"I write, therefore I am."

Hello L.A.

2012-01-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

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? Pastrami. In a quesadilla.

We went back to her place and ate, then busted out what would keep us occupied for most of the trip: Kingdom Hearts. Turtle LOVES LOVES LOVES Disney, so this seemed an apt game to share with her after her Zelda exploits.

That night Rinska came over for pizza and scattergories. It was an intense game, with each of us trying to psych one another out while coming up with the best double-point word. There were some pretty good ones, and creative answers to boot. Turtle totes held her own too. The game broke down somewhere in the sharing of round 2, because Turtle's love interest came up and then updates needed shared, which quickly evolved into speculation and debate regarding the man's intentions. This discussion lasted a good 30 or 40 minutes. We got going again and decided to cap the game because Rinska had to go. I completely fell apart the last round and she solidly whomped me. My entire second half of the sheet was empty. Most disconcerting was the fact that NONE OF US could think of a "Book Title" starting with the EASY letter R. I mean, seriously?!? These are all the titles I've come up with subsequently:

-Redwall
-Rakkety Tam
-Return of the King
-Rainbow Six
-River God
-(A) Raisin in the Sun (don't know if that one would count)

Should have been a cakewalk. Then they took pity since that round I scored like 4 points, leaving Rinska 2 ahead, when I'd be solidly leading the whole time; and we decided to play just one more. I vaulted forward to reclaim my spot on top of the carnage pile by scoring a commanding 14 points in one round, to Rinska's 11. Go letter G. :)

As night fell, Turtle and I cracked open the first in the next series we intend to conquer (and my #1 favorite series of all time), Dragonwing, of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Death Gate Cycle. SOOOO excited for her to read these with me.

Thursday we got up early and drove to get my friends Jules, who is interning at Disneyland, for some park hopping. We started our day with some eats at River Belle Terrace, then got in line to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. It reminded me so much of the Pirate ride at Cedar Point that's closed now. :(

After that we jumped on the Big Thunder Railroad. Then it was time for a jaunt on the Carousel, because, why not?

Then we decided to be revisit our childhoods and road the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, followed by the Peter Pan ride and the infamous Tea Cups where we spun really, really, really fast. Next we hit up Space Mountain for a classic ride. It was funny to me, having been to Disney World many times before (but never Disney Land) how my memories jostled one another and got mixed up with my present. Because I distinctly remembered being "here" before as we were going places/riding rides, though I had never been in Disney Land in my life. It was kinda trippy.

We did the Astro Blasters ride and I racked up a good 60,000+ points, before we were beat enough for lunch. We tried to get into the cafe in the Pirates ride, but they were full, so we opted for Cafe Orleans instead and had yummy cheese-filled croissant things with powdered sugar. Delish.

To work off our calories, we got in line for the Matterhorn, before deciding maybe we wanted to go to another park. So we did. We waited in line for one of Turtle's favorite rides, Soarin', first. It was pretty cool. We got fast-passes for Tower of Terror, then we visited the Animation Academy to find out things like which disney character we were. I was given Flik, the ant from It's a Bug's Life, though I don't remember why they said so.

Tower of Terror was next. I didn't remember it dropping and going back up that many times, so I was pleasantly surprised. And since it was dark, I could scream my little heart out and not care :) Next, we opted for California Screamin', where I screamed (again) because I could and for fun. Next I wanted to ride the swings, telling them about how my brothers and I would try and kick the trees at Cedar Point.

Then we went to Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theatre. I had a whole package of Milk Duds and got sick afterward. That was a fun little ride. When we got out, we were pretty much done there so we went back to the other park. We fast-passed Indiana Jones (but didn't end up using it, because we got tired), and then there wasn't really a line for the Matterhorn so we jumped on that. I screamed as long and loud as I could just to see how long I could go. Pretty fun.

Then we did the Haunted Mansion, another of Turtle's favorites. It was so awesome to watch her geeking over rides we were getting on, because all I could think about was how those worlds were coming up in Kingdom Hearts. (So I'm a nerd,... I admit it).

Then we rounded out the evening with the Christmas version of It's A Small World, where upon our exit we got to watch some of the fireworks going off elsewhere. We decided we didn't really want to ride anything else, so we had dinner in Downtown Disney at the Naples Cafe, then shopped our hearts out at the World of Disney Store before heading home. We didn't stay all the way til closing, but we were beat.

The next day we slept in (though Turtle says we got up at 7:48am, which is not sleeping in, but I don't know), and resumed our playing of Kingdom Hearts. We did that until we went and got sushi at a little joint named the Bonsai Bar. Then we read for a bit, until Stephkins told us she was singing at a bar, and I decided I wanted to go. So we went and saw her and some of her friends singing and performing and it was SO AWESOME TO SEE HER.

Saturday morning we met up with Stephers for lunch at a thai place. I ordered the chicken stuffed into a chicken, because, why not? Then more playing. We spent hours, Turtle wanted to finish so badly!

We finally crashed and slept for like 4 hours, before resuming our finish attempt Sunday morning. We met up with Stephkins again for brunch, followed by Frisbee with the gays.

Yes. Frisbee with the gays. I told Turtle when I was planning the trip that I was missing like 4 workouts, and so I wanted to play Ultimate while I was there. So she found us "gay frisbee." I said, "They have gay frisbee?!" Turtle: "It's L.A. We have gay everything." Touche.

So we went to this park and found these two guys to throw with, because we thought they were there for that (they weren't, they were just tossing). Then we found the right group. When I went to put on my cleats, I realized I'd lost a sock. So Turtle went to look for it... and found it in the car. Oops.

Gay Frisbee was true to every stereotype you can think of for gay people. It was the HOTTEST MESS I have ever seen. I mean, just wow. On the flip-side, it may have been the best frisbee of my life. I owned them all. I told my team: "Throw it, I will catch it. Like if you're in trouble, just put it in the air and I will get it." And I did. There were some blocks I got where I basically put my hand up and that was all I had to do to stop the throw. Ridiculous. We lost our second game because my team wouldn't play defense. Nothing I can do about that. :/ So I wanted to play a third. We stayed way later than we probably should have, so then it was a scramble to get me to the airport. I checked in in my sweaty frisbee clothes before changing in the restroom into more "plane appropriate" attire. After all, I was heading back to the cold.

We did finish Kingdom Hearts and got about 15 chapters into Dragon Wing. And saw Jules and Stephkins 3x. And played Ultimate and scattergories with Rinska. It was a very successful vacation.

See you again soon L.A.!

articles of 2011

2012-01-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

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 who fell in Virgin River last week dies

Cancer Surges In Body Scanner Operators; TSA Launches Cover-Up

Cherish the Book Publishers-You'll miss them when they're gone

Gay BYU filmmaker ready to tell his story

Truck and Train cohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifllide in North Salt Lake

Why Gay Marriage Is Good for Straight America

Get Used to Weather Extremes

More than 100 homes evacuated after big train derailment

Study looks at experiences of Gay Mormons

Students to feel pinch in debt deal

Earthquake shuts North Anna reactors automatically

Man attacked outside of Salt Lake City gay club

Salt Lake City is No. 3 in U.S. for same-sex couples

Bullied Teenager in Buffalo, NY takes his own life/

5 Ways you know it's time to get married

With No Future Visible, Young Activists Have Few Options but to "Occupy Wall Street"

Play video games all day for charity

Lessons from Sharing the Story of My (Possibly) Gay 6-Year-Old Son

Giant Whale falls out of sky in UK?

Spock actor Zachary Quinto comes out as a gay man

Opinion: Utah legislature commits crime against humanity

Wear Purple on October 20 for Spirit Day #SpiritDay

Dr. Drew: Gay people should be furious about Kim Kardashian's marriage debacle

My Gay Lifestyle

Stadium evacuated after marching band members get sick in stands

Democrats win big in Utah Non-partisan races

I'm Christian, unless you're gay

Shop on Thanksgiving? No thanks

Putting Compassion Before Judgment

American Fork to consider sexual orientation ordinance for housing, employment

Thousands of birds crash-land in Walmart parking lot

7 Awful Plot Twists We're Tired Of Reading

Two women's first kiss at homecoming a first for Navy, too

Male Rookie of the Year: Jared Hulet

One teacher’s approach to preventing gender bullying in a classroom

So there you have it. Reviewing the list was really interesting for me, as it showed alot of what's important/interests me (x-files irl FTW!). I'll try to keep at it for 2012. Looking forward to the best of when I'll have to make the difficult decision which of these is the best one. Stay tuned!

Movi3s (Rounding out 2011)

2012-01-14T09:26:00.001-07:00

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 were out, but I was pretty sure it was a scary movie, so I wasn't sure I could handle it. I finally broke down and watched with a friend, and it wasn't scary at all! It was more cute than scary, and kind of creepy too. The movie does a great job normalizing vampirism and making it not foreign at all. Poor Kodi Smit-Mcphee though. I mean The Road and then this movie. That kid is gonna be messed up.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Dec 17) - Grade: A. I liked this one alot better than the first one! The plot was more Holmes style, and Downey did a bang-up job this time, really losing himself in his character. What's not to love about Jude Law? The story was much more interesting this go-round, I like the humor "spice" that was peppered about. A well-done flick.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Dec 30) - Grade: B-. I'll confess... I haven't read the book. But I get invited to the movies... I usually go. What can I say? So I saw this. And I was SOOOO unprepared. I mean, whoa. There was WAY too much sex in this movie for me. There were so many scenes that were difficult to stomach, I felt ill-at-ease for most of the movie. And the ending was just twisted. I mean, creepy, twisted, twisted. Maybe some people like that. I was bothered by the content in this film. Though I will hand it to the actors, they were phenomenal. Rooney Mara should win some awards for her performance for sure. It was unbelievable.

And that's all the movies for 2011! I've already got a good start for 2012 though, so bring on the reviews!

Pages Visited 2011 Edition - 2.0 (Rounding out 2011)

2012-01-13T10:25:00.003-07:00

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 Know About Abuse" for identifying and, subsequently, escaping abuse. It outlines abuse cycles, gives tips how to recognize it in yourself and others, and even addresses topics like divorce and child custody. This book reminded me alot of A Child Called It, though that account seemed almost more sensational (hard to imagine/believe). Both are raw, desperate, and captivating. My tears flowed unchecked for probably the last half of the book. Accounts of people suffering at the hands of others greatly upsets me.

Lev Grossman's Codex - Grade: A-. I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Preceding the majesty and wonder of The Magicians but following the horrid Warp, I wasn't setting my expectations too high for this one, his first critically-acclaimed novel. But it was good. Not quite Magicians, mind-blowingly good, but good nonetheless. I enjoyed the characters, the storyline, and watching how the search for this elusive tome played out in the narrative. I was very satisfied with this book as a read and do recommend it (though The Magicians is WAY better).

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Summer Flame - Grade: A. Weis and Hickman will always be household names at my place. I love them so much; their work will be always be part of the foundation of my inspiration and imagination. I have so much to thank them for, and this novel is no different. Bringing to an end the Chronicles Trilogy, Twins Trilogy, as well as building upon The Second Generation, this 8th book in the series ties up all the loose ends, as well as building the stories and lives of Usha, Steel, and Palin. I didn't remember the ending and when we finally got there, Turtle was crying so hard she couldn't listen hardly. Even worse, I, as stalwart narrator broke down myself and couldn't read. We eventually got through it, but there was alot of tears and heartache. The ending is everything it should be, wrapping my second-favorite series of all-time. Thanks Weis and Hickman for being so imaginative and brilliant creators. If I can create a world with fleshed out characters half-as-wonderful as yours, I will consider myself a resounding success.

Brian Jacques' The Rogue Crew - Grade: B+. Finished just before his death, this marks the final novel in the Redwall series, which has been a part of me since probably the 5th grade (maybe earlier? I don't remember for sure when I started reading him). As previously stated in my tribute to him, Jacques is the author I have read more than any other, so naturally this read was endearing, difficult, and nostalgic for me all at once. This was on the end of his better-written books, it didn't seem like a cookie-cutter regurgitation like some of his other books. It was bitter-sweet for me to read, knowing this was the end of Redwall. I think these books will always be household names as well.

Jeanne DuPrau's Prophet of Yonwood - Grade: C-. Bleh. This book was pretty bad. After City of Ember's brilliance and splendor, and then People of Sparks flatlined, I was apprehensive about this one. But then I figured out it was supposed to be a "prequel" and I was very excited and intrigued how the current plot was going to devolve into them having to go underground and start the City of Ember. And then it didn't. Like, at all. There was one piece in the last three pages that tied into something Lina and Doon found at the end of City of Ember. I was like, REALLY?! *THAT'S* your prequel?! So I kept waiting and waiting, eager to see how this would build to that Epic of books. I was always like, surely in the next chapter... and kept reading and never got any of what I wanted or was looking for. Just a story about a girl faced with stupid rules who loves her dog too much and freaks out when he is taken away. It was such a bad book. I guess there's a fourth, which I'm not looking forward to, but I ought to read. Bring on the torture I guess.

And that wraps up my book reading for 2011! Just a few more movies, one more trip, and then we will send 2011 packing on its way with the Best Of... and Music Review posts.

Pages Visited 2011 Edition

2012-01-12T17:13:00.001-07:00

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 it so make everyone sick, and the girl who becomes his best friend has a dialysis bag (if I remember correctly? She had something wrong with her that necessitated having a bag attached to her at all times...) Anyway, what I'm getting at is that this is not your X-men, Avengers, or Justice League. It's a retake on the whole superhero thing, making them more human, more fallible, and more real, especially with the inclusion of a lead gay character. There are places where the book is shallow, moments that are contrived and don't work, but for the most part, good on Moore for writing this book. It's about time kids had some positive gay role models. At least I think so.

Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero (first book in The Heroes of Olympus series - Grade: A-. Well, Riordan is at it again. Just like his Percy Jackson series, he's back at it with new characters, new plot twists, and new prophecies. This first installment was pretty long, but I didn't find alot of places where it dragged. But Riordan has new heroes: Jason, Piper, and Leo who embark on an epic quest, bound by a prophecy that speaks of 7 children. Who are the other 4? I went into this thinking that it was a spin-off series from the Percy Jackson books and wasn't related, but, oh it IS. Percy's name surfaces in the book and Jason and Co. definitely team up with Annabeth. Can't wait for the next one.

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas - Grade: A+. This book is a product of GENIUS. I spent more than a month reading this book because early on I realized how awesome it was and I wanted to savor its brilliance. The story is formatted in a way that I have never come across before, with story as nested dolls. So the first section starts out in the 1500s or somewhere around there and goes about 39 pages and then just ENDS. Like middle of the sentence ends and just goes to the next section. When I got there I was super weirded out. I was like, wait, I'm missing pages, or there's a misprint, or something got formatted wrong! Nope. Totally intentional. The next section is about a chateau where a boy is learning to be a composer, and he's stealing books from the library and he finds this book that only has 39 pages and then just ends! Genius. The second section is written in the form of 9 letters, then the third section is about a guy who is trying to not get assassinated and in his pocket he has these 9 letters. I mean, it was mind-blowing. So the story progresses and you go deeper and deeper into the nested stories until you're at a post-apocalyptic one and then the story turns around and heads back the way it came, tying up all the loose ends. The very last section of the book picks up mid-sentence where the first left off and resolves itself completely. I freaking loved reading this book.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's The Second Generation - Grade: A. Weis and Hickman are solid writers if you ask me (but I'm biased). This addition to the Chronicles and Twins Trilogies introduces readers for the first time to the children of the heroes. Raistlin's daughter, Tika and Caramon's three sons, and the elusive son of Kitiara, Steel. A great next chapter for DragonLance lovers everywhere.

C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - Grade: A. Just like had never seen The Lord of the Rings, played Zelda, or seen any X-Files, she had never read The Chronicles of Narnia either. To make sure it happened, I stopped between books 7 and 8 of the DragonLance series and told her I would not read the last one until we had read all of Narnia. They are short, quick books to get down. Also, I made sure we went in the order Lewis intended. There has been debate to put them in chronological order, but that was never Lewis' intention. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe introduces the world of Narnia gradually and with dizzying effect, while books like The Magician's Nephew has Narnia listed in the first paragraph, with no expectation, dictating that the reader should already be familiar with such a place and so no explanation is required. I enjoy this series, but the first book is one of my favorites. I love the Pevensies and the way the story unfolds around them as the reader is immersed in a whole new world, all inside the wardrobe.

C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian - Grade: B. I'll say that I like the book much better than the movie. Not my favorite of the books, but not a bad one. Then again, I don't think there's really any book that Lewis did poorly. I will say, comparing to the movie again, I strongly disliked the way they altered the plot of the movie just so Tilda Swinton could have a part. Lamesauce.

C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader - This book is a good one, but the movie sorely messed with the plot, even moreso than I had realized. Nothing happens in the right order in the movie. It makes me sad when movies are untrue to their book predecessors, but I guess that seems to be the nature of film. I'd say this is probably my third favorite of the series.

C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair - Grade: A+. I don't know why, but this is by far, my favorite of the Narnia series. I just love this one, especially with the kidnapped prince and how he rides past the heroes as the black knight on the horse. And Puddleglum is just a great character. I've always remembered this book with the most fondness.

C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy - Grade: B+. This is probably ones of the books I remember least from the series, but again, one Turtle thoroughly enjoyed. The storyline is so exotic and middle-eastern-ish that sometimes it's easy to forget this is, indeed, still Narnia. What a wonderful world Lewis created.

C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew - Grade: A-. Not my favorite of the Narnias, but Turtle loved it. I like the characterization in this one, and enjoy it for its prequelness. Reading this after The Magicians, I couldn't believe all the hat-tips Grossman gives Lewis. Very encouraging to know that literature and genius are not dead in our day and age. Grossman should be a must read for everyone.

More book reviews coming tomorrow!

True Confessions: 11.

2012-01-09T16:47:00.006-07:00

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.

Movie2

2012-01-04T10:25:00.001-07:00

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 redone. If you separate the name and what I expect and how its supposed to be from the movie, then yes, it was a smash bang-up of a phenomenal movie. If you are a truist die-hard like myself, then you probably hated it like I did. I tried REALLY REALLY hard to be detached and not care and just be like, yes, X-men reboot, for the new generation... but then there were just SO many things wrong, I eventually gave up. I probably hated X-men 3 more though.

Tree of Life (June 19) - Grade: B. This one had had my eye for a while as well, and one that I really, really wanted to see. I will agree that the movie's visuals were completely breath-stealing and downright drool-worthy, and I feel like the movie documented well that time of life. Not having lived back that far, I can't comment for certain, but of what I know of that time period it did a good job. There was a lot of important, weighty dialogue that was whispered or all-too-brief that slipped past me, so there were a few times I was rather confused. The non-linear plot didn't help that either. I think this is a movie where seeing it a second time would greatly benefit my opinion (and understanding), but I haven't made the effort to do so as yet. Overall, I enjoyed it, though I tried to map a bit too much of my own self onto the characters than I should have which didn't play out the way I thought it would. Mistake on my part. Still one I would recommend seeing.

Megamind (June 25) - Grade: A. Somehow I missed this one last year. Anyway, I'm caught up now :) The plot was definitely refreshingly interesting, especially watching the bad guy become the good guy, something I toy with with a number of the characters I most love to pen. That sense of redemption is almost pervasive to me and my writing; it's something I find very intriguing. Overall, not my favorite (that has to be Monsters vs. Aliens or How To Train Your Dragon), but not the worst animated feature I've seen.

Green Lantern (July 3) - Grade: B. I will confess to extreme apprehension going to see this movie, a la X-Men. Fine, you can ruin one piece of my childhood comic/cartoon base, but please don't ruin my DC one too. Speaking of DC, the real reason I wanted to see this movie was because it makes me crave Justice League. I mean, what's better than Justice League? Answer: NOTHING. I mean, they are totally making The Avengers, so where's my Justice League? Hmmm?!?! Pretty good movie, I didn't have an problem with Ryan Reynolds as Lantern, though apparently that's what made alot of people hate this movie.

Shadowlands (1993) (August 5) - Grade: B. Watched this with a good friend. Hadn't ever seen it before, but being a C.S. Lewis fan, it intrigued me. The love story was touching, though being less familiar than I ought with authors' personal histories, I was not led to hate or love based on truism or adherence to fact. I thought the love story was touching and the way Lewis interacted with Joy was humorous and reminiscent at the same time of some of my friendships. It was sort of weird to watch Anthony Hopkins showing affection and love when I associate him mainly with Hannibal.

AVA: LOVE (August 10) - Grade: B-. EEEEEEEEEEE!!! The AVA movie! Most of you probably know nothing about this. It was, after all, only in theatres for one night, and not for widespread release. This movie come from one of my favorite bands, Angels and Airwaves. They've been regulars every year at the Top of My Charts. This movie has been buzzing around for months and months, and I've been watching the trailer even longer. So on August 10th, people in something like 96 theatres worldwide saw the movie and AVA did a Q&A and played some songs. The movie started out everything I'd ever dreamed of, everything I'd wanted it to be. It went the direction it should for 3/4ths of the movie, then the ending tumbled away into (in my opinion) disaster. They had so much good stuff, so many breathtaking scenes. Knowing how intensely, extremely low-budget the film was made me very nervous, but the scenes flowed seamlessly - until the very end. And then the obvious CG was just so gratuitous and glaringly unseamless, I was sad. For the movie and for AVA. Because it had been so good for so much time. The Q&A revealed even more how staunchly thin the budget was for this film. The live performance was the worst I have ever seen in my whole life. I don't know if the mics were off, or the audio efhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffects were messed up, but they sounded absolutely abysmal. I felt so bad for all first-time AVA viewers, including my friend next to me, whom I whole-heartedly reassured that they were not *really* that bad. Overall though, it was a cool experience. Many people probably loved the movie, but it went in a direction that I didn't agree with, so I just have to throw my arms up and take it for what it is.

Another Earth (August 20) - Grade: B+. Another movie that super caught my eye. I'll give you the trailer: here. I saw this and said, yes, seeing that. Must go. Saw this when Turtle came to visit me in August (post upcoming). Very thought-provoking piece, very candidly done. I love movies like this when they are done right. I felt like there was really only one place where the director took the piece too far - during the lovemaking/rape? scene. I didn't feel that was necessary one bit. I thought the story and characters were flawed, yet complete on their own, without needing to add that piece on the tail end. It was one of a few instances where my disbelief was shattered regarding these two characters. I mean, I can totally say, yeah there's another earth, but the connection between these two is at points forced and/or contrived, and the love/rape part went overboard for me. I was very dissatisfied with that bit, but otherwise I enjoyed the movie, especially for the ways it made me think, think, think. Look. I'm Pooh Bear! I was still thinking about everything it swirled up in my mind for days afterwards.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) (Sept 2) - Grade: A. I saw this movie at the Tower Theatre as a live production cult flick reenactment akin to Rocky or Repo. The movie I loved, the live actors not so much. I felt the film was much too serious to be backdropped with live actors like that. For Rocky and Repo, (both of which I've seen live at the Tower also), I felt like it worked. This, to me, was too serious a piece. Many of you probably don't know about it, so check it out on IMDB. I really loved the imagery and thought that we used to be whole and now are split into two halves, searching constantly for our other halves. That was a refreshing take on love for me. The songs were original, thoughtful, and incredibly moving. Some parts are kind of edgy and crass, but the overarching message outshines this things for me.

Sarah's Key (Sept?) - Grade: A. Another independent flick. Seen alot of those this year. I thought the actors in this movie were abso-perfect-lutely spot on. I felt about the acting in this the same way I felt about the actors in Prayers for Bobby. Granted, I haven't read the book for this one, so I wasn't biased/prejudiced, so I may simply have not known what and where I should have been hating, but I found it very moving. It was much more gripping and real to me than The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas (which I know I watched, but got left off my movie review lists. Oops). Would recommend for sure.

Cowboys and Aliens (Sept 10) - Grade: B. I sort of want to put this at a higher grade, but I just can't justify it. My biggest issue with this movie is that I went in thinking it was a spoof movie, or at least poking fun at cowboy and alien movies. But no, the whole time, this was a serious flick. They were for real. Cowboys shooting guns at an alien spaceship. I just kept waiting and waiting for it to be a joke, but the joke was on me, because we never got there.

Capt. America (Sept 11) - Grade: A-. I feel much the same about this movie as I did about Green Lantern (above). Maybe I'm at fault though, because I saw this without seeing Thor? Not that I'm not excited/wanting to see that one, just that I haven't gotten around to it. I'm a movie procrastinator, unless someone invites me :) So people, invite me to more movies! And with this movie out, it means that The Avengers is just around the corner! GIVE ME MY JUSTICE LEAGUE!

Bridesmaids (Sept 24) - Grade: C. This movie was on during an evening at Bear Lake with friends. I settled in to watch, just because I hadn't seen it since our original try on May 30th (above) and everyone who saw it said that it was hysterically funny. Well, I must not have a sense of humor then because I just thought it was okay. Not really *that* hilarious. I wouldn't put it in the same category of hilarious as Mean Girls or Whatever It Takes. Maybe the people around me distracted me, but I don't think I'd put this one my "To Watch Again" list. :/

Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct 31) - Grade: Classic. You can't really grade Rocky Horror. That'd just be insensitive. It is what it is, and you either love it, love it, or you hate it. I happen to have quite fond memories of it, old an new. I won't go in to all the intricacies surrounding this one; just know that if you haven't seen it, you need to. Call me around Halloween. We'll totally go.

J.Edgar (November 13) - Grade: B-. I had private screening tickets to this and went not really knowing that much about the movie beforehand. Just that it had Leo, who hasn't been a good actor since he was Gilbert Grape. >.> My pronouncement for this movie: there were things that worked, and things that didn't. It's unfortunate about the things that didn't. Like Clyde's "aged" makeup. Horrific. Leo's sorta worked and Naomi's was flawless. But Clyde's looked like melting play-dough slapped onto his face. More than once I remarked, "Did anyone preview this movie? How was that okay? How did it make it here, let alone past the first cut?!" I am also concerned about the speculation that went into this movie, though DLB assured us in a Q&A after that the majority of what he wrote was based on fact, not theory. There was alot he *didn't* put in because he was unable to substantiate it. He also painted Edgar as a complete monster at the end of his life, and how it was hard to delve into that. But some, myself included, didn't really see it the way DLB did. I saw him as inherently flawed because of his childhood, because of the time period, and because of the death of his mother. I found the story plausible and believable, though there were parts that severely dragged, which made for a rather long viewing experience. If history and the shrouded past of J.Edgar intrigue you, I don't see any real reason to steer you away from this movie other than Clyde's debacle of makeup making him convincingly old.

Star Trek: Nemesis (November 15) - Grade: B. Somehow I missed a Next Generation movie! I was a little aghast when I found this out, I have to admit. How/when did I miss this movie? Where were my dad and brothers letting me know about it? Troi and Riker get married? And Janeway is totes in it? I'm so confused! lol S wanted to watch this movie because I'm writing in a group with him that's based about the same time period and he wanted me to see all the equipment, etc., we'd have access to on our ship. Not a bad Trek movie, not my favorite. Noticed very clear plot elements that were re-hashes or re-dos from previous movies, just covered up enough to make them look different/new.

2011 Movie-wrap-up still to come, plus book reviews, and the Best of: 2011 Edition!

Summer 2011 - Chapter 6: Turtle Visit

2012-01-03T15:20:00.003-07:00

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 loved it so much the year before, we had to see it again. She was so excited. Her roommate and BF joined us and we had a great time snacking on bruschetta and eating salad, all the while watching the play making fun of Utah politics. Then it was home to continue whittling pages toward the end of DragonLance.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Frisbee and Turtle even played. Then it was time to hurriedly pick up the tux and get ready for the evening that would arrive all too soon. But we got stuck on the train because there were people on the tracks and then the driver had to hit the emergency brakes and then didn't know how to get the thing started again once he'd done that. *le sigh*

When we finally got to the city, I rushed over to get fitted, then sent Turtle to meet up I had already been fitted for it, but when I got it the pieces were all wrong, and the guy had to re-hem and fix things; he did so while assisting other people. I was incredibly annoyed and going to be late. He had to sew some buttons onto a vest for me as well, which he had no clue how to do (it was obvious to me). Thank God for cell phones. I sent Turtle off to meet my friends at the theatre and get tickets and tell them I was coming, only to find out that we had the movie time wrong!

