inquisitivity

Long Time No See...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Mood: Oh so relaxed!
Listening to: Jaci Velasquez - Christmas
Reading: Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig

Wow! I haven't updated my blog or my portfolio since July! Haha. That's just silly of me. But I have an excuse... sort of... I'm in college! And college is hard. Fun, but time-consuming. And you know, in the rare occasion that I have no schoolwork to do, I would rather hang out with friends than write a blog post that will only be read by five people. Or two.

Anyway, now I am back home for Christmas. All done with finals, all done with my first semester of college! So I have nothing but free time now. And it's the most wonderful time of the year! Yay!

I am planning on making a new layout for my website during this break. It's had this layout for almost two years so I feel like it's time for a change. I also have a lot of new photos to put up, and a couple of art pieces. So expect some updates soon, you imaginary person who I like to pretend actually reads my blog! Yay!

Portfolio Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Mood: tranquil
Listening to: Anberlin - New Surrender
Reading: That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis

It has taken me far too long, but I have finally put all of my 3D artwork onto my portfolio! Hooray! These are all of the 3D projects from my four years of high school art classes. The thumbnails below only show one angle of each piece, but if you click on them you can see multiple angles and a description of each piece. So there you have it - I hope you enjoy looking at them! My favorites are definitely the Dufflepud and the wire cat, so look at those two especially. :)

Clay

Plaster

Wire

What I am working on next is putting up more of my short stories and prose, so keep an eye out for that soon. Very soon. (I mean it!)

Art and Wholeness

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:49:00 +0000

Mood: whole
Listening to: Mutemath - Spotlight EP
Reading: The Brothers Karamazov (for school)

About time for an update. Having some deep thoughts lately.

Every now and then I experience states of mind in which I can see the wholeness of everything, of God, of humanity, of art, of the universe. The coherence and integrity of it all. I see God in works of art, in people's faces. It all has to do with Creation: a fascination with God's creation and the ability He gave us to create.

Science has a profound effect on me as I see the order and complexity that God gave to this little planet called Earth, and the universe of which we inhabit only the tiniest corner. There is the macro infinity, the study of astronomy. Look at the galaxies, the artwork of stars clumped together, the beauty of nebulas and solar systems. There is such order; God created the scientific, mathematical formulas for the universe; God created the rules that it would follow. And we as humans can pursue the knowledge of that higher scientific order that organizes it all. Then there is the micro infinity, the study of biology, chemistry. Just as there is no end to the vastness of the universe, there is equally no end to the tininess of cells, molecules, atoms, and smaller. God gave order and rules to every last particle of matter. And it is all equally significant to Him, the macrocosm and the microcosm, because it is all His creation which He so meticulously designed for the benefit of us living beings. (I am reminded of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wind in the Door, which is where I was first introduced to this general idea a few years ago.)

And so we respond to God's creation with our own. This is the essence of being an artist, to me: making art is a response to God. And deep down, I am an artist at heart: however, I am interested in so many areas of art (drawing, writing fiction, writing poetry, composing music, singing...) that I can't choose just one artistic ability to develop. I'd rather work on developing my whole self, the whole artist, not just a single area, because if my self is whole then my art may be whole. And it's not my responsibility to "develop myself"—it's God's. Last semester in my C.S. Lewis elective class, I learned about Lewis's idea that God created the unique personality for each individual, and it is through the pursuit of God and living in the knowledge and love of God that makes you sort of grow into that personality and become who God created you to be. So I rest secure knowing that God knows me more deeply than I know myself. I can rely on Him to help me become the person I am going to be thousands of years from now when my sole purpose is to glorify His name.

Let's see. Where am I going with this? Ah, yes. Art.

I am very opinionated about my preferences and sense of art. (Art, in this case, mainly referring to music and literature.) I feel that true art must reflect beauty, because true art must reflect God's nature. True art has to be a reflection of the beauty of Creation. Art must reflect truth. For me to call it art, it has to inspire me to contemplate and reflect on Creation with respect to God's nature. I know it's confusing—it's really hard for me to define. Here's an example. Last month I had to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for my World Lit class. I trudged through all 180 pages, not enjoying it in the least. I fully appreciated the historical truth about Russian work camps and all, but it was impossible for me to enjoy it in the sense that I could call it art. I could call it literature, but not art. It was more like a documentary than a novel. I know that literary experts would call me ignorant and blame my opinion on inexperience, but I'd still stick to my opinion. Art has to be transcendent; it has to make you ponder beauty; it has to point to truth and ultimately to God.

This month I am reading another Russian novel for my World Lit class, The Brothers Karamazov...and I am enjoying it, as true art. I don't call it that just because it talks about God and love a lot, but because the experiences of the characters, their lives and the settings around them, somehow transcend the novel and point to something higher. The story does inspire contemplation and reflection, because the experiences of the characters reflect some higher truth.

I can't tell if I'm communicating this well. Do you see what I mean? It's about wholeness.

I must point out that several of the ideas in this post were implanted in me by Madeleine L'Engle's book Walking on Water, which discusses the relationship between the Christian faith and art.

Here are some websites I've been browsing lately:

Life, the Universe, and Everything: Lots of cool science stuff connecting the universe and cosmology to God and creation.
All About God: Tons of articles and videos about God, the Bible, apologetics, creation...
Revolution Against Evolution: Lots of essays and resources with evidence for creation/intelligent design instead of evolution.

Frustrating Incidents & Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Mood: content
Listening to: Sigur Rós
Reading: Phantastes by George MacDonald

^ One of my favorite pics from my trip to Florida.
Wow! I haven't updated my website in a long time! The last two months have been crazy and eventful, but extremely exciting and fun. I went to both Arkansas and Florida, on separate trips, within the last three weeks.

Some thoughts. As time goes on, I find that I am getting more and more ready to graduate from high school. Just about four months left now. It's the home stretch and I'm going to work hard, not slack off, but really I am so ready for a more independent and fun life in college. I'm ready for more maturity...some people in high school just don't take responsibility for their own actions. Argh. Some people in my class—the senior class, who are supposed to set a good example for the underclassmen—are going off campus for lunch when they're not allowed to, and lying about it. They claim that they're legally allowed to sign themselves out because they're 18. But they chose to come to this school so they should abide by the rules! It's just so immature and pointless. Also, there was recently an incident about discrimination at my school that made the local news...I am just really frustrated and disappointed with some of the people at my school. I don't even know who they are...but just the fact that these things are happening disappoints me. SO, all that to say... yeah, I'm ready to graduate.

This semester I'm taking an elective Creative Writing class. I've decided that I'm going to have the guts to put most of what I write up here on my website. I've already written some prose, so expect to see that here soon. Yay!

Another pic from Florida:

It says BT's Lounge. Of course, being an uber-nerd at heart, I had to whip out my camera and take a blurry picture of the sign. Just imagine, what if the people there just lounge around listening to BT all day...you know, This Binary Universe, with the DVD playing and projected on a wall...then at night they break out his trance and techno tracks and people start dancing. WOW I am scaring myself with this silly idea. Anyway if you've never heard of BT, look him up and buy This Binary Universe (you have to get the DVD for the full experience)! It's uh-maze-ing

Working on the Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Mood: relaxed
Listening to: Eisley - Room Noises
Reading: Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis (for school)

A few portfolio updates. Finally. :)

The thumbnails above are only a few of several new nature pictures on the Photos page.

Two new sketches on the Art page. Actually, they are both over a year old, I just haven't put them on my website till now :)

And a few new bits of writing:

Devil's Advocate - my own Screwtape Letter
Autumn Locus - a bit of descriptive prose
Rhythm, Melody, Destruction - a poem

My next goal for portfolio updates is to take photos of my three-dimensional art. Look for those in the next one or two weeks. :)

For anyone who's curious, here's an update on my NaNoWriMo novel. Words written after November 30: 324. I know! Pathetic right? I don't think I'm going to finish the novel before January :(

A Monumental Month

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:48:00 +0000

Mood: exuberant
Listening to: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack
Reading: The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Problem of Pain (both for school)

Wow. All month without a blog post! Yes, it has been a busy, eventful November. Most significantly, I won NaNoWriMo! Second year in a row! The month was exhausting but rewarding at the end—because all my hard work resulted in 50,073 words of a novel. However, my novel is miles from being finished. The story is about 70% done, maybe 65%. But I think this story is worth more effort. It turned out better than I expected, and it's worthy of being completed! Also, I know that at the beginning of the month my big goal was to write "The End" before December 1. Well, since that didn't happen, my new goal is to write "The End" before January 1. Which means I have all of Christmas break to add about 30% more of the story. I can do it if I set my mind to it. :)

I also got a MacBook this month! It's my graduation present from my parents (they gave it to me early). I love it so much, and it is so much fun to play around with, and it is so much faster and easier than the eMac I've been using for the last couple of years. Hooray!

