Music Worth Commending

There are probably few things I like more than music (aside from the obvious, of course). A lot of the music I like reminds me of my writing, but even if it doesn't there's still a chance of me liking it. Some of my favorite bands include TobyMac, Owl City, Britt Nicole, and Needtobreathe. But there is one artist that I wish to commend above all the others, and his name is Howard Shore.

We'll see why in a moment. 

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of instrumental music while I do schoolwork. Since tracks from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey make up quite a few of my instrumental tracks, I've been listening to those quite a bit. And I've also come to formulate a theory hypothesis: Music cannot convey emotions nearly as well as words and images can. 

Why? Well, to start with, words. Words are probably a lot more "real" than music is, because in this day and age we are surrounded by the written word every day. On this webpage alone are thousands of written words. Any literate person can read this words and formulate their own mental meaning/image/argument/etc. to go along with them. So words are more "real" than music. 

Next up, images. Images are even more "real" than words, probably because most human beings input and process images constantly, day after day. Images can be taken in in a fraction of a second and understood in the next fraction of a second. Images generally have no problem conveying what they want to convey. So images are very "real". 

And that brings us to music. 

Music is abstract. We hear it in a fraction of second, yet what we hear does not immediately convey a message the way words do. This is especially true of orchestral/instrumental pieces. And so it can be a lot harder to use an orchestra to convey emotion. 

Which brings me to a final point. 

The only song that has ever truly, primally, scared me is an orchestral, instrumental piece by Howard Shore. It's called The Hill of Sorcery.

Now, it should be noted that I don't listen to a lot of "scary" music, so maybe that doesn't count. But this piece of music is also the only song out of the 208 songs that I like that evokes any sort of true emotion for me. The runner-up is probably Vanilla Twilight by Owl City. But that has lyrics, and works in conjunction with images from a movie-that-shall-not-be-named to make me sad. So it's not a very close runner up. The Hill of Sorcery has no lyrics and, though it is from a movie, is just as scary on its own as in the scene it goes with. 

And that is why I want to commend Howard Shore. 

(A note: If you just want to hear the scary part of The Hill of Sorcery, skip to 1:41 and listen carefully. To see the scene that goes with it in the movie, go here.)

TeenPact: A Lesson In Government

This past Friday (5-3-2013), I was over in downtown Anchorage for a class, specifically called TeenPact. TeenPact is a class/workshop that's designed to teach teenagers about government, legislature, and how  it all works.

Since the class is for teenagers, and I happen to not be a teenager, I had to attend the one-day version of the class rather than the four-day version. But that was probably for the best, because the one-day version sort of eased me into it, if you know what I mean. But, anyway, on with my description of the day.

Unfortunately, the class was scheduled to take place on my father's birthday. Fortunately, he agreed to go with me, so it was sort of our little thing for the day.

Anyway, we had to stop to pick up a sack lunch for the class, so we were five or ten minutes late. We arrived during the introduction, which I didn't mind, and ended up sitting in the back of the room, which I sort of minded later on.

At the end of the introduction, we were introduced to Michael Wagner, who would be doing most the speaking during the class. He, in turn, introduced all of us to the other... erm... I really don't know what to call them. 'Teachers' doesn't sound right because they were only about nineteen or twenty years old. But they definitely weren't students... if you know the term, don't hesitate to tell me.

Anyway, moving on, after that we prayed and had a short worship time (which was also fun, but I won't go into that here). After a short explanation of the three kinds of elections, we were divided into three parties to hold our own primaries.

Each party had to elect one governor and two senators. We didn't really bother with nominations--if you wanted to run for governor or senator, you were allowed to run.

Once we had our nominees for governor, each nominee was asked questions by the... uh... helper assigned to our party. Then we voted, using the good ol' fashioned method of covering our eyes and raising our hand when we wanted to vote for the person whose name had been called.

