Vocabulary Volume #7

I finished The Best American Essays today ! A few were a little tough to push through due to obscure subject matter of only marginal interest to me, but most of the essays were incredibly thought-provoking and full of interesting trivia, humor, and well-written quips.

Here is the last of the new words I learned from the anthology.

excoriate: (v) to criticize severely, to damage the surface of something

neocons: (n) short for neoconservative, a term first used in the 30s

mendacity: (n) falsehood, lies
          (not to be confused with)
mendicancy: (n) state of being a beggar

encyclical: (n) papal letter sent to Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church

metier: (n) a talent or asset, forte

exiguous: (adj) very small in amount, scant, meager

emphysema: (n) disease of the lungs causing breathlessness

pugilist: (n) professional boxer

kippers: (n) a type of cured, salted, and dried fish

Vocabulary Volume #6

Some words taken from the anthology The Best American Essays, a book I purchased for a class, read one chapter out of, and never touched again. I've been trying to read one essay per day, and here are a few words I have gleaned from doing so.

sui generis: (adj) of its' own kind, unique in its characteristics

lacunae: (n) an unfilled space or interval, a gap

sisyphean: (adj) used to describe an impossible task, seemingly endless or futile

rood: (adj) another word for crucifix

appellation: (n) a uniquely identifying title or name

pleiad: (n) a brilliant and talented group, traditionally consisting of seven members (from the Greek Pleiades)

caliph: (n) an Islamic leader

sericulture: (n) the raising and breeding of silkworms for the production of raw silk

rubaiyat: (n) quatrains in poetry (in Middle Eastern writings)

schismatic: (n) one who engages in schism (breach of union in a religious group or sect)

DIY Rice Pocket Handwarmers!

My blog is undergoing an identity crisis again and today it is going to be a DIY/craft blog ! I wanted to show you an easy little sewing project I did over Christmas break, when I was able to engage in some quality bonding time with my sewing machine.

I wanted to do some crafting, while simultaneously using up some fabric scraps that have been sitting around in a scraps box since the beginning of time. I don't even remember what some of these fabrics were originally used for, and I didn't foresee them being used in anything specific in the future, so I went to work.

After some Pinterest browsing, I decided to make some handwarmers ! This was my first craft of choice for a couple reasons. 

- First off, it's really cold in northern California (compared to southern California... I can't even imagine how frigid it must be anywhere outside the Golden State). 

- Second, Lucas will soon be flying all over the country for medical school interviews, many of which are in cold locales like Pennsylvania, and I thought his skinny hands could use some pocket company. 

- Third, they are ridiculously easy to make... seriously. Too easy. 

I took some photos of my crafting process in case any of you wanted a step-by-step instructable :)

Step 1

Choose your fabric. Because these pocket friends will be zapped in a microwave, your selection has to be limited to pure cotton fabrics. Synthetics like polyurethane or acrylic will melt or worse, catch fire in a microwave, so stay away from fleece and opt for something like this flannel. 

Oh, your thread should be cotton as well, which was a bit of crafty oversight for me as these are made of polyester thread. I've just made sure to only microwave them in 15-second increments.

Step 2

Cut four identical squares of your fabric of choice. Put the patterned sides of the fabric together, facing each other, and stitch all around. Make sure you leave a small, finger-wide gap.

Step 3

Flip them inside-out via the gap, so you get this nice, rounded-edge pouch.

Step 4

Raid your pantry for some rice and grab about a cup and a half of it. I couldn't find a funnel so I just took a sheet of scratch paper and rolled it into a narrow cone. Ghetto-fabulous !

Step 5

Funnel your rice into the pouch, but only so it fills up to halfway. You need to be able to sew around the entire pocket, which is significantly harder if the pouch is stuffed entirely full.

Step 6

Stitch around the entire border of the pouch, making sure to close the gap in the fabric

(as well as to not run your needle over stray grains of rice, as this is not good for your machine)

finished !

Yay ! Lucas' are made out of plaid flannel from a pair of pajama pants I sewed in middle school, and mine are made of scrap flannel from a project I can no longer recall. I also made a larger version of the blue flannel ones for my brother (the size of the fabric squares can vary based on the size of the recipient's hands.)

To activate their cozy hand-warming magic just put them in the microwave for 15-30 seconds at a time until they're hot, take them out , and shake the rice up a little. They do a great job of heating up jacket pockets, and stay toasty for a good duration of time :) 

Some Words.

Fantasy- The XX

Sanctuary- Gareth Emery ft. Lucy Saunders

Chandeliers- Sleeping at Last

I like to put my entire iTunes library on shuffle sometimes, just to see what happens. 