Some things are blessings in disguise I guess... the extra time allowed me to get a haircut, then I showed up at the theatre, tux in hand, to see the afternoon showing of Another Earth (post forthcoming). After that we scurried to my house to get dressed. I left Turtle at my house and walked to the Salt Palace myself for the Capitol Club private reception preceding the main event, for which Turtle had come to Utah, the 2011 Equality Utah Allies Dinner.

We had a blast at the event, even one of my old professors came to support me and mine. And I got a spot in a video clip! I'm famous!

Sunday morning Turtle joined me for QUAC and swam like four lanes up from me, which was absurd. She has alot of swimming experience, I guess, because she was good enough to swim with people I only dream of. Then we spent the rest of the day just reading before going to Faustina for dinner. It was hard to come to the end of the series, especially considering HOW it ends. She saw it coming and said "no" repeatedly, but that can't change what's written on the page, no matter how much you want it to. So she cried and I tried super hard NOT to cry (because I'm supposed to be the impartial, unaffected narrator), but with no success. I ended up bawling too, to the point I almost couldn't finish reading. But we had made it through: 7 books, 3362 pages; so many wonderful characters and stories who will always have a special place in my heart, and now hers too. Then I had to say goodbye to her as she headed down to Provo to continue her visit elsewhere. :/ I guess I should share, huh? <.< But I like monopolizing...

It was grand to see her and we know there will be many more visits in the future. That pretty much wraps up my Summer, which led to Fall, which quickly became Winter. More posts coming soon finishing up the loose ends of 2011.

Summer 2011 - Chapter 5: Family Reunion!

2012-01-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

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 & J showed up. FAMILY!!!

After We rented vehicles, we headed into the Burg for a good ol' family breakfast at the Waffle House. On our way there, something pretty funny happened. My car with my dad arrived at the Waffle House, but the rest of the crew was nowhere to be found for some time. When they arrived some time later, the hilarious story unfolded that J (or whoever was driving) had been SURE that he was following us, and then the car pulled off into a parking lot, so naturally they followed. But when they pulled up alongside "us" to their surprise, it was some guy talking on his cell phone. Haha. Classic case of mistaken rental vehicle.

Shopping was next on the list, to prepare for our trip. While that was going on, my bros and I tossed a Disc in the Meijer parking lot. Fun times, especially making wild grabs to keep the Frisbee from striking parked vehicles. We also had this super bounce ball that we tried to bounce over numerous parked truck trailers. I think the most we ever made was 4, maybe 4 and a half.

Then some of the family wanted to tour the Burg since they hadn't been there in forevs. I didn't take this trip to putz around the Burg, so I opted to leave early. I came to ride Roller Coasters! Yeah, you heard me. Roller Coasters.

Just like last summer, we were hitting up the #1 Amusement Park in the World. Hands down.

Yeah, *that* Cedar Point. K, A, and R all came with. The drive was uneventful. Since we were there for a few days, the cheapest option was the Season Pass. We had to get our photos taken and such nonsense, but then we were in. Time for ROLLER COASTER ACTION!

Official Ride Count - Day 1: Magnum 3, Swings 1, Monster 1, Dodgem 1, Raptor 1, Mean Streak 1, Wicked Twister 1, Maverick 1

R hadn't been to CP since he was like 5, and K and A hadn't ever been, so they were all newbies! We opted to start with Raptor! RAWR! Everything was fine until we were strapping in and waiting to be launched in the front seat. Poor K had a freakout breakdown and screamed to be let off. She didn't want to ride :/

Don't remember many other details of the day. Just had fun riding.

That night at the hotel we tried to go swimming, but the locale wasn't nearly as cool as the Maples Motel, where Turtle and I stayed the previous summer. We thought about jumping the fence and swimming in secret, but the risk to the rest of my family getting the boot wasn't worth it. We ended up playing Race for the Galaxy instead.

Next day we headed in early, though some people opted to sleep in.

Official Ride Count - Day 2: Millennium 2, Magnum 2, Gemini 1, Cedar Downs 1, Matterhorn 1, Super Himalaya 1, Maverick 1

Again, some of the details are lost. But I definitely remember that the middle of the day consisted going around with my mom and sis to ride things. She loves crazy spinny rides like Matterhorn and Super Himalaya. This was the day my mom agreed to ride coasters! MY MOM ON A ROLLER COASTER!!! She claims that she loves coasters, just not getting beat up by then. So we rode coasters with her. FUN FUN

Official Ride Count - Day 3: Millennium 2, Power Tower 1, Maxair 2, Paddlewheel 1, Thunder Canyon 1, Snake River Falls 1, Shoot the Rapids 1, Maverick 1, Raptor 1

Again at the park when it opened. We wanted to get on Millennium first, so we dashed there as the gates opened. But it ended up being a false start to the day. We got all the way to the platform and it broke! The cars got stuck halfway up the first hill! SCARY!!! Turned out though that 1/3 of the park was out of power! Oops. J had never ridden coasters and wasn't sure he liked them, and he had been such a sport riding; even Stas had gone on stuff she didn't want to.

So I decided to step up and go along with my siblings good spirit. I broke down and agreed to ride the Power tower. O.M.H! SO SCARY!! Put me on a roller coaster that goes 410 feet in the air and drops me down just as much and I will have the time of my life. Strap me in a little chair, raise me up like 200 ft and then drop me or bounce me up and down? I will SCREAM MY LUNGS OUT. I screamed so loud I'm pretty sure people in the parking lot could hear me. Then, as if that weren't enough, they wanted to ride the Maxair. This was just as scary as Power Tower, if not a little more so because the ride spins while it twirls you so sometimes you are facing backward as you kick the sky, then others you are facing straight down at the ground.

More screaming ensued, to which I know many people were looking at the ride like someone was dying. And I mean SCREAMING. lol After that we had to go to the front and get lunch. While we were eating, two of my mom's friends arrived, whom she hadn't seen since High School, Chris and Curt (hereafter "C&C") Fun! They decided to hang out with us and ride rides.

So next we stopped by the Paddlewheel where the little brother of my one of my best friends from High School was working. As people were filing onto the boat, he would ask, "Where are you from?" "Boston." "Oh, hey, me too!" "And you?" "Texas. "Me too!" He was unprepared for our response. "Reynoldsburg." "Yeah, me-- wait!" Because he really *is* from there. Ha, ha, ruined your joke! The paddlewheel was sort of anti-climactic and not something I would do on my own. But we did it to see him and that made it worth it.

Next we opted for water rides. First we tackled Thunder Canyon where we completely filled out our own raft with the addition of C&C. I taught everyone how to turn the boat and we managed to soak almost everyone with me only getting half wet. We totally soaked C&C though. Ooops. Next we conquered Snake River Falls, followed by the adventure of the new ride from 2010, Shoot the Rapids. It was alright. Prolly not one I'd ride again considering the wait time. To dry off we got in line for Maverick again along with C&C. Mom and Dad opted not to ride, but hung out in line to chat while we waited. Then it was dinnertime.

After, Mom headed off to ride Disaster Transport with C&C, I opted to ride Maxair again. Okay, so scaring the piss out of myself can be exhilarating a little, alright? To round out the evening we got in line for Millennium with C&C, who had never ridden it before, neither had J, who came with us. My parents waited in line with us, but didn't ride. As we were going to the platform, R got rid of his shoes and gave them to my parents. When we were loading, he got kicked out for no footwear. This crushed him, and he would not ride anything else, nor go back on and ride even though they said he could. While G tried to deal with that mess, I ran (literally) with J over to the Raptor. We made it just before they closed the lines for the night. He'd never ridden it, and I thought it would be fitting to ride last what I rode first.

Back at the hotel we packed up and tried to go right to sleep, knowing we had to be on the road super, super early. We got up at like 5am to head back to the Burg; I had an early flight to catch. G & J came too, since they had to fly out of Columbus the next day and no one else was going back that direction. We stopped at a McD's and I waited while J went to get a key from someone, then I drove myself back to the airport, returned the car, and headed back to Salt Lake. It was a super fun trip and hopefully the first of many family reunions (now we just need to get my older bro to come from Seattle). I mean, we're totally old enough for that sort of thing now.

Let's have the next one in Key West or the Bahamas, yeah? I like the sound of that. Though I'd be just as excited if it was at Cedar Point. There's no place better!

NEW YEAR!!!

2012-01-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer 2011 - Chapter 4: Goodbye Turtle :(

2011-12-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Summer 2011 - Chapter 4: Goodbye Turtle :(

First: Apologies, because I am so far behind T_T
Second: Apologies, because there are no pictures to go with this chapter. Turtle and I didn't do anything picture-worthy...

Turtle and I had known this day was coming for a long time, and finally, it had arrived.

Time for Turtle to leave Utah. :(

I don't really remember anything about the drive, other than it being its normal long-ness and listening to music. We made good time though and got in around midnight, where we were greeted by the most annoying bird. EVER. Now, I'm not a huge pet person, but pets that ANNOY are decidedly on the bottom of my list. The stupid thing squawked ALL NIGHT LONG. He would not shut up for one second. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.

When I'd had enough, I demanded she get up and call her mom to come right then or I was going to kill the thing. We had to finish up The Last Battle before we could start the book she was dying to read. We also camped out in front of her TV because I found episodes of American Ninja Warrior. If you haven't seen that show, you should. It's ridiculous.

Eventually Turtle's mom's friend came over and we went down to the creek to play with some littles. Then we went with her mom to some house where she was dog sitting in Wheatland. I cooked my chicken pillows and asparagus as a "last meal" sort of thing for Turtle. She loves them so much. We chilled for a while after that until the guy got home, then went home and started into the final novel of the DragonLance series. We read late into the night, and the bird (of course) didn't shut up the whole time.

Next morning we got up and continued reading. This was the last book in the series, Turtle had to know how it ended! In the middle of the day we decided to go into town, where we got ice cream and saw Green Lantern (review forthcoming). When we got back to the house, we absolutely bored Turtle's mom to death, because we only wanted to do one thing: read. Well, we had over 400 pages to cover and not much time to do it in!

Monday morning played out much the same, though we did so in the hammock outside this time while her mom lounged in the creek nearby. Then we headed over to her mom's cousin's house (to continue reading *grin*), though we did take a break to visit Joe's Crab Shack in Old Town Sacramento and do some window shopping. Somehow we got convinced that since it was the 4th, we should watch some fireworks. Personally, I could have gone without, but Turtle's mom really wanted to go. So we appeased her and went, and read there, though I was a little shy at first since I was kind of reading in public, and doing character voices is sort of embarrassing to me in a public setting (but I just admitted to all of you that I do them, so the secret is out... eep!). I got over it (I don't know if I'll get over that confession though!). We read and read and read, and pretty much did nothing else the whole 4 days, but we only made it about 3/4ths of the way through. I think when the fireworks were over we had about 200 pages left. I calculated the rate we were reading and suggested we could stay up all night and finish it, but then decided I wouldn't be able to make it. After all, my plane left super early in the morning and right after that I had to be to work. So I nixed it. She would just have to wait a little longer for the epic conclusion.

Next morning early I caught a plane back to SLC and said goodbye (not forever though!) to my Turtle :(

Love her.

Summer 2011 - Chapter 3: Pittsburgh!

2011-12-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

So the very next weekend after going to Zion's (now 5 freaking months ago T_T), I packed my bags and flew across the country to visit two of my Besties from High School, Em and Mel.

Super exciting for me because I had not since these girls forever! (And by forever I mean Fall 2009 when Em got married. But still). I had *never* been to visit either of them where they were living, and I had never actually been to Pennsylvania (other than maybe driving through it(?)), so this was an extra exciting trip for me.

When I got there, there were squeals and laughing and smiles and hugs and a bathroom break. Then we started driving around and as I looked out the window I realized how much I miss my East Coast. SO GREEN! The trees were gorgeous. They gave me a brief driving tour/view of the City before we went back to Em's to drop off our stuff.

We hung out for a bit ad watched some GANGLAND (just because). Then when it got a bit later we decided to go get some eats and maybe do some shopping as well. Exciting!

The vote was for a German Restaurant whose name I cannot even hope to know (or pronounce) but it was for real, for real German. With the dancing girls and the accordions and everything. We got seated outside on the river! Nice view!

I was just so excited to be there! AHHHH!!! It was soooo good to be away from UT and to be having a real vacation and having it with the BEST people.

I opted for the PORK SHANK on the menu. Because. They had PORK SHANK *ON* the menu.

I mean, why NOT?

The best part was when the waitress was like, "Um, do you know what a pork shank is?"

Ummm, do I *look* like I have NEVER played a single video game in my life?! What do you think you feed warriors with?! Upside-down pineapple cake?! Of course I know what a shank is! Seriously girl! It was a pretty massive shank. I ate about half of it and got the rest boxed. Then I was totes eating again as soon we started leaving.

"LAY OFF ME, I'M STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARVING!!!" :D

We rounded out the evening by going back to Em's and getting our dance on with some Wii Just Dance 2. It was actually pretty fun, except when I totally ROCKED a move and it didn't catch it. Silly sensor. I think the consensus was that doing the Monster Mash was the funnest.

Saturday was a day to be remembered for sure. A full day of being in Pitt!
We headed into town and they decided I needed to ride an incline car, which are these house-like carts that go up and down the mountainsides. They were built originally for mining (if I remember correctly) but then they were used to help transport people so they didn't have to commute as far. We opted for the Monongahela Incline.

That's me trying to do a "ta da!" a la Vanna. My hand should be turned up, though :/ Hand pose fail.

The track of the incline reminded me of Cedar Point. Sorry, I had to throw it in there... You loaded in just like at a train station, and there were different levels and benches and then it went and you just looked out the window as it went up.

Once we got to the top, we had to visit the lookout point and see the WHOLE city at once. It was gorgeous. Super pretty and breathtaking.

Photo Op!

LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!! (The 4th, previously unmentioned person there is the wonderful Em's Husband. He's an amazing man that one. So glad he has Em and she has him!) :)

After our wonderful photo shoot (there's like 10 other pictures that didn't make it on here. For the whole trip album, just go here. Fair warning, there are over 100 pictures!), it was definitely time to get some MUNCHIES!!!

ICE CREAM THAT-A WAY! Yeah, giggity. While we munched on ice cream, Mel and I wandered a bit because I was curious what some of the city streets looked like. When we were all done with ice cream it was time to head back down the mountain.

There was so much more to do! We walked around the mall a bit, and Em's Husband left us for a previous engagement he could not get out of. Then we had a stint of waiting to do.

After le wait, we went and got our tickets for the "Ducky Tour." I know, right? What the frick is a ducky tour? That's what I said. But I (and you) was about to be pleasantly surprised. A Ducky is like a truck/boat. See Exhibit 1 below.

Weird, I know. I promise it will make sense. And the Tour part is self-explanatory. In this case, of Pittsburgh. Fun! I love city history and exploring new places. This was perfect.

While we were waiting to board, some other High School friends joined us! YAY!!! So good to see L&G! Haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

After the exchanging of warm wishes and triggered memories, we loaded into the Ducky. I opted to sit in the very back where there wasn't a canopy roof for optimal viewing.

The truck rolled out into Downtown and the tour guide told lame jokes and explained to us various things about various buildings downtown. One of my favorites was the old courthouse.

We saw the NY Mellon building, Heinz Hall, a number of theaters, learned about Henry Clay Frick and the Flood of 1936. Pittsburgh has some REALLY cool buildings. Like breathtakingly beautiful cool.

It was like a glass Tower/Castle. Here's another view from farther away:

Eventually the truck trundled down under the freeway toward the water. Yeah, the water.

And then it went INTO the water and our truck became a boat. Because, what could be more awesome?

So then we were chilling on a boat in the river seeing the city from another angle. The driver even let everyone who wanted take a turn at driving. The little tykes ate it up (so did some big "kids"). Being in the water was really relaxing. It also allowed me to see the city of Pittsburgh from the outside, which was neat. We saw the Fort Pitt Tunnel, admired the trees, went past the Ball park, and I asked really important questions, as demonstrated in the picture below.

When we were done in the water, the boat drove back up onto land and made its way back to the mall. I was so sad for that to end. It was SUCH a cool tour. I cannot thank Em enough for thinking of it!

Fantastic use of time with friends. We joked and talked and just enjoyed ourselves. It was super good memories.

L&G had to say goodbye and then we wandered around some more. Outside one of the mall stores there were some fountains set to music a la Vegas. Dancing may have ensued. >.> This was incredibly entertaining for both Em and Mel. Then we decided we were hungry so we got some Joe's Crab Shack, which was delicious. I picked that place because I said we didn't have any in Utah (which is apparently a lie - there's one in Sandy and one in West Jordan).

After good eats we wandered over to a Half Price Books where I went crazy and bought like 7 books (which, let's be honest, I read alot, but I don't *purchase* alot. This was a big grab for me. Especially since I'm so picky about my books. But, I will be honest, I found the majority of a series I've been looking for a long, long time. I had to).

Then we went back to Em's where we debated going out, but ended up voting against it in favor of kicking it chillax-style with a movie at home. We opted for Megamind (review forthcoming). Though it had been on my radar, I'd never indulged in this particular flick. I was pleasantly surprised.

Sunday morning was so nice. We slept in, then relaxed on the back porch, enjoying Em's backyard foliage and the weather, and chatting. I packed my stuff, and we headed out to the mall(and more half price books! I had to find the rest of the series!) Eventually we gave up shopping in favor of eating and got lunch at some restaurant whose name and food is clearly not memorable as none of us can remember now where we went.

Then, all too quickly, it was time to say goodbye to Pitt and my lovely ladies. Such a fun trip. One I'll definitely have to make again soon! As if that wasn't enough, the very next weekend after saying goodbye to them, it was time to say goodbye to Turtle. :(

Stay tuned for Summer 2011 - Chapter 4: Goodbye Turtle :( coming soon!

A Step Behind...

2011-11-20T23:50:00.000-07:00

*chirp chirp*

Wooooooooooow.

Sure has been quiet around here! Eesh. July?!

I'm a awful blogger.

But I'll have you know that things are settling down at work, I'm doing more writing, I'm back at it creatively, and thus am now wanting to re-emerge as a budding, young, lovely blogger as well.

I fully intend to recap my ever-so-wonderful and all-too-short summer of 2011 before the year has escaped me! So there! En garde and such!

Upcoming posts to look forward to:
- Summer 2011 (There are 4 more chapters already in draft mode, maybe a 5th if I feel like it)
- Movies! I have seen alot of movies
- Books! I apparently missed a post on books so there's a whole lot of those coming your way! The first one's been done since like May. Seriously.
- I have 9 posts in various stages of draftage. So get ready for some BLOGUNDATION! YEAHHHHH

Cheers.

Summer 2011 - Chapter 2: Zion's National Park

2011-07-20T16:18:00.000-06:00

To usher in more of Summer, we decided that we needed that all-important trip to a National Park. Last year I took Turtle to Capital Reef. She had a blast. But she'd always wanted to see Zion.

So this time it was going to happen. Turtle was getting ready to move (more on that in an upcoming post), so we knew this was our only chance. Joshy decided to join us, and we were more than happy to have him along for the ride.

I asked to leave work early as early as possible (to which my boss laughed. Me leave early? HA). My boss was in a strangely good mood and stopped what he was working on and started getting out tour books and maps and telling me all about where we should go in the park (I never even told him that's WHY I wanted to leave early... he got the info through the grapevine). I was super taken aback. Then, even funnier, he went to lunch and when he got back he was like WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! LOL When I asked to leave early I meant like 3pm. Not 11am. Why would I come to work for just 3 hours?! So that was a pretty humorous experience.

Joshy met me at my house and we went to Turtle's to get her. She piled in and we were off. The drive down went really fast because we were deeply engrossed in finishing off The Silver Chair (book review in an upcoming post) and starting The Horse and His Boy (ditto).

We were looking for somewhere to camp outside Zion, but we missed it on the way in, so we decided to see if there was any camping inside. There was one spot left! Lucky! It was just light enough for us to get our tent up. The pay spot was pretty much all rocks/gravel, so not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. It wasn't bedtime yet, so we wanted to do something. We snagged a bus up canyon to the Emerald Pools (even though it was dark). Night hike! We did fine for a while just hiking in the dark, but then we got to a part with a lot of rocks so we had to bust out the flashlight. The pools were pretty cool, even though we couldn't really see them. Then we hiked back down, caught the last bus, and settled in for the night.

I didn't sleep so good that night. In and out of sleep alot, and the ground was super uncomfortable. We pretty much woke up with the sun. Joshy and I went to the first-come, first-serve campground to scope a spot. We found a really awesome one (with sand!) and a giant shade tree and I sat there and "camped" while Joshy went back, shoved everything in the car, and he and Turtle came over to our new site.

We set up the new site and staked the tent and such while Turtle made us breakfast of tortillas, peanut butter and honey. Mmm carbs! Then we hopped the bus to Angel's Landing - Turtle's dream hike.

We made Turtle go really fast because the trail was still in the shade and she was dying. But the sun was coming up and it was going to be REALLY hot, so we pushed her. She agreed that it was totally worth it.

When we were almost all the way up, we stopped in some shade and found some people who were visiting from like NYC or something, and they had to decided to quit. All that work and you aren't even going to the top!? We dragged them with us the rest of the way. We were not about to stand by and let them come that far and then just go home. Pshh.

Finally, after hours and hours (not really, but it felt like it to Turtle!) we were at the TOP!!! YAY!!!

I felt like the top of Capital Reef was cooler, but that's me. We met these two guys at the top who were reading Scripture. They were super Catholics from Ohio, right near where I grew up. They'd spent time at a monastery that Turtle's uncle was the Abbott of. We chatted with them about Ohio, and nature, and God, and all kinds of things. They were pretty cool people. I've always been interested in the way other people believe, and how that belief translates into the way that they live their lives. The underpinnings of all that intrigue me to no end.

We hung out on top for a while, had lunch, and just enjoyed the view.

Then it was time to go back down. And we knew it was a looooong way down!

The sun was out and it was indeed HOT. Turtle was struggling, but we pushed and made it okay. We took the bus back to camp and then decided we wanted to go into town and see the sights and get some food. We had lunch at a mexican restaurant, then went to a candy store. When we got back, we were trying to decide what to do. It was way hot, so we decided to go swimming. We found a spot at the Virgin river where some other people were hanging out, and we got in to join them.

This is NOT where we were swimming... that picture is of the river at a much more swollen spot. In the shallows where we were, it was barely over our ankles.

We played with rocks and waded and generally had a grand ol' time. There were some people upriver from us whose kids were rafting in tubes and having a blast. Downriver from us there were a bunch of rapids. Scary looking rapids. Especially with the river as swollen as it was.

Then came a moment I lived to regret (thank goodness), but one that I still find myself mulling over more than a month later. One of the kids, I dunno she was 7 or 8, did not get off her tube in time and stop and went past her family toward the rapids. She turned and looked at us with panic on her face and said "help me!" She was swept away and her parents were yelling and screaming. She managed to grab onto a branch halfway through the rapids, but it wasn't going to hold, and no one in her family was in a spot to reach her. I was already wading in the river, and I was the closest person.

What should I have done? I was super sacred for this poor girl! So I made the decision to go and help her. I was crossing the river to get to the side she was clinging near, but I never made it. The current was so powerful it swept me right off my feet. If you pay attention to the news, you know there have been like 14 drownings in the last month because the rivers are so bad.

I lost my footing and was swept away. And now I couldn't think of saving the girl at all, I had to save myself! I was scared to say the least. The water was rushing so strong there was no way I was going to be able to stop and get up again - It was now a matter of incur as little damage as possible and keep my head above water. I smashed into rock after rock in the rapids. I didn't swallow any water, and eventually made it through the rapids okay, but when I managed to swim to the side at a calmer spot, my legs were bleeding all over. I was so tore up.

And then I started thinking... was that really stupid of me? I knew people were drowning, I should have realized that the current would be wicked strong, I should have realized that would happen, but what about the girl? Should I have just not cared and left her to fend for herself? Someone from her family eventually got to her and she was fine, and not one of them ever said anything to me about it. I don't even know if they noticed that I'd tried to save the girl...

I got back in the water and cooled my aching legs, which bruised badly and took weeks to completely heal, and thought about these things. Was I really dumb for trying to help her since I could have lost my own life? I haven't settled on an answer yet.

After that I was pretty much done at the river. On the way back to our campsite, we met up with the Catholic boys again. They were in our same campground! So we chatted some more and then agreed to do evening prayers with them. I was super curious about the way they worshiped. I don't know why that sort of practice is so fascinating to me, but it is.

We decided we were tired and I voted for a nap, commenting that we always seem to be go, go, go whenever we vacation, and we never just chill out. Turtle agreed and we zonked. It was an awesome nap.

After we woke up we debated doing another hike, but decided against it because it would take too long to get up the canyon. So we played cards - good ol' war and 21. And then when we were hungry we went and got ice cream and ranch dressing right outside the park (not together! the ranch was for the veggies we had back at camp. silly). Then we had dinner and just relaxed.

We hung around for a long time before the Catholics finally got back from town. We started a fire and did evening prayers and it was so neat to see them pray and sing in latin and they were so of one mind, it was really cool. A discussion ensued about belief and doctrine that I wasn't interested in in the least. I like to see how and why people do things, especially when it comes to things as deep-seated as faith, but I couldn't care less about the small places we are going to differ in tenet and principle. I already know your views aren't mine, and that's enough for me. So I went to bed while the others kept chatting.

Next morning we packed everything and moved over to the Visitor Center. We took the bus all the way to the Temple of Sinawava and hiked as far as we could up the narrows (just to the mouth - the narrows were closed because the river was too high).

So we'd seen all we could see pretty much. Time to turn around and go home. We started winding our way down the canyon and decided to visit weeping rock, since rumor had it they had hanging gardens.

It was a pretty cool spot. Water coming off the overhang all around us and such. I read a sign that told me about Observation Point, which is apparently higher than Angel's Landing, and I was like WHAT?! Why haven't I ever heard of this?! I want to do that one! We didn't have time though. I'd have to come back. We wound our way back down canyon and then went into town for some brunch at Wild Cat Willy's before heading home, which again resulted in me reading more of The Chronicles of Narnia (reviews coming soon). We wanted to leave the park early Sunday so we would still have time to do stuff that night before work Monday.

Stay tuned for more awesome summer trips!

Summer 2011 - Chapter 1: Birthday Boy

2011-07-19T14:10:00.000-06:00

Part of the reason I have been so lax in my blogging is that it's summer. And I ALWAYS sucks at blogging during summer, because it's awesome outside, so I hate being in my house, which means I can't be bothered to be around typing about all the wonderful things I'm doing! Seriously people! The sun is calling me! I'm really good at blogging in the winter though, as the beginning of this year proved. But I don't like being more than 6 months behind with the events in ye ole life either, so. I'm just going to have to make sacrifices.

Bring on the summer of 2011! WOOO!!!!

First event - my birthday. Well, technically that's in Spring, but whatevs. Last year Turtle rocked the awesome boat with surprise laser tag and werewolves. Rounded with an enchilada party by my former roomie. I had no idea how 2011 was going to shape up. But I wanted something fun, low-key, yummy, and amazing.

So I decided to have a party at Faustina (voted best restaurant of 2010 by me) with all my friends. We booked their private room, and my favorite server, because you can't have a party without HER!

That place looked amazing. The tables were all set up in a horseshoe shape and I got to sit in the very center, and just be loved. Balloons!

So many people came to the party! It was so great to see all of them and feel so loved!

After we ate, I totally tried to get a dessert and was talking it up to everyone. But they all said they'd ordered dessert already and I totally didn't clue in, so I ordered one anyway. Silly me. Because of course Turtle got me a birthday cake!!!

After we had delicious, it was time for presents! Woohoo! People had been bugging me about what to get, so I finally broke down and made a list, even though it was all for naught. Turtle had totally been conspiring with all my friends for months.

Jas gave me a homemade card (cute!) and movie tickets:

M&M got me WEREWOLVES (finally). LOL, I was supposed to get it last October but the give-it-to-me-via-halloween-costume-contest idea backfired. :P

Then came the kicker. Turtle's conspiracy revealed. There had been a posterboard up at the bar (hidden!) where as people came in they signed it with a love note and taped some $$$ to it. Then it was presented to me as a Friend Couch Fund!

(It looks kind empty at the initial presenting because alot of people hadn't known where to find it, so they signed and taped after the fact). I'm TOTALLY okay with that.

Such an AWESOME GIFT!!! Thank you to each and every one who contributed. Y'all's rockstars!

