How You Doing?

I haven't done one of these in a long time!

Relationships:  I asked one of the girls I know in town if she maybe wanted to start a book/movie club with me.  We'll see what happens with that. Hopefully something will happen and I can be a little less reclusive than I am right now. I'm kind of getting bored staying at home every weekend. Surprise, surprise - no love life.  My mom was talking about how my "Knight in Shining Armor" was going to have to knock me over with his jousting pole (lol - talk about phallic symbol) and declare himself my Prince Charming since I am so stubborn.  I think she might be on to something.

I am also reminded that today is the 12 anniversary of my uncle's death.  I was very close to my uncle and was very upset that he died 19 days before my birthday.  I always can remember the day because I was always so angry that he died right before my birthday.

Health: I've lost some weight and I've started taking a lot of vitamins/supplements...as suggested by my boss.  I have Omega-3, a Daily Vitamin, and Vitamin D (lots of it).  That is to hopefully keep me from getting so low again that I need to take a prescription strength 50,000IU supplement 2x a week because I was so low.  It is really interesting all of the things that Vitamin D is linked with: depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder, facial hair growth, bone and breast health.  That is one important vitamin.  I also got some Total Tea.  It is really good tea!  It is so good and great for cleansing the system.

Career:  I have been working every other weekend at the bakery downtown.  I'm really enjoying making batch upon batch of cookies. I like baking cookies.  I actually find it relaxing.  Nothing else is really new career wise. 

Back Track and Hack

I have to go back and remark on a few things.

A) Oh, the phallic symbols in Ironclad. The pushy baron's wife that is in love with the Templar knight - she walks in and puts her hand on his sword! The next time she comes to see him in his "room," he's rubbing down his sword...guess what happened next! Yup, that vow didn't hold up.

Pst - She's about to touch his phallic symbol.

B) The big brute of a guy in Ironclad, he hacks away at this one guys arm...until it comes off. Now, I'm not in the heat of the battle here, but if I were on a force of less than 20 men against a 1000 man army - I wouldn't waste time to completely hack a guy's arm off. The first one went to the bone - shove him to the side and be done...he's gonna die of blood loss. If you really wanted to make sure the job was done - hit him in the neck. Don't waste so much valuable time and energy to sever the arm. It was pretty interesting that another guy picked up the arm and beat a guy to death with it.

C) Back to the book, One Day. The book was really good. I spent the majority of the time laughing. It was so full of awkward situations that would suck if you were in them, but looking in at the situation - you are able to laugh. The book is mostly about Emma and Dexter growing up and together throughout the years. They go through hard times, good times, times apart, time to figure out who they are and what they want. I don't know if it was how the book was written and how differently it is to see something happen as opposed to reading about it, but I hardly blinked when "the bad thing happened." (Don't want to spoil it). The ending of the movie was much more depressing and less hopeful than the book. I thought this book was beautifully written - it had the tragic and the exhilarating moments in life: things everyone goes through and things you hope to God you never have to experience. It was a very true to life kind of book - it didn't have a perfect ending, it didn't have the perfect life lived, it didn't bother to sugar coat life.

Spring Ahead

So I know that it is nearly time to fall back, but I decided that I would spring ahead. Last week, I ended up shutting my alarm off in my sleep (I'm skilled like that) and was late for work. I decided to try moving my clock in my room an hour ahead. I didn't expect it to do much for me - since I really know deep down that my clock is an hour ahead; however, I did find that is easier for me to fall asleep at night. Last night, by "10:44" I was ready for bed and had read up a bit in my Intellectual Devotional (I'm on week 26...and this is the 39th week of the year!). I fell asleep right away and slept well....Until I woke up around 4:30am. That might have had something to do with the weird dream I had about being pregnant and giving birth in my old high school. The date on the certificate that I signed for my baby: February 30, 20000000. Yup, I'm not quite sure I'll live to see the year 20Million or if my clock won't be done broked by that time!

One Day - There will be no Headaches

I finished One Day by David Nicholls and it was fantastic.  I didn't find it half as depressing as the movie.  I have a migraine though - so I'll wait until later to fully discuss.

A hot bath and some sleep for me!

Templars are Everywhere!

So I watched some good movies and some HORRIBLE movies this weekend.  OK, just one horrible movie. I watched Death at a Funeral, Ironclad, and Season of the Witch.

