I. Want. This. Book!!!!

Just found out that Bernard Cornwell is going to be releasing the next book in his "The Saxon Stories" series this year! SO FREAKING EXCITED!!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11734251-death-of-kings

YESSSS!!

Least Liked Literary Characters

Hehehehe...alliteration. =)

Well, since I did a list of my favorite literary characters, I thought I'd do one of the characters that annoyed/pissed me off. As a side note, this list doesn't count the books from authors I really hate (Austen/Bronte/Meyers, etc). Also: Just because a certain book or author is on this list, doesn't mean I don't like said book or author...just the characters in them. These are in no particular order.

• Grima Wormtonge: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

Grima is one of those guys who I wouldn't say made me mad or annoyed, I just never liked him at all. He betrays his fellow humans to an Istari and to Sauron, perverting King Theoden's mind to bring his nation to ruin. Plus he has the nerves to flirt with Eowyn in front of Eomer. What an idiot...

• Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Zaphod definitely annoys me, in the book as well as the movie. Yes, he has some funny lines here and there, but he's a complete moron, self-seeking jerk. He has the attention span of a goldfish (which is about 15 seconds), sometimes even less so.

• Nynaeve al'Meara: The Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan

Nynaeve bugs the hell out of me. She's definitely my least favorite character. Now, in general, I don't dislike feminists, but Nynaeve is one of those extreme ones that really piss me off. Her actions, her temper, and ego really get to me. Both Elayne and Egwene are like this to a certain extent, but nowhere near Nynaeve. Plus, they have other redeeming qualities...Nynaeve (at least so far) has none.

• Dolores Umbridge: The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling

As much as I hate Nynaeve, Professor Umbridge is one of the few fictional characters I've gotten really mad at, to the point where I have to stop reading and cool off. I really wanted her dead. Besides the fact that she reminds me of my high school Economics teacher, she's evil to the core and she's sneaky about it (at first anyway).

• Captain Ahab: Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Not much to say about Captain Ahab. Hated the book, hated his character. The above picture is from the movie version, where Ahab is played by Gregory Peck (who doesn't suck).

• Camaban: Stonehenge, Bernard Cornwell

Camaban is one of those characters that I did not like at all. It wasn't because he was a badly developed character, or was given bad lines...he was just a good villain. Being a disliked character isn't always a bad thing; it is usually because their creators are really good authors. I feel the same way about Umbridge. I hate her as a character, but I love the books and the author. Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite authors, and he did a great job making a character that would really get under your skin, like a good villain should.

• Kaspar, Duke of Olasko: Conclave of Shadows trilogy, Raymond E. Feist

Kaspar on the other hand is not a great character, at least in my opinion. I love the first two books in this trilogy ("Talon of the Silver Hawk" & "King of Foxes"), but this one took one of my least liked characters from the previous books and gave him his own, random, book at the end of the trilogy. Feist took the focus off of Talwin (who was the MC for books 1 & 2, and who I really liked) and shifted it to Kaspar for book 3. It didn't seem very well thought out to me.

• Darken Rahl: The Sword of Truth series, Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind is one of the very few authors I have come across that can write 800-900+ page books and still keep my interest all the way through. Darken Rahl is a very good villain, and Goodkind gives him the traits a good villain should have. A good author (especially in fantasy lit.) should make you hate and/or fear their villain(s). I definitely hated Darken Rahl. Well done, Mr. Goodkind!

• Anyone from The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plain and simple: I hated this book. I had to read it for my 11th grade English class. I liked "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Crucible" more than this book. Not my cup o' tea at all.

When it comes down to it, most of these characters are not necessarily bad, they are in reality, well written antagonists/villains/etc. If I happen to dislike the villain of a story, I feel like the author did their job correctly (at least in this aspect, not always for the book as a whole). 

Favorite Literary Characters

So, my plan was to make a top 10 list of my favorite characters from books that I have read. Either chalking it up to laziness or indecisiveness, I'll just post them all in no particular order.

• Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli son of Gloin, and Peregrin Took: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien

These are my favorite characters from The Lord of the Rings. While I do admit that my opinion of these three men is slightly influenced by the movies, I already liked them before the movies even came out. I like Legolas and Gimli for their sheer awesomeness and cool fight scenes together. I like Pippin for his comedic relief, of course.

• Achilles: The Iliad, Homer

Achilles is one of the first and best bad-asses around in literature and mythology. Although I didn't particularly care for his cockiness, he technically had the right and could back it up. He was also pretty whiney about Briseis, but I think Homer was trying to convey great emotion and just missed the mark a bit. I still like his character though. Odysseus was a close second after Achilles.

• Uhtred of Bebbanburg: The Saxon series, Bernard Cornwell

I really like this book series, mainly because of the time period, but Cornwell puts a ton of great content in there too. I like Uhtred because he is a very realistic character. He's not just the invincible hero, he's not infallible, he makes mistakes and has to deal with the consequences.

• Thomas of Hookton- Grail Quest trilogy, Bernard Cornwell

I like Thomas for pretty much the same reasons as I do Uhtred. I just like seeing historical characters (whether real or made up) being portrayed in realistic ways...well, as realistically as possible- we only know so much about history.

• Marvin: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Marvin is a freaking hilarious character. I mean come on, he's a depressed robot! I also love the fact that his character in the movie was voiced by Alan Rickman.

• Zeddicus "Zed" Zu'l Zorander: The Sword of Truth series, Terry Goodkind

I like Zed as a character because he is so interesting and well-rounded. You don't see a whole lot of older characters like this much anymore, it seems. Zed is powerful and wise, but is also funny and is a child at heart, and isn't too old to get some lovin'. I honestly like Zed more than I do the main characters of this series, Kahlan and Richard.

• Perrin Aybara and Matrim Cauthon: The Wheel of Time series, Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan (RIP) was very very good at crafting wonderful characters. All of them are interesting, but overall, I like Perrin and Mat the most. I feel like I connect the most with Perrin, and the wolf parts of the stories are cool. Mat is one of the very few male characters who has the cahones to stand up to the very strong female characters in this series, especially Nynaeve. I also like the plot developments that are added to his character in later books quite a bit (which I won't spoil for you).

• Calvin and Hobbes: Revenge of the Baby-Sat (etc.), Bill Watterson

These two are pretty much my favorite duo ever. I love the Calvin and Hobbes comics so much. I like Calvin's high vocabulary for only being in 1st grade, and the pranks Hobbes pulls on Calvin. Even though they originally appeared in the Sunday newspaper and not in a graphic novel, Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic series of all time.

Dear 16-Year-Old Me

Quotes

I really like looking for and reading quotes, even though a lot of them are misquotes, the words are encouraging, edifying, and motivating. Here are a few of my favorites!

• "If you're kind, people will accuse you of selfish motives; be kind anyway. If you're successful, you'll win both false friends and true enemies, succeed anyway. What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight; build anyway. The good you do today most people will forget; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough; give your best anyway. In the final analysis it's between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway." -Mother Theresa
• "Be who you are & say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, & those who matter don't mind." -Theodore 'Dr. Seuss' Geisel
• “People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing.” -Florence Foster Jenkins
• "Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed." -Terry Goodkind
• "Life is tough. Life is tougher when you're stupid." -John Wayne
• "Then let us all do what is right; strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning" -Ludwig van Beethoven
  
• "I guess you'd call me an independent, since I've never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label." -Jackie Robinson

There will definitely be more quote posts in the future, but I'll try to spread them out a bit. ;)

30 DSC: Day 17

Day 17: A song you hear often on the radio- Testify to Love by Avalon

Faith, Life, and Music

*If you feel like this post is kind of weird, and set up in a strange way, it's because it was for an essay involving 6 interviews I did for my MUH431 class at PLNU. I just thought you might like to read it*

Hello, I'm David Early, and I am a musician and college student. I am currently attending Point Loma Nazarene University working towards a B.A. degree in Music & Ministry. I’ve been a musician since I was 10 years old. I play the alto and baritone saxophones, any in the clarinet family, acoustic guitar, and the electric bass. While my main goal is to be a music pastor at a church, I also want to pursue a career in teaching high school as well. I would love to get my credentials in Music, History, and English. I feel like being an adaptable person, who is a good listener, and is willing to share my knowledge and passion makes me a good fit for both of these professions.

I chose these traits because I feel like they make me a caring, helpful, empathetic person. I generally go with the flow when plans are being made or if something unexpected comes up. I will give my opinion, but I generally accept what the result is, since there’s not much I can do to change it anyway. I don’t like conflict at all, and I think that this fact paired with being adaptable makes me good at compromising. I am also a good listener. I know that if someone is troubled, they don’t always need nor want someone to try and fix their problem for them, they just need someone to listen to them talk it out. I’m like that myself. People may notice that I do not talk much at all during discussions, and those who may not know me very well seem to chalk it up to being shy, uncaring, distracted, or ignorant. My friends know that I am simply taking everything in, analyzing what’s happening, and thinking about what I’m going to say first before I actually speak it. Lastly, I love to share my knowledge. I am constantly in pursuit of more knowledge and self-improvement, and I love sharing what I learn with those around me. Though some may see it as loving to correct others, it is merely a desire to share what I know so that others may benefit from it.

As of now, I am relatively new in my pursuit of being a music minister. For many years, I was hell-bent on being a wildlife biologist or a zoologist. I wanted to go to a school like Northern Arizona University or UC Davis, and work at a zoo or with a conservation group. I have always loved music, and I never really thought I would completely stop doing it in some form. I started singing in church musicals since I was really little, and in the fifth grade, I began playing the clarinet at school. Music has always been a part of my life, and I believe God put it there for a purpose. The first time I thought more about music ministry- other than, “That would be fun to do as a volunteer like I do now. I love church music!”- was a defining moment in my life, not just my career path.

The spring semester of my senior year, I went to a Ron Luce Christian youth convention/event in San Francisco, CA called “BattleCry” which was being held in AT&T Park (where the SF Giants play baseball). I was pretty excited about it; though mostly about the music (Delirious? was headlining the event). I was sure good things were going to happen since they usually have at least one good speaker there. Little did I know that on the first night there, God spoke to me in the most tangible way I had ever experienced before.

