The days online worlds wear you down...

It's a big world.  On planet Earth there are billions and billions of people, each with their own dramas, their own way of living their lives and so forth.

Then there are the millions upon millions who play in online worlds.  Ok, I'm torn on what kind of individuals gravitate towards online worlds, whether they be ones based on puzzles, like Uru, or combat, like WoW or just a social outlet, such as Second Life or any number of brand-new social worlds that are just based on hanging out with people and being virtual consumers.

Every single online world out there is a social world, but I've found that in solely social online worlds, i.e. Second Life, they are usually filled with lonely people or ones with some sort of emotional retardation.  The social retards make up the majority, but while the ones who suck the life out of you and/or cause you to lose IQ points are there in great abundance, I have remarkably found one group of friends that has lasted through 2 online worlds that are not emotionally retarded in the least.  They just hang out in social worlds for fun and contact with friends far away.  I have no issue with them, but as in all circles of friends, we do have those one or two emotional retards that gravitate toward us.  When it comes to those folks, I run every time they get near me, and when I get an e-mail from them, I immediately feel violated or contaminated in some way.  So rather than get sucked into their melodramatic lives, I don't hesitate, I immediately delete any type of correspondence they send my way. I'm on a drama-free diet.  You don't like it?  Tough.

In my adventures in Online worlds, my least favorite people are the needy ones.  I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty, but when I see on Facebook a "woe is me" entry from someone I added as a friend just out of courtesy to my close friends, I just shudder.  Ok, if I've said it once, I'll say it again, "Desperation is the world's WORST cologne", if you put it out there that you're desperate for attention, you'll drive people away in droves.  I'm sorry but I refuse to be a guest at their personal pity party.  I've got a life that's not always easy (who's is?), and I'm not my own guest of honor at my own personal pity party, so I sure as hell am not going to partake in theirs.

Some people just can't quite come to grips with the fact that their problems are not ours, nor do we want them to be, but still they lay it on thick with their woes and problems and expect us to fix it for them.  My friends know, if you have a problem and I can help fix it, I'm all-hands-on-deck, but when it's something no one can possibly do anything to affect any sort of change in the situation, that gets annoying really fast.  It's not because I'm being elitist or anything like that, it's because those people are so desperate for attention that they cling.  No one likes a clinger, especially me.  Tell me your good news and move on, otherwise, please remember I have a life and it's not all wine and roses, but when it's not, I don't hang it around other people's necks.  I communicate with my close friends, let them know what's going on, then just leave it be, they don't need to know the details, if they ask, I tell, but I don't make it my life's mission to make sure everyone hurts with me, or worse, pities me.  If something annoys me or is something I find conversation worthy, I post it in my blog.  If you want to read it, do, if you want to skip over the drama, move on.  It's easier that way.  But one thing you will never find me doing is sending out a "woe is me" wah-wah Facebook entry.  It's bullshit when people do that.  It sucks the life out of people.  You want good?  Send out good vibes, you'll get them in return.

Now when you're in a team activity, such as raiding in World of Warcraft, social and emotional retardation become magnified.  There is no two ways about it.  From general and trade chat on down to guild chat, there are not a whole lot of people with common sense to pee on or even have the slightest notion of common courtesy.  When you have a 25-person raid and only 18 show up, that's 7 people who have screwed 18 others over.  I don't care what the raid leader is like or what the guild policies are, if you say you're going to show up, you show up!  If you're going to blow it off, hit "tentative" on your invitation to the event, don't just say that you'll be there, then screw over the people that are counting on you to be there by blowing it off.  That's rude.

Now, I'd rather step on my fingers than say something bad about any of my guildies, I love them all.  But, we've got a few people who think it's ok to come to the raid without flasks or reagents, go away from keyboard before a pull, and decide that during our raid time, where we've taken time out to make sure they could go with us, they ultimately believe that their life and time is more precious than the rest of ours.  If you think your time is more valuable than the rest of ours, think again.  You don't see me getting up and farting around my house, phasing out or any other sort of dipshit thing before a pull or directly after a wipe or a boss falling.  NO.  When I sit down to raid, I'm on time.  As a matter of fact, I'm early most of the time. I go to the bathroom, get my drink and get all of my other pre-raid rituals out of the way before we get underway. I am very aware that the other people inside the raid are counting on me to do my job, not lag behind, not go afk and most certainly they expect me (as I expect from them) to give a shit about what we're doing.

One of my dearest friends who I love more than anyone in the world is one of my guildies.  I've watched them play with great heart and know-how, but it's seasoned with a lot of horrible and inconsiderate raid habits.  I've gone to bat multiple times with the raid leader and guild master to get my friend an invitation for the 25-man raid because they've stopped inviting them because their raid habits so are inconsiderate (to put it kindly).  When the person I've stepped up for time and time again decides to go afk, fart around or phase out, they make me look like shit and since I've gone out on a limb for them and begged for their invite, it really ticks me off that they've used my good graces to get in then treat it as if it was nothing.  As Guild Mom, that makes me look terrible and throws my judgment into question and that's one thing I don't appreciate in the least.  Then they complain to me that they don't have a 'raider' rank like I do.

