I Grace Thee With My Presence

Good morning. It's a Friday morning. Usually on Friday mornings I'm still asleep at 8:22. But I figured I'd get a head start on procrastinating.

I have a salad bug for you today. *heh* Good luck trying to decode it. That's like trying to make sense of the quadratic formula.

* * *

A new day and it's time to shoulder the workload and start plotting the destruction of the world. Sounds fun, but how can I be sure that I don't slip and fall in the end? They talk about green leaving the grass and trees leafing, and I don't know which is which and what to do if either or both happen. You confuse me. That's all. You don't bug me. You don't annoy me. You don't irritate me, mock me, or tease me (...well, maybe you do a little of that). No. You confuse me. I'm easily confused.

So I'll kamikaze my way into the world. Don't listen to the explosions out your window, they're just me learning about life. Didn't I warn you? Did I tell you how I twist things like pretzels and spill spaghetti sauce on seat cushions? I explained beforehand: I am a child of mass chaos, so look out. Whatever I lack in sympathy I'll make up for in sarcasm. It's how I roll, you know?

Actually I guess you kind of do know. Either that or you pretend to. You're good at pretending, if you are pretending at all. You've just about got me fooled. Either way I'm getting ready to believe you, because if you are fooling me and yourself, you're a master at that, and I can respect you for it. Sly is my game. Witty is what I do. And even though I fail at both, I can always satisfy myself with the smug retorts I come up with after I close my eyes and prepare to fall asleep each night.

We were missing the stars. I loved the rain, but in the night, there were pinpoints of bright brilliance to be seen. The galaxies could have been colliding and exploding and going kablooie---and we would have missed it all. So silly how we can only see what is on the surface.

Still, rain walks in the dark are nice too.

* * *

That aside, how is life? I understand today is February and a certain few of you may or may not be doing the 100 words in 100 days challenge (from February 1st to March 11). If so, I'll just be standing her with a big banner with the words "YOU CAN TOTALLY DO IT" painted in yellow and red. 

By the way, if I were to do a vlog video, would you want me to say anything in particular besides what I may have already planned on saying?

---What? Why ask? Oh...no reason. ^ _^

'Tis all,

K-Minty

"Kings and Vagabonds"

Yeah. Pretty much.

I just had one of those "Oh!" moments when learning that Jeremy Irons voices Scar.

"Brisingr means fire---IS fire. Know the word, and you control the thing."

Weekend Well Spent

I woke up today sounding like Darth Vader. Rather, Darth Vader minus a few octaves.

It all started back in late November (you know, that week after Thanksgiving when you're finishing off the leftovers). It was then that my dear beloved youth pastor announced to I and my fellow adolescents that we would be taking a trip to northern Arizona on a winter retreat weekend.

*enter happy excited whoop*

Now, you must know something before I continue: The people included in this story (youth group homies) are some of the most beautiful and marvelous friends on the planet. If you ever happen to be fortunate enough to meet any of them then believe me, you are blessed  (or if you happen to---curiously enough---be one of them you are a blessing). I mean, these guys are the peeps who you can feel comfortable doing stupid and hilarious things with during any given moment of life. That's what defines a best friend, no?

Well anyhow, excitement simmered to almost-bursting-point about this so-called retreat. December...January...January 2nd...January 9th...January 15th...January 20th...January 24! The day before leaving for a Friday/Saturday/Sunday of awesomeness! Believe me, my co-op friends had it figured the I was a Mexican jumping bean that Thursday. I was so ready to leave and get to the cold mountain of pine trees and muddy slush.

Friday was cool.
We left at 6:00-ish PM and got to our destination approximately 3 hours later. I could hear the shrieks even before I unloaded myself from the four-wheel drive truck that I had been trollied in:
"ACK! Mud!!"
"It's cold!"
"SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW! THERE'S ACTUALLY SNOW!!!! REAL SNOW!!! CAN YOU SEE THE SNOW?" etcetera etcetera. 

Of course, to all of you snowbirds up there, this was hardly snow. It was more patchy muddy slush from a few days prior to our arrival. Still---it was white(ish), cold, and easily flung at people's faces (the latter of which it did often).
Instead of soft white flakes falling through the air and tickling our eyelashes however, there was rain. Rain. Lots of rain. Like buckets of rain. Drizzle. Plinky plonky little drops ascending from the gray heavens in order to make our lives muddy and mildewy.

In three words?
It. Was. Brilliant.

If you didn't realize, I like mud. I like rain. Rain makes mud. Mud and rain go together. Throw both of those things at a camp in the middle of a pine forest on a mountain top with three other God-loving-and-praising youth groups and you get a wonderful time.

Our theme was "Surrender", and we did a kind of devotional/bible study thingy that also included a handful of video clips and presentations featuring the ever so renown Francis Chan. Also, we had dear Tim (SHWWWIMMMMMMM!)  as our speaker/pastor/what-have-you.

On the first night, immediately after getting out into the rain, mud, and slush, we headed into the dining hall to get our info on which cabin each of us were assigned to and what small group we'd been placed in. Much to my smug satisfaction, I got the awesomest place to stay ever.

IT EVEN HAD A BATHROOM OF ITS OWN...WHAT NOW!!

In addition to that happy detail, I was also sorted into the small group entitled the "Ramshorn Snails".

The rest of the night was spent in the green bean (worship center), unpacking, and dogging the ice clumps that were being hurled through the atmosphere (not all in that order). I had a very dramatic moment of pure perseverance as I trounced up the steep and slippery trail to my new home-away from home with arms full of duffle bags and sleeping bags. All of these things, of course, were done in the dark of night, and once done with the must-dos and need-to-be-dones everyone did their best to pipe down and get a little shut eye.

The tragic thing was this:
All weekend my stupid brain WOULD NOT SHUT ITSELF UP. This was very irritating. I'm telling you---I never have problems drifting off to sleepy-sleeperton land. Heck, you could probably just dump me on the side of a highway and I'd be able to sleep like a baby.
But nooOOOOOOOoooooo. I couldn't unwind. So I just sat there in the dark in a sort of half-dream half-alert state. Kind of like entering dream-state with your eyes open and your ears perked. You have no idea how many scenarios I shuffled through that night in the confines of my head. And the same happened the next night too---thus I was really quite exhausted and running on every hyper-active storage boost I could manage.

Actually kind of funny---Someone comment on just how awake and energized I seemed to be Sunday morning.

Errkg.

Moving on to Saturday:
Breakfast, small groups (which were absolutely amazing!! I miss my fellow Snails ;), nice walks in the rain ^_^,  devotions, lunch, crazy fun indoor games consisting of trashsket ball and trust fall relays that us snails TOTALLY BOSSED AT (you bet we earned those gloating rights!), sitting 'round in the dining hall singing songs with a seriously cool friend (and probably freaking everybody else out with my [our] not-so-perfect singing voice[s]), learning the cup game thingy!! (video demo on that sometime, 'k?), dinner,  worship, even more small groups (seriously, the people who were in my group were such blessings!), attempting to safely view a game of extreme spoons, and eventually retiring to bed (my sweet little bunk bed that I got all to my own little self).
That was Saturday, more or less.

Sunday was a day of cleaning up our messes and getting over the terribleness that it was all ending too soon. So many new faces that I'd shared great times with...it seemed like there at the retreat I was not only able to make new friends, but build stronger relationships with the ones that I'd already had.
It was so muddy, and rainy and full of muck that we had to pile all of our shoes into a big old plastic trash bag after getting into our assorted homeward bound vehicles (cars, trucks, vans...) to keep the dirty-car level at a minimum. Honestly, I'll tell you now that all of our clothes probably reeked of something similar wet dog. We weren't exactly the most pleasant-smelling bunch of kids on church campus after our return journey.

From there it was a ride home and a throw-everything-into-the-washer-spree.
I was back home.
With a lot to sort through. A lot to think about. All of this after spending two nights in a cold and rainy paradise of sorts with soppy clothes, soaked socks, and muddy everything else.

That, my friends is why I woke up sounding like Darth Vader this morning---goodness knows how much snot and slime I've had to hack or blow out of my system today. Whoopdeedoo for the aftermath of no sleep and cold weather.

But is was sooooo worth it. :)

Brainsurge

May the (mass)(acceleration) be with you too.
Salutations to the owner of Gregory Wallace: there is always a time for inside jokes.

Nameology

Every once in a while I'm reminded of the vast amount of Internet user names and nicknames I've used throughout my short life. Crazy big hoards of pettish titles that hide in my closet and snicker at me while I fall asleep. You could probably bombard me with these someday, should you wish to do so. The following are of the lesser-embarrassing type.

First you must eliminate all that have to do with the name Kismint and Plinkadink (which *gasp* are pen names, if you were in doubt).

-KMinty (derrr.)
-Plinkydink
-KaPlink
-KismintKate

Then you could add these that only a certain few of you might recall and really don't have much relevance (such as)...

-Coffeeish
-Bae
-Dukluk (anybody ever find out what Mukluk means?)

