Not Forgotten

Yes, I am still alive.

However, I am now without an internet connection at home. For two reasons: One, I no longer live in my apartment. Two, I canceled my internet subscription.

Okay, explanation time.

My Aunt Helen asked me a while back if I would be interested in living with her father-in-law, who recently had a stroke. It didn't affect his mind, but he did have to relearn how to walk. It involves free rent and free utilities, always wonderful, being there in the evenings and at night, not a problem, and doing some light housekeeping, which is now my goal to stay on top of.

I feel very blessed because this will allow me to save lots of money, and also give me a chance to buy the new iPod touch. Here's the kicker, the iPod touch has internet access by means of wi-fi, so I can find a hot spot, log on, and do my internet surfing on the go.

But I digress....

My new room-mate is a very wonderful man. I know he doesn't have an ounce of dislike in his body for anyone or anything. And I think it would be a very difficult task to find anyone would could dislike him. I'm hoping to be able to learn and adopt some of his characteristics. Of course, he has had years to develop them, but I want to learn.

I find myself hoping that he won't die for a while. He enjoys great health, but seems to be a little fragile.

Oh, and I need to get started on applying for Grad school. Shoot!

Enchanted

I just saw what is my favorite movie this year (so far).

Enchanted. It's a Disney movie about a Disney fantasy animated princess who ends up in real-life New York City. It's a wonderful story with some great twists and wonderful reactions from the real-life people who suddenly come into contact with animated characters. It even manages to have a real "liberated" moment where the princess picks up the sword and does the saving.

Just a great movie that I can't wait to see again. I loved the songs used and I may end up buying the soundtrack.

But even better than an overall great movie, seeing this movie tonight reminded me of something; I get to pursue my dreams. I get to have dreams. I get to have not only one happy ending, but lots of them!

Let me explain. I mentioned a little while back that I had some therapy sessions. One of the things we discovered and realized together was that one of the big reasons for my depressions was the fact that I didn't believe that I could dream. And one of the main goals of our sessions was to help me realize that I could dream, that I can pursue my dreams, and that I get to have many happy endings. I realized that there isn't just one goal post. One target. One dream. Each dream realized is a stepping stone to further dreams.

Enchanted reminded me that it's okay to hope that I fall in love. Yes, a relationship is a lot of work, but I can hope to fall head over heels in love. Of course that isn't to the exclusion of other opportunities, but included in those opportunities.

Enchanted is a movie I would recommend to anyone who has ever liked a Disney movie. I am thankful I saw this movie this evening, so that I could be reminded that I get to have happily ever afters. Plural intended.

Top Ten Lists....

I like Top Ten Lists. I find it fascinating to not only see what people enjoy, but the order of preference they give to the items on the list. I also like to try and develop my own lists of things I like in particular categories.

However, my tastes change so much, that my Top Ten lists are obsolete almost before I finish them. If someone were to ask me, for example, what my all-time top ten favorite songs were, I would laugh in their face. Mostly because I wouldn't know which ones to pick.

But I've done some thinking, and I think I've come up with a Top Ten list that I can decide on and that people will enjoy reading. Here we go....

