patience

Patience is a virtue they say...mine is wearing thin. You see, I finally bought a new dishwasher (step 2.5 in home updating) and it is being delivered this morning. But they haven't called yet, and I'm getting very impatient...because I have to go to work and I have many, many things to do there. Ack!

In the meantime, I'm trying to make the best of my 1/2 day off by accomplishing some projects...and then I just decided to update this instead. So here's what I'm inputting these days...

holidays: I came up with a fun idea for a Christmas card...I will show it to you if I manage to pull it off. (This begs the question why do I make it so complicated, right?)

sports: The Twins clinched this week. I can not tell you how obsessed I am, because it would be embarrassing :) I can, however, tell you that I both went to a game this week and am wearing a Twins sweatshirt right now (if that gives you any idea.) I love them all and I can't wait to watch/listen to them keep winning!

TV on DVD: FNL update--I just finished season 2 and it was excellent. I love the evolution some of the characters are taking. It is incredibly realistic. I also just started watching The Vampire Diaries season 1. I started watching it last season, but got too far behind. Now I'm catching up. It may seem cheesy--but it's a very well done dramatic cheesy.

TV: Glee started this week, and sadly that is the only currently airing show I found time to watch this week. The new TV season looks excellent, but I don't have tivo/dvr or the time to keep up. I am hoping to watch Hawaii 5-0 though.

travels: I went to or through South Dakota twice this month. You may ask why I would do that...well, it's all about the people really. The first weekend was for Lifelight south of Sioux Falls. It is an excellent (and free!) Christian music festival: favorite performers of the weekend=Group 1 Crew. I went with a few really good friends and we had a fantastic time. The second weekend was traveling through SD with a few friends to go to a Christian women's retreat in Nebraska. The retreat was excellent and very renewing.

music: The newest disc to catch my fancy: Rebel by Lecrae. This is one of my favorites so far.

books: I read Water for Elephants earlier this month. Very interesting and quick read. Now I'm reading A Concise History of China. It's a little dry and there are lots of names (really hard to keep straight!) but it is really interesting and about a subject that I know very little about. I'm powering through and should be done next week.

Got any recommendations for me? I would love to hear them.

09/02/10--look kinda familiar?

I never would have thought of it, but I'm glad someone pointed it out.

not recommended

Sometimes I like not knowing. If I pick up a movie I haven't heard of (which doesn't happen all that often), I quickly scan and decide if I'm in the mood for it. This plan, which I usually like because it doesn't give away the movie and keeps me surprised, backfired this weekend. Now I admit picking a movie called The Killer Inside Me should have set off alarm bells. It was well acted (except maybe one person...) but DISTURBING. Watching a few of the special features actually helped me appreciate it a little more since I found out it was based on a 1950s novel; not sure why that made it better, but it did. (Jen, if you read this, Casey would probably love it.)

The other movie, Dare, had some interesting psychological things to say too, but once again, DISTURBING, but in a different way. I'm just a little sick of everyone thinking that every teenager is twisted or has to become twisted or experience twisted to grow up. It reminds me (in the opposite way) of a great Stellar Kart song. (Not sure how this video connects to the song really, but it's funny in a bizarre way.)

Oh, and sometimes being disturbed is okay...but for me, only if the lesson that comes out of it is worth it. In these cases, not so much...

Oh, and I had an "aha" moment today: the main character in any teenage movie never has fun at a kegger. A lesson for us all :) Care to dispute? Let me know what movie and who it was...

Haute stomped nuns FNL

Here's a little sample of what I've been doing and thinking:

--trying a new little restaurant in the Warehouse District, Haute Dish. Great food, classy drinks, nice atmosphere (although a little loud), kinda pricey (but that is the kind of food they have)
--listening to Twins baseball...and after two frustrating and exhilarating games, this one tonight is totally deflating...if you can't define "stomped" in sports terms, check out the stats on this game tomorrow
--nuns...I'm not Catholic, but I caught a fascinating episode of Oprah very early in the morning this last week in which Lisa Ling visited a convent and Oprah talked to a few of the sisters...it has me thinking a lot about service to God and having less...now I just need to work on the follow through...
--I'm in love with the tv show Friday Night Lights. I love the drama and the characters...that sports drama gets me every time...which led me to think...
--why isn't there a network or cable or HBO show about a minor league team? seriously! I have such an obsession with baseball right now, that I might be skewed, but I see it working either or two ways: 1) coach is the main character and deals with this 20 year old kids trying to make it and having fan girls and arranging housing and dealing with owners and traveling (this option is open to lots of issue episodes) or 2) one or two players take center stage...probably a prodigy and a guy who has had to prove everyone wrong at every step...this option has a stronger opening for teammate relationships and would allow for showing the struggle and excitement of being called up and sent back down...see! I'm right, right?

So Many Things

Only two days gone of this weekend so far and already so many things...

baseball, Battlestar Galactica, cranberry bread, shorter (lighter!) hair, The A-Team

The best thing though: I bought a completely impractical pair of shoes* that I love. Hmmm...now when will I get to wear them?

*They look like this only mine are a flat silver. :)

effects

I've been in a bit of a funk* recently--a multi-faceted funk (which is my way of saying it is too complicated to explain.) But, for me, funks often spur a greater desire than usual to escape in a good book, movie, TV show, concert, or game...(I don't actually recommend this plan, however, because it rarely clears up the reason for the funk. Avoidance is not really helpful, but it can be entertaining :)

books
Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
The House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

movies
Daybreakers
Valentine's Day
Sweet Land
Leap Year
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
It's Complicated
The Other Man
Post Grad
Public Enemies
The Hangover

TV shows
Lost (see previous post)
Glee
The Good Wife
random channel flipping :)

TV on DVD
Battlestar Gallactica (I have one disc and one movie left--if only blockbuster had sent them in the right order!)

concert
Glee Live!

games
I'm currently really obsessed with soduku (which goes hand-in-hand with listening to baseball...)

videos
I watch random videos that people post on FB or tweet about all the time, but this one is definitely worth sharing: http://tiny.cc/77gtw (courtesy of NPH) and it kinda connects to the next subject...

sports
baseball (go Twins! Oh, and I got a surprise trip to the game today; even though they lost, it was still fun!)
soccer: I'm a World Cup fan, I admit it...there is something really beautiful about an event that brings together people from all over the world; I love feeling like I'm part of it.

*When I first wrote this I just used this word because it was appropriate. But when I went and reread it, I realized it could be construed as a very clever homage to a much debated (or much maligned?) Glee episode. Just wanted to clear up that I'm not actually that witty, but I wish I were. :)

Lost! Lost. Lost?

Well, it's over. And I want to say thank you.
Thank you for giving me plenteous discussion material to bond over.
Thank you for expanding my mind.
Thank you for beautiful scenery.
Thank you for poring your heart into it.
Thank you for doing it on your terms.
Thank you for not being perfect.
Thank you for leaving me wondering.
Thank you for letting faith and love and connection be the end.
Thank you for actually giving it an ending.