Book VS. Movie: The Notebook

So here's my new segment: Book VS. Movie! (That's your cue to cheer in overwhelming excitement.) ;) It probably won't be a regular segment, just one I'll write on a whim when I'm wanting to compare a book to its movie.

So with that, here we go.

Basic plot: "The Notebook, a Southern-fried story of love-lost-and-found-again, revolves around a single time-honored romantic dilemma: will beautiful Allison Nelson stay with Mr. Respectability (to whom she happens to be engaged), or will she choose Noah, the romantic rascal she left so many years ago?" ~ Amazon, on the book

"Behind every great love is a great story. Two teens from the opposite sides of the tracks fall in love during one summer together, but are tragically forced apart." ~ Amazon, on the movie

So, after watching the movie and reading the book, I have a few things to say about them.

The Movie:

Pros: Ok, so first off, we have a great cast.

Rachel McAdams (Ally)

Ryan Gosling (Noah)

(Surprisingly, I really didn't think Ryan Gosling was all that cute until I watched this movie... ;)

James Marsden (Lon)

The acting was great, and the cast made the characters real.

The relationship between Noah and Ally.

There are so many scenes with them that just make you go "awwwww." They're so cute together.

The relationship seems real because it has its flaws, but you can tell that they still truly love each other.

(^This scene and the Carnival scene are my two favorites)

This movie actually made me cry. It takes a lot for a movie to do that. I didn't bawl or anything... but still. It's got to count for something.

There are a lot of other things I love about this movie, but... SPOILERS. :P

Cons: There were still a few things I didn't like.

Content. Although the relationship between Ally and Noah was really sweet, I think they got a little too serious too fast. :P So, with that said, there are a couple steamy scenes you might want to fast forward.

Lon.

It's not that I didn't like Lon. Actually, I thought he was really sweet. What I didn't like was that Ally kind of broke his heart. Normally in movies where the heroine has to choose between the guy she's with and someone else, the guy she's with is normally a jerk. This one's sort of a tough situation, because Lon and Ally really were cute together, but they just weren't meant for each other. However, there were some things I think Ally could've done to make it easier on him, and, without spoiling anything, I think she could've made wiser decisions.

The Book:

Pros: Good storyline. I mean... we wouldn't have the movie without the book, right?

Cons: So I actually watched the movie before reading the book. In watching the movie, I had high hopes and expectations from the book. Well... those hopes deflated about halfway through the book, and I never finished it. Why? It was just boring. I really, really wanted to like it, but alas, it just wasn't that good. The writing style went a little like this:

"He walked to the house. Then he went inside the house. Then he ate dinner and went to bed."

That wasn't a direct quote, but you get the picture. That's what most of the book consisted of: A boring narrative of the characters' actions. It wasn't a natural narrative, and it rarely elaborated on the thoughts, feelings and histories of the characters; it was more like an itinerary. There really wasn't much depth to the characters, they were just basically the author's puppets. There were also a bunch of cliches.

The romance between Ally and Noah wasn't very believable, either. You sat there and wondered how on earth they were in love. There was no chemistry... just physical attraction.

The sequence of events seemed a bit disorganized and confusing, too. The author was somehow able to create a flashback within a flashback. It was just sort of sloppy and, again, unnatural; but maybe it was just the fact that I saw the movie first that threw me off a little.

Unless the book was able to miraculously redeem itself in the second half of the book, it was far from being my favorite, and closer to being one of the worst books I've read so far. :P

So... one story, two renditions: Hollywood's, and Christopher Sparks'. Which one told it better?

*Drumroll please*

I'd say the Movie wins this round. Hands down.

Memory Monday: Neighbors pt. 2

(Continued from last week)

The Kid: (Not to be confused with "The Kid That We Stalk.") This kid gave us the creeps. He was friends with our neighbors directly behind us, we'd sometimes talk to him from behind the fence. He liked to give a soul-sucking stare that gave us the creeps. Aside from that, our typical conversations would go like this:

"Hey... I got a new sticky bug!"