With the help of my friends, I was able to purchase a magnificent corduroy sectional on Memorial Day. It's pretty much my favorite! It came with 12 pillows!! SQUEEE. I slept on it every night for the first week I had it (except when other people were crashing on it >.>)

[picture of couch forthcoming]

So all in all, my birthday was FANTASTIC, everything I wanted it to be, and more. I am so thankful to have so many awesome people in my life who love and support me and that I am proud to call "friend."

Thanks for such a memorable night. Here's hoping for many more just like it!

Mov1es

2011-07-18T13:21:00.002-06:00

Wow, it's taken a while to get going with Movies in 2011. Halfway through I decided to start putting the dates I saw them, so people have a better frame of reference for how soon or (more usually the case) how late I saw them. Anyway, here are the first 17 movies to cross my path in 2011. Enjoy!

Charlie St. Cloud - Grade: B-. I was actually really excited to see this movie, even though it was Efron (not an oogling, drooling fan). The trailers made it look soooo good. The movie itself was alright. I was not super emotionally invested, so it didn't hit me super hard, but it wasn't completely flat either. There were a couple points where I thought they were going to ruin a good story with some crazy Sixth Sense-esque twist. Which would have upset me AND been really cool. Bottom line: it wasn't bad. Not great, but wasn't bad.

The Mothman Prophecies - Grade: C. Wow. This movie was NOT what I was expecting to be at all. I am so glad that my friend A was over to watch with me. This movie was kind of scary! I don't know that I would have wanted to watch it alone. The plot was kind of weird and I wasn't such a fan of the end. But not terrible. Wasn't really impressed, just scared, which was alright in its own right.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Grade: B+. Arguably, this movie was better than Prince Caspian, but I didn't think it was as good as The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I definitely don't like the way they keep changing the book just to give Tilda Swinton face time. I like Edmund more and more each movie that comes out. Lucy was hard to swallow though. There were parts you could tell that Georgie Henley was forcing herself to believe herself. That came through and totally took me out of being able to immerse myself in the movie. By far, the best part of this movie is Will Poulter. Hands down, no arguing. LOVED him in Son of Rambow and loved him in this. The kid is just a great actor.

Black Swan - Grade: D. Yech. So many people loved this movie. So you'll probably disagree, and you'll probably hate, but I'm fine with that. This movie was a hot mess. And there was WAY, WAY, WAY too much vag and girl parts. GROSSED to the max. I missed the crazy brilliance of it all. The story was good, but parts were unclear and confusing. My favorite part though was when Turtle screamed OUT LOUD in the theater. That was hilarious. When it was over, I was left wanting more. Dunno. Maybe I saw a different movie than everyone else, but I didn't like it.

Legends of the Fall - Grade: D. This came highly recommended from Turtle. The story was insanity. Brothers going to war and all falling in love with the same girl. The movie was full of poor choices, and I questioned more than once, "Why would x do that? Ridiculous. He/she wouldn't make that decision." The movie was confusing in many places, especially with regards to the character of Tristan. They covered way too much, way too quickly for us to invest in him as a main character.

Fight the Future (X-Files) - Grade: B. Alot of critical acclaim surrounding this movie. How hard for Chris Carter to make something that appealed to die-hard fans while being able to create something for an audience unfamiliar with any of the show. Then the added challenge of picking up the end of Season 5, and segueing into Season 6. The Season 6 opener was also painstakingly difficult, as Carter had to develop an episode the continued the series from Season 5 with the knowledge that not everyone would have seen the movie. Geez. Alot of people said that the movie could not be treated as such, and that really, it should be more viewed as a two-hour episode of the show. I can agree with that. Turtle and I watched all 202 episodes in the first half of 2011. We put the movie in between Season 5 ad 6 as it was designed. I love the X-Files, so really there can be no wrong for me. The movie helped explained alot of the Mythology behind X-Files, which was helpful for Turtle who was always wanting all the pieces to fall into place so she could understand everything. I highly recommend The X-Files to everyone willing to believe. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

I am Number Four - Grade: B-. So after seeing this movie, I learned that a) it is supposedly the first of a trilogy, and b) it is based on a series of books. So. I need to get the books. I didn't know a whole lot about this movie going into it, so I was kind of excited to be swept away in the story. The plot was definitely interesting and got me hooked. But as a stand-alone, I did not feel fulfilled at the end. Again, this raises the issue - will it be a trilogy? If so, maybe I will like the first movie more later. But when it was done, there were still a million unanswered questions for me. There was so much that was never explained. The special effects were great, the concept original, and the actors all excellent. But there was so much left undone that I was just... I guess now I know how people felt after watching The Lord of the Rings (though I can't remember now if it was the first or second that just...ended), without knowing anything of the story beforehand. We'll see how my opinion changes as the other movies come out.

Source Code - Grade: A-. I really, really liked this movie. Until the end. And then they twisted it just a little bit farther than necessary. I was happy with it, thought it was super interesting, exciting, and well acted, and then it was going to end and I was going to be fine. But then they had to add that last little twist. It was gratuitous if you ask me, and ruined an otherwise wonderful movie. The concept was definitely cool though. And no one can wrong with Gyllenhaal.

Conviction - Grade: B. First off, this is a true story, which is just incredible. Second, I saw trailers for this and immediately thought it looked good enough to see; so when the opportunity presented itself, I naturally accepted. I have always loved Hilary Swank, and this was a movie about fighting for your family. Which is paramount for me. I would do anything for the ones I love. But then there were problems. The legal portrayals were all wrong for one - trust me, I work in the industry. I know how court proceedings go. Second, Hilary and Sam Rockwell did not connect on the level that siblings should. I tried so hard to believe them and believe their emotion and it just didn't work for me. I've been saying that alot recently - I wonder if I'm desensitized? Unable to feel? I don't think so, but it's crossed my mind.

Water for Elephants (April 22) - Grade: C-. I was wholly unprepared for the screen adaption of this book I love. One of the things I absolutely loved about the book was how real and gritty it was. I fully expected this to be portrayed truthfully on screen - part of why I was so all about seeing this movie. But it wasn't. The movie adaptation was entirely romanticized and a love story. Which was so disappointing to me, because the value I placed in this book I placed in its real feel and honesty toward life as it was under the Big Top. And the movie was none of that. Not to mention puke-face Pattison played the male lead. *Gag* I tried with all my might to disassociate him from his past films (none of which I saw, so it wasn't *that* hard). Overall, though, I was totally disappointed by this movie. As is almost always true: Stick to the book.

Red Riding Hood (April 27) - Grade: A-. Saw this movie on my "holiday break" for Administrative Professional's Day. I'd missed seeing it with all my friends because of work, so this seemed fitting that I got to see it on company time. The movie was totally WEREWOLVES the game on the big screen. Being a huge fan of that party game, and having played over 100 times, I watched the movie in the same way I play the game. Absolutely everyone the movie threw suspicion on, I immediately ruled out as the Wolf. I had narrowed it down to two people by the time they did the "reveal." The one thing that was wrong with this movie was the END. If her boy becomes a wolf, then she needs to become a wolf too, and they go off and be wolves together. That's how you do a love story like this.

The King's Speech (May 8): Grade: A-. I really liked this movie. I believe it deserving of the hype and the awards. I deeply identified with King George VI, having to struggle with something within oneself viewed to be irksome, frustrating, and impeding that is inherent. His struggle was deeply personal for me and by the end of the movie, I found myself racked with emotion; heaving sobs that are not often evinced or provoked. To me, much of his impediment was not from fear of failure, or the past, but of being great. How many of us harbor this fear, while refusing to give it place by acknowledgment? How many of us are held back not by shortcoming, but by fear of being astonishingly brilliant? I may be party to this same anxiety in some areas of my life, and so as King George VI succeeded, I was awash with envy, success, pride, and happiness. I liked that the movie was able to draw so much from me. However, I wish it had done so with more characters than just Colin Firth. His performance was breath-taking, convincing, and exceptional. None of the other characters showed such depth, emotion, and commitment, and for that I was a little disappointed.

Battle of Los Angeles (May 14) - Grade: F. Not to be confused with Battle: Los Angeles. Wait, what? Yeah, that's right. Some idiots made a movie with pretty much the EXACT same title, at the same time, about the same thing. SERIOUSLY so upset. Cuz I *thought* I was watching Battle: Los Angeles, but no. I didn't think there could be a worse movie than 2012 or Legion, but this was. It was an abomination to film-making. The actors were awful, the special effects were from the 80's, it was so bad I was actually ANGRY when I found out I'd seen the wrong movie. And I watched the whole thing! It may have been trying to be CAMP, but even if it was, it failed at that too. Just abysmal.

SALT (May 14) - Grade: B. Movie 2 on my weekend marathon. (I discovered Netflix via Turtle *grin*). This one actually wasn't all that bad. I've never been a huge fan of Jolie, but I don't hate her. I liked her in WANTED. It reminded me alot of Bourne/Bond, but with it's own plot. The whole trained-as-a-kid, forgot-who-you-were was kind of a lame plot point, but eh. It was pretty good, all things considered.

Kick-Ass (May 14) - Grade: A-. I'd never really considered seeing this movie since it had Aaron Johnson at its head (whom I confused for Michael Cera (who I *don't* like (not him, but generally the type of movies he is in; although I loved Scott Pilgrim)). So I figured it was in that genre of films like Superbad that I have no interest in seeing. I was pleasantly surprised, however. The movie is definitely campy, but does so in an ethical way. I thought Chloe Moretz was wonderful, and now I am even more intrigued to see Let Me In, since she stars alongside Kodi Smit-McPhee, who I loved in The Road. It was bloody and violent, but that was to be expected for something like this, so I rolled with it. Not really a kid movie, lol

Sucker-Punch (May 15) - Grade: A. Okay, now before you say anything, I'm going to start out defending this movie. A lot, a lot, a lot of people hated this movie. It sucked, it was awful, the plot was everywhere, it was campy, and just bad. But I not those people. I super LOVED this movie. I thought it was EPIC. I thought the plot was brilliant, I loved the messages throughout, the cinematography was breath-taking. I thought this movie deserved way more credit than it was given. I love the Inception-like layers and the intricacies in the plot, that left many people confused and lost. I loved hoe seamlessly fantasy and reality blurred. I loved the way they used imaginative battles/struggles to get small victories in real life. I felt like this movie said SO much in so little time about life, love, and the way we cope/deal with the things that are thrown at us. I absolutely loved this movie.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (May 29th) - Grade: B+. Not the biggest Jack Black fan out there. But I enjoyed the first one, so I went to see the second at the prompting of some friends. And I was not disappointed. The movie was funny in all the right places, the plot was creative and fun, and the villain was very ingeniously crafted.

Of these 17 movies, I'd have to say my favorite was Sucker-Punch. That movie just connected with me on all the right levels, in all the right ways. Absolutely loved it. Stay tuned for more Movies in 2011! Also coming soon: the first book reviews of 2011! Thrilling!

Celebration

2011-07-17T13:15:00.000-06:00

Today I am celebrating LIFE.

I found this video on youtube and have watched it 9 times so far. I think it's just gorgeous.

I think it's so cool to see a representation of our Earth in this way. Granted, it ignores alot of the squalor, plight, and tribulation our planet faces, but I think it's a really neat depiction of who we are as a global entity, not countries who disagree and have strife with one another. I think we, and the earth, have so much to offer in our diversity, eclecticism, and natural grace, beauty, and strength.

I found it very interesting to see that there were only 3 brief shots of industrialized countries. I think we too often forget how much more WORLD is out there, that we do not partake of on a regular basis. Today I'm thinking of that and appreciating the nature and beauty that I am surrounded with.

Why don't you take a moment and do the same. Because it's all around you - you just have to remember to look for it.

End of Tuesday

2011-07-12T23:50:00.000-06:00

And there's nothing new. So much for my internet-bred promises. *SIGH*

FAIL.

But really... I will blog.

Watch me.

[Title under construction]

2011-07-06T10:17:00.001-06:00

Please pardon the dust. Contrary to creeping suspicion, we are open.

Just wanted to drop a note so the silence doesn't kill off my lovely readers (especially the swarm of new kids (welcome!) who have just started following).

NEW POSTS COMING SOON. REAL SOON. (Like hopefully Friday soon. No later than Monday soon). Get excited.

That is all.

On Display (2) - 30 Days, 30 Stories

2011-04-28T08:40:00.000-06:00

Remember that one time in 2009 when you all got to see a real-life piece of my writing, because it was being featured on Utah Children's Writers blog for their 30 days, 30 stories project?

Well, the loverly Sarah has coerced (just kidding, love!) me once again into participating.

So, without further adieu, here's my latest insane creation.

True confession of my soul: I only had like 2 hours to work on this, so I don't consider it "polished," nor am I particularly like "Yes, this piece. is. AWESOME." But it is what it is. It's writing, it's from my weird brain, and I hope you like it.

Cheers!

Marked

2011-03-28T23:43:00.000-06:00

For my Grandfather

Today I wake
Knowing you are gone
Yet always here
In my heart
Which urges sorrow.

But I push past
Into
Time spent
Experience shared
Memory cherished
And Life remembered.

I will mourn
Forever
The things lost
Because they will never
Be done by you again.

The buildings no longer repaired,
The poetry not written,
Gospel books never read.

The garden no longer tended,
The places not explored,
Wisdom never shared.

Yet all the while
I will celebrate
The memories
The remembrances
And the mark.

If you break me open
You will see
The impact
The influence
Now cradled
And offered
So others see you still.

You lived so rich and full
So tall and vast
So wise and gentle.

A man of duty, dedication, and commitment
To country,
To faith,
And to family.
None moreso than your dear Lorraine.

The best way I can honor you
Is to make your steps, my steps
Your deeds, my deeds
In essence, your life, my life.

I salute you
And celebrate you
By continuing to be Me,
And in so doing,
Reflecting You.

In you
Of you
Through you
The mark

I Carry
In me
Of me
Through me
To make

My own marks.

Grace of a Girl - Part 6: Graduation II (The Difference) and Beyond

2011-03-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Part 5.

After the students and staff spoke, it was time for my parents to share their part in what the Graduation program called the "Journey of Vulnerability."

This was really hard for my mom because she's an amiable personality who doesn't like the spotlight. She prefers to not draw attention to herself. But, she said, if my sister can jump off a 4 inch beam to go after her success, then my mom supposed she could speak. Recognizing her nervousness, my sister moved closer and put her arm around my mom in solidarity.

My mom said she was going to read a story, a true story. "A long time ago, there lived a little girl. She had three big brothers, but she longed for a sister-" My mom choked up. My sister whispered some words of support in her ear. My mom continued, "She had friends, but that didn't stop her wishing for a sister." She choked up again, and exclaimed that she couldn't do it, and was once again reassured by my sister. Seeing my Mom being so vulnerable made me teary-eyed, and also very appreciative of the ways this journey with my sister has affected them as well.

"She even asked her parents to adopt her a sister, but they declined." My mom stopped again, to try and collect her emotions, then said off-hand, "I'd rather jump off the beam" which elicited laughter from everyone assembled.

"So she changed her dream of having a sister, to having a daughter instead. She wanted a big family of 8 kids, with a nice mix of boys and girls. Soon she met the man of her dreams and they married. And they started their family. Boy #1 arrived, then Boy #2; next was Boy #3. Surely #4 would be a girl! Alas, it was not so. Boy #4 arrived. This mom now had 4 wonderful boys. She was content for a while, but she still longed for pink bows, baby dolls, and lace. But she tucked that longing away."

Hearing my mom talk about how badly she'd wanted a sister, and then a daughter, broke my heart. I came to understand on a new level just how much my mom loved me to deny herself in that way to raise us and love us, even though we did not fit into the scope of her deepest dreams.

"The boys grew and grew. Boy #4 joined the rest of his brothers at school. The mom decided she wasn't quite ready to be home alone. So she decided to try one more time to see if she could get her girl. Being knee-deep in trucks, matchbox cars, and G.I. Joes didn't have quite the same appeal as bows, baby dolls, and lace. Boy #5 was born. He was a very cute, very fun little boy... But he was a Boy. Mom and Dad finally realized that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. They finally figured out that if they were ever going to have a girl, they were going to have to import one."

"And so the adventure began. In January 1998, they submitted the paperwork to adopt a little girl from Russia. In September 1998, we traveled to Russia to pick up our 4-year old Princess named Anastasia. She was a delightful little girl; stubborn as the day is long and full of mischief. She flushed a towel down the toilet, spread toothpaste all over the basement playroom floor with the help of her 2-year old brother, decided to water the tree that was painted on the playroom basement wall... And that was just in the first week or two. We loved her and loved her and loved her."

"What we didn't know is that she couldn't tell that we loved her. Her past experiences had hurt her too much, and closed her heart to love. Eventually when she reached her teen years she became angry, unhappy, and depressed. Her parents did everything they knew to help her, but the things they tried didn't work because they didn't understand the nature of the problem. It reached the point where she became a danger to herself, and her parents no longer knew how to keep her safe. There's no greater feeling of failure as a parent than knowing you have failed to keep your child safe. In my opinion, that's a parent's greatest responsibility."

"It was in desperation and great despair that I put out a cry for help to all my online adoption groups. It was through one of the moms on my lists that I learned about CALO. As soon as I opened the webpage, and saw that CALO used dogs in their program, I started to cry. Because I knew I had to find a way to send her here. We didn't have the money in our budget to pay for even one day, but we knew it was the right thing to do, and we decided to take a leap of faith. Through the generous help of family and friends, and some creative numbers work with our 401ks, we have made it this far. 11 months ago we left our angry, hurt, depressed, apathetic daughter, as well as our hearts, behind at CALO. Our daughter kindly thanked us for leaving her in hell when we said goodbye. I think that leaving her here was one of the hardest things I have EVER done. Yet I knew it was the right thing to do."

"The first visit she begged us to take her home. That was a very difficult visit for both of us. Staff told me it would get better. And they were right. Now, today we have a girl who has worked hard and come far. Once she gets hold of an idea or goal that she is motivated to meet, there is no stopping her. Even if she falls down many times along the way, she isn't afraid to get back up and try again. I hope that what she will take away from CALO is the motivation to believe in herself and in her dreams. Her apathy has changed to caring, her heart has begun to heal, she has learned skills to cope with her depression, and she has learned to defuse her anger much quicker than she ever could before. I look forward to continuing this journey with her as she uses all the things she's learned here to build a happy and successful life."

After my mom was done speaking, we played a powerpoint that showed pictures of my sister's journey. Sidenote: We had somehow forgotten the music we needed, so when the rest of us were running through the store like crazies, two of my brothers were trying to get an internet connection to download the songs for the slideshow, lol.

The first song was My Wish by Rascal Flatts which documented pictures of my sister when she was a baby and her first years with our family.

Next was Faith of the Heart by Rod Stewart, which consisted of pictures with us, from her being a kid to being a teenager.

Finally, we picked At the Beginning - Richard Marx and Donna Lewis to show recent pictures, including her time at CALO.

Then it was my Dad's turn to talk. He commented the slideshow was helpful because it gave him time to pull himself back together from my Mom's talk.

"It's been quite a journey. Mom shared her side of the story; mine has alot of similarities. I have one sister, and she's the oldest in my family, so she was gone from home by the time I was 12 years old. So I don't feel like I ever really got to know what it's like to have a sister. And as Mom said, she didn't have a sister. So it just seemed like we ought to have a girl. We submitted the paperwork, got everything approved, and the Agency started- the way they did it at that time was they would send us pictures, a biography, and a short video tape of the child. They sent us a baby to look at, and sent another one, then another one... they just didn't feel right. Then- now as I remember it... I don't remember why, but this one day I was home from work in the afternoon, Mom had gone somewhere, and the Adoption Agency called and they said we've got this wonderful little girl for you to look at. So I had them tell me about her, and I asked, well, what's her birthday? How old is she? They said May 8th."

My dad lost it here, and there was a long, long silence before he was able to continue, and when he was, he was still teary. Seeing my parents so vulnerable was such an empowering experience for me. I knew in those moments just how deep their love went, not just for my sister, but all of us in their family.

"That's my birthday. And for some reason, I just knew then that she was our daughter. She was the one we needed. But because we had the plans of getting two, we didn't act on it right away [Note: My parents' "plan" was to get a newborn girl and a young girl, so their daughters would have a sister]. Another month or so went by, and we finally got the point where we said, well, let's not wait for a baby. Let's just go get our girl. Which we did."

"That was the start of our journey. Not that we love any of the others any less, and of course all through this journey, we kept thinking... girl needs a sister, so we did finally achieve that. But there were lots of ups and downs, and it got to the point where there were more downs than ups. Finding CALO was definitely the answer to many prayers. I'm not sure how we can ever thank the Staff and people that run this place. I know saying thanks isn't nearly enough... but thanks for what you've done for our daughter. The day we came and left her here... it was a hard thing to do. We've never left any of our kids anywhere for very long - they were ours! We kept them. But dropping her off here, we had no idea how long it would be, we were told the average is 16 to 18 months or something, but it's not necessarily that easy; it take however long it takes. So we didn't know what the future held for us at that point. We just... said goodbye and went out the door. We were driving away and... it was hard to do. But the person here beside me that I have my arm around, she's such a wonderful person. We get to see the real Stas now. This wonderful girl who we hope to have many wonderful years with yet. So the continuing of our journey begins now. We look forward to a lot of wonderful things ahead - with all of them. So thank you all for what you've done and giving us back our daughter."

After my parents spoke, the program changed to "Personal Reflection and Insight: Student and Therapist" where my sister presented a slideshow. Mainly they were pictures of her and Toby, but there were pictures with staff and students as well. The pictures were set to what was, for me, a very poignant song. The words grabbed at me, and I knew this was my sister being as real as she could be. And I smiled through my tears.

This was honesty. This was soul-bearing. This was my sister sharing with us her truest feelings.

Then the Therapist told us all the story of her relationship with my sister. If you remember back, my sister had an aversion to touch. She wouldn't let anyone have contact with her. Therapist described how when they first started my sister would have her chair as far away as possible. So every session Therapist would scoot a little closer. Eventually, their chairs were touching. Then they started doing exercises where she would put her arm around my sister for 2 minutes. At the end of the 2 minutes, she would immediately pull away, so my sister could have her space back.

One of the most heartfelt moments of the whole ceremony was when Therapist asked my sister to demonstrate their relationship now. My sister smiled and put HER arm around Therapist. So awesome.

Then my sister has a piece to present, which she had written herself:

Imagine a very sad, depressed young lady walking in the CALO doors. What would be your first thoughts? You would probably pity her, maybe despise her, or wonder what's going on with her. Imagine that girl was me, 11 months ago. Sad and depressed with a story she needed to tell. I came to CALO on December 31, 2009. I slept all the time and read all the time to escape from having to be with people. I wasn't interested in building relationships with anyone because I felt like it was pointless because I knew I would be leaving someday and probably not ever see them again. I self-harmed because I felt stupid for being in a treatment center. When in conflicts, I thought cussing, screaming, and getting in people's space would make me seem cool, scary, and get people to stay away from me. It didn't work. It just made people not trust me. I would never let anyone touch me and if someone tried, I would cringe away from them. Staff and students would ask me how I'm doing and I would say “I'm fine.”, which we all knew was a lie. I met Toby downstairs and no one was going after him so I decided to. He was my motivation for slowly starting to trust people and work my program. I had a session with Amanda about safe-touch, and I can finally initiate it. I'm not sleeping during the day anymore. I have made tons of genuine relationships and I haven't self-harmed in 10 ½ months. I'm hardly ever in conflict and when I am I handle it appropriately and talk calmly. I know how to express my emotions in the moment and I'm honest in my answers. I have trust with my parents and family members, and am going to live my life to its full potential. I would like to thank all the coaches and students for all the help and support they have given me. A huge thank you to Landon and Ken for opening a place like CALO. I don't know where I would be without CALO. Another thanks to Amanda. She has been amazing beyond words! I will miss you all and hope to hear from you soon. Thank you family for your help in my treatment, and Mom and Dad a huge thanks for going in treatment with me and also working on yourselves! Love you all!

Listening to her words helped me appreciate just how far she had come on this path, and how much a part of it we all were; my parents more than most, but still we had all played a role, and the effects on our family would be long-lasting and far-reaching. Moments like this spelled out explicitly to me that CALO had made a difference, and it was a good one.

The Graduation wrapped up and people said their goodbyes to my sister (I went to find a box of tissues and to clean up my tear-stained face), then we had a little "Graduation Reception" in the dining hall where we had snacks. More goodbyes and then it was time to go. And take my sister with us.

To celebrate this step in the journey, we wanted to have a family dinner all together. When we got to the restaurant though, they didn't have a menu with nutritional information, which meant that my brothers couldn't figure out their crab intake. See, I have two brothers with diabetes. One has had it since he was 11, so he's had it longer than he hasn't, and is well adjusted to living life with it. The other, though, just got diagnosed and he still struggles to be at peace with who he is, and the afflictions he has to bear. So he left, and went to sleep in the car. Just like that, our idyllic family dinner was no longer complete. When prompted, my parents explained that it's still hard for him, and they forget he's not like my other brother and can easily deal with it. My mom said, "He just wants to feel normal." Well, if there's anyone who can resonate with that longing, I'd venture it's me. So it seemed the natural and correct thing to get up and leave. I had to bring my dad too since he was the only one who could drive the rental van. We left the restaurant, and got in the van. I told my brother, where do you want to go? You tell us the place that you know the carbs and content and we will take you there. So we went to Panera Bread and I got him dinner, then we all went back and rejoined the rest of the family, so our circle was complete once more.

After dinner, we went to the hotel, and played some games. There was talk of Laser Tag, like our last visit (because how fun would it be with ALL 10 of us!?!), but it was nixed. People were too tired. We took a family Christmas picture though.

Not my best, but there we are. Love that one of my brothers isn't wearing shoes! :)

Eventually we all crashed, I may have played a little more Puzzle Quest 2, lol. Then it was up SO EARLY to make the three hour drive back to the airport, and see everyone off on their separate ways. Said buy to my BigBro and his wife, then waited while the other two planes left, before going off by myself to wait for my plane. I was going to play more Puzzle Quest 2 (I mean that's why I bought the game in the first place, right? For the airport downtime!) But no dice. My computer cord decided that was the opportune moment to be shorted out. Sigh.

Oh! I forgot. Something very striking to me, that I must include. At the airport, while we were waiting, both of my parents went out of their way to thank me for what I had done for my brother. This was so new and foreign to me, I was taken aback. Receiving recognition for something that seemed to me the obvious choice. I reflected my gratitude back, and then pondered on the ways this journey has changed not just my sister, but my parents. I think the difference there may be more stark and striking than that of my sister. For which I'm grateful.

I think overall this has served to bring us closer together, to deepen our love for one another, and to prove how deep the bond of love can run. I would do anything for anyone in my family, and I hope they would return the sentiment. I love them all so much and am so thankful to have the parents and siblings that I do.

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So my sister came home. She graduated, and that was that. But no. The journey is not over. There's still so much to do going forward. She's participating in CALO's after-care program to help her readjust to "normal" life and move forward with building herself back into the general societal structure.

For the moment, when my sister looks back at the journey, she feels that the BEST part of the CALO experience was The Staff. "Having someone to talk to, having someone to trust. When you put messed up kids together, you can't trust anyone, because everyone's messed up." Once she decided to open up, to build relationships, to trust, and to care, she got close with alot of the CALO staff. They were almost all crying at her graduation.

On the other hand, the WORST part for her were the chores. She hated chores. She hated walking dogs every day. And she hated having to do campus work. Basically she hated everything that wasn't easy :P Nah, I'm putting words in her mouth. But seriously, she liked all the hard work the least of all.

So where do we go from here?

We jump.
We fall.
We get back up.
We try again.

And most importantly: We keep loving.

Grace of a Girl - Part 5: Leap of Faith and Graduation I

2011-02-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Part 4.

[Author's note: Well, this ended up being really long, so a la Harry Potter, I decided to split it up into two posts. Just more for you!]

Two days before my sister graduated, she had a breakdown of sorts. This school didn't make her perfect. But we knew that - and don't expect perfection. We just wanted our sister/daughter back to her loving self. It was time to do school, but my sister felt she needed to prep for graduation, and wanted to get ready. She felt the staff's expectations for her to be prepared were unrealistic. So she was typing... but not doing the scheduled activity. Oops. Staff said go to school or go to regroup. After 40 minutes, they threatened escort. When they tried, my sister wasn't having it. She shoved the staff away. They wrestled, and two of them tried to get her into a hold, but they were newer staff with less experience, and couldn't manage. Finally, they brought in a more experienced staff and he took her to the ground in a couple of seconds. When my sister had a second to breathe and clear her head in the hold, she broke down crying and just sobbed. The stress of graduating had gotten to her and she didn't know what had gotten into her. She cried and cried and cried, it was all so much.

