Dear Blogger,

Dear Blogger,
It's just not working out, Dear. I'm trading you in for a newer model - Tumblr.
Call me superficial, but Tumblr is just...prettier.
I'm sorry it didn't work out. I'll you around for my writing blog, Mask and Unveiling, but [Clever Title Here] has a new home.
Maybe I'm being rash, but I think this is best for both of us. It's not fair for you to keep waiting for me to post here, when my heart is elsewhere. I thought I'd save you the heartbreak and call it off.
Farewell, Blogger. I will always remember the good times.
Sincerely,
Maddi

Ugh. Arkansas.

What is it with the South and their obsession with loading everything in grease?
Ew.

The Countdown Begins

There are approximately fifteen days until Dale and I head back to school, not including the actual day of departure.

Fifteen long, tiresome days.

I don't know the words to accurately describe this summer. It's been an adventure, I'll say. There are moments which I'd rather not relive, and times when I wish I hadn't been stupid and ignorant, but all in all it's been good.

I cannot wait to go back to school. I'm leaving so many damaged relationships behind here, and I could use the chance to start over with my school friends. Maybe, unlike my friends at home, they won't have to forget how much they mean to me because maybe I won't fail to show it.

If you, Maine people, are reading this, please know that I love you. If I hurt you this summer, it wasn't intentional. If it looked as if I didn't care about you, please know that I did. And I do. I can't redo the past, as much as I'd like to, but if you're willing to start over, I could use a second chance.

If you're reading this, no matter who you are, I sorely need honesty. Tell me the truth, no matter how much it may hurt me. If you think I'm an idiot, tell me. If you think I'm wonderful, tell me. If you don't tell me, I'll never know, and I'll go through life thinking that I'm something I'm not.

If you're reading this, and we didn't get to hang out, even though I said we would, I apologize. It was hard to escape the trap that is my hometown, without wheels of my own. I love you, and I will keep trying. :)

If you are reading this, school people, I miss you tons! I'm counting down the days till I get to see you again. <3

If you are reading this, and aren't some random creeper that just happened upon my blog, I love you.

Too lazy for anything but a list.

• I can't wait for July 1st, so that I can start writing my stories!
• People, seriously, stop being mean to lifeguards. We're not babysitters, nor are we the cause of all negative ocurrances in the pool. 
• I love my finace.
• I love my friends.
• Sometimes I'm so bored that I start to miss homework. Yes, I need a life.
• "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis is a fantastic book so far. It's great to have time to read, at last.
• Micheal Buble fills me with sunshine. 
• I miss having my own wheels. 
• Life is good.
• God is good.

I Exist!

Hey there!

I do, in fact, still exist. Things have been crazy as of late. I've been busy.

Here's what's been going on in my life: First of all, I'm ENGAGED!!! <33

*silly grin* On our one-year anniversary of dating, he took me to the beach. We had a picnic, explored the town, took lots of pictures, and splashed water at each other like little kids. As we were walking on the shoreline for the last time before leaving, he stooped down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, was ecstatic and didn't stop saying "Yes, yes, yes" until he picked me up and twirled me around on the beach.

Yes. I am happy. :D :D :D

We've set the wedding date for next year. Some people think we're still too young and that we need to finish college first...but I don't really care. Some confidence would be nice, but hey. People have married younger and been successful too. We've been through a lot together already, and I'm confident that God will carry us through.

In other news, I finally finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I don't even really know how I felt about it, mostly because I was foolish enough to see the movie first. If you plan on reading that book, do not--I repeat, do NOT--watch the movie. The ending in the movie was totally different from the one in the book. Key characters were also either left out or "sanitized", so to speak, in the movie version. *growls* I would love for the movie industry to come up with their own stories and leaves books alone for a while.

Speaking of books, I'm planning on writing one. Starting July 1st, I'm going to commit myself to writing one short story per month and then at the end of the 12-month period, put them into one volume for publication. More on that in my other blog, Mask and Unveiling to come soon.

My favorite movie right now is...

...Slumdog Millionaire.

Watch it.

Packing...again?