Top Ten Fictional Characters

10. Hammy the Squirrel from Over the Hedge. I love the movie, but after Hammy was introduced about 7 minutes in, I spent every second just waiting for him to come on screen again. So cute and loveable.
9. Menolly from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Menolly loves music so much, that when it is forbidden her, it is physically painful. She finds such joy and release in music. To Menolly every phrase becomes a potential song.
8. Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies. Sean Astin put so much emotion into this character. He's so sincere, loving and earnest. He just wants to help Frodo. It's Frodo's quest, but Sam is there, every step of the way.
7. Durnik the smith from the Belgariad and the Malloreon. Honest, trustworthy, and loving. Good at everything. If he were real, I would probably wish I could be him.
6. The Tin Woodman, from the Wizard of Oz book series. He is honestly so caring and concerned, that he outshines the other characters, who are all great in their own right. And from his caring come some of the greatest words of wisdom.
5. Oz the werewolf, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Understated. Taciturn. He tends to see straight through to the heart of any problem, and often presents the easiest, most direct solution. Plus, he falls in love with Willow. And Willow deserves to have someone love her.
4. Perrin Aybara from the Wheel of Time. Blacksmith. Honest. Talks to wolves. Marries Faile. Once he was introduced, I didn't care about the principal character anymore. I spend every book waiting for a Perrin appearance. And I'm always depressed when his chapters are over.
3. Kaylee Frye from Firefly and Serenity. She's cute, sweet and a mechanic. Very down to earth. She's the emotional anchor of the entire show. If she feels an emotion, the viewer feels that emotion. An amazing character.
2. Rube Sofer from Dead Like Me. He's the gruff, aloof, loving father figure of the group of "grim" reapers. It was this character's desire to take up painting that introduced me to Ed Hopper, one of my favorite painters. He tries to hide how much he cares, but the only person convinced is himself.
1. Tara Maclay from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think she is the only character I've ever had a serious crush on. The actress was an honest-to-goodness woman, not a twig. Tara was shy. And loving. And she fell in love with Willow. What can I say? Willow has great taste in significant others.

Well, there you go. A top ten list that will stay fairly consistent for quite a while. A lot of these characters came from great ensemble casts, and it was hard to choose one favorite, but I think I managed fairly well.

What do you think? Who are YOUR favorite characters?

Adam Has a New Hobby.....

....like he really needed another one, right?

I mean, I already have so many things I like to do that when I have the time to actually do something, all my time is taken up in deciding what I want to do.

But now, now I have found something I enjoy, that is fairly easy to do, looks like the images it was based on, and that I could possibly sell and make a little money, if I decided to do so.

What is it? Making pictures with Perler Beads. My particular focus is using sprites, or character images, from old Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. I take each pixel as a separate bead and try to match, as closely as I can, the image I'm using as a pattern. After I get the bead set up on the peg-board, I use an iron to melt the beads and fuse them together. It's quite fun, and the only danger is if I'm not careful using the iron.

Anyway, here's a picture of my first two projects, with a quarter thrown in to show the scale. By the way, the majority of the beads in the sprite on the right glow in the dark. It makes sense if you happen to know who that character is.

This is the Moment....

It's been a busy week.

I really feel quite exhausted. Let's see. I had some great sessions with a therapist my mom knew in College. She runs this type of therapy that gets to the point quite quickly. It's pretty interesting. I learned a lot about myself that I can use to be more confident in myself, which will be nice. My therapist feels that my depressive periods are directly tied to my self-confidence and self-esteem. I would tend to agree.

Also, I still have my job, and that keeps me busy.

And I took the GRE today. So I've been trying to study for that as well. And here's the fun part. I've been stressed about the test, because it's a big deal, right? Well, I review the ID requirements, and it says my name has to match exactly between how I registered for the test and what is on my ID. Well, my registration confirmation doesn't show my middle name, which is included on my driver's license. So on top of being stressed about taking the test, I was stressed about even being allowed to take the test. But I think I did okay. I ended up scoring the same for each section, verbal and quantitative. That worried me at the test center, because I couldn't remember what the max score was and I thought I would do crappy on the math portion. But I got 690 out of 800 on each section. All together 1380 out of 1600, which comes out at about 86%. So I have to feel pretty good about that.

Although it does prove I'm pretty good at guessing when it comes to math. I distinctly remember several questions where I said to myself, "I have no frickin' clue." So hooray for guessing!

Oh yeah, and I got a new desk from my Aunt Helen and Uncle Dan.

What I Want...

I was talking to my mother the other day, when she asked me what I'm sure she thought was a simple question:

"What do you want for Christmas?"

