Looking Back On Things...

Clip-art by Mircosoft Office

     Life has a funny way of happening...We encounter things and people that leave impressions on us. We even become people that we never thought of becoming. Sometimes we look back on things and cannot believe we ever encountered unique situations like we had...

     What I mean is that the person that I am today simply cannot believe that I ever made a fan website for a TV show that I once liked, and actually loved (to which I also made "fan-videos" for). The only things that came out of that experience are my basic knowledge in HTML coding, and also my skill of putting together video clips (which has become helpful with my family videos). I also cannot believe that I use to be on forums debating my beliefs in front of different sorts of people, from atheists, deists, wiccans, and even fellow believers. Sometimes I wished I still had that sort of spunk that I had (because I feel like I have gone soft in defending what I believe), but I also appreciate the person that I am now, because I have grown from the teenager that I once was, when I did those things. I do not regret those moments (especially the debating, because it strengthened my faith in God), but I am glad that I have moved on from those moments, from those people.

     I sometimes wonder what I should be like in the future. Should I have been a cook, creating foods galore? Should I have went to college to be a preacher/pastor? Should I have enrolled in college to be an E.S.E teacher, dealing with specifically older children with physical disabilities? Should I drop my elementary education major and solely concentrate on my writing fictional stories for children or young adults? (Should I still seek that option along with the teaching quest?)

     I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake in choosing education over preaching, cooking, and writing...I always push those thoughts aside by saying, "I can do all of those things while teaching as well..." But can I? Do I even have the option to? Will I ever be a teacher or writer, or will I just fall into a trap and forever wander in this world until my day is done and I've gone to Heaven?

     Let me share a little secret with everyone: Everything I have done has been a struggle. It takes me time! It takes effort! It takes mistakes!...It takes hard, bone-crushing, glass-shattering mistakes! None of it has ever been easy for me...but I try. That is the key...trying.

     It also stinks that I feel way too old...for a 23 year old, yet also behind on my years. That sounds weird to describe, but that is how I feel. I feel mature towards some things, but other things I do not do well, and it makes me feel dumb and useless for even trying. I wish I could turn time around and relive the time when I was 5 years old. My life seemed so simple during that time, and all I had to worry about was that I was afraid of the dark and hated going to sleep at night.

     But, alas, here I am, a college student who aspires to be a teacher and also a children fiction writer...am I crazy to believe I can be both of these things? Especially in today's economy? Do not tell my brain...tell my heart what you think!

Cooking Shows

Clip-art by Mircosoft Office

     I cannot tell you how much I enjoy cooking shows. They are one of my favorite kind of shows on television. It does not have to be of a specific chef or the kind of food (although I enjoy the shows more when they are not about grilling or sea food) for me to sit down and have the cooking show playing in the background as I am doing other stuff. For instance, as I am writing this, one of my favorite cooking shows, America's Test Kitchen, is on right now and is doing a segment on glazed chicken. Perhaps I love cooking shows because cooking is secretly an entertaining joy in my life, even though I am not a great cook, and it is very rare that I cook, because I am so busy. The last special thing I cooked was a chicken salad recipe and sour cream muffin recipe that I got from watching the cook Paula Deen, and that was done about a month ago. Below are the results of following her recipes. 

     I hope to get more adventurous, especially this summer,  and try to cook more things that are normally not what I eat. But back to cooking shows. They are one of my secret loves, mainly because the foods are good-looking, and the cooks appear to have good attitudes. They always seem to make cooking look fun. I remember, when I was 11 years old (which has been quite a few years now) I use to stay up late at night to watch the cooking show Two Fat Ladies, which was just extremely entertaining, and the hosts/cooks were lively and cooked very interesting things. They were one of the few who sort of encouraged me to try to become a chef. (Looks like I did not stay with it, eh?) Thinking of them now makes me quickly search up a video to share of them...


Clip Source: YouTube's Trifficfilms Channel.

The Three Pigs Who Weren't Lazy...Just Intellectually "Different"

     I disagree with the notion that this story is a moral about hard work. Each pig had to have effort and labor in order to create their houses. What I think the moral is about is the notion of the wisdom of what to build a house out of. The two who built their houses out of straws or twigs were just not as wise as the one who made his out of bricks, especially since they knew of the wolf. Plus, the two not-so-bright pigs were arrogant to think that they alone could defeat a foe greater than they. Silly pigs!

Silly Symphony - The Three Little Pigs

Source: YouTube's newchicklook Channel.

The Man With Two Names

Clip-art by Microsoft Office

The Man With Two Names

By R.Andrew

     Dedicated to those who say I'm weird for going by Richard and Andrew...
 

     Solomon Thomas Freemont was in a predicament as he stared at his two replica-selves. On his right stood Solomon, wild-eyed with slow wheezing breaths, and on his left stood a scared, bewildered Thomas. The two were just in a huge argument with Solomon Thomas, in regards as to who of the two were his actual self. Over the years, people were accustomed to calling Solomon Thomas either of the two names and over the years he had became accustomed to dividing pieces of his personality into each name. As Solomon, he was free to be himself. He was confident, fun, and felt like owning the world. However, as Thomas, he was reserved, shy, and waited as he watched opportunities fly past him. Moments ago, as he washed his face in the bathroom sink, Solomon Thomas noticed something strange happening to his skin. His heart raced as he watched his flesh rip apart and separate into two extra copies of himself. Solomon stared at Thomas with a satisfying smile. “I told you it would work, dear Thomas, all it took was a forceful push.” Thomas let out a faint yelp of fatigue.

      “How can this be?” said Solomon Thomas, weak-kneed and falling to the floor.

      “Simple,” said Solomon, “We got tired of the confusion. Are we three, or are we one? Who is real? Which one is nuts? You did not decide, this is your fault! So, therefore, we made the choice.” Both replicas walked out the bathroom door, leaving Solomon Thomas lying on the floor, feeling as though his soul had been torn apart, as though he was nothing but a lonely shell of flesh and mind. Upon reaching the front door, both replicas departed their separate ways, and neither looked back to say a farewell to the other.

      Meanwhile, Solomon Thomas laid on the bathroom floor for what seemed like an hour, until a thought came to his mind, “I must get them back!”