Life is quiet at home for the most part, and it's nice to be around my friends (and Hillary when I can) and spice things up a bit.
Last night we went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince.
SPOILERS AHEAD: for those of you who haven't read the book(s).
I am not necessarily an avid Harry Potter fan. I enjoy the movies and there was a time when I enjoyed the books, but I was always more of a Narnia kid and when I discovered Lord of the Rings I was in heaven. There's just something about those books and movies. Harry Potter is a little too... realistic for my taste. The first few books and movies were fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) and magical, but as the kids get older I get less interested in the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I guess maybe I am attracted to the innocence and mystery present in the books when Harry and his friends are young, just like the Pevensies in Narnia, and the perpetual innocence of Middle Earth (though that's a debate for another day). I don't like the hormonal teenage crap in the new Harry Potter movies and if I had read past book 3 I'm sure I would have eventually been turned off by it.
That being said, though, the movies are very well done and for people like me who crave to be taken to another world when we step into the pale darkness of a movie theatre, the Harry Potter movies deliver. I don't like the darkness present in the movies, but I understand that Harry is experiencing darker and darker stuff as he ages.
SPOILER: Though I haven't read the book, I was aware that Dumbledore died in the 7th book. Personally, I'll be more sad to see Hedwig the owl die in the 8th movie, but there was this sense of "what now?" when Snape killed Dumbledore. The tears and sniffles in the theatre definitely speaks volumes for how attached the fans are to the characters, both in the book and in living colour on the screen. J.K. Rowling and the actors and filmmakers responsible for the Harry Potter craze did a wonderful job creating a fan base and giving their fans what they want and what they crave.
So I can't really say "Oh the movie was true to the book, it was awesome!" or "The movie completely went against the plot of the book, terrible," but I can say that, for a movie, it was very well done and if you're going to see it and you're a die hard Harry Potter fan, be sure to differentiate between the books and the movies, they are two separate art forms in their own rights and deserve to be looked at as such. I heard far too much negativity last night, just enjoy the movie.
Or stay home and watch Lord of the Rings (cause it's soooo much better :D).
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Save The Animales
A lot has transpired whilst I was away on my leadership retreat at school:
- My car broke down immediately as I pulled into the main parking lot at school. Huge bummer, I was without a car for threeish days and my mother had to drive up from CT to pick me up, only to find out halfway to get me that my car was ready (if she had known, I could have easily gotten a ride over to the garage to get the car myself). AAA towed my car to a garage 10 miles away that I am (very) familiar with, and the fixed Rhonda up real nice and she's back to purring like a kitten... $600 later... It's better than the grand they originally estimated, but still, it makes me swoon just thinking about it. And I'm leaving for London in a month and two weeks...
- We discussed my club's E-Board, and how a certain individual on the E-Board (executive board: presidents, vp, etc.) needs some mediation and there needs to be intervention. Long story short, this guy thinks he's the bees knees and knows everything and has been so cruel and callous with his fellow E-Board members that he has caused tears and has desecrated the sacred name of my baby the GSA. It's an extremely long story that I can't explain here, but basically this person took playground bullying to a whole new level. Playground bullying is worse, I think, when you're 20 and you're still pulling the girl's hair and kicking sand in their eyes, literally or figuratively.
- I got to meet a bunch of wonderful new people with whom I would ordinarily never interact! It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad I had this worthwhile opportunity.
- Hillary and I went to Walden Pond and explored the trails around the pond. We didn't have our suits, unfortunately, because it was an absolutely beautiful day, but we dipped out feet in the water and it was sooo nice. I did get sneezed on by a statie's horse, though. I was just minding my own business, talking to the horse while he was moseying around in his pen, and he walked up to me and sneezed all over the new shirt that Hillary had just given me. That's why God made leaves though, to wipe horse snot off of new t-shirts.
I'm sure there is more, but basically it was a great and highly eventful weekend.
