My Two Favorite Things

A long time ago I started watching BBC Robin Hood. Needless to say my family wasn't thrilled, and now the only people who like watching it are myself and my mother. We unintentionally stopped watching, until the other night when we actual found the time to watch the next episode. Seeing as I hadn't watching it at all this year I read the descriptions of the episodes I had watched so long ago; it was while doing so that I noticed the term "Saracen." I am also reading a book in the Youngest Templar Trilogy, during the Crusade to the Hold Land. It was then that I made the connection. The King Richard in the Robin Hood tales was King Richard the Lionheart. How could I have missed that before? It was so obvious! So I have a completely new perspective of this show, and really, really want to watch it more.

I actually don't know very much about King Richard, or about the crusades. But I do know a little bit about King Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Through out history women do not often break the mold of what was "normal." That's what usually bugs me about most historical fiction, but I don't want to rant about that now. Eleanor is actually one of the few exceptions, she was quite unusual for a woman in the 1100's. First off, when her father died she became Duchess of Aquitaine around age twelve to fifteen. No one seems to know for sure. From what I've read she was actually able to read and write. At that time it was a extremely rare for women to know such things, even noble women or royalty!

That's actually about as much as I know. But Robin Hood has given me an entirely new resolve to find more about Eleanor, her sons Richard and John, and about the crusades and the Templars. Such as this, I only just learned last night that the word Muslim was hardly ever used until around the sixteenth century (I think). Before then Muslims were called Saracens. So now that gives me a new perspective of the Saracens in Keeper of the Grail, the book I was talking about earlier.

Back on the topic of BBC Robin Hood. I now understand what Robin mean in the first episode when he had returned from the crusade. But does that mean this is set after the crusade to the Holy Land, or did he just sorta leave the fight? And, if he was in the battle, and his is indeed a christian as I currently think he is, then wouldn't that make him a Templar Knight? Wouldn't more await him than a bandits life? Can you just quite being a Templar Knight? I mean sure, it's just a show, no way it's gonna be historically accurate (as pointed out by their clothes :P) but it raises question to research! Ahhh... I love history. :)

So now that I have all this to research maybe I'll actually post on MAE History. I haven't posted in forever. I mean, right now I've only got one post. It's pretty pathetic. So I'm thinking I'll try and write a post, but maybe be less formal. Whenever I start a blog I always get help back by trying to make each post very professional, which results in one to zero posts. Yeah... so I've decided to be a bit less formal, but I still want it to be informative. It's supposed to be a blog to record what I learn about my favorite periods in history. So I'm gonna try a new approach. :)

So I found this channel of YouTube. Oh my gosh. Love the music they post! It's a channel to help musicians be discovered, so they've go multiple people's music. Thus far I've only listened to part of an hour long video with the best of Jo Blankenburg. I hope I'll be able to find more of his music, it's so amazing! It's so quarantined too! Like, I love Adrian, Brunuh, Derek, and Antti's music (among others) but Jo's music is extremely well coordinated. It's so hard to explain, but Jo's music sound even more professional. It's amazing! I love it!

Ahh, music and history. Two of my most favorite things! Speaking of music, I really haven't been able to use Magix at all because of my darn computer. :( Bummer. Hopefully I'll get a new one soon... pffft, yeah right. That's not happening any time soon. But that's perfectly okay. :) I could use a little lesson in patience. That is something I don't have very much of.

That's it. I need to either work on history, though I'm getting a bigger urge to work on stories. Plotting them out, or actually writing, or coming up with idea, or planning character. It's hitting me big, this music does something to me. It makes me watch to write. So many things come up in my head when I listen to it. That's it, I'm outta here. Beannachd leibh! (That is one of two ways to say goodbye is Gaelic. I'm pretty stoked that I remembered how to spell it).

My Compound Bow and a New Musician

I have just the other day discovered another musician that I really like. While listening to music on YouTube, as I so often do, I came across her videos. She's a violinist who re-creates songs. Well, sorta. It's kind of like The Piano Guys. They take popular songs and make their own versions. That what she does. Well anyway, her name is Taylor Davis, and so far I've listened mostly to songs I know. Avengers theme, Duel of the Fates, Phantom of the Opera, Doctor Who theme, Hedwig's theme, Concerning Hobbits, etc. I would highly recommend her music. I really love it! So far she's only done two original songs, Awakening and Nebulous. I love them both!

On a completely unrelated note, I've started to get back into archery again. I haven't really done any shooting. See we were at a friends house, a BBQ, and they had set up archery. Naturally I found myself, bow in hand, let arrows loose at their target: a large hay bale. It has seriously re-awoken my need to shoot. Weather it be a gun or bow, but for now I'd prefer a bow. Now I've already got a small compound bow. When I say small I mean really small. It's more for little kids. But that's okay, for now at least. My bi problem is I lack a place to actually shoot my bow. We've got a target, I've got the bow (obviously) and arrow(s) (I lost the nock off of one, and the bow only came with two :/) yet I haven't got a place to actually shoot the bow. I might be able to in our backyard, but it's risky. For the arrows that is. I've already beat the heads a bit.