I wanted to watch a Matthew MacFadyen movie - we share the same birthday - and my friends had recently watched Death at a Funeral. There was a bit of a mix up with the rental at the library.  I ended up getting the "American" version of it first and I sent it back right away to get the "British" version.  It was well worth the wait to get the "British" version ... and might I say the only version to watch.  I about peed my pants laughing the whole time. It is the funniest movie about a funeral - EVER!  Matthew MacFadyen is so perfect.  As my one friend said - anything said in a British accent is ten times funnier! The movie is about a family trying to bury their father: psychedelic  drugs are accidentally given to a guest...or three, ex-lovers turn up, bodies pop up every where, and family issues are worked out. Excellent movie!

Ironclad was a movie that my librarian friend told me about.  She showed me the preview and I was hooked.  I was driving by the Redbox and I decided I needed to stop and see if they had it!  THEY DID! I was so excited.  The place I stopped had two stations - the first didn't have it, but the second was a score!  It is about a Templar knight that holes up in a castle with less than 20 guys and they fend off a 1000 strong Danish mercenary army that is helping King Richard try to re-claim his lands.  The Pope has decided to back King Richard and void the Magna Carta, thus allowing him to go around beheading the barons that had forced him to sign.  It is an awesome movie -  including all the hacking!  It is a little weird to find it exciting when a guy can cleave another man in half with a claymore...or maybe it was a broad sword.  What is the difference between the two?!?  I can completely understand why us girls are still hung up on knights in their shiny armor.  I think I fell in love with James Purefoy.

Then I waited until the next day to watch Season of the Witch.  Not only was I completely tired, but I wanted to wait until day light in case it was actually scary - besides the horrible script.  Anyways, I didn't need to wait until daylight - it wasn't even remotely scary.  The bad acting was scary.  Oh Nick Cage!?!?!?  Why did you see that script and decide to take it?  I know he secretly wants to be a Templar knight, but come ON!?! There are probably a thousand other scripts with a knight in it to live out your fantasy.

Oh, to Update!

I have to say that I feel a little "old" complaining about all the websites that have updated lately. In the last week, it seems like every site has updated to some newer, slicker version: Google, CNN.com, Shape.com, Pandora, and the ever infamous Facebook updates.

Pandora literally changed from yesterday to today. It looks a lot nicer, a lot more user friendly - and the new look is much more visually appealing. Google made some changes to Blogger and a few other little tweaks, Shape has a new layout and I still can't find very much - where did the videos go to?!?!? CNN.com has a slightly newer look/layout. The section on health that I usually use for work is more of a pain in the butt. It doesn't have articles linked to every "tab" now. The Diet and Fitness one pops up with a "no link" remark before bringing up another page with articles. Some of the sites have been slightly hindered by these updates and changes, but some are for the best. The new Facebook ones have me slightly perturbed. I just get annoyed with a the little tabs that have to pop up 500 times to tell you about new features! I spend more time clicking to close those than actually using the program. I still haven't seen how my favorite additions will work with these updates - I hope iRead still works.

Well - from worrying about iRead to Dr. Spencer Reid - CRIMINAL MINDS is on again tonight. Going to be glued to the tv!

Lasers!

This weekend, while working at the bakery, I got a few scrapes. Somewhere along the day, I scraped a huge chunk out of my knuckle. I ended up scraping even more skin off while retrieving something from the fridge...thus, I ended up with a hunk of masking tape wrapped around my finger while I worked.

The perk of working for a chiropractor is - I have use of the equipment - like our laser. It uses red light to stimulate the ATP production in the cells. I used it 3 times yesterday - and the scrape is nearly gone. The laser works for so many things - it is an AMAZING resource.

Awaken

I have so many books up in the air right now - I have been reading a book about the "Dark History of the British Royal Family - since 1066," The Capture, and One Day. I recently finished The Awakening by Kate Chopin. It is apparently considered a classic. It is about Edna Pontellier, whom undergoes an awakening. She becomes an empowered female at the turn of the century. She begins thinking about herself, who she is as a person, her wants and desires - she falls in love, has an affair, takes up art, moves into a tiny place while her husband is away. It was an okay novel, I don't have much to say about it. It was actually more on the boring side and didn't quite end the way I had imagined it. After all of her "awakening," it doesn't really matter, because she's still stuck!

Borrowed Tenderness

So I am waiting for my TV show to come on : Drop Dead Diva. It's the season finale and I'm really excited for it!

I didn't get a chance to blog on Thursday since I ran out of the house in the hopes of catching an anthropology lecture that was going on at the library. Turns out, that was the only night that it wasn't being held at the library. Gah! Oh well, I'd already missed the ones I had really wanted to hear the previous night.

This afternoon I watched Something Borrowed with some friends. I was laughing my butt off and screaming at the tv. I love friends that love shouting at the tv as much as I do! It was a really cute movie of misunderstandings and going out and getting what you want for once. It didn't turn out as I had wanted it too, but oh well. Kate Hudson was RIDICULOUS - but then again, she does tend to play crazy well.