While my mother was bringing me to the garage to get my car she told me that the Stoneham Zoo and the Franklin Park Zoo are both closing (unless the state of Massachusetts intercedes). Now, if you've been to either of those zoos, you will know they are nothing special and that they probably should have closed their doors long ago. The Franklin Park Zoo has a petting zoo, bunnies, a flamingo, some ducks, and lions. However, I was beside myself when she told me that an estimated 30% of the animals are going to be euthenized because homes won't be able to be found for them. I can't even begin to understand why. Most of the animals at the FP Zoo are livestock and could be sent to farms to live out the rest of their days, and I'm sure some zoo would love to expand their horizons with a new lion, or to add a lion to their already existent pride. There has to be a way to save those animals, it just seems to terribly cruel to euthenize animals when we're done with them and can't find anything else to do with them :(
- My car broke down immediately as I pulled into the main parking lot at school. Huge bummer, I was without a car for threeish days and my mother had to drive up from CT to pick me up, only to find out halfway to get me that my car was ready (if she had known, I could have easily gotten a ride over to the garage to get the car myself). AAA towed my car to a garage 10 miles away that I am (very) familiar with, and the fixed Rhonda up real nice and she's back to purring like a kitten... $600 later... It's better than the grand they originally estimated, but still, it makes me swoon just thinking about it. And I'm leaving for London in a month and two weeks...
- We discussed my club's E-Board, and how a certain individual on the E-Board (executive board: presidents, vp, etc.) needs some mediation and there needs to be intervention. Long story short, this guy thinks he's the bees knees and knows everything and has been so cruel and callous with his fellow E-Board members that he has caused tears and has desecrated the sacred name of my baby the GSA. It's an extremely long story that I can't explain here, but basically this person took playground bullying to a whole new level. Playground bullying is worse, I think, when you're 20 and you're still pulling the girl's hair and kicking sand in their eyes, literally or figuratively.
- I got to meet a bunch of wonderful new people with whom I would ordinarily never interact! It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad I had this worthwhile opportunity.
- Hillary and I went to Walden Pond and explored the trails around the pond. We didn't have our suits, unfortunately, because it was an absolutely beautiful day, but we dipped out feet in the water and it was sooo nice. I did get sneezed on by a statie's horse, though. I was just minding my own business, talking to the horse while he was moseying around in his pen, and he walked up to me and sneezed all over the new shirt that Hillary had just given me. That's why God made leaves though, to wipe horse snot off of new t-shirts.
I'm sure there is more, but basically it was a great and highly eventful weekend.
While my mother was bringing me to the garage to get my car she told me that the Stoneham Zoo and the Franklin Park Zoo are both closing (unless the state of Massachusetts intercedes). Now, if you've been to either of those zoos, you will know they are nothing special and that they probably should have closed their doors long ago. The Franklin Park Zoo has a petting zoo, bunnies, a flamingo, some ducks, and lions. However, I was beside myself when she told me that an estimated 30% of the animals are going to be euthenized because homes won't be able to be found for them. I can't even begin to understand why. Most of the animals at the FP Zoo are livestock and could be sent to farms to live out the rest of their days, and I'm sure some zoo would love to expand their horizons with a new lion, or to add a lion to their already existent pride. There has to be a way to save those animals, it just seems to terribly cruel to euthenize animals when we're done with them and can't find anything else to do with them :(
Friday, July 10, 2009
Hold On... What??
The title of this article should be: Ridiculous Racist Bastards Try to Thwart Youngsters Summer Fun: Succeed at Being Racist, Fail at Thwarting Fun.
Just... read the article. It's probably one of the most disturbing things I've read in a VERY long time. It's just... so impossibly dumb... I can't even stand it.
Are we seriously living in 1956? Sorry little Johnny, your pigmentation is a little darker than mine so, here, you can use this drinking fountain and I'm going to use this one over here. Wouldn't want to catch your tan or anything.
These pool patrons actually took their children out of the pool, for fear that these kindergarten-7th grade camp-goers were going to... do what? Melt into the water and turn their pasty white kids into black kids? They actually had the nerve to VERBALIZE their disgust with these kids trying to enjoy some summer fun, to the kids themselves! That's the worst of it. These poor kids who were just trying to enjoy the pool had to get a harsh lesson in reality, a lesson in reality that quite frankly doesn't need to be learned or taught.
The people who are truly loosing in this situation, I feel, are the children of the patrons who are being taught at a young and impressionable age that there is a difference between black and white children and that black children don't have to be treated with respect.
It's easy to teach a child, it's next to impossible to unteach that child.
