Books trump Movies

Okay, so as previously indicated on my Facebook status updates, I am officially a Harry Potter fan. I had seen the first five movies prior to reading the books and then I thought it'd be cool to watch the movies and see how they hold up after reading the books. Bad idea. At least in the case of The Goblet of Fire. What a disappointment! What happened to the house elves (Hermione's campaigning for their liberation, the Winky story line and the fact that is was Dobby NOT Neville who gave Harry the gillyweed). Why did they choose to not even include or mention Ludo Bagman or Bertha Jenkins? I liked the whole thing between the twins and Bagman. Where was Percy? What about Rita Skeeter? She was shown like twice in the movie and there was nothing about her being a beetle so that she could get the inside info Hogwarts. And the love triangle article did not come out until AFTER the Yule Ball. In fact, when the article is written in the movie is before we even know that Hermione is going to the ball w/ Krum. There are only a couple of subtle hints that they even know eachother. And Neville was just made out to be a crybaby, because it's never explained why he's so affected by the use of the Cruciatus curse.

I spent majority of the time yelling at the screen. Even the sight of Edward Cullen a.k.a. Robert Pattinson a.k.a. Cedric Diggory wasn't enough to minimize my frustration. On another note, I finally allowed myself to watch Prisoner of Azkaban, because I really enjoyed reading the book. And I liked it! I still like the first movie the best, but this one is a close second. They had a little bit of the whole leaving stuff out, but not near as extreme as Goblet. Though it did bother me that they never explained who the creators of the mischief map were and why Harry's patronus was a stag. Oh, and another rant regarding Goblet. Why in the world did the movie wrap up so nicely? That was so not the case in the book! They totally should've included Dumbledore's suggestions to Fudge as to what his actions should be now that Voldemort was back. It would've been a great lead in.

Okay, I'm done. I am now hoping that my stupid sinuses will leave me alone so that I can go to Chehalis tonight. So far, things are not looking so good... :-(

And jealousy ensues...

Okay, it's really not that bad. But my friends are up in Vancouver right now because they had gotten tickets for the Sam Bradley show last night. I had been invited, but declined because I teach Sunday School and didn't want to be gone another week. So, I really shouldn't feel too bad about not being there. Sundays are awesome! :-) Anyway, I got a text message yesterday afternoon about them meeting Michael Welch who plays Mike Newton in the Twilight movie. They actually saw him twice. The second time, I guess he was talking to some paralyzed guy on the street who sang for money. Michael sounds like an awesome guy! Then, I got another text message at 2 am this morning that they saw Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson as they were leaving the show. I had been sure that at least Rob would be there, since he and Sam Bradley have been good friends since they were like 12. Grr... I am still sad I missed out on all of it, though :-( This just means that I have to take a trip up there sometime with in the next two weeks before the filming of New Moon moves to Italy!

Starstruck in Vancouver - Twilight Weekend (April 17th-19th, 2009) - Part 2

Steph, Drew, Vicki and Lisa had the Spaghetti and Kobe meatballs, which happens to be Rob Pattinson's favorite thing to order at Glowbal. I had a bite and must agree that it was very good. Though so was what I ordered (the Glowbal Benedict). That night we went to the 100 Monkeys Concert at the Rio Theater. There were a few groups before them (Tripsonic, The Mediators and the Sandman) who were pretty good, but I was too excited to see Jackson Rathbone and his band play again. I read somewhere that Jackson is preparing for his role as Sokka in a movie based on a cartoon series called The Last Airbender. This may explain why he was able to do this with his hair: He doesn't quite look like Jasper in these pics, lol. But he was still hot! Now, my FAVORITE character in the Twilight series is Alice Cullen (Edward's sister who has the power to see the future). By this point, being that we were gonna have to head home right after the concert, I was pretty sure that my chances of meeting the actress, Ashley Greene, who plays Alice were slim to none. But then Steph saw her and Rachelle Lafevre (Victoria) heading to the backstage area!
And then, as if to top off my "Twilight" weekend, Ashley had to make her way through the crowd to head to the ladie's room. As obsessed as I am, I did not follow her into the bathroom. I did get a pic of her as she was coming up the aisle, but my absolute favorite moment was getting to meet and take a picture w/ her when she was heading back to the backstage area! Ashley was so awesome! Right after the concert, Jackson came out to sign autographs and chat w/ the fans. Just like Selena, Rachelle and Ashley, he was also incredible! And here's the C.D. that he and his band had signed on Saturday night. Their music is really cool and there are a bunch of videos up on Youtube. Now, I can't wait until August when the filming for the third book, Eclipse, is supposed to start. I think that some more trips up to Vancouver may be in order... :-)