When I get back to Maine I will:

• Laugh obnoxiously with my friends
• Swim in the ocean, regardless of how cold it is
• Drive with the window rolled down and the music cranked up
• Drink too much coffee and read at Barnes & Noble
• Write a lot
• Daydream
• Enjoy the lack of humidity
• Go to the library
• Work at an outdoor with multiple screaming children *shudders*
• Rub it in my siblings' faces that they're still in school and I'm not ^^
• Visit my church camp and remember the good times I've had there
• Watch my high school friends graduate (hopefully)
• Miss my college friends a lot
• Celebrate mine and my boyfriend's one-year anniversary <3
• Breathe...then get ready to do the school thing all over again

New Blog. The Decemberists. The Final Countdown.

First order of business: If you're interested in my writing, I will be posting my stories, poems, and novels-in-progress on Mask and Unveiling, my new blog.

Second: Sierra and Erin introduced me to The Decemberist's album, The Hazards of Love. It's a gorgeous rock opera. All 17 tracks are on YouTube, so I strongly urge everyone to go there and listen to all of them in order. Do it. Now. You won't be sorry.

Lastly, keep me in your prayers as I am preparing for finals.

That is all.

[Insert Angst-y Title Here]

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Dead Week. Pfft, I already feel dead.

This semester has been much more hectic than I imagined it would be, and the past two weeks have been an academic nightmare. It's mostly due to my own procrastination (heh, last semester I told myself I'd never procrastinate again) so I'm getting what I've deserved, but it still stinks.

I guess what drives me the craziest is that I have this urge to create something, but most days I have neither the time nor the energy. And when I do feel energetic enough to write something, my self-consciousness gets in the way.

Lately I haven't had the time to read for pleasure, but the few times that I do read, I look at the author's work and feel inadequate. I go to a creative writing club every week and hear some pretty amazing poetry and prose, then what I've written just doesn't seem to reach that level.

Sure, everyone writes differently. Of course, we all have different writing styles. But when I hear something that really touches me or makes me laugh, I tell myself, "I want to write like that!" And I get discouraged because I know that I never will.

Story ideas don't come easily either, not when I'm preoccupied with trying to maintain the GPA required in order to keep my scholarship. Rather, the ideas do come, but they are never fleshed out because I don't seem to have the time to think about them in detail. I don't have time to solve problems I need to in order to get them on paper.

I feel that writing is my calling, but I don't write. How does that work? Yeah, I've written a few things that I'm proud of. Sure, people have told me that I have talented. But what good is that when I'm not doing what I need to be doing. It hurts not to write, and the only reason I'm writing this blog post is because I've needed to write something - anything - for quite some time.

Sorry that this is so angst-y. This is just where I am now.

Blargh.

This is a stressful few weeks for me.

...

This song makes me feel better.

There's only three weeks left of school, and time passes in such a strange way. I feel like it's moving slowly and all too fast at the same time. I want to be home with my family and friends, but I am not ready for finals week. At all.

On the bright side, I saw "How To Train Your Dragon" - in 3D!! Oh...wow...that movie was amazing. I'd venture to say it's the best movie Dreamworks has made yet. GO SEE IT.

Epicness

There's just something both indescribably beautiful and completely terrifying about the sound of a thunder/hailstorm mixed with the sounds of solo piano music. A tornado passed near my hometown, and I'm relaxing with my boyfriend, listening to music and the sounds of rain, thunder, and water leaking into buckets on the floor.

Last night I saw Avatar - FINALLY!! Ohman...I don't even know where to begin. I was pretty much blown away, though.

Um...it's late, and although I have a lot to say about the epicness that is Avatar, I think I'll stop here. It's a cool movie, though. :)

THREE REASONS WHY CELLOS ARE AWESOME.

I thought I'd start Spring Break off on a good note (no pun intended) and share some lovely videos featuring amazing cellists.

"The Final Countdown"

"The Godfather - Love Theme"

And saving the best for last..."Don't Stop Believing"

Enjoy!

OoOoOoOo...I feel so accomplished! O.O

So remember that novel thing that I've been mentioning every once in a while? Well, I took a break from it.