Let's all give a big welcome to the next generation of bigots, racists, homophobes and wife beaters. I'm so so so sorry for these little kids who just wanted to swim, please teach these morons that you're more than a skin tone. It's boggles the mind.
I'm not white, I'm Rachel, just like you're not white, or black, or brown, or tan, or polkadotted or rainbow. We are all who we are, and if we keep people down simply because they aren't as fair skinned or as dark skinned or whatever it may be, it becomes a self fullfilling prophesy. People who are kept down will become exactly what you want them to become: subhuman. It's our responsibilities, all of us, as adults, as friends, as Americans, as students and teachers and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers and so on and so forth, to teach our children that equality is the ONLY way. Everything else is just a dead end.
Just... read the article. It's probably one of the most disturbing things I've read in a VERY long time. It's just... so impossibly dumb... I can't even stand it.
Are we seriously living in 1956? Sorry little Johnny, your pigmentation is a little darker than mine so, here, you can use this drinking fountain and I'm going to use this one over here. Wouldn't want to catch your tan or anything.
These pool patrons actually took their children out of the pool, for fear that these kindergarten-7th grade camp-goers were going to... do what? Melt into the water and turn their pasty white kids into black kids? They actually had the nerve to VERBALIZE their disgust with these kids trying to enjoy some summer fun, to the kids themselves! That's the worst of it. These poor kids who were just trying to enjoy the pool had to get a harsh lesson in reality, a lesson in reality that quite frankly doesn't need to be learned or taught.
The people who are truly loosing in this situation, I feel, are the children of the patrons who are being taught at a young and impressionable age that there is a difference between black and white children and that black children don't have to be treated with respect.
It's easy to teach a child, it's next to impossible to unteach that child.
Let's all give a big welcome to the next generation of bigots, racists, homophobes and wife beaters. I'm so so so sorry for these little kids who just wanted to swim, please teach these morons that you're more than a skin tone. It's boggles the mind.
I'm not white, I'm Rachel, just like you're not white, or black, or brown, or tan, or polkadotted or rainbow. We are all who we are, and if we keep people down simply because they aren't as fair skinned or as dark skinned or whatever it may be, it becomes a self fullfilling prophesy. People who are kept down will become exactly what you want them to become: subhuman. It's our responsibilities, all of us, as adults, as friends, as Americans, as students and teachers and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers and so on and so forth, to teach our children that equality is the ONLY way. Everything else is just a dead end.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The View From The Top
My friend Molly and I climbed Talcott (sp?) mountain today all the way up to the tower, quite not meaning to do so (we were searching for a farm in Bloomfield where we start volunteering next week and happened upon this nice looking mountain...). It was exhausting to say the least, but it was so beautiful and so worth the view from the top. Watching the mountains and rolling hills kiss the foamy grey clouds. The splotches of sunlight sreaming down into the green open fields, pooling on the earth like liquid gold. Reaching the top is always the greatest feeling in the world, and I think it's quickly becoming something I crave as I hike more and more this summer. Conquering Connecticut and Massachusetts one mountain at a time. There's nothing like relying on yourself, your own legs, your own lungs and your own will power to accomplish anything and everything.
Tomorrow I pack my things up to spend Friday night and Saturday day with Hillary, Saturday night, all of Sunday, and Monday day at school (we're having a team building retreat for the executive board members of multicultural clubs... yippee). I'll most likely be blogging up a storm since I'll be at school, all by my onesies, bored out of my mind and hating my life.
Oh and by the by... I GOT AN A IN BUSINESS STATISTICS II!!!! Suck on that former stats prof from my real college. YESSS!
Tomorrow I pack my things up to spend Friday night and Saturday day with Hillary, Saturday night, all of Sunday, and Monday day at school (we're having a team building retreat for the executive board members of multicultural clubs... yippee). I'll most likely be blogging up a storm since I'll be at school, all by my onesies, bored out of my mind and hating my life.
Oh and by the by... I GOT AN A IN BUSINESS STATISTICS II!!!! Suck on that former stats prof from my real college. YESSS!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
I (Don't) Wanna Be Sedated
So I went to the oral surgeon yesterday and we discussed my options:
Option 1: No surgery, but I have to have a full head X-ray every 2 years to make sure that nothing is infected and the tooth on the bottom left isn't hitting a major nerve.
