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Last night I finished watching the mini-series Generation Kill. I’ll probably write out a review for it a little bit later. I didn’t really mention it beforehand – I just started doing it – but I decided to start writing out a short little review or my thoughts on movies and such. Since I tend to watch a lot of movies, I just thought it would be a good idea to document my initial thoughts on things. I might start doing a few CD reviews every now and then too. We’ll see.

Last week my Internet connection was pretty dodgy. I was able to get online, but I couldn’t accomplish much. I found myself refreshing every few minutes because the page would just stop loading midway. It was really annoying. At first I thought there was a problem with the wireless, but there was some problems with the other computer and laptop, so I don’t think it was that. Then it just started working again just fine, so I’m not sure what the problem was, but whatever it was, I’m glad it’s fixed.

I guess it’s better when the problem is on the service providers end, though. At least that way you don’t have to worry about it being your computer and replacing it. Although, it seems more often these days it’s easier to find parts to fix the problem, or to just do a quick search and WHAM – there you have refurbished and used cisco, compaq, HP, or IBM products for a lower price. But it’s really all just a headache when things aren’t working the way they’re supposed to.

Of course, that’s life, isn’t it? Things never working the way they’re supposed to. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. Perhaps there’s a little bit of me that wants to remain optimistic about life despite what realist in me knows.

I Am Legend (2007)

I wouldn’t call myself an overly emotional person, so after watching I Am Legend, I feel I have no choice but to call it brilliant. Will Smith gave an excellent performance in this futuristic film where he is the last man on earth, searching for the cure to the virus that has all but killed the rest of humanity and left monsters of the night in it’s wake.

Most movies rely on the interactions between characters while this movie relied mostly on the shoulders of Will Smith’s character Doctor Robert Neville. The human interactions is limited through flashbacks and his friendship with his dog, Sam. This movie had me bawling before it was all over. The desperation I felt for this man, left alone in the world, was heartbreaking.

The movie was also very visually appealing. Seeing New York left in the wake of this man created virus, looking like a ghost town was haunting while the monsters themselves were frightening and looked every bit unhuman they were meant to be.

Unlike most movies where the characters are being hunted down by something undead, this movie had a sense of realism that was utterly frightening. To think that such a thing could occur by our own hands, and watching this man try to reverse this horrible events was truly compelling.

I finished this movie, feeling both saddened yet hopeful. It was definitely a brilliant film, and only helped cement my love for Will Smith’s amazing acting abilities.

Mini’s First Time (2006)

Since I’d already seen Nikki Reed play the role of the bad girl once before in Thirteen, her role in Mini’s First Time didn’t surprise me that much. She carry that bad girl role really well. In fact, the first time I got to see her play the nice girl was when she guest starred on The O.C., and that was a weird experience for me.

Mini’s First Time also stars Alec Baldwin and Carrie-Anne Moss, who both played roles I hadn’t expected. Carrie -Anne Moss played Mini’s non-caring, cheating, lush mother, who is pushed to the brink by her husband and daughter, after Mini seduces her stepfather, begins a relationship and convinces him to help her drive her mother insane.

I’ll be the first to admit that this movie was far from brilliant. It was somewhat predictable, yet an entertaining ride, nonetheless. In a movie full of so many faulty characters it was hard to know who to relate with. Even now, having finished the movie, I’m left wondering what to think and how I should feel about what I’ve just seen.

Even though the movie wasn’t the best I’ve seen, it still leaves me wondering, which has to count for something. All I really know is that I wouldn’t want to cross paths with Mini and get in her way any time soon.

So, yesterday I spent most of my day sitting on the couch, watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It really was an all day endeavor, but I’m not complaining. It’s been a while since I’d watched it. It’s also one of those movies where I’m able to pick up something I missed every time I watch, but that’s probably just because there’s so much that happens. I’ve been thinking about trying to read the books, but I’m not sure if I’m up for it.

We got McDonald’s for dinner because my grandma didn’t want to do dishes after just getting them all washed. I should add that I did end up doing some of the dishes the other night despite my complete distaste for the task.

It’s kind of sad that eating at McDonald’s is like a treat. We don’t have a whole lot to choose from around here. We have more pizza places than anything. It’s kind of ridiculous. I would love it if someone would take advantage of all of the franchise opportunities and open something new. But then it would probably be like everything else in town – substandard. I’d probably just end up hating the new place like everything else. Blah.

I feel like I’m having some sort of a battle with my skin. It seems to clear up for a few days, and then a new zit will sprout up. It’s so annoying and frustrating. I’ve tried using different things, but the perfect pimple cream evades me, or so it seems. Either the product dries my skin out or causes me to break out even more. It’s rather ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, I’m fairly certain my grandparents have either been at a viewing or a funeral every day this week. Three people they knew died. I told them to proceed with caution since it seems like death is at every corner. I know I shouldn’t make light of it, but I can’t handle thinking about it seriously. Just the thought of either of my grandparents dying freaks me out too much to even ponder.

