funny

It’s my friend Adam’s birthday today (well, technically just past as it’s now past midnight.) I always forget and think his birthday is in March. He was due before me. Our mom’s were in a childbirth class together and the story goes that his overdue mom came to visit my mom and Adam met me through her belly and decided he wanted to come out too.

So, from conception he was older, but from birth I was. We were born in California and then both our families moved to Utah when we were toddlers. Our families visited each other every now and then, and I have many memories of Star Wars based play. He got all the cool toys. We even had the same baby dolls.

Adam died when we were 29. Wow. When I was planning this post in my head I was planning to say that I was over the grief of it now, which I think I mostly am, but writing that still makes me cry.

It’s funny. I didn’t remember it was his birthday until my mom mentioned it, but I did remember him last night and I think it was after midnight. I was reading about Mimi Smartypant’s mini smartypants who was playing Star Wars based play with her boy pal.

Oh, Adam. Oh Adam’s parents. I was pretty much sick with grief when he died. I did have a nice dream in the weeks after that comforted me and the last moment of it is an image I see when I think of him. Here’s how I remember it now:

I’m in a big building that looks something like a conference building. One side of the building is glass. People are walking around. It’s like a prison because we can’t get out. Someone may have announced that we can’t get out. It’s not a horrible place to be. It’s just that we have to stay there.

I’m following a man. He’s walking in front of me, somewhat purposefully. He walks along the walkway in the building by the glass wall and then suddenly, he opens a door and just walks out! I’m astonished. I can’t follow him anymore, and I’m sad he’s leaving us, but I’m glad for him that he made it outside. I watch him go, through the glass. He keeps walking, never turning back, over the broad expanse of the earth, towards the sunset.

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I wanted to learn Tom Hagerty’s scalp exercises to get the same results he has: no forehead wrinkles, lots of hair with his original hair color. (He is over 74 and still has naturally dark hair!) Previously, I couldn’t even feel the muscles at the back of the head he was talking about. Tonight I tried again and I could almost feel them, but couldn’t feel them enough to have any control over them. Bonus: If you can control those muscles, you can wiggle your ears.

Then I talked to my genius mom:

Me: How’d you do it?

Mom: It helps to look in the mirror at first. When I first started trying to wiggle my ears…

And then I stopped her because, although I knew she could wiggle her ears, it had never occurred to me that at one point she couldn’t wiggle her ears, had wanted to wiggle ears, had made it a goal to do so, and had practiced until she succeeded. !

Me: Wait, wait, WHY did you want to learn how to wiggle your ears?!

Mom: Hmmm… I don’t remember now… but at first I could only just barely see them moving. You know when you move your head out and back like you are an Egyptian?

Me: Yeah

Mom: Well, try and move the front of your face out front while you try and hold the back of your head in place.

Me: Wait… this feels really weird…

And then, wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, I could squeeze my back scalp muscles together and wiggle my ears.

“Walk like an Egyptian!!”

If you ever need to giggle, try a little wiggle. We were talking on skype and I was very seriously showing her my progress, while she was wiggling her ears too, “Look, look, did you see my ear wiggle!” Then we both started laughing.

The funniest part about this, to me, is imagining my mom looking in the mirror and trying to wiggle her ears, and going about it with the hard working dedication that she applies to most everything. Ahhhh…. funny.

Update 4/15/08: It really works! After just a day of doing the scalp exercise, the horizontal lines in my forehead are significantly reduced! I got those lines young due to my face actually freezing in that expression. :) I hadn’t been able to relax my face consistently enough or do anything else to get rid of them. WOW. This is a truly amazing result, especially after just one day.

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I got in a rare argument with my mom last night. I threw out the wild and crazy idea that our family could get together and have a reunion every year for a week. She said that it was ok to want that but not to expect that to happen. I said that I thought getting together for *ONE* *WEEK* a year didn’t seem like an outrageous thing to expect and if my family couldn’t prioritize that amount of time for me then maybe they were more like acquaintances than family and I would get my own other family!

Then I said I had to go because I had an improv class. She said, “What, you can’t even prioritize talking to me on the *phone*?” “No!” I said. Then we both said, “Bye, I love you.” Because neither of us wants to leave with bad words in case one of us dies before we talk again.

Oooh I was irritated all the way to improv class. I needn’t have worried, because it’s easy to be happy in improv and tonight was especially funny. The theme of the night was “Yes, AND…” There are all kinds of “Yes, and” games. The idea is that someone throws out an idea, and WHATEVER it is, you agree with it and add information. (It’s very much like dancing.)

