Long Time No See

It's kind of funny how moving away from college, away from your friends ,can make people sooo excited to see you again when you return home for a weekend. lol.

It makes sense if they all live far away from you, then they don't see you as often as they see other friends.
Sooo does that make the visit more anticipated? *shrugs* I don't know lol. :)
I like having company come down and visit me :)
So I guess the same can be said in return ha.
But it was strange this time around.
I hadn't seen my friends in like....two months.
Ha, it didn't seem like that long for me, I had come home a time or two in there, but I hadn't had the opportunity to see them. Yet, I guess for them it has been a Loonng time since they had last seen me.

Yah...the jumping on me and squeezing me to death as they shouted excitedly...was not anticipated lol.
But it definitely was fun :)
It was like the "I thought you knew I was coming....why are you so excited?"
I guess there is a difference between knowing and actually seeing.
You know that I'm coming.
But until you see me....there is always the possibility that I won't be there.
Soo excitement is very seeable haha. :)
I was glad to see them as well, since I really only see them once in a blue moon.

:) Ah, friends.
Laughs all around with them especially late at night with sugar filling us :) haha.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Plop Plop Candy.

Well...I tried.

But for Oct. 30.....there is no blog!!

*GASP!!
NO!!!

But wait you say...
This has been dated as October 30th!

:) yah....I messed with the date timing thing so that I could actually have a blog on the 30th!!

^^;;; heh.. Technology :) got to love it :)

(and I will let you know when I do mess with time scheduling things....so, this is the first time that I've written a blog post not on the day it says it was posted.)

Candy, Candy, Candy.
It is the Candy time of year where Halloween has approached and trick or treaters throng the streets looking for candy to eat for the next month and a half. lol.

The poor trick-or-treaters (since Halloween is Sunday, they came Saturday)
It rained
Hard.

I don't really remember Trick or treating in the rain....if it happened it happened when I was younger.
I do remember it snowing, or just being really cold. haha. Our poor toes freezing to death and such.
But not really ever in the rain.

hmmmm
yes...we did trick or treat when it "sprinkled" but not in a hard rain. lol

Not that any weather would have stopped us.
Coats and Umbrellas....
I hated Coats and Umbrella's on Halloween.
Why?
You can't see the costume if you're wearing a coat!!
lol
Yes I'm the sort to show off my costume even if the weather is really cold.

:)
But these last few years...I haven't gone trick or treating :(
But it is fun to answer the door lol.
The kids look so small.
And some of them just stare up at you silently. not saying anything.
I remember doing that haha.
just ring the doorbell, grab the candy and go. haha.
Though I was kind of shy.....
But that stopped when trick or treating in my grandparents neighborhood.
Idr how old I was...young though 7 or 8 perhaps.
But we went to a house....and the dude wouldn't give us candy!
Why?
We hadn't said "Trick or Treat"
lol.....traumatic.
We just stood there being awkward...until finally we whispered "trick or treat" then he gave us candy.

*shakes head*
So I feel for those kids who don't say anything.
lol it is kind of traumatic wandering around a neighborhood at night...and then you have to say something to strangers?!?! :S Scary!! lol
But oh, the craving of candy overrules that fear soon :) haha.

I remember dragging my siblings all over the neighborhood in order to get as much candy as possible...and basically being dragged home.

Of course during those years I didn't like chocolate......sooo my siblings and I would switch. I gave them chocolate in exchange for sweets :)

And then nomnomnomnomnom we'd basically survive on candy for the next month lol.
By the end we were so sick of candy that we'd beg our parents "Please! give us something healthy!!"

haha :) We'd end up doing that on car trips as well.
But the month after Halloween most often :) lol
The poor teachers who had to deal with sugar high kids the next week or so :)

Anywho

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spiders, Trees, and Pickles.

Today I dropped by my college bookstore because the author, Chris Heimerdinger, was coming to sign books because his newest Tennis Shoes book : Sorcerers and Seers came out a month or so ago. Unfortunately, I already had all his books......at home......where I couldn't get them, but I did talk to him briefly and got a book mark signed :P lol.


But apparently today the bookstore was having a Halloween Sale where almost everything inside was 31% off.
I happened to pass by the Halloween display and saw these shiny spiders. :D
Curious I went over to look at them....
and one of the white haired ladies, who like to hang out by the entrances...possibly to make sure nobody shoplifts, came up to me and started talking.


;) lol I think she was trying to convince me to buy something. :)
I had been looking at a bracelet (SOO SHINY!!) with a spider on it.


She told me, that after Halloween, I could use it as an ornament for Christmas.
Because Spiders hanging from trees are apparently good luck.


*shrugs* That's what she told me.
Place a spider on your Christmas Tree for good luck.
hmmmm


I wonder how that tradition came about.....


lol, another thing she told me was that you also need to hide a pickle somewhere in the tree as well.


....hopefully she didn't mean a real one :S I think that would go rotten....
But with the pickle you hide it in a new place each day, so you are continuously looking for it.


I knew a family who did this....but with an elf....and anywhere in the kitchen or living room was fair game. lol when we did walking groups and went to their house during Christmas time it was always fun to try and find the mini elf and where it was hiding.


....but a pickle........
I don't know.....


lol, I just thought it was interesting the traditions different generations have...I have to wonder what started each tradition.

In the end...
I did end up buying that spider bracelet :)

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sonnet 40

I had to memorize this Shakespeare sonnet a year or so ago for a class, and for some reason it decided to resurface in my mind today....So I thought I'd share it with you :)

Sonnet 40

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;
But yet be blam'd, if thou thyself deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
And yet, love knows it is a great grief
To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury.
     Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
     Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Morning Procrastination

The Night before Yesterday Morning,
I had decided to get up earlier then usual -before my classes started- and go ask an advisor a question about registering for next semester classes. That way I'd have time in the afternoon to work on homework. 
Well...the morning came and I woke up....
but I was sooooo comfortable and warm and relaxed and totally feeling the "I don't need to go that early" vibe that I didn't arrive at the school as early as I had planned.
But apparently the Lord had impressed upon my tired mind that I shouldn't go to school this early for a great reason.
The reason?
The advisor had taken a sick day. 
Yep. They weren't there. 
So if I had arrived as early as I had wanted to.....I would have been pretty miffed at having woken up early and walked down to school to......have them not there >.< 
So I was blessed yesterday with the impression to not go as early :) 
The best part was though, that I did go early enough that I had time to write an email to the advisor and have themrespond so I could register for my last class :) Yay! :) 

So....good things do sometimes come from procrastination! :D HAHA!

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching leaves.
Enjoy the day! 

-Sarnic Dirchi  

Silence

What is to follow is a passage I took out of a book I need to read for one of my classes that I found really intriguing. Soo...BEWARE!! SCHOOL TEXT TO FOLLOW! ;)

"'Silence' is not a straightforward or unproblematic description of the experience of deafness, however. First, few deaf people hear nothing. Most have hearing losses that are not uniform across the entire range of pitch--they will hear low sounds better than high ones or vice versa. Sounds will often be quite distorted but heard nevertheless.

"And second, for those who do not hear, what does the word silence signify? Unless they once heard and became deaf, the word is meaningless as a description of their experience. (Even for those who once heard, as the experience of sound recedes further into the past, so too does the significance of "silence" diminish.) Silence is experienced by the hearing as an absence of sound. For those who have never heard, deafness is not an absence.

"As used by hearing people, "silence" is a metaphor rather than a simple description of the experience of deaf people. Deaf people may use the analogy of visual clutter to understand noise, and blind people may use tactile sensations of heat and coolness to approach the idea of color. Such analogies, in the absence of direct experience can promote understanding because they juxtapose equally complex phenomena; neither is reduced by the comparison.

"On the other hand, hearing people may plug their ears and sighted people may close their eyes and then, speaking of silence and darkness, use these experiences to try and understand deafness or blindness. But these metaphors are less helpful.

"Speaking of deaf people as inhabiting a world of silence is metaphorical rather than analogous because it is an attempt to understand the complex and abstract in terms of the simple and concrete. When hearing people think of the world of the deaf as silent, they are comparing and reducing an identity, a way of life an infinitely complex set of social and cultural relationships to a simple and concrete phenomenon: a temporary absence of sound.

"What then did deaf people mean by their use of the word "silent"? Rather than the experience of soundlessness, most often their use of the word seems to point in a different direction and to call up different associations. Deaf people only rarely used it as hearing people did in such phrases as "living in silence," Instead, "silent" usually seems to have referred more to not speaking than not hearing, meaning mute more than deaf, and pointing to a social relation rather than a state of being. It indicated a social identity, setting "mutes" off from "speaking people"

"To be deaf is not to not hear for most profoundly deaf people but a social relation--that is, a relation with other human beings hearing and deaf. What the deaf person sees in these other people is not the presence or absence of hearing, not their soundfulness or their silence, but their mode of communication-they sign, or they move their lips. That is why deaf people in the nineteenth century typically referred to themselves not as deaf people but as "mutes." That is why the sign still used today that is translated as "hearing person" is made next to the mouth, not the ear, and literally means "speaking person."

"Deafness is a relationship not a state, and the way that the "silence" metaphor is usually understood by hearing people is one indication of how they view the relationship. To hearing people, deaf people are incomplete. They are different but not merely different: their difference is also a deficiency (which is probably the shared characteristic of all perceived as "other"). hearing is defined as the universal, and deafness, therefore, as an absence, as an emptiness, as a silence.

"Silence can represent innocence and fertility, and it can represent darkness and barrenness. In both cases it is empty. In both cases it needs to be filled. Images such as these---images of light and darkness, of society and isolation, of soundfulness and silence-- construct a hierarchical relationship in which deaf people are said to lack what hearing people alone can provide."  

 - Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against Sign Language by Douglas C. Baynton p. 23-24

Congrats you made it through the "school text." :)
What do you think? I thought it was very thought provoking...about how people 'judge' others and try to say "oh yes I know exactly how that is..." when....they don't...because they never can experience something the same way as another person. We all come from different backgrounds and were raised in different ways...so what one sees as a lack, another sees as a gift, or of no value.

Silence.....it has a different meaning to different people of different cultures.

Interesting.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Deceiving Sunshine

There is one thing I don't like about the weather getting colder.
And that is the sunshine.
It deceives me so, especially in the Fall/Spring time
when it hasn't gotten cold yet, or come out of being cold yet.

I don't know if its just me, but if I see sunshine, I automatically assume it will be warm out.
Warm enough that I won't need a jacket.
Boy, is it a shock to the senses to go outside into cold weather.
I just have to look up at the sky (not directly at the sun....that's bad..) and ask.
"Why? Why did you shine so brightly in the cold?? Where is the warmth from your rays to warm me?"
Yah...I usually just end up getting blinded ;) haha especially if there is snow on the ground.

I think I just have this mindset of clouds=cold. Sun=warm
Yet, I think it was warmer yesterday when it was cloudy and raining then it was today in sunshine..perhaps it was the wind. Wind always makes everything colder.
or...maybe it was because i actually wore a jacket yesterday haha.... :)

I think perhaps that the clouds "hold in heat" and when there aren't clouds the heat just dissipates into the atmosphere. 

Oh well, all I know is....the sun deceived me once again. 
Silly, Tricky Sun...guess you need to play your practical jokes every now and then. X)

Until you next read these words;
I"ll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Kk 10-4 Roger That

A while ago my mom asked me why I use "Kk" in replying to texts instead of just "K" or "Okay."

It stumped me for a looong time....but I think I finally figured out the reason why me, my siblings and other people use "Kk"

Its kind of like a code for saying "I understand." "Gotcha"

In other decades with other technologies there would be codes such as "10-4" "Copy That" "Roger That"

For the cellphone generation I think the code has changed to "Kk"

Its just an easy way to say "Okay, then I'll hold you to the plan, talk to you when you arrive." Or else its used after a decision is made and agreed upon.
Basically its a termination statement until the next time we talk :)

lol and if it has a ? mark after it Kk? It usually signifies "I don't think I understand" or else its a "Why are you telling me this" -which could be "I don't know why you're telling me this in the first place." Or its "I already know this, why are you telling me again?"  or its a "Okay...i thought this had been decided..." lol there are multiple meanings...I think :)

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Smells like Wyoming

There are some days (usually days of cold or storms)
Where I just get a wift of the air or feel the temperature on my skin...
and I think "Yep its a Wyoming day. or Yep its an Oregon day."


I'm not sure why I tend to think in "States" when the weather goes cold or raining.
Perhaps its because when those particular whether temperatures come along...
I'm usually in a state often enough that that's where I encounter the weather type most often.
In Wyoming, I'm often up there in the Fall/Winter stage where there is snow on the ground. the air is crisp and clear and there's just this smell that breathes "Cold Wyoming."


Oregon deals more with rains and how the mountains look at times.
Alaska has a vibe that gives  a sense of wildness especially when the clouds cover the mountain


Yah. Wyoming is where I've been most often, so I most often relate the smell of the air outside to Wyoming. Especially when winter comes along :) lol


How do you relate smells? Do you relate it to holidays? A change in the seasons? Certain places or events?


I seem to do states ;) haha.


Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!


-Sarnic Dirchi

Retiremexation

________________/^----^--^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^

Carefully now, my firefly. Slowly blink your red eye.
According to the master, you did almost die.
Still, we retained all of your knowledge ties
Enough of you remains for us to continue to try
Yet, I think that retirement is the best for you my firefly.

Mulling over this decision has caused me to sigh.
You still had alot left in you to soar high.

Take it easy my dear and delicate firefly
Helping to keep you safe when wind and rain is nigh
Allow yourself a place of honor where you can safely fly
Now and forever a secret keeper by and by
Knowledge will remain yours forever in the sky
So enjoy your well deserved rest my firefly.


            I will remember to call on dependable you if college ties
            Get to be too much for the next small-fry. :)

                                                                -S.N.D

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Ode to the Flashdrive

Ode to the Flashdrive

Flicker Flicker Firefly

Against the background sky

New to hatch, shining bright

Let me fill you up with light.

Flicker Glimmer Firefly

Spread your wings, fly on by.

As you tease the silent mouse

To click on your knowledgeable house.

Glimmer Glimmer Firefly

Looking for a place to lie

Land at port and rest for now

While I teach you who, whats, and how

Glimmer Shimmer Firefly

Time has worn you, but you still fly high

Young at heart while your case is old

You still want to gain all you can hold.

Shimmer Shimmer Firefly

The night is late to your blinking eye

Yet, happily you still work on

Partners in Crime until the task is Done

Shimmer Glimmer Firefly

Come to bed before we both fry.

Falling, Crashing, Torn Asunder

Injured because of a midnight blunder

Glimmer Glimmer Firefly

Wings, eyes, legs, bent to the sky

Just brush it off, you’ll be fine

Tomorrow we’ll continue our homework line.

Glimmer Flicker Firefly

I double checked your outside tie

Cracked and broken you tried to move on

But the Motherboard doesn’t recognize you, her son.

Flicker Flicker Firefly

I tried Drive G, H, and I

The files miss your presence here

Yet, I cannot seem to get you in gear.

Flicker Flicker Fire

Come on firefly! Blink your red eye!

Flicker Flicker

Your case is mended. Come on! Fly!

Flicker Flick

Oh please, Oh please, you can still soar high.

Flicker Fli

I still need you my knowley-pie

Flicker

Do not breathe your final sigh!

           

Flick

                                            We can fix this! Why oh why?!

Fli

                                                Do not say your last Goodbye!

Fl

                                                  Just one more burst! Please just try!



^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^--^--^--^--^----^----^-----^--------^-----^\________________________

                                                 My careless procrastination caused you to die.

….Oh, my poor firefly

-S.N.D

*Note in my family we sometimes refer to flash drives/jump drives as a firefly. 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tel'aran'rhiod

In Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time there is an 'unseen world' that reflects the 'waking world'
It is known as Tel'aran'rhiod or else known as "The Unseen World" or "The World of Dreams."
In the world of dreams people can get hurt if they're there too strongly. If you take an injury there you wake up with the injury. If you die in the World of Dreams you die in the real world.
So When a seemingly healthy person dies in their sleep...perhaps the entered too strongly into Tel'aran'rhiod.


But I bring up this subject for one particular point.
Sometimes regular humans can 'brush' the World of Dreams.
They might appear in that 'world' for short periods or longer periods...
but oftentimes when dreamers 'brush' the World of Dreams injuries taken aren't as 'bad'
You could be stabbed in the World of Dreams, but wake up with only an ache where you were hit.


This morning I woke up to my right leg being really sore. Like I had slept with it bent all night long and my muscles were protesting....
but since I've been reading the WoT and I'm in a part of the story where Tel'aran'rhiod is being mentioned more often...I have to wonder. Did I wake up with this ache in my leg because I accidentally brushed Tel'aran'rhiod and its just the remaint of what could have been a serious injury?
Perhaps when we discover bruises on our body and wonder "how did I get that? I don't remember doing anything..." its because the bruise is a remaint of us having a 'close-call' in the World of Dreams.
We had just brushed this Unseen World, but we were there strong enough to 'take a hit' and...wake up with a bruise. lol.