She probably didn't realize that recently, figuring out what I want is one of the main things I do with my time. I honestly have a very hard time figuring out what it is that I want, what makes me happy.

I think I can recognize the problem. Over the last several years, I have tried to school myself to accept what comes along. In particular, accepting the consequences of my actions and those things I have no control over. And I believe that is a good quality, really, as it helps me to avoid undue stress. Unfortunately, I think I have carried it too far, as I'm so used to accepting what comes along, that I don't know what I want to have happen anymore.

So, in furtherance of trying to find out what I like and what I want, I've begun a process of eliminations. I'm taking a look at hobbies or interests I currently have and trying to decide if it's something I want to continue, that I really like, or if I should get rid of it. I'm also trying to pay attention to other things that I may enjoy, and give them a try, just to see if it will work for me.

We'll see if this works.

Excitement!

Sorry, Mom, probably not the kind of excitement you're hoping for.

I went to the local comic shop today because the latest issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out today. That immediately made today a pretty good day.

It got better.

I saw a poster for an upcoming concert for one of my favorite singers: Pat Benatar. Coming up soon, in fact. To be exact, October 12. Next Friday. So I thought I'd take a look and see what ticket prices were running at, just to see if going would be even possible.

I bought a ticket.

It's a relatively small venue. Not an arena, by any stretch of the imagination. And I'll be on the ground floor, 21 rows back. And the ticket cost me $38. $50, after taxes and fees. And for a great seat!

And to make that weekend even better, I have that Saturday off, and my parents are coming down to visit. And we may go see a movie, if we can talk Dad into going to the theater. He might agree to see the third Pirates movie, since he loved the first one.

So I've got a couple pretty good weeks coming up.

At least I think so.

Interesting week...

Who would have thought that a warm shower could save my sanity this week?

It's really been kind of a crappy week. Nothing seems to have gone right for me, which, looking back now, can be attributed to a nice little bout with depression.

Said depression this week was probably the worst I've ever had it. I think I actually frightened one of my coworkers. I won't go into how, because I don't want to scare anybody else.

Sorry, no details for you.

One of the things that went wrong this week was that starting last Sunday, I didn't have hot water. And my back had gone out. So every time I went to take a shower, my body would tense up, making my back even worse. I don't mind cold showers, but I would prefer to choose when I take one, and I wouldn't choose to take one every day.

And then on Friday, I had a couple rough calls at work, early on. Usually after a rough call, I'll take a couple seconds to recover and then I'm okay. Unfortunately, one of my supervisors, who also trained me, was walking by and asked if I was okay. Of course, as soon as someone asked, I wasn't okay anymore. So I had a nice little breakdown and I had to walk away from my desk for a few minutes to recover again.

Back to the cold showers: they had actually been affecting my mood a little after the third day of them. I had filed a service request over the internet and was told that someone would contact me. By Friday, I was feeling pretty ignored and unwanted, really. I had a management company in the last apartment I rented that ignored a service order until I moved out. So I figured I had another management company that didn't care.

During my last break on Friday, I managed to find the complex office's phone number and called just to see if they had received my request. They hadn't, but Amber, the office person, said that she would get someone on the job and mark it urgent. I thought, okay, I'll have hot water next week, at least I can have that to look forward to. Well, I got home, and I could tell someone had been there, so I turned on the water, and I had hot.

I immediately took a 20 minute, nice warm shower.

And my entire day improved by a lot.

So yes, a shower saved my sanity this week. I wouldn't go so far as to say it saved my life, but it saved my sanity.

So hey, sane Adam.

.....Crap.

Okay, so, I've been reading a particular series of books over and over again since the first time my first year at Dixie. It's called the Wheel of Time. I keep reading the series because the series keeps going. The last book that came out was book number eleven.

After the 11th book, I started looking online to see how long the series was going to be. I read on the site, unofficial, but with input from the author, that Robert Jordan promised the series would end in book number twelve, even if it was two thousand pages long. So I thought, okay, I can wait a while for that book, since it will end the series.