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And then it was here. My sister was GRADUATING from calo! We were so excited. And by "we" I mean ALL of us. Like, all TEN, all of us. We gathered from THREE different states to support my sister and show how proud we were of her! Now THAT'S family!

I had to fly in the night before this time to meet up with my parent's early plane. But that was fine with me. Gave me an excuse to get Dice to come down and see me from all the way over in Lee's Summit (which is like 4 hours away). So while I was on a plane, she was on a train and we met in the middle! Squee! It was FREEZING cold. Like seriously, who turned off the heat and bought popsicles cold.

So once we were together, we went to tour Downtown St. Louis. Cuz I live in downtown Salt Lake and there's TONS to do! Tons!!!

Apparently St. Louie didn't get that memo. I mean it was like 6pm, and the place was CLOSED. Dead! Everything. We tried to ask people where we could go to shop... because downtown HAS to have malls right? RIIIIIIIIGHT?!!!? Fail, St. Louis. The one store we could find was a Macy's and it closed at SIX. SIX PM! That's absurd! What kind of downtown are we running people? So much for an economic and social hug. Pshh. We found an italian restaurant and ate yummy foods. Then we decided that St. Louis was pretty much the lamest thing since Twilight (which is so not a valid book, I'm not even going to italicize it), and we went back to the hotel. We got hot chocolate in the lobby and just talked. Then we went up to the room, plopped down in our separate beds and just talked. And maybe played Puzzle Quest 2 >.> Shhh. (Hey! I was only slightly addicted this time around! Way less than my first addiction.) We went to bed super late, but such is the way with friends who haven't seen each other in ages.

The next morning we had the hotel breakfast (way better than the hotel food I ate on my last trip here), then I sent Dice on her way to her train. I mucked around for a bit, showered, packed, and headed back to the airport to meet my parents and my Florida siblings. When they arrived the 4 boys went outside to toss a frisbee while the parents and my sister waited for their bags.

Then we piled into a shuttle to take us to the rental lot, where we met by my Big Bro and my sister-in-law who had come from Seattle. We got the rental (there's 10 of us!) which was a GIANT TANK VAN! Rawr. We all piled in and the 3-hour drive began.

With that many of us, there was alot of convo about books, movies, music, tech, etc., and not a whole lot of quiet, but none of us are complaining. I think some (maybe me included) may have tried to sleep, but I don't remember. 3-hour drives aren't generally the memorable part.

When we got close to the school we had to stop at the store to get the foods for my sister's graduation reception. With an army as big as my family, it was a quick 5-minute in and out, with the needed items divided among us. Someone get crackers, another water, mom goes to the deli for the meat and cheese tray, someone get candy, etc. Pretty funny. It was like a swarm of ninja Hulets.

We were late! Agh!!! (That's one of the reasons the grocery run needed to be so quick). We made it to the school about 15 minutes late.

When we walked in we were confronted with my sister 45 feet in the air, standing on a 4 inch beam. She was attempting what the CALOers call "The Leap of Faith." Her goal was a trapeze bar 5 feet away.

One problem: My sister is AFRAID of heights. She had tried to do the Leap a month or so earlier, and never managed to muster the courage. Eventually they just pushed her off (she had a harness and belayer, not to worry), and made her resolve to do it before she graduated.

So here we were. One last obstacle to face before it was all over. It was incredible to me how instantaneously I was caught up in the emotion of the moment. You could hear the fear and panic in my sister's voice, and I was right there with her. But with an underlying surge of confidence and hope. We're here sister, and we're rooting for you! We watched from the side for a while, staff and other students gathered around, with one counselor up on the bar with her for support.

Once of the first things we heard as we entered was the counselor talking to everyone that was there to watch and support her. He said the leap to that bar represented all her hopes and dreams; it represented success. These were things that had to be fought for, things that had to be wanted, and there would be a fight to get them. She had to wrestle fear and win. The things that matter, that we want, will not come to us; we must go out and seize them. She had to jump and grab that trapeze.

After he talked, he moved away from her, and she wasn't holding on to him anymore. After a few seconds, she said she needed him back, but instead of going to her, he asked why. She said, "I need to stabilize myself." His answer was, "You can stabilize yourself." "Please!" she cried in desperation, which made me choke up. The emotions were so strong. I was scared for her. She sounded completely frightened. The counselor said he would give her his hand but she had to look him in the eye, which she did. Then he said, "You say you're gonna fall. That's okay. The safety net is in place. From now on, it's okay to fall. As long as you have your support team. Today and for the rest of your life, falling is okay. You don't need to hold on to me. You can fall. You learn, you get back up. Falling is actually one of the best things that could happen to you. As long as everything is in place, it's okay to fall. You will be safe." She knew she had the harness, the carabiners, the belay system, JB was on the other end holding the rope. All these people were there supporting her - students, faculty, family... she could do this, and if she fell, that was fine too. She steadied herself.

Earlier on he'd announced she wanted our support by us counting out loud from 10 to 0 at which point on Zero she would jump. We did audible countdowns two or three times and everytime we got to zero, she wouldn't go. It was so frustrating, we all wanted so badly for her to succeed! At one point we even moved, over from the side where we'd come in, to in front of her and all held out our arms for her. We're here for you sis, we want you to make this, we will support you, come to us. It was incredibly moving.

Finally, she was ready. See the result here (sorry the quality isn't better - it's super compressed HD):

The emotions bubbled over in that moment to a gush of success, love, and appreciation. This was my sister and she could do anything she set her mind too. Overcome fears, jump and grab bars, achieve success. In that second, all was within her reach (and from here forward also). That is power, my friends.

After the successful leap, we adjourned to the Graduation room, and got hello hugs. Unfortunately(?), my sister had figured out we were coming, because she's too smart. She had gone in the room they had set up and counted out 10 chairs against the wall - and she knew we were all coming then. Stinker. :)

The graduation ceremony began with my sister officially adopting her dog, Toby. She got an official certificate saying she was trained to handle him, and then some of the students got up to talk about my sister and her impact on them. Then select Staff spoke about her and her influence on them. Many of them cried. Once my sister decided she would go for it, she opened up and let these people see her: vulnerable, hurting, trying her best to make changes and find herself.

I needed a box of tissues.

It only got worse from there when my parents got up to talk...

Stay tuned for the last installment! Part 6: Graduation II (The Difference) and Beyond

Sticky Note

2011-02-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry readers, I know you are eagerly refreshing your browsers every 30 seconds, hungry for the last installment. It's taking longer than I anticipated and I've had a busy couple of days. Likewise, things are completely up in the air at work... and I've been working hecka extra hours. This week will be no different.

I'll get to it just as soon as I can! Stay tuned!

Tribute to Brian Jacques

2011-02-09T19:59:00.001-07:00

Ordinarily I am adverse to more than one post in a day. I don't want readers going "ugh, he posts too much" and to stop reading - be honest. I do this with some blogs I have in my reader. If they are too inundating with posts, and the posts are super uber long, I glance, skim, or skip. And I'd hate for that to happen here.

But I feel in this case it is justified. This post in itself is in many ways belated. It couldn't be helped. This is the first I could get to it.

Brian Jacques died over the weekend of a heart attack. Which is heart-breaking. I literally stopped breathing for a minute when I found out. I'm still not over it and I've known for like four days.

Granted, he wasn't one of my best friends, but he had a large part in my life (well, his books did anyway). I mean, in the time of this blog alone (very short), I read and reviewed 6 of his books (4 here, one here, and one here).

Here's the thing about Jacques: I can't go so far as to say he's my favorite author, or the BEST of the BEST... but I'll say this. Brian Jacques is the author I have most widely read. Hands down.

I am PROUD to have read all 24 of his novels (21 Redwall, 3 Castaways). That's right, ALL 24. And I'll confess to checking my local library repeatedly over the last few months to see if there's a new one out yet. May 3rd people. There will be one more (as I thought. I figured he'd already finished and it was at the publishers. I mean you have to be ahead on these things...trust me, I'm a writer with actual published author friends). Is it May 3rd yet?! I want to read it now!

When I discovered Brian Jacques, I fell in love instantly with his friendly creature characters, and the wonderful story-telling that had descriptive food, creative songs and ballads, memorable chants, and riveting storylines. I remember even drawing some of the characters after reading about them (>.> and people, I DON'T draw). His books stuck with me, and were always a welcome source of reading escape.

Funny story about Jacques' books. I believe I discovered them around 7th or 8th grade. I read his 8 Redwall novels, and when I finished Outcast of Redwall I remember thinking, "Dang, it's too bad he's dead. More Redwall novels would be great. Imagine my surprise when The Pearls of Lutra came out! He's NOT DEAD!? AWESOME!!!! That was a great, great day in the life of a book-lovin' kid like me.

And then he published 16 more Redwall books (soon to be 17)!

I don't know that I have a favorite novel by him. There were many I liked better than others. High Rhulain, Doomwyte and The Sable Quean are some of my more recent favorites.

I think as far as all-time favorites go, I'll have to pick two:

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman came out just when I was graduating High School. I remembering thinking Jacques was crazy for writing something outside of Redwall. That's CRAZY TALK! But I was SO excited to read it! And I loved it. The trilogy lost its glimmer as the novels went, but the first one was amazing, and so refreshing as a non-Redwall read.

Secondly:

Mossflower will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. I can't remember if I read it or Redwall first, but it's the one that's stuck with me. I still remember alot of the story, and many of the others have long been forgotten. Mossflower is also one of the 5 books that I actually OWN. And it's totally the one I tried to draw the cover page. Heh. Such great memories.

Brian Jacques will be missed as such a welcome constant in my reading list. With my words, I echo the cry of the many who know the lay of the land and can hear the tolling bells Matthias and Methuselah in the distance. Whenever trouble brews, shout for your people and victory:

Redwaaaaaaaaalllll!!!!!

Eulaliaaaaaaaaa!

Logalogalogalogalogalogaloggggggggggggg!!!!!!

To Brian Jacquesssssssssssssssss!

POST EDIT: Check out this remembrance site they created: http://www.rememberingjacques.com/

Grace of a Girl - Part 4: Birthday Visit and Retreats

2011-02-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Part 3.

In May I got to visit my sister. In order to meet my parents at the airport, I had to fly out of Salt Lake at 12:50am. Which meant I didn't go to bed. Sacrifices.

It was a surprise visit for her birthday, and I was so excited! I got her an expansion for the popular card game, Dominion. Just so happens that cards in a box like that apparently scan as C4. T_T Awesome... no, not really. That landed me in a security hotseat, though once they unpacked everything and explained it, I was sort of laughing inside. I mean, I guess if they packed with C4 and shrink-wrapped it BEFORE I bought it, then yes, it legitimately could be C4. *shakes head*

Since it was like 1am, I hoped to get some shut-eye on the way there. And then had to have the ONLY person on the entire plane sitting next to me who decided they weren't tired and wanted to read. Serious? Oh, and the row right in front of me had the only baby also. SERIOUSLY?! Why do I have such rotten luck with planes?!

I finally drifted off at some point, for which I was thankful. With 127mph tailwinds, we had an impressively fast flight. I got to my next airport way early, so I took a nap on the floor. Kinda. I decided to get breakfast and ordered some biscuits that ended up not even being the size of my fists. And they were freaking $10! Ridiculous.

My flight to Missouri was uneventful. When I landed I met my parents, little bro and my other sister. Party! We rented a van and set off on the 3-hour drive from the airport to my sister's school. My parents were required to visit every 6 to 8 weeks, which they tried to plan around retreats. The van was cramped and it was hard to sleep (though I desperately needed/wanted to).

When we got to the city we did some shopping at the outlets, then checked into our hotel which has the pungent odor of baking soda. And trace amounts of vomit. Ew. My sister knew my parents were coming, and they had to do a session with just her, so we chilled at the hotel. Which ='d naptime for me.

Then then my dad "forgot something at the hotel" and came back to get us. I was so excited to see my sister! We had devised a devious surprise plan. My dad went in with my brother and sister. Surprise! After a few minutes, my dad said that he "forgot something in the van" and came back to get me. I was practically bursting from the excitement! SUPER SURPRISE!!!

When we got inside, she was up in the loft, so we snuck through the main room and up the stairs, then down the hall. When she saw me, she cried out and jumped up off the couch and bolted over to me. Hugs all around! She showed us Toby (who didn't seem to know how to listen, but that wasn't stopping my sister!), and then wanted us to see the puppies. We went down to a lower level and it smelled AWFUL. SO TOTALLY LIKE DOG. Not my thing, sorry dog-lovers. It made our hotel smell like fresh flowers.

Then she showed us her room before we went to dinner with the rest of the girls. Some of the girls got into a fight while we were there - obviously some felt the need to put on a show. My sister may have even been part of the fight... none of us can remember now for sure or not... (that's what I get for waiting 9 months to post this...)

My sister wasn't allowed off campus with us that night, so we said goodbye after we ate. Then we had some free time, so I convinced the other four to go laser tagging. I rocked the first game. The second game we played teams: my family against some other people. My family rocked! We teamed well, we helped each other, covered each other while attacking bases... if some post-apocalyptic invasion happens where we have to fight to survive, I totally call my family as my team. We ended up losing at the very end, but one of the guys on the other team played cheap and just sniped us along a hallway - honestly, I don't even really know HOW we lost. We were doing so good! And we totally protected them from getting our base... anyway. I was sad we lost, but will always have fond memories of us being such a team.

We went back to hotel and I went swimming with my little bro before it was time for bed.

The second day we went back to CALO and got my sister. This was her legitimate birthday so we opened presents. Since it was her day, she got to pick the schedule. The first item on the list was to volunteer at an animal shelter. She had been there with the school and really loved it, so she wanted to do it again. The moment I walked in, I couldn't handle the smell. WHY DO ANIMALS SMELL?! SERIOUSLY!!! I decided that I didn't want to just cop out though, so I hung out with the cats. Outside. Their enclosure had an inside room and an outside. I got a brush and tried to brush any of them that would let me. One of the cats was WAY touchy-feely and a definite lap hog. My sister took my dad and walked dogs. After an hour or so, we were ready to move on. We headed back to the outlets and shopped some more. I went to Harry&David and bought a soda and some candy. Nom nom nom. Did some clothes shopping... didn't really see anything I liked. Then we saw a movie all together. The selection: Iron Man 2. It was okay. We had lunch at Subway, then hung out at the hotel for a while. I think I threw a frisbee with my brother. At some point, I got sick. Violently so. I'm about 95% sure it was from food poisoning. Either my hotel breakfast, the soda and candy combo, or my lunch. By the time we went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant I was sick, sick, sick. Literally in and out of the bathroom every five minutes. I went back to the hotel and tried to play cards, but mostly slept. I was so upset that my trip was being ruined by something attacking me from the inside. I mean, how often do I visit my sister far away? UGH.

The third day we picked up my sister again and we all went to church. Then we went to the park and had lunch and played with her dog. I was feeling much better (again, I believe it was food poisoning of some sort... soon as it was out of my system, I was fine). Little bro and I played frisbee the whole time. Toby even tried to play some too, which was entertaining to say the least. A neighborhood kid was there, and clearly lonely; he latched on and wouldn't leave us alone. We tolerated him.

It was over far too quickly. We took my sister back, drove the 3 hours back to the airport, and parted ways to go home.

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A week later my parents returned, once again surprising my sister. She hadn't thought they'd be able to come twice so soon. But the miracles didn't cease, and it worked out. This trip was for a parent's retreat. It ended up being cold and rainy, but still very helpful. The second retreat my parents attended was in September, and it was much better weather, so they enjoyed more outdoor activities.

My parents maintain that the retreats were amazing; filled with quality activities, and helpful direction. CALO is just starting to do retreats, so they are learning as well how to do them efficiently and effectively. There's a parent breakout session where parents meet with other parents and the therapist and just talk about the kids. My parents said it was very reassuring to see you're not alone in this - that there are other parents who are struggling with you.

Some of the activities were: everyone was blindfolded and had to put a rope in a square, the students were blindfolded and had to be led through a sea of mousetraps by the parent, another was done at the lake with a pipe full of holes and they had to figure out how to plug all the holes and float a ping pong ball to the top. But for my mom she felt it was really good to be with my sister and be focused totally on her and no one else.

Another time they made masks by putting goo on their faces to make a mold. This activity was especially hard for my mom. She's claustrophobic, and has never had any good experiences with lying down and having people work on her (c-sections, surgeries, etc). She especially hates things on her face. The masks were decorated on the outside to express one's personality style; my mom made hers up of different experiences like a patchwork quilt. She says the pieces come together to make the person that she is. On the inside they wrote secrets about themselves they keep hidden or people wouldn't know about them. Then they went around in a circle and shared them so other people could see how the inner person blended with the personality on the outside to create a more holistic understanding of who people are.

The retreats were helpful, and my sister was making rapid progress. She found out she might even graduate early if she stayed on track.

11 months and 3 days later, this was to be the case. But not without a bump or two, and some difficult challenges to overcome, along the way.

Stay Tuned for Part 5: Leap of Faith and Graduation I

Grace of a Girl - Part 3: Breakthrough, Steps to Healing

2011-02-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Part 2.

CALO didn't seem to be helping. My sister was still depressed. Still hurting. Still not connecting with anyone.

And then something changed. She decided she wanted to adopt a dog. Not all students adopt a dog; some either are unable to get permission or just aren't interested. That appeared to be the case with my sister, until this dog broke through to her in a very personal way.

The process begins with making people aware of your desire to adopt a dog. You have to obtain permission from your parents. Then you submit papers declaring your intent. The dog is released to you and you are allowed to care for it for one month. Then you submit again, stating you've cared for the dog for a month and still wish to adopt it. Then you start on a number of "intent" essays, submitted at the end of the month for the next 4 subsequent months. By the time the entire dog program is over, it's usually taken the extent of your stay. Most students do not complete the formal adoption process until their graduation day.

My sister decided she wanted a dog, and not just any dog, but a dog named Toby. She felt a connection with Toby, one that affected her deeply. Many of the dogs at CALO were spoken for, some even fought over, but for some strange reason no one wanted Toby.

No one.

When my sister asked why, she received responses like "he's crazy" or "he won't even take a leash."

My sister felt like everyone had given up on Toby. This resonated to her core. She knew what it was like to feel given up on. This is what she believed about everyone in HER life. They had given up and didn't want to try anymore. She'd been written off by them.

My sister made absolutely sure that the same wouldn't happen with this dog. She would reach out, she would care; she would be the difference. Toby would be hers. And that would be enough.

And this made all the difference. The walls came down, the shell cracked, and finally my sister came alive again. Her goals were reached of initiating and engaging. She began to respond better in therapy and get closer to people, physically and emotionally.

The transformation didn't happen overnight, but it was definitely a breakthrough - a turning point.

Likewise, my mom had her own breakthrough: Once a week my sister would have a family session via skype. My mom felt they were helpful, but not sufficient. She was trying to figure out what she could more, and then she found a book. Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control, which is two volumes; she started with volume two, because it had a chapter on self-harm. Then she read the rest, and eventually went back to the first volume. The way she found this book was she would hear about it somewhere, say to herself, I need to get that, and then forget about it. Then she'd hear about it again, and do the same thing. After about the fourth time of this book surfacing, my mom realized, oh, maybe someone's telling me this is something I need to get. And she did. And it the key she had been searching for in the guidance and insights it proffered. To my mom, CLAO doesn't give parents sufficient training. In many regards, it's parallel, but in some critical places this book goes further.

Maybe CALO really was the right place after all. :)

Stay Tuned for Part 4: Birthday Visit and Retreats

Grace of a Girl - Part 2: Journey's Beginning

2011-02-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

Part 1. [Author's note: Geez! Sorry it's taken so long to get this up. Once I finally had all the pieces I needed (the original hold-up), I didn't have any free time to get to my computer and hash it out.]

My sister was in trouble. She was making dangerous choices that were not just detrimental to herself, but to others as well. She needed help and my parents didn't know how. They were afraid she was going to attempt suicide. For my mom, such things were incredibly scary to comes to term with - because it meant acknowledging she was unable to do her number one job as a parent: protect her child.

My sister was sent to the University Behavioral Center and put in lockdown twice. But the Center didn't really know what it was doing, or how to help. Their idea of a group session was to put on a video called "intervention." The first time my sister went she was in lockdown for about 6 days, then spent 10 days on their day program (which my mom says is a joke). The second time it was for 4 days. My parents battled with the therapist to get him to listen; he had his own agenda of what she needed and how he would help. His concerns were far more important than any my parents could proffer. So my parents pulled her. But now what? My parents both felt that her increasing self-harm was a desperate cry for help, and that's what they wanted to do for her. But how?

My mother turned to online forums, to her friends on various international adoption listservs. One of the moms wrote back and told about my mom about this school called CALO. My mom went to the site to find out more - anything that could help at this point had to be explored. The moment my mom read about them using dogs in their therapy, she started crying. Because she knew that's where my sister needed to go.

My mom picked up the phone to find out more. The call made stark the reality that she didn't have the money for even one day, let alone for an extended stay, and discouragement set in again. Still the feeling remained that this was right; this was where my sister would find help.

My mom went to my dad and said, "This is right. We need to figure out how to do this." So the call went out to extended family to get ideas. One of my uncles called back and said his brother had tapped into retirement funds in a time of extreme need. So my dad went to his retirement savings and figured out how to get access to the funds there.

My parents were able to put together the start-up funds, and they decided she would go, not even knowing how they would ever hope to finance the rest. But they were resolved because of my sisters backgrounds. Both of my adopted sisters had been leaps of faith for our family. If my parents had waited to adopt until they could actually afford it, I wouldn't have any sisters.

So she could be enrolled, but then where did we come up with thousands and thousands of dollars to pay tuition? My sister's old therapist suggested a trust fund, so my parents investigated. They petitioned family for help. And miracles started happening. My mom said with a smile, "You add 2 and 2, and then you get 6." Once those avenues were exhausted, we turned to friends for help.

Over Christmas break when my sister was not in school, and had plenty of time to herself, my sister-in-law was critical in helping keep her safe. My mom presented the school. "I heard about this place... what if I told you it was a center where you go to school half day, then play with dogs the rest? Would you like to know more?" She said yes. My mom didn't have alot of information. She said it would likely be far away. My sister argued it could be close. My mom said no, because she'd have heard about it sooner. They waited for the informational packet to come in the mail. The idea of going away from my parents had always appealed to my sister, so she was actually engaged in the idea, rather than be oppositional to it. She thought it sounded easy, a place to "chillax," and just breeze through. My sister was sold on how easy such a place sounded.

My sister arrived at CALO on December 31st, 2009. When she realized that what my mom has said wasn't true (though my mom maintains she didn't know any better), my sister felt completely deceived and lied to. She was outraged at my parents. Both my mom and dad agreed that leaving her was really, really hard. My sister thanked them for leaving her in HELL. At some point before she went, my sister knew how long the projected stay would be. She complained she couldn't believe she was being sent away for two years. But she said, "It's okay, I'll have my revenge on you - I'm bringing home my dog!" Which was funny, because my parents are not dog people. So in a way she was right.

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CALO is a very regimented treatment facility. The students are separated into four groups: hawks and falcons (boys), doves and sparrows (girls). The Doves (my sister's group) usually had 5 or 6 people, the Sparrows had 12 (my sister said this was attributed to the therapist you had when you joined, which seemed odd to me... it's a little unbalanced).

The typical day started at 6:45am (though my sister never got up before 7:15am). The day began with feeding and pottying the dogs, then chores (vacuum, window cleaning, mopping and sweeping). No one in the group was allowed to do anything else unless all chores were done; which more than once was a source of conflict for people not pulling their weight. Once chores were done, the students could have breakfast (which was disgusting 75% of the time according to my sister) After breakfast, they cleaned their rooms (make beds, clean mirrors, vacuum, tidy).

Then the schedule depended on the day, though there were some consistencies, like school and taking care of the dogs.

Monday - DS duty (clean/take care of dogs); Caseload (get with therapist in group); School; Lunch; Campuswork (whatever needs done - you do this to earn credit to go on weekend outings); DS duty; Library (reading time); Ropes course (just what it sounds like); DS duty; Dinner; Loft time (video games or board games); Team group; Showers; Rooms and 30 minutes to lights out.

Tuesday - "K9 Inventory" (cleaning dog kennels/cages).

Wednesday - Seminar (all calo students together and they have a speaker; Mood regulation group or Attachment group (therapist assigns); my sister's group had dish duty Wednesday night.

Thursday - Recreational therapy (swimming in the lake, dodgeball... any physical activity), this lasted four hours; Leisure ed (downtime for reading or games).

Friday - Interdependence (all students together, two therapists come and talk about whatever topics need addressed at the school, e.g., hygiene).

Saturday - Dog training class; Creative arts (one unit involved a field trip to a radio station where they did commercials or talk shows); P.E.; Community outing (movies, ice skating, laser tag. Or they'd save money for a few months and do something expensive like attend a professional soccer game).

Sunday - Mainly personal time; Set weekly goals (then you'd discuss did you achieve it or not, and set new goals for the coming week); "Spiritual" time (they'd have a non-denominational preacher come and give sermons (though according to my sister he liked his bible way too much to be truly non-denominational); Movie time (students would vote on a movie and watch it (if it wasn't a good movie, my sister would go to her room and sleep)); Sunday dinner was homemade pizza - some weeks it was really good, some weeks it was gross (bbq sauce instead of pizza sauce?? EW).

Anytime a student did not wish to participate in a scheduled activity, they were put on "regroup," which is basically for an hour you do whatever needs done at that time on campus, from cleaning carpets to picking up dog poop.

The campus was a closed campus, so anytime you left you had to do a strip search when you got back to make sure you weren't smuggling anything into campus. This procedure was in place to prevent drugs, weapons, etc., from entering campus.

Likewise, they had pretty strict discipline. Anyone who acted out was put on "white shirt." Which meant the student couldn't go more than 6 feet away, and must go everywhere with a staff member. (Those not on white shirt had a 1-4 staff-student ratio). When they went to the bathroom, white-shirt students had to count out loud so staff could be sure they were not self-harming.

Anytime you were a danger to yourself or others, staff was authorized to employ various disciplinary techniques. "Escort": where a staff cranks your wrist (apparently this sort of wrist-bending is painful, but ultimately harmless as you can bend the wrist any amount without spraining or breaking...[Author's note: I don't vouch for the veracity of these claims.]) on both sides. If the escort is not effective, they proceed to the "Hold", which involves the same bending of the wrist, but flat on your stomach with legs crossed.

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As a result of her perceived deception on the part of my parents, my sister spiraled deeper into depression and pain for the first months she was at CALO. All she did was sleep. Students generally have 2 or 3 hours of personal time, where they hang out, play games, play video games, read, etc. All my sister did was sleep. Any time there wasn't a structured activity, my sister was in bed.

She wouldn't let anyone touch her either; she was completely detached from physical contact. The owner of CALO would often come up to her and try and rub her shoulders and my sister would cringe away. For the first who-knows-how-many-weeks, my sister's weekly goal was to initiate - Staff was trying to engage her and she would just mumble that she was fine. She wasn't vulnerable, she wasn't open, and she trusted no one. She saw no reason to interact on more than a surface level with anyone.

Sometime near the end of her first month, my sister found a way to self-harm again and carved the words "Hate" " Blood" and "Death" into her upper thigh.

The situation was still looking bleak. Was this place truly the answer my sister needed? Doubt was creeping back in.

Then something changed. Everything. Around the beginning of her third month, my sister decided she was interested in adopting a canine.

Stay Tuned for Part 3: Breakthrough and Steps to Healing

Grace of a Girl: Teaser

2011-01-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

This song makes me think of my sister. And how amazing she is. And reminds me how much I value her. And I smile.

While I'm compiling things, and drafting, and crafting, please take a moment to revisit Part 1 - that way we remember where we came from.

And then we only go up from there. :)

Her story will be up soon. Thanks for your patience.

Top of the Charts in 2010

2011-01-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hey! Look! It's not even February yet and I'm getting to the Tops of 2010! Go me! I'm doing so much better than 2010.

You already read the Best of 2010, right? If not, go there first, silly.

