Half-Blood Prince Midnight Release

Don't worry...no spoilers follow.

Hubby and I headed to the local Borders at around 10pm-ish last Friday night. I knew that it was going to be a big celebration complete with face painting, arts & crafts, and people dressing up, but as excited as we were to have the book released, we weren't pressed to be there for all of the wizardly activities. By the time we got there, the parking lot was packed! Once inside, a greeter directed us to a "Check In Here" line where pre-ordering customers were given a ticket to get the book.





That big yellow splotch in the bottom right hand corner says RESERVED. We walked around a bit to check out the different activity tables. Although you can't tell in the pic, lots of people were dressed up- a group of teenybopper girls wore decorated matching shirts that read "Half-Blood Princesses," lil' kids were running around with paper "Merlin" hats and wands, and there also a number of adults who wore robes and other Harry Potter clothing.





At around 10:30ish, hubby and I decided to finally get into the growing line. Not only was there was tape on the floor to follow the line, but one lucky Borders employee got the responsibility (aka "shitty job") of holding a huge "Line Start Here" sign. It was funny at first because we kept joking with people around us about how it must've been at the Borders meeting and how each person was assigned a job..."And the lucky sign holder for the night goes to Bob!" But I tell you, Bob was a very busy guy, always on the move, answering questions about how long a wait to the registers from the Local Interests section, and not to mention holding up that sign! Well, as much as we joked about him, he was the one person we kept our eye on as the night wore on. As the lines snaked in and out of the aisles, so did Bob. First he was three aisles away, then he was behind the summer titles "Buy three, get one free" display, then he was at the music/dvd section, and by close to midnight, he was somewhere near the Cafe...which was way across the other end of the store!





There were time checks throughout the time we were there and by the time midnight rolled around, the whole store was buzzing with excitement. I took a video of the final ten second countdown and everyone just went crazy! Kids were yelling, people were jumping up and down, and people who've been waiting hella long were antsy to get moving forward toward the registers. The line didn't start moving until 12:15am and we finally walked out of Borders by 1am. Not too bad.

Sadly, as stoked as I was to get my hands on a copy of the Half-Blood Prince, I haven't cracked it open just yet. Initially, I wanted to reread Book 5 again, but with all the packing to do, I never got around to it. Now, I just figure that I'll start reading it on the plane this weekend.

So if ya'll have read it, DON'T TELL ME A THING!!!

*Sidenote: we met an "interesting" woman in line...just one of those who like to yap and yap about anything and everything. She seemed really cool at first, but then we got into a conversation about technology and how she's so totally against it. She doesn't own a cell phone nor does she have any desire to; she also added her irritated sentiments about those who rely on it too much. Well, this was our cue to whip out our phones and text each other, etc, just to push her buttons. I did tell her that yes, I do remember the time before cell phones and pagers, but man oh man, what a major convenience they are, yes? Well, she didn't agree. Also, she kept complaining that it'd be around 3am until she got home. I assured her that the wait wouldn't be long, but she explained that she lived about 75 miles out toward Wisconsin! Good lord lady, there ain't any Borders, Barnes & Nobles out in yonder parts? Apparently not. Well, all I can say is this...if someone tried to jack her for her Harry Potter book during that 75 mile drive, I sure would love to have had a cell phone on me to call for help. Your bad, lady.

Harry Potter Countdown
Who IS the half-blood prince? People are speculating that it could be anyone from his cousin Dudley Dursley, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Professor Snape, to Albus Dumbledore himself. Who is going to die? Some say the evil DeathEaters or a handful of Gryffindors like Dean Thomas, Prefect Percy Weasley, or even Dumbledore. It can't be Harry, that's for sure...and it better not be Ron or Hermione. It just can't. Will Ron and Hermione finally get together? I'm betting on it and keeping my fingers crossed on that one. How about Harry? I believe there may be romance with Cho, but some say that he'll finally notice lil' Ginny. Will Harry achieve Auror status? How will Harry and He-who-shall-not-be-named face off this time?

So many questions...and just two more days. I can't wait!

Bomb Scare

With all the craziness of the recent London blasts, everyone has been on high alert. Anything suspicious, however small or minor, is thoroughly checked out because we simply cannot take any chances. Just yesterday, the airport here in MN was temporarily evacuated. Turns out that trained bomb-sniffing dogs detected two separate scents at the Humphrey Terminal (which, btw, is the terminal where I will be flying out of). As the dogs went on their daily rounds, they are trained to sit if and when they detect bomb-like residue. For some reason, I imagine it like the cartoons when the search dogs find what they're looking for and freeze up their entire body from tip of its nose to the end of its tail to point in the direction, like an arrow, to whatever it is they found. One dog sat in the baggage claim area and another sat in front of a vending machine. The bomb squad was immediately called in and the airport was quickly evacuated. Fortunately nothing was found. Although there are countless possibilities why the dogs stopped (and btw, they are NOT ruling out error on the dogs' part), one theory that may explain the situation is fireworks. Maybe someone who happened to handle fireworks came to the airport with residue still on his/her hands and went to the vending machine.

On the evening news, they interviewed people for their reactions. Rubberneckers never fail to surprise me. I mean, I am guilty of doing it, but if and when there's an evacuation of a possible bomb, I ain't going to stand around to see what's going to happen. That's exactly what this one guy said. I don't know exactly where he was, but when he was interviewed, it seemed like he was quite a ways away from the terminal. He said once he heard "bomb," he started running. When asked what other people around him did, he just answered, "They just stood there."

This is just another example that bomb scares like these are very real. It's not just something we see on the news anymore and the possibilities that it COULD happen to us are just as real.

On a Much Lighter Note...
*email received from The ONE campaign

Dear Friend:

This is a big thank you to all 1.5 million of you who joined together as ONE to do something extraordinary.

From the 500,000 letters you sent to President Bush to Live 8 in Philadelphia to the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, you called on eight men to do more to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, and they heard your call. In Scotland this past Friday, overcoming the shadow of a tragic day in London, President Bush joined G8 leaders in an unprecedented deal to cancel debts and double aid to Africa.

For African nations fighting poverty and corruption, this means a $25 billion increase in aid and wiping out 100% of their debts. With this funding, Africa can halve deaths from malaria, put millions of children into school, and 10 million people across the world will have access to lifesaving AIDS drugs. Behind each of these numbers is one person, one life that will be changed forever.

For the first time ever, everyday Americans like you joined together to take a seat at the negotiating table, asking the world's most powerful leaders to do more to help the world's poorest people. Because you signed the ONE Declaration, wore the white band and forwarded emails to friends about ONE, you made a huge step toward making poverty history. We've come so far and still have far to go.

This agreement is a real victory for Africa - but promises made of words will only become promises for a generation if we keep watching, asking and acting. Much more needs to be done in Washington DC to turn these commitments into lifesaving programs, and the world must take new steps to make trade fair. More meetings will take place this year in New York and Hong Kong where a comprehensive debt-aid-trade deal can be reached and end global AIDS and extreme poverty in our time.

We can be that great generation. As ONE, let's keep up the positive pressure and make 2005 the year we joined together to make history.

Thank you,
The ONE Team

Read more about the One campaign.

Harry Potter Countdown
Three days and counting...and in the words of today's teenyboppers, I am "OMGSOEXCITED!" I'm somewhat bummed that I haven't reread "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" to refresh my memory- haven't had time with all the packing. But I've been so curious about who the "half blood prince" is! JK Rowling already stated that it HBP is NOT Harry Potter OR Lord Voldemort...so who is??? The question remains...3 more days to go!!! (and believe it or not, hubby and I will be at Borders for the midnight release!) Whoo hoo!

MnM PhotoAlbum

Hubby and I were on a mission yesterday to find Minehaha Falls again. We couldn't quite remember the way and seeing it was a last minute decision, we didn't have time to google directions. Instead, we ended up at the Como Park and Conservatory in St. Paul. The day was a gorgeous sunny 98 degrees. By the time we got to to Como Park, we only an hour to walk around before closing. We spent most of our time in the conservatory and it was absolutely beautiful!



I love this pic! The first time we came here, it was totally packed with visitors, but this time, hubby and I basically had it to ourselves.



I took this pic not knowing that it would look as if the statue is bending down to smell the flowers!


Here's hubby taking a rest on a bench. I love the background. You can't tell, but with the blazing heat and humidity, we were roasting!


It was by chance that we found out there was a Japanese Tea Garden on the premises.


While we were here, it didn't even seem like we were in Minnesota! The serenity of the environment was so peaceful and calm. Not too many people were there either, so it was like a private garden. In fact, there was a path blocked out that visitors can only see with a volunteer guide. We went with one and she took us to an actual operating Tea House. She explained the surrounding architecture, tea ritual, and the whole feng shui of the garden. I wish that I took a pic, but in order to get inside the tea house itself, one has to crawl through the door! It symbolizes that everyone is equal no matter what rank one is in life. There were pictures of the Tea Master...not surprisingly, he didn't look anything Japanese! lol! Interesting fact though, because this is the only operating house in MN, there is a yearlong wait list!


You can't quite tell, but I took this right when a dragonfly landed on the middle flower.


Hubby and me


This was taken a couple of weeks ago. As much as I complain about the craziness of MN weather, I tend to overlook the sunsets and cool looking evening skies.


We've been wanting to take pics at this gazebo for a while now! It's right around the corner from our house. As hubby takes a rest in the shade, check out our neighborhood in the background.


I love gazebos! I think they're just so romantic. It's located on this center island with a large grassy area where some teenyboppers have been known to sunbathe and people let their dogs run wild. I've been wanting to come out here to just read or write, but with the weather, I'm beter off inside with the comfort of a/c.