Starstruck in Vancouver - Twilight Weekend (April 17th-19th, 2009)

The friends I had mentioned in my previous post (Steph and Vicki), a few of their friends (Drew, Felicia and Lisa) and I decided to make a trip up to Vancouver because they were in the process of filming the next installment in the movie version of the Twilight series. Of course, the main purpose of our trip was to see some of the filming locations and try to meet some of the cast. Stephanie actually spearheaded the trip by doing all of the research, planning and driving. She also arranged for a free place for us to stay via this couchsurfing website. Steph, you're the bomb!

Now, when I say that she had done some researching, I mean it. Steph compiled an entire list of places the cast had been seen at and the hotel majority of them were staying at. So, our first night, our couchsurfing host (Dave) helped us find a couple of places on her list. We had dinner at the India Bistro, which is downtown Vancouver on Davie St. Awesome place!
Then we went to this place called Chill Winston where Kristen Stewart (she plays Bella in the movie) had been the previous week for her birthday.

The next morning we went to the Ridge theater that they were using for some of the scenes in New Moon.
Then we went to the hotel where Steph and discovered that several of the cast were staying. Later that day, I found out from some fellow fans that we had gotten there about 15 minutes after Kellan Lutz (Emmett) and Ashley Greene (Alice) left for breakfast and we left the hotel a little bit before Taylor Lautner (Jacob) came by. Anyway, after stopping by the hotel for a bit, we roamed Robson St (a shopping district in downtown Vancouver where several of the cast have been spotted), checking out the stores and keeping our eyes open.

I stupidly wore the wrong shoes for the weekend and ended up w/ monsterous blisters on both feet. So, that afternoon, I split of from the others to keep my feet from screaming at me. Well, then I realized that I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I left a note stating that I was heading back to the hotel where some of the Twilight cast were at, but ended up meeting up w/ Steph and the others there anyways. We were chatting w/ a couple of other stalkers...whoops, "pursuers", when one of them all of a sudden says "Oh, there's Kellan." I was so excited, it was our first siting of the weekend! Unfortunately, he was hurrying to get into a vehicle that was waiting to take him to the airport, so no pics of him (he's already in the jeep and the driver was loading his luggage), but he at least waved. What a cutie! :-)
A litte while after that, Rachelle Lafevre who plays the fiery redhead, Victoria. Despite the fact that she plays one of the evil vampires, she was just as sweet as could be. She was on her way to go do some filming, but was nice enough to stop for a couple of pictures. Love her!

We already had tickets for Jackson (Jasper) Rathbone's group's (100 Monkeys) concert for Sunday night, but we found out that they were doing a mini-concert/autograph signing that evening at Neptoon Records on Main St. They're actually an awesome group and Jackson is so talented!

On Sunday morning, Steph, Drew and I decided to hang out at the hotel again in case any of the cast emerged for breakfast. We didn't see anyone from Twilight... But at one point, Steph quietly brought to our attention that Selena Gomez (Disney channel's Wizards of Waverly Place, Another Cinderella Story) and her mom were walking by. Selena was in Vancouver filming a movie adaptation of a Beverly Cleary book, Ramona and Beezus. I happen to love the show Wizards of Waverly Place and think that Selena Gomez is a good actress and a doll. So, I couldn't help blurting out hi to her and asking for a picture as she passed by. Just like Rachelle, she was a total sweetie and happy to stop for a pic.

That afternoon we went to lunch at Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar on Mainland St where Rob Pattinson (Edward) and others are know to frequent several times a week. This place was great and I totally recommend it!

The long awaited Twilight entry....

Okay, it's really only been a week. So, I finally have something exciting to blog about. At least it's exciting to me, others may not find it to be, but that's their problem.

Several months ago, I was visiting my friends, Steph and Vicki, up in Seattle. Steph happens to be a very avid Twilight fan and insisted that I should start reading the series. I had heard a little bit about Twilight and thought "Why not?". Unfortunately, at the time, I think I was just kind of passively reading it. Well, I went to visit them again a few weeks before the Twilight movie came out in theaters and this time had become more aware of the hype around the series. So, that night at their place, I started reading it again with a more vested interest. Let's just say, I could not put the book down. I stayed up most of the night and then woke up early the next morning to finish it. And then, I couldn't wait to start on the next one, New Moon. And then the next one (Eclipse) and finally the fourth one (Breaking Dawn).

