Family Dinner, Birthday Cake, Gotye and Answers

Hey everyone!

So, Monday was my 21st Birthday. I didn't spend it partying or bar-hopping. I began my birthday at midnight reading A Storm of Swords and almost fell asleep in the bathtub. I went to Olive Garden with my mom and my fiance (my dad is working out-of-state and won't be back until Saturday) for dinner Monday night. Nothing really exciting there, apart from their amazing bread sticks and my fiance surprising me by ordering an awesome chocolate cake. (Oh, and that Strawberry Pomegranate Mojito...yum.)

The night before, my fiance and I went to his parents' house for the usual Sunday family dinner. He has four siblings (two sisters and two brothers), and it's always an interesting, often scary time over at the house. His older sister as a baby boy that just fell in love with the birthday hat they made me wear. His youngest brother is a fan of Sci Show (he obviously never forgets to be awesome!). His youngest sister is my age... and then there's his brother who is in high school. That boy repeatedly shout-sang these two lines from Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know": 

1. "But you didn't have to cut me off!"
2. "Now you're just somebody that I used to know..."

He didn't know any of the chorus lyrics in between those lines, which are the first and last. It made for some interesting moments, and he often parodied those lines as well. So, I naturally mentioned Hank Green's brilliant Subway parody.

I wasn't expecting much of a birthday celebration from his family. Over the years