Now I wonder if the series will ever get finished. You see, I found out today that Mr. Jordan passed away at 2:45 PM. He apparently had a serious disease called cardiac amyloidosis. I don't know what it involves, but he had been fighting this disease for quite some time.

And as much as I would like to be able to extend my condolences to his family, I still can't help but wonder, "Will the series ever get finished?"

Crap.

Tidbits...

There are people, and I've known one or two, who are so determined to be different from those around them that they go out of their way to tell you how different they are. All the time. It's all they talk about. To listen to them, the only music worth listening to is what they listen to. Nothing else matters. They are the only people around with any sort of fashion sense. Only they know what is cool or worth liking.

And yet, if you take the time to listen to their likes and come across something new they may enjoy, they come back and say, "Why does everyone think I like that band, or that style? I hate it!" Never appreciating the fact that you attempted to give them something new to enjoy, based on their tastes.

That bugs me.

Also? I really don't enjoy the sensation of vomiting. I've suffered through two occasions in the last couple weeks where I've started dry-heaving. The first was when I flew into the Phoenix airport on a 19 passenger plane. The next was this week, when I caught some sort of bug and woke up feeling ill. So I called into work, and as soon as I got off the phone, I had to run to the bathroom and started dry-heaving again. Luckily, I guess, both times I didn't have anything in my stomach to get rid of. Man, I really don't like throwing up. I don't know anyone who does, of course. I don't think even those poor people who suffer from bulimia actually enjoy the process of throwing up. I think that this is the first time since I was on my mission that I have actually gone through the process of throwing up.

Also? I thought you weren't supposed to be able to read in your dreams. Granted, I don't often remember my dreams, but last night I do remember reading a license plate, and knowing it wasn't mine, though the car that had been destroyed looked like mine. Maybe it's because it was a license plate, which is just random letters and numbers, but I distinctly remember reading the plate, and thinking, in my dream, that I wasn't supposed to be able to read that plate. And that is what woke me up.

Also? I like shakes. Especially chocolate.

Just Another Reason....

...as if I really needed one.

I tend to stay up late. I kind of think it's genetic, as most of my siblings have similar habits.

As part of my tendency to stay up late, I tend to want to do my grocery shopping late at night, sometimes after midnight.

As it turns out, it is impossible to find a grocery store that stays open past midnight in the near vicinity of Mesa, AZ.

I spent 40 minutes tonight, trying to find a grocery store. I didn't have a whole lot to buy, but I wanted to find a grocery store, as convenience stores don't tend to carry creme soda, something that sounded really good tonight.

So after 40 frickin' minutes of driving around, I gave up, and bought a Coke and a two liter bottle of root beer. And the root beer isn't even chilled.

I can't wait to move, really. Even the Super Walmarts close at 11PM here.

So, where?

I think I shocked my mother the other day. I told her that I was thinking of moving from Mesa, AZ. I just moved here in March. A good part of the reason for moving is because I find the summer here absolutely unbearable. I would much rather deal with a cold winter than a hot summer.

But, of course, that's only part of the reason.

Another part is the fact that my good friend, possibly my best friend, Julie, is considering a move to the Portland area of Oregon. I like Oregon, and I thought, hey, that sounds like a cool place to live, plus the universities in that neighborhood have great Spanish-type Masters programs.

But the main reason for moving in that direction is the fact that at this point in my life, I really, really don't want to live that far away from her. In fact, if, all of a sudden she decided to go somewhere else, I would find myself changing my mind about where I want to live pretty quickly.

It almost scares me, really, but I find it kind of hard to imagine living anywhere she isn't. It's killing me to be here in Arizona right now while she is where she's at. Almost physically painful.

And yes, she'll probably want to hurt me for not telling her this personally. But oh well, I hope she enjoys reading this.

Oh, and Mom? Don't get too excited. There's still a long way to go.

