Mythological Creatures and Our Perceptions of Them: Vampires

There are many things that may come to mind when one thinks of the word vampire. Perhaps you think of them as being beautiful, strong, smart and wonderful (ahem, Twilight...). Maybe you think of them as terrible creatures that sleep in coffins and do nothing but kill people. Or maybe, they're just normal people  that have an unusual diet and that happen to be practically immortal.

Maybe this is what comes to mind....

Or maybe you picture him....

Isn't it funny how two people can think of one creature and picture completely different things? Personally, I think it is really cool--because, since they don't exist, we can let our imaginations run wild with them. That's why I love mythological creatures; you can go crazy with your perceptions of them.  

What about you? What do you picture for vampires? 

~Elizabeth

Memorial Day

Alvin C. York born on December 13, 1887, in Pall Mall, TN. A blacksmith, York was drafted into the army during WWI. While serving in the 82nd Infantry Division, he took command and captured a total of 132 German soldiers. York was promoted to the rank of sergeant and received the Congressional Medal of Honor. His heroic story was told in the film Sergeant York. He died in 1964. Taken from here.  


This bio really just skims the surface of Sergeant York's life. When he was first drafted for World War 1, he didn't want to kill  due to his Christianity--he believed that Christians were to make peace and not to kill. Nonetheless, he went and served in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia.Training for war made him uneasy, because he didn't believe in it. 


He talked with Captain Danforth, his company commander, and Major Buxton--who were both Christians themselves.They showed York verses from the Bible, and gave him a ten day leave to visit home. 


He went home; he thought, and he prayed. 


God showed him that the only way to truly make peace was to protect, and that God calls His people to defend their fellow man, and the things that He has given to us. 


So York fought... and he became a hero. He saved lives, and he was one of the many, many people that fought to defend our country. 


And there are still people fighting today, here and now. People that are giving their lives so that we can keep ours.  


Thank you, all who have served (and are serving)! Happy Memorial Day! 


~Elizabeth

Dirty Dishes

My mom and I both do the dishes (and both of us will claim we wash more than the other). I use the dishwasher we have, but some dishes are just to dirty to put in there. They need to be scrubbed to be clean.

I can't tell you how many times I've taken the lazy road and, instead of washing the dirtier dishes, I put them in the dishwasher anyway just to make my life a little bit easier. 

But why do I do that--seriously?! 

Because I'm making a mess that someone (be it me or my mother) will have to clean up. 

There are some parts of books that are more tender--that need to be scrubbed just a little more than others to shine. Some aren't meant to shine. 

Like a plastic cup--it's easy to clean, but it's not really shiny or anything like that. A saucepan, however, is hard to clean--yet, when it's clean, it shines bright and catches your attention. 

Some scenes are just meant to glow, but they only will if we give them the proper attention they deserve. If not, then it won't look right--it will look dirty.  

Some things are truly worth the effort, because if you put it into it, it will shimmer. :) 

~Elizabeth

Metaphors

Have you ever used them? I love metaphors! For me, it takes writing to a whole new level--because I'm writing about something I'm zealous about, and re-creating it so that it becomes even more meaningful and deep to me personally.

I personally like writing metaphors about my faith in God. Some people like other things. It's just such a way to make things that were already important so real to us.

It makes me really think about what I'm writing. Sometimes, I involve them in small ways throughout a book, and others the whole story is a metaphor.

Take Lord of the Rings, for example. It's an incredible book, but it also means something. Tolkien's world of Middle Earth reflected his faith.

What about you?  Do you like using metaphors? If so, what do you like writing them about?

~Elizabeth

Something New

Generally my creativity grows a lot during the spring, and I try a lot of new things.

Consider music, for example. It  has always been something I have had a lot of interest in. I love listening to it, and I love watching others make it. Yet, I had never been able to make any on my own, due to a mediocre at best singing voice and no music lessons. 

I figured that I was thirteen and that most people that played an instrument started out at like five. Which, in some cases, is true.....but it is not absolute. There are plenty of people that start things later then others and still do very well in them. 

So, over the past two months, I have been taking piano lessons every other week. And now, though I'm at a beginner level... I'm playing. And it sounds good. 

I encourage you to actually try that thing you've been thinking about for a while. You might like it... and you  just might be good at it.

Have you ever had a time where you tried something new? Are you still doing it?  

~Elizabeth

Procrastination

Do you procrastinate? I most certainly do. My posting at 9:30 PM is proof of that.

I don't know why  I have a tendency of being lazy, even when there is work to be done, but I do. Now, I realize fully that this isn't healthy and that I am in full power of stopping, but the thing is I don't want to stop.

Procrastination is fun! But just because something is fun doesn't mean it's good for us. In fact, sometimes it's quite the opposite.

I am home-schooled, so I basically can be done with school when all of my books are done. There are some years when I will get filled with motivation and have most of my subjects done by mid-May. Yet, there are other years (such as this year) when I will procrastinate so much that it won't be done until the end of June. And once I'm done with school, I can procrastinate away--so why do I do it during the school year, when I should be working?

If it doesn't benefit us and constantly gets us into trouble, why do we do it? Your thoughts?


~Elizabeth