More favorite characters

I made another list like this one earlier, but it was incomplete, since I have a large number of favorite characters. So here goes:
Luneta, from The Lioness and her Knight, part of the "Squire's Tale" series by Gerald Morris. She's a headstrong character who thinks she knows best. Therefore, she makes mistakes and has to learn things the hard way. But she does change and grow throughout the story, and I like watching it happen.
Sophie, of Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. She's also headstrong, though at the beginning she's very shy and doesn't believe she's destined for anything special. She's wrong of course, and she finds that out as the story progresses.
Eff Rothmer, from Patricia Wrede's book Thirteenth Child. She's another one that doesn't think she's destined for greatness but learns better.
Verity Kindle, from To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. She's an historian, which in this book means time traveler, and she's just caused what seems to be an enormous problem by rescuing a drowning cat from the Victorian Era and bringing it to the future. So she sets about trying to solve the problem by using what she's read in Agatha Christie novels.

I think this is all for tonight... there's still more good characters out there, but I'll add them at a later date.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Philosophically speaking, every year, month, day, minute, second, milisecond, nanosecond, etc, is the end of the world as we know it. Things are changing all the time and nothing can stop that. We just have to live with it and adapt as we go. Fortunately, we humans are rather good at that sort of thing. We're rather amazing beings, actually. We have this remarkable ability to deal with life as we encounter difficult situations. Of course, some of us are better at that than others, but in general, we're a very adaptable species. We live in all sorts of climates and we adapt our clothing and dwelling places to suit where we live. It's brilliant!
I strongly believe we get the ability to reason and think and grow from our Heavenly Father. We're His children and we're here on earth so we can learn and eventually go back to live with Him. That means that we have to have the ability to grow into the situations we face, because in order to live where God lives we have to grow to be like Him. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and His great love for me and for all of us, His children. He sent us here and gave us everything we need to thrive. He put us in families and communities so we could learn from each other and help each other on our way. It's a marvelous plan and I'm grateful to be a part of it.
Now, to get back to the title of this post: I'm glad the world didn't "start ending" today. That is a funny way to put it, really... things generally start ending the minute they begin. But this world is a place created for us by our Heavenly Father. It will come to an end eventually, when its current purpose is fulfilled, but until then I plan to keep living my life. I haven't mentioned it yet on this blog, but I'm going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in July and I intend to keep preparing for that. For me, on a religious level, it does not matter which day the world ends as long as I am heading in the right direction. I want to live each day to the best of my ability, regardless of whether it's my last on this earth.