(100) Attend a UT Game

I just bought my UT football tickets for this weekend's craptacular game! Sure, it will probably be a pretty one-sided game *knock on wood*, but you can't beat $20/ticket. Tickets for the rest of the season are going for $60+ each. :) Also, it's been so long since I've been to a game period, I'm sure I'll enjoy just being in that atmosphere again. My brother just started his sophomore year there so maybe I'll run into him at the game.

I have a few other things to start (and finish) in the next couple weeks so hopefully I can cross a few things off the list fairly soon. We have some movies on the DVR as well as a couple rented from the library so expect some movie reviews in the near future.

(21) Perfect Start

Whew! I finally finished it! I posted about this book on my other blog a while back. If I hadn't taken time out of my schedule to just relax and read - exactly what this book promotes - I wouldn't have finished this quickly. As I read, I kept seeing more and more similarities between myself and the examples in the book. It was definitely eye opening in an almost painful way, but also in a liberating way because I knew there were other people out there that felt the same way or even more obsessed. One of the last chapters was about parenting and it really became evident that my perfectionist ways were definitely a result of how I was raised. Sure, I can almost guarantee that some of it is genetic, but with both nurture and nature taking part, I couldn't get around it.

Anyway, I definitely absorbed a lot of good advice and I'm learning to just let things go if they don't go completely my way or as I want it to be. There is more than one path to a goal. I'm a total control freak so it's tough letting go, but I'm determined to work on it, especially when we have kids. I think I'll read "1984" next so I can knock out another goal.

(54) Movie List

Watched "Modern Times" last night and I have to say, it wasn't quite the same entertainment level as "City Lights," but that's probably due not having seen Chaplin movies before "City Lights." On the other hand, there were so many more elements to this one. Since this was on Turner Classic Movies, there was some discussion before and after the film about Chaplin and his movie making. I learned that Chaplin produced his own movies so he was able to spend as much time and money as he wanted. He made "City Lights" in 1931, "Modern Times" in 1936 and then "The Great Dictator" in 1940 so you can see the fairly large gaps between each. I had to keep reminding myself during "Modern Times" that this was made in the mid 30's so it really put into perspective the topics and gadgets that were probably fairly new concepts at the time.

I think while the comedy is clearly slapstick, there were many more moments that were what I like to call "Ben Stiller" moments. Funny and a little bit frustrating situations that were caused by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I tried to look past those as the movie progressed and definitely enjoyed it overall. The scene that really surprised me was when he sang (some French/Italian mishmash). The movie had a soundtrack and while there was no straight up dialog, the speaking parts were played through machines, like a radio and even a telescreen. The other important dialog was subtitled, but there was a lot of talking that wasn't all subtitled so half the time, you could read lips to get extra dialog. I was wondering how he'd approach the singing scene and then all of a sudden, he belted out a tune. Much better than I expected and a cute scene overall. :)

Well, that pretty much sums up my review of the movie. I look forward to seeing "The Great Dictator" to see how his movie making evolved over the next 5 years.

(54) Movie List

Wow, I just finished watching "American Beauty" and I am so. emotionally. drained. We own the movie, but I hadn't seen it in a long time. I definitely have to agree with my brother that it's one of those really good movies that you can't watch more than once within a certain time frame. The movie touches on so many levels of emotion and drama while maintaining a healthy dose of comic relief, in a sense. Kevin Spacey's performance is amazing as you see the subtle changes in character as the movie progresses. The Oscar was definitely well deserved.

(54) Movie List

Watched "To Kill A Mockingbird" tonight. I think the last time I watched it was for my high school English class because I probably hadn't finished the book or something. I was such a slacker...

But anyway, I remembered some parts of it and not others. The story was simple, sad at times, but with spirit and I loved the kids' characters (although it took a few minutes to get through their thick southern accents). Gregory Peck was much better than I remembered as well. Chris and I discussed if the movie was made today, the outcome would have been more "feel good" than the original so I doubt it would carry the same raw feel.

(84) 365 Photos - Update

Quick update. Rather than post pictures here periodically, I went ahead and inserted a flash Flickr album on the right side showing the ones recently added to my "365days" folder. I only have 4 right now so there will be repeats, but not for long. :)

(73) Farmer's Market, (77) Life Insurance, (84) 365 Photos, (51) Yoga

Went to the Farmer's Market this past weekend. I didn't get that many pictures because it was too hot for my brain to fully function, but I did manage to get a few pictures (in B/W because I forgot to change it to color):

Market from across the street:

A piece of sausage rolled off my plate and the nearby pigeon(s) had some issues trying to eat it:


In other news, we signed the papers for life insurance today! Nothing special... just a 15-year policy for now. Because I like to document things with pictures, here you go:


I also officially started my Flickr 365-day self portrait project. I'll be taking a picture of myself every day for the next year and uploading to my album on Flickr. The first few have been the typical face/head shots, but I'll be getting more creative and goofy as I go, so enjoy! I may post pictures on here, but not sure yet.

And last but not least, I finally started doing yoga on Sunday, although it's not as involved as I expected. My parents gave me a couple dvd's, but I happened to have a beginner dvd that I bought over a year ago so I started with that. I'll definitely do it on the weekends, but since each routine (separate AM and PM ones) is only 20 min, I can at least do the PM one during the week.