If Superheroes Joined Northland Societies

Ah, remember the old days when Northland had societies you had to join, and, like, some of us got really dedicated and wound up as officers because no one else would run?  Yeah, I miss societies.  In fact, thinking of societies reminds me of that one time my friend Sarah and I placed every superhero we could think of in societies at Northland.

So, in order for this to be realistic (because superheroes at Bible college is so realistic), three things must be kept in mind:
1.  All stereotypes of societies are taken from the years 2008-2011, when I was at Northland.  (Yes, I stereotyped your society.)
2.  Superheroes were not allowed to use their powers during society rush.
3.  I didn't bother to make everything equal.  Just whoever it best in a society, was stuck there.  I did try to make sure every society, or at least one half of the society, was covered.

So, in alphabetic order (and a few supervillains sneaked in):

Aquaman--Dreisbach.  He's virtually useless, kind of like Dreisbach.  (And I just lost the Dreisbachs, but I promise you, you do get some cool ones.)
Batman--Brainerd.  He's really a toss up between Carey and Brainerd, and I like to imagine he basically wound up in Brainerd because Carey is full.
Black Widow--Judson.  She and Hawkeye totally coordinated their society choices.
Captain America--Spurgeon.  Just, yes, Captain America is a total Spurgeon.
Cyclops--Carey.  He's kind of one of those more borderline Carey guys though, where you're not quite sure why they're in Carey, but you can't imagine them anywhere else.
Deadpool--Brainerd.  But really, I can also imagine him paying $50 every semester to switch societies so he doesn't stay allied with one group for too long.  But, really, he'd so join Brainerd to start off with.
Elastigirl--Carmichael.  Joined it because of where Mr. Incredible went.
Flash--Carey.  Because he's red.
Frozone--Carey.  He and Mr. Incredible are best friends, so they would join the same society.
Green Lantern--Champlin.  Basically, because he's green, and I don't know much about him.  Kind of like Champlin.
Hawkeye--Judson.  He and the Black Widow totally coordinated their society choices.
Human Torch--Carey.  Because wasn't y'all's mascot like the Flames or something?  Yeah, he'd totally join.
Incredible Hulk--Champlin.  Once again, the whole green thing.  Also, he totally accidentally Hulked out during Rush, which got him held back until he was calmed down.
Invisible Woman--Slessor.  She and Mr. Fantastic totally chose their societies together.
Iron Man--Carey.  Once again, this is a close call between Carey or Dreisbach, but the suit is red, so he's in Carey.
Jean Grey--Dreisbach.  She was basically placed here out of gratitude for Sarah granting me someone to my society.
Loki--Carey.  He totally broke the "no powers" rule and jumped to the front of the line, being the first to sign up for Carey.
Magneto--Brainerd.  Get it?  Join the Brotherhood.
Mr. Fantasic--Brainerd.  He and Invisible Woman totally chose their societies together.
Mr. Incredible--Carey.  Joined it because of where Elastigirl went.
Mystique--Slessor.  They're totally going to hate me for this.
Professor X--Spurgeon.  Just, yes.  He totally was in this.
Spider-Man--Carey.  But he's totally one of those Carey guys you wonder why they didn't end up in Spurgeon.
Storm--Carmichael.  Quite honestly, she was kind of hard to place, but I think she'd ultimately choose Carmichael.
Superman--Spurgeon.  Once again, no thought was put into this.  He would join Spurgeon.
The Thing--Dreisbach.  I don't know why.  Just, Dreisbach.
Thor--Dreisbach.  This was a tough choice, but I think Thor would spend too much time asking questions about what societies are and wind up at the back of the line, forcing him into Dreisbach.
Wolverine--Judson.  Does this need an explanation?  He lives in the woods and has worked as a lumberjack.  (Also, his placement is Judson is what got Jean Grey placed in Dreisbach.)
Wonder Woman--Slessor.  And...I've probably got a bunch of Slessorites (Slessorans?) mad at me for this one too.

So, there it is.  I don't think this is evenly split at all, and it's definitely not exhaustive.  Some of them I just didn't know at all, so I didn't do them.  Others were left out because I forgot they existed.  If you want my opinions on any other superhero placement in societies, simply use the comments section below to suggest a superhero, and I will respond.  Or, if you want to suggest your own or totally argue with my choices, you can comment that as well.

Why American Winters Are So Weird To Me

Hello, everyone.  I am checking in from a very snowy Indiana.  Apparently, they don't normally get this much snow here.  Odd.  This isn't a normal winter?

Actually, I find the American concept of winter extremely odd.  You know why?

BECAUSE I COME FROM A PLACE THAT GETS TWENTY FEET OF SNOW A YEAR!

No, like, literally.  Once the temperature gets below freezing, it stays below freezing, and that snow that fell in November isn't going to melt until somewhere around April.  On the mountains, it's going to wait until June or so.  Then we have two weeks of summer during which we all summarily die of heat related problems until a cool wind blows in and the yukimushi (snow bugs) begin to fly, warning us another winter is ahead.

Seriously, we have bugs that show up about two weeks before the first snow falls.