"Can I have it?"

"We're playing with Littlest Pet Shops!"

"Can I have it?"

"Um..."

Sir Gluteus Maximus, Knight of Indecent Exposure: (Ok, so we've never actually called him that... but do I get points for creativity?) He was a relative of one of the neighbors behind our house. This guy was creepy, weird, totally inappropriate, and he flashed my mom. O_O Needless to say, we called the police, and he didn't stay long after that.

Rude Lady On The Corner With a Scotty Dog: Last year I was going door to door, getting sponsors for the annual walk for our pregnancy resource center. This is how she got her reputation:

"Hello! My name is Kaylee, and this Saturday I'll be participating in a walk to raise money for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Would you be interested in sponsoring me?"

"Are you the house with all the... kids?"

"Uh... yes."

"No, I'm not interested."

Ok. Seriously. If she didn't have the money, the time, or heck! Even if she didn't support the cause, I would've at least understood. But that's just DISCRIMINATION! *huffs* Calming down.

Fezwick and Sherman Glumpkin: Oh, the joyous memories of such quaint little children. I remember how Fezwick would torture our dog with his yard tools through our fence. The joy on his face was just a sight to behold! And he was such an observant boy! Why, he was always looking through our windows with his binoculars. He even made sure to tell us about the things he saw. "Hey... you guys were watching a movie earlier. What movie was that?"

And who can forget Sherman? Such a lovely little girl. Always complimenting us on how long and unkempt our lawn was, and asking me if I had the chicken pox (wait a few years, Sherman, and puberty will give you the chicken pox, too!)

Thank you, Sherman and Fezwick!

The Jones: The Jones were your typical, perfectly average American family. They had 2 teenage daughters. I think one of them was a cheerleader. They had an awesome clubhouse in their back yard that I always dreamed of going in. There were always rumors about what was inside. Somebody said they had a TV, Gamecube and a mini fridge in there. O_O I doubt they were telling the truth, but to this day I wonder what might have been in there...

Mikayla and Lauren: About a ten-minute walk from our house lived Mikayla and Lauren. They were sisters, but they were total opposites. Mikayla was friendly and energetic, and had fiery red hair to match her personality; Lauren was quiet, shy, and didn't really say more than one sentence at a time. Both of them were closer to Kyla and Khloe's ages (at the time, about 5 and 3 years old), but I still had fun going to their house, playing on their swingset, dancing to Shakira, playing games with them, and occasionally sitting in on conversations between my mom and theirs. Their mom was Irish and their dad was Scottish, so I always loved hearing them talk. :)

Colorful Winter

(Picture entered in Discover Captivating's contest)

I noticed that every blog I'm following has done a post on spring... so I'm going to write a post on spring.

"But Kaylee, if the writers of all the blogs you follow jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?"

Of course not... I'd probably just blog about what might have possessed all these people to just randomly jump off a cliff!

hehe :P

Anyway... as some of you know, I'm from the land of Oregon. It's a magical land, with hippies, green grass and bucket loads of rain. In this magical place, we seem to have our own season in-between winter and spring. I'll call it "Colorful Winter."

Instead of spring "springing," Oregon likes ease into spring and dip its toes in the proverbial spring of spring before, um... springing into it. So there's a point where the weather is still as freezing as it was in January, but the colors of spring already start coming out in the trees and some of the flowers.

This lasts from about the last week of February to part of April, then it starts to get warmer...slowly...but surely...

So right now, I don't exactly have spring fever. I'm mostly bundling up in the house, enjoying the colors when I can, and biting my lip in anticipation for SUN. Oh, how I miss the sun. It actually snowed last night, and it's been in the 40's for most of the day.

Oh, just thought I'd brag for a second... my baby sister is 6 months old today!

Yup, I think we're keeping her.

John Carter

Yesterday I caved into peer pressure.

