seeking shalom through wrestling well
With quiet dignity
Standing as a refuge
For those who flock to you.
You are shelter,
Security,
A place for us to
Grow.
Rooted in reality and
Reaching to the sky,
You remind me that
An acorn has to
Die
Before it can
Thrive.
-Squid
Giggles, squeals
And smol smiles galore,
Adam and I
Rough house-ing on the floor
He pushes me over
And I roll on my back
He jumps into my arms
And I hug him right back
With his face right near mine
His volume down to a 2,
He rubs our noses together, and says
“Ugga mugga“;
I love you too.
I barely have time
To appreciate his love
Before he gets right back up
And gives me a shove!
I throw up my hands
And chase him around.
It’s a lovely way to spend
One of my last nights in town.
I’m leaving for the FPEA homeschool convention on tomorrow, and then I’m going straight to Camp Gilead for the summer, only coming back on Saturdays (basically).
So, I’m trying to soak up all the Adam-ness I can before I leave. Monday night, I played with him after dinner for a bit. He gets a bit riled up, but his sweet, quick love inbetween all of his little boyish yelling and tumbling almost made me cry because I know how much I’ll miss him. D:
He just turned four on Saturday, and I can’t believe I’m gonna be gone all summer and miss his amazing adorableness! I’m storing up all his affection in my heart so that I won’t feel like I should have spent more time with him, should have let him play racetrack on my bed one more time, etc.
Shoutout to my lil bro! ❤
-Squid
P.S. I guess I did manage to fit in one more blog post before I left! 🙂
Disclaimer: This will be my last post for a while, as I’ll be working at Camp Gilead again from the end of May until mid-July.
Hey guys!
I was nominated for the Mystery Blogger Award by three lovely blogger-friends in less than a month, so I suppose that I should actually do it, haha.
But first, the rules:
First to nominate me was my new friend Hannah over at Cactus Honey, and then peckapalooza, and then Mr. Mitch Teemley gave me both a nomination and the “(belower)” idea for the rules, haha. Interestingly, both peckapalooza and Hannah were nominated by Paul. So, thank you to all of you! (including Paul? XD)
From Hannah:
Now peckapalooza‘s:
And, lastly, Mr. Mitch’s questions:
-Squid
P.S. If anyone got the Phineas and Ferb reference…
https://giphy.com/embed/PCAvB5GYY5oTSvia GIPHY
I like music, but I do not like tags… Usually.
BUT THIS ONE LOOKS FUN.
Rebekah Elle recently posted this fine fine music tag cough 4K&C fangirls, where are you where you talk about your music and ask others too because we all like each other and music, right? 🙂 She nominated anyone who wanted to do it, and, since I’m 74.39% music, I thought I might as well.
Thankfully, I have tons (84 currently?) of playlists to help me out with categories, but there are some categories that just don’t fit (like, I don’t really listen to music from video games) and ones I want to add, so I’m making it my own. 🙂
Click on the category links for my Spotify playlists that probably fit or have the song(s) on them… there are too many songs to do YouTube links, sorry!
Guys, I’m gonna be honest… I spent tons of time on this. Like, every moment I could work on it or if I was listening to a song that I thought could fit one of the categories…….. it was insane. It was also really fun and thought-provoking.
Hope you guys enjoy, and if you want to do even a few of the categories, leave your answers in the comments or do your own post and link back here.
-Squidtea 🙂
The following has been adapted from a media review essay I wrote last month on the recent movie Arrival. After realizing that I spent way more time on it than a normal blog post, I thought I might as well share it. 🙂 — All images are from Google Photos.
I like thought-provoking science fiction movies — the ones that require you to wrestle with the plot lines, premises, and conclusions for hours after the movie ends. Tom Cruise’s Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow exemplify this genre, as do Ender’s Game, Deja Vu, and Interstellar.
However, Arrival stands out to me as one of the best I’ve ever seen.
From the poster, I thought it would be just another alien movie. I happen to like alien movies, so I still wanted to watch it, but I never thought it would be so much more than I imagined.
The movie centers around Amy Adam’s character, Louise Banks, a linguist who is recruited by the United States Army when 12 identical alien ships land in 12 of the most powerful countries in the world. The arrival of the ships ignites a frantic race of countries to be the first to communicate with the ships. Banks leads a team of the most innovative scientists and researchers in America as they try to crack the language of the visitors.
Because this all takes place in modern day America, the viewer resonates strongly with the mindsets and motivations of the characters and the tense political relations with Russia and China. These factors intensify the movie much more than most sci-fi movies because the audience can easily picture this happening to themselves tomorrow and they start thinking like the protagonists: How would you respond to non-aggressive invaders who threaten to tear the socio-political landscape of your world apart simply by existing?
