recent movie quote point tally...

2600 points for amy
1000 points for chad
500 points for stacey

there are 1500 points available... these are the quotes, each worth 500 points...

"Why does every want to go away? I love being home. But I don't like being left behind. Now I am the one going ahead. I am not afraid. I can be brave like you. But I know I shall be homesick for you, even in heaven."

"Bert: Uncle Albert, I got a jolly joke for just such an occasion. Would you like to hear it?Uncle Albert: I'd be so grateful.Bert: Well it's about me granddad, see, and one night he has a nightmare. So bad, he chewed his pillow to bits. Bits. In the morning, I says, "How you feeling, Granddad?" He says, "Oh not bad, a little down in the mouth".[They laugh]Bert: I always say there's nothing like a good joke.Uncle Albert: And that was nothing like a good joke.

1 - "i love you a million swedish fish...2 - i love you a million red m&m's"

if these three don't have answers by 10/31 - i'll tell the answers and i get the points!!! (but don't cheat!!)

and i will throw a new one in for today... there are two quotes... same movie - total points available for both - 500 points... (i just couldn't decide which i'd rather post...)

"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion. "

"I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special."

the view from my office...

i just opened the blinds in the window in my office... and it's lovely outside... the sun is not shining... but there are clouds and a light, misty rain... when i moved to the northwest last year, i was worried about being depressed because of all of the rain... i worried about never seeing the sun shine...

that hasn't been the case... i do love sunshine... i do love warm sunny days... but this weather is wonderful... the rainy days definitely make me want to stay home, read a book, and curl up under a blanket... it just seems mellow... and i love that... a low-maintenance kind of day...

from my window, i can also see a gigantic spider spinning a web... i don't love spiders... and i don't like it when they're big... but the way they work to spin a web is amazing to me... i'm fascinated by it... and it made me think of a story by robert fulghum in his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. it's a great story... if i had the time or space (or didn't feel i'd get accused of writing a novel on my blog), i'd write it out... but i'm not going to... i do remember reading the book in the 6th grade... we were supposed to do an oral book report... and that's the book i chose... i loved it... not that i got it the same way i'd get it now if i re-read it... which i'm going to do - it was in the stack of book sale books i got for free... but it made me think in ways that i hadn't thought before... have we ever thought about life from the perspective of a spider?? have i taken the time to do that before?? i guess the reason i identify so much with fulghum is the way he writes - almost as if they're little blog entries...

okay - and in the mean time - of writing all that, going and finding the book off the shelf in the library, reading the story, contemplating writing it all out... writing part of it, erasing it... and finishing up my thoughts - during all of that it started pouring... and you know that song (it's even referenced in the story) - the eensy weensy spider went up the water spout... down came the rain and washed the spider out... out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the eensy weensy spider went up the spout again... well, this not-so eensy-weensy spider was defintely taken aback by the heavy rain - maybe not out, but he was clinging to this plant - the rain died off... and now, i can see him, sitting on the branch, and i think he's contemplating... do i start again? is the rain going to come and take me out again? and i see his legs moving and i know that he's going to start again... and i pray for that kind of determination... regardless of the storms... in the midst of trial... the ability to start again after i feel defeated... he's on the move... there he goes... go spider go!!!

joaquin phoenix...

i saw the village in the theater - and then there was a preview for ladder 49 (which i want to see) and then i ended up watching signs last weekend... AND... joaquin phoenix has been on talk shows... i keep seeing his face - everywhere i look - and it's forced me to find out more... so i've done a bit of searching (not obsessively - just on one site - my favorite one, i might add) and here are some things i've found out about joaquin...

... he's 5'8" - surprising to me, but it's all good...
... his birthday is october 28 - born in 1974... in san juan, puerto rico...
... his birth name is Joaquin Raphael Phoenix... for a while (from when he was 4 until the early '90's), he changed his name to "Leaf" to match the earthier names of his older siblings, river and rain... and his younger siblings are liberty and summer (coincidently the names of the two girls who lived across the street from me growing up were summer and liberty... weird...)
... his parents were Church of God missionaries...
... they were all strict vegans and the kids were not allowed to be in commercials for meat, junk food, or milk...
... joaquin (as leaf)'s screen debut was on the film space camp (one of my FAVORITE movies growing up) in 1986 as max... and i bought it today on dvd for $7.50 at walmart... YEA!!!
... he dropped out of the public eye for a while and went to mexico with his dad (his parents were in the midst of separation)
... in 1993, he "returned to the public eye under tragic circumstances"... he was at the viper room when river collapsed from an overdose and joaquin actually made the call to 911...
... he met liv tyler on the set of inventing the abbotts and they dated for almost 3 years...
... his sister summer is married to casey affleck (ben's brother) and they have one child named Indiana August Affleck...
... because of his vegan-ness, he won't wear costumes made from animal skin and he once wouldn't wear shoes in a prada photo shoot because they were made of leather...

so there are a few fun facts about joaquin phoenix... i know... random... but haven't you come to expect it from me??? don't worry - joaquin isn't taking the place of john cusack for my favorite actor... but he may be getting up there on the list!!!

5 things...10/6/04

i don't know what else to write about today, but i wanted to write something... and i thought it was a great time for 5 things to be happy about or thankful for today...

1. we got a whole lot of gift books in today at the library, and in a second before i go home, i get to look through them and take the ones i want for free... and i love books!!!

2. i have good relationships with a lot of my coworkers at michael's... and it makes me happy - i like that i have had the same job for over a year - and i like the camaraderie that i feel with my coworkers...

3. today when i got to the library to work, i saw the gift books and then i saw two of my professors, who got to go through them first... and it was seriously like watching kids in a candy store - or even better, kids at christmas time!!! they were so cute - so excited... grown men... giddy about books!

4. i rediscovered a waterdeep cd and a watermark cd yesterday - and they totally met me where i have been... and it's a great feeling... i love music!!!

5. i am so thankful for amy... i am thankful that she likes movies and tv shows and "stuff" as much as me - if not more... it's this great friendship that i'm thankful for on a really regular basis - but especially today as we talked about freaks and geeks - and we love the same characters... and yeah... it's great... everyone should have a friend like that...

it's been a good day - filled with lots of work... and now, that it's almost 2 a.m., i'm going to go home and go to bed!!!

movie quote of the day... 500 points...

"felt wrong not to swing."

quote of the day...

while looking through all of my belongings (about 10 boxes), i came across a list of quotes i had copied down sometime last year. i honestly can't remember from where i copied them... but when i opened the pages, i saw words that have deep meaning... so i decided i'd post one of them tonight... and maybe randomly throughout the next few days, weeks, months, i'll post others as they jump out at me...

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven [doorway, in some versions] to the human spirit." - Helen Keller

mars and venus...

okay, so i'm really starting to believe that men and women speak different languages... let me put a different twist on it... sometimes, i think men have no idea what they're saying and how it comes across to women... i'm sure the opposite is true, but i'd have to take a man's word for it, considering i'm not a guy...

3 stories to illustrate... these are all related to school... translation - these are men who are in ministry talking... the names have been concealed to protect the innocent... er... to protect those involved anyway... (if you're one of the people involved, i'm sorry... but i was overwhelmed with it today and wanted to blog about it - but i didn't use names!!)

1) a friend of mine (girl) was in class and the professor was talking about giving an invitation and was talking about personal space issues... then he went on to talk about a lady during an invitation one time who was emotional and as she was coming down front, she was gaining speed and almost knocked him over - and he looked at my friend and said, "well, she'd have been no taller than you... but she was petite..." what? are you kidding me?? when she told me, i cried with her... not that this particular professor was trying to be insensitive at all... he probably had no idea what he had said... and it probably didn't phase the rest of the class (which happened to be made up of only guys and my friend)...

2) today i woke up feeling bad and was relieved that my first class was cancelled... i went and got my haircut and bought a book - and got back to school and walked in the student center... someone asked how i was feeling, and i said, "much better" and a guy friend was sitting there and said, "well, i wouldn't really be able to tell by looking at you..." what? are you kidding me?? he said he was joking - and i'm sure he was... but still...

