☆ 2014 >> 2015 ☆ Some Thoughts & Reflections

Happy New Year, dear friends!  May 2015 bring you, your family, and your friends many blessings and much happiness.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas season and that the joy and blessings are continuing to linger on as this New Year spreads its wings.

That being said… Woo-hoo for my first post the year 2015!! *^_^* I like to think that my blog has had a pretty productive 2014.  I’m proud of myself for keeping up with it as often as I did… ya’ll know that I have the attention span of a Labrador retriever puppy and I get bored of things so easily and also that oftentimes, I’m just plain lazy.  What a miracle that I managed to mostly keep up with at least the Monthly Favorites posts.

Now that I’ve been able to find the time to look back and reflect on 2014, I can say that I have indeed had a very “good” year in general.  I’ve been going through diaries, photos, writings, and drawings that I did throughout the year.  So many beautiful memories made!  So many inspirations which sparked great ideas that very well may become future successes!  I could spend hours typing up thoughts on these experiences.

As far as resolutions go, I’m pleased to say that I did fairly well!  I’ve been attending Mass and other sacred ceremonies much more often, kept my blog updated, wrote more letters, started drawing realism and painting with watercolor, and if I may say so, I’ve nearly exhausted my supply of charity.  Ha ha!  In all seriousness, though, I was involved with countless projects for church and school, parish and beyond, family and friends.  I admit that, with work and uni, things got quite stressful at times, but Our Lord and His Blessed Mother have helped me every step of the way.  There is no doubt of that.

Helping others is always a rewarding experience, and this has certainly proved to be true in my experiences this past year.  Out of all of the resolutions that I set for 2014, exercising charity is my greatest victory and one that I know God is very pleased with.  I hope that I can continue to be of service to anyone in my community who needs me.

Among my best memories from this is past year are the Klamath Falls trip, counseling at the Girls’ Summer Camp in California, and of course, everything about December and Christmas.  I’ve made new friendships that I hope will stay with me until the end of my days, and the ones I already had are stronger than ever.  As I grow older and I’m finally starting to venture out a bit and test the waters, I’ve spent so much time with my friends, more than ever, and they’ve become family to me.

Speaking of family, my relationships with my parents and all of my siblings have been going strong, too.  They are at the crux of my heart and the foundation under my feet and I would be very lost without them.

My greatest difficulty, as many of you already know, has been my psoriasis.  This is the fourth and worst occurrence I’ve had of this miserable immune system disorder that unfortunately manifests itself in red, itchy plagues of death all over the skin.  I’ve learned how to deal with it, however.  I’ve found the skincare and makeup products that work for me, and I’m sticking to them until I can completely flush this out of my system.  From the inside out, instead of relying on topical prescriptions to only remove the visible signs of the disease.  Nope.  I’m going to root this problem out from the core.

Honestly, despite all difficulties, I’ve had a wonderful year.

…So, what about 2015?  What are my intentions for this New Year that is overflowing with hope and possibility?

My resolutions this year are rather broad and simplistic.

v  Spiritual betterment is always my first and primary resolution.  This year particularly in regards to more frequent prayer, “little” sacrifices, and spiritual reading.

v  I’m just going to throw this out there: I ate a lot of crap this past year.  Lots of sugar and chips.  LOL.  Let’s not repeat that, Ashley.  Also, I think at least 15 minutes of exercise per day would be very beneficial.  This will also help with the healing of my psoriasis.

v  Finish university strong.  I just began my last term with SLU, and I’m hoping for a 95 or higher in these courses, as all of them deal with subject matter that I enjoy and am comfortable with.

v  Focus more on creative hobbies.  I feel that despite small successes like self-teaching myself new art genres and being published in literary magazines, my art and writing really suffered this past year because I missed so many opportunities for no good reason.

v  This goes with the preceding resolution: publish a book.

v  Driver’s license.  I think I’ve put this one off for long enough!

v  Get a summer job.  I’ve been a teacher since I graduated from high school.  I think it would be good for me to try something different for a few months or so and see how it goes.

And there you have it.  My resolutions for the New Year 2015.  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you.

