L'amore and Movies Galore

Ah, Valentine's Day....a day when the commercial industry pelts us with the ideas of chocolates, flowers, and anything pink, fluffy, and cheesy. As a single gal, most people would think that Valentine's Day would be a day of loathing and suffering. This just isn't so. I think Valentine's Day (I'm tempted to abbreviate, but the end result isn't very good.) is a great way to remind people about the love they have for each other. I don't think it's just for ooey-gooey couples who use this day as an excuse for an abundance of PDA, but I think it's for everyone. I love lots of people in my life. I love my family, friends, ward members....even some people at school. Shocking huh? While I don't think that Valentine's Day is the only day to show our love for each other, I think it's great that we stop and take one day out of the year to remind ourselves, "yeah, life is good. I have lots of people in my life that I love, and lots of people that love me."

This year, to celebrate Valentine's, Annie and I went and saw the movie, "He's Just Not That Into You." It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was pretty good. It was witty, but serious, and optimistic. I like a good optimistic movie. Even if the ending isn't exactly picture perfect, I think it's good to show optimism.

As we were in the theater, there were of course those people who gasp, or make comments so loudly that they share what they are thinking with the entire theater. At times this can be annoying, but in small doses I think it's pretty entertaining. I think it's great when movies surprise you so much that you just can't hold in that extra loud gasp. Heck, it makes the rest of chuckle a little. One of the trends in theaters that I don't understand is clapping. When a movie ends, why do people clap? Do they think that the actors and producers can actually hear them clapping? I hate to break it to you, but they have no idea if you're clapping. The only people that can hear this show of appreciation are the teenagers waiting outside of the theater to clean up all the garbage you leave. As much as I dislike this tradition, a small part of me has come to accept it. It happens. I shouldn't let it bug me. I still find it silly, but I choose to laugh instead. Yesterday the clapping silliness went to a whole new level. In the middle of a movie someone started clapping. I guess they liked that part. I was puzzled....were we in a concert and I didn't know? Had someone just finished an amazing solo and I was unaware? I think it would be interesting to see what was going through this person's mind when they decided to start clapping for a projection in the middle of the showing. What would be more interesting is watching television with this person. Do they clap at home? It would definitely be amusing....for a little while at least.

Homework? I'd rather play.

This morning I was procrastinating doing my homework and started reading others blogs. It has again inspired me to try...yet again. What topic pushed me to start writing? Homework. That's right...that nasty stuff that teachers give out as they laugh wickedly at the looks on our faces. This is my rant on homework. I hate it. I hate doing it. I hate getting it back. It seems quite pointless to me most of the time. I'm a fan of the classes where they say, "this is what I'm going to teach. If you learn it and you're able to show me on the test...good for you." I can do that. I'm great at taking tests. Right now I'm trying to do an impossible assignment for my Aural skills class, and I've finally given up.

Ok, I feel like I should point out a few good things about homework. (I know it's shocking, but there are some good things.) For many students, homework is a good motivator to actually learn the material for the class. It breaks up the book or the lectures into manageable chunks instead of leaving them hanging until they are tested. I think that's a great idea. Other than that, my argument stands...homework sucks.

This is a picture of my unfinished homework. :(



Well, now that my ranting is out there, I guess I could write something more positive.
Lately I've been thinking about vacations, and for good reason too. My boss is thinking about taking me on a weekend working trip to somewhere warm in the next month or two, and I've got a trip planned to NYC and Washington D.C. in May. What more could a girl ask for? Not much. As I've been thinking about vacations I've thought about vacations growing up. Now for most people the word vacation means going somewhere to relax and have fun, right? Our family was a little different. Of course we had fun, but I don't know if we ever really relaxed. We packed so much into our vacations that we were usually more worn out by the time we got home than we were before we left. For example...

About two and a half years ago I had the chance to go to Europe with my parents and my brother and sister. It was great! When I tell most people I went to Europe they ask, "Where?" This should be an easy question, but as I said before...we pack it in. In a two and a half week trip to the European we managed to hit a total of nine countries, not including the United States. Impressive huh?

Another example has a funnier ending in my opinion. I have a sister whose husband is a foreign diplomat. They get to live in different countries for a period of two years, and between those countries they come back to Washington D.C. for training. This is great for us, because it means that we can go to D.C. for an extremely cheap price (as we are doing in May.) A few years ago my family went to D.C. to visit my sister and see a bunch of the sights, and boy did we see a BUNCH of sights. We saw famous documents, monuments, museums, street vendors, and much more. On the last day of the trip I was so worn out that the following story occurred: We were looking for a pin for my sister because she collects them, and we had one more place to look. It was a monument about seventeen blocks away. Me, Annie, Natalie, and my brother Matt decided that we could walk that distance, check for the pin, and then come back and find the rest of our family again. This made for a total walking distance of about 34 blocks. We got going, but soon I started to fall behind. I was pushing myself as hard as I could, but I still couldn't keep up with my sisters and brother. I finally fell so far behind that Annie and Natalie decided to grab my hands and pull me along. I was in high school, so of course it was embarrassing to have my sisters holding my hands. I settled for letting them drag me by the wrists (why this was better....I'm not sure.) It was at this point that a taxi cab drove by, honked his horn and gave us a thumbs up. We were confused at first, because we are innocent little Mormon girls...then it dawned on us. He thought we were a threesome!!! How awkward. Needless to say, I didn't let them pull me along after that.

As I look forward to my trip in May I think of that fateful walk. I'm hoping nothing like that will happen this time. At least if it does, we can get another good laugh out of it!