All children, except one, grow up.

Childhood is a time when you everything is simple and the greatest tragedy that can happen to you is dropping your ice cream on the sidewalk. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t grown up, and I long for the days I would stay outdoors till the nightfall, chase trains and ride my bike as if it was the wind.

I’ve always liked the story of Peter Pan. When my friends were listening to Backstreet Boys and were falling in love with singers and actors, I imagined being in Neverland. For years I dreamt of seeing the monument of Peter Pan in Hyde Park in London and last year, it came true. It’s smaller than I expected it to be. I think I’ve grown up.

Peter Pan monument, Hyde Park, April 2010

But what can I say about the child I used to be?

I’m the younger one, born seven years after my sister. I used to be sickly and was pushed from pillar to post before one doctor realized I’m simply allergic and from then on, my health has improved. To help me with my condition, this doctor recommended changing the climate and so since I turned three we spent two weeks at the seaside in Darłówko. All in all, I’ve been there, except one, and it resulted in my love for the sea (even though it’s sooo cooold!). I enjoy walking along the beach to the pier, watching the sunset or lying on the cooling sand to watch the stars.

Having fun in the water

As a child I didn’t eat much. I had some favorite meals and would always stick to them. Still, my parents had this great idea to sit me in front of a huge plate with snails (I was about three and we were in France) because it would look as if I was eating them. As if!

Seriously, I didn't eat it. I was drinking Pepsi (note the straw!) :D

And now the final photo, one that means a lot to me. This was taken on Grandmother’s Day in my kindergarten. This woman with me is my late grandmother.

My grandmom Irka and me

I remember my grandmother’s garden mainly from my childhood times. It was a place of wonders for me. It was always full of flowers, blooming at different times of year. With the beginning of the spring, the garden would wake to life. The plants would start sprouting and the trees would dress themselves in white and pink buds. Gradually, green would be replaced by other colors. The tulips were the first to come, and first to go as well. I can still remember crying over them losing their petals so soon. Other flowers would start to blossom not long after the tulips. There were violets, crocuses, daffodils, lilies of the valley and roses. The bees were flying from one bloom to another, buzzing furiously. Intensive smell of flowers filled my nostrils as I wandered down the narrow paths squeezed between the blossoms. The most notable scent was the one of the lilac tree crammed into one of the corners of the garden. I would spend hours there, playing games and hiding among the flowers.

My grandmother loved plants and plants loved her. I knew I could always find her amid her flowers, taking care of them. However, the day my grandmother passed away, the garden died with her. It has changed drastically. The colorful flowers are gone now and the lilac tree has been cut down. At that very moment, the only thing growing there is grass, green and dull.

I believe this garden was my Neverland.

Blowing my own trumpet :D

Ok, so I decided to brag a little about my very recent artistic success.
As some of you know, I draw and do some requests from my friends and family. Recently, Karolina asked me to draw a scene from a book by Peter V. Brett 'The Painted Man'. Obviously, I drew it (had a lot of fun with it, honestly ;)), gave it to her (now it's hanging over her bed) and posted it on my DeviantArt profile.
Not so long ago, I received a comment from a man who, after short investigation, turned out to be Peter V. Brett himself! :D I can't describe how happy I was to receive a praising comment from the author of the book I made fan art of :)
And then I was asked for permission to place my drawing on Peter's official blog! Of course, I agreed and now it's there! :D
Follow this link to check it out: http://www.petervbrett.com/2011/04/12/art-by-fans/
The second drawing in the post is mine :) It's called Arlen vs One Arm and I'm soooo proud of it :D

Music is what feelings sound like

Today I would like to share with you the extraordinary work of a man without whom Star Wars Saga wouldn’t be as great as it is – John Williams.

John Williams is an American composer and is the creator of some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of cinema. If you ever find yourself watching Jaws, Superman, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter (the first three movies), Schindler’s List or, of course, Star Wars, turn your attention to the music – that’s John Williams’s work.

I got my first TAPE with music by John Williams for Christmas, in 1999, I guess, and I instantly fell in love with it. Listening to the tape was like watching Star Wars without a TV set. I think that’s why I enjoy this music so much – you can’t watch the movies everywhere, but you can always listen to the music. And, since I know the movies practically by heart, this is enough to trigger the memories.

Listening to Star Wars music has become a kind of a ritual for me. It’s mostly instrumental with occasional choir and, even though I have listened to it hundreds of times, I still find it simply enchanting. I seriously doubt there has ever been a day I didn’t listen to at least one of the scores. I turn to it when I’m sad or nervous and it always makes me feel better.

Last year I went with my sister to Star Wars in Concert, where music from Star Wars was performed live by the London Symphony Orchestra, with fragments of the movies displayed on a big screen. The experience was simply amazing. Even now, I can’t find the right words to express how incredible that was.

I’m sure you all know the most popular themes, like The Main Theme (the one that is played at the beginnings of the movies) and The Imperial March (you can often hear me humming it as I walk down the corridor). I also recommend that you listen to The Duel of Fates (surprise cool fact: the choir sings in Sanskrit – if you paid your attention during our HEL classes, you’ll know what this is :)), Battle of the Heroes and Across the Stars (also known as the Star Wars Love Theme).

Still, I really would like to share with you a score that may be not that popular as the ones I just mentioned, but is one of my absolute favorites – it’s the music from the scene of Luke’s final confrontation with Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Close your eyes and enjoy.

And, by the way, this is what Star Wars in Concert looks like :D The orchestra is under this huge screen.
Simply supercalifragilisticexpialidocious :D
I should go to sleep now, seriously :)

Good news, coming right up!