Other big things this month: of course, Mr. President-elect Obama. Not the result I was hoping for. But a funny thing happened: the day after the election, that Wednesday night at my youth group, we all prayed for Obama. Honestly this was a surprise to me because I hadn't really considered praying for him. But prayer is all we can do now...praying that he makes the right decisions, praying that God would actually guide him, praying that somehow God's will for America would be done through Obama as president. And praying that Congress will not pass the Freedom of Choice Act, because Obama said it's one of his first priorities to sign it into law. But God is stronger, and God is larger than all of that, and He has the power to change things. We just have to have faith that He will. (I have some opinions on the "separation of church and state," or how God and the government interact. I might write a blog about that some time.)

On a lighter note, this month I read Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, the first two books of C. S. Lewis's space trilogy. Wow. I'm really bad at writing book reviews...I can never come up with anything better to say than "I liked it." So, yeah, I liked them. A lot. I think I liked Out of the Silent Planet more for its imagery and ideas, with the introduction to a new world, but I liked Perelandra more for its theological concepts. Some day soon I will have to start reading That Hideous Strength, the third one, but it seems like I never have time to read books for leisure any more!

I think that's all of the big things from my November. More posts soon—now that I'm not writing 1,667 words a day, I have more free time! :)

NaNoWriMo All The Time-O!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Mood: energetic
Listening to: nada
Reading: Perelandra and Paradise Lost (both for school)

It's that time of year again! Lovely November, when the air starts to get chilly, the trees stand bare, and over a hundred thousand people across the world ravenously begin typing their brand-new masterpieces. Yes, I am doing National Novel Writing Month again this year: it's my third year, and hopefully my second victory. Don't ask me why there's a viking hat on my participant icon.

The prospects for this year's novel are looking good. I am basically re-writing my first novel ever, "Auteria," that I started when I was 12. Of course, you can't use previously written material for NaNoWriMo. But I've changed the story, the plot, and the characters so much that it only bears a slight resemblance to the original novel.

My biggest goal this year is to actually finish the novel in the month, and finish it in 50,000 to 53,000 words. Because I am just so bad at finishing the novels I start. Last year I reached over 51,000 words, but the story was only about 4/5 done. And I haven't finished it! Still! So, this year my aim is to actually write "The End" before December 1.

I'm excited. I put a word-count tracker in the sidebar, so you can cheer me on. :)

In the meantime, I accomplished many important things this weekend. I submitted three (3!) online college applications, and one scholarship application. The stress is starting to fade out. I actually had fun writing essays. Since I'm only applying to Christian colleges, I got to talk about my relationship with God and my testimony and stuff. It was kind of fun to do some "soul-searching" and describe the milestone that I'm at in my life, which is beginning the transition from high school to college and my "real-world" life after that. So, wish me luck, as I still have a couple of applications to complete this month!

And don't worry...NaNoWriMo is not my top priority this month. College apps are, then homework and school stuff, then my novel. I'm just taking every moment of free time I can get to write! :)

A Peculiar Thirst

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:21:00 +0000

Mood: contemplative
Listening to: Hillsong United
Reading: Out of the Silent Planet

It's fall break. I've been spoiled by this lovely, school-free week, ever since I came to my school in 4th grade. With the empty days comes time to simply relax a bit. Yes, it is the middle of the October of my senior year, which means I am approaching the days when I will have to make important decisions about my life after high school. But this weekend I've been able to enjoy moments of rest.

However, I've been noticing something strange.

Whenever I have free time like this, there are certain things I particularly enjoy doing. For example: I wrote a song and have been working on it in GarageBand. I made some progress in outlining one of my novels. I'm working on catching up in my scrapbook/diary.

But I feel that all of these little pleasures are sort of distracting me from what is most important. I feel exactly like C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy, when he described the sensation of Joy. He was drawn to studying mythology because it gave him a feeling of desire for something faraway and unattainable. In the same way, my own little endeavors of artistic creations...like writing, composing music, and scrapbooking...produce a feeling of being close to God through being a co-creator with The Creator. But this sense is only an imitation of knowing God deeply, the highest joy. Lewis said, "I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for Joy."

My prayer and reason for living is to know God, and "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13.) There is this thirst within my heart, to know Christ more when I go to bed every day than I did when I woke up. So it seems that my other harmless pleasures—with which I can pretend to seek God—are merely distractions from praying and studying His Word.

I apologize if this post was rather wandering or vague. I suppose my proposition here is that the only way to true Joy is to take joy in God alone, to make the Word of God my contemplation, my meditation, my object of desire.

