Some Twilight thoughts....

I came upon this video on youtube when I finally gave in to my otherworldly cravings for all things Twilight. Not that I'm sorry, this is a beautiful song, if you are looking for it, it is actually Yiruma - River Flows in You. It has been quite a day, and quite a journey from my hiding-under-a-rock (kidding) existance to my outward love and appreciation for Stephenie Meyer. If she only knew what an exponential rate she made fans since fans DO buy the books for other people THEY love. There is a huge outpouring of creativity I've seen on youtube, from fan trailers and clips to art, music, poetry, you name it.

This song was listed as 'Bella's Lullaby', it isn't the real one, the one Edward plays for her, but in my opinion this would have been perfect. This makes me think a bit ashamedly about all the piano lessons I turned my nose up at... boy did I hate to practice. I can still play, if I want to. There are songs I remember from memory and I can pick out tunes, not play the pieces though. One odd thing about me though is that I don't read music. I play from hearing it, from memory. It still takes me awhile to learn and I make mistakes but it's how I learn.

Back to the whole Twilight subject, I cannot figure out how I didn't manage to see any movie trailers for it, nothing online, no book reviews. The one thing I remember seeing and hearing a lot was 'Edward Cullen' and I passed that off as some adolescent thing. I do watch prime time tv and I'm online all the time! Because of this I am unsure why I didn't pay any attention. The books are BESTSELLERS, everybody is reading them. The movie was a huge deal, I guess people were camping out and waiting for tickets. I have to thank my sister for the nudge, she bought me the first book for Christmas. I didn't even begin reading it right away, since I was reading something else. Well.... I started reading. Then I bought the rest of the books. Edward and Bella are hard to ignore.

To explain a bit for some folks (if you've read the books, you know what I'm talking about) I am completely sure that Bella BELONGS with Edward. There is some odd push for something to happen with Jacob, but Jake is her friend, her best friend. While some friendships do evolve, they usually do that in the absence of a relationship at all. Even though Bella somewhat hides the seriousness of her relationship with Edward for awhile, it doesn't change the fact.

I am actually considering this saga as something like the fairy tales of today, you know how as kids we had the fairy tales about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and any manner of princess or maiden who gets rescued by the prince or knight on a white horse - what if today's version is a small town accident-prone girl who gets rescued by a hundred year old vampire who looks 17? I'm a fan of modern fairy tales. It's not a bad way to be rescued since most of us aren't as helpless as the princesses of that time.

Men are crabbier when hungry... and the post office doesn't tape boxes...

This is the secret of life! Ok, I'm kidding. I had two revelations today. First that men are crabbier when they are hungry, and this theory has been proven over time. I'm actually cooking right now while I'm typing this, err... well I'm letting the oil heat up again. We have a wild windstorm raging outside, I am too close to a window so I swear I feel the draft coming through it! Back to the hungry issue. I am fairly domestic and I usually like to cook. I have two 'boys' that live with me, the big one and the small one. Of course the small one is now bigger than me but I call him the small one because he's younger than me. When they are hungry, they are more likely to get snippy about things or ask me about food.

Now I don't get this. When I'm hungry, I go to my kitchen and I fix myself something, OR if I don't feel like cooking, sometimes I will go out and GET myself something. I don't grumble at people that I'm hungry! If you're a man, please advise me why it seems to be this way. This is NOT to say I do not take advantage! I truly do take advantage because it kills two birds with one stone.

On to the post office issue. I found out today that the post office does not tape boxes. They also do not add any packing stuff to your box for you. The guy went as far to say he would sell me a roll of tape but I said - excuse me, do I look like I have a tape dispenser or a pair of scissors in my purse? If you cannot tape the box, it's not going to matter. After that, I asked him if I could just buy my postage label because then I could leave and take my box somewhere else. He refused to sell me a postage label. You know what? I am done with the postal service. I have a mail center a mile from my house. THEY pack boxes. They TAPE boxes. They add extra cushioning or packing material so the stuff I'm sending doesn't break, fall out, etc. They are very nice. They just cost me about five bucks more than USPS. I also have a UPS store close to me and they are just as helpful. I am really just shaking my head about the whole thing.

