Brainstorm: Sea of Grass

I have had the most AWESOME idea for a world. Nobody steal it, it's copyrighted.

I was messing around on DeviantArt, and came across a digital painting called "Sea of Grass." It showed a fuzzy giant horse-thing being attacked by giant wolves. As I looked at it I lazily thought "Wouldn't it be cool if there was an actual sea of grass?" Then I realized what I'd just thought of and realized "WOW, that would be so cool!"

Imagine:

Blades of grass, inches thick, and half a foot to four feet wide at the surface, widening towards the ground, and rooted 20,000 leagues down, an entire ecosystem living within it's rippling waves.

The animals are generally light, and have a good grip, so that they can walk/leap from blade to blade. The wildlife gets larger and has to get used to lower light the deeper the blades go. On the surface, wind waves the blades just like a wheat field, but the sight stretches on for miles upon miles.

It starts at its edge as normal-looking grass. Then the grass gets longer - knee length. Then to your shoulders. Soon it's the height of corn, and it only gets deeper. And it would have a real, tangible thickness to it, like aloe vera.

I have vague mental images of the kinds of creatures who would live in an ecosystem like that - I imagine it would be very reminiscent of a kelp forest. There would be mushrooms, also gigantic, providing islands in the sea and stops partway down the blades. Creatures would shelter under the curve of them, like trees, grass going far up past them.

xD It would be so cool! I want to make this world now. I'd have to flesh it out a lot - you'd probably have different types of grasses. A "dangerous" part of the sea would of course have sawblade grass. :P

This could be absolutely, breathtakingly vivid if pursued to the full capacity of the world. I feel like it's one of my most original ideas. :) So often it's hard to think of something that feels different or unique, and not just a modification of something you just saw. I hope I can use it someday. Not for a game - not at this point in history, anyways. It would be far too difficult to do the idea justice; it just wouldn't be worth it. But it would make a good book, I think.

I definitely come up with ideas based on appearances of things. I imagine how something might look - a creature, a costume, a world - and ideas spur from there. I don't think in terms of stories, or at least, not in a defined and fleshed-out way. I more think "This is what it looks like when things are happening", not "This is what is happening."

I need to practice drawing anatomy and faces... there's so much I want to learn, I almost can't imagine actually knowing it. But I really do want to.

I need to bring sketching materials with me when I go camping...

My parrot and I may very well have days like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn6ESqZ7qQk&feature=related

I'll love 'im anyways. :)

Parrots, parrots everywhere. And I don't know which I want.

As a few people may know, for as long as I can remember, I thought it would be cool to own a parrot. Over the last year, I've done a lot of research into parrots - their care, the differences between the personalities of different species, etc. And I still don't know which one I want. :/

There's just so many different species, lots of them with wonderful qualities. I think a lot of the problem narrowing down the "perfect" choices is that there are lots that generally sound good and have most, if not all, of the qualities I want, and the fact that they vary among individuals. For example, Eclectus parrots sound great overall, except that the females (which I think look more beautiful) are more agressive. But then, not ALL females will be like that, so if I talked with a breeder and got the right girl, she might be perfect. Or she might not. Basically, there are species that I love the look of but don't sound perfect, but I still wonder because I might be able to get an individual that was fine.

So, it took me a while to do this because I was keeping everything in my head, but now I'm going to be systematic about it. I'll make a profile for each bird I'm interested in, and then eliminate them that way. I want to make sure I make a good choice, because the bird would be part of my daily life for anywhere from 10-60 years, depending on which species I get.

Pyrhurra conures will have to have their own category, with the differences between different pyrhurras... they all supposedly have the same basic personality, but some people have noticed generic differences. I'll also have to figure out just how effective training can be, especially for things like agression towards people they're not bonded to. I want to know if I could potentially train that problem out. :/

Anyways, this is the list I made of what a parrot will need to have.

REQUIREMENTS:
*All assuming correct training and socialization.

-Cuddly, will be touched anywhere
-Sweet and loving
-Can simply sit and be with you sometimes
-Peaceful, does not bite
-Screams are not very loud or piercing
-Generally uses a soft voice when vocalizing
-Will be friendly to anyone
-Is not overly destructive
-Mimic or speak, even just a couple words.
-Has a little substance to it.
-Not too messy
-Single bird will stay gentle and tame when neglected

And these are the parrots I'll go through (the list will likely be added to and taken away from.)

POTENTIAL BIRDS:

All the Pyrhurra conures
Peach-fronted Conure
Meyer's Parrot
Princess of Wales Parakeet
Hahn's Macaw
Quakers
Peachface Lovebirds
Indian Ringneck
Eclectus (female)
Black-headed Caique

Gotta say I like this colour scheme...

It makes me happier inside, being so bright and cheery. There may be times... well, okay, there WILL be times... when I'm writing something deeper and sadder and more sober, and I imagine the colour scheme won't quite fit the mood. :P But then I can be a depressing person in my own mind sometimes, so something that makes me genuinely bright certainly can't be harmful. :)

It's not just the brightness, because I would be happy with a muted and "sophisticated" colour scheme as well. I think the mix of colours is beautiful.

...Haha, I'm watching an episode of DS9, and a nerd-type is being subjected to the local Klingon restaurant, complete with the husky proprietor singing Klingon opera. Poor guy.

Anyways. That's my comment, and I'm finished for today. That's enough rambling, I'm far too good at it.

Signing off.

I Love Quotes!

I love quotes in general. There's some really great things said in the world. And for times when I'm lazy, some of those quotes, funny, short, long, deep, or inane, will probably find their way here. It's the cheapskate's way out. But this is my blog, so I figure I can flood it with whatever I want. :P

Song lyrics I suppose can go under the category of "Quotes" too. I'll be posting those also. :)


"The inspiration of art is a myth... which misreads the fact that art is worship into fiction that art is humanity acting like God."
~Calvin Seerveld

Welcome to my world

Everyone around me seems to be starting a blog. I was debating beginning one, because I already have several for different purposes. But I realized that I have none that I feel I can show to anyone - they're either being used as a diary or a prayer journal for when I want to call out to God, or they're reserved for me and the man I love to write together. But I'd kind of like something that's me, myself, speaking to the world. Saying things I want to say, teaching things I want to teach. That's something pretty strong in me - I want to search for truth, and once I know it, I want everyone around me to know it too. So, I think I'll make this blog. What kind of word is that anyways.. "blog". Hah. :) Well, I'll have to watch myself. I go on lots of tangents, as anyone who decides to read regularly will find.

...I may also need a lot of courage, because I want everyone to think the best of me, and I can see myself being prone to thinking something but not writing it out because I'm afraid that others will think I did something wrong or think less of me, or that Christians with different philosophies will see my pentecostal tendencies and think I'm deceived or something. Really, it's an irony, but I'm more afraid of receiving criticism for my faith from other Christians than I am from non-Christians. And forcing myself to write candidly here, to anyone, may help me break that slowly. I don't want to be afraid of the opinions of men, because no one who did anything great did so without having to push against the tide of popular opinion.

At any rate, I'm not entirely sure what this series of digital letters will be like, other than I will probably try to teach from insights I'm learning throughout my life. If I can help others see more clearly, I will have done much, because so many of the problems in life come from when we are confused and don't know how to judge what's right and what's wrong. I know that's a passion of mine - to learn wisdom, to know what I need to so that I can choose the right path, or know how to find it. I want to know that better. Although I know many times the only reason I went the right way was because God made it "just happen" that way. Still. :)

For my first post, I want to show you all, whoever may be reading or may read this in the future, a song I found a couple years ago. I didn't hear the tune of it until way later, haha, and to be honest, I found the music really boring and uninspiring. I do hope someone remakes this hymn with different music.

But the lyrics... oh, the lyrics. Reading them out loud inspires me. They are so incredibly powerful and beautiful; it makes me imagine a world like that, and gives wonder to the depth of God's love. Especially when you remember, before you read the words, how much can be written on even a single grain of rice.


The Love of God

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Chorus:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
Gods love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adams race
The saints and angels song.

Chorus:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Chorus:
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels song.