Movies

I ended up renting 4 different movies yesterday evening. Each was different from the other, and each was good in its own way. Here are my thoughts on each:

1. Notes on a Scandal
This movie was initially recommended to me by a friend at work. This movie, more than any of the others I rented this weekend, resonated with me. I felt very sympathetic to both characters, but more to Judi Dench's character. I can easily imagine how the loneliness of the years impacted her enough to make her an obsessive woman with only her cat and fantasies for company. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 9.

2. John Tucker Must Die
This movie was just a little bit of fun for the weekend. It actually was a bit better than I expected. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's still cute. I find it a little hard to believe that the female lead can be "invisible" in school given that she's blonde, cute, has a good figure, and is smart, but whatever. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

3. Scoop
This movie was the most unexpected of the 4. Having seen Match Point, which was another Woody Allen movie starring Scarlett Johansson, I was expection something a little more slick and mysterious. This movie was a little bit more like a comedy - particularly the scenes with "death". I also couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that Scarlett Johansson's character was a bit of a nerd. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

4. Freedom Writers
This movie was probably the most predictable of all 4 in terms of what the ending was going to be. Anyone who has seen Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, or even Mr. Holland's Opus knows where this movie is going to end up. But that's not really a bad thing given the movie's subject matter. The only "complaint" I had with this movie was the pointlessness of Patrick Dempsey's character. I guess he serves the purpose of illustrating just how dedicated Hilary Swank's character was becoming to her students, but really, was that 100% necessary? Anyway, it is always inspiring to see a teacher make a difference in the lives of her students, so I enjoyed the movie anyway. On a scale of 1 to 10, this was an 8.

Ways in which I am like MacGyver

Okay, so there's really only one way in which I'm like the character MacGyver - I was able to fix a problem with a single paperclip (and no, the problem wasn't that I need to hold some papers together)! The zipper on my jacket broke and for now, I'm using a paperclip to operate the zipper. This is only a temporary fix until I can buy a new jacket . . . but I can live with it for now.

Just came home from seeing the movie "Fracture" with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Wow! It was a very, very compelling courtroom drama. I'm impressed with the Canadian boy, I must say. The whole time I was watching all I could think of was "where's the gun?" Now I know. I also saw a preview for a movie that I want to see. It's called "Martian Child" and it stars John Cusack. It looks like a really touching story. The premise is a little goofy - single man adopts a young boy who thinks he's from Mars - but I have a feeling that the Mars bit is really only an opening into a deeper discussion of the importance of being yourself. At least, I hope so.

I think maybe tomorrow I will walk over to the video store and rent a few movies that I've been meaning to see. I haven't actually rented any videos in a long while (can't really remember the last time I rented a movie) and it will keep me busy while I'm stuck at home doing chores.

Hello out there in blog land!

Hello fellow bloggers (or at least the ones not currently too addicted to facebook to keep up with blogging)! How is everything with you? I'm fine, but pretty tired these days. No specific reason I guess, just life catching up with me. My students have been fine, work is fine, blah, blah, blah. I'm closer to choosing my paint colours, but I was rather disappointed today when I stopped by Home Depot for some sample paints and discovered that it would cost me nearly $50 to get the 3 colour samples I wanted. FORGET IT! I picked up some more paint chips and plan on taping them up around the room in order to make my final decision.

Went to a re-gifting party last night hosted by my lovely sister. The basic idea was that people brought over stuff that they no longer wanted (either new or gently used stuff, not garbage) and had the opportunity to take other people's stuff. The stuff that was left over at the end of the evening was being donated to charity. It was a really cool idea and worked quite well, for the most part. There weren't a ton of people, and the stuff that people had brought was good stuff. I think in the future though, there should be a few "rules" or procedures set up so that choosing items is fair. There weren't any problems or anything last night, but I could see problems arising if more than one person really wanted one particular item. Anyway, I got rid of the stuff I really didn't want anymore, and came home with nothing. There were a couple of things that I would have taken if nobody else had wanted it, but the items were taken after all.

Last night before the party my purse strap broke. Has that ever happened to you? It happened to me about a year ago, which is what prompted me to buy the purse whose strap broke yesterday. Had the fabric not been so thick, I probably would have been able to sew the strap back on, but I didn't have the best needle for the job and there were about 4 layers of fabric to sew through, so I couldn't get it back together. The purse was starting to get a little worn (it wasn't overly expensive to begin with) so I decided to use the opportunity to get a new purse. I ended up splurging and getting two purses - one black and one brown. Both are Roots purses, and the black one is really similar to the one I was replacing, so I'm happy.

