I apologize for not writing more often. This week has been pretty busy, what with Christmas coming, a cranky baby, and the excitement of a new for-fun story project that has kept me up to late night hours typing away.
Stuck in my head today: The Firefly theme song. “You can’t take the sky from me!”
Deep and important thoughts pondered today: The reality of Christ’s birth, and how it was probably so different from what we imagine. Our pastor preached a couple of weeks ago on how willing Mary and Joseph were to obey God, even though it meant suffering. Imagine! It was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives – the anticipation of their nuptials – and instead they were dealing with the suspicion and social shame of a pregnancy before they were wed. Probably most people thought they were fornicators and liars, maybe some thought they were just plain crazy. Did even their families believe them? Then all this ignominy culminated in a dirty, miserable birthing experience in a stable, of all places. “Silent night / Holy night / All is calm / All is bright” – yeah, right! Mary has to have been a very strong young woman, and Joseph a courageous man. I can’t wait to meet them in glory someday. (These ramblings were inspired by this posting at The Blazing Center.)
Quote for today:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:5-8
Reading this week: Divergent by Veronica Roth. I hope to have a review up of this soon, but unfortunately it is not doing well in holding my attention, so it’s been sitting untouched for several days.
Writing this week: My writing has been all play and no work this week. I’ve been writing what I call a “fall from the sky” story – taking characters from multiple books, movies, and my own stories and putting them all together (as if they had “fallen from the sky”) to see what happens. It’s marvelous fun! I don’t write them very often, but I was inspired by my dream last week where a character from my book found the One Ring and had to destroy it. Here’s an example of what this story is like…*blushes* Hopefully it doesn’t keep its grip on me for too long, because I do need to get back to “real” writing, but I have an audience of at least one person begging me to write more…
Lord Voldemort paced across the empty obsidian chamber, sizing it up with a dim smile of approval. “Yes…this will make excellent headquarters.”
A panting Lucius Malfoy appeared in the doorway, wand in hand. “We have subdued the creatures, my lord,” he announced. “I am not sure we will even need to Imperius them all.”
“Excellent.” Voldemort kicked over the man he had killed mere moments before. The body was still warm. “He was right about one thing,” he mused, leaning over the corpse. “There can only be one Dark Lord. We will overthrow this Sauron, and to do so we must fight him with his own weapons. Find me this Ring our friend here so graciously told us about – and get me Harry Potter. He must not be permitted to find it first.”
He smiled down at Saruman’s stiff body, and wrested the staff from the dead wizard’s hands.
Yes, I know, I’m terrible. Hehe.
Who would win in an epic battle? Voldemort absolutely outmatches Saruman, but could he conquer Sauron as well…? And we haven’t even gotten to the Cybermen yet! I might even throw Darth Vader into the mix for good measure. But I think he’ll find the Force somewhat lacking in Middle-Earth…
Okay, now I’m embarrassed. I don’t call myself a geek, buuuut…
I’m going to hurry off and do something very useful and productive now.
Thats Funny……..epically funny…:)
I enjoyed your post, but have to ask, are you getting enough sleep with a cranky baby?
Have never tried this kind of writing and think it could be a lot of fun falling from the sky.
Yes, most nights when I don’t get enough sleep it’s because I stayed up late writing, not because my son was waking me. Haha. He’s a pretty good sleeper these days. 🙂
Fall from the Sky was actually a game I used to play (and sometime still play – hehe) with friends. It was an acting game, and we’d all pick random characters to be. Usually we played it on a trampoline, thereby enabling us to literally fall from the sky. 🙂
Yes, wow! The trampoline adds a totally new dimension! Glad the baby is good!
Fall from the Sky stories are a good idea. 🙂 I’m glad you’re having fun with your story. I think Voldemort would definitely beat Saruman. I’m not sure that Harry could beat all the villains, all combined, all with their respective powers. However, if they kill each other off first…or are useless working together (like usual)… And instead of Darth Vader, I definitely think Palpatine. He’s the only one who comes close to the evilness of Voldemort. And, if you’re pitting Star Wars vs. Harry Potter–Harry would definitely beat Luke. I think Neville could beat Luke (I don’t have a very high opinion of Luke, if you couldn’t tell…At least Anakin has strength of character…). Although Hermione would beat Leia. I think Han would win over Ron, though. It’s one of those somewhat meaningless things that you can still discuss for hours. 🙂 Hmmm…Who would win? Dumbledore or Yoda? Or would Gandalf walk in and effortlessly wipe them out? I actually like the thought of Gollum vs. Yoda as well. Or Gollum vs. Dobby. With Gurgi and Kreacher. My sister and I can debate this sort of thing for hours. 🙂
I really enjoyed reading and thinking about the “Deep and important thought for today” and the quote as well. So true…I think my favorite Christmas carol (“O come, O come, Emmanuel”) which avoids the idealism trap, though.
I love your gravatar, by the way!
Those are a lot of amusing possibilities! Not all of those characters come into the story – and it’s a much broader plot than simply one person vs. another – but it’s fun to think about. 🙂
Gurgi! Hurray! I’m glad to know someone else who has read “The Prydain Chronicles.” Those were one of my favorite books growing up.
I agree about “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. And there are many other Christmas songs that beautifully express the glory of Christ’s coming. (His birth itself may not have been glorious, but His coming to Earth certainly was!) Our church always sings “Silent Night” at the end of the Christmas Eve service, and I wish they would change it, because it sounds so mournful! – not to mention its misrepresentation of the mood surrounding Christ’s birth.
I think Joy to the World would be better to sing than Silent Night…
Hark the Herald Angels Sing is wonderful because, though the melody can be sung so that it sounds sappy, the words are glorious.
About Falling from the Sky: How about Lewis’s White Witch? I pitcture her ker-splat in the muck of battle, run over by something with huge wheels–not sure why. That is okay, though, because Aslan has taken care of her; though later, it was said that ‘you always can get her back…’ Yikes! This will only be, however, until the Last Battle is won.
I agree! That’s one of my favorites. I always thought it was a sappy song, until recently when I really considered the lyrics. It’s a glorious song!
Oooh, the White Witch! I hadn’t thought about putting her in. I should. That would be interesting…
I’ve been trying to think who could drop in, to mix it up with these guys, from the classics or real life…hmm.
You said:
“Who would win in an epic battle? Voldemort absolutely outmatches Saruman, but could he conquer Sauron as well…?” Sauron is vulnerable, after all he is fettered to his tower, and what can a Lidless Eye, even a big one, do in such a situation?
So far I have plenty of villains to keep the story lively! Although my sister is lobbying for Daleks…
Regarding Sauron – Exactly! The more I think about it, the weaker a villain Sauron seems to be. Basically he gets his minions to do everything for him. He just has a sort of vague malevolence… But as my husband pointed out, he kind of “powers” all the other smaller evils. Without him the orcs and such would not be as much of a threat. He mobilizes evil. Plus, there is the corrupting Ring, which comes into the story quite a bit.
Well, what Sauron can do really comes into view in the Silmarillion more than anything. Keep in mind, though, that even the entire body of wizards (Gandalf, Saruman, et. al.) was unable to kill him when they invaded Mirkwood. They merely forced him to relocate, which – considering where he ended up – might have been something of an upgrade. Honestly, it’s been too long for me to come up with a list of his abilities. Also remember, though, that he can apparently create monstrosities. How? No one seems to know. But he made the cave trolls, at least.
-CB-
Ah, those are some good points, CB. I read the Silmarillion too long ago (and too breezily) to recall what it said about Sauron. And I didn’t know that he made the cave trolls. Hmm.
Thanks for stopping by! It’s good to see you here. 🙂