Inspirational, Aspirational

I have just been watching the news, and an inspiring story has alerted me.
Monique Van der Vorst is just beyond insprirational. At thirteen, her left leg was paralysed when an operation on her foot went wrong. Three years ago, she was in a cycle crash, and her right leg was paralysed too. While she was paralysed, she trained for the Paralympics and won not one, but two silver medals in the Paralymics (cycling). One day, she started to feel a slight tingling in her legs one day while at Physiotherapy. Soon after, she  could walk again, and she is now training for the Olympics (she is now cycling properly again).

I saw this on the news yesterday, and this story is just so unbelievable. Monique Van der Vorst is such an amazing, determined person and that people like her are the ones who make a difference (people who have had hard times but still stay strong and don't let it get into their way of success). It's amazing that she even hand- cycled after being paralysed, but that she entered the Paralymics and won two Silver medals is incredible, and now when she has recovered, she is training for the Olympics. Wow. She is unbelievable.


A photo of Monique winning a Silver medal at the Paralympics, looking ecstatic.



The wonders of the human body will never cease to amaze me, and I wish all the best for Monique.

Cari.

Perception

People perceive aspects of life in different ways. You can look at a rainy day as a miserable happening or an opportunity to do something fun indoors. That is a basic way that people can perceive things in different ways. I would like to write a pair of similar stories, just to convey the contrast:

Lily was, well, not an optimist, to say the least. Everyday she found fault with life and expressed it in a rather unpleasant way. Her grumbles and moans at things that most people would find exciting and interesting meant that she was widely disliked. She had an inability to see the glass half-full. It was a shame, really, because when she was younger she was rather charismatic- she charmed everyone she met. But now she had changed. She found a problem with everything, including when she got excellent results in school- she thought of it as "sympathy marks."

Mollie found a light at the end of every tunnel, however dark, dank or long the tunnel was. Today was a day like every other- she glanced out of the curtain, to see the ash clouds drip rain onto the foggy world. But Mollie didn't mind, in fact, she planned to write a story, which did not require pleasant weather. She lifted her hand off her maths homework book, revealing the meticulous rows of sums that were probably all correct, complete with a logical explanation for each calculation. She heaved a sigh of pleasure while she mentally planned an interesting, philosophical story. She began to type out this story, and she realised how much delight she found in writing- and this did not need any weather type.

Can you see how Lily's strangely pessimistic views on life are affecting her and how people judge her (she is widely disliked)? And how Mollie is benefitting from her overall positive thoughts? Seemingly small things like how you intepret the weather are a huge reflection on you. This is not only how you perceive the world, but how others perceive you. If you perceive with positive thoughts, they are most likely to perceive you with positive thoughts.

Cari x

If only life was a video tape...you could watch it, rewind it and do things again, and fast forward it to a better time.

You do things that you regret, you do things that you look back on and say "I could have done that better." Authors do it when the get a book published. Or you are correcting mistakes and find a careless mistake that the answer was obvious to. Everyone makes these mistakes, all the time. Note I didn't say blogs, because those can be deleted or edited.
When I was nine, I got a short story published in a book. At that moment, I was ecstatic. But now, when I read it againl I think "I should have used that word, not that," or "That sentence is so strange, I wish I hadn't put it in." At least it isn't something I regret, and I still get a wonderfully warm feeling of pride when I see my name imprinted on the crisp white pages.
Enough about me, there are much more serious versions of this. Crime is an interesting one, so I'm going to explore that. If a random person on the street leaps out at a girl and kills her for no reason, they will probably regret it later on, especially if they are jailed. But if somebody has done something terrible to them or that affects them, chances are that he either dosen't regret and feels justified in murder, or he takes a lot longer to regret it. Lets say someone that is reasonably well-off shoplifts and gets found out. It's not the same as if somebody gets caught stealing bread if they have no food. The person who has no food will not want to have done anything differently- after all, he was trying to survive. But if the person who shoplifted for no particular reason gets caught, he will regret it later on. And probably end up paying.

Cari xxx

BS (for those of you who don't know, blog script): I should really post a story on my blog.

She won't tell me anything! Secretive, huh?

This post is not about not telling people anything, it's about secretiveness. Which is sort of not telling people anything. Not always. Sorry I just accidentally published it, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, I remember when I used to be secretive... I never posted any pictures, I never really said my true emotions- but now I do. And you were probably sitting at your computer screen saying "I wonder what Cari looks like" if you don't know me. But now I am a lot more open- plus I've revealed myself.

