It’s been a month since I arrived back from Morocco and I think I’ve just about recovered! In my first post, Monkeys mountains and the Medina, I mentioned that everything in this diverse, vibrant place was enchanting and beautiful. As a result, I thought I should probably share a few more of my 4000+ photos. I’ve gone for a less intense location for my next trip abroad, Berlin, but I’m sure it will still have plenty to offer my lens!
west coast nest Hi there friends! I’m officially 30 (the new 20!). With birthday celebrations and recent vacations, I still feel that I have much to get caught up on around here so please pardon the blogging irregularities of late. This blog has been sorely neglected due to recent internet and computer issues making for less than smooth blogging! On another note, my wonderful husband surprised me with a romantic, birthday weekend get away to Tofino! I’m very much looking forward to getting caught up and relaxing for a weekend together. This term of school has been exceptionally busy, leaving little (or no) time for us. I’m also very excited as I haven’t been to Vancouver Island in many years (I think I may have been about 18 the last time), so I’m excited to grab my camera and capture its wild, rustic West Coast beauty. Until I get caught up, I wanted to share another post from my recent trip to Hawaii! My mom and I were lucky enough to stumble upon three huge Green Hawai
I really, really dislike hit points. Here’s an example. According to the official rules (paraphrased), at or above half is “no signs of injury”, half to 0 is “a few cuts and bruises”, and a hit that takes you to 0 or below is a serious injury. Even as an abstraction, it’s sort of broken, and especially when combined with Armor Class. We’d probably call it a leaky abstraction in software, although it’s slightly different. The intent is to model abstract survivability in combat. Your stereotypical orc and human fighter, armed with medium hand weapons (swords, axes, etc) and a shield, wearing decent armor, set to murdering each other. Since each is pretty equally matched, the fight goes on for a bit. They swing and score the occasional hit, but not one that is especially damaging. Eventually, one of them will have their “luck run out”: perhaps literal bad luck, or the exhaustion of hand-to-hand combat combined with numerous small
It’s been a rough couple of months, in which time I feel like I have lost grip of the important people in my life, but also gained an independence that comes with letting go. It’s difficult to say that letting someone free or asking them to leave is the right thing to do, but sometimes it’s the only thing to do. I love my family so much, and there aren’t many people that comprise of it, but those that do have my whole devotion. So when I see them pushing away or falling into the same self destructive patterns, I have to step back. I cannot save them. I cannot push them. I can only offer my help and my love and let them choose their path. Sometimes that path is a lonely one, and sometimes it is necessary to let the ones you love walk the path to redemption without you. Changing who you are is a very difficult thing to do, and I have fallen back on hard habits. I see myself relapsing, but I also see myself making a breakthrough in the midst of that. I work on s
It’s the irony of life to sort through the things you don’t want before finally realizing what it is that you want. You have to go through that tiring process and live with what you have right now because of many circumstances. But you then realize that that process is vital, a prerequisite. Some people are lucky enough to realize what they want to do early in their life. Some think it’s what they want to do; however, things don’t go according to plan (which is what usually happens in life) but they still end up going after what they want anyway. Some do realize this but, due to many reasons, cannot muster the courage to leave their comfort zones and go after what they want. After all, the familiar is safe while with uncharted territory, it’s a hit or miss. I’ve been holding this in for a year now and I think it’s high time I go after what I want. I have no clue if this is still what I want to do ten years from now– two years from now ev
June 2, 2012 – “Sometimes it takes awhile to find true love. Lori and Lee have found it and are so perfect for each other. Their personalities are easy-going, joyful and hilarious. They are so completely comfortable to be around. They are genuine, warm and wonderful people and we couldn’t be happier for them. Here are a few of our favorites from their engagement session at Red Butte Gardens.” Glade and Corinne
Back into a routine – it’s a nice comfortable feeling. Saturday in this household is shopping day – so shopping we did! First into town for a few bits and bobs and the required Nero’s coffee. It’s lovely to see all the flags and bunting out for the Jubilee. Then we went to BJ’s for bedding plants, where we also found one of those really awful plastic door things to keep the flues out of our conservatory! So naff, but so useful! We seem to be plagued by flies this year! Then to Sainsbury’s for the food shopping. It was gone 1pm by the time we arrived, so we headed first to the cafe. The usual non-Paleo selection, but I am quite determined to get back to ‘proper’ eating, so just had a strawberry yogurt and some apple juice. Unfortunately my favourite vehicle was outside – but I resisted! Hocking’s is really the best ice cream in the world – if you ever get the opportunity, do try some! It is made in Appledore so you