Where You Lead Me

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:16:00 +0000

Mood: anticipatory
Listening to: "Where You Lead Me" by MercyMe

What is life?
A thousand roads, a thousand ways...
Why am I so afraid to move?
I crossed the line;
I'm stepping out, so come what may.
I give it all, 'cause I'm drawn to You.
As long as my heart is beating...

Where You lead me, I will follow.
Where You lead me, I'll give my life away.
Where You lead me, I will follow.
Forever and a day,
Forever and a day.

I can't deny, Your very presence is my life;
And why would I ever turn away?
'Cause deep inside, I know that I cannot rely
On anything less than faith.
As long as my heart is beating...

[Chorus]

This is all I'm dreaming of,
To live completely in Your love...

So this is life;

[Chorus x2]

In the midst of this madness that is the college search process, I know that nothing will do me good until my faith is completely in Him.

"Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand." Isaiah 14:24

Ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:49:00 +0000

Mood: rather nice
Listening to: Llegar a Ti - Jaci Velasquez
Reading: Brisingr (for fun), The Screwtape Letters & Paradise Lost (in school)

¡Hola! Quiero hablar en español, pero probablemente tú no me entenderás. Me gusta mi música en español, y me encanta leer mi Biblia bilingüe. :)

Well, life is busy. Busy busy. Being a senior is fun, but the workload... stress about college applications... scholarship applications... yeah, I'm afraid it will get even more overwhelming in October and November. I'm just trying to keep cool and enjoy Homecoming week with Powderpuff and school spirit and the dance this weekend.

I bought Brisingr (you know, Inheritance Book 3, Christopher Paolini...you know?) the Saturday it came out, over a week ago. Now I've read about 170 pages. I usually read a lot more quickly, but homework and stuff. So far I'm liking it, at least it's better than Eldest so far. I'll see when I'm done... (which at the rate I'm going, could take a month! xP)

Sorry, this post is kind of random and disjointed. But I have a lot of random things to talk about.

Now I am going to add a couple of things to my About page. :) ¡Adios!

Breaking the Monotony

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:47:00 +0000

Mood: lovely
Listening to: D.C. R.E.T.O.
Reading: (in school:) The Inferno (Dante), Surprised By Joy & The Pilgrim's Regress (C.S. Lewis)

I lied. And broke my promise to blog this summer.

Yes, summer is over, my senior year of high school has begun, and my, what a summer it was. I had so much to do that I actually forgot about my website, and here it has sat, unspoiled, for two and a half months.

First, my favorite events of the summer.
1. Mission trip to Guatemala!
2. Church youth conference!
3. Family trip to the mountains for 4 days.

Now, my favorite new things from the summer.
1. Wall•E — the best Disney/Pixar movie ever!
2. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox — what I thought was the best AF book so far. I definitely liked the time travel element...made my brain hurt trying to figure it out. And I liked how it tied the whole series together.
3. D.C. R.E.T.O. — a Christian, Spanish, rap/hip-hop/dance/techno music group. YES! Discovered it while in Guatemala...search them on Youtube to see some music videos.
4. Beijing Olympics — a big historical sort of event, fun to watch, cool that China won more golds than the US, fun to root for Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin. :)

Hopefully I'll blog more often from now on, but that's not a promise!

P.S. Yay for Sarah Palin. Too bad my 18th birthday just misses the election cut-off by 6 weeks!

Summertime Is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Mood: calm and free
Listening to: Tell Me What You Know by Sara Groves
Reading: Dreamrider by Barry Jonsberg

Summertime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call their favorite time of the year! Yes, Christmas carols are still fun to sing in the summer. :)

Hm. For the first time in months and months, I am able to breathe freely. Final exams are over, no more homework or papers to write, and yes, I have entered the domain of seniorhood. At the top of the high school food chain now. :D

I'm not going to waste a moment of this summer. I want to spend every second doing something important, fun, helpful—something edifying. I have more than enough books to read and stories to write, art to create and ideas to devour. Simply put, I am going to get reacquainted with myself and with God this summer. :)

Some thoughts. In the spirit of up-to-date-ness, I saw Prince Caspian for the second time a couple weeks ago, and enjoyed it much more than the first time. :) I also got the soundtrack and have been listening to it voraciously. "The Call" by Regina Spektor is a lovely song that I have grown very attached to, and I also adore "This Is Home" by Switchfoot.

