Easily, the best movie I’ve seen this year is Slumdog Millionaire. I saw it earlier this week, and it’s one of the most honest accounts of India I’ve seen in a while. It actually kind of made me miss the place.
I can’t wait to see how many awards it takes this winter.
Seriously. Go watch it.
So, Jack over at 67 Degrees has given me my first blog tag. It’s one of those things where I share stuff about moi, and then I pass the spirit stick on to others to do the same.
The deets:
- List six things that I do for joy
- Pass the award on to 6 more creative bloggers
- Link back to the person who gave me the award
- Link to the people I am passing it on to
Here’s My Super Six:
1. Competing
Although I hate losing, I love competing…and watching others compete, too. And anything from flip-cup to basketball to tests is a competition for me. Although it’s sometimes a little unhealthy for me to look at everything as a competition (and want to beat everyone at everything), I have to say, I truly enjoy it.
2. Photography
There’s something about the realness of photos that can’t be achieved through words, paintings, or video. I think the two photo-j classes I took in college were my favorite ones in the school. Just as much as I like taking pictures, I also like looking at them. Photo exhibits are one of the only things I actually enjoy at museums.
3. Running
I hated running when I was in high school. Now, I love, love, love it. Although I’d tried my hand at it a few times, it never really stuck until I got home this year. I guess after trying running in a few countries and not feeling safe enough to do it, I felt like I had to take advantage of it here. I’m doing it 3-4 times a week and loving it. What I love best is running in a new place and seeing, hearing, and smelling everything there that I can’t from inside a car. It’s also one of the few things I can do by my lonesome and not feel anti-social.
4. Watching crime shows
When I was little, I was addicted to Murder, She Wrote. Now, I can’t get enough of the new crime shows. Favorites include CSI, CSI: New York, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, Numb3rs, and Life. I think it’s the part of me that always wanted to be a lawyer…and loves that it really doesn’t matter if you miss an episode or start it in the middle of the series.
5. Exploring
I love discovering new things. Whether it be places I’ve never been, or something about a person I know well. Getting to know the unfamiliar is one of the most exciting things there is.
6. Pulling pranks
You know I think you’re a top-notch person (or an easy target), if I’ve pulled a fast one on you. And my closest friends, I find, are just as prank-happy, and uneasily offended. But if I’ve never asked you to “smell this” or de-pantsed you, beware. You’ve had a fair warning now. And I really hope that ice cream comes off your shirt.
I’ll pass this onto:
-Nicole, who is an ex-RLife publisher and current super-entrepreneur
-Kyle, who was also once a Lost Girl
-Vincent, whose responses I’ll probably only half-understand
-Remi, who I fear may be stuck in a Mexico prison somewhere and hope this tells me otherwise
-Melanie, who writes far too little about herself now that she has a little one
-unhipla, who’s actually pretty hip
…or a real MU football fan would sit outside for almost five hours in 36-degree, rainy, snowy weather.
Yep. That’s how I spent my Saturday after Thanksgiving.
And I wonder why I have a cold now. (But still feel like crying every time I think about the game.)
Sorry I haven’t posted pics or updates from MO.
Still here, but I forgot my USB cables for my cameras.
In the meantime, here’s a pic from a fellow J-Schooler’s MO meal (at the ‘berg I believe)…which I definitely had my first night back in the Show-Me State.
Just wondering…have any of you out there seen Twilight? If so…what did you think?
On a side note. I found out there really is a Forks, Washington. I kind of want to go visit there.
The last week I’ve kind of been freaking out. Although I just got to New York, apparently my arrival was not enough to make my friend Paddy stay in the Big Apple. Nope. A couple of days ago we all went to her going-away party and then she headed off to Asia for her own little see-the-world jaunt.
I cannot even begin to tell you how jealous I am. I am insanely and mind-numbingly jealous. It’s a kind of jealousy I haven’t experienced in a very long time…if ever. And it’s especially ridiculous because I just did the “let’s go explore Asia!” thing.
So that’s why I can’t understand how incredibly envious I am. But, understanding it or not. I am.
The most tortuous part is that I know I could be doing it. I know I could pack up and go. But for the first time in my life, something is holding me back. For the first time, I don’t have that feeling of “If I don’t go now, I’ll never be happy…”
I’m just torn. Torn between fleeing this city, this country…and going anywhere but here. Living some place else. Traveling some place else. Just putting my head down on a bed in another hemisphere. And torn between creating a life where I’ll someday be completely self-sustaining working from home and can live wherever I choose. Trying to meet someone without the “well I’m only here until…” escape hatch that has been present throughout my entire adult life. Or just actually living somewhere…instead of just looking for the next adventure.
So, when all is said and done. I’m doing OK here. I see why I’m here and where I’m headed. I actually have the feeling of “If I don’t stay here now, I’ll never be happy…”
But I still can’t shake this desire to be somewhere else.
So last night MTV hosted its finale for TRL. After 10 years the show is over. Although I haven’t really watched the show since sophomore year of college, I was still able to predict its top “most iconic” video. Seriously…nothing else says TRL like “Baby One More Time.”
Actually, nothing says pop culture since 1998 like Britney Spears. It’s actually really sad how many memories of my life have to do with this woman. A little sampling:
1. When I was stressfully studying for finals freshman year I took a break at 3 every day to watch TRL; by the end of the week I’d memorized the “Oops!…I Did It Again” dance as well as the *NSYNC “Bye Bye Bye.”
2. When I studied abroad the next year and discovered karaoke I won a $30 bar card my first go for my rendition of “Lucky.”
3. The next two years of school, I lived with some Britney-crazy girls. My first Halloween there, they somehow convinced me that we should all dress up like the “Baby One More Time” video. Then there was the fact that one of them owned Crossroads. Seriously one of the worst movies ever made. But one that we watched endlessly. Oh, and another had a poster of Brit in her closet as motivation to get kick-arse abs.
4. After that, Brit memories admittedly died off. Until I traveled again. Asians seriously love her.
Will write more soon…
Am just recovering from a rather long night of full-court basketball, which I hadn’t played in about six years.
I feel so old.
While walking into Martin Luther King Jr. High School today, I realized we’d soon see schools popping up with names of our 44th president. Would they bear the full “Barack Hussein Obama” or just “Barack Obama”?
Either way, I bet kids there will say “I go to O High.”
Did you?
OK, so I have to admit, although I registered to vote at 18, I never actually voted in an election until I was 22. It was during the election that eventually gave California the Governator after recalling Gray Davis (D). But ever since then, I’ve voted in every single election. Big and small. Sure it helped that in California my polling place was literally half-block away. But here, too, it is. It’s my next-door neighbor, and I can actually see it from my room here in my apartment — from a window in my room!
But, alas, that’s not my only reason for voting. Here are a few others for this year:
1. I wanted a free cup of coffee.
2. I don’t want to ever have to tell my kids or grandkids that “I didn’t vote that year.”
3. I believe every vote counts.
4. The lines at the polls are sure to have a few hot guys.
5. Did I mention my 401(k) is only 2/3 of what it was at this time last year?
6. I’m no political expert (not that I really think these exist); I don’t know what my vote will bring for the next four years. I just believe in a few key points here and there.
7. All the cool kids are doing it. Well, at least 24.4 million others had before today.
8. I’m still a little annoyed I wasn’t able to register and vote in “bellwether” Missouri.
9. My parents always voted. They never would tell me who they voted for, but they always voted. They got up at 6 a.m. to do it again this year.
10. I may someday need help from an elected official.
11. I can.
