Thirteen of My Favorite Dance Moments
Counting down…

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A light-hearted look at the upside of cloning.

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don’t blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don’t blog about, but you’d like to hear about, and I’ll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on something, favorite type of underwear, explain an interest, whatever.

This feels like a Pretty in Pink kind of day. Maybe it’s because I’m crampy and I associate cramps with being a teenager and angst and being interested in one guy while having two or three more interested in you while the first one couldn’t really care less.

And maybe it’s because the only other thing I considered watching was Atonement and right now I just don’t feel like it. It’s too soon. I watched it yesterday for the first time and it devastated me. Seriously, there was nothing happy about that at all. And I know that stories aren’t always happy. But the end got me. Once you get to that point (if you haven’t read the novel already) you can begin to put things together and the typing sounds in the score really make it all make sense, but an unreliable narrator really riles me up. Especially one that I have next to no compassion for and one who thinks that writing a story and “giving” two people a happy ending is really even close to “atoning” for her “sins.” I found it quite presumptuous of Briony to state that she gave the couple their happiness and that comment alone made me seriously question her state of mind. Is she losing it by this point?

I’d like to add that I didn’t feel any sort of compassion for Cecelia either, as I don’t think she gave Young Briony half a chance. She was a little girl who saw something she didn’t understand and ended up making something much larger out of it. Honestly, an adult can tell from the first second when he appears who the real culprit is, but what is a little girl to think? Certainly that the fellow with the most evidence against him is the guilty party.

I will say that it was terribly beautiful cinematography though. The racy content at the beginning makes it something I really can’t recommend in good conscience, but it’s very, very pretty. Not the racy content — the film overall. Sigh.

The way it’s stuck with me reminds me of the feeling I had after watching A Walk to Remember for the first time. I know what you’re thinking. She’s comparing a film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel to one based on a novel by Ian McEwan? I understand. But I must tell you that at the time that film came out, it was something very close. I had never identified with a character so much as Jamie Sullivan (in the book) and the film made it all the more real (though less appealing in some ways). To see her situation and the change that she helped to spark in that boy by expressing her faith really touched me. To watch her dreams come true and then have her pass from this life to the next, well, it made me examine my life, priorities, and where I stood on a lot of things. I began to seriously consider the impact my words and the way I lived had (or could have) on people. If you can get past the cheese factor (which doesn’t bother me so much because I am a certified Cheeseball) there are some great lessons to be gleaned from A Walk to Remember. I would suggest the novel over the film though.

If you enjoyed Atonement, I recommend: Jeux d’enfants (Eng. Title: Love Me If You Dare)

Appetizer
Name something you would categorize as weird. Pronouncing syrup like seer-up. Showering with a pet. Eating one’s weight in kippered beef steak. Clay Aiken and people who like him.

Soup
What color was the last piece of food you ate? Umm…brownish.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone? 9. I am a solitary person. Being alone helps me to re-energize.

Main Course
Fill in the blank: I will _________ vote for ___________ in _______. I will probably vote for myself in 2020. It’s the year I’m eligible

Dessert
Describe your sleeping habits. My sleep cycles are very short. I want to say maybe 5 hours. My body doesn’t get tired until VERY late. Lately I have been getting to bed earlier in the evening since I get for work at 5 am.

Try working on your birthday when work is primarily made up of wiping excrement from tiny people’s tookuses AND you have the flu.

HEADS! This week’s theme is direction. And this is my first week!

I believe this thing used to be a reindeer or a moose. But it lost its antlers in the wind.

Someone who is not me pushed my trash can back up toward my house from the curb the other day. I would think nothing of this if my nice Mormon neighbors still lived next door. They would push it back up for me a lot.

However, given the activity on my street lately and the smell of rotting FLESH hanging in the air near the trashcan has me paranoid that it was a teenager who placed either a dead animal or some sawed off limbs in there. I’ve just been holding my nose, throwing the bag in, and averting my eyes. Trash day is tomorrow. Thank goodness.

Confused by the “emerging church,” the “Emergent movement,” and the idea of relevance in Christianity? Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church gives a great talk and explains it in a way that is simple for easily confused minds like mine to understand. Check it out here.

Appetizer
Name a color you find soothing. The ocean on a cloudy day.

Soup
Using 20 or less words, describe your first driving experience. Drove trailer loaded with hay into ditch. Turned trailer over. Distracted by cell phone my brother would not answer.

Salad
What material is your favorite item of clothing made out of? The old “frog pants” (RIP). And they were just some super super soft cotton blend.

Main Course
Who is a great singer or musician who, if they were to come to your town for a concert, you would spend the night outside waiting for tickets to see? I don’t think I would do that for anyone. Maybe John Mayer or Michael Buble, but I don’t even know about that. Now, the two of them together? Oh yeah. And maybe Westlife. Yeah, probably so.

Dessert
What is the most frequent letter of the alphabet in your whole name (first, middle, maiden, last, etc.)? Elizabeth Michelle Johnson = E (I think. I am bad at counting.)