Posted in friends, random

COORDINATING WARDROBE

Posted on by sassysheisme

This is what happens when Rae says, “Oh, go shop there, they have great clothes!” and you don’t call each other to discuss what you’re wearing to work. LOL.

Rae and I ran into each other before lunch and Rae screams, “this is like a high school nightmare!” Actually, we found this coincidence rather hilarious and decided to commemorate the occasion with a picture.

Even just a few years ago, however, I would have been mortified and ran home to change clothes. Now, this is just another funny moment in my crazy life.

If you can learn to laugh at yourself, even moments like this can bring much laughter.

We even sat by each other at lunch. 🙂

Posted in Harry Potter, movies

HARRY POTTER AND THE BOOKS/MOVIES THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED

Posted on by sassysheisme

My group of friends and I refer to all things Harry Potter as the books or movies that must not be named because many in the Christian community do not think the Harry Potter series is suitable for children (but Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia are?) and the phrase is a play on words… the evil character in the book is called He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named …but I’m off topic already.

I have debated people who think the Harry Potter series is evil and I’m rather tired of debating the series with people who haven’t read the series or who have and refuse to see it as what it is – fiction, good fiction, and a fantasy that is beloved around the world…so I’ll direct you to John Grainger, a Christian father who has a lot to say about finding God in Harry Potter…and he says it much better than I am sometimes able to.

That said, I’ll do my movie review now. 🙂

Posted in Harry Potter, movies, pop culture

POPCORN FOR BREAKFAST & THE MOVIE THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED

Posted on by sassysheisme

I finally viewed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this morning. Before I dive into the movie, I want to comment about my movie experience.

I used to get a kick out of seeing movies on opening night with 6-10 of my friends. We’d get there early, plan out our strategy for getting the seats we wanted, then we’d stand in line an hour or two (or sit and play cards or talk). That was always fun because of the company.

I went through a period in my life when movies were seriously an extra that I didn’t have money for, and my movie buddies have moved on (and in many cases, moved out of the city). Now that I can afford to see a movie here or there, I reserve my movie money for the sci-fi flicks or special effects marvels that must be seen on the big screen. Otherwise, I just wait for the movie to come out on video and watch it in the comfort of my own home.

That said, Harry Potter movies are an in-theater must see. I don’t mind going to movies alone, so I decided I’d go to the first movie showing this morning at 9:45. I arrived at 9:20, got the fourth parking spot in, and walked into the very thinly populated theater lobby. I bought my ticket and went to the bathroom one last time (knowing I’d have to wait 2 1/2 hours to go again) then bought breakfast – a small popcorn (which costs a small fortune, but I had a movie gift card, no worries).

In a theater made for at least 300 people, this first showing of the day already had at least 20 people scattered throughout and by the time the movie started the theater was at least 1/3 full. I had the seat I wanted, there were no noisy people around me and everyone turned their cell phones off when Forrest Whitaker and AT&T told them to.

The only thing that made my experience any less than wonderful was wondering why anyone would bring a small child to a PG-13 movie that promised violence and death. There were many small children there (age 10 or less), and while I know people who take their kids to these movies (but I’m not talking 5 year olds), I also know they’ve read the books (the kids and parents), they’ve talked about the movies and know what to expect. It will never cease to amaze me to be in a theater full of kids, when the even the previews for other movies for this PG-13 movie scream that this experience is not for small children. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

I don’t envy the screenwriter who has to take a 870 page novel and squeeze a 2:15 minute movie out of it, but this adaptation of the doorstop-sized book rises to the challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie from beginning to end, and though the movie takes liberties with events (out of sequence, squeezed together) and some important actions are attributed to other characters (the betrayal of the D. A.), – which keeps the number of peripheral characters down – the movie stays true to the spirit of the book and would not have the stamp of approval from the novel’s author JK Rowling if it didn’t.

I won’t spoil the movie for those who don’t read the books but see the movies. I encourage anyone to read the books to get a fuller picture of Harry Potter’s world, because, as all movie adaptations go, they have a limited amount of time to work with, and details sometimes get left out in the movies that makes the whole experience richer. Reading the books in this series and then seeing the movies will take the experience from fuzzy rabbit-ear antenna to high definition.

By the end of the movie, I was satisfied with the storytelling and can now visualize the books even more fully. So many times I wanted to slap Dumbledore (that’s another blog entry) for ignoring Harry, and I often wanted to hug Harry and tell him that he’s not alone. I was impressed by the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Mysteries, and the Wand Duelling near the end gave me a whole new understanding of the nuances of the wand and how it really is an extension of the arm. It’s more than just swish and flick.

