|
sincerelyamanda
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Amanda
Gender: Female
Interests: Writing, Screenwriting, music (especially piano), science, animals, webdesign, horseback riding, cooking, crocheting, sewing (learning!), (end of story - haha, too many interests to count)
Occupation: Writer
Industry: Writing
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
6/3/2006
|
|
| Please visit www.amandaread.com to see my real website. I only keep this xanga for archive reference. Very few people so much as glance at this xanga blog anymore, but for those who happen to gaze briefly... Take care and MAY GOD BLESS, ~Amanda~ | | |
|
 During Election 2008 I wrote of dreams I had regarding politics. There was one dream I didn't mention, however...because I didn't think it would come true. It was President and First Lady Obama dancing at an inaugural ball. Michelle was wearing a black and white polka dot dress. I dreamed that last summer and kept insisting in my mind that it wasn't an inauguration I was seeing, but perhaps just a celebration Obama's nomination. Well, I remembered that dream when I saw an interview in which she was wearing a black and white polka dot dress. As for her ball gown...it isn't black and white, but the frills are a little polka dottish, are they not?
I don't know what the significance of polka dots is, but I decided to write it down so no one would think I had given myself over entirely to selective memory.I don't know why I'm blogging about this on my 19th birthday. Perhaps because I spent the past two days studying for my second History exam which I just took yesterday. Now I have to get to work on my English assignments: a diagnostic paragraph describing my "Favorite Fictional Character" and an essay on "Three Things In My Purse And How They Define Me". How exciting."A nice pickle we've gotten ourselves into, Mr. Frodo."- Samwise Gamgee ~Amanda~ | | |
|
I've come a reasonable distance into interpreting this college nonsense (haha). The topics are all quite intriguing, but I don't like the amount of time it takes to demonstrate mastery of the material. Notice that isn't to master it, but to demonstrate that you've mastered it.For some odd reason, even when I am completely busy, I still feel as though I am wasting time whenever I am sitting still. But whenever I take a stroll outside or read an entertaining book or am otherwise enjoying myself, I still feel as though I'm wasting time. I'm not entirely sure what my ideal way to utilize time is, but apparently whenever that time is fun I think I'm wasting it.In order to keep college study from taking up my entire lifetime as I currently know it, I've considered using Alexandra Swann's old college schedule as a guide. She did the bulk of her degree work through correspondence, and her daily routine consisted of study from 8:30-11:30 in the morning and 1:00-2:00 in the afternoon yet still managed to keep up an accelerated pace.Thus, my schedule ought to be roughly as follows:8:30-10:00 am
GEOGRAPHY - Lecture, Review, Lab
10:00-11:00 am
HISTORY - Read thoroughly, take notes
11:00-11:30 am
ENGLISH - Writing assignments, reading assignments
Break...
1:00-2:00 pm
DRAMA - Lecture, reading and writing assignments. Finish English work.
Free time and non-academic work until after supper, then perhaps do some review study. My free from college time will be left for house work, farm work, knitting, art work and literary work. In Physical Geography I'm currently studying earth-sun relations and how to figure out what longitude you're at if you're lost at sea, etc. I had an interesting experience with computer based testing for my geography quizzes. The GY quizzes can be taken up to 11 times, but the questions change at each attempt. My first results were okay, but I wanted to take it again to better demonstrate my mastery. I wondered if I had mistyped my latitude and longitude calculations the first time, so the second time I tried answering with spaces typed where I thought they should be. To my astonishment, I only got 9/33 points! I knew something was wrong with that score because I was certain my measurements were correct. So, I tried taking the quiz again without typing any spaces and I aced it. Now I must strive to please the professors and the computers. Ah, the days of pioneer computer college...
In the American History class I'm studying the nation's history since the 1870's. The exams have multiple choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions and an essay question, all computer based and timed (just took my first test on Friday regarding the Wild West and the Native Americans).
In English I'm reading All Over But The Shoutin' by Rick Bragg, Models For Writers and The McGraw Hill Handbook. The challenge in the English class is surrendering my own style and rules of writing and submitting to the Professor's preferences. I have to remember that just because I have experience in writing doesn't mean I know all there is to know about it!
In Drama class I'm studying various Theatre technique and history in relation to the Audience. My first assignment for that will be writing about my favorite movie and how I think it should be adapted into a play. Hmm...that's a hard one. I'm still trying to figure out which of my favorite movies to write about! I also have to write a Performance Critique based on a play I've seen...or will have to see between now and April. The Drama exams are the only exams I will most likely take on the JSU campus.