That’s about it for this post… Again, there is so much that I could say.  That I want to say.  But there is a time for everything and my time for today is spent.  As stated by a wise character in one of my recently revived writing projects, “The difference between giving up and giving in is the difference between hate and love; stubbornness and patience.”

I would like to mention that ever since I spent New Year’s Eve doing a Holy Hour in the chapel, I’ve had this gut feeling that 2015 is going to be an absolutely beautiful year—the best year yet.  I’m not sure if this is just a consolation from God or something that my optimistic mind has conjured up all on its own, but I’m going to dare to believe it.

This is going to be the best year yet.

P.S. December Favorites post on the way!

The Last Goodbye?

Greetings again, dear friends.

 

Last night, I had the immense pleasure of attending a midnight showing of the third and final installment of the beloved Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.

You know me.  I am the very epitome of a fangirl.  I spent several hours after the film spazzing about this and that and everything beyond and in-between.  Smaug’s siege and destruction.  The battle scenes.  The one-on-ones.  The wraiths.  Elrond.  Everything about Thranduil.  Bard.  Legolas (despite the fact that he is a sassypants show-off like his father).  Those rams large enough to ride on up the side of a mountain.  Kiliel (I SHIP IT).  Bilbo's little nose twitch thing.  And lots of other things that aren’t coming to my mind as I write this.  Pretty much the whole movie.  It’s been a while, oddly enough, since I so heavily abused caps lock, exclamation points, and nonsensical emoticons.

After my inner (and outer…) fangirl calmed down to a stable state, however, I realized what my true emotions were in regards to the film.

            Tauriel: ‘…Why does it hurt so much?’

            Thranduil: ‘Because it was real.’

I have ventured to many distant lands.  Each one has a special place in my heart and mind that is a permanent part of my being.  Middle Earth holds some of my particularly fondest memories.

The point is that The Battle of Five Armies, another end to another fantastic adventure, will continue to haunt me with sentimentality and nostalgia for many years to come.

When The Return of the King released, I was still quite young and a bit naïve in the ways of the world, but now that I’m an adult and am burdened with my cares and experiences, I’ve learned to value these childhood fantasies and to approach them in a very different way than I did before.  The wonderful thing is, that I can always relive them.

          “There and back again.”

As I mentioned in my previous post, I tend to judge films very subjectively.  That’s just how I am.  I wouldn’t necessarily call myself my Tolkien purist, but I am in agreement that this movie is in no way perfect in relation to the book.  There are so many things that I could pick at and whine about, but honestly, this movie was so epic that I feel like I can overlook those things quite easily, for the most part.  There are several things that I wish weren’t left out and certain things that I would change if I could, but that’s not what this post is about so I won’t go there.

The book is the book and the movie is the movie.

This movie made me feel so...inspired.  As an artist and a writer, this is a most beautiful feeling.  Battle of the Five Armies was entertaining from start to finish, with nonstop action and continuous development of both character and story.  I’m quite surprised, honestly, how much was covered in just two hours and a half.  I am impressed.

It goes without saying that this is something very near and dear to me.  What I have been able to articulate and put together to form this blog post barely scratches the surface of my thoughts on this topic.  There is so much more that could be said.

            “To these memories I will hold
            With your blessing I will go
            To turn at last to paths that lead home
            And though where the road then takes me
            I cannot tell
            We came all this way
            But now comes the day
            To bid you farewell.”

            —“The Last Goodbye,” Billy Boyd

Despite previously declaring that Battle of the Five Armies would be his last film within the Tolkien universe, director Peter Jackson recently stated that he would “probably” be up for another journey in Middle Earth.  Mr. Jackson, I’d definitely be up for that, too.

So is this really the last goodbye?

Personally, I’m going to hope that this isn’t the case. I think that the greatest stories are the ones that are never-ending; the ones that will forever be immortalized within the hearts of those who believe that there are much higher things in this existence, even if some of those things are just in our imaginations.

 “Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though I oft have passed them by,

A day will come at last when I

Shall take the hidden paths that run

West of the Moon, East of the Sun.”

“The Road Goes Ever On,” J.R.R. Tolkien