No, I didn't partake in the usage of illegal substances.

I didn't vandalize a train.

I didn't even take the Cinnamon Challenge.

Instead, I saw John Carter in the theater.

I don't know... I guess it was just pretty much like, the last movie I ever wanted to see in the theater. Mostly because

I hate alien movies (with maybe a couple exceptions).

I don't like movies that focus more on the CGI and special effects than on the plot line.

It just sounded lame.

There's really no summery out there that can make this movie sound appealing.

"Transplanted to Mars, a Civil War vet discovers a lush planet inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter a princess who is in desperate need of a savior." ~IMDb

"12-foot tall barbarians"? Seriously?

It didn't exactly help that all the trailers out for it practically cemented everything I had already thought about it.

But somewhere in between my dad's pleading and my friends' prodding, I finally said "FINE! Ok, I'll see John Carter." I mean... it was in 3D, and I'd never seen a movie in 3D before.

What wound up happening was that I sat in a fold-y movie theater chair, ate popcorn, and drank some soda. When I had acquired the desperate need to use the loo, I realized: I didn't want to get up, because I didn't want to miss anything. I actually wanted to know what would happen next. Having seen it, I can now say that the trailers don't do this movie justice. It's actually really good.

I don't want to reveal too much, but know that there's something for everyone in this movie.

Action and adventure

Romance

Alien dogs

The special effects are great without taking away from the plot, and the ending was awesome.

So here I am, swallowing my pride and saying, "Yes. this movie was really good."

If it was good enough for me to openly admit I was WRONG, then go ahead and check it out for yourselves. :)

Oh, also... I just had to throw this picture in for fun:

O_O

Pictures from Pinterest

Memory Monday: Neighbors pt. 1

I remember growing up in 4 different houses at different points of my childhood. There was the house that used to belong to my Auntie Gayle, my grandma and grandpa's house in Gladstone, our house in Banks, and our current house, where we've lived for the last 9 years.

In my 17 years, I've had the opportunity to be both a country mouse and a city mouse. (Ok... where I live isn't exactly the "city"... Suburban Mouse, maybe?) Our house in the country was on 1 1/2 acres. It had a good size orchard, with trees the perfect size for a 7-year-old to climb. We'd spend more time outside than we did inside. It was awesome.

I remember moving into our neighborhood and realizing how different it was. The houses were so close together, the people weren't as friendly, and -- terror of terrors -- there were no trees to climb! I remember actually crying over that.

We live in a neighborhood where people are constantly moving in and out, so in the 9 years we've been here, we've seen our share of neighbors. Some of them were awesome, some were strange, and some were just plain scary. Here, let me show you! (Note... some of the names have been changed)

The Snodgrasses: Two houses down on the corner lived Harriet Snodgrass, with her older sister, Bertha. The Snodgrasses were the first people to welcome us into the neighborhood. I played with Bertha for only a short while until she became a teenager and decided she was too old to play with me. :P After that point, I'd go to their house with Karissa and we'd play with Harriet. She had a really cool room with a loft and HUNDREDS of "Littlest Pet Shop" toys. The only problem was that she... um... liked to play a little rough. She liked to pretend she was a cat, so she used to jump on me and scratch me sometimes. She also tried to kill me once.

Maybe the years have eroded my memory a bit, but I distinctly remember gasping for air under her comforter as she sat on it, laughing maniacally. But... I could be wrong. :P

The Yegermanjensens: Jenny Yegermanjensen was a cute little girl around Kyla's age who we sort of adopted by accident. The second we met her, she stuck to us like glue. She sort of stalked us a little bit. She was at our house every day and went with us everywhere for a while. Eventually they moved out, and the Watsons moved in.