I never thought finding good news would be so hard. Everywhere I looked it’s only Japan, Libya and the prices getting sky-high. When I wanted to find something nice about things of my interest, all of the articles were outdated. And a girl finding a screw in her Happy Meal didn’t turn out to be very positive after all because of the choking hazard. It all reminded me of this song by Black Eyed Peas ‘Where is the love?’ where they sing:

What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma

etc.

But, lo! I have found a very positive news article that got me pretty excited.

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld will get its own mystery series! And the focus of these series will be one of my favorite groups from Discworld novels – the City Watch- which means Sam Vimes, Carrot Ironfoundersson, Angua, Colon, Nobby and other incredible Discworld characters in a brand new series that could probably be entitled: ‘CSI: Ankh-Morpork’.

It’s not clear when the series would be aired, let alone filmed but I can’t wait to see it. As for now the writing staff has been chosen – it includes Terry Jones (Monty Python) and Gavin Scott (Small Soldiers).

I certainly hope the series will be a success. And now I will quote sir Terry’s words of encouragement to one of the writers: ‘Don’t bugger it up!’

I think the reason why I chose this article is pretty clear – it’s my undying love for the Discworld :) And I decided it was definitely more positive than Pratchett’s donating £10.000 to a reward that will be given to anyone to provide any information about guys who shot 31 swans in Somerset. Honestly, what kind of a man could do such a horrible thing?? I hope Anoia, Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers, will get them so that they will never be able to open their damn drawers again!

And there goes the good mood. To cheer you up, I’m putting a dancing Yoda here :D

OMG Podcast! O_O

“A good bookshop is just a genteel black hole that knows how to read.” –Guards! Guards!*

 *I would feel strange if I didn't put a nice quote there - PTerry, obviously ;)

There have been many books in my life, from children books with Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, teenage books like ‘Ucho od śledzia’ and ‘Ronja, córka zbójnika’, STAR WARS novels (I still have two shelves of those ;) ) and, of course, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. I have to admit that some of the books that should accompany me in my early years of life, like ‘Chronicles of Narnia’, ‘Wizard of Oz’ or ‘Peter Pan’, have shown up only recently in my list of must-reads. Yup, I like catching up on those things, so that I can let the next generation know what’s worth reading and what’s not ;)

Unsurprisingly, it took me a while to decide what book I wanted to write about and finally settled on the one that popped into my mind first:

‘The Seven Rainbow Ghosts’

It is a picture book my mom used to read to me when I was a kid. The story is pretty simple: after a storm, the world is gray because the water had washed the colors out. As the weather gets better, rainbow comes and brings the Seven Rainbow Ghosts: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. Each carries a bucket of paint and a brush they use to repaint the world and when they have finished, they disappear, along with the rainbow, leaving a beautiful, colorful world behind.

This book has become one of my absolute favorites, and even though it landed in the attic when I was growing up and keeping such a book in my room would have been embarrassing, a couple of years ago it came back downstairs and I simply can’t bear the thought of it disappearing from my room again. I am very fond of it, as it is visually beautiful – it is full of colorful illustrations that acquire more colors as each Ghost finishes his work (I used to stare at them for hours), but also, it brings back great memories of the times when the world was full of wonders.

Last week I even found myself wishing the Seven Ghosts would descend from the sky and repaint the world – I’m so sick of this everlasting whiteness. The Ghost I’d be most thrilled to see at work right now is the one I always loved the most - Blue. According to the book, he has long hair that smell like sea and he spends most of his time high in the air, painting the clouds away.

…. Guys, seriously, what’s the hold-up? Enough of this winter already!

Oook!*

*Which means: 'I have great news!'

I just found out that my favorite writer sir Terry Pratchett received the Margaret A. Edwards Award ‘for a significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.’

Portrait of Sir Terry Pratchett with lil' Discworld by me :)

Terry Pratchett is famous for his Discworld series, which started with The Color of Magic published in 1983. He still writes, and since he was diagnosed with the Alzheimer’s disease in 2007 he has published two bestselling books, and he is already writing two more. But now he seems to be mainly fighting for legalization of assisted suicide in the UK. He gives his reasons for it in his Dimbleby Lecture entitled ‘Shaking hands with Death’ (I found it extremely gripping, and if anyone is interested in watching it, let me know and I’ll give you a link).

Moreover, if you’d like to start reading his books, I’d recommend starting with one of the earliest ones, like ‘The Color of Magic’, ‘Mort’ or ‘Guards! Guards!’. Although each novel (excluding ‘The Color of Magic’ and ‘The Light Fantastic’) tells an independent story, there are groups of characters who come back now and again and if you read the books in a random order, you may miss some fun.

For those of you, who prefer moving pictures to still letters: three Discworld novels have been made into movies: ‘Hogfather’, ‘The Color of Magic’ and ‘Going Postal’. The first two are available in Poland (I saw them in Empik before Christmas, but you’d have to look in the section entitled: Movies for Kids).

Now, I don’t want to you jump to conclusions; Terry Pratchett does not write books for children. He writes books for ‘adults of all ages’ and there are books which are categorized as ‘young adult books’. Nevertheless, most of his novels are directed to grown-ups :)

My personal favorite is ‘Small Gods’, featuring The Great God Om who has only one believer and is inclined to remain in the form of a one-eyed tortoise. Maybe now you will understand why the little tortoise always attached to my bag is called Om :)

Before I finish this note, here’s a short quote about my idol, Susan Sto Helit, granddaughter of Death :)

She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.

(Terry Pratchett, ‘Hogfather’)

Hm… isn’t it the word we were looking for during our last Grammar lesson? ;)