The album by Sara Groves that I'm listening to for the first time right now is surprisingly beautiful. The lyrics are very poetic and insightful. I think I'm also going to grow attached to this album. :)

And as for what I'm currently reading, I actually finished Dreamrider last weekend but it's the only thing I've read lately. It's interesting: I usually don't go for the sort of contemporary Teen Fiction genre (except for Artemis Fowl), but this book sparked my interest because of the concept of lucid dreaming. I didn't really like the author's style, with short sentences and simple wording, but I appreciated how complex and interwoven the story was. It was sort of an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. I liked it, but it won't necessarily be going on my list of favorites.

That's all for now; I promise to update my blog more often this summer! :)

Prince Caspian Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:48:00 +0000

Mood: content
Listening to: BT - This Binary Universe
Reading: nada

Alright—this will be a long one!

Well, I apologize for briefly turning inquisitivity into a Prince Caspian blog. What can I say? Narnia has been part of my life for years now. :)

I saw the movie! And it appears that I was wrong about a couple things in my last post. The Caspian/Susan romance was not cut out of the movie. The kiss at the end was a glaring screenwriting glitch and a ridiculous Hollywoodization - it had no basis, because Caspian and Susan had not interacted very much before it! But I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. It can be shrugged off. (My friends thought it was cute. xD)

The theme of faith was not as strong as I would have liked. It seemed like the character of Peter really ruined things...thinking he could do everything without Aslan's help (until his night raid on Miraz's castle failed). And why would Peter be enticed by the White Witch, when he himself had watched Aslan defeat (or eat) the Witch in LWW? Besides, I thought the White Witch scene was really unnecessary and overdone, especially with the hag's incantation...it made me really cringe and sort of squish back in my seat, because I didn't like it at all...until Edmund saved the day of course. :)

I did like how Trufflehunter was always the loyal badger and the true Narnian. His character didn't meet my hopes of sort of embodying the faith theme, but they did a really good job of making him the same lovable character that he is in the book.

I loved the scene where Lucy was dreaming, and how the trees parted for her and she walked through them and talked with Aslan. It captured some of the emotion from the scene in the book, but not quite enough...partly because it was a dream! Which brings me to my next point...

I decided on what I think is the key difference between the book and the movie. Book: Pevensies see/speak with Aslan before the battles. Movie: Pevensies don't see Aslan until after the battles are over (except Lucy). I feel like that single change gave the second half of the movie a completely different dynamic: the characters were sort of at a loss, the conflict seemed unguided, Aslan wasn't important enough. It kind of mixed up the whole structure of the story.

But all analyzing aside, I was extremely pleased with the movie. My expectations were met, if not exceeded. Cinematography, music, acting, costumes, computer-generated imagery, nods to the book (like Tarva and Alambil, Bulgy Bear, apple trees), everything...it was all great.

Favorite shot: Miraz's view through the telescope, watching Edmund, Glenstorm the Centaur, and Wimbleweather the Giant approach. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. :)

And of course, Skandar Keynes was quite impressive as Edmund. But maybe I'm biased. ;)

Some Thoughts on Narnia

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Mood: just peachy
Listening to: Cities by Anberlin
Reading: The Chronicles of Narnia

Well, it has been some time since my last post. Almost a month. It's been a busy month. I had my AP exams last week—Spanish Language and AB Calculus. Phwew, am I glad those are over or what!

Hehe. I find it immensely hard to believe that the Prince Caspian movie comes out this Friday! And I am going to see it on Friday evening. I really am too excited to express! When it comes to the book-to-movie changes, I am worried about some minor things. But guess what? They cut the Caspian/Susan romance out of the movie. Yes! Overall I'm feeling very optimistic about it and I'm quite sure it will be mostly excellent.

Today I read the Prince Caspian book for, oh maybe the 5th time or so. One of its themes that really struck me this time was the theme of faith vs. skepticism/unbelief. I hope that in the movie they capture the essence of Trufflehunter the Badger's character, which is his unwavering loyalty to and adamant belief in Aslan and Aslan's might. Trufflehunter's confidence as opposed to Nikabrik's skepticism. Of course this is one of the Chronicles' many parallels to Christianity.

The Narnia books are definitely theologically rich. There are lines, images, and ideas from the books that are very personal to me regarding my relationship with God. One of these is one of the scenes that, I think, is an iconic image from the Prince Caspian book: the scene where Lucy hears Aslan calling her name in the moonlit night, and she follows his voice...weaves through the dancing, wading trees...and finds Aslan, who is gentle, warm, and powerful, and who lets Lucy rest by him and partake of his strength. I found this drawing that was concept art for the movie, however I don't think the scene will happen very close to the same way in the movie. Nevertheless, this picture really captures the essence and emotion of that scene. (By the way, I found it on NarniaWeb.com)

Prince Caspian Promo

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:28:00 +0000

Mood: relaxed
Listening to: Once soundtrack :)
Reading: still The Great Gatsby for school

Well, here's a video I made about this Prince Caspian thing I have. Do watch!

