Apartments, the F-Word, and the Black Cauldron

My mom came into town Friday to help me do my last bit of apartment hunting. I had narrowed it down to three places, and it was really helpful to have her second opinion as I made a final choice. I decided on an apartment complex just a few minutes from downtown and the campus area, which is great for both of my jobs. I'm so excited to move in, which is good because I start moving in less than two weeks! It's crazy how fast it's all happening; after almost 2 months of searching for a place to live, I called, toured, and signed an apartment in a matter of less than 24 hours. And here's the best part: signing for this apartment is the first thing I've really done on my own. No co-signers, like I've had for my car and my bank accounts and everything else in my life so far. It makes me a little nervous, but also excited and proud of myself. I just know that I'm going to have to watch my finances, which sounds really un-fun but that's just part of growing up. Mom and Dad said they're proud of me for being able to do this, which really makes me feel good too.

Listen to all the cool stuff about this apartment! It's got one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a decently sized bathroom (definitely bigger than the one I have now!). The complex has laundry (which costs about 2 bucks a load...I'm gonna miss the noisy washer and dryer at my place!), an outdoor pool, an indoor hot tub (eeee!!!), a little workout center (with ellipticals!), a one-mile wooded walking trail, and places to picnic and grill out. I'm so pumped about the outdoor space as well as the indoor workout room, a huge incentive for me to get in shape! I'm so excited to decorate; Ryan has a great eye for this sort of thing, so he's going to help me out, and I know that's gonna be a lot of fun. There's also a great security system in the building, so I'll definitely feel safe. Now I have to start getting organized and packed, while figuring out how to transition out of where I live now, and to be honest, I'm actually sad about moving out of the Loft. It's been my home for the last two years, and it's kinda weird to be moving out. It's funny; I didn't expect to feel any emotion but excitement about moving, but I guess when any place becomes home to you, you're bound to feel a little sad moving out. It's definitely metaphorical; I'll be turning my old home over to girls I know from college, which is nice. I'll still have that connection, but I'm moving on to a new home for a new chapter in my life (pardon the cliche).

On to a totally different and completely un-sentimental subject, I've noticed while working as a waitress that people in the restaurant business seem to use the F-word a lot. I don't really understand why, but I remember Ryan making this observation last summer when he was waiting tables as well. Other common trends among people who work in restaurants are making sex-related comments or jokes, and going out to get drunk about every night. And I'm not just talking about the servers; it's also the bartenders, kitchen crew, and managers, and even corporate-level people. It's like a bunch of people who never quit living the typical college life. And here's the thing--a lot of these people are, in fact, college students, but what sort of surprised me is the people in their late 20s and 30s who act this way. It's kind of bizarre. It's a stressful job, so maybe people who have this job like to relieve stress by going out and getting wasted so they have something to talk about the next day during lunch shift, and maybe another way to relieve stress when they are at work and can't drink is to use the F-word? I dunno. Maybe it just started out that way and an atmosphere of that developed and now we've just gotten into the habit of that being the norm. All I can say is, it's almost like people will and do find every way possible to use the f-word. I actually heard someone say last night that we had a "f***load of laundry" in the basement. What does that even mean?

Entertainment recommendations of the night:
Ryan and I went to see "Transformers." It is awesome, even if you're like me and didn't watch the cartoons growing up. I totally fell in love with Bumblebee, and I wish my car turned into a robot-alien who protected me and played a soundtrack to my life on his radio. Next, I am totally addicted to the CBS summer reality series "Pirate Master." I am soooo rooting against the Triad and hoping Louie and the girls will rally and knock those guys on their butts. Although, I have to say, they are definitly playing a smart game. I'm pulling for mutiny, but it would have to take a lot to break up the officers and the captain. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to CBS.com and watch all the Pirate episodes online. You will get hooked. No pun intended. Well, maybe a little bit intended. Musically I haven't gotten into anything new lately, but I am wondering what happened to my John Mayer CD because apparantly I never ripped it onto my computer, and now I don't have his albums anywhere. I do need to go find myself a copy of the soundtrack to "Legally Blonde the Musical" because I think that comes out in the next few days, and I'll let you know what I think about it!

One final note on movies: I borrowed Disney's animated film "The Black Cauldron" from the library this week because I don't recall ever watching it as a kid. It's one of those obscure ones from (I think) the 80s, when the Disney company was considering shutting down the animation department altogether, and they didn't have much of a budget. You can tell the animation is a lot less finished than the typical Disney animated movie, and it's uncharacteristically dark for a film of this brand. I have read that Tim Burton was at that time working as an animator at Disney and assisted on this film, but I didn't see his name in the credits, although I can see how they'd assign him to that project. It's not long, only 80 minutes, so if you're curious like me, you can watch it and not feel like you wasted your life or anything. I also borrowed Disney's animated version of "Peter Pan" and it's got some pretty neat choral sections in the score that I think would be really neat for Glee Club and Purduettes together; it has a very Fred Waring sound to it, true to the time period when that film was done. Also, that Tinkerbell is really funny, and like most Disney movies, there is humor there that I didn't pick up on as a kid. Tink has that luxury of being the only girl among the "guys" (Lost Boys) and holding special regard with Peter, so when Wendy shows up and unseats Tink, the portrayal of her jealousy is so classic and funny, because all of us girls know how much we hate to see our "guys" give their attention to another girl! If you haven't watched this in awhile, give it another look.

Ok, that's it for me. Much more to come!

Contacts

My contacts have gotten really cloudy, and they were drying out my eyes, so I finally decided to throw them out and put in a new pair. It's instantly like, "WOW!!! Look how clear everything is!" I feel like I just got HD for my eyes. What's so funny about this is how every time I finally toss out an old pair of contacts and put in new ones, I have the exact same amazed reaction. You'd think I'd be prepared for such a phenomenon.

Well, if you've been reading, you know I love a good analogy. And I was thinking, this is why we need sabbaths, vacations, and a good night's sleep. So we can get a new and fresh perspective on life and the world. I've always felt like my thinking was so much clearer when I spent time up at the lake; it gave me a chance to get away from distractions and appreciate the outdoors and solitude. You come back from those kinds of vacations with new goals and new appreciation for things. Ryan and I took a sabbath one day when we both had time off and took a long, long walk along the river, and we also did about a million other things that day that were totally relaxing but also fun and productive and good for you, and after a day like that, you're just like, "How much time do I waste being too tired or busy to do all this stuff in one day?" You get a fresh perspective. So go take a break today, get outside, or go take a nice, big nap and wake up really refreshed and ready to go!

Music of the moment: Justin Timberlake's newest album. I know, I know. The point of listening to this music is, it's silly, goofy, not profound...and just fun. Some of these songs are just dumb, and others just have a really cool beat, mix, and melody. Don't try to read into it, just roll down the windows and act like the urban kid you're not.

Sometimes we just need to have fun! Do it!

Lis

Tad, Dave, and Fireworks

That title sounds a LOT juicer than this entry is going to be. I've got to cover my bases, and I'm gonna try to cover them rather briefly. I was talking to the weather guy here at the station (we have quite a few interesting conversations, mostly me coaching him on how to handle his three daughters...I'm one of three girls, so I should know, right?) and he told me that if I want to produce I need to be able to write. Not just write, but write conversationally and succinctly. (And probably learn to spell succintly...is that right?) He said to keep a journal and just talk in it like you would if you were talking out loud. So I try to do that here, but I'm going to try harder to, and not to be quite as lengthy. Unless I really need to get something off my chest.

Ok, first the fireworks. Ryan and I had one of the best 4th of Julys that I can remember. We went to some friends' for a birthday/4th of July party, then met up with Ryan's roommate and his girlfriend and a couple of other people to go see Purdue's fireworks. We went up to the top of the parking garage, and it was like a village up there! People were covering the roof of the garage ready to watch the fireworks, and what a show! Not only did we get a perfect view of Purdue's show, which was great, but to the north of them we could see the fireworks coming from the Elks Club, and to the east, all along the horizon, a steady sparkling of fireworks from all the surrounding small towns and counties. It was so magical, so enchanted. It was a feast for the eyes, and I was an absolute glutton. I just wanted to look everywhere at once; I didn't want to miss one view, one amazing explosion. It was awesome.

Now onto a new segment of the story where I tell you about movies and music that I am into at the moment. I just bought "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" from the $5 bin at Wally World, because I had always wanted to see it, and because it was $5. Funny story about this, I almost bought "City Slickers," and decided against it, but forgot that I had tucked it under my arm and walked all over the store with it. Then I checked out, all the time not realizing it was still under my arm, and walked out the door. Now at Walmart they have the sensors that go off, always, it would seem, at random times and with no reason because you obviously paid for everything in your plastic bag. I've been dinged plenty of times and checked out and found innocent of shoplifting. Well, today I got dinged and the guy whose job it was to check people's bags came over, an older gentleman, and I showed him my receipt and let him check my bag. He said everything looked fine and so I exited the store. When I got in my car, I pulled "City Slickers" out from under my arm absent-mindedly and just stared at it for a second. Then I just laughed, and headed back to the store entrance.

"I know why that thing dinged me," I said. "I had this movie under my arm and didn't even realize it!"

"Did you buy it?" asked the guy.

"No, I didn't even want it, I just forgot to put it back when I was digging through that movie bin."

He looked at me like I had just arrived in a big, pink bubble.

"You're the first honest person I've ever met," he said, and thanked me.

Ha!

And so much for brevity. Anyway, I went home and watched this movie between shift breaks today and it was great. Very very funny, and I would even watch it with my boyfriend because I think he'd think it was funny too. Topher Grace is what really makes the movie, but the story is surprisingly fresh and close to the heart. Of course you probably remember this is a story about a girl (Kate Bosworth) who wins a date with a famous actor whom she is crazy about, and Grace plays her guy-friend who is really in love with her. The bartender has this awesome line that goes something like, "Everyone is a Tad Hamilton to someone else," meaning you may be in awe of this person you think is amazing, and you think you'll never be good enough for, but probably someone else is thinking that about you. I think that's a very true concept. There was also something so charming about Bosworth's character, this small-town girl with such a polite, genuine, and almost old-fashioned personality and sensibility. She's not totally naive to the point of being blind or stupid, but she is, rather, aware of her innocence in a way that I think they just don't typically write female protagonists in Hollywood. Seriously, watch the movie. It's great.

And now to Dave. I've been doing a lot of soul-searching (or maybe searching for my soul?) lately and when I get to the point where I'm just baffled by God or religion or life in general, I like to listen to a little Dave Matthews Band, because I think Dave a lot of times is baffled, too. Half the time I don't know what the heck his lyrics mean, but I like to try to interpret them, and even find an interpretation applicable to my life even if it's not applicable to what Dave was thinking, drinking, or smoking when he wrote those lines. I think he just has a way of expressing his wonder, that sometimes you just have to stop and realize how big the universe is and how small you are, and how little time you have to enjoy all the things that you take for granted. I think he writes about the fact that God is so far beyond his understanding, and I think that's great because sometimes I get to where I'm trying to get it all sorted out, and I need to remember that God is so far beyond what my mind can wrap itself around or define. Specific tracks? "Bartender" is really great, so is "You Never Know" and "JTR." It's good soul-searching music, and if nothing else reminds me of the sense of wonder I do and should have about God and faith.

Ok, maybe we'll try that "brief" thing next time.

Lis