Say you have a scene where you are in a bank and your partner says, “I love that ballarina outfit you’re wearing!” You don’t say, “I’m in a bank, why would I be wearing a ballerina outfit?” You say… anything that agrees with their reality. “Oh thank you! I love the tights, but do you think the tutu is too much?” Or…”Yes, darling, it’s intermission at Swan Lake and I have just enough time to cash my latest honorarium if you wouldn’t mind letting me just tip toe ahead of you in line.”

You even “yes and” offerings that you find sort of repulsive. “Didn’t you used to date George Bush?” “Yep, we went out for a couple months. We met in rehab.”

It was an especially funny night, I was glowing from the laughter, and as I was driving home my mind turned back to the argument. I imagined answering some improv friend’s questions about my fight with my mom: “Yeah, I think that if she had just said. ‘Yes! That’s a great idea! It would be so awesome to get together with all of our family! I love that idea. We could even rent a boat or something!’ Then I would have been happy. Then we could talk about ways to make it happen and find out if it might or might not work….”

“Yeah, good point, I could have yes-anded her too. ‘Yeah, you’re worried that it’s just not going to happen and you want me to be happy about whatever amount of time I do get. Yeah, I hear you, you don’t want me to be disappointed.’ True, I could have said something like that. And I often do, when I’m in a more mature mode. Plus I know I toss out what sound like wild ideas to my sometimes cautious mother and I have empathy for where she is at and her concerns for me. But, come on, I wanted one month a year, so I’d already brought my suggestion down to what I thought was crazy reasonable before I said it!”

My imaginary improv friends lost interest at this point. Rude.

Now you know how to respond to me when I tell you an outrageous idea.

Just tell me that you like my tutu and leave it at that.

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Hi,

My name is Braidwood and I can not stand books that are fundamentalist when it comes to gender. You know the ones, “The Rules”, “Men are from Mars, Women don’t have a penis.” (or something like that.)

I have a couple friends right now who are really into a workshop that tells them all about what men are like and how men like to be talked to. (ARGH) It’s irritating, but because I love them I’ve thought about the appeal and I think it is this: relationships can be confusing and a set of simple rules can be comforting. “Finally, things will work out. I didn’t know these rules before, now I do, and I will be loved.”

I think the frustrating thing about it for me is that it is so all or nothing. I’m sure there is some good advice in programs like that, but it is either so freaking simplistic or the advice may be good but not attributable to gender. For example, one piece of advice is to ask a man to help you rather than blame him for not helping you. Men are so different than women, so it is probably hard for you women reading this to understand, but men actually prefer someone to say to them, “Will you please help me do the dishes?” rather than, “Why are you such a slob?! Why haven’t you done the dishes already!!?”

I know, it’s revelatory. I’m starting to question my femininity though because when I haven’t done the dishes I prefer that my roommate asks me to help rather than accuses me of being a slob too! Does this mean I’m not really a girl!?

So… it reminds me a lot of horoscopes. I sort of think it is funny to read a different month’s horoscope to people, because people who believe in horoscopes will say “See! That is so me!” No matter what you read. (I know, mean trick, but it’s so sadly funny.) I did the same thing once when my mom got a copy of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.”

My mom, my boyfriend, and I were driving in the car and my mom wanted us to read to her while she drove. I thought it was inane upon first flip through and didn’t want to read it. My mom and boyfriend started in on me *didn’t I know that men and women really are different? — Do I think they’re the same?? — So, I gave in and started to read to them, but I read everything it said about men as if it said it about women and vice versa. “This is so true!” They said, ” You have to admit, this is is so true.” “There’s some truth to it” I admitted, “but don’t you think some of the things I read about the other gender are also true for you?” “Not really, not like what he says about men/women. It is so amazing!” It’s amazing alright.

““““““““

*I always think it’s funny that the first thing people exclaim when I tell them that I don’t hold some stereo-typical view they hold (and these stereotypical views are always different- women are clean, men are messy; men are organized, women are flaky; women are pragmatic, men are more romantic; women are more romantic, men are staid; men focus on details, women see the big picture; men see the big picture, women focus on details! “Tastes great, less filling!”) is that men and women are different! How can I not believe that! Like just because I don’t believe in their stereotype, I have trouble telling men and women apart. HOW DO I FUNCTION with this mental impairment??!

