Sign of the Times

We used a phone book to start the fire in our fire pit last night.

Our Quarter Rick

The firewood for our house was delivered yesterday.

A quarter rick -- plenty of wood for the rest of the season!

Isn’t it purty?

For some reason, I pictured an older fellow — maybe in his late forties? — on the other line when Val called to order. It made my mental picture of him up in a tree all the more comical.

If I’d known that he was in his early thirties (max), I probably wouldn’t have answered the door in my pajamas. Whoops.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of joy, love and family.

Mine had a healthy dose of wonder as well. Baby Isabella’s first Christmas was a thing to behold. Pictures and stories to follow.

May peace be in your heart,
Virginia

Downtime

I have thirty minutes until I have to be somewhere. But I just got done watching Magnolia and my head hurts — both from the movie and natural causes. So instead of tackling my very intimidating, very important list of things that HAVE to get done tonight, I am sitting here blogging and reading blogs. This does nothing to alleviate my stress. But it does feel good to complain a little.

In all seriousness though, has anyone seen Magnolia? That movie takes you for an emotional ride, and it huuuuuuuuuurts. It’s so painful. There’s zero no comic relief in a three-hour-long saga of various stories that thread in and out. And the central themes are loss, pain, death, loneliness, the devastating effects of emotionally abusive parents, and falling frogs. Yup. Frogs fall from the sky.

I looked it up online, and apparently the falling frogs are a Biblical reference to Exodus. And during a part of the film, there’s a TV audience in which someone from that audience is holding a large sign that reads “Exodus 8:2.” I looked it up. The verse reads, “And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.”

Goodness. So heavy handed. And really funny. Everyone in my class couldn’t help laughing as it rained giant puffy frogs down on the unsuspecting characters running around the San Fernando Valley in pain and despair. The frogs splatting (sight and sound) was rather graphic, but it didn’t take away from how completely bizarre it was.

I wish I could be in class tomorrow to discuss the movie. Movies are always better when they can be discussed with other film friends. We overanalyze the same garbage and make the same pompous connections in movies (like the frog thing above). It’s quite fun.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

So I, like the rest of Norman, saw the new Harry Potter movie this weekend. It was impressive. Intense. And very very dark. I feel like I can count the funny/lighthearted moments in that movie on one hand. Overall, I thought they did a pretty good job.

Though, with all the intense, spine tingling, and heartbreaking moments, there’s really just one scene that sticks out to me for some reason. I can’t forget about it. My mind keeps replaying it over and over in mental anguish.

It was at the wedding…. when Harry and Ginny kissed.

First of all, where’s your bra, girl?

And second, that’s no kiss for two people in love. Those two have absolutely zero chemistry (as evidenced by the painfully awkward kiss). Squirming moment commence.

Happy 10/10/10!

In My Inbox Today

My Dixie Wrecked!, (super lame name of my community league soccer team)

Happy 9/02/10! Get it? 9-0-2-1-0.

-Cap (our team captain)

And…

I need a desk. The dining room table just isn’t the same thing. Besides, without a desk, where am I supposed to keep my extensive pen and stationary collection? Such a dilemma.