Camping

So, we went camping over the weekend. It was pretty fun, except that I've decided that I don't like the rules National Parks tend to have. You can't hike with your dog, you're not allowed to collect firewood or antlers, you have to pay to get into the park and then pay to camp there. At one point I even saw a sign that said "Meadow Closed." How exactly does one close a meadow? Stupidist sign I'd ever seen.

But the good thing about camping in a National Park is that there is a lot of wildlife out there to see. On our first night there (Friday), a deer walked right through our campsite then lounged under a tree for maybe an hour before simply getting up and walking away. The second night there (Saturday), an entire freaking herd of elk wandered through the campground, then walked up to within 20 feet of our campsite to munch on something some bozos next door to us had left in their firepit (it was a Tazo Chai Tea package. And they were both me. You do the math.) One of the elk had two little babies with her, and they were adorable. Then, when we were heading out on Sunday morning, a moose crossed the street in front of us. Yes, a moose. I didn't even know we had those in Colorado.

Also, we have possibly the smartest dumb dog ever. He saw the deer, and nearly scared the poor thing off, and he even saw the moose from the car. But the elk? He never saw them, and when he did, he only sniffed at them for a few seconds before going back to begging for food. Silly mutt.

Mickey got pictures of the elk and the deer, which I'll probably post here when I get them from her later.

In the meantime, I wanted to post this picture I finally got from our trip to Vegas. Yes, I know it was two months ago, but I wanted to show it off earlier and couldn't find it:

You can probably barely see it, but if you look close enough, there is a Blue Man in that picture, between me and my sisters. They're creepy, cool, and very sweet all at once, and I even got a CD signed by one of them. Mickey got a set of drumsticks used in the show, and one of them signed that as well. I'll probably be going to see the show when it comes to the Pikes Peak Center later this year, that's how much I enjoyed it. I recommend the Blue Man Group to anyone, really. There wasn't a bad moment in the show!

Stuck

I'm stuck. I just don't know what to do anymore. I want to leave this God forsaken city and go someplace exciting like L.A. or NYC, but I need a job that pays more than five dollars an hour first. Unfortunately for me, I'm apparently unhireable.

I can't get a damn job.

And I'm sick of it.

I guess that I had been hoping that applying to schools outside of the state would maybe give me an opportunity get the hell out of here, but I haven't heard back from the school I really wanted to go to. I sent them a fifty dollar, non-refundable application fee, and they fucking never got back to me. I just diaappeared into their goddamn system like so many others. And you'd think calling the admissions office would yield some results, huh? Nope. The lady gave me her phone number, but apparently doesn't know how to answer the damn thing. I'm trying for a school in New Mexico now, but I'm not holding my breath.

God, my mother's right. I'm going to be living with my parents forever. How sad is that?

*heavy sigh*

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2!

I saw it last night (opening day), and I absolutely loved it! I'm a huge fan of the books and I own all but the first two (which I should really go buy at some point). I liked the first two movies, but after the third one the quality of the movies went down a bit. I understand it's hard to get everything exactly the same as it is in the book, but by the time it hit the fourth movie, the movies had strayed quite a bit from the books.

So, when I heard that they weren't going to cut anything out of the seventh movie, I was so excited I could've literally peed myself. They split it up into two movies, so that they could keep everything from the book. I saw the first part in theaters, then saw the second part just last night.

I wasn't originally going to go see it this close to opening day, but my cousin wanted to see it and is going to Hawaii tonight, so he invited Mickey and I to go see it with him and a friend of his. I have to say, that movie had some of the best graphics, and everything looked realistic even in 3D. I loved the story from the book, and the movie followed fairly faithfully besides a few edits here and there (for example, the final battle in the book takes place in the Great Hall for the most part, but in the movie it's spread out to the entire castle and even onto the grounds), and some dialogue was added, but it only made it a bit more epic in my opinion. One of the only issues I had with the movie was that, if someone had only seen the movies and not read the books, they would probably have a hard time figuring out who all of these characters were. I know at one point I even looked at Tonks and said to myself, "Wait, who is this?" because she wasn't in the movies all that much after her introduction in the fifth one.

*shrug* Oh, well.

At least it kept faithful to the books.

I do have to say, however, that the ending was "semi-anti-climactic," as my cousin put it. This was the way it was in the book, too, so I'm not really complaining, but there's just something about the way the whole series ends that just leaves me wanting more from the final battle. I felt this way reading the book, too, so it's not the movie's fault in that respect.

All in all, I really enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Harry Potter, and even some people who didn't like the first movies! Trust me, it's pretty epic.

Holding the Hose

Okay, so.

Recently my parents split the cost of a tent trailer with my aunt and uncle. The thing is totally old and needs a lot of work, including pinstriping along the sides. So we bought some pinstriping and it's taken us three days, but we managed to get it done...I hope.

But today. Today I lost all semblance of sanity and made a complete ass out of myself. Today, when we were pinstriping, Tinkerbelle told me to grab hold of a hose for...some kind attachment to the trailer so that she could get under it to get the striping to look nice. I grabbed the small hose, held it up, looked over to my mother, and said with a totally serious face and a nod:

"Holding the hose!"

It sounded so ridiculous that all three of us started laughing hysterically to the point that we couldn't even stand up anymore. I had to wipe off my glasses three times because I was crying.

And I feel like a total ass for it.

It was ridiculous, and I have no idea what the hell possessed me to say such a thing in such a way. It just came out of my mouth without me even really thinking about it. Such a dirty remark...Oi.

Anyways.

This weekend, we're going camping. We just got back from Vegas, I just got done with jury duty, and now we're going camping. Criminey, can't we just find SOME kinda time to...rest? Oh well. At least the trailer will be pinstriped and my mom and sister will have a funny story to tell about me to my relatives.

*facepalm*

Kid's Shows

Yes, I occasionally do watch shows meant for little kids. The fact that I babysit has something to do with it, but I'll admit that even before taking on the responsibility of watching a 7 year old girl I occasionally watched shows like Dora the Explorer or Handy Manny.

Because I am a dork.

I find it hard to watch the shows on Disney Channel though, because I grew up with classics such as The Lion King and Aladdin and the shows those movies spawned. I watched shows like Mickey Mouse Club and Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers. I watched movies like The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast, and I enjoyed them.

Kid's shows didn't seem to insult the intelligence of the kids watching them. They treated kids like smart individuals who could understand more than people gave them credit for. Some people might say I'm remembering the shows this way because I was a kid myself when I watched them. But I recently found myself looking up some of the old shows I used to watch on the internet (lovely place, isn't it?), and watching a few of them. And while some of the dumber jokes came across as cheesey to me now, the shows themselves were good. I could enjoy them just as much as an adult as I did as a child. Maybe it's nostalgia talking; but maybe, just maybe, shows were smarter back then.

Take Peter Pan for instance. Looking back on that movie now, there were actually quite a few adult themes hidden within it (not the least of which is the blatant racism against Native Americans). As a child, I enjoyed the movie, but as an adult, I find I can appreciate it just a bit more, and formulate my own opinion about what's going on rather than rely on my parents to explain some of it to me. The same goes for many of the movies I watched as a little kid.

And I'm all for making a television show based on a movie. I used to watch Timon and Pumbaa all the time when I was little. And hell, I LOVE Penguins of Madagascar. As long as the television show keeps true to the original characters from the movie, it's not a big deal.

Which leads me to the point of this post.

Remember when I mentioned Peter Pan earlier? Captain Hook was right up there in the list of Disney Villians that scared the living shit out of me as a kid. The fact that he was willing to kill a little girl (Wendy) by making her walk off the edge of a plank and drown in the water terrified me to no end, especially considering that I was a little girl myself when I first watched the movie. And I knew perfectly well that, if Wendy died, Hook would have killed the rest of those kids as well. It was terrifying to me. Sure Hook was a little whiny and annoying, but when it came right down to it, he was scary as hell.

Well, the other night I fell asleep with my tv on. I had been watching a movie on Disney Channel, so that's what was on when I woke up. Now, Disney Channel, like many other television networks for kids, has a broadcast time in the morning reserved specifically for preschoolers. These are the types of shows adults watch that make us literally feel like our brains are melting. They call it Disney Junior. And most of the shows are like any other kid's tv show, and they like to teach children lessons about life and how to act around other people.

Well, Disney Junior recently became host to a show called Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I guess it's primary purpose is to teach children how to share, or something. I don't know, I've never actually watched a full episode. The premise is that Jake, his two friends, and their obnoxious talking parrot somehow managed to get into Neverland and become child pirates. They search for treasure and stuff. *shrug*

Okay, remember what I said about Captain Hook? How he used to terrify me as a child and all that jazz?

Well, if you ever watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates, you will be throwing everything I said about the pirate out the window.

Hook, as I said before, was always kind of whiny and ridiculous, but he always managed to get the job done. If it hadn't been for Peter Pan, he would have probably killed off most of the people in Neverland by now. And true, it's a little silly that one boy with the power to fly could take down an entire crew of pirates just with wit and a little bit of gumption, but that was part of what made the story charming.

In Jake and the Neverland Pirates, they've completely taken out any competency Hook may have possessed, and turned him into a whiny, completely useless man-child. He LITERALLY throws temper tantrums when things don't go his way, and instead of trying to steal back the treasure the kids stole from him (way to teach kids a lesson, Disney! Let's teach them to steal!), he just sits on his boat and sulks like a little boy.

Now, as I've said before, I don't mind when people make a television show off of a movie, so long as the characters match the personalities of the originals. With this particular show, they've made Captain Hook a laughing stock within the Disney universe. It's absolutely ridiculous, to be completely honest.

I'd hate to see what the writers of this show would do to other Disney Villians.

I guess my main problem with this is that kids now will never be able to truly appreciate the "classic" days of Disney. The little girl I babysit has never seen Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Beauty and the Beast (though she does know all of the princesses by name). I had to force her to sit down and watch Aladdin, which she wound up truly enjoying anyway.