Coffee. Finally coffee. I love coffee. Especially Starbucks coffee. I grew up where Starbucks started, in the Pacific northwest, near Seattle. However I have noticed something that really bothers me. It's super good coffee - but is it worth almost $4 a cup?? Can we say economic meltdown? I'd sacrifice two Starbucks locations in my town if they'd cut the cost by 50 cents lol. Yes you got it, I think there are 5 Starbucks within a 5 mile radius of my house.

Celebrate EVERY DAY, not just 'special occasions'

Today I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Laura speak when I was attending a luncheon =) I also consider that I had a pretty lucky day, but don't mistake my message about celebrating with my good mood about that.

One of the things she mentioned was that we should celebrate life, which means small things, everyday things, things we treasure that may not necessarily mean anything to other people. I happen to agree! How often do you hear people talk about 'taking out the good china' when they have company or visitors? How about 'lets get out the good bottle of wine' or 'I'll wear my nice expensive perfume for this special date'?

What is wrong with us? What if you don't wake up tomorrow? What if some natural disaster happens and you get out alive but your house doesn't survive? What good is that 'good china' now? How about that broken and spilled bottle of expensive perfume you decided not to wear because you wanted to make it last?

I encourage you to celebrate every day. Think about all the awesome and wonderful things you can do! Maybe you get out of bed and make sure you go rowing or swimming or running. Think about what your body does for you and appreciate it! Maybe you get a toddler ready for the day... look at that day ahead as a learning experience for both of you. Perhaps you teach kids, counsel or treat patients, maybe you drive a race car or make music. You are blessed and you are talented, no matter what it is you get up to do every day. Don't throw away your opportunities that each new day brings. Hug your little ones. Call your friends. Dance by yourself without music... or music only you hear. Every day you're still here is a reason to celebrate.

Courage and Confidence

I recently mentioned these words together to a friend, explaining that if you have both, you can do anything. I meant it. Hand in hand, you have a lot of power in life if you own them both. These are not like possessions either, they cannot be taken away from you once you have them - but the hard part is growing with your experiences so you can face each new one head on.

I didn't always have either one. It took me at least 20 years to figure out that you are truly your own worst enemy. Nobody else is more hardnosed, picky, and knowledgeable about your own shortcomings than yourself. While there ARE people out there that are shallow and ridiculous and simply go about picking on others for the sake of it, MOST people around you are thinking more about their own problems than yours.

To address courage - it isn't the absence of fear like so many people think. It is bravery in spite of it, telling yourself that what you are afraid of isn't worth the price of fear, which might be not talking to someone, not trying something new, not accomplishing a goal, etc. If people would only see that they hold themselves back from wonderful things in life and there's nothing really stopping them, can you imagine what we could do? I recall when I was expecting my daughter that SO many people would call me both brave and crazy for saying I was planning to have her naturally without drugs. I'm not brave, and I'm not crazy, and I did have her naturally. A lot of situations are truly mind over matter - if you have motivation and knowledge, then it's not scary, so therefore you are not brave because you're not afraid to begin with.

Confidence... well, this is something I wish I could buy for everyone, everyone I have met and everyone I haven't. Confident people do not quit, they might fall down but they get up again. They try new things even when odds are against them. They don't listen to negativity. Confidence also allows you to prevent yourself from being abused, used, and taken for granted. The key here I think is to have expectations to reach, but REASONABLE ones. When someone has expectations that are consistently too high, eventually they give up because they learn they can never reach them. When someone has expectations that are consistently too low, eventually they become a 'victim of their circumstances' and tell people 'I'm this way because I'm slow' or 'I'm this way because I'm poor' or 'I'm this way because I have no opportunities'. It's all hogwash! We have to stop thinking that who we are or who we can be is ever based on anybody other than ourselves.