There's no confusion this year about my play counts, but they are significantly lower than 2009. I dunno if that's because all I listen to is Pandora now, or what. But way lower. The #1 of 2010 is just over half of the plays #25 had in 2009. LOL

So let's get to business, shall we? WOW, it's quite the SHAKE-UP! Only THREE songs returning this year from last. All the rest have been ousted from the list. Some have returned from 2008 though!

25. Dirty Little Secret by The All-American Rejects (86), a newcomer! Yay! I don't know that I actually love this song... it's just that it's the first on my playlists, so if I just hit play this one comes on. So maybe it's here by default?
22. Fighting by Yellowcard (87), I don't think I owned these until the very, very end of '09, so all YC will be new this year. But have to say I love em. As you'll see, I'm sure.
22. Go by Boys Like Girls (87), there was no BLG on last year's count? I think I asked this in 09? What was I listening to? (The answer: The Classic Crime). This album was another one I acquired near the termination of 2009. That seems to be when I buy all my music. Strange. Anyway, this song is really inspirational, and when I listen to it, I always think of Turtle and her journey to "normalcy."
22. The Great Escape by Boys Like Girls (87), one that returns from 2008 to the charts. This was 4th in 08, and didn't place in '09. Now it's creeping back in at 22!
20. Do It For Me Now by Angels and Airwaves (88), I'm so excited for their new album to drop in March! This is another re-surfacer from 2008. It was 13th then, and comes in tied for 20th now. Exciting!
20. Lifeline by Angels and Airwaves, one of the songs that has been in the top 25 since I started keeping track! *APPLAUSE* It dropped 14 spots between 2008 and 2009, but makes a comeback for 2010 climbing back up 5 spots. W00t!
19. A Little's Enough by Angels and Airwaves (90), can you tell I like this band? Another one that's been constant on the charts. 9 in 2008, down to 13 in 2009, now dropped 6 spots to 19th. Will it disappear next year?
18. Shot Heard Round The World by Boys Like Girls (91), most of these are really close together. There's alot of room for change - one listen to a playlist even. But another great song. (Duh, why else would it be on here?)
17. Better Days by the Goo Goo Dolls (92), another of our hang-er-out-ers. Premiering in 3rd in 2008, it dropped to 20th in 2009, now it's climbed 3 spots back to 17th. It is a fantastic song, that I never mind listening to. Wonder how long it will kick around?
15. Perpetual by VNV Nation (93), and cue the German Goth music. I didn't own any of these for the majority of 2009, so it's only natural they are all over the charts in 2010. But now that Pink has moved away, and I work late, and live downtown, we don't really go anymore. So I'll be interested to see if these are still chart-topping in 2011.
15. Seattle by The Classic Crime (93), oh I *do* still listen to this band. LOL Funny though that this is one of their songs that's never been in my top 25 before. It's a good one. Especially if you live there ;) Also something to note is that last year, there were EIGHT TCC songs. And none of them made it this year. None. Except this one. Has the balance of favoritism shifted? dun dun dun!
14. Holding on by VNV Nation (95), I'm telling you. There's so much VNV this year. They are the most prolific band of 2010.
13. Everything's Magic by Angels and Airwaves, (99), yet another returner from the 2008 charts, where it debuted at number 5.
11. Light Up The Sky by Yellowcard (100), when I got these cds, they are all I listened to for like 2 weeks straight. Over and over. Because they were just great.
11. Believe by Yellowcard (100), isn't it fun when bands tie themselves? Double pat on the back for 11th.

10. Structure by VNV Nation (102), yup, listened to alot of Goth in 2010. For which people will think me so. weird.

9. Chrome by VNV Nation (109), I blame Pink for getting me hooked on them. And they are just so good to play when you're writing also. Nice techno/metal, some songs without words...

8. Electronaut by VNV Nation (111), I did see them live in 2010 as well, so I guess that counts for something. Seriously though, I didn't feel like I listened to them THAT much in 2010. :)

7. Shadows and Regrets by Yellowcard (113), love, love, love this song. My fave Yellowcard song methinks. Especially love singing this one out loud >.> When no one else is around, of course <.<

6. Genesis by VNV Nation (119), ahhhhh! The Germans are taking over! So 6 of the 25 songs are VNV. That's almost 1/4! Eesh, you dominating band. LOL

5. Chase You Down by Making April (135), yeah, you see THAT jump? It's because I listened to this album ALL THE TIME in 2010. And not just on my ipod, the cd as well. Like. All. The. Time.

4. All of Yours by Making April (140), yeah. VNV may have the most songs, but Making April dominates the TOP of the TOP. Solidly, except for one exception (I'll get there).

3. Roses and Butterflies by Making April (145), I said at the end of 2009 that I may have discovered a new favorite band. I wasn't kidding either. Making April is a brilliant, wonderful band, whose lead singer, Sean Scanlon, has unforgettable vocals. And in some of the songs he holds his notes for absolutely RIDICULOUS amounts of time. Even his cousin is a phenomenal singer (you REALLY should watch that one).

2. Marchin On by OneRepublic (186), wait, what? Where the HECK did THAT come from?! 145 jumped to 186? And what song is that? Oh wait, that's one of the songs off their new album. Which I bought on Black Friday. Which means I had 36 DAYS to listen to this song... and it's NUMBER TWO?! Well, let me explain. I may have had some rough days in 2010, and this song became my mantra. And I may or may not have listened to it, and only it, on repeat. For hours. And days. And that's how it squeezed itself in at number two (surprised even me, lemme tell ya. I didn't think for a second I'd listened to it THAT MUCH).

And finally, ousting not only the #1 SONG of 2009, but the BAND that was the top for 2008 AND 2009 (which didn't even have ONE song on the charts this year), the #1 song of 2010 is:

1. THESE ARE THE NIGHTS BY MAKING APRIL with a whopping 189 listens! (Can you believe Marchin' On in 36 days almost BEAT it?! 3 more listens woulda been all!!! Crazy!) Anyone who was with me in 2010 knows I absolutely LOVE TO DEATH this song, so it comes as no surprise to me that this song stands alone at the top, declaring itself my #1. Making April really is an amazing band, and I hope they put some new stuff out in 2011!

Until next year, keep listening to muzak peeps!

2010: The Best Of...

2011-01-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

If you've spent ANY time with me at all, you probably know how I felt about 2009. So I was eager to embrace 2010. And embrace I did. What a fun year! It went too quickly! But there were definitely good things. So let's revisit them, shall we?

Best Trip of 2010:

Do you even have to ask? CEDAR POINT, hands all the way down (unless you're going over the top of the hill on a coaster while reading this).

(Sorry for the blue line. My photo stitcher was acting up and it would have taken forever to get right. So deal with a blue line).

Best Restaurant of 2010:

Going to have to go with the restaurant where they know my name, they know who I want to be my server, and they have the Best. Bread. Ever.

Good ol' Faustina.

I prolly ate here like 100 times this year. Doesn't hurt that it's only half a block from my new digs. Yessir. If you ever want to go, I'm ALWAYS game. Just text me.

Best Article of 2010:

Hey! Look! I started reading articles! Prolly the best one (or ones) is the creepy x-files stuff happening that "Scientists" and government officials are saying were "natural causes." Ha.

Where are Mulder and Scully for reals when you need them?! This is total alien stuff here. Read about it for yourself.

Best Book of 2010:

So last year I read 45 books. Pretty impressive. I'm not sure because the lines of 2009 and 2010 are blended (something I'm changing for next year, so I'm sure), so I think around 25 or 30. Not as many, but I didn't spend half the year in a bed either. So I think I did pretty good.

I'm actually going to award two, because I can make up whatever rules I want.

--Funniest Book: Definitely Timothy Carter's EVIL?.

Here's my review: Timothy Carter's EVIL? - Grade: A+. Epoch was a decent read, but EVIL? outdoes it by LEAPS AND BOUNDS. Hilariously brilliant, irreverent and ingenious all at once, this book had me in stitches. And it humorizes sensitive and otherwise untouchable-with-a-ten-foot-pole-by-conservatives subjects in a playful and appropriating way. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a little humor who doesn't mind talk of homosexuality and pubescent teenage boys' favorite solo activity ;)

I still giggle when I think of this book. It was simply hilarious.

--Best Book: Undeniably, I can pick no other than Lev Grossman's The Magicians.

Here's my review: Lev Grossman's The Magicians - Grade: A+. WOW. Just wow. This book is AMAZING. One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. George R. R. Martin asserted: "The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea." That's a pretty ballsy claim. Like whoa. Now I'm not the *biggest* Harry Potter fan I know (don't judge!), but so many people love that series - this is a big claim. I don't think Mr. Martin was off in the slightest. Every piece of this book resonates with magic. The prose is flawless, the characters are lovable, yet starkly human and imperfect, and the plot is gritty, raw, and brilliant. The book is poignant, gripping, moral, deeply adult, fantastical, and so real all wrapped up in one shining wafer of delectable yumminess. I even went back a few times if I thought I was reading too fast, because the book was just that great. The main character is obsessed with this author, Christopher Plover, who supposedly was a co-founder of the modern English fantasy tradition alongside the likes of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He wrote five novels about a fantastical place, Fillory, and the more I got into the book, the more I felt like I needed to read these 5 books. I went searching for them. The library didn't have them, nor did Amazon. Strange. I started searching rare book stores, only to be confronted with the fact that this Christopher Plover is a made-up person! Talk about thorough world-building! I mean they even went to the lengths of creating this guy his own blog: http://www.christopherplover.com/ That's over-the-top! The created author thing reminded me of fake author Christopher Brooks in Brockmeier's Truth About Celia. So innovative, so thorough. Grossman's world is REAL. And yet it's fiction. But the fiction is REAL. And we are caught in an existence loop that astounds, astonishes, and fascinates me to no end. Definitely going to check out Grossman's others books. And this book has a spot on the top shelf of my bookcase, where only the most cherished novels find roost. Hats off to Lev Grossman for being stunningly wonderful.

Best Movie of 2010:

I saw 30 movies in 2010 (+ or - 2)! That's pretty good if you ask me. After such a dry year in '09, I'm finally back in the Theaters seeing the good stuff. So this one should be kind of hard, but I'm going to have to give it up to Inception.

I don't know that I've had a movie open my mind up the way this one did. Inception was genius in every sense of the word. Every aspect of that movie defied anything I've ever been presented on the screen before.

Best Night Out of 2010:

I'm actually going to vote for hiking Mt. Timp in the dark. This didn't make my recap, but on August 20th, 2010, Turtle and I got together with Bex and a bunch of other people and decided to hike Timp. In the dark. And of course, we went up the more dangerous side. lol Turtle and I prefer to hike with our natural night eyes, so we raced ahead of everyone who had lights. We did have flashlights so if it got hairy or I didn't know where the trail went next we went ahead and clicked on for a sec. It was a HARD hike, but Turtle kept up. And the payoff was worth it. Seeing the city lit up that high stole my breath away. I was so tired (and cold - it's VERY windy at the top) I covered my head with a jacket and actually dozed off (sitting on rock hard, uncomfortable ground!), but luckily didn't miss sunrise. Which was also ... (Tangent: I feel like I use the same descriptive words over and over - I need to invest in some new ones. Stunning, beautiful, gorgeous and awesome are just feeling stale to me! They're all I ever use. End tangent). So I don't have adequate words to describe the sunrise. Calling my parents, and being like "Good morning, what are you doing?" [answer] "Cool, I'm sitting on top of Mt. Timp watching the sunrise" was pretty fun. The hike back down was harder, especially because it started getting hot. Yech.

Best Blog of 2010:

Hmm. I read SO MANY blogs. Gotta say I LOVE me some Failblog and some Win(FailWIN). I read them the most, but they also post the most, so no fair. I think I'm going to give the award to the lovely Andrea.

She's just so fun! And blogs about her adventures outside Utah, and so much more. Plus this is the only blog this year that spawned an actual friendship. Yup, me and Zer Andrea are friends in the Real World also. Crazy, right? People don't actually talk to each other anymore... oh. But we do. We do.

That said, anyone remember who referred me to the lovely Andrea? Meggers? Dice? NoraNora? Somebody showed me her blog... I didn't just stumble across it. Shrug. Well, she rocks.

And I'm totally gonna be her fashion advisor from now on. So look for me to be featured regularly in 2011 (Right Andrea? Right?!)

Best Conference of 2010:

I don't believe I went to a single conference in 2010. Unless you count the ones in my office, which you couldn't pay me to do. So no conferences for me. Sad.

~~Best~~ Challenge of 2010:

I think I'm going to pass this award to my sister for 2010. Because going on her journey was hard for all of us, but especially her. (As stated, special blogs on her journey are in the works).

Love ya Sister. With all my heart. For always.

Best Moment of Peace 2010:

I struggled with defining this last year, and this year is no different. But I'll do two.

--General: Anytime I was with friends. Especially around a campfire (so at the Lake and in November)

--Actual: I think I'll vote for sitting on top of Navajo Knobs after a strenuous 4.5 mile hike and staring out at the world. To think what pristine breath-taking (literally) sights Nature and God have given us gives me serious pause.

Best Album of 2010:

This one's actually kind of hard. I don't know what to pick. I only got like 12 albums the whole year, and 11 of them were on Black Friday. If I had to pick from among those, I might confess that my favorite is actually:

Surprised? I really like a number of songs from this album, not 1 or 3 like the others I bought. So I'ma give it to them. Which is kind of funny, since I don't even super like them (especially not live, they sound awful... or at least use to). But there ya go.

Best Rush of 2010:

Prolly riding coasters at Cedar Point (see above).

Best Change I Made to the Place I Live in 2010:

Oh wait. I moved into a place by myself. That's pretty gosh-darn AWESOME! I don't have to answer to anyone, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and don't have to worry about bothering anyone, or upsetting them, or conflicting with their schedule; it's just bliss.

And I got some pretty cool furniture (NOTE: This picture has never before been published, so feel SPECIAL) (though I still need a couch):

And just wait til I get my glass centerpiece for that table. Then I will be so styling Stacy London and Clinton Kelly will want to do a show on me for everything to do RIGHT in your life to be fashionable. Fashion isn't just clothes, people, it's about hot interior decorating too!

Best New Food of 2010:

Nom nom nom. I love me some potato chips. For better or worse. Good thing I found these stellar organic, all-natural, super-duper-healthy chips!!! Love ya!

And be honest. That brand name just rocks. Nom nom nom. These chips are simply delish.

Best Place of 2010:

We've already covered this. CEDAR POINT (above). Now I'm just feeling redundant. But it's worth it. 100%.

Best Tea of 2010:

Look, another one I don't have to skip this year!

The winner is: Sweet & Spicy Herbal by Good Earth

Even my Mormy friends can drink it because it's caffeine free. The stuff is dang good (and if you can find where to buy it, tell me. I want it. I can't find it at any of my grocers).

Word or Phrase of 2010:

HAHAHA. Going to have to go with "Your Face" on this one. I don't even know who started me on it. But I just started saying that back to people when they would say something to me. And one of my friends totally got addicted to saying it too. It's all that comes out of his mouth now. And I think it's so funny. Like 6-year, but funny. >.> Your face is funny.

And that's that. Not many complaints in 2010.

So here's to an even BETTER HAPPY 2011! Cheers!

(My saga on my sister still awaits! Keep Reading. I'm actually going to blog in 2011!)

8.Books.8 (+1 extra - rounding out 2010)

2011-01-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Clay Coleman's Revenge! (Book 5 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. Do I think these books are excellently written? No. Would I recommend these books to other people? Probably not. But they were part of my childhood and I enjoyed revisiting them. Are they engaging? Yes. So *shrug*

Clay Coleman's Escape! (Book 6 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. I think I'm all out of juice on these six books. They're a decent read, but I can think of much better things to spend your time on. 'Nuff said.

James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy - Grade: A. This book definitely gets my vote for your reading list. This book is a fascinating exploration of human consciousness and spirituality outside the definitions of institutionalized religion (I am in no way saying that institutionalized religion is a bad thing). A great read, very interesting principles contained within, with real-life applications.

Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay (third book in The Hunger Games series) - Grade: A-. I read this book in 5 hours, one sitting. Just plowed right through it. The anticipation was killing me! The only pause was for 5 minutes to listen to a white-trash fight outside my apartment. Let's be honest. That kind of Reality "TV" beats a book hands down! :P When I was done... I felt... kind of punched in the stomach. But I was talking about it with Meggers and really... to be true to her world, Collins couldn't have ended the trilogy any other way than she did. And we are both glad she was true. But... the violence. The violence was the bad taste in my mouth. These are hocked as kid books... but they are so bloody and so painful. Now if you look at books like The Giver, they are crafted so that the full weight of them doesn't settle on you until you are much, much older. But with Hunger Games you don't really get the same sense of complexity. It's just heavy from the get-go. So I loved the read, the pacing was phenomenal, the characters so intriguing... but the violence... the message, was just so, so hard. An important message, and very close to home with our current world, but I'm not sure about for kids. I'm also nervous about them making a movie out of these books. Like alot. Violence involving children can't be rated anything other than R can it? And how is that a "kid" movie?! What child can play in these movies (Rue, for example) and NOT be psychologically damaged? I dunno. These are just things Meggers and I think (and talk) about.

T.A. Barron's The Ancient One - Grade: B-. Someone recommended this as an awesome fantasy novel - a different kind of fantasy than your run-of-the-mill swords, dragons, and elves fantasy. Not going to lie. I enjoyed the storyline; however, the story struggled to capture (and then keep me) my interest. Parts of the story dragged, parts of the story were intense and quasi-unbelievable (hard to do in "fantasy"...) But overall, not a bad read.

Jeanne DuPrau's People of Sparks - Grade: C. Eh. City of Ember was WAY better. Kind of reflects my feelings on Giver and Gathering Blue. The story erred very solidly on the moral side, which was antithetical to Ember if you ask me. I'll prolly pick up the third one just to see, but not such a fan of the sequel.

Ian McEwan's Solar - Grade: D. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for beautiful prose. Many praise Ian McEwan for being very into language, and choosing his words so super carefully so that every sentence is rife with its fullest meaning. Personally, I think Lev Grossman does 10x better (I'll get there, patience!) I picked this one up because I'd read Atonement and didn't hate it. This book, though, was pretty much boring. It seriously turned into a chore to get through it. Not my experience with McEwan's previous novel. There were parts where it would get really interesting and people were dying, or the main character thought he froze off his mickey, but... no. No. No. Couldn't have been happier when this book was done.

James Dashner's The Scorch Trials (sequel to The Maze Runner) - Grade: A-. As previously stated, I really think Dashner is in his prime right now. He tightened up the prose a bit, and didn't stretch the plot too much, and I loved reading this book. Two issues I had: 1. It has been soooo long since I read Maze Runner; I felt kind of lost at the beginning trying to remember back to book 1 and how it ended and everything went down. Dashner attempts to catch the reader up, but I think it could have been a little more solid. 2. I HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR FOR THE THIRD BOOK!?!? Aghhhhh, torture! I want to know what happens next! Also, again with the violence here. I'm not sure these books (like The Hunger Games) can justifiably be part of my bookshelf. Can they? I'm torn on this. I also see some themes in these books, but I intend that to be a post in itself. (You'll just have to get used to me being here again, and keep reading!)

Will Weaver's Defect - Grade: B+. An interesting exploration of what it's like to be different, especially as a teenager. The main character in this story is a medical anomaly - he has wings. The book revolves around his trying to keep them a secret, his shame, and yet sense of love for them at the same time, and how he attempts to reconcile that with his overall identity and public image. An engaging read, though many of the characters were flat; I wanted more development, so I could engage more fully with everyone around the main character in order to better understand the world of the main character, and thus, understand him more deeply.

Lev Grossman's The Magicians - Grade: A+. WOW. Just wow. This book is AMAZING. One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. George R. R. Martin asserted: "The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea." That's a pretty ballsy claim. Like whoa. Now I'm not the *biggest* Harry Potter fan I know (don't judge!), but so many people love that series - this is a big claim. I don't think Mr. Martin was off in the slightest. Every piece of this book resonates with magic. The prose is flawless, the characters are lovable, yet starkly human and imperfect, and the plot is gritty, raw, and brilliant. The book is poignant, gripping, moral, deeply adult, fantastical, and so real all wrapped up in one shining wafer of delectable yumminess. I even went back a few times if I thought I was reading too fast, because the book was just that great. The main character is obsessed with this author, Christopher Plover, who supposedly was a co-founder of the modern English fantasy tradition alongside the likes of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He wrote five novels about a fantastical place, Fillory, and the more I got into the book, the more I felt like I needed to read these 5 books. I went searching for them. The library didn't have them, nor did Amazon. Strange. I started searching rare book stores, only to be confronted with the fact that this Christopher Plover is a made-up person! Talk about thorough world-building! I mean they even went to the lengths of creating this guy his own blog: http://www.christopherplover.com/ That's over-the-top! The created author thing reminded me of fake author Christopher Brooks in Brockmeier's Truth About Celia. So innovative, so thorough. Grossman's world is REAL. And yet it's fiction. But the fiction is REAL. And we are caught in an existence loop that astounds, astonishes, and fascinates me to no end. Definitely going to check out Grossman's others books. And this book has a spot on the top shelf of my bookcase, where only the most cherished novels find roost. Hats off to Lev Grossman for being stunningly wonderful.

James Klise's Love Drugged - Grade: B-. Your run-of-the-mill romance book for teens, except this one is about a boy who is gay and his taking of an experimental drug to get rid of his feelings. Interesting read, I think the plot could have been tighter, and more exciting, and there could have been alot more struggle within the main character's head about his feelings. But I'm glad books like this are getting out there; hopefully kids are reading them and finding the answers they are craving.

Orson Scott Card's Shadow of the Hegemon (sequel to Ender's Shadow) - Grade: A-. This one's been a long time coming. I started reading this book on my way home for Christmas in 2009. I got halfway and it's sat on my shelf. But I take it whenever I travel, I just usually don't pick it up. But I found myself at the airport on my way home from Christmas and my current read Cloud Atlas was nowhere to be found. So rather than start my backup novel, I decided then was as a good a time as any to finish. Card has a most poignant, uncanny way of taping into the dynamics of humanism and human interaction and bringing them frighteningly to life - frightening in the sense of who close to home they resonate, and how real they seem. The plot falls into second for me when relationships are splayed across the page for my perusal and scrutiny - which is exactly what Card does. I'm interested to see how this trilogy will round out.

Best of 2010 coming soon! As well as many more book reviews. We all know I can't stop reading! It's like eating, I just have to.

Movies VI (partial - rounding out 2010)

2011-01-12T08:30:00.001-07:00

Dark Water - Grade: B-. Another scary one! This one's also bee on my list for years. Finally got around to seeing it. I figured out the whole story in like 3 minutes. So not so good writing. Also, most of the "scary" parts were just thrown in. For that reason. Not to aide the story or anything like that. They were ridiculous.

Inception (x2) - Grade: A++. Unbelievable. That sums up this movie experience. I went back and saw it again the very next day. It was JUST that good. When's the last time I saw such an original storyline? Such a thought-provoking plot? Such all-around phenomenal acting? I can't even tell you, that's when. This movie was MIND-BLOWING amazing. I can't say anything else other than, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, DO SO NOW.

Toy Story 3 - Grade: A. The original Toy Story came at the perfect age for me, and I loved it. Toy Story 2 was eh. But this one was just beautiful. I totally cried. When the movie was done, I wanted to fly to Florida as fast as I could, get out all my boxed up toys and spend hours playing with them. I don't even know how many hours of my childhood were spent off in other worlds using my toys as the conduits. At least half? This movie was charming, and cute, and I loved it.

Despicable Me - Grade: B. This movie wasn't as good as Toy Story 3 but it was well-done and had some laughs. Not quite up there with Monsters vs. Aliens, but there were some laughs.

Never Let Me Go - Grade: B-. I was SO nervous for this movie. It's like one of my FAVORITE BOOKS. EVER. EVER. EVER. Got it? Yeah, I think you did. The movie went WAY fast about revealing the true plot, which is far more efficiently doled out in the book. But it worked. There were some scenes that were definitely added and not part of the book plot, and I tried SO hard to wrest myself from making those comparisons. But I struggled. If you haven't read the BOOK, you NEED to. If you aren't a reader, then seeing the movie is acceptable. But this one will always be better as a book. I've always compared it to the The Sixth Sense in book form - the longer you read, the more you realize what's actually going on, and it's freaky amazing.

Star Trek (again) - Grade: A. In a continuing effort to give Turtle some sci-fi/fantasy education, on a whim we watched this one weekend. At like 2am. It was on instant play on netflix, so I said let's watch! Even though I was exhausted. This was not my first time seeing this movie (so it doesn't really count). Although I will say that the second time around, the whole what 'verse is this (alternate v. real) made much more sense to me and I enjoyed the movie more. A great movie that gets my vote for new and old trekkies alike.

TRON: Legacy - Grade: B. So often I have qualms about movies when I'm not told beforehand if it's a sequel or a re-make or what. Thankfully, I knew going in what this was: a Sequel. Excellent. Bring it. The graphics were picturesque and stunningly beautiful. The plot was not completely dry either. The whole cg'ed face of Clu was problematic at times, and others I didn't notice. Dependent on the programmer I guess. My one complaint with this movie was the pacing. It was slow. In more than one place. And with the capabilities of CG these days, with plane fights like the car fights, I want more of that. I want to see more games. More heart-pounding, awesome games. Oh, and the soundtrack was wonderful. So glad Daft Punk was invited to do it - can't think of anyone more perfect.

I'm sure I'll see more movies in 2011!

2010: The Year I Failed at Blogging 3.0

2011-01-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

2010 can't be complete without Halloween! One of the very first events hosted at my new house (pictures will come someday - as will actual gatherings... but first I need to buy a couch. And a vaccuum, before I unveil such things - sorry), was the Pumpkin Carving Party!

One didn't seem like enough for me, so I decided to do two this year. Jessie and some others came over, but not everyone carved. Oh well, I make up for them.

Pumpkin #1 Werewolf (in honor of my friends and their undying love of the game):

And Pumpkin #2 Kids Trick-O-Treating:

They looked awesome and we had so much fun carving them!

The first weekend in November I was crazy enough to go camping with friends, which ended up being a lot of fun, albeit a little cold. For Thanksgiving this year, I hosted my own dinner instead of going somewhere else. I slated it as a dinner for those who had nowhere to go. 12 people came and we ate, and laughed, and had so much fun. My boss was kind enough to let us have it in the large conference room at my work (my dining table only seats 4). Once we were stuffed, we played SCUM until we could muster room for dessert.

And to wrap up 2010, the Christmas trip. I went home for a brief visit. After traveling 12 hours, my dad got me and we were headed home, when he asked if I would call and find out if we needed anything. The call came back that we needed a new Sander. For what? Oh, was I to find out. We went to one store and they didn't have what we wanted, so we had to go to another one. And they of course, couldn't find it. The employees were USELESS. They supposedly had 11 of this brand in stock, and couldn't find a single one. With 6 people looking. AFter 40 minutes, I fed up and had them sell us a better one at reduced price. We got back to the car, and oh. The fuel pump's gone out and it won't start.

Shaping up to be an AWESOME break. T_T

I hate Florida. We did a family dinner one night which was fun, especially the drive home. My sister telling stories is a crack-up everytime. We got my dad laughing so hard he was crying and couldn't see and I had to drive from the passenger seat. He and my mom were both gone beyond the point of return.

I also got to play Frisbee two of the days, which was alright. But it's interesting to me how much organized Frisbee has affected me. The kids my bro plays with play the Ultimate Disorganized Ultimate. I felt like I was playing soccer with 4-year olds - everyone just chases the disc. No one knows who they are guarding...ever. Ugh.

As for the sander... someone had the genius idea we'd take down the playcenter (swing set, slide, climbing wall, etc) that had been rotting in my backyard for the last 6 years because none of us are small enough to play on it, and we'd gift it to someone else. Well, unfortunately, that involved A LOT more than we'd anticipated. There were bolts rusted through, boards that were broken, the entire bottom foot of the thing had rotted away, and oh yeah, there were carpenter ants in some of the support beams. So 4 of us spent 3 days straight pretty much from sun-up to sun-down working. Drilling holes, hammering, sanding, painting, staining, reattaching pieces, and trying to keep everything straight.

One of the evenings while my sisters and mom went to a party, us "guys" went out and saw TRON: Legacy (review forthcoming).

On Christmas Eve, after our dinner, and the grandparents were in bed, we started our journey. The truck we were supposed to use wouldn't start, so we borrowed one. But it had the smallest bed in the history of trucks. We loaded up at 11pm and went over to the delivery site where reassembly would commence. Except we weren't drilling and fitting all the base pieces, and then my dad didn't think the bags we'd been meticulous about putting together, so pieces wouldn't get confused, had the right pieces. Ugh. We ended up bickering and arguing, and it was freezing cold outside, and I got angry. It was a Christmas Disaster. We worked until 6am, and then still only had it 3/4s together, at which point we said screw this and went home. Poor kids. They'd go back and finish it later in the week (I'd already be back in Utah). Then I got 2 hours of sleep, half of which was on a hardwood floor because my makeshift bed fell apart, before we were roused to open presents. I headed up the proud "Grouch Couch." Eesh.

Definitely a Christmas to remember. lol. We are some kind of crazy in my family. And that was pretty much my whole "vacation." I was happy to help and I'm sure the family is appreciative of our gift, but I had the Scrooge bug this year. I was upset that I didn't get to spend any quality time. We played a game once. We didn't have time to go shopping, or eat out (other than the one night). We were going to see another movie (as a whole family) and didn't have time. A lot of things didn't pan out this year like I wanted. But I guess that's the apt definition of life, ain't it? Never works how you want it to, and you have to be flexible, and accept that.

New Year's Eve was anti-climatic as well. Went to my friends and had a game night, which was fun. I'm used to more raucous all-out partying though, and there was none of that around this year. And Turtle was in Cali. So the end of 2010 was kind of a dud for me, though overall, 2010 was a pretty rockin year.

Coming soon: Final book reviews, movie reviews, and the Best of 2010!

2010: The Year I Failed at Blogging 2.0

2011-01-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Summer arrived. I couldn't do anything near what I achieved with the Summer of Sun: 2009, since I work full-time+, but we still managed to get in plenty of playing.

In June, I took Turtle to the Best. Place. On. Earth. Period. CEDAR POINT.

Those who have been, know. And those who have not, have not lived. Turtle always talked about the amazing coasters at Disney and 6 flags and such, and I scoffed. Because there are NOT coasters like the coasters at the Point. And now she knows this is true. We spent a whirlwind 3 days at the Point, with travel days before and after. It. was. epic.

We stayed at a super quaint place like 5 miles from the park. The first night we were there, before going to the park, we were sitting out in the hammock just talking (and trying to flip each other over, which I succeeded in, but I fell out too and hurt my knee, so fail), and as the sun was going down, Turtle started FREAKING out. Which, naturally, freaked me out as well. I tried to get her to vocalize, thinking she was having a heart attack, or saw someone out in the field, or the building was on fire, or something crazy. No. None of the above. She'd seen a LIGHTNING BUG.

LOL!!! She had not realized Ohio had them and had never seen them in such quantities. This, to an Ohioan, of course is hilarious. We used to catch them by the jar-full when I was a kid. Fireflies are so commonplace I didn't think anything of them - but to her they were beauty personified. She was SO excited. :)

Then we hit the park. We got there too early, of course, but no worries. I was SO EXCITED I couldn't contain myself. Seriously! It'd been like SIX YEARS since I'd been there! Way too long. I told Jessie I wanted to run straight to Millenium Force, which meant nothing to her. Since she was new to Cedar Point I was nice and agreed to work my way up the roller coasters in rank of awesomeness (which meant starting with lame-o's like Disaster Transport, Iron Dragon, etc., which no experienced Cedar Pointer will ride. Because they suck).

This will mean nothing to those who haven't been, but to those who have, you can oogle and be jealous.

Here's our ride tallys:

Day 1 Tally: Coasters: Raptor x2, Blue Streak x3, WildCat x1, Iron Dragon x1, Mantis x2, Millennium x1, Cedar Creek x1, Maverick x1, Top Thrill Dragster x1, Magnum XL x5!!, Corkscrew x1, and Disaster Transport x1. Extras: Space Spiral x1, Sky Ride x1, and Erie Railroad x1. Plus Turtle and I each won prizes stumping the workers at the guessing game. Plus eating (had an elephant ear for my Mom) and walking... we got alot done!!! And we're doing it all again TOMORROW!!!! God bless Vacation. :D

Day 2 Tally: Coasters: Raptor x2, Blue Streak x2, Millennium Force x2, Maverick x1, Mean Streak x4, Mangum XL-200 x1. Extras: Thunder Canyon x1, Snake River Falls x1, Giant Wheel x1, plus hours at the Water Park. Mmm yes. Water. Sun. Relaxation.

Day 3 Tally: Coasters: Raptor x1, Blue Streak x1, Erie Railroad x1, Mantis x1, Millennium Force x3, Thunder Canyon x1, Maverick x1, Mean Streak x3, Gemini x1, Magmun XL-200 x3, Top Thrill Dragster x1

We didn't bother to see shows or do anything like that. Too much coaster riding :) By the end of trip, no joke, I had bruises on my arms and legs from the coasters.

Camera didn't do 'em justice. They looked way worse than that. No pain, no gain. XD It was so worth it. And such a crazy fun time. I FREAKING LOVE CEDAR POINT!!!

Not 2 weeks later, we were in Idaho for the 4th of July festivities, and our annual rafting trip! Got to see my cousins, and take in some fireworks with all the little cousins.

Rafting was, as always, super fun. I didn't fall out of the raft once this time, although I did smash my knee on a rock when I was swimming T_T I have a permanent scar from that. Turtle, being the cold-blooded animal she is, opted for a wetsuit. The water WAS a little chilly. But we had an awesome time.

No near death-experiences like last year though, for which I'm glad!

I also took Turtle camping in Southern Utah (though there are no pictures of that). She'd never been and needed to see how pretty it was. So we went to Capital Reef. We had fun looking at the stars, though we didn't have a very good spot since we got there after dark. We'd keep our eyes peeled. The first day we were there, we did one of the hardest hikes, and me being a genius, I put Turtle in charge of water... so we didn't bring enough. At all. And we almost died before making it back. The view was awesome though. Maybe Turtle did try and snap some photos of the summit, but I told her to enjoy with her eyes and make a memory before a camera lens will never do it justice (at least not the camera we had, or our level of skill at taking photos). That hike was about 9 miles straight up. :) Good times.

That night we'd scoped out a good stargazing spot, so we went out in a field and just watched. It was so beautiful. So many stars. So much amazingness words aren't proper. We were together in a sleeping bag in the middle of a field in the pitch black night. All of a sudden there's a noise behind us. Something BIG. Ummm, scary! So we freak and grab the flashlight and we hear pounding hooves. By the time we shine the light, there's nothing there. Okay, SCARY. Like WAY. We calm down, and start looking again. After a bit, more sounds. This time we figure out it's deer. We happen to be in the field where they SLEEP. Oops! So that was freaky. After a few more scares, we went back to camp. The last day we were there we did a river hike that I did the last time I was there. It's off the beaten path and follows a dry river-bed, going into slot canyons. The slots were flooded though, so that ended up being a disaster. I had to save Turtle from losing her shoes to vile mud. My GPS kept going haywire while we were in canyons and I didn't realize so I thought we covered ground way faster than we did, which made for an agonizing end of the hike. We had enough water this time, but it was hot, and we got tired. It was a pretty long hike. Then we hitchhiked in the back of a truck back to the park entrance and our car. That trip was way fun, and I'm definitely glad we went.

We attended various parties, and events, and hung with friends, and worked, and worked. Life was good, except when it wasn't. The friendship between Turtle and I became more and more strained. We had quite a few blow-ups. We stuck it out until September though, when we could get out of our lease and move to separate places.

After searching all around, I opted to forgo roommates and got my very own pad. Yay complete independence! This enabled me to not have to rely on anyone anymore, and I set out to build a new social life with new friends in a new city. It worked pretty well. As fall set in, and it got colder, I went out more and more, especially for hot cocoa with friends. Because there's nothing better than chatting over a steaming mug with people that you love. Turtle and I worked to redefine our spaces, and continue to be friends without all the extra. It's not been perfect, but it's going well, I'm happy to say.

I played Winter League as well, and we went undefeated 17-0. Being a champion was pretty wonderful, I must say.

Stay tuned for the wrap-up of my 2010 Adventures!

2010: The Year I Failed at Blogging 1.0

2011-01-09T14:56:00.001-07:00

Well, 2010 is over. Anybody else feel like that one went faster than the Enterprise at Warp 10? Because blink. Blink. Blink. Done?!

Since I just barely talked finished talking about 2009, I think it's time for an overdue recap. Which may or may not be worse than a baby that refuses to be born... >.>

So 2010. I started the year as a hopeless addict.

I worked. And worked. And worked. Which is not entirely a bad thing. Sure helps the finance department to not call me complaining everyday. The days bled away. Occasionally I did something fun. Like laser tag or werewolves. I did my best to maintain my social life, but really it was pretty quiet.

In March, we did go to the Festival of Colors which was SO FUN.

Chalk Everywhere! The celebration was great. We stayed for both crazy sessions of chalk throwing. At the countdown the first time I remember that the whole world went BLACK. I couldn't see ANYTHING. Like really. It was kind of scary. I had a blip thought of post-apocalypse bomb-detonation. But I'm weird, so...

We were so dirty after it was over. Like so gross. I think there's chalk in my teeth in that last picture.

By the end, we were covered head to foot. Literally. So chalked. When we got home, our clothes weren't even allowed inside with us. I think I had blue snot for a week. And holy hair treatment needed after that gunk was in there!

Pretty fun stuff.

April was my birthday, which Turtle did all herself to try and compete with me (shyeah right). Apparently she was messaging and texting and coordinating behind my back like crazy. I was so upset. And she didn't want to tell me anything, not even what clothes I needed to wear - which is of paramount importance. I finally got her to reveal that we were going to laser tagging (so I needed to be wearing all black! As I said: paramount). I was so excited, "Oh! Are people coming?!" She was all: "Dang! I should have thought of that! Next year I guess. It's just us." I totally 100% believed her. She's such a liar. She made me close my eyes while we got my cake (I learned later) also. There were totally people! Scomers, Li and Jer, Bex, Jerems, Stevo and TJ. It was so great!

Playing laser tag with all my friends against little bratty 9-year olds was perfection. Then because it was my birthday I got the "royal treatment."

I got TP'ed. Along with some 12-year old. I love bein' a kid! Then we adjourned to a reserved room for ice cream cake.

We even made the employee checking on us hang out and have a piece!

That's her in the middle, giving the thumbs up. Since we were so nice to share our cake, she gave us all free passes to come back and play again! Holla!

Then Sunday morning Turtle told me I needed to be ready at a certain time. But nothing else. Then people started coming. Ooo, what are we doing? Where are we going? It was werewolves! We had a big group and played outside in the sun. Even Tabs and Ian came!

Turtle wanted to buy me the game, but she looked and looked and couldn't find it anywhere. Sad. But we had a blast playing. It was a little chilly, but so much fun.

To round out the celebration, we went to P-town to see Billy and Hallie for a birthday dinner! So cool! He hadn't been able to come up, so we went down to see him.

They made Birthday Enchiladas! Nom nom nom. What a great friend/ex-roomie! Love that kid! It was such a spectacular birthday! All planned without me, all surprise, so many friends! Thanks everyone who came. And a BIG thanks to Turtle for planning it, pulling it off, and making it so memorable! Love ya! Muah.

2010 was also the year my sister was in treatment. I will do a separate series of posts about her. They are too important to be recapped here. :) Thank you again to everyone who helped! I can't say that enough.

I also joined a Frisbee League Team and loved every minute of it. Ultimate is so freakin fun! So much running! lol

Next post will be my recap of Summer 2010! Stay tuned...

True Confessions: 10.

2010-12-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

"Forgive me Father..."
"...for I have sinned."
And gravely so. True Confession of my soul:

10. Remember that one time when I was Addicted?

Well. I was going on this trip to see my sister (I'll blog all the deets about that. Promise!), and knew that based on how things would go my family would leave and I'd still be sitting at the airport in St. Louis. For like 3 hours. Le sigh. And they don't ascribe to the whole "free internet" thing the rest of the world kindly does.

So I knew I was going to be: BORED. And I didn't want to read... because that's what I do on planes. And with 6 hours of flying ahead of me... no reading.

So I maybe splurged right before I left and got the Second one! *SQUEE* It totally came out this summer, but only on the DS, so I was safe.

But recently, my good friends over at Steam got it.

And then I bought it.

And now...

I may not be blogging for a while. SUPER SORRY!!! It's. Just. So. Friggin'. Addicting. SAVE ME?!

Movies V

2010-11-26T16:34:00.002-07:00

There's so much to catch up on! I've been seeing movies, reading books, living love, etc., etc., etc! Keep an eye out for posts soon on the Summer of '10, Into the Now circa 2010, and others.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Grade: C. Eh. The book was better. But isn't it always? *le sigh* They did cool things, not all the actors sucked; I enjoyed myself.

Letters to Juliet - Grade: A-. This movie was cute. I like that she's getting away from role in Mean Girls, though let's be honest, I struggled sometimes to keep that image of her out of my mind. But she's not a bad actress. The storyline was very heartfelt, and I liked this movie. Would I see it again? Hrmmm, dunno. But once was okay.

How to Train your Dragon - Grade: A+. This was a wonderful movie. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Laughed, may or may not have cried, really got emotionally involved. This movie was simply wonderful.

The Last Airbender - Grade: F. F is for Fail. This movie was AWFUL. Horrible. A complete disappointment and thoroughly, thoroughly upsetting. As an avid lover of the cartoon series, I was hopeful. It's not a book, so they can hopefully get it right. The previews were breathtaking and really exciting. And then... No. *shakes head* IT was my man M. Night too, so I was super looking forward to this movie. I mean, how much did I LOVE Lady in the Water? In a movie where you mispronounce the main character's name from the get-go, you know it's going to be bad. Katara was too wimpy, and cry-babyish, and Sokka?! I mean, could they have been any more OFF? Ruined. Just ruined. The only characters they got RIGHT were Momo and Appa. Oh wait, that's because they are played by the same person in both the animated and live action. Figures. Yeah, HATRED for this movie.

House of Wax - Grade: C-. Ew. This movie was gross. I'm not a big fan of horror, but this movie was on tv and caught my eye. But then it was gross too. Blood and fingers being cut off and what not. And then the storyline was just stupid. Like really? That's... that's the basis for the premise. Boo. Be a little more creative next time.

The Goonies!!! - Grade: A+. How can you NOT love this movie!? CLASSIC!!! "Heyyyyy youuuu guuuuuuys!" Turtle had never seen it, can you believe?! She lived under a rock when she was little. Serious. Such a great adventure movie. Indiana Jones for kids.

District 9 - Grade: A. What a heavy-hitting movie! Definitely wasn't expecting that. Was thinking something Independence Day-ish, and instead got this confrontation of social and racial issues now facing us shrouding in "aliens." Such a good movie (Turtle cried!) lol. I'd recommend everyone see this at least once.

Ponyo - Grade: B-. Meh. As always, the cinematography was breath-taking. Just gorgeous. Wasn't a big fan of the storyline though. Miyazaki has much better films than this one; which was kind of disappointing since it was "his last." I guess I'll console myself in the fact that his son is off to a brilliant start.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Grade: A. Not going to lie, I was nervous about seeing this movie. I'm not the biggest Michael Cera fan; the type of movies he's in aren't the kind of movie I particularly enjoy. Most times I think the humor is crude, the storyline overly weak, and... I'd just rather not. I was quaintly surprised. This movie taped into everything I embody as a Classic Gamer. Any of you who were gamers back in the day - original mario and zelda for the nintendo - should definitely give this movie your investment. You'll be pleasantly pleased.

Predators - Grade: B. We all know I'm a huge Aliens v. Predators fan, even though the 2nd one sucked. So when I saw a new one was out, I wanted to go see it. When it came to the Dollar Theatre, I made the trip. It was worth a dollar. The last person I thought would see the movie went with me. Turtle. Way to break out of your shell girl! She thought the movie was super gross and bloody and repeatedly squealed, which made it all the more exciting for me. :) It was a decent storyline, especially the twist. Pretty good.

The Road - Grade: A-. One of the better book-to-movie adaptations. Well done, believable, heart-breaking. Turtle bawled. A very gritty story. I didn't have any problems with the actors either, and all the important book elements I felt were brought into the film.

Precious - Grade: A. Nominated for and winner of multiple awards; this movie caught my attention before I knew anything about it. The movie is not for the faint of heart, or anyone who has reservations about language or sexual content. The movie is openly raw and real, with some of the best acting and documentation of the real I've seen. I applaud this movie for its courage in bringing to light issues many turn their backs on in favor of ignorance.

Grave of the Fireflies - Grade: D. The critical acclaim for this movie drew me to rent it. Roger Ebert claimed: "It belongs on any list of the greatest war movies ever made." Pretty lofty claim. It wasn't Miyazaki or his son, but I thought we'd give it a try. Result: Bleh. The movie was awful. The storyline was completely unnecessary and could have been averted at any point if the main character hadn't been so stubborn. Rather than highlighting the awfulness of war, it simply accented the stubbornness of a boy who ended up killing his sister because he was stupid and prideful. I wouldn't put this movie on any list of war movies.

Shelter - Grade: C. A lot of my friends talk about how this is their favorite "gay" themed movie. So I finally gave it a go. Blah. The storyline was flat, the characters transparent, and the steamier scenes weren't even scintillating. I wasn't impressed. Prayers for Bobby was 100x better.

Skeleton Key - Grade: A+. This one has been on my list for a long time. I'm not super into scary movies, but this one caught my eye and I wanted to see it. So glad I did. The movie has a twist in it that was super 6th Sense. Like you get to the end, *cue twist*, and you're left going WHOAAAAAAAAA. My brains are on the floor in a heap. Good times with this movie.

Invictus - Grade: C-. Eh. I'm not too into sports movies, but this won awards I guess, and had really good actors. And to top it off, the movie was completely anti-climactic. Which I guess if you're covering a "true" story, you can't stray too far from what really happened. But I was just waiting for the rally, the break-away, the heart-pounding rush of an exuberant win. And then it was just eh. Not such a fan.

The Blindside - Grade: A. This movie is everything people say it is. Heart-felt, powerful, hopeful, and inspiring. What a great mom. This is the kind of true story that SHOULD be a movie.

More on the way!

Doy Gracias

2010-11-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

I have so much to be thankful for in my life it's hard to know where exactly I should start. I'm not going to cover everything by any stretch, but a montage nonetheless will be nice. :) I'll stick to 50.

I am thankful to be alive.
I am thankful to not know want.
I am thankful for my friends; you help keep me going.
I am thankful to have a wonderful job, and a stellar boss who is unbiased.
I am thankful for my family. Especially my imperfect parents.
I am thankful that my sister is doing so much better and will graduate soon.
I am thankful to have a warm bed, clothes, nice things, and food.
I am thankful I have the freedom to do what I want.
I am thankful for Veterans :P
I am thankful for Jessica. She will always be interconnected with my path.
I am thankful for struggle.
I am thankful for heartache.
I am thankful for difficulty.
I am thankful for suffering.
I am thankful for the opportunities I have to grow and better myself.
I am thankful for the support I receive.
I am thankful to not be alone.
I am thankful to know who I am.
I am thankful for HONESTY.
I am thankful for courage.
I am thankful to be gay.
I am thankful for my heart.
I am thankful for love which knows no bounds or discrimination.
I am thankful for elements.
I am thankful for great writers who can't help telling stories.
I am thankful for the internet, so I can blog this. :)
I am thankful for heat.
I am thankful to be able to walk, run, and swim.
I am thankful for (can't believe I'm saying this) Utah.
I am thankful for my friends (again).
I am thankful for late nights, good conversation, and memories.
I am so thankful for memories.
I am thankful for chapstick.
I am thankful for leaves.
I am thankful for belief, and its power.
I am thankful for human consciousness and interaction.
I am thankful for Cheese.
I am thankful for music, in all its varieties.
I am thankful for the ability to express myself, with emotion, poise, and dignity.
I am thankful for language and all its nuances (Wordsex!).
I am thankful for the role models, influences, and people who have helped me achieve so much and be where I am today.
I am thankful for my EU Ladies (LoLo, TikaRika, Brandiline, and KeriBeri)
I am thankful to not have debt.
I am thankful for organic food (bunnies!)
I am thankful for the power of literature in my life.
I am thankful for battery-powered lights so I can see in my dark closet.
I am thankful for faith and worship, in all their forms.
I am thankful for BOOTS. Especially new ones! Yay!
I am thankful for my siblings.
And I am thankful to be able to give thanks.

Happy Dia de Gracias everyone! Please remember how and why you are blessed, not just this day - but always. Muah.

7B7O7O7K7S7

2010-11-24T22:46:00.001-07:00

This post has been in draft form since MARCH. LOL. So YAY for having INTERNET!!! Now I can blog. With vengeance. While I wasn't internetting, I *was* reading. So here come a slew of books, watch for another 11 very, very soon!

Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon - Grade: B+. I enjoyed this book, though at times I had trouble getting through. Was definitely able to put this one down, unfortunately. But overall liked the characters and the plot.

Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse (Book 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Grade: A. Rick Riordan bounces back in the third book of his series. I had no trouble with this book, and may even have shed a tear or two. The characters are becoming more and more believable, and I think I love them. Nicely written.

Timothy Carter's EVIL? - Grade: A+. Not a sequel, or a series, but I read Epoch for Kerry when I was playing Intern. Epoch was a decent read, but EVIL? outdoes it by LEAPS AND BOUNDS. Hilariously brilliant, irreverent and ingenious all at once, this book had me in stitches. And it humorizes sensitive and otherwise untouchable-with-a-ten-foot-pole-by-conservatives subjects in a playful and appropriating way. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a little humor who doesn't mind talk of homosexuality and pubescent teenage boys' favorite solo activity ;)

Rick Riordan's The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Grade: A-. Riordan just can't seem to make up his mind, can he? Book 3 was wonderful, and this book was almost as good. However, I felt like in many places the vastness of the plot for this novel overwhelmed the great character interplay that I've come to enjoy throughout this series.

Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian (Book 5 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Grade: A. Really? I'm at the end already? That's the whole series? I absolutely loved this one, and was so worried that the end of the series would flop or not wrap up wonderfully, but Riordan did not disappoint. He made the climactic final battle full of suspense, twists and turns, and poignantly dramatic as well. I'll confess to having tears at this one. But that's how a good series SHOULD be. I mean I've invested all this time in you that could have been spent... yeah, not going there... I should get a good payoff at the end, right? I think that's the least I can demand as a faithful reader.

Leah Cypress' Mistwood - Grade: B+. Yay! It's finally here! One of my editor friends from the NYC had this book in manuscript form the first time that I met her at WIFYR, and that was pretty much all she raved about. And now it's finally out in print. I don't think I've been this excited for a book since I read Homefree. And for a first-time novelist, Cypress doesn't do too shabby. The conflict definitely drives the plot, and the characters are beyond interesting. I thought much of the language structure was sort of geared more-for-kids, and wasn't all that elevated, but it's YA lit, so I guess I cut her some slack? Nah. I'd like to have seen a more-tightly written plot going to all the same places she did loosely.

Brian Jacques' The Sable Quean (Book 21 of the Redwall series) - Grade: B. I was at the library one day recently and on a whim checked to see if he had anything new. He did! I'm going to vote this one better than others (I'll put it on par with Doomwyte or High Rhulain) because it wasn't completely recycled like some of his others. It still felt kind of the same (I think the majority of them have this problem) though, so I wasn't completely giddy. I did read it all the way through the first time I got it though, which is rare with a Jacques book (long long airplane rides helped, I'm sure).

Clay Coleman's Stranded! (Book 1 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. I loved these books when I was little! With such fond memories I tracked down the series again to give them a read. They are super short, I can read one in a bout an hour... but they ARE made for 10-year olds, so...

Clay Coleman's Attack! (Book 2 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. I didn't remember these books being so gross! Brain matter on the beach, blood in the water, I must have been an icky 10-year old. LOL Anyway, these books are entertaining. The writing isn't the best, but again with the 10-year olds...

Clay Coleman's Mutiny! (Book 3 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. Mutiny! Betrayal! Will the boys survive?! So intense. There are some parts where the plot stretches, but... do I even need to say it?! :)

Clay Coleman's Discovered! (Book 4 in the Escape from Lost Island series) - Grade: B. I think this one's my favorite. They are all...okay. Don't know that they make top ten lists or when awards, but they aren't boring.

More books are coming!

Death by Words

2010-10-15T14:48:00.001-06:00

July 13th. The date of my last post. 3 FREAKING MONTHS AGO!! Seriously. UGH. UGH. UGH.

This blog is not dead. I am not dead.

I simply do not, and have not had, internet at my place. That will soon be remedied and then - then I will return with a blogging vengeance. Prepare thineself.

Movies IV

2010-07-13T21:31:00.000-06:00

Been kind of a dry spell for movies lately. This post originated back in August...2009. So it took me 11 months to see this round of 17 movies. Wow. That's kind of sad. That's like one a month. Blah.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - Grade: B-. I won't lie, I haven't seen any of these. Movies like this fall in the senseless kid humor category where I put other shows and movies I think are inane, crass, or just plain stupid (my opinion of this). But the S kids put it on while I was "nannying," so I watched (while doing other things like playing on Facebook (of course!)). I will admit to actually laughing once or twice. But that's all I will admit.

Xmen - Grade: B-. I freaking LOVE Xmen, especially as a kid. From comics to cartoons to figurines, I was an Xmen addict. So you'll forgive if I was a little upset about them ruining many things. Granted there were cool things, and the special effects were everything, and I do love some Hugh Jackman, but still... there were problems. I only bothered to watch these again because Turtle hadn't seen them, nor had some of the S kids.

X2 - Grade: C. Meh. The 2nd movie didn't do much better than the first, though new characters are always fun. Not many more complaints than I had with the original.

Xmen: The Last Stand - Grade: F. Yup, straight up F. When these came out I was enjoying them so much that I was STOKED to see the 3rd one. I even got midnight tickets AND tickets for later opening day, that's how amazing it was going to be. And then it just sucked. And they ruined everything. And everything was wrong. And I hated it. And then I was just bitter and angry that I'd wasted money to see it again. I'll pretty much always hate this one because they've now marred some of my childhood. And I'm sure the trend will not end here. *shakes fist*

TRON - Grade: A. Who are you if you haven't seen this movie? (Then again, I don't have room to talk since I just BARELY saw Top Gun). Anyway Turtle hadn't, so one night we decided to educate her. I'm nervous about the remake, though now that I know it's like a sequel or second generation and not just a rehash of the original, I'm feeling much better. Like maybe I'll actually enjoy it when I see it, and not have that nerve-wracking feeling I've been akin to of late... I'll get to that further down on this list...

Monsters Vs. Aliens - Grade: A. Yeah, technically this is cheating because it was my 2nd time, but REALLY it means that you HAVE to see this if you haven't. Cuz it's just a riot.

Son of Rambow - Grade: A+. A-MAZING. I will unabashedly admit to having wanted to see this movie since I saw the trailer the first time. It's SO GOOD! Now we all know (especially if you've spent any time reading my reviews) that I am an ABSOLUTE MOVIE SNOB. I own like... 5 movies. 5, people. Well, make that 6. Because this movie has a home on my shelf. Which means that this is one of THE BEST movies I've EVER seen in my entire life. And so, you should probably own it too, if you don't already. Just a really, really great movie. The end.

Where The Wild Things Are - Grade: ?. I really don't know how I feel about this movie. I didn't when I saw it, immediately after, or now. I just... If Xmen was part of my childhood, this WAS my childhood. And I'm very protective of that. I just... part of me was like no, no, no, no. You took what the book represented and tried to add layer and depth and further meaning and you've RUINED everything. And then part of me is like whoa, you took what the book represented and tried to add layer and depth and further meaning and I think it's genius. The cinematography was absolutely breathtaking though. But I just can't decide on this one.

The Sum of All Fears - Grade: A+. Oldie, but a goodie. Loves it, I do. Turtle hadn't seen it, so I made her. Because blood! And explosions! And things she can't handle! YES!!! Yeah, this is a movie I own. Think about that.

2012 - Grade: D. This movie was a joke. The only thing that saved it from being a complete bomb (read: grade F) is that fact that the characters are emotionally convincing and still managed to tug heartstrings even though the building was on fire (except where they were standing) and giant holes were opening everywhere as the floor collapsed (except right where they were standing) and a T-rex was wreaking havoc on the same floor nearby (but not where they were) while outside the whole planet earth was exploding into tiny pieces (except the part that held the building they were in)... you get it. So so so unbelievable. Yeah right. I don't buy it for even half-second. Completely absurd. You fail at being real and thus winning my approval as a movie. Sorry!

