It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's—Still Something I Dream About!

Over the years, I've heard stories of a lot of parents who restricted their children's television viewing due to the nature of the cartoons. And I'm not talking about like Tales From The Crypt or the Simpsons or Goosebumps, because those are pretty obvious. But I've heard many stories of friends who's parents banished the Smurfs and Carebears and Gummi Bears and various other serieses (sp?) from their houses because of their inherent supernatural/magical powers.

I began trying to understand this and also trying to decide whether I was any better or worse for having spent my childhood surrounded by these cartoons. Because nearly everything I watched growing up had something to do with somebody having supernatural powers. It started with simple things, like Carebears, who defeated evil with their united Carebear Stares, then there was My Little Pony-- these horses covered in glitter and bows who could talk—and sometimes fly. Then there were Ninja Turtles—ordinary turtles who got covered in extrordinary ooze and became fierce fighting machines.

When I was older, things got more realistic (Hey Dude, Saved By The Bell, California Dreams, Punky Brewster) but there was still crazy mess like *Out Of This World and Power Rangers & VR Troopers that made me think/wish that I could be getting more out of life by being some form of superhero.

*(Being able to freeze time doesn't make you a superhero, but there are still moments in life where I wish I was Evie-- sans the whole Father In the Purple Cube thing.)

The older I got, the more interested I became in more classic superheroism. When I was 13, I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time (I saw them completely out of order Episode 6, then 4, then 5.) and got hooked. You have no idea how bad it was. And I'm not going to elaborate. Not in this post anyway. :)

When I was about 14, I ran in a circle known throughout my youth group as the CRASH girls. This acronym stood for Cosmic Radioactive Almighty Super Heroes. (Justice League, WHAT?) There were four of us. We had matching shirts and matching crushes on the guy who was our youth group intern. I was Batgirl.

It wasn't long after that, the first X-Men movie came out and I started hounding my comic book-reading boyfriend for various backstories on the mutants. I even named my first truck after one of Cyclops and & Jean Grey's kids. And starting way back in 1993 or so, when Tom Welling was still a bachelor and Michael Rosenbaum still had hair on his head, there was an un-desperate woman named Teri Hatcher and a devastatingly handsome man named Dean Cain who occupied the 7 o'clock hour of my Sunday nights. For it was never the cartoon or even the old movies that caught my attention (Superman 3 actually really freaked me out), but Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, that spawned my lifelong affection for/ attraction to the Man of Steel. Smallville just made it worse. (I actually just purchased Seasons 4 & 5 today for $19.99 a piece. My collection is nearly complete. Thank you, Target.)

And nowadays, when shows like Heroes and Who Wants To Be A Superhero? (which I've still never seen) and movies like Spiderman, Batman and Fantastic Four and The Incredibles come out and splice superheroes so simply into everyday life, it makes me very happy. To this day, anything superhero related is intriguing to me.

Now for whatever reason, I was never particularly mesmerized by witches or vampires. Shows like Charmed, Angel, Buffy, even Harry Potter never really grabbed my attention. Maybe because Ouija boards and spells and vampires and Ursula and Maleficent always kind of made me nervous as a kid. In fact, I still don't do vampire or zombie movies, but that's because I don't like people bleeding everywhere. (Actually, that's another great thing about superhero shows and movies. People get hit with steel bars and smashed into brick walls and hardly ever get bloodied. Unrealistic? Yes. Less stressful? Also yes.) Maybe it's because the old school magic of casting spells and biting necks seems more probable, more doable, more explainable. Superhero stuff (flying and being made of steel and laser vision and x-ray vision and super speed and telekinesis and mutated genes, etc.) is a little more ridiculous, a little more imaginative. And therefore, in my opinion, cooler.

So letting your kids watch cartoons where people have superpowers won't corrupt them for life—it might make them jump off the roof into the pool though. Or spend at least 5 minutes once a year sitting in bed trying to turn out the light with the Force. Or occasionally tape three pencils to each fist and spike out their hair all weird and growl at people.