I might've mentioned before, but Snoopy creator Charles Shultz was born in St. Paul. Snoopy and friends are the craze over here! All around St. Paul and neighboring towns, one can easily spot these huge bronze statues. Here's hubby being hubby! =)

"Flame On!"



Saw "Fastastic Four" on opening day on Friday- it was cool! Growing up, I was never such a huge comic book fan. The ones that I DID read included DC Comics' Justice League and the ever so silly Betty/Veronica/Jughead series and Ritchie Rich. Oh yah, not to mention the Filipino "komiks" that lay around my relatives' house, too! I swear, I probably knew more Tagalog back then than I do now...sad, I know. But with so many comic book superheroes making their way to the big screen, it's the second chance for me to buy into the hoopla and get revved up. It's almost on par with, but not entirely, the Star Wars episodes. Seeing that the Star Wars phenomenon began when I was a toddler, I simply cannot and truly understand how exciting it must've been when it first came out...unlike hubby who, btw, was H-Y-P-E-D when we first saw a preview for Fantastic Four! I was born just a few years shy of immersing myself into the subculture and unfortunately only became a big fan when they were re-released. The point is, I may have known all about Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Darth Vader, but I never really knew-knew them until recently. Know what I'm saying? Sometimes it's better the second time around. So now there's X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, and now, the Fantastic Four!

According to the newspaper reviews, the movie was lacking...but who really cares about what movie critics say? C'mon...this from people who said that Titanic sucked! (shaddup! I know ya'll are haters, but I loved this movie!!!) Movie reviews aside, I totally digged (dug?) the movie. I thought the Human Torch was hot (hot, get it?) and hands down, he had the best lines. Mr. Fantastic was looking really familiar and after we googled him, turns out that he was Lancelot in King Arthur! Jessica Alba's character, Invisible Woman, has neat powers...plus, hubby thinks she's a hottie- lol! You seriously have to feel for The Thing though, but I was totally lovin' the kiddie school banter between him and the Human Torch. Lastly, there was Dr.Doom...if ya'll are "Charmed" fans from the WB, you know that the actor played The Source, yet another evil character. While there are other movies that could easily be deconstructed for its substance, this isn't one of them. "Fantastic Four" is meant for good, nonthinking enjoyment. I liked it and I could give a rat's ass about what some critics say.

Go see it and have fun...and if you leave the theater saying "Flame On!" more than once, let me know so I'm not the only nerd out there. LOL!

Goin' Back to Cali

For the two years that we've been here in Minnesota, teaching jobs have been scarce. In fact, the state has been issuing so many layoffs that new teachers and veterans alike are looking out of state for jobs. Just my freakin' luck. Now while I have been enjoying time off work, it has given me the opportunity to focus on finishing up my Masters. To this date, I have only three units left...T-H-R-E-E...until I can add that M.A. to my resume. Sure, it's taken me forever to complete the program...in essence, I should've been done last Christmas had I not taken any breaks and continued straight through. But hey, it's better late than never, right?

Working with kids and trying to make a difference in their lives became my calling. I can even pinpoint the moment when it happened, the "a-ha" moment, if you will. It was in church. I was sitting in church listening to the yearly plea of the School of Religion director looking for volunteers to teach in the Saturday catechism classes. I have heard that speech through the years, but somehow, in the summer of '97, I heard it with different ears. Something made me sit up and listen...that fall, I had my first class with Mrs. Gee and my interest in teaching grew from there.

From teaching catechism on Saturday mornings to working part-time in an after school program, to volunteering in a Kindergarten class for the SFUSD, to working several maternity leaves and being a sub, to getting hired as a 3rd grade with a class of my own...the journey was awesome.

But because we cannot stop life from happening, so it was that we couldn't do anything about hubby getting laid off from his job soon after we were married. Here we were, newlyweds in a new apartment, with only a teacher's job to support us. Wasn't going to happen. When the job opportunity for hubby came through for Minnesota, we decided that it was the best thing to do for the both of us. Sure it in the middle of the country...sure it was away from family and friends...and my goodness, you say it snows over there?! But seeing that we were young, we believed that this change would be good for us. And so we upped and moved from the Bay to the Midwest. And boy what a change it was!

Like I mentioned before, I haven't had much luck finding any teaching jobs, but at the same time, I used my time to focus on school. But in all honesty, I've missed the classroom like you wouldn't believe. Now, it turns out that one of my former fellow 3rd grade teacher friends is off on maternity leave and the position was open. The school has been having a hard time recruiting anyone for half of the year and when I heard about it, I jumped at the chance. Although I made calls, they remained unanswered. I assumed that the position had been filled and I stopped thinking about it at all until I got an email from stlow19 congratulating me on being her sub. Ha, I didn't even know I got the job!

The position begins in August and ends in January right after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. While this has been in the works for the past couple weeks already, I've been busy packing up- clothes, essentials, and school stuff. In fact, I'm scheduled to leave for CA in two weeks time.

Sadly, this means being away from hubby. It was a tough decision, but we decided that it would be best for the time being. Goodness knows that having a double income over here could help and this is a good alternative. Though I'm still packing and preparing, I'm already experiencing hubby-withdrawal symptoms. I've gotten used to seeing hubby and spending time with him practically 24/7...and I also have to admit that I've gotten quite used to life in the 'burbs! Now, I'm going from way the f*ck out in the boonies to back to the hood of my parents' house. It's going to take some major getting used to, that's for sure.

But I'm definitely going to miss hubby and I'll always worry how he's doing. I remember how I used to hate it when he'd leave for business trips because I was left all alone in Minnesota...literally! Now just thinking how we are swapping places like that makes me utterly sad. I will also miss our home...I still consider it brand new even though we moved in just this past December. I definitely loved going from apartment living to house living...it's more spacious, more livable, and it's OURS.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course there are visits to look forward to, no doubt. There is also a very good chance that hubby will be transferred back to California! While I don't want to jinx anything by going into too many details, according to his boss-boss, the chances are more than likely...and it's just a matter of when. Okay, I've said too much!

In the meantime, this time away will serve a lot of purposes for the both of us. It will be difficult, sad, lonely, and painful, but I am a believer that all things work out in the end. Personally, this teaching gig will help me decide whether or not teaching is truly for me...if not, well, it's a good thing that it's only until January. From there, who knows what will happen and where I'll be. As for hubby, I know that it will be just as difficult being here in MN. And boy, he'll have to start doing his own laundry and washing his own dishes now- ha! On the real, it'll be weird to be away from hubby for so long, but again, we know that this is the best thing for us right now. Keep your fingers crossed about the job transfer back to civiliza--, er, I mean, California. Who knows where we'll both be...only God and time know the answer to that.

Terrorist Attacks?

What the hell is our world coming to? If you haven't yet heard, there were six simultaneous bomb explosions in London this morning...all during rush hour. The public transportation is huge in London and the railway systems all over the world are taking action to secure their own. I read witness accounts and the picture they showed of a double decker bus blasted to bits was eerie. Supposedly, a secret organization of Al-Qaida in Europe is taking the blame, but experts are still on the fence about it. From what I read, there was some sort of mistake on the website that released the statement and according to experts, mistakes like that don't happen. Another theory is that the explosions were to coincide with the G8 Summit meetings- where 8 leaders of the most wealthiest countries are meeting to decide certain issues, one being increasing aid to Africa. While the conference will continue, Prime Minister Tony Blair is being excused to handle business. And then there were 7...

Is it just coincidence that the terror alert has been upped recently? Could it be that some government peoples might've known something was going to happen? There's so much shit already happening in our world...and something like this is like putting salt in a wound.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in London. When ya'll get a chance today, say a lil' prayer, too...

Where You At?

Okay, so I'm a biter. If you notice on the right hand side below the Detours section, there's a button you can click that'll take you to a guestmap. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's a map of the world where loyal MnM readers are able to "pin" their locations. I noticed that J and Rho had this on their blogs and I wanted it, too. Although I know that there isn't a major grip of people reading my ramblings, but hey, it'd be interesting to find out where ya'll are at. So pin me, peoples!

*Addendum:
I figure that since I no longer have a Tag Board, this will be a good alternative. Where you at? Where you at? =)

July 4th Recap

Hot days here in MN makes for some lazy days. While hubby was busy queing, I decided to keep him company in the garage. We got a couple of chairs, brought out the chips and salsa, and sat in the burning sun drinking some Smirnoffs.

Funny sidenote about that...hubby and I haven't drank up in a long time. We've been down that road of consuming way too much alcohol at the clubs and yes, those nights at Miyakes doing sake bombs were just hilariously fun. After a while, it just got old. After my last major birthday party at,noneother than, Miyakes, I swore off drinking "like that" ever again. And I've stuck to it, too! Since then, we've become social drinkers at best. My tolerance level has decreased dramatically. I used to be proud of the fact that I was able to hold my alcohol down and be able to "one up" even some dudes when it came to how many drinks we could consume. But those days are over. 'Tis one of those "been there, done that" deals...not to say that I won't do a shot here and there! Lol! Anyways, it must've been a combination of the heat, humidity, and lack of food, but after quickly downing one bottle of Smirnoff, hubby disappeared inside. I baked in the sun for a bit until I realized that he'd been gone for a bit. When I checked in on him, he was on the couch and his face was completely red! It was just too funny! And all off one bottle...boy, things sure have changed from back in the day!

Anyways, we ate our barbeque and settled in to watch a rerun of BET's Music Awards. At around 9:30pm, hubby asks if I'm still down to watch the fireworks over in Minneapolis. (note: by this time, hubby was fine...no more red face!) By the time we get to Minneapolis, we find parking, and start heading towards the Stone Arch Bridge. Not surprisingly, it's packed liked sardines! Hordes of people lined the bridge with chairs, coolers, blankets, etc, and by the time we found a decent spot to stand, the show began. Ten minutes later, it was done. Even though it was short, the fact that it was right on the Mississippi River made it beautiful. Plus, the surrounding area full of old warehouse buildings made for some very dramatic echoes of the fireworks. Ten minutes later, the hordes of people were like a mass of cattle inching their way off the bridge. By the time we got to the car, on the freeway, and back home, it wasn't even 11pm. In and out, saw the fireworks, got home. End of story.

Hubby and I did reminisce about our past July 4th though. One of our favorite July 4ths was the time we went to Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheater two years in a row and listened to the San Francisco Symphony. While I am so in love with listening to the strings section, nothing can quite compare to watching the fireworks with a symphony as its accompaniment. The patriotic music along with the fireworks show directly overhead never fails to make you feel proud. And yes, it's also very romantic, too. I think music would've made this year's show 100x better, but hey, it was still cool.

Now I can say that I've watched the July 4th fireworks on the Stone Arch Bridge above the Mississippi. Supposedly, it's THE thing to do here.

Taste of Minnesota

I completely forgot to mention this festival that hubby and I went to last week. It's probably the second largest festival that Minnesotans look forward to attending each year...the first being the annual Minnesota State Fair. Taste of MN is basically where restaurants come out from all over the Midwest set up booths so people can get their grub on. The specialties usually include turkey drumsticks, ribs galore, and cheese curds. Cheese curds, in my opinion, just doesn't sound appetizing. Of course there's the basic burgers and hot dogs, but not all without having the prices of anything totally jacked up. Then of course you have your basic carnival rides (run by prison convicts), cotton candy, booths selling everything from Pampered Chef products to incense and temporary tattoos.

In all honesty, I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, I can see why everyone flocks to it every year simply because it's an excuse to enjoy the beautiful hot weather. It's the time for the short shorts to come out of the closets and for everyone to show off the bodies they've been hiding since winter. But everything is too pricey, it's too freakin' hot, it's totally crowded, and since it was my first time on Harriet Island, I realized that it was just too damn close to the Mississippi. It may be mighty and great, but the smell is nothing to brag about. After about an hour of walking around, we headed home...but at least we can say that we've been to one! Hahah, if you haven't noticed, we're just trying to make sure that we partake of Minnesotan tradition around here...and so far, most of the things that we've done once, we're pretty sure we probably wouldn't do again. It just takes two words to remind us: Ice Palace. Ugh. Don't ask.

Live Aid Revisited

If ya'll can, think back 20 years ago to 1985. For the first time in music history, a concert that spanned the globe was held to raise money for charity- charity for Africa. It was called Live Aid. Founder Bob Geldof had this vision to unite everyone under the umbrella of music, raise funds, and make a dent in eradicating poverty in Africa. 20 years later, despite the historical impact that Live Aid had, Africa has not improved. Rather, the mind-blowing statistic is that half of Africa's population is under the age of 16 years old...and every three seconds...EVERY 3 SECONDS, a person dies of extreme poverty, not only in Africa, but in the poorest countries all around the world. 3 Seconds.

Instead of raising money this time around, the Live 8 concert focused on raising awareness. Awareness that after 20 years, extreme poverty still exists and awareness that if we, the people, make our voices heard, it may be possible to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. When I first heard that, I didn't think it was possible. That was before I knew about the G8 Summit happening this July 6th. Basically, this G8 Summit is a meeting of the eight most wealthiest countries of the world in which they have the power to help fight poverty and AIDS, cancel 100% of the debt owed by these poor countries, and reform trade rules in order that people in these countries can earn a decent income to support themselves that will help them get out of that poverty level.

On VH1's Best Week Ever segment, they were bagging on Live 8 because it was a concert to raise awareness and not money. For these free concerts worldwide, they were commenting that hey, charge each person $1 and there'd be a crapload of money to send to Africa! Yes, yes, BWE is comedy for comedy's sake, but when you really think about it, the whole raising awareness and getting the word out there makes sense. Take the tsunami disaster for example. When that happened, so many people around the world responded by donating money and other essentials to help out in any way they could. It was all over the papers and in the news practically 24/7. But now, you rarely hear anything about it, right? Does it mean that those people affected are doing fine now? Hell no. 20 years ago, aid to Africa was huge...and yet, the focus unfortunately dwindled. Most of the attendees at these Live 8 concerts were probably not even born yet or were too young to remember the outbreak of AIDS. In essence, this is probably one of the first times where this generation has really taken a good look at the world around them. Not to say that this generation is totally ignorant, but damn, look at how society has raised them up- lazy, selfish, self-absorbed, wasteful, and spoiled. And this Live 8 concert was just the thing to open up their eyes and see how much in trouble our world is.

The concert itself was pretty cool, although I have to complain about the coverage that VH1 and MTV did. While they were trying to cover all concerts, it resulted in the viewers not seeing a complete performance. If the artist or band were doing three songs, we'd see one and a half. It'd get cut in the middle where you're just getting into the song and you're like, what the hell?! I was diggin' on Bon Jovi, Madonna, Green Day, Wil Smith, etc, but man, did they have to cut it short? I suppose that we'll just have to wait for the DVD to come out to watch it in its entirety. I didn't stick around the whole day to watch the performances, but supposedly the highlight was when Pink Floyd reunited to play. I'm not a big Pink Floyd fan...in fact, I don't really dig their music at all. But hey, to each his own. I have to say that one of the highlights for me besides doing the whole reminiscing thing and seeing those that performed 20 years ago perform yet again (U2, Madonna), was when they brought up a young African lady to the stage. Recall how they used to show pictures of little kids with enlarged stomachs, enlarged heads, huge eyes, skeletal faces and bodies, and flies crawling all over them? Well, she was one of them. She was one of the success stories. When that picture of her was taken 20 years back, she basically only had approximately 10 more minutes to live. But she received care, medications, and fast forward to today, she just graduated from college! The story touched my heart and I couldn't help but get all teary-eyed. It's an amazing journey because she made it, but also heartbreaking at the same time because of so many others who didn't.

Like I mentioned before, when I first heard about the campaign to end extreme poverty in this lifetime was possible, I didn't believe it. It would take so much and honestly, I didn't think there was anything that I, me, one person, could do.

But there is.

Throughout the concert, celebrities and artists alike spoke out about the importance of making our voices heard. And who is it that we want to be heard by? None other than Mr. President Bush himself. If you go the the One.org website, you can sign a petition that will let Mr. Bush know that the state of these poor countries is purely inacceptable and that there is something that he can do about it. He can make a difference in that G8 meeting, but you can, too. Sign the petition and make your voice heard. I did. Spread the word. Let's make extreme poverty and global AIDS history...in this lifetime.

Happy Bang Bang!

Happy birthday America! Hope ya'll are enjoying this nice three day weekend. Here in MN, it is hot, hot, hot! Hubby is set to barbeque in a bit and then we'll be headed out to Minneapolis to watch the fireworks over the Mississippi. Watch out for them knuckleheads with bottle rockets and cherry bombs. BTW: did I mention that fireworks are LEGAL here? Oh boy...we'll be extra careful tonight. Whatever ya'll do today, have fun, enjoy, but most of all, be safe.

Discombobulated

There ain't nothing worse than when Target ups and changes its floor plan. Hubby and I walked went to Target today to buy a few essentials and what we found was a maze of lost people trying to find things in their usual places. It was crazy! Where the house plants used to be, there are now children's toys; where the candies used to be, there is now dental care; home improvement items were in the weirdest places, and it was only by chance that I got a glimpse of where the Q-tips were! While we were in our confused and irritated state of minds ('cuz it REALLY bothered me!), I was glad that we were not alone. We heard a number of people complain, too.

C'mon Target, what's the deal? No one likes to be confused when they're shopping...egads, do we need a map?! Do I need to boycott you guys for a while???

Take Cover Now!

Okay, when you hear crap like this on the news, it's some pretty scary shit.

It had nothing to do with "War of the Worlds" (thank God!), but rather, it had to do with the weather. I swear, it never ends! You would think that this being my third summer here that I would be somewhat used to Midwest storms. I've honestly come to enjoy lightning storms because they give an awesome night show. Thunder still creeps me out. I never liked it and it was evident during tonight's storm as I almost dropped the plates I was washing when it cracked out of nowhere.

Tonight's storm was a biggie. On TV, it is not unusual to have continuous updates about the weather. There is usually a ticker on the bottom of the screen informing which counties of MN are going to get hit with severe weather. When they feel it necessary, whatever program you are watching will be interrupted and we'll get a live update, too. Again, this is not unusual. But as we were watching "Lost" tonight, the updates were popping on the screen every few minutes! Now I don't usually watch "Lost." I've actually always wanted to, but unfortunately it coincided with "Smallville" and well, WB rules. Here we are trying to get into the story, but we kept getting interrupted and of course, it happens during the most crucial scenes! What the heck!

We basically miss out on "Lost" and when the news finally comes on, it's just a continuation of weather alerts. They're talking that tonight's weather has created major damage in some parts of the state and that it might even be worse than winter weather! There's reports of hydroplaning, dangerous especially if you're near a lake, rising creeks and rivers, flash floods, fires caused by lightning, and my fave, tornadoes.

Remember how I said that this storm was a biggie? They show a map of where tornadoes are possible to form and also show parts of the state that have been hit hard. Well tonight's storm covered the entire state! But when the meteorologists discuss how unusual it is for this time of year, etc, or how bizarre they think it is to have so many tornado sightings and warnings, well heck, it's enough to raise my blood pressure! Oh yes, and the kicker. For those in areas where tornadoes may touch down and in case there is no basement in the house, take cover now! When you see the concern and seriousness of their tone, it freaks me out. While the storm has seemed to pass over, there is still a tornado watch until 3am.

I guess I ain't going to bed until 3am....just in case. Damn these Midwest storms!

Summer Blockbuster

We just got back from watching Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds." If I had to describe this movie, there's just one word: INTENSE! Now just for the record, I've never read the book, although I intend to now, so I really did not know what to expect. All I know is that the world is being taken over by aliens. Hubby and I have this habit of watching movies on opening day. So while I do not want to spoil anything for anybody, I will tell you this. In the newspaper review about the Tom Cruise movie, it stated that it was very reminiscent of the 9/11 tragedy. And boy, they were not kidding. It's downright freaky, scary, sad, and overwhelming at the same time. If and when you see it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I found myself muttering "Oh my God, Oh my God" too many times and at the end of the movie, my whole body was tense. The last time I felt this was after watching "The Day After Tomorrow." I will say this though...I will never look at lightning storms the same after this!

Oh, and can I just say this one thing about lil' Dakota Fanning? I've always been in awe over kid actors- they never cease to amaze me with their ability. But this girl is good. And boy, can she scream or what? Plus, for a 11-year old, (I think that's how old she is), she's had such great opportunities to work with such big name actors and actresses. There was Denzel Washington in "Man On Fire," Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in "I Am Sam," Mike Myers in "The Cat in the Cat," and now Tom Cruise in "War of the Worlds." For someone so young, she's been in quite a few movies and already her resume keeps growing. I just googled her to see what else she's done and it turns out that one of her earliest gigs was on my fave shows, Ally McBeal, where she portrays Ally as a 5-year old. Such a talented lil' lady this girl is! Out of all the kid actors/actresses out there right now, she's definitely one of my top faves.

"In life, God doesn't give you people that you want. Instead, He gives you the people you need to teach you, to hurt you, to love you and to make you exactly the way you should be."

Lately there have been so many questions about faith, love, and life in general. As I was browsing blogs, I came upon this quote- not sure if it's an original thought by the writer or whatnot. The logic behind these words further confirms all that we should already know...that God has a plan for each and every one of us and that people come in and out of our lives for a reason beyond our own comprehension. We may not understand it, we may not agree with it, we may even hate it, but despite it all, we just have to trust Him that we'll be taken care of and that the path laid out before us at that moment is exactly where we need to be.

It's tough, though, to accept what life throws our way, isn't it? Death, for example, is something that seems to creep up on people unexpectedly. Loved ones are taken, from what we believe, too soon. In reality, I believe that they are being called home because their job here on Earth is done and they're given another assignment, so to speak. For those left behind, it's all tears and sadness. There's always an unspoken grief that hangs in our hearts that nothing but time can heal. But healing comes and we move forward...life must go on.

It's the same with love, right?

Back in the day, I never thought about it this way. I automatically thought that I had Ally McBeal syndrome and that I was doomed to be alone. Why was it that I was attracted to the wrong guys? There was a running joke among some girlfriends where we said that we must have this huge signs on our foreheads that read, "Assholes welcome here!" When some relationships didn't work out, I believed that it was because whoever it was I was with at the time got bored with me. Ha, talk about low self-esteem! It occurred to me (much later on!) that all the jerks in my life were there for a reason. Yes, to be "that jerk," but to also teach me what kind of guys NOT to pursue and whatnot. Yes, I did get hurt, but I also grew strong and I learned to deal with heartbreak. It's funny how there always seems to be a lesson in everything that we do, isn't it? As Mrs. Voodoo mentioned in her blog, everything runs in circles. You've heard the phrase "We've come full circle" many times, but what resonates with me because of its truth is that "the world presents you with opportunities to close that circle and move on to new ones- and will give you opportunities over and over again until you figure it out. This is why we find ourselves making the same mistakes over and over again." Direct quote from Mrs. VDC herself, never failing to let us see what it is we don't want to see and telling us like it is.

No one's life is without purpose. This goes beyond what we believe, what we do for a living, and what we're called to do. The mark that we leave and the impact we make in someone's life may go unnoticed until everything is said and done. God works in mysterious ways and while we may not be able to accept His plan for us at the moment, all will be revealed at just the right time so that we may understand.

First Day of Summer

June 21, aka, the first official day of summer AND the longest day of the year. It seems like I've been having many "longest days of the year" lately, but that's a whole other story.

Let's see...what have I been up to? Saw "Batman Begins" last Friday on IMAX. That was cool. Why is that most IMAX screens are at zoos and/or amusement parks? I'm sure that there is some educational aspect of it all, but maybe I'm just complaining (yet again!) about the bugs that come with the territory of going to a zoo in hot Minnesota weather in the first place. Sue me if I got all weirded out by all the flying whatever-they-ares that were seen in the Batman-esque beam of light near the movie entrance. If ya'll have seen the movie and remember the batcave scene, you get a general idea. Gross.

Steady Weather, My Ass!

Caught up with my homie, J, today and as I was complaining how hot it was over here (mid-80's, hot, humid, muggy), he commented, "Well, at least you guys are getting steady weather over there compare to here." Steady weather, my ass! I mean, if you can call muggy and humid temps that suddenly drop approximately 20 degrees steady. If you can call bright and sunny one minute, then winds up to 70mph complete with black clouds spouting rain and hail steady. If you can call ominous, yet awesome thunder and lightning storms with the possibility of funnel clouds forming into a tornado and touching down steady- sure! Steady weather, my ass!

Okay, so we don't have road and highway closures due to snow...gee, thank God! Ugh...the "s-word." Something that I don't even want to think about, but c'mon, I will take unsteady weather that includes marine layer fog one minute and blazing hot another minute if I didn't have to worry about what I'd grab first in the case of a tornado! It's too much damn stress on my nerves, that's for sure!

Shout-Outs

Just wanted to send one of my oldest galpals, VirgoCapri, much love and congratulations on her upcoming wedding! Just found that out that girlfriend is up and moving to Atlanta, Georgia to be with her future hubby. Wow, huh? It's kinda like I never really gave Minnesota much thought before moving here (besides the fact that 90210's Brandon and Brenda were from here!), I've never really thought of anything about Georgia besides it being a stopover I once made there. In any case, VirgoCapri and lil' Kai will be finding the much deserved happiness in the South...and I think in the many ways that we did here in the Twin Cities, she will definitely up the Filipino population-lol! Love and hugs to you! And who knows...maybe I'll be able to make it out to the South for the nuptials!

Giants vs. Twins, Game 3

Did anyone see us on TV???

At the top of the 3rd inning, camera dude points to us, and we hold up our "We left our hearts in San Francisco. Go Giants!" sign. Honestly, he couldn't miss us. We were sitting in the 2nd row decked out in Giants gear holding up neon orange signs. How could he NOT see us? lol!

Though us Giants fans were still far and few between, there were a couple who were yelling their hearts out. I felt so proud....so brave, that one, so brave. Dude was hella loud, too. Plus, he'd yell when the stadium was all quiet, so you know he was heard when he yelled, "Gooooo J.Teeeeeeeeeee!" or "Yorrrrrrrrr-Viiiiiiiiiitttt!"

We initially had 1st row seat assignments, but there was a guy sitting there. But we didn't mind. We sat directly in back of him and had an entire row to ourselves. An usher came down and asked to see his ticket, but we said it was cool. No harm done. But shoot, had Barry Bonds been there, that might've been a whole different story!

A foul ball from Moises Alou did come our way. Scary, I tell you! It zoomed past our head and as our entire section got out of our seats, the guy in front of us yelled, "Watch out for the bounce back!" As he said that, it bounced and came directly toward hubby! But damn that guy with the mitt...he barely caught it and snatched it up- argh! It was too funny 'cuz hubby had his hands all ready to catch it...seriously, it would've been his for the taking. Oh well.

The Giants definitely delivered last night. Some may call it luck, but hey, they deserved to win after so many losses. Things didn't seem to be going their way for a while. They were ahead, lost their lead, but came back strong. They even got a guy out of a pickle! As the 9th inning rolled around and the Giants score kept climbing, all these Twins fans started leaving. Among the many hecklers last night, a Twin fan yelled, "Hey Twins fans! Next time, stay home!"

Speaking of hecklers, here's one of the rants we heard about the Giants last night:

"Hey Shaballa! Cinderella gets to the ball faster than you!"

(btw: Shaballa got no love from us last night- we were trying to get his attention, but no luck. Maybe he was trying to focus? Shoot, he better have been! A quick wave wouldn't have hurt!)

Here are some of the things said about the Twins, BY Twins fans:

to pitcher Nathan: "Hey Nathan, thanks a lot man. It's my birthday!"

to pitcher Muholland: "Hey Muholland, you're on your way out, man!"

to Twins manager Gardiner: "LeCroy? LeCroy? That's who you're sending out to win the game?!" (btw: as LeCroy went up to bat, HELLA people started walking out! But in fact, he DID get on base...suckers.)

as the Giants kept scoring in the 9th and as DH Alou went up to bat: "Alou? Alou again? Hasn't he been up three times already?!"

to us in the beginning of the 9th inning: "I hate you guys!"

to us in the middle of the 9th inning: "Oh, I really hate you guys now!"
(btw: this guy was pretty cool about it...)

As the game ended, Giants fans could be seen standing and clapping around the stadium. As we waited for the crowds to thin out, the dude who said it was his birthday (who btw: was the one who also caught the foul ball!) talked with hubby and said that he wished Bonds had been playing tonight. He said that would've been an awesome birthday gift...hey, at least he got a ball! In fact, a few people asked us about his return...as if we'd know anymore than what the news would say! Lol! It was cool though- we even got a "Glad that you guys could make it out to the game" comments. Nice.

Just for the record that we're not BS-ing about being on TV, hubby started calling some friends back in the Bay who he knew would be watching. He got a hold of fellow Hustler Dopiana and turns out that he got a call from another friend, D, who saw us! YES! Confirmation that someone, anyone, saw us! LOL!