I also watched, shock, another Russell Crowe movie: Tenderness. It is a creepy movie about a cop that follows around a phsycopath young man that got released from jail. He murdered his parents and got off as a child on antidepressants. He also murdered several other girls, but he wasn't ever convicted. He runs into this creepy girl who has only ever been abused by the men in her life. She befriends him and helps him - she also helps the cop in numerous ways.

Big Brother Wants to Know

I am a little concerned. My job has put me in a bit of an awkward situation - and I don't mean the guy that fell out of his short shorts at the gym that I have to see once a month now - no, I know that the government is no requiring a lot of information. The are going to require knowing Height, Weight, BMI, all the medications and supplements you are taking, if you smoke, if you use alcohol - how much, etc., etc.

It is a little concerning to know that Big Brother is wanting so much information on me. How much is too much for them to know? Is there nothing I can keep from being noted and filed? I know in the Facebook generation, we willingly put quite a bit of information out on the web; but those are our decisions. Now, going to the doctor for anything will get your information taken and given to the government.

I am further concerned about the FDA deciding to take over supplements. The FDA wants to control supplements now and force them to do ridiculous tests. I guess the pharmaceutical controlled government likes their money too much to really care about the preventative health measures that supplements provide. I find this all very funny because the government wants to have all this information on us so they can help us give up bad habits for good health - thus limiting what they'd have to spend on health care. I wouldn't be surprised if the Vitamin D supplements I need will soon have the price jacked up on them so high that it is only really plausible to get a prescription for it. If you want to learn more, you can read this article and get involved.

Vote

Heading out to vote! We are having a referendum...so nothing too terribly interesting. The vote is about what our city should do with the Old Gym. While I am about saving old buildings and preserving parts of history, but I also understand that we have NO money to pay for the up keep of the building. The city doesn't have the money and the schools here are already having to get rid of special education teachers and resources.

I can't say that I am too depressed that the building will be going. I just have horrid memories of running the stairs or around and around the dang thing! Not to mention I had to have horrid art class with the world's creepiest art teacher (his breath smelt of salami, coffee, and bubble gum...every day!). Not to mention, he made us watch a documentary on Leonardo Da Vinci - it was approximately 10 hours long. I now hate Leonardo Da Vinci just because of that movie. So - here is to the fate of the Old Gym!

Russ Have I Loved!

Well - there has definitely been "radio silence" from me for the last week +. I have been dealing with the stomach flu...and apparently it can go on for another whole week! Ugh. I am so ready to not be sick. I have happened to get several movies and books in while sick though - So I have plenty of material.

Yesterday was 9/11. Ten years to the day after the terrorist attacks in New York and D.C. I won't bore you with my "where was I" story - since my safe butt in the middle of no-where Wisconsin was just fine. It was hard to deal with and I remember being scared that my brother would be drafted, but that never happened...Thank God. After reading and watching several Crusades movies - it has me wondering if this is some just great big karmic play-out from the Crusades. Lord, I don't want to think about what kind of karma Westerners would get from the treatment of Jews throughout the millenia! Let's just hope it doesn't come to anything like that!

I've watched several Russell Crowe movies recently - on a Russ Crowe binge! I watched Master and Commander and Cinderella Man. Both movies were pretty good. I much preferred Cinderella Man - just because it didn't have some of the DORKY things that Master and Commander had - then again, I wouldn't be surprised if men stuck on a boat together thought "You always pick the lesser of two weevils" was funny.

Master and Commander tells the story of Capt. Aubrey and his ship. He is ordered to keep one of Napoleon's ships from entering the Pacific. Well, he doesn't do that, he ends up chasing her into the Pacific. It wasn't the worst of movies and I loved seeing Billy Boyd in the movie.

Cinderella Man was really interesting. I loved that it told the story of James J. Braddock and all the struggles he went through to make his second chance. I thought one of the cutest points in the movie was when Jim Braddock tells his son that he will never send him away.

I re-read Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson - and I totally LOVE this book. It is kind of one of those books that makes you feel like crap because you bawl the whole way through. The story is of two twin sisters - Caroline and Sara Louise. Caroline is the beautiful twin that every one loves and everything comes easily too. Poor Sara has to see her friends, loves, and dreams achieved by her sister while she closes up from the world. She finally realizes that she doesn't have to wait for things to come to her - she can go out and get them. She finally is able to overcome her feelings that she, like Esau, was hated by God while her sister, like Jacob, was loved. The parallels between the biblical story of Jacob and Esau were interesting.