Disney's in the Details

Walking out of the Los Angeles airport, my first impression was "Oh my gosh, it doesn't feel like I'm walking into an oven!" And the flowers and landscaping everywhere were just gorgeous. Southern California definitely lived up to its reputation for beauty, and it was hard for a native Texan like me to get my mind around the idea that a midsummer could actually feel pleasant.



Disneyland touts itself as "the happiest place on Earth" and I have to say that the people who work there put an extraordinary amount of effort into the minutest details in order to ensure that happy atmosphere. The park was remarkably clean, and the scenery, fake though most of it was, was still very realistic. Moving from one themed section to another, one could notice the difference in art styles. Even the employees working rides, serving in restaurants, and just walking the streets, each had distinctive costumes to accompany whatever area they were currently in.

In the California Adventure park, my brother rode his first roller coaster, although I thought it wasn't as intense as the Superman at Fiesta Texas.

Besides the rides, whose lines were often long but moved more quickly than I'd expected, the street shows that would randomly show up were excellently done, too, even if sometimes a little corny, especially the High School Musical 3 one.

One of the most interesting things that I had never expected was how many francophones I crossed in my entire trip. The first was a Québecoise woman and her family who happened to be eating dinner at the table behind ours at one of the outdoor restaurants in the Adventure Park. Hesitant at first, I decided to throw caution to the winds and inquired (in French) if I'd heard her speaking French, to which she replied yes and explained where her family was from and that her daughter does not yet speak English.

Disneyland exceeded my expectations, and I spent three very fun and pleasant days there with my family. It was even... inspiring. As cheesy as Disney can be sometimes, watching the spectacular choreographed fireworks show set to familiar classic Disney songs, or observing the detailed landscaping, or visiting the Animation Academy and being surrounded by huge screens cycling through some of the greatest Disney films ever made made me want to create and tell stories just as imaginative and inspiring as well. And I'm a sucker for a happy ending, so it's nice to know that in the midst of a dark, cynical world, dreams really do come true and there are happily ever afters if we look for them hard enough.

God Bless America

Today, I got up later than I had planned, although I still had enough time to get to FourthFest in time to help with the library's booth there. I'd never been to Wells Branch's annual Independence Day celebration, and I was shocked when I turned onto the street to find it practically blocked with cars parked along the curbs for nearly a block from the park and spilling into side streets on top of that! As crowded as it was, one of the ladies selling food there mentioned that it was "fairly tame" compared to previous years.

I spent the next two hours helping with the information/craft table we had set up (mercifully in the air conditioned community center, even if it had little traffic compared to the rest of the park).

As hot as it was, when I went home, I couldn't help but reflect on what a beautiful summer day it was to celebrate something as precious as freedom and what a beautiful country we live in. I won't speak for everyone, but I realize that I often take our liberty for granted, and I was truly grateful for the security I enjoy to worship, work, and play without fear of starvation, armed militia invading my community and home, lethal diseases, and a myriad of other fears that plague most of the rest of the world.

As I have watched my country steadily decline over the past couple of years, financially and in regards to the integrity of its political system, I have often wondered where this nation will be fifty, twenty, ten, even five years down the road. As many problems as she may have, though, America has proven herself to be a great nation in the past- and I still believe she is- and I hope she will continue to show and share that greatness and grace with which God has so blessed her with the rest of the world.

Fun At Barnes and Noble

Today, I got up to find it raining again. We desperately need it, so that was a welcome sight, and it made for the perfect day to go out to La Madeleine and Barnes and Noble with two friends. We played around with our Macbook cameras- annoying some of the crankier patrons around us- but it was a fun time out for the day.

After playing some Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros, I took them home and ate dinner, planning on continuing brainstorming with Holly Lisle's Create a Plot Clinic. I ended up getting distracted with chatting via webcam with my friend, but we had fun playing Pictionary with our dry-erase boards.

The evening didn't turn out to be totally unproductive, though, as I was able to come up with some more plot ideas while showing her how I brainstorm via screen-sharing. I'm really starting to produce some interesting concepts for this story, but I still have virtually no idea how they will all fit as a cohesive story.

Shards of the Storm is still coming along, but very slowly as I am still rereading the manuscript for the first time to reacquaint myself with the general storyline, but this plotting workshop works for works-in-progress as well, so once I familiarize myself with it again, I'll probably begin working on that on the side as I try to prepare for NaNo in November. I'm gonna need all the preparation I can get because I can already tell it's going to be one of my busiest Novembers yet being the start of college.

Heading out to continue plotting. More progress bars will be up soon.