Another picture of me! Why not- I'm not so secretive anymore...

Sometimes, people trigger your curiosity by being secretive. They whisper and you see them, and you wonder "what are they whispering about? Is is about me? Is it about her? Are they discussing an exclusive event? Are they gossiping or spreading rumours?" I could go on. Millions of questions surge into your head all at once, so many that you have an "overload" like a light bulb and don't say anything. A light bulb also goes out when there is too much power. But I've already previously blogged about light bulbs so I will try and stop now.

I guess, sometimes I am secretive. I don't want people to know some things. I could post a huge secret and even some of my closest friends would be shocked. But I won't- I'm still a bit secretive. Then again, I never wanted to post pictures of myself at first...

Cari (if there are any words which should have capital letters but don't, my keyboard isn't being as responsive as usual. Sorry).

In the Long Run/ Missing out

As I have already explained, me smiling!

Sorry about the title, it does display a certain amount of indecisiveness. But back to business. I am posting this because I am meant to be at a party, but as I have exams coming up very soon (as in this Wednesday soon) I can't go. And you can see how I'm missing out. I walked home with everyone else for about half of the way, though, so at least I got to join in a bit. That's where the long run comes in. I would have loved to go, but if I stay at home and revise, it will be more beneficial in the long run. Or the short run, as all the exams are over in February. So,this is what I can do...think ahead (yep, the long run again) and know that I am doing work for my exams and also think that there'll be other parties, or carry on sniffling for quite a long time. I mean, there will be loads of other parties but I get one shot at this exam. As I am feeling quite gloomy and sad, I will put a photo of me smiling! Hopefully that will give me something to grin about again (smiling is very contagious. It could even be classified a disease that comes and goes too quickly, that everyone wants to get).

Cari- I'm sorry that this was a bit strange, but it's what I felt like posting- A real life situation that everyone can relate to.

In case you were wondering....



This is what I look like! :-)
I just felt like adding a face to my blog.







 

There are so many paths in life...

I could use a map.

Oh, and, er, which one do I take?

I know that sounds strange, but it's true, everyone would benefit from a map telling you exactly what to do.
There is a map, but it is split into peices. All the people who care about you and guide you have a peice. some peices are bigger than others. They all give you their peices (sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly), until you have the whole map. Sometimes, without realizing, you have a peice as well. Or a few.

A strange metaphor, but I believe that it's true.
Or think of it this way......
When you are born, you enter a large, confusing forest. Your aim is to get out of the forest. Along your life, you encounter many different routes. Sometimes, you just have to guess which one to take, sometimes you make logical guesses. Sometimes you ignore logic, and that can either get you into a good or bad situation. You also find many other people along the way. They can either help you or put you off your path. The people who get out live the rest of their lives happily and with a sense of acheivement. Those who are overwhelmed by this maze of a forest, and believe they will never get out, die in the forest, never having sensed acheivement before- they never know when they are on the right path. Those who have confidence they will get out do, unless they boast this and take advantage of their confidence.

This map/forest idea bounced into my head and has relentlessly taken up my thoughts, so I  decided to blog about it- not just that, but I like the idea anyway.

Hope you liked my post!- Cari.

You can find hope anywhere.

I have recently been feeling very hopeful. This koala speaks for me here- look into his eyes. I can just see the hope and innocence in his eyes- I hope you can as well because I find this photo striking. It is very, very cute, and speaks a thousand words. I have been looking and looking at it and...it is so abundant in hope.

I believe that hope can be found anywhere- In a tough situation, in light, in a koala's eyes, anywhere. This is the aim of the koala- to show that light can be found at the end of even the darkest, dankest tunnnel. It's the sort of picture that makes you tilt your head, I don't know why. Stare at the photo for a minute and you'll know what I mean.

On top of all that, it is an amazing photograph and I have no idea how the photographer captured so much emotion in it.

Cari.

Logical Thinking and Ideas

These two subjects tie in together- in a way, the logical thinking is like a shoe that fits on the ideas perfectly, but I do think that the sock is, say red and the shoe is green- they contrast eachother.

Think of logic (the ideas come in later) like a circuit with one battery and one bulb. The more "bulbs" (ideas) you add, the dimmer the ideas become as you pay less attention to each one.If you add more batteries (or apply more logic to the idea), the idea gets brighter, more logical and works better.  It will only work if the circuit is complete. That's just a metaphor, but I think it does work.