Once that was done, we went back out into the main room with the other 'parties'. The senatorial nominees were called up and had to answer a list of questions. One of the points that was stressed was that name recognition is important. This is important because if people don't know you name, they won't vote for you. So each nominee was supposed to start and end their answer by stating their name.

Next, the gubernatorial nominees were called up. (Gubernatorial is a term used to reference nominees for governor.) They, too, had to answer questions. Then the ballots were passed out, and we voted by marking down the name of our preferred candidate. All of the ballots were turned in, and then it was time for our field trip to the governor's office!

We all collected into one large line/mass, left the building, and started walking. The governor's office was about four, five, or maybe six blocks away--not far, in any case, but a bit uncomfortable when you're not used to wearing a skirt. I'm sure we looked a bit out-of-place: thirty-plus kids in nice clothes just strolling through the city.

Out-of-place or not, we reached the correct building quickly and then rode up to the seventeenth floor in groups, since the elevators obviously weren't large enough to accommodate the whole group. Once all of us were on the right floor, we went in.

First we got to see the governor's conference room. Surprisingly, it wasn't all that much fancier than any other conference room I've seen (though the dark wood paneling on the doors did look like chocolate... yum). We also got to take free copies of the Constitution. Then we were allowed into the governor's real office.

Unfortunately, the governor wasn't there. But the office was big, big enough to accommodate thirty-plus kids without (too much) crowding. The view was amazing, though. The cars looked like matchbox cars, the view of the mountains was breathtaking. Several kids took turns sitting in the governor's chair. I didn't. After a certain amount of time for sight-seeing, each of us gathered into groups and prayed for the governor. Then we left, rode the elevators down, left the building, and walked back to our original building. And then it was time for... lunch.

Lunch ended at 1:05 p.m. Once that was over, Michael Wagner got back up to talk. It was time to learn about the legislative process--in other words, how laws are made. And fortunately for us, Mr. Wagner just happened to have a 50-minute lecture on the subject.

Fun.

So we got out note-taking materials and prepared ourselves for the boring part... only to find out that we were actually going to watch a skit put on by the helpers.

The skit was long, but that was okay because there was plenty of humor, it effectively taught us about the legislative process, and we got candy. :-D When the skit was finally over, we got to try out the process ourselves, using the bills we had written as part of our 'homework' before the class.

First off was a read-through of the bills. We all formed into one long line, and began reading our bills aloud one at a time. Usually we got about as far as the first section before Mr. Wagner banged the gavel and assigned the bill to a committee.

This wouldn't have been as fun if it weren't for some of those committee names. Our TeenPact legislature seemed to have a committee for every subject. For example:

A bill protecting innocent insects from being killed by humans? Assigned to the Bug's Life Committee.

A bill stating that all children should be kept from eating broccoli? Assigned to the Amen Committee.

A bill allowing children ages 10-17 to vote? The Little Big Guys Committee.

A bill giving cyclists their own bypass so they wouldn't take up a lane in traffic? The Get Off the Road! Committee.

And those were only some of the more memorable ones.

Once that over with, we were divided up into a few small committees to discuss the bills. This was fun. The helper assigned to our committee, Shelby, would read a bill, then ask if the author was present. If the author was present (and they usually were), they would get up to talk briefly about their bill, then open it up for questions. We could ask questions, but we couldn't state anything unless we were in the speaker's area (called the well). We could move to vote on the bill unless the well was empty.

We went through a few bills this way, then voted once of the rest of the stack so that we could go back out to join the other two committees. There, we did much the same thing. The bill in question would be read in its entirety by the clerk. The author of the bill would come up to talk about their bill, questions would be asked, and (in some cases), amendments would be suggested, passed, and/or rejected. In many cases, an amendment would be suggested, and then a student would move to vote. There would be an objection from some other student(s), and that would lead to us voting on whether or not we should vote! It was fun and engaging, and I even managed to get an amendment passed on a bill allowing children to vote.

