Little Talks

Ever get that feeling that you're where you're meant to be? I visited by second church here this week, to figure out where I want to attend services for the next few months. But what I really wanted was a new church family. And I have found that kind of environment today, even though I was not expecting it so soon. When people stop to welcome you, take an interest in you, and help you get connected with the local community of believers that goes so much farther to reaching people and growing the church family than the music and the message ever will. It felt a bit like home, even so far away.

The Wheel of Time consists of fourteen books plus a prequel, so I posted this image rather than an unnecessary amount of book covers. This has been a long time coming, friends. There were times when I was fairly certain that I would never get to blog about these books, but oh how I wanted to. So many things delayed me in my attempts to finish this magnificent series which only added to the extensive amount of time it takes to read a fourteen-book fantasy epic. I began these books when I was 13. That's right, it took me 7 years to read this series. That's only two books per year if you average it out. That stat is very disheartening because I know that I read more than that. But how much I read was exactly the problem. I have had my e-reader for a few years now, and I tend to take that with me to school or on trips for the sake of convenience. This means that I was often reading other books alongside this series. On top of that, I sometimes had to wait to borrow the next b

Wow, has it already been a week? At first I wasn't sure that time was even moving at a normal pace; I had nothing to do and the days felt unusually long. I say I had nothing to do, but that is not entirely true. There are lots of things I could have been doing, like reading, but I didn't really want to. Weird, right? I always want to read. Apparently, adjusting to a new country somehow took the desire to read right out of me. Or maybe I just need better reading material. The exact cause is yet to be determined. Anyways, if you missed it, or if I've done a terrible job at explaining what is happening in my simultaneously exiting and dull life, you should know that I am spending the first half of the year studying in England. It's pretty great. I'm nestled in between evidence of Roman and Medieval occupation while studying history in the country that essentially gave birth to great literary tradition! What could be better? It's a little lonely, but I also think

Well world, I am almost finished packing for my half-year journey to the U.K. Of course, getting ready has used up all of my non-work hours, and I've filled every other minute with books. Unfortunately, this means I haven't done much blogging (and the last Sunday Sayings failed to post). Today, however, I would like to take a bit of time to tell you all about one of my recent obsessions: The White Queen. I'm talking about the British TV series following Elizabeth of Woodeville during her time as Queen of England, and wife to King Edward IV. This dramatic, scandalous, well-acted portrayal of the Wars of the Roses had me more passionate to learn about English history than I had been in a long time. I did a lot of unnecessary research (mostly on Wikipedia) to understand every bit of the history and what parts were truth versus creative liberties. I am in awe of Philippa Greggory, the author of the books which inspired the show, and I want to read the whole series now. When

Warning: Contains spoilers. This is one of the better horror movies I've seen. It has all of the suspense and supernatural that one would expect, but somehow without the over-exaggerated amount gore and scares. Some of it seems a little odd, particularly the intro, and it's still somewhat predictable as horror movies often can be. Alex is one of a group of French students going on a school trip, but he has a premonition that the plane is going to blow up, and in a panic he and several others end up running off of or being removed from the plane. As they stand in the airport discussing Alex's vision, the plane takes off and then explodes. At this point the audience might notice, as I did, that every time a strange wind blows through a room, something bad is about to happen. Slowly, each of the people who escaped the original explosion begin to die. The first boy lost his brother, and so when he is found hanging in his shower, the investigators believe it is suicide. Alex

The story of the Lorax is by far Dr. Seuss' most political tale. In Thneed-ville, where everything is fake and people pay primes just to have fresh air, Ted decides to find a real tree to impress the lovely Audrey. Ted sneaks out of town into a field of stumps, once a great forest, where he finds the Once-ler. The Once-ler is explains how he created the town and destroyed all of the trees in the process of making and selling his thneeds. What exactly a thneed is, I do not know, for it seems to serve many purposes. All I know is that it is knit from the fibres of the trees. The Lorax is the guardian of the forest, who tried very hard to prevent the Once-ler from damaging the environment. When the Once-ler had chopped down the last tree, the Lorax left and on a stone he put the word "unless", because unless someone cares, nothing will change. Ted eventually gets a seed from the Once-ler and is instructed to repopulate the forest. However, the most powerful business men, O&

I recently came across a great article about Robert Jordan as the American Tolkien  that actually provided some really good insight into two of my favourite authors. I was aware of the fact that Tolkien's books were written as a mythical version of English history, and that Jordan had made our time part of the cyclical past/future of his world, but I had never considered how the two authors were dialoguing with one another through their perceptions of time. And then I remembered one of my recent reads: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is a science fiction book in which (among other things) the main character struggles to reconcile the theories of time as an arrow and as a circle. Shevek, the scientist, believes that time can simultaneously be linear and cyclical. Now, if you don't know, Le Guin is a fantasy writer herself, known for her Earthsea series. So I wonder whether her theory about time is meant to join the dialogue that exists in the fantasy realm, particul

Not sure how it's already almost the end of the day, but it's not too late to wish everyone a happy new year! I'm really looking forward to what this year has in store. In just under two weeks I leave for England, where I will be studying for five months. I'm planning on documenting my journeys on this blog, and I hope you'll all enjoy that change in subject matter. Zoe Saldana suggested coming up with a word instead of a resolution for this new year, so I've decided that I want my word for the year to be intentional. I want to make sure that I put effort into all of the friendships that I have, especially since my best friend of over 10 years has now disappeared from my life. I want to be super intentional with my faith, in seeking and living for God. And I want to be intentional about trying new things and taking advantage of studying abroad. I've picked a quotation that I feel is appropriate for the year ahead. And now, as the first day of 2017 dra