last year, as my friend matt and i road tripped north carolina and virginia, we listened to 'the maze runner' by james dashner.
i had heard about the book at comic-con the prior month, and it seemed to have a huge following. i knew that it was being turned into a movie and the synopsis was right up my alley, so i thought the road trip would be a great time to try it out.
unfortunately, it was TERRIBLE. i mean, really, really bad. maybe it was just the audio book and narrator, but i've heard similar poor reviews from 'readers' since. i was a little baffled at how this book had developed any following at all, but, from what i've heard since, it seems that it's a less than great introduction to what builds into a great series. i have my doubts.
nonetheless, it's bad-ness became a bit of a bonding experience and the jokes continue to this day. whrrrr. click. click. click. (if you've read it, you'll understand)
when the movie's opening day was finally set, matt and i knew we had to go check it out. i mean, we had already committed 10 miserable hours to the thing, might as well add a couple more.
me, trying to take a pretty photo of a delicious
looking crepe. matt, trying to mess it up.
this round goes to him.
imagine our surprise when it was pretty good! in fact we both quite enjoyed it. the writing was far better suited to a visual portrayal than to words on paper. seeing what had been described in the book (pretty poorly in some cases) finally made the story and characters interesting. it was well cast, and there were a few really tense moments (even though i knew what was coming). watching it with matt, my partner in literary pain, was exquisite.
following the movie, we headed to a favorite of matt's - a local mexican place with the most amazing carne asada. interestingly enough, the meat always reminds me of the best steak-and-cheese sandwich i ever had. one of these days, i'm just going to buy some meat, take it home, throw it on a sub roll with some mayonnaise and grilled onions and pretend i'm eating trio's again!
we made quick work of dinner so that we still had time for dessert at a mutual favorite, la creperie. it goes without saying that the chocolate - chocolate- strawberry crepe was divine, and a perfect way to end the evening.
thanksgiving can be a difficult holiday for me. i lost my dog cyra on my first thanksgiving here in california, and, with only a couple of exceptions, have spent most of them (since i moved here) flying solo. it always seems to be a reminder that my family is far away.
this would be the year to change all that, however! my cousin and her family recently moved to las vegas from utah. initially, i thought this would just help make my dreaded work trips there a little sweeter, but i didn't realize there would be a holiday bonus as well!
laurie and her husband shawn were hosting thanksgiving for her siblings and their families, and were kind enough to invite me to join them. i just couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the holiday with so many people i love.
the long weekend consisted of everything a good thanksgiving SHOULD consist of; great food, great conversation, games, movies, sleeping in, staying up too late, pool and hot tub time (i mean, it's vegas after all), and a 15 passenger van.
growing up, i only saw these cousins about once every other year, but i have always felt a deep connection and abiding love for them. they are people who i would choose to spend time with even if we weren't related, and based on some of the families i know, that is the highest praise i can give.
returning from baton rouge on sunday with a couple days off ahead of me, i couldn't help but wishing that i didn't have to spend them at the dmv, doctor's office, and doing laundry. but the pill was a little easier to swallow when i realized that i don't have to make my way back to an airport for a full month.
a month. at home. whatever will i do?
well. i think i'll start by having dinner with a cute (local and mormon!) guy i met in november.
then i plan to join some friends for the dr. who season premiere (complete with souffles in honor of the doctor's new companion).
then i'll finish off the week by making my way over to wondercon (comic-con's little sister conference) to gawk at nathan fillion and joss whedon at their 'much ado about nothing' panel.
had you heard? did you know that joss had re-made much ado? given that i use emma thompson and kenneth branagh's benedick and beatrice as a model for my ideal relationship, there is much to live up to. but if anyone can, joss can. (trailer below)
since tickets to the sunday line-up are $10, and it's in my backyard (moved from san francisco due to scheduling conflicts), i could hardly resist. it will be an atypical easter, but i'm hoping the timing works out so that i can join my cousins for dinner to celebrate the holiday.
at some point, i'd also like to see 'the host,' the new movie based on stephenie meyer's book (which by the way, was MUCH better than her more popular vampire series), but, i guess i've got plenty of time for that... uh hip, hip, to the hoppety hip, to the hip hop hippety hop. okay, yeah, i'm a little excited to be home.