I know that I'm a little biased toward the way I first saw things. I hate remixes of songs simply for the fact that it's a change from the original song, and I hate change. I don't like it when Glee performs songs like Defying Gravity, because it takes away from the original, and those who have seen Glee's version first like that version better and say that Idina Menzel "sings it wrong." Maybe this whole rant is simply because, yes I do hate change, and I hate the way they've changed one of my favorite Disney Villians.

I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic? Either way, it annoys me.

A Big Decision

I've decided to go back to school.

I'm hoping to go to school and gain my BFA in musical theater. It unfortunately requires me to go to school out of state, because Colorado sucks when it comes to theater, but I think I can do it. I'm pretty exciting, and I've already applied to three schools and have an audition set up with one. If all works out, I should be heading out to classes at the beginning of next year (January or February, depending on which school takes me).

I'm pretty excited, but also nervous. I'm trying to get into an INCREDIBLY competative field, where only the best of the best excell at what they do. I know I'm good, and I'm somewhat confident, but I also have this fear that I won't be good ENOUGH. It sucks really.

Oh, well. At least I'm trying, right?

Another Game Night

My family likes game nights. Well...not my immediate family, my extended family. My immediate family is fine with sitting down to play a game of cards or Monopoly, and we don't need to make a huge deal out of it.

Game Night wouldn't be such a big deal (to me, anyway) if we didn't play games like Cranium or Trivial Pursuit at 10:00 at night, when we're all fighting to stay awake. It's like everyone on that side of the family doesn't ever sleep. They're awake in the middle of the day, and then they're awake at freaking midnight, and THEY NEVER SEEM TIRED! It's ridiculous.

Unfortunately, they also seem to believe that everyone else is the same.

Every time we have Game Night, we don't start playing until 8 or 9 at night. Now, Tinkerbelle gets bitchy when she gets tired, and games are not an acception to that rule (although, lately she's been bitchier than normal, so being tired seems to have nothing to do with it anymore). The main problem is that we seem to have to work around everyone's work schedules -- everyone's work schedules except ours, of course.

Last year, Thanksgiving was postponed because my cousin had to work.

Everyone wanted Tinkerbelle to try and get off early from work the last Game Night we had so that we could work around their schedule.

My cousin had us hold off on Christmas presents because he had to work (really, what kind of shitty job has you working on Christmas?).

Tinkerbelle had to get up early the next morning for work, and they were here until almost midnight.

See what I mean?

It's like the entire family revolves around my know-it-all cousin. Now, keep in mind that my cousin is nearly 40, has never had a girlfriend, works at Comcast answering phones for a living (seriously, what a shitty job), has some kind of computer degree he does nothing with, is working toward getting another degree he'll probably do nothing with, and may as well still live with his parents since he's always around them anyway. He lives in his grandfather's house (his mother's father), and visits his parents every single day. He vacations with them, every time they go on vacation. He goes curtain shopping with his mother. He goes grocery shopping with his mother. He shares every single opinion he has with his mother. Seriously, there's something wrong with that relationship. I mean, I completely and totally understand loving your mother with all your heart, but if you can't even stay home when she goes on vacation halfway across the world, you have a serious problem. It would be different (maybe) if her husband were dead, but he's not.

And I'm sick of the family revolving around this Mamma's Boy.

Luckily, tonight we played a game we could all enjoy. It wasn't too difficult, but still kept us on our toes, and it was entertaining while being something everyone could do (instead of acting, sculpting, or drawing).

Now, my entire family? We're visual learners. We need to physically see how something is done in order to understand it. Which basically means that, when we're playing a new game, we all need to see, read, and understand the rules in order to have a good time.

Unfortunately, my cousin is like, the Rule Nazi, and doesn't share the rules.

Tinkerbelle actually had to stand up and steal the rules from behind his back just to understand what the hell she was doing in the game. He never noticed, but I'm sure he would have uttered an annoyed sigh and audible eye-roll had he seen. He's like a man with the remote to the t.v. except...with a piece of paper that comes inside the game box.

To top it off, my aunt seemed really pissed off tonight, for no reason I could really understand.

Oh, and my aunt's brother and sister-in-law (my aunt married into the family and isn't related to us by blood) have a SEVERELY autistic little girl, who likes to scream for no reason and tear glasses off of your face. Granted, I know she can't really help that sort of thing, but...damn. I really, REALLY hope I don't have an autistic child, because I would not be able to handle it. And this is coming from someone who's mother once told her that she thought she was autistic as a baby (and I still may have Asperger's, though I've never been diagnosed). Luckily for us, the nurse they have working for them offered to stay until the game was over. That kept the little girl occupied the whole night, which was nice. Yes, they have a nurse working in their house taking care of thier child. That's how severe she is.

Anyways, it's been an eventful evening, my cousin's birthday. Oh, yes, it was that same annoying cousin's birthday today. I've lost track of how old he is but...I think he was born when my mom was 8 or so...I don't feel like doing math, bleh.

He's good for something, though! He's taking me to Les Miserables in September.