Or, as in my case, they might just still wish that they were superheroes-- when they're 23.

(i just couldn't resist.) :)

Mind-Blowing Adultness

I'd just like to say that

I now have a friend who assists in performing surgeries.

And I have a friend that can deliver babies.

How grown up is that?!

Watching/hearing about all my friends turning into super cool and noble grown up people is one of my very favorite things.

:)

Secret Single Behavior

"Some people call them "guilty pleasures." Sex and the City would call it "Secret Single Behavior," as in the things you could never do in front of your boyfriend. Carrie confesses that when no one else is around, she likes to eat grape jelly on crackers standing up at the counter while reading Vogue.

Most of the time, it's not all that secretive, and we don't generally feel guilty for doing it. It's not always even that outrageous, just something that's slightly weird..." -saltwatercoke blog

Yeah, we all got 'em. Some of mine?

-I have a skirt that I wear only when I'm cleaning my house. Kish has one too, and when we break out the Comet and the Windex, we also break out the Boca skirts.

-Sometimes when I buy really good cookies, and there are only like 10 in the package, I hide them so I don't have to share them. Only child syndrome.

- I love choreography and I always want to know the choreography. Probably because I love musicals. But if a song comes on (from a musical or otherwise) and there are moves to it and I actually know them? I generally always do them. Even if it's not cool anymore.

-Sometimes in the morning… or the afternoon, I'll sit in the living room and eat my bowl of cereal alone. No tv, no radio, no magazine, no roommates. Just me and my cereal, there on the couch. I'm really comfortable with that.

-When I listen to soundtracks in my car, I usually choose a part and stick to it consistently. It makes me feel like I'm in the show and I like that. My favorite parts to play? Elphaba, Mimi Marquez, Ariel (Mermaid) & Eponine Thenardier. But when necessary, I'm also a damn good Mark Cohen & Marius Pontmercy, if I do say so myself.

(Why do so many of my secret single behaviors have to do with musicals? Hmm…)

-I drink straight out of all the containers in the fridge that belong to me. Shamelessly. I've been doing it since I started college. It's going to be a tough habit to break.

- I too, have elaborate, somewhat dramatic pre-conversation/wishful thinking/I-wish-I-had-said-this conversations with imaginary listeners. Mostly while driving.

- I'm a good speller. Always have been. But I will spell the word "definately" wrong for the rest of my life. It's a cognitive mistake. And spell check always fixes it for me automatically. At this point, I think it's the one word that I will consistently spell wrong without caring.

There's a Lot.

Last weekend I watched two movies I'd never seen, both with Anthony Michael Hall in them.
(The Breakfast Club & Edward Scissorhands)

I also experienced that super weird feeling that occurs when you stay up really late-- like until it gets light outside-- and there is no division between "Man, tonight was really fun." and "Damn, that sun's really bright this morning."
(Holly's birthday party)

Last weekend, I looked into purchasing a speed bag to hang in my garage, wore heels for much too long and my hair was all the same color.
(Brownish.)

This week, I started a new project. Spent 4.5 hours at Starbucks, makin it happen.
(Hint: There's a script involved.)

This week, I fell asleep on the couch twice-- and was late to work-- twice.
(I've developed an immunity to my alarm clock.)

This week, I wore a denim miniskirt with flip flops for a whole day, ran into several old friends, and altered (a chunk of) my hair color.
(Think red. Like fire engines.)

36 Hours of Awesome

I can't believe I haven't told you about this!!!

Okay, so Monday was Saffire Cleaning Day. Which meant I had to be at work at 10am. That, combined with the fact that last weekend there was a Grace Chapel Baptism Bash, and that I'd been thinking about getting some writing done, persuaded me to relinquish the idea of a day trip and stay in Franklin rather than drive all the way up to Mt. Juliet to spend Sunday at the lakehouse.

(Backstory: Swanny's friends with a lady who lets him stay at her beautiful Real World-esque lake house, and use her beautiful speedboats and water toys, so long as he cleans it all up for her. Last weekend, we found out about 4pm on Saturday afternoon that we were invited to come up and play.)

But then, I realized that there's one more Baptism Bash to go before summer ends. And then Jared and Handsome Rob hand delivered our "new" washer and dryer, which crossed one more thing off my list, and then Jared also decided to go to the lakehouse. That made the lakehouse roster Swanny, Matty, Jake, Jared, Holla & Kish. So, seeing as how 2/3rds of T3 does not a Trizzo make, and feeling as though I would probably miss out by staying home, I packed two days worth of summer clothes in about fifteen minutes, left my stuff with my roommates, and headed to work. Then, following a less than profitable Saturday night at the 'Fire, I jumped in my car and traveled a little less than an hour North to the lake house.

It turned into the best 36 hours of-- probably the whole summer.

I got there and everyone was hanging out on the upper deck, above the boats. Kish & Matt were talking in the grass, so I climbed the scary spiral staircase (which I later learned was covered in massive spiders. It's amazing what you'll do when you don't know what you're doing.) And listened to Jake play guitar and watched Holly jump off the deck into the dark lake.

After an hour, we went back to the house so Jake & I could change into swimsuits. From there, we jumped into the Jacuzzi, where epic shenanigans ensued for about the next three hours. It was amazing and absolutely hilarious. Truth or Dare just never gets old.

Later that night, the boys suffered through Jammin In Jamaica, Matty & Jake left to head back to Franklintown, and Holly and I launched into another full fledged wrestling match with the Crocodile Hunter that left us-- marked, to say the least. I still have some bruises. He's feisty, that one is. Holla & I have learned our lesson 2 or 3 times over now, but we're just too stubborn to admit defeat. Me, Kish & Holla went to bed around 5:30 am, and woke up the next morning to Swanny jumping on our bed singing about flying carpets and whole new worlds. And bless his heart, he's one of my favorite people in the world, but don't look for him on The Singing Bee anytime soon. ;)

We all got up, got dressed, ate Lucky Charms and headed out to the boat where we spent the next two hours flying across the lake. It was one of the best moments of my life. It was magical. I could not pry myself off the nose of the boat. Later, under pressure of being thrown in if we dared refuse, we jumped in and swam in the delightful murky fish water. And on the way home, I let the wind blow dry my hair and it was all halfro and fabulous.

Came back to dock, since we were nearly out of gas, and made burgers for lunch. Jared's grill skills are impeccable. We tore those things up! Jared and Kish took powernaps while Holly and I went on an *adventure to round up more gasoline. After a few hours passed, we loaded up the boats again and headed back out to a spot called Two Foot Cove. Upon finding it, we cranked up Luna Halo, dropped anchor, jumped out and wandered through the crowd of Weekend Warriors, hoping to start a volleyball game on the court set up in the center of the cove. We did start a game, and we won! :) Jared,-- excuse me, Liam Westerbridge-- pretended to be his British alter-ego and we acquired Jello shots from a neighboring boater who was happy that Kish & I were representin the black population at the lake. :) Then we got back in the boat, sped across the lake and got ready for dinner.

While waiting on Jared to grill the steaks, we watched Big Brother and I played with the beautiful lab puppy from next door. Then I drank my very first Red Stripe (Hooray Beer!) and ate the best steak I've had in a long time. Holy cow, it was amazing. Mmmm!

We cleaned up from dinner, grabbed ice cream and fireworks and headed out to the dock to shoot them off. After almost blowing ourselves up/setting things on fire, we walked back to the boat dock where we all jumped in and cruised out to the center of the lake. We sat there until the water turned to glass and the stars glowed bright. Lightning 100 provided the background soundtrack as we told stories, answered questions and began to think for the first time about how much we're going to miss Swanny in about a month.

Pulling back into port, we bid the boat farewell, showered and said goodbye to Jared. Then we all fell asleep in Swanny's giant bed watching tv until someone woke up and made everyone go brush their teeth and go to bed for real.

Next morning, Kish & I headed back to Franktown and the real world, talking the whole way home about how happy we were that we'd gone. It was truly the best 36 hours I've had in a long time, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.


* By adventure, I mean Holly spilled gas all over her swimsuit coverup and it was so hot outside that I'm surprised she didn't just explode right there.

Carpe Weekend!

• Tried on a red hot smokin dress for Holly's birthday party-- and then, a Batgirl costume. Sort of.

• Talked to Swanny on Skype. The first of many times, I'd imagine.
  

• Punched all my nervousness in the face and jumped on the back of my friend Nick's motorcycle. We rode to breakfast at Loveless Cafe via the Natchez Trace, which is probably the best place to ride a motorcycle ever. Ate pancakes, and then rode back home. Best use of a morning in a long time.

• Discovered that there are secret clubs you can only be in if you have the proper vehicle. These clubs all have special waves or acknowledgements that they throw at each other in passing, like they all went to the same university or something. There's a Speedboat Club, a Motorcycle Club, a Convertible Club, a BMW club, a VW Bug Club, a Cyclists Club-- it's crazy, really. I bet in Europe there are Vespa clubs too. But not in Rome, so much. That'd be crazy. Everyone would just be waving at each other all day.

• Discovered that it is not necessarily speeding that I enjoy, but the feeling of flying. This is why I enjoy driving with the windows (or the top) down, perching mermaid-style on the nose of the speedboat and riding on motorcycles. I do not however, enjoy the feeling of freefalling, which is why I don't see myself bungee jumping or skydiving in the near future.

• Bought deliciously fugly crimson ugg boots at Charlotte Russe.

• Spoke some of my new Spanish vocab to the crew in the dish room at work.
  

• Worked a wedding/reception in the Blue Room at work and made $350.00 in one swoop, thanks to all the food and alcohol consumption.

• Drank a tic too much leftover champagne after hours while cleaning up the Blue Room from said wedding.

• Went to church, thanked God for my roommates, absorbed encouragement about life in general from everywhere, and admired him in his blue shirt, even if it might've been from Baby Gap.

• Sang Justin Timberlake very loud in the car with roommates.

• Went to Pancake Pantry in very good company. Branched out and ate French Toast! And eggs. And hash browns. And orange juice. Man, I love breakfast.

• Watched the Bourne Ultimatum, cringed at the car crashes and remembered when Albert Finney was a Big Fish. Very good movie.

• Walked Mojo around the neighborhood until he and me and Holla were wore out.

• Brainstormed the new T3 Blog. More to come.

It's been a good weekend. :)

Si, Bailar!!!

Yesterday was no ordinary Jueves.

After Bible study, I put on a swishy black skirt. I pulled my hair up and put on sparkly earrings. I put on my silver heels, which happen to be the tallest heels I own... I think. (And it was okay because the friend I was headed out with is like 6'3 or so.) And I went to get my salsa on.

Not like Mexican cuisine. No, this was Ibiza, a local salsa dancing joint.

It was amazing. So many people there were great dancers! It was slightly intimidating, but I'm infatuated, and I want to be muy bueno at it! We'll see how it goes... I think they give free lessons on Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights... :)

And I made a new friend! Santana. Named after Carlos. He was a fabulous dancer. And he works for WorldVision. And likes switchfoot. Amigos? I think so!

I worked all day today. It was aight.

But at Bible study, I also found out that tomorrow, I get to go school supply shopping, for an unnamed local immigrated *baby who can't afford a proper Trapper Keeper or the 96 Box of Crayolas. I am SO excited. This kind of shopping trip comes in second only to shopping for my annual **Shoebox Baby.

So it's been a good week, I suppose! Hopefully this pattern will continue.
And now, some tiny, random movie reviews.

Pirates 3
While a big part of me loved the ridiculous inconvience of the Swann/Turner nuptials, the ending of this movie is ridiculous. There is no way I'd be cool, chillin out on an island for 10 years, raising a kid by myself, waitin on his Daddy to show back up. And where's little 9 year old Liam gonna go when Daddy gets back?! How do you split one day between the love of your life and the child you've never met?! No thank you. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

The Fountain
If you really, truly, genuinely loved this movie-- I wish you'd tell me why. Really. Especially if it changed your life. I'd like to know how. Because it didn't do anything for me. Not one thing. Sorry. I've heard rave reviews for the soundtrack, and I can get behind that. But the film itself, while sort of pretty at parts, mostly struck me as a forced, despe...(read more)rate, somewhat esoteric attempt to be tragically romantic and intensely meaningful/profound. I can't recommend it. Go watch the sun rise (or set) from the top of a mountain or very large hill... or maybe a lake. It's a better use of your time...

And that is all. For now. :)



*I call nearly everyone a baby who's more than two years my junior. Two years or less, and you're a kid. And I mean it all in the most affectionate way. :)

** Angel Tree Child that you adopt from church or the mall at Christmastime.

And I Didn't Put On Makeup All Day.

Eventful couple of days...

Following my double shift, I partied with, not like, a rockstar... or two. Cary Barlowe's 25th birthday extravaganza was also the perfect excuse for me to try to rock a mohawk, similar to one I'd seen on Shear Genius. I wore a casual/semi-formal black & white dress with black plastic earrings and Chucks. And my hair in a pretendalmost mohawk. It was really fun. :)

Today? I ate cereal. And I mowed the lawn. Sure did. It looked a hot mess. Not to mention we were finally forced to do something about it because-- well, wait, let me back up.

To Clint. Clint (my next door neighbor who I prayed with in the flowerbed) is doing well, all things considered. Remember how I wasn't sure he'd even remember our exchange? Well, he did, and he wrote me a letter from jail, thanking me for encouraging him. It was wonderful. He asked if I'd write to him, so of course, I have. If you want to know more about this, talk to me. But whatever you do, don't worry. I'm not crazy and I know how and when to be careful. :)

But basically through the course of our correspondence, I told him about the epic disaster that was our front lawn, and joked that the Homeowners Assoc. was going to evict us if we didn't get it under control soon.

Thursday morning, the Homeowners Assoc telephoned Holly to tell her that we had till Thursday to get that under control-- or get fined. Yikes. Calling of several lawn companies ensued (some for the second or third time!), but no one could get here as quickly as we needed them. So Kish & I decided that tomorrow, since we're off most of the day, we'd go ask our neighbor Leah (Clint's grandma) to borrow her mower.

Lo and behold, an hour after Kish left for work, Leah shows up at our front door. She thanks me for writing/encouraging Clint and said that if we ever needed to borrow her mower, it was all ours. She also mentioned that it was Clint who told her we were gonna get kicked out if we didn't mow soon, and also he who suggested that she volunteer her mower.

God is so cool. :)

So we (Heather & I, at the time) borrow this pretty incredible "push" mower that turns on with a key and rolls itself. I mowed the front and the back and we chopped up all kinds of weeds and hedges. Our yard is no longer a sordid and unkempt. It actually looks rather fabulous now, if i do say so myself. :)

Not to mention, we got to hang out and talk with Leah for the hour and a half or so that we worked outside. Leah is 65 and beautiful, standing in her yard, watering her grass in her shorts while drinking her glass of white wine. :) Love it. She helped us pull weeds and when we were done, she let me take Mojo for a walk! He was a very good boy, and Leah said I could walk him anytime I wanted. Leah's a sweet woman, very strong too. So interesting, the way God is weaving these various stories together.

Also just wanted to mention that I have not one, but three very fabulous roommates. I just adore them all so much. They're wonderful.

It was a very nice day. :)