I know that the idea of a series about a romance between a vampire and a human sounds kind of silly, but the way Stephenie Meyer writes it is so addictive. And I always tell people that if there were a such thing as Christian vampires, these would be them. The Cullens are "vegetarian" vampires, they don't eat people and fight against the evil vamps. The only problem is that if you're single and reading the series, it can be rather depressing. Because you wind up moping around your house wondering when your Edward is gonna show up. Yes, speaking from personal experience... Okay, I'm gonna end this particular blog post to avoid writing a massive one. My next entry will be about my crazy Twilight weekend in Vancouver :-)

One step closer to the rapture? I think so :) Hey, I'm trying to look on the bright side of all this election drama.

So, like a good portion of America, I voted last night w/ my dad and sister. Due to work and Kcie's trumpet lesson, we weren't able to make it there until 7. When we got to the polls place it seemed like majority of north Tacoma had the same idea, because we saw the line coming out of the church and attempting to wrap around the block. Luckily, this was the line for those whose last names began w/ A-L. The M-Z line had already made its way to inside of the warm, toasty building :) For once in my life, I am thankful for my last name.

First off, I do not consider myself a fan or a "supporter" of McCain. I actually find him pretty annoying and not, by any stretch of the imagination, who should of been chosen as the Republican candidate. For one thing, the dude can barely answer a direct question in a direct manner. When asked what they plan to do to be sure that the gov't is doing what they need to be doing when they need to be doing it, one does not need to go off on their speil of what they plan to do for the environment. Especially when one is the face of a party that is not particularly big on that issue. Though, I will give him props for having a decent thought process regarding education during the last debate.

I'm not opposed to change in the broad scheme of the term, it's pretty much inevitable. But I am against change that totes along its support for abortion/murder and homosexuality. Which is why I opted to vote for the person who displayed at least an inkling of a sense of biblical values and morals. Plus, I'd prefer an inexperienced vice president over an inexperienced president. I believe Obama wasn't even in the senate for a year before he began his campaign of terror. Whoops, I'm starting to bring a bit of a personal vendetta into this.

By the way, did anyone notice Obama singling out and thanking the direct groups of Americans who voted for him? Like the blacks, the whites, the gays, etc. Wasn't one of his campaigning digs the fact that we're all under the same umbrella? I found that to be a tad ironic. And no matter how hard he tries, he will not be winning everyone over.

Oh well, what's done is done. It's all in God's hands now and I am so thankful that He knows what the future holds!

I've got a 3 letter word for you - JOBS

Hahahaha, that was soooooooooo funny! Ah, Biden. Okay, so I'm trying to keep this from being a political blog, so I won't dwell on it. But I will admit that I'm not too excited for Tuesday to come, because I'm not overly crazy about either candidate :-( Oh well, what can you do?

So, it's been a while since I've updated my blog and I decided it was time for a comeback. When I last left off, I was still jobless. That is no longer the case. I have been working as a temp at World Vision since mid-Aprilish. Yes, the same place that Mr. Chris Luka used to work at. Our employment there did overlap for a bit, but then he went and left me for Microsoft. My position was technically supposed to be over this past week and was actually shaky a couple of weeks ago when we were getting super low amounts of donation mail in (stupid economic crisis). But God is good and earlier this week, things went through so that my temp position will be extended until Jan. 31st, right before I return to school in February :-D

Speaking of school, that's another area that God recently had his hand in. Things did not work out for me to go to UW like I had been planning. Of course, that was my planning and not neccessarily (well, obviously) not the Lord's. So, I prayed about it, because I knew that being a teacher is what I have always wanted and still want to be. And, as of Thursday, things are starting to really shape up and come together for me to return to PLU (where I had originally gone) to complete my degree. Another answer to prayer :-D Bry and Mindy - remind me to take my foot out of my mouth if I ever tease you for how long it took to get your degrees ;-)

Right now I am chilling out at my Aunt Cheri's place in Edmonds, which is not far from Seattle. I am so glad that, despite the fact that it rained for majority of the day, the weather was good when it came time to take my cousins trick-or-treating. We actually had a lot of fun. Two of my cousins are twins and they're 12 years old. One dressed as Superman and the other as a gorilla. Kylee just turned 10 earlier this month and she was Darth (or Dork as we teased her) Vader. My other cousin Chris, 15 years old, stayed home and handed out candy. Later today, I am planning to take Kylee to go see High School Musical 3. Don't tell anyone, but I'm looking forward to seeing it to, shhhhh. I love the first two movies, but of course, I'm a sucker for musicals in general.

