For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Haven't posted in a while because there's not really much to my life right now. Work used to take up a big chunck of that and now I don't have it anymore. There's the wedding but there's not much to write about there. The details don't exactly make for a thrilling blog post.

So for the most part I've just been reading a lot lately. I started getting into near-death exeriences a few years ago after reading What Dreams May Come and I began to write a short story that kind of has something to do with those experiences. I haven't touched my story in a while though. At least a year. But that changed a couple of months ago when I saw a doctor on tv talking about a study he's conducting. It will be the largest NDE study on cardiac arrest survivors that has ever been conducted. This doctor, Dr. Sam Parnia, also talked about a book he wrote called What Happens When We Die. Shane got it for me for Christmas and it completely totally intrigued me. I also noticed as I began reading it that I would be able to use it to help my unfinished short story move along.

But besides the book just being able to help me out, it pulled me in. I ordered 2 more books that deal with the same subject that I can't wait to read and in 1 day I read one book that focuses entirely on one NDE case... it made me cry. No book has ever affected me the way this book has. But I will be posting more about all this later. This subject has seriously captivated me and I want to write a long, well thought out, educating post on the matter.

Until then this is the post you get. :p

I'm also reading A Prayer for Owen Meany which Shane gave to me a year ago and I kept forgetting to read. It's fiction and the movie Simon Birch is loosely based off it. Some of it is a little hard to accept but for the most part it's a good book. Talks a lot about religion. I just finished reading a huge chapter about some kids putting on a play, The Christmas Carol, and doing a big nativity scene for a church Christmas pageant. In the midst of all this, the writer goes off on his own thoughts about other things and he talks about Mary. He doesn't really go into any of this but I was reminded of my own thoughts about Mary and women in general.

Men get to do a lot of things. The man is the head of the house, the world is known to be ruled by them. But the thing that always touches me and makes me incredibly proud to be a woman... was the fact that when Jesus was taking his long walk to crucifixion, when men were cold and brutal, mocking him, slashing him, literally kicking him when he was down, it was the women who would stay out of this. It was the women who would not hurt him, it was women who would go after his death to annoint the body with sweet spices, it was the women who actually cared.

We may not be perfect but we have strong hearts and that's a pretty powerful thing.

Well I will end my random thoughts with a favorite quote from the current book I'm reading.

"Anyone can be sentimental about the Nativity; any fool can feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don't believe in the resurrection, you are not a believer."

Fave videos of '08

Watch them even if you think you've already seen them. :p

Not in any order...

The best dance of the year. I love the story the dance tells. It's about a business man who's in love with his work. The wife begs him to stay, to just spend some time with her but he has to go make the moneys. There's even a point in there where he manipulates her into thinking it's going to be okay and then he rips her heart out. *sniff* short dance, lots of drama.



One of the best car commercials ever!



My very favorite commercial of the year...



Fanmade ipod commercial



A fanmade Ron/Hermione video. Shane will love the song in it. (there's an intro with stupid music) but after that, it's all good. Amazing editing.



And finally Christian the lion. (Christina should watch this!)

Here's the story first

In 1969, John Rendall and Ace Berg saw a lion cub for sale in Harrods. Cramped and lonely in a small cage, they decided to bring it home.
A local vicar allowed them to exercise the cub, now named Christian, in the curch grounds but he very quickly became too big for their flat. The only thing they could do was try and reintroduce him to Africa, which they managed to do. A year later they wanted to visit him but were told that he was now the head of his own pride, completely wild and would not recognize them anymore. They wanted to try to find him anyway. 2 minutes into the video we find out what happens when they do...

It's been fun

Everyone's been on Christmas vacation and I got to see people for longer periods of time than I normally do. It's been extremely insanely awesomely fun hanging out with Shane, Christina, Andy, and Brian all the time and seeing Kristen and Jim too. It will all be over starting Monday though and I'll be back to spending my days alone in the house looking for jobs online, doing wedding things, and other stuff.

On the one hand, I'm looking forward to just relaxing and reading, doing some new paintings on the awesome canvases Brian got me, playing some Guitar Hero, and experimenting with recipes. But on the other hand, I will be very sad and lonely at first. I miss all this human interaction. I'm at the point where I want a job for the purpose of interaction more than anything else. Yea it sucks not having money, but it's depressing on a whole other level not having people.

That's how you know

Posting a clip from my new favorite movie.

I was so impressed by this movie. Basically it's Disney making fun of all Disney princess films. But the amazing fact is that it's the best original music I've heard in a musical in YEARS. It sounds like classic Disney and I love it. Hopefully someday we'll get more good original music, but until then I have this...

Keep breathing, relax.

So my dinner tried to kill me a little while ago.

Earlier today Granny and I went shopping and discovered this uber yummy Asian stir fry (we got samples there) so we got some to make for dinner. Granny added turkey and the meal was tasting quite wonderful.

Until I swallowed what must have been a bone from the turkey. OWE. It felt like a double ended needle going down my throat. SO freakin sharp. I wasn't quite choking but I couldn't swallow either because every time I tried the pain was unbelievable. No one knew what to do. I got very scared very fast though I didn't panic, I just got really tense. Mom and Granny told me to relax and keep breathing deeply and to lean my head far back and take small sips of my pepsi. I did... and every swallow HURT and then I got very hot and started to feel feverish. Finally the evil sharp thing unlodged itself from wherever it was in my throat and went down. Now my throat just feels very sore. I hope it didn't poke anything and cause internal issues.

So that was my dramatic experience of the day. I have nothing else to write about these days so I thought I'd share my scary moment.

FINALLY

Mom and I went shopping in Orland the other day and on our way back (we went home a different way then when going) and I was babbling about something when I hear my mom go "WHOA! Is that for real?!" And I look out of my window to see...... *drum roll* A Sonic!!!!!!!! I've heard they existed, I've seen hilarious commercials for their shakes, I rode past one with a group of friends in Kokomo, Indiana once, but here... there's one HERE! It's new and it's only a few minutes away from my house! I've always wanted to try a Sonic! About a year ago Shane and I were talking about it and wondering where the nearest one was. I jokingly said "Over 2 hours away in Kokomo, Indiana." Then he google mapped it and the closest one was... over 2 hours away... in Kokomo, Indiana. So I"ve wondered for a long long time why we kept getting commercials for Sonic in our area. It was like torture. They kept advertising these delicious looking shakes and slushes and I was beginning to think I would never have one.

But now it's here! YAY! I can't wait to try it! I hope it's everything I dreamed of. (ok so I haven't actually dreamed about it... but it better be cool!)

Breathless

Ok so it's another video.

But this one I made myself with some new software my friend Kevin helped me get.

Of course it's a Hermione/Harry video... mostly because they just happened to be who I have the most clips of on my computer and this video was mostly for experimental purposes having the new software and all.

Anyhoo, enjoy! And feel free to leave opinions.