The Watsons: We were a little bummed after Jenny moved (although she was a bit of a stalker), but our feelings of grief were soon replaced with the excitement of new neighbors. The Watsons moved in next door, and they were great. They had 3 little kids around my sisters' ages. I have a lot of fun memories with these guys. We caught frogs with them, went to the park with them (I mentioned one outing here), and they were my first babysitting gig. *sighsnostalgically*

We were all sad when they moved away, but luckily we've kept in touch. :D

The Kid That We Stalk: Yes, this sounds creepy. There's this kid in our neighborhood. He has a bowl haircut with fire engine red hair, he's really cute and chubby as heck, and he only wears striped polo shirts. Plus, we see him everywhere. Like... wherever we turn, there he is. So it sort of feels like we're stalking him, but we're not. Hence the name.

Popcorn Boy: I remember the day I met Popcorn Boy. We were playing with Harriet and Bertha in our backyard, and Bertha started talking to him from behind the fence. I think he was pushing his sister around in a wheelbarrow, and he was all excited about his bag of popcorn because he put vanilla in it. I introduced myself and told him we just moved in. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, and gave us a bag of popcorn. He's been Popcorn Boy ever since. His brother soon came to be known as "Cheeser guy" because we'd hear him yelling at his dog, Cheeser (Ginger? Chopper? We could never tell what he was really saying).

To be continued next week...

Life in Letters

Ok, so I noticed that on a few blogs there are people who like to write letters to things. I thought it sounded fun, so here it goes...

Dear Toothbrush,

Thank you for sitting around and letting me scrub my cruddy teeth with your bristly face every day. I find that quite brave of you. I probably wouldn't like it if I had to rub my face on someone's molars. I might take you for granted a little bit.

~Kaylee

Dear Diary,

You're probably the only one who's been able to sit there, shut up, and listen to all my pathetic ramblings, rants, and daydreams. That's pretty good for $12. You're better than any Shrink there is.

~Kaylee

Dear Facebook,

I wish I knew how to quit you!

Jk, I'm too far gone for that.

~Kaylee

Dear Buddy from the Dollar Tree,

Thanks for making my day. You're so freaking FRIENDLY. I love that! Most people who have to sit in a florescent lit room all day aren't as enthusiastic, but you treat your job like you're at a party. I hope I can be like that when I get a job. :)

~Kaylee

Dear guy who nearly hit us crossing the street with his car that one time,

Slow down when you're in a parking lot, and for gosh sake PAY ATTENTION. I think I might have died a little after that episode. O_o

~Kaylee

...And since this is just sort of a random post anyway, I thought I'd just throw in a few announcements.

I now have 25 followers!

Might not sound like many to some people, but I think it's awesome (heck, it's half way to 50, a quarter of the way to 100, and like... 1/40 of 1000!) :) Thank you all for reading my blog!

The title for this post is after the song "Life in Letters" by Lucy Schwartz. LISTEN TO IT (if you want to... ;)

The One About Courtship.

I'd like to introduce you to Mark.

Question Mark, that is.

He's my husband.

Chances are, you haven't met him yet.

That's probably because I haven't exactly met him, either. He also has no clue who I am.

See, as of right now Mr. Question Mark is off minding his own business, learning important life lessons, and preparing to meet me, the future Mrs. Question Mark.

Sometimes when I'm lost in breezy, girly daydreams of walking down the aisle, I try to imagine who might be waiting for me on the other side. This is a little tough, because as of right now, I don't know who he is. There may be times where I try to pin a face on the guy who'd be standing there at the end of that aisle, but at the end of the day I still don't know. So as of right now, there's a big question mark where his head should be. He's like one of those little facebook icons where it's just a big cutout of a guy's silhouette.

Dang, isn't he handsome???

There are some things I know about him already.

• He'll have a face.
• He won't be a turtle.
• He's going to have a good relationship with Jesus.
• He'll have the same convictions as I do (at least the important ones!)
• He's going to make me laugh. A lot. :)
• He'll be a gentleman.
• He isn't the kind of guy who wears crocs. :P
• He's going to be my best friend.
• He's going to be AWESOME (I mean, naturally... if he's in love with me, right? ...Kidding!;)

I don't know what he looks like, I don't know what he sounds like, or what his personality is like. I just know that God is going to pair us together at the right time, and the guy of my dreams will finally get a name and a face. He won't be Mr. Question Mark anymore; He'll be Mr. GuythatImarried... or... something like that.

Some people might think that's weird. But the way I see it is like this: God's not going to go, "Hey. I've helped you find your car keys before, but a husband? Sorry kid, that's just too hard." God wants us to trust Him with every part of our lives, so our love lives can't be any different. :)

The question is-- how would I go about finding the guy God has for me? I could start the search now, and date guy after guy until I finally find him. Then one day I can take him by the hand, look him in the eye, and say, "Oh, Q.M! I'm so glad I've finally found you! Several guys and years of emotional baggage later, and here you are!"

Then he'll be like, "Gee, thanks, honey?"

This is why I like the concept of Courtship better.

I've been thinking about doing a post on this for a while, since I mentioned that I prefer courtship over dating in my "About Me" section. I could just see how weird it might sound to someone who's never heard about it before. "'Courtship'? What era is she from?"

But basically, courtship is dating with a purpose. (Heck yes, that sounds cheesy)

Dating sometimes makes it hard for people to know each other's intentions in entering a relationship. Some people date "just for fun." Other people want to find the person they're going to marry. Sometimes two people enter a relationship for the fun of it, but then one person develops deeper feelings and the other one doesn't, so hearts get broken.

Pretty much all courtships end in marriage.

So for that reason, you don't really court until you're ready for marriage. :P

In courtship, you develop a friendship with your person of interest before you develop a romantic relationship. Whether you agree more with dating or courtship, I think this is something you should do no matter what. So many times, people get romantically involved without even knowing the person that well as a friend. Courtship allows you to do this a little moreso than dating, in my opinion. You need to know how good of a friend they are waaaaay before you know how good of a kisser they are.

The couple's families are more involved in courtship than they are in dating. You know how when you're dating someone, you know it's serious when he wants you to meet his parents? Courtship isn't like that. The boy asks the girl's dad's permission, and the dad makes sure to talk to the daughter about it. If the girl accepts, the two families get together a lot and get to know each other. When you marry someone, you're also marrying into their family, so it's good to get to know them before things get serious. Also, like I mentioned here, If things work out between the two of you and you get married, the way he treats his family is how he'll one day treat you and your kids.

Those are the two biggest differences.

Now, here are some common misconceptions (I'm sure some of them sound familiar)...

Courtship is NOT:

• Legalistic. You will not be doomed to eternal damnation of you choose to date instead. :P Also, courtship does not have its own rules and regulations. Things like how much physical contact between the couple and how much involvement from their families are totally based on the couple, their families, and their convictions.
• Outdated. Now if courtship meant that your suitor would be coming to your dad with his best donkey and a couple goats as the starting bid, then I'd say, "YES! It's outdated, impractical... and a little demeaning. (Aren't I at least worth a horse and a couple cows? Geesh!)" But really. Since when does old = bad? I think courtship, although it's been around a while, is still a legit way to enter a relationship. :)
• Arranged marriage. Nobody's forcing anyone to get married to anybody! Just because the boy asks the father's permission to court his daughter doesn't mean that the daughter has no say in the matter. It's 100% her choice. It's suggested that the couple go to their parents for guidance, but they're not matchmakers! It's probably good to mention here that your parents aren't breathing down your necks the entire time, either. XP Courtship might be a little more chaperoned than dating is (especially depending on the age and maturity of the couple), but c'mon-- you still have time alone to talk and get to know each other!
• An "out" from getting your heart broken. I think this is a really common misconception from people who agree with courtship. Courtship is not some sort of magical institution that leaves no room for problems. Since you and your "significant other" are on the same page as to what you want out of your relationship, then yes, heartbreak is less likely. But like any kind of relationship, you're still putting your heart on the line. There's no guarantee that it'll turn out the way you want it to. It's a risky move for anyone to make, but a move that's still well worth the risk. ;)

So, in a nutshell (a rather large nutshell, mind you), that's courtship. I hope I've explained everything ok. :) If you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear them!

Want books? I recommend:

I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Joshua Harris)

Boy Meets Girl (Joshua Harris)

When God Writes Your Love Story (Eric and Lesley Ludy)

(All photos found at Pinterest)

Power House Conference

Today I went to the Power House Conference held at our Church.

The speaker?

Gregg Harris.

You know how sometimes (although you don't like to admit it) the speaker's sermon isn't exactly the best, or it just doesn't leap out at you? So you sort of wind up spacing out and staring at the backs of people's heads while fighting the urge to drift off to lala land? (DON'T JUDGE ME! You know it's happened to you!)

Well, Mr. Harris is not that speaker. ;)

He's come to my Church on a couple occasions, and I really like his sermons. My brain and his sermons are good buddies, because a lot of the time he likes to use stories and analogies to get his points across.

So here are a few of the things I learned:

If you're single and want to marry someone with good character, work on your own! It doesn't help looking for someone who's a good listener if you're an awful listener. You can't expect to find someone who's selfless if you don't become selfless.

Dating sometimes gives you a bad impression of who a person is, because you're not seeing how they react with their family. Courtship allows you to view them in their "natural habitat," and see how they interact with their family, because, chances are, the way he treats his mom is the way he'll one day treat you. (Here's my post on courtship, for people who are interested...)

How do you avoid contact with people?

(This point was from a different sermon). Have you ever thought of this? I thought it was sort of an interesting point he was trying to make. He was saying that we need to reach out to people as witnesses for Christ, but instead we sort of avoid opportunities where we can do this. This message was one of the messages I heard today that hit me the most, because it fell on the ears of a girl who's used to doing this:

It's not that I'm anti-social... just slightly awkward and horrible with coming up with topics to talk about. Once I can get in a conversation, it normally goes just fine; it's just starting the conversation! It's just one of those things that falls out of my comfort zone, but that's all the reason why I should do it anyway, right? ;)

Anyone else struggle with this one? Any suggestions?

Conspiracy Theory: The Clown Assassin

Clowns. They're supposed to be entertaining, yet they've induced the nightmares of many for centuries. Why is it that this seemingly cheerful jester of sorts has an unsettling eeriness beneath that red nose?

Let's rewind back to the year 1804, Paris, France. The not-so-famous painter, Pierre Dupont was locally known (and laughed at) for using extremely bright, vibrant colors in his paintings. He also had quite the temper.

It was this very year that Pierre was discovered by the Marquis Girard. The Marquis loved Pierre's work so much that he requested Pierre paint a masterpiece to hang in his ballroom for his big ball he would be throwing that very month. Pierre was brimming with excitement over his new prospect, and immediately went for a walk through the city for inspiration. It wasn't long before he found it, for it was then that he heard the Marquis laughing with a few other noblemen around the corner.

"...And the fool agreed, thinking I actually enjoyed the bright scribblings he called 'art'!" The Marquis guffawed as his belly shook like an earthquake at a jello factory.

"Just imagine that monstrosity of a painting hanging in the Grand Ballroom for all of Paris to laugh at!" Mused one of the other noblemen.

"Oui, good show, Sir. This shall be a ball that Paris shall not forget!" The other one garbled over his pipe.

Pierre felt all his dreams and aspirations deflate before him. It didn't last long, though, for those dreams and aspirations were replaced with red hot anger and vengeance.

He stalked back to his studio and grabbed his brightest, most obnoxious colors. He didn't emerge from his studio for two weeks. He lived off of paper scraps and old paint water (how he didn't die of lead poisoning is a mystery in itself).

