Project?

Hey everyone. :-)

It seems like The Ladies Pickwick Society is very slow, hopefully stuck in a hibernation and not death.

I was wondering if you all would like to do a project (sort of like the heroes thing) or something??

Please comment with any suggestions.

Two of the most talented people.....

Enjoy,
Miss Pickwickian

Music box Dancers = future gold medalists

Okay, so this doesn't have anything to do with literature, but it's still very much The Arts; and besides, it's absolutely INCREDIBLE, and anything this incredible should go on the blog :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2WTEvhDpqM

Aren't those little kids amazing? What I want to know is, how old are they, when did they start training, and what will they be in ten years? Proportionally, they're about ten times stronger than I am! How can kids that little be so strong? They're awefully cute at any rate :)

When God Weeps

I have been reading a beautiful book called "When God Weeps" for the past few months, and I am finally coming to the end of it. It's an amazing book, and if you haven't read it, you should. It gives us a grasp of what God is doing while we are suffering. It's written by Joni Eareckson Tada, (We all know her: the woman who was paralyzed from the waist down, and who paints with her mouth. If anyone knows about suffering, she does.) and Steven Estes.
I need to read it again, because it's just that good.
It hurts, though, too. And many times I just wanted to close it and not open it again. I did, several times. I put it down for weeks. But it is worth reading.
It's really not that long, somewhere around 250 pages.

I have included here a couple of excerpts from the book. The first is a poem Joni quoted, author anonymous. Maybe it'll give you an inkling, or some curiosity as to the rest of the book. The second is a paragraph from the second to last chapter, which was, by far, the most appealing of the chapters, recounting promises and the beauty we'll experience in Heaven. Both excerpts I copied out and have attached to the bulletin board that hangs above my desk so I may see them every day and have Hope.

Here is the first:

When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part.
When He yearns with all His heart to create so great and bold a man
That all the world should be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways.
How He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him into shapes and forms of clay
Which only God can understand.
While man't tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands;
Yet God bends but never breaks when man's good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him to try His splendour out.
God knows what He's about.

 This is the second:

Ever good pleasure on earth is but a shadow if its fulfillment in Heaven. The best of friendships are embryonic on earth, snatching only a few short years to mature. There's never enough time. Words can never convey what overflows our hearts. I experience this bittersweet sadness with intimate friends. I love them so much that I want to pass through them, reach the other side, to know them fully, be one with them. Not to posses, but to meld with them. I can't on earth. I'm on the outside of their heart's door, always wanting to get in, get closer, even while relishing in their company. My longings are eased know that in Heaven I will "get in." Jesus has deigned it: "Holy Father, protect them...so that they may be one as we are one." (John 17:11)

So I hope you find the time to read this book.
Thanks for reading this post. :)
Love you all!
- Aisha

Star Wars sort of remake using a little poetic liscence. Well it's actually not that different. I just use....idk...story lisence?

Ok, so I FINALLY got around to posting something. This was a project for school, and it was a really hard one because I could only write up to 1000 words, and I found it quite difficult to fit everything in. But there it is :) I apologise to those who havn't seen Star Wars (you really really should :-P), but I think the story kind of explains itself. May the force be with you!
:)





Sweat ran down the face of every Rebel pilot. Streaks of red and green flashed across their vision as enemy TIE fighters shot at them. The Rebels were trapped – Star Destroyers and TIE fighters on one side, and an operational Death Star on the other. In the mind of every Rebel as they strove to break through the enemy fighters was the thought, This shouldn’t be happening.
Their plan was exploding, like so many Rebel ships were at that moment. Somehow, the Enemy had learned of their arrival. The Death Star had sent Star Destroyers to cut off any retreat that lay open to the Rebels. Even though they had been discovered, the Rebellion’s plan to blow up the Death Star might still be carried out, if a few of the Rebel ships could manage to escape enemy fire and enter the Death Star. But the shield which surrounded the Death Star, the shield which the Rebels on the moon of Endor were supposed to have taken down, was still up. The Rebels could not touch the Death Star as long as the shield was activated. The Death Star itself was not supposed to be operational; of all things they had not expected that. The Rebels were now engaged in a hopeless battle, a desperate attempt to give the Rebels on Endor more time.
But Commander Lando Calrisian’s thoughts were not with the present situation, even as he told the pilots to not attempt retreat, as they would try to gain more time to get the shield down. Even as he waited desperately with the rest of his men for the shield to go down, he didn’t let his thoughts dwell on it. He had faith in Han Solo; that old buccaneer! He knew Han would get the shield down. He wasn’t even worried about the possibility of himself getting shot down by an enemy fighter. He was too skilled a pilot to let that happen. It was what would happen if the shield was removed that filled his thoughts with dread; if he actually was able to carry out the plan. He knew that when Han removed the shield, he, Lando, would enter the Death Star, destroy its power generator and then – he knew he would never be able to make it out in time to escape. He would blow up with the Death Star.
As he waited in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, Lando was afraid. He was afraid of death. He was afraid he would not have the courage to carry out the plan. But he knew that if he did not destroy the Death Star, there would be no one else to do it. The question he asked himself was, would he do it?
His thoughts went back to a few months back. Only a little while ago, he had been the leader of Cloud City. He had a past of gambling and piracy, but a lucky turn of events found him head of a prosperous new mining venture. He was now wealthy, lazy, and didn’t give a *curse word* for the Empire or the Rebellion. He was, as the saying goes, sitting pretty.
And then – shattering Lando’s carefree world came the last person he expected or wanted to see – Darth Vader; and a Darth Vader with a deal to make. Darth Vader informed Lando that his old friend Han Solo would be arriving to Cloud City shortly, requesting aid. Lando would pretend to be an accommodating host; while he would in actuality make arrangements to hand Han over to Darth Vader. If Lando failed to do this, Darth Vader and his Empire would think nothing of killing Lando. Faced with this, Lando Calrisian made the greatest mistake of his life – he made the deal. Even more than he feared his conscience he feared death. He was selfish, and he knew it. He convinced himself that there was no other possibility, that he had no other choice than to hand Han Solo over to Darth Vader. He chose not to watch as his guilt built up.
But events did not turn out. Darth Vader did not keep his word. His friends saw him not as the helpless victim that he saw himself as, but rather a traitor and one in league with the devilries of the Empire. And as he watched as the friends he had betrayed were tortured and taken captive, Lando knew they were right. His guilt burned him; it was as though his long history of selfish enterprises and law breaking had caught up with him in this final monstrosity. His conscience weighed him down like a millstone; even his administration in Cloud City was revealed to him as nothing more than one of his selfish schemes. His world was shattering; and it was of his own doing. The final blow came as the Storm Troopers dragged Leia away; her desperate voice echoed in his head. “We trusted you!”
And then, In the midst of his crashing world his mind had straitened. He was a traitor, and he knew it. But there was still a chance to save Han and Leia. He had spent his entire life making all the wrong choices, doing only the things which would profit himself, and avoiding anything that put him in danger. He had been a scoundrel. But Lando made a decision then and there that for once was not motivated by selfishness or fear. Lando decided to join the Rebellion.
He saved Leia and Chewbacca from the Storm Troopers. He saved Han from Jabba’s palace. And now, with the Death Star he was faced with another choice. The final test.
Lando’s mind snapped back to the present battle as the shout went through the rebel fleet, “The shield is down!”
Lando’s hands stiffened for a moment as he went for the controls.
Then he turned the ship towards the Death Star.
“I’m going in.” he said.