Unfortunately, we only got to go through maybe five or six bills. At 4:00 p.m., one of the helpers moved to adjourn the meeting permanently until the next year's class. And, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, there was a majority vote not to adjourn. Unfortunately for us, we were out voted by the director of the class. So our committee adjourned, and that was end of the 2013 TeenPact class.

So, as I learned, government skills are not hard to learn. In fact, though it may seem daunting, the legislative process is actually simple at its core.

What are your thoughts on government?

The Many Faces of Evil

Before I start in on this, please just note that this post probably isn't going to be as dark as the title may imply. Just bear with me for a moment and you'll find out why I called it this.

To start, has anyone heard of Jim Weiss? Anyone? (Rhetorical question.) Well, in case you haven't, Jim Weiss is a narrator, among other things (I think). He narrated The Story of the World and has a number of re-told stories on audio. During an IDEA curriculum fair here in Alaska, we had the privilege of getting to hear him speak on a topic that I was very excited about: villains, both in real life and in stories.

One of the things I liked about the talk was that Mr. Weiss made several references to Lord of the Rings. This having been said, he started off with what may be the most well-known type of villain: the Dark Lord uber-evil over-arching totally bad supervillain. And of course, he used a well-known example: Lord Sauron from LotR.

Sauron is obviously the over-arching villain of the trilogy. He created the One Ring, and the whole problem is that he now wants it back, for the purpose of destroying/enslaving/taking over the world.
[Insert totally off-topic rant about how Isildur is a complete jerk/idiot for not destroying the Ring when he had the chance here]. So we have Sauron, the supervillain.

But there is something interesting about Sauron that you will notice (at least once it's pointed out to you). J. R. R. Tolkien never actually shows us Sauron. We see Sauron's minions all the time, and we see what they're doing to Middle-Earth. We even know what Sauron looks like. So we know he's real, very real, and yet we never actually see him. 

Now the movies may have ruined this effect by physically showing us Sauron more than once. But in the books, this is very well-preserved.

The Warriors equivalent to this type of villain would be Tigerstar. In the Wingfeather Saga, it's Gnag the Nameless (to a very similar extent, in fact). In Harry Potter, the main villain is obviously Voldemort. And then there's Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine of Star Wars. The point is, most stories have a general over-arching villain.

Then there is the next type of villain. The suave, smooth-talking villain that promises he'll give you whatever you want... if you'll just do x for him. The way Mr. Weiss actually illustrated this is by using the example of Satan.

Satan, Satan himself, would fall into the category of the over-arching supervillain. We all pretty much know this. But what about Satan's alter ego Lucifer?

Lucifer, to answer my own rhetorical question, would qualify as the smooth-talking villain described above. He doesn't appear blatantly threatening--far from it, in fact. But he very insidious and very dangerous.

The character Sol from Warriors definitely qualifies as this type of villain. He is very smooth-talking and is frequently forgiven by characters that he wrongs. Yet he is a villain. Actually, this deceptive tactic of his is quite frustrating. The characters frequently see him as non-threatening, when most of the time he's behaving in a way that makes you want to drop-kick him right out of the story.

Another example I can think of is Grima Wormtongue from LotR. It's obvious--especially in the movie--that Grima is a lying creep, but the only person who tries to address this is banished, and no one else tries to resolve the matter until Gandalf shows up.

Another example is Semiramis from the series Dragons in Our Midst. Semiramis is the mother of a one of the villains, and she is a villain... I think. Seriously, half the reason I hate her so much is because it's been literally impossible for me to figure out which side Semiramis is on. First, she's helping  her son take over the world... but then he's brutally mutilated by the other bad guy, so she goes over to the good side and helps save a young girl's life. She even tells the good guys how to get around the bad guys' scheme... but wait, her 'solution' was really just part of the plan all along! Hah! She's a bad guy! Wait, hang on, no, she still hates the real bad guy, she's just trying to get what she can out of it too. No, she's a bad guy, she's trying to kidnap Bonnie. Oh wait, no, she's only helping her son, and now she's helping out the protagonist... Wait! She just kidnapped someone! Oh, wait, no... ARGH. See what I mean?

