Adios

Yes, Rabenstrange, I suppose wishing me fun at camp would suffice. :)

I am leaving tonight-well technically at an ungodly hour tommorrow morning, so I am signing off for a few weeks. I doubt I will get to a computer at any point in time. I will be back around the 6th-the day before "Pirates of the Caribbean". Woohoo!

I know that my leaving will practically cause the entire blogging world to collapse, but I trust that all of you will keep persevering and try to keep the tradition alive even though I am not here. Okay, so that was an incredibly self centered joke. I am done now.

Have a great two weeks!

1000 Daisies

"One thousand yellow daisies".
"Not one thousand one, not nine hundred ninety-nine".


I leave in like 2.5 days-for camp. Wahoo! I'll be gone for two weeks. I haven't been gone from normal life for that long since....three summers ago. That is an awful sentence.

I took this picture last week. Isn't the outfit fab? I forewarned my friend that the outfit was hilarious. A few minutes later she found out how funny. All of a sudden I look over and she is cracking up laughing. I thought she was having a seizure. But then I turn around and Aubry is standing there. My friend had caught a glimpse of "the outfit".



I finished another notebook. This one was filled up in record time-less than a month. :) Started the 21st of May and ended the 18th of June.

More Music!

I have more music! I have been having way too much fun with music lately. It is my new fascination. I love the feeling of a new favorite song! I play my favs over and over so often, I get tired of them pretty quickly. But that is when it is time to move on to a new song. :)

Interestingly enough, Plato proposed an idea that certain music should be banned because he believed in the ethos of music. This theory postulates that music has the ability to arouse intense emotion-particularly pity or sorrow. Due to the music's power to cause these feelings, Plato thought that only certain kinds-kinds that were conducive to the well-being of Greece. Interesting thought!

*Edit* Comment by Carissa: "Music is so interesting and amazing. I mean, I got this awesome new cd and the music was so inspiring that I found myself writing much more meaningful thank-you notes when I was listening to it.

Have you ever listened to a song that elisited such emotion within you that you felt like you weren't even on earth anymore? That if you just opened up your eyes you would be in a completely different world?

Okay, maybe that's just me but I tend to see Plato's point. If someone did figure out how to censure music they could just play a certain song whenever they wanted us to be passionate or angry or joyful. Kind of a scary thought.

However, Plato was agianst all that. He believed in his "Republic" no one should be to emotional. That to much emotion would not allow any room for rational thinking."

Okay, so it raises an interesting question. Obviously Plato's dilemna was one of the emotions of human beings clouding rational thought. I agree wholeheartedly that we should not let that get in the way of logical thinking. However, I think God created human beings to have those feelings-love, hate, anger, joy. We would be mindless robots if we did not feel anything. For a authoritative figure to dictate when and how we feel those things is a very scary thought! To look at it from the other direction, I believe that one needs to learn to control their emotions. A person can certainly take feelings to far. To base decisions solely off that will certainly get an individual in trouble!

Late night thoughts

*Edit* I guess I was so tired I wrote the same thing twice over. :) Ha ha! I was freaking out. Oops.

Okay, so it is 11:30. I have gotten so little sleep lately that I may be extremely odd. Anyway, I just have a lot on my mind. Nothing new. :) There's so much floating around in my brain that I sit here at the computer wondering where the heck I should start. Okay, so I guess this will just be another rambling post that has the potential to make no sense. Forgive me if that is the case.

Okay, first thing coming to mind. Why can't people just say what is on their minds? Why can't they be themselves. I admire those who have the courage and self confidance to be themselves. What is the big deal with people thinking they can't be themselves. Do we think that the way God made us is not sufficient? Probably because others make us feel that way. Am I myself around people? I don't know. I have to step out of a comfort zone-otherwise I would never say anything. I don't suppose that constitutes not being myself though. Other people though...Is everything I know about you just a facade. Once we finally become friends will you completely change? Once I open up to you, will you be a different person? Maybe I am fearing the future much too much. Chill pill, Danika! :)

Second, why can't we say what is on our minds? Ah! Why is it a secret? Say something! What are you thinking? What are you feeling? Is this good? Is this bad? I guess this goes along with being yourself. Don't be afraid of what I think. I want to know who you really are. Don't put up a front and make yourself someone you're not. I want to know you, not your invented personality.

Do you ever feel like there is more to life? I feel like completely jumping in. Giving it all up. I'm sick of the lukewarm feeling and mediocrity of everything. It surrounds me. God, put me in a place where I am constantly growing closer to you and doing your will every second. I want to give it all to you. I feel like I am at the point where it is time to jump. It is not that I am scared. It is honestly just that I don't know how...

Pictures

Guess I was really bored to take a picture of myself eating a popsicle. I am such a dork! :) These orange creamsicles rock my face off! I ate like 3 or 4 yesterday. Oops...Oh, they're good!




I never showed y'all my sweet backpack. It was a lot fuller when I went, but at least you can see what it looks like now.

