Friday Five

You know you've fallen behind on posting when your F5s are practically cheek-to-cheek, but...

1. Going to Stations of the Cross with my family tonight, just like every Friday of Lent. My patron saint is Saint Veronica, the woman who "flouted the Romans" by stepping out of the crowd and wiping Jesus' face as He struggled to carry His Cross to Calvary, which is depicted in the sixth Station. I love the Stations, which is part of the reason I chose St. Veronica; the other reason is that she helped Jesus, she showed Him love when he needed it the most, and for that I love her enough that I wish to be like her. If you haven't experienced this traditional devotion for yourself, I suggest you do. It gives you a whole new appreciation of the Passion. And it doesn't matter what denomination you are; if you love Christ, then take the time to walk the Way of Sorrow with Him.
2. My current obsession is origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. So far I've made a tulip, an ugly lily (didn't turn out as it should have), a dove, and a flock of orizuru (cranes). I can now make a crane without consulting a diagram! I find all of the patterns, along with some handy photos and links to instructions, at Origami, a blog devoted entirely to origami. What else.
3. Lenten Reading Fast update: I have begun reading Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen and it is a-mazing! I want to quote it at least every other page. I'm only to the second chapter, but he's already blown my mind a bit with his explanation of eternity. Not an easy concept to grasp as we are finite creatures who cannot wrap our minds fully around what eternity is, but it was fun to read about. The reason he was trying to explain eternity: the prologue to the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word, etc." It's not like he's shown me anything new, but he's helped me to see it more clearly, which is perhaps even better.
4. I volunteered at the food bank on Monday with my dad and two of my three sisters. It was a lot of fun. Everyone there was so nice. We helped 245 people, a new record for that food bank. I'm really looking forward to going again next month (the FB only operates once a  month). I wish I could write more about that experience, but anything else I could say would come off as either boastful or sickeningly sentimental. Sometimes you have such a good time doing something good that words just can't do it justice.
5. Tomorrow is a very busy day at church and beyond. First is Mass, then a brunch followed by a Lenten reflection, Reconciliation (part of the First Saturday Devotion), then the newly Confirmed are doing a service project. Oh, yeah! My Confirmation kids were Cofirmed last Saturday! Hurray!!! (I think I saw my librarian there, too...) The Cofirmation Mass was one of the proudest, most humbling, happiest yet at the same time sad events of my life. Proud because God had called me to work with these amazing kids; humbling because I didn't really have anything to do with their being up there, they were called by God to join His Church; happy because they're now as fully incorporated into the Body of Christ as they will be on this earth; and sad because my time as their catechist is over. I'm going to miss having them as a class.

I am
Zombie Girrrl
& I gotta
go or I'll
be late for
Sations of the Cross

Friday Five

In which I regale you with the happenings of my life.

1. My Lenten reading fast is going... well. I'm craving a little Harry Potter and there are a bunch of books I won these past couple months that I would very much like to read, but it's nice to purge the ol' system of God-less books and read something where He is as much the focus as He should be. Not that I've had much time to read lately, though...
2. Because my Confirmation kids are being Confirmed by the bishop TOMORROW. I can't believe it's here already. FYI: I'm a Roman Catholic and a catechist, basically a Sunday school teacher, at my church and help teach the Confirmation class, which are the 9th and 10th grade kids who are (were) preparing to receive the last Sacrament of Innitiation (there are 3: Baptism, which all Christians have in common; Confirmation, in which we are strengthened and sealed by the Holy Spirit; and Eucharist, which, as the Body of Christ, is the regular nourishment that a soul requires, etc.). Anywhoodle. Please pray for them and all the confirmandi that they will receive with open hearts and willing spirits the strength and Gifts that they need to live bravely their Christian vocations. Thanks!
3. I volunteered at my local Humane Society animal shelter last Friday, and I highly reccomend that y'all do the same. I went with my Confirmation kids as part of a service project they decided to do while on retreat, and, seriously, it is so rewarding. All we did was walk and wash dogs and love on some kitties, but that's all you have to do! The animals just want to be out of their cages and with people, and giving them the exercise and attention they need is a lot of fun. The staff were saints, I mean, to be able to love and care for that many animals, and they were all so well cared for even though the shelter was run down and underfunded. And I just want to say: whatever stigma you may have about shelter dogs, about them maybe being mean biters or that they're there for a reason, is wrong. Those were the sweetest dogs and cats, and they just wanted love. So, next time you're looking for a family pet, go to the shelter! Oh, yeah, and the dog I walked was a basset hound/ labrador mix named Snicker. He was the sweetest thing with the stubbiest legs! I called him Embassidor Snicker. Get it? Bassit labridor? I crack myself up.
4. Spring has sprung! Not really news (especially if you live up North and have seen neither hide nor hair of the elusive spring), but I'm just so happy! I wore shorts this week. Shorts! Jubilation!
5. And lastly, an example of what happens when I try to write an essay about zombies. But first, a brief explanation: On Random Buzzers, the site where you earn "buzz bucks" to buy Random House books by doing challenges, there was one such challege where you had to write a 200 word essay about what you would look like as a zombie. Everytime I began writing, I became carried away and wound up writing something along the lines of this:

