Various… random… things… from a tired mind. February 29, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 1 comment so farHello, world. 
Let’s see. I actually did write more of the Lord Peter story, but I didn’t get it typed up for some odd reason last night… called about five or six people trying to have conversations with me… which was fun, but not conducive to other typing.
* yawns*
We have a quiz in the morning, which got put on a delay of an hour and a half or so, due to quite a bit of snow. Fortunate that this day only comes once every four years, I’m thinking!
And I keep having interesting dreams, but not really remembering them. Or I’ll remember them perfectly, but they’re then impossible to explain to anyone else! *sighs* Oh well… remembering a few pieces makes it worth it all. Some day I should put up quotes from what people have said in my dreams. It can be incredible how realistic it is. *grins*
And… I am really just rambling, so I’ll cease and say goodnight.
It was the kind of night that we laughed, pretty much whatever happened. February 28, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 1 comment so farAt youth group, of course!
me: *is compelled to bash head into something* *picks up pillow and begins banging head into it*
Alicia (across the room): *cracks up*
Richard (beside me): *cracks up*
me: *decides to set pillow down before anyone else sees what I’m doing*
Mr. K: “Oh, Anya, sorry. Did you have something to say?”
me: *laughing* *shakes head*
Mr. K: “Really! It’s okay! Go ahead!”
me: *laughing even harder* “No, I wasn’t saying anything.”
Samwise: *puzzled look*
Alicia: *laughing*
Christine: “Anya, your face is turning RED.”
me: “Ask Alicia. I didn’t have anything to say.”
Alicia: “No, she didn’t.” *cracks up*
Samwise: *gives me a puzzled look*
*we move on*
Mr. K: “So what if you had to confront someone about something? How would you do it?”
David: “Probably text-message.”
everyone: o_O
Mr. K: “Um, isn’t that a little impersonal?”
Peter: *comes in, proudly showing off his eight or so pencils*
me: “Wow. I am very proud of you.” *shakes head*
Richard: *looks at it* *shakes head* “I am not even going to say anything.”
me: “You took the words right out of my mouth. I wasn’t going to ask.”
Peter: *shows the pencils to Miss Dance*
Richard: “Just don’t say anything!”
her: “Um… whatever.”
During our lesson, Richard and I heard this loud noise coming from outside the room. We looked at each other, and then at the door as Miss Dance opened it and stuck her head in. When she realized that we weren’t done yet, she quickly shut it after looking rather shocked. As I’m sure you all could guess, Richard and I laughed. 
Christine: “Sam, I got lost driving to your house today!!!”
Samwise: O_o
me: “Yes, she started IM’ing me and was like ‘I’m lost!!!’”
Samwise: “AAAAH! Turn that off! Um, Christine, how were you driving to our house?”
me: “On a map—”
Christine: “On the weather channel website. But I GOT LOST!!!!”
me: “Samwise, how do you think that handprint got on the ceiling?”
Sam: *looks at it* “Well, I remember when I was in 7th grade, and we used to have youth group in here, and I’d be in front, and the people in the back would stand on chairs…”
me: “Um… yeah. I was here then. In fact, I was one of the people standing on chairs.”
Sam: “Oh. You were?”
Samwise: “The… um… something principles of the world.”
me: “The non-acidic!”
Sam: *laughs*
me: “You don’t know what six to the seventh power is???? What kind of math/science person are you?”
Sam: *shrugs and gives up on the problem*
Oh yes, there was also the incident of Lizzie scooping snow off the windowsill to throw at Peter during quiz practice… *evil grin*
Miss Dance: *gives Peter as hard of a high-five as she possibly can*
Peter: *doesn’t react*
Miss Dance: “OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!” *begins blowing on her hand*
Sam and I: *crack up*
And Thank Goodness They’re Both Of Them Over February 24, 2008
Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 3commentsBut the darkness has passed, and it’s daylight at last, and the night has been long – ditto, ditto my song – and thank goodness they’re both of them over! [From the song Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan]
I can definitely sympathize with that feeling. Last night/this morning I was having a horrible nightmare. When all the worst parts were done (at least I certainly hope that all the worst parts were over, because I don’t even want to think about how it could have gotten worse)… it dawned on me: You can wake up.
That sounded too good to be true, but I tried it.
The amazing thing? It worked. I woke up somewhere between a sob and a gasp and realized that yes, I had been dreaming.
And then this morning I had this passage… yes, it just “happened” to be the next chapter…
“For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“This is like the days of Noah to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of agate,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your wall of precious stones.
All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
If anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” [Isaiah 54:7-17]
Or, as Derek Webb put it, “There’s got to be a love stronger than our fear of everything being out of control…”
There is a love… stronger than our fear (of everything being out of control or any other fears)… a love for the King Who conquered the final enemy — death itself — and even more than that: that same King’s love for me.