Ok, now I'm going to get in the dirt because I'm sick and tired of dealing with it.  Why do I have a 'raider' rank?  Because, I bring a whole hell of a lot of nutritional value to the raid.  When it comes to being solid as a player and as a part of the raid, I'm as solid as it gets.  I was dual-spec before there was even dual-spec capability.  I spent 4000 gold (for you non-WoWer's, that's in-world currency that you earn by doing in world activities such as quests) over six months making sure I could do my dailies every day and still be able to raid at night before there was even the notion of dual-spec.  It was countless trips to Moonglade at 50 gold a pop per respec for six months without question or hesitation to make sure I was doing my part for the raid.  Lucky for me, dual-spec came along when it did...now when they ask me to switch specs I switch, change flasks and food, re-buff, and in a matter of seconds, I'm ready to do any job they ask me to.  I bring fish feasts and I've laid them out time and time again, even months on end with customized macros.  I did thousands of handwritten questions for Pre-Raid Trivia so people could learn their strats.  I've shown up for almost every single raid night for almost the last two years (only being late a handful of times, but never by much and only missing a total of 10 raid nights), when I can't make a raid night, the raid leader and guild master know at least 24-48 hours in advance.  I always accept my invites on the calendar, when I sit down to raid, I do my job and know my strats.  I don't AFK and I most certainly don't "phase out".  I don't horseshit around.  I show up to do my part for the team.  I don't sit there and "I" this and "I" that, it's about the team goddamn it.  There is no "I" in T-E-A-M.  Either you're a team player or you're not.  It's just that simple.

I take care of my guildies.  I was voted the Heart of my guild for 2009 and I sure as hell hope I can win my title again for 2010 because I not only look after myself, but I'm taking care of 50 other people.  Making flasks, glyphs, armor kits, cutting gems, you name it, and I've always done it.  When people have a problem, who do they come see?  Mama Rel (a.k.a. ME).  Who has bailed people out, gone to bat for them time and time again?  I've bandaged skinned knees, put ice on wounded prides and kept track of a list of guildie's babies, birthdays, favorite foods and so forth.  I make sure every single person in our guild feels special and valued, but then I'm expected to not be insulted because you don't give a shit about a team I'm trying to help build and have nothing but ill things to say about how my efforts will or won't do?  That people don't give a shit?  Well people give a shit when they have a reason to.  When Mama Rel has bailed them out or taken care of them, don't you think there is a modicum of guilt that goes on if they feel they've let me down?  You better believe it pal.  That's the power of believing in and supporting people.  When they know that there is someone who's going to care about how they are doing and encourage their good habits and help them do better in guild life, they're more apt to take part and become more committed to the goals of the team.

Night after night I show up.  I do my rounds, I check on people, I take care of my daily quests and fit in my battlegrounds, arenas and other fun activities because WoW is my hobby.  BUT, I'm also a part of a team that raids end-game content.  I'm a team player and it wears me down when I have to deal with the bullshit I do just because people just don't 'get it' about how their actions directly affect not only one person, but an entire guild full of people.

It wears me down when I have to put up with it.  I'm the morale lady for my guild and it's not easy doing it day in and day out.  There are days I want to shoot people in the butt with my hunter's bow or give them a sharp claw straight in the behind.  But, what do I do?  I just let it go and I have fun because I love taking care of my guildies.  It's what I view as doing my part for the guild.  A contribution of time and energy to make being in our guild a fun and rewarding experience.

Yeah, all guilds have their drama and bullshit.  It's a team activity.  When you have more than just you around, there's going to be differences of opinion and all sorts of whathaveyou.  It's life!  It's family!  We all hurt and/or annoy our family members and people we're closest to the most.  When you're in a guild, you're a part of a team, whether it raids end-game or not.    When people aren't aware of the fact that their actions affect others inside the green lines of guild chat or over Ventrillo, they're the ones who ruin hobby and play time for others.  That's what makes me sad.   That a close friend is driving me up the wall, that's even worse.

But then, it's not all about just one or two or seven guildies ruining it for others...sometimes, you just have people who you think are going to be good players in your guild, but just end up eating up game time by becoming a big, fat lemon and you keep thinking the day they /gquit will be the day the entire guild wins epics all at the same time.

One of our guildies posted a great video the other day...one that the WoW'ers out there will enjoy:




The one y'all will recognize from me is the "Good gear bad player" scenario...it only gets about 10 seconds worth of time in the video, but, I did cover the hot points in my Dante's Inferno post a couple of months ago.  Here's what I told my guildies:


"The Good Geared Bad Player". That's been a major rantfest topic for me for a while now.

Here's a rare rant from Mama Rel:

I really hate the whole "gear score" phenomenon. I think it helps people lie about their skill and holds good groups back from being great. Every day, what do we see in trade chat, "LF X, Y & Z for ICC 10, please give GS and Achievements." Every time I see that, I wish to the gods that someone would come up with a Lemon Law for WoW. Nothing is worse than finding out you've brought a lemon into your group. A Lemon is a player with a great gear score but no freaking idea what to do with their toon, because ooh, it might be really shiny and pretty from the outside, but look out, it's what's under the hood that counts...and lemons, whether they are cars or players, no matter their appearance, just run like shit.

The ultimate thing not to do in front of me is have tremendous gear then play like crap. I am already banging my head against my own play issues trying to improve. I know there are things I can do to improve and I'm busting my butt trying to be better and play smarter. At least I know I'm trying...to see some lemon have gear that's great then do nothing with it...oh you could probably hear my teeth grind over vent because I've got one hell of a sour look on my face.

