I know that I've made it blatantly apparent that I have a passion for history.
So here's another post about how much I love the past! And people!
We were having an indexing party last night for home evening, complete with pizza, great friends, and delicious treats. (For those of you who don't know, indexing is digitizing old records to be used in genealogical research and such!)
I just get so excited at looking at images of original records! There is just something about looking at a record that was written by a person over a hundred years ago! They're not here anymore, but that record is! And it gives us a little peek into their lives!
Some of the records I was working on were old pension records for retired United States soldiers. I got so excited at one point because one of the records I was doing was a pension record for somebody who had served in the Colored Infantry. Since I'm doing my research on Colored Infantry, it made me really excited! (Sorry I keep using the word excited - but that's just how I feel!)
I love being able to help make that information more available for people to use! I just wish that I could help digitize a lot more records - like diaries and letters and such! How incredible would that be?! When you look into other peoples' lives by what they leave behind, you learn more about how incredible human beings really are!!
*Good Song: What the Water Gave Me by Florence + the Machine
*Good Movie: Tangled (Love it!!)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Changes, Fall, and Life!
Yesterday I was driving around Logan trying to find me a good pair of snow boots. While I was driving, I was loving the sight of fall leaves - some on the ground, still plenty on the trees. I feel like fall is such a beautiful time of year!
But then I realized that every time of the year is beautiful!
There's summer when everything is sunny and bright and happy! The trees have their green leaves on them lookin' all pretty and such. Then comes fall - the colors change, but it's even more beautiful. Then those beautiful leaves are gone and the trees are barren for awhile. They don't look very pretty at times. Then the cold winter comes. And even though it's cold, there's still an incredible beauty in bald trees lined with crystal snow. And finally, after months of bitter cold and empty limbs, new life starts! Little shoots of green start to appear and the green leaves look even more beautiful than they did the last time we saw them!
Here comes more of my thinking... :) I feel like sometimes I'm in a beautiful stage of life - I love everything about it and I'm so happy!! But then it starts to change, I start to lose some of those beautiful things (or people depending on the situation). It's like the leaves falling to the ground and I feel bare, and alone, and sometimes not all that attractive! :) I go through a bitter winter of sorts - but there is still beauty in the pain! Just like those ugly bare trees become beautiful through the snow, even in the times of trial there are beautiful things!! How can I appreciate the new green leaves in the spring if I don't experience the beauty of the winter?! Sometimes the winter is longer than I want it to be and spring doesn't come as quickly as I want it, but it does come. It always comes!
So that is what I need to remind myself of when I start to focus on the baldness of the trees instead of the beautiful glistening snow! Appreciate every stage of life...even when it's hard! Or maybe - especially when it's hard!!
*Good Movie: Glory
*Good Song: I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons
But then I realized that every time of the year is beautiful!
There's summer when everything is sunny and bright and happy! The trees have their green leaves on them lookin' all pretty and such. Then comes fall - the colors change, but it's even more beautiful. Then those beautiful leaves are gone and the trees are barren for awhile. They don't look very pretty at times. Then the cold winter comes. And even though it's cold, there's still an incredible beauty in bald trees lined with crystal snow. And finally, after months of bitter cold and empty limbs, new life starts! Little shoots of green start to appear and the green leaves look even more beautiful than they did the last time we saw them!
Here comes more of my thinking... :) I feel like sometimes I'm in a beautiful stage of life - I love everything about it and I'm so happy!! But then it starts to change, I start to lose some of those beautiful things (or people depending on the situation). It's like the leaves falling to the ground and I feel bare, and alone, and sometimes not all that attractive! :) I go through a bitter winter of sorts - but there is still beauty in the pain! Just like those ugly bare trees become beautiful through the snow, even in the times of trial there are beautiful things!! How can I appreciate the new green leaves in the spring if I don't experience the beauty of the winter?! Sometimes the winter is longer than I want it to be and spring doesn't come as quickly as I want it, but it does come. It always comes!
So that is what I need to remind myself of when I start to focus on the baldness of the trees instead of the beautiful glistening snow! Appreciate every stage of life...even when it's hard! Or maybe - especially when it's hard!!
*Good Movie: Glory
*Good Song: I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons
Monday, October 15, 2012
Spielberg's Lincoln!!!
I cannot wait for November 16th!
What is so special about this specific date you might ask?
Well, I will tell you. It is the day that the movie "Lincoln" (directed by Steven Spielberg!) comes out in theaters. Why am I so excited for this movie?
Because I love love love historical films...when they're done well. And Abraham Lincoln happens to be my favorite U.S. President! The trailer gives a peak into the movie and I see African American soldiers in there. And since I'm writing my senior thesis paper on African American soldiers in the Civil War, I'm excited to see them get some attention on the big screen (even if they're not the main focus of the movie). The cinematography looks amazing! So if this movie ends up being a dud, I will be devastated!
Until then, I will be counting down the days until I can see the movie!!
What is so special about this specific date you might ask?
Well, I will tell you. It is the day that the movie "Lincoln" (directed by Steven Spielberg!) comes out in theaters. Why am I so excited for this movie?
Because I love love love historical films...when they're done well. And Abraham Lincoln happens to be my favorite U.S. President! The trailer gives a peak into the movie and I see African American soldiers in there. And since I'm writing my senior thesis paper on African American soldiers in the Civil War, I'm excited to see them get some attention on the big screen (even if they're not the main focus of the movie). The cinematography looks amazing! So if this movie ends up being a dud, I will be devastated!
Until then, I will be counting down the days until I can see the movie!!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Adventures of Being Clumsy!
I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned on here before how clumsy I am. Well, do I have a story for you!
It was Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 approximately 8:12 am. I was running a little late for my archaeology lab class. I also had to return four history books to the library. A heavy backpack + my little legs moving too quickly + my clumsiness....it's just a recipe for disaster!
There's this apple tree just east of my apartment next to the sidewalk. And this sidewalk is pretty crazy! So now that I've set the scene, let's continue.
There I am with my stubby little legs working their fastest, the weight of my backpack propelling me forward when all of a sudden my foot hits the edge of this crazy sidewalk that's all uneven and whatnot. I feel myself falling forward and my backpack swings to the right and with all my speed my right knee goes skidding on the sidewalk.
What's the first thing you do when you're in this situation?! Yep! Look around and make sure that nobody saw you fall! So that's what I did. Then I feel this stinging sensation in my knee. So I look down and at first, I think to myself, "Oh, it's fine!" But then it starts bleeding!! "Oh great!" I thought. "Now what?!"
My thoughts turn to my faithful sidekick and best friend Brittany! So I call her up and ask her if she'll give me a ride to class and bring me some Band Aids! And she does. I didn't even take time to clean my wound...because I was late for class k?! I just slap three Band Aids on there and I'm good to go! Bad idea...
The next day, the plasma (I finally found out what it was!) was leaking through my Band Aid so I decided it was time to change my wound dressings. :)
It took me 30 minutes to get those dang Band Aids off!! I was running my knee under water, but those Band Aids were so stuck to my scrape! And it hurt to just rip them off! (I'm such a baby, it's true...but I really hate pain!) So what did I do?! I grabbed my ninja star knife that I'd gotten for my birthday and I cut those stupid Band Aids off! Okay, so I only cut one off...the middle one because it was stuck the worst! (I realize that sentence structure was terrible, but you know what I'm sayin?!)
But the worst part of the whole situation is that this wound scraped off my favorite scar! What?! A scar that I'd gotten from another tripping incident (but that one I tripped on my shoe lace when I was like 9 or something). If I'm going to get scar inducing wounds like this one, why couldn't it have happened on my other knee?! Then I would have scars on both knees!
Now I'll just have one big one on my right knee...where my favorite scar used to be... :/
But don't worry, I made it to class on time!!
It was Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 approximately 8:12 am. I was running a little late for my archaeology lab class. I also had to return four history books to the library. A heavy backpack + my little legs moving too quickly + my clumsiness....it's just a recipe for disaster!
There's this apple tree just east of my apartment next to the sidewalk. And this sidewalk is pretty crazy! So now that I've set the scene, let's continue.
There I am with my stubby little legs working their fastest, the weight of my backpack propelling me forward when all of a sudden my foot hits the edge of this crazy sidewalk that's all uneven and whatnot. I feel myself falling forward and my backpack swings to the right and with all my speed my right knee goes skidding on the sidewalk.
What's the first thing you do when you're in this situation?! Yep! Look around and make sure that nobody saw you fall! So that's what I did. Then I feel this stinging sensation in my knee. So I look down and at first, I think to myself, "Oh, it's fine!" But then it starts bleeding!! "Oh great!" I thought. "Now what?!"
My thoughts turn to my faithful sidekick and best friend Brittany! So I call her up and ask her if she'll give me a ride to class and bring me some Band Aids! And she does. I didn't even take time to clean my wound...because I was late for class k?! I just slap three Band Aids on there and I'm good to go! Bad idea...
The next day, the plasma (I finally found out what it was!) was leaking through my Band Aid so I decided it was time to change my wound dressings. :)
It took me 30 minutes to get those dang Band Aids off!! I was running my knee under water, but those Band Aids were so stuck to my scrape! And it hurt to just rip them off! (I'm such a baby, it's true...but I really hate pain!) So what did I do?! I grabbed my ninja star knife that I'd gotten for my birthday and I cut those stupid Band Aids off! Okay, so I only cut one off...the middle one because it was stuck the worst! (I realize that sentence structure was terrible, but you know what I'm sayin?!)
But the worst part of the whole situation is that this wound scraped off my favorite scar! What?! A scar that I'd gotten from another tripping incident (but that one I tripped on my shoe lace when I was like 9 or something). If I'm going to get scar inducing wounds like this one, why couldn't it have happened on my other knee?! Then I would have scars on both knees!
Now I'll just have one big one on my right knee...where my favorite scar used to be... :/
But don't worry, I made it to class on time!!
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