Stream of Consciousness 9

There have been thoughts swirling around my mind so here they are:

First of all, I'm getting tired of people making a gun with their hands and pretending to shoot themselves whenever they're slightly upset or angry. Suicide is not something to take lightly. I know a lot of people who do this all the time and it has just recently started bothering me, so I will probably be telling you this next time I see you do it.

Second, I think it's sad that so many words have lost their meaning. Or their meaning has become less profound. Words such as "awesome" and "hate."
We use "awesome" to describe anything from God, the creator of the universe, to the taco we had for dinner last night.
"Hate" is used to describe an actual intense and passionate loathing and also a vague disliking of something.

Third, it's the end of the school year (almost) and I am so ready to be on Summer vacation...

Fourth, I hate it when people rag on fiction books as if they can't teach you anything. I swear the best fiction books cause you to think about things. Harry Potter, any John Green book, Divergent, The Hunger Games. Just because the book isn't packed full of facts and ideas doesn't mean that it's useless. I understand you might prefer nonfiction. And I'm okay with that. I really am. I think nonfiction books are very educational. I just find them boring. In the same way that someone who enjoys nonfiction might find the ridiculous adventures of a hobbit to be a snooze-fest.
Just don't go telling me fiction is useless.

Sixth, I am about fed up with the internet. (She says on the internet.) Social networking as turned all of us into narcissistic cowards with a self-esteem problem. 

Seventh, I just finished reading "An Abundance of Katherines." Great book. Everyone go and read it right now. Well, it got me thinking about my fourth point up there. I want to write something that actually means something. Something that isn't just some dumb story, you know? And it's really hard for me to come up with an idea that I think is worth sharing and then also coming up with a story to properly communicate is.
Or just coming up with a story that is worthwhile....
So, I have put the editing of my National Novel Writing Month novel on hold until I can come up with a way to make it worth reading. :)

And I guess that's the end. I could go one for forever but no one wants to read that.

Much love,
Amanda <3

The Unappreciated and The Overlooked in Everyday Life

So today IS Good Friday, but I have no original or interesting thoughts on Good Friday. So instead I'm writing about things that a lot of people ignore or don't value as much as they should. And since I'm really into making lists lately, I have formed a list. Here we go.

1) Eyes/Eye Contact

     I think eye contact has really gotten forgotten about in today's society. But eyes are really quite beautiful. Also, eye contact shows that you're listening and actually care about the person. So, as scary as it is to actually connect with the people around you, really try and make eye contact. For some reason, I've just been really noticing everyone's eye color lately and it's really interesting. 

Seriously. Eyes. Eye contact. Appreciate them. 

2) Silence

      In a society that's dominated by distraction, silence has gotten pushed aside. Instead it's"thoughtful music" or whatever. Now, music is great and stuff but silence is beautiful. There's literally nothing disturbing you. One of my favorite things about winter is when I'm outside getting the mail or something and I can't hear anything but the sound of my feet and my breath. Lately I've been listening to music almost all the time and I've realized that there's a vast amount of thinking that can be done in the silence. 

3) Stars

     Stars are things we see all the time. Every night. So I think we don't take time to realize their brilliance. Once I sit and really look at the stars (No matter how little I can see from wherever I am) I really start to think about how amazing God is and how unbelievable it is that he cares about us even though we're this little speck in the universe. 

4) Cloudy Days

     I, personally, quite like cloudy days. I don't understand why people don't like them. So, if you don't, please tell me why. I love them. Especially when I'm inside and I can just look outside at the clouds... Yeah... That makes me happy.

5) Empty Notebook Paper

     There's just so much potential in blank notebook paper.

Yeah that's all I could think of right now. If you have any others I'd love to hear them! 

I hope you have a great day!

Much love,

Amanda <3


PS I changed my blog again. What do you think? Baby Mike is so adorable. :)

Stream of Consciousness 8

So, I haven't blogged in a while so I thought "What the heck? I'll write one now!" So here I am.
Two major things have been on my mind recently. 1) School. 2) Not just hearing God's voice, but actually heeding what he's saying. I don't really feel like talking specifically about either of these things right now... So I'm not sure what else to talk about. But I figure if I just start writing something some idea will come to me and I can just ramble on that for a while....

I've recently been getting into the folk genre of music... It's actually pretty nice. Although the songs can be pretty sad every now and then it's actually not that bad. My brother bought the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack and it's amazing. I'd highly recommend it.

Speaking of things I'd recommend, I've been thinking about The Fault in Our Stars a lot recently. And I think I've come around to actually liking it and recommending it to people. Why? I don't know. But it really made me think and there is not too much YA books out there that make you think about things like love, and death, and happiness. Or they do, but the don't leave it up to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. They tell the reader their opinion and then leave it at that. The Fault in Our Stars really forces you to think about things. John Greens theology is far from the hope that Jesus gives us. Which made me really sad and caused the book to have a hopeless tone to it.
So, if you haven't read it yet,  read it. But know that life doesn't have to be like that.

Also, if you haven't yet seen Captain America 2, you should most definitely watch it. (Only, of course, if you have seen the first one and the other Marvel movies.) The Winter Soldier is intense and the first fights between him and Captain are epic. Also there was some really good twists in it. The themes were good too.
Just... Just see it, okay?

Let's see... What else has been happening to me recently?
Oh, I just got an email from the summer camp I'm working at this Summer and it included all this paper work and whatnot. One of the things was this thing stating that I agree with the camp's "zero tolerance" policy for sexual abuse of children. And it made me sad that that wasn't assumed of me, you know? Like I have to sign something ensuring that I won't sexual harass children and I'll report it if I see it happen.
I dunno.... I just think it's sad that sexual abuse has become so common that I have to read and sign all these things....
I'm actually really excited to go to this camp because ever since 3rd grade I've wanted to be a SaLT (It's like a counselor in training) and now I finally can!

Man I wish people would quit quoting CS Lewis all the time. I mean, yeah the guy said some good things but honestly, give it a rest. It's like everything he says is true or something. Like, people read The Screwtape Letters and cite it as truth. What if he's wrong? I read something that practically used a quote of his to support the reliability of the Gospels. What?
CS LEWIS IS NOT GOD AND HIS BOOKS ARE NOT THE BIBLE. CREATE AN ARGUMENT FOR YOUR OPINIONS AND BACK IT UP USING ACTUAL STUFF NOT JUST SOME STORY CS LEWIS DECIDED TO USE, OKAY?

I just found a dubstep version of "Pippin's Song" from The Lord of the Rings. Don't listen to it. It kind of sucks a lot....

So... Profanity. What makes it profane? How long until a profane word becomes commonplace and a different work takes its place? I don't know...

I'm rewriting my NaNoWriMo novel. (Did I tell you that already?) Whatever. It's really hard because I 'm trying to make things make sense this time. But the characters don't really make that much sense to me right now so...

Here's a picture of a pug:

Have a great day, whoever is reading this!

Much love,

Amanda. <3