The wounds on my arms burns, but it’s nothing compared with the heaviness in my limbs or the helium in my head. I feel as though my body were sinking into a thick, dark ocean of fire while my head—or maybe my soul—was floating away on a zephyrous breeze. Floating, yet still anchored to my failing body, fully aware of what is happening.
I am on fire.
I am drowning in fire.
I stagger on, breathing heavily and colliding with trees, their bark rough beneath my leaden fingers. The earth pitches beneath my feet and I sink to the leafy floor like St. Peter in his moment of doubt. I land hard on my seat and the impact causes me to bite my tongue. My mouth is flooded with the metallic sweetness of blood, but the pain is no worse than anything else I am feeling. Or maybe there is no more pain. Maybe I’m beyond pain. I know now that I am beyond help.
I think of my family piling into the car as the cacophonous, collective moan of the hoard drew nearer, of my mother screaming as a lone figure rounded the corner of our house and lurched toward us with the inevitability of time.
I froze.
When I finally did move, it went all wrong. I was not used to wielding blunt weapons and I did not know how to take a person down quickly—or that it was better in some instances to run. He got inside my swing and—and…
My family left me.
I am glad they did.
Looking down at my hands, because I cannot lift my head anymore, I see that my fingers have turned ashen, the nails are bruised and blue-tinged. The toothy wounds no longer bleed; I can see the whiteness of my bones beneath. I try to wiggle my fingers, but they do not want to respond. My mind is playing a riff from a song I can no longer name, but the deadened flesh will not move.
I want to cry.
I want to scream.
I try to do both but the only thing that escapes my lips is that dreadful moan. It scares me so badly that I quickly stop. I listen hard for a second—or a minute, who knows—sure that the noise came from something else, but it was me. I know it. I know what I am becoming. What I nearly am.
I want my mom.
I want her to hold me and say that everything is going to be okay.
I want her to lie to me, and I want to believe it.
I want…
water.
My head lolls onto my shoulder and I see the gleam of still, cool water. I want it. I am on fire.
Somehow I manage to drag my dying body to the edge of the pool and prop myself up on my numb elbows. Looking into the sudden depth of the water, the leaves shimmering around my head, I see myself for what I have become. I am grey with dark bruises beneath my eyes. There is blood dripping down my chin; my own blood, I know, but it seems more like a vision of what will be. My hair is matted with sweat and leaves and there is even a blue feather stuck in there. I marvel at the beauty of it, contrasting so perfectly with the red of the blood and the green of the leaves. Then I meet my own gaze.
The primal, animalistic, throat-rending cry tears its way out of my mouth and it will not stop. I cannot stop screaming after seeing the dull, hateful hunger in my own eyes.
I am horror.
Finally, my arms give out and I am silenced by the coolness of the water.
The string that attached my soul to my body, fine as spider silk, snaps with a soft sort of feeling. It is almost a relief to be free of the fire-ridden, heavy body.
For a moment, I see myself from above, lying face-down in the water. I feel a tug from behind me, but I want to see what happens next. The tug is insistent, though not threatening in the least, but it yields to my curiosity. I float for a moment longer watching my body. It does not move, and relief floods my soul—for that is all that I am now. A soul.
The body in the water is not me anymore. So I know that it is not my will that causes it to stir. Not by my will does it raise its dreadful head and rise to its uncertain feet. Not by my will does it turn back toward the town I fled from hours ago, back toward the neighbors and families I loved too much to endanger by dying on familiar ground.
The teeth that were mine gnash the air. The fingers with which I played music grasp at the victim which is not yet before it.
I turn toward the warm, tugging Presence behind me, tired of this world and its endless suffering, and am taken Home.

This happened several times. The essay-turned-story, I mean, not turning into a zombie. Obviously. Zombies can't type. Anyway. I finally just took the shortest of the "essays" and butchered it down to the mandatory 200 words. It is nowhere near as good as it was, but it fit their requirement. Will I win the signed Carrie Ryan books that were the grand prize of this challenge? Probably not. Could I have if they had let me use all 500 or so words that I wanted? You tell me.

i am
zombie girrrl
and i rather detest
word restrictions

Friday Five

Ack! It's Friday again!
Okay, here we go.

1. I finally got a You Tube account1, so now I can vlog. Hurray. I don't know why I'm so excited to do this, seeing as how I'm not a particularly big fan of vlogs, it's probably because it's easier to tell you some things than it is to write them and I'm lazy like that. The fact that they're fun to make might have something to do with it as well.
2. Lent starts this up coming week with Ash Wednesday, and I have a bit of a reading challenge in store. It's more of a personal thing, but I'm going to be posting about it anyway because I thought it would be cool if someone would like to join me. More details to come, probably later today or tomorrow.
3. Contest announcements: Today is the LAST DAY TO ENTER for a signed poster and bookmarks from the Breathless Reads Tour. It's a pretty cool poster featuring the covers for The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller, Matched by Ally Condie, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, and, of course, it's signed by all five authors. Also, my CSN Stores Giveaway has about a week left until it closes, so if you haven't entered yet, be sure to.
4. Speaking of the Breathless Reads Tour, now seems as good a time as any to relate the story. I had a really good time, which is good because it makes the reeeaaallly long drive worth it. I met some bloggers, well, more like one blogger, namely Laura from Tattoed Books. There were others there, I just didn't have the gaul to walk up to perfect strangers and say HI more than once. Such is life. Anywhoodle. It was a lot of fun listening to the authors questions during the Q&A portion, mainly because the all had such different writing styles. My question was: Who would you cast as your main character. I can't remember all the answers, but Kirsten Miller said she wanted the girl from Easy A and that she always pictures, get this, Paul Newman as her leading guy. Hilarious story behind that, BTW2. Beth Revis said she'd want a new-comer as Elder. Brenna Yovanoff said she'd have a hard time picking because there was always one little thing wrong with her favorites, i.e. they're too old or something, and that she wasn't up on the whole Hollywood scene. Niether am I. We got a group picture; from left to right: Kirsten Miller (a very witty lady with much in common with 12YO's), Laura (she's super nice), Ally Condie (who writes because she hates sorting socks), Brenna Yovanoff  (who was homeschooled and wrote many, many, many stories before The Replacement, which I am currently reading), Me (who stands awkwardly in group photos), Andrea Cremer (she enjoys writing kissing scenes), Ren (darn birds!), and Beth Revis (a professed fangirl who likes to blow things up. In her stories! Yeesh).
So anyway, I went to the signing with Ren. We'd been planning on going with Orchid as well, but she got sick, literally, at the last second, so she had to stay home. It was such a bummer, but Ren, who is full of great ideas, decided that we'd just get her a card and ask all the authors to sign it. And, guess what. They did! She was so excited when we gave it to her. So, I'll wrap this segment up by saying thanks to everyone who signed the card! Orchid loved it.
5. And lastly, I leave you with a bit of a geek-out in the from of a (very) short story about my favorite fantasy realm, Tortall: The first time Gem had strung a bow she had been so nervous that her sweat-slick fingers failed to secure the string which then slid off the bow causing it to spring back and snap her her sqaure in the forehead. She remembered well the pain, but more sharp in her mind was the humiliation of hearing her brothers laughter and taunts. Her father, ever patient, had consoled her and, more importantly, humbled her brothers for being so cold. He had knelt down at her level and told her that they, too, had once been new to the art of archery and had not always been so poised and deadly.
   "Garret," he had said in his gruff yet gentle voice, with more than a twinkle in his eye, "shot himself in the foot the first time he ever drew a bow."
   It had been just the elixir for her smarting pride to know that her oldest and most talented brother had once been as unskilled as she, and it gave her heart to try again.
   
   Now, years later, the warning-song of her horn dying in her ears, Gem smoothly drew the bow taught, feeling the power it held in the muscles of her back, and she felt no fear. No fear that her brothers would ever discount her for being the only girl on the hunt. No fear that she would miss her target. No fear that the hissing spidren her bow was trained on would come any closer to her village.
   Breath smooth, hands steady, she released the arrow, watched as it planted itself in the grim eye of the beast, and calmly fit another to the string as she trained her bow with deadly accuracy on another of the nest of spidrens she had stumbled upon so near her village.

I race the second-hand of time. Sometimes it nearly catches me.
I am

Zombie GiRRRl

footnotes_____________________________________
1  A lot easier than I thought it would be since it's tied into my pre-existing Google account. Handy-dandy.
2  And now for the funny story which is not mine: Not long after Kirsten Miller first arrived in NYC, she went to visit a friend at her apartment. When the elevator opened, out stepped none othet than Paul Newman. He said, and I quote, "Hiya!" Kirsten was stunned. She excitedly related the story to her friend who looked at her and, after a dramgtic pause said, "Kirsten, you're in NY now, stop being so dazzled."

Friday Five

That's Freitag funf, in German.

1. Today is the big day! The Breathless Reads tour is in town and I. Am. Going! If you're going, I will see you there! I'll have ribbon on my wrist, as will a number of other bloggers who will be attending. As for the signing, I have no idea what I'm going to get. I had been planning on getting Across the Universe, but after reading an excellent and detailed content rating at Reading Teen's sister site, Parental Book Reviews, I have decided that, due to content, this book is, sadly, not for me. T_T Now I think I'll be getting The Replacements. Maybe. Not sure. Argh! I'll let you know.
2. My CSN contest ends on March 10, so hurry up and enter if you haven't already! Ren of All By MySHELF is also hosting a CSN giveaway which opened today and ends March 15. We're giving away $35 each, so enter both and if luck is on your side, you could get $70! Put that toward the bigger bookcase you know you need.
3. Currently listening to: Percussion Gun by White Rabbit, New Low by Middle Class Rut, and Arise by Flyleaf. But mostly I'm watching Tobuscus dance.
4. I tried vlogging an IMM last week, and it was awesome, but I can't get it to upload. It was a lot of fun, especially since my sister was sitting across the table laughing at me the whole time, so I will definitely have to figure out how to upload videos for future vlogs.
5. On a sadder note, I'm sure y'all've heard the news of Lisa Wolfsan's, aka L.K. Madigan, passing yesterday. I'd just finished, and I mean just finished, reading The Mermaid's Mirror when I heard the news. It really put the whole book in a new perspective--all books, really. The written word is the legacy that some people leave behind. Not the only one, and certainly not the most important, but perhaps the most tangible. And it makes me wonder: if people kept that in mind, would they write the same thing? Would they still tell the same stories?

just wondering.
i am
zombie girrrl

Friday 5

I had fun doing this last week, so I figured I'd give it another go!

1. I'm working on a new song for a M.A.D. Challenge which pertains to a current blogosphere scandal which I shall not be naming or linking to as I don't wish to actively destroy a career or sully an industry that I like so much. See if you can figure out what it is when it drops on Saturday!
2. Also preparing for a retreat on Sunday. The Confirmation class I help teach is going to be at it from 12 to 8, myself without a single drop of coffee (can't handle that much caffeine). Wish me luck as this is the first retreat I'll ever have gone to and I don't really know what to expect. What I do know is that it's being graciously hosted by someone with a lot more experienced than me. Thank you, God! They told us that all we have to do is show up and that I should bring a book because it'll be a long day. Now I just need to decide what to read...
3. I'm currently reading the first book in my 6 Degrees Challenge, Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. So far it's a fairly fabulous trip into a realistic-ish future that pays homage to the present we live in. Reeve has fit in a lot of skewed references to things we experience and take for granted, and it's hilarious! For instance, there's a character who hunts down mutants and called the Scriven, and when he's on a trail, they call it "a'goolin'", as in, "I was a'googlin' for a good deal on a used car." The story isn't as funny as the glimpses of what will be, though; it's more of a fantasy-steampunk-mystery type thing, and I'm lovingevery minute of it. So original!
4. I'm going to a big library sale tomorrow with my sisters Orchid and Ren. We went once last year and we are hooked! The deal is thus: one paper grocery-bag of books for $5!!! I got 13 titles last year including Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why, which is being made into a movie that I won' see. Two reasons for that: A) I don't really want to watch this story, it just seems like a better thing for me to read than watch; B) Selena Gomez as Hanah Baker? Really? Yeah, I don't see it. I'd love to listen to the audio book, though, because it almost seems more fitting to listen to this story than to read it, even.
5. I am finally on Face Book! Yes, I, ZG (though not as ZG), have conceded to the modernity that is social networking. I've made an account, I've "liked" all my favorite books, I've "friended" my family members, now all I have to do is add a profile pic and, oh yeah, figure out what I'm supposed to do on there! I logged on this morning and just stared at the screen, wondering why exactly this seemed so vital 48 hours ago. I'll let you know if the answer comes to me.