I'm sure there are many other villains who fall into this category, but I can't currently think of any, so I'll leave it at that and move on to the next category.

This third type of villain is perhaps the worst of them all. Mostly due to the fact that he is rarely recognized as a true villain. This is the villain who is evil, unfalteringly evil, and yet he looks just like one of us. He could be one of us. He was one of us. But he chose to be evil.

This type of villain is very insidious, because they are so easy to pass up. They look normal, and usually act normal. There's nothing to suspect.

Or is there?

In other cases, this villain was originally a good guy/on the good guys' side/neutral. But he became a villain, and now he's in prime position to betray the good guys as soon as their backs are turned...

Do you now see why I occasionally yell at my books?

I'll use Lord of the Rings as an example for this one. Take Boromir. He begins lusting after the One Ring early on, and we see this when he suggests that the Ring be used for good (which is completely impossible, btw). From that point on, we slowly begin seeing Boromir's lust as it grows, up until the point where he threatens Frodo in an attempt to get the Ring. My point here, however, is that originally, Boromir's excuse for wanting the Ring was more or less "I'm going to use the Ring for good. I'm going to use it to save my people." The same with Denethor, in fact. But neither of these characters lived to see the end of the war.

Coincidence? I think NOT!

Ahem...
A fourth category of villain, which seems to be  fairly new, is demonstrated in the popular series The Hunger Games. What is this type of villain, you ask?

The system.

In Hunger Games, the system is the spider that sits at the center of the web. The system is what's brought about everything: Panem, the Districts, the Hunger Games, and the vicious cycle everyone lives in. To triumph, the rebels have to defeat the system and start from scratch. It's the same (at least I think it is) in 1984 (I say I think so because I've never actually read it).

As Mr. Weiss pointed out in his talk, this new villain known as 'the system' may stem from the growing amount of conspiracy theories today, which it turn may come from our desire to know why things happen. Why was President Kennedy assassinated? Who did it? Was it just one person, or were there more?

We may never know the answers...

In conclusion, there is more than one type of villain to be seen--both in stories and in life. There is more than one road to evil... which is why it pays to read stories. :-D

So what are your thoughts on villains in stories? What about villains in real life? Please tell me!

...And Then I Was Attacked By a Pine Tree

Ack! Help! Call the Riders of Rohan,
I'm being attacked by an Ent!

I love sledding. So do my sister and brother. Fortunately for us, we live in Alaska, and there's a small hill in our front yard where we can sled when it snows (which is often). The way we sled, though, you'd think we were getting bored. We have come up with many variations on sledding. For example...

• There's 'surfing', where we sled down the hill while standing up on the sled. (This is popular with my brother, who now calls it 'snowboarding'.)
• There's 'skiing' where we sled down, while standing up, with two sleds, one for each foot. (Fortunately, this has only actually been attempted once.)
• There's hold-my-hand, as we call it, where two people sled down side-by-side, while holding hands. (This is a particular favorite.)
• There's 'hold-my-hand-while-standing-up'. This consists of the normal hold-my-hand procedure. One difference: a third person is standing behind the two sledders, with one foot on each sled. (This is a rarer variety.)
• Lastly, there's three-person sledding (three people to one sled) and the extremely rare four-person sledding (four people to one sled; this has only been attempted once, since there are only three children in my family).

So, yeah. Now that I think about it, it's pretty much a miracle that none of us has gotten seriously hurt while sledding.
But wait--someone has gotten hurt while sledding. Wait for a moment, and you'll see what I mean...

It all started innocently enough. Mom had scheduled a playdate with some close friends of ours. Our friends were going to introduce us to one of their absolute favorite sledding hills. Us being the junior sled fanatics that we were, we decided to go. What could go wrong, right? If only we had known...
One twenty- or thirty-minute drive later, we arrived at the hill... and found that it was way bigger than we'd thought.