So perhaps next time you wake up with one of your limbs aching, or you discover a bruise that doesn't have a reason to be there....maybe, just maybe you to brushed Tel'aran'rhiod.


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the Day!


-Sarnic Dirchi

Bow to Karma!

Yesterday night I played a game with my FHE group called Catchphrase.
We were even with boys and girls, so we split up boys against the girls.

The first game....the boys won, everybody was like. "Oh good game, yah, good game"

And then the boys got prideful. ;)
"How about we play one more game" they said. "And the losers have to bow to the winners?"

Oh, the feeling in the room of "you're going to get what you deserve" just shot through the roof it seemed to me. lol As persay in the Wheel of Time; "I could almost hear the dice tumbling in my head." and I knew that the boys...were going to loose. The girls consented since we were having fun. (and yes...we wanted to win too, but mostly it was for the fun of friendly competition)

Karma...they should have just been content with winning one game ;) lol

Because the girls won!! :) (it was close) hehe and we all had the honor of being bowed to by all the guys. X) Ah, if only they did that much more often as a sign of respect or something...it would be very very cool! -yes the girls would curtsy back- ;) lol :)

There is a lesson somewhere in this...something along the lines of "Don't be greedy." or "Be content for what you get." Or "Don't wish something on your 'enemies' because you might end up doing the same thing to them that you wanted them to do to you."

All in all. Be careful what you say, because it might come back to bite you.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Autograph?

Today in my Institute class my teacher handed out a poem....

That I wrote. (The Wayward Path....posted in an earlier blog post)

I had given him a copy of the poem because he'd requested it. (I had read it a time or two earlier in class as part of a devotional ) As well as gave him permission to make copies to give to my class. lol.

But its one thing saying "Yes, go ahead"
and another to actually see what you've written handed out in 'mass quantities" 
That people can actually read and quote and be like:
"Yah! I knew her before she was famous! we shared an institute class together!" 

But if that wasn't strange enough.
The dude sitting next to me was like;
"Hey, can you sign this for me?"

My reaction was O.o uhhhhhh..............sure?
So I signed my name on the paper with my poem on it. :D
haha....that was an oddly thrilling experience.

I mean I've been asked for my signature before.
"Sign this and get the package, sign this to pay for the food, sign this to agree to these terms..."

But never really for an 'autograph' for the reason of: Hey You wrote this!!! Can you sign it for me!??! :D lol

I think for a moment I almost felt like a celebrity.
My first thought was....man I need to work on my signature ;) haha.

But I think I got a slight taste for of the 'limelight'
A taste of what could happen if I get a book published.
lol. it was a good feeling and I half wanted to say to the rest of the class.
"Sooo who else wants my autograph??"
But oh, I wouldn't be that....conceited? lol. No, no I wouldn't. Not good to be the snob... you end up getting knocked down a few pegs when you get too prideful. :) lol.
It was actually a humbling experience to know that somebody liked my poem enough to want me to sign it. :) Hopefully those who took a copy will read it, and that it will influence them to a more positive path in life. Or at least give them some comfort....perhaps a nugget of information to chew over....

I hope I get the same reaction for when I write my books. :)
....and that I don't just have a long empty line of nothingness staring at me as I sit in some book store waiting for somebody to say "Hi, can you sign this?"

I really hope that my thoughts, poems, stories, etc give somebody out there in 'need' a feeling of comfort, a thrill of enjoyment when they pick up a copy of a book, a nugget of information that they can think about during down times of the day....or perhaps use to help brighten somebody else's day when they've been down.

I just know...that today.....signing my name to a simple piece of paper with words typed onto it that I had written....

It was Thrilling. :) And totally brightened my day. ^^
So, Thank you kind sir, for providing me a way to cheer myself up. :) And making me feel special for a moment. :)

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Feet

Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God  reigneth!

Mosiah 15:14-18
And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!
And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!
And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!
And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, form this time henceforth and forever!
And behold, I say unto you, this is not all. For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that  is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people;

Today in Sunday school we talked about these verses and their possible meanings.

1. The feet could be considered the 'dirtiest' part of our body because they are in the most contact with the dirt of the earth, and its hard to not have some trace of the world left on you if you must walk on the earth, yet, if the dirtiest part of our body is considered beautiful.....how exceptionally stunning is the rest of our body? We in our entirety are precious to the lord.

2. We only get where we are because our feet have taken us there. Going forwards or backwards or staying put, our feet have carried us to the point of our lives we're in now, and they'll continue to carry us where we direct them to go.

3. In the ancient days before technology was so rampant messengers were used to carry news in between towns. Good or bad, yet when glad tidings were brought the messenger was hailed whole heartedly because they published peace, and the teachings of the prophets, or the leaders of the country.

Sooo feet are important basically. :) They help us get to where we're going and take us from where we left.
:) lol. will we allow our feet to carry us down the road of peace? Bringing those we meet along the road of life comfort and good tidings as we pass them on the way? Direct your feet upon a goodly path and don't be afraid to tread the path less traveled by. If it brings you happiness, joy and peace in your life, if you share it, it can bring happiness, joy and peace towards others. This path will be a goodly path to tread upon :) 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Oh, about dark thirty

I have a slight quirk to my way of telling time.
In one particular instance. After dark. In the midnight hour.
I think most people would say if you ask them what time it is "Oh its twelve-thirty."
I would say "Oh, its midnight-thirty."
Yep for some reason I find it more fun to say "Midnight-thirty" instead of "Twelve Thirty."
Yet I don't do the same thing for the noon hour. I would say Twelve fifteen instead of Noon fifteen.

lol perhaps I got this way of saying the time so late at night from when I was younger and I'd go to Rendezvous with my family.
Some nights we'd have an after dark meeting time for those traders who camped overnight.
And we'd meet at
"Dark-Thirty"
Or basically thirty minutes after sundown was how I translated it to be.