aptly named, this 'based on a true story' movie seems all but impossible. the idea that that there could be a happy ending in a tragedy that took nearly 300,000 lives, seems beyond reason.
and truly, it is beyond reason. it can't be explained or justified, it just is what it is. miraculous.
sometimes i find myself hoping for miracles in my own life, yet lacking faith in their ability to manifest. a movie (story) like this reminds me just how powerful god is and just how able to work those miracles.
i just couldn't stay away from argo. i try and be conscientious about movie ratings, but argo had my name written all over it.
first, it's ben affleck, who i've loved since good will hunting when everyone else was falling all over themselves to get in line behind matt damon. don't get me wrong, matt damon is great, but ben affleck has always been a little more "me". there was a time around those jennifer lopez years where i hid my love in a closet, but thankfully, the jennifer garner years (who doesn't love them some alias?) have allowed me to open that door, and open it wide.
more importantly though, i grew up in a world where employees of the "state department" were my sunday school teachers, middle-eastern souvenirs turned out to be live grenades, the words "assassination attempt" were part of my childhood vocabulary, and there was a day where my father sat in ronald reagan's oval office and was 'encouraged' to hold the iran-contra scandal he had discovered.
iran was a place i was aware of, even at a young age. in fact, despite the fact that we lived in a pretty "white" northern virginia suburb, my best neighborhood friend, bita, was first generation iranian-american.
i was fascinated by her. i loved listening to her speak farsi and tell stories about her home. in hindsight, i wonder if my dad found it ironic that during the time iran was so heavily featured on the world stage (and in his life) that it was also so relevant in my world, for completely different reasons.
at any rate, when i first heard about argo, i was excited and hesitant. i was too young (3) to remember any of the details of its non-fictional origin story, so i was curious and interested. it reminded me of my childhood after all (how many people equate iran and hostages with memories of their childhood, i ask you?). and it's also ben affleck. on the flip side, i've been on a run of crappy movie choices lately, and i didn't want to be disappointed by this one. i waited for the reviews to come in, and was blown away by the high rankings. and that made me even more hesitant. with great expectations comes the very large possibility that they will not be met.
but i got over it, and it's one of the few times my great expectations have been exceeded in a movie theater. after all, how does a movie where you already know the ending (spoiler alert: the hostages get out) keep you engaged and wondering what's going to happen next?!
somehow, it did. somehow knowing that there was a happy, real, ending, did not lessen one ounce of the tension i felt. i white-knuckled it through the particularly stressful moments and felt genuine concern for the characters, forgetting time and time again that they would in fact escape, and wondering which moment would be THE moment where it would all fall apart. it's what makes the movie genius. perfectly cast, acted, and directed, it gives you just enough, but not too much, and all at the right times and in the right ways. it's been a long time since a movie hit the mark for me like this one hit the mark.
and my last, lingering, thought, is one of gratitude. i am grateful for the unsung heroes. the ones whose faces don't make the six o'clock news, and whose names simply become stars carved on marble walls. and i am grateful for the sacrifices that i don't even know have been made in order to secure the freedoms that i and all other americans enjoy.
i wish i actually had a bucket list. an official one. where items on said list had numbers, and could be crossed off or check-marked, providing the immense satisfaction that us virgos can only get by crossing things off lists. sadly, i don't.
i should add that to my 'to do' list.
suffice it to say that even though it's very unofficial and does not require ink or a keypad to log completion, i do have a running list of things i want to do, try, see, in my head. one of those things was to see one of the summertime movie screenings in the hollywood forever cemetery.
check.
having removed myself from a work trip to vancouver canada due to sheer travel exhaustion, i was home for an entire weekend. when my friend jami asked if i'd be interested in seeing 'dawn of the dead' at the hollywood cemetery, i jumped at the chance.
we were joined by a newish (to me) friend, whitney, and came prepared with our chairs, snacks, and mst3k (mystery science theater 3,000) style commentary. having never seen the movie before, i was fascinated to learn how many story lines from my current obsession, the walking dead, seemed very similar to its zombie predecessor.
we enjoyed the movie, the people watching, and the cemetery itself. we wandered the portions of the ground that the security guards would allow, enjoying the sheer grandeur of site.
we also wandered into a line that turned out to be a themed 'photo booth' with a professional photographer, and assistants carefully directing the smoke, providing a perfectly eerie setting for our group photo.
it was a perfect way to cross this one off the intangible but completely real, bucket list.
most of you will know that i read a lot. sometimes 'actual' reading, and sometimes audio books. in fact, i've developed an audio book addiction, as it significantly helps pass the one-hour-each-way commute to work.
my latest audio book was 'the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society', and i absolutely loved it. i'm not sure that i would have taken to it as quickly in traditional book form, but the audio book format, and the different readers, entranced me from the first words.
i know (based on your goodreads shelves) that many of you have already read the book, but for those of you who haven't, let me see if i can convince you that you should.
the book consists solely of correspondence between the characters in post- wwII britain. every character description and plot narrative unfolded within the context of these letters, and you spend the entire book feeling like an eavesdropper or voyeur, and loving every minute of it.
fiction about this time period often feels dismal and sad, and while i'm not averse to serious subjects, i prefer to finish a book not wanting to kill myself. this book tackled subjects of sacrifice and loss, and circumstances i hope i never find myself in, in powerful and moving ways, without leaving me depressed and disheartened. instead, as i neared the conclusion, i found myself wanting to find out how it all ended while simultaneously never wanting it to end! and, of course, i found myself wanting to book the next flight to guernsey.
i won't go into the details of the plot, as you can read it for yourself, but suffice it to say that in my opinion, it has everything a good book should have...including british accents.
in addition to my 'reading', it's been a busy movie week! while in dallas, i absconded to a local theater in my off time to see 'secretariat', and i think it's fairly obvious that the movie appealed greatly to the horse-loving cow-girl in me.
my only fear had been that the 70's setting (and wardrobes) would be a distraction (not a fan), but it turned out to be a non-issue. i was reminded just how much i enjoy diane lane, john malkovich's portrayal of secretariat's trainer was laugh-out-loud funny, and yeah, i cried like a baby. just something about the power, intelligence, and sheer magnificence of an animal like that, tickles my weepy bone.
on friday a few of us from the ward got together to see 'the social network.' the reviews were good and the movie was as well. my roommate and i were surprised that we were the only girls in the group, but also not complaining. and, since our original show time preference was sold out, we had some time to kill before the next showing. since i'm on the road so much, there are so many people in my ward that i don't know very well, and the wait time gave me a chance remedy that.
i was a little embarrassed when i asked one of the guys in the group how he knew one of the other guys. his response was 'from the ward,' and i followed up with 'oh, how long have you been in the ward?' turns out, he's been in the ward for a year, and yes, i am a shmuck. ah well, just another reason i'm glad to be home for awhile!
i wrapped up movie week on saturday afternoon when my roommate and i took advantage of the drizzly day to lose ourselves in a little josh duhamel. i've actually been looking forward to 'life as we know it' for some time, and i'm glad to say that i wasn't disappointed.
i mean, it's a chick flick, so you pretty much know what you're going to get. and while it was fairly stereotypical, i also appreciated that there were some deeper layers and truly tender moments relating to unexpected parenthood. it, unlike most chick flicks, is on my 'to buy' list.
last but not least, i'll just mention that at both movies this weekend, in a trailer for a new reese witherspoon/owen wilson movie, there was a song i adored and had to look up later. turns out, i loved almost every itunes clip from the album and immediately downloaded it. if i ever get around to posting a new playlist (i'm sorry about that. really!) brendan james will definitely be on it. in the meantime, check him out for yourself. my favorites are 'the lucky ones' and 'the fall' (video below). it will take more time to be sure, but (dare i say it?) there may be a joshua radin dethroning in the future.
i just saw a commercial for a new movie starring drew barrymore & justin long about a long distance relationship. anybody else amused that such a movie would be opening on my birthday?
