Some Of the Other--Wall Calendars

I was at Barnes and Noble yesterday. I braved the Black Friday evening shopping crowds in search of good books. Oddly enough, I didn't purchase a single one. I did, however, look at a few different styles of yearly wall calendars. I've never really been much of a one for wall calendars, but I seem to keep finding myself looking at my apartment walls, hoping to find that I put one up and forgot about it knowing I'd need it later. No such luck ;)

The first calendar I looked at was a New Moon one. I had seen the movie with my cousin on Wednesday, and was curious what pics they would use. Edward was the featured pic for my birth month, but I figured I'd pass considering I actually wouldn't care to look at most of the characters the rest of the year (though January wasn't too bad, thank you Jacob). I later picked up one featuring different castles. The one on the cover (the same one for my birth month, oddly enough) was a beautiful, enchantingly mist-covered palace that touched the fantasy loving, hopeless romantic in me. I was sorely tempted, but set that one down to check out the waterfall calendar next to it.

After looking through a few more (including ones on historic Salt Lake City, France, and custom motorcycles), I finally left without purchasing anything, thinking wistfully of the day I would finally wise up and get one to put on the wall, so that I could forget all about it until later.

Some of That--The Librarian

So a few years ago TNT came out with a movie about The Librarian, who is in charge of guarding not only the largest collection of books ever (of course), but also many mystical, mythical, memorable artifacts, including but not limited to the Ark (both Noah's and that of the Covenant), Excalibur, Pandora's box, and many many more. Starring the charming Noah Wyle, aka Dr. Carter from ER, the movies are hilarious, cheesy in the extreme, and highly entertaining. The first one follows him as he is hired as The Librarian and travels to the amazon in search of the Spear of Destiny. The second movie finds him following in his father's footsteps to the mines of Solomon, and the third, of which I've only seen part, is the search for the Judas Chalice. The second one costars the actress that plays Fiona on Burn Notice, and the third costars the actress that plays Kate Beckett on Castle. Yay!

TNT had a marathon showing all three movies on Sunday. I had the first two playing in the background as I played around online and read my fav HP fanfic, but knew that I wouldn't be home for all of the third and so recorded it--thank goodness for ye olde VCR :) My good friend Lisa Murri gave me copies of the first two on dvd, and now I have the third. They may not be too solid on facts, but they are definitely a good way to have a good time :)

Some of This--Music

How often do we think about the effect that music has on us? I like to listen to music in a wide variety of settings- while getting ready in the morning, on my way to work, at work (provided I'm in the office with my own playlists, not listening to practically endless repetitions of Sesame Street songs (literally endless, I still hear them in my dreams sometimes)), on my way home from work, while cooking dinner/washing dishes/cleaning the apartment, at parties, occasionally at restaurants (usually only italian ones get away with this), if I have to take the train, definitely at church.

I have one playlist in particular that I started using back in the RE/MAX days, putting it at a minimum of two years old. I don't have many playlists. I usually just toss a bunch of songs onto one list and then do a bulk delete of the ones I decide don't fit. I then fine tune it over the next couple of weeks. Over the process of a few months I'll listen to it every day multiple times a day, sometimes adding a new song, other times deleting one that I'm finally sick of. I recently decided, as I have done once or twice in the past, that I'm ready to retire my current playlist. With this in mind, I tossed about 48 songs, some new some not, on to an entirely new list and set it going today. As I wasn't really in the office until I had already been at work for over 9 hours, I was fairly worn out and just couldn't get into about half the songs on my list. I did, however, listen to "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus a handful of times.

This song is striking a chord lately. I've liked it ever since it came out, but it seems to be making itself the theme song for my spot in life right now. So I ask: what's your theme song? It can be something inspiring, something steady, or something completely off the wall (I think I once had "If I had a million dollars" for one of mine :) ). Post if you'd like, but this is an invitation to consider the music you've been listening to, be it on mp3 or in your subconscious, and think about how it's impacting your attitude. I think it's kindof cool what you learn about yourself in the process :)

Some of This--A Song

I wrote this song back in...high school? When we lived up in Washington at least. I tend to go through phases with my poetry, as in I'll spend several months writing and then several years not. This one ended up with a melody of its own, though, and is the only poem of mine I've ever actually memorized. It's gone through a fair number of variations, but this is one of my preferred versions.

I wish I were a flower, so beautiful so fair
I wish I were an eagle, soaring through the air
I wish I were some mistletoe, hung on Christmas Eve
I wish I were an angel, so that you might believe

Flowers come to wilt and then they die
Eagles, they grow old and cease to fly
Mistletoe, it hangs there, but only for a while
Yet Angels, they all go the extra mile

Angels, they were here in ancient times
We've learned of them through stories and through rhymes
And yet, do you believe them, do you truly see
The sacrifice of Jesus, He gave us so freely

Some may not see yet they are not blind
To the one who suffered for mankind
So that they might go live with him through eternity
If they will come unt0 Him, and do so faithfully

I think a couple of things brought my little song into mind. First, the thought of posting poetry on this blog. Second, this weekend saw a huge influx in visitors to Salt Lake City for General Conference. While I didn't watch most of it, a couple of the talks had a good impact on me, and I have been reflecting more lately on spiritual matters. The talks were the one on prayer from President Boyd K. Packer, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's rousing and fervent testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Some of That--Harry's Future

Those who know me know that I'm a big Harry Potter fan. Those who know me a bit more closely know that I also read Harry Potter fanfic. Not as much as one friend of mine, but she's turned me onto the genre and I confess myself hooked. My most recent story arc find features Harry in the years between the final chapter of book seven and it's final conclusion several years later, with Harry's children boarding the train for Hogwarts. Topics explored include what exactly happens at the school after Voldemort's defeat, how Harry becomes an auror, and so much more. While of course it includes the author's own views on the characters, I've become quite attached to the story--to the point of reading its over 500,000 words within less than 48 hours. For comparison purposes, I give you the word count of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the longest Harry Potter book) of 257,045 words. Not only that, but I'm re-reading the thing, and it's already been updated 3 times since I found it only a couple of weeks ago. Happy!!! Here's the link to the first chapter, if anyone is interested: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4335716/1/Harrys_Future

A New Blog

I started this blog so that I could post stuff I wouldn't normally post on my main blog. I call that one The Babbling Rambler, but it seems something of a misnomer, as I don't normally babble OR ramble on that one. I figure this will be an outlet for some of that other shtuff, like musings, stories, maybe even poetry. I used to write poetry all the time, but I stopped some time ago. I think it would be a good outlet now, so we'll see what happens.