So sometimes when I"m meeting friends after dark I'll slip and say 'Oh Dark-Thirty"
lol. I get alot of weird looks, but its fun in a way. :)

Midnight thirty, dark thirty.
Then there's the sense of time where I don't see people/ go places very often, but I do go once in a while.
Then I say "Oh I see you every blue moon or so."
Or "Once in a blue moon."
Since blue moons don't happen that often I think it makes sense to say "Hey I'll see you again.....in a while." :P

Sooo
Until you next see these words;
I"ll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Because its been that way for generations

"Why do we do this?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because because"
"Because because why?"
"Because I said so that's why."

I've lately been wondering....why people do things.
And often times the reason has been. "Because this is how my parents did it, and their parents, and their parent's parents."
It seems to be an excuse to not thing outside of the box.

Take for example the movie "How to Train your Dragon."
For generations the Vikings have been fighting and killing dragons to protect their livestock....
Everyone assumes that they're all very dangerous.
Yet it takes the 'cowardance' of one boy named Hiccup to discover....what everybody knew...was wrong.
They can live peacefully with the dragons.
They're not seeing the bigger picture.
Why? because 'this way' works! why try another way?

I have no idea lol.
But i did find it annoying when I was younger the
"Because I said so that's why." was really annoying,
but its usually the answer given when....they don't know the reason.for why they're doing it.
Sometimes....the way things have been done....is actually the best way...
Who knows.
But I do think. We need to know the reason for why we do things. Study things out, ask others questions. Find out how other people solve the same 'problem' or how they do something in some way....
Don't unquestioningly ride on the coat tails of others.
Know the reasoning behind why.
Get your own knowledge.
Through experience or learning from others...sometimes there is no need.
Yet, sometimes...you need to find the answer out for yourself. :)

Until you next read these words;
I"ll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Columns

Does it ever seem like reading takes twice as long when the book is divided into columns?

I've been puzzling it out today.
And I have to say that it depends on the subject.
If its something boring, having to read a textbook that is in column formant. It seems torture.
If its something fun and interesting....not so much.

Perhaps because I am a big reader...having to move my eyes up and down the same page twice.
Starting at the top then moving down to the bottom then having to start at the top of the same page again.
Perhaps that is why it seems like reading papers with that style take much longer.
Yet, I can see how the column formant 'breaks things up' You get alot of information without it really being alot of information since you are reading only half a page, at a time, and if there are pictures....its less reading lol.

Columns, why did that style become popular? I think it might just be an effort to try and keep our attention longer. If you see a page of just big long paragraphs.....yah it can seem tedious...
I really don't mind it when the formant is in a book before me. I don't notice it as much then, but having to read online articles in that format....it does get tedious having to scroll up then down then up and down before going to the next page.
lol i guess it doesn't matter what the format style is. Either way....if the information you're learning is tedious....it will take longer no matter what.
;) Perhaps they just need to place in more pictures to break up all the lines of words haha.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

Its like....Lightningy!

The Bolt strikes Dawn with all its power
From Midnight to Midnight upon the tower
Its like can be seen in that Bright Hour
Whenever you call for the Desert Flower
                                             -S.N.D.

It seems like Lightning Bolts are a popular symbol of power in today's society.
The most popular is of course Harry Potter
But there is also Lightning Mcqueen
and Bolt from the movie.
Or even the superhero Flash!

I guess it makes sense. Lightning Bolts are very cool.
They can represent many things; Speed, power, brightness
I mean...its kind of hard to draw thunder.
And who wants a 'powerful good guy' to have some other shape....like a heart on their forehead?

Why are lightning bolts considered so powerful?
They can strike things, burn things, kill things.
While Love...the Heart.....well.....there's a lot of love there. ;) haha.
It seems like Power is equated with visible things. An arrow, the sword, lightning, an avalanche. Sure Love, Peace, Happiness have their own symbols.....yet, they don't seem as....striking as the others (haha) Don't place a quiver of fear in the 'bad guys' minds.

Lightning Lightning does its Dance.
Leading Thunder in its Romance
Where it Strikes and where it Stays.
No one Knows at all these Days.
                              -S.N.D.

Remember though that often times, that the persistent, quiet, and 'wall-flower' type things, often have as good results as the brief and awful striking of thunder.
;) lol
<3's Win!!!!

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

                   

Two Swords and A Stick

In a series as long as the Wheel of Time series its hard not to have favorite scenes or instances at some point. Many of them deal with my favorite character Mat.
This particular scene I'm about to write (not in its entirety) comes from The Dragon Reborn, Book 3 in the Wheel of Time.


Background- Mat has been very sick and was taken to a place to be healed. He's recovered, mostly. At the moment he's wandering around the grounds when he comes upon a practice area where young men are training in the art of swordmanship. He's at the moment talking with two of the young men in training.


