#campercat

[debramcdermitt]

Love this sweet kitty cat!

[mexican-wrestler]

Bringing the camper out of hibernation. Someone is making themself at home. #campercat #catsofinstagram #cats #vw #volkswagen #camping

[freedomoftheforest]

fireplace, sweater, fallen leaves, maple and full moon!

Fireplace: One of your favorite stories, books, or poems. Out of the book The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan, I really like Jed’s poem: Possibility.

Sweater: A favorite comforting thought. That no matter how hard life might be, I have people I can turn to, even if they’re across the country.

Fallen Leaves: A scent that triggers a positive memory. I’m not sure that there’s a scent that triggers a memory, but the smell of the ground after rain has always been comforting. Same with apples and cinnamon.

Maple: A kindness or sweet sentiment you've done or that someone has done for you. Honestly I love when I get unexpected letters or postcards in the mail. It means I’m being thought of and it always feels special.

Full moon: Something about yourself you feel is unusual. I think middle school kids are the coolest most interesting age group to work with. People always think I’m crazy, but they’re just at the most interesting and trying point in their lives.

[freedomoftheforest]

So I was tagged in like three more of those tag posts. I'm not going to tag more people, I'm just going to answer all the questions.

Katie's up first:

1. Are you organized? Use a calendar, keep a neat room, do things in an orderly fashion?

Not really. I like to call my life "organized chaos."

2. Share your favorite memory from 2013.

I seriously have no idea. Maybe the extreme yolo-ing of the Yellowstone road trip I took with friends this summer. That was great. We just quickly planned and then up and left for a week, camping at the sketchiest campgrounds, but having the time of our lives.

3. How did you spend the MAJORITY of your time as a child? Outside, Inside, with Friends/Siblings/Alone, Watching movies/tv, reading, scouting, sports, etc?

Oh wow. I read a lot. Goofed around with my brothers a lot. I did sports my entire life. I never watched a ton of movies or tv. I was in Girl Scouts starting in kindergarten, but crashed my brothers' Cub Scout meetings for years before then. So pretty much almost all of the above?

4. You like chocolate right? Right. What do you dip in your chocolate?

Everything? What isn't amazing in chocolate?

5. I want to make you breakfast in bed! What do you want?

Pancakes with boysenberry syrup and strawberries on the side. Also a really delicious cup of coffee, black with sugar.

6. Describe someone new you met this past year, and a fond memory with them.

I really met Pythe for the first time over the summer and there was one time at the end of one of my breaks where she built a pillow fort around me in the staff house.

7. What is peaceful to you?

Quietly looking out at the world in that time between sunrise and when everything really starts moving in the mornings.

8. CONGRATULATIONS! You won an all expense paid trip for two weeks to anywhere in the world. What country(ies) are you going to visit, who are you going to bring, and what are you going to do/see?

I really want to travel around the UK, but I don't think two weeks would be enough...so maybe National Park hopping in the Southwest in spring. I would bring whoever wanted to come along/whoever could fit in the car. We would go hiking and take tons of pictures and do everything else we could.

9. Tell me about your favorite pair of shoes and your favorite adventure in said pair of shoes.

Well they used to be my favorite pair, but my green converse hightops have the best story. One time I went to the Newport Back Bay with two of my friends and we were terrible and went off trail and got lost and I ended up stepping in decomposing mud stuff that was black and smelly. But it was an amazing adventure.

10. Do you have a guilty pleasure movie(s)/TV show(s)? 

I hate-watched Glee for the longest time. Other than that, musicals are by far my biggest guilty pleasure. I get a lot of crap about that.

11. You can own any pet you want. Even the exotic (you have the knowledge of how to keep them). What do you want?

Oh dear. I think I would just want a rolly poly farm because that would be awesome.

Next comes Quackers:

1) If you could tell anyone anything without having to deal with the repercussions, what would you tell them?

I have no idea. It depends on the person and the circumstance and the secret.

2) What is something you want to do with an extreme passion that you will probably never do? What is stopping you from doing it (fear, circumstances, money, etc.)?

Just screw life and go travel. It's mostly societal pressures and money that stop me.

3) What ‘s the farthest away you’ve ever wanted to go from where you are right at this moment?

I don't even know. I'm pretty content with where I am at this moment.

4) If you found the perfect person to fit your life (romantically, platonically, however), how would you describe this person?

Cuddly. Nice. Positive. Sassy. Fun. Adventurous. Spontaneous.

5) Has there ever been a person in your life who you couldn’t get away from or forget no matter how hard you’ve tried?

Outside of family, no.

6) Has there ever been anything illegal that you’ve thought about doing, but haven’t done (for obvious reasons)? What is it?

Nope.

7) What is your most favorite thing you’ve ever read (doesn’t have to be a book)? Why is it your favorite?

The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan. Just read it, you'll know.

8) Describe a memory you remember with the most details.

Sitting on top of Pyramid with T2 and Jetplane and having to tell our kids not to move or else they would see Jetplane peeing. That's really all the detail I'm willing to share.

9) What natural disaster would you be the most comfortable going through? Why?

Earthquakes. They're not really that scary I don't think. And the big ones feel really cool, like you're on a boat.

10) What’s something you’ve wanted to do and tried to do, but just can’t?

Run regularly.

11) What is something you avoid doing, even though you have no real reason to avoid?

Cleaning.

And finally Pythe's questions:

1) Who is someone you look(ed) up to?

Willow. She's just made of magic.

2) What is your least favorite food and why?

Pig. I had to dissect a pig in high school because they're similar enough to humans that you learn about human anatomy from them and that's weird and far too close to cannibalism for my liking.

3) What is your favorite word and why?

Defenestrate. Because it literally means "to throw something out of a window"

4) What is your favorite song and why?

At the moment, Skin by BOY. I don't really have a reason, I just really really love it.

5) If given the chance to live anywhere for a year with money no object where would you go?

The UK. Probably specifically Edinburgh.

6) What is one fictional character you identify with or one you’ve identified with in the past? Is there a character you look at and go “wait that’s me”? Why?

Lily in Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. She is my spirit animal.

7) If you could finish one project you started last year but didn’t finish what would it be?

Getting that camp playlist up on the internet. Also fixing my webcam.

8) Do you like squishy pillows or firm pillows? Mattresses?

SQUISHY.

9) Flannel sheets or linen sheets? Why?

Um linen. I'm not really a huge sheet person other than the fitted sheet.

10) What item of furniture are you most like?

A nightstand. I'm full of random things you never knew you needed until you decided to look inside after ignoring it for a long time.

11)  What is your opinion of musicals and why?

I love them because why not.

[k-k--k---k-kk---kkkk----k-k-k--k]

26, Sith or Jedi or third option?

4 things I wish I had-

A library of my very own, a nice cutlass or other sword, shoes without a collection of holes in them, and the means to bring an end to the systematic oppression of various minority groups without putting power into the hands of a group that will then oppress other groups.

——————————-

The Jedi code has become too structured and dogmatic over time. It no longer truly upholds the balance it wants to, because the Jedi Order has become about conquering emotions and materialism through self-discipline, rather than living with your emotions and allowing them to effect you naturally. Because of the Jedi Order’s stress on patience, they often lack the decisiveness necessary to put their wisdom to use. This makes them weaker than they otherwise would be, because putting emphasis on allowing events to unfold and only nudging them in ways that affect long-term outcomes makes them easy to undermine and ultimately defeat.

The Sith, however, put a focus on taking their emotions and using them to their fullest. Unfortunately, they make a point of only using emotions such as jealousy, rage, hate, and the like, which makes it easy for each individual Sith to be ruled by the emotions they are trying to control. The Sith also put an emphasis on conflict being the only way to test and better oneself. This philosophy of natural-selection-taken-to-the-extreme leads to infighting in the Sith Order which causes too many problems to count.

The Jedi Code, as refined by Odan-Urr is 

There is no emotion, there is peace.There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.There is no passion, there is serenity.(There is no chaos, there is harmony.)(*)There is no death, there is the Force.

The fourth line is frequently omitted.

This is the code Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker follow. This is the code that is taught to the Jedi we see in the movies. 

The Sith code is 

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.Through passion, I gain strength.Through strength, I gain power.Through power, I gain victory.Through victory, my chains are broken.The Force shall free me.

There is an emphasis on freedom and victory, and the gaining of power.

I would be a Gray Jedi in the eyes of the New Jedi Order, because I would follow neither of these paths, instead I would work under the original Jedi Code:

Emotion, yet peace.Ignorance, yet knowledge.Passion, yet serenity.Chaos, yet harmony.Death, yet the Force.

I understand that there is a light side and a dark side and that to live with and work with both is to be truly balanced and to be truly free. A Sith would see me as a weakling, someone who could be easily overcome because I allow emotions which allow me to be merciful, and a Jedi would see me as a fool, my lack of discipline giving way to weakness.