I am full of Sense

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I wasn't going to blog about this, but now that I'm sitting here with little to do with even less confidence in myself to do my work well, I think I will.

I saw Twilight last night at midnight. I wasn't planning to, but having two little roommates that hadn't experienced a midnight show gave me a reason. I'm all about sacrificing so others can have good experiences in life, you know? Anyway, that part of the adventure was fun. We all made shirts and got there an hour and a half early, just in time to nab the last three seats at the rail. There were about four guys in the theater and there were lots of Twilight shirts. I'm sure one girl made her face vampire pale (aka "pale white"). There were fewer tweens than I expected--most of the crowd was 18 and up. So I despaired a little less for the younger generation. The lowest point of the night was trying to get out of the parking lot via the one little exit. Luckily Erasure was handy.

As for the movie itself, well, I was overall pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a work of art, but as far as book adaptations go it succeeded for two reasons. First, it was faithful to the book where it counted. The story moved along in the same fashion, the characters were generally true to their paper and ink twins. The second reason is that the movie either improved on some things or at least avoided some pitfalls of the book. Part of that is because Bella isn't narrating the whole time so you get less "Edward's face was like a white sculpture, except the sculpture was so beautiful no human could ever have made it." Movies also make it easier to summarize things and so a lot of things were abbreviated and summarized (like the meadow and pretty much every Bella and Edward conversation). The movie also made their attraction to each other a little more normal and less "You're so hot and mysterious" and "I'm addicted to your smell."

As for the actors, I have no real complaints. I actually thought Kristen Stewart was a good match for Bella, if a little lifeless (which...again, good match for Bella). RPattz was fine. His hair looked good for the most part. I still struggle with Peter Facinelli aka Carlisle and it seemed like he was using a weird accent. I liked Charlie. But I always like Charlie. He's almost my favorite character.

Oh, and Jacob. His hair in his first scene was so so bad. I literally shrunk into an awkward fetal position with embarassment. Luckily he wore a hat in all his scenes until his last one at the prom and, thank goodness, his hair looked like it might have really been attached to his head. Besides that, I liked him. I think he'll grow on me the more I see it, and my palms are sweaty with New Moon anticipation.* He still doesn't match Jacob in my head but he has a nice smile and I enjoy that.

After all that lukewarm praise I now have to say there were lots of silly things, some I expected and some unexpected gems as well. I laughed at a number of inappropriate moments, and other times I just stifled myself with my scarf. Sparkly Edward? No thanks. The Cullens hunting in their 1920's Sunday best? Priceless. James wearing a zipped up leather jacket with no shirt underneath? Strangely disturbing. Stephenie Meyer's cameo? Painfully awkward. Eric's hair? Distractingly bad.

Overall I'd give it a solid B. I have a feeling I'm going to be reading New Moon soon and Jacob will break my brain all over again.

*This is not true. Except that I'm anticipating it. Without sweaty palms.

For the Love of Three Oranges Orange Juice

Last Saturday I got up bright and early-ish and headed off to Kroger with my roommate to enjoy the promised (free) bounties of their grand re-opening. Also, I needed conditioner. I got lots of free food, and it was a tasty food too but it was all rather salty. Corned beef? Pasta sauce? Sea salt potato chips? You get the idea. So it was very exciting to see a nice middle-aged man at an orange juice station. "I love orange juice!" I said to myself and made a beeline for it.

"Hi!" I said brightly to this nice man in a Santa hat. He greeted me similarly, and, eying my snappy brown hat, said, "I like that hat. I like your style." "Well," I said very cheerily, "you have a very nice hat too."

At this point he just started looking at me and smiling while I stood waiting for him to pour that dratted orange juice. "Well I just like your style!" he enthused. "Um, thanks," I said. Give me the orange juice. "What's your name?" he asked, still beaming at me relentlessly. I tell him, hoping it will get me the orange juice faster. Although at this point I was very ready to go get the egg nog a few steps away.

"Well, Miss Julie, I just got to ask for your number!"

...

Give me the orange juice!

"I...don't think my boyfriend would appreciate that..."

"Probably not, I'm sure you've got two."

"At least!"

Finally he pours me the most measly amount of orange juice ever, wishes me a happy holiday then looks me up and down before his parting words: "Why...I...I just like how you walk, I like your style!"

Yeah, okay, sir, thanks for giving me a creepy thing to associate orange juice with.

Upgrades

2008 has been a pretty eventful year for a lot of reasons. One reason 2008 has been cool is the number of things in my life that have been upgraded from okay things to way better things. To illustrate what I mean, I will show you some of my favorite upgrades.
My old brush. Do you like how it's completely split open and a bunch of the plastic brush parts are missing? Yeah. The new one is not only intact but also has this crazy gel handle that is all squishy and cool. It's so cool that hair kind of sticks to it a little bit but we're coping.

Speaking of hair, it's been just over two years since I whacked my hair off (temporary insanity?). There were a few cuts in between then and now, just to avoid the mullet look, but now I can say that I'm never going short again. Check out this upgrade:
I still have that ponytail of hair in my bathroom drawer back home. I always said I would keep it until I had that much hair on my head again and--hallejuah!--it's about to that point. Next!
I rode that bus pretty much everyday the last school year. It was okay, but I'm happy to not do that anymore ever again. Plus now I get to do fun stuff like pay for gas. Just kidding, little Leeloo car, I don't mind.
I don't have before and after pictures of my legs. You will all just have to believe me when I say my legs look way better than they did a few months ago when I didn't run regularly.

This is my favorite one. Well. Maybe after my hair...

Next on my list: bagels and cream cheese to replace my toast and jam.