"Swords aren't the be-all and end-all, you know. I could do fairly well against either of you, I think, if you had a sword and I had my quarterstaff."
Gawyn's cough was obviously meant to swallow a laugh. Much too politely, he said, "You must be very good." Galad's face was frankly disbelieving.
"I will wager," he said, "two silver marks to two from each of you that I can beat both of you at once, just the way I said. you can't have fairer odds than that. There are two of you, and one of me, so two to one are fair odds." He almost laughed aloud at the consternation on their faces.
"Mat," Gawyn said, "there's no need to make wagers.  You have been sick. Perhaps we will try this some time when you are stronger."
"It would be far from a fair wager," Galad said. "I'll not take your wager, now or later. You are from the same village as Egwene, are you not? I... I would not have her angry with me."
"What does she have to do with it? Thump me once with one of your swords, and I will hand over a silver mark to each of you. If I thump you till you quit, you give me two each. Don't you think you can do it?"
"This is ridiculous," Galad said. "you would have no chance against one trained swordsman, let alone two. I'll not take such advantage."
"Do you think that?" asked a gravel voice. The blocky Warder joined them, thick black eyebrows pulled down in a scowl. "You think you two are good enough with your swords to take a boy with a stick?"
"It would not be fair," Galad said.
"He has been sick," Gawyn added. "There is no need for this."
"To the yard," Hammar grated with a jerk of his head over his shoulder. Galad and Gawyn gave Mat regretful looks, then obeyed. The Warder eyed Mat up and down doubtfully. "Are you sure you're up to this, lad? Now I take a close look at you, you ought to be in a sickbed."
"I'm already out of one," Mat said, "and I"m up to it. I have to be. I don't want to lose my two marks."
Hammar's heavy brows rose in surprise. "You mean to hold to that wager, lad?"
"I need the money." Mat laughed


(he grabs a quarterstaff in this part I skipped)


When he turned back, the quarterstaff in both hands before him, Gawyn and Galad were already waiting out where they had been  practicing. "Remember the wager," he said loudly. "Two silver marks from each of you against two from me."
Gawyn and Galad split apart, one to either side of him, keeping their distance, neither with his sword more than half-raised.
"No wager," Gawyn said. "There's no wager."
At the same time, Galad said, "I'll not take your money like this."
"I mean to take yours." Mat said.
"Done!" Hammar roared. "If they have not the nerve to cover your wager, lad, I'll pay the score myself."
"Very well," Gawyn said. "If you insist on it on it--done!"
Galad hesitated a moment more before growling, "Done, then. Let us put an end to this farce."
The moment's warning was all Mat needed. As Galad rushed at him, he slid his hands along the quarterstaff and pivoted. The end of the staff thudded into the tall man's ribs, bringing a grunt and a stumble. Mat let the staff bounce off Galad and spun, carrying it on around just as Gawyn came within range. The staff dipped, darted under Gawyn's practice sword, and clipped his ankle out from under him. As Gawyn fell, Mat completed the spin in time to catch Galad across his upraised wrist, sending his practice sword flying. As if his wrist did not pain him at all, Galad threw himself into a smooth, rolling dive and came up with his sword in both hands.
Ignoring him for the moment, Mat half turned, twisting his wrists to whip the length of the staff back besides him. Gawyn, just starting to rise, took the blow on the side of his head with a loud thump only partly softened by the padding of hair. He went down in a heap.
He still had Galad to deal with, and from the way Galad was poised on the balls of his feet, sword raised precisely, he had begun to take Mat seriously.
Mat started forward. The first blow, Galad managed to turn with a sharp clack, and the next, and the next, and the next, but strain stiffened his face. That smooth swordsman, almost as good as the Warders, fought with every ounce of his skill to keep Mat's staff from him. He did not attack; it was all he could do to defend. He moved continually to the side, trying not to be forced back, and Mat pressed him, staff a blur. And Galad stepped back, stepped back again, wooden blade a thin shield against the quarterstaff.
With a roar, Mat threw all his reserves into one last surge.
The quarterstaff flickered past Galad's sword and in quick succession struck knee, wrist, and ribs and finally thrusting into Galad's stomach like a spear. With a groan, Galad folded over, fighting not to fall. The staff quivered in Mat's hands as Galad sank to the ground.
"Hammar moved to stand beside Galad, still groaning on the ground and trying to push himself up. The Warder raised his voice to shout, "Who was the greatest blademaster of all time?"
from the throats of dozens of students came a massed bellow. "Jearom!"
"Yes!" Hammar shouted, turning to make sure all heard. "During his lifetime, Jearom fought over ten thousand times, in battle and single combat. He was defeated once. By a farmer with a quarterstaff! Remember that. Remember what you just saw."


....Sad to say to fully understand the background and the scene you will have to Read the book lol. :)
But it is a favorite scene of mine.
Why?
Well...it shows that what appears to be 'weak' (a stick held by a recovering sick guy) can defeat easily the things that are considered 'strong' (two swords held by two healthy guys)
Simple solutions, actions, game plans can often be used to defeat the trial facing you.
After all....David defeated Goliath with a stone. Goliath had a sword then too.


I have often wondered why people often consider those people who didn't have steel (metal) weapons were considered the 'uncivilized savages.'
I mean, Native Americans have used pieces of obsidian as weapons, and those lava glass shaped fragments have been used in surgery because steel isn't sharp enough.
I think we often try to think of a "Big, shiny, bulky" solution to problems where often times a simple sling and stone, or quarterstaff could be used to solve the problem just as easily.


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!


-Sarnic Dirchi

Expressing Yourself

Do you ever use your clothing choices to express how you're feeling that day?
Perhaps its subconscious, picking clothes that fit our mood.
Or is it the clothes that gives us our overall mood.
We wear comfortable things to make us feel comfortable, and relaxed.
We wear fancy things to make us feel beautiful/handsome, confident, happy.
We wear over-sized things to hide, or give the impression "don't look at me."
Then there are the colors.
Will you be bright today or darker? muted? natural?

I don't usually pay attention to my clothes, well on how they make me feel. Its more of a "pull open the drawer look inside and pull out something that I want to wear."
Yet today...I realized that often times my clothing choices could help give people an idea of how I'm feeling.
It wouldn't be a perfect system. My clothing choices don't always reflect the mood I'm in. But sometimes it seems like my choice was spot on.

For example. Today i wore jeans, an orange shirt, with a thin blue and white striped jacket thing over it.
overall my choice was pretty mellow. Blue.
But you could see a hint of orange here and there.

I kind of place my mood as "muted happiness."
Where I have my moments of being really cheerful, but over all...I'm just being kind of mellow, laid back, the introvert. Willing to let others take the spotlight, but if nobody else is really volunteering I'll step into the light and let my 'orangeness' shine for a moment before drifting back into obscurity.

I probably didn't explain that too well....heh....but I feel that our clothes we pick, the way we style ourselves can give a hint to how we were feeling when we started out the day. or how we want to feel by the end of the day.
Do you ever wear specific clothes, accessories to send a subtle meaning? To say to the world, only if you are the one who knows the meaning "Hey! This is what I'm feeling today."
-I'm feeling rockstar!
-I'm feeling artistic!
-I'm feeling smartical
-I'm feeling treehuggeri

Often times clothes are just that. Clothes.
Like a rock is any other rock when its a rock.
Yet sometimes things catch our fancy. We're drawn to things that reflect our moods, or perhaps show things we might need, or want.

Its just a thought. What do you think your clothing choice for the day is telling the world?

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day! 

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Arrow

The course is set
The heart is true
Then comes
A discouraging word or two.

The sails lose wind
The tiller's lost
For a few words
What is the cost?

The arrow is knocked
Snug against the wood
The bow is drawn back
Words set loose.

To darken slightly the life
That was confident happy.
instead it is ridden.
With guilt and sadness.

For the path is lost
And the heart confused.
On what I was supposed
To exactly do.
                                               -S.N.D.

There are situations, days, when things are going well.
I feel good about the decisions made, or not made.
i feel like I've done the right thing,
But then a comment is made.
A look is given.
And my heart withers.
Doubt sets in.
Why?
Because what I thought I did that I did well...
Apparently wasn't done well in the sight of another.
And then I wonder if my choice, decision, words dealing with the situation
Were actually as good as I thought they were.
The stress builds up
And I can't focus anymore.

My arrow was knocked, the tension placed on the string.
I had a target in mind.
How to get through things and hit the target without missing, or hurting something else.
The arrow is loosed its flying, gone.
And then a voice comes, a breeze in the wind.
And I have to wonder if my arrow is flying to the right target.
Or if it will hit somewhere else that I didn't mean to hit.
Its too late to pluck the arrow back.
I can't run after it and catch it before it hits the target.
Now its a matter of waiting.
Hoping.
And praying.
That the arrow will strike true.
And no innocent bystander will get hurt in the meantime.


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Orange you glad I didn't say Banana?

Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Zeus.
Zeus who?
Zeusy I'm home!! :)


lol. My siblings and I came up with that when we were younger. ^^;;
I think it was a Hercules tvshow/movie that influenced that one.
lol and you can tell how old we were, since it doesn't really make sense not like


Knock Knock
Who's there.
You know
You know who?
Avada Kedavra! You're dead!


(its a harry potter joke.)


No, the first one doesn't make sense lol, but its stuck over the years 

:)


Until you next read these words.....think of a good joke to tell me lol. :)
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!


-Sarnic Dirchi

Sea Salt

A few years ago my family made a journey
with another family (idr if it was friends or relatives)
to go see the Spiral Jetty.
At this point the spiral was still mostly under water.
The jetty was sparkling white from all the Salt Crystals.
We were picking up a few to take home.
So consequently our hands (as well as our feet)
were covered by the salt water.
Luckily one of the cars....
it might have been ours.
Brought a container or water....I forget what those are called. lol
But you can push a button and water comes out the bottom.
We were all taking turns washing our hands off....
Well....I became impatient.
and I had this awesome Idea.
What if....I took the lid off the top of the container?
Then just stuck my hands in. They'd get clean much faster that way!
(I was young....junior high age maybe...perhaps even elementary school)
Needless to say....I didn't really get the salt off my hands lol.
Or perhaps I did.
But my dad wasn't very happy with me.


You see....I learned that if you stick your hand into the main container of water...
it makes that water salty.
And nobody else can use the water to wash off their own hands, they just get more salt added to their hands.


Your actions no matter how small can have big ramifications on others. Especially if your actions are impatient ones of "Its so silly that we're only getting our hands wet little by little, why not stick your whole hand in the container?? It would go much faster that way."
lol. Yes....but it doesn't help the whole.....
Even though the water was small from letting it out the bottom, it was focused.


I almost want to equate it to something along the lines of.
"Be grateful for what you have and how things come to you. Don't try and jump ahead of the line and ruin everybody else's chances at success just so that you can succeed."


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!


-Sarnic Dirchi

Put your Shoulder to the Wheel

There are days where I feel like I"m being pulled in too many directions.
Where I need to do these things, want to do others, and don't want or need to do the stuff that I end up doing anyway to avoid the first two.
So many directions.
I feel somewhat dizzy from how fast my mind is racing.
Trying to come up with mental agreements on what to do or not to do.
Arguing with myself silently on the merits, benefits, costs, deficits or what I'm doing in the day.
Is it really so important I do this? What if I skipped that? What if I just procrastinate for just a while longer.
Its a struggle. Fighting with yourself.
Most of the time I just end up with brain fatigue. Where I mentally just shut down. Because if i try to focus anymore I"ll end up screaming around the house from the inability to do anything lol. :)
I don't literally mean shut down. I just make the conscious decision to step back, look at something else, shove the problems to the back of my mind for a short break so that I can get my brain back into gear.