Option 2: Have surgery, take a xanex prior to surgery (to "put me in a good place" as the Dr. put it), no food or non-clear liquids past midnight the night before, have nitrus oxide and novacane during surgery and intense pain killers after.
Option 3: Have surgery, have an IV, nitrus oxide and novacane.
Option 4: Have surgery, go to hospital and go completely under, monitored by an anesthesiologist.
I want option one, but after discussing it with mum and the oral surgeon we decided upon option 2. I told her I'm a psychology major and I am morally opposed to drugs like xanex (if I weren't I would be pre-med right now going into psychiatry) and she said she'd be more than willing to do the surgery with just novacane, but my mother seemed to think that was insane (and I'm inclined to think it is too) so we're getting the insurance quote with all of the bells and whistles.
My surgery date is December 22 at 9 am, two days after my return from London, two days before Christmas, and a week and two days before I move into the new apartment with Hillary. Hopefully I'll be able to con some of my friends in to helping us move into the new place because I have a feeling that, although I am going to put on a brave (albeit swollen) face, I am going to be borderline useless in moving heavy furniture or doing much besides complaining. Good times will surely be had by all this coming Christmas and New Years.
This is me holding my new baby niece for the first time *heart swells with joy.* I like to call it "Safe in Auntie Rachel's Pasty White Arms in the Dead of Summer," it has a real ring to it.
This is Hill holding the new baby for the first time :) loveee the gay shirt Hill. Should get a onesie for the new kid "I <3 my two Aunties" next time we're in P-Town.
And to give any of you who don't reside in New England (more specifically Connecticut and Massachusetts because I'm relatively unfamiliar with the weather patterns in the other N.E. states) an indication of what we've been dealing with lately in terms of weather, this is what mother nature was giving us while it was raining, right after it had stopped torentially downpouring, right after it had been a foggy evening, right after it had been a beautiful sunny skied afternoon right after it had been a misty overcast morning:
Let's hope for warmth and sun so Auntie Rachel can go swimming and start working on that farmer's tan. That sunset is very deceptive, though. Almost makes you want to like the place :P
Option 1: No surgery, but I have to have a full head X-ray every 2 years to make sure that nothing is infected and the tooth on the bottom left isn't hitting a major nerve.
Option 2: Have surgery, take a xanex prior to surgery (to "put me in a good place" as the Dr. put it), no food or non-clear liquids past midnight the night before, have nitrus oxide and novacane during surgery and intense pain killers after.
Option 3: Have surgery, have an IV, nitrus oxide and novacane.
Option 4: Have surgery, go to hospital and go completely under, monitored by an anesthesiologist.
I want option one, but after discussing it with mum and the oral surgeon we decided upon option 2. I told her I'm a psychology major and I am morally opposed to drugs like xanex (if I weren't I would be pre-med right now going into psychiatry) and she said she'd be more than willing to do the surgery with just novacane, but my mother seemed to think that was insane (and I'm inclined to think it is too) so we're getting the insurance quote with all of the bells and whistles.
My surgery date is December 22 at 9 am, two days after my return from London, two days before Christmas, and a week and two days before I move into the new apartment with Hillary. Hopefully I'll be able to con some of my friends in to helping us move into the new place because I have a feeling that, although I am going to put on a brave (albeit swollen) face, I am going to be borderline useless in moving heavy furniture or doing much besides complaining. Good times will surely be had by all this coming Christmas and New Years.
This is me holding my new baby niece for the first time *heart swells with joy.* I like to call it "Safe in Auntie Rachel's Pasty White Arms in the Dead of Summer," it has a real ring to it.
This is Hill holding the new baby for the first time :) loveee the gay shirt Hill. Should get a onesie for the new kid "I <3 my two Aunties" next time we're in P-Town.