And now for my thoughts about something else: American Idol. I am shocked, indignated, and infuriated that Michael Johns was eliminated last night. x( Enough said.

Once

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Mood: charmed
Listening to: 30-second iTunes clips of Once soundtrack :)
Reading: The Great Gatsby (for school)

Okay, so tonight I watched this movie called Once. It's this independent movie with a cool story behind it — the guy who wrote all the songs, Glen Hansard, ended up playing the nameless "guy" in the movie. And he had never acted before. The nameless "girl," played by Marketa Irglova, had never acted before either.

I don't know the whole background story. All I know is that the movie was almost magical because it was so ingenuous, unpretentious, and un-Hollywoodized. The story is cute, with a lot of quirky, semi-awkward moments, but with a definite emotional sweetness to it. The characters are just everyday people, and their lives go on, but there is an unseen depth.

The true soul of the movie is the music. The music brings the depth of the characters' souls out as they play and sing. The music has a sort of blunt roughness, but it really is beautiful. It's honest and vulnerable. The song "Falling Slowly" won the Academy Award for best song this year. It deserved the award! I think that I am quite definitely going to have to buy the soundtrack. :)

Art At Last!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:32:00 +0000

Mood: fruity
Listening to: Everything by Lifehouse (you must watch this video!)
Reading: still nothing (gah)

Ahhh... spring break has given me plenty of nice, empty time to do things that I have been wanting to do for weeks but school hasn't allowed me to do. One of those things is getting my website portfolio up to date. I have been working on taking pictures of all my old art to put them on here.

So there you have it, five (5) (FIVE!) new pictures in the "Full Compositions" section of the Art page. They are all about two years old. Go on! Go look at the shiny artworks! And tell me what you think!

More updates in the other sections, too. The last two photos in the Sunsets/Clouds section of the Photo page are new. And a new poem, which is really two years old but new to sagraco.com, on the Writing page.

If you are reading this please comment and tell me how you like the new items.

Music I Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Mood: content & relaxed
Listening to: Opposite Way by Leeland
Reading: nothing really

Greetings friends! It's almost spring break—just one more day of school, then off to a whole week of freedom. :)

Lately I've discovered a whole bunch of exciting new things in the realm of entertainment. Let's start with the music I'm listening to right now! Leeland! They are such a great band, with good messages to get out there. So go and listen to their new album, Opposite Way, and be amazed by the great sound and worshipfulness of their music. I have been listening to this album ever since I bought it last week—can't get enough! They have some really funny videos on their YouTube, so go there and be amused.

On to more new music. Allow me to introduce Son Lux, because you have most definitely never heard of him before. His name is Ryan Lott and his first full album just came out, called At War With Walls & Mazes. The music is electronic with some nice touches of piano, brass and string instruments. It's totally random at times, which just gives it a really unique sound. The lyrics are sparse, repeated phrases or lines, and there are very subtle hints of the Christian faith (he is a Christian, I found, but that was actually hidden deep in his blog xD). I really like the song "War," because it has cool imagery and new ideas. Here are the lyrics (it's the song with the most lyrics on the album):

We were at war with walls and mazes, torn up and tearing inside
You wooed us out to open places, trading our death for your life
You raised the sun (Son?) to warm our faces, astonishing us with light

I realized that this song basically defines his pseudonym/ musical pen name, Son Lux. Think of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and His rising from the dead astonished us with Lux (a sort of Latin word for light). Cool, eh? :)

Now for more new entertainment that was just recently discovered by me: a TV show on Fox, New Amsterdam. It's about a NYC detective with a secret...he's 400 years old, and only finding "the one"—his true love—will make him age again. It's a cool concept, and I like how the character is so nonchalant about his immortality. I also like the flashbacks, which have a lot of history about the United States or just New York.

I have a thing for the idea of immortality in general...not like I want to be (it would be awful, to say the least), but I like stories about it. That's partly why I love the movie The Fountain so much—with the Fountain of Youth/Tree of Life and everything. Heh, you should watch The Fountain too, because you probably haven't. :)

Well, I hope you found this post at least remotely interesting. Aloha!

Layout Launch, Leap, and Lost

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Mood: accomplished and satisfied
Listening to: The Everglow by Mae
Reading: Walking on Water (almost to the end)

Can you believe it? The new layout is finally here! I have been working on this for so long—I started working on it at the end of January. :) The image header took probably one hour. The coding was the killer. It took probably two days to figure out how to make the footer stick to the bottom of the page, and three more days to make the layout look right with the Blogger codes. After I perfected the coding, I just meandered through rewriting the content. :D So here you have it, the finished product. It should be tidier and easier to navigate than Golden Horizons. I hope you like it! I'm so glad it's over xD

Hm. Now, for the next section of my alliterative title. Friday was a leap day! I'm sad that I forgot to post a blog on that day. For some reason I feel like if I don't create real evidence and proof that I did something on February 29, then it never happened. It's like the lost day.

Speaking of Lost!! The episode on Thursday (Feb 28), called "The Constant," was definitely one of my favorite episodes of Lost EVER. It was about Desmond, who is of course my favorite character. I liked it because it was all wrapped up into one episode—the question that was introduced at the beginning was answered by the end. And it was about time travel—and there's nothing cooler than time travel. Duh. :D So! Watch Lost, because it's the best show ever xD

Inaudible Fireworks

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:36:00 +0000

Mood: celebratory and refreshed
Listening to: OneRepublic
Reading: Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle

Well, I stayed up till midnight as usual, anticipating the turn of the new year, but doing nothing very exciting except for flipping through the channels to watch snippets of celebrities and crowds screaming in Times Square. Of course, that all happened two hours previously, and the shows were just being re-played for each time zone. Hmm, that means 2008 hasn't reached the west coast yet. Too bad; it's been a great year so far. I think...

Anyway, sadly I had no party to go to like previous years. I just stayed up with my mom while my dad went to sleep. xD Last year I had my own party, and my three friends who attended surely remember the crazy fun time we had. Hats, noisemakers, sparkling cider, the whole thing.

So, it was a quiet evening, watching people hundreds of miles away smiling, and complete strangers waving at the camera and screaming. 100th anniversary of the Ball Drop, cool, now it's eco-friendly. All the familiar and unfamiliar faces happily anticipating the Ball Drop.

But when midnight struck, I abandoned the TV and my mom and I ran outside. We stood on the front porch in the freezing, crisp air; some of our neighbors were outside too, and noisemakers could be heard in the neighborhood above, as well as somebody playing Auld Lang Syne in the neighborhood below us. The sky was clear, and the stars were unusually clear; I could see the constellation Orion.

And then there were the fireworks! Far away, on the tip of Pikes Peak. Just seen, not heard. There were huge red ones that turned the whole mountain red, because the fresh snow reflected all that fiery light. Those were the best ones, where the firework would briefly illuminate the snowy mountainside, and then it would fade back into the blackness of the night.

Then I thought, they should show videos of this on national TV! Our little city tradition. Pikes Peak is America's mountain, after all! The whole scene inspired a sense of pride in the city that I've lived in my whole life. And it's such a beautiful mountain! And all those neighbors, people I don't know, but residents of the same city and taking part in the same tradition. I just love the sense of unity! Humanity all over the world is celebrating the new beginning that is 2008! I could even imagine the planet shining as fireworks move across the time zones, and out in space the aliens can hear a joyful burst of sound, Earthlings shouting Happy New Year!

And the man in the moon wishes he had hands so he could shield his perpetually open eyes from the blinding light.

I did it!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:26:00 +0000

Mood: accomplished
Listening to: Newsboys - Adoration
Reading: Hamlet (for school...)

Yes, the word count is official at 51,011 words. I did it! I slogged through annoyances such as school and homework, and managed to come out with more than was required of me. I actually finished yesterday — one day early! Funny thing is, my novel is not finished. I will have to keep writing to the end. I want to finish it before the end of December...before the end of 2007!

Thank you. Very much.

I'm tired.

Oh my.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:04:00 +0000

Mood: silly
Listening to: Desperation Band - Everyone Overcome
Reading: Read? Are you kidding me? I don't have time to read in November!

Okay. So right now I feel kind of dumb. Because nobody knows about this blog. Therefore, I am now going to email my friends and people to tell them about this blog. Thank you.

NaNoWriMo

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 05:52:00 +0000

Mood: caffeinated
Listening to: The Christmas Sessions by MercyMe
Reading: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Well, November has begun, and I am over 5,000 words into my awkward but super exciting novel! Yes, it's National Novel Writing Month, and I am diving into this high-energy endeavor for the second year. Last year I attempted a Christian fantasy novel, but it kind of lost its steam after 12 chapters, and yes, sadly, I gave up at 30,585 words.