Dear Future Husband, Before I get into anything else, I want to take a moment to apologize for all my quirks – you know my borderline OCD organizing, my random singing, and my silly voices that I make for… basically no reason. I’m guessing you’re okay with all that because I have something else to offer to balance it out (you’ve tried my chorizo tacos, right? you must have otherwise why else would you stay?) I just want to make an important promise here and now. I promise that no matter how angry or annoyed I am, I will never be passive aggressive to you. It’s stupid and causes unnecessary tension between us. You probably won’t even get why I’m mad anyways and will chalk it up to PMS or whatever it is men usually do. Because when I get passive aggressive, I don’t stay passive aggressive. I start getting aggressive. This causes even more problems and you will ended up hating me, or even divorcing me. And then what would I do? go find
This past Memorial Day weekend when I placed my American flag in its holder on the front of our house, I was reminded of my military service. When I first took the oath of service I was only eighteen. It seemed a reasonable thing to do since I had no specific goals or any prospects of getting a job after graduating from high school. While writing my recently published novel, The Incident, I re-lived some of those memories of leaving home and traveling across the ocean to Korea. It was a turning point. Up until that time I had low self-esteem and had never seriously thought about how I’d like to live my life. Making the decision to serve in the military was significant. Later, in 1967, I experienced a similar sense of duty when I volunteered to serve as an Army chaplain. You may or may not know that all chaplains are volunteers, and I decided it was the right thing to do as the war in Vietnam continued escalating. Joining the chaplaincy was significantly different, however, because it i
This past Memorial Day weekend when I placed my American flag in its holder on the front of our house, I was reminded of my military service. When I first took the oath of service I was only eighteen. It seemed a reasonable thing to do since I had no specific goals or any prospects of getting a job after graduating from high school. While writing my recently published novel, The Incident, I re-lived some of those memories of leaving home and traveling across the ocean to Korea. It was a turning point. Up until that time I had low self-esteem and had never seriously thought about how I’d like to live my life. Making the decision to serve in the military was significant. Later, in 1967, I experienced a similar sense of duty when I volunteered to serve as an Army chaplain. You may or may not know that all chaplains are volunteers, and I decided it was the right thing to do as the war in Vietnam continued escalating. Joining the chaplaincy was significantly different, however, because it i
Matt and I talked a lot about what it would be like to live in a house on wheels. We both felt confident we could do it, although it would be a pretty radical shift from the life we’d been living up till then. We talked about the space constraints. We talked about giving up most of our possessions. We talked about the loss of privacy, which was a big consideration. We talked about what would happen to my two 9 year old cats, who I’d had since they were both small enough to fit in one of my hands. We talked about where we would park it, the cost of gas, how we would cook, and how would we get power. We talked and talked and talked. And all the while we scoured the internet looking for that perfect fit. At least once and sometimes three or four times a day I would check the local ads looking for the one. Our search terms were broad. We looked at camper vans, RVs, and trailers. Our only real constraint was budget, with only a few thousand in the bank, and wanting to have some
I cannot stop myself from jumping up and down I wish time could stop and I could live in the now All the hurt and the sorrow gone without a trace, With just one glance at your angelic face, No explanations necessary, there’s nothing for you to fear, My heart’s overwhelmed, I’m just glad that you’re here For this happiness there’s a price I must pay, No more wanting more if I want you to stay Did you miss me when you were nowhere to be found, While I try not to relive the memories we had I almost doubted that you were real, I almost thought everything was just a dream So now we’re back to “Everything is fine” But no more thinking “I wish you’re mine” I’ve already tried living without you in my life And my heart felt like getting sliced open by a knife I felt like I’m dying and there was no cure The agony was just too much for me to endure It’s just not my world without you in it You’re the missing