I think I mentioned needing a new layout a few posts back. Well, I made one. I just haven’t coded it yet. I feel so out of practice with coding layout’s. It’s fairly pathetic. But I think I’m going to try to tackle that because I’m seriously sick of this layout.

Dishes. I hate doing them. I walked through the kitchen and there is this huge pile of dishes that need to be done. The good person in me says that I should start washing and spare my grandma from the hassle. Yet did I follow through? Absolutely not. Even for my grandma, who I love with all of my heart, I could not bring myself to start washing. Does that make me a bad person? Possibly.

I could try to justify myself and say that if we didn’t have a dinky little sink that’s barely useful and instead had one of those nice big farmhouse sinks I would feel more inclined to do the right thing, but that would be a bold-faced lie. I just hate doing dishes. If it’s a few glasses or plates or something, I don’t mind. Big piles that are overflowing and starting to take over the counters on the other hand? I cannot bring myself to touch. We need a dishwasher. Seriously.

Well, I’ve had a busy weekend so far. Friday I went shopping with my mom, Blaine and Cody. The boys wanted to buy some new clothes for school. They managed to blow all of their money pretty quickly. I didn’t see too much, but I did buy Tori’s gift.

My brother is a hoot. He loves to do impressions of people. He was doing them of Bart and my uncle. Crazy kid. Along the way he and Cody spotted some used Harleys for sale along the road and babbled about that. Then my brother was trying to convince my mom to buy him an Eclipse from some guy that was selling them somewhere. I really didn’t get the details. I usually just sort of shut off after a while. I think I’m getting the hang of this selective hearing thing. We dropped Blaine and Cody off to meet their girlfriends at the park, and I hung out at my mom’s house most of the day.

Tori was with Mitch, and Allyson was supposed to pick her up at his house while she was in town. She had to go straightened out some stuff with the financial aid office at school, and she was going to get her afterwards, but Mitch decided to change plans and said he’d bring her into town later. He was supposed to drop her off between four and five, and Allyson called when she didn’t hear from him, and he’d made some more plans and said it wouldn’t be until later, so, naturally, she was upset. Then he called back a couple of hours later to say he was on his way into town. It should have taken him thirty minutes to go to the house. He didn’t show up for another hour and a half. So Bart had a few words with him. I won’t get into the details, but I think Allyson and Mitch had talked through things enough to be civil and have a tentative schedule for seeing Tori.

Then today we had Tori’s birthday party out at the park. She had a strawberry cake with chocolate chips in it that my mom made for her. She seemed to enjoy opening her presents and she played in the park with Dennis’ (Allyson’s new boyfriend) niece.

Tomorrow I have the last of the family reunions to attend. I’m anticipating a lot of food and a lot of people, as there is every year.

I went to a family reunion on Sunday, and the highlight of the event was watching Allyson and Trey basically beat the crap out of each other. It was ridiculous and childish, yet hilarious none the less. My sister managed to knee herself in the eye while Trey had her in a headlock and wound up giving herself a black eye. Definitely laugh worthy if you ask me. I kept telling Allyson to be careful. Trey is about as accident prone as Bella Swan. Of course, his mom rushes him to the ER for the smallest of things. It’s beyond me how they can afford to make a weekly visit to the emergency room and still manage to sail off into the sunset on Caribbean cruises just about every year. What do I know, though?

My brother cut his hair, which is just bizarre now. I didn’t even recognize him at first on Sunday because so used to his long ‘do. It looks better though. You can at least tell he has eyes now, which is always nice.

I’ve been busy this week working on a label. I’m just about finished with it. I have a few things left to do, but I needed to take a break from looking at it to regather my thoughts. I really had when that happens. It’s like I have all of the pieces there, but when it comes down the last part, I can’t seem to fit them together. Usually taking a break helps, so, hopefully, I’ll finish it either tonight before I go to bed or tomorrow after I wake up. Oddly enough, I woke up this morning with the logo design in my head. I wound up deviating from what I have in mind, but I think this worked out better. I guess I won’t actually know until I send it off.

Tori’s birthday is in a couple of days, and I’ve yet to buy her anything. The kid has just about everything, so I’m not really sure what to get her. I mean, she’s going to be four, so she’s pretty much pleased with anything, but even so, it’s still hard to choose. I guess I’ll have to hit the store before Saturday. Allyson’s having a party for her that day at the park, so I still have a few days to think on it.

I need a new layout. Really bad. I should probably attempt to make something soon. I feel like I’ve sort of let this blog go lately, but then again I sort of feel that way about everything. I have so much I need to tend to, but I just haven’t brought myself to do it. I have fanlistings beyond fanlistings I need to update with new layouts. I have this giant To-Do list on my desktop – using Rainlendar – and if anything, I feel like it’s just staring at me, mocking me and telling me to get my ass into gear and do something.

I’ve been in such a weird funk this past week, though. I don’t necessarily feel sick, but I just feel like I’m completely drained. No matter how much or little I sleep, I’m still tired. I keep hoping I’ll snap out of it. I suppose getting out more might help. The weather has been nice the last couple of days. I keep telling myself I’m going to go chillax on the front porch and read or something, but I just haven’t done it.

The other day I felt like we were dropped into the middle of the great flood or something. It just rained and rained all night. I guess some good did come out of it. The grass looked about dead, and Bart figured him and Blaine wouldn’t have to come out and mow again for at least a couple of weeks if not at all, but the grass seems to be back in fine form now, so I guess that means more mowing.

Regardless, I feel like the summer is slowly coming to an end. My brother starts school on Friday, and my sister goes back next week. Pretty soon Tori will be off to pre-school. It will be time for us to put on the outdoor furniture covers and start bundling up for fall. I’m not ready for that. I love the summer, but like all good things, it has to come to an end, I suppose.

Oh my gosh. I am so tired. I couldn’t get to sleep early last night like I was hoping, and I had to go to a family reunion today. It was pretty small, but the food was good. I actually had a really good time. The funny thing about family reunions is that I always go and end up talking to my immediate family, like I never see them. Well, I guess I don’t see them a whole lot, or at least usually not long enough to just hang out and talk to, so I guess that makes the difference. I have another one to go to next week. It’s a bigger one, with an abundance of food and not enough seating, but it’s my favorite one regardless.

I watched Tori on Thursday, and then I got to see her for a little bit on Friday before her dad came to get her. On Thursday, I made her lunch – chicken noodle soup – and we watched Peter Pan. Well, I watched and she wound up playing in her toy kitchen most of the time. It felt weird watching a movie on the TV because I usually watch movies here at my computer just because someone else is usually watching one of the televisions.

I’ve been seeing those commercials about needing some sort of box for your TV if you don’t have cable or satellite or whatever it is. I imagine eventually everyone will end up going to a LCD HDTV before too long. Luckily, we have satellite, but my grandpa did buy one of those boxes even though we didn’t need it. It actually wound up being more of a nuisance than anything because we couldn’t get the DVD/VCR to work right and spent forever trying to fix it. Eventually, he just took it out of the living room, and I’m not totally sure what he did with it. But I hate stuff like that. I don’t know why they can’t just let things be. Of course, it’s all about money. Darn money hungry people!

Yep, Breaking Dawn is out. Unfortunately, my copy didn’t come in the mail today. But I am going to town in just a little bit, and I’m going to pick up a copy because I can’t wait any longer. I figure I can probably just sell the other copy I ordered. No big deal.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the pair of capris I bought were actually about three sizes smaller than what I would normally get. Granted, they do have the elastic waist, so I’m sure that makes a difference, but it did feel good to get something smaller for once. I hate thinking about my weight because it just depresses me. I watched The Holiday the other day, and I was envious of the house in the movie because there was a room full of fitness equipment, and I think it would just be so awesome to have something like that. I might be more apt to exercise. As it is, I feel too self-conscious to go to gym or anything like that. Just, ugh. I hate thinking about it. Of course, I think shopping should be deemed a form of exercise because there’s a lot work in it. Walking, trying things on, lugging around armfuls of stuff. It’s not easy!

On a completely different note, I watched Fuse the other day. Which is shocking in its own right because I just about never watch TV in general, but I heard this song called “Emergency?” by The Higher, and I really loved it. I went to their MySpace to check out some more of their stuff, and I really like it. I might have to buy their album. I love finding new music. I just wish my bank account could keep up with my music addiction.

The fact that I’m down to mere hours before Breaking Dawn has me feeling incredibly impatient, yet excited at the same time. I checked bookamillion.com, and my book shipped yesterday morning, so books in the mail! Now if only it were here instead.

Today I used shopping as a cure for my boredom and distraction. My mom should be so proud. She likes to go shopping when she’s bored too. I went with my grandma to Sears, and actually got some really good buys. I bought four shirts and a pair of shorts. I guess they were Bermuda shorts, but they look like capris on me. I won’t complain. Me and my short legs will take what we can get. In total it was $25, which is pretty much a steal considering the shirts were more than that before they were marked down.

Annoyingly, I think I’m getting another bout of ance breakout. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s my makeup. I don’t wear makeup every day. Usually just when I’m going out. I tried using SensiClear, which is supposed to be one of the best acne treatments, but it actually made me break out worse. I have some stuff from Clean & Clear that actually works really well. The only problem is that it bleaches out my clothes. I wish I could find something that wasn’t so harsh. But, in the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to wait it out until it goes away.