Not this year! No, I have actually been taking down ideas and plot points and characters notes since MAY! Over-excited? Over-planned? Over-obsessed? Yes, yes, and yes, but I was ready, and I'm starting my novel with a bang! And I have plans far enough into the plot to last me to 50,000 words, if not more.

I'm just surprised at how long my initial scenes are stretching out. I didn't think about how I actually have to write a /lot/ of stuff before even the introduction of my most worked-on character. Oh well, I will reach him eventually. Hehe.

Wish me luck!

As for my "currently" notes above, yes, I had a cup of coffee at 10:00, and now it's almost midnight, and I still have probably enough energy for 1 or 2 hours of gleeful late-night weekend writing. And yes, Halloween is over, which means that the most wonderful time of the year has officially begun, which allows me to turn on the Christmas tunes without my parents giving me odd looks. And as for The Scarlet Letter, that's required reading for my American Lit class, and I am actually enjoying it. Funny how some of the typically boring old classics are actually good. (Except it interferes with my precious writing moments! Gah!)

Well, hasta la vista. Here's a cute button for NaNoWriMo:

Reflections on Madeleine L'Engle

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:56:00 +0000

Mood: sad, but hopeful
Listening to: Sound of Melodies (album) by Leeland
Reading: nothing really

Today I found out that Madeleine L'Engle died on September 6. It was an odd surprise because a girl in my art class was reading a magazine and said loudly with a small amount of astonishment in her voice, "Madeleine L'Engle died!" Most of the people in the class said, "Who's that?" But I gasped more loudly than I realized. "No way," I said in disbelief. Nobody noticed that I was instantly subdued...nobody heard me say, "That's an emotional thing for me..." I got quiet and thought a lot about Ms. L'Engle while I was working on my art picture.

My favorite, most beloved author. (Although I still can't decide between her and C.S. Lewis. The universe and time travel vs. the alternate world of Narnia...hmm.) When I read A Wrinkle in Time for the first time in 5th grade, a permanent affection for her beautiful works was born in me. Her books have always challenged me to think about the grandness of the universe, and about the place of humanity, and me personally, inside of it.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet has always been my favorite from the Time Quartet. The courage required of Charles Wallace to undertake a quest to save the world from deadly war. The countless connections between history, now, and the future. And of course Gaudior the unicorn, and little unicorns hatching on their unicorn planet. And that unforgettable image of the entire universe in an eternal, beautiful dance and song of praise to the Most High God.

My thoughts now are, that Ms. L'Engle is witnessing and participating in that dance now, as she has been taken by God to live with Him forever. She's finally seeing the seraphim, the cherubim, the Mrs. Whatsit creatures, and all the stars known by name that she once wrote about.

Now I feel like I want to read every single book she ever wrote. I find it kind of disappointing now that I actually did start reading Walking on Water this summer, but set it down after Chapter 1, where my bookmark still remains. I guess I'm not the biggest fan of nonfiction, but I'm sure it will still be good, so I am going to read it. :D

So, I was sad for a while about her death (which was by natural means, by the way), but now I feel hopeful, and grateful to God for heaven...for eternal life.

I could write SO much more about these thoughts, but this post is getting too long. :)

Here's a good article about Madeleine L'Engle.

Jesus and Socrates

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:58:00 +0000

Mood: content or generally happy (or both)
Listening to: All Of The Above by Hillsong United
Reading: Big American Lit textbook. Like three thousand pages big.

Have you ever read a novel in Spanish? Well, neither have I. But today in my Spanish class, we started reading a novel called El Alquimista, which means The Alchemist. Bwahaha. Spanish, however, is not the topic of this post.

WARNING: this post may contain analysis of historical literature and complex philosophical ideas! (or, beware of Sarah's overactive mind)

Like I said before, I just finished reading tonight's assignment in the American Lit book. It was a section of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and he was talking about his Endeavor to arrive At moral Perfection. (Yes, I find it amusing that he capitalized random words all the time.)

Then he listed 13 virtues that he wanted to obtain, none of which mentioned any religious ideas, until the last one. It said, "13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

At that I sort of laughed. How odd, I thought, that he grouped Jesus and Socrates together. And that he put imitating them so low on the list. To be honest I know very little about Socrates, but I can assure you that Jesus was a far more important man than he was. Jesus taught eternally valuable ideas. Socrates didn't even believe in God. I don't quite see how they can be grouped together.

Then Franklin went on to say a couple of ideas that I found interesting and amusing. "In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself. You will see it perhaps often in this History. For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my Humility."

I thought it was...curious. Make of that what you will.