Things That Would Be Oddly Satisfying That Probably Will Not Happen

• Going to a nice restaurant where the table is set for dinner, complete with wine and water glasses and six kinds of flatware... then pretending to be really appalled by the meal, jumping up and turning the table over. Like flipping. The entire table. Then storming out.

• Playing a character who dies heroically (right after admitting to true love and singing a killer "death ballad") on a Broadway stage.

• Slapping a really obnoxious person on a power trip with a huge, cold, disgusting fish. (Seriously. Take a moment. Choose a person. And imagine how incredible this would be.)

• Reading everything ever written by C.S. Lewis. (This will probably take up at least half of my life.)

• Dating a superhero. Long term.

• Writing a blog entry everyday. (But I might really try this. At least for a month.)

Walt Disney Set Me All Askew.

Ariel never faced a moral dilemma about whether or not to date Prince Eric based on his religious views. Hell, she dated one dude and got married after like 5 days. There wasn't even time for inter-relationship drama to occur.

Charming didn't have to deal with any of Cinderella's co-workers or ex-boyfriends comin around and gettin in their business. Also Charming wasn't an alcoholic. Nor did he have a gambling problem.

Jasmine didn't have to worry about Aladdin's mother putting words in his mouth or poisoning him against her. Granted, his mom was dead... but there were also no older brothers or sisters or estranged fathers to deal with either.

The Beast had a lot of bad habits... but none of them involved illegal, mind-altering substances.

In fact, none of the Disney princes had ever been married before. None of them had crazy exes or superfluous children lolling about from past failed relationships. They were pristine. And for ranging in age from about 17 to 25, also all appeared to be incredibly level-headed multi-taskers.

Not to mention the fact that they actually went after the women they wanted... and the fact that NONE of them went to university, and therefore NONE of them had to deal with their fiancee's ever-accruing student loans.

Someone should make a fairy tale for now. One where the Princess is 27 and single, still freaking paying off her semester abroad. Trying to live right, but keeps getting caught up in dead end relationships, so she doesn't know how to maintain or even recognize one with true lasting potential. And the Prince is like 32, and divorced. A good guy-- just a little misguided and unmotivated from lack of accountability in his life. But then they meet and they hit it off, and she burns him some cd's and he gets her to quit smoking, and THEN-- after she gets doubtful and tries to leave before she gets hurt, and after he fights past his fear of falling in love-- they have a giant fight, and then there's a giant apology and a fantastic kiss and the last wedding either of them will ever have.

Or something like that.

Space Cowboys

Wash: Psychic? Really? That sounds like something out of science fiction!

Zoe: We live on a spaceship, dear.

Wash: Yeah. So?

Today, I finished watching Firefly. And like every other fan, I can't for the life of me figure out why that show got canceled. Even if it couldn't pull a mainstream audience, SciFi or somebody should have picked it up!

The writing is rutting fantastic. :)

And I have the movie too, no worries. I'll be watching it as soon as I have 2 hours.

If you're nerdy at all, I highly recommend it. Just make sure you watch at least 3 episodes before you give up on it. Two should do the trick. But three for sure.

Raindrops of Conciousness

Please go see Hancock. It's brilliant. I loved it.

Hulk was good too. But I liked Hancock better. 

I really want to be a superhero. Or marry one.

Also, there's a squirrel in my house. Living. In the wall between me and Holly's room.

Not. Right.

I have a developed a penchant for blended wine. South African and South American, specifically.

And I've decided that when I finally get to cast my musical, I'm not just going to cast good singers. I'm going to cast storytellers. People who can get completely caught up in the world I've written, become the characters and tell their stories passionately and genuinely. 

Also, I love my Hurley hoodie, and I want to get my teeth cleaned.

"Been away for awhile now..."

What can I say? I've been a little preoccupied.