I've shared quite a few conversations with people that have asked me, "Rel, why do some individuals who are fantastically geared play like crap, then have the nerve to expect invites or believe they are entitled to one just because of their gear score?" I don't have an answer for them because I'd like to know the answer to that question myself. Nothing is worse than seeing a 3k+ gear scored lemon absolutely make sure to be the first to die by pulling aggro, standing in fire or some other noob move, then have the audacity to wonder why they died or blame a healer for their death. What's worse is those same people brag about their gear score, then do less damage than the tanks and wonder why they're not being invited. I'm sorry, but even under intense training with [my great class leader], no matter how hard I try, I just can't heal stupid. It's the one mechanic no healer can ever hope to heal through.

I loved the part at the end..."Try learning how to play your class, nub." Oh yes! They can buy mounts until the cows come home, have their umpteenth motorcycle built with the mountains of gold they have through playing the auction house, but heaven forbid taking that precious gold farming time and reallocating it to read a blog or go through forums to try to learn their class.

I know people in 245 gear that can shame people in 264. It's like what [our raid leader] once said, "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit." but I'll elaborate a bit more and say your gear score doesn't mean jack shit if you don't have the skill and know-how to go along with it.

If I've said it once, I've said it a MILLION times...

Gear doesn't define the player.

It's the player that defines the gear.

But also, it's the players that define the guild.

We pay a whole lot of money for our hobby.  I just wish some people would stop ruining it for others.  They can rectify the situation just by cleaning up their bad raid habits and their bad attitudes.  It's not easy being the Guild Mom, but I love it every single day because the people in my guild who are great players and great people, well, they make it all worth while.

Prequels...

Two posts in a single day?  OMG!  But, I was going through my e-mails, hoping to the gods that one of the thousands of resume's I've sent out is getting a nibble, and I saw my weekly e-mail from Fandango.com.  Going through, looking at the latest movies and movie blogs, I noticed one thing that made me a bit uneasy...a prequel to X-Men called X-Men: First Class.  Oy veh. 

I have nothing against sequel movies.  I enjoyed Iron Man 2, I enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I was even down with Alien Resurrection...I'm fine with sequels.  It's when Hollywood goes mad with the prequel is where I get annoyed.

We could actually pin this whole prequel madness on George Lucas.  Now him and his Star Wars prequels, well, that was just absolutely wonderful, and he showed that prequels can work, but really, do we need them for every...single...story out there?  Not really.

I went through Wikipedia's entry for "Prequel"...go look for yourself, it's filled with literature, films and so forth and they describe the prequel as a method to fill in the backstory of characters we've seen before.  But, here's my argument for why Hollywood really shouldn't bother...

Let's go with the #1 on my hotties list, Hugh Jackman and his ATM machine called Wolverine.  All he has to do is put on the claws and push the button, money comes out every time.  Fine, I'm great with that, I would be the last person to say, "No Hugh, put the claws away."  But, why did we need his backstory?  Why couldn't he have an all new story of his own?  Marvel only has been publishing Wolverine since 1974...ok, let's put it this way, Wolverine is only 3 years younger than me...that's 35 years of stories he's had published.  His backstory, well, I guess we all want to see more Wolverine and a great way to do that is to go into who and why he is, but really, we all know that Col. Striker put the Adamantium in his body...why go through all that again when he could be doing something far more different and expanding our knowledge of the character, not just rehashing what we already know.  Don't get me wrong, I loved X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I've got a copy in my DVD library, but in today's prequel mad Hollywood, it just seems like it tried to jump in with the rest of the George Lucas inspired madness and make a buck off the fact that they could tell the story in a way that wouldn't look cheesy.

Another bit of Prequel madness was Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.  If you've not read my review, go back a few posts, you'll find it and oh gods did I think it stank.  Between Batman Begins and Robin Hood, well, those are known as a "Reboot", but my question is, why oh why are you trying to resuscitate a dead horse?  It's dead!  Leave it alone!  Let it be!

Batman Begins...ok, I'll go Christopher Nolan and his reinvention of Batman.  Christian Bale I could go without, he definitely makes the top 10 list of broody boneheads that do not inspire me to watch a movie.  However, Nolan's vision for a new Batman, well, it leaves me indifferent.  I won't go out of my way to watch the Batman films, but if they're playing on HBO, I might be tempted to leave them on for background noise.  I'll never belittle the work of Morgan Freeman, he's cool, but really, outside of new gadgets and neat designs, why did we need to see Batman all over again?  The best Batman to me will always be the Michael Keaton/Tim Burton version.  Jack Nicholson as the Joker, how can you beat that?  Now, I shan't sit and belittle Heath Ledger's Joker.  He was sinister in ways that will give you night sweats, but good gods, look what happened to the man who played him.  If someone has to go that deep into character, guys, we need to leave that alone and not force an individual to those lengths and ultimately his death just to win an Oscar.

What happened to telling new stories, inventing new characters for us to be enthralled with?  Was there an Indiana Jones before Indiana Jones?  No.  Not really, just the notion of the 1940's serials.  Well, there's a unique thought and look at how huge it is now.  Can you really look at a Fedora and NOT think Indy?

You know, the world is filled with unique characters, unique thoughts and interesting angles that we've not considered.  We don't need to recycle characters just to entertain us.  I'm tired of prequels, sequels and all kinds of re-tells, reboots and re-whatevers.

Whereas I will sit in a theater and drool over Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man again or sit for hours on end just to watch Ewan or Hugh don their iconic roles...those are great and all, I enjoy their instant gratification kind of quality, but when I sat down and watched "Deception" starring Hugh AND Ewan...(omg, nearly about had cardiac arrest from the eyegasm I was having) it was a seedy story, it was fresh, new and the movie has been out a while, it was playing on HBO for Chrissakes!  But there are my two favorite leading men in a film that wasn't a reboot, a prequel or some other type of horse manure.  It was a unique story and one that I didn't know the characters, I didn't know the story, it was all brand new...and I walked away satisfied that I saw a unique view of the world through a different set of eyes that wasn't contrived or recycled.

