Topic #88: What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
Topic #88:
What is the best gift you’ve ever received?
Bonus: what is the worst gift you’ve ever received? (Think re-gifting)
Easy. The best gift I ever received was from my friends Patty and Kathleen. Way back in like 1999 they bought me a Vikings jacket. Totally unexpected. I loved it! I am usually too warm and therefore tend to not wear jackets, but I liked this one so much that I wore it even when it wasn’t freezing out. Sadly, I left it in a car when the car went in for repairs and I never saw it again. 🙁
I loved the jacket because it was the colors of my favorite team. But I loved it more because it came from two very special people.
A very close runner-up is the shirt my buddy Tim gave me this year. It’s a Vikings jersey. So, hint to all you people competing to get me great gifts, Vikings stuff seems to go over big!
I love my mom, but I get the most random gifts from her. One year, she gave me a little pocket multi-tool. This year, it was a flashlight to keep in my car. Another time, it was a miniature letter opening that looked like a dagger. Completely useless stuff to me, but I always try to express my appreciation. Except one year, (and I feel bad about this) she gave me something quasi-useful. She gave me a set of towels. They didn’t match my bathroom at all. And my first reaction upon opening the gift was to reply that I’d just recently purchased towels. I wish I hadn’t said that. It served no purpose other than to diminish her gift. I regretted it immediately.
What’s in a name? Nothing if we’re talking film titles.
Tonight, I joined my friend Donna and we saw a Freedom French flick at the college, Un Prophete. A longish movie, very violent, about a young Arab man sent to prison in France. There, he falls in with the Corsican mafia. I thought the movie was pretty good, but like my earlier review of The Lincoln Lawyer, the title of this movie really seemed to have nothing to do with the story. I think we need better headline writers.
Anyway, I was a little sad about the movie tonight because it will be the last Freedom French film shown at MJC for the foreseeable future. This is because the Freedom French program is being eliminated. 🙁 Mme Bucknam, the Freedom French instructor has been there for over 2 decades. She was my instructor when I took classes right out of high school.
I retire early-ish as I am serving as sacristan at a funeral tomorrow morning.
Thursday activities
I stayed home from work today. Despite having the whole day, I feel like I didn’t get much done. I did a bunch of festival stuff with Aluatis. I guess that’s something. I got a little caught up with Survivor. Mary should be happy. I refilled my prescriptions. That’s definitely a good thing. I went grocery shopping and bought food for the month.
Grocery list
Bag of frozen chicken breasts
pack of fresh chicken breasts
6 bags of frozen vegetables
4 packs of pasta
2 jars of pasta sauce
2 loaves of bread
18 eggs
6 packs of steak
4 boxes of cereal
8 boxes of oatmeal
2 packs of bacon
gallon of milk
ketchup
olive oil
bunch of bananas
bag of frozen fish filets
peanut butter
low sugar jam/preserves/jelly/whatever
The oatmeal is for work. I get three meals per box, so 24 breakfasts over the next month (3 more than I should need)
The cereal, eggs, and bacon is for breakfasts at home of which there will be 9.
I have 6 steaks and 9 chicken breasts. Add to that the 10 fish filets and that should get me 18-19 dinners. There will be three times this month that I’ll be at a church event or meeting where I’ll get dinner. So my total becomes 21-22. The pasta will get me 12 or so meals. So I should be covered for dinners. I’ll just have to figure out lunches and I’m set for the month.
I might need to buy more vegetables mid-month.
(Sorry to Suzanne that you had to read this twice!)
Tonight I had my ARISE group. It went well. We talked about doing a bible study after this season ends. I’m looking forward to that.
Suckerlawyer Lincolnpunch
I’ve seen a pair of movies this week.