For your Maker is your husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called. [Isaiah 54:5]
February 24, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 1 comment so farPost from yesterday: (It was posted on my xanga :))
Foreward ho: Strange experience today.
Dad had bought Mom a computer version of Mah Jongg the other day. She tried loading it yesterday night, but it wasn’t working, so today she mentioned it to me and asked if I could load it up. I figured that it wouldn’t be a big problem, that I’d just have to go into “My Computer” and actually tell the stubborn thing to run. Well… I tried that. Not only did that not work, the computer failed to even recognize that there was a disk in that slot! Uggggh. It repeatedly refused to recognize it. So I tried the disk in the other tray. That was better… but it still wasn’t auto-running it. Tried the “My Computer” trick again. It opened a folder of things. Hello? I’m just trying to open Mah Jongg… don’t need the SAT prep… or the ACT prep… or any of the other junk on this CD… and where’d these other programs come from, anyway? By this point I was fervently hoping that it wasn’t some sort of virus-laden disk. And then I saw the file called “Mah Jongg”. That, you will admit, sounded promising.
Click.
This will install Mah Jongg. Would you like to continue?
Of course I’d like to. Click.
Please enter the password.
Password? Uh… *tries leaving it blank*
The password was incorrect.
No fake.
At this point, I was feeling less than happy with the programmer.
Back to the general ol’ folder of programs… looking for anything which seemed remotely connected with a password… aha. A Word document call “Password” or something of the sort.
Click.
If this program came packaged in a jewel case (ours did) the password is in the front cover of the paper insert.
The paper insert, I noted, did not actually have a front cover. It’s just a little square. But I looked at it dutifully. Nope. Nothing saying, “PASSWORD is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ” or anything of the sort. *sigh* I looked at it several more times. There was still nothing. I tried going on their website (www.starshinesoftware.com) and searching “Mah Jongg password” and such. Nothing of any use whatsoever. Grr.
Eventually, I decided to just start clicking virtually every file in the folder which looked as if it could possibly have anything to do with getting the game to launch. (Had that not worked, I would have gone to the files which looked unlikely.)
Success at last. The one file informed me, that if the program was purchased in a jewel case, the password was on the insert. Really. First word, fourth line of the ”program description”.
*takes a deep breath*
It worked, too. It worked fine.
Simple, wasn’t that?
It brought to mind a passage from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
Mr. Prosser said, “You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know.”
“Appropriate time?” hooted Arthur. “Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked if he’d come to come to clean to [sic] windows and he said no, he’d come to demolish the house. He didn’t tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me.”
“But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight over to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”
“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”
That summed it up pretty well, I thought. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide does that to a lot of things (at least, non-theological things). It was incredible how many other quotes I thought of, from that book (or five books and one story, if you want to label it that way) while I was writing this post!
Goodnight, and wonderful Sunday to you. 
More on Lord Peter… February 22, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , add a commentI’m just putting the whole thing on a page here: http://opckid.reformedblogs.com/about/and-his-ministers/chapter-1/
So yes… it does start with what I posted last night, and I didn’t finish getting all of chapter one typed. But there ’tis. Enjoy! Leave me comments! Leave me ideas!
My stab at the wonderful Lord Peter (Death Bredon) Wimsey (…I shouldn’t say that about a man heavily involved in crime stories!) February 21, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 4commentsIt’s an extremely sad thing that Dorothy Sayers didn’t write a few more Lord Peter books before she died. Such as 400 or so.
Anyway, something possessed me around Christmas time (I think it was my Greek copywork, really I do. I love Hebrews, but it has a lot of obscure vocabulary. Dear LEXICON!!!!) to try writing a bit of Lord Peter myself. Oh, I remember. It was the copywork in conjunction with reading a Peter Wimsey. (The one with the cat charm in it.)
But yes, being the absent-minded person who I am, I wrote this and then completely forgot about it. *sigh*
Youth group and such February 20, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 3commentsMr. K: “Tonight there shall be a luniar eclipse!”
Christine and I: *blink* *evil grin* “You want to see a luniar eclipse? Ooookay. Someone go stand in front of Mr. K…”
(We’re totally depraved, I do confess.)
Daniel: *indignantly* “I’m gonna google that when I get home tonight.”
Mr. K: “What, you think just because it’s online it’s true?”
Mr. K: “So which song is the closest to being correct?”
*long silence*
Bryan: “I don’t think we can really tell.”
“Not to say you’re wrong, Sean, but… you’re wrong, Sean.” ~ Mr. K.
Peter: *comes running in*
me: “Hi Peter!”
Peter: “Don’t. You. Say. It.” *glares*
me: “Don’t say what???”
Peter: *stomps off*
me: ???
