Contrariwise

School is taking over again, but this was too egregious an error not to post.

Nope. Word 2007: 0. Well, 1 for making deleting tables easier. But in that case, Lindsay: 2 (+1 for awesomeness).

—1—
I do not make New Year’s resolutions. I make resolutions whenever I feel like it. The last thing I resolved to do was start praying Night Prayer again, and I haven’t been doing badly at it.

—2—
I had a lovely time ringing in 2010. Becca and I went down to Nick and Mary’s house. We watched some classic Cosby Show (but then, they’re all classic!), played Mario Party on Becca’s new Wii, tried out Uno Spin, and toasted along with Dick Clark. When I was in my MTV phase, I enjoyed the nontraditional midnight cover song, but after Clark’s stroke, I converted back. You have to admire that tenacity.

—3—
Just as I did last year, I managed to drive my mom’s Equinox back home without incident; let myself in; shower; go to Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; come back; and eat breakfast before I ran into my mom at all. Dad was lounging in the same recliner during that entire period, but he was enjoying a day off, so I can’t blame him. It was nice to feel productive and accomplished for once.

—4—
I cannot believe that the last full day of my break is tomorrow. They always go too fast, and I never manage to work or read enough. I did make up for an entire semester’s worth of TV watching with a two-week Degrassi: The Next Generation marathon, though.

—5—
Continuing my teen TV-fest, I watched Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging on Nickelodeon tonight. I read the first few Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books, but her writing style was very kitschy and unnervingly British, so I got tired early on.

—6—
I think I might have a legitimate problem with my work. I have lost my ability to focus, especially on school/work. I wasn’t always like this, and it’s true even for things I enjoy (prayer, pleasure reading, sometimes even TV). The question is, where am I going to find the time to sort this out?

—7—
I am trying to blog more. It’s the same mini-resolution I make every time I’m on a long break from school. Writing makes me happy, though, and it helps me empathize with the work I assign to my students. Let’s see how long I can persist this go-round.

1. What do you do when you can do no more? Go to bed. Once I’m asleep, everything feels better. It’s hard to mess up sleeping.
2. What activity recharges your inner battery? Usually, I can get my energy back if I switch tasks entirely. I take some away from keyboard time, or get a drink of water, or even just stand up and pace a little bit.
3. What was the last time you acted selflessly? I was pretty selfless with my Christmas shopping budget. I focused on trying to choose gifts that I thought my family would like instead of worrying as much about how much I was spending. You can’t take money with you. Everyone seems to like their gifts, so I consider that a mission accomplished.
4. What was the last time you were given a gift? It was just Christmas!
5. What does a pet give you? What what does a pet give me? Frustration? Pets don’t generally like me, and I’m not a fan of them, so we mutually keep our distance from each other.

Confession time: I go to the movies with my family because I know we might have dinner before or after. Explanation: I do not go for the food, I go for the table. My ACE life has taught me the importance of gathering around the table to eat regularly. I always feel closer to my family when we eat together, which we only do when we’re out. Last weekend, I managed to see both Avatar in 3-D and Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes was so great; Avatar was so not.

My prejudice going into Avatar was that (a) I didn’t know what it was about, and (b) I had a bad experience with the last 3-D movie I attempted. Granted, it was Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, which was not a great movie in the first place. The main problem was that the DVD was only viewable in 3-D, and watching it through the cheap cardboard glasses made my eyes hurt. I tried watching it without them, but the pictures were so blurry that I was annoyed the whole time.

When my mom asked if I wanted to see Avatar, I was reluctant. She brought me a pair she had kept after another movie. I was surprised to see that they were much higher quality: like sunglasses with a dramatic blue-green tint. I was still wary of wasting the (as I later I found out) $13.50 ticket if watching the movie gave me a headache, but she suggested that I get a refund and see something else if it came down to that. I finally agreed.

When we finally got in to see the movie, I put on my 3-D glasses for the Despicable Me trailer. Lo and behold, I could (still) see! I had to take the glasses off a few times during the movie to rest my pinched nose (I already wear glasses, remember?), at which point I discovered that the alien language subtitles were also in 3-D (I couldn’t read them).