3) right after #2 story happened, a friend asked me the definition of a word... and i told him to look it up in the dictionary or on dictionary.com (one of my favorite websites)... and then i said... "ooh, here's a movie quote"... and i gave the quote (amy, i'm sure you know which one - as it relates to a dictionary)... none of the guys knew it... and i gave them a clue - it has my favorite actor in it... and then it started a discussion about actors and actresses and movies... (which are some of my favorite topics to discuss)... i was asking if they had seen certain movies and saying random knowledge about john and joan cusack and their dad and jeremy piven... and one of the guys looks at me and says, "do you study? work? how do you know all this stuff? how do you have time to watch so many movies?" and another guy looks at him and says, "she's single." i tried to laugh it off, but it really hurt my feelings... am i single because i love movies and have time to know all this stuff (amy, are we screwed?) or do i love movies and know all this stuff because i'm single? i confronted him about it later - and he said it's not what he meant... and we talked about it... and i know him well enough to know that is not what he meant... so it's fine... but it doesn't change the fact that in that instant, it hurt... just like it had hurt when someone said they couldn't tell if i was sick or not by my face... and just like it hurt my friend when the guy said in so many words, "you're fat..."

there's a particular comment i hear a lot... "i only pick on you because i care about you..." i can understand - i know that i do that sometimes, too... but seriously, what kind of logic is that? "i care about you, so i'll pick on you and hurt your feelings and expose things that aren't comfortable in your life and make you vulnerable to the point of discomfort in order to show you that i care... and i'm just kidding, anyway..." but then if i bring it up, it makes the person feel bad for picking on me, and they walk on egg shells in order to not say something that might hurt my feelings and they're not their true self... so i guess it's a vicious cycle with no end... and in all actuality, i'd rather have the picking than no interaction at all... like i said... no end...

and i feel like i've stereotyped all guys into one category - and that's not what i'm trying to do at all... i just think that sometimes, in our communication, especially with members of the opposite sex, things get miscommunicated or misunderstood... and that can be very hurtful if not handled or taken in the right manner... as long as i understand that most of the males in my life pick on me, i can (most of the time) be okay with it and take it in stride... and understand that it's part of our relationship whether i like it or not... okay so i'm probably rambling, so i'll stop now... but i'm open to comments on the subject... from both perspectives...

and for the record, i referenced two quotes - both said by john cusack - in this blog entry...
"boy this is a mother dictionary" and...
"did i listen to pop music because i was miserable or was i miserable because i listened to pop music?"
i know this because i'm single... :) (just kidding!!)

strengths...

i'm taking a leadership class this semester... one of the requirements for the class is to read the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton... the subtitle is "The revolutionary program that show you how to develop your unique talents and strengths - and those of the people you manage." - it's based on a gallup study... and basically, it breaks down the strengths of the entire human population into 34 strengths... and whoever buys the book (with the special code on the inside cover) can go to their website, take the test and it will spit out the top 5 strengths...

the 34 strengths are as follows:
achiever activator adaptability analytical arranger belief command communication competition connectedness context deliberative developer discipline empathy fairness focus futuristic harmony ideation inclusiveness individualization input intellection learner maximizer positivity relator responsibility restorative self-assurance significance strategic woo

so today i took the test and these are the five that were spit at me... i think they're in ranked order...

MY SIGNATURE THEMES:
Adaptability: People strong in the Adaptability theme prefer to "go with the flow." They tend to be "now" people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Woo: People strong in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person.

Empathy: People strong in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others' lives or others' situations.

Positivity: People strong in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

Communication: People strong in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.

personally, i'm really excited that one of my themes is "woo"... woo hoo!!!

i kind of had to laugh... we've been talking about empathy a lot in pastoral counseling... and i'd pretty much decided i am the most un-empathetic person in the whole world... AND... the positivity thing also made me laugh... sometimes i feel SO negative... but... (which means everything before that was negated...) when two of my friends from school saw the list, they pointed to those two characteristics and said, "that is so you... i can totally see that..." which made me really happy... sometimes i think i don't see what others can see... (and maybe sometimes i see stuff that isn't there?)