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ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
23 November 2008 @ 06:27 pm
got this from [info]elica ^^

STEP ONE
Make a post (public, friends-locked,filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can beanything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a ______icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") toreally big ("all I want for christmas is a newcar/computer/house/TV."). The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ or link to this post so that the holiday joy will spread.

STEP TWO
Surf around your friends list (or friends' friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. and now here's the important part:

If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another'streasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use -- do it.

You need not spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out,it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone's holiday elf --to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not -- it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Give, and you might receive. and you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.


My 10 )

~*~*~

oh, hay, my history paper is done 8D which means i'm free to send the evening with steven and linnet, watching the Colbert Christmas Special without even a pinch of guilt or anxiety!

i just have to study for my history test! and i can do that tomorrow! because i already know the material pretty well! SWEET! i'm feeling academically very good. hurrah.
Tags:
 
 
maison: Home
sentiment: happy
musique: Broadway - The Goo Goo Dolls
 
 
ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
25 December 2007 @ 10:48 pm
Happy Decemberween, everybody!

it's been a bittersweet year for this family and for me. from my brother's attempted suicide to the birth of my sweet little niece, to my older brother's family moving back to rohnert park to my father's illness in august, to concerts, to falling outs with old friends.... i've seen high's and low's. i've tried and tried to keep up the cheer and all that good stuff, and it's not been easy. it seems like everything i've done in the past months has been a mixture of sweet and sour, and it all leaves me wondering, is this what being an adult is? is there always someone to turn a sour word to every situation, to every little thing another person tries to say? i guess it's true what i read a young wombat say once-- "if nice were easy, everyone would be doing it." *sigh*

but still! despite the up's and the down's, alot of good happened this december.

first of all, i spent my birthday is d*sneyland! which has been for years and will continue to remain one of my top favorite places in the world-- and definitally my favorite place to go with my family.

i got a couple birthday gifts, but the best gift i got was the determination my family had to be together for me. my brother and sister in law went through alot on that trip-- their car broke down! GAH! they didn't actually get to d*land until 6pm saturday night! they were supposed to be there at, like, 3am saturday morning--- it was a fight for them. they had to get towed to one town, then had to be picked up by Enterprise and taken to a different town where they could rent a car, then they had to drive the rest of the way to aneheim. and all of that done with chad being as unhelpful as is humanly possible, and a 4 year old who means well, but just doesn't have the self control her mom wishes she has xD;;

anyway, before their arrival i spent.... well.... friday. with my parents. i have decided that my mother is awesome and wonderful and i love her like crazy for all that she has done and endured and put up with, always with a smile, always with love, always with all the patience and selflessness and consideration in her heart. i have also decided that my dad.... well, i love my dad. i can see how he and i are very much alike, but it also makes me very grateful to have a person like my mother around to balance him out. my father is not.... well, i guess it's mean of me to compare him to my mother. but still--- i don't think he's been in a good mood in a long time, and i'm so sorry and so sad that he has to be in such a bad set of mind. he can be awesome-- understanding, kind, good natured... when he wants to be. but he is SO quick to defend himself. as selfless as he may ever get, he's still just looking out for himself. he gets offended and hurt so easilly, and it is so hard for him to forgive...

but anyway, what i'm getting at is that it was work to have a good time for the day and half i spent with my parents on our own. i don't really want to go into it, because the fun happened when everyone was finally together, and john and dad had stopped being pissed off at each other. i tried to smooth things over as best as i could-- i thanked my dad for treating up to the trip, and i thanked john for working so hard to get him and his family to d*land. they were both too busy being angry at each other to understand why the other was angry, but i was really touched when i finally got it out of john that the reason he was so angry was not because kairi was being a brat, not that the car broke down, not the extra money the trip ended up costing him, but the fact that he now only had a few hours to spend with me on my birthday rather than a whole day. so he asked if i would stay an extra day and go home with them. chad even offered to leave the next morning with my parents so we wouldn't have to buy another ticket (also, his girlfriend and i have the same birthday, so he wanted to be with her but hey XD whatever works lol)

anyway, i stayed the extra day and i'm glad i did. it was nice to get away from my parents, it was even nice to get away from chad. and it was a beautiful opportunity to spend time with kairi. she and i had so much fun together :D not to mention her parents-- we had a good time, too ^_~ over the 3 days i spent in the park, i got SO spoiled. i had a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY button with my name and age on it and not only did all the cast members at the park wish me a happy birthday, but so did some of the guests, too xD;; it was really fun. i bought glowy things and a watch and a wreath... it was a good time. i love D*sneyland at christmas :D

the castle was GORGEOUS!!!! covered in snow and icicles and garlands and wreaths and twinkling lights.... it's lovely.  honestly, very lovely. 

and after that comes christmas. christmas, christmas... even though the men in my family are sick with nasty-annoying syndrome, it was nice. christmas gifts were a success, singing was done, cooking, eating...