Another metaphor for ideas is this- think of a large white canvas everytime you are think of something new. This is your "brain". Sometimes you decide to paint on it (deliberately coming up with ideas) and sometimes you lose control over your hand and splat paint all over it (when ideas just pop into your head).  Sometimes, you have an incomplete painting and revisit a canvas. Sometimes, you get a new canvas. It depends on whether you are coming up with a new idea or building on an old one. And sometimes, you have no idea what to paint.

Cari- I may build on this post later on.

Saying Sorry is one thing, but Apologizing....Well, that's a whole new story

Have you noticed that when someone owes you an apology, they sometimes just say sorry rather than actually apologising. It seems strange, but there's a huge difference.
Apologies always happen when there is time to say a thorough apology, and the people apologising leave time for you to reply. They are prepared and thought of.
"Sorries" or the fake apology is said in a tone that may seem that they have no time, or they did nothing wrong. It usually happens in the middle of something, and sometimes, the "apologiser" just walks away, not leaving you time to answer, and you are probably left gaping. An insincere apology is worse than not apologising at all. Which, depending on what it is, is quite bad.

I have had this apply to me recently (recently being last month) and an insincere apology just leaves you feeling worse. What's the point if you don't mean it, anyway? It makes me wonder why people apologize like that even when it makes others feel worse.

Cari.

Writer's Block

Hello! I've tackled the necklaces and the apple crumble was delicious. Today, I am blogging about writer's block, because , surprise, surprise, I am currently experiencing it. And it is....interesting.
I have literally been thinking "I really want to blog today but I don't know what to do it on" all the time. Believe me, I have tried asking friends, and clicking the "next blog" button millions of times. The fascinatingly interesting thing about writers block is that you stop thinking "oh, this will sound stupid" and write whatever you can think of as you desperately want to write something. Anything. So thats what i'm doing. And it is actually quite easy, now. It sounds cliche but it flows. That is the hidden bright side of writer's block, or the light at the end of the tunnel. Writer's block can be annoying- you have to write an essay and you have no idea where to start, for example. But it also gives you to the "oppourtunity" to write like this. "Like this" meaning without stopping to think "should I use meticulous or orderly to describe something neat?" Which of course no-one will answer for you, so it leads into....well, writer's block. I have  learned so much from this post. I never realied what a gift writer's block was. And i'm not being sarcastic. But now i've thought about it in an optimistic way (yes, the glass is half-full about writer's block), I have found out it's not actually that bad. Wow. I've written all this when I supposedly had writer's block.

Time for a paragraph break or this will go on literally forever (maybe not).

Cari, who is posting a link Now, so click here!

Oh, forget it.

After lunch today I really wanted this blackberry and apple pie or whatever it was made of.
But then my mum and my younger brother started cooking apple crumble. And I thought, "No way, I am not having two desserts" as I have already had a (probiotic, taste-the-goodness, fat-free) froen yoghurt.

It's a little like last night when I tried to untangle a necklace (and admittedly failed), went to bed, and forgot about it. And until now, "oh, forget it" is all i've thought since.
So I guess I won't be having an apple and blackberry pie.

This seemingly small, pointless (almost. I love apple and blackberry pie) and silly scenario pops up every day, and it is, whether we notice it or not, something we spend ages (in total) on, only to think "I can't do this, forget it."

Which leads onto my next point. I bought some fortune cookies yesterday. Since then i've been devouring both the fortune and the cookie. One fortune said "if you give in, you give up." Which admittedly is slightly side-tracking from the point, but I gave up on the necklaces. I shall try again this evening. Then again, I don't mind about the apple crumble, but I didn't start saying "I WANT THE APPLE AND BLACKBERRY PIE!" (fortunately). I guess I just went with it.

Cari.

BS (blog script): I rarely do links anymore. Promise i'll have one soon. Can smell apple crumble cooking!

One thing to do Another.

This statement annoys me. I mean, it's like saying you have to...watch (or slavishly copy) another dancer if you want to dance. You don't. Or you have to read good books to write good stories. It helps, but not neccesarily defines whether you can write well or not. In fact, it could be meaningless to do so, because immersing yourself in a sea of books that you don't understand the meanings of is...pointless.

I have done many things well that you can "only do if you..." without doing the thing that you have to do in oreder to do that...that may be a little confusing.

The point is that this statement is completely, utterly untrue. Please comment if you agree, disagree, or your general experience with this saying.

Cari.