Prequels, well, I can only say...Hollywood, get a life and get us some new stories.  When our pocket books are gasping from the financial squeeze that is on them, we need to be inspired to go to the theater, and it's not by recycling what we've already seen.  Movies are the land of imagination...so why are you not being more imaginative and bringing us something new?


Don't give us backstory, give us new story.

Iron Man 2 - oooooh.....

As we know, Robert Downey Jr. came in at #3 on my hotties list.  So, the other day, Mom calls me up and she asks if I want to go to the movies.  I reply, "I'd really like to see Iron Man 2", and being that my parents are sweet and fairly adventuresome, they agreed to see it with me.

Well, unlike the Robin Hood adventure, this time, I was on-time for the film.  Ok, stop for just a minute and marvel at the fact I was on-time.  Moments where I'm NOT a walking tardy are something to be ultimately awed at.

So being that I was on time, Mom and I headed over to grab some popcorn and meet Dad in the theater.  This time around, I got to see the trailers and whathaveyou but none of the films really looked appealing to me.

Then we finally got into Iron Man 2.

Before I get started, one thing.  A long, long, long, long time ago, I got to meet Mickey Rourke.  He didn't look back then like he does now.  When I met him, he still looked like he did in 9 1/2 Weeks.  Now, he doesn't even look like the same guy.  WTF is with his lips?  They look like they got into a fight with a vacuum cleaner!  Ugh!  I'm a little disappointed in how his looks have gone so south, but age will do that.  Age, drugs, boxing...all of the fun things that people do to themselves in the name of "living their lives".  I'm glad he's back on the scene and acting again, but he's definitely looked better.  But I digress, let's get into the film.

Since I'm already on the topic of Mickey, I thought he did an outstanding job as Ivan Vanko.  He didn't speak much, but even through the thick Russian accent he put on, he was still this amazing presence on screen.  Even when the oh-so-hot Robert Downey Jr. came on screen, he held his own.  So thumbs up to Mickey, even though I think he should sue whomever messed up his very beautiful face. 

All during the film, I kept waiting for Mickey or someone to punch Sam Rockwell and OMG, I wish someone would have.  I don't care for Sam Rockwell.  In every film I've seen him in, he just comes off as an obnoxious ass.  I never have been able to stomach him, then added on top of the fact that all he tried to be was a Robert Downey Jr. knock off...his presence ruined the film for me.  I was grateful for every moment he wasn't on screen.  Putting Robert Downey Jr. next to Sam Rockwell was like putting MAC Cosmetics in the same makeup bag as Cover Girl. (*Shudder* That's just SO wrong on so many levels...on par with putting a $500 bottle of 1992 Taittinger Artist Collection Champagne next to a bottle of $5 Asti Spumante.  Not even in the same ballpark and just so wrong it makes me writhe in agony and actually makes me nauseous.)  Every time he showed up, I just wanted to reach for the remote and hit fast forward...not just because I dislike Sam Rockwell, but because his character was just a lot of extraneous rah-rah that really had nothing to do with the rest of the film.  All he was, in essence, was Ivan's financial backer.  That's really all he was.  The way the story was written, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell's Character) didn't really have any relevance other than to show the petty jealousy small and unimaginative people have for those who have wonderful gifts.  I'm so over the whole jealous people thing that the word repugnant doesn't even seem to cover how really obnoxious and pathetic the character of Justin was and how the character was a detriment to the film. He just reminded me of a cheap salesman all the way through, but maybe that's what he was intended to be.  I'll leave that for you to decide.

Scarlett Johansson.  Ok, I know that guys think she's eye-candy, and I'm fine with that, after all, she's a very pretty young woman.  But, putting her next to Gwyneth Paltrow?  Yikes.  It was like putting Sam next to Robert...something there just did not mesh for me.  But, props to her for filling out the cat suit.  She was very athletic and she was interesting as the "superhero undercover" thing.  I just felt that she was extraneous and really served no purpose for the film plot.  She added some tension for Pepper and Tony, but not enough to make her a credible distraction.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts.  Rock on!  Woot!  Totally awesome!  Pepper really put her foot down for Tony this time.  She really lit it up as a reminder to him that even though there are dark hours, things just keep moving forward.  She looked great in her suits and she really kept the film moving in unique ways, but the one thing that really got me that was disappointing is that she stood there like a damsel in distress in one scene when we all know her character has the brains and wit to know when she's in trouble.  That was the only down moment I could ever pin on Pepper.  Other than that, she just rocked.  I love gals who can be a foil for the boys and not be swept away by charm or looks. 

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.  Ok, who doesn't love Sam Jackson?  The mushroom-cloud-laying-motherfucker from Pulp Fiction.  He was in full effect and I enjoyed him immensely on screen.  He is just so damn cool you can't say anything negative about him.  Rock on Sam.  Keep on gracing the screen for us!

Ok, this time around for Col. Rhodes, we had Don Cheadle.  No offense to Don, he's a great actor, but I'd have much preferred to see Terrence Howard reprise his role.  I know that there were contract problems there and a squabble over money, but Terrence should have sucked it up and enjoyed his role in the franchise.  I thought he'd have been much better in the role than Don Cheadle, but since we got Don, I thought he did a bang up job although he was wearing someone else's shoes.  He just didn't have the same kind of presence as Rhody as Terrence Howard did in the first film.  But other than that, hey, it's cool, I enjoyed seeing War Machine make his debut.  But did anyone else notice something?  The Mark II suit, well, it had that icing problem, remember?  What the hell was it doing in the air? 

And then we get to the real goods of Iron Man 2 - Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.

I don't think there is a single person on the planet that will argue that Robert Downey Jr. was not the perfect choice for Tony Stark.  I think the guy is the real life Tony Stark sans the flashlight in the chest.  No one personifies Tony Stark better than Robert and I think that that one point alone is what makes all of us appreciate his rise from the ashes...now, peculiarly enough...that line "rise from the ashes" is in the film when Tony talks about himself.  Hell, I thought Robert had walked into the confessional on screen for all of us.  I was so moved.  I sat there cheering, going "Hell yeah!!!"  But, the one part that really made me sad was watching Tony Stark "fall off the wagon" for a scene.  My fists clenched and I wanted to weep.  I just wanted to cry "Nooooooooooo!  Don't do it!"  My stomach knotted for Robert and the fact I never want him to fall off the wagon again.  He's too special to do that to himself.  That he could pull off Tony Stark falling off the wagon, well, I hope it served him as a really good kick in the pants as a 'don't go there' moment, because for me, that was the most painful and uncomfortable moment in the film.

Otherwise...if you've not seen the trailers or millions of articles out there on the internet about it, oh my goodness, go slap down your $7.75 for a ticket to see Iron Man 2.  It's 2+ hours of fun.  The story isn't the world's best, but it introduces some new pieces to the overall big picture for the franchise.  If you're like me,  you'll get your money's worth just to see one of the hottest men to grace the silver screen.

So, Iron Man 2...a big YES from me.  Just do it, you'll thank me for it later.

And don't even get twisted, when it comes out on DVD, it's going in my collection...and THAT way I'll get to fast forward through the parts with Sam Rockwell in it and still get to see the rest of the goods.

And by the way, does anyone know the name of the new element that got invented?  I think it should be called "Hottonium"...because Robert Downey Jr., he's just HOT as Iron Man/Tony Stark, along with one other reason, my real pal named Tony...oy veh, he's hot too!  *giggle*  I'll be his Pepper Potts any day!

On that note, for my pal KP, I have a song for the day, "Wish" by Letters Lost.  

Careful! It's hot!

Yeah, found that out yesterday afternoon while I was ironing.

I have pretty much accepted one overwhelming fact about myself.  I'm clumsy.

If I can step in it, step on it, burn myself with it, trip over it, bump into it and so forth, there's no doubt, I'll find some way to absent-mindedly hurt myself.  There's got to be some kind of record for pulling bonehead moves in your own home.  If there is a record on the books, I've got to be close.

Yesterday, it was a face off of epic proportions...me versus the clothes that needed to be pressed.  I'm a procrastinator when it comes to ironing.  Truth be told, it's because I'm afraid of three things:  1.) Burning myself on the iron, 2.) ruining my clothes or 3.) a combination of both.  Yeah, nothing's more fun than burning yourself then scorching your shirt.  *eyeroll*

My mother is a champion ironer.  She is.  She gets a really big kick out of doing the whole, "Look!  My iron is a steam-breathing dragon..." as she hits the steam button as she points it at me.  I know, it's my mom, she's got her cute moments.  But one thing is for certain, she has some amazing gifts.  She can turn a potato into an origami, she can improvise delicious meals AND she wields one mean iron.  I think the clothes might just iron themselves rather than come up against my Mom.  Nan and I know...you get the "look" from Mom and you straighten up real fast.  The clothes know...and they're afraid...

So with the back of my laundry room door loaded down with clothes that needed to be pressed, I made a command decision...come hell or high water, it was going to get done.

Last week, I cleaned out my iron.  Las Vegas, for all of it's wonderfulness...well, it has helluh hard water.   And as anyone that has ever lived in the Texas Hill Country will tell you, hard water is a real pain and wreaks havoc on appliances.  So, I got some iron cleaner at my local Bath, Bed and Beyond and sat down to clean my iron.  It wasn't too bad actually.  Just some hard water deposits and I was amazed that someone else that had also used it besides me (he doesn't have an identity anymore, so let's just leave him alone) didn't screw the thing up to high heaven as he had done to my other household gadgets.

So with clean iron in hand, I set up my board and for about 3 hours, ironed my clothes.  Now, I'm not like Mom, she can just look at the clothes and they'll go stiff as a board.  Me?  Forget it.  I can screw up a shirt in a matter of milliseconds.  Ironing is just not my bag.  I would run over my Polo shirts and just when I thought I had it right, what happens?  The fabric bunches and I end up with a big fat crease in the middle of everything.  ARGH!  I hate ironing!  So, what happens, I have to go back and fix it and you know how hard that is to do.


After about 3 hours, dodging some scorching steam and by some miracle NOT burning my fingers to kingdom come, my clothes are in my closet, pressed and ready to go when I want to wear them.


Lucky for me, the TV had some good stuff on...I flipped back and forth from "Wanted" to "Dune".  It was a great moment for me.  It was me getting stuff done along with two of my most favorite inspirational sayings in the world...

"Arakkis was created to train the faithful." from Dune...which I paraphrase for all my friends in the Myst Universe by saying "Uru was created to train the faithful", and trust me, when you've been through the ups and downs of Uru Live, trust me, you learn faith real fast.

Then...

