Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

Some people are a little confused when they find out that Faramir is my favorite Lord of the Rings character.  Not only my favorite, in fact, but my favorite by a long chalk . Just a little puzzled, you understand.  Not judgmental or contemptuous, just puzzled. "I mean, he's nice and all, but . . . what does he do ?  What's so great about him?   Why isn't your favorite Aragorn or Gandalf or SAM or Frodo? " And honestly?  Up until about two days ago, I was still floundering a little bit myself as to why.  I knew that I loved him deeply and unchangeably and would protect him from all comers, but I didn't know--fully-- why he had such a hold on my heart.  My general answer would be that I loved how he remained gentle and kind despite the emotional abuse his worm of a father dished out.  And, on the surface, that's still the answer.  But I just uncovered a whole new layer to that, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. ...

It's that time again, guys!  Hamlette's annual Tolkien party has begun; she posted the tag a couple of days ago.  And thank goodness, because at random times over the past week I'd started getting antsy for the party to start; and wondering about the questions like, But anyway. ;)  Here are my answers! 1. What's your favorite Middle-earth story/book? I thiiiiink it's Return of the King .  But I also really really love The Fellowship of the Ring , so it's difficult.  Also, the Valaquenta and the Ainulindale from The Silmarillion make me feel things™. 2. Do you have a favorite subplot? Oooh, tough one.  I love the subplots of the various romances.  I like the subplot (in the movie) of Pippin's and Gandalf's relationship development.  But, if this counts, I guess I'll go with Tom Bombadil and especially Goldberry in the Withywindle Valley?  I LOVE that part of the Fellowship book now (even though I skimmed it the...

I like YouTube a lot.  And I watch it a little too much. *ahem*  So I thought that I might as well share some of my favorite channels with you guys, because why not, right?  Right.  Here we go.  (Their names will be linked to the channels, and I'll also include one of my favorite videos for each of them. :)) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ✽ Katie (Gregoire) Emmerson ✽ If I had to pick one absolute favorite, it might be this girl.  I love pretty much everything about her videos.  She can have the funniest, most feel-good relatable videos you've ever seen one minute, and then the next you're stunned by how deep some of them are.  Just yes. <3 A Personal Favorite ✽ Emily Wilson ✽ I'm not Catholic, but I get so much out of Emily's videos.  Her mission is so inspiring and I love that she's trying to empower women the right way, from a Biblical perspective.  She's also not afraid to talk about controversial or "awkward" top...

DISCLAIMERS & CAVEATS & SUCH 1.   I'd like it known that I love Neal.  I love Neal a lot .  Just because I'm "Team Killian" instead of "Team Neal" doesn't mean that Neal doesn't have a spacious place in my Oncer heart. <3  Just so we're clear. 2.  Though I really love this couple (obvi), I'm not happy with some of the moral choices that they make, and I don't go into that in the post, so I just wanted to state it here in case anybody got confused.  I love them and I think they're wonderful, but obviously I do wish they'd made some different choices. 3.   There are what some people might consider a few spoilers in this post .   If you have a certain level of familiarity with the show and some of its twists and turns already (looking at you, Natalie ;-P), I feel like you'd be fine reading this, but I guess I'd have to say use your own discretion?  I suppose my last reason is kind of spoilery.   Depend...

Welp, you asked . . . ;) I talk about this a little in my Ask Me Anything answers (which, by the way, will hopefully be coming in mid-October, so if you have any questions for me, click here !), but the whole idea of bucket lists, for some reason, isn't "my thing."  That being said, there are a couple things that I think it would be cool to do at some point and that (I think ;)) I'd be willing to work towards. - Go to Disney World First thing to come to mind when people ask me about my bucket list.  Totally serious. ;D I've just heard really good things, fam, and I love Disney, and just . . . I don't know, man.  (Of course, I'm not usually one for rides and such, but I'm sure there'd be a couple that I'd be interested in.  Right??) - Be a published (and pretty successful) author + ministry worker I mean, this is what I "want to do" with my life, so . . . yeah.  Kinda had to be on the list. - Also somehow be a ...

A couple of you expressed interest in reading about what's been up in the writing aspect of my life, so I thought I'd try to oblige!  First, though, lemme just say that I'm not really used to writing about writing, so . . . this may be a little sketch.  Heh. :-P Writing has been on my radar a lot lately.  I've mainly been focused on one thing, the reinvention of the short story I wrote for the Indie e-Con contest this spring.  (You can read the original short story here , but I'm going to be changing a good bit of it, so don't get too attached to the plot. ;-p) I've actually all but committed (mentally) to making this a full-on, legitimate NaNoWriMo project this year.  Last year, on my other blog , I posted about writing my Susan Pevensie story in my own take on NaNo; but this year, if I do decide to do it, I want the real McCoy.  (Someone who is Knowledgeable, why is that phrase a thing?  Who/what was McCoy?)   Like, standard word count a...

Have you guys heard about Reams of Rereads yet?  It will be hosted by Eva over at  Coffee, Classics, and Craziness this October, and basically, the idea is to make some time to do some perhaps long overdue rereading!  Eva realizes that we're often caught up in pegging away at our TBR lists, and that can prevent us from devoting time to rereading the books we've loved, enjoyed, or just wanted to take another look at. In preparation for said intentional rereading in October, participants are encouraged to compile a list of books they'd be interested in rereading during this event.  There's no requirement or expectation to read every book on the list in October, but it's a starting point. I'm excited to participate in this; it looks like it'll be a lot of fun, and I think you should join, too!  (Psst, you don't have to have a blog to do so -- comments'll see you through just as well! ;))  Anyway, here's my list: The Silver Chair by C.S. Le...

'Tis I, your Internet fairy godmother, here to bless you with little gems of humor to brighten your day! These are some videos and pictures that amuse me , at least -- I hope they do the same for you. ;-P ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ First of all, this, because this is freaking hilarious and everyone should see it.  [For a little bit of background on this guy, you can watch this video .  (Also, it may make you cry.)] Next, this video, because for some reason there's something really infectious about people dying with laughter for reasons basically unknown to you. And now I'll leave you to just the pictures.  Enjoy. :-P ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I hope that invigorated you!  (It's late, my words are weird.)  If it did, in the words of Lina Lamont,