Mom? I'm starting to have second
thoughts about this...

Well, there was no going back now. Out of the car we went. My sister and I grabbed a sled and started toward the hill.
The walk to the top of the hill should've clued us in on the danger. We were constantly on edge, as the hill was very steep and very slippery. But we pressed on, and eventually reached the top...
...where my sister immediately decided that no, we needed to get to the top of that hill... that hill over there... because it was required that we get the maximum thrill available. So, grudgingly, I agreed, and we started up a narrow, icy path to the top of a higher hill just next to us.
Well, after a short walk, we reached the top of the new hill. We got on the sled, at which point I began having second thoughts. However, my sister wouldn't let me back out. So we pushed... and pulled... and
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
That was our general reaction to the drop we experienced. But really, all was going well. We whipped past a couple patches of reeds on the hill, and then sort-of realized that we were close to the bottom.
Then it happened.
Somehow, the front of the sled caught in a rut on the side of the hill. One minute we were speeding along like normal, and the next, BAM! We went flying head-over-heels and landed in a heap at the bottom of the hill.
My sister popped up, completely fine. In fact, she wanted to do it again. Me? Not so much.
I had landed on top of my sister and face-planted into the back of her leg. One side of my face was numb, and I was bordering on a puffy lip. My legs had also gotten twisted around during the landing and now felt very weak. Amazingly, however, I had no serious injuries.
I tried sledding the hill a few more times, but eventually decided to sit it out. I just couldn't handle the fear of the hill.
Well, that sort of ruined me for big hills. But I'm still completely fine with sledding on the little hill in our front yard. Which leads me to the topic that inspired my title...

One fine, snowy day, my siblings and I were out sledding in our yard. We had started playing this new game: as we sledded down the hill, we would call out the name of a favorite book/movie character.
Of course, characters from LOTR and The Hobbit were immediately up for grabs. But I, being the Warriors nerd that I am, decided to do Warriors characters as well. I was about to leap down the hill while shouting the name of a favorite character (Bluestar ftw!) when I walked straight into a pine tree branch.


Yeah, this isn't exactly the best view when
you're trying to sled.

Well, I was completely fine. But it sort of ended me calling our Warriors characters.

What's really funny is the conversation my sister and I had about it later:

Me: ...AND THEN I WAS ATTACKED BY A PINE TREE.
Crista: You were not attacked by a palm tree.
Me: I said pine. AND YES I WAS.
Crista: No you weren't.
Me: It whacked me right in the face! Knocked my glasses right off.
Crista: It did not, you attacked it, so it acted in self-defense.
Me: I did not attack that poor innocent pine tree! It attacked me.
Crista: Well, obviously, it thought you were attacking it, and it acted in self-defense.
Yeah, we're quirky like that.

Of course, ask me tell either of these stories now, and I'll deny that they ever happened. This is my current version of the sledding accident story...

Alright, so I was with my sister sledding on a nice, sizable sledding hill. We were alternating between the highest hill and the second highest hill.
Well, eventually we decided to try going together. We climbed up to the crest of the highest hill, got on the sled, and leapt down.
Things were going well. We were near the bottom of the hill when it happened, thought. Were passing through a patch of grass when BAM! A group of karpoi [grain spirits from Greek mythology] attacked us and overturned the sled! Crista got away, but the karpoi picked me up and transported me far, far away--all the way to the Clans' lake territories! There the karpoi left me. Of course, a ShadowClan patrol came along right them. They attacked me, naturally, and I was forced to defend myself. They gave me enough scratches for me to feel, but not enough to seriously injure me. I leapt up, hitched a ride on Blackjack the pegasus, and flew back to the hill. There I kept right on sledding until we had to go home.

So, yeah. There's my version of the story. So... what are your thought on sledding, accidents, and pine trees?