It just makes me laugh. What is all this fuss about men and women being different? Are a whole bunch of people insecure that they are about to be mistaken for the other gender or what? I don’t understand where this intensity around this issue comes from. I know that men and women are different. You would think that as a non-bisexual person, people wouldn’t have to question me knowing that. I only want to have sex with one gender- clearly some differences must have crossed into my blood brain barrier. I just think the differences are self-evident.**

** (I think that if someone has to intensely argue for certain differences, maybe they doth protest too much.)

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You knows bout I can has cheezburger, right??!! :) :)

I hate to steal their picture, but not enough not to do it. This one just made me laugh this morning. Now go to their site, so I don’t feelz bad bout stealin. k!

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I’m starting a new feature called Joy Points. I’m doing this program called Wired for Joy and one of our assignments this week is to collect 100 joy points. 100! In a week! How joyful do they want us to be, anyway? :)

I’m already feeling more joyful (first day of new week of class) which I think attests to the power of focus. I want to remember and help myself focus on these joyful moments. So, I’m going to write the joy points that stand our for me from the day.

For yesterday night and so far today:

Last night

Improv class: I’m funny. This may come as a shock, but it’s true. And I love being quick and delightful and having it be in a setting where that is the definition of successful, with other people who want to play with me. 10

Unexpected visitor: last night I heard a cat crying outside our apt near midnight. I opened the door and it ran in. I had NO food, and it was hungry, but after playing and exploring, it came to bed and curled up happily right next to me. I was amazed that the playful teenage kitten would be so still. It seemed very contented and I was happy it was so happy to lay there with me. Sweet little guy. 1

Today

“Lovely, lovely, lovely” My exercise buddy came over this morning and after we did yoga, he started playing around with garage band. He recorded a little guitar music and then we sang to it, making it up as went along. I was irritable from major lack of sleep (the rest of the kitten story), but when we listened to what we had recorded, we just kept laughing. At one point, he sings, “Lovely, lovely, lovely” It was hilarious. 3 Click here to listen to Lovely, lovely, lovely

When I stepped outside to get groceries this afternoon, the stormy sky had a mix of gray and blue and was magnificent. 1

At the grocery store, I was enjoying buying my loads and loads of vegetables. I am really enjoying cooking, which is near miraculous. And I felt happy to pick non-packaged food out and be getting ideas about delicious things to make with it all. YUM! 1

My mom sent me a package today. She sent a sweet Valentine’s card in it. She sent $20 for me to buy flowers with. I am in a Valentine’s mood and have belatedly hung hearts on our front door. (I don’t care if it’s cheesy) I’m going to put out my orange, purple and red heart patterned welcome mat, and I’m going to spend ALL of that money to buy myself flowers at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday. Thanks, mom. 2

I wanted to listen to music, clicked on Pandora and wasn’t logged in so it asked me for which song I wanted to base a new station on. “Crap” I wrote. (Expressing my dismay about not remembering my password.) And it made me a station based on Crap! :) And it was good! Yeah, and it produced many joy points, especially when Utah Phillips accompanied by Anni Di Franko came on. 4

My mom sent some Mormon magazines along with the clothes and card she sent me. Sigh… Oh, mother. But I read a couple articles (she knows I’m a sucker for reading.) A couple of the articles were really sweet. 2

Writing about all these joy points in my blog and laughing at them again and listening to “Lovely, lovely, lovely” again. :) 3

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This is my first Illustration Friday in forevvverrr. You can categorize your art on the Illustration Friday site now. This is pretty much the definition of naive art. I used Scribbles. I used to use Windows Paint. Oh, my ultra low-tech tech paintings. Now I have a mac, so I tried out Scribbles.

This is a picture of Coyote, the legendary trickster. He is such a goose, he is trying to catch his tail. If you want to read a funny, thought provoking story that is as whirly as Coyote, check out Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King.

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Only 9:11 and I’m crying already. I had to close the door to my office. I’m not crying about work though, I’m crying about my roommate telling me that “we are opposite in so many ways” and the implied meaning that I am not her favorite person in the world, and the how that ties in to the pattern that seems to be happening lately of me getting rejected (ejected?) from my old life.

I went from being valued at work and getting good reviews (while my old boss was here) to being disapproved of, undervalued, and feeling bad enough about it to quit. At church, I went from feeling like a part of a loving community to leaving due to actions of our lead minister and staff. Many other young adults left as well, and I left, no one kicked me out, but I still feel rejected/ejected. Also, there has been some kind of shift in my social circle and I feel like I am on the edge in some ways instead of in the middle where I like to be.

Today on the bus I imagined how I would feel if everybody approved of me. It would be such a nice feeling- I could relax and just be myself. I really take how much/many people approve of me as a measure of how well I’m doing as a person sometimes. I thought about it as I was walking from the bus to work, and I couldn’t shake the idea that if more people approved of me, it would mean that I really am better, I really am more ok.

Then I thought of my aunt, who I am a lot alike, and how much I enjoy her, how fantastic I think she is. My other aunt, her sister, often disapproves of her. She thinks she is too messy, too soft, not together enough etc… And when my aunt is around her sister, she does suddenly seem kind of bumbling, somewhat simpering, and whiny. But when I’m with her, she is hilarious, exuberant, smart, interesting, funny, and gorgeous. She is messy, but she is glorious, who cares!

I love both my aunts, and from the outside it is easy to see that my aunt who disapproves is just that way and that her disapproval is all about her preferences and ways of looking at the world. She is cleaner, more direct, more of the things we think of as “together” in our society. So? That’s her deal. My roommate has a similar personality to that aunt and I don’t disapprove of her, but I think she disapproves of me. I’ve been trying to get her approval, and I’m going to try to stop trying. It’s easier to see, looking at the mirror of my aunts, how any disapproval she feels for me is her own deal. It doesn’t mean I’m bad, and if I got her approval, it wouldn’t mean I’d be any better.

I have been disapproving of me lately. Aye, maybe thar’s the rub. Goal for today: list a few things I would feel proud of myself for, and do them.

12/12/07 Update: I have been feeling guilty for writing that my aunt disaproves of my other aunt and that my roommate disaproves of me. Maybe they don’t! guilty, guilty, guilty…arggh… just remember, reality is multi-faceted and it changes, and… did I mention that I like my other aunt and my roommate, and it says more about my state of mind than any objective truth about them, but I think you got that.

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Last year I almost stopped going to church because I felt so harassed by someone. I finally had to learn to tell him that he couldn’t hang out with me. I wrote about a lunch I had with him last year:

I had an awkward “young adult” lunch last week after church. See, there are the old young adults who no longer eat with the official young adult group. Then there is the official young adult group whose numbers are dwindling, because there are a couple (one in particular for me) obnoxious people who others don’t want to eat with.

It’s like an inverted circle of belonging with people in the middle of the group being rejected by the people forced to the edges. Because we won’t out and out kick someone out of the group, we kick ourselves out. It’s very curious. I’ve opted to take myself out of the lunch situation altogether on most Sundays (one of the “forced to the edges folks”), or just go with a couple friends. The unofficial groups are getting bigger than the official group. (This is leading to publicity interventions that don’t work as they are missing the point of the problem: fodder for a post on performance intervention.)

Churches are usually safe places for people to be included. I know that I felt safer at church when I was a kid knowing that the rules didn’t allow out and out exclusion. I feel safer at church now for some of the same reasons, now that I think about it. Because of this inclusion, people who will not be included anywhere else often end up at a church. It’s a situation I’ve experienced at every church I’ve attended. One friend calls it the “broken winged bird” syndrome. But, we are all broken winged birds at some time. You don’t have to be cool at church. (Ahh, what a relief.) In fact, you don’t even have to have social skills. (Ahh… What a headache.)

The particular lunch last Sunday was kind of funny if looked at as a scene in a movie. One of the new older young adults (try to keep this all straight) came up to me after church and whispered “I’m co-opting you. Come to lunch with us.” The way he said it was so cute that I said I would go. As we walked out, the obnoxious guy’s girlfriend (the guy I stopped going to lunches to avoid) asked where we were going for lunch and the new older guy told her! He didn’t realize that the older young adult people purposefully excludes these people. I just shook my head. When we arrived at the restaurant, the whole young adult crew had arrived before us and were sitting with the old young adults who were clearly angry. “I thought you were going to [this other restaurant]” One of the women said to me. I know she assumed I told all the young adults because I used to be the leader. Sigh.

The table was split down the middle and we might as well have been at different restaurants for all the interaction that occurred between the two groups. Ironically, I was stuck sitting near the obnoxious guy who I stopped going to lunches to avoid. I tried to ignore him. He tried to take a picture of my side of the table. “Please don’t take my picture right now.” I said. “Are you saying you don’t want your picture taken at any events?” He asked angrily.

