random thoughts

here are a few random thoughts i've had in the past few weeks:

sometimes i wish i were a livestock veternarian. then i would have a legitimate reason to walk into a goat barn and ask "who are we kidding?". unfortunately, the making of lame puns is not a sufficient reason to go through all the schooling to become a livestock vet.

i believe in love at first sight. but just because there is love at first sight does not mean there will be love at second sight, fourth sight, or forty-seventh sight. there is more to maintaining a loving relationship than mere vision.

my roommate is awesome. for many reasons. one of which being that she's talking to her mom right now and she totally just used the term "ventral medial hypothalamus" in casual conversation. (she's a nursing major, and her mom's a nurse, so they both understood what that is. but me, i'm a history education major. so i'm super impressed.)

Mightily Blessed Woman

it is now the end of the most wonderful birthday i've ever had.
yes, graduating from teen-hood is pretty special, and yes, i did get some pretty great presents, but what has impressed me most on this day has been how truely blessed i am.

God has blessed me outrageously.
i am not only blessed, i am mightily blessed.
not only has God given me salvation through His Son, and given me a great comforter and counselor in the Holy Spirit, He has also given me the special blessing of a fantastic family and incredible friends.

this morning, i was reading in 2 Samuel about Amnon and how he loved Tamar (Absalom's sister). but amnon didn't have a great friend. instead, he had a friend who gave him horrible advice which led amnon to do horrible things which ultimately resulted in his death. it's really not a pleasant story, but it reminded me of how important having good friends can be. a good friend can bring joy and life, while a bad friend can bring sorrow and death.

i am so thankful for the amazing friends with which God has filled my life. i could never express in words just how much they have blessed me and have filled my life with joy. i only wish i could bless them as much as they have blessed me. in fact, it is because of my friends that this has been the best birthday ever.
i woke up to a birthday text and voicemail, and then for the rest of the day i kept getting birthday texts and cards and wall posts and messages and emails and ecards. i honestly had never realized just how many friends i have now. but i am thankful for every single one of them.

i feel like David in Psalm 23. for my Shepherd has been very good to me, and the cup of my life is overflowing with blessings.

thank you to all of you who are my friends. i love you, i appreciate you, and i am blessed to have you :)
i just wanted to let you know that i know that :)
may God bless you as much as He has blessed me. and hopefully, i'll get to be a part of how He does it :)

Best Present EVER!!

today is my birthday :)
as such, it's a day to finally open presents.
about a week ago, i got a mysterious birthday present from my fantastic friend aimee. (I LOVE YOU AIMEE!) this is a rare thing for me, because i'm usually the one who picks out my presents and therefore am not curious as to what they are. but with aimee's gift, it was a total conundrum. i very much wanted to open it right when i got it, but my mom insisted that i wait until my birthday.

so it wasnt until today that i opened the best birthday present i have ever recieved.
now i just want to take a moment to say that i'm in no way implying that i do not love or appreciate the other wonderful birthday presents i've received over the years. they were fantastic as well. but once i describe this present, you'll understand. but again, this in no way devalues the presents i've received in the past or will receive in the future.

when i opened the package just now, i had about 7 different almost nervous breakdowns with how amazed and excited i was. in fact, i think i discovered a brand new emotion, rarely encountered by man before. but as it defies words, i havent named it yet. i was jumping and dancing around with my eyes wide and my smile wider. i'm very glad that i did not wait to open it at my birthday dinner tonight. it totally wouldve embarrased my family about their gifts to me.
i could go on, but i think i should describe what it is now.

it's the most fantastic homemade apron ever! it has a bajillion multicolored multishaped pockets (12, actually)! and it's even reversable!!!! so it's like she gave me 2 incredibly fantastic aprons!!! 1 side has a ton of pockets, and the other is super cute and has secret pockets (because you cant see the pockets on the other side but can still use them!)!!
this apron encompasses so many of my favorite things. i love pockets, i love things that are tiny and will fit perfectly in these pockets, i love colors, i love secret pockets, i adore homemade gifts, i love notes (which were in every pocket :)), i love aprons, i love to cook, i love being prepared for random things, and i love doing pioneer stuff (which this apron is perfectly suited for).

i have decided that every pioneer post i do from here on will be researched and written while wearing this apron. it will also be perfect for when i make my hats :) (i'm always misplacing my scissors and crochet hook).

thank you so much aimee!!!!! i absolutely love it! :) it is the best present i have ever received (other than salvation... and the gift of the holy spirit... and my mom giving me life...).

Tanning Leather

here is the official first post in celebration of Pioneer ______ (Time)!

there's really no reason why i chose tanning leather as my first pioneer post, but i think you're really going to like it. all i can say is, people think of the craziest things to do. i mean, who in their right mind would think to do this to a dead animal's skin? it's not anything any normal person would ever be inclined to do.
Let me tell you.

Here is the entire tanning process:
Step 1- remove the skin from the dead animal and clean the skin so that there's no meat, fat, or viens left on it. If you dont want any fur on it, rub either urine or wood ash into the fur (who in their right mind would choose urine over some campfire ash for this?) (also, what person would think "hmm, i want to get rid of this fur. shave it? nooo, i'm gunna pee on it.) after the substance is rubbed into the fur, let it sit for a while before pulling/scraping the loosened hairs off.

Step 2- to prevent the skin from rotting, rub it with either animal fat, egg yolk, urine, or brain. (long side note on brain-tanning: every animal has just enough brains to tan it's own hide. i find that cruelly ironic, yet excellent planning on God's part. also, in case you didn't save the animal's brain, apparently they sell brains in a can. i dont know where, but they do. this just goes to show that you can find pretty much anything in a can these days. also, i bet this gives you a whole new meaning for the phrase "use your brain", doesnt it?)

after this, there's more than one way you can finish tanning the hide. there's tannin tanning, and then there's brain tanning. the brain tanning will give you a lighter, buckskin color. i think the tannin tanning produces a stiffer leather, but i'm not sure.

Tannin Tanning: in case you thought tanning couldnt get any grosser, you're wrong. the next step in tanning leather is to rub the hide with the dung of a carnivore (kind of sounds like a witch's recipe) (dog poo works best, apparently. yet another use for a good huntin' dog.) leave the dung on the hide until the hide is limp and willing to lie flat. then wash the dung off.

next, you need find/make a clay-lined pit with a log/pole in it. You hang the hide over the log/pole and soak it in a mixture of water and crushed oak bark (finally, a non-gross ingredient. it just might take you a while to crush all that bark). you let the hide soak for a few days, then you spread it out to dry.

Brain Tanning: stake the hide into the ground so that it wont shrink (just dont stretch it). cook the brains in a little bit of water. mash them with gloved hands and heat until it's almost too hot for you to touch. rub this "soup" mixture into the skin with your hands and with some smooth heated stones. flip the skin over, and repeat (unless you're making a fur). leave the hide in a sunny spot for 6-8 hours, then submerge the skin under water overnight.

while the hide is soaking, prepare your graining tools (1 is a wooden wedge shaped thing, the other is a stick about 2 inches in diameter with a smooth, rounded, blunt tip.)
once the hide is completely saturated and pliable, restake it into the ground. use the wedge shaped grainer to get as much water out of the hide as you possibly can. then use the rounded stick to work/stretch/loosen the fibers in every inch of the hide. if you stop doing this before the hide is completely dry, it'll become stiff. when the hide feels dry, unstake the hide and trim the edges.

now tie a rope between 2 trees and rub the hide across the rope. the friction will further dry and soften it. when you're done, use a smooth stone to rub any imperfections.
if you dont want the leather to become stiff when it gets wet, hang it over a small "smudge" fire until the smoke has penetrated every part of it.

and that is how you turn a dead animal's skin into beautiful leather. i recommend praying that you'll never need to use this new-found knowledge of yours.

ethnic makeup

some day i'd love to be a teppanyaki chef. (teppanyaki is a type of japanese cooking where chefs cook on a big griddle in front of people and do tricks while they cook)
the only thing is, i'm not asian.
i'm not even asian looking!
so i think that would definitely hinder my employment opportunities.

that's why i think some company should make some kind of makeup that makes you the same shade as a different nationality.
i would totally buy the asian one and wear it to teppanyaki job interviews (or at least to the job itself). and since it's usually dark in fancy restaurants, i could totally fool everyone!!! :)

Real Life and Movies

the other day, i had a new idea about why people like certain kinds of movies.
my theory is that people like movies that either reflect what their lives are like or what they wish their lives were like (only taken to a degree that is actually entertaining).

for example, people who have had sorrow in their lives like stories that have some sadness in them. people who are in a stage of life where romance is important in their lives really like love stories. and so on and so forth.

i personally love action and adventure stories best. this fits my theory very well because i'm in a stage of life that's filled with new experiences and strange places and adventures.

i havent done a whole lot of verifying for this new theory of mine, but so far it seems to work pretty well. what do you think? does this theory work for you too?

Burr Conspiracy

right now, i'm studying for an early u.s. history CLEP test.
and i've got to say, it's amazing what you can come across in a history book. even if you've studied the general topics many times before, you can still find something new and interesting.
for example, i just learned about this thing called the "burr conspiracy". Here's what it is.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Aaron Burr.
Now, Aaron Burr had a very special dream. he dreamed that some day, he'd be the president of the united states. so he jumped into the race for the presidency along with several other people,
but Aaron Burr did not win. instead, he tied for first with Thomas Jefferson. and so the house of representatives had to decide who would win.
it was a very, very, very close decision for them. but in the end, Alexander Hamilton, Burr's archenemy, broke the tie within the house of representatives and made Jefferson the president. So Aaron had to settle for being vice president.

Four years later, Aaron Burr was no longer the vice president. Since he'd given up trying to be president, he figured he'd try running for govenor of new york.
But yet again, Alexander Hamilton stood in his way. Alexander ran against him and ended up winning that election.
This was the final straw.

Aaron challenged Alexander to a duel. and finally, finally, Aaron Burr won something.
but now, he was on the run for the murder of Alexander Hamilton.
So Aaron Burr decided to do something crazy. after all, he had nothing to lose; and, frankly, had pretty much lost it (mentally).

Aaron decided to chase after his dream for power once more. He decided that if he couldnt rule all of america, then he'd rule part of it. He devised a wild plan to capture part of the new southwestern US territories and claim them for his own as a totally new country. This plan involved everything from military force, to help from Spain and England, to possibly even kidnapping president Jefferson.

but help from spain and england never came, and news of his conspiracy got out. he ended up being tried for treason before the supreme court. the only reason he escaped punishment was because the chief justice didn't like Thomas Jefferson (who tried to influence and prejudice the trial) and so he let Aaron go because of a loop hole in the treason laws.

man, who knew history could be so interesting. i feel like this could make a pretty good movie someday :)
and now, back to studying.

News turned Musical

my friend lish just showed this to me. the first video is a real news cast about an attempted raping in lincoln park. but the brother was so funny that someone edited the video and turned it into an AWESOME rap song :)
it's pretty funny, and very catchy...

Self-Proclaimed Pioneer Holiday

recently, i've become very interested and curious about how pioneers used to do things.
some may think i'm crazy for wanting to know how to make cheese, tan leather, turn cotton fibers into cloth, and so on; especially since i live in a culture where these things are cheap and plentiful. but i think this knowledge can still be useful.

admittedly, the scenarios in which i would need this knowledge are few and far between. but there are definitely at least a few different scenarios where this knowledge would come in very handy. here are but a few examples:
1- if you were a part of some new reality tv show where modern people live like pioneers. in that case, this knowledge could earn you a large sum of money after winning the leather making competition.

2- you're on a plane that crashes in a very remote place/country/island and because of varying circumstances, there's almost no hope of you being found any time soon. your only option is to start a little community and farm the land and so on until you're rescued years later.

3-you take a trip on a time machine and because it's a trial run, or because of some malfunction or miscalculation, you're trapped in the early 1800s (or earlier agrarian society).

4- the national power grids get zapped for some reason (be it EMPs, other terrorist activity, alien attack, a flock of suicidal pigeons, or some other unlikely cause) and we are forced to go back to pioneer-like living conditions and survival techniques (even if it's only for a relatively short time). (thanks to Mike McCurdy for this one)

5- you're in a very secluded cabin. you have a strong hankering for cheese, yet the nearest town is 5 hrs. away. since you know how to make your own cheese, the crisis of waiting 5 hours and wasting a ton of gas is averted.

6- zombies have invaded. knowing that most people depend on grocery stores for food, they wait in the isles for their brain-meals to come to them. but if you used your brain to learn how to be a pioneer, you could keep your brain from being eaten by never going into a store ever again.

now even though these scenarios arent all that realistic, i still think that learning how to do stuff the pioneer way is interesting and worth your time. after all, it's better to know something and never use it than to need to know something and not know it.

therefore, i've decided to declare this is as "Pioneer ______ (insert unspecified amount of time)". it's a new and unnofficial holiday that will be celebrated on this blog. basically, this just means that as i learn how to do different pioneer things, i'll write about how to do it while making fun sidenotes every now and then. i already have a list of things i want to learn, but if you have any suggestions for things you'd find interesting, feel free to leave a comment.

hopefully you'll enjoy this holiday as much as i will, however long it may last.
until i post again, happy Pioneer... Time! :)