Thursday, July 31, 2014

Cat Sweaters and Captain America Hoodies

Sometimes you buy or are gifted a piece of clothing that you can only wear occasionally, like Halloween sweaters, Christmas sweaters, or even cat sweaters (because if you wore cat sweaters every day you'd morph into a cat). 
 Some people are ballsy, they will wear whatever whenever. I'm a bit more shy with some of my clothing choices and therefore limit myself to wearing costumes at only costume appropriate events like Halloween, Dragoncon, Wild Rumpus, and the occasional trivia night where costumes are welcomed.

So last Tuesday was one such night. I was invited to trivia and I heard I could get a percentage off of my meal if I wore a costume. Being the cheap...er cost conscious person I am, I decided to wear a costume. So the Captain America hoodie I've only been able to wear to a couple of "appropriate" events (mind you I have worn it occasionally just to look cool), was able to be dusted off and brought out for a "special" occasion.
(This photo is terribly creepy but it's better than any picture I could have taken of my own hoodie.)
So I busted out my hoodie and my handmade shield. Yeah, I spent way too long making a backpack that slightly resembles the design of Cap's shield.


Only three other people that night wore a costume, and I was surprised and a little embarrassed to find out that there was going to be a competition between costumes. I don't mind sitting in a dark booth in my costume but being front and center is a little wearisome. But as luck would have it, the "person that never wins anything" (don't so many of us say that about ourselves?) won the best costume contest. Unfortunately the prize wasn't more money off my bill. :/ At the end of the day I do love Captain America, but I love saving money more. :p

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

It's The Little Things

Sometimes we get so caught up in what we don't have, what we have yet to achieve, what big goals are still waiting for us in the distance... Many spiritual beliefs tell us to be in the moment, to live day to day, to not worry of the future or regret the past but it's hard to look at the little things. We think happiness arrives in the form of a romantic relationship, a career achieved, loads of money, etc. But every small smile, every short second of kindness, every quick laugh, those things compile into a lifetime of happiness - we just have to be looking for them.

A few years ago I got a small beanie baby unicorn from a store called Five Below. I got the unicorn because it's cute and I love unicorns. Recently, I found out that a certain fast food chain was carrying several tiny beanie babies, one of which was a pink unicorn. I went to one and they did not have it and I promptly forgot about it. Last night though, while in the drive-thru of this fast food chain I remembered and my sister asked the woman working the speaker system if they had the unicorns in stock. She assured us that they did and so we asked for one. When we received our food we found that instead of a unicorn there was a dumb video game toy in our bag.

As much as I love unicorns I really don't like confrontations so I was willing to resign myself to going home without a new unicorn (because really who needs more crap anyways?) but my sister decided she would march into the restaurant and tell them that "her daughter (yes she told them daughter because we were asking for a kid's toy) loves unicorns and she specifically requested the unicorn" to which the counter person responded that they did not have any unicorns but she was free to look through what they did have. Upon a quick glance of the beanies that were there, she easily spotted the pink unicorn (which looks a bit more like a horse but whatever).

So in the end I got my unicorn and it's little things like that which really make a person happy in life. Yes, it's awesome to make lots of money and to achieve your career dreams, and to have kids, and a marriage, and a beautiful home and all the other things people dream about, but it's the little things that sustain you when those bigger things are far off, or didn't work out as you planned. Little things like a tiny unicorn buddy for your already tiny unicorn, and a sister going out of her way to make sure that your unicorn has a new friend. :)

Tiny Unicorn.

Tiny Unicorn and Big Sister Unicorn.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

2014 in Movies (So Far)

There are few things in life that I get excited about. For whatever reason, movies are one of them. But the list of movies I'm really excited about is pretty small (I guess I'm quite persnickety). This year there have been several films I've been excited to see and recently I got to watch two of them.

"The Rover" starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson looked exactly like something I need to see (since I'm always interested in the artistic portrayals of post apocalyptic societies). Set in a world after an economic collapse, it explores what's really important when you've lost so much. It also touches on how we lose our humanity and what things can bring it back (or destroy any trace of it). The film is slow and very much a character study (not so much an action film as the trailer might suggest), but interesting none-the-less.



"Snowpiercer" starring Chris Evans and Song Kang-ho also depicts a world after the society we know collapses. While more action based than The Rover, this film explores personal freedom, the decision to be a hero or not, and the strange concepts our society holds about the haves and the have-nots. This film is quite graphic at times, but the ideas it presents are interesting to discuss and mull over.


Neither film was exactly what I was expecting, but neither was a complete let down so I walked away satisfied. The acting was wonderful in each, and the questions they both bring up about our society and human struggles are very insightful and leave you thinking long after the credits roll. If you don't mind violence, and like movies that make you think (not just entertain) then you might want to check these two out.


Other films I'm looking forward to this year? Well there's too many to mention but a few highlights that stand out include:

"The Retrieval" starring Tishuan Scott:


"The Congress" starring Robin Wright:


"Birdman" starring Michael Keaton:


"The Zero Theorem" starring Christoph Waltz: