Vet Visit, Hornblower, and Dickens

We took the dogs, Molly and Sydney, to the vet this morning to get some shots and a nail clipping. Both of them get rather nervous. Sydney growls and occasionally snaps when having her nails cut. But overall, they behaved pretty well. We took them to a park afterward because we don’t want them to associate getting in the car with unpleasant experiences. They seemed to enjoy the walk.

Sydney is our 7-year-old rat terrier/beagle mix.

Molly is our 12-year-old spitz/chow chow/?? mix.

Mom and I have been watching the Horatio Hornblower series since we bought it on DVD from amazon.com. Last night we watched “The Mutiny”, which happens to be the one with a scene that needs to be partially skipped. It gets hot on deck and for some unfathomable reason, Horatio removes his clothes and has the men spray him off. It shows a clip of his rear. :p Why in the world did the makers think that part would be an asset to the movie?

Anyways, that one leaves you hanging, as Horatio is in jail waiting to be tried for mutiny (which had to be done to save the lives of everyone on the ship). I’ve seen all but one of them before, but Mom hasn’t, so we’ll probably watch the next tonight. Michaela and I watched one a week a year or two or three ago when we’d get together at her house while our mothers went to a church ladies meeting. Watching them again brings back fun, funny, and embarassing moments.

We’ve been cleaning house in preparation for the arrival of one of our aunts. She’s going to stay with us from Wednesday to Monday. One of my cousins is getting married on Saturday, the reason for the visit. And then another aunt is going to stay with us from Monday to Thursday to celebrate her birthday with us, as is the yearly tradition.

I’m halfway through A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens now. I’ve enjoyed it so far, although the main plot is moving very slowly. Our version has a forward that gives away most of the plot points and the ending of the book. If I hadn’t already seen the movie and known what happens, I would be rather upset. I recommend reading the forward /after/ the rest of the book.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

http://eldameldo.wordpress.com - my costume blog

Survey

I was looking at my old Xanga blog and saw a survey I filled out a long time ago, so I decided to fill it out again. I have a feeling the type is going to end up too small to read, but I haven’t figured out how to change it on this blog. I’m not interested in playing around with the HTML code right now : oops :

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?  My great-grandmother, sort of.

 

 2.  WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?  A few days ago.

 

 

3.  DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?   Sort of.

 

4.  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey pastrami

 

5.   DO YOU HAVE KIDS?  No!

 

6.  IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?  If I could get to know me.

 

7.  DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?  Me, use sarcasm? No, never! Ok, I was being sarcastic. Actually, I’m not near as sarcastic as I used to be.

 

8.  DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?  Yes.

 

9.  WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?  Probably

 

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Peanut Butter Bumpers

 

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?  It depends on what shoes I’m wearing.

 

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?  Not especially

 

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?  I don’t have a favorite.

 

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?  Whether they’re a guy or a girl.

 

15. RED OR PINK?   Red

 

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?  That at times I would rather do things my way than God’s.

 

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?  All of the Clean Place members who were at the Moot.

 

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?  I’m not sending it to anyone for them to send back.

 

 19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?   Blue shorts and no shoes.

 

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?  A turkey burger

 

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  The sound of my laptop running.

 

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Rainbow?

 

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?  The air before it rains

 

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?  Mom

 

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

 

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?  Equestrian

 

27. HAIR COLOR?  Dark blond

 

28. EYE COLOR?  Blue

 

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?  Yes

 

30. FAVORITE FOOD? I don’t have one.

 

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?   Happy endings. At least satisfying endings.

 

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?  Little Women

 

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?   White

 

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?   Spring and Fall.

 

35. HUGS OR KISSES?  Hugs.

 

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?  I don’t know…maybe cheesecake.

 

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  No one

 

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  No one

 

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?   Outside Hollywood by Isaac Botkin

 

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?  Nothing. I use my laptop touchpad thing…

 

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? What Not to Wear, which I am going to stop watching because the hosts keep getting tackier.

 

42. FAVORITE SOUND?  Music or thunder

 

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?   Neither

 

44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?  You mean farthest? Colorado.

