Movies I Own

I don’t have a large movie collection. It currently includes:

(on VHS)

1. Zoolander
2. Chocolat
3. White Christmas (the first movie I owned, given to me in my first year of university)
   

(on DVD)

1. I Am Sam
2. Marie Antoinette
3. Swing Kids

in the past month, I’ve nearly doubled my collection, with:

1. Benny and Joon
2. The Man in the Moon
3. The Pianist
4. 27 Dresses
   
5. Walk to Remember
   

Meaning

According to Solomon, potentially the wisest man who ever lived, the following things are meaningless:

1. Everything
2. Understanding wisdom, madness & folly
3. Pleasure & indulgence
4. Toil (working night & day)
5. Labour & achievement that stem from envy
6. Position without wisdom
7. Much dreaming & many words
8. Loving wealth & being dissatisfied
9. Having things but not enjoying them
10. The wicked being praised
11. Righteous people getting what the wicked deserve and vice versa
12. Youth & vigour

On the flip-side, Solomon exhorts his readers to:

1. Be happy & do good
2. Eat & drink & find satisfaction in your work
3. Enjoy your work
4. Eat & drink & find joy in your labour
5. Enjoy the blessings God has given you, accept your lot & be happy
6. Enjoy life: eat, drink & be glad
7. Enjoy life with your spouse, whom you love
8. Be happy while you are young
9. Remember your Creator
10. Fear God & keep His commands

(Notice any trends there?)

Great Children’s Books

Love You Forever (anything by Robert Munsch)

Curious George

Madeline

Ten Kids, No Pets

The Chronicles of Narnia

Little House on the Prairie (and sequels)

The Giving Tree

The Yearling

The Borrowers

The Little Prince

Oh Say Can You Say (anything by Dr. Seuss)

The Pinkish, Bluish, Purplish Egg

Bridge to Terabithia

Anne of Green Gables

Treasure Island

Little Women

Swiss Family Robinson

The Princess & The Goblin

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Monster at the End of This Book

Former Freebies

iTunes totally sucked me in with their free download every week. To date, I’ve added 30 new songs and artists to my library. These are my top recommendations. Too bad they are no longer free.

1. Everybody’s In Love – Justin Rutledge
2. Club Thing – Yoav
3. If I Live or If I Die – Cuff the Duke

In Celebration

I’m having a reflective & slightly sappy evening thinking about my sister, who is getting married on Saturday. So, in near chronological order, my favourite memories-to-date of my sister.

1. Surgery. I don’t know if I actually remember this, or if I just know it from the picture my mom has. But my brother and I once played doctor and cut her open. Not for real, of course. But I liked wearing my pretend mask and hair net, and using our plastic cutlery to perform serious tasks.
2. (Fast-forward about eight years. I don’t have many positive memories of my sister between the ages of four and thirteen. Maybe this is reality, maybe this is just a bad case of selective memory. Maybe nothing important happened in these years, so I don’t have any memories. Maybe my memory was wiped out because something terrible happened during those years.)
3. In grade nine, I came home devastated from hearing that the boy I liked was dating someone else. I got in trouble for something, and she laughed at me for some reason, and I ran upstairs crying. I remember throwing myself on my bed, sobbing at all that was wrong with my life. She came in and apologized. I ignored her. She sat down on the bed. I turned my face away. She started rubbing my back and saying that she wasn’t leaving, because she knew that when she was my age, it’s what she would have wanted, even though she wouldn’t have admitted it. And she was right. I did secretly want her to stay and just show that she cared. This was the turning point in our friendship. Actually, writing this out is making me cry.
4. Grade nine again. Grade nine was a terrible year. On my birthday, the mean kids made fun of me (that’s another story) and I didn’t know what to do. So I found my sister. And I put my head on her shoulder, and I cried. In the hallway. And she rubbed my back again and told me she loved me, or something. I don’t remember what she said. But she was there when I needed her to be there.
5. The playtpus. Not sure when the platypus started, but it’s been ongoing since sometime in high school. I had gotten it with a Happy Meal, when Ty Beanie Babies were all the rage. And one night I threw it at her, lobbing it across the dark bedroom. She jumped when it landed on her. I laughed, and thankfully, so did she. And back and forth it went. Then it went back and forth between lives. Peru, Canada, Peru, Canada. Maybe another country or two…it’s become a symbol of “Hey, I think you’re fun, and this weird purple creature says so without actually saying anything.”
6. Once when she was standing on the stairs talking to me, I reached out and pulled her on the bottom of her shirt. Every single snap undid itself, and she was left, half-shocked and slightly exposed. Good thing I was the only one around. After that, she never let me closer than 5 ft when she was wearing that shirt.
7. Benny & Joon. She introduced me to this movie. I cried. 500 Miles became our song. I still think of her every time I hear it.
8. One summer, she worked in Toronto and I went to visit her. We went to see Mamma Mia! and I fell in love with ABBA. I desperately wish the movie was coming out before she moves away, because I’m also a little bit in love with Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan.
9. She once hosted a party (which I was not invited to) where there were magic brownies. This is so contrary to her personality that it still makes me laugh.
10. I visited her in Peru. It was wonderful, and full of stories in itself. I think we had some great moments talking about boys & heartbreak.
11. Bride & Prejudice. Pair it with some Indian takeout and it’s another great sister date.
12. At some point, she decided that I was the big sister and she was the little sister. Or at least, that sometimes it seemed this way. I don’t think I’d debate the fact. And I hope that was supposed to be a compliment…
13. She was the first person I ever mooned. It was so much fun I did it again.

