enough

It has been raining on and off for the past 2 weeks. I get it - people are sick of the rain. However, I am more bothered by the people complaining about the rain than I am about the actual rain.

downsizing

I am realizing that I have a lot of stuff. . boxes for things I got forever ago - really, do I need the box my camera, ipod, or lenses came in? No. Clothes - I try to weed things out, but inevitably think - I will want to wear that soon! And, 6 mos later, have still not pulled it out of the bottom of the drawer. Books - ones I read once, ones from college I will never use again - time to downsize. Last night I listed 26 books on half.com to sell. Let's hope someone wants them!

Torture

I left something in my car and had to run out to get it. Too bad it is currently 70 degrees, clear skies, and GORGEOUS outside. It is too nice to be in an office staring out at the great weather. It's days like this that make me wonder why I am not a teacher so I can have more time off!
Things I'd like to do in this fantastic weather:
- ride my bike
- lay in the hammock
- kayak (after cleaning it)
- read on the beach
- hang out @ Crissy field w/ heather and evie (ummm not so much a reality)
- have a beer @ Archie's in Milford (only 2.5 hr drive for that to be a reality)

Old but still amusing

Don't drink @ work!

Subtitles

Last year sometime, I saw Pan's Labyrinth. I thought it was a great movie - though not at all what I originally expected. The previews made it seem as though it was on the same page as movies such as Narnia, when really it was a thriller / gruesome story about a little girl who created a fantasy world to deal with the harsh reality she was living in. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, in Spanish with subtitles. It was intriguing, scary, a little gory and overall rentworthy. 

So, on blockbuster.com, I found another movie del Toro worked on - The Orphanage. It had a similar feel to Pan's Labyrinth in that it was a thriller / scary movie and had a pretty dark story line. (And, also in Spanish with subtitles.) Basically, The Orphanage starts with a little girl named Laura who lives at an orphanage and is being adopted. Cut to 30 years later, and she has her own son and husband. She has just bought the house the orphanage was in 30 years ago and plans to open her own home for children. Her son, who is also adopted and suffers from an illness, has imaginary friends that are a bit too real to him. Laura struggles with her rational/mother mode and support of her son when she plays along with his 'imagination'. Tragedy strikes the family, and the rest of the movie takes you through their ordeal. It was not at all predictable - which is refreshing since so many movies can be figured out before they are over. If you can stand a few jumpy scenes and creepy masks - I would recommend renting this. Just a heads up - I watched it during the day and was creeped out by the masks!

 

20/20

I am watching 20/20 - about teenage drinking and driving. Two girls in FL went to a club, got drunk and crashed one mile from their house. The driver survived and the other died. The family of the girl who died wants the driver in jail. The driver's family obviously doesn't. The thing that got me during all the interviews was the father of the driver. He said, these girls were underage and served by adults at the bar. It's not the person who drank, it's where they got the alcohol. SAY WHAT?? The girl drank and drove. Regardless of how she got the alcohol, she decided to drive after drinking. 

This is a horrible occurrence. The driver killed her best friend and has to live with that. She got 4 yrs in jail, instead of going to trial and facing an optional 10 years. I don't know if jail is the right 'punishment'. She is already punished every single day remembering that she was responsible for killing her best friend. 

 

Bats are friggin creepy

We had a bat in the house tonight. EEEEEEEK. I went downstairs and was in the kitchen. I saw some black shadow, and went towards the dining room and a BAT flew past me. I BOLTED UP the stairs and squealed for Jen. Her and Allison came out of their rooms and I freaked out telling them about the bat. After consulting a few people, we called the non emergency fire dept line and they sent a truck w/ three firefighters out to save us. Well we had to get down to open the door, and the damn thing was hanging in the hall above the dining room door. We creep down the stairs and book it down to the front door where we stand outside waiting for the firefighters. 

They show up, have a bit of a laugh at us and get the bat out. They pinned it to the wall with a broom - it was making this AWFUL squealing noise. Then another dude grabbed it with these birding gloves and tossed it outside. At least now we can sleep easy - and hope that no more come in. 

(We have had contractors working out the outside of the house, so they will get a call to double check EVERYTHING to make sure this does not happen again.) 

It sort of looked like this, with its creepy pointed ears. 

Of course, all I could imagine was this: