of clemintines!)
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of classical music. I find it rather boring most of the time. If someone else puts it on, I won't complain but I'm not going to put it on myself. I don't typically seek out concerts (though I do enjoy them when I go). So I guess I'm a lazy intellectual. Anyhow, point is, while listening to this symphony, I was so moved I almost cried. I was also super desparate for some nature time and had just gotten a glimpse of the river looking into a national park. (On the other side of that river was forest and beauty and nature and then on the other side of that was Poland. That's how close I was to Poland, how far East. I was all of 3.5 km away from the border.) As I was listening to the music, I had this picture in my head of the river and the trees and just imagining listening to this beautiful symphony while looking out over G-d's beautiful creation moved me to tears. I felt so incredibly blessed at that moment.
Of course, after that we had to hussle to the train station and when we got to Berlin for our train change, we had to race to catch the train to Osna. The family got on and underway while I went to get coffee with Karen, one of the family friends. She lives in Berlin and I was headed to Hamburg. She was so interesting to talk to that I lost track of time... and missed my train. I had to buy a new ticket (which left me broke) but I did get on the train and made it to Hamburg.
And I think this had rambled on for long enough. I'm going to write some more later but it will post throughout the week. Have a great evening!
Speaking of Gallifrey... For those who don't know Gallifrey is the home planet of the time lords. What's a time lord? The Doctor is. Two hearts. Ability to regenerate into a new body when the old one is damaged. But only 13 times. And we're currently on the Doctor's eleventh regeneration. Which means either 1 or 2 more. Unless they change the rules. And it's Moffat so it's not unlikely. (No, I'm not explaining Moffat. Just glare and shake your fist muttering "Damn you Moffat" with me. Ready... Damn you, Moffat. Thank you.)
So speaking of Gallifrey (a planet with two suns, a bright orange sky, and silver leafed trees), with the money my parental units gave me for Christmas, I (paid my credit card and) bought a I <3 <3 Gallifrey shirt! I absolutely love it. It's so comfortable and so cute. It's long enough to not ride up when I raise my arms and the sleeves are longer than normal girl's T-shirt sleeves are. Which of course makes my tattoo only like half covered but that's fine. (I prefer either all covered or all exposed. With this tattoo it's normally the top rose is covered, the rest exposed because of short sleeves. Or all covered/all exposed. This shirt? Half the words are covered too.)
After we spent our time in Paris, we spent a few days in Prenzlau and then Schwedt. (While there I watched all 8 or 9 movies in the Love Comes Softly series. Yes, they are cheesy. But now I've seen them. Thank you Hallmark for cheese.) After a few crazy days there with nothing to do, three little girls to keep occupied, and not a freaking playground in sight, we were in Schwedt for one night so Daniel could conduct a concert. During the concert, Noemi and Kathrin watched and I stayed in Daniel's dressing room with Nuria and Ellie. I could hear the music, was playing with the girls, and had Tangled playing on my laptop for Ellie to watch. (They also ate a million slices of clemintines!)
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of classical music. I find it rather boring most of the time. If someone else puts it on, I won't complain but I'm not going to put it on myself. I don't typically seek out concerts (though I do enjoy them when I go). So I guess I'm a lazy intellectual. Anyhow, point is, while listening to this symphony, I was so moved I almost cried. I was also super desparate for some nature time and had just gotten a glimpse of the river looking into a national park. (On the other side of that river was forest and beauty and nature and then on the other side of that was Poland. That's how close I was to Poland, how far East. I was all of 3.5 km away from the border.) As I was listening to the music, I had this picture in my head of the river and the trees and just imagining listening to this beautiful symphony while looking out over G-d's beautiful creation moved me to tears. I felt so incredibly blessed at that moment.
Of course, after that we had to hussle to the train station and when we got to Berlin for our train change, we had to race to catch the train to Osna. The family got on and underway while I went to get coffee with Karen, one of the family friends. She lives in Berlin and I was headed to Hamburg. She was so interesting to talk to that I lost track of time... and missed my train. I had to buy a new ticket (which left me broke) but I did get on the train and made it to Hamburg.
And I think this had rambled on for long enough. I'm going to write some more later but it will post throughout the week. Have a great evening!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
I'm still alive...
Title because I survived the Mayan Apocalypse AND because I haven't written in an eternity...
Last time I wrote, I said that I didn't see the point in reading the Bible. And that apathy has carried over to most forms of the written word lately. I haven't journaled much, haven't blogged, haven't been reading books, haven't read the things my friends have sent me, haven't read my e-mails, haven't written my stories, nothing.