Back to work already again tomorrow - yuck! I love my job, I really do, but I'm looking forward to having a week off next month! Anyway, I'd better get back to those paint samples.

Reality Roundup

I'll admit it, I'm addicted to reality tv. I just finished watching America's Next Top Model and now I'm watching The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll. On Sunday's I watch The Amazing Race and The Apprentice. On Mondays I watch The Bachelor (but not as regularly as the other reality shows) and on Thursdays I watch Survivor. Here are my thoughts on what's happening on the shows:

The Amazing Race: What can I say? I actually really did like Rob and Amber and I'm sad that they're gone. Of the teams that are left, I think I like Oswald and Danny the best (Oswald is soooo cute!!). Charla and Mirna are growing on me, but I honestly don't care at all for the Beauty Queens (Dustin and Kandice) or Eric and Danielle.

The Apprentice: What a lousy season! I can't believe Trump moved the show to L.A. It seems to have lost its edge. The business tasks, for the most part, have seem rather uninspired. This business in the last episode of having the final task being done by the final four was just lame. The task was just like any other task and it sucked! Trump had better get his act together and move the show back to New York or I'm not watching again next season!

The Bachelor: Can't say I have many strong opinions about the show right now. Andy is cute, that's for sure. He seems like a genuinely nice guy too.

America's Next Top Model: Kinda glad that Jael just went home. She takes awesome photos, but she really doesn't do well when she has to talk. I went through a period of not liking Rene, but I think she's getting better so I kinda like her again. I still like Brittany too. At this point I'm not really sure who's going to win.

The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll: I like Melissa R. She's so cute . . . Chelsea has an awesome voice though. Melissa S. is just a b*tch. She looks old too. Asia annoys me when she sings, but when she talked about her daughter during the interview I saw a new side to her. I still don't know who should win.

Survivor: Some interesting twists this season. I really like Earl and Yau-Man. I liked Michelle too, but she was voted off last week. I'd love for Yau-Man to win!

Sun Run!

Edit (April 16, 2007): My official time, according to the Vancouver Sun newspaper, was 1 hour, 57 minutes and 31 seconds. Woot woot!

These are the photos from today's Sun Run. My mom, step-dad and me!! We walked it in approximately two hours - my best time by a good half an hour. I felt great during and after the walk. I actually really felt like I could turn around and walk the whole thing again by the time we were done :-)

Sweet Dreams

Okay, so I had a very interesting dream last night. It started on the skytrain, heading eastbound. I was crossing one of those pristine landscapes that you only get in BC: snowcapped mountains, a clear blue mountain lake, etc. Somehow I knew I was heading towards New West station. For anoyone who doesn't know about the skytrain, snowcapped mountains and a clear blue lake are NOT what you cross to get to New West station. Anyway, when I looked down at the lake (and it was most definitely a lake), I saw a bunch of whales! At first I saw blue whales and humpback whales (a lot were lying on little islands and not moving - not sure if they were dead, or just not being "used" at the moment. You'll see what I mean in a minute.) After another minute or so, I saw a bunch of killer whales frolicking and playing in the water. As we approached the station, I looked to my left and saw a killer whale "shaking" it's head (think "Free Willy" style). You think that would have tipped me off in my dream, but not yet! Anyway, we got close enough to the station to see people lined up waiting to board the train. That's when everyone on the train saw a killer whale jump up high enough to start trying to eat the people standing in line at the station! Everyone on the train and at the station started screaming! Then there were a few men who jumped out and tried to act like heroes, including the man above (Terry O'Quinn). When I saw him, I suddenly knew that we were in the middle of filming a scene from the show "Lost", except that nobody on the skytrain knew what was happening. All those whales? They were trained animals and props. In the next heartbeat, I was at work in the staffroom of the school. I was lying in bed (no, in real life there are no beds in our staffroom) in that near sleep state where you are aware of what's going on around you, but your eyes are closed and you don't care what's going on. There were only a few people in the staffroom, and they were in the kitchen area looking at a staff shopping list I had written. One of the other teachers was trying to take credit for it and it was annoying me, but I was too tired to say anything about it. A few seconds later I was walking out the door with one of the "Three Stooges", and I realized that she'd gotten a haircut. I knew it was a Thursday afternoon because she said "see you on Sunday morning at the Sun Run!" and I said "aren't you coming to work tomorrow?" and she explained that she was taking the day off to deal with a car payment problem she was having. That's when I commented on her haircut. I had to lie and tell her I thought it looked good, when in reality, short hair does not suit this woman at all! A few seconds later, we were both on the skytrain together, heading westbound. In reality, neither one of us takes the skytrain to get home. Anyway, she got off at a stop (don't know which one, it didn't look like any of the stops I'm used to) and was walking along a path parallel to the skytrain tracks. I looked over at her to wave when I saw that she had a tell-tale baby bump and was in fact pregnant, but nobody at work knew it yet. That's when I woke up. So. Weird.