In the meantime, I wrote a short story. It needs critique-age, so please click here and read/comment. If you don't have a deviantART account, comment there. If not, comment here.

And now, allow me to completely geek out.

...

AHKLFTdjKLJKLASJ I FINISHED A SHORT STORY!!!!!! XD XD XD

...

Thank you in advance for your comments. Have a wonderful weekend. :)

- Maddi

Scattered

I'm asking myself some very difficult questions.

Trying to figure out who on earth I am and what I'm supposed to do.

Confused.

Asking myself if what I'm doing is of any significance.

Praying.
Wondering if God is pleased with me.

Exhausted.

My mind won't let me rest, no matter how tired I am at night.

Smiling.

Knowing my friends and my LORD will always be there for me.

That's kinda where I am now.

!!!

Hey, friends!!

One of my friends introduced me to this song: "Wade in the Water" by Sweet Honey in the Rock. It's a traditional American Spiritual, and is in this recording is sung by a womens' quartet.

One of them sings bass.

And. It. Is. Epic.

You may not be a fan of this style of music, but I recommend listening for the bass singer ALONE. Every time she sings her low note...ohman, it just gets me every time. O.O

...

I have very little to blog about.

Well...the weather's warmed up a bit, which is fantastic.

Also I'm working on a short story. I read part of it to the Scribblers last night, and they liked it. I think that was the highlight of my week so far. ^.^

I'm watching "Lucky Star" with Sierra every night. In my very limited experience with anime, this has got to be the oddest anime I've *ever* encountered, but it's pretty funny.

This week my school's doing "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Ugly Duckling", which I'm excited to see. One of my friends designed the costumes for "The Ugly Duckling" and two of my other friends are in the cast, so it should be pretty fun.

Also, I'm always tired. I'm not going to bed as late as I did last semester, so I really don't get why I am so tired. Z.Z

My sister completely dominated at the state swim meet, apparently, and I really wish I had been there to see it.

Here's another cool folk band - THE WEEPIES.

K, bye. I have nothing else for you. My life is not that eventful at the moment.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

I might make this a weekly thing.

GOOD IDEA:

Zee Avi.

She's a Malaysian singer-songwriter-ukulele player (ukuleleist?) who recorded awesome songs such as Bitter Heart, Monte, Just You and Me, and Kantoi. Her music is difficult to classify, so I'll look it up...*goes to Wikipedia*...ah! Her music falls under three genres: World, acoustic, and folk-pop.

So yeah.

BAD IDEA:

Book By You's latest release, First Bite.

If you haven't heard of Book By You, they're a company that sells personalized books. Basically, they make it so that you're the star of the story, your significant other is the love interest, etc.

First Bite is basically Twilight with your name in it. I gathered that much from the free personalized preview - which was *hilarious* by the way. ^.^

Well, I'm off to watch Braveheart with Dale. Bye for now!

- Maddi

Weird Dream

Right now I'm listening to "Monte" by Zee Avi. Great song. It's funny, I have a character named Monte, but I haven't written about him much.

He's supposed to be a main character in my novel.

Shows you how much progress I've made. >.>

Anywho, last night I had a weird dream. Me and Dale were in some flying machine (I think it was a flying car) and we were traveling the world to get the money to rent - yes, rent - a dead body from a morgue. I don't know why we needed this body, or whose body it was, but it was important for some reason and we couldn't afford the two dollars needed to pay for it. (That's pretty accurate.)

Our flying car hovered over a flooded mountainous region. I guess in my dream God had changed His mind about not ever flooding the earth again, because the water almost touched the summits of the mountains.

While we were flying, Dale was being a jerk and kept pointing out the window shouting "SNAKE!!" and I was *not* happy with him. Eventually, though, we found the money, (I don't remember how. I think it fell into my lap or something.) and we headed toward the morgue.

The morgue, oddly enough, was in a mall and looked more like an arcade than anything. There were even video games and everything. I didn't find this odd, but simply put the two dollars (already in pennies) into the change machine. Instead of returning money, the change machine produced weird plastic tokens and junk. Not knowing what else to do, Dale and I took the tokens to the front desk.