I think that brings us nearly up to date. I’m sure I’m forgetting some. But even recollecting this much has been highly entertaining.

Decisions I Need to Make

When will I go back to Vancouver?

What will I do for my vacation time?

Will I go to Jenn’s wedding?

What furniture do I want for my room?

What sort of SLR do I want to buy?

Will I support all three students financially?

What will I say in my speech at Sarah’s wedding?

What do I want to do with my life?

What will I wear tomorrow?

What Actually Happened

This is how my day went down:

Got up and showered (but not too early).

Blogged.

Went to Starbucks.

Chatted with Jen at Starbucks.

Went shopping on King St (two shirts for $15 – what great deals!).

Went to the Farmer’s Market (chaos ensued, as we had too many people to coordinate easily).

Lunch with Jen (Mmmm, Korean/Japanese! Mmmm, bubble tea!).

Lay on the grass in the park with Meredith and Jen. We didn’t read. We did lie and talk, and I did get a slight burn.

Playground with Jen & Graham & kids. Meredith and I were portrait takers.

Home to make supper with said crew. Add one more.

Put the kids to bed, ate dessert. Reviewed the afternoon’s photos.

Rock Band. Finally!

Dessert with the current crew. Heard the engagement story. Loved it.

Got home and people were playing Rock Band in my living room. So I joined them. Then I kicked them out. Then I dressed up our band members in cooler clothing.

Now I’m going to bed. Mmmm, sweet bed.

Saturday Plans

In the preferred order, my plans for today.

Get up & shower. But not too early (check).
Blog (check, check).
Go to Starbucks.
Have a quiet time at Starbucks.
Chat with Jen at Starbucks.
Go window-shopping on King St.
Lunch.
Lie on the grass in the park with Meredith and not-read. (I am currently about to start Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, which I think will prove fascinating.)
RockBand. And Laundry. Simultaneous fun and efficiency.
Pick up friend from the airport.
Supper, maybe.
Dessert with the current crew.
Movie – hopefully Benny & Joon, which I purchased last night in a 2-pack for $7! (along with The Man in the Moon, which features a rather young Reese Witherspoon.)
Bed. Mmm, sweet bed.

Movies I Have No Desire To See

(In my ignorance, I may be making terrible mistakes. You are free to plead your case for any of these titles.)

1. I Know What You Did Last Summer. Any of them. None of them. I don’t want to know. I don’t care.

2. The Incredible Hulk. The one in 2003 (which I also didn’t see) was a flop. Why are they doing another one?

3. Silence of the Lambs. Because I like sleeping at night.

4. Ratatouille. If I had a rat in my kitchen, I would want to kill it, cute or not.

5. Ben Hur. I once watched The Ten Commandments, and I can’t say I’m convinced that Charlton Heston is a favourite actor of mine.

6. The Graduate. Seduction & affairs make me angry. I feel little sympathy for people who get themselves into sexually complicated situations.

7. The Exorcist. Spiritual things are weighty matters, and am not sure how I feel about freaky fiction like this.

8. From Justin to Kelly. Do I need to defend this? I don’t think I do.

Things I Didn’t Do Today

1. Finish my talk for tomorrow.

2. Work hard from 9-5. I was the Queen of Tangents today, as I often am. Having the internet has never helped that.

3. Kiss anyone. There aren’t many people around to kiss. But I did get a couple of great hugs. One of them was from a three year-old.

4. Win at anything.

5. Get drunk (although I did drink).

6. Help plan my sister’s wedding reception, as promised. Thankfully, there is always tomorrow.

7. Cry. I spoke with people who were crying, or have cried recently. I was not moved to tears.

8. Flirt with the guy who tried picking us up at the pub. As my friend and I walked out the door, a guy on the patio called, “Bye, ladies!” or something equally mundane. I don’t understand how a guy can think that’s a good time to start up a conversation, once a girl has already decided to leave. Yet when we half-responded, he called out again, as if the fact that we were halfway across the parking lot could be easily overcome with a bit of charm and the faint smell of his cigarette smoke. Mmmm, sexy.

9. Exercise. The weather has been crappy, and I’m a baby about running in the rain or cold. Which really means I don’t run 8 months of the year.

10. Buy a wedding dress, despite my mom’s suggestion that we look for one, since we were at the wedding dress store with my sister… the fact that I don’t have a boyfriend and therefore no cause to even think of planning a wedding somehow slipped her memory. Or maybe she’s so excited about marrying off one daughter that she figures she may as well go for broke.

11. Go to bed on time. Because I’m too excited about making this post.