Sudden Remembrance

I'm crazy tired and I want to go to bed but I wanted to write about this before I forget. And let's face it: when I want to do something, I want to do it now. If I put anything off it just won't get done.

I watched a couple of episodes of X-Men just now. The cartoon. X-Men: First Class prompted me to watch the first two films (I refuse to watch the third one again) and that got me curious about the animated series. I vaguely remember watching it as a kid but I remember very little about it. Because I don't remember it too well that makes me think that I didn't watch it a ton. At the same time, I was only 5 when it started. 

It got me thinking and I couldn't really remember shows that I watched as a kid. I remember being a little bit older and watching stuff my siblings watched. Shows like SNL, Friends, Seinfield, The Simpsons (of course I didn't fully get the humor when I was 9) but I couldn't remember what I watched when I was little. However, thanks to this handy dandy list of animated TV shows from Wikipedia, my memory was jogged and I felt like sharing (in no particular order). Cause I share useless crap. 

Tale Spin 1990-1994 (ages 3-7)

I remember a few select things about this show. The main character (a bear) had the same voice as Baloo from The Jungle Book, there was a girl bear who I always wanted to get together with the main character (they probably did and I just don't remember), she had a son who wore a backwards cap, they flew one of those planes that lands on water, and I watched it all the time. That's it. But I remember loving it and I'd totally watch it again. 

Tiny Toon Adventures 1990-1992 (ages 3-5)

I probably didn't need Wikipedia to jog my memory if I had thought at all before looking at the list but when I saw the name, a rush of memories came flooding back. This was one of my all time favorites and in all honesty I'll probably own this someday just because. Babs, Buster Max... those might be the only names I can remember. But still, it was awesome. I'm guessing I watched reruns closer to 1994ish because I distinctly remember watching the show around the same time one of the specials came out. 

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 1989-1990 (ages 2-3)

I for sure watched reruns of this. There's no way I would remember something from that young. For some reason this show and Tale Spin morph in my head. I have no idea why. I remember the characters in this well though: Chip 'n Dale of course (Dale wore a fur lined leather jacket) and a mouse and her father who's uncontrollable love of cheese got them into a fair bit of trouble. I could also sing a bit of the opening credits for you. 

Garfield and Friends 1988-1994 (ages 1-7)

This was one of the few shows I watched consistently and I will for sure own it someday. I remember watching it every morning before school and when it was over, it was time to leave for school. Generally I wouldn't finish getting ready before it came on and the babysitter, Jodee Dahl, would have to rush to find me socks and shoes. I wonder how old she was and why she wasn't at school cause mine didn't start till about 9:30... weird. Anyway, Garfield was fantastic. He was lazy and so was I. He love lasagna and I probably didn't at that time, but I'm sure I wanted to in order to be like him. Also his mouth didn't move when he talked which I thought was awesome. Then there were the little side shows within the show (the Friends part of it) and I thought it was weird that one of them (the pig?) had the same voice as Garfield. Totally threw me off. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987-1996 (ages newborn-9)

Obviously I didn't watch all of this. And in all honest, I didn't actually watch a lot of it when I did. Shredder scared the crap out of me and I'm pretty sure my only motivation for watching this was because my brother did. Or maybe I thought he did cause by the time I was old enough to watch and remember this show he was probably in high school. I do remember the movie though and that was awesome. I was SO mad when my mom threw it out. 

Batman: The Animated Series 1992-1995 (ages 3-8)

I watched this when I was closer to 7 or 8. Batman was totally my favorite superhero probably because I didn't really watch other superhero shows other than X-Men. I can't remember the name of the woman who worked for Joker, but good grief her voice drove me insane. By far though my favorite villain was Catwoman. Back then if I was a villain, I'd totally use a whip too. Probably not now...

Animaniacs 1993-1998 (ages 6-11)

I didn't know this, but Animaniacs was on Fox from 1993 to 1995 and then the WB from 1995 to 1998. I watched it on the WB. Towards the end I remember thinking I was getting a little too old for cartoons (even thought I remember my siblings sometimes watching it with me and they were 6, 8, and 9 years older), but I couldn't stop watching that show and I was SO sad when it was cancelled. Yacko, Wacko & Dot, Pinkie and the Brain, Good Idea/Bad Idea... It was all awesome. I'm guessing the first childhood show I buy will be this one. There's just no comparing it to anything else. I'm sure the fact that I can remember this one the best has nothing to do with it. 

Gargoyles 1994-1997 (ages 7-10)

I had completely forgotten about this but holy crap I loved it. I didn't watch a whole lot of darker stuff, but this was one. The gargoyles in some city came to life at night and for some reason I found this enthralling. I only remember one non-gargoyle character and there was a lot of sexual tension between her and one of the gargoyles (although I'm sure I didn't call it sexual tension back then). This is something that I remember practically nothing about except that I loved it. 