How would you respond to non-aggressive invaders who threaten to tear the socio-political landscape of your world apart simply by existing?
Like most science fiction movies, Arrival doesn’t tell you much in the beginning, and you learn things only from Banks’ first person limited perspective. Of course, you start drawing your own conclusions about her life and about the motivations of the aliens, but these keep being shaken and refuted by cut scenes interspersed into Banks’ consciousness. Eventually, you’re forced to re-evaluate everything you thought you knew, and the pieces fit together.
Despite the high-stake pressure the researchers are under, you get to see them react as humans. Banks gets nauseous and overwhelmed on her first visit to the alien ship and struggles with discouragement over the huge task in front of her, yet she continues her research because she’s encouraged by the team’s head scientist, Ian Donnelly. Their emotional development takes precedence over even the world-shattering politics of alien technology, as you see Donnelly actively look out for Banks when no one else cares enough to, and she leans on him reluctantly. Their love story develops naturally, despite the chaos around them, and it brings the far-fetched technology into focus as simply a problem they have to solve together.
Sometimes science fiction loses the human element of its characters by focusing too much on the cool, mind-bending science, but Arrival avoids this masterfully. The science piques your interest by being both seamlessly complicated but also somehow accessible, but it only seems important because of its effects on the characters’ lives and futures. Arrival raises the bar for the science fiction genre by being a perfect fusion of storytelling and theoretical physics.
Arrival raises the bar for the science fiction genre by being a perfect fusion of storytelling and theoretical physics.
-Squid
I read an interesting post about being a woman yesterday (International Women’s Day too, lol). It was written from a perspective I don’t usually read (seemed kinda feminist empowerment-y… it was suggested by WP, lol), but I thought the author had an interesting point: being female is hard, but there’s also great things about it and good stories we can tell, not just the horrible things coming to light in the #metoo movement.
What even makes femininity desirable, anyway? It’s a position of vulnerability, in all honesty. Women can’t walk home in the dark without feeling at least a slight threat (which is why we buy handguns and Dobermans, haha). Men might worry about being mugged once in a while (esp in big cities), but it’s nothing close to the risk to women when they’re alone. We’re vulnerable and easily preyed upon, and that’s no secret.
So the author of the post bemoans the lack of publicity for the good sides to being a woman. People don’t talk about the great sides to it: men killing spiders and cockroaches for us and opening doors when it’s perfectly unnecessary but they just want to be nice, etc.
Personally, I can cheerfully say that there is something empowering about being a woman. We’re great organizers of things, events, and people, can smile at random babies in stores without totally creeping out the moms usually, and we can bring forth life from our own bodies. God chose us to continue the human race, for crying out loud! That’s amazing!! (there are more benefits of womanhood, but it’s kinda hard coming up with them on the spot, so please remind me of some in the comments!)
Yeah, some aspects of life are harder as a woman; no one is denying that. But God specifically planned gender out this way, and I’m inclined to trust Him.
Thoughts? Leave a comment and start a discussion! (but you guys do that even without that reminder #shoutouttoamazingfollowers 😎👉👉)
-Mizqyd (Ms. Squid, hehe)
EDIT: for another interesting Jewish feminist perspective, check out this link.
It always feels good to receive good things, doesn’t it? Help with some hard things, hugs, money, wise counsel, birthday presents, etc. are all exciting things to get.
But have you ever experienced the joy of giving those things?
Giving someone money isn’t always the easiest thing financially, but seeing their joy when they are able to buy something they need or maybe just want is priceless.
Giving (and receiving) wise counsel bonds you with the person on the other end. I received some amazing advice this summer from a friend I trusted, and I gave some good (I hope) advice to a couple different campers. When you have serious talks about serious things that directly relate to someone’s life, you get to learn more about the person’s heart and thought process, bonding you with them in a very unique way.
When I need help, I don’t struggle with letting people help me because I think I’ll look stupid. Instead, I freely accept their assistance and thank them profusely for their help while smiling hugely because I did need the help! I often want to become better friends with those who go out of their way to help me, especially if I don’t know them very well.
But giving help is something I’m not very good at, simply because I don’t see the opportunities around me easily. Some people have a gift of sensitivity to the needs of others around them, but I really have to work at it. So, usually, by the time I realize someone needed help, someone else has already taken care of it. But, the few times that I’ve been able to help someone by carrying something for them, opening a door, explaining a math problem to them, etc., it has been extremely rewarding to hear them thank me or see them smile. Doing or saying something that brightens at least one person’s day a day is a goal I read somewhere that I really try to strive for. Being the light, you know?
I hope this inspires you to get out of your comfort zone and give something to someone, whether it be your time, effort, money, or kind words. 🙂
-Sydney
Squid's Cup of Tea 