The truth is that I just don’t want him to have my picture because he creeps me out. In fact, let me just drift into a fantasy answer for a minute: “No.” I tell him. “I’m fine with having my picture taken at events, but I’m not fine with you taking it. Because, you give me the creeps and the way you are taking my picture gives me the creeps and the way you used to follow me around and badger me makes me angry. I’ve told you that I find your behavior invasive, and that I don’t want you to talk to me, and now, here you are, talking to me. Go away! No one wants you at this restaurant! PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE!!!”

What I actually tell him is, “No, I just don’t want my picture taken right now.” He gets angry and tells his girlfriend, “She’s just selfish. I’m doing this for the group and she is just selfish!” “She’s eating! Leave her alone!” She tells him. They fight, his girlfriend walks out. He walks out after her. She comes back in. He’s still outside. “I’m sorry.” I say to her. “It’s not your fault. I just hate it when he gets all self righteous.” she says.

Sheesh. I drove home with the friend who invited me who didn’t notice any of this. He’s surprised when I tell him that the original people were angry that the official group came. “I just think ‘the more the merrier.’” He tells me.

What do you think? Is “you can’t say you can’t play” a good rule? Just for kids or for you too? How do you balance kindness, inclusion, and yet keep healthy and happy boundaries?

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Inspired by Laura Moncur’s Halloween costume post.

We were poor when I was a kid, and, true story, one year I was Cinderella BEFORE she met the fairy godmother! :D I had soot on my face. I just think that is so funny. I actually loved my costume but some of the kids made fun of it.

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I was looking up “laughing” on google images so I could send my co-worker an image of someone laughing as hard as his email made me laugh. Naturally, I got completely distracted and found:

I think it highly commends a religion when the icon is often pictured laughing. It made me think of the contrast with the Christian religion which often glorifies suffering. I pictured the sad and serious face of Jesus that I’ve always seen.

“You never see Jesus laughing,” I thought. Then, at the top of the next page, who should I find but Laughing Jesus!

It almost seems sacreligious….
Or maybe it’s a sign… :)

Found at Christian Centered Mall.

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+ JANUARY 3, 2006 AWARDED MASTER’S DEGREE +

YAY!! It’s been posted to my unofficial transcript which means that no nightmarish little glitch got in the way of me and my degree. (Unlike the bachelor degree fiasco which time has not yet made funny.) I have a graduate degree. Wahoo! =D

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When parents come to visit…

You look so beautiful!

You look really nice today.

I bet everyone has been telling you how wonderful your daughter is.

I just love your daughter. We’re good friends.

I don’t want to go to lunch without you today.

Your daughter is a great leader, she’s a natural. I don’t know what our young adult group would do without her.

Oh, she is wonderful. She is so talented we have got to get her back into doing plays with us again… And she’s funny!

Naturally, I introduced them to all my favorite supporters! Then, I was so full with appreciation and love, my face was shiny and my voice was bouncy in a way it hasn’t been in a long time. The public noticed, the park ranger even got in on the act.

You are so charming! I deal with the public all day and I just love it when people like you come along.

It continued into the evening…

I can’t believe you recognized me from behind! It’s so good to see you! Thank you for saying hello!

All the men were buzzing around you like bees around a flower.

You have a lovely face. And such a gentle nature.

“Aren’t you proud,” I said to my mom after my abundant day, “that everyone likes me so well?”

I knew you were wonderful, it’s just nice to know everyone else does too.

Just can’t seem to get enough, can I ;)

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I love reading Andrea’s real life updates over at Roundy Wells. I wish all my friends and family had blogs! So, today I am going to treat you to a real life update.

Men: Nada. (Wow, this is quick!) I theoretically want to get married and if I happened to meet someone that I clicked with, I’d be all for it, but I’m putting no energy into looking. The only reason it has a little half-hearted place on my to do list is my biological clock. Mental calculations of biological clock: “Let’s see, I’m 31 [now you know :)] If I meet someone now and marry them in a year, the earliest I will have my first child is 33. If I want 4 kids, spaced two years apart… ARGHGGGH!!!” That’s how those internal conversations usually go, followed by a panicked: “I must meet somebody now!” or a tremulously reasuring, “Well, people are getting younger all the time, if you just stay in really great shape, it will be almost like you are in your 20’s when you are having kids!” Yeah right!

Job: Just quit! Yay me! In my job-life, I really feel like the airplane motivational speakers always talk about, on the wrong path most of the time but continually making adjustments so that it does eventually get where it intended to go. I know what I want to do: create blah, blah, blah, blah. (That information is part of my secret identity- or actually, my known identity, but this site is part of my secret identity, so my known identity is… this gets so confusing.) But how do I get there? I started drafting a letter to send to a well-known writer and Ph.D to share with him the research paper I wrote that involves his work. Ach! It scared me to even draft it. Do you double-dog-dare me to send it today? It is great thinking, in my humble opinion, but really stilted writing. I haven’t figured how to make research paper writing flow. I HATE that method of writing. eek.