This has been a very boring blog entry, I'm sorry. Hopefully, there will be some excitement in my life in the near future for me to write about. Hey, I am really looking forward to coming down to Medford next weekend for the special meetings! But right now, I think I'm gonna go see if there's any good scary movies on and maybe head toward bed in a while. So, good night!

I really should be planning my Sunday School lesson right now...

So, I think that it would probably be best to start this post off w/ a moment of silence in honor of the Javaslinger blog. You can find the obituary in Zach's blog(http://zachariasinc.blogspot.com/).

Silence.

Shhhhh

Quiet

And.................. we're done.

On to American Idol. We are officially down to 10 contestants. Like Mandy, I am glad that Amanda Overmyer finally got the boot. I'm really not a big fan of her voice. But why in the world is Kristy Lee Cook still on there? Is she this season's Sanjaya? Okay, so her voice isn't the worse, but her past two performances have been ridiculously bad. Last week was she attempting to sing 8 Days A Week on steroids? In general, this past Tuesday night's episode wasn't so hot. I was so excited that they were doing Beatles again, unfortunately only a few actually did a good job. How can that be when they had like the most awesome song selection ever? Syesha, David A. and Karly did great. I especially loved Syesha's version of Yesterday. Chikezie started off pretty good, but when it turned blue grassy, I started to get a little chiqueasy. And I actually like blue grass music, not like that though. I found it kind of ironic that both Brooke and Jason decided not to use their instruments this week and both of them kind of tanked. I started out not really caring much for David C., but he's proving to be better than I thought he was. Unlike my faves, Michael and Ramiele, who have not been stepping up to the plate like I know they could be. And no one sang With a Little Help from My Friends, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Lady Madonna, Do You Want to Know a Secret, Hey Jude, I'll Follow the Sun or Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da. Which only happen to be like some of my favorite Beatles' songs. Sad. :(

Okay, if you aren't watching Smallville, you really need to be. CW, Thursday nights, 8 PM. This season is getting really good. I just hope they're not building it up to have one big blow-out series finale. I don't want the show to end! Come on Millar and Gough, we can squeeze out a Season 8! Along those lines, maybe I should scout Bebo for a fellow Smallville addict. It worked for Simon and Katrina. If I remember correctly, they first started talking on Bebo about the show, 24. Hmmmm....... Am I sounding desparate? I'm really not. I've recently began coming to terms w/ the fact that it's okay to be single. I'm my only financial responsibility and aside from discussing it w/ God first, I don't have to talk things over w/ someone else if I decide I want to do something. Like traveling, for instance. When I'm a teacher(it will happen!), if I decide to go gallivanting across the country(or world) during the summers, I can. Providing I have the financial stuff (i.e. student loans, rent and other grown upy things) squared away.

So, though I may not be desparate for a guy in my life at the moment, I am most definitely more than desparate for a job. I am about to resort to............. dare I say it ...................telemarketing, dum, dum, DUM! I have been giving this some serious thought. I know, I know, I've heard the horror stories of getting hung up on, cussed out, etc. But I really just need a job to get me through the summer until I start up school(pending on acceptance which should come June/Julyish). And the pay wouldn't be too shabby. Plus, they are probably used to people coming in and out of the job. So, my thought process is to stick w/ it until Camp Meeting, take off time to get all of Camp, go to Century Camp Meeting and Youth Camp, then pick it up again until school starts up. It's not set in stone that I'm planning on doing it, but I will be doing some major praying about it.

Speaking of prayer, my Aunt Cheri was taken to the ER the other night. They did some tests and the first time, the results indicated some heart problems. But the second time, there were NO signs of anything being wrong w/ her heart. Praise the Lord for that! :D Also, her significant other just had a major surgery done last week and went in today for some more tests. In other word's, my aunt and her fam could use some prayer.

Happy Good Friday! Well, belated Good Friday, since it's well after midnight. This is kind of a weird year in T-town. We're having our carpet done at church, so there was no service tonight(last night if ya wanna get technical). And we're not doing anything major for Easter, aside from shutting down on Sunday night to go down to Chehalis to see their program. It's been literally weeks since we've had a Wednesday night service. I am certainly looking forward to when things get back to normal. But Bro. Joe Burton and crew are doing an awesome job on the carpetting stuff. Props to them!

ESPN is broadcasting the World Figure Skating Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden(gorgeous city!). I watched the couples skate last night and tonight was the Ladie's short programs. Once again, I am annoyed at the outcome due to this stupid judging system. I could go on and on about it, but I won't because it's late and this blog is already way too long. Instead I will bid adieu and go to work on my Sunday School lesson like I had originally planned to do when I came online. Nice job on the obit, Zach! Good night and an early HAPPY EASTER to all!!!!!

'Twas a bittersweet evening...

Okay, so all in all, it was a pretty great day. Bro. Tim invited Bro. Larry Montgomery up to Tacoma to be the guest preacher for the day, so him and Sis. Kaye were here. I love them! :D We had a WA combined meeting tonight, which is always fun. Sounds like it should have been an amazing day, right? As wonderful as it was, I found myself coming to the realization that things just weren't the same.

See, normally some of the first people I would come in contact w/ when I would walk through the door at a combined meeting were Bro. Howard and Sis. Gayle. They weren't here tonight(pastoring in Richmond) :( Typically, I would talk to them for a bit and then Sis. Gayle would let me know if Melina had made it or if she had ditched us for some marching band thing. Melina wasn't here tonight(going to school in Spokane) :( Then somewhere along the way, I would run into Sherilyn and we would do some brief catching up and then finish up after the service. Sher wasn't here tonight(in the Air Force in Texas) :( While I would be putting my clarinet together before church, I would see someone from P.A., signifying that the P.A. van had arrived. So, I would go and hunt down Jamie. Jamie wasn't here tonight(moved to St. Louis) :(

Don't get me wrong, it was still a wonderful service. There was great music, great testimonies, a great sermon by Bro. Larry and a great prayer meeting. And it was great seeing people and catching up w/ them. But it was just a tad depressing realizing that the times, they are a changin'.

For once, on American Idol this past week, I actually agreed w/ all of the eliminations on Thursday night. The following got the boot: the annoying Ellen DeGeneres look-a-like; the Leif Garrett wannabe who sang an excrutiatingly boring and slow version of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do; the girl who sang the twangy Where the Boys Are, but lacked twang in her voice; and JoAnne, the plus sized model(who I actually liked, but unfortunately her performance on Wednesday wasn't all the great). Way to go, America. Maybe we'll actually have a talent competition this year.

So, I actually have a job interview tomorrow at 11. It's a temporary(2 months) data entry job at a staffing agency here in Tacoma. It's only a 7 to 10 minute ride on one bus to get there, which I am definitely liking. I know that data entry isn't the most exciting sounding of jobs, but it's a job and I can be pretty meticulous when I want to be, so I might enjoy it. Another plus is that it's at a staffing/temp agency, so when the job ends, I may have an easier time finding another temporary job. Some prayer for tomorrow would be much appreciated. I'm going to go have some dinner and force myself to go to bed so that I can get a decent amount of sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow. Bonne Nuit(Good night in French) :D

Quick addition:
This past camp meeting(maybe it was the previous camp meeting) kind of changed my thinking on the song, Til the Storm Passes By. I was in one of the shower stalls in the bathroom beneath the tabernacle and I looked up and saw this big, black bug. I started to freak out a bit, because I have got this horrible fear of a bug landing in my hair, mistaking it's nappiness for a nest and laying its eggs. So, I started praying that it wouldn't fall on me. As I was praying, the following song popped into my head.

To the tune of the chorus of Til the Storm Passes By:
Til the bug passes over and it bothers me no more;
I'll be safe here forever in my shower stall;
Keep me safe, let it pass;
And please make it really fast;
I'll be fine when that bug passes by.

This is proof that God must have a sense of humor, because it was so instantaneous! Now, the only problem is that I have a difficulty remembering the actual lyrics. I thought of this, because guess what song Sis. Kaye sang for last special tonight. And what Brianne Morgan sang last Sunday morning. And what my sister played recently on her french horn. Okay, now I really do need to get ready for bed!