Richard: “What was that about?”
me: “I haven’t got a clue.”
Bethany: “I am never clueless!”
me: “Um… yeah. You just say stuff.” *discussion about how the doors don’t understand her*
Caleb: “What are you not supposed to say?”
me: “I don’t know!”
Richard: “That’s strange.”
me: “I haven’t even talked to him in a while!”
Richard: “That’s probably it.”
[As it turned out, Peter didn’t want me to say, “You’re LATE!”, which I almost always say if he gets there after us. For some reason, it didn’t even cross my mind tonight.]
Richard: *checks between couches*
me: “I think the stash of Bibles is not there.”
Richard: 
Andrew: “So what is wrong with that statement?”
us: “It says… that Jesus… became the Son of God… after He came to earth.”
Andrew: *lightbulb comes on* “Ohhhhh. Right. That’s wrong.”
Mr. K: “After His resurrection, Jesus came to North –”
Antion: “FALSE!!!”
We played Guard the Pins, too.
Bryan: *holds out this tiny sponge ball to me* “Would you like this for protection?”
me: *automatically* “No thanks.” (I don’t hold balls while I play… it ties up your hands, ya know? And you don’t look formidable at all. You don’t even have the potential to look formidable.) *notices what he’s offering me* “Wow, thanks Bryan. I feel very cared for.”
Bryan: *ignores*
Antion: *launches balls at his sister Aubrey, who happens to be hiding behind Miss Dance*
*they shriek*
me: “Wow. My sister is very loud.”
Josclin: “Actually, I think Aubrey’s beating her.”
Antion: *throws another ball as if it’s a grenade*
*they shriek*
Josclin and I: *listen*
Josclin: “Okay, Miss Dance has her beaten on volume, but Aubrey’s got the shrill bit.”
me: “At least neither of them look anything like us, so we can pretend we aren’t related.”
Andrew: “It says that a day is LIKE a thousand years. LIKE. Comparison.”
me: “Simile.”
Andrew: “Yes, it’s a simile. Which means saying that something is LIKE something else.”
Anna: “Imagine how much horribler things are going to be in ten years –”
Alicia: “Hopefully not your grammar.”
At youth council:
me: “Sam! You got the comfy chair!”
Samwise: *leans back* “Yeah, actually I do.”
Christine: “AQUI ESTOY!”
me: “El centro del mundo! Er, del universo!”
Christine: “ANYA! I am sick and tired of you getting it wrong! It’s not just the center of the WORLD, it’s the center of the UNIVERSE!”
Oh yeah, speaking of Christine, I also ended up kissing her shoe… at least I wasn’t spitting in it! 
“When,” as Caedmon’s Call put it, “did my heart get so petrified?” February 19, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 6commentsSeriously. My heart must be made of stone.
Perhaps I can blame it on Apologia Science.
Here’s the story. Three times, in the past week, have I heard something and my thoughts showed a sort of “priorities out of whack” pattern.
- A little boy whom we know (vaguely) had his appendix rupture and it was removed. My first thought: “WOW! How timely! Just when I’m on the lymphatic system!” Second thought: “That’s very interesting.” Third thought (or thereabouts): “Ow, poor Alex.” *has to explain to sibs where the appendix is, roughly, and that yes, it does correspond to where Madeline has a scar when she has her appendix out. They’re not that illiterate, just forgetful.*
- Our guest preacher said something about someone (obviously, I wasn’t clear on the details) having a problem with his spleen (maybe he had it removed too?). My thought process was pretty much the same as above.
- Then, yesterday, Ben B told me he pulled a hamstring (fencing is a dangerous business). First thought: “Uhoh. Don’t remember what muscle exactly we’re talking about.” Second thought: “Ouch.” Third thought: “I really should go look that up.” (By the way, it’s a group of three muscles — the biceps femoris, the semimembranosus, and the semitendinosus.)
In other words, the human bio course — which I love immensely — is turning what used to simply be sympathetic emotions into interest. Strange. So if you get injured, I will still be sorry about it… but I may also be thinking about little pictures of how that part of your body is supposed to work and… so forth.
*grins* Just the way my mind works.
Reading joke books February 17, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 5commentsNo, it’s not my hobby. But Miss Dance has been known to do it. She decided that she needed to because she does not “get” jokes particularly quickly.
Annnnnyway… it has become pretty clear that there are non-joke things which she also does not get. (And before I go any further, I ought to explain that I do have her permission to post this and she is a bright girl. Some lightbulbs just take a while to warm up, ya know?)
The other day, for Valentine’s Day, Dad got Mom a dozen feather roses. Please don’t tell me that you have forgotten the feather roses. Unless that is seriously the best comment which you can think of to leave. *sighs* They were those roses, from that same store. (Speaking of not finding jokes funny, the proprietress didn’t seem to find the “polygamist special” amusing. But I digress.) So. Mom was very, erm, impressed with the roses.