We constructed a pretty wooden sign that is stationed at the entrance of Fair Hills Farm and presents the farm title in fine green carved letters. We are getting guineas sometime around the end of May and probably some bees as well. I'm off to read the Bible with my family and to knit (and hopefully sew) costumes for our movie...~Amanda~ | | |
| I've decided to make a blog post now while I have the chance. From the intensity college studying will require, I'm not entirely certain when I will be able to write next. I also have to keep up my post at The Girlhood Home Companion (I'm looking forward to the next article too!). College classes (all online) have been very interesting thus far and I look forward to learning how to discipline my time so well that I have more hours in the day to devote to all my projects.As for The Crusading Chemist...the revision is more or less complete, and it probably isn't the last revision (click here to read it, and if you notice any goofs or typos, please let me know - I need all the proof reading I can get!). I've done what I could to make it more dramatic and personal, but I feel as though I have still failed part of it. My main goal was to shorten the script. But somehow as I cut scenes out I began replacing them with improved scenes. I think the improvements definitely help the story, but it turns out I've only cut the script down about 3 pages, which isn't likely to impress my coverage readers at ABM. Oh, and I still have to revise the Treatment to fit it. Goodness, this process never ends...While I was working on the revision I came across an interesting news snippet on ChristianFilmmakers.org:[From NationalReview.org]Where Have All the (Right-Leaning) Playwrights Gone? [Maggie Gallagher] Alison Carey is looking for a few good conservative playwrights. Well, at least one. Alison is a 48 year old Harvard graduate who is now director of American Revolutions (snazzy title that!) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland - one of the largest repertory companies in the country, which produces 11 plays a year. The theater is in the middle of an ambitious and fascinating project - commissioning 37 brand new “history plays” over the next decade. Shakespeare wrote quite a few history plays, after all. I learned about Alison’s search in this New York Times story, “Liberal Views Dominate Footlights.” “You cannot tell the story of the United States without including the story of conservative political and social movements,” said Alison Carey told the New York Times. Unfortunately so far she’s come up blank: “I’ve never had a play come to me that I could say had a conservative perspective,” said Ms. Carey at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, adding that if anyone hears of a playwright with one in hand, “send him my way.” She sounded awfully sincere so I called her up and volunteered to try to find some young (or not-so-young) conservative writing talent who wants to break into theater. She returned my call immediately. “I’m so glad to hear from you. I’ve gotten a ton of calls but mostly they begin with ‘I’m not really right-of-center, but I have this play I’d like you to read,‘“ Alison told me. We chatted about what she is looking for. Great plays mostly, with a very broad view of what constitutes a contemporary version of a history play: “Moments of change” is the theme. And yes, a musical could qualify “1776 is my favorite musical!” Alison said. So now I’m Alison Carey’s self-appointed right-wing theater talent scout. Do you have a play that might qualify? Have you ever written a play that’s any good at all, even if this one really isn’t a history play? Send it to me. They are commissioning plays after all. Do you know of any young writers who might qualify? Send their names - and emails if possible - to me. You have thoughts about where to go to find young playwriting talent - some school or person or website that might make a good connector? Email me any or all of the above info: Maggieiav@aol.com Hmm...I wonder if I should adapt The Crusading Chemist into a stage play instead. Is anyone else interested in trying to write one of the 37 commissioned plays?Another interesting possibility I discovered recently is Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures located in Birmingham, AL. The SAICFF twitter mentioned the Erwin Brothers' upcoming film school this summer, which my siblings, a few friends and I would definitely be interested in. But just to have an ambitious film company in our own State is pretty exciting!~Amanda~ | | |
|
10th or 9th? Which should it be precisely? I guess in 2000 the counter started over but in 2001 it started clocking, so...I've been involved in quite a few activities that have distracted me from my blog in the past month. The chief one was the revision of The Crusading Chemist. I printed out the 1st draft of the revision recently so my parents can read it and share their ideas and opinions before I finalize it. I was amazed that the 1st draft came out at 120 pages precisely! I doubt the next copy will though.The second is my contribution to The Cross Eyed Blog and Webzine, which launched today. Their mission is to encourage and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ through articles relevant to our daily lives andstruggles. Through the written word they are hoping to impact Christians and help people live lives thatglorify God. I hope to share more articles with them soon! Read the story behind the website's establishing at Eric Novak's blog.Even if you don’t normally read very much, be sure to check Cross Eyed blog. It covers college, datingand courtship, entertainment, faith, marriage and family, politics, time and money, worldview,singleness, devotional life, biblical manhood and womanhood, time & money, gospel and blogging.Visit their website, watch the promo video, and let me know what you think!On January 8th college classes start. I still have to go get all my books! My first semester will be completely online, which is nice because it saves time on driving.In the mean time, I've enjoyed our handicraft lessons at Mrs. Lee's. I'm working on knitting a purse right now. Abigail knitted everyone hats for Christmas! She also knitted a crimson and white wrist band for David (she figured out how to knit with two different colored yarns on her own!).I've also had fun watching old family Christmas videos with my family. Our Christmas Pageants were so cute! By the way, did you know that Christmas isn't necessarily a pagan-turned-Christian holiday? Read the following article by the late Dr. Henry Morris."In any case, the name "Michaelmas" meant "Michael sent," just as "Christmas" means "Christ sent." It is very probable that Michael was the "angel of the Lord" (Luke 2:9) who was sent from heaven to announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. The feast of Michaelmas thus may well have originated to commemorate this coming of Michael and the angels to welcome Jesus at His human birth.This date would be just several days before the great Feast of Tabernacles, which the pre-exilic Israelites observed each fall in gratitude for the annual harvest, with each family dwelling for a time in a tent, or "tabernacle." When John wrote that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), he did not use the usual Greek word for "dwell." Instead, he said, literally, that the Word (that is, the Creator) "tabernacled" among us for a time. It was as though He had come into the world at just the appropriate time for the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, as Michael and the angels sang of "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10).As glorious as the birth of Christ may have seemed, however, this was not His incarnation. He had already been "made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7) nine months earlier, when He created a body for Himself and took up His residence in Mary's womb. That was the time when "the Word was made flesh"!And so it may be beautifully significant that the real "Christmas" (i.e., "Christ sent"), when the Christ was sent from His throne in heaven to enter a "tabernacle" of flesh, would have been nine months earlier than "Michaelmas," when Michael and the angels were sent to announce His birth. But that brings us back to December 25 again! The actual number of days between the two dates is 278, which is the ideal period of human gestation.Whether or not these inferences are correct (and remember no one really knows when Christ was born), they at least yield a greater appreciation of His miraculous conception. How appropriate it would be for Him to enter the world right at the season of darkest and longest night, for He would come as "the light of the world" (John 8:12) to bring "life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Then, at "Christmas" time, we can remember with deep thanksgiving (not with Saturnalian revelry and pagan greed) the amazing Christmas gift of God Himself, when "God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9)."Read the rest of the article at http://www.icr.org/article/4283/ So, it should be a celebration of CHRIST's conception rather than birth, but either way, it is a universal culturally transcending celebration of the arrival the most influential Hero in History (and Designer and Savior of it!), and anytime HE is adored and worshiped anywhere in anyway we ought to rejoice!We watched a DVD on Christmas Eve with our Grandparents, Aunt Laurel, Uncle Dan and cousins Samuel and Goodwin about the Star of Bethlehem. According to astronomical research, the Magi visited JESUS on December 25th, when HE was a few months old! That explains gift giving on Christmas Day! Visit the website www.bethlehemstar.net. This man deeply studied Scripture and used some modern astronomical tools to discover the Star of Bethlehem. It is so neat to see it all match up to everything written in the Gospels, Old Testament and Revelation."It is the glory of GOD to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search out a matter." - Proverbs 25:2"Great are the works of the LORD; they are studied by all who delight in them." - Psalm 111:2 Christians need to be careful about ascribing so many things to the devil. Remember, if you're looking for the devil, he'll show up in the darndest places just to tease you. Focus on CHRIST, not controversy!On December 14th we went with Mom's side of the family to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular (it was a Christmas gift from Boppa and LaLa). It was spectacular! I especially liked the part where CHRIST was acknowledged. They sung nice Christmas songs and had live donkeys, sheep and camels as part of the presentation.The other day Grandmomma took my sisters and me on a girls' day out. We got our hair done and had "high tea". It was splendid!Last night the Maltasses joined us for supper and fireworks. Oh, and Dad bought us an excellent firewire cardbus which we have put to good use...MAY THIS NEW YEAR BE A BLESSED AND VICTORIOUS ONE, ~Amanda~ | | |
|