One scene in the movie was deeply poignant between Harry and his godfather, Sirius Black. Sirius says to him (and I’m paraphrasing because I don’t have the screenplay in front of me) that it’s not DeathEater versus good or light versus dark, because “we all have good and evil within us, it’s which part we choose to act on that matters.”

That phrase is central to the Harry Potter world. Just as in the last movie when Dumbledore (who is still in line for slapping) tells Harry that the time has come when he will have to choose between “what is right, and what is easy,” Harry learns that the difference between him and Lord Voldemort (aka He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) is that he knows love and friendship, and Voldemort hasn’t and won’t. Harry has something worth fighting for, and Voldemort doesn’t. Harry chooses to act on the side of the good. The movie ends with Harry knowing that Voldemort’s defeat rests largely on his angsty teenage shoulders, but he’s not alone in the fight.

Another part of the movie that really drew a spiritual parallel for me were the scenes of the students learning Defense Against the Dark Arts. Dolores Umbridge (who was played to pink, sadistic, control freak perfection by Imelda Staunton) has decided that the students need to learn about Defense Against the Dark Arts so they can pass their tests, but the students do not need to learn how to use the spells to defend themselves.

How many people can quote Scripture but don’t know how to use it when they are under attack? It’s important to know the Word, but it’s equally, if not more important to know what to do with it and how to bring to life what it tells a person to do. Of course, if someone is raised in an environment where evil is ignored, why should they know about the armor of God, or how to protect themselves with God’s word?

Umbridge is merciless in her pursuit of keeping the kids in a safe, sterile environment where the mention of the reason actual application of the spells needed to protect themselves is cause for punishment. When Harry suggests that the evil they all fear not only exists, it’s back in the form of Voldemort, Umbridge makes Harry endure a painful detention where he writes “I must not tell lies,” on a piece of parchment and it’s etched, painfully, into his skin, and she makes him continue until it “sinks in.”

Hermione decides that they need to know how to protect themselves, and if Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic won’t show them how, they need to learn it themselves.

I don’t see this as the big teenage rebellion over authority that many reviewers have. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad example for kids. If you are a child and you know you are in danger, and the adults in your life won’t protect you, you must learn how to do it yourself. I know this firsthand.

In the Room of Requirement, Harry finally finds a purpose. All of his pain, all he has been through, all he has learned from facing evil, he can pass on to others. He can help his friends learn to defend themselves from the danger he has experienced personally. Even Neville Longbottom, the clumsy, accident prone teenage wizard learns to believe he can defend himself. Armed with these tools, these kids can now face evil with the belief that they can defeat it.

I still don’t see why people think lessons like that are evil, but I may never understand that mindset…another soapbox for another day.

All in all, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was an enjoyable experience. I watched all the way through to the end of the credits. Two other people were left in the theater and we spoke briefly about how well this movie was adapted from the book and then we talked about Book 7 and my plans to try and read it within 24 hours of it’s release (because I don’t want the ending spoiled!).

I can’t wait until Friday night so I can get book 7 and find out how the series ends!

Posted in random

A NON-BLONDE MOMENT

Posted on by sassysheisme

I’m telling you this is momentous.

Today, when the paper shredder jammed and I took the top off to investigate, I remembered to… (drumroll please)… UNPLUG the paper shredder! So, not only do I know why the paper shredder was jammed… I still have all my fingers.

Small miracles happen every day!

Posted in random

SEVEN, SEVEN, OH SEVEN… (07-07-07)

Posted on by sassysheisme

I have always loved the calendar and how a series of numbers lining up seems to make that day stand out more than others. When I was a kid, we got a kick out of our math teacher reminding us that 9/9/81, was special because 9×9=81.

Today is 07/07/07 and for some, seven is a lucky or perfect number. In Texas, 07/07/07 has been a great day whether or not luck or perfection is involved. Water stands all over the city and many other places throughout the region and the sun is straining to poke through the cloud cover. Mercifully, so far today, no rain has fallen. That makes 07/07/07 a good, “dry” day. It’s rained every day but 7 since June 1st and though June is Houston’s “wettest” month, it was much, much wetter than usual.

Also today the Live Earth concert is going on all over the world, calling attention to the plight of the Earth’s resources, and how to go “green,” and be good conservationists. Not only have I heard some incredible music, I have been encouraged at how they’ve simplified the Go Green message to make it accessible and “do-able” for everyone.