“They smell,” she pronounced, “like dead birds.”
Elpinoine ignored this with as great skill as she has in this area (and it’s considerable.) She said that they smelled like something else, but I don’t remember what… fruit or something…nice… but then she also brought down her strawberries’n'cream shimmery body spray which I gave her for Christmas and offered to spritz them. I told her No. She giggled and took it away.
I think Miss Dance just sort of gushed over them, about how nice they smelled and how sweet it was of Dad to get them, etc, etc, etc. We discussed the feather roses for a few minutes and then went on to other things. (Better things?)
Later on that night, Miss Dance came into the kitchen.
“I’VE GOT IT!” she shrieked, in the same tone in which Eureka was probably originally said. “THE ROSES ARE MADE OF FEATHERS!!!!!”
Dad, Mom and I: *blink* *blinkblink*
her: “THEY’RE MADE OF FEATHERS!!!!!!!! I JUST FIGURED THAT OUT!!!!”
us: *smash heads into nearest wall* [okay, that’s an exaggeration. But not by much.]
her: *very satisfied with herself* “That’s why you were calling them feather roses! They’re made out of FEATHERS!!!”
What on earth are you supposed to say to that?
Then tonight in the car on the way home from church we began discussing names. I forget exactly how it started, but Mom pointed out to her that she is the one who has claimed to want to name a kid “Dingbat”. (She thinks it’s cute.)
Miss Dance: “Hey! ANYA is the one who has names like Israel –no no not Israel” [although I like that one fine too] “– Zion and AtlantIS!”
me: “And Luther.”
her: “BLEGH. Well, Luther’s not so bad…”
Ibey: “And Knox.”
Miss Dance: “See???? KNOX! What did I tell you! KNOX! That’s, like, an OLD-FASHIONED name! KNOX!”
Mom: “Who’s there?”
Miss Dance: “KNOX!!!”
Elpinoine: *begins knocking on the window*
Miss Dance: “KNOX!!!!!!”
Mom: “Who’s there?”
Ibey: “Knox who?”
me: “Knock knock…”
Miss Dance: “KNOX!!!!“
*a minute later*
her: “OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I GET IT!!! KNOX!! Like, like, KNOCKS! Like K-N-O-C-K-S!!!!!!!! And who said I was slow to get jokes?????”
Dum-de-dumb February 16, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 2commentsSince I feel like posting, but don’t have much to say, I’ll put up my results from doing this quiz a while ago… January 27th to be precise… and I’ll add in some comments.
How do you feel today? Anna Okay… not too sensible… but whatever
What’s your outlook on life? Evacuating London
What does your family think of you? Into Jesus That’s good with me.
What do your friends think of you? Give Myself Away Alright…
What do your exes think of you? The Letter (One of a Kind) I’d better be one of a kind. But I don’t have exes so they certainly haven’t gotten letters from me.
How’s your love life? Mockingbird Sounds ominous
How will your love life be in the future? Remember Your Chains My iPod is evil. That was SO bad.
Will you get married? Unashamed Allllllright… answer the question please.
Are you good at school? Miracle of You That sounds like either a really good or really bad thing.
Will you be successful? Face of Love WHAT? *glares at ipod*What song should they play on your birthday? Nothing (Without You) Again, a bit enigmatic…
What song should they play at your graduation? Helm’s Deep Okay, okay. Just give me Darth Vader’s theme song and be done with it.The Soundtrack of your life? Verge of a Miracle *coughs* Ohhhhh boy.You and your best friends are? Consistent Ethic of Human Life I’ve never heard it described in quite those terms before… Happy times: Cill Laiden Huzzah! I LOVE Cill Laiden!
Sad times: Lothlorien Lament for Gandalf… what drove you to leave that which you loved?
Every day: Creation Alright… I wouldn’t have picked that as my theme song, but…
For tomorrow: Anything Genuine Ha. It better be good as well as genuine.
For you: Vivaldi- Magnificat in G minor Sicut locutus est Classical music really messes up these answers.
What does next year have in store for me? At the Feet of Jesus That sounds good.
What do I say when life gets too hard? Cloud Forest I do? Hmm. Interesting, the things you learn about yourself.
What song will I dance to at my wedding? Me Without You Yeah… that was a little… awkward… but at least it wasn’t Gollum’s Song this time.
What do you want as your career? The White Rider Another “Huh, I never knew that” type moment.
Your favorite saying? Love Ain’t for Keeping It lies.
How will I die? Chetvorno Horo. Hmm. That answer doesn’t make sense… take two… Stranded. Boohoo.
Goodnight, everyone. Have a marvelous Sunday.
