Some signs I'm getting older

1) I really like cooked mushrooms. I used to hate them.
2) When someone called my office yesterday to say that her husband has passed away, I can this close to crying. It was so sad!
3) I realized I don't like the Disney channel any more.
4) I actually take the time to weigh my options about things.
5) Also, I don't just read everything with words. I just pick the ones that I deem worth my time.
6) I sleep all the time (nothing new, I'm just stating a fact).
7) And (drum roll, please) I even eat raw mushrooms. And (mostly) like them. Ipes!

Back to Up

I mentioned the Disney/Pixar movie Up a few weeks ago, and I was pondering it the other day. And today, I guess.

A fact about me: I'm not romantically attached to anybody in any particular way. Thankfully. =) One day I might be ready. Moving on.

So here's the deal: sometimes I wonder if love is worth it. That quote from Tennyson, the one that goes, "'Tis better to have lost and lost/ than to have never loved at all," always struck a nerve with me, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I'm convinced that love isn't worth it. First, look at the percentages of marriages that don't last. Oh, and pause and consider the number of marriages that have lasted, but as a technicality, because the marriage itself hasn't held up internally. Then consider the people who aren't in marriages yet have crummy relationships.

And that's just marriage. Don't get me started on the games people play before they get to that point.

Sure, marriage seems scary and like a lot of work. This much we all recognize. But what scares me worse than that is the thought that one day, after you've worked through the agonizing parts, and come out stronger on the other side, blah blah blah, if the Lord doesn't come... well, that spouse (or you, whichever) is going to die. Raptured or dead, those are the only options. Doesn't that sound cynical? News flash, I am sort of cynical.

So we've determined that I'm cynical and that marriage seems big and scary. What does this have to do with Up?

For those who have seen the movie, they will immediately remember the first 11 minutes of the film, wherein a touching story is shown of the life of Carl and Ellie, a couple who went through a lot (death of a child=supposedly one of the worst things that can happen to a person, though I don't know from personal experience), and lived life to the fullest. Until Ellie died. Bummer.

But it was so sad! And even at the end of the movie, when I knew that Carl was happy and hanging out with his newest pal Russell, it was sad, because I knew that for every day Carl was enjoying his favorite activities with Russell, it must have hurt him, because those were Ellie's favorite places, too.

Odd to consider this in such depth, but I'm sort of an odd duck.

So there we have it. Loving and losing sounds frightening. Everyone says it's worth it, but this girl needs a little more convincing.

You raise me UP

So maybe this is lame, but I happened to see "Up" the Disney/Pixar movie, not that long ago, and I just want to go on record as saying that I mostly loved it.

I hadn't heard very good things about it, I'd heard that it was too scary, and that there wasn't enough talking. Huh. Well, by the time I was ten minutes into the movie, I was bawling my eyes out. There were times I thought it got too scary for children, but this is why children shouldn't see movies like this. Small children should still be watching "Tinker Bell's Big Day at the Zoo" or something like that. But, back to Up.

I thought the story was one of the best in terms of emotional plots from a kid's movie I'd seen in a while. Carl and Ellie's story was one of the best I'd seen in terms of married cartoons. Seriously.

I could wax on and on about the merits and demerits of this movie, but I'll spare you all. Suffice it to say that I found yet another movie I approved of. Good work, Pixar.

Forgotten: the lost boys

Well, the previous (rather, the post that is below me right now) was an old one I'd written back before I even got this blog. I'm forever writing random things, keeping them for a while, and then deleting them. I wrote this back in January, and when I got a blog in March, I figured I should use it for a blog post. But alas, time slipped away and I never posted it. But today is my day! I pulled it out and posted it.

The ironic thing? I'd never really read Peter Pan before (actually, I'd read the original play, but not the book) and I'm currently reading it. I'm only about halfway through, but it's sort of a long read for what's perceived as a childly book. It's mostly enjoyable, though James Barrie sure didn't shy away from blood and gore. For instance, he described how Captain Hook liked to randomly kill people. Just exactly what I wanted to hear.

I saw the Disney version of Peter Pan once, and the only thing I really remember is that they sung a song with a line "Why is the red man red," which always amused me for some reason, and also that once when Hook and Peter are fighting, Peter steps right off the end of some part of the ship (I'm bad a parts of ships, but it's a little crossbeam the sail was attached to, if that helps) and keeps fighting with Hook--even though he's not standing on anything solid! I remember being rather disgusted at the lack of realism in that part.

Though how the whole thing with Neverland was acceptable, I'm not sure. Oh, James Barrie actually called it "the Neverland" the whole time, so I guess I should start describing it as "the Neverland." Pardon my previous erroneous ways.