Ideas For My Dream House

I've had some ideas for my eventual dream. I don't necessarily know what it will all look like, but I have seen some things that I would like to add to my eventual house.

I've even decided to include some pictures, just because I can.

This is the basic idea for a shower. I know it's hard to see, but think Roman bathhouse. Lots of stone, multiple shower heads, and a seat for those long showers, or when you just want some steam.


As for the entrance to the back yard, I think this moon gate would be wonderful.


And, I don't really want this bed arrangement, but I think it looks cool to have the light underneath like this. And I like the glass courtyard with the pool. Seems nice.

Off to see the Wizard, and then some....

Okay, so today I scanned in some drawings and uploaded them to my photobucket account. Which means I can share them here.

Consider yourselves lucky I feel like sharing.

By the way, you can click the pictures for a larger view, in case you wish to enjoy them at a larger size.

Let's start off with Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz series of books. Well, Dorothy as I imagine her at 18-ish, as I haven't figured out how to draw children yet.



Then we'll move on to my version of the Scarecrow. I just love the idea of his mouth being a tear in the bag that makes up his head. I know the book says his mouth is painted on, but consider it artistic license.



Moving on to the Tin Woodman. When I colored him, I decided that his hat didn't necessarily have to be made of tin. I think I may like it more if it were the same color as the rest of his body, but I still like it.



Now let's look at the Cowardly Lion. This drawing draws(heh) more from the movie version than the book, but that's because I didn't have any photo reference of lions when I drew this. Oh well. Maybe next time.



Mostly unrelated, here is my drawing of the Frog Prince. Of course, later on in the Oz books, he introduces a character that is a human-sized frog. But I didn't remember that until tonight, so there's really no relation here. I just made up the relation. I can do that. I'm the artist.



I hope you enjoyed the art(?) viewing.

New Poem

So, apparently, the idea that grabbed my attention before absolutely refuses to be fleshed out. Maybe it'll come later, but for now, here is the complete poem. And I may never flesh it out.


Today,
today my eyes
are blue.


So, what do you think? I hope it doesn't come across as a cop-out.

Disjointed...

Lots of different ideas running through my head right now. So, lucky you! You get to read all of them, in a slightly shorter form than you might have, had I decided to flesh these out to make full posts.

Labios Compartidos (Shared Lips)

A song by Mana, a Mexican rock group whose music I really enjoy. The basic idea of the song is a love triangle, from the point of view of one of the two guys in love with the girl. One line says "I can no longer share your lips." What I love about this line, is that it is so ambiguous that it could mean he can't share her lips any longer because she's already left him, and won't be his to kiss any more. Or, it could mean that he's found out about the other guy, and is no longer willing to share her lips with that guy, so he's ending the relationship. Every time I hear this song, if I think about the words, it makes my heart ache.

Britain's Got Talent

If you can, go to www.youtube.com and look up some clips from this competition. Especially with the names Paul Potts or Connie Talbot. Paul is a cell phone salesman who entered the contest and sings opera. His voice is absolutely incredible, but what gets me is his countenance while singing. It's so obvious while he sings that singing and music are the of absolute importance to him. In an interview he says that he has always suffered with a bad self-esteem and that singing is the only thing he's ever felt he was good at, and that even when he was being bullied, his voice was his friend. He could go home and sing and everything would be okay. Both songs that he sang on this program have absolutely moved me to tears. With the first time he sings on the show, you can tell the judges are ready for a horrible performance when he tells them he sings opera. Then he starts, and their jaws just hit the floor; they are flabbergasted.

Connie Talbot is a cute as a button six year old with an amazing gift for singing. Her audition piece was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" which is a song I love anyway, but she puts so much feeling into it (even at six) that after three notes, I was in tears.

Yes, I cried quite a bit this evening.

My Muse

I had a visit from my itinerant muse this week. I actually completed several drawings while at work over two or three shifts. And I wrote the poem I posted in the previous post. And I've managed to get the majority of the lyrics for a song I've had in my head for a while. And, apparently I need to learn guitar, because this song is a guitar song. I feel really creative, and that's very nice after such a long drought.

New Poem

I was looking in the mirror today as I was washing my hands, and I noticed my eyes, and I said to myself, "Today my eyes are blue." That struck me as poetically significant, and I'm digesting that line to create a poem around it. I know the basic form, but not the content. Does that make sense?

Mom's favorite topic

I had an interesting "revelation" today. I figured out that I'm a pretty decent fellow and that I'm worth waiting to find the female that will accept me and love for who I am. So there!

Of course, who knows how long that idea will last?

Anyway, those are the things running through my head at the moment. I thought there was another, but I can't remember it, so you don't get to read it. Sorry!

Threads of Fate

The threads of Fate tie me
to the decisions I've made
in the past,
their accumulated strength exceeding
iron shackles and chains.

The weight of responsibility
for those decisions

pulling me backwards, away
from the light of decisions
I wish to make, the way
I wish to go.

Tiring of the constant struggle,
I wish to rest,
sliding back one step,
two,
giving up ground won in
hard-fought, tear-drenched battles,
hoping the brief rest will grant me
the renewed strength to

slowly

win back that precious ground, and
then some, knowing that this
war
won't end until

I give up

or

I am free.

Here I go again....

I really need to snap this vicious cycle I seem to perpetuate. I start feeling a little depressed, so I do something stupid. Maybe I spend too much, maybe something else. Then I feel guilty for the stupid thing I did, and I feel even more depressed. I usually won't go much farther, because that's usually when I recognize the cycle and try to stop it, but sometimes I can really beat myself up about it.

I'm getting down again right now. To the point where it's almost affecting my work. Inbetween calls today I almost got myself to the point of tears, but I caught myself in time, as I still had a job to do.

Now that throws up a red flag, saying, "Hey, you need help, and soon." Unfortunately the therapy I would like to try is a fairly new thing, and I don't know if it's spread out farther than the Provo, UT, area.

I want to try that particular therapy because my little sister just went through it and feels really good about it. And she's had a lot more therapy than I have. And we're fairly similar, so I think it would work for me.

Unfortunately, my job kind of gets in the way of me going up there for sessions, even if I could afford to make the trip that many times.

So, yeah, until I get an answer back from the therapist I wrote to, who knows when I'll be able to find the solution here in Mesa.

Grrr. I hate when I can see a possibly great solution but it won't work.

Movies A to Z...

On my last blog, I had so much fun listing my favorite music groups A to Z, that I thought I'd give it a try with movies. I guess we'll see how it goes.

A is for A Series of Unfortunate Events. A rare case of enjoying the movie more than the books. But then, I could never get into the books, though I truly tried.

B is for Back to the Future. I love this trilogy, especially the first and third movies. So much fun, and every time travel question was answered.

C is for Clue. Who knew a board game would make such a great movie? The cast is great; Tim Curry is always fun to watch, Christopher Lloyd is hilarious, and don't you dare take your eyes off of Madeline Kahn. The french maid is great eye candy, too.

D is for Dogma. I think the tagline for the movie says it all: "Religion is a funny thing."

E is for Equilibrium. Think "Farenheit 451," but where all emotions and anything that would cause emotional responses are outlawed. Christian Bale's face as he starts to feel emotion for the first time is an amazing thing to watch.

F is for Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Granted, it's a movie sequel to a video game, but the computer-generated graphics are amazing, and the story's pretty good as well.

G is for Grosse Point Blank. Hooray for John Cusack. I love this idea. A professional assassin goes to his 10-year high school reunion. I might have gone to mine, if I were an assassin...

H is for Hercules. Okay, so it's not entirely faithful to the Greek myths, but it has a great vocal cast and is hilarious. James Woods as Hades steals the scene, even when he's not in the scene.

