Water's Manipulators

People sometimes remind me of water.

Water seems so smooth, so fluid, so Active, yet it relies solely on other elements to keep it moving. Wind pushes it forward, creates waves that are sometimes violent, and sometimes peaceful. The shape of the earth directs it, holds it in place or throws it off cliffs. The touch of humans manipulates it, spinning it around, throwing it up in the air, polluting it, or making it beautiful. Animals, plants, fire, and weather all change it's shape and motion. Everything surrounding water decides what that water will become.

If left to it's own devices, water will stagnate.

How curious!

Birthday week

The most remarkable thing about a birthday is the anticipation. It is two days before my 22nd birthday, and I am sitting in my living room, glaring unrelentingly at this package in front of me. It is filled with birthday gifts from my mom in Florida, and they have been taunting me all afternoon.

There is much curiosity waiting for me in that box, and my imagination is going wild. I have reverted to a childish state where my self control is dwindling. At first, it was simply excitement, now it is bordering on obsession. What is in that box? An hour ago, I had to find out.

So, I ripped the tape off, closed my eyes tight, threw my hands inside and felt around. I knew I was just teasing myself, that I couldn't actually have any of the things inside until Thursday, but something inside of me thought it was necessary to at least have an idea. So I wiggled my little fingers around inside the box, and the marvelous things I discovered only bloomed more curiosity in me.

Fabrics of many different textures lay bundled up against each other at the bottom, and on the top were hard, rectangular things! My mom told me she didn't buy any books for me, but there are many things that feel remarkably like books in there. Perhaps a journal? Perhaps boxes of things? Things! So many things await inside that mysterious, brown package.

But there is nothing I can do. Peeking in there would be an insult to my self control, as well as a bringer of ruin for Thursday, when I will have no other packages to open.

How can one little box be so mysterious and exciting? It has no color, no interesting shape or texture other than the smooth, glossy tape stretched across the familiar feel of cardboard. It isn't sprouting ribbons and donning bows, or wriggling around with life, yet it reduces me to being nine years old again.

How curious!

birds, confidence, and a small introduction

The strangeness, the wonder, and the beauty of this world exist everywhere. In front of us, behind us, and all around us whimsy goes unnoticed or under appreciated.

Did you know there are brilliantly colored, tiny creatures that fly around in a sky we dream of soaring through? Did you know they sing melodies that our greatest songwriters exhaust themselves trying recreate? I bet you’ve seen them hopping around. I bet you’ve closed your window in the morning to block out the sound so you could sleep in.

Birds are intensely bizarre creatures, and little curiosities like these are one of my passions. Writing and drawing are my other two. To me, the world looks silly and strange, and I can’t help but try to open some eyes and minds to how curious our world can be.

This past week, I went to a work party with an acquaintance of mine. She worked in the military, doing paperwork and was a strong, confident girl. She was quite comfortable greeting every person she passed, asking generic questions about their life, and approaching strangers with introductions, something I am far to shy to successfully accomplish.

Toward the end of the night, she introduced herself to a couple that had just been transferred here. The man had spent fifty years in the military, which intrigued my friend for different reasons than it intrigued me. She began to question him as to what rank he was, and he wanted her to guess.

Finally, after much work on her part, he admitted he was a colonel. At this, my friend’s entire demeanor changed. She looked like a young girl with her first crush, giggling and twisting on the spot, fidgeting and twirling her hair between her fingers.

She said colonels intimidated her. Though it was obvious he had no intention of giving her orders at this party, she still lost her composure.

As a writer, I can’t help but observe all of the strange things people do, and take lots of notes. Why would such a confident person be so dramatically influenced by another person that they become the exact opposite of what they are?

How curious!