"What the fuck have you done lately." from "Wanted".  It's my go-to phrase when I need to kick myself in the pants and get motivated and do things I need to do.  I even printed it out in huge type on 7 individual 8.5" x 11" pieces of paper and taped it to my wall above my computer screen.  It makes me ask myself what I did during my day that was worth while and getting me closer to my goals.

What have I done lately?  I tamed the wrinkle beast!  I ironed!

Boys.

I was doing some cleaning around the apartment with my television going and I realized I haven't had a post in a long time about cute guys.

You know, I'm a girl.  Well, girl is relative...I'm approaching 40 and well...'girl' doesn't seem quite accurate chronologically, but it suits my mind set.  I'm still 21 in my head.  And like Prince said, "It ain't about the body, it's about the mind..."  Yep, I'm still youthful in mind and heart, which I think will keep me young for a long time even though my body may disagree.

So, let's talk about boys.  Why not?  Just because I've taken a bite out of quite a few rotten apples does not necessarily mean that every single apple tree out there does nothing but produce bad apples.  No, I have sneaking suspicion that just as there are good apples out there, there are some good guys out there too.  I just have yet to find the perfect apple for me.  Sometimes I wish you could go to the "man market" go and look at all the different types and varieties then choose one that's just right for me.  It would be just like shopping for apples, produce or that perfect pair of shoes.  It would make things much simpler than having to worry about meeting someone and dating.

Dating.  Now that's a scary word.  I'm caught in a world that is filled with some self-doubt about my appearance and then there is the whole side of me that says, "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt", so why go through the trouble all over again?

There's the problem.  It's not that I want to go through all the trouble again, it's that boys, for the most part, are pretty to look at.  Some of them, albeit few, have some sort of nutritional value, whether it is in spirit, heart, or some other neat quirk.  But, most of all, I just like to look at them.  Whether they look at me, well, that's a different story altogether, but over all, it's fun to just look.

So, here's my top 5 list of cuties and why I (and a lot of other girls) think they are cute.


5.  Matthew Fox.

 
Ok, the name says it all.  Fox.  Now, here's what's cute.  His nose isn't perfect.  You know how there are just some actors who are just too perfect?  That their appearance is just too plastic or whatever?  Well, this guy, and I did catch a glimpse the other day watching that (whatever your opinion on it) Speed Racer, and there's this great profile and crooked teeth.  It just made him seem real to me. And for the first time the other day, I watched Lost.  He was just so damn cute.  And Heroic.   So, there's #5, Matthew Fox.

4.  Sam Worthington.

Ok, yes, I saw Avatar.  What virtual worlds junkie did NOT cry when his character's essence got transferred into his avatar's body?  I wept like a little girl.  But, let's talk cute points.  Ok, this one, he has perfect teeth, but the cutest part about him to me?  He used to live in his car.  I know what that feels like, so he gets cute points for perseverance.  But, he's also serious eye candy and I have to laugh when I watch his films where he has to do an American accent (remember girls, this is a hottie from Down Under), he always seems to goof and you can hear that Aussie accent come out.  (It's a "Other" thing...we always think things that are different are sexy or exotic.)  So, even though he's young...5 years younger than me...he still makes the list, although I would never go out with him for fear of the C-Word...cougar.  So, there ya go, #4 on the list, Sam Worthington.

3. Robert Downey Jr.

Alright, alright, this one is so cliché, but he still makes the list, but not for reasons you would think.  Ok, ever since he was a young kid, (I first saw him in Weird Science...remember that from the 80's?) I thought he was cute.  Then came drugs.  OY.  Do I know about that!  And I know what they can do to you and make you do.  His rehabilitation from druggie into America's Sweetheart status wasn't an easy road, and I can promise you that it's not from first-hand experience in doing the same thing.   It's not easy to resurrect yourself from the ashes, so that's Robert's cute point right there.  Next reason is that he actually recorded one of my favorite songs, a cover of "Your Move" by Yes.  His voice is so sweet!  But, Tony Stark aside, Robert Downey Jr.  has made the cut as #3...and he's even close to me in age which is the best part of all...he reminds me that there are cute guys out there my age who are doing things right.

2.  Ewan McGregor

Here we go with my #2 selection.  From looking drugged out in Trainspotting all the way up to playing Obi Wan Kenobi and so forth...nothing can get me to sit in a theater seat quicker than Ewan McGregor.  Ok, I'll be the bad girl for a moment and say I hated Moulin Rouge.  I did, I hated that movie as a whole and a part of the reason is that I don't like Nicole Kidman.  She's a great actress, but I'm just not overly a fan of hers.  What I will sit through that movie for is to hear Ewan sing.  OY!  He sing to me any day.  It's the smile, and it's how his EYES smile is what gets me.  I resonate with him because my eyes do the same thing, they do my talking for me.  So, there's #2 Ewan McGregor.

and, let's have a drumroll for the most obvious #1 of all time...

#1 Hugh Jackman

Ok, just because I like guys with long hair, let's have another shot with him with long hair...

It's ok, laugh with me.  I'm trying to be funny and have a bit of laughter and positivity in my day.  Nothing makes me giggle like cute boys.  Jackman, well, he's just so yummy on so many different levels, he sings, he dances, he's Wolverine...his list is too long to go into of the why's and how's he cute.  A visual nom-fest.  So, there's my #1 hottie that I would never kick out of my bed for eating crackers.  But props to his wife, she's one lucky girl and for that reason alone I wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole.

For that matter, the married hotties on my list would never be on my menu except to look at because simply, their girls deserve lots of respect for hanging on to these lucious, eye-candy, genetically gifted guys.