My dad was thinking I could set up the target in the backyard, on the upper portion. To those who haven't been to my house, our yard is split level. Anyway, I was thinking about that, and I've hit a few problems. See, we would be placing out target on concert bricks, so if we shot to low it could shatter the arrow. Too high then it goes over the fence into black berry bushes. Also, my dad has already gotten an arrow stuck between fence pieces, it ended taking off the head of an arrow, but we were able to fix it. So yeah, I can't exactly shoot my bow yet. I also could use a few pieces of equipment first too. When we were at the BBQ my fingers started to hurt really bad from when I was releasing the bowstring. So I really need a finger tab. A proper finger tab. Not the bogus thing I got with my bow. I could also use a good bracer. My bow came with one, but it's a bit small. The bracer protects your forearm from getting torn up when you release the bowstring. I accidentally got my arm with my compound once. The spot turned bright red and swelled a bit. It was a minor issue though, it did hurt, but was gone by the end of the day. I also hit my arm at the BBQ, and it's not exactly fun. So I need some equipment and space before I can actually start. :(

Guess what?! Adrian von Zieglers two hour compilation video of his Celtic Collection album hit ten million views! So to celebrate he's giving away the entire album free for twenty four hours! I totally got it, then realized I need to get the other albums I've collected off my hard drive. In case I forgot to mention, my computer stopped working a while back. That's been hard, cause now I have to wait for when my dad's not working to use his computer. Or I can use our grandma's Chrome book. But it would be nice to have my own computer back again. I might have even found the problem! Or part of it at least. :)

One Ring to Rule Them All

Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Guess what I watched, for the first time ever, yesterday evening? I'd think it's pretty obvious really. The Fellowship of the Ring! Finally, I have seen the first of three movies of which I've heard so much about. I'm currently listening to the soundtrack, which so far I love, and as for the movie. It was really awesome! I've never watched a full on fantasy movie before, it was just so awesome getting into my element. I can't wait to watch The Two Towers! It's already shipped from the library! Squee, I'm so excited! The more I think about it, the more I'm coming to love the movie. Watch out Pinterest. :P

In other news, I was so inspired by my friend having written thirty chapters in her novel that I sat myself down to write. I must not let myself go back and edit, but press forward. It's only been two days of writing, but I've just finished chapter one. The story I'm currently work on is called Heart of Fire, and I'm hoping to stick to one story until I at least have the first draft done. But well see, I may get inspiration for another story. Either way, I'm determined to finished a first draft of one of my stories; and sometime soon.

My brothers birthday is coming up soon. He'll be twelve on the twenty fifth of this month. We were talking about our ages the other day, he can't believe he's turning twelve, and I can't believe that I'll be turning sixteen this year. I mean, I've got quite a few months until I do. But I'm turning sixteen. That seems so strange. I mean, even now I could get my learners permit if I wanted to. I don't particularly care about driving though. I mean, it's okay n'all, but I don't have any real reason to get my learners, then my actual permit. First cause I'd have to pay for it all, and as I've said, I'm almost always broke, but also cause I wouldn't have many places to go. Except the library.

Today I entered a huge, and I mean huge, giveaway. This page called Nerd Block is giving away the Lego Deathstar and Lego Ewok Village, along with five micro fighters and a backpack. Let's add things up here... that's almost one thousand dollars worth of Legos. That's... a lot of Legos. Wouldn't be awesome if I won? I doubt it, there's a few thousand other entries. But who knows? I may just get lucky.

Well, I'm off to write. I'm going to try and get another few pages done, maybe even get to chapter two. One things for sure, I will not let myself edit. I much not let myself if I ever want to finish one of my stories.

Yes, I Haven't Posted in a While

Hey all! I haven't posted in forever, so I'm gonna now.

Oh, so I've been plotting out a lot of my stories recently. It's been really fun just getting what's in my head down on page and actually making it sound good. It wasn't until today that I actually started writing. What really prompted me was a friend who's been writing a lot lately, and is up to thirty chapters. I'm so impressed and like... gosh I feel sorta wimpy just cause I have never written thirty chapters before. So now I'm like, that's it. I need to write. For real. So here I am, procrastinating! :P

The story I'm working on today is Heart of Fire. It's about a girl in a historical fantasy setting, though I want it to have somewhat of a feel like being in Scotland... we'll see how that goes though. :) So far I'm only about two pages in, but I just started today. I'm hoping to have at least one chapter done by the end of the day, but we'll see how that goes as well. You never know what might come up. ;)

Another story I've been working on is Believe. I think I've talked a little about it. Let's just say, based on what's in my head it's gonna be so fun to write. It has to do with ghosts and paranormal activity. That'll all I'll say for now. I don't want to give away all my secrets. ;)

On another note, I've been practicing Scottish Gaelic! I even had a friend come over the other day and I taught her some! So now I know two people who want to learn Gaelic, though only one of them has actually started learning. :D It's so exciting, cause I love the sound of Gaelic (even though it sounds silly at times) and I'm stoked to know one person that wants to learn it! :)

Hmm... Let's see if I can remember any Gaelic right now. Like something reasonable to say in a sentence, not, how are you? Errr.... I'm blanking here. Haha, all I can think is, 'Ciamar a tha thu?' which is Gaelic for how are you. :P Gosh, my crazy mind. Then again I'm also remembering, 'latha blàth' which is 'a warm day'. But today isn't warm. Thank goodness! It's under seventy degrees and it rained! Yes, thank you Washington! I've been getting a little tired of the same old hot weather. Though I suppose it had been really nice. But the rain is nice too.

Well, I think I'll maybe go get a snack, then continue writing. As I said, I'm hoping to write a full chapter today. So I gotta write, but first I must eat (or play piano...). Er, eat. Yes. Eat, play piano, write... wait, what? Eat then write. There we go. :P