-This is why this blog is being written, I needed to step back from (mostly) homework. :P lol

Now. Back to the wheel I go. Putting my shoulder to it and pushing along....for a short time at least, until I see a different wheel that I'd rather push. I wonder how many different wheels I'm actually trying to push in a day.....hmmm that is something to consider. What wheels are too heavy for me to push alone? Where do I need help? What wheels should I just drop and forget about?
Perhaps I dither so much between needs and wants because I'm dithering between doing the hard stuff or the easy stuff.
Eitherway....what I task myself with doing ends up usually getting done.
But because of my time being divided so, each activity takes longer to finish because its hard to focus on just one thing.
My brain....likes to think about multiple thoughts overlapping each other...lol. (and it finds it hard to write things that actually need to be written loll)
So I switch to doing some other task to feel useful -at least body wise- so that my brain can have a chance to gather its thoughts.
The task might take longer, and I might feel like I'm being pulled in too many directions at once, but hey. At least I come out of the trip with my head still on straight. ;)

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sailing; A Journey

" A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for."
 -John Shedd.


Normally quotes like this wouldn't have caught my attention for long, I would have thought "That's nice." and stuck it somewhere.
But before my Institute class where I received this quote as a handout,
I had watched a TV show about the Titanic.
Where once again people are trying to figure out how the boat sunk, how it broke apart.
So....because the Titanic was on my mind....this quote sunk in. (haha)
And I had to wonder.
About boats, harbors, and sailing.


Sure all boats in the harbor are safe.....safe as can be.....unless its Pearl Harbor or something. ;) lol.


Yet, like I usually do, I try and bring these ideas, thoughts I have to life....apply them to myself and to others.


How each ship can be a person.
And each ship, boat, dingy.....can reflect a person's past and how it can effect the future.


There are the small dingies that are pieced together with this and that and look so shabby that you wouldn't think that they could float. Yet they do. They managed to float and ride out all storms.
Then there are the huge ocean liner type ships that look flawless and beautiful, everything perfect, unsinkable.....but due to hidden flaws, to weaknesses overlooked, if the right (wrong) situation shows up......like an iceberg....and we can't avoid it in time.....and what happens? The flaws/weaknesses become huge gaps, breakages, destruction....and the ship sinks.


What I'm wondering is.....how are our ships built?
Do we let things that happen to us in the past strengthen us? If they are bad do we correct the flaw? Or hide it with shiny gold designs? Do we buckle under the stress of events and sink below the waters? Do we take some damage, but manage to keep afloat long enough for repairs to be made, for a safe harbor to be found?


What are your strengths in life? Do you have places of safety, harbors in which you can dwell to shelter from the storm? Do you have sister/brother ships nearby you, where if you do end up in trouble that you can call on them for aid and they will come to your rescue?


Life is like sailing from harbor to harbor. We had a beginning, we have a destination in mind. Sometimes they change, sometimes our journey is cut short, but we are almost always sailing.
Where do you go to 'replenish your supplies?' Do you have family? Friends? Church? Work? etc.....places where you can drop by and top off and shelter from the storm?


Or are you surrounding yourself with icebergs, and your perpetually sailing blindly in the night at full speed?
In times of trial do you slow down and tread cautiously? or speed on, ignorant of the dangers surrounding you on all sides?


Ships....they come in all sizes, big, small, and medium. Some are bright and shiny, quick and fast, while others look dull, slapped together, worn by time and weather, slowly moving about.
But who will survive in the end?
The ones who have endured the trials, have marks of storms, battles on them but still stubbornly remain afloat.
Or the shiny bright ones who don't have any idea what sailing the deep blue is actually like....


Perhaps its just the thought of structure.
How are we built?
What in our life do we rely on, what beacons on the horizon do we sail to? Are they paths of safety? Paths that are dangerous? Do you have a guide? Do you know the waters well?


Sure....it might be easily said that we could stay in the harbor.....but we can't learn while there.
its only through the act of sailing, weathering trials (storms) and blessings (sunshine) or perhaps a growing experience....or a learning experience (wind) that we learn, that we grow, that we show that we've actually been part of the world. Getting down and dirty, but not letting the weight of responsibility weigh us down.


Strengthen yourself, Hold to the right. As long as you can trust in your supports no matter what the weather. Then. Your ship will stay afloat.
Stay afloat Arcis Ankels
Each journey we take is unique filled with different paths, currents, and weather.
What may be easy for one, is hard for another.
What a small dingy can survive, a huge ocean liner may not.
We have our different weaknesses. Some things we can sail through no problem while others struggle, yet when we struggle others may have an easier time.
Do not judge too harshly the shiny boats, that seem to have an effortless time in the waters.
They may be hiding huge weaknesses that can sink them.
Don't judge the shabby rowboats that move less quickly then you.
They have strengths that we can't see, that keep them steady and afloat in the storms.
We all need each other. The tug boat guides the ship into and out of the harbor. Or comes to their aid.
We have different responsibilities Some are huge, some are small.
But what matters....what counts...
Is if you can stand up, shoulder those responsibilities, and do them to the best of your abilities.
And no matter what.
You can be great in your own niche of the world.
There is no need to be jealous. The shiny or the dull, each has a duty to fulfill.
And we all need each other to lean upon.
Support to keep us afloat, even if we run into trouble (icebergs, reefs, shallow waters)


No matter what size, shape, color, or age your ship. no matter if its built from drift wood or from steel.
You are important, and you can stay strong.
Don't let any flaws into your design.
Because it will just hurt you in the end if the 'right' weather (in the sense that its bad weather) hits you when you least expect it and sinks you to the bottom where you will have a really difficult time recovering.. :S


You may be safe in the harbor, but the adventure is in the sailing. :)
Good luck on your journey. :)


Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!


-Sarnic Dirchi