Brothers - Grade: B+. This is another movie that like Wild Things left me unsure where I stood. Tobey Maguire was soooo disappointing in the first half of the movie, and I didn't feel like his character had ANY depth whatsoever. Jake Gyllenhaal was great, though. Funny thing - I hate Natalie Portman with a passion, but I didn't even KNOW it was her until like the end credits, and then I was all, Oh. Now the really crappy girl actress part makes TOTAL SENSE. Tobey Maguire REALLY picked it up in the 2nd half of the movie, especially with his freakouts and craziness. I totally believed it and totally felt for him. The movie also drug up a whole heck of a lot of emotions bottled inside me that I don't really want to get into... but it left me feeling very resonant and understanding, I will say that. So much of the acting fell flat, and I've never been to war ("per se"... you see where I'm going?) but I knew where Cahill was coming from... I feel like he did soooo often that it hurts. And I think the movie did that. It drew out the hurt I feel in my own personal wars, and I wasn't expecting that, or ready for it, and so it ended up being a pretty heavy movie for me. I might see it again under the right circumstances. The emotions it drew out of me far outweighed the crap acting, so that's why it scored higher than maybe it should have? My opinions, my grades. :P

Alice in Wonderland - Grade: A. I was soooo freaking out about this movie. From the beginning through the middle, all the way to the end... no, no, no, wrong, wrong, wrong, I'm so upset... wait. What? SPOILER ALERT! This is a sequel?! Like a second?! Like a later story than the original?!? Like... whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Um, AWESOME!!! Why didn't someone tell me this SOONER? Like before the freaking film started!? Geez people, you're killing me over here. Love it! Genius! Amazing! Wonderful! Not good enough to own I'd say, but I liked it (once I understood the true nature of it's beast-ness).

Sherlock Holmes - Grade: B. I can't say I didn't enjoy this movie. Was it epic, thrilling, riveting, brilliant? Nah, not really. Did it engage me in solving a mystery a la Sherlock while watching? Nope. And I don't think that was the intent either. So I can't legitimately complain about that (though it would have been cool). So I enjoyed it (though if it's worth anything when they put it on at my cousin's (Turtle hadn't seen it) I promptly fell asleep), but I think if there's nothing better, there's no harm in watching, checking it off and moving on with your life.

Iron Man II - Grade: C. Eh. I liked the first one WAY better. Can we skip all this Thor, Ant Man, whoever stupid else crap and just get to the Avengers movie already? Because I figure that once they make that they will FINALLY make my JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE which I am DYING to see (better not ruin it like Xmen stupids!!!) K, moving on.

Legion - Grade: F. Ha. Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. This movie was so dumb (and not scary) that by the end all we were doing was laughing and making fun of it. Hahaha. Which is too bad. Because the idea was really cool. But the zombers were just. so. fake. And then it was dumb. And lame. And boring. You should not waste your time on this movie. Trust.

Robin Hood - Grade: B. Repeat of Alice here much? I am beginning to believe that to truly enjoy a movie I must FULLY 100% understand WHAT IT IS aka the story they are telling before I engage myself. Because I was so lost and so horrified at how far they strayed from the cartoon movie I grew up on. Oh yeah, that's because it's a SPOILER ALERT!: Prequel. Well. Why didn't you say that from the get-go? Now I love it. I think it's great, wonderful, and I'm excited for the set-up to the movie I wanted to see when I came to the theater to see THIS. Sheesh people, market this stuff more accurately so I can sleep at night!

Prince of Persia - Grade: A. I was pleasantly surprised at this one. I might incense some people with this, but here goes: I think this movie is just as good as Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings. In fact, this *might* be my favorite in this type of similar-esque same-ness genre. *bites nails* Yeah, I said that. And it didn't make a whole ton o' sense. But it's Jake Gyllenhaal. I mean, COME ON.

And there you have it. 17 more movies down. And I'm not stopping there! I'm already 4 movies into the next post! Ha! (I did kind of see 3 movies during Memorial Day Weekend (2 of which made this). So hopefully the movie seeing hiatus is over and we are back on track for reviews, reviews, and more reviews. I love reviews! YAY!!!

Succinctus: Summer of 10

2010-07-06T21:36:00.001-06:00

Ack! I have so much posting to do! Two trips already to two different states and another one looming this weekend. Plus I'm up for a round of book reviews and *gasp* movie reviews! Been awhile on those. I need more free time. Sigh. Soon, promise.

Grace of a Girl - Part 1: A Dollar, A Difference

2010-06-08T20:00:00.000-06:00

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”
– Willa Cather

Love is such an incredible force, one which drives us to do unthinkable things – even at the cost of life itself – for those we care about. I would trade love for nothing in this world, especially when it comes to my family. I’m sure I’m not alone in my sympathies.

In 1998, I extended my love to a new member of my family, a sister adopted from a lonely orphanage in faraway Russia. She was just four when we welcomed her into our home. What happened in those four short years will always be a mystery, but the impact they had on her life will not.

Unable to do anything to stop her, my family and I watched helplessly as my sister’s past swallowed her in the present. Her pain seemed unmanageable, her behavior got progressively worse and nothing seemed to help. At the beginning of this year my parents made the terribly difficult decision to enroll her in a long-term residential treatment center - for her own protection.

The center costs $10,000 a month. One month. We are not rich people by any stretch of the imagination. The center is also more than 1,000 miles from home and my parents must go there every seven weeks to participate in the recovery process. Why did they chose somewhere so far, knowing the weight of the extra expense? Because the center is highly specialized in treating adopted children and is the only one suited perfectly to her needs. Exhausting every financial resource available, my sister is safe for the moment. My family has put everything on the line for love, so that my sister has a fighting chance for a bright and happy future. But it’s not enough.

I’ve been giving every penny I can spare to help, which more often than not amounts to giving my entire paycheck to assist with the mounting costs. Still we are not where we need to be. I am left with one option: I desperately need your help.

My sister is traveling a road of darkness and you can be a point of light along her path to restoration. Our task is not an impossible one if we focus on love and giving. I’m not asking anything outrageous. Just ONE DOLLAR.

Skip going to McDonald’s, pass on the Diet Coke or forgo downloading that new song on iTunes until your next paycheck. Walk somewhere close instead of driving and the dollar won’t even be a loss to you. If by chance you can spare more than one dollar, wonderful. But if not, please do not think for a second that your dollar is too insignificant a contribution.

Raging waterfalls begin with a single drop of water.

Click here to donate now:

The button links directly to a paypal which my mom puts into the trust fund set up specifically to pay for my sister's treatment. We're not non-profit so while it's NOT tax deductible, it IS incredibly appreciated. (There is also a nominal fee, for which we apologize - if we had been able to do it any other way, we would have).

If you'd rather not donate online, feel free to send your donation to me directly. Drop me a line and I’ll happily give you my address. Similarly, you can help by passing this to your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Alone we may fail, but together we can always achieve the impossible. Here’s to LOVE.

And most importantly, THANK YOU.

“Draw a circle, not a heart, around the one you love because a heart can break, but a circle goes on forever.” –Unknown

Top of the Charts in 2009

2010-05-03T22:05:00.000-06:00

Yes I know. It's pretty much 2011, and I'm still talking about 2009. Honestly, sometimes I get so far behind I feel like quitting and never writing another blog. Ever. But sigh.

Let's forget about the fact that we are in month 5 of 12, and pretend it's still January. I mean, the weather outside TOTALLY reflects the "still-January" mindset. Why shouldn't my blog? (Other than the fact that I'm so sick of snow I might die).

So in 2008, I joined the masses in the world of iTunes. One year (and 5 months we are erasing) later, I still abhor iTunes. But kind of love my ipod. Like alot. So I guess it's a love/hate relationship.

Anyway, I already did my Tops of 2009, except MUSIC. So let's get on with it shall we?

First off, I must say that the play counts are all kinds of skewed. I had iTunes only for a limited time in 08, so the difference in clear. The #1 song of 2008 had 122 plays, whereas the #25 song in 2009 had 260, more than double, lol.

25. Lifeline by Angels and Airwaves (260), down 14 spots. Ouch.
23. When They Came For Us by Shiny Toy Guns (261), new to the count this year. I can't believe this band wasn't in my top 25 last year! What?
23. Save Us by Cartel (261), another newcomer. Again, no Cartel last year? What the heck was I listening to? Eesh.
20. Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls (266). Dropped 17 spots! The freshness of owning Dolls music must have worn off? Heh.
20. The Beginning (A Simple Seed) by The Classic Crime (266), Classic Crime had 2 songs in '08, including the #1; however, this song is new here. Welcome, welcome.
20. Sing by The Classic Crime (266), same as previous. Interesting.
16. Ghost Town by Shiny Toy Guns (267). More Shiny. Love Shiny. The numbers are really close this year! Lots of ties.
16. Your Call by Secondhand Serenade (267). Once again, new song, same band. I'm a traditionalist I guess.
16. Broken by Lifehouse (267), this one dropped 11 spaces. Man, my music isn't very consistent, huh? My favorites like to move around a bunch.
16. First Time by Lifehouse (267). The title says how it feels.
14. Tell Me Why by P.O.D. (268), new band AND new song! YAY. I didn't own this album in 2008, so it couldn't be in my Top 25.
14. We All Look Elsewhere by The Classic Crime (268). I think I like The Classic Crime >.>
13. A Little's Enough by Angels and Airwaves (269), drops 4 spots. Almost consistent.
12. It's My Life by Bon Jovi (270), say what and who? I think maybe I miss High School and Performing Arts? LOL

10. Say The Word by The Classic Crime (271). Def on a Classic Crime kick in 2009. I only saw them twice in concert in the space of 6 months...
10. When The Time Comes by The Classic Crime (271), from 2 to 10. Harsh. But still here.

8. Time Of Your Life by Green Day (272), Oooh! This one moved up 7 spots! Congrats my Green Day. Wish I could see you on Broadway...
8. This Is Our Town by Broken Image (272), another move UP! Woot! We've gained 5 spots. Here's the thing about this band. I've been listening to them since FOREVERS. You probably know them as the super-famous We The Kings, formerly known as DeSoto, formerly known as Broken Image. But I was listening long before they became We The Kings, or popular and rich. It's also true that they have a new version of This Is Our Town out, which plays on my Pandora sometimes, but I have the old-school original... which I love. Stupid fame and popularity. Sigh.

7. Salt in the Snow by The Classic Crime (273), wow these numbers are so close! This song moves up 8 spots for the biggest jump up yet. You rock, The Classic Crime. *hearts*

5. Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade (275), YIKES! Our #1 song has been de-throned! How exciting!! Who's going to win?!
5. Hanging By A Moment by Lifehouse (275), WOW all the way from 15th to 5th! Who knew that such a song from FOREVER ago could still be such a part of my life! I do have to say this was like the first song I remember hearing on the radio and being like absolutely madly in love with (True Confession *wink*).

4. Adam's Song by Blink-182 (276), 11 SPOTS UP! Holy Amazing Blinkman!

3. Closer Than We Think by The Classic Crime (277). Seriously, one more listen could have completely re-done our Top 25. This is CRAZY! (and I totally love it)

2. I Know The Feeling by The Classic Crime (279), Sheesh. That's the 8th song on my Tops for The Classic Crime. I think they must be like my favorite band EVER (tis true! At least for 2009, >.> dun dun dun!)

And finally, moving up SEVEN SPOTS from 2008, the #1 Song of 2009 was:

1. IT'S NOT OVER BY SECONDHAND SERENADE with a whopping 281 plays! YES!!! So we have a new reigning champ song, but the band stays the SAME. Which I find very intriguing considering I don't feel like I ever purposely PICK Secondhand Serenade and just play them, though I know for fact I do that with other bands. Hmmm... methinks my SHUFFLE setting is biased!

Well congrats to IT'S NOT OVER, which I find a fitting song for 2009 - where my life almost was, but I fought and I'm still here, which is the message in this song.

Phew. Now I can FINALLY reset my iTunes and get all my new music on my iPod. I've been waiting almost half a year! And let me warn you now I use my iPod ALL the time, so the numbers will be even higher this year! And I've got tons of new music, so expect to see new bands! I may even have a new FAVORITE BAND *gasp* <.<

*Giggle*

Funk

2010-04-10T21:21:00.000-06:00

Sigh.

Want/need to blog. No energy or desire.

I just let the apathy consume me as life and my dreams keep walking.

Here I sit.

Books 6 - Advent of the SERIES

2010-03-18T14:00:00.000-06:00

Somehow I seem to have taken up reading almost purely books that are part of a series. Call it laziness? I dunno. I call it, hey that book was pretty good, there's another? Fantastic! Gimme, gimme. Heh...

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Winter Night - Grade: A+. What I said before.

Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief - Grade: A. I 100% felt like a 10-year-old prepubescent reading this book! L O V E. This book was...genius. The pacing was spot-on, the characters believable, lovable, AND validly humorous! Win, win, win. Let's just hope they don't screw up the movie.

Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games - Grade: A. I'm not sure what it says about me that I like this book. I feel in a twisted way that makes me just like someone from the Capitol. Hmm. But wow! What a great read! There were slow parts and things that annoyed me, and an occasional unbelievable moment, but I let almost everything slide because the story was so grippingly wonderous.

James Dashner's The Maze Runner - Grade: B+. I feel like with this book Dashner has DEFINITELY come into his prime as an author. His growth and maturity from books like 13th Reality is starkly notable. That said, there were parts of the book that I didn't like flat out and plot elements that really made me reach further than I'm used to doing, but overall the story was dang good. I read through it very quickly and enjoyed myself very thoroughly. I think kids (who not as critical as yours truly) will LOVE this book. I will be picking up the second.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of Spring Dawning - Grade: A+. Same. I love that as we get further into the series, I forget more and more what actually happens. A chapter that looks boring ends up being spectacularly shocking and breath-taking. These writers are pretty much my idols.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Time of the Twins: Legends, Vol. 1 - Grade: A+. Same x2. :)

Suzanne Collin's Catching Fire (sequel to The Hunger Games) - Grade: B. The whole first half of this book was a drag, and I could have done without it. But I am attached to the characters, so I kept going. SPOILER: [Really, it only got exciting when Cat got put in a second Hunger Games. That's genius! Loved it!] And then of course, the end was a cliff-hanger as usual. Blah. Hurry up April so I can get the third one. Would vote this one definitely at least worth your perusal.

Rick Riordan's The Sea of Monsters (Book 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Grade: A-. So this book wasn't quite as good as the first. That one was definitely more captivating, funny, and attention-retaining. But I don't have anything solid to complain about, so I won't.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Test of the Twins - Legends, Vol. 2 - Grade: A+. Ditto. Do these seem useless to you? They are just phenomenal books. I could gush about them for hours. For your own protection, I am curbing my enthusiasm in the name of brevity.

William R. Forstchen's One Second After - Grade: B. Look! A non-series book! *Gasp* This was recommended by a co-worker and for those who don't know is about the threat of EMP in America (a nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere which sends out an electrical shockwave frying all technology within thousands of miles beyond repair). The characters weren't always believable and some of the most thought-provoking scenarios/scenes were completely passed over, but I will give the book credit for making me think. I found myself pondering things relevant to my own life (and survival) should such occur, which was definitely, refreshing? I don't know if that's the right word. Anyway, as far as apocalyptic-type fiction goes, I'd still vote for The Road before this. No question.

Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping - Grade: A-. Ha! Another not-a-series! Although not the first book of hers I've read, nor the last (Home is sitting on my bookcase as I write). Actually, I read this for my Book Group, and I kinda plowed through it since the 20th was getting here rather quickly. I did ponder many of the passages, and her writing as always is ethereally stunning. But I think I'm going to give Gilead the prize on this one. Just liked it more. Connected emotionally with it more. Went back and read it multiple times (and about to read it again). Housekeeping I think was a one-time read. I'm moving on, simple as that.

2009: The Best of...

2010-03-17T20:59:00.000-06:00

Here's to 2009 (screw you!) and all the memories (and nightmares...) Let us recap the best of the best.

Best Trip of 2009:

Idaho/Washington Trip with NFJ (which pretty much is the whole post). Hands down, no contest. That trip RULED my summer.

Best Restaurant of 2009:

I'm actually going to go with most FREQUENTED restaurant of 2009, which makes the best. Obviously. That would have to be Toaster's, the coffee shop right down the block where I work (hence part of why I frequent it so freaking much *grin*)

Best Article of 2009:

Yeah, I don't read too many articles, just blogs? So I'm going to opt out on this one.

Best Book of 2009:

Yikes. Hold on to your hats for this one. I mean how many books did I read in 2009? Oh wait 45 (including 11 I haven't reviewed yet - that's coming soon, don't worry!) In reviewing the thousands of pages I've devoured, I'll add myself a caveat here and make this best NEW book of 2009, because let's be honest I did my fair share of re-visiting my favorites this past year.

My impulse is to nominate Cormac McCarthy's The Road as the winner, but even though I posted about it in 09... I think I actually read it in 08. So technically that's cheating. Blah.

The winner will have to be Nina Wright's Homefree.

If I had to pick a second (I don't) I'd probably vote for Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle

Wow, that one was hard. 45 books people. 45. That's pretty much one a week. ONE A WEEK. I think I rule the reading world. Just sayin'.

Best Movie of 2009:

K, I made this one up. It's not on the approved entries list. But I think it has its place, no? I'm going to have to hand the award over, without hesitation, to the a movie that did what few have done: gained a place on MY movie shelf. You think I'm a book snob? Oh no, I'm a MOVIE snob. I only own like 5. Period. And this is now one. I haven't reviewed it yet (I mean I have... it's just not published because I haven't seen 17 movies so the review post is still a draft... k end long, unimportant tangent) but let's be real for a second. I BOUGHT IT. Therefore, based on the fact that I have bought only 5 movie E V E R... it must be pretty FREAKING AMAZING (it is!) Oh. I didn't tell you what it's called yet. Heh. Son of Rambow.

If I voted in a runner-up, I'd 100% go with Earthsea (Gedo Senki)

Best Night Out of 2009:

Yesh. This one might be harder than the books I read... I keep records of those! I think I'm going to have to vote any of the many nights that we played Werewolves with our friends. Because that game is so freaking fun, I just can't get enough!!!

Best Blog of 2009:

Do you even have to ask? C'mon.

Best Conference of 2009:

I actually went to more than one! But I'm going to have to vote for Guy Francis and our adventure to meet Lois Lowry.

~~Best~~ Challenge of 2009:

2009. I won't say anything more.

Best Moment of Peace 2009:

Here's a touchy one. I don't know if I can really attest to having one. If I'm going to be honest (this should be it's own confession post) I don't really feel peace all that often. I guess one that counts would be laying out on the trampoline looking at the stars with a very good friend. I love the stars. The temperature was just right. We'd been to dinner, and had good, deep conversation all while star-gazing.

Best Album of 2009:

I'm sure you'll hear much more about them in 2010. And if you ever spend time with me, I'll probably get you to listen to them. I'm only sad I didn't discover them until well into December of 2009. But no contest, the best album of 2009 was:

I abso-frickin-lutely LOVE THEM.

Here's my favorite song for your enjoyment:

(Note: It's not QUITE the same as the version on the CD I bought (I like mine better :P), but close).

Best Rush of 2009:

Definitely almost drowning. That was super fun. (see August 29)

Best Change I Made to the Place I Live in 2009:

Actually having a place (other than boxes) for all of my books again.

Mmm yes. Such a worthy investment. Don't mind the hole up there on the top shelf, left side. That's where my Top 7 Books of ALL Time go. They are out on loan to my BFF/co-worker so she can know the glory of good books. Their place is saved.

And yes. Yes, that is a sword on the bottom shelf <.< I live in a not-so-super-duper-safe-neighborhood, all right?

Best New Food of 2009:

Ever since I left Provo... let's be honest. I miss some things. Like Pita Pit. And Gyros. So we found this place:

I won't lie. It's not ritzy or hella nice. In fact it's pretty divey. I mean, I wouldn't think of going into the bathroom without a full Hazmat suit. But it's just the right combination of ghetto dirty and so freaking delicious that I find myself still eating there. People totally eat at McDonald's. I remind myself of that sometimes when I feel shady for buying two gyros >.>

Best Place of 2009:

I'm going to couple this with another one I just made up - Best Hour of each Day of 2009. That vote is going to have to go to Lunch Hour which means the Best Place of 2009 is definitely Equality Utah. Because let's be honest. It's the break I NEED in the middle of my stressful work day. And my peeps there are fun, loving, wonderful, and just let me kick it (occasionally I even do real volunteer work :P)

Best Tea of 2009:

Yeah, I didn't drink ANY tea in 2009. So I lose. But I'll still totally vote for Dr. Pepper. Any day.

Word or Phrase of 2009:

%*$# YOU!?!

And, well.. that's all Meggers did. So that's all I hold myself accountable for :D

HAPPY 2010!

Coming Soon: 1) Music review circa 2009 - My Top 25 per itunes. 2) Book Reviews Edition 6 - 11 new titles for your perusal. SHAWEET! BE EXCITED!

Into the Now - Winter 2009, Part Cuatro

2010-03-16T17:41:00.000-06:00

And cue Winter. Though I don't really know when because there's pretty much been no snow this whole winter in the valley. Not that I'm complaining.

Ushering in December brought its own slew of Holiday get-togethers and reasons for me to make amazing appetizers including my now-famous Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts. Yummmers. I think that's really all I want to say about that. I took cute pictures though of my new suit and Turtle got a smokin' new dress.

Toward the end of the month, I of course went home for Christmas. Thankfully it went pretty fast. My synopsis of the experience is: "It could have been worse."

Christmas heralded the attempt to get me a new phone - again. This would mark #7 in one year. Can you believe that? 7 phones. Wow, not the best of years for me and phones. The pre-festivities went rather quickly, and Christmas arrived. Yayness.

Christmas day after opening presents I wanted to get away so BigBro, LilBro and I all went Christmas caching. After all I'd brought bugs from Idaho and needed to get them traded. First stop was right by my house at the end of a street near the lake. Lake Jesup. Alligator-infested Lake Jesup. Awesome. We are led to a pier that is deserted, old, covered in spiderwebs and is kinda creepy. The whole place is giving off tangible creep-o vibes. And pretty much as soon as we get there it decides to start raining. Wonderful. So they kind of want to give up, but I'm determined. There's a bug here and I want it to go to Utah with me. I make the find. It's hidden in a board.

However, when I pulled off the board I discovered it was... inhabited! By more than just the non-living Travel Bug!

Eek! Lizard!

K, so the Lizard was gross, but not enough to make me drop it. But if you look closely there's a spider at the bottom! OMG SPIDER!!! I screamed and dropped the board.

No sooner did it hit the ground than THREE different kinds of spider crawled out and started scurrying around, along with a scorpion-esque earwig thingy...

EW TO THE MAX!!! Needless to say I was freaking out a little bit now. OMH there are creeper bugs EVERYWHERE!! And I'm supposed to open that bag and get something out!?!?! AIEEEEEE. But I got a stick and did it anyway because I'm hardcore dedicated like that. It took forever though and the rain got uber worse until we were soaked through. What a harrowing experience! That was the end of caching for the day.

The next day I didn't want to be at my house either. So the three cachers went out again for more excitement. There was one cache that happened to be across an icky red river and the only way across was this tiny tree that had fallen. Wonderful. BigBro opted to stay back with LilBro because he had a gigantic boot cast on his foot (but came caching anyway with a trash bag taped over it so it wouldn't get dirty lol), and I had to make the find by myself. After caching a number of hours, I left those brothers and went to find my bro J who was playing Frisbee. Can I say how awesome Ultimate Frisbee is? I could play all day. And I'm thankful I can. After that I still wasn't ready to be home so I went for a 2 mile run and cached some more along the way. BigBro and I released our own Travel Bugs for a race across America! FUN!!! The run back to my house my leg was killing me and I was feeling again because this should not be... sigh. I still have issues to work out clearly. Night arrived and we tried to go bowling but they wouldn't take our coupon so we said screw you and went home and watched a movie.

I was there almost a week. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. It's been worse in the past. There are still problems, and there's still drama and pain, but we get through it and I was more than glad to be back in Utah.

New Year's Eve arrived quickly, for which I was glad. Because it meant the END. The end of the worst year of my life. I was all too happy to say "[EXPLETIVE] YOU 2009!" We spent the day cooking (I made my water chestnuts again for like the 4th time in 3 weeks lol Once I learned I just couldn't make them enough!) We spent the evening with my dear friend Violeta and her friends. It was a relaxing evening, we played some games, ate some food, hung out, and kissed 2009 GOOD RIDDANCE. W O O T.

2010 arrived and I couldn't have been happier. The year began with a wonderful new addiction. I think for like two days I didn't even get out of bed or get dressed. Heh. Genius. The addiction completely eradicated the first 11 days of 2010 (don't worry, I still went to work... I just may not have thought much about working at work... only about 5:30 arriving. Good times). And then I won. And my life resumed.

So that's the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 (now that it's March >.>). The next few posts will be 2009 in review courtesy of good ol' Meggers who started it. Early/on time I will add.

Into the Now - Fall 2009, Part Tres

2010-02-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

The moment I got back from Ohio, it was pretty much Turtle's Birthday. Which means my time to shine, because I'm awesome at birthdays (especially when 1) you're my best friend and 2) I know you better than you know yourself, and 3) you live the same place as me. Heh. Birthday pretty much owned). I got her a computer game from my Childhood (since she'd been so taken with MYST), King's Quest.

Actually I got the collection of all 7, and so we spent most of the day just playing that, enjoying ourselves. She loved it. Then we went out to a very elegant restaurant for dinner, where she ordered whatever she wanted, and I got her a super yummy dessert.

The very next night we hung out with the S Family to carve pumpkins, which is always a blast for me.

Now I will admit to being something of a pumpkin snob, and with good reason if you've seen any of my pumpkins.

Turtle's Pumpkin:

Last year I carved three pumpkins (I lived in a backwoods lodge and had tons of free time - what do you want? I needed a god distraction). I was not so ambitious this year. But here's what I ended up with:

And here's all of us together with our finished products:

Actual Halloween naturally involved us hitting the club. Goth Dancing goes to new levels on Halloween and there is never any room whatsoever to dance. I won't post pictures here, but those interested in our Halloween hilarity can click here (Disclaimer: Not all pictures in this album are PG).

November arrived and I went with Turtle to hang out with her uncle, and joined a Critique Group to help encourage me to write. We continued our outings from playing Werewolves to Chastity Parties (don't even ask) to service wrapping shoes for Kids for Christmas to a 1920's Speakeasy Mocktail Party. I couldn't find a good Mobster outfit so I settled with this:

Pretty dang authentic, if you ask me. Which you did. That party was so fun. I met new people, crashed at some random house and stayed up pretty much the whole night playing HALO. Ah, these are the days.

We went to Logan and visited all my old friends who now live up there, which was a blast, and even got in some bowling. I got a 188. Yeah, you heard right. I've always been way to into bowling. I got pretty good, but then there was that time I almost died... so I've sucked since. First time I went I couldn't even do it because it hurt too much. Second time I got like a 100. Blah. But now. Now I am BACK. 188!!! YEAH! That's a good game. Turtle and Brent are my witnesses.

We went clubbing (Hiphop) which was weird since we're so used to Goth. But we brought the Goth style to the floor and most people were amazed because they hadn't seen it (of course... they don't go to goth clubs). The 2nd time we went we danced to What'cha Say - By Jason Derulo Ft. Imogen Heap, and literally, the WHOLE CLUB just watched me and Turtle tearing up the floor. LOVES IT. Birthdays, weddings, receptions, you name it, we attended it. Busy, busy, busy. But that's the way I like it.

And finally, Thanksgiving. A time to celebrate and give thanks for all we have. Including my life. That one I'm still partly working on. For the first time ever, I had it without family. Usually I'm with my grandparents, or last year I went to my Aunt's, this year it was all about us and friends. Gwen and Di came down from Colorado to hang with Joe, and we were invited. We had so much fun!

I made my mom's famous ranch dip (it's not the holidays without that dip), asparagus, honey cinnamon mandarins, an orange salad, and deviled eggs. Yum.

Gwen, Di, and Joe handled pretty much everything else.

I think we did a pretty good job for ourselves.

And, of course, the holiday wasn't complete until we went Goth Clubbing. Because that's what you do on holidays that fall on Thursday. Duh.

After Thanksgiving, the weekends of events continued and at some point Winter arrived. But that's next post.

