"I write, therefore I am."

So before the end of the year came around, I had Arbitration for my accident. I knew that after that, I was going to need a break. Good or bad outcome, it was going to be a stressful day and I would need something to take my mind off everything. So the day after we arbitrated, I hopped a plane to Burbank to see Turtle. When I landed, I went outside and greeted the sun. Oh yeah, California is WARM! I waited and waited and Turtle took forever (just kidding). Once we were on the road, we put on the GLEE: Christmas album, even though to her it didn't feel like Christmas. It was 67 degrees outside after all. As we were driving, we decided to get brunch. I said, "I want to eat at a hole-in-the-wall dive." So we looked for a bit, and then found "Tom's #7," which from the outside appeared to be an old school burger joint. Inside it was a mexican restaurant completely staffed and patronized by non-whites. Fantastic. I got a pastrami quesadilla, because why not? Pastr...

Ever since 2009 when I claimed to not read articles, and then 2010 when I acknowledged that I started reading , I've been thinking about articles. Because I read A TON of them. So for this year's best of, I wanted it to be harder to choose (and it will be). I started tracking the articles I perused. Granted, I wasn't super diligent about it, so this list isn't wholly representative... but I think I did a pretty good job. So disclaimers: No guarantee any links will work. Not a comprehensive list. Don't read if there's going to be something that offends you. Articles of 2011 included: Movement to restore children's play Zodiac sign hasn't changed ONE PERIOD DAMMIT Women obsessed with LDS blogs Mormonism: room for everyone? Serenity/Firefly after Mormons and Iomega Disney ditching princesses 11 Things to Know at 25(ish) NEI Responds to AP Article Utah braces for floodings as hot temps melt snowpack Scientists create first memory expansion for brain Toddler...

Immortals (Nov 19) - Grade: B+. This one wasn't really on my radar, and I'm pretty sure I even got invited to see it once or twice and declined, but everyone was talking about it, and then I must've been in the right mood because a friend invited me and I agreed. I'd never seen 300 so I was worried I would be lost, but I found out it was just the same director, not the same story. The story was pretty intense, but cool, though I must say that WOW, I was unprepared for all the blood and gore in this! There were some scenes where the slow-motion cinematography was cool, but GROSS! It was also interesting to me to "go behind the scenes" and read about how much the stars all worked out and how far in advance they trained so that they could have ripped, awesomely hot bodies for the movie. The preparation and dedication to a movie part can be pretty ridiculous if you ask me! Let Me In (Dec 3) - Grade: B-. This movie had always caught my eye from the time trailers...

C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle - Grade: B. Probably my least favorite Narnia book. SPOILER: I like the fact that Lewis brings everyone back, but not that the majority of them die. It just seems unnecessary and unhelpful. Also, the spirituality/christianity aspect gets overly-heavyhanded here. It's tolerable in the other books, but here it becomes a bit much, in my opinion. Turtle was happy to be done with the Narnias so we could get to the last book in the Chronicles Series, Dragons of Summer Flame . Sarah Southerland's Not Another Sarah: Avoiding and Escaping Abuse - Grade: ? I don't really know how to grade this book. It's written by a personal friend of mine about her true story account of being in and escaping from a very dangerous, abusive relationship. The account is harrowing, almost unbelievable in places, and gripping. I read the book almost in one sitting. Something intriguing Sarah has done is pair her account with a guide - "Everything You Need To Kn...

Somehow, someway this post got missed being published. I swear I wrote the thing months and months ago, the original draft was from Jan 31, 2011, but when I opened the draft there was no content! So I guess I failed on that one... James Rollins' Altar of Eden - Grade: B-. A co-worker recommended this book to me. I don't think the storyline was necessarily bad, just weird. Some parts of the book came across as too contrived for my liking. It took me a long time to get through this novel. Parts of it were slow, and then others held my attention raptly. I was up and down on this book quite a bit. Perry Moore's HERO - Grade: A. I didn't think the plot in this book was super-tight, nor were all the characters well-written and developed, but I'm going to give it an A anyway for breaking boundaries and daring to be different. This book is basically a re-invention of the superhero. The main character is gay, his teammate's ability makes everyone sick, and the girl...

I did something crazy. I started a new blog! (I know, I know, I can't even keep up with this one... what makes me think I can do another one?!) But this one is for my writing. My reading. My re-"taking" of a college course I had 6 years ago. I'm pretty stoked about it. You should follow along. There will be new posts everyday ("homework" does that!) Come on over and see me read, write, evoke, ponder, and be.

Fast Five (May 30th) - Grade: D. We were going to see Bridesmaids but then the times were all messed up, so we ended up watching this one instead. It was a fast cars doing amazing things movie like all the others. I'll admit I haven't kept with this series (I didn't even really know it was a series... I don't even know if I've seen any of the other movies?). Reminded me alot of Gone in 60 Seconds , but I thought that one was better. Lots of glam, violence, and cars, cars, cars. Just another alright movie. SUPER 8 (June 10) - Grade: A. I was SO excited to see this movie! The trailers looked AMAZESAUCE. And it proved to be true. Went to the midnight showing and so glad I did. This movie was everything it promised in the names of Spielberg and J.J.Abrams. Definitely one to see if you haven't. X-Men: First Class (June 10) - Grade: C-. I'm sorry to be picky about X-men, but as previously mentioned I really take issue with having my childhood ruined and re...

Summer 2011: Chapter 6 - Turtle Visit. A month and a few days after I kicked her out , Turtle came back to Utah. She came for longer than the time she spent with me, but I made her give me three and a half days. Thursday night I surprised her with tickets to the Goo Goo Dolls concert, and she was ecstatic. The opening band was the reason *I* was going: Parachute. I started listening to them (and loving them) from the first time they showed up on my Pandora station. Now they are getting all huge and popular. :/ Michelle Branch was there too, and we didn't completely hate her. Then Goo Goo came on, whom I have loved since my older brother introduced me and they played Rockin' New Year's Eve with Dick Clark in 1996. It was a great concert, and had a ton of fun. Friday I worked, so she went elsewhere, then she met me there. We went and got some Buca, then headed for the theatre (to which she did not know we were going). Surprise! We had tickets to Saturday's Voyeur. We love...

Summer 2011 - Chapter 5: Family Reunion! 3 Weeks after saying Goodbye to Turtle, I flew to Ohio for my Family's First Ever Reunion! AWESOME! (AUTHOR NOTE: Pictures *may* be forthcoming for this trip, but right now they are lost on my sister's camera somewhere :/) When I landed, I was met by the fabulous and uber-missed Mrs. Potts. She was kind enough to let me stay at her house, thought somehow the dates I was coming had gotten mixed up and so she wasn't ready. I guess I'm a bad communicator. Still. It was a place to sleep, for which I was grateful, even if it was the floor. My West Valley Studio days with Turtle had prepped me for just such sleeping and I insisted to her that it would be just fine. She was so sweet and felt way more remorseful than was necessary. Her kids are getting so big! It was so great to see her and she even made me a little breakfast the next morning before returning me to the airport where I met up with my parents, R, A, & K. Soon after G ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I still have at least 8 minutes before the first day of 2012 is lost to me. I'm not really into the whole resolution thing, but for the sake of kicks and giggles, I'll make one anyway. So here goes: I hereby resolve that in 2012 I will do a better job at blogging! So many 2011 posts to wrap up before I'm ready to move on. :/ Expect much reading soon. Cheers.