I can't believe we are already at the end of 2013. Literally, days away from the new year. I hit my movie mark for this challenge many blog posts ago, and had given up on the book part at about the same time. Even without reading the 50 books necessary to be a true challenge winner, I'm pretty proud of my effort.
I went on a movie blitz last week and saw five new movies in six days. You can my movie reviews from the past year here: http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-san-diego/courtney-hartmann.
#73: August: Osage County
#74: The Wolf of Wall Street
#75: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
#76: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
#78: American Hustle
I also finished another book that I enjoyed mostly...until the end. The kind of irked me. I felt it was a cop out to the story, but I think Lionel Shriver is a good, if not overly wordy, writer. The book covers the topic of obesity and weight loss, a craze in America today. It seems more like a passing fad or a commercialized market rather than a serious issue about health. The book is also about family and the sacrifices we make and the kind of obsessions we take over throughout our lives, and how we maintain control among chaos. If you've read it, I'd love to hear what you thought about the end.
#26: Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
I definitely am not going to make it to 50; however, I have made it to 25 books and I think that's pretty damn good! I won't be too hard on myself seeing as trying to achieve the book part of this challenge essentially means reading a book a week.
I might make it to #26 by the end of the year and will definitely make it to 75 movies. What a great year it's been for reading and film.
And still I have so many movies I want to see and books I want to read.
Book #25: The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls
Movie #72: Lone Survivor (review to come in January)
Sooo...that song "Royals" came out and I thought, oh hey, I like this. And then it got played over and over and over again. Then I was flipping through stations while driving in my car and came across "Team" (I think 91X played it first) and fell in love. I added her Pandora channel and fell in love with the whole album, came full circle, and can stand to hear "Royals" again.
I think her sound is original; her lyrics poetic. Oh, and she is a freakin' teenager! It's no secret. I'm obsessed. Her new video is out: NEW VIDEO! 'Team' by Lorde | Kade - for you to become a fan, too.
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| Countdown to Christmas! |
Four days off. Four days off! I am winding down four glorious days off. You know those people who can't relax or "shut off"? Yeah, I'm not like that. Unless I am passionate about a project or have an investment in something, my mind is only tuned in for as long as is necessary. The whole point of a break or vacation is not to muddle your mind that you need the break or vacation from.
I didn't do anything monumental for the holiday or the break, but relaxing, reading, cleaning, sleeping in -- all those things feel like luxuries. My days are filled every hour. My weekends usually left for the errands I didn't do during the week. Even sleeping until 8 a.m. seems like bliss versus the 6 o'clock double-snooze alarm I get daily.
It's easier heading back to work knowing that at the end of the week, I get to take another break/vacation. Then, back to work for a week and then off for Christmas. December is going to fly by with fun and for that I am thankful.
Thanksgiving itself didn't bring a lot of hoopla around it this year for me. It was nice and I felt thankful, but it's the fact that this year, 2013, is almost over! Every year I feel I say it, the year goes by so fast. This year has zoomed by and yet, so much has been packed in, so much has changed.
Are you the kind of person that can feel changes happen to you? I am. Honestly, there are times during a day where I will stop in the middle of what I'm doing because all of a sudden my senses are heightened, my adrenaline is going, and I know it's because something is in the process of changing for me. It sounds hokey, but it's true.
I am an optimist so all those "feelings" I get, I feel it is a promise for something better that I've been working towards or asking for. Patience is such a hard lesson to learn, so when I finally feel the shift, it's pretty spectacular.
It's strange because they say life is short, but it feels long. Life feels long, but the days feel short.
Randoms:
1. Bath and Body Works had a sale on candles - 2 for $22 which is quite the deal considering they are usually $18 each. The Winter one smells fresh and not quite winter-ish, but lovely nonetheless. The cheery sales girl tried to convince me that the Cranberry body cream is a similar scent to my beloved, discontinued Brown Sugar and Fig. It is not. She was so perky about it though, how could I say no to her asking me to sniff for myself?
2. Paul Walker died. If you haven't noticed from every social media portal that I am on, I was a fan of his. I'm not a fool into thinking he was worthy of Oscar gold, but he was on my Top 5 list. THAT list.
3. People are not assholes. This may come as a surprise, kind of did to me, but people on the whole are not assholes. It is those select few that ruin it for everyone and cause me to become cynical for a few days. They are usually in front of me in traffic, bumping into me in line, slamming a door in my face. Maybe it's the holidays getting everyone into the cheery spirit.
4. I miss Garth Brooks. I just watched his Live in Las Vegas special recorded on my DVR and hello, talk about a flashback to grade school and junior high when all I had to listen to was country music.
5. I keep dreaming about whales and waves. They are not harming me or threatening. I duck them every time. I have not been eating anything out of the ordinary before bed. Who knows what it means to dream about whales and waves? I'm not under distress. So weird.
50/50 Challenge Update (last month!): Book #24 - The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver. This was a crazy one. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I will not be reading 50 books by the end of 2013. In that same failing respect, I did not complete NaNoWriMo. I started and I wrote my ass off all month...but a book it did not become. And that's ok. I'm not one to force my writing. It misses the whole point. If I were a real writer, I'd have discipline. If I were a real writer, I'd have a book written by now. If I were a real writer, I would not set myself up to fail. I am a real writer. I write.