To catch you up a bit, a few weeks ago, I went to California. I stayed with Emily, one of my bff's from high school. I went to the San Diego Zoo & The Wild Animal Park. I went to Encinitas for the switchfoot Bro-Am Surfing competition. I heard my favorite band play on the Moonlight Beach... and then at the Belly-Up Tavern where I was delighted to watch them again from the front row (there are an obscene number of pictures on facebook). I went to Old Town. I ate really good pizza and fish and Mexican food. I bought a hat that I love and wore a hoodie and flip flops pretty much every day. I went surfing in La Jolla and loved every chilly, salty, overwhelming moment of it. I even got to wear my Roxy rashguard*(which I bought like maybe 4 years ago, just in case) under my wetsuit and break it in properly. I went to Orange County. I stayed with my roommate and met her fiance. I ate awesome sushi in Laguna Beach. I frequented the same lovely coffeeshop for 5 days. I laid on the beach in San Clemente. I went to LA and stood in Gene Kelly & Harrison Ford's footprints. I went to the biggest music store I've ever seen. I saw Turk Molloy walking down the street on his cell phone. I went kayaking and it was amazing. I took Dani & Adam's engagement pictures at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano.

Also, I went surfing. Did i mention that? Because I did. :)

In short-- as far as inland living goes, I still love Nashvegas. But for the coastal way of life? I don't think the Pacific Ocean can be beat. Glorious. I'm excited for our reunion in January. :)

*just learned, while in Cali, what it was called and now I'm being a snob about it. ;)

Life Canon

Like ten polaroids in a line. No labels, no explanations. Just ten snapshots of ten paradigm shaping works, significant to you as an individual. They'll take the form of albums, stories, film and words. Just no people. No sacred texts. And no specific hierarchy.

Think about it long (or short) enough and the works will occur to you. 

I found the idea, via Brandi on The River Merchant blog.

I thought that was interesting.

So I gave it a shot.

Since it must speak for itself, here it is, as of today, in the order it occurred to me, off the top of my head.

Rent

Johnathan Larson 

Jesus Freak

dcTalk 

Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis

Lord of the Rings 

J.R.R. Tolkien / Peter Jackson

Star Wars 

George Lucas

Wild At Heart

John Eldredge

Nothing Is Sound

switchfoot

Les Miserables

Victor Hugo/Cameron Mackintosh

LOST

JJ Abrahams, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse

The Beautiful Letdown

switchfoot

Three Things

Today was the Main Street Festival in Franklin. There was nowhere to park, tons of carnie food and puppies and wee children and booths full of things that no one really needs, but are fun to look at. It was fabulous. I ate funnel cake and got a henna tattoo on my hand.

Also, I've recently noticed that my life is ruled by post-it notes. There are 13 in the vicinity of where I am, here on my bed. They are my GPS, my PDA and my address book. They are also all over my car. Every time I write down directions to a new place, I keep the post-it in the car in case I need to go there again. (I usually don't.)

When I was in about 9th grade? I think? My best friend introduced me to a movie that has seriously impacted my life. In addition to being my second favorite movie of all time, That Thing You Do is maybe the *second most quotable movie of all time. I love it. It is so incredibly happy and amazing. I've seen it about eleventybillion times and I'm horrible to watch it with because I can quote it front to back-- and usually do.

But the best part about this particular flick is the fact that somehow, through the past 10 years of my life (It's been ten years since I started high school... weird!) God has placed people IN my life in very close proximity who understand the greatness of this movie and want to quote it with me all the time. Chelsea started it (well, I suppose Brandi really started it), Jordan (and Taylor) joined in, Val picked it up after I moved to Abilene, and now? There's my roommate, Joanna.

I'm so grateful for those guys. 

Even though I'm not here with 'em. 

I've got a pig in competition over at the livestock pavilion, 

and I am gonna win that blue ribbon!

"Come on, pretty baby! Put your little hand in mine..."

*This could be heavily debated, but I'm putting it second only to The Princess Bride. Mostly because I don't feel like thinking about it any further right now.