Paint, paint, paint

Have to decide on paint colours. I would do like Dianne did and post my options, but I'm not feeling so technical right now. I have taken the enormous step of taping up some paint chips to the wall to see what I like. I took the chips to work yesterday to get some advice from some of the lovely ladies I work with (well, those still in the building past 3:30 anyway). They had a multitude of opinions, particularly after I showed them some pictures I had on my e-mail of what my place looks like. They were so curious to see what my place looked like that they crowded all around me and my computer. Discovered that I'm still claustrophobic . . . I thought I was going to die at one point when all 5 of them were standing around me! Luckily the feeling passed quickly. Unfortunately their opinions were very diverse and didn't bring me any closer to a decision! Laurie did suggest taping up the samples I liked the best, which I was planning on doing anyway, and that was about as helpful as it got.

I thought I may get some more guidance last night when my mom came over. Yeah, not so much. I mean, she did have lots of ideas, but they didn't really involve paint colour. One thing she suggested which I liked was to paint the dining room area a darker shade than that living room area to define the two spaces. Still no closer to choosing actual colours though. All my life I've had trouble making decisions about what colour to paint things. It's happened every time I've had to choose colours for my bedroom when I was younger. Luckily I have a little bit over a month to decide. If I stare at these paint chips long enough, I may actually make a decision!

Facebook

It's all I hear about these days at work . . . so I joined Facebook today! I don't know how often I'll use it given I rarely use my MySpace account, but it'll be fun for networking. Anyway, if you're on Facebook and want to add me, search for Kim Feuchter!

Clean at Last!

Well I actually did it. I told lots of people I would (including everyone who reads my blog) and I had to force myself to do it, but I actually did my spring cleaning this weekend! I started early on Friday morning (got up at my usual 7am to trick myself into thinking it was actually a work day) and spent about 3 and a half hours filling garbage bags and emptying boxes. I took about 7 or 8 garbage bags out to the dumpster (and boy did my legs feel it the next day!). I managed to accomplish my first goal of the living room and bedroom. I have to say, they both look awesome now! I forgot to take the traditional "before" photos, so there's not a lot of point in posting the "after" photos (I e-mailed them to the family members who have seen my place at its worst, figuring they now deserve to see my place at its best). I took a break on Friday afternnon when I was done the task I had set myself. I ended up with a tub full of odds and ends that I'm donating to charity, unless my friends want to lay claim to any of the items in it. A few of them, after sending out an e-mail offering up the stuff in the tub, have e-mailed me back to lay claim to a few of the items, so that's good. I also have a bag full of clothing to go to charity (if I took another close look at my closet, I could probably come up with another bag full) and three boxes of stuff to go down to my storage area.

This morning I woke up early again (though not quite as early as Friday since my task for today was a lot smaller) and tackled the kitchen. That was mostly a cleaning job rather than an organizational job. Traditionally my kitchen is a terrible mess, but I couldn't let it stay that way given the nice and clean living room and bedroom I now have. I got the room cleaned and organized (my counters have never been more free of stuff) and it only took an hour and a half (including the time it took to wash the dishes. There weren't that many dishes, but one of the bowls was new and it had a sticky label on it that took about twenty minutes to pick off). I got a couple of other pesky chores done too. I definitely want to get my painting done sooner rather than later! My walls have a bunch of holes in them from stuff that the previous tenants had hanging on the walls and I don't want to hang up my own pictures until the walls have been patched and painted! Hopefully I'll get the painting and "redecorating" done during the last week of May when I have my Spring Break from school. Now I just have to decide on paint colours!

Numbers

I've been thinking a lot about numbers lately . . .

1 - The number of biological siblings I have

2 - The number of televisions I have

3 - The number of days it took for me to remember that it's now April and I should change the calendar

4 - The number of step-brothers and sisters I have

5 - The number of the Level I teach in grammar class

(This could get boring really fast, so I'll skip ahead a little)

15 - The approximate number of telephone numbers I have memorized

19 - The number of pairs of new socks I just bought from Zellers (where they have mega-cute socks!)

20 - The number of pairs of socks I just cleaned out of my drawer

31 - The number of telephone numbers currently programmed into my cell phone

115 - The total number of pairs of socks I currently own, including the 19 new ones and the 20 I took out of my drawer. WOW! I could pretty much wear a different pair of socks every day until July 27th before I would have to wash them all and start again. May I say again . . . WOW!

Woot Woot for the Sun

So my dentist appointment on Saturday went fine. Apparently I have very nice teeth (said to me by both the dentist and the hygienist) and very strong enamel. That's nice to know. Since my appointment was finished early, I was able to get a couple of errands done before I was supposed to meet my friend for lunch. Long story short: we didn't end up having lunch as she got "detained" elsewhere. Actually, it really ticked me off as we were supposed to meet at 2 and she didn't end up calling me until close to 2:30 to tell me that she was running late. Since she just left a message on my voicemail, it was almost 3 by the time we actually talked and I was STARVING! Needless to say, I was more than a little irritated to find out that she was going to be able to make it after all. Grrrr.

How glad was I to finally see the sun on Sunday?! I have to say, I had no idea just how depressed I was starting to feel until the sun came out! My two favourite seasons are fall and spring. Both tend to be cool but not freezing cold. I love fall because of the changing colours and the excitement of "back to school" (well, before I started teaching year round). But, I love spring because of the feelings of renewal, birth, and the emergence of the sun! I love how seeing the sun again brings a fresh bounce to my step and a new lightness to my heart. In honour of the sun, I wrote this haiku today:

Saw the sun today.
Will it be back tomorrow?
I sure do hope so.

In honour of spring (and the rain forecast for later this week) I wrote this spring haiku:

The rain falls gently
As I walk around the town.
I am soaking wet.

Can you tell that the theme this week in my afternoon class is poetry? Tomorrow we'll go over the poem "In Flanders Field", which is a poem I happen to really like. I still remember most of it from when I had to memorize it in sixth grade (typed as I would say it):

In Flanders Field the poppies blow between the crosses row on row that mark our place and in the sky the larks still bravely singing fly scarce heard amidst the guns below we are the dead short days ago we lived felt dawn saw sunset's glow take up our quarrel with the foe to you from failing hands we throw the torch be yours to hold up high and . . .

Just for reference, here's the actual poem:

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

(Turns out my memory ain't all that bad after all!)

Ugh

I have a dentist's appointment today. When I was younger going to the dentist never bothered me, but now . . . I'm sure it was the cause of last night's mild insomnia. I'm sure the constant rain isn't helping either. It's pretty much supposed to rain all week, which is too depressing to really put into words. So let me just say again, "Ugh!"

The Many Faces of Kim

I got this way cool idea from the way cool Vesper!

Kim . . . The Botticelli version.

Kim . . . The Manga version.

Kim . . . The Modigliani version (my favourite!)

Old Kim.

You can transform yourself here. Be careful though . . . as you can see, the results can be scary!

The Zzzzzzzzzzz Report

I don't know what did it, but this week I finally managed to get a decent night's sleep without any sleep aids! Ever since Thursday night I've had no problems falling asleep . . . or in getting a full night's sleep! I pretty much feel back to normal now, which is a relief. I'd forgotten how nice it was to be able to go to bed and fall asleep :-) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleep Review

Well, I tried the sleep CD last night. I can see where it would be helpful for people who have a hard time letting go of their worries or anger. It goes through certain steps to help a person relax, so it talks about deep breathing and relaxing your muscles. The spoken word is combined with relaxing music designed to help a person fall asleep and sleep deeply. Since I didn't have any worries or anger and felt relaxed, I don't think the CD particularly helped me. I listened to it for about an hour before I switched to one of my books on tape. All in all, I had a fairly decent night's sleep - it took me just over an hour to fall asleep, and then I only woke up once during the night to use the bathroom. I think I'll take a sleeping pill tonight and then that's it. I'm putting the pills away and only using them in an emergency.

And the Oscar Goes to . . .

