Movie reviews & life changes

So, I've seen a few movies recently, and thought I would review them. Also, some life updates afterwards.

Here are my reviews (written in order that I liked them, not the order that I saw them)

• Seventeen Again: I drug Brian to this with him protesting the whole way that it was a chick movie and he didn't want to see it--but we both came out loving it. Zac Efron, when he's not singing cheesy songs and attached at the hip to Vanessa Hudgens, has great comedic timing. I saw reviews that touted this as a male Freaky Friday, but it was acually a lot better--Zac/Matthew Perry (his adult self) are upset because they gave up a big basketball scholarship and college to marry his high school girlfriend when she got pregnant--and at the end of the movie, he realizes he made the right decision after all, because he loves his wife and thinks his kids are great. Plus, he gets a job as the high school basketball coach and loves that too. In addition to all these happy moral messages, Mike (Zac)'s nerdy best friend, Ned, is every nerd's dream--he made it big inventing nerdy stuff, and now has all types of nerd gear, including light sabers and a bed that looks like the speeder from A New Hope. Overall, REALLY funny, and worth seeing. Possibly more than once.

• Star Trek. So, of course I went to see this with Brian, who is a huge Star Trek fan, but I'm fairly into sci fi stuff myself, given my love for Star Wars and the fact that I've been dating Brian for six years and my only other serious boyfriend before him was also a huge Star Trek fan. I was a tad wary, because the original Star Trek was so hokey (aliens were usually hot women in skimpy outfits who wanted to have sex with Kirk), but this movie was really great. Funny, lots of action, and also lots of Vulcans (my favorite). Zachary Quinto was a dead ringer for Leonard Nimoy, too. I wish there had been more Scotty, though. And less skimpy outfits for the starfleet women. But you can't get everything.

• Wolverine: I went to see this with my mom, who has a bit of an unhealthy obession with Hugh Jackman. She of course loved it, given the screentime that Hugh spends shirtless, but I thought it was a bit lacking in plot. Deadpool only lasts about 5 seconds? Wolverine and Sabretooth fight it out in an alley and no one notices? Mutants jump in and out but never stay long, some of them are recognizable like Scott, but others are new, like Gambit. And who knew Wolverine's claws were originally bone? And...that's about it. It wasn't as bad as X-Men 3 (WHY did Jean Grey go so nuts??), but not as good as the first 2 by a long shot. Sorry, Hugh.

Enough with movies...in terms of life updates, I'm feeling a bit more like myself (but still driving a rental car while I wait for mine to get fixed), I MIGHT be moving to Raleigh/Cary (this is really up in the air right now and really might not happen, so I'll update if anything really happens), I have another paper due this week for my summer class and...Brian's dad heard my dad isn't happy with his not having a job, and now Brian's dad wants to "confront him". I just hope there isn't a dad-on-dad smackdown in the middle of the hospital, given that both of the recently had surgery and aren't exactly young (my dad turns 60 in July!). As if our families weren't complicated enough....

Rough week

ok, so, I realize I haven't written in a while (I promise movie reviews/rants on season finales are coming), but I've had quite a week.

Last Tuesday, my client had a meltdown while I was driving, so it was not the best day at work; then, on Wednesday, I was so preoccupied with getting out of town to go on my much-needed weekend at the beach that I ran a stop sign and got hit by a truck--thus, my car is now in the shop getting its smashed driver-side door fixed. Then over the weekend at the beach, which I was hell-bent on getting to (and did), it was too windy to sit out much, and Brian had a nervous breakdown. Plus my summer school started today, and I had a paper and a ton of reading due. Sooo...I don't think I ever really got the vacation I needed. This week I'm back at work and school, and trying to hold it together while Brian is back in New Bern for a while. I'll post more when I feel more stable.

Pray for me in the meantime.

The Year of Undone Things

So, given that I will probably only be in NC for another year, I have decided to make this my year of doing all the things in the area I've always wanted to do but haven't yet, for whatever reason.

Here's my current list (I'm sure it will grow as I think of more stuff)

• Museums: Museums of Art and History (I've been to both but not in a long time). I would add the Museum of Natural Science. buttt...i've been there 5 times in the past year, 4 of them for work. I'm sure I'll end up there again, too. *sigh*
• High tea at the Carolina Inn (heck, GO IN the Carolina Inn)
  
• Explore Durham/Hillsborough
• Go to Maple View Farms
• Take a sign language class (at Durham Tech)
• Take a cooking class (either at Southern Season or the ArtsCenter)
• Eat at new restaurants
• Go dancing
• See something at the Carolina Theater

That's all I can think of right now...as I said, I'm sure I'll think of more (I also welcome suggestions). The more I think about this the more I realize I really, really don't want to leave....

Ups and Downs

This week has been quite an interesting one...it was up and down over and over.

For example:
Up: Finding out Monday that my last Discrimination & Oppression (otherwise known as "depression") was cancelled.
Down: Finding out Tuesday that my client had died.

Up: Doing well on my presentation on Tuesday.
Down: Going to my client's memorial service on Thursday and bursting into tears three times.

Up: Going to a dinner for work and tryin gout a new eggplant dip that was very tasty.
Down: Trying duck and not liking it AT ALL.

Up: Going to a farewell lunch for me and the other JFS intern.
Down: Ending my normal routine at JFS (more on that later).

Down: Finding out that the days i have free to work with Joe he has a job coach, so now I am short of hours.
Up: Volunteering to keep running my senior group at JFS to have something to do, and finding out that they are going to pay me more than I make at the Arc.

It was also a week full of a LOT of eating, from my dinner on Thursday for the Arc, my lunch on Friday for JFS, my friend's birthday party Saturday night, and the Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration I worked at today. This week I finish up the semester, and then I have 2 weeks before my summer class starts, during which I am going to the beach with Brian's family (hooray! a vacation! even if it is only a weekend...it's probably all i'm getting until my honeymoon, so I'd best enjoy it).

I can't believe I'm almost done with my first year of grad school--there were a LOT of points during it I didn't think I'd make it here. Here's hoping the next year is easier...

Movie update

So, I just finished reading the new Summer Movie Preview edition of Entertainment Weekly..and I have some movies to add to my list (did we REALLY think I was only going to see 5 movies all spring/summer? I thought not.)

Leaving the movies I listed earlier as those I will most definitely be going to see (probably more than once in the case of Harry Potter), here are the:

Movies I will most likely be going to see

• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. I loved the first Night at the Museum movie (except when I had to see it in IMAX, which just gave me a headache). It's the right mix of fun, funny, and family-appropriate.
  
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I didn't expect to like the first movie so much, but I really did. Plus, the summer is really good for some action movies.
• Julie & Julia. This book was fantastic (I recommend it), and the movie version features Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.
  
• The Time Traveler's Wife. Ditto on the book--it was a great story, even if the ending was bittersweet.

Movies I would like to see, but will probably wait until they are on DVD:

• Up. This is the new Pixar movie--I love Pixar, but i'm not attracted enough to the concept to pay to go see it, unless I happen to go with a client for work or something. Which is possible.
• Terminator: Salvation. I want to see this--but given that I haven't seen any of the other Terminator movies, it probably wouldn't make much sense.
• My Sister's Keeper. I'm actually not positive I want to see this--the book was so great I'm afraid the movie will ruin it. Plus I hate crying in movie theaters.
• (500) Days of Summer. Quirky rom-com. My kind of movie, but not worth $7. Sorry, boy who used to be on 3rd rock from the sun.

In addition to all this movie going, I will also go to the theater: I just bought tickets on sale to go see Jersey Boys (for once, those Ticketmaster e-mails I get came in handy), a musical about Frankie Valley and the 4 Seasons that I promise is not as lame as it sounds. My mom has been DYING to see it since she got the CD 2 years ago, so I thought I would be nice and take her.

Work update: I just managed to pick up another Tuesday shift (in addition to the one I already have, taking a client to her swim lesson), taking a client to cooking class. I'm also trying to pick up some after school shifts with Joe--we'll see what happens there. I just had to register to retake the CPR class to get my certification renewed, also. What an (expensive, long) pain.

Easter musings

This past week has been an interesting one--I went to a Passover Seder last Sunday (my next-to-last Jewish holiday at JFS!), and since Passover and Easter merged this year (there's some phenomenon that only happens 28 years, where the sun is in the exact position it was at creation, and Passover/Easter merge, or something--it's this year), and even though it was a community-wide seder and not a family seder, it was still nice. I'm now in love with haroset (a fruit/nut/wine mix that spreads like jam), and was very exited to see that Locopops was selling haroset popsicles, but they weren't as good as the real thing. It is just fascinating to see how Judaism and Christianity merge, and I think I have learned a lot about my faith just by working there. Especially culturally...I understand the Jew's kvetching in the desert more now after working with elderly Jews. Let me tell you, they complain A LOT. "Why have we been wandering for 40 years? Why has Moses been up on Mt. Sinai so long? I don't like the third commandment, etc. etc....."

Also, my mom was up this weekend, so we went to visit my grandpa and great-aunt and talked about family. Here's what I learned:

• My cousin got a new SUV to fit his 2 (soon to be 3) kids
• my great-grandmother's name was Mary, but she went by Molly (she was called Ma Pickard by her kids)
• My mom's cousin is currently in jail for life for child molestation. !!!!! I didn't even know she HAD these 4 cousins, much less that one of them had been in jail for years.

I finish 2 classes this week, but I still have 3 large papers and a presentation ahead of me. And then a lot of work shifts to find before camp starts. Here's hoping this summer goes well--it'll be my last "free" summer before I have to get a real job. Alas.

Happy April, fools

It's April! I have very mixed feelings about this month. But first, some things that happened today...

Brian and I set a wedding date!! May 22, 2010! So we have the first step, reserving the church, done. The next step is reserving a place to have the reception and, probably, getting a wedding planner.

Also, today was apparently my parent's day to be needy...my dad had neck surgery this morning (and is doing well), and my mom dropped the bomb on me that her depression has been getting worse for the past few months and it's been really bad lately. So i'm back in my role trying to force her to see some kind of therapist. Oy.

Also, i'm having doubts about working at the NCCDD next year...they haven't gotten back to me yet, and now i'm wondering if I shouldn't just look someplace else. As in, someplace closer.

As far as April goes:

Good:

• I finish my first year of grad school! It can't come soon enough.
• Hopefully it will get warmer/sunnier soon (does it seem to anyone else that it was rainy/overcast ALL of last month?)
• My niece's first birthday this Friday!
  

Bad:

• I finish at JFS. I was debating for a while whether this was good or bad..but i've decided bad, as I've had a lot of good times there and I like (for the most part) the work i'm doing. I really will be sad to leave.
• I find out from the NCCDD whether they want me or not. Right now i'm not sure which answer I want.
• I have 4 huge papers due. None of which I've started working on. I probably should be doing that now...but I'm tired after all the stuff that went down today....

Overall, April will about even out between good and bad. I just hope I survive those 4 papers....