Sigh.  I wish something of the caliber of my list would knock on my door.  It'd be nice to go out on a date with a hottie.  It would do wonders for my self esteem.

But, I know lots of cute guys...and they all happen to be some of my best friends who are married to very wonderful women, and I would probably break those gal's faces if they ever hurt my slew of cute brothers.

Anyhow, it's fun to muse, it's fun to dream, but I'll go back to cleaning house, getting good grades and realizing, boys aren't the end-all, be-all, but they sure are fun to look at.

The new Robin Hood, definitely not improved.

Ok.  Let's just start with how I started my day.  After a Xanax induced sleep, I get a wake-up call from Nan.  It's the day to go to the movies.  She gives me an hour to get ready and I get close, but as I am a walking tardy, well, I ran late.  A phone call later, giving me a just scolding me for my tardiness, I was on the road to the movie theater.  The choice of film for the day:  Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.

Oh, this is one I did NOT want to see.  After sitting through it, yep, I was right.  Russell Crowe just does not do it for me like he used to.  The brooding thing is just over.  I've had my fill of the broody type.  Lived with it for 10 years and I've chewed on it until all the flavor has gone.  I want spunk and emotion from my leading men and well, sitting for 2 hours watching really repugnant men...Ridley Scott's Robin Hood gets an Ugh on my Oooh! meter.  Yeah, the film, when looked at it in it's entirety, didn't float my boat. 

The cast of the film made me think I was sitting through a hybrid of X-men Origins: Wolverine, A Knight's Tale, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Sherlock Holmes with Russell Crowe thrown on top as a would-be Gladiator(ial) cherry on the cake.

As we know I walked into the theater about 10 minutes late, and I felt gipped because the best part of going to the movies is the trailers.  But, much less to say, I walk in and who do I see up on the big screen?  The man who played Col. William Striker in Wolverine, Danny Huston; and just as repugnant as the Striker character was, so was his King Richard.  Same intonation, same everything, but this time he's in some medieval get-up scolding Russell Crowe's version of Robin Hood.  I knew it was a bad sign from the get-go, because the next scene, who do we see, the fella who played The Blob in Wolverine, Kevin Durande, sitting next to our would-be Robin Hood in a set of racks.  At this point, I started looking for the tattoo on Fred Dukes arm because I thought for sure Hugh Jackman was going to come running out of the bushes with claws flying to save this pitiful film.

Let's go through the good before we get to the bad.

Max Von Sydow was phenomenal!  I just love that guy!  From Dr. Kines in "Dune" to all of his other great parts, he gives the never-seen-before character, Sir Walter Loxley, zip and pizazz.  Even though his character is blind, he sees more than the rest of us do.  Rock on Max!  You the man! His moments on screen are something to enjoy while you get them.

I give props to Kevin Durande, his presence really gave some comic relief to the agony I was going through, such as when he's asked why he's called "Little John" and he replies, "Hey!  I'm proportionate!"  Funny.  And with his beefcake luscious body, even though his face might not light my fire in a big way, I was sated for my need for a bit of sinew and muscle.  Add in the Alan A'Dayle (Alan Doyle) and Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes) characters for their funny moments as Russell's "crew", they were great.  The parts where they actually got some quality screen time, you actually looked forward to and relished when they were on the screen. 

I also give props to Mark Addy (you remember him, he played Roland in A Knight's Tale).  His Friar Tuck wasn't bad.  This time around our favorite drunken friar liked to keep bees so he could make honey mead.  I got a big kick when he tossed some beehives at some ransacking french soldiers.  He added a bit of levity to the film.  Who doesn't love a drunk, pudgy faced friar?  All in all, Kevin Durande's Little John and Mark Addy's Friar Tuck, what little screen time they do get, were moments I enjoyed best out of the entire film.

I actually think Ridley Scott might be a sadist, simply for the reason that between Little John, Alan A'Dayle, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck, they were like showing a scoop of vanilla ice cream coated in Hershey's Chocolate Syrup to someone on a crash diet, then going "NOPE!  Can't have it!" Then taking a big bite in front of us, showing us something we'll never have.  It's just soooooo wrong!  Bastard! hehe.

Now, let's get into the bad:

The guy who played Prince-then-King John  (I smiled when Danny Huston who played King Richard took one through the gizzard...I thought to myself, "Yeah!  That's what you get for shooting Jackman in the head with Adamantium bullets!)...well, you know, when it comes to John, I'm not big on guys who like to lie or screw people over.  The character was just a regal horse's ass.  (Not to down on the thousands of horses in the film, those were beautiful.)  The character of John made me ill.  My favorite moment that I am the only one who laughed at was when he said, "It's my first time in battle, I'll lead!"  It reminded me of some newb in World of Warcraft trying to lead a raid, you know it's going to be an epic failfest.  So, that's another strike against the film.

The biggest and worst type-casting move ever was to bring in the bad guy from Sherlock Holmes, Mark Strong, as our villain once again.  Yes, we know he can play bad guys.  Saw him in Sherlock Holmes and wanted to fast forward through him in that film too.  He's dark, he's another brooder and even if he did smile and tried to have charm, he's just so blah that you just want to go head out to the concession stand so you can miss the parts he's in.

Now, everyone but everyone has seen Costner's version of Robin Hood.  I missed Alan Rickman this time around as the Sheriff of Nottingham because the turkey they got to play the Sheriff this time around...I just hummed Bob Marley's tune and wished to hell that I could have shot that Sheriff and anyone else that wanted to come near that part with a 10-foot pole.