And there you have it. My list of childhood animated TV shows. Yet after writing about all of those, I still have the X-Men theme song stuck in my head. Let's see if I can fall asleep to that. 

Worth the Wait?

I had a brilliant idea the other day. It's been a dream of mine to fly to New York and attend a taping of The Daily Show. Tickets are free but extremely hard to come by. I had four tickets last year but instead of New York my friend wanted to go to Rome, so we did that instead. Since then I've had two or three opportunities to grab tickets but I haven't been able to because of timing or money.

My brilliant idea was this: I would save up my Amazon.com rewards points and use them on a flight to New York next year giving myself a fantastic and cheap graduation present. However, I just figured out that I need to spend $5,904 on Amazon to reach the needed 25,000 points for a free plane ticket. And that's if all that money is spent on Amazon. If I spend it elsewhere, it'll take more. If I used that card for big items like rent I'd probably get there, but I don't know of many landlords who take cards.

After realizing this, I had a less brilliant but still good idea: I'd get up to the 15,000 points needed for $150 off a plane ticket since I'm about half way there right now.

Then I remembered something else. I used that card a couple months ago to pay for 5 cruise tickets, hence the boost in reward points. Not likely I'll be spending that much again within the next year with school and what may turn out to be zero income.

Do I wait and see if I miraculously have enough points for a free or discounted flight in a year? Do I practice instant gratification and turn 5,000 of my current points into a $50 Amazon gift card? Or do I simply look at rewards programs for other cards and get one that wouldn't be so long of a wait (assuming they exist)?

Celebrity Crushes

Being a good single Mormon can be a little... difficult at time. My biology and my mind tell me to go in two different directions. My biology says... well, you can probably guess and ignoring that makes me a good Mormon. At the same time my mind says, "boyfriend shmoyfriend" and consequently, "husband shmusband." This part probably doesn't make me a good Mormon, but whatevs. 

Anyway, to balance out these two parts of me I have celebrity crushes. Sure, it isn't a complete balance, but again I say whatevs. This post is a tribute to my celebrity crushes old and new. 

Elijah Wood was probably my first real celebrity crush. Lord of the Rings came out when I was in 9th grade and I was borderline obsessive for a few years. One of the reasons I hated Josh Hartnett so much was he got Elijah into smoking. The best part though - we was only 6 years older than me. Totally realistic that we could end up together someday. Fortunately that chapter in my life has passed. 

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement aka Flight of the Conchords. My friend showed me Jenny (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlYkIJVguCU) I think my freshman year of college and it was love at first sight. I watched their show on HBO and got a bunch of people into them. I bought their albums and listened to snipits of them on the radio. The highlight of our love affair was meeting them in person on my 21st birthday. I was in the Salt Lake City airport with a few other people waiting for the rest of our group when I saw someone like Bret walk through the doors. I thought, "wow, he looks just like Bret McKenzie!" I kept looking at him wondering, but convinced myself that if he really was Bret, Jemaine would be with him. Just at that moment, Jemaine walked in the door with a couple guys carrying guitar cases. I started freaking out and watched them check in from a distance. Once Bret was done he stood near enough to me that I couldn't put it off any longer. I got out a pen and a pad of paper, walked up to him and said, "Bret?" Seriously one of the best moments of my life. 

I think James McAvoy first showed up on my radar when I saw Atonement. I had seen him as Mr. Tumnus but really, who would think of him as sexy? In quick procession I saw his other movies like Penelope, Wanted, Becoming Jane, The Last King of Scotland, Rory O'Shea was Here, and I got all excited when I saw him in one episode of Band of Brothers. Once I found out he was married my feelings began to dwindle. 

This might not even count as a celebrity crush cause my crush isn't on James Marsters, just his character Spike, but I don't care. Spike... Oh Spike. We have reached the portion of this post where we reach current/ongoing affairs. Even though Spike is a fictional character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, our love is eternal. I don't generally like bad boys, but I have a soft spot for Spike. His long leather jacket over his tight black shirt and black jeans with bleached blonde hair... I love him evil and I love him with a soul. I love him trying to kill Buffy, trying to win her over, and when he's just plain crazy. I will forever act like a 13 year old when I watch Buffy. 

Joel McHale. An almost perfect combination of sexy and funny (see below for perfection). My only complaint is he's too tall. I like my men short. But good golly do I love Joel. Last April he was on tour and the closest he came to me was Las Vegas. My sister, Sara and I decided last minute that we were going to go see him. We took Friday off to drive down to Vegas and saw him perform that night. He was absolutely hilarious. He's on tour again and so far only has Florida and Chicago listed on his website but if he comes within driving distance to me, I'm absolutely going. 

This brings us to my final, biggest, and longest lasting celebrity crush. Jon Stewart. I've been watching his show since high school and I'll watch it till he retires. Which won't be before I make it to the show either as an audience member or a guest. Most likely I'll be in the audience but you never know. I could write an awesome book or hold some awesome political office and he'll want me as a guest. He may be 25 years older than me and happily married with two small kids, but I'd totally let him rob my cradle. 

The Hilarity of Ignorance

I need to explain where my main idea for this post is coming from. I recently saw an interview on Jon Stewart with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. That show is really hit and miss with me, but in general I think those two are pretty funny. When I heard they were making a Mormon musical on Broadway I didn't give much thought to it, although I was curious. I essentially forgot about it until their interview and it's getting such fantastic reviews that I may end up seeing it when I'm in DC this summer. I'm comfortable enough in my beliefs and religion that I can laugh at it. I think it's good to have a sense of humor about religion.

But this is beside the point. This clip from The Daily Show has a plethora of comments on Facebook and some of them were quite entertaining and I just wanted to share them with the world. Or at least the 8 people who follow this blog. I'm glad I'm not friends with people like this but I'm sure glad they exist for me to laugh at:


Mormonism is a cult.


Religion kills.


The Morman religion is a cult, not young and American! [Trey and Matt described Mormonism as being young and American as it is a new religion and born out of America]


Mormon is not a religion. It's a joke.


Id eather give more time and respect to jehovahs witnesses before a Moron. Rather*


Mormonism. The last acceptable persecuted religion in America.All religion is a cult and does nothing but tear the World and country apart


The Mormon church has a bigger welfare system than the federal government. You'd think liberals would care about that.


They are excellent socialists... they just don't admit it. (shy I guess)


Wow. You guys talk about Mormons like 18th century slaves or the Irish. Get a clue.


Brainwashed .. All of them ..


Religion is for the weak.




Just some choice gems. I made commented that I had been thoroughly entertained by some of the statements made there as a Mormon and not five minutes later a man sent me a message asking what convinces me that God exists. Not in a, "how can you be so ignorant" kind of way though. He's sincerely interested in my personal experience. 


Loving Jon Stewart has given me a missionary opportunity. Who'd have thought? :)

Ladies and gentlemen... The Beatles!

I've been on a Beatles kick the last few days. I always listen to them, but at times like this I breathe them. I watched Nowhere Boy Wednesday night and that kind of set me off. I found The Beatles Anthology on YouTube and I've been watching that since then.

Best part about this story is how I remember watching it when it was on TV and staying up past my bedtime to do so when I could pull it off. I looked it up and it aired in 1995. I will be the first to admit that I was annoying as hell as a child, but there were awesome aspects of me too. I loved The Beatles so much that I was willing to sit through a documentary about them at the age of 8.

Revelation

I'm tired and my computer is about to die, but my heart is full right now and since I'm not one for bearing my testimony in front of an audience on Fast Sunday, I'll do that now.

I'm at my parents house tonight and when I'm here I read out of one of those flimsy paperback Book of Mormons. This particular one is one that I had planned on giving to a friend in high school, but ended up giving them a different one. Anyway, I have it and it has some really great scriptures highlighted. When I'm here I usually just flip through the book and read some of the highlighted passages. This one sentence in Mormon 5:23 had an enormous impact on me:

"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?"

I felt a sudden rush of gratitude and joy at these words. I'm glad I have the Lord directing my life. I'm glad that I have the trials that I do. Cancer still sucks, but even if my mom departs this world prematurely, I will see her again. She will be saving a place for me in the next life and once there, I will hardly remember my life without her and I won't think on it with pain. It's excruciatingly painful now, but this life is just a moment in our existence. I don't think I've ever been more grateful for eternal families than I am right now.

In my moments of doubt and trying to rationalize religion (don't ever do that by the way) I have thought, "even if it isn't true, it's making me a better person right now." The first part of that sentence is a scary one. If it isn't true, why bother? If families aren't forever, what's the point of sticking around? That "even if it isn't true" is something that I've only thought a couple of times in my life and it's something that I am determined never to think again. How can it not be true when I'm feeling what I'm feeling right now? How can it not be true when I've felt this way hundreds of times before?

This moment is the first time I have felt ok with whatever may happen. Even if the worst should happen, it will be ok. Yes, it will be devastating and horrible and totally suck, but it will be ok. I wish I had felt this last July, but better late then never!

Who says the spirit goes to bed at midnight? :)

The C Word

Movies, TV, radio, and people around me need to stop talking about cancer for a while. Nothing can hinder me from life as much as that one little word right now.

Photo Post February 2010 Edition

About a year and a half ago I decided to post some photographs of mine. At the time I said I'd continue to do so, but I haven't. Part of the reason is I've let my photography skills fall by the wayside. I have 6 of my favorite photos framed on my wall and every day I look at them and wonder why I don't take pictures like that anymore. It's been a while since I've pulled my trusty Nikon SLR out (minus at the Rally to Restore Sanity so I could use the telephoto lens) and I miss it. Anyway, here are some of my favorites since my last post. There may be duplicates since I don't know what photos I posted last and I don't want to take the time to look.


This would be a lot better if the pathway led t something other than a brick wall. This was in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia two years ago.


This might be my favorite of any picture I've ever taken. I'm sure there are flaws with the framing, lighting, exposure... but I don't see any of that. I see a mist over Arlington National Cemetery. One of my favorite places in the world.


I think this was sometime in high school. Still one of my all time favorites.


This is my friend's backyard in San Diego in... 2006? And to answer your question, yes, I did put the leaf there.


Still friend's house in San Diego. He had a really cool backyard.


This is from Rome last May. This particular photo was taken at some ruins called Ostia Antica about 45 minutes outside of Rome. Probably the only picture I took in Rome that isn't all touristy.


I took this one in November of 2009 in California. I don't know why I love it so much, but I do. It is square on purpose if you were wondering.


The Colombia River in Spokane sometime last year. The picture kind of sucks, but the view was breathtaking.


A bridge somewhere in Idaho on the way up to Spokane last year. I went up twice and I can't remember which time this was taken. My OCD wants to clean some of it. Specifically the beam on the right closest to the camera. Seriously, why aren't they both dirty? I could have handled them both being dirty...


I added this in there just because I thought it was so hilarious. I found this at Swiss Days in Midway this summer. This painting has it all - Obama standing defiantly on the Constitution/Declaration of Independence (I guess that's left up to interpretation), Jefferson in shock at his lack of respect for the document, Washington, some other founding father, Adams, Reagan, Lincoln, and Jackson desperately trying to get Obama's attention on the downtrodden every-man (of course, as far as policy goes, Adams, Reagan, and Jackson weren't exactly champions of the little man, so that's awesome), Kennedy kind of pointing to the document but still doesn't seem all that into it, Bush II pointing at the every-man but really on the side of big government, Clinton and FDR cheering Obama on (want to talk about big government spending? Generally you wouldn't talk about Clinton as much as Bush and Reagan), and all the other presidents clearly taking sides showing their true loyalties. I still laugh when I look at this.


Just a beautiful fall day behind the Capitol in October.


By far my favorite picture of the Capitol I've taken thus far (let's hope there are many more). You really do need to enlarge this one to see the goldish tint from the sun. I'll eventually photoshop the people and the crane out of this shot, but oh how I love it. Sunrise and Sunset at the Capitol are amazing.

Snippet of my life

Courtesy of At Wit's End Comics. This pretty much sums up what living in Utah Valley (and most of the state) is like.

Musings

It's 11:04 and I am not going to bed. Reason? Because tomorrow I work at 9 instead of going to school at 8:35. Meaning I get to leave the house at about 8:55 instead of 8:00. So even though turning out the light and focusing on my breath (that's how I fall asleep these days) sound beautiful to me right now, I'm going to wait because I can.

Musing number 1. No offense to those of you who have babies, but they're weird. I get zero enjoyment at looking at pictures or watching videos of random babies. Nor do I appreciate little clothes. However, there are three (soon to be four) exceptions to this rule: Tamsine Jane Christensen, Elliott John Ashley, Isabel [Danger] Gillis, and the future Heidi something Christensen. My nieces and nephews are pretty much the coolest things ever. Knowing that I not only love those three but actually like them gives me hope that I'll like my own kids even more. I had my doubts before Tamsine. But I just don't get other babies. I don't dislike babies, but I'm not one to ooh and aah like I feel like a lot of women are.

Musing number 2. I'm about 95% sure I'm going back to D.C. this summer. I've applied for one internship so far (I don't know if I can tell you where it is so I'm going to stay on the safe side and leave that part out) and I'm in the process of applying for several more just in case with the help of the Hinckley Institute of Politics and some woman in the College of Social Work I had never heard of until today. I'm still hoping for the first one that I won't tell you about, but I won't know until sometime between February 21st and May 31st. Let's hope it's sooner rather than later.

Musing number 3. For those of you who are interested (which better be all of you), my mom is almost done with her cancer treatments for now. She's been done with chemotherapy for a couple months and has only three radiation treatments left. As of Monday afternoon, she will be totally done (minus the CT scans every three months, then every six months for the rest of her life to make sure those damned cells stay dead). Her hair is starting to grown back and she has TONS more energy with radiation than she did with chemo. It's been very heartening to see her getting back to normal. The worst part of all this (besides the obvious, "my Mom got cancer") is that we'll never really know it's all over until, well, it's over. This existence at least. Probably the best part about all of this is knowing that this isn't it. Until then, it still sucks. But as someone close to me who will remain nameless to protect their anonymity would say, f*** cancer.