State of the brain address.

I want to break up the musical list with something else and I have all sorts of things bouncing around in my head but none of them are coming out willingly. So many are kind of half thoughts and ideas. Maybe I'll tell you anyway. It's the inside of my mind, after all, if you don't like it, leave.

I discovered that I like Cornish names the other day. I was trying to think of a name for my pirate (yes he's still unnamed.) And since my birthday, he has an unnamed companion. His companion is Russian I decided. He just looks Russian to me for some reason. He is younger and probably smarter than the first one. He's much more arrogant and probably little cocky but he's not as capable as a sailor. He's only a cabin boy and the older pirate needs to knock him around some.
In any case I was looking for names for both of them at this site and I really liked the Cornish names they had. I don't think either of my pirates are Cornish but maybe I'll steal one anyway. Ah, names are so cool! Doesn't it just make you want to make up characters with cool names or have lots of kids or something. Actually, I suppose I would be highly annoyed at my parents if they had given me some super obscure, hard to pronounce name from some obscure language. But I tend to like the way foreign names sound more than trendy American names. My own name is uncommon enough so that it doesn't bother me too much. The name Karen has a very distinct look and character attached to it for me. But I don't fit it at all and it's almost like it's a different name when you mean me. It's like there is a Karen stereotype that applies to all Karens... oh, wait, is that my name too? I guess so... well, all Karens but me.

I discovered an amazing children's American history series called A History of US. It's amazing! I picked up one of them a few months ago and was hooked on the way the author presents History.
This is a quote from the author's web site.

On the first page of book three (From Colonies to Country, 1735-1791) there's a challenge, "The picture on the cover tells a lie. Read this book and find out why." This is American history as it's not usually presented.

Every time I pick one up I am impressed some more. I bought the one about the Civil War with some Christmas money. The idea is to put the Story back in History. Of course I would love something like that. I never have been able to understand why so many kids I know will list history as their least favorite subject. She she does it very well. I've just resolved to read all ten books. So you read along and she always makes as many connections as possible case all learning is about connections. Then there are little notes in the margins giving you tantalizing taste of a story she doesn't have room to tell. So of course you have to get to the library or the internet and look these things up cause you know there is a great story there. There are challenges all through and lots of pictures and word definition and suggestions for further reading. The eleventh book is the index and glossary and all that and it also has a collection of documents (or at least parts of them) that changed or formed America. So there is the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence and they all have little head notes about what context they came from and how they relate to us now. It's amazing!

My Aunty gave me a jewelry making class as a birthday gift. We are doing it together, us artistic people. It's really fun. I carved a pendant in wax and had it cast in silver. I'm polishing it up now and working on ideas for a ring. The first two weeks of class I was really stressed out because of the retreat but now I'm really enjoying it. It's just the sort of creative, patient, detail work I am good at. I'll take a picture of the finished products and post them here.
I think a ring ought to mean something so I'm having a hard time thinking of a design for mine. I have a purity ring, which reminds me that my body is the house of my soul and should be treated with respect for the greater glory of God, not as an object. And I have a ring that was Grandma's and that is very special, obviously. They both mean something.
This year at the girls club Advent retreat (which is the Catholic Church's new year) we all drew a virtue out of a hat to work on this year. I drew the virtue of conviction. I have been praying for that one for a very long time. It's nice to know that the Holy Spirit and I agree on the virtue I need work on. I'm so indecisive I'm a mess when it comes to following God's will. 'Is that really what He wants of me or is it just my imagination?' 'Am I capable of that?' It's pathetic.
So I think I would like to make a Conviction Ring. But what does a conviction ring look like? What sort of shapes and symbols go with conviction? My chastity ring has a heart with a cross in it. That's pretty obvious. Maybe an anchor? I like anchors as a symbol but I don't know if it really fits. I just want to get something figured out so I can start carving in the wax. Oh, it's so much fun!

Another work in progress that you will probably get to see later this summer is a new picture I'm working on with my pencils. I have had this photo of some of the cast members of Babes in Arms which was a show I did with some other catholic kids one summer. I have some great memories from that show and some horror stories too. There are mostly the younger cast members in the pictures and all but one or two of them are distracted by one of the boys who has just spilled his pop all over himself and who ever was standing near him. It's such a typical scene for that group of kids and everyone is in focus and everything so I decided I needed to tackle it. It's challenging cause there are so many people it's a tangle of heads, shoulders and arms. And each face is much smaller than the other portraits I have done. So that should be interesting. I hope it turns out.

Okay, that's the state of Karen's brain lately.