Friday Reason to Laugh

Okay, so I watched "Ghost" last night. Interesting movie...:) Relatively entertaining. Anyway, this song was in it over and over. I decided I like this old school stuff. So, your reason to laugh is either at the video or at me for liking it. :) Happy weekend!

Life

Thanks for commenting all who did. :) Mucho appreciato! By the way, when I talked about romance, I was talking the broad term of ideal life. Not ooshy gooshy stuff in particular. :)

Anyway, I guess I am just working through a lot of stuff in life right now. Last night I came SO close to moving out. I just had a few things blow up in my face big time. But then I refocused and came to two conclusions. One, I can't go to school and pay rent at the same time. I just can't do it. And I don't want to be a college dropout. :) Two, I can't run away from problems. That is how a person ends up with a sucky life and no family. At least I am assuming. :) So, yeah, I came close to making a huge jump. I am really wanting to make these decisions for myself and be an adult, but it just isn't possible. So, I need to find my rest in Christ and be content with what life holds in the present moment. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will direct your paths." God, help me to come to you in all things.

Man, this whole adult thing is so confusing! I feel like I am trying to figure stuff out and make decisions 24/7. But, you know, if there is one thing I want to know right before I die, it is that I lived a full life. I want to be happy with whatever life holds for me. I want to seek God's face. I want to know Him better every day.

"I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes".

"It gives me wonder great as my content to see you here before me. O my soul's joy! If after every tempest come such calms, may the winds blow till they have wakened death! And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas Olympus-high and duck again as low as hell's from heaven! If it were now to die, twere now to be most happy; for, I fear, my soul hath no content so absolute that not another comfort like to this succeeds is unknown fate."

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we're gone and wonder who were were. How bravely we fought. How fiercely we loved.

Is life as much as it is made up to be in books? Do people really go down in history to be remembered as a great man or woman? Is life really so passionate? We talk about the sweetness of love, intense joy, and bravely fighting. Does it really matter? Does anyone really care? Does it even exist? Maybe life is full of passion and intense for a while, but sooner or later everything dies out. I guess I started wondering if it is worth it to even start loving or caring or feel strongly about something. It will only fade away. Won't it? It's just not fair. Why can't life be as "romantic" as it is in the books? Maybe I am becoming a disillusioned person....Maybe I am just scared.

There is so much to be said and done. But then again, so little is said and so little is actually done. "Seize the day" we say! Run the race that is set before you! Then why does it seem like there is nothing to seize and no race to run?

Backpacking Adventure

Backpacking was great! Pretty comical, but you have to have that when you camp. :) Well, we hiked up about 7-9 miles in six hours. We crossed streams to keep following the trail like 10 times. It was great-kept us cool. We set up camp around two o'clock. It was nice to rest after carrying 15 pounds on your back for a few hours. But the way the packs are set up, it isn't too uncomfortable at all! Very high tech I guess. So, we sat around for a few hours. Sadly, we hadn't brought anything to entertain ourselves-we were trying to pack light. So, we had pinecone races in the river, ate "dinner" way too early, took a walk, and I slept on a rock for a bit. Actually wasn't too bad of a bed. :) Well, after a few hours I was really bored, wondering maybe if it was time to go to bed. My Dad turns on his cell phone to check the time. It was only 5:20. Whoa! Well, we decided to hike back a little ways to take up time. I mean, we still had 3 hours or more until it got dark. Well, I guess we got on a roll and ended up hiking all the way back. 15-18 miles in one day. It was great! However, this was only an experimental backpacking, so now we know what we need. It was perfect! The best part: we saw a rattlesnake! My Dad was in front, then my bro, then me. Suddenly my Dad yelled at us to back up. Something was obviously wrong! So, we backed up. After we did, I asked what it was, and he said he had heard and saw a rattlesnake. I looked over and saw it slithering it away. Then we started to skirt around it and it started rattling and coiling up again. Whoa! It was cool to see, and I thank God that nothing happened. Pretty close call really!

Backpacking

Guess what! I get to cross off another thing on my "List of Things To Do Before I Die". I am going backpacking this week!! I am very excited. We are going to go for one night. Our granola bars, beef jerky, and sleeping bags are all ready. Wish me luck and hope the bears don't get me. JK. :) Ooh, this will be a blast!

I will fill you in when I get back.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Check out my new fav song!!

Wednesday

I so totally could not sleep last night! My mind was so busy thinking, I just couldn't shut it up in order to sleep. :) Therefore, I got like 2 hours of sleep. Nice... Now I am off to work to grout. It shouldn't take long though. Just grouting a shower, a small floor, and a fireplace.

Now I am in a haze, still thinking... It is like life isn't quite real right now. No, I'm not high. :)

I had people over last night. We went swimming in our pool, and then we watched X-Men 2. It was lots of fun! God has blessed me with some awesome friends!

Have a great Thursday!

~Danika