And that concludes my Friday Five.

Friday Five

I saw this on Sarah's Random Musings, and I thought it looked like fun, so here I go!

1. Battling a mild cold right now. I say "battling" because I have to be over it by... this evening. And by "over it", I mean I have to have regained my voice by 6pm. Yes, typing and a high-pitched whistley sound are the only ways I can communicate at the moment. It would funny if it weren't so ill timed.
2. Gearing up for the Breathless Books Tour on Febuary 25 which will be stopping in Raleigh, a mere hop, skip, jump, and bit of a drive from where I live. And I fully intend to hop, skip, and jump my way over there because it sounds awesome. Question: Will any other bloggers be there? I'm almost more excited about the prospect of meeting a few of the bloggers I've come to know in person than I am about seeing Beth Revis, Kirsten Miller, Ally Condie, Brenna Yovanoff, and Andrea Cremer. Almost. I'm pretty excited about getting a signed copy of Across the Universe, though. It's at the top of my wish list.
3. I'm hammering out the details for a reading challenge that I will be hosting during Lent (March 9 through April 20). Details coming soon!
4. Currently reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. It's really good. It's based on a series of lectures he gave over the radio during WWII, and what he does is he comes around to Christianity through logic and from the perspective of someone who knows basically nothing about the faith. First he points out that there is in fact Good in the world by showing that everyone everywhere agrees that there are certain things which we unanimously hold to be innately bad. If we can all agree that something is bad, then there must some Good to which we are all measuring the bad against. Or something like that. Really, you should read it because I can't explain it justly; it's one of the most interesting things I've ever read.

Hmmm... I'm having trouble thinking up a fifth thing. I could tell you how much I rolled my eyes at that guy's "stunning revelation" that the Mona Lisa is a dude (So dumb. What did he do, ask DaVinci? Oh, that's right! He's dead.), or I could share the story about how my cat has taken it upon herself to nurse me back to health (we call her Nurse Puddy because she doesn't leave your side if you're sick), or that I had nutella on toast for beakfast, or how happy I was that the grounhog didn't see his shadow... Oh! I got it! I'll share a recipe that for what I was craving the most this week.

    5.  Creamy Potato Soup with Seared Steak and Tomato Relish (makes 7 1/2 cups)

         For Tomato Relish:

         Stir together and chill...

         1 1/2 C. tomato, diced and seeded

         1/2 blue or feta cheese

         1/2 C. fresh chives

         For the soup:

         4 russet potatoes, pierced, rubbed w/ olive oil, and baked at 450* for 45-60 min,

            or until tender. Skin and mash potatoes, be careful, they are hot; set aside.

         4 T. unsalted butter, melted in a big pot over med-high heat. Add...

         1/2 C. onion, diced; allow to cook for 5 min, or until soft, then whisk in...

         1/4 C. flour and cook for 2-3 minutes. To the flour/onion pot, add...

         3 C.warmed  milk (recipe calls for whole milk, but I say use whatever % you're used 

                to) and...

         2 C. chicken broth, whisking constantly till thickened, 4-5 min.Stir in potatoes and...

         salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 min. Heat a skillet over med-high heat

         for 5 min...

         For steak:

         1 lb. top serloin steak, 1" thick and seasoned w/ salt and pepper. Sear in hot skillet,

            4-5 minutes per side. Allow to rest for five min befoire slicing into thin strips,

            going against the grain.

         While steak is resting, puree soup in a blender till smooth.

         Serve this hardy soup with steak strips and tomato relish on top and Ceasar salad on
         the side. Also good with diced bacon and shredded sharp-cheddar.

And that concludes my Friday Five!