I didn't actually think I'd watch the Oscars last night since I've lost interest in it over the years, but at 5:30 when it started . . . For the most part, I enjoyed the awards this year. I thought Ellen did a great job hosting. I really enjoyed her bits out in the audience with Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. What made me laugh the hardest, however, was when Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt were presenting and taking about who was supposed to get Merryl Streep her cappuccino. Cut to Meryl Streep in the front row and the expression on her face is CLASSIC! I thought the men generally looked awesome in their tuxedoes, but not a lot of the women wowed me this year. Helen Mirren looked awesome, I loved Cate Blanchett's dress, Kate Winslet looked divine, and Maggie Gyllenhall looked great. I thought Jennifer Hudson looked wonderful (when she took off that stupid gold cropped jacket) and Jodie Foster didn't look too bad either. Oh, and I thought Emily Blunt looked fab too. Can't say I was thrilled with Anne Hathaway's getup, and I really didn't like Nicole Kidman's look, or Gwenyth Paltrow's outfit either. At 8 o'clock I did change channels and watch The Amazing Race, but I flipped back and forth and saw most of the major awards too. Way to go Jennifer Hudson for winning an Oscar for your very first movie! I was pleased that Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker won too. I haven't seen The Departed, but I've heard from many other people that it was awesome, so I'm sure it deserved to win Best Picture. All in all, a good evening.

Chinese New Year

Today at the mall where my sister works they had a Chinese New Year celebration. Stores had the option of hanging red envelopes containing money outside their stores and a Chinese dragon (which turned out to be a lion) would come around, collect the money, and bless the store. My sister's office took part and it was really cool! According to Yvonne, my sister's lovely Chinese coworker, I would share in the good luck since I was in the office during the blessing. None of us had cameras with us, but Yvonne and I both took pictures with our camera phones.
This is the best picture of the 5 I took. The lion was followed by some drummers, which you can see to the left of the lion. It was totally cool to watch the lion stretch upwards to reach the red envelope, which had lettuce attached to it. Then the lion threw lettuce at us and into the office for good luck. Way cool!

Sunday Summary

It's only Sunday morning so there isn't much to summarize yet, but I know what I will be doing today, so I thought I'd talk about that. First let me tell you about my knee . . . it's healing a little bit every day. I'm able to walk on it more and more, but I get tired more easily because my walk still isn't 100% back to where it was. So in my quest to go back to living my regular life yesterday, I went out with my best friend for lunch and then we did a bit of shopping (not a lot because a lot of standing around makes my knee hurt, and because it didn't take us long to find what we were looking for anyway). In the afternoon I stayed home and watched a couple of DVDs (Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas and Shall We Dance? with Richard Gere).

Today I will be going with my sister and brother-in-law to Maple Ridge to visit my dad for his birthday. His birthday isn't actually until Thursday the 22nd, but since that's the middle of the week, it's not practical for us to go then. We're also going to celebrate Chinese New Year by having Chinese food for lunch. I haven't had Chinese food for a while, so that should be good. Tonight is the season premiere of The Amazing Race so I'm looking forward to watching that too.

Woot woot!

Went to the doctor this morning and things turned out really well! When I told the doctor how much better my knee was feeling and how I felt like I could do more walking, he was really shocked, but pleased. The x-rays were normal, he said, and then he said that there was no reason why I couldn't go back to walking to work as long as I was careful (not about the knee necessarily, but about the neighbourhood)! May I reiterate . . . WOOT WOOT! As a result, I was able to walk to the bus stop this afternoon and take the bus the rest of the way home. Tomorrow morning I plan on walking to work. Life is good again!

Going to the Doctor

Well, in a couple of short hours I should be in the doctor's examining room to find out more about my knee. It is actually feeling much better than it was last week at this time. I feel like it has more mobility, it's not aching as much towards the end of the day, and my limp is disappearing as I'm able to walk more and more naturally. It's obviously still not 100%, but it's feeling so much better already that I really, really, really want to believe that it will heal on its own over the next few weeks. I don't know if that's a realistic wish or not, but there you have it. I've been trying to keep off my leg as much as possible, particularly in the past couple of days when I've been feeling better and wanting to walk more. I don't want to overdo it right now and set my recovery back. I mostly want the doctor to tell me today that it's okay for me to walk to work again in the mornings. That's been the biggest pain (and cost) of all - taking a cab to work every morning! I'm glad I live as close as I do and I've only had to pay around $8 a day, but still, it's added up fast! I can take the bus home from work more easily than I can to work, so I'll still be able to rest my leg a bit. Lovely blog readers, keep your fingers crossed for me today! I'll post again tonight and let you know what the doctor said!