Cate Blanchett.  I love her, she's great.  She's really good at doing what I do, making due with what you've got.  And let me tell ya, she didn't have much to work with.  This Marion was a stand-up gal who reminded everyone that she sleeps with a dagger and isn't afraid to use it.  And like a moment taken out of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, she even rides into battle in armor from head to toe. 

As far as the romance between Robin and Marion...not the fireworks we saw from Kevin Costner and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, those were great moments.  Hate to say it, but Russell and Cate didn't have it going on.  Cate's Marion was too stand up to let a brooding bonehead upstage her much less sweep her off her feet.  My feet, and we all know what a hopeful romantic I am, stayed firmly planted on the ground with a "yeah, we know, Robin and Marion end up together...it's been the same for hundreds of years, we get it."

On the way to the theater after finding out I was going to see Robin Hood, I groaned and exclaimed, "I want to see Iron Man instead!"  Yeah, it would have been a much better use of $7.75.

Best part of the film that made it worth the money?  Seeing Nan out and about on top of her leaning over and whispering, identifying all of the different types of horses in the film and seeing her joy in watching the horses on screen.  Hey, if it takes $7.75 for Nan to tell me about horses when I know how much she loves them...I'm in.  If you love horses, go see the movie, there's plenty of equine joy for you to find if you can ignore the rest of the rah-rah going on.

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood?  A big NO from me.  Save your money and go for it when it comes out as a rental instead.  Ridley Scott is much better at scaring the shit out of us in outer space than he is covering us in mud.  I actually looked around for my remote a couple of times during the 140 minutes so I could fast forward through parts of the film.  Ridley, back to the Aliens you go pal.  Do us all a favor, don't you DARE touch another time honored-classic for as long as you live!  We did not need Robin Hood Begins.

Feng Shui'ing the apartment

Ok, the semester is over, so I've got free time on my hands.

On Monday, I went out to mail off my friend TJ's birthday card.  I was hungry while I was out, so I decided to take myself to an early dinner, but being as I eat alone all the time, when I go out to eat, I always take a book.  Well, I was a goof and had forgotten to take a book with me, so into the neighborhood Barnes and Noble I went. 

I love my neighborhood bookstore.  It's a candy shop for a bibliophile like me.  I checked the shelves for my favorite romance author, Sherrilyn Kenyon, but I have every single book she's published and I have to wait for her latest release "Infinity" to come out on the 25th, so I struck out there. 

I then looked around for an advertising section to see if I could find a good ad book.  Nope, no Advertising section, truth told, I didn't try very hard to find it, I just browsed the tops of the shelves to see the sections, but didn't see one on business in my immediate vicinity.  What I did see though struck me as interesting...Interior Decorating.  My apartment is a disaster zone, so I figured, hey, what better way to put myself in the mode to clean up and get organized than to have a decorating goal.  So, I stumbled over into the decorating section and found a book called "Feng Shui in a Weekend" by Simon Brown.  It's all about how to make your home more Feng Shui in about a weekend's worth of time.  Ok, let's just set the record straight, before I purchased the book, I knew all of jack shit about Feng Shui except it's supposed to be really healthy and make your home feel wonderful.  That's about all I knew.  But, if it'll get the energy in the apartment feeling good, I'm all about that.  So, I walked up to the counter, bought it, and took it to dinner with me.

Sitting in my neighborhood Chili's restauraunt (where I usually take myself to eat), I cracked open the book and began to read.  Right off the bat I find illustrations of Tortoises, Dragons, Phoenixes, Snakes and Tigers.  I found out that if you sit with your back against a wall, it's a tortoise thing because it's hard shell implies protection and you're more apt to relax with your chair or sofa against a wall.  Neat.  My couch is already against the wall, so at least I don't have to move furniture right now.

I also read about different types of plants and how it's a good idea to have a plant next to the computer.  Never would have seen that one coming a mile away, but there it is in the book having to do with electromagnetic radiation or some such thing.  I don't know, I'm not that far into the book yet.

To tell the truth, it's going to take more than a weekend to get through the book, even longer to make the adjustments to the apartment, but I figure it this way, it's a project, it's keeping me busy.

The one thing I noticed in flipping through the book is that it talks about clutter.  Now, as we know, I used to have to live with a lot of clutter.  Well, it's taken a while but I'm slowly but surely reducing the amount of clutter left behind by someone else.  Just today I worked on my bar next to the entry way of my apartment.  It was laden with all kinds of old receipts left by my previous co-habitant and things that just didn't need to be there anymore, but it was rough to try to get rid of it before because I was busy with school and all of my other activities.  Now that my days are free?  Yeah, I've reduced a fair bit of clutter there.  It's amazing, more than half of the stuff my old co-habitant had was trash.  Literally.  He filled the house with garbage.  I didn't think it was that bad until I really went through the items on the bar.  So, as the Feng Shui book and common sense says...yeah, I got rid of it.    I also cleaned out some bins that he had made sure to mess up in the bathroom, cleaned those and got them in respectable shape again. 

But, I'm not anywhere near finished yet.  My apartment is a very large project and it needs a LOT of work.  So, one part down and I'll take up another section tomorrow.  Piece by piece, that's how you solve a puzzle and it's a great way to look at a large project, just little piece by little piece and before long, you've got one big picture.

I applied for 4 jobs today.  Let's hope someone nibbles.  I need to be out of the house, but if I'm stuck here, I'm going to make the most of the time and get this place into shape!