Into the Now - Fall 2009, Part Dos

2010-02-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Grin. Disclaimer. Grin. I wish I had time to upload all 70 photos from my trip, but I don't. You can see them all here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what seemed like months of agony, discomfort, and incredible bad luck, I needed a freaking break.

And Ohio was just what the doctor ordered.

Tuesday, October 20th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got up butt early to get on a plane. Most of the time I spent reading. At the time, I was in the midst of Deborah Davis' Not Like You. As the plane descended into Ohio, I was overcome with a feeling of giddiness and elation. Home. TREES!!! FALL COLORS!!! I remembered to turn onto Sawyer to get to Broad Street, and then as I drove the memories just flooded back. Everything, everywhere, pieces of ME. I love this place so dearly.

Of course I visited my old neighborhood. There's so much growth and change in my little town, it's definitely becoming full-blown suburbia. But thankfully, some things haven't changed. Like the farmhouse across the street where I grew up:

First thing I went to see Christi and the squirt. We had tacos with her parents, and they were delish. Then I went to see my 2nd Mom & Dad, who are always a delight. They are such great people. We talked for THREE hours, which for us is just a quick chat. Trust. We talked about everything: My life, books and movies, my parents and their lives, sex, my childhood and memories, my circle of friends and how/where everyone is now.

Wednesday, October 21st
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I spent the morning visiting the parks, taking in the trees and leaves, and doing some Geocaching.

My personal favorite was when I went to find a cache and it ended up on the other side of the creek. Yeah, it was fall and it was chilly, but that didn't stop the kid in me. I didn't feel like driving all the way around when my goal was 200 feet away. So I simply slipped off my shoes and socks and waded the ice cold creek. Wouldn't you? When I told G & R about it, they looked at me like I was crazy. I shrugged and laughed. Am I really just a kid? Wouldn't anyone do that? I was careful to look for glass and the like, the water was crystal clear. Spent some of the day visiting Christi at work, and then I got to hang out with my GypsyJew Deb, whom I hadn't seen since I was a junior in High School. Talk about the years! We hung out and talked about our lives and everything in between, then we went and visited Blake in the hospital. I hadn't seen him since High School either, but it was great to catch up and see that he seemed to be mending well. We compared scars, but his top mine in almost every area. Poor guy. Hope he continues to mend well. After that we rushed to dinner with G & R, who ended up waiting for us... we were so late! Stupid Ohio traffic, lol. Then it was back to Deb's for SYTYCD and GLEE.

Thursday, October 22nd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Had lunch at Panera with Aimee B and John M, both of whom, again, I hadn't seen literally in years. Then we hit up the parks. I was going to teach Aimee and Christi how to geocache. They loved it. Had some festive fun in my old stomping grounds Pine Quarry.

Oh, the days of Capture The Flag!!! I MISS THOSE DAYS LIKE NOTHING ELSE.

While we were there, we really enjoyed the leaves and scenery. But we also totally found a snake! EEEEEEEE!!!!! So gross and scary! I totally screamed. Ew. *shudder*

After that we grabbed the Munchkin and went to Blacklick. The whole time I was loving the leaves, the company and snapping photos.

That night I had dinner at the Stake N Shake with my Flag Girls, it was so good to see them! This trip seemed to be overflowing with visits to and from people I hadn't seen in a good 8 years! Wow.

Rounded out the evening with my Emmy, chatting and laughing. Even got a peek at the wedding dress! Eeeeee.

Friday, October 23rd
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Day 4 brought RAIN. Pouring rain. But that didn't stop me from my traditional Bob's breakfast out with Mel. Love you girl! I piddled around for a few hours, cached a bit in the rain, and then had lunch with my High School Spanish Teacher, Sra. B. That woman is so great! I'm thankful to have had her in my life when I was a student. We had an amazing time catching up on one another over lunch. After that I went to see Chels at her house with her little girl who was so cute. I think we spent 4 or 5 hours just talking. It was so relaxing and so wonderful. Isn't it crazy how with time we become more and more comfortable just chatting? When we were kids we hated how the grown-ups would just sit and talk. Boring! Now I love it. After that I went out with Jessi (another I hadn't seen since the HS days). My Becky came to dinner too and brought a friend. Also got an impromptu visit with the S. Slack, which was great.

Then I went to chat it up and have a shake with Christi, before returning to TGIF's to round out the evening with Leah and Amber and their men. Love them.

Saturday, October 24th
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Wedding day!!! I spent the morning revisiting my childhood with Becky at the Downtown Library and doing some Family History research for my BigBro.

Then I got in a few more caches before the time for the wedding was upon us. Hung out with the parents and saw some of the pictures being taken, then caught up with more people I hadn't seen since I was a kid. Finally we adjourned outside for the ceremony, and I only wish it had been a bit sunnier so the poor wedding party wouldn't have frozen to death quite so much. The wind was horribly loud and all help the mic should have been was lost in the raging whistle of air.

The ceremony was lovely (what I could hear anyway) and then the party afterward even better. I got seated around people I didn't know, but who ended up being really cool, and the dancing was my favorite part. Yeah, there were people there who don't know me, or haven't seen me since I was a kid, but I didn't care. I only lasted a few songs before the dancing shoes came out, I changed my outfit, and that dance floor was MINE. No offense to Em and her Nate who made a valiant effort and should have had the spotlight (I deferred to them where appropriate) but I was the Dancing King.

After the Wedding Party, we hit the after-party where the fun and dancing continued late into the evening. LATE into the evening. But it was a blast and I needed it so much to help me forget the past months.

Sunday, October 25th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Much of this day was spent with Amy L., little sis of one of my best friends growing up (don't worry I spent time with him also). We went to Church together, hit a cache, and then got some lunch. After lunch I bummed around most of the day, and just enjoyed My Ohio. Fall in Ohio is GORGEOUS.

That night I went with Amy out to the boonies to see some of the Osmond's give a Fireside. That was a little anti-climactic, but I did run into one of the moms of one of my favorite people I'm sad I'm not better friends with - so it worked out okay.

Monday, October 26th
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The morning this day was definitely spent cleaning up my "room" and repacking it all into my suitcase. It was like a vomit party in there of clothes, shoes, and stuff. I mean, really, I didn't bring this much stuff on Vacation right? Nooooo. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't say special thanks to Christi for not only putting me up in her apartment, but letting Kidlet share the bed with her for a week so I could have my own room. Pretty much you're the best friend ever, Christi.

Got some lunch and finally got to see my Brit, the missing Flag Chick. She was a great conversationalist, and I loved the reunion. Tried to see my Deb to say bye, but it wasn't happening. Also missed out on visiting my old boss Wendy, though I tried.

There were so many people I wanted to see that I didn't get to. Sad day! Drove around some more revisiting memories and the world that birthed me, brought me up, and which I miss more than anything I know. So many people want me to move back. Be one with my roots again. I would love that more than anything - but I have my reasons why. They are there, and I don't have to tell you them; suffice it to say I love my home, it is close to my heart, as are all of you, but I cannot come back. Maybe that will change in time, maybe not.

Sigh. I promised this post wouldn't be sad, but it is. The wedding and my friends were great, but I still had to go back to Utah. I almost cried on the plane as the pretty trees fell away from me.

Ohio will forever be my home, even if it's not where I live at present. The people, the places, even the trees are part of the foundation that helped shaped me into the me of today. And for that I will always be grateful.

There's so much more to round out 2009! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas... yikes! Sometimes I don't think I'll ever get there!

Into the Now - Fall 2009, Part Uno

2010-02-06T18:01:00.001-07:00

Heh. I totally have a DISCLAIMER. Even better? It still applies. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So my summer of traveling began to wind down *tear.* And I was once again faced with the reality that I was a) jobless, b) still hadn't done anything about that "Grad School Thing" somewhere on the horizon, and c) I felt relatively directionless when it came to my life at large. But I blame that partly on someone trying to kill me and the subsequent lawsuit keeping me tied to this glorious (heh) State.

One weekend Turtle and I did take another trip, (this one not nearly so far or extravagant as the previous) to Rexburg. Prior to this trip, I had been their only once with some co-workers for a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip because one of my co-workers was trying to hook up with at girl at the I.

1) It was so cold my nose hairs froze and made me never want to return.
2) Genius broke his car key in half trying to turn it in the frozen door lock, so we pretty much were stranded. All our stuff of course was still in the car.
3) I may or may not have ended up making out with the girl he had made the trip to try and win over. Oops!

Anyway, enough about the past! This trip was to attend The Fall Into Books Literature Conference. And we went with Guy Francis. Who rocks. Just saying. Why would I drive all the way to Idaho just for a conference? Don't worry, I'll get there. We arrived in time for dinner and ate at Applebee's. One of two restaurants Rexburg has. Then we went and played some Laser Tag. Bliss.

We stayed the night with one of my good friends who was kind enough to open his home to us (thank you). And then, the Conference. And the reason I drove roughly 300 miles to talk about writing. Two words:

Lois Lowry.

Oh yes. The same Lois Lowry who wrote your favorite books The Giver and Number The Stars. Here's my proof:

I'm in love. Her speech was so great, and so funny. She even made a joke about the show "Big Love" and then paused and asked aloud if this was the wrong audience for something like that, which of course only had me and Turtle laughing even harder. Half the people didn't even get the joke.

Since we'd had Applebee's the day before, we decided (naturally) to have lunch at the OTHER restaurant in Rexburg: The Ghetto Taco... Bus? WTH?! Yup, you heard right. Taco bus:

The ride back was great convo and great times were had by all. Definitely worth it. Afterward, the passage of days resulted in alot of turmoil and chaos - much of which I will refrain from relating. Suffice it to say that my living situation rapidly dissolved until I was living in a shed in my friend's backyard. Yup, you heard right. Which thankfully had electricity, but not plumbing. We would have used my friend's house, but they were all deathly ill at the time. So the first whole day of living in a shed entailed going to church without shoes (I couldn't find them... all my stuff was packed in less than an hour). The topic of the lessons were on bringing in the saints from the plains (helping those in need), which Turtle used to ask some random lady for a place to shower and a home-cooked meal. This worked out nicely, and I am very grateful to those people whose names I don't even know. Once the weekend was finally over, we managed after a few hours of hunting to find an apartment that would take us. Thus began my Adventures in Urbania, and the experience of being Beyond Poor. Things increasingly weighed on us considering our unwavering unemployment.

For a while, life really was a waking nightmare.

What didn't make it onto the blog was being treated to a nice restaurant and having red wine dumped on a very expensive outfit (acquired pre-poorness), losing my attorney after 9 months (he simply one day sent an email saying he was too busy and bye-bye!!!), as well as the turmoil of sorting out my far-too-complicated-to-comment-on-personal-life, getting screamed at by people I consider very close to me about the wrongness of the decisions I was making, and no sooner did I have everything together to get a new lawyer then my phone was stolen! Really, it was unbelievable. There were a few days where by the end, I simply said to myself, "The only way this could get worse is if I get run over again." Some days I even expected this to come to fruition.

Even though we had an apartment, we didn't have very much. Especially not in the way of furniture. I crafted a TV stand out of all our luggage (since our storage space is oh yeah, zero), we went to my grandparents to get my dresser and bookcase (I didn't even remember I owned a dresser), and they were kind enough to donate a fold-up table. At a party in Provo we managed to snag two chairs. Once all my books were out and in their place, I felt alot better about myself.

For the first month or so we simply had all the blankets down we could and slept on the floor. Then thanks to the wonderful T Fitz we finally got a pair of box spring mattresses and have been content ever since (although it's still pretty cold that close to the ground). We are simply happy to have a place - which ended up working out perfectly for us because it's like 15 minutes from EVERYTHING. Except Provo. lol

I started doing a little temp work, but nothing substantial, and then finally (planned eons ago), the time had come.

I was going, literally, to my BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING! That meant a trip to my hometown! Yay OHIO! But that will have to wait till next post... (which will not be such a downer, sorry. Now you see one of the reasons I stopped blogging :P)

Pit

2010-01-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ugh.

I need to blog. I want to blog. I just can't find the energy or the strength. Yes, I realize it's pretty much February, but I still need to end 2009 officially on here, and start into 2010 (which has been pretty great so far! :D)

Having a full-time job just really puts a crimp in my motivation "after-hours." Okay, I won't lie, it pretty much obliterates it. Especially when on top of doing your regularly-scheduled job you have to try and figure out how to crawl yourself (read: your company) out a pit 40 ft deep because the last 4 people who worked your position didn't do ANYTHING (though they adamantly stamped and recorded and said that they did).

Ugh.

Perturbed

2010-01-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

See? This is what happens when you get an addiction, take an internet break, and "unplug."

When you return to your senses and come back your Google Reader has 260 new items in it. Ughhhhh...

I should have taken a picture as proof. But I just started reading instead. *Shrug*

True Confessions: 9.

2010-01-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

"Forgive me Father..."
"...for I have sinned."
And gravely so. True Confession of my soul:

9. I'm Addicted. 100%

Pretty much every free second since New Years' (when I first opened it), has gone to this.

I would feel badly about this, except for the part where it pretty much won every award possible.

Therefore I feel justified and refuse to repent.

So that's why I haven't returned your call, or texted you, or been on Facebook of late, and also why I haven't touched any of my email, reader, or... oh yeah, my blog.

I was all set to do my Year-end posts and be gung ho about the New Year... then I got sucked in.

I'm totally already level 50. Heh.

PS. They may or may not be coming out with a 2nd one...

Busy Bee

2009-11-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dang, I was doing so good! Got caught up on my summer and was ready to dive into fall... and then I didn't get to it. I think alot about my blog and the lack of time I have to write meaningful things anymore. I've sort of settled into a routine, which is fast-paced, but not without time to relax (so it's not like I'm back in college), but it doesn't leave much time for substantial things such as my blog (we're not even going to talk about my neglected journal). I'm hoping that will get shaken up soon... so I can get back to this.

I *FINALLY* got the pictures I was waiting for! So expect an edit to Summer T-log 1 for the addition of those...

Other than that, know that I am alive, and, for the most part, pretty happy. :)

Summer of Sun Travelogue - Edition 3rd

2009-11-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: Ditto.

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August 20th, 2009 - Thursday
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Scout-camp and two kid-dominated days were behind me. That meant it was time to be on the road again for another summer road trip and adventure. This particular adventure introduced us to a new friend, J (hereafter NFJ). We were initially going up for BillyBob's wedding in Boise, but NFJ was going on to Seattle after, and I couldn't turn that down. We got hooked up with him because he was BillyBob's MTC companion; he loved having me and Turtle along for the adventure. We promptly scandalized him I'm pretty sure in the first two minutes by grilling him on kissing, techniques, attributes, and yeah, pretty much everything we could think of about kissing. Quite the lip-locking conversation. Bwahahaha

We made it to Boise in the early evening, and the goal was to meet up with some old friends. But nothing ever goes as planned, does it? Erynn and Sarah formerly P. I don't know the city of Meridian very well, so I voted Erynn would pick the place and we'd just meet up. She gave us a list of options listed in the area, and we picked one: Goodwood BBQ. Because let's be honest. Goodwood BBQ = GOOD EATS. Well, when we got there, we couldn’t find the place, and Sarah was calling me. In the middle of telling her we were arriving at the conclusion that said Goodwood didn't actually exist, my phone DIED. X.x Really? Of all the times. So then I said well here’s Good Thyme, it was also on the list, so let’s go in there. Only when I got closer I realized it wasn’t even open yet. So we went next door to the nail salon where we begged to use an outlet. Only it didn’t work. My phone wouldn’t charge or turn on. Argh. So we tried the strip plug on the floor. Nothing! A third outlet further down the wall. Still nothing. I sent Turtle to the car for her charger, in case it was mine that wasn’t working. Still nothing. Do you feel the urgency of the situation? I haven't seen Sarah in 8+ years, and she thinks I hung up on her, not to mention we have no idea where Erynn is or how to get ahold of her! AHHHHHH.

I wasn't ready to give up, so we walked further along the stripmall. Closed, not open yet, empty, closed, ah! An outlet on the wall. I plugged in both chargers and tried again... NOTHING. Sigh. How is this happening? I grab Turtle's phone and dial my pops and have him start logging into my Facebook to re-look-up their numbers in the hopes I can find them before this is all disaster. Turtle opens the next door and goes in. It’s an AT&T store. Wait, what?! My phone IS AT&T! I dash in after her. The outlets in this store work! It’s not my phone that’s broken! I tell my pops we got it and hang up. He just wasn’t fast enough. I get Sarah on the speakerphone since the AT&T guy is between my phone and where it’s plugged into the wall, and I can’t quite get it to my ear. Awkward? Totally. So while I talk to her, I’m texting Erynn, who comes back to rescue us so we don’t have to get directions from Sarah. Finally, about 20 minutes late, and with the crisis over, we find a different Goodwood for dinner.

Turns out NFJ knew Erynn’s hubby, and boy, did they chat it up! Catching up with Sarah's life is phenom, since I've missed like a decade. We have a wonderful, wonderful meal of bbq with the best conversation I could ask for. This is what “dinner outing” is supposed to mean. Ah yes. Bliss.

Later that night, after getting into my pajamas, I was showing off my HBLL t-shirt to NFJ. When I turned around to show him the back, I realized that I’d forgotten about my pajama bottoms. O.O! See, they have a hole in the left butt check, about the size of a volleyball. And my buttocks was totally hanging out! Talk about MORTIFICATION!!! I don’t know if I’ve ever been redder! ZOMG I just flashed him! It was completely unintentional and I was so incredibly embarrassed. Check out my shirt, but don’t be distracted by my lil' butt cheek there, it’s just for show. EEK!

August 21st, 2009 - Friday
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We were early to the temple and got to see Billy and Hallie arriving. Billy ran out a second later because he left his marriage license in the car. We took some pictures and then were just hanging out when Billy’s Mom realized she’d forgotten her recommend. We searched her purse, but to no avail, and couldn’t get ahold of anyone where she was staying... so we offered to go after it. Only problem was that her house was like 30 minutes one-way and the sealing started in 22 MINUTES. [Insert despairing swear here] Billy’s mom was freaking out the whole time about not being able to find it, or get back on time.

Poor woman had not been in the temple in over 20 years, and got her recommend back just for this event... and then forgot it! Turtle was great reassuring her while I drove like a crazy (but safe) man. She suggested saying a prayer, to which we were all for, and she offered it, thanking the lord for the day and the opportunity to see her son. She asked him to please bless us to get the recommend with no accidents, tickets (yes!), and get back on time. Let’s go faith! Haha.

When we got to the house she just grabbed the whole suitcase and brought it back out since we were so completely out of time. Good thing she did too, because the recommend was not where she thought it was. It was in a totally different part of the suitcase. On the way back to the temple time was running out, and I kept going faster and faster. The adrenaline was definintely pumping. They told me if a cop came and put its lights on to not stop until I got to the temple doors. Billy’s mom told me she’d pay my ticket AND do my driving school. Well! In that case... I was honestly driving 100mph in a 55mph zone in the middle of the capital city of the state of Idaho!! That’s completely reckless driving. I would’ve gotten my license suspended if I got pulled over. We dropped her off at the doors at 10am sharp. Just in time. Pulling into the parking lot there was another car in front of us, going slow, so I just zipped around and kept going and looked at me like I was insane.

No sooner had we dropped her and parked, and were walking up to the temple doors, I smelled blood. Not good! Cue bloody nose 3,435,987. Sometimes I hate my life. I leaned forward so that I would be sure not to get any on my bright blue shirt. No dice. Somehow I STILL managed to get some on me. Curse it all. So we walked over the mission office and borrowed a stain stick they luckily had (they didn’t have any peroxide, dang-it-all). So now I had faded bloodstains AND giant wet spots all over me, ugh. Once the sealing was all over, and my blood was under control, the bride and groom came out and we did pictures. Then it was off to the luncheon. Billy’s Mission President and wife decided to follow us because we (supposedly) knew the way (I didn’t completely). So the crossroad I was looking for happened to be under construction and had ZERO identifications aka street signs, so I passed it. I was feeling like I went too far, so I called my mom for a google map. When she confirmed my suspicions I accidentally swore into the phone! TO MY MOM! OOPS! I was so embarrassed because she got so mad at me. I had Turtle text her and say she’s working on helping me be better (partially true :P).

When I agreed to be Best Man I didn’t realize I was getting myself into a wedding line, or I might have reconsidered (just kidding BillyBob!) but I got to stand next to Frankie (BillyBob’s Best friend since childhood) and Jarom (Hallie’s little brother) and we made it super entertaining. Jarom was getting ready to go to college and we convinced him that every time someone asked him when he was leaving for school to answer one day later. “Sept 9th.” “Sept. 10th” “Sept. 11th.” Etc. Frankie and I mixed it up by saying something different every time. “Former roommate” (true) “Lifelong friend.” “Brother.” “From Karate Class.” “He just gave me the suit and $20 to stand here.”

Another highlight was razzing the “kidlets.” There was a group of cute little 18-year olds who thought they were old and cool, and took offense at being called little. Except they were. One of them was 16, making him SEVEN when I graduated from High School. We were teasing one of the girls who was insistent that she was not a player because she just flirted. Wait, what? Bwahaha. Some of them were going to BYU-I, and so we made fun of them for having a Wal-mart that closed at 9pm. It was pretty much one of the funnest nights ever.

The best part of the night was definitely decorating the car. We got silly string and sprayed it all over, put handcuffs on the rearview mirror, attached streamers and TP, wrote in bright, bright red lipstick all over the windows. And of course, what wedding vehicle is complete without condoms. Everywhere. We also even got the photographer to come out and take pictures of a bunch of us pretending to (ahem ahem cough cough) you know (wink wink) in the front seat. Those are going to be a riot when they are going through the wedding photos – because they totally don’t know we took them. Are we evil? Possibly yes. But let me tell you that wedding was FUN, FUN, FUN.

Public Pics - Billy's Wedding (WARNING: Some of the Car pics are closer to NC-17)

August 22nd, 2009 - Saturday
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The morning started off with rafting. We weren't even in the water prolly five minutes before Turtle and I were trying to push each other in. I finally succeeded in getting her in, but only for about 5 seconds before Tobias pushed me in. It’s okay though because about a minute later, we got NFJ to push HIM in. Bwahaha.

Turtle asked Tobias if there were any rapids we could float down in person, and he said, oh yeah, any of ‘em, these rapids aren’t bad. So we decided to float one together. I swam over to her, we had our feet out, could see the rapid up ahead, and were having a lovely little conversation to ourselves about should we hold hands, why not, they did when they were little, when we suddenly heard Tobias and NFJ frantically at us to get back in the boat. They sounded pretty freaked so we turned tail and swam to the boat as they got there as fast as they could. Soon as we were in the boat, we saw the rapid ahead of us. Holy bleep! That was NOT a class 1 rapid! We would have died! Well, because of the rush to get us back in the boat we didn’t get positioned very well, so when we went down the first rapid was insane. By the time we crested the second, Tobias was underwater, and under the raft. He fell out for the first time in 12 years rafting this river.

I, too, being on the same side as Tobias, also landed in the water, facing the wrong way, and knowing that there was still much more rapid to get through. I struggled to turn myself around, and my ankle smashed hard on a rock. Then I was swallowing water because my head went under the next rapid. I came up spitting, trying not to lose my hat or sunglasses, and as soon as I could breathe, my mouth was full of water again.

This happened 3 consecutive times. I was so scared! I thought I was going to die. Like, really. Tobias told us once we were all safely back in the boat, and I’d scraped my other leg on a rock, that that rapid was definitely a class 4. And we almost went over it WITHOUT A RAFT?!?! Zounds.

But the rest of the trip was nice, relaxing, and enjoyable. There are even some pictures (I'm the one in the orange hat :P).

In the afternoon we went to my Aunt's house to drop off Turtle. My Aunt was headed down to SLC that weekend and Turtle was catching a plane to Cali on Monday. Then NFJ and I headed to Seattle. On the way there my phone died again. Just cut out with no prior warning. I tried to plug it in at a gas station, but nothing. Just like the time before! I think my phone is broken! So I went next door to a casino where I had to show I.D. just to get inside and unplug a lamp, and have my phone still not work.

NFJ’s phone was dying also, so it was a frantic few minutes to get directions to my brother’s house before we were completely dead in the water with no way to get ahold of anyone. But we made it okay.

NFJ dropped me off, and then I found my bro who had been across the street listening to people signing. After my stuff was safe in the apt., we went to the mall where they were having board game night and wiled away the hours playing Pandemic (a team game racing against an infection) and Puerto Rico (a building/trading game). There also happened to be a library in his mall, so we stopped in and I checked out a couple of Comic books. Hee.

August 23rd, 2009 - Sunday
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Went to church, slept, ate and read. More sleep, more eating, some time playing on the internet, with a game of RoboRally to cap off the evening. Nice and restful day.

August 24th, 2009 - Monday
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Went to work with BigBro, nothing crazy. Got to have lunch with Troy and Chris (and baby Sam). We couldn’t find the Indian place, so we just had Chinese, where the cool owner gave us free sushi. Score! But Troy wouldn’t eat it because he’s scared of the word RAW. It’s all mental, my good man, all mental. After that we went to Marymoor park where we played on the playground with the little man, and I helped him swing. It was so good to hang out with them! They are so fun! Then Bigbro came and we got a cache, said bye to TnC, then went caching some more while I ate blackberries off the vine. Yummmm! They were delicious! And everywhere in Seattle. A weed to the people there, a repository of delicious juiciness for me.

Then I was invited to go to a surprise birthday party. The person who invited me was a little late, so I just socialized it up with the people who were there, no worries. Since I’m not afraid to wear shorts, the subject of my leg came up and I told the story, as I always do. SIGH. Then the real surprise was on me when I found that I *DID* know the birthday boy. From my freshman ward at BYU like 8 years ago. And two of his friends I also know, from Utah. So I ended up knowing at least 25% of the attendees. The world is simply too small. And I love it. Wholeheartedly and unabashedly.

August 25th, 2009 - Tuesday
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Woke up at 6:30 because we were going to go wakeboarding, only it ended up being too windy to go, so I tried to go back to sleep. Didn’t wholly work out, but I cuddled with a kitty while drifting in and out, so meh. Then I got bored once we were at work, so I walked 5 blocks to get some food. But Applebee’s wasn’t open yet! Oops. Good thing there was a Safeway. I just got some food.

Walked back and spent most of the workday playing on the internet. Hee. And even worked on my novel some. Applied for a bunch of jobs too.

Once the workday was done, we went out caching again, because I love caching with my bro. He's the one who got me into it in the first place. Once we got back we went over to their friend's house where we played another game of Puerto Rico (I'd horribly lost the first game... we'd run out of time so I felt my strategy simply hadn't had enough time to adequately pan out, I wanted a re-try). It was pretty fun, but I again got completely trounced. At this point I gave up all desire to ever play the game again, simply accepting that I didn't understand it enough, and therefore, would lose in subsequent attempts. Bah.

August 26th, 2009 - Wednesday
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This time we got up again at 6:30 and actually went out on the water. Bigbro's business partner's lil bro was going back to school, and he wanted one more time on the lake with him. Well, turns out that I know his little bro, because he dated one of my friends for a time, and went with us on some of our summer adventures in 2006. Holy smallest world ever, Batman! Loves it. So wakeboarding was a tough learning experience for me. The other 4 people were all SO good at it! They did flips, and spins, and twists, and try as I might (and I did) I couldn't even get standing up. I was utterly crushed by my inability. :/

Ready to go!

Almost... :(

We did that super early, so we could still get Bro on time to work. Then I played online for the majority of the workday. There was a party going on downstairs for one of the dentists and we got invited to go get drinks of some variety... that were flavored... but I don't remember what kind, oops.

That night I was going to read one more big graphic novel anthology, but wakeboarding (attempting) and the rest of my whirlwind trip must have taken alot out of me, and I crashed at like 7pm and didn't wake up until it was time to go to the airport.

Yup, I said airport. When NFJ and I were driving to Seattle from Boise his car had been having some unexpected problems. When he took it into the shop, they pretty told him it was a goner. He tried to get a new car in time, but he couldn't so I ended up flying back to Utah.

In a matter of 7 measly weeks I'd managed to travel over 6,700 MILES without even owning a car (and I didn't hitchhike once). I'd spent quality time in 9 states, and seen so many people! And done so many amazing things! What a SUMMER!!!

But my summer didn't end with my glorious trips. There was more excitement ahead of me, though now it would mainly take place in Utah. But that'll be next time...