I recognized the coroner. He was Dr. Crowson, a professor at my school and the leader of a Wednesday night devotional. He wore a white shirt and a blue apron, and although he was a coroner he was as friendly and jolly as ever.

I asked him for the random corpse that we'd come to rent, and then I woke up.

...

Yeah.

Oddly enough, yesterday I'd been remembering the weird dreams I used to have and wishing that I had them more often. Too bad this dream made me late to chapel. >.>

It was worth it, though. ^.^

Sincerely,

Maddi

Haiti

So my school has put together this program to help send tents and tarps to Haitian families, and we may or may not be (due to the inclement weather) doing a tent-out this Friday to raise awareness. Whether we do the tent out or not, I'd like you to consider donating to this cause

Click on the link below to donate.

https://haitirelief.kimbia.com/intents?kimbiaAdvocateId=VWX4HIQSO32TQVEBO32T

Thanks!

Maddi

Ohmehgawsh, more snow??

Heeeey, whoever's reading this.

So, here in the burning wilderness that is Arkansas, we managed to have two snowy days. I grew up here, and only remember one snow. We got, maybe, three inches, and everything shut down. I made a wimpy, foot-tall snowman, made snow angels, and sledded downhill on a trash can lid. Obviously, this day is one of my favorite childhood memories.

That doesn't compare to recent happenings, however. We got about three inches a few days ago, and school shut down. And no sooner than the last patch melted did we get about *six* more inches. The entire campus rejoiced, constructing snowmen and partaking in the most glorious, most epic snowball fight I had ever witnessed. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more than a thousand people on the front lawn throwing snow at each other.

Unfortunately, angst and frustration at myself kept me from enjoying this second snowfall. I don't think I'll delve too deep into why I'm frustrated, because that would keep me up longer than I want to be right now. I'll just say this much - I'm seriously evaluating my relationship with God and am also suffering from writer's block. I haven't touched my novel in months, and the short story I began more than a week ago is also at a standstill.

So yeah. Prayers would be wonderful.

On the bright side, I my boyfriend and I have almost finished watching "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Yeah, I know that show ended years ago, but I'm a little slow on the uptake. And I don't care that it's a Nickelodeon show. It's awesome.

I'm a bit sad that we're almost done with the series. What are we going to do once we've watched the last episode? D:

No me gusta...>.>

Oh, and I saw the trailer for "The Last Airbender". Um, yeah. I wasn't impressed. But I like M. Night Shaylaman, so maybe it'll be all right.

And with that, I bid you good night.

- Maddi

It's Mah Birfday!

Wooooot, I'm 19!! It's my birthday! Yaaaaaaay!

Okay, so really it's not that exciting. But whatever. :P

Best. Snowmen. Ever.

My siblings and I were bored.

There was snow.

We are nerds.

This is the result.

Gimli

Legolas

Gandalf The Gray

Samwise Gamgee

Boromir

Frodo Baggins

We made others, but they weren't as good.

This doesn't happen often, but...

When I was reading my Bible earlier, something just jumped out at me. That doesn't happen often, but I was reading the first chapter of John and came across this verse:

14 And z the Word a became flesh and b dwelt among us, c and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of d grace and e truth.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."

Think about that.

The first chapter of John used to really confuse me, because it kept talking about The Word. What was that supposed to mean? How was God the Word?

Well, now that I'm older and have studied the Bible more, when I read this chapter I am reminded of the Old Testament. With a word, God brought the entire universe into being. The patriarchs and other followers of God were guided by His mighty word. When God showed Himself to Elijah, it was not through fire, earthquake, or wind, but through a still, small voice.

That voice - that Word - became flesh and dwelt among us. The same Word that spoke the first humans into being stepped down to His creation to offer Himself as a sacrifice.

Not to go all weird preacher's kid on you, but that just kinda blew me away a little. I've read this verse a million times, but it's like I'm reading it for the first time.

Gotta love when that happens.

Gotta love my Savior. <3

Sincerely,

Maddi