I’ve had some history with recycling and “green” thinking. When I was a kid, we recycled pop cans (excuse me, Easterners, “pop” is soda, and for your Texans, “pop” is coke). We would walk up and down country roads and collect a few garbage bags full and then take them to the can recycling collection center and get a few cents a can.

One winter, around the time of the coal strike in Indiana when electricity was scarce and we had to sit by the windows to have enough light to read at school, we had a solar heating panel made from a kit attached to the house (I don’t remember if we had it that winter or that winter of low energy inspired the solar heater, but we had one around that time). Unfortunately, this “kit” had no way to store any energy and Indiana winter days are too short to make a difference. Though the solar energy couldn’t combat the below zero winters, if you sat right next to the vent you could feel the warmth it generated for a little while, so it proved to me it could work. Though the solar heating panel disappeared after one winter, I had more experience with non-traditional energy sources and recycling than most kids I knew.

After college, when I worked for a rather sizeable newspaper, I learned a great deal more about recycling. The newspaper was very “green” and recycled nearly EVERYTHING. There was one large garbage can in our department for non-recyclables… like fountain pens, highlighters, or things your weren’t sure fit anywhere else. Otherwise, there was a bin for whatever you had to throw away. Even the waste basket under your desk was for paper items or wrappers that had touched food. It got recycled.

A huge bin in the middle of all our cublicles collected discarded newspapers. Another bin next to it was for typing/copy paper and the bin next to that was for all other paper (magazine type paper, color ad inserts, etc). Then there was the bottled water bin, the aluminum can bin, and all other colors of bottles bin.

In some communities, recycling is accessible and easy to participate in, and in others, recycling takes a real commitment. Yet, every little effort adds up to a significant amount when everybody starts taking those baby steps.

In my apartment we have energy-saving lightbulbs. It’s not much, but it’s a start. Instead of drinking so much bottled water (and discarding the bottles) I drink filtered tap water. Therefore I use less plastic (a petroleum based product).

While I was in San Francisco, they announced a plan to cut out bottled water in the city. It would cut down on the wasted bottles, the gas to bring the bottled water into the city, the emissions of the truck bringing the bottles into the city, etc. One idea snowballs into something big. A little inconvenient, maybe, but not really that big of an effort, right?

Yes, I still drink things out of plastic bottles, but not enough, at least at home, for a significant collection to recycle them. As I’ve watched some of the Live Earth concert, I realized that there are more small things I could do to save on resources, and that will give me something to ponder for a while.

The sun just poked through the clouds and is streaming across my living room floor. In fact, I peeked through the blinds and I see BLUE sky! Of course, rain is forecast for later, but I’ll enjoy this bit of sunshine while it lasts.

Enjoy your 07/07/07… There won’t be another in your lifetime, but we have other types of number assortments to look forward to like 3/03/09 because 3×3=9.

Posted in about shae, creativity, Yahweh's fingerprints

RISK AND DO MAKE A BETTER YOU

Posted on by sassysheisme

Today, I went to site of writing prompts and chose #69, which was to ponder this quote:

“If you don’t risk anything, you risk more.” – Erica Jong

And this is what I pondered:

Overheard recently: “Making a bad choice is better than not making any choice at all. You can fix a bad choice, you can’t fix a non-choice.”

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about choice and risk, so this prompt stuck in my head… and I just had to write about it. I’ve spent most of my life afraid to do most anything that doesn’t come naturally to me. Even the things that come naturally to me like creative pursuits, I have shied away from. I have been paralyzed by fear – of success or failure – for as long as I can remember.

I have, however, had those moments where I was faced with choices and the stakes were so dire that not making a choice wasn’t a choice. For example, choosing which college I would attend was a dire decision. I was expected to go to a particular school because many members of my family attended there and many of my friends would enroll there. When I expressed interest in not attending that particular school, I was met with all sorts of skepticism, disappointed stares, negativity, and anger. It was the first time in my life, though, that I felt that I needed to take control of the direction in which my life was headed and I made a very quick, very rash decision that sent my life in a radically different direction.

I don’t know what my life would have been like if I had attended the other university, but I can honestly say, that decision, good or bad, has affected my life in many wonderful ways. I made incredible friends at Anderson, friends I am still in contact with today. I have fond memories of my time there, and I learned so much about myself and found that I could survive on my own and survive my choices.

Over the last 16 years since I left Anderson, I have made many choices. Some good, some bad. I have changed jobs, changed states, and changed my mind. I have changed my hairstyle (a good choice) and changed denominations (more than once). I have changed my decorating style from post neo American clutter to could be simpler Gryffindor. So much has changed about me.

Too much has stayed the same.

So I made the decision long ago to try to make changes to unearth my potential…the potential buried beneath my survive-not-thrive lifestyle, my bad choices (or lack of choices), my comfort fat, my playing small and my fear of failure/success. Granted, I’ve a long way to go, but making choices – counseling, getting myself out of debt, taking small steps forward rather than none, and setting goals and making a plan – has helped propel me forward.

I’ve moved forward because I stopped trying to move… and just…moved. Yet, there are still things I’m still trying to do because I haven’t figured out how to do them, but one day, I’ll stop trying those things and just do them because the missing piece will fall into place because I kept moving forward…not trying to move forward.

If you need further assistance on the whole try/do thing, ask Jene’. When I say try, she says do. Try. Do! Try. Do! It annoys me when she says it because I know she’s right, but when I say try it’s because I haven’t figured out the how of Do!… because I like to know how before I Do!… and that’s a whole other blog entry.

Back to risk.

This year especially, I have taken steps to break out of fear and take risks. It may not look like a lot to some, but to me it’s been significant. Believe it or not, I considered my vacation a risk. For years the expectation was that my time off was for other people, and this year, I took my time off for me. I cannot tell you what a rewarding choice/risk that was. Though I risked not being able to pay for the vacation, or not be able to pay something else, but it’s worked out where my vacation, though not elaborate, is paid for, and I was still able to pay bills, put gas in my car, and eat rather well. I risked putting my sensitive skin out in the bright California sun and thanks to Banana Boat SPF 50 Anti-Aging lotion, I came back from my trip just as pale as I was last month. Because I took a chance, planned, and executed that plan, I was finally able to meet my cousin’s baby Morgan, and actually spend time with his wife, meet my friend Meg face to face, see the breathtaking nature God created for us and spend time with Sharon, which is never, ever boring.

So, the rest of this year, my mantra is “Risk and Do makes a better you,” because so far, the results have been fabulous. Even when the results are not so fabulous, there’s a lesson there, too. Good or bad is better than nothing.

“Risk and Do make a better you.”

Posted in pet peeves

PET PEEVE… OF LAST MONTH: CAR ALARMS 2

Posted on by sassysheisme

It started just after midnight. The downstairs neighbor’s car alarm went off. Then it went off again. I decided to peek out the window to see what was happening. Mr. Neighbor ran out of the house and circled his car to see what may have set the offending alarm off. The car alarm had been giving off single random beeps that morning and woke me up before my alarm went off, so I was not thrilled that Mr. Neighbor’s alarm had gone off full throttle so late. I put on my headphones and tried to go back to sleep.

Alarm went off again.

Mr. Neighbor shut off the car alarm, went back inside and it went off again a few minutes later. He repeated his run out to the carport to investigate — as if someone’s hiding between the cars or there was a rational reason the alarm was going off. His car doesn’t appear to be anything that is on the list of desirable cars to steal, so his repeated investigations made me laugh (because I was tired and that made it funnier than it probably was). I started to wonder if he had something in the car worth value because he was so diligent about it.

After fifteen minutes and several more car alarm invasions into my slumber, I was annoyed. After a car alarm goes off a few times in a row, and no person, cat or other animal is anywhere near the car, it should be obvious something is wrong with the car alarm, but all Mr. Neighbor does is let his car alarm scream to life… then he turns it off and stares at the car as if he knows the car is trying to tell him something, but he doesn’t have the key to the car alarm code to decipher it.

I, however, know the code and his alarm is trying to tell him, “I have a short! Please disconnect the battery and I’ll shut up. I promise!”

Unfortunately, the on/off scenario repeated every few minutes until 3:45 AM. On…off. On… off. At this point, I am bleary eyed and beyond annoyed. Yes, car alarms go off, it’s a fact of life, but when it’s obvious something is WRONG with the car alarm and no burglary is being attempted…if the only attempt to rectify the situation is turning it off and letting it come back on… well, let’s just say the soothing tunes I was trying to listen to weren’t soothing me enough.

Finally, at 3:50 AM, Mr. Neighbor went out and turned the car on and this ended the car alarm onslaught. I was ticked that he didn’t bother to think of that three and a half hours before!

Anyway, that’s my rant. I had two cups of coffee and a lot of green tea, so I made it, but I was really hanging by a thread. I haven’t slept well the last week or so, and last night didn’t help. I am running on fumes now, but I don’t want to take a nap for fear I won’t be able to sleep later!

Really, I don’t think that will be a problem…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz