TOP 5

“All the world’s a stage”!_____________________                       

(March 2012) : The five most influential movies in my life.

• 5. Lady and the Tramp (1955). Walt Disney. I was, of course, very young when I first saw this film and instantly it was my favorite. I feel this movie gave me my first glimpse at limitless boundaries of love while awakening my devotion for dogs.
• 4. The Matrix (199). Directed by Andy and Lana Wachoski. Read my post titled Human Conditioning and The Meme. It wasn’t until after I took several courses in Human Nature and Values that I fully understood the importance of connection. I could write forever about this topic, but I suggest watching the movie and then reading The Meme Machine. (Also watch Eraserhead [1977]. Directed by David Lynch and Pi [1998]. Directed by Darren Aronofsky – both address different variations of surrealism and universal mysteries).
• 3. Lost in Translation (2003). Directed by Sofia Coppola. Enriched in character development surrounded by a theme of loneliness, connectivity, and isolation. I wrote a paper in college about gender communication within this film that scored me an A in the class. There is an eloquent sadness to this story that allowed me to study the commonalities and exclusions in gender and age communication.
• 2. A TIE: My horror genre… The Shining (1980). Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Aside from this film continuously giving me goosebumps just mentioning the title, The Shining opened my mind to character development and plot movement. Ever since, I cannot help watch a movie or TV show without greatly considering the writers first and then the actors. Of course, most of that is to the credit of Stephen King. Night of the Living Dead (1968). Directed by George Romero. My first horror film. Honestly, at the time I saw it I wasn’t that scared. Instead, it opened doors for me to fall in love with the science-fiction / fantasy side of supernatural beings like zombies; but even more so vampires, witches, superheroes, and mutants.
• 1. The Outsiders (1983). Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Originally a book (autobiographical) by S.E. Hinton (1967). I read this book when I 13 and shortly after finishing it, watched the movie. I remember crying, for what seemed like days, over Ponyboy and his “family”. This movie (as well as the book) holds a special place in my heart – even now, 20 years later and this is why it still remains as my #1.

Sláinte! To the first year in Seattle!_____________________

(Aug. 2009) : Five things I appreciated my first year in great PNW…

• 5. Finally getting a job after being here for 6 months.
• 4. Finding out that I can swim, ski, hike, kiak, bike, climb, camp, farm, fish, hunt, shop, eat, drink and still be in the city all in the same day! Marvelous!
• 3. Being able to vote as a resident of the state of Washington.
• 2. The mountains and water! The mountains and water! The mountains and water!
• 1. Doing this all with my amazing best friend and husband and our 2 pups.

Ikea: The Swiss are trying to kill us!_____________________

(Nov. 2008) : Five reasons why I hate this death-trap of store…

• 5. FAR, FAR AWAY. Why do they all have to be out in the burbs? Really?
• 4. PARKING… isn’t this self explanatory? The square footage of the building is equal to the size of one lot! And isn’t there always more than one lot?
• 3. THE SYSTEM. The most insanely ridiculous thing I’ve ever been apart of. Mass confusion, everyone is in your way-and you in theirs, so much space to cover, and at the same time..no where to go. How does that work?
• 2. IT’S A FIRE HAZARD! Geese! I have no idea how these buildings pass code. There’s no way to get out! No easily accessible exits, no windows, and what they call “short cuts”… oh come on…SOOOOOOO not a short cut! If you’ve survived the mass consumer over-load building you’ve still got to get past the mass consumer warehouse of stock, and even when you’ve finally reached check out you realize check out is a hole other building to get through. Then you’ve got to make it out of the loading area. God, I’d hate to think about what would happen if there was a fire. Better yet, it would be the perfect place to hold people hostage. What were the Swiss thinking?
• 1. MUST CONSUME. In the end, everyone goes, everyone buys, everyone falls subject to their consumer wants regardless of the pain and suffering you endure to spend and shop. And where do they end up? Ikea. It makes me sick. And I admit, I’ve fallen prey to the company.

God Bless American Consumerism and our desire to buy, buy, buy. And God Bless the Swiss for making that possible!

Driving in Seattle makes me nuts!_______________________

(Aug. 2008) : Five very good reasons why one should ALWAYS take public transporation in Seattle…

• 5. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW! For the most part all speed limits in town are set somewhere between 30-40 mph and I guess it is a rule of thumb that everyone in the Seattle Proper and surrounding burbs must drive at least 5mph UNDER the speed limit. And not just that, but drive NERVOUSLY UNDER that speed limit. Tap, tap tapping their breaks, hunched over the steering wheel, and going 25mph on the 35mph West Seattle Bridge: a would-be freeway leading into the peninsula where we live. Oh come on!
• 4. Politeness? Now, I know this might sound a little over the top to get annoyed with, but really people, I can’t take the fact that at a 4 or 5 way, stop sign protected, intersection everyone just sits there waiting POLITELY for the others to go first. Everyone is waving at everyone else to go, and my God… JUST GO! Really, you could be sitting there for a while if you didn’t just take the initiative to go first. Then when you do go first, the guilt sets in for being the selfish, impolite one who JUST WENT.
• 3. Phenomenal Traffic. I’ve never in all my travels (and I’ve only not driven in 9 states in the US) seen anything like the traffic in Seattle, Washington. The rush hour here blows New York City’s rush hour out of the water. By far! I once spent 1 hour in the car getting Clint from Bellevue (the suburb where he works). Doesn’t sound too bad uh? Yea, really it’s about a 15 minute drive there, but that’s not the clincher. On the way back we spent over 3 hours in the car just on 1 highway getting back into Seattle Proper. A 15 minute drive guys took us 3 hours! I fully understand now the true meaning of “road rage”. I was almost in tears. Oh, and did I mention there are NO EXITS. There’s NO WHERE TO GO! Water and mountains are surrounding you and there’s only one way to get anywhere. Oh and by the way… THERE ARE NO “SERVICE ROADS” OR “ON RAMPS” HERE! WHAT? Roads (i.e. brdiges, b/c everything is a bridge here) just collide with each other with no warnings. So, this fault in city planning leads me to the #2 reason why driving in Seattle makes me nuts…
• 2. Lessons in Merging 101. (AKA: Cutting Others Off, It’s Just Plain Rude). So, I’m not sure if I will ever get this one. Remember the politeness factor I was so annoyed with in #4? Well, here go’s. When these so-called roads or bridges collide with one another Seattle drivers tend to just “pretend” they don’t know how to yield. YET, they are polite enough to use their blinkers to signal that they want over (at 25mph). Not too big of a deal? Well, they don’t yield to the on coming traffic moving at 35mph and in result cut-off other drivers. Thus, causing EVERYONE to break, slow, and cause the phenomenal traffic I was speaking of in #3. So instead of yielding and moving into the 15 foot space between the moving 35mph cars, the “yielding” driver sneaks forces his way in front.

See the butterfly effect? … and FINALLY the #1 reason driving in Seattle makes me nuts is …

• 1. The Road System: Let’s put #5-#2 together, add the fact that there are no stop signs or streets signs anywhere, oh and throw in “round-abouts” and you get my #1. If it’s not a lake, river, bay, sound, canal, harbor, bridge, draw bridge, tunnel, or last but not least a mountain, the roads are fine. No obstructions to create the annoyances I’ve listed above. Unfortunately, all those reasons are why Clint and I moved to this great city and we (and when I say “we” I really mean “I”) will have to learn these rules of thumb in order to just make it here. Really it balances out in the end. I guess we’ll just have to bus or cab it.