Twenty Twelve

I brought Princess Nell home to San Jose, with the promise of taking her biking around the beautiful, chilly scenery of northern California. Of course, then it rained torrentially for a few days, and then winter hibernation laziness kicked in... so Nell has been neglected for two weeks :( 

The sun was finally out for an extended period of time today, and I seized the opportunity to do some neighborhood exploring. Biking by myself always leads me to thinky thoughts; something about a little solitude in motion gets my mental cogs turning like pinwheels. 

So here are a few casual thoughts on my year 2012, inspired by some lovely sights from my afternoon bike ride. 

bridge that crosses over to the neighboring golf course and explorable areas

some tall grass

I LOVE CRUNCHY LEAVES

Leaves

When I was little, sometimes I used to pretend that leaves were paper currency. (leaves and bills are both green, ok, kid Elaine wasn't that crazy). At recess, or at the park, or while camping, I would collect leaves of all types until I had stacks on stacks... and when I was content with the amount of money I had laboriously "made", I would just leave it in a pile, wherever I was. 

Looking back, either I really was crazy as shit or this was my little child-minded way of paying back nature... saying thank you via a tangible offering. As I recount my 2012, I realize that this year has brought me many amazing feats of nature to be thankful for. 

     --There was the Honors camping trip... where I witnessed the brightest moon I had seen in a long time, and the sheer grandness of giant boulders heaped upon each other all the way to heaven.

     --There was the beach escapade in Laguna...where I witnessed the strength of the ocean as it pulled at my legs and the strength of the sun as it glared a vibrant orange during sundown.  

     --There was the summer I spent in the remote beauty of rural Taiwan...where I witnessed silent fog blanket lush green mountains, a lake inspired by the sun and moon, and the whispered secrets of a bamboo forest. 

     --There was the weekend I spent camping in Joshua Tree... where I witnessed stars falling to earth, and the fairylike trails that they leave behind them. 

So with this pile of leaves, I offer my thanks. Thank you, nature, for making my 2012 wonderful with scenery and trees and meteor showers and seasons and sunlight and the carbon dioxide cycle. You're the best. 

Nell stops to commune with nature

a winding path

Pathways

I've come to notice that most walking paths are curved. Why? My theory is that it ensures a more interesting and varied range of vision for the person doing the walking. If you're walking, and you can see straight ahead of you to where exactly you're going to be in 10, 20, 50 steps... then your walk suddenly becomes a lot less exciting. The thrill of what's around the corner is lost, and you'll probably find yourself turning around and going home a lot quicker than if your path looked like the one pictured above.

It's like why paragraph breaks exist- nobody really enjoys reading a wall of text.

So if most literal paths are curved, why do we so often demand that our metaphorical life paths be direct ? Why are we in such a hurry to know what the next big thing in our lives is ? Why do we demand straight answers from a God who is creative and artistic in nature ? These are all things that I had to come to grips with in 2012. With college graduation just around the riverbend one moment, and behind me the next, the natural question is "what now? what next?" In 2012, I learned how to be inquisitive, not demanding. I added a double major out of pure enjoyment of the subject. I dropped everything and went to Taiwan for a summer. I went on night drives along winding roads to calm turbulent thoughts. I let God speak to me in mountains and forests and smiling faces, and he answered many of my questions in answers phrased just as beautifully as the surroundings I had stopped to listen in.

Creeks

As far as I'm concerned, creeks are pretty much awesome. They're kind of like classrooms, but more interactive. A creek can teach any range of things that young kids learn in an elementary school science class, like the food chain, buoyancy, tadpole metamorphosis... all in a very organic manner. Sometimes it's just easier to learn something when you're directly immersed in it. 

This is something that was the core foundation of my beloved small group, Skittens. As the standalone co-ed small group in the entire ministry, and with no real paradigm to model our studies after, we were definitely an ongoing live experiment. My dear co-leader and I wanted to create a place of openness, of inquisitive minds, and of occasionally reckless behavior. Essentially, we wanted the group to be like a creek: a place to be curious, to poke around and ask questions, to learn how to skip rocks, and to get your feet a little wet. Time says we succeeded, because we ended the year with a cohesive and loving family of small group members, and I wanted to let each of them know that they've also taught me so much in return. 

wise-looking tree

dendrites !

Branches

This year, I learned that the word "dendrites" comes from the Greek word for "branches". (this piece of trivia came about from having a boyfriend who looks at slices of brain cells all day) Dendrites are those little gangly things in your neurons that listen to all the incoming thought traffic that goes on in your brain. Without them, your kidney or eyelid or whatever body part could be knocking all day, and no one would ever answer the door. 

The aforementioned gentleman and scholar that enlightened me to this piece of information is another significant happening of my 2012. He gave me the opportunity to branch out-- to speak up, to take a risk, and to be vulnerable with emotions that I might otherwise have kept on lock and key. Once I started extending those branches, I was then given even more opportunities-- to explore places I've never been, to speak a language I've never spoken, and to experience love from a different spiritual background.