He pulled inspiration from the court jesters of old, but made the colors BRIGHTER! He painted the nose red and bulbous, (slightly reminiscent of the Marquis' nose...), and the clothes were a catastrophic mass of multicolored, multi-patterned obnoxiousness. The hair was a mess and the mouth had a red, dumb smile. To top it off, Pierre smirked evilly as he wrote across the top "MARQUIS GERARD: FOOL"

The deadline came and Pierre travelled to the Marquis' mansion to deliver his masterpiece. He covered it in the ceremonial curtain given to him for the grand unveiling. The covered canvas was hastily hung in the Grand Ballroom for all to grow more and more curious over. And would you believe it? The Marquis was so kind and generous, he allowed Pierre to stay for the ball so he could witness the crowd's reaction to his masterpiece. Not too many people would talk to Pierre, for he was a commoner. But for every scoff and snubbed nose Pierre received, the more eager he became for that velvet curtain to drop to the ground.

Finally, the time came. The music seized, and trumpets sounded off to catch everyone's attention. "Thank you, one and all for attending my ball this evening!" The Marquis' booming voice echoed through the room.

"Tonight, we have a special treat. A masterpiece, of sorts. This canvas above us is a painting by a Monsieur Pierre Dupont," he gestured towards Pierre and the entire crowd shifted to look at him. He mustered a mischievous smile.

"Well then, let's not delay... I want to see what is under that curtain!"

The trumpets sounded again. And with that, the curtain was pulled.

First the entire crowd gasped in shock. Then, Gerard got the reaction he wanted. The only difference was, the mocking laughter was aimed toward him.

Suffice to say, Pierre was not the only one with a temper. Gerard's red face resembled a tomato, ripe with fury.

"GAURDS!" He bellowed, "GET HIM!"

But Pierre was nowhere to be found.

In the days following, the Marquis Gerard did nothing but brine in his own rage, scheming up the perfect plan of revenge for Pierre.

"He has tarnished my name. My image!" He banged his fist on his table. "For that, he shall die!"

A few days later, Pierre came to his studio to see his painting returned to him, covered by the same curtain, with a note attached to it. The note read,

Monsieur Dupont,

It is beyond my knowledge why you had the audacity to paint such a distasteful image of me for my ball. You have besmirched the name of Gerard, and for that you shall pay greatly. I have returned your wretched painting, for I cannot bear to have it in my presence.

~The Marquis Gerard

Pierre shrugged and removed the curtain, taking a short glance at his vengeful masterpiece. He began to feel a sense of pride at how realistic it was, but then turned around to return to his work. It was then that he heard a voice.

"Gerard wanted you to know one more thing..."

Pierre winced as he turned around. Nobody was there, only him and the painting. . "Huh?"

"He says... Who's the fool now?!" The image in the painting leapt from the canvas, and, well... that red bulbous nose and obnoxious outfit was the last thing Pierre Dupont saw.

When the assassin returned, all clown-like, he told the news to Marquis Gerard that he had succeeded. He became overjoyed, and decided to throw another ball in anonymous celebration to the end of the scoundrel. The only problem? Nobody wanted to associate themselves with the "Fool" of Paris. Gerard fell into obscurity, and wound up undertaking the same profession that so outraged him in the first place: he became a fool.

As unbelievable as it may sound, the assassins discovered that the clown costume actually worked as good camouflage for many other assassinations, and for a while, the clown costume was the Parisian assassin's uniform. The clown image changed when one really bad assassin almost got caught and started dancing around and goofing off as a diversion. Since then, the clown image melded into the cheap entertainment at circuses and birthday parties that we know today.

And THAT is why clowns are so creepy.

I need to go read a book, or something.

Imagination, and stuff like that.

There are plenty of times where I'm thankful that God has blessed us with imagination.

Think of how boring life would be without it! Heck, the world just might fall apart without our ability to dream up ideas and imagine new things.

Then there are other times where your imagination can be sort of a jerk.

Like when your imagination gives you expectations of how things are going to turn out, and then reality smacks you in the face. Think of how many times you've thought, "This did *not* turn out the way I imagined!"

