This was an awesome vacation!
I know not why blogger chose to rotate my photo that was in the correct orientation before I uploaded it. Blogger is not my friend right now. But onto the point!
This vacation was awesome! Every time I have a long school vacation I make myself a planning calendar. It has the days of the vacation and sometimes the goals. Then I write in what’s happening and have the whole vacation at a glance. This vacation I accomplished all my goals: paint bathroom, paint bedroom, garden, finish reading a friend’s book, clean out physical inbox, catch up blogs. Not only did all that get done, but I did social things with my friends, did work trades with my friends, watched a whole lot of (mostly Channing Tatum) movies and even read. It was fabulous!
Non-Matt Muddy Buddy
So the “buddy” aspect of the race means there are a lot of “twins” outfits. This is fun.
Three sentence movie reviews: Public Enemies.
Channing Tatum is in this movie for about 15 seconds.* I thought I would like this as I am a fan of all three starring actors (Bale, Cotillard, Depp) but Michael Mann likes to make those “manly men doing manly things” movies that I find mostly boring, as I did this one. However, there are a fun amount of small parts and cameos to look for (Hey that’s Billy Crudup/Lili Taylor/Givonni Ribisi/Leelee Sobieski!).
poster from:
http://www.impawards.com/2009/public_enemies.html
*Possible lucrative movie site: clocking the amount of screen time an actor logs in each film. Thus, those of us on personal film festivals would be able to better judge if we wanted to view a film in which an actor appears. Feel free to take this idea and run with it. Just tell me when you get it up and running.
Three sentence movie reviews: Men in Black III
How often is the third movie in a franchise awesome? This was good enough that I loved it despite uncomfortable seats, bad sound and a viewing in an un-airconditioned theater on a day when temperatures reached 100 degrees.* The plot was tight, fun and funny and the acting was quite good making this a good escape from the heat, even while sitting in a steam bath.
*McMenamin’s St. Johns Theater has many charms, but they are more difficult to channel on a very hot day. To be fair, they told us to go in the theater before we bought our tickets, so we could see just how hot it was. We bought tickets anyway.
Cost: $3.00 (plus another $10.00 for a sandwich when I realized I was starving)
Place: McMenamin’s St. Johns Theater.
Essay: Swimming
I have been swimming recently, something I have not done since training for the sprint triathlon, which happened in 2006. How time does fly.
chlorinated water I could see the bottom of. I eventually mastered it, and eventually could do something besides jump off the diving board.
tiny. The main area of the pool was six lanes and 25 yards, ranging from four feet deep to 12 feet deep. During open swim times, there were no lanes. The four foot area was blocked off from the “deep end.” Though there were about two lanes worth of swimming area, most of the deep end was taken up with receiving the people coming off the diving board. We had a “low dive” and a “high dive.” The low dive was a standard diving board, with the high dive being 10 or 12 feet.
It was a rite of passage to take your first jump off the high dive.
became a good swimmer.
Swimming and Diving taught by Professor Needham, a jolly older woman who
parlayed her teenage lifeguard experience to a life-long career teaching women
to swim, or to swim better. We worked on our stroke technique, swam for distance and learned how to dive. As an adult, I loved the precision of diving,
but diving opportunities in these litigious times are few and far between. Professor Needham also taught me Lifeguarding and Synchronized Swimming. I loved her classes.
green mesh bag exactly like the bags of my childhood and hang it on a rack in
the pool area. Columbia Pool is even more bare bones because there is no bag check. Though it is covered, giving me a year-round swimming opportunity fairly close to my house.
rooms, but the entire workout involves putting my face in the water, leaving
little time to chat. In addition, I count the number of laps I have swum, and due to my inability to keep numbers in my mind for very long I repeat my lap count over and over again, much like a counting meditation. Swimming is also
one of the few athletic activities I do well. My arms power through the water and I feel strong and fast. Because I can only compare myself to the people in the lanes on either side of me, I have limited data that will challenge my “I’m good at this” feelings. It’s wonderful.
Three sentence movie reviews: Letters to Juliet.
So while Amanda Seyfried’s acting (and the presence of Channing Tatum) saved the day in Dear John, this movie did not fare so well. It suffered from the problem of both male leads being insufferable, so I found myself wishing poor Sophie would find someone else. It was also kind of boring.
Three sentence movie reviews: Limitless
I liked this movie, it was interesting and had Abbie Cornish who is fast becoming another Melanie Lynskey* in my world. I haven’t seen much of Bradley Cooper and he was interesting to watch. Also, Anna Friel had a bit part which was lovely as I miss her and Pushing Daisies.
*Melanie Lynskey is a fabulous actress who delights me by appearing in bit parts here and there. Unlike Abbie Cornish who seems to be the girlfriend of the moment, Melaine Lynskey didn’t go through that phase. I wouldn’t mind seeing her star in something, or get to be the girlfriend, though she is now old enough to be the wife.
Three sentence movie reviews: Snow White and the Huntsman.
So while Magic Mike held up to a second viewing, this movie did not, alas. Matt fell asleep in the middle and I was not nearly so charmed as the first time. But Charlize Theron’s costumes were still fabulous.
Cost: $3.00
Where: Kennedy School