Life Update

Okay, wow. It's been a lot longer than I thought. Sorry about that...The end of summer was really busy, and now that school's started, there's very little time for me to do very much recreational activities often.
This presents a rather large problem--when will I blog? Write? Sing? Honestly, whenever I have time. Though it may not be as often as anyone would like, I will post when I can.

Now to what I actually want to talk about. In my English class, we recently had to read "The Death of the Moth," by Virginia Woolf. If you haven't yet read this, I would highly recommend it. The language is beautiful, and the meaning and insight behind it is, well, thought provoking. When we were going over the essay, I was struck by the beautiful sadness about it. Then, when asked what I thought about it, I somehow managed to put exactly what I was thinking into words that were comprehensible and eloquent. That was kind of a big deal for me, because I've never been able to do that before.
For me, this was a sign of sorts. For the past year or two, I've been struggling with the idea of what I want to do with my life after high school. I've been caught between music and English, and I haven't started to seriously look at schools yet because I'm not sure what I want to do. I mean, it's a big choice, deciding what you want to be when you "grow up!"
Now, I am a Christian. If you are not, I ask you to please respect my beliefs when reading this next bit.
In recent times, I've been praying for guidance on where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to do after finishing high school. To me, in that class, that was my answer. While it may seem simple, and that I am over-thinking things, I had a moment of clarity that, yes, this is what I am supposed to do. Music will always, always have a place in my life, and if I can, I want to minor in it, but I feel rather sure of myself that English what I want to do.
Needless to say, I really like the class. It's a bit like a philosophy class when we start discussing things as a class and it reminds me why I love English so much. I'm also starting to have more of an appreciation for nonfiction writing.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I think I may have found what I want to do with my life, or at least a part of it, anyway.

Tuesday Open Mic Nights

WOW. I just got back from singing my first open mic night and WOW. It was...really different from anything that I've ever done before. Usually, I do little recitals or do sing a song in church in which I only ever sing one song. The closest thing I've ever done to an open mic is sing a few songs with my dad at a Labor Day party, and there he usually does all the talking.

Here, it was all me. I had to introduce the songs and talk during the dead space while the piano was getting set up for each song. It was weird. Anyone that knows me knows that while I'm perfectly fine singing in front of people, talking in front of people is a whole different story.  I feel very awkward and I strongly dislike the sound of my voice through a speaker.

Luckily for me, the crowd tonight wasn't huge, and they were all very welcoming to the "newbie." Even so, I still managed to mess up the words to "A Thousand Years"...no one really seemed to care though. Hopefully I'll get to go back sometime soon!

Farewell, Matt Smith

For those of you that are whovians, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who have no idea who Matt Smith or The Doctor are, I would suggest you skip this one, as you'll be completely lost.

Early this month, BBC announced that Matt Smith would be leaving Doctor Who in the upcoming Christmas 2013 special. This was nothing I didn't expect. In fact, I had said to my friends multiple times, "I'm just getting that feeling that it's time for a new Doctor. I won't be surprised if he leaves this year." Then I heard about Season 8 being confirmed brushed my concerns aside, never even thinking that just because the new season had been confirmed didn't mean that Matt was going to be staying on.

It all came rushing back at me when I logged onto the Doctor Who Website to find this announcement staring me in the face. I actually covered my mouth in shock! I quickly read through the article, hoping it wasn't true, even though I knew it was.

You see, dear lovelies, expecting something to happen and knowing that its going to happen are two very different things indeed. I said I saw it coming, and I did, I really did. But you have to understand, the Eleventh Doctor was my Doctor. Statistics say the that majority of people favor David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, and I know more than a few people who favor Christopher Eccelston's Ninth Doctor. Very few people around me favor Matt Smith's Eleven like I do (Do any of you? Let me know in the comments). He was the one that made me fall in love with the show, the reason that I went back and watched from the beginning of 2005 with Eccelston.

So I will be very, very sad when my Doctor dies. I don't expect it to be as exciting as Tennant's. I think that the Eleventh Doctor will be more...prepared. He'll embrace his turning into a new man, because then he might be able to look back on memories of Amy, River, and Rory without as much pain. What do you think?

As sad as I am, I'm slowly becoming more and more excited as well. I mean, this is going to be my first live regeneration! And a new Doctor, that in itself is exciting enough! Do you have any preferences for the Twelveth Doctor? I think that Andrew Scott (aka Moriarty in BBC's Sherlock) would make a good Doctor, but I'm really pretty much open to anybody. I kind of want to not like him (or her!) at the beginning, and then have them be so awesome that I have no choice but to love them. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Andrew Scott

Making a Schedule

For a while now, I've been considering making a schedule for this blog, and I've finally decided on one. From now on, every Monday and Thursday I will be making a new post.

Originally, I didn't want to make a schedule, because I didn't want to make this feel like a mandatory thing I had to do. I wanted, and still do want, this to be a fun thing that I can do in my free time. However, even fun things sometimes need to be fit into the schedule.

I'm sure that many of you have noticed that I sometimes there's a rather long break between posts. In the summer, it's pretty easy to keep up with this. But when school starts up, it can be really difficult for me to have any time to put aside to make new posts.

That's why I'm setting this schedule for myself. I want to be able to keep motivated to stay interested in this and make new content. This blog is the first venture of me putting myself on the internet, investing myself in something that isn't purely social. I enjoy it, and want to stay interested.

Hopefully, none of you find this inconvenient. I'm counting on it being helpful, if anything else. We'll find out together, shall we?

The Mortal Instruments

For those of you that haven't read this book series, you definitely should go and check it out. It's a really good read, and Cassandra Clare masterfully paints pictures of forbidden love, monsters, enemies, frenemies, war, and family all the while using third person omniscient, a tense that I, personally, have a lot of trouble writing in.The characters of her story are very real and very personal, so that you end up passionately hating some and equally loving others, and others you're just not sure about. The series consists of: City of Bones (soon to be a movie), City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and the not-yet-published City of Heavenly Fire.

What I found really awesome about this was that originally, Clare only ever planned for the books to be a trilogy. Then, due to events that Clare talks about here on her livejournal, she decided to write three more books. She's said she won't continue from there, but who knows? She might be talked into it.

Happy Father's Day

So, I don't know about all of you, but I truly am my father's daughter. My dad is one of my best friends, and I feel like I don't tell him that enough. That's why I'm so glad to have Father's Day, just so I can remember to say "thanks." So this is for my dad: Thanks. Thank you to a Dad who has been there for me since I was small enough to fit in the crook of your arm. Thank you for playing Sega with me when I was little, thank you for always encouraging me in my music no matter what, that for being as addicted to BBC Sherlock as I am, thank you for being you. I love you, Dad.

For anyone that has any father figure in your life, remember to take some time, not just today, but all the time, to make sure that they know that you appreciate them and care for them and wouldn't be the same without them. Sometimes they need a little reminder.

Music

Music is a big thing in my life. I've played the flute since I was nine years old, and I've been singing since before I can remember. I've always been a singer. When I was little, my parents and I were at a fair that had an open mic. I ran up and sang and when the woman tried to take the mic when I was finished, I put up my little hand and said, "Not without the big finish!" I don't remember it, but I've heard the story enough times to feel like I do.

Another thing I don't remember involving music also involves childhood dreams. When I was asked what I wanted to be, I said a backup singer. As I've grown, I've become more of my own singer, but I still think that singing backup is fun.

I tend to find a song or song lyrics to go with every situation. I've written a number of short stories and poems based off of songs. I'll hear a song and think of a situation or a fandom related thing (my current kick is Doctor Who, hiatus does that to me). Because music is such a source of inspiration for me, I think it's about time I start incorporating it into "Stories from the Purple Chair".

As you might have noticed, on my last post I used a Spotify Play button. It's the first time I've ever done anything of the sort, and I personally liked it. I'm not saying it'll be on every post. However, I want you guys to have some say. Did you like it? Is it too early to tell? Or should I just stop altogether? Does it set the mood for reading the article? Let me know any of your thoughts on it in the comments. Or any of your thoughts in general. That would be nice too.