I’m considering going to school some more to get a Ph.d and doing research there, applying for a grant to get my research funded, or… working at a regular job while I work on my own research on the side? This is all up in the air.

For the near future, I have a student loan coming in, so I won’t starve. However, I do want a job during this last semester and I will definitely need a job when the semester ends. As the very talented Andrea has shown, getting a job in a particular field can be challenging. I won’t have any welcoming arms letting me stay somewhere, I’ve already used that option up post bachelors degree. Unless something changes in some other area of my life. (See “Men:” above.)

Jobs I am considering: low paying student job on campus- hey, it’s money, actual full time job in my field if I can get it, or get an internship in my field. In addition, I AM starting my hypnosis practice back up. The website is in the works.

Other dreams: I want to sing and play the guitar and write songs. My grandma has agreed to pay for me to get singing lessons! Yay, Grandma!! I am soo excited to have a more consistantly performance worthy voice. Also, I am going to learn to play the guitar better and learn more music theory. As you know, I don’t want to become famous in that I don’t want my face to be broadly recognizable, but I DO want to be rich and talented. I would love to make money selling my songs and be a slightly known singer in my community- at church and in a local band. That would be sooo fun.

Housing: I want my own house. But I went driving around yesterday and I realized, even if something magical happens, I don’t know exactly where I want to live yet. However, being in a temporary place that is someone else’s house just sucks. No, I am not pleased with my roommates. Today I realized that I just have to clean in front of my other two roommates so they can WITNESS ME CLEANING, then they see that I am contributing my fair share of cleaning. My other roommate, the owner of the house, who I will call Fantasia, just got home today. Disclaimer: all of these roommates are nice. They are not horrible, but still, I am not pleased. So, Fantasia and Tina are chatting about the trip she just got back from and I say, “Hi! How was Florida?” And she says, in a measured voice usually reserved for pre-schoolers, and irritating even then,”Braidwood, I had a nice trip, but I don’t want to talk about it now. If you’d like, I will tell you about Florida later.” What the hell! I wanted to turn all Hustle and Flow * on her and tell her, “Yo, bitch, I couldn’t care less about your trip to Florida! I was just asking to be nice!” Then I fantasized about coming up with something socially acceptable yet funny and mean to say back to her. I could think of nothing. When I am displeased I turn very sincere and tend to say things like, “I really don’t like being spoken to like that.” I did think it would be funny to make up a song about Fantasia to the tune of “I’m living in my own private Idaho” and call it “I’m living in my own private Ashram!” (Fantasia teaches yoga and gives astrology readings and doesn’t think farting is funny.)

*I saw Hustle and Flow with my Grandma when I was in Hawaii, her choice, and the only reason I went. I usually stick to my Mormon heritage and skip rated R movies. Especially if there is the chance that there will be something in the movie that I just wish I had never seen. However, while Hustle and Flow had the trappings of banality, it was not banal. It was an awesome movie and I could totally relate.

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I have so much to tell you, but I guess I’ll just do a short post about a movie today. I wish I had one of those programs that automatically posts. It would make my urge to communicate seem more regular and steady. Hey! I just thought of a way to write about the movie without spoiling it for those of you who haven’t seen it. One of my proffessors came up with this nifty technique: Where there is blank space, just triple click to see the writing. [Update: the triple click doesn't work well here, just highlight.] If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t triple click!

So, today I go to get drug tested for my new job, because I’d been acting kind of funny and all… (Ok, I just decided that the rest of this story will have to wait, until I’m not working there. It may be awhile. I’ll keep writing about it, but I’ll do a post-job series of posts. I want to keep my new job. So, skipping to the movie, I went to see it while I was waiting for my drug results.)

I liked it! I put it in the category of movies that have suprisingly good messages, like Bourne Supremacy. Tom Cruise was not the rugged, never-phased, can-think-of-every-imaginable-thing-that-amazingly-saves-the-day hero. Thank goodness. He was this sort of everyday, crappy father guy. Yes, he thought of a few good things, but his situation still seemed hopeless. And my favorite thing, unlike so many disaster movies, is that the people actually seemed phased by the things that happen to them. I often notice the psycological unreality in movies. Where other people are screaming, “That could never happen, that 60 foot Gorgon would never be able to fit into that cavern!” I am yelling, “Those people need therapy! There is no way they would be acting like that if their Grandma just melted in volcanic water!” This action/disaster movie showed the most realistic psychological reactions I have seen. Yes, I too have heard of Tom Cruise’s latest nuttery. However, I love him in movies like this.

