Cleansing the mind palate

I like movies. To the one person who reads this and knows me, that will come as no great surprise. Ordinarily, I like movies that make you think, that make you feel, that make you laugh. Today, I went to see a movie that was pure action, lots of violence and not a whole lot of thinking. It was fantastic. I feel kind of refreshed. Like I'm ready to work on all these things I need to do for school.

Or...maybe just ready to chill out and watch what Dave has dubbed my "Mick Movie of the Week". I joined Netflix and my queue is full of movies from and about Ireland and really old movies. Why? Well, because I have never seen them and would like to. And, I've decided that--while there is no football--I will watch at least one movie every weekend. I like movies.

Helpful Advice

Here's the helpful hint of the day:

No matter how tired you are, do NOT attempt to take a "short nap" at 9pm. It will never be a short nap. You'll find yourself waking up at like 2am, not knowing what happened and not being able to get back to sleep until 4-4:30-5. Then, when that alarm clock rings at 6:30, you're going to be angry. Well, you would be angry if you had the energy. Since you aren't awake enough to do "angry", you'll probably just be grumpy. And everyone hates that guy.

Not that I would know from experience or anything.

Carry on.

25 random things

So, I've been tagged on this one a couple of times, and "not tagged" at least once, as well (that's you, Kim). I guess it's a sign. Or probably not, but let's give it a shot anyhow.

1. I am the youngest (by seven years) of eight children. 4 boys, 4 girls
   
   
2. For large chunks of my youth, I was left in the care of my brothers, which is very similar to saying, "I was raised by wolves."
   
   
3. I like to know the ending of a movie before I see it. Historical adaptations (or Disney productions) are perfect for me.
   
   
4. When reading fiction, I read about a quarter to a third of the book, then flip to the back and read the last chapter or so.
   
   
5. I hate surprises. As you could probably tell from the past two little tidbits.
   
   
6. When I was in the 4th grade, I punched a boy, who was tormenting a girl I liked, in the face and made his nose bleed.
   
   
7. I was in a farm accident when I was 20 years old (6 days before my 21st birthday) which led to 3 different surgeries, kept me in a hospital for a total of 10 weeks (much of it in isolation due to a nasty staph infection) and on crutches for over 3 months.
   
   
8. In spite of #7, I have never had a broken bone.
   
   
9. In large part because of #7, I have an unquestioned belief--not even a belief, really, a certainty--in the existence of God.
   
   
10. Unfortunately, I don't have any other firm convictions as far as religion and spirituality goes.
    
    
11. I have a memory for dates that borders on the creepy.
    
    
12. If given the choice, I would much rather stay up all night and sleep all day.
    
    
13. I do not understand the appeal of flip-flops.
    
    
14. I have the rare ability to get sunburned even when standing in the shade.
    
    
15. I wrote a play about Paul Revere when I was in the 2nd grade. Yes, my class produced it--it was 1976--and on the day of the performance, I threw up and had to go home.
    
    
16. In 3rd grade, my teacher put tape on my mouth...and I've never gotten over it.
    
    
17. I have been deemed mentally and emotionally healthy and released 4 different times by my therapist in the last 10 years.
    
    
18. I have fallen in love twice in my life and both times have had my heart broken in a million pieces that took years to recover from...yet, I really want to be in love again. (kinda makes you wonder about #17, doesn't it?)
    
    
19. Approximately 95% of my friends are artists.
    
    
20. I'm right-handed but most of the things I learned to do as an adult, I learned left-handed.
    
    
21. My favorite place is the west coast of Ireland
    
    
22. My mom is my hero, but I don't want to be just like her.
    
    
23. I have seen all five movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar this year.
    
    
24. My favorite drink is Pepsi, but I'm afraid that living in the South for so long has destroyed my ability to tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi.
    
    
25. I have a list of movies that I show to the people closest to me so I can see how they react. It's like a personality test with movies. And it's very important to me.
    

Going out

It's kind of weird for me that just a couple of years ago, I went out a LOT. I mean, I don't like to drink much and I hate large crowds of people, so it doesn't really make any sense that, for a long time, I was a regular at a bar. But, I had a core group of really good friends who liked to hang out, listen to some live music (or in some cases, perform live music), smoke, drink and have a good time. So, I adjusted.

Then, came graduate school. I scoffed when someone told me that being in grad school meant that you had no social life, but now I think she was right. I have to read so damn much and read with enough comprehension to write papers about what I've read...I have almost no spare time at all. This semester, I'm taking two readings classes and one seminar. The readings classes require a book a week, with a book review as the deliverable product. The book review only has to be a page or two, but you still have to read the book. That's 14 books per class. The seminar is a little more difficult to reduce to numbers, so I'll just say--the deliverable is a 30 page seminar paper, so whatever amount of reading one has to do to research that. In short, I'm going to have my nose in a book even more than last semester.

Last night, my good friend, Gloria Cortez--bad-ass guitar player--had a first gig with a brand new band that she's playing with. As usual, when you're friends with musicians, the call goes out to attend the first gig--first for the band, first time at a venue, whatever. So, I went out to Jack's Backyard last night. It was fun for about 45 minutes, maybe an hour. After that, I just wanted to go home...or pull the book out of my bag and start reading. Whichever.

By the way, the band was pretty okay. Gloria rocked, of course. The drummer was decent, the bass player was okay, the singer even did a pretty good job--although her voice was giving out a little at the end. I could see them playing again. I just missed my singer friend. Oh, she was there...and I got to talk to her and hug her and stuff, I just miss listening to her.

Superbowl XLIII

Well, the teams are set for the Superbowl; we've got the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. I'm pretty sure that no one picked these two teams before the season, but here they are. I, honestly, don't think I could possibly be more ambivalent.

I think that my interest in football ebbs and flows, depending on how I feel about life in general. It's weird. It seems that the more "into" football I am in a given season, the more fucked up my life outside of football is. Football is like my "safe zone." When things are going okay, I don't have the time to devote to changing my fantasy lineup every week or to read enough to be able to make some educated guesses on picking the games. In that case, I guess it's a good thing that I don't really give a rip about who wins the Superbowl.

I'll still watch it, though. I mean...I'm still an American after all. I think it's important that I watch the Superbowl...for the commercials, if nothing else. And I know that you can just look at the commercials online the next day, but... Okay, here's the thing: I remember seeing in movies and reading in books about how, during World War I and World War II, the GIs would use the question--who won the World Series in ___whatever year to determine whether someone was on their side or a spy. So, I'm thinking to myself--what the fuck would they do to determine that now? Because most of the people that I know, outside of my nephews and myself, did not watch and would not know that the Phillies won the World Series last year, beating the Tampa Rays in 5 games. Nor would they know that the Giants won the last Superbowl over the Patriots in one hell of a good game. Or the Celtics winning the NBA title against the Lakers.

I know it used to be much more important because there weren't as many other things available to entertain them. But, I can't help but feel nostalgic for those days. Actually, I think that my nephews and I are throwbacks. During the Olympics last summer, Adam and I sat and watched water polo and badminton and table tennis for hours and hours. Maybe we belong to a different era. I guess it's lucky that we have each other.