Final score: Giants 14, Twins 7. Thanks for making us proud! Whoo hoo!

*Edit: In all the excitement, hubby corrected me with the way we got on TV. Apparently, camera dude was already pointing to us and trying to get our attention. Once we held it up, it was on us for a bit, and then he gave us the thumbs up sign! Lol! Either way, it was exciting! =)

Giants vs. Twins, Game 2

Victory is ours!!!

I had a "feeling" that it was the Giants' night. I mean, yes, I hoped and prayed it would be, but there was a gut feeling about it, too.

We decided to splurge a bit for seats and found ourselves in Section 138, 3rd Row, which is basically down the 3rd baseline in left field. Definitely better seats compared to the drunken section we had prior, although I have to say that there were more hecklers this time. Loud, boo-hissing, whistling hecklers...who just could not leave Moises Alou, #18, alone. "Moiiiiiissses Alouuuuuuuuu.....you succccccckkkkkk!"

Speaking of Moises Alou...can I just say HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT? Taking beloved Barry's spot on the field, he did his share of hustling, hitting, and getting on base. But what got us so giddy last night was when he finally turned his attention to US! The first time, he was looking around, I started waving at him, and he raised his gloved hand and closed it, his own way of saying hello. It was to ME. How do I know? Because no one else in our section was doing shit to get his attention! He did that a couple of times to people behind him, too, so I knew that he was saying hi. The second time was when they were changing pitchers. He was chilling against the back wall and hubby yelled his name. I was waving my arms to get his attention again, and when he finally looked over, hubby popped his collar to show off his Giants jersey, and what did Moises do? He popped his collar back! Hubby then raised his fist in the air with the whole "Go Giants!" thang, I stood up and pointed to my Giants sweatshirt, Moises pumped his fist and then pointed at us! Lol! Hubby is convinced that he's got a bond with Alou now! It was so cool! Yes, yes, one of THE major highlights, but imagine if that was Bonds though!

The Giants were up 5-0, but started to lose that lead around the 6th or 7th inning. When catcher Mike Matheny was up, I was telling hubby "down the line, down the line." He hadn't gotten any hits the entire night and hubby said that he was due for a hit. "Down the line, down the line," I kept repeating and what do you know? Matheny hit it down the 3rd baseline! After that, Omar Vizquel was up. Hubby didn't think he performed his best during Game 1 and I said that if he was going to make up for last night's game, well, this was the time. I told hubby, "down the center, down the center." And what did he do? Homerun down the center!!! WHOO HOO! Hubby and I were out of our seats cheering!

Final Score: Giants 8, Twins 4. 'Twas a good game! Oh yah, on our way to the parking lot, I noticed a dude with a Giants jersey going the same way we were. He finally noticed us and had this huge grin on his face. I yelled, "Go Giants!" and his girlfriend yelled, "Go Giants!" Actually, she was still yelling by the time we got to the car. I told hubby that at tonight's final game, if we see fellow Giants fans, we taking a picture with them....we gotta stick together!

We're going to try to get the same seats again, but this time, make a sign. Who knows if we might catch the cameraman's attention? If ya'll are watching and happen to see two fools with signs, let me know!

We Are The Minority

Living in Minnesota, this is quite the understatement.

But if we're talking about the Giants vs. Twins Game 1 last night, well, shoot, that's a whole other story. Just for the record, we have NEVER been to a Giants game in an opposing team's stadium before. Quite the experience.

Hubby and I have been looking forward to my beloved Giants making their way out here. Yes, yes, they are not having a great season and it totally sucks that the DL list keeps growing and growing. It's bad enough that Bonds has been out for this long- as of yesterday, reports are speculating that he may be out for the entire season. Added to that list- Alfonso and Grissom.

Tuesday's at Minneapolis' Metrodome is "half-price Tuesdays." We basically got our seats in their Home Run Porch for $8 apiece. Not bad, plus considering that we got there in the 2nd inning.

Making sure that we represented, we went in full Giants gear, WHICH BTW, didn't get too many appreciative looks. As hubby said, "everyone gotta make a comment." When we found our seats, we got a couple of, "Hey, you wearing the wrong shirt today," or "I hate the Giants!!!" We did, however, run across a few Giants fans...very few...but when we did, they looked hella glad to see one of their own.

Section 104 of the Metrodome must've been reserved for the countless, annoying, absurdly loud "look at me because I just turned 21" crowd. There was definitely too much alcohol being consumed in our very row. There were a bunch of dudes in the row in front of us who were either drinking, scamming, making comments such as, "that girl is hot as f*ck!" (nice, eh?), or turning around to gloat at us every single time the Twins did something cool. Definitely younguns, in fact, they didn't even look old enough to drink. They weren't so bad though compared to the crowd to our right who were so wasted that it wasn't even funny.

It's not a secret that the Giants have been "off" for the past how many games. But whenever someone got on base, I was there clapping and rooting them on. In fact, when Ray Durham hit that homer last night, I was the only one hoot-hooting and whoo-whooing, standing up with arms extended to the sky. I say "only one" because hubby left me hanging. He didn't even stand or give me a high five. Boo on him! But that's cool though...I mean, I forgot where we were for a second and my excitement got the better of me. Let's just say that I ain't trying to get beat up by a Twins fan OR see hubby get into a fight defending ME by a Twins fan.

I honestly thought the Giants had it last night. As we went into extra innings, they did a good job at keeping the Twins from scoring...but it wasn't enough. They had too many flubs, too many errors. The one that hurt was "the pickle," where a Twin attempted to steal to 2nd base. He was off, got caught between bases with the 1st baseman and 2nd baseman rallying to tag him out, and MISSED! The player made it safely back to 1st base as we stared in disbelief. Final score in the 11th inning, Twins 4, Giants 3. Man...

Well, despite the smirks, stares, and comments we got, we're off tonight to root the Giants on. This time, though, we're going to try and get seats in one of the empty sections. We're also going to make a sign...who knows if we'll get shown on TV! Plus, that way if I'm hoot-hooting and whoo-whooing by myself, there will be less chances of beer flying my way. GO GIANTS!!!

25 Cents

That's how much the lil' kids were selling lemonade for near our house. It was THE cutest thing! Hubby and I were off to eat out and as we're driving by, this whole group of kids start waving their arms trying to get us to stop. We kept on driving, but at the end of the street, hubby turned around. It was just too cute to pass up. I was telling hubby that I never did that as a kid...shoot, not in MY neighborhood! lol! In any case, the kids told me that we were the first car to stop. With that, I gave them 50 cents per cup and they were so appreciative.





Did it taste good? Um, it wasn't bad...kiwi lemonade...but as soon as got to where we were going to eat, we dumped it out. Awww....sorry kids!


What The Heck Is THAT?!





Okay, so it's on its back in the pic, but when I first spotted it in our garage, it was on all fours, er, sixes, and I swear, it was staring at me! I tried to whack it, but the darn thing was so thick, ew, that the best that I could do was sweep it out. If this was a video clip, you'd see its legs trying to upright itself. Oh, and I tried to get the pic to the thing's actual size. Gross. Gives me the willies.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged and I didn't even know it! lol! Got this from my firemarshal homie, J. In truth, I'm a sucker for these kinds of things, so here goes:

3 names I go by: MnM, Ninang, Miss Thang (hee hee!)

3 screen names I've had: mnmbaby, mnm41, foolbabee

3 physical things I like about myself: my smile that will make you melt, my pretty brown eyes, and baby got back ass...I DON'T KNOW!!!

3 parts of my heritage: Pinay, Kapangpangan to be exact, with a tad of Chinese

3 things I am wearing right now: watch, glasses, earring (oh yes, and clothes!)

3 fave bands: maroon5, switchfoot, no doubt (too many to name!)

3 fave musical artists: alicia keyes, jamie cullum, jason mraz (too many to name!)

3 fave songs: too many to choose from...there's my 80's faves, r&b faves, soundtrack faves, christian faves, you get the point

3 things i want in a relationship: honesty, sense of humor, love

3 physical things about the preferred sex that appeal to me: eyes, smile, dimples

3 fave hobbies: reading, writing, photography

3 things i want to do badly right now: pay off my debts, get a tan, get a job

3 things that scare me: creepy crawlies, drowning, horror movies

3 of my every day essentials: eat, live, pray

3 careers you have considered or are considering: writer, reading specialist, photographer

3 places you want to vacation: Paris & all over Europe, Carribbean, Hawaii

3 kids' names you like: i won't mention them 'cuz i don't want anyone to steal them!

3 things you want to do before you die: see a space shuttle launch, write and publish a book, travel

3 ways i'm stereotypically a boy: i watch SportsCenter, i love baseball, i swear like a sailor =)

3 ways i'm stereotypically a girl: i enjoy being pampered, i like the color pink, i like to shop

3 celeb crushes: Johnny Depp, Joshua Jackson, Orlando Bloom (as in LOTR, not Troy)- lol!

Alrighty...so as the game goes, I must tag three other unsuspecting fools-
Hubby, Rho (if you haven't been tagged yet!), and msbLiSs! Enjoy peoples!

Blah Blah Blah

You know things are blah around here when I can't even concentrate and focus on reading a book. Books are my haven, my escape from reality, my time to just veg out and relax. Since I've been here, I've been averaging 1-2 books a week...that's a lot of books! I've mentioned Nicholas Sparks being one of my fave authors and even I can't seem to get into his latest "True Believer." What the heck?

It could easily be blamed on the gloomy weather or just life in general. In any case, here's something that I wrote, coincidentally, before the huge storm we just had.

The Storm
by MnM

I can hear the skies rumbling overhead
As the distant thunder makes its way closer to me
The gray clouds overpower the heavens creating ominous shadows
And the earth hungrily swallows the thick, fat raindrops that begin to fall
To quench its thirst from the dry spell we've been having.
The once still leaves of the tree outside my window start to rustle
As the wind suddenly picks up-
An unexpected reprieve from the bouts of humid filled nights
The breeze, ever so slight, refreshes me.

Without warning, the skies unleash
The light breeze has turned into a mighty force not to be reckoned with
I listen to the rain beat down upon my window in ferocity
Watching as torrents of water cloud my vision to the outside world
Lightning flashes amid the thunderous roar of the storm
And I can't help but be afraid of what's to come.
I hear the familiar wail of the tornado siren and my eyes instinctively shoot upward
A funnel cloud has been sighted in an area not too far from where we are
And I am left unsure of what to do.

Moments later, the pounding of the rain ceases and the skies appear to clear
But I find it's only a game that Mother Nature is playing on us
Because this lapse, this interruption if you will, is just that
A break in time to fool unknowing eyes that the storm has just begun.
My ears perk up to the chirping of a bird's song and I can't help but think
That its song is a premature celebration of hope yet to be realized
I wonder if it will find shelter in time or will it continue its song of rejoice
I crack open my window enough to smell the newly rain-kissed scent I love so much
And resign myself to listen to the melodious tune of the bird's song.

Awesomely Scary

In the wee hours of this morning, a storm suddenly unleashed in such magnititude. I'd liken the lightning show to a kid who likes to play with the lightswitch by continuously flicking it on and off, but it was more as if I was in a club and the strobelights were going haywire where before you could even blink, it was already flashing a million miles a minute. It was that intense. Throughout the entire day, the weather channel and our WeatherBug alert had been issuing severe thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes. Just the other day, two tornadoes touched down somewhere in Wisconsin...which, by the way, is not too far from us. Sometime around 4am this morning, that familiar rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance. As I watched from my bedroom window, the sky lit up every few seconds illuminating the fields across the road in full. And just as quickly as the lightning started, the rain and wind suddenly picked up. Before I lay back down to bed, I put our blinds up so that I could watch "the show." Within seconds, the rain was pounding against the windows and the roof of our house. Outside all I could see were trees swaying furiously and rain so thick. It eerily served as a perfect backdrop for a chilling horror movie.

With this being our 3rd summer in MN, I can say that these Midwest summer storms are a norm. I remember sitting in our dark living room of our apartment as hubby and I watched the storm unleased its fury. I've seen lightning before, but I've never SEEN lightning before, the line that stretches across the sky lightning. To see such intensity leaves you with that jaw dropping awestruck feeling...y'know, the one where you realize that we are just minute infinitestimal beings on this Earth. I can honestly say that I've never seen these kinds of storms in da Bay, that's for sure!

Perhaps when we were back at the apartment, I took for granted that we lived in a building with an underground garage. Underground garage = tornado shelter. Here at our new home, we unfortunately do not have a basement or underground garage. When we had our walk-thru before moving in, one of my first questions was, "In the event of a tornado, where do we go?" The foreman guy kinda laughed it off saying that a tornado hasn't touched down in these parts for so many years, but when he saw how serious I was, he answered, "the lowest point in the house."

Last night's storm was the first time where I actually felt afraid. First of all, the lightning was just so intense that I swear I could've become blinded by the brightness of it all. Second of all, the thunder was creeping me out because not only was it loud, but it was as if someone was lighting up cherry bombs outside my window. Third and most importantly, in the event of a tornado, where the hell would we go?! Now maybe it's because we don't have the security of a basement or underground shelter and maybe it's because I've watched "Twister" too many times, but as I watched the storm from my window and as the lightning lit up the entire sky, my prayer each and every single time was, "Please don't let there be a tornado, please don't let there be a tornado!" With so much rain, wind, and lightning, I was imagining myself looking out the window and right when the sky lit up, I'd see a funnel touch down and head my direction. Freaky, huh?

In any case, if there were a tornado, our best bet would be to rush to our downstairs bathroom. That would be considered "the lowest point in the house." I was telling hubby later this morning that I was just waiting for the house to shake. If there was any indication of shaking, it would have to mean that it was caused by a tornado...it that was the case, I'd be running without question downstairs! By the way, I was so freaked out being home alone that I made sure our flashlight was hand and that I knew exactly where all my candles were. I was even going to get my shoes for easy access, but I didn't even want to go downstairs- what a scaredy cat! Aiya! Geez...if it isn't worrying about skidding on icy roads into a frozen lake during the winter, it's worrying about summer storms with the possibility of tornadoes...don't my nerves get any rest?

KA-BOOM!

That's what made me suddenly wake up this morning...the unbelievably loud crack of thunder. It scared the shit out of me! It cracked a couple of times before I realized that it was raining and I had to force myself to get up and run around the house to close all the open windows. Ugh. Know that feeling when you're not totally awake and feel like you're walking around in a daze? Yah, that's me. I swear, putting my glasses on didn't do jack for me 'cuz I basically fumbled around like I was drunk. A couple of hours later, hubby asked if it was me who closed all the windows because he had a dream that he was running around the house closing them. Eh? Lol...weird.

I Do Not Like...

Spiders, ants, ladybugs, tiny light green creepy crawlies, things that look like ladybugs, but aren't, mosquitoes, and other creepy crawlies and/or buzzing around my ears insecty things ON MY LEGS or on any other part of my body!

But that is exactly what happened to me yesterday as hubby and I decided to finally wash our cars. Imagine MnM doing the "get off me, bug" dance all day while screaming my head off! LOL! Why we decided to do that on one of the hottest days thus far is beyond me. Maybe it's the fact that we can actually use our hose and skip bringing our rides to the carwash and save ourselves $20 a piece OR maybe we just wanted to subject ourselves to the unforgiving heat and curse the day as it got hotter...who knows. All I know is that in the process of it all, all the nasty critters mentioned above happened to favor my legs and it was NOT a nice feeling. Oh, and let's just forget about the dream that I had the night before about bugs being all over me...ugh...I woke up feeling all itchy! I will mark down yesterday as a workout day because I'm sure we sweated off a couple of pounds at least- lol. I have to say the best part of the whole washing the car adventure we had was spraying the hose on ourselves to cool down.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Ya'll might've seen the trailers for this movie already. Call it a chick flick all you want, to me it's all about the friendship. When I first heard about the movie, I knew that I wanted to see it, but more than that, I wanted to read the books beforehand. Little did I know that these books were for Young Adult. Not that this bothers me because even before I started teaching, I have always been drawn to books of different genres and levels...in other words, I will read kids, childrens, and young adult books for my own reading pleasure. Anyways, I liked the first book so much that I finished it in a day and had to go to Borders for the second book.

I won't go into detail about what the story entails, but it centers around four friends. These four friends are distinct in their own way and yet, they mesh together so well. Reading it, I can't help but think about three galpals of mine and try to figure in who would be who in the story. They each go through their own dramas and yet, they are always connected by their love for each other and for the story, a pair of pants.

In any case, I simply told hubby, "Sorry, but I can't watch this movie with you." Rude, huh? I mean, it would just seem appropriate to watch it with some galpals or my sister. Makes sense, yah? LOL! It may seem like a teen chick flick, but I don't care...I still want to see it. I'm a sucker for movies like this!

Belated Shout-Outs

Just wanted to send my mom and pops a belated Happy 39th wedding anniversary! They celebrated this past Sunday, June 5th. Much love, hugs, and kisses to you both!

P.S.

Current Temps: 87 degrees
A/C: not working...shiet

P.P.S.

WeatherBug Alert: tornado watch until 9pm. Double shiet.

Misleading Weather

Yes, here MnM goes again on her usual rant about the weather. The temps have been steadily increasing and while rain would be a welcome reprieve, we're all hoping that it never comes. Okay, not farmers, but the most of us. Why? According to the Mosquito Control department, MN weather has not been conducive for mosquitoes to lay and hatch their larvae. Tsk, tsk...too bad. Don't get me wrong, them lil' bloodsuckers are out and about, but for the beginning of June, I have to say that we've been quite lucky to not see the swarms that we were forced to run away from last summer. Me, I'm all good. One mosquito, two mosquitoes...fine by me. One hundred, two hundred...not good for me.

Although my WeatherBug counter says 82 degrees, the overcast skies and strong breezes ruffling through the trees makes it look otherwise. Of course, I should've known better. Me being a native San Franciscan and all...tsk, tsk, I'm so disappointed with myself.

1. Apply sunblock with an SPF no lower than 30.
2. Apply bug spray on top of already applied sunblock.
3. Stretch before doing any physical activity.

Went bikeriding around the neighborhood for a good 30 minutes...but all the aforementioned items up above, I sadly did not do. Dammit. Now, I've got a mild sunburn on my face, a couple of bug bites, and possibly overworked legs. This is what happens to Aries people like myself who just do not possess the patience to do things the right way the first time. *sigh*

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

I don't know what it is about the National Spelling Bee competition that gets me hyped. Okay, maybe hyped is not the right word, but it is enough for me to drop what I'm doing to watch which super-smart middle schooler will reign as champion speller. In so many ways, I'm totally blown away by these kids. It falls into the same category at how awestruck I get at kid actors.

Have you ever watched it on TV? Among hundreds of parents, judges, media, and fellow spellers, kids as young as 8 years old (I think) compete to spell words that I have never even heard of. They all ask the same questions:

1. Could you please repeat the word?
2. What is the country of origin of the word?
3. What is the definition?
4. Please use it in a sentence.
5. What part of speech is the word?
6. Are there any alternate pronounciations or definitions?
7. Could you please repeat the word again?

You could actually hear the wheels in their head cranking, desperately trying to remember where they saw or heard the word before. There was this one particular kid, 11 years old, who kept saying, "yessss!" or "I know this one!" before he spelled it. Geez, at 11 years old, I would never have known any of the words these kids know. Some of them were totally breaking the word down, asking the judges, "Does this mean this?" and lo and behold, they were right. Amazing, I tell you. You can't help but feel bad for the kid when they spell a word incorrectly...especially if they were off by one letter. I guess it's safe to say that the word they miss will never be misspelled again. Sheesh...and I thought that I was a good speller!

Belated Shout-Outs

Just wanted to send some love, however belated, to the Opianas on their 1st wedding anniversary. They celebrated this past Memorial Day weekend. Y'know, I have to hand it to them...they were thinking ahead when they scheduled their wedding date because from now on and until forever, they will always have a three-day weekend to celebrate their anniversary since it lands on Memorial Day weekend. I don't know how they celebrated, but I hope it was happy and full of love. Happy 1st Anniversary, you two!!!

A shout-out goes out to my Cornerstone crew. Tomorrow is the last day of school for them- whoo hoo! I can only imagine how crazy it is with kids not being able to concentrate with summer just a day away. I so miss teaching! In any case, hope ya'll don't tear out all your hair and actually enjoy your kids for one more day. Your much deserved summer vacation is just around the corner- hang in there!

See Revenge of the Sith Again, I Did

Saturday night, hubby and I went to see Revenge of the Sith for the second time. I have to say that it was even better the second time around and I found myself noticing little things that I missed before. I still thought it intense and the light saber battles were just as awesome as before. Aside from the fighting and the imminent doom of the Jedi, I had more time to focus on the drama of Anakin finally giving into the Dark Side. I still think that it happened too fast in the movie, but I forget that it has been a struggle for him for a while now. I was just telling my sister today that in I did not really care for Hayden Christensen's acting in episodes I and II. Okay, yes he was young and all, but I was not at all impressed. He was just so damn whiny and brooding. He definitely improved in this latest one...still whiny and brooding, but in my opinion, he makes for one almost sexy Darth Vader! lol!

Didja know... in Return of the Jedi DVD that was just recently released, there were some changes that were made to enhance the visual effects. One major change that I didn't catch until recently was at the very end of the movie where everyone is celebrating with the Ewoks, etc, and Luke looks off into the distance and sees a vision of Yoda, Obi-wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader. In the original movie, Luke does indeed see the three, but the Anakin/Darth Vader that they show is the original actor. In the re-release, they took him out and put Hayden Christensen in! I was watching it, I swear, I was marveling at what a great casting they did to make Christensen look like the original Sebastian Shaw...but lo and behold, it IS Christensen! I only knew that because I had to google it and found an article how all of these diehard Star Wars fans were outraged at the change. I don't know...I think it's a pretty cool change.

Il Divo

Have you heard of this group? Il Divo is the product of American Idol judge Simon Cowell's music company. It's an all-male singing group with an international flair. Each dude is from a different country- Switzerland, France, Spain, and the U.S. If you can imagine four Josh Grobans, that is Il Divo...but much better looking. lol! I first heard about them on Oprah and well, if Oprah likes them, I'm sold! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the actual show, but after visiting the website, I had to get the cd. According to Cowell, these are the best singing voices he has ever heard. Most of the songs are in Italian, Spanish, and a couple in English. It's very romantic if you ask me. Check their site or Oprah's site to hear their Spanish version of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart."

Summer Has Arrived

It's getting hot in here! I know that it seems that I'm always complaining about the weather, but for real, it's hot! Okay, it's not that uncomfortable hot just yet and we're lucky that there are slight breezes now. Come next month or hell, come this weekend, we're going to be hitting the 80's. The one thing that I dread most about Minnesota summers is the humidity. We're not quite there yet, but we're close. We've got our fans around the house now and just tonight hubby asked whether or not we should bust out the A/C. I opted not to. Why? 'Cuz we don't need our bill to skyrocket. I say, save it for the ultra hot nights that we're bound to get and for now, suck it up for as long as we can. It has been nice to walk out in tsinelas or slippers, and I've had to dig into my drawers for my sleeveless tops...gotta work on that tan, y'know? Oh, and if you didn't see that wonderful pic of the monster mosquito that we killed, it just reminds me that I forgot to put citronella candles on our shopping list. Yes, citronella. Something most Bay Areans don't have to think about. Helps ward the mosquitoes away...supposedly. Aiya.

Vacuuming = Therapy

I may be obsessed...or crazy. I think I may have vacuumed my house at least three times this week.

As far as I can remember, my mom instilled that "MUST always keep a house clean because you'll never know when you will have company over" mentality. I used to be Queen Pouter when it came to cleaning or dusting because I simply hated it. I felt that our house was always squeaky clean and yet, no one ever came to our house unannounced that often. There was a time after my mom's hysterectomy (recall the bitterness episodes I mentioned) and I had become so frustrated with all the cleaning I had to do that I want to say that I started crying at the dinner table. It was just my parents and myself...my sis was out or working. I remember my dad asking me what was wrong and I said that I was tired. He laughed it up and said something to the effect of 'it's like like you have to clean and vacuum every day you know.' But I corrected him and said that yes, I did...why? because "she" was making me. It's funny because I remember thinking "she" and not "Mommy." Heck, maybe I resigned to the whole pointing of my lower lip in her direction thing, hmmmm....

Okay, that's not the point. The point is that I was always cleaning growing up...not that it's a bad thing to teach the kids 'cuz God knows how many spoiled brats there are nowadays who can't even keep their own rooms tidy! I mean, when I say "always," I meant a-l-w-a-y-s.

Perhaps I have grown to love it. Um, scratch that. I don't think anyone could love cleaning. Maybe it's more that I don't mind doing it as much as I do. Maybe there's some sort of comfort in hearing the whirr of the vacuum or maybe there's some sort of satisfaction as you hear the dirt particles being sucked up and away from the carpet. Or maybe it's the obsessive compulsive part of me to aim for perfect triangles in the rug or the anal need to leave the imprints of the one-direction line of the machine. OR, maybe because when I see one, just ONE, bug that somehow made it into my realm of cleanliness that I freak out because I imagine these critters embedding themselves into my carpet and laying thousands of their offspring only to hatch when I least expect it and find them crawling all over me. OR maybe it just gives me time to think of nothing else but the action in itself. It's a non-thinking activity and lets me free my mind of whatever is clouding it at the moment. I guess you could call it therapy....or OCD... but I prefer the former.

I look back at how I tended to feel like Cinderella with a huge list of chores I was responsible for- I was bitter, I was annoyed, but heck, I HAD to do them. And it does all pay off now because I cannot stand any mess or kalat in my house or in my classroom when I was still teaching. The result is a pleasant, clean, and fresh smelling environment that I can enjoy. That aint' so bad, right?

But okay...maybe three times a week is a bit much.

Eerie Midwest Weather

The weirdest thing just happened. I have WeatherBug installed onto my laptop. I swear, the weather is one of the first things that I check in the morning and each and every time that we have to venture out. For the most part, it is damn accurate. If and when we are to expect severe weather, there will be a WeatherBug Alert. If you have the sound up on your laptop or computer, the alert will sound like a chirping bug. Because I don't care for all these computer sounds, my laptop is always on mute.

In any case, my lil' WeatherBug icon was flashing- turns out that we are having a thunderstorm alert in our area. I immediately went to the window and checked the skies. Clear as can be. Suddenly, not two minutes after I just checked, I heard these heavy raindrops hitting the window, the big splotchy ones. The sky has turned grayish and even with the temps being 63 degrees right now, I can hear the rumbling of distant thunder making its way over.

With the temps reminding us that spring has finally arrived, it's also reminded me that summer is just around the corner. Yes, yes, we've all heard the "April showers bring May flowers" business, but here, it represents so much more. After the May flowers bloom come the hordes of insects and creepy crawlies, the reemergence of the "unofficial state bird" aka the mosquito (scroll down for a peek!), the unbearable heat and humidity, the thunder and lightning summer storms (sometimes cool, sometimes scary), and finally, the possibility of funnel clouds touching down and thus forming a twister. Oh joy.

Whoa! Sorry...thunder still creeps me out. With bugs in the air and electric static hanging thick, I hate to quote LOTR, but in regards to summer and all that jazz that MN has to offer, "so it begins."

Pics To Share



Our living room area, complete with our heavy ass IKEA mirror. It really does make the room look more spacious! (And as much time and effort it was to put up, the damn thing stays where it is!) As much as I love these couches, they look better than they are durable and comfy. Give them another year or so and they'll be sagging in the middle. Dammit.




Putting a shelf behind the couch was an idea we stole from an IKEA showcase room. I love that I am able to put pictures and candles on display! This is the second time hubby put it up...the first time, it was too low and the couch kept hitting it and making it loose. Aiya. (btw: if you look at the reflection in the mirror, you may notice something red. That is hubby's WaveMaster punching bag! The darn thing is so heavy, filled with 200 pounds of sand, and we've got no other place for it. It messes with the decor of the room, but it does get lots of use. So there it stays!)





Just another angle of the living room. Gives a glimpse of the dining room table and the bookcase that was originally in our master bedroom. Yet another place to display more pictures!




Lastly, just one to gross ya'll out. My paranoia has begun...the bugs are back! Do notice the size of this monster mosquito. You can't quite tell, but I placed a quarter next to it for comparison's sake. Can I just say EWWWWWW????

Where's The Tissue?!

It's already a known good that I am a crybaby. I will cry at every Hallmark commercial ever made, at the ending of "West Side Story," "Titanic," and "A Walk To Remember," at any of the "Extreme Home Makeover" with Ty Pennington, and at any Oprah show. I can make any situation a tear-jerker moment.

Did anyone watch last night's "Nick and Jessica's Tour of Duty" show? Okay, so I did miss the first hour due to the much awaited season finale of "Everwood" and the singing parts that I did see were in itself mediocre. Sorry...not that huge of a country fan, but it's all good. Brian McKnight was dope and Nick Lachey ain't so bad on the eyes. ;-) But there were a couple of reunion segments that made the dam overflow. A couple families were flown in to Iraq as a surprise and although you were just overwhelmingly happy for these people, your heart goes out to all the other troops in the audience who were wishing that it was them instead. To see the surprise in their face to the embraces and kisses...aw man, where's the tissue?!

There's also footage of Nick and Jessica's visit to different places, talking to hella troops, those who have been injured, and whatnot. And to see how appreciative these soldiers were to have these big-time celebrities take time out of their busy schedules to visit, sign autographs, and sing for them...makes me so teary-eyed! And as dingy and dopey as Jessica Simpson can get, they did a really nice thing. I'll admit that I even watch their show on VH1 and was sad (um, not so much) to hear that their run was ending. They're just hilarious, but despite all the fame and whatnot, it was great to see them do what they did.

BTW: yesterday's Oprah was all Tom Cruise. Talk about being smitten- so in love that Tom Cruise is! Can I just share a quickie about the show? In a recent article in Seventeen magazine, Katie Holmes said that when she was a little girl, she had always dreamed of marrying Tom Cruise. His response? "Well, I don't want to disappoint her." Awwwwwwww! Oh and get this....HE is the one who called HER. HE is the one who wanted to meet HER. HE is the one who is simply amazed at HER and HER accomplishments. Man oh man...how sweet is that? And let's not forget how many times he kept jumping on top of Oprah's couches or how many times he went on his knees, pumping his fist with that "Yesssss!" action going on. As ecstatic as Oprah must've been, you KNOW she was saying, dude, not the couch! LOL! It was a good episode and in the end, Tom Cruise went to the dressing room to pull her out on stage as the audience chanted her name. Although she was not prepped with makeup and hair, egads, she still looked pretty. Damn her. They make a cute couple...her being a few inches taller...too cute.

I Can't Wait!

Check out these movie trailers-

The DaVinci Code movie is coming out on May 19, 2006. One more year!

And coming up this November, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Spring Cleaning

On Friday, the usual clean-the-house routine somehow became an adventure in rearranging the furniture once again. Hubby had completed a few of those mini-home repairs that have been needing repair for a while...put up an IKEA mirror above our couch, screwed in a IKEA shelf behind our couch, and cut a hole in our drywall to fix the cable in the loft. That led to hubby rearranging his office for a new look- we took out the couch and put that in the loft/tv room and I ended up bringing a bookcase originally in our master bedroom down to the living room. I finally got to gather up my framed photographs to put on display...'course, that in itself took me a while. Gotta have my pics, y'know? I can honestly say that the house is looking homey now. The living room is definitely set...ain't no moving around stuff anymore. If anything, I've been looking into buying some houseplants...did I just say that? Haha, one of those "you know you're getting older when" moments once again!

Pics to come soon.

Digital Sucks

I'm really hating our digital camera right now. I've said this before, but despite all the cool options one can manipulate with a digital, I personally prefer to buy actual film, point and shoot, develop the film, and get actual pictures. With a digital, I've been known to take pictures on end, but the laziness factor kicks in and the pictures are forever stored in the memory chip, never given the chance to shine in one of my Target bought albums complete with magazine cutouts and commentary.

A huge chunk of the pics we took on our CA trip have been lost...and it's killing me. I am especially mourning the loss of our Sea World trip and the pics with the kids. I honestly don't know what happened...one day it was there, the next it wasn't. Freakin' technology is not always the best option.

I have been slow in getting around to the nice Canon camera hubby got me for Christmas. We brought it to CA, but rarely used it. I finally got the black and white film developed that's been in there since January and I have to say, there are a few really cool ones! I mean, out of the entire batch of pics, I am totally digging on 3 or 4. Although it seems small, imagine when I DO get the hang of it and its capabilities, yah? Call it my new hobby in the making.

I'm Impressed...

On the front page of today's local paper, the Pioneer Press, there is an article about Minnesota's hunt for overseas nurses. Sure enough, it's an entire article about the recruitment of nurses from PI. Oh, and get this...they spelled "Filipino" correctly!!! I've seen the term spelled in the most incorrect ways- seeing it spelled "Philippino" is like nails on a chalkboard! While it goes on to say how compassionate Filipino nurses are and how they have truly raised the bar, it mentioned a stat of 58 nurses recruited last year. I'm thinking, hey, most of those are from our church! Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but I'm quite positive that the Filipino Nurses Association that we performed at last year are the same ones the article is talking about. It goes on to say that although it has been great to get qualified RNs from PI, the process itself is a bitch. Blame the 9/11 attacks and problems with establishing immigration status in the U.S.

A Filipino nurse was named Healtheast's (major hospital) employee of 2004- a recognition in these parts is huge...so props to you, Michael deVara, RN...and yes, props also Jeremy Olson for the article.

Birthday Shout-Outs

Just wanted to send some birthday love to my lil' cousin (who's not so little anymore!), D, who celebrated his 22nd yesterday. Even tho D attends Sac State, is over 21, drinks, and just got a new tatt, I'll forever see him as the long-lashed lil' boy with the squeaky voice- LOL! Sorry D! Yes, he's all grown up now and I do love the fact that we're able to talk about tattoos, religion/spirituality, relationships, and life itself. Him and his Ate are the closest lil' cousins to me since forever and I'm just glad that when all other family has grown apart and lost touch, we haven't. I'm especially glad that we were able to hang out during Bina's 1st Communion party- remember the Talent Show I mentioned? He was the one who did the worm and played the piano! In any case, Happy Happy 22nd Birthday D!!! Hope you had lots of free drinks- I owe you one! Much love and hugs...

Lastly...Guilty Pleasures

Things to look forward to watching on the tube this week-

Monday
*Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes on Oprah.
*Season finale of Everwood.

Tuesday
*2-hour season finale of One Tree Hill
* American Idol- down to the last two

Wednesday
* The crowning of the new American Idol...my bets are on Bo!

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

Star Wars Horoscope for Aries

Like many aries, you have demonstrated your penchant for inflicting pain. You feel you are at the center of the universe and that you must be in control. You enjoy being a leader... and you find that your aggression and quick temper serve you well. Star wars character you are most like: The Emperor

Dammit...I'd like to think otherwise, but oh well, so be it!

Get Your Star Wars Name

1. Take the last three letters of your first name and reverse them. This is your first name.

2. Name your first car. This is your last name.

3. Name the last medication that you took. This is the planet you hail from.

In my case, I would be "Ary Honda from the planet Tylenol."

*This is c/o the Runel morning radio talk show in the Bay.*

Here's a Star Wars Name Generator that I googled online.

According to this site, here are the results-

Star Wars name: Myrma Dasan
Star Wars title: Mitcho of Anaid

I totally love the names that Lucas came up with for the movies! Let me know what your Star Wars name and title is! I think I like the name generator better...funny this is that if hubby followed the recipe from Runel, he would be from the planet Immodium- LOL! (sorry to out you out like that, hubby! it's just too funny not to mention!)

See Star Wars Episode III You Will





Hubby and I just got back from watching the midnight showing of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Can I just say that OMG, it was SO GOOD! I won't spoil it for the rest of ya'll, but I will say this- the light saber battles are dope!

I must admit, though, that I was not an original follower of Star Wars. Considering that Episode IV opened in theaters in 1977, that would've only made me 3 years old. Do the math. Of course I've heard all about it, knew which characters were whom, but I never quite really understood or really got caught up in the subculture of it. Horrors, I know! Funny thing is that when the movies were re-released in the 90's, I did go and see them, but there were always questions and confusion on my part.

Funny story: during the re-release of the movies, everyone at State were all caught up in the hype. Me being semi-familiar with the movies didn't understand the movie one-liners that everyone was throwing out. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why Mrs. Voodoo get waving her hand in front of me telling me that I WILL do this or I WILL do that! Yes, yes, the Jedi mind trick, I know! At the time, I was clueless (but not completely!). Thank goodness for dvd and the pause button! After re-watching Episode I and II, hubby was on hand to explain some of my confusion and to prepare me for the latest movie. Of course, I had to visit the websites for further details. So now, while I may not have been an original follower, I have more knowledge in the whole Star Wars thang now. I got it down, I understand. I have been a good padawan thus far.

In any case, the theater in our small town was surprisingly packed tonight. Lots of high schoolers, but lots of older folks, too...older, I mean, people of hubby's generation and older. I was disappointed that there weren't any die-hard Star Wars fans who came dressed in costumes, although many of the kids brought their light sabers. Hubby asked if we should bring ours, but I opted not to. Also, at around 11:15pm, the theater owner said, "Since I am one cool theater owner, I am going to let you guys in 15 minutes earlier. But George Lucas wants me to make sure that no one is going to pirate any of the movie and so I'm going to have to check all bags and purses." So we're let in, ticket lady takes our stubs (whatever happened to the movie tickets that you can actually keep and frame if you wanted?!), and theater owner guy is at the door checking bags...and he's actually confiscating things! I doubt anyone was stupid enough to actually bring in a video equipment or whatnot, but dude was making kids leave candy and other food not bought from the theater at the door! Sucker! 'Tis a good thing I put my candy and digital camera in my jacket pocket-haha.

Just like any movie, I think seeing it a second time (or third!) might shed light on things I might've missed. It was awesomely good and it kept me at the edge of my seat. Yes, I know what happens in the plot of the story, but to see it unfold had me totally glued and holding my breath.

Go see this movie...if you don't, regret it you will.



I find your lack of faith disturbing.