i think it's the universe's way of wishing me a happy one, but i'm not sure if i should blow out the candles before or after i know what the ending is:)
how i do LOVE the long weekends. well, i love any weekend i don't have to work. but a long one? bonus! i didn't do anything super fantabulously interesting, but it was great. went to see angels & demons on friday night with my friend jamie. mediocre at best. even though i preferred the book over the da vinci code, the movies suffered a reversal in favor.
saturday i spent a good portion of the day cleaning, and more specifically cleaning the patio furniture we've inherited. i don't know why, but spider webs are like a virus where we are, and even though i'm constantly wiping them off, i thought maybe a good scrub down might keep them at bay longer. they were back by sunday night. :(
after getting a lovely little burn (now tan, because that's just how my body is) i headed to chino hills to meet melissa and joan for dinner. joan's in town from phoenix for a dog show, and brought along her sister and brother-in-law. marti, the sister, and i met in december at the akc dog show, so it was a fun reunion. worth noting is that chino hills has been the epicenter for the two recent earthquakes here (one of which i mentioned having felt during long beach pride), so we hoped that things would remain quiet. by that standard, they did, but our nonstop laughter made up for the lack of earthly rumbles. my jaw seriously hurt by the time dinner was done.
on sunday, jesse came down from santa barbara to hang out for the remainder of the holiday. we saw star trek (just as good, if not better, the second time), ghosts of girlfriends past (ugh. i am officially bored with matthew mcconaughey), visited rei (aka 'boy heaven') and ikea. i was particularly excited about being pushed around on one of those 'big stuff'/furnture carts at ikea. smooth ride, and after already having been at the store for some three odd hours, jesse kinda owed me ;) okay really he didn't. if there's one thing that i am constantly appreciative of and confused by it's that jesse is a consummate gentleman, and rarely (and usually only if i'm super sneaky fast) let's me pay for things, i.e. meals, movies, etc. i'm always a little torn because it's such a nice thing to do, but at the same time, i hate the idea of being 'expensive' to spend time with. plus i'm just not really used to it. even my former boyfriends went dutch more often than not, and yes, i realize what that says about my former boyfriends. tangent aside, he always takes good care of me, and we always have a good time.
if you can believe it (that might be my new favorite phrase), i did not take one single picture this weekend. so perhaps now is a good opportunity to remind you that there are loads and loads of pics that never see the light of the blog, but are instead housed at my photo site: tva.smugmug.com, and to assure you that there will probably be more pictures than you would ever care to see after next weekend!
hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday, and took just a moment at least, to remember and thank those who have fought died defending the freedoms we enjoy today.
this one was in long beach, and truth be told, it was kind of a rough weekend. my brakes started grinding on the way to the event saturday morning, which meant i couldn't take care of them for a full two days. and if that was enough bad news, my gps was stolen from my car. awesome.
i will say that i really really have come to adore my co-worker melissa, and working with her always makes giving up a weekend more bearable.
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while at pride sunday night, we got a pretty good earthquake. a 4.7 i believe. it was a very surreal thing to be outside and to watch the earth kind of do the wave in front of me. it makes me a little nervous that there have been so many earthquakes since my arrival here, but my native californians assure me that some years are that way, others are not. i am certainly hoping we're not due for the 'big one' any time in the near future!
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i am so excited for memorial day weekend. a weekend i'm actually NOT working. and i get to focus on doing a little as humanly as possible.
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cordy is doing amazingly well. she's pretty much the cutest dog ever. it's been soooo fun to watch her personality evolve as she settles in and as she interacts with the other two canine roommates. lots of tail wagging and tonight, yes, tonight, there was dancing.
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i finally took some pics of the house!
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every short attention span theater needs a little irony. remember my friend jesse? the one i completely randomly ran into on a plane that one time? well, it turns out that that was not the last of our strange meetings. though he was already planning on helping me with the 'do nothing' holiday weekend, it also turns out that the following weekend we'll both be in seattle. i'll be there for work, and he'll be there killing some time before heading out on a cruise with his fam. the irony is that i only learned late last week that i would be needed, so it's not a trip i was originally planning on. but one which is shaping up to be a really good time!