I found some mushrooms here

heading up to the terrace!

Fences

Every time I come home to San Jose, I go from Elaine the young, wild, and free...to Elaine the 22-year old with a curfew and mandated bedtime of 12 midnight. This is, of course, absolutely maddening. I graduated college this year ! Shouldn't that count for something ? I'm practically an adult, right ? These imposed boundaries have occasionally led to me stewing under the covers at the click of midnight, knowing that my peers are out living the night.

However, just because my diploma is labeled 2012, thus releasing me from the constraints and burdens of student life, it doesn't necessarily mean that I've been released out into the metaphorical adulthood pasture. These restrictions that my parents place on me are not meant to deprive me of the joys of life; rather, they are there to keep me close to home, so I can continue learning how to be patient, observant, and appreciative of what is on the other side.

peace out 2012! thanks for the good times!

Teaching Myself Photoshop

I got an old version of Photoshop from Lucas for Christmas :)

To fulfill something I've always pondered, but never followed through.. I shall now actively attempt to teach myself how to use it ! Of course, this is much easier said than done... as someone with zero experience in digital media, everything seems to be on hard mode...

But as they say, any great journey begins with a single step... and in this case, any art piece begins with a single click ! ...hopefully a click that isn't followed by other clicks that accidentally undo the first one.

Other than just messing around with the various buttons, I did actually figure out how to do a few productive things. For example, I learned how to put text on top of a picture ! Yes, I know, this is rather self-explanatory, as well as something that a third-grader could do on Microsoft Paint... but I proudly did this using LAYERS !!! (the concept of layers is still fascinating to me)

So without further ado, here is my first n00b Photoshop creation...

On the long drive to the Joshua Tree campsite, we were stuck on a stretch of long, dark road... to document the eeriness of our surroundings, I had attempted to capture it with my camera. It turned out to be too blurry of a photo to really have any show value. Now, with the addition of text, it gets instant hipster points, and new meaning to live ! The text I chose is a quotation I read recently that really stood out to me.

Hoorray !

Home(less) for the Holidays

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to perform some last chance good deeds before the rumored "end of the world." In small, cramped office quarters, I made myself useful as a member of a very efficient assembly line, putting together bags of basic necessities for the homeless of San Jose. Plastic bags contained socks, scarves, beanies, gloves, towels, a rain poncho, and oral hygiene products, all bought with generous donations from kind families and individuals. Other donated funds were allocated to the purchase of food and warm bedding; brown-bag dinners were tied with festive green ribbon, and rolled sleeping bags and blankets were piled up to the ceiling ready to be distributed.

Once we had finished packing our goods, we loaded them into cars, along with crates of instant noodles and water. We visited a few different drop sites- walking through the darkness, along narrow sidewalks and under bridges- looking for people to receive our gifts. We were approached by a few wandering individuals, and also found a entire homeless communities nestled underneath an overpass and camping in a run-down park area. 

Serving the homeless isn't a novel activity for me; I used to go out help out with the church's Skid Row Ministry to downtown LA. On Fridays we would distribute food to the hungry and simply talk with them, offering a small slice of human interaction in the midst of their difficult weeks. Out on the streets of The Row, I interacted with people who, despite such different lives, are often just as normal as any random, amiable stranger you might meet... and I was certainly able to witness that in these run-down areas of San Jose too. These people were so grateful, offering smiles and thanks in return... all that they really had to give back to us. 

So other than locational differences, what made this charity mission different than serving with the Skid Row Ministry ? This trip was funded and backed by the Compassionate Service Society, which is a Buddhist organization. I found out that Lucas' family was volunteering their time in service this holiday season, and I offered to join them. No one ever performed unwelcome good to the disadvantaged; besides, I thought it would be a nice thing for the new boyfriend and I to do, as opposed to going out on a dinner date or something. 

As we trekked the cold streets and were met with warm thanks, I was again comforted in something I had initially felt insecure about: the implications of a bireligious relationship. I know some may disagree with me on this subject, but I've found dating a Buddhist to be tremendously worthwhile. Service is service and compassion is compassion; does it matter what language we speak if they are both love languages ?

Of course, this is a question that can only be fully answered over time. However, I do know that as of now, it has only given me more opportunities to love on others. Many of the homeless we encountered responded to our gifts with murmurs of "God bless you too," and none of the Buddhist volunteers stopped to correct them. To these weathered individuals, it doesn't matter under what or whose name we distribute our charity- what truly matters is that we are taking the time and effort to reach out to them. 



(and my dear Trisha- since I noticed that you've subscribed to my blog- you can expect to see Lucas and I at Skid Row sometime in the near future :)