The story of the alian invasion is definately secondary and clunky. Like Ebert, it did cross my mind that the alians sure made a lame plan, but unlike Ebert, I like that the story focuses on one person’s experience. It was more humanizing and interestingly, more scary. If you can help it, don’t read Ebert’s review before you go, or anyone else’s for that matter. I made a decision at the beginning of the movie to go with it, to be immersed, and the storytellers didn’t let me down.

Categories | Movies, Post-Job Series, Links

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Some of my best writing is in other people’s comment sections. The good writers are so stimulating and it becomes like writing a letter. One of my friends and I discovered the same thing about our journals and our letters in college. Out letters to each other were so much more interesting than our journal entries that we would write in journals to each other and then photo-copy them and send them as letters.! Wow, I had forgotten all about that. How neat to have a friend so close that we could send our journal entries to each other.

Anyhoo, here, in a nod to my heritage, is a comment I left at Feminist Mormon Housewives, it was a post about taking, or not, your husband’s last name:

Ok, I’m chiming in to this looonng discussion. I decided to keep my last name a long time ago, (purely for reasons of principle, because I have a fairly inelegant last name. Now, I kind of like it because it’s funny.) However, one of my boyfriends said he thought it was more romantic for a couple to share a name and I thought about it and thought that one possibility, among hundreds, is to find a common ancestor or ancestoral place and take that as a last name. I have lots of cool last names in my heritage, for example: Braidwood. :)

I am not just changing my last name to my husband’s though. I think women are used to saying, “It’s not a big deal, I don’t mind.” But I think a good test of how fair something is, is would it go both ways? If the last name isn’t a big deal, would your husband change his name to yours? Well, then it’s a pretty big deal, isn’t it. (She said gently)

Categories: My Life, Essay

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…if you hunger for a deep change in your life that moves you in the direction of less stress, more health, lower consumption, more spirituality, more respect for the earth and the diversity within and among the species that inhabit her, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

I blogged about Cultural Creatives at one point on this blog. I wish I could find it. Now Augustine has brought the words to light again. You can read more about Cultural Creatives here.

There is also a Cultural Creatives web ring. Some of the sites included look a bit new agey for me. (”I’d like some Cultural Creative, heavy on the science.”)

There is nothing flaky about this. There is nothing New Age about this. These people are practical. They love the Earth, and they want to live their values.

Oh, well thanks, Meta Filter. Count me in then. Most of the comments at MetaFilter were harsh and I don’t think most of the commenters actually read the book. Although I thought this one was pretty funny:

Do cultural creatives have indigo children when they mate?

HA! :) Despite some self aggrandizement and new ageyness of the people who count themselves as Cultural Creatives, sociologist Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry Anderson discovered a real phenomenon in the culture and their book is definitely worth reading.

Categories: Humor, Books, Links

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Hey, I’m so happy I happen to have an illo that fits this weeks theme. I love Illustration Friday and haven’t participated for awhile. I made this illo as a present for my friend’s birthday. It is a vision of the future when Red’s ambition to be a wild, funny, yet deep and meloncholy guitar player is realized. He is currently working on bar chords. I created this illo using this picture and this picture. This is one of Red’s guitar hero’s, Jimmy Page.

Categories: Visual, Essay, Illustration Friday, Links

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Oh, oh, I have a new blog of the day, found through the ever charming Natalie/Augustine. May I introduce to you Dakota Feinstein! She is stealthily funny, no darkly funny, no deeply funny…mmm shoot. Ok, here is an excerpt from her about page:

When I started this endeavor, I was completely anonymous, because I project shame and humiliation into every new experience, due to early trauma. Anonymity just seemed safer. After a few months, I did tell a few dear and close personal friends what I was up to. I remain anonymous because I write things here that many people would be better off not knowing, as in, you don’t want to think about your parents having sex.

See what I mean. Oh, she’s funny. I think she’s the glamourous blond. Check out my new Blog of the Day (still deciding if I should change the name to Blog of the Week) Dakota Feinstein.

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My aunt is so funny. Like some other interesting, funny people in my life, I want her to get a blog. I promise her fame and fortune, and masses of readers that will lead to a book deal or at least some profit making google ads. All this even though, as far as I know, I still have around 9 readers a day. (My web counter is out.)