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speaking of seattle. i am super excited to see my old frined leah. not that she's old (we're the same age), but we literally grew up together. two doors down, all through junior high and high school. she ended up joining the church, temple marriage, whole shabang. it's probably been 7 or 8 years since i've seen her, and she lives outside of seattle with her hubby and kids. it is going to be so fantastic to reconnect!
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i saw star trek a couple of weeks ago, though i haven't posted since. seriously, how awesome was that?! i loved every minute of it.
********************************** this episode of sast is now concluded.
as a result of circumstances and timing i ended up seeing the 12:01 am showing of twilight on thursday night/friday morning, and my experience was mixed. i found that much like twilight: the book, i can't really explain why i liked twilight: the movie, but i did. enough to see it a second time in a couple of days. i've come up with a list of positives and negatives to help me sort through the dichotomy that is twilight.
on the negative... 1. jasper and jacob: jasper was by far the most poorly cast character. looking at him i was honestly baffled as to how he got this gig. can anyone say 'nepotism'? as for jacob, at the moment, i'm sad. i've always preferred him to edward, but this actor just isn't doing it for me. maybe by movie 2 when the character comes into his own i'll feel him a bit more, but i'm really skeptical at the moment.
2. money money money: i know this was low budget, and i didn't expect much. the two areas i felt could have been better approached, even on a low budget were carlisle's makeup and edward's twinkling. to the first, i just don't understand why 1) they made him so much paler than the others, and 2) where the makeup artist learned (or didn't learn) to blend. as cousin jenny pointed out 'i could SEE the line!' frankly, there's no excuse for that. as to the second, i just have to believe there was a better way to handle edward's 'i sparkle like diamonds in the sunshine' bit.
4. would you like crackers with that cheese: i knew the cheese factor would be high, although admittedly there was less than expected. however, when present, it was so sharp that it made me throw up a little in my mouth.
5. huge chunks of plotline/conversation left out: this is the fate of every book to movie journey, i know. but i felt like the bad guys vs. good guys portion of the story was inconsequential and irrelevant, included only to set a precedence for future plot lines, not because it actually had any merit on its own. i remember reading the books and feeling bella's fear while james terrorized her and edward's panic to protect her, but i felt none of that in the movie. i mean, so what he broke her leg. instead they spent sooo much time building the relationship portion, it was as if these other vamps were an afterthought. don't get me wrong, i loved the relationship building, i just thought the balance was off.
6. the soundtrack was trying to hard to be cool and failing (see #3 below for the one exception)
and on the positive... 1. edward, bella, alice, and jessica were all phenomenally cast: i'm semi-biased about pattinson because i had a crush on cedrick diggory long before he became edward cullen, but in general the casting was quite good. those named above are simply the 'stand outs' for me.
2. awesome chemistry between bella and edward: those stares gave me chills, and they definitely reminded me how intense and consuming it feels when you are a teenager in love.
3. a gorgeous piano piece (i downloaded it immediately - 'bella's lullaby', carter burwell) accompanying a perfect scene: honestly, if i had to pick one thing that sold the movie for me, it was this scene. i found it amazing that though there was no dialog and the scene was simply edward playing the piano for bella, you could feel her falling more in love with him. maybe i relate because i'm a sucker for men who play piano. i'd be falling more in love too!
4. huge chunks of plotline/conversation left out: it's no secret that in the book i found bella to be whiny and edward to be controlling. not having to hear bella's thoughts constantly, made me like her so much more! and rather than being a dominating chauvinist, edward got to be the white knight hero that he should have been in the book.
5. a few really great moments: there were some significant failures and some spectacular successes. i suppose to an extent i expected the failures, so the successes came as a wonderful surprise. there were a few moments i had to pause and acknowledge that something had been well played. standout moments for me included the baseball game (one of my favorite parts of the book), edward's sleep watching, billy's wheelchair antics, charlie (everything about charlie), and the scenes where edward and bella were talking, but all we heard was music. it was a brilliant way to advance the relationship without having to get too nitty gritty.