I must say that Avatar was one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. It was just gorgeous. The 3-D was impeccable, the scenes were expertly crafted, and I believed what I was seeing.

The plot was terrible. I could tell how it was going to end. It got awkwardly political about halfway through, having managed to avoid the politics during the earlier part of the film despite featuring multiple military characters. I see Avatar much like I did The Village: nice, but I’ve seen this story before.

Sherlock Holmes was a great movie. I love Jude Law largely for his accent, but I thought he acted well in The Holiday. Robert Downey, Jr. was a great Holmes, though he was entirely unlike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation. I thought all the acting was masterful. I love a good mystery. I was a little worried when the movie took a dramatic turn toward the occult, but the end left me entirely satisfied.

I think this is why I don’t usually write movie reviews. I am not very good at them, so I think I’ll stick to teaching English.

December 4: the iTunes edition

This one is bittersweet. I had my old hard drive removed at Best Buy, but I left it at home so it wouldn’t be damaged before I could buy the enclosure kit for it. That left me without any of my mp3-only music (I still have a soft spot for CDs), including the version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” I wanted to use for Song Prayer Friday before Christmas break. (All was not lost: I found it playable online as well.)

1. What song do you play the most? All my most-played songs are by Switchfoot. I can’t remember off the top of my head if any one tops the others.
2. What song do you play the least? I had a few songs I downloaded, but never played, but I took care of that recently.
3. What’s the last song you added? Amazon MP3 offered a free song every day leading up to Christmas. I’ve been snagging free MP3s for a while, but I found the song-a-day promotion through Matt Maher’s newsletter. The last song I snagged and listened to was Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s cover of “Mr. Heatmiser” from The Year Without a Santa Claus.
4. What’s your favorite playlist? My favorite is actually my playlist of Internet radio stations. I listen to music I own sometimes, but I still love the radio.
5. What kind of iPod (or MP3 player) do you have? I don’t! I’ve never really wanted one. Now that so many great radio stations are online, though, I could be persuaded. And of course I wouldn’t turn down one as a gift.

December 18: Morning Routine

1. What time do you usually wake up on weekdays? 5 a.m. Oh-dark-hundred. It gets me in the shower before Jess with about twenty minutes to work before I leave for school.
2. What about weekends? 8:30 on Saturdays when I’m at home, 8:00 on Sunday so I can do my hair before church. I set an alarm even on Saturday. Queen of the neurotics here.
3. What do you eat for breakfast? I love bagels (usually with butter, though plain cream cheese is great when I can get it) and Honey Nut Cheerios.
4. Do you take a shower at night or in the morning? Always in the morning. I can’t feel clean or wake up properly unless I shower first thing.
5. How long does it take you to get ready? Much too long. On weekdays, I don’t leave until 7. On weekends, I have a personal rule against eating lunch until I’ve gotten dressed, which is at least by 1 p.m.

December 25: Childhood

1. What one food most reminds you of your childhood? Ham pancakes. I think my grandma only ever made them once, but that one time she made me pancakes with bit of sliced ham in them has stuck with me forever.
2. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bicycle? I don’t know. Of greater note is the fact that I don’t think I remember how to do it anymore. I am capable of many things, not all of them good.
3. How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus? Again, I don’t know. I know that what cinched it for me was when I realized the handwriting on our gift-bagged presents from Santa was the same as my mom’s.
4. What was your favorite television show/cartoon when you were little? I remember watching a lot of Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony, but mostly my Barney videos.
5. What is the youngest age you remember being and do you have a specific memory of when you were that age? I remember one evening when I was about four years old. My dad had brought home some live crabs for dinner, and he came stomping downstairs wearing his uniform boots, holding tongs in his potholder-encased hands. I died laughing. Later, one of them did get away, and my mom made me climb onto the couch with her so it wouldn’t pinch our toes. I was more interested in leaning over to peek into the kitchen and watch my dad galumphing about.