From there you would go ahead and throw these in:

-Grey (O' the Dawn, baby!! ;)
-Swordwielder (always.)
-Wielder of sword and lampshade
-The girl with the lampshade on her head
-Unbeknowest (oooh, none of you saw that one coming O_o)

And then you have the other, more varied few which include

-Stewieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (there is a true art to pronunciation on this one)
-Katertot (You see, names that are cool start with "K". This one is obviously very classy)

Apart from the above stated, there are of course, what we children-of-our-parents have come to distinguish as the "TERROR NAMES". That is, the nicknames too terrible and forged so repulsively in the depths out of deep dark awkward family stories that for them to be uttered aloud and in public seems the most dreadful and unthinkable tragedy of our time. Of course, we all have those moments in which our blessed fathers and mothers have the occasional slip-up and call you by one of these never-to-be-mentioned titles before the presence of others. It is at these moments, friends, in which we must stand firm---facing our undying peril of utter embarrassment with great steadfastness and unwavering courage---and continue on, shouldering our heavily squishing and burdensome load with a plaster smile. And though recovery from such a tidal wave of mortification seems dreadfully far and out of reach, we must live in faith that the terrors of the moment will be mere jokes when looked back on from the future.
Admit it. You have them too.

*sly face*

See? I know these things.
Don't worry, I got your back. Besides, a little embarrassment ain't ever killed no'n. That is my comfort to ye of little hope.

On the related note of names (lookit how smoothly I change the subject!), do you guys realize that the word of the day today is "kibitzer"?? Remind me to use this one at least thrice a day.

'Tis all,
signed,
the Kismint of many names

Hip-Hop Violinist and My Boring Life

Honestly, I just wrote you all a ton of random poems and prose and decided that it was too abstract to be entertaining. The things I do for you all...

Today was Tuesday. I don't usually do much on Tuesday. I woke up at 9:30, did my little exercise spiel (bwahahaha, figured out I can still hula-hoop like a boss), started school at noon and got distracted by watching Lindsey Stirling YouTube videos. 

Oh so awesome. 

(no I don't expect you to sit through them all, just pick one and be impressed)

My favorite!

Double win with the Piano Guys.

So. Stinkin'. Cool.

Are you inspired? I am.

Heyyy...I want an ice castle too.

But now you can see why I have to stretch really hard to find stories to present you with. That is, because my life is sort of not exciting. 

---Which is why most of what you hear about comes across as either really exaggerated or from the weirdest, most rambly parts of my brain. 

And just so that you know, I don't like monkeys. The tend to creep me out.

Time to go nighty-night.
K-Minty

Brain Infrastructure (etcetera)

I guess you can't really say that anyone fits a "personality type". We're all sort of mixes when it comes to our brain infrastructure. Somehow I find this extremely interesting. It always amazes me whenever I think about just how artistic God is when designing a human being.

Because I like to pick open my thoughts from time to time, I wrote the following.
Please note that it's 11:48PM and I'm in "that mood" that us night owls get.
I also keep on spelling "they" without the "y".

* * *

I am an analyst. 

The people who look at something and reason over it for a given amount of time. They find the flaws, but they find the good too. They don't always see eye-to-eye with...well with anyone depending on the circumstances...but they are typically flexible around people with different outlooks, even if they seem to keep a little distant. They see things and store things in their minds and use everything they take in as a measuring stick. They use this to compare everything to everything and note the contrast. Sometimes this can cause a minor sense of insecurity. Over-thinking is what they do best, and sometimes they can get carried away with it. Think something along the lines of a sailboat in a tsunami and you'll get the idea of what it's like for an analyst to run away with their musings.

I am an idea-er.
The people who some call "creative" but should really be titled "zany brains". These people present the world with what their inspiration juices handed off to them. They're people of action (and procrastination). Idea-ers are builders. It's in their nature to create and expand upon. They work on projects, either in committees or on their own, and strive to get their words out. They want to show what they're capable of, so they're always looking for new ways to recycle ideas or conjure up new ones. Unfortunately, when it comes to Idea-ers, they are either too timid to use their gifts to the fullest or too confident and begin to show off. They crave applause and gratitude from others, wanting encouragement and supportive words.

I am an extrovert.
Extroverts are the people who love and live to see other people being happy around them. They love to make people laugh, they love to feel included, and they love to belong. Generally, they just love to love. But every extrovert is different from the next. Some are particularly loud and aspiring, while others are simply content with being around people who acknowledge and appreciate them. Extroverts are not shallow, loud people who like doing things for the sake of draw attention. Instead they are merely people who find it refreshing to play with others. Sadly, because they value their crowds and fellow humans to such a high extent, they are prone to acting only as they think others would want or be amused by rather than behaving as they truly are and/or feel.

I am a dreamer, a writer, a class clown, an artist, a child of God.
And that's pretty cool.