As a high school senior, I had adopted a role of “help the youth leader with the junior high boys”. This, despite the slight ego boost I got, did actually help him quite a bit. After an awesome worship set by Delirious? and Michael Gungor, Ron Luce began to speak about the parable of the Prodigal Son. This story has always been something I have connected with fairly deeply. It seems to be one of those ways God is showing me that I’ve strayed off of the path too far and that I need to come back to him. I really feel like events like BattleCry and Aquire the Fire are great tools to win teens to Christ, or at least solidify the relationship they already have. At the altar call, I decided to take a group of junior highers down to the field where they had the stage set up to pray. Even though I was going through some emotional confusion, I really wanted these young boys to connect with God in a deeper way, so I put my problem on the back burner.

While I was praying for and with those boys, God came upon me like a ton of bricks. Delirious? was playing a song called “Rain Down” in the background, and San Francisco obliged, because it started pouring rain onto the field. From out of the blue, a voice in my head that was definitely not my own said, “David, you need to go to Point Loma Nazarene University to become a worship pastor”. It was an awesome, surreal experience. How could I avoid something like that?

Fortunately for me, I had already applied to Point Loma, but as a biology major. My plans were to take general education and basic biology classes there, and then transfer to another school to finish a B.S. degree in Wildlife Biology. To be quite honest, I was wholeheartedly avoiding Point Loma, though looking back now, I’m not really sure why. It has been a tradition on my mom’s side of the family to go to Point Loma, and I guess I didn’t want to go there because I felt like I had to (despite the fact that they didn’t have the major I wanted). It was on the bottom of my list of colleges I was applying to- after Oregon State, UC Davis, Northern Arizona University, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Wyoming. God definitely had my life in his hands. Even though I was planning on obeying what he had told me to do, he gave me no other choice, as I was only accepted into Point Loma. All I needed to do was to change my major. I think that my experience so far is very similar to George Williamson’s (the worship leader for chapel at PLNU), as he said that he, “…Stumbled upon this life change in my own ignorance, but was guided by God’s wisdom”.

Going to Point Loma Nazarene University has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life thus far. I have grown mentally, emotionally, and spiritually here immensely more than I would have at a secular state school. I have made many dear friendships with people here, and met quite a few mentoring professors. I have been blessed to have supporting parents who did not try to shift my plans in another direction simply because it did not seem profitable. They have never even suggested doing something else, and have helped me along the way without disdain. They see my passion for music, the ministry, and for God; they know that this is the right path for me to be taking.

Most of the people I interviewed had similar things to say. Maribel Barajas, the worship leader of my home church- SonRise Community Fellowship, said that family was a big factor in nurturing her career choice. Kevin McPeak, the creative director of EastLake Church, said that his college professors provided him with a ‘toolbox’ that he can draw upon to fix problems he faces. This has solidified my goal in doing what God has called me to do with my life. I realize that life will be tough, especially on a minister’s salary, but I will love the work I will be doing and I know that it won’t be for personal gain but for God’s glory.

My plans for my future are fairly simple. I want to finish my Bachelor’s degree here at Point Loma, and find a ministry job as soon as possible after I graduate. While working at a church, I want to get an Associate’s degree in history, and then work towards getting my teaching credentials. My ideal set-up would either be teaching high school students and being a worship pastor, or being both a worship and youth pastor at a church.

I don’t really have a personal mission statement as of now, but the people I interviewed gave me good ideas as to how I should go about this new part of my life. It was interesting how things came out. Half of the people I interviewed have been involved in worship ministry quite a while, and the other half have only graduated college fairly recently. This gave me a variety of answers to my questions, but they also correlated in different ways as well. Kevin McPeak and Matt Long’s responses to what their mission/purpose statement was were very simple and very similar. Kevin quoted Matthew 22:37-39: “Love the Lord with all you heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.” Matt said that his personal mission is to live and love like Christ did.

Rony Renfrow and Jeremy Clifton took a more of a practical approach than a biblical one. Rony said that, “My job is to focus the worship of people away from the things of this world to Jesus Christ. I am to prepare an environment where people can have genuine and unforgettable faith experiences!” Jeremy mentioned that his main concern was in leading people to faith in Jesus Christ not through preaching, but through music.

The statements that affected me most were by George and Maribel. Maybe it’s because I have a better connection with them, or I agreed with their beliefs a little more strongly. I feel like that they were very realistic in their thoughts. Maribel said, “My purpose has always been to do what God has created me to do and in the seasons He has for me. To never stop learning, continuing to prepare myself for the next step. To be faithful and helpful in what and where he has placed me now until my job is finished.” Plus, George told me this gem of a quote, to which I wholeheartedly agree with, “In music and ministry, my pursuit isn't perfectionism, it's always going to disappoint, but is for excellence. Excellence is honoring God by doing the best you can with what you have.” I think mixing all of these beliefs is a good start to forming my own purpose. I just want to be the best person I can be through God’s grace and power, and glorify him in everything I do and say.