I is for The Incredibles. Wonderful superhero movie. Great story, truly emotional, and action-packed and exciting. I saw it many times in the theater.

J is for James Bond: Casino Royale. I'm not a huge Bond fan, but I LOVED this movie. I still need to buy it. The opening chase sequence was incredible, and Daniel Craig makes a great James Bond.

K is for Kill Bill. Yeah, it gets a little bloody, but there's something about the character of the Bride that is so compelling. And the other actors in the two movies are all amazing. I really do enjoy watching both halves.

L is for Lost in Translation. A movie that is the perfect love letter to those who love foreign culture, whether it be Japan or somewhere else. Yeah, it moves a touch slow, but that's part of its charm for me.

M is for Mirrormask. This movie combines the creativity of Neil Gaiman, the artistry of Dave McKean, and the imagination of the Jim Henson company to make a wonderful movie. At once dreamy, hopeful, and emotional, this movie is a moving experience.

N is for Night Watch. A Russian fantasy with elements of Horror, this is the first of a planned trilogy of movie. Yes, there were some holes in the plot, and some things left unexplained, but the visuals are incredible, and they found a way to make the subtitles actually part of the movie. Creepy without scaring the crap out of me.

O is for Over the Hedge. I didn't expect to love this movie. But I do. It's a great criticism of human nature. Plus: funny as all get-out. If you don't love Hammy the squirrel after seeing this movie, you're emotionally dead inside.

P is for Phantom of the Opera. I loved this movie. It surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I love the music of the original broadway production so much that I was worried that it would be ruined in movie form, but it wasn't. Great voices, for the most part, and a great cast.

Q is for Quest for Camelot. My main problem with this movie is that it feels rushed. It's fairly short, and if they had been able to stretch it just a little more, it would have been more enjoyable. However, the soundtrack is absolutely infectious.

R is for Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Oh, how I love this movie. I don't think I could put why I love this movie into words.

S is for Singin' in the Rain. One of my favorite movies of all time. 'Nuff said.

T is for Toy Story 1 and 2. Everybody who had toys growing up wondered what it would be like if their toys came to life. Now we know. It's a conspiracy to keep humans from finding out about it.

U is for Underworld. While I didn't like the look of the werewolves in this movie, the story and plot sparked my imagination, and that alone makes a movie worth watching more than once.

V is for Van Helsing. For pretty much the same reasons as Underworld, except I liked how the werewolf looked in this movie. Although I did find it hard to accept the duke from Moulin Rouge as Dracula. That just seemed to really be a stretch. But the friar was hilarious.

W is for While you Were Sleeping. Another one of my favorite movies of all time. The whole movie is pretty much my favorite movie moment.

X is for X2: X-men United. Pretty much the perfect superhero movie. From the opening scene in the White House to the emotional ending, this movie gets my attention and keeps it the entire time.

Y is for You've Got Mail. Yes, it's sappy. Yes, it makes me cry. But, before you get all judgemental, you have to realize that my parents courted by way of letters, so this movie kind of relates to my life, a little.

Z is for Zorro, as in the Mask of Zorro. Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, and Catherine Zeta Jones. There really isn't all that much to dislike about this movie.

So, what do you think?

A New First...

So I had a new experience at work the other day.

I was speaking with a Ms. S., and what she had called for did not take very long, and when we had finished she started chatting with me for a second. She asked if I was studying in school, so I told her I was in-between degrees, and that I wanted to go to grad school. I told her my major was in Spanish.

She evidently thought that was pretty impressive. She told me that the mind is unhinged and could accomplish anything. The she asked, "Well, why aren't you working for a bank in Spain, my Nigger (pronounce niggah)?" I told her that I just wasn't prepared to work in another country yet.

We ended the call, and anytime I felt a little irritated after any call after that, I just had to remember Ms. S. and I would start giggling uncontrollably. I felt very flattered and took that phrase as a complement, as I think it was meant.

It still makes me smile to think of it.