And to give any of you who don't reside in New England (more specifically Connecticut and Massachusetts because I'm relatively unfamiliar with the weather patterns in the other N.E. states) an indication of what we've been dealing with lately in terms of weather, this is what mother nature was giving us while it was raining, right after it had stopped torentially downpouring, right after it had been a foggy evening, right after it had been a beautiful sunny skied afternoon right after it had been a misty overcast morning:
Let's hope for warmth and sun so Auntie Rachel can go swimming and start working on that farmer's tan. That sunset is very deceptive, though. Almost makes you want to like the place :P
Monday, July 6, 2009
For When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong
Met the new baby today, she is absolutely gorgeous and hopefully pictures will be coming shortly (I forgot my camera and had to rely on Hill and she can't upload them until tomorrow, alas). She's such a good baby too, she sleeps all the time and she isn't very fussy (unlike her brother and sister were when they were infants, oi). The other kids seem to be doing well with her, so everything is right with the world for the time being :)
I have a consultation with an oral surgeon regarding my wisdom teeth tomorrow. They aren't really coming in (that we can tell) but they are a bit painful and the one of the top right is coming in at a funny angle (it's jutting out to my cheek, bad news bears) and both of them have no tooth opposite them to stop them from taking over my mouth, so basically they have got to go. The concensus is, they should probably go in this country and not when I am gallavanting around Europe for a semester. So tomorrow the surgeon will hopefully say, no worries no surgeury you'll be fine, cross your fingers for me at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon please.
This was one of the readings from church last week, I thought it was particularly appropriate because the "thorn in the flesh" that St. Paul references can be taken in many different contexts. However, the message is the same no matter what your "thorn in the flesh" might be. God gives us thorns in order to make us weak, because when we are weak He is most strong and most relied upon. If we were all strong and happy and unquestioning, God wouldn't need to exist because everything would be perfect. God exists to make sure that we can handle our weaknesses, and to become better people as a result of our weaknesses. Embrace your weaknesses, they are truly what make you strong.
2 Cor. 12:7-10 "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, in order to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, then, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Thus, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
I have a consultation with an oral surgeon regarding my wisdom teeth tomorrow. They aren't really coming in (that we can tell) but they are a bit painful and the one of the top right is coming in at a funny angle (it's jutting out to my cheek, bad news bears) and both of them have no tooth opposite them to stop them from taking over my mouth, so basically they have got to go. The concensus is, they should probably go in this country and not when I am gallavanting around Europe for a semester. So tomorrow the surgeon will hopefully say, no worries no surgeury you'll be fine, cross your fingers for me at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon please.
This was one of the readings from church last week, I thought it was particularly appropriate because the "thorn in the flesh" that St. Paul references can be taken in many different contexts. However, the message is the same no matter what your "thorn in the flesh" might be. God gives us thorns in order to make us weak, because when we are weak He is most strong and most relied upon. If we were all strong and happy and unquestioning, God wouldn't need to exist because everything would be perfect. God exists to make sure that we can handle our weaknesses, and to become better people as a result of our weaknesses. Embrace your weaknesses, they are truly what make you strong.
2 Cor. 12:7-10 "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, in order to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, then, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Thus, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Baby Numero Tres
I know I haven't posted in a little bit, but...
I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE AGAIN SUPER IMMENENTLY!!
I am sooooo so so excited. I freakin love kids and I freakin love my niece and nephew so baby number three will most definitely have a very special place in my heart.
This might rearrange some of my plans for the weekend:
Going to the Utica Zoo on Friday, going hiking at Gillette Castle (Connecticut people will know) on Saturday or Sunday, bumming around whichever day we're not hiking, and sleeping in on Monday.
But Hillary loves my niece and nephew and she's pretty excited about being an auntie vicariously through me and potentially rearranging our weekend so we can maximize our time with the baby.
So excited. I'll post pictures of my beautiful niece (who will no doubt be beautiful because she is sprung from some pretty good looking genes if I don't say so myself) at some point in the near future.
I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNTIE AGAIN SUPER IMMENENTLY!!
I am sooooo so so excited. I freakin love kids and I freakin love my niece and nephew so baby number three will most definitely have a very special place in my heart.
This might rearrange some of my plans for the weekend:
Going to the Utica Zoo on Friday, going hiking at Gillette Castle (Connecticut people will know) on Saturday or Sunday, bumming around whichever day we're not hiking, and sleeping in on Monday.
But Hillary loves my niece and nephew and she's pretty excited about being an auntie vicariously through me and potentially rearranging our weekend so we can maximize our time with the baby.
So excited. I'll post pictures of my beautiful niece (who will no doubt be beautiful because she is sprung from some pretty good looking genes if I don't say so myself) at some point in the near future.
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