6. james looks like brad pitt, and that ain't bad. now am i right, or am i right?
overall, i liked it. there is something to be said for low expectations, but given the parameters (a poorly written book and a low budget) i enjoyed the movie a great deal. i expect much more from the second movie, although despite my history with jacob, i am sort of sad now that edward will be missing for so much of the flick. that being said, i hope jacob can redeem himself, carlisle gets better makeup, somehow it will start making sense how jasper got cast, and that nobody messes with the stuff they got right this time around!
well, i am less angry today. the good news is, no tirades or finger pointing. the bad news is less anger=more sadness. my friend adam put it perfectly when he said that anger takes the edge off sadness. truer words were never spoken.
i don't know if you are like me, but i have watched many friends face difficult trials. i always feel helpless, knowing that words cannot take the place of a magic wand. and i always wish that there was something i could do. anything.
well, my friends, there is something you can do for me. maybe two somethings if the first applies.
i can't help but keep qualifying my sadness. logically i recognize that losing an animal is different than losing a friend or family member of the human variety. i have friends that have faced the latter, and a part of me thinks it's unfair not to acknowledge that. yet, emotionally i feel like a part of me just died and i want to be able to just be illogically sad for a little while. so. if you have lost someone close to you. i need your permission to grieve without caveats or exceptions. it doesn't matter how you give it..email, text message, comment on this post...i just need you to tell me that it's okay to feel as badly as i do (assuming you have not already done so).
the second something, which applies to everyone, is alluded to in the title of this post. my all-time greatest coping mechanism has been finding the 'reason' in the oft quoted phrase 'everything happens for a reason.' i understand that we don't always get to know why things happen, which is why i often just make things up. don't knock it. it works for me. at least it usually does.
this time, however, i haven't been able to come up with something i haven't also been able to talk myself out of shortly thereafter. this is where you come in. answer the question 'why?' the only rule is that it needs to stand up to scrutiny. it doesn't matter how far-fetched it might appear on the surface, how complicated or convoluted, whether it's thoughtful or delusional. funny is allowed. a good laugh would be much appreciated. use your imagination.
the one answer not on the table is this: maybe i need to live in a certain place that i couldn't have lived in with a dog, because my roommate is going to introduce me to my future husband.
i've already talked myself out of that one. everything else is fair game.
monday marked one month since my arrival in california.
give me a second to process that.
one month. do you remember when a month used to feel like an eternity? in some ways, it still does, but in most, i find myself wondering what happened to all of those days. what did i accomplish? how did i fill my time? did i make the most of it?
often the answer is a disappointing no, but in this case, i feel 'yes' is appropriate. maybe not a resounding yes, but a yes nonetheless.
i've spent a good deal of time job hunting or job pursuing. the bay area job, as i expected, was an option. on wednesday of last week, i had made the final decision not to continue the process, and informed the recruiter of such. what i didn't expect was just how much the company wanted me. on thursday and friday i considered to receive phone calls from various vps at the company...some trying to talk me into accepting the job, some just wanting to find out what reason i might have for not wanting it.
on paper, it was fantastic. a lot of money at a great company. my budgets would be enormous, my clients even more so. so how do you explain 'it just doesn't feel right.' i gave all of the logical reasons i could come up with, but i'm sure they all remain a little baffled. to a certain extent, me too.
but my decision has been confirmed, at least by my own reasoning. friday, i got a call from a company i had submitted my resume to about a month ago. i can't explain what about this particular position or company appealed to me, but as i've carefully tracked all the positions i've applied for, this one somehow stood out. i sent my resume to them three times...just in case.
the short of it is that i interviewed with them on tuesday. i had mixed feelings about how the interview went (the woman was completely unreadable!), but did feel strongly that it would be a good fit all around. the job itself is right up my alley--a corporate event position that seems to have everything i'm looking for...right type of events, right salary, right location (just over 10 minutes from my cousin's house).
the company is looking to move quickly. i have a second interview on friday, and i'm very optimistic. keep your fingers crossed!
so when not job hunting, i've been trying to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. i have been pleasantly surprised to find that in the former case, people here are friendly and open. i haven't met anyone yet with whom there was an instant 'click', but there is definite friendship potential all around. in regards to the latter, i have had a chance to spend more time with my high school friends--brandon and michelle in particular.