and then i got an iphone D:

wow.

as well as some movies, some clothes, a GORGEOUS shadowbox that my brother and sister in law made me :D

and now here i sit, in my bedroom... i just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine and now i'm watching Mulin Rouge. i love these movies :D
and i'm trying to decide who i love more xD;; Ewan McGreggor or Steve Carell. i think i'll choose not to choose. but at this very moment, i think it might be ewan mcgreggor. because he's so cute and so hansom and that is probably one of the most gorgeous singing voices i have ever heard, and if he didn't look like it means it so much when he sing, then it might be different--- but i can't help but melt a little inside watching him sing xD;; oh dear-- i'm a sucker for music and singers i can believe, and i don't think i can believe anyone more than i can believe him when he sings. *mumble mumble* *trailing off* *loss of thought*

.....
.........

...................................
.....

...

PHOTOS.

my brother accidentally whipped the pictures off my card. so.... ToT sorry for that-- i'll see if i can scrounge some of his pictures off him.

anyway, there we go.

i played with my cousins tonight-- my cousin has 2 daughters-- one 12 and one 10-- Ashley and Kaila. fun girls. i've known those girls since they were born. i spent alot of time with them when they were little then they moved away and i didn't get to see much of them anymore. but i see them at christmas every year. the cool thing is that they don't come to the realization that i'm a complete dork xD;; or at least if they have, they like it because i'm the one adult that will still play with them. i think Young Adults fall pray to the I Want To Be Viewed As An Adult By All syndrome, and they kinda... stop being a child. i like playing with kids ^^ there's a certain honesty and carefree-ness that a child possesses. it's wonderful and sweet and infectious, if you catch sight of it.

anyway, we had a good time. they told me secrets and we rough-housed and played with my new phone, and it was a grand and lovely time. like i said, i love kids. they have so much spirit and enthusiasm and such a capacity for love in them, it's just beautiful.

but anyway, i'm just rambling now, and anyway, despite all evidence to the contrary i'm not feeling very conversational at the moment. if i keep going, i'll just start describing in all the detail my vocabulary possesses the melancholy mood i;m in, and i really don't feel like doing that because riding along the side of the melancholy is the extreme sense of gratitute i've been feeling for the past little while. i am supremely grateful for what i have-- for my family and friends, for my job and for school and for children and music and food and cookies and for the ability i have to see and appreciate it all, and i'm not bragging here-- i live with people who can't see and embrace and feel cheer at what beauty and bounty there is around them and us, in my own home-- and what a sad state to be in, i think. to be angry and hurt and victimized all the time, and in their own minds.... there is too much to love and to hold in the world to feel so awful all the time. i am happy to have what i have, despite how lonely i feel right now. despite every negative feeling swirling around in me right now, i am grateful and happy. Merry Christmas, everyone, i love you, and thank you for being my friends ^^
 
 
sentiment: melancholy
musique: Moulin Rouge
 
 
ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
23 December 2007 @ 03:58 pm

The year is 1825.
In the Austrian alps, there has been a terrible flood. The small village, which had been at the heart of the flood, sustained many damages, including the near-destruction of their very valuable and very hard-to-replace organ.
There was a hope that the water-logged and mildewing organ will last them until spring, when an organ repairman would be able to visit them. Unfortunately, by Christmas the organ is lost.

Father Josef Mohr hopelessly presses a few keys, but to no avail. There would be no music in the church for Christmas.
Father Josef puts on his coat, thinking a brisk walk through the hills would help clear his mind and lift his spirit.
Outside, gazing at the clear, star-lit, sky, Father Josef finds his calm in the silent night.
"Silent Night."
There it is! A poem he had written years before, and haplessly named.
  Father Josef scampers down the hills and to his home.

Gathering up the old poem, Father Josef paid the local school headmaster, whom he knew to be skilled with the guitar.
A few days later, on Sunday mass, Father Josef and Franz Gruber stood before the congregation. And then, guitar in hand, they began the melody.
The choir joined in and the first chorus of "Silent Night" was sung.
And music was brought to this village for Christmas.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The year is 1914.
It is Christmas for the soldiers of World War I.
In their trenches, the German soldiers are lighting the candles on the small Christmas trees sent to them by their families.
Tucked away and hidden from British artillery, they begin to sing together:
"Stille Nacht"

A short distance away in an opposing trench, British soldiers hear and recognize the familiar tune and join in, singing in English:
"Silent Night"
Their voices join together, and when the harmony end,
the two sides emerge from their trenches, greeting each other cautiously.
Some laugh and joke, a few even start up a game of soccer.

In a few pockets down the 600 miles of trenches, the cease-fire lasted a week.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Merry Christmas, everyone!
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maison: livingroom
sentiment: tired
musique: football >.>;;