To All Saplings

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A tree is a grand thing to behold.
The leaves of a tree are often bitter, yet the fruit is sweet.
When the bitter leaves collect light from the sun,
and the firm, anchoring roots draw the water from the well of the earth
the tree brings forth fruit, which is sweet and nourishing.

All because of those bitter leaves, often poisonous.
Those leaves which when tasted, can almost kill.
Now, we may be all leaves. Just now planted.
The roots are still searching for the surest soil.

Don't give up, little sapling.
Grow little sapling, grow towards the light.
One day, you will be like the great elm.
And give rest to doves.

Sat, 18 May 2024 00:34:18 +0000

Monsters Critters Aminoles Orioles Grab A Net Catch Them and Raise Them Into Beasts of WAR Or Just Feed Them Pancakes

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Good morning! I meant to make a blog post last night, but I was too tired. I really should go to sleep each night without using technology for about an hour prior anyway. I've had the best sleep when instead of using a computer before sleeping, I read a book or prayed until I got tired. Well, now that I'm awake, I'll try to summon my thoughts from yesterday to make a coherent post.

There's something extraordinarily appealing about creature collecting games. Some might say it's because of my generation's exposure to franchises like Pokemon from an early age, but I think it goes far deeper; even to the book of Genesis.

[18] And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

[19] And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

There is a deep-seated desire in man to learn all about, have dominion over, and dwell with animals. The other day, I was at a store and I saw a bin of those small plastic animal toys for children and I couldn't help but smile. I used to have those as a young boy. Typically, however, it wasn't just any old plastic animal toys I wanted, but dinosaurs. Every little boy LOVES dinosaur toys, dragons, and fantasy creatures. I think it's the mystique of the unexplored territory, the part of Earth that has not been subdued, the animals which have not been named. Just naming bones hardly qualifies as naming a creature. All of the animals were brought alive to Adam by God so that they could be named. There is an interaction and maybe even a relationship implied here and this, I believe, is why we love creature collecting games so much.

Lately, I've been obsessed with this YouTube channel called Benkipo. This guy loves Pokemon at least as much as I do, and has decided to create his own creature collecting world. I was about to write that I would have eaten this up as a kid, but who am I kidding? I STILL eat this up. I really wish I could do this, but I can't draw. His designs are great, honestly; very fresh. They feel like creatures you can befriend and battle with, but still unique and not like Pokemon. I especially like the "Lucky" typing he's created, which is themed around the luck and fortune aesthetic from various Asian cultures. Especially the Goldish and Wyrmwin Powpow (his creatures are called Powpow).

I've had many story ideas over the years which I do intend on following through with whenever I have the time and energy, but they usually have some message, some philosophy, something I want to explore or to say. I would love to just have a world where I simply create creatures and characters to exist and live. Something like Codex Seraphinianus. Maybe even an Edenic world. Something childlike would be wonderful. I sort of have this idea already, but it's for the purpose of then wrecking that world in another story and it's not going to be a "real" world, I don't want to give too many details. Regardless, I should take some time to learn to draw so I can make some creatures someday. I had a cool idea for a tree a while back, actually. I just remembered this. This tree lives in swamps. It is hollow and always lives on a body of water. It has a tank made out of specialized roots deep in the ground where it stores this special swamp water whenever the region dries out completely (which it does for a short period each cycle). The water is pumped up through the tree's trunk and travels through extremely long tube-like branches to be deposited in small pools in more dense regions of the swampland. various small creatures use these water-slide tube branches as a form of transportation. Anyways, that's all for now. Let me know if you find any cool creatures worlds! I'd like to know about them. Have a good day and God bless.

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 16:04:10 +0000

They Pulled Me From My Car And Beat Me With Hammers This Will Surely Be My FINAL Post

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It's been a while... and my excuse isn't very good. Historically, at least as far as my life is concerned, I would have just stopped posting because I forgot or lost interest; but lately, I've actually been a lot more productive and on top of projects and goals. Seriously, thank God for that. It's certainly not due to anything on my part! The actual reason is that I wanted a new theme for my blog this year. Yeah, yeah I know. Some people have called me a perfectionist and I really don't buy it at all. If I were a perfectionist, wouldn't I be able to make perfect things? Yeah I know again. That's not how it works. I must actually be a perfectionist since I rarely release anything or complete it since I easily become dissatisfied with a project's progress. I'm reminded by that sentence that I'm a terrible writer. Well, it's a good thing I'm starting this blog back up.

This year has really been off to the races. Everything is going by so quickly, and at the same time, it's felt like nothing's really happened in the world. I mean, sure, Israel-Palestine conflict and all that. I guess I just pay less and less attention. Half the time, somebody tells me about some HAPPENING and I have to ask them to explain it to me from step one. Well, I usually rather just say I don't know what they're talking about and leave it at that. I guess I'm getting closer to my goal of: nevermind. I just spent 5 minutes looking for a meme that describes how out of touch and detached from online discourse I'm becoming. Man, it must be coming true if I can't even find it!

On the personal side of things, a whole lot is going on this year. I'm gearing up to start a business, planning some permaculture projects, and taking another trip to Japan. All very exciting stuff. There's been a roadblock or two, and I'm sure there will be more, but I'm trusting in God to lead me wherever I need to go. Hope everyone who read this had a great year. Sorry I didnt' really have anything more insightful to say. I never really do though! There wasn't much to look at either. Here's a really cute flounder (maybe it's a skate?) I found on iNaturalist today. He lives in the Gulf. See y'all when I have something to talk about!

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:34:21 +0000