a couple of weeks ago, when the party discussion turned to 'buffy', it was suggested to me (as it has been many times over the years) that i really needed to see 'firefly', also created by joss whedon. so last friday we began the marathon to be continued tomorrow night.
it has been immensely fulfilling--the rekindling of these friendships. i have been fortunate enough to have maintained contact with a few old friends. though there are notable exceptions, most of my closest friends are people i've known for a decade or more. i can't help but wonder if that's not because the core of our personalities is formed very early on, so the self of our youth, is the purest self we ever are. we add experiences over the years. we pick up baggage and mature (hopefully), but perhaps the people that resonate with that self of youth, will always have the ability to do so. it's an imperfect theory, i realize, but in my case, i can't think of one close friend from years gone by, one who i chose consciously or unconsciously (not as a result of circumstance, but actual choice) who i think i couldn't/wouldn't be friends with today. and i have most certainly reaped the reward of my imperfect theory.
i got a call from brandon last night, and i didn't get the message until late. michelle sent an email today saying she'd like to chat, and when i called her, i was devastated to learn that last week--the day after our firefly marathon part 1--brandon was diagnosed with cancer. though he has been back in my life for all of two weeks (at least the physical presence part), the news came as an absolute shock. the good news is that it has been caught early, though they don't know yet exactly what they are dealing with. they know it's malignant. they know it's in his lungs (ironic, since he has never been a smoker), but they also know it did not start there. tomorrow morning they will be doing a more invasive procedure to determine the origin and the extent.
needless to say, there are a lot of prayers being said. tomorrow is a big day all around.
so, for no good reason, here are movie (trailers) i'm looking forward to.
out now (no comments about how far behind i am, k?):
coming soon:
has anyone seen 'becoming jane'? i simply cannot stand anne suckaway, but aside from that, i want to see it. i need reviews all you austen-o-philes.
and by way of actual updates...well, it's been kind of a slow week. i'm still bed bound for the most part, and have been living on a diet of rita's pina colada italian ice for the last for days, as it's the only thing i can consume that doesn't kill my throat. i got a nice shout out on heidi's blog today. oh, and i'm working on a new playlist (should be up tomorrow). currently, i'm obsessed with a fine frenzy and colbie caillat, and i'm having trouble narrowing down which songs to include, since both albums are hitting the spot in their entireties.
in light of recent events, i thought it important to focus on the positive things going on right now. in no particular order...
thanks to an industrious avalon theater employee who took the time to email me about tickets going on sale, and thanks to rae, who got them for us, we now have tickets for the buffy sing-a-long!
i have a phone interview on monday for a company in newport beach that i am REALLY excited about! they contacted me, and the job is a perfect fit. in addition, they know i'm in virginia not california (ie..willing to pay for relocation??) and this may be just the answer i've been waiting for. (keep me in your prayers, please!)
beautiful weather and yet, the small number of friends i have were gone or otherwise occupied. i struggled to find something to do outside that i would be happy doing alone. i love to read, but if i am going to hang out at a park, i'd rather have company. reading is for planes, and beaches, and bedtime.
so..i decided to go horseback riding. i had heard of a place that offered unguided trail rides for cheap. lara, nick , and i have talked about going, but never been able to find a time. so i thought i'd check the place out. me + horse does not equal alone.
i had found some contact info online, so i called. wrong number. so i called information. they had no such listing. i tried again and provided the address. there was another stable listed at the address, and when i called, i learned that it was the same place with a name change. only problem was, apprently they stopped offering unguided trail rides over two years ago.
needless to say, i was bummed.
so i consoled myself in the only way i knew how...by staring at george clooney, brad pitt, and matt damon for a couple of hours. and i was cured!
actually, ocean's 13 is my favorite of the series. 11 was great, 12 was disappointing, and this one, i absolutely loved!
so that is pretty much the weekend recap.
oh! i almost forgot!
friday night, i went up to frederick for a pseudo-impromptu birthday celebration for corey, since he will be out of town for his actual birthday.
