Oscar Film Time

I love when the months of Oscar films start approaching and the buzz of this year's top films start appearing in articles and TV previews. I get really excited during these months and start reviewing all the top movies. I mentally start selecting which movies need to be seen in the big theatre and which ones can wait for rental. I am just a dork when it comes to this. The Entertainment Weekly Magazine this week contains write ups on all the films coming out the winter months ahead, it also contains a predetermined guess list of Oscar nods. I will end up going through the entire list by the weeks out, watching all the movies previews on the Apple Trailer's website.

Before I start going to these films I must catch up and see the few movies I missed from the past years Oscars nods, such as Milk, The Queen, Frost/Nixon, Frozen River, The Duchess, Wanted, Revolutionary Road, La Vie En Rose, Away From Her, American Gangster, In the Valley of Elah, Persepolis, and Diving Bell and the Butterfly. We have most of these movies in the house we just have to sit down and watch them. I'm so disappointed in myself now, I better catch up and catch up fast.

A Momentous (But Ultimately Silly) Event is Coming

Next year is special. It's like hasn't been seen for 201 years, and we all, if our luck holds, will be here to witness it. What could be so special that the world so rarely get the occasion to enjoy it? In 2010, the first digits of the year are evenly divisible by the second two digits. Not since 1809 has the planet had the opportunity to celebrate this purely fictional but rare and interesting event.

Eh, I think it's cool. Is it important? No, but math geeks will surely be paying attention. It happens every 201 years and is neat purely from a rarity standpoint. Not to say that other mathematical gymnastics can't be found in other years. 2005, 1920, 1500, etc. Rarity is defined by the width of your net. But rarity makes like interesting.

And so does useless math.

I bow to the Amish

The Amish are amazing at making about any kind of food. I'm close to the Amish Market again now that I work in Hunt Valley. They were about to close yesterday so I went in and ordered everything for dinner from the first counter I came too. I got delicious precooked and well seasoned meatloaf, a big tub of brown sugar mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, and rice pudding for desert. Jason and I were in heaven last night. We just stuck everything in the microwave and enjoyed. I've also enjoyed their bison burgers, steak fries, chicken wings, and turkey sandwiches before. Really I don't remember getting anything there I didn't enjoy. They also produce there own candies, pies, snack foods, jams, furniture, and many many other things. They're really incredibly resourceful entrepreneurs. I would love to take a tour of there homeland in Pennsylvania one day, I bet it would be very fascinating.

Daylight Savings Time

I've always disliked how early it gets dark after Daylight Savings Time kicks in. Today it was completely black by 5:30. However...

Now that I'm getting up earlier than ever, especially on work out days when I'm up by 6:30, I like the fact that it's now getting to be light at that point. In fact, I think I dislike waking up to darkness more than I dislike leaving work to the same, so Daylight Savings Time has switched from a negative to a positive for me.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Employed Busy Bee

During unemployment I really learned how to use time wisely. I now really miss having time in the day to do housework, garden, , exercise, cook, work on photography, and the time to contemplate me next career move. Don't get me wrong I like my new job and feel it's a good fit for me, but I really want to keep my momentum up when I get home from work. I need to fit in exercise, cooking, house work and photography somehow. I really learned that making lists of daily goals really helped me, so I will continue to make those for when I get home. It's time to move on from unemployment and start my new life as an employed busy bee.

Sometimes the Best Aren't the Ones You Expect

Kate and I saw Ingrid Michaelson tonight at the Recher Theatre. The show was part of my birthday present to her this year, though I think we both like her equally well. And she didn't disappoint. It is easily in my top five all time favorite concerts.* She was quirky. She was fun. The band was a bunch of cut-ups and nut jobs. And the music was stellar. Her voice live is easily twice as good as it is on her recorded material, where's it's already five times better than most other female vocalists.

It was just a light-hearted show that didn't take itself remotely seriously. At one point, at the end of a song Ingrid yelled, "Remix!" and the entire band got up and switched instruments (she went to drums of all things) and replayed that last chorus, switching vocal parts as well to match their new positions. And yet, as funny as the show was, it managed to hit some real emotional moments as well.

It's just funny to me how often the experiences you expect will be great aren't always, and those that you don't really give a second thought to ahead of time end up surprising you more than you could have imagined. I guess that's why life isn't boring. Because nothing is ever what you expect it to be. Not completely, at least.


*Top Five Favorite Live Concerts

5. Billy Bragg and Robyn Hitchcock at the 9:30 Club
4. Ingrid Michaelson at the Recher Theatre
3. Matisyahu at the 9:30 Club
2. My Morning Jacket at the 9:30 Club
1. Zappa Plays Zappa at Constitution Hall: Dweezil Zappa and an immensely talented band of musicians, some of whom played with his father played Frank's music, and did it more than justice. At one point, through the magic of large screen plasma displays and digital playback Dweezil and a posthumous Frank soloed off of on another. Best show ever.

Top Show I Purchased Tickets For and Forgot About

1. Trey Anastasio and the BSO Play the Music of Phish

It killed me. I heard a review of the concert three days afterward, triggering the memory that I'd forgotten to attend.

Adoring the Babies

I love the babies I get to take care of at my new job. I've worked 8am to 4pm the past two days taking care of 2 to 5 kids at a time, 15 months to 3 years in age. There two others childcare assistants there helping including my boss, Jenn. The kids are all so cute and big eyed. All very curious about the world and doing their best to learn words. I am really enjoying my new job and hope it continues to be a love of mine.

