Sunday Stealing: Nerd Alert

1. Favorite childhood book? 

The Narnia series probably

2. What are you reading right now? 

Freddy Goes to Florida

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

None

4. Bad book habit?

Starting a book and not finishing it

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?

A Calvin and Hobbes comic book, Every Day Deserves a Chance by Max Lucado, a Garfield comic book and the movie From Up on Poppy Hill.

6. Do you have an e-reader?

Yes

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

I prefer to read one fiction book at a time and one non-fiction book at a time, but I always end up starting some new non-fiction book and not finishing the last one.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?

Not really

9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far)?

I started reading The Cat from Outer Space, the movie of which I loved when I was little, but since the book was written from the movie, I found it shallow and identical to the movie. So I knew exactly what was going to happen next, there was nothing new. I didn't see the point in wasting my time reading any more of it.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?

The Tale of Despereaux and Flora and Ulysses both by Kate DiCamillo

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?

I don't know if I have a reading comfort zone. I guess romance is out of my comfort zone because I know it's unhealthy for me and I think it's disgusting! I recently read some Louis L'amour stories which were the first real western stories I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed them!

12. What is your reading comfort zone?

Probably clean. I don't stay only in the Christian genre because a lot of Christian novels are bland, but I never read books that I know will have bad language or anything else in them. I like classics and the books written for pre-teens. I find that those books have a lot more depth and beauty to them than adult books.

13. Can you read on the bus?

No, I get too distracted by other people and I'm too curious about my surroundings to be able to focus

14. Favorite place to read?

On my bed or walking in circles in the living room

15. What is your policy on book lending?

I only lend to Little Sister and my only rule is that she gets it back to my shelf after she's done with it. 

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?

Not fiction books, but some non-fiction books that I own

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?

Same as the last answer, I write my thoughts, questions and reactions to a couple non-fiction books that I own.

18. Not even with text books?

Yeah, with textbooks too. I'd draw little cartoon characters to keep me company and write humerus comments to what was being read.

19. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

Well, the only thing I can think of is the Louis L'amour books. I didn't know what to expect with it being a western. But since they're my best friend's favorite books, I sorta figured I'd like them too, which I did!

20. What makes you love a book?

A good book is simple, from the eyes of a child but deep and meaningful, holding more insight into life than an adult's complicated view. This is why I love Kate DiCamillo's books, and prefer to read books for pre-teens. C.S. Lewis once said something about that,

 “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”

 Basically, though, any book that helps me see the beauty in life and see how everything is working out for good. That good endings are possible in real life too.

Where's the Pause Button?

You know what the strangest thing about the disasters in life is? It’s the abrupt normalcy that life reverts back to after it’s over. You might not be normal inside, but for all appearances, outwardly, life almost looks the same... as if nothing had ever happened. Where’s the drawn out drama? Where’s the life shaken upside-down, nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-again evidence to do the tragedy justice?

When the stretcher is rolled away… there are still breakfast dishes to clean up from.

When the text comes late at night saying that your best friend is being rushed to the hospital… there’s still a room to clean up the next day.

When your mom wakes you up in the middle of the night and says she’s leaving on the next flight because Grandpa is in the hospital… you still crawl sleepily back into bed.

When your brother leaves and says he’s not coming back… you still have school to do, there’s still a math lesson to be graded.

When your dad tells you Mom was just in a car accident… he still has to go to work and you have to get supper for your little sister.

As a writer it strikes me as strange, how life doesn’t stop because of a tragic event. How the world just keeps on spinning. It almost doesn’t seem fair. Inside you’re different, shaken up and turned inside out… but life just doesn’t let you have a moment to process it. There are no smooth transitions back into daily chores.

But perhaps that fact is a blessing, and something that offers a small bit of hope. The daily chores that keep the hands busy; that give you a purpose when there’s nothing you can do to help the ones you love. And if life outwardly can calm down and go back to normal, it can remind that eventually, although not right away, things inwardly can calm down too.

If life did stop whenever a tragedy struck, we’d never get to the other side of it. But because life does keep going, faithfully moving forward one moment at a time, we find ourselves eventually looking on another dawn, full of hope.

Sunday Social: X

How did you come up with your blog name?

When I was thirteen, Mom was helping me set up my email account and we were trying to come up with a name for it. I didn't want a boring name, so I kept suggesting things related to Lord of the Rings, dragons, fairies, and other things. But nothing quite fit. Finally Mom, amused with all the different fantasy and imaginative things I was thinking of, suggested "how about 'Daydreamer'?" I loved it! It's become sort of my brand name across the many different websites I am active in. I am The Daydreamer. The main title though came in an attempt to sum up what this blog would be about. It wouldn't just be about my drawings, or my writings, or any one topic, my blog is just me and all the variety that comes with that, the adventure of life.

What is your favorite thing about blogging?

Being able to write about the various adventures that I have!

What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now cant live without?

 uh... I haven't really discovered anything...


Facebook or Twitter? and why?

Facebook, because it's more personal. I get to see what's going on in the lives of other people that I know and make posts about what's going on in mine.

If one celeb read your blog who would you want it to be?

Brant Hansen, cause he's a lot like me; a fellow introvert, Lord of the Rings fan, and his views on these humans that we live amongst helps me understand people a little better.

What is something you want people to know about your blog?

It won't ever follow much of a predictable pattern. It's not just about one thing, it's all about my life, and that's a lot of things. Plus, I often get bored of writing in one style, so my style is sorta always changing with my mood.

Bio Bit: Larry Burrows

Seeing It Through to the End

 "What’s the hardest thing of all? It’s to keep feeling. Yet if you feel too much – you’d break." - Larry Burrows

            Ever leave a story unfinished? It’s just left hanging there, in a strange limbo of not knowing how it’s ever going to end. For Larry Burrows, he wasn’t willing to have this happen to his story. A British war photographer for Life magazine, he felt it his job to document the stories of the Vietnam War to the end. It was his hope to one day photograph a Vietnam at peace. Getting a job as an

Life

errand boy in the London bureau of Life at sixteen he eventually was allowed to print some photographs, which happened to be of war. They fascinated him. It became his goal to be a war photographer himself, and with the Vietnam War, he got that chance. Exposed to all the same dangers and miserable conditions soldiers are, being a war photographer wasn’t easy. Most photographers on a newspaper deadline would stay only short periods of time. Larry Burrows, however, working for a magazine, was given much more freedom to be able to take his time. Staying in the field for longer periods of time meant he could build more trusting relationships with the soldiers and to better understand everything that was going on. Life was concerned for his safety, though. Due to his poor eyesight, he would get right in the midst of the action to get his pictures. Once, he apologized to the editors saying “sorry if my captioning is not up to standard … but with all that sniper fire around, I didn’t dare wave a white notebook.” (1) Because of their concern, Life would constantly send him off to less action filled assignments, such as taking pictures of Mother Theresa, or capturing images of rare birds (2). After completing such assignments, though, Burrows would always return back to the battlefield. This fact could make one question his emotional stability, if he took too much pleasure in the violence, but as Greg Fallis writes of him “unlike some of the photographers who returned often to Vietnam, Burrows wasn’t an adrenaline junkie. He was, instead, determined to cover the war to the end, that was his assignment and he wouldn’t quit until the assignment was finished.” (2) 

 

Life

In February, 1971, Larry boarded a military helicopter, along with three other journalist photographers, heading over enemy territory. The helicopter was shot down near the border of Laos. Because of the location, no one dared to go look for the bodies, and Larry Burrows became MIA. Many years later, upon investigation, all they found of him in the deteriorating wreckage were pieces of his smashed up cameras. For Larry Burrows, the story was ended. The

Larry and the three other photographers as they board the helicopter | UTATA

assignment left uncompleted. He never got the chance to photograph a Vietnam at peace after all. Through his powerful photographs, though, he opened people’s eyes to the horrors of war. He showed soldiers together - brothers - who lived, suffered and died together. Larry Burrows changed the world through his photographs, in ways that he probably wouldn’t have even dared to hope.

 "Larry was English, a polite man, self-effacing, warm with his friends but totally cool in combat. He had deep passions, and the deepest was to make people confront the reality of the war, not look away from it. He was more concerned with people than with issues, and he had great sympathy for those who suffered …" -LIFE’s Managing Editor, Ralph Graves

Bibliography

(1.) "Vietnam War: The Story Behind Larry Burrows’ Photo, ‘Reaching Out’ | LIFE | TIME.com." LIFE. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. 

(2.) "Sunday Salon with Greg Fallis." Sunday Salon » Larry Burrows. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.

 

Sunday Social: IX

1. Favorite Month and why?

September. Since my birthday is in that month, it's always felt like "my month." Also, I love the weather, it gets cooler, but still is enjoyable and the leaves begin to change colors and you start thinking about warm foods and good books and Thanksgiving coming up. It's a warm and cozy, but at the same time, sad and wistful month because fall is beautiful, but summer is dying.

Image Credit: Mom

2. Favorite Holiday and why?

Thanksgiving! There's good food, fun times with family and friends, and no pressure to buy or receive gifts. It's a time when being with the people you love is gift enough. And I feel as if I have just recently answered this question...

3. Are you getting the new iPhone or are you more of an Android person?

Ha! My phone, bought only for $5.00, is all I need. It's got a slide out keyboard for texting and number buttons for calling. That's all a phone really needs (plus a camera. I sometime call my mom's phone a camera cause that's about all I use it for!) I'm not even sure if it falls into either of the above brand names... it's definitely not an iphone, so if all other phones fall into the other category, than that's what I've got.

4. Most thoughtful gift you have ever received from someone?

 This one's hard... although I've gotten a lot of amazing gifts in my 18 years, the one that comes to my mind as being "thoughtful" was when Oldest Brother gave me a figurine of the Final Fantasy X character, Yuna and a set of golden metal keyblades from the video game Kingdom Hearts. Maybe it's just because it speaks to my geeky side though!

The Southeastern

5. Something you can’t wait to splurge on?

I feel like I just splurged on some summer clothes that were on sale for $2.00 a piece... and I feel like I splurge each time I pay for my own meal when eating out... but future splurges? I don't have a lot on my wish list. I've got more than I need and am extremely blessed. I guess there's nothing I'm looking forward to splurging on (except maybe to see how cheaply I can get some new winter clothes next spring!)