 

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?  It depends on what you mean by that.

 

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?  Georgia

 

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?  I’m not expecting any.

 

48.  WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT?  I don’t know.

 

Aside from that, we watched fireworks last night (I got some interesting pictures). Before that, I watched Little Women with my mother and younger sister. The only part that makes me want to cry is watching Jo’s manuscript burn. That would be excruciating to have someone destroy (in my case it would be delete it and empty the recycle bin) your novel.

*cough* Anyways…

 

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

Camera

Not much of great interest has happened since I last wrote an entry: I’ve worked on geometry, tried to save the lives of a couple of beetles on the back patio, procrastinated, picked blueberries, cut pieces out of some fabric for a cloak…

And I also looked at digital cameras online. The camera I share with my sisters has 4 megapixels, which takes pretty nice pictures, but I wanted something better. I prayed God would give me a new camera for free if He wanted me to have one. A day or few later, Dad came home with an 8 megapixel digital camera that the people he works for gave him for having worked at the company for 30 years. Dad said the rest of us are free to use it, since he’ll hardly use it at all. Thank You, God!

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

I’m Back

I’ve been back since Monday, actually. I had a wonderful time in Colorado with my crazy writing buddies. We did a lot, and I might go into more detail later, but I’m still readjusting to my normal schedule and had to get up early to spend hours at the mall shopping for a dress to wear to my cousin’s wedding in July :p

I think my favorite activity was going to Pike’s Peak. I would only want to live in Colorado if I could live in the mountains (not just near them), and then I would love to (except for the people in Georgia I would miss). They are beautiful beyond words and reminded me of The Lord of the Rings movies. At one point, a mixture of ice and snow fell from the sky.

WIthout problems it takes an hour to drive to the top (19 miles), but one of the vans broke down three times. The first time I think it was just overheated, and after letting it sit for a while, it worked again. Twice, the transmission fluid drained out. The rangers carry it with them and sold the van owner some more. The second time it broke down, some of us (I was in a different van, but we stopped to wait for the one with problems) got out and ran down a short ways to a patch of snow. We climed on rocks, took pictures, and stared at the scenery. And then a few people had a snowball fight. In June. It was delightful. I didn’t want to get wet, so I mostly stayed out of the snow. I’m glad, because at the top of the mountain with the wind blowing, it was rather cold. I wore my gray cloak the whole time and received some interesting looks.

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM

Suilad

I’m leaving for TN on Wednesday, and from there I’ll be going to Colorado for the Clean Place Moot. I probably won’t post in my blog until sometime after I return on June 23.

God bless.

- WM

Costumes

I decided to make a blog where I’ll post pictures of costumes I make and sometimes include instructions on how to make them (if I didn’t just use a pattern…). It’s http://eldameldo.wordpress.com

Have an amazing rest of your life.

- WM

P.S. That doesn’t mean I won’t be posting on this blog.

12 Days

until I leave for TN, the first part of my journey to Colorado.

I downloaded a program called Finale Notepad. It allows you to compose music with whatever instruments you select. Granted, I don’t play a real instrument, I don’t know how to read music, I don’t know what the notes are, and I’m mostly tone-deaf. But it’s fun to play with, even though my creations are often amusingly sad.

Disclaimer: I’m about to post links to my song. If you listen, any resulting mental pain, death-by-laughter/smirking, destroyed hearing, or any other such things rests on your own shoulders, and you’re not allowed to send me your hospital bill.

I should probably explain the names. I started over a bunch of times, so I got tired of naming them, and due to my inexperience with composing music, some interesting…ok, unoriginal…titles resulted.

The songs sounded a lot better on Finale. Now that they’re on Putfile, they sound worse, which means they sound terrible.

This is called “Clueless” and it sounds awful: http://media.putfile.com/Clueless-60

This is called “Wah” and I liked it better before I uploaded it:  http://media.putfile.com/Wah-25-49

This is called “Ain’t Got A Foggy Notion”: http://media.putfile.com/Aint-Got-a-Foggy-Notion

I took part of it and created this song, “A Mystery”: http://media.putfile.com/A-Mystery

Then I started naming them. Here’s “The Caravan” which starts out okay and gets worse: http://media.putfile.com/The-Caravan

Back to no name, this is my favorite, and it sounds terrible uploaded on Putfile! I’m rather disappointed. Oh well. This is called “I Don’t Even Care” (ha!): http://media.putfile.com/I-Dont-Even-Care-9

Have an amazing rest of your life and recover quickly from the horrible sounds.

- WM

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Warning: Spoilers)

I saw it yesterday with my parents and younger sister. In a sentence, it’s weird.

Negative elements:

1. Mutt is Indiana’s son…yet Indy has never married (he does marry Mutt’s mother in this movie).

2. There are various referrals to “the gods”.

3. The interdimensional aliens with crystal skulls have weird mind powers. Their origin/identity is never fully explained.

4. Cate Blanchett’s character (Irina Somebody?) is into physcic stuff.

5. There’s some foul language.

6. There are some disgusting violent moments containing large, killer ants that swarm over (and into the bleeding mouths of) people.

7. Mutt’s swinging from vine to vine bordered on ridiculous

Positive elements:

1. Uh…hm…let’s see…I had to go back and check pluggedinonline.com’s review to find something positive. Knowledge is portrayed as more valuable than gold (a Biblical principle) and Indy cautions Mutt to treasure his mother.

 There really isn’t much to take away from this movie. Taken as solely entertainment, it’s entertaining. I don’t pretend to be a professional, but the technical side and the special effects and the camera shots seemed well done. I enjoyed the character Mutt (except for an occasional foul-mouthed utterance from him). But there may be more we should try /not/ to take away from it, and I’m not sure its good points make it worth watching, with the questionable plot elements it contains.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

I forgot

to mention that there is a scene in Prince Caspian where the hag, the werewolf, and Nikabrik try to summon the white witch, and the hag does some chanting, and it’s a little weird. But they get put in their place (thank you Edmund!).

Prince Caspian Review (Warning: Spoilers!)

I saw it today with my parents and younger sister (my older sister saw it Sunday and my brother isn’t interested enough).

Complaints:

Peter’s attitude. He was a little arrogant for most of the movie. It bothered me. It was not necessary and not the noble Peter from the book I love. But thankfully he came around by the end of the movie.

Caspian’s attitude: It wasn’t as bad as Peter’s and it was slightly more justifiable considering the way he grew up and all the change and confusion suddenly thrust upon him.

The kiss. Susan gave Caspian a brief kiss. Despite being morally wrong, it really didn’t flow at all with the rest of the movie, and I do not believe it was at all in the character of Lewis’s writing. And she told him, “It would never have worked out.” But their relationship before then wasn’t that strong, so there was nothing to have worked out or not anyway. There was a subtle attraction between them, but certainly nothing to warrant that.

Two lines. The one mentioned above, and this one: Caspian says something about thinking Narnians were extinct, and Nikabrik says, “Sorry to disappoint you.” That has to be one of the most overused lines ever. It’s like that saying…”First time’s funny, second time’s silly, third time’s a spanking.”

I have mixed feelings on the attack on Miraz’s castle. Peter leads it. It wasn’t in the book, and I think it was unnecessary violence. In one part, some of the Narnian’s are trapped behind a gate and we have to watch as Miraz’s soldiers kill them. Narnians wouldn’t have stood their clamoring to get out if they were trapped, they would have fought back. But the other side of this is it reinforces the theme: They were relying on themselves for this attack, and they failed. Later, they rely on Aslan, and only through His help do they win the battle.

Good points:

The above-mentioned theme, and the character displayed by the Pevensies and Prince Caspian (Peter and Prince Caspian have the chance to kill Miraz but show him mercy, for instance). The characters are flawed enough to be realistic (and Peter is /too/ flawed if you ask me), but they are also repentant.

Peter does get over himself, even if it takes a while.

All in all I enjoyed it, though it’s quite different from the book. Don’t go see it expecting an exact portrayal. As far as the overall movie itself, it could have stood some tightening up, but it’s pretty good.

By the way, Nimelen - Bacchus is not in the movie a’tall.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM