The Internet

It has been over a year since the last posting on Sensational Sensational. Which saddens me. I really liked Sensational Sensational. So I'm going to start posting again. The rest may or may not join me.

I think that the internet is truly sensational. It's a recent inventions of the humans and it is a wonderful one. There is so much on the webs that one can get lost in. Whether reading one of hundreds of thousands of blogs, playing ridiculous games like Runescape, Neopets, or Farmville. Or social networking on Facebook, Twitter, etc etc. Or researching on Wikipedia. The internet is a blackhole for time. It just gets sucked into the void of the web. But that's alright. Its the price you pay. The internet, I think, is one reason why Sensationa Sensational failed. We became distracted by the abundance of information and things to do. So today, I have gone one step closer to making this blog one that gets posted regularly.

Point A to Point B

Well I haven't updated lately either! Sorry. Not like anyone reads this
anyway. This summer has been going by so fast and surprisingly I haven't
had much time to update either. Well. I need to find something
sensational write about. Hmm. Having fun. That's sensational. And its
amazing how easy it is to have fun. A day that is meant to be spent
swimming, turns into a money hunt in scorching parking lots, watching
talking teeth on youtube, playing limbo with a little cat, or going to
Denny's at 1 AM. Its all rather sensational. Just the abstractness of it
all. You can spend hours and hours of having fun, but when you think of
all you did it wouldn't seem that great to the outsider. Walking miles
in the dark at 11 PM while fireworks are thrown at you. Fun? Yes.
Sensational? Absolutely. Hopefully everyone knows what I'm talking
about. I guess, just those things that happen when you set out to do one
thing, and end up doing another. Or when you are just trying to get from
Activity A to Activity B (physically or with time) and its actually the
time spent in between A and B that are the funniest. Who would've
thought that calling a Romanian in Michigan and going on youtube would
be funner than Denny's. (I know it should be "more fun" but this seems
to fit better. Well. I think of rambled on long enough about this.

This is Nick. Signing off.

Update

It's been such a long time before I posted anything on this blog, i'm sorry!

I'll just share a bit of why i've been so bad at posting.

I am currently not at home. I am at a wonderful place called "Grindstone Lake Bible Camp" where I spend my time being a counselor to girls of all ages.

Last week was my training week and basically I just learned what i'm supposed to do, got some music stuff together and learned some safety training stuff. This week however, is the first week of camp. I have a cabin of six Jr. High girls. And let me tell you, it get's crazy.

So, what's so sensational about that? Mmm. I don't know. Just being at camp I guess. It's beautiful here. The lake is wonderful. Everything is wonderful. I love waking up and walking down paths to places I need to be, and I love spending time outside, which is quite surprising because i'm NOT an outdoors girl.

I just don't really like the heat. :P

So far, in the past few weeks i've been thrown into the lake three times. Note to self, do NOT stand on the dock when other counselors are coming. No one can be trusted. :P

But quite honestly, I want to be thrown in the lake right now. It's so hot outside. Well, I only get two hours of free time to myself a day, so please forgive me if it takes me a while to post!

Meanwhile, here's a beautiful picture of the lake.

WORLD DOMINATION! Mwa ha ha ha.

Yes. World Domination. All of us have dreamed of it. What would it be like if YOU controlled the world? Its amazing how popular of a theme world domination is. The cartoon from the nineties, Pinky and the Brain, featured two mice attempting world domination. The majority of wars have world domination as a theme, whether just for power (Hitler) or because you believe the economy will not work until everyone is a communist. If you think about it, religion is another form of world domination. While it isn't a negative one, "Go therefore and spread the Good News to all nations" does sound like a commandment to conquer. I mean that of course in the highest respect, but its true. Christians, Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons are all active members of world domination in my community. Why are we so in love with conquering the world?!

Why on earth am I talking about this? Especially on a blog about sensational things. No, I am not conquering the world. Although I know what I would do (in detail) if I did. I am talking about this because the three of us (Mindy, Betsy, and I) played the board game Risk for 4.5 hours tonight. Needless to say I, had Australia the whole time. Why is it that humans are so in love with the concept of world domination though? Admit it. Those of you who have played Risk take joy in conquering other territories. And when one of your territories you really want is taken you are upset. Like Ukraine. It really is an interesting little peek into the human psyche.

Well, to you conquistadors out there, good luck! And to the rest of you, stay safe, for who knows will be the next Conqueror!

Hasta la vista!

Question for the comments, if you dominated the world what is the first thing you would change?

Hanging out

Hanging out- a slang phrase used by people to refer to spending time with friends.

Where did this interesting phrase come from. Perhaps it evolved from our primate ancestors? For when they spent time with each other they literally "hung out". Or perhaps from times when hanging was capital punishment. A group of pirate friends would go "hang out" as they were killed. Well wherever this phrase comes from, hanging out is absolutely sensational.

This past week I was blessed/cursed with a rather empty schedule at the Dairy Queen I work at (same one Mindy recently retired from). So I had plenty of time to hang out with my friends. By the end of tomorrow I will have been to three different bonfires, one campout, two graduation parties, one movie night, one musical (Phantom of the Opera), one concert, and one mini mini road trip. All of these have been exciting. If every week was like this however I would collapse.

As I take stock in this week I have several bruises from the star game, cuts in my feet from playing ghosts in the graveyard barefoot, and a hurt toe from stubbing the corner of the toenail off from running through a dark basement during the potty break of a scary movie (My Bloody Valentine (very good movie)). But the price was worth it. I had an amazing week. Besides being worried about a creepy miner pick-axing me to death it was great.

Without hanging out with friends life would be immensely boring. Every friend contributes also, the sensible one (why are we doing this?), the daring one (lets all 5 of us climb an apple tree in the middle of the night), the rather dumb ones (lets through the mother of all logs in the fire) and all the ones in between. Regardless of injury, fatigue, or being yelled at by grumpy sales people hanging out is absolutely sensational.

Being Outside

Hey! Betsy and Mindy here. We are currently sitting outside. After we got bored with making buttons, we decided it would be fun to have a photo shoot in Betsy's yard. The sun was at such a perfect angle that we felt we should take pictures of our shadows and some other things.

A Proposal


Basking in the Sunshine

We were not very good at posing our shadows, especially when we tried to jump. Next time it is nice in your area, grab a friend and a camera and take some photos!

Weeds in the Sun


A Rocket Ship Crashing to Earth

Freedom!

Today was my last day of working at my job. I tried to find a picture that would capture the emotions and the joys that I felt the moment I left the doors, but I couldn't find any that was just right. The minute I stepped outside of the building and headed to my car, I felt a great big sense of relief and I laughed at myself--all the way to my car, because I can be such a drama queen sometimes. But I do swear, a huge wave of relief rushed over me, because now, I AM DONE.

I planned to be done with my job next week, but my boss had a talk with me today and about half an hour before my shift was scheduled to end I found out today was my last day. I immediately started playing the "last game." "Aww, this is going to be the last blizzard I mix...this will be my last shake....this will be the last tray of buster bars that I make" (In case you were wondering, I worked at a Dairy Queen...it feels SO good to use the word "worked" in past tense!)

It seemed almost fitting that the very last cone I made looked like a piece of crap. Almost like the first cone that I ever made...

Yes, that is me. Wearing onion rings and a hot dog as earrings. Now that is devotion.

Working very hard.

Anyway, despite the silly pictures, I did work at Dairy Queen pretty hard. I spent the last 4.5 years working there and have made lots of memories. :) I will kind of miss it I guess...

But still. I AM FREE. EEE!

Lilacs

The past week I have been doing a lot of running around and helping people get ready for their kids' graduation parties and just doing a lot of running around in general. Amidst all of the running around, I love stepping outside from my house where the fragrant scent of lilacs becomes overwhelming. I have three lilac bushes that came from my great-great grandma's house and they have just recently bloomed. Driving around town and some other parts of the area I see a lot of people have lilac bushes and they are all blooming magnificently.

I absolutely love the look and smell of lilacs. Something so simple as that, looks so beautiful and smells remarkable. It is definitely something that I love about this time of year. It is so nice to just go outside and smell them and it is also pretty relaxing.

A friend of mine on Saturday cut me a bouquet of lilacs for me to bring home, after making several comments on the way to get $1 flip flops at old navy on Saturday morning (Oh yeah, baby! I'm all for dollar flip flops!) and the bouquet still adorns the top of my dresser and makes my bedroom smell amazing. Especially since I have my windows open. :)

Käthe Kollwitz

Self-Portrait, 1924

I took an art history class last semester. Obviously it's really hard to go through the world's history of art in a couple of months, and I honestly found the class fairly (extremely) boring. By the end of the semester, I skipped more than I went. Maybe that's unscholarly of me, but becoming a scholar of art doesn't interest me much anyway. Being an expert takes away a bit of a person's creativity and passion in that area, I think.

But as I was saying!

As a person who has tried her hand at numerous mediums, I think I am safe in saying that I will never become a professional artist. Regardless of how much appeal that title holds to me, the greatest appreciator and historian of my artwork is myself. And that's okay.

Painting and sculpture are not my forte. While I am very impressed by people who are able to paint or sculpt elaborate works of art, I don't really have much desire to pursue that area myself. Maybe it's because I know the results would not be pretty. In any case, I much prefer a simple drawing to marble and fresco and whatever else.

That being said, one person whose work I was intrigued by during the course of my art history class was Käthe Kollwitz, a German artist who worked during the early half of the 20th century.

Death and the Mother

I really like Käthe Kollwitz's drawings; they have an unfinished quality that makes them a little rough around the edges, which I think kind of adds to the feeling one gets from the drawings. Clearly Kollwitz set out to portray an emotion rather to create something particularly beautiful. I am fairly positive she met her goal - her drawings are extremely evocative.

Death and the Mother is probably my favorite. I think it perfectly captures the emotion the woman must be feeling to have death breathing down her neck while she's holding her baby.

Plus, it's damn creepy. I can dig that.

So what about you? Do you have any favorite artists, art movements, works of art, etc.? You got anything to share that creeps you out in a good way? Do post a comment; we'd love to hear from you!

Memorial Day

I felt that memorial day needed a bit more recognition, so here is a bit from "Stars and Stripes Forever."

"Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.

Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever."

-John Philip Sousa

Happy Memorial Day everyone, thank a soldier today.
And also, thank you again to everyone who have served or are currently serving in the Military.