Hi, my name is Victoria and I fail as an English major.
Good thing I already have my degree, huh?
But now... you get a post written this morning! Enjoy!
Last time I wrote, I said that I didn't see the point in reading the Bible. And that apathy has carried over to most forms of the written word lately. I haven't journaled much, haven't blogged, haven't been reading books, haven't read the things my friends have sent me, haven't read my e-mails, haven't written my stories, nothing.
Hi, my name is Victoria and I fail as an English major.
Good thing I already have my degree, huh?
(See? Screenshot of my degree from a Skype chat with my family)
But now... you get a post written this morning! Enjoy!
I’m laying in bed in Paris. It’s about 11AM and I have about
five hours before I plan to head to the city. I would go in sooner, explore, go
on a tour, but it’s raining out and I don’t have an umbrella. And my shoes aren’t
waterproof. So I’ll go in to Skype my family from Pret (first I’m calling Mom
and then at 8:30 I’m calling in to my family’s Christmas party). Tomorrow I’ll
be baking up a storm so I doubt I’ll be able to go explore. I’m making
chocolate chip cookies and buckeyes for gifts and then cheesecake for
Christmas. It should be cherry cheesecake but I couldn’t find cherry pie
topping. I do think I have to get more cream cheese than I bought yesterday. I
can’t make just one cheesecake stretch to 14 people.
We got here yesterday and were at the house by noon.
Normally I’m not afraid of flying and I did not believe that the world was
going to end yesterday. But somehow, some bit of something got in my head and I
was honestly afraid about our flight. I just didn’t know what might happen. But
of course I didn’t want to scare the girls. So when Kathrin and the girls went
to the bathroom and I stayed with the stuff, I took a minute to pray and to
start reading Matthew 6 (Who of you by worrying can add another second to your
day?).
I’m not afraid of dying in general. I believe that since I
have accepted Christ into my heart, when I die I will go to be with Him. If the
idea of a third-line Christian is what makes someone “qualified”, then maybe I’m
not but I am trying to get there. I am seeking. Last night, I told G-d “I want
to want only You”. I believe that if something had happened yesterday, I would
have gone to heaven. So my fear wasn’t “What will happen to me after I die?” It
was more of a sorrow that I’d never see my family again, that they’d have to
deal with the pain of losing someone, and the fear of the process of dying
(Would I hurt? Would it be quick? If our plane crashed, those last few moments,
how would I react? How would I process my own mortality and comfort the
girls?). G-d did give me peace as we waited for the plane. I prayed if it was
my time, it would be fast and painless but that He would please protect us.
Being reassured of my salvation by the peace that overcame me, I was able to
enjoy the flight. I sat next to Yael and across the aisle from Noemi while
Kathrin and Nuria sat behind us. The girls had workbooks that Kathrin bought
which they did and I mostly just concerned myself with them instead of my typical
plane activities (reading, music, knitting).
Speaking of knitting, getting through security was SUCH a
pain in the ASS this time. I’ve never been hassled more. I know why all the
rules are there and I’m glad that they keep everyone safe but man are they
inconvenient. My pants went off so I got wand-ed. My bra has metal on it of
course so that beeped and I got felt up by the woman working. Then I had
forgotten my cell phone and that had to get run through. Then my legs got all
felt up and they made me take my boots off to scan them. When my bag came
through, the guy started searching through it. I know they’re allowed to but
that’s never happened to me. He had his hands on probably everything in there.
Took my Kindle out, ran it through separately and ran my bag through again.
Then he started rummaging again. He pulled out my (empty) knitting needles and
told me I really shouldn’t have them with me but he was nice and he did let me
keep them instead of confiscating them.
Which means the knitting project I cast on yesterday needs
to be finished by the 26th so I can put my needles into Kathrin’s
checked bag. It is going quickly though so I do think that will be possible. I
have 30 rows left to knit and I did 22 yesterday. So this one will be done
today and the other one could possibly be finished between Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day. My only problem is a small ladder forming on either side. It’s small
though so I don’t think it’ll be noticed. I’ve never had this problem before
though so I’m not sure why I am not.
Well I do think it’s time for me to get up and brush my
teeth (it is almost noon now). See you later, folks.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Relationship Quote
It seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is… suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.
-The X-Files
I came across this quote the other day and feel the need to save it. I'm choosing also to share it with you today. Enjoy.
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