So, since she doesn’t have a blog, and I don’t feel like typing out her entire funny story, I will just end with this hilarious quote, “I don’t mind a cowboy, but if he has a confederate flag, he’s out.” :D :D :D My aunt’s so funny!

By the way, she thought the craigslist ad below was hilarious.

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Funniest line I’ve read on a match.com profile so far:

I just finished a book that was 475 pages long. That may not seem like a big accomplishment but that’s alot of coloring!

:D

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that you get from people to whom you have actually given your email address. You know the ones: cute pet pictures, “funny” jokes, warnings about perfume salesmen (I made that one up.) I wouldn’t, couldn’t forward those to my email list, my friends would never forgive me. But I got two really good ones today, (that’s what everyone thinks about the ones they forward on,) so I’m posting them here! (Please forgive me.)

First: From an email from my mom, that master passer: (I love you, M!)

“Put your birth date in the pop up window after you click here. ** What happens is pretty interesting. It’s also amazing how quickly it computes!! Very cool. Send it on to all you think might like a bit of trivia!!”

Well, who doesn’t like a bit of trivia?!

Second: From a link found on French Toast Girl’s blog, here is ze Fank’s Communication Lesson.

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I’ve wanted to go to the Sundance film festival for years. When I was 16 my aunt had a movie in the festival and I was finally going to go. Sadly, my Grandma died on the opening day and we flew away for the funeral. I was just reading Ebert’s latest article about the festival (yes, reading Ebert has become my online time waster lately) and I thought, “Maybe I should make it a goal to go next year.” Then I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I made it a goal to go and then I went because I made a movie?!” Making a whole movie seems over-ambitious for my skills right now, so I’ve settled for being an actress- naturally I win the award for best actress. Here is my acceptance speech: (I composed it in the bathroom.)

“I’ve never thought of myself as an actress. I can dance and I can sing… but I still don’t know that I can act. What I did discover is how much a director and fellow cast members have to do with an actors performance. So I would like to thank_, _, _, _, _, _, _ and _ for letting me be a part of this and making it seem so effortless. As happy as I am to win this award, and this will be the bragging point of this endeavor, what I am most grateful for is how much fun we had making this movie. It’s very rare that adults get to have that kind of raucous, let loose, imaginative play and that is what I thank you for most of all. So thank you _, _, _, _ and _ for letting me play with you.” Then I blow a kiss, with both hands, to my fellow cast members and crew.

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My friend Laura just reminded me that I have fallen off the face of the blogosphere lately. For some reason, when I blog, I tend to think a lot about blogging and there are other things I like to think about. For instance, my family. My Granddad has been in town visiting and he has Alzheimer’s. Everybody with Alzheimer’s is different and my granddad has amazingly kept his wit, his silliness and his sweetness. He does occasionally forget who we are. He forgot his old car I was loading my stuff into. “Granddad, you gave me this car.” “I wouldn’t have just given someone a car would I?” “Well, you made me pay you a dollar.” “Isn’t it funny, that car doesn’t even look vaguely familiar…” “It will in a minute.” I said. The back was up and I thought he would remember the car when he saw the bumper sticker with the name of his hometown on it. I slowly closed the back of the car. “Oh!” he said and tried to smile as he started to cry, “Now I think I remember.”

Oh, my Granddad.

In other news, soon I will be starting school and I can not comfortably handle all this typing. It doesn’t help that I have the most unergonomic set-up ever. So, with my Christmas money, I am going to purchase Dragon Naturally Speaking version 8. I haven’t decided to get the pack that comes with a voice recorder or without. Everyone says the voice recorder it comes with is crappy. I think my life and my creative output will improve tremendously with my new gadget.

Speaking of gadgets, my Lucent Technology 1725 answering machine has died and I can’t get a direct replacement because someone else is now making that model. I happen to love gadgets and have bought some stinkers because of my craving. However, I made a really good decision when I decided to go with the expensive 1725. It was really a pleasure to use and I was thankful for it everyday that I used it. It just illustrates the heaven of good design. I mean, have you ever had something that you used daily that caused you minor daily frustration, don’t you come to hate or at least resent it? Oh how I loved my answering machine! It was so nifty! It was so easy to use, so sleek and so fun. Now, what will I do? Where will I go? How will anyone get a hold of me?

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Yes, there will be comment awards. This comment award goes to Anonymous, who took a bland introductory post and made it funny. See post number two, (second to the first) and comment.

Categories: Humor, Blog Talk

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