So, with this information in mind, I'm sure you'll understand why I find it strange when:
1)  The temperature reads anything above zero Celsius (thirty-two Fahrenheit) after December arrives.
2)  I see yards full of green grass anytime before March.
3)  Anyone complains about the roads not being plowed.

Because, seriously, that is what twenty feet of snow looks like.  You don't even see the pavement half the time during winter.  Everyone just kind of squishes it down (everyone has winter tires and four wheel drive on Hokkaido; if you don't, you're probably from Tokyo) and chugs along with life.  Granted, I never had a Japanese driver's license and never had to operate in said conditions, but you can bet if life was like that all the time, I'd go along with the flow.

Which brings me to the six seasons of Hokkaido

1.  Pre-Winter--This starts when the yukimushi begin to fly.  Usually, the leaves haven't even begin to turn yet.  Hey, some years, we get our first flurries before fall colors happen.  This is when people begin to think about switching over to the winter tires, digging the shovels out of storage, and checking to make sure the snow blowers and snow melters work.

Snow melter:  Simply throw snow in specially designed hole in ground...

...and allow the hot water to melt all your troubles away.

2.  Winter--You just know when it's the first snow that's going to stick.  The weatherman has had the little snowman icon on his weekly forecast for days now.  The temperatures are all ideal for winter to truly begin.  And it does.  The flakes fly thick and fast and stick to the ground.  Whether it's powder snow or packing snow, the sticking snow has come.  Welcome to November (or early December if it's a pathetic winter).  Snow shoveling now becomes everyone hobby simply to get out of the house in the morning.  Snow piles as tall as people begin to form on the street corners.  Still, life goes on.

3.  Still Winter--It's February.  You would be getting sick of winter, but it's FESTIVAL SEASON!  Yes, that's right.  We love winter so much, we have festivals about it, in which we carve gigantic sculptures of snow and ice, and just when we're about frozen, we go into warming houses and eat food.

Asahikawa Winter Festival 2007

Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival 2007

Sapporo Snow Festival 2004

Yes, basically, we just go obsessive at this time of winter and rake in the money from the tourists, who we also summarily whine about as they crowd up the Asahiyama Zoo.  But, really, we know we need them.  If only they would get brains and dress warmer.

4.  Does Anyone Remember What Grass Looks Like?  It's March.  The tourists have gone.  The snow sculptures are demolished.  Now comes the bleak wait for the snow to melt.  We try to ignore the reminders of how warm Tokyo is right now.  In fact, we mock the Tokyo-ans as they whine about how cold it is because a millimeter of snow fell, and it's a balmy three degrees right now.  "Samui [Cold]!" exclaims the little old woman they interview on the TV.  We all roll our eyes, and go top off the kerosene in the heaters.  No end is in sight for us.

Even the freaks on this map who are about to have a sunny day are rolling their eyes.

5.  Melting--Suddenly, one day in April, the weatherman does nothing but predict sun and clouds for the rest of the week.  And, somehow, the sun manages to peak through the clouds and begin raining its beams down to earth again, slowly melting the gigantic snow piles that have been accumulating for the past five months.  By May, the cherry blossoms are finally in full bloom, one or two months behind everyone else.

Cherry tree that was outside my bedroom window growing up

Spring, or the closest thing we will experience, has arrived.  However, in the lumber yards and the snow dumping sites and upon the mountain peaks, a few rogue snow piles still linger, holding out against all hope that maybe this year they will not die!  Maybe they will finally make it to September this year!  Maybe they will last twelve months!  But by June, spring has whispered them away.

6.  How Does Tokyo Stand More Than Two Weeks of This Heat?  Spring is over, and summer has begun.  It is July.  And all of a sudden, we hit a heat wave!  With temperatures maxing out at a whopping thirty Celsius (eighty-six Fahrenheit), we turn in desperation to shaved ice and soft cream to ease the pain of this equatorial vortex afflicting us.  Seriously, Tokyo, how do you survive it being this temperature all summer long?  It's miserable.  Even worse, you are apparently wearing long sleeves when you visit because you feel "cold"!  I'm in my short sleeves and capris and feeling like I'm about to subliminate!  Honestly, why do these temperatures exist?  Is there any relief out there?  Oh wait, look, I think I see snow on the mountain peaks...

And now you see why I don't understand this whole snowing-then-melting process over a three-to-four month time span that the upper continental United States seems to experience.  I'm used to five to six months of nonstop winter.  It just goes on and on, with nearly no end in sight.  And, in a way, we like it.  I mean, it's terribly inconvenient at times, but overall, we have bonded with our winter and made it into a celebration.  And an opportunity to mock anyone who lives in Tokyo and any other warm places of Japan.  Because we are Hokkaido, and this is what happens when you settle an island full of political prisoners and other undesirables.  You get the tundra version of Australia with fewer marsupials and more bears!

Author's Note:  The writer of this blog does acknowledge that long sleeves are necessary in November in Tokyo.  However, it's the long sleeves under the winter coat that early in the year in such moderate temperatures that grant her some concern about your collective sanity.

What Being a Writer Taught Me About God

If I said "Tell me what happened in your life in September 2001," most people would tell you all about September 11th and the impact it had on them.  Maybe some people would talk about how they got married that month and others would talk about how that was the day their child was born.  However, for the average person, we associate that month with one event.

However, I am one of those that is an exception.  September 2001, indeed, brings to my mind the images of smoke billowing from the Twin Towers in New York City.  I was eleven years old, and I remember many things clearly.  However, one other big life event happened to me that month:  that was the month I began to write.

The stories had been floating around in my head for years and years, ever since I can remember, but for me, the time had now come where gel pen must be applied to notebook, and the story must begin to take shape.

Approximately six drafts and over twelve years later, I'm still not any closer to publishing the first book of that series, but that's okay.  Over time, I have grown as a writer, and I've grown closer to God through my writing.  Believe it or not, writing fiction and inventing things has actually taught me more about God than I would have ever thought.

1.  God's Will vs. What God Allows to Happen--This is kind of an unusual one, but I learned it while writing.  If you are as close to your characters as I am, you become their friend.  You created them out of your own head, and you are in charge of your little world.  If you decide to move an entire town to another state, then you are free to do that.  You are free to kill off characters, and you are free to decide certain characters are unnecessary and delete them before anyone ever sees anything.  No one will ever know a certain character existed if you never admit you created them.  You choose which stories about your characters are important enough to print.  In short, a fiction writer is the god of his/her own world.  But at the same time, your characters (and please do not think I am insane as other writers have experienced this) have their own personalities and sometimes make their own decisions.  I kid you not, I have argued with fictional characters over what I want them to do.  Sometimes, in the end, no matter how much I want them to do the right thing, they'll end up doing the wrong thing, and I am then left with a huge mess to help them sort out, which could have been completely avoided if they had just listened to me in the first place!  Now, am I in control of my characters?  Yes, just as God is in control of all that happens to me.  But must I sometimes let my characters do what they want?  Yes, I have to, just like God lets me do stupid things sometimes so that I learn what is best.  If my characters always did it the way I wanted them too, they would never grow.  Either way, I am in control.

2.  An Increased Appreciation for God's Creative Ability--I mean, seriously, God has made a wonderful world, and He seriously is always going to be a dozen times more creative than me because He's Almighty God, and I'm just ordinary human Katrina.  But, seriously, I have to pour hours upon hours (days upon days, years upon years) into creating a character, trying to decide what he will look like, develop a personality, figure out family dynamics, create his house/school, arrange friendships among other characters in the story, etc.  It is an exhausting process, and you know how much time it takes God to do all that for me?  I mean, from before time began, He knew all this about me, about every person on this planet.  He created a world out of nothing--a real, physical world.  I'm trying to create a mental world, which I can only use words to describe (due to the fact I couldn't draw a picture to save my life), and it drives me insane sometimes.

3.  God's Perfect Plan--Occasionally, I am called to a very difficult and delicate task in writing:  namely that of killing off a character.  I usually know when I create a character whether they will die or not, although within the past six months, I have killed off two characters that I didn't think I would kill when I invented them.  However, killing off characters is never something that leaves your other characters untouched.  In some cases, because I write Christian fiction, they begin to question if God even cares about them.  They wonder why things happen sometimes, even if they are upset about something not related to death.  They cry and become upset, and I as the author can't come to them and say, "It's okay.  I'm going to make things better.  Wonderful things are coming, but I need to get you through this first."  Even though I have the ability to jump ahead to several years in their future when everything comes together, and they see how life is okay, when I am writing that scene, I cannot let them know that.  (Once again, please do not think I am insane because I have this sort of relationship with my characters.  Other authors have experienced this same connection.)  In this same way, God has always known exactly what will happen in my life.  He has planned it all.  In a certain way, my characters trust me to know what is best.  When I "talk" to them, I sometimes have to assure them, "Don't worry.  I have a plan.  Trust me."  Is this not the same thing God frequently has to tell us as Christians?  That He has planned it all and that we just need to trust Him to get us through?  He has seen the end, and He knows how he will guide us.

4.  Gratitude That God Is Never Surprised--Honestly, no matter how much I tell my characters, "I have a plan," there are times when I seriously don't know what's going on.  I know Point A and Point Z, but it's B through Y that's all a little fuzzy.  Furthermore, there are times when all of a sudden an idea will hit me, and I'm like, "Oh, yes, this is wonderful!"  Then I go and plunge my characters into a situation, and after I come out of my "This is awesome!" reverie, I all of a sudden realize I have no idea how in the world I'm going to get them out of this or how this even relates to the greater story.  Hey, I've even had revelations about certain characters not being saved, which usually results in me popping open the laptop or putting myself into the "Do Not Disturb" thinking mode until I can come up with a salvation story for them.  But, you know what?  God is never shocked by anything that happens in my life.  He never has moments where He says, "What in the world am I going to do?"  As an author who can barely be god of her own characters some days, the fact that I am constantly in the care of a God who can never be surprised by anything is utterly amazing.  The freakouts I have that leave me wanting to pull my hair out are something He never has to experience because He is perfectly in control.