Ponderings and Large Mammals

Huzzah! I finally finished the great presentation of doom on Wednesday! (quiet cheers as Armand lifts her hands in victory as the "Rocky" theme plays in the background) It is done! YAY!!!!! Anyway, the other night I was reading a section of C.S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair" (procrastination! shocking! gasp! falls over into a heap!) and I was interested by something that Puddleglum the Marshwiggle says. When the evil Witch has captured the four main heroes under her enchantment, and subsequently questioning their knowledge of reality (by asking them to define the sun or a lion [which they are unable to do to the Witch's satisfaction]), Puddleglum's will remains so deeply rooted in the reality he knows and recognizes as truth, that he is able to withstand the stupor that seizes the other characters. Upon breaking the Witch's enchantment Puddleglum says: "Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia." What an awesome testament for the existence of a God who is so much greater and more wonderful than we could possibly imagine He could be. If we imagine Him as anything less, we are just deluding ourselves in a false reality such as the Witch's. We can believe in something and Someone so much more powerful. Just some cool stuff to think about.

And then today I went to Ryman art classes and, for the second week in a row, we walked over to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (not that far away considering that we were only at USC) to do drawings of animals. So lately I've been making the acquaintance of a rather angry looking stuffed grizzly bear. He has been a joy to draw, other than my leg falling asleep :) But it is always interesting to see the groups and families that come to the museum to see all of the exhibits. You also get lots of people either watching over your shoulder or as one group of little girls did, sit down next to you and point out that your drawing looks like the bear. :) it was pretty cute. Some children simply need to be rangled by their parents (at one point I stepped back across the room with my teacher and some children stood uncomfortably close to my drawing and the parents did nothing about it!*sigh* anyway, at another point I stepped away from my drawing to view it again and (I didn't even notice until I was walking back towards it) but a bunch of guys were standing a few feet away from it and taking pictures of my drawing with their cell phones...grrrrr......Well, I have done my venting for the day... :)