First up was SuckerPunch. This movie was gorgeous, a visual feast. The amazing scenery and action and hot girls and colors kept coming in a relentless orgy of style and art direction. It really looked great! But like some other feasts, there comes a point when not only have you had enough, but you’ve over-indulged to the extent that you feel rather icky and honestly, the very sight of food is unpleasant or repulsive. Yeah, it was kinda like that.
But the soundtrack was terrific! I love the remake of White Rabbit! And the music went so well with the visuals!! I’m almost certain I’ll have to see this movie again. It really is one of those movies that should be seen on the big screen.
Oh, and I really like Jon Hamm.
On the down side, the story was at worst incredibly lame and at best quite thin. But really, I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare so I’m absolutely prepared to overlook the plot and narrative deficiencies.
Bonus though. This movie may have the most occurences of a particularly silly (but awesome looking) manuever by an action character. You know how ONLY in movies would a character fall from a height and somehow land on one knee and one foot? SO overused. Well, the girls in this movie must have done that move a dozen times. It was happening so often that it became distracting.
Next came The Lincoln Lawyer. I’d had no interest in seeing this but one of my movie-watching companions wanted to see it, and I’m nothing if not fair, so we went.
I really liked it! Good story, well acted. I very much like movies (or books or whatever) that you really have to pay attention to. I love twists and turns and I hate when they don’t make sense. This story worked. I have no idea what was so special about driving around in a Lincoln. It really had nothing to do with anything. It could have been the Cadillac Lawyer or the Winnebago Lawyer and it all would have made no difference. Heck, he could have worked out of an office like every other lawyer in the world and it wouldn’t have any effect on 98% of the story. It was incredibly minor. Oh well. I suppose the book was really good. I should read it.
Topic #83: How did you get your name?
Today’s topic – How did you get your name?
Who chose it, and why?
My dad named me. He has a cousin named Sean and he once told me he’s always liked the name.
Though I wonder if the fact that, at the time, there was a rather famous Scottish actor named Sean didn’t enter into the equation. I’d like to think so.
What are the odds?
Holy cow. The synchronicity today is astonishing!
I may have mentioned before that I’ve allowed my blood sugar to get alarmingly and dangerously high. So, in addition to medication and modifying my diet, I’ve been walking during my lunch hours for the past several weeks. Well, within the last 48 hours or so, I decided that I should get a pedometer and start tracking my progress. Hey, this is as close to an exercise program as I’ve gotten in several years! I started looking at some iphone apps to track my speed, distance, etc. and about 2 hours ago, my boss told me about one app that she’s used that’s designed to get someone from zero walking/jogging/running activity to running a 5k in about 9 weeks. 30 minutes ago, I downloaded the app and I’ve decided to try it out.
THEN! I get an email from WordPress announcing a WP WorldWide 5k! I tell you, this must be a sign!
AND! To top it all off, my friend Betty posted to her blog this morning. The name of her blog? Synchronicity.
Sacre bleu!
A particularly incendiary topic :(
Yesterday, there were two events occurring on the quad in front of the Student Center. One was a Geology Club fundraiser, the other was a graphic anti-abortion demonstration. You know, the one where they display six foot posters of aborted fetuses.
The college received two emails regarding the fundraiser. The first was sent on Sunday afternoon. It reads as follows:
The weather is finally clearing! While enjoying the sunshine and greenery, enjoy a Geology Club Bronto-Burger on the quad of East Campus on Monday, March 28. We’ll start serving around 10 AM and serve until we run out (usually about 1:30).
Have a Bronto-Burger For Lunch!
The Geology Club using the proceeds to support students wishing to attend geology field studies at Modesto Junior College.
Thank you for your help!
The second email was sent on Monday at 4:45 PM, after the event(s).
On behalf of the Geology Club here at MJC, I want to thank everyone who came out and supported our program by buying a brontoburger. We deep appreciate your support.
We also want to apologize. Because of an e-mail snafu, we did not know that there would be a graphic anti-abortion demonstration on campus today (we thought it would be in April). Had we known, we would not have done our fundraiser at the same time. As it was, we had already purchased all the fresh food materials and arrived on campus to find them setting up. Although we know there are political and moral questions and controversy over abortion and choice, we found their demonstration disturbing and offensive, right down to the parents parading their four-and five-year-old children in front of the graphic posters. We had no association with these people and are sorry to have been anywhere near them.Thank you once again for your understanding and support.
Geology Club Advisor
Ok. I have a couple of reactions. First, I’m perplexed that the advisor thinks that ANYONE could have gotten the idea that the two events were somehow related. It’s a good thing he makes it clear that the Geology Club had no association with “these people”. Glad that got cleared up!
Second, I’m always surprised, vexed, and saddened that people take more offense at depictions of the act than at the act itself. Truly, I find the photos to be very offensive. I would prefer that they did not exist at all! That they can exist is the problem. This is not the first time that I’ve witnessed someone get very upset that people dare to show pictures of what happens 4000 times each day in the United States.
I’m not the first, nor the last, to wade into the abortion debate. I’m sure that most people are firmly in one camp or the other. Whether you, dear reader, are for or against abortion, I would ask one simple thing. Please acknowledge that for those of us who believe that life begins at conception, abortion is indistinguishable from murder. I’m not saying that you or anyone else believes that life begins at conception. I’m saying that I believe that.
Maybe we can agree on one more thing… Don’t we all want to reduce and prevent unwanted pregnancies? Let’s pray/act to see that desire become a reality.
Topic #5: Do you prefer talking or text messaging?
Today’s topic is: Do you prefer talking or text messaging?
And the Bonus is: Somewhere in the middle is voicemail. It used to be that voicemail, or messages on your answering machine (remember those?) was a sign of social significance, but how do you feel about voicemail now? Would you rather get an email, a text message, or a voice mail? Why?
Of course, it depends on the situation. If I need a phone number or address or something, I prefer a text message. But if what’s being discussed needs some explanation, talking is so much better. I prefer talking face to face over talking via the telephone. Also with text messaging, the conversation is spaced out over time whereas a two hour lull in a phone conversation could get awkward.
I hate voicemails. Mostly I hate the time it takes to listen to them. There have been plenty of occasions over the past couple of years that the voicemail indicator light on my work phone stays lit for days. We have new phones now so that doesn’t happen anymore. But at this very moment, I have 5 voicemails on my mobile phone that I haven’t listened to. At least one is over a month old.
More than voicemails or text messages, I prefer email. I can organize, print, reread, and respond to email all very easily. One advantage it has is that I can read it, or sections of it, at my own pace. Unlike voicemails that go pretty much at one speed. And if I miss something in a voicemail, I have to rewind or worse, replay the entire message. No thank you.
So, to sum up, my preferences in order are: email, text messages, voicemail.
Good day.
I said, good day!
I want to hear the people sing!
A week or so ago, I recorded a PBS special on the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables. This weekend, I got around to watching it. Les Miserables is my favorite musical. I’ve seen it three times and I’d gladly see it many more times. It’s such a powerful story of redemption and self-sacrifice. My favorite characters are, of course, Jean Valjean and Eponine. Both of these characters sing great songs. I’m not sure which of the two stories is more moving.
Anyway, this special was presented concert style. Not my favorite. But that’s ok, the music was still quite powerful. Afterwards, I checked and sure enough, there is a US tour underway! It will be in Los Angeles in June/July, but it won’t be coming to San Francisco. It looks like I’m going to have to go down to So Cal to see it. Done! Maybe twice.
In other news, I’ll be booking my hotel accommodations for Portland on Wednesday. Yay!!
And finally, for supper this afternoon, I grilled steak and made rice and steamed French cut green beans. Tasty!
Hafla shots
A few photos from last night’s hafla.
This is Jodie. I don’t think she knows how beautiful she is.
Burning Sky Musicians
Addie. Very colorful.
The lovely Sierra.