jill did an excellent job with the food, and i enjoyes looking through the photographer's wedding pictures. the only downside is that it was me and jill and corey, and three couples i didn't know. i will admit that i was a little uncomfortable being 'odd single woman out', but i overcame, and was glad to have the time with one of my favorite couples:)
life is full of little contradictions. for instance, i don't like football, but i like football movies.
in an unplanned maneuver, two of my recent netflixes have been football movies. the first was 'invincible.' set in the 70s, mark wahlberg plays a local boy who walks on to the philadelphia eagles.
the second was 'gridiron gang'. set in modern day, dwayne 'the rock' johnson plays a correctional officer at a juvenile detention facility, who decides to turn his little criminals into football players.
both are based on true stories, which is always a good start for me, and both leads are fairly delicious. wahlberg, even with his 70's shag cut is still fine. and despite the furrowed brow, i've been a little in love with the rock since i saw him making valentine's cookies on martha stewart many years ago. the guy is funny.
both movies are tales of the underdog, and who doesn't love an underdog? my preference however, was gridiron gang. while invincible captured the struggle of one man to overcome odds, gridiron gang, instead told a tale of someone who affected change within his circle of influence, so that many could overcome odds. i am almost always moved by stories like this, and their lesson that not only is change possible, but one person can have power to orchestrate it in a meaningful way.
i enjoyed both flicks, and both surpassed expectations, but if i had to recommend one, it would definitely be gridiron gang.
***
last week word came down that they were moving our procurement department from the building next door into this one, which means my having to move to accommodate. the office of any event planner is akin to a black hole of miscellaneous items; leftover awards, flip charts, boxes of name badges, gift bags, more catalogs than one person should have, files on top of files, random gifts from venues like pillows and robes and place card holders. it is organized chaos at best, and disaster at worst, depending on the event season. so the prospect of moving has not been a pleasant one. especially since i am only moving four doors down. yes, it is a bigger office, but if you ask me, it's a lot of trouble for a lot of people for only four doors.
earlier this week i was told by our facilities department (the department that has a crush on me) that i could leave everything on my bookcase and in my filing cabinet. this was sweet relief, and as i watched my hall-mates pack up their cabinets and bookcases, it would seem they made an exception in my case.
i can't officially move until late next week when my new desk arrives, but my new office was vacant as of yesterday. while the guys were moving other folks on the hall, they asked if i needed anything. 'well, whenever you can move my white board and cork board, that would be great.' it was immediately taken care of, which is especially humorous since colleagues of mine have waited upwards of two months to have that 'service' performed. there are most definitely perks to being a 'favorite.'
below is a pic of the madness, and yes, the little boy (in the striped shirt) in the pic is the 'new guy.' he apparently continues to ask other folks about me, and doesn't seem to be put off at having been told 'she only dates mormons.' he did finally speak to me yesterday. his profound first words were 'tara, are you moving today?' what can i say? he's 21.
***
i often forget how much taller i am than most of my girlfriends (most of my guy friends too!), until i see pictures of us standing. it's why i make deb stand on ledges and steps above me.
***
i don't have anything to do this weekend. on one hand that is a glorious thing, since i don't have to teach. on the other, i don't have anything to do this weekend. maybe i'll start packing. giving myself a week is usually a good idea. and if i start packing, i guess i should do laundry. phew. now i have something to do this weekend.
1. this upcoming trip is getting better and better. looks like deb will be coming out for a long-weekend of skiing during the utah portion, and will be staying with me at my cute cousin's place. seriously, so many of my favorite people in one place, i almost can't stand it!
2. anne and i went to see amazing grace last night. there haven't been many television promos, as far as i can tell, but i've seen enough movies lately that the trailer peaked my interest. i am happy to report that i really really enjoyed it. i've seen crappy movies (because i said so) and mediocre movies (breach) lately, so it was a nice treat. it is the story of william wilberforce and his successful effort to abolish slavery in england in the early 1800's. maybe i'm just a sucker for a feel good story, or a british accent, but it was a well spent $9.75. in fact, i probably would have paid that just to listen to the bagpipe version of the song that played just before the credits.
my only irritation is not having known the story prior to my london trip. knowing he was buried in westminster abbey would have made the organ recital there just that much more meaningful...
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