The Gift of Giving

Finding the perfect gift for someone can be so challenging, but once you figure it out it's so rewarding for you and the receiver. It feels good to know someone so well that knowing what will make them happy and pleased is very satisfying. I'm not really referring to anything particular, really it's just the idea of finding the perfect present and the feeling you get after you give that present out. Bringing great joy to someone special on a birthday, anniversary, holiday, or just because feels amazing. The light in their eyes, the smile on their face is breathtaking.

The holidays are shortly approaching and I've already given myself the best gift ever- Plane tickets for Jason and I to spend the Christmas holidays for my mom, dad, sister, Allen, and my two beautiful nephews, Kaiden and Blake. I can't wait to see you all, Love you with all my heart!

A Break in the Clouds

There's a light breaking through what's been an overcast month. We have someone interested in renting the Stevenson Ln. house. Very interested, in fact. He loves the house, knows his wife will love it, and is very eager to end a grueling work commute, from Dover Delaware to Towson every day, four hours round trip.

I wanted to sell, but this is simply not a good market, and I can't afford to have the house sit. This opportunity seems too good to pass up. I've decided to offer him the house, assuming he passes a credit check, and assuming he's amenable to an 18 month lease. While a little unusual, I realized that 18 month lease terms would give the tenants the year they want, plus allow me, when the lease runs out to put the house on the market in May, a much more favorable time than November. That's the situation I'm in now, and the same situation I'd be in a year from now if a offer a standard year lease.

We'll see. I sent an email a few minutes ago. If he goes for the 18 months, based on my experience of him so far, I suspect we'll have a renter by Dec. 1. Hallelujah! Praise Chalmana!*


*You'll get that if you've been paying attention.

A new adventure begins

I'm excited to enter my new workplace tomorrow. Meeting new people is just the medicine the doctor ordered. I hope I make more good impressions. I hope my personality continues to shine in a good way. I'm not going to over think it, just go with a positive attitude. I hope I handle my new work schedule alright. It's better than teaching school, I work from 8 to 4 Tuesday through Friday. I will start going to bed at 11pm and getting up at 6am, not too bad. I will then workout till 6:30 then shower and get ready till 7pm. Proceed to Eat breakfast, watch some Ellen, and pack a lunch till 7:30. It will only take 15 to 30 minutes to get there, it's literally across street from Renegade. It's weird that I'll be in the same exact area as before. I don't know yet how they handle lunch breaks there, so I'm going to pack my lunch for now and then see if down the road I can have lunch dates with Renegade friends and with Jason of course. I hope I'm as good with kids as I think I am. It will be wonderful, I just know it, positivity is key.

The Holiday Season Begins

I'd never really thought of Halloween as the beginning of the holiday season, but I think that may be because, as an adult I'd never really taken in part in any of the traditions, apart from dressing up. This year was different.

Clearly I'm food motivated, because as soon as food rituals are wrapped into a holiday it comes alive for me. This year Kate and I prepared a pumpkin for the first time. Long story, but sufficed to say we had a mid-size specimen growing in the front yard of the Stevenson Ln. house. The weeds had gotten a bit out of control. I brought it home, unsure it would come to any use, but hopeful. Last night I gutted it, baked it, and stripped the flesh from the skin in preparation for home-made pumpkin bread. I also prepped and baked the seeds, boiling them first with salt and Herbs du Provence and then baking them with more salt, cinnamon, curry and a little onion powder. Delicious.

So now Halloween is much more firmly tied to the other Autumn celebrations for me, and feels like a friendly distant cousin to Thanksgiving. Given that it seems to tie up summer nicely and drop us with fresh eyes into fall, I think Halloween isn't a stand-alone holiday, but the start of the season. The first stop on a procession of holidays, each with its own charms, tying out the year with New Years.

Who knew I was such a sucker for pumpkin?

Writing I'm Proud Of

I wrote this short scene for a writing contest a few months ago. It didn't win and never got published on the site, but I'm pretty proud of it regardless. It's my first real foray into fiction writing. I decided to publish it here, in celebration of the effort. It's a little dark, almost too dark for a blog devoted to the positive, but understand that the content is unimportant. It's the accomplishment that's being given a nod. My accomplishment, writing a meaningful bit of fiction for the first time. Maybe one day I'll be able to write something a tad longer.

The assignment was to write about a mirror, in 300 words or less. The mirror should be integral to the development of a character in some way. Beyond that the space was wide open. This was my entry.



His Dark Reflection

Donald’s unblinking gaze fixed itself firmly on the shabby reflection staring back from the truckstop restroom mirror. This one was behaving exactly like the last, which is to say, not properly. The inky black pupils stationed inside the smeary glass held his own in a dark conversation he could not withdraw from. Instead of reflecting his outward appearance, this mirror, like the terrifying portal in his hall closet, was reflecting his inner life. A grey-scale representation of everything he wished he wasn’t, illuminated in the flickering fluorescence of rest stop squalor. Had he not felt so insignificant next to the presence he felt through the glass he may have known that it was he alone controlling the situation.

But then Donald often forgot which side of the mirror he was on when he didn’t take his medication.

He regretted the backslide, but the emotion was lost amidst the torrent of self-loathing bursting violently from his glassy oppressor. Donald clawed at his eyes, dry discs baked by the unrepentant glare from the mirror. He pulled at the lids, struggling to shut out the gaze that reduced him to a silly lampoon of himself. The depth of his depravity, so coldly laid bare for he and all the patrons of Sonny's Truckstop Emporium stood in judgment, inches from his face and light years beyond any sense of reason.

He screamed, but more from compulsion than terror, as if the outburst were written into some tragic script he never had the benefit of reading. Whatever remaining sense of will Donald retained was slowly seeping over the threshold before him. He no longer cared about his predicament. He was simply a puppet. He peered at himself with curious detachment from inside the mirror. Why did he look so perplexed?