Graceland: Hi Everyone

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hi Everyone

I have nothing specific to say, just that I've missed blogging and I'm ready to come back. I keep thinking that I can't blog until I have time to sit down and go through all the wedding photos. That may not happen for a bit (maybe this weekend...maybe not). So, here I sit at my work computer, ready to go home for the day and I just was hit with the need to blog.

So... hi. I've been sporadically reading everyone's blogs, so I'm somewhat up on your lives. Here's the basic 411 on me.

Married-loving it

Hoping to have my condo ready to list by Friday (fingers crossed)

Things at the new (Rick's) place are shaping up and I'm feeling almost organized.

I'm commuting now from Orem to SLC every day. Not ideal, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Actually, leaving my condo has been harder than I thought. I'm giving up the space that has been my space for the last 11 years. I've made it just how I want it, including my new kitchen. And now I'm just turning it over to a stranger who will redo everything anyway. I've also loved living downtown- as I've mentioned before. I do like the new neighborhood and it is nice to have a warm neighborhood feel instead of a sterile condo building. I will not miss sharing property with strangers! (People are crazy.) Also on the plus side- where I loved coming home and having my space, it is also nice to go home to people who are excited to see me. Rick is the cutest thing ever and usually has dinner ready by the time my long trek home is over. So, as I've learned over and over, life is trade offs. I gave up one thing for another, and it's a good thing.

I was talking to a friend the other day about how stressed I was with all this change coming into my life. When I moved back to Utah from Colorado in 1996, I freaked out buying my condo. I did not want to plant roots. I loved being able to pick up and go whenever I wanted. I thrived on change. Since that time, I have become comfortable in my life. Not many changes and not many complaints. Good job; good home; fun trips; great friends; steady, stable life. Last fall the idea of all this change freaked me out. Now that I'm in the middle of it, I remember why I loved change so much. It is invigorating. Nice to know I can get out of my comfort zone (more than just for a few weeks traveling somewhere new) and find joy in new things.

Alright- hopefully I'll get some pictures posted and the wedding wrap up on here in the next week.

4 comments:

Jill said...: Hey! Great to see that you are alive and thriving in the married world. How awesome would it be to have dinner ready when you get home!! I love it when I don't have to cook. What a sweet guy. :) Bummer on the commute though...do you listen to Books on Tape..(or CD)? It's a great way to pass the time!!!; February 11, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Betty Grace said...: NPR and BBC radio keep me company mostly. I'm feeling very informed these days. :); February 11, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Angie said...: Aren't husbands the greatest when they have dinner ready for you when you get home :) I have to drive from Lehi to Murray, not quite as long of a commute. The drive is never quite that bad unless there is a huge snow storm!; February 11, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Heidi P said...: It was a good update. Just think of the commute with the top down.. awww....; February 12, 2009 at 12:46 PM

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hi Everyone

4 comments:

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