Like the times where you're home alone and you hear a noise. The first thing that comes to your mind isn't the logical conclusion of "Oh, the dishwasher is on." or "The house is settling."

Instead, you see something like this:

(I don't care *how* much they could do with special effects now... Nosferatu is still the scariest-looking creep there is). :P

Or there are the times where you get a headache or you see some sort of weird-looking bruise on your knee. Your first thought isn't "hm, I wonder if I should get that checked out,"

Instead, it's "I'm going to DIE!"

This happens when our imaginations are fueled by fear, instead of creativity. Not my favorite kind of imagination. It's times like that where we need to remember:

Source: google.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

It's almost interesting how our imaginations are what cause us to dream and be creative, but it's also our imaginations that allow us to be afraid and become disappointed. Sometimes it's our own imagination that hurts us the most. So is it still worth it?

Source: google.com via Lauren on Pinterest

TOTALLY!

I think it's funny how some people look at daydreaming like it's a bad thing. "They always have their head in the clouds!"

Sure, you don't want to spend your whole day in your own head, but I think daydreamers make up most of the people who have made a huge impact on the world. Think of how many inventions would seize to exist, how many influential people throughout history would just be another average Joe.

Source: stumbleupon.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

DREAM ON! ;D

Memory Monday: The Sleeping Game.

I'm convinced that at some point, every little kid plays "the sleeping game." They think it's just hilarious to pretend to be asleep convincingly enough that their parents believe them. You get to conciously lie there and listen to adults ooh and ahh about how cute you are when you're sleeping. But the best part is, you're really not! It's the passive-agressive way of pulling one over on your parents without getting in trouble because really, it's not that big of a deal. But if you could pull it off, you were a genius.

There were several times I attempted this when I was little. A few times it worked; other times, it backfired like an old car engine. Like at my sister's second birthday party.

I was five, and I think it was Christmas. We had my uncle and probably some other family members celebrating Karissa's birthday that evening. My memory fails me a little, but I know there was a box. It was a beautiful box. It was used to hold the new "Little People" parking garage that Karissa got as a birthday present, and it was the perfect size for me to crawl into and play the sleeping game.

It was going to be hilarious. People were going to see me.... and they're going to think I'm sleeping! IN A BOX! This is genius...

So I nestled into my carboard sanctuary, huddled into a cute little faux-unconcious ball. I faithfully kept my eyes forced shut, although they wanted to eagerly snap open and see if anyone noticed yet.

Soon enough (or was it eons?), I heard something.

"Hm, look at that box over there," a voice announces.

Footsteps. I keep my eyes shut and force my facial muscles to uniformity. I could hear my dad and my uncle standing over me.

My dad picks up the box and my excitement mounts. He has to see me now and think I'm asleep!

But then his voice proclaims, a little too loudly, "I think we should put this box outside!"

That's not what I was expecting.

Why isn't he pining over how cute I look?

As he walked to the door, I panicked a little. But I kept those eyes shut like my life depended on it. I couldn't just give up on the game! But... does he even notice I'm in here...?

I felt the box being lowered, and the light that poured from the house slowly faded as the door closed. I opened my eyes and blinked a little. I stared at the cold, dark world around me and felt all hope escaping. In hindsight, I wonder why I didn't just knock on the door. I just sat there, stunned and afraid.

I remember the thoughts running through my head at that moment.

Oh, no... I guess I'm going to have to sleep out here. I'm going to be bitten by mosquitos!

Forget about kidnappings, wild animals, or psychos with guns-- I might get bitten by mosquitos! The very thought surfaced tears in my eyes. What am I going to do?!

Suddenly, like sweet sunlight coming over the dark horizon, I saw the door open. I don't really remember who was standing there, I just remember hugging them and crying like I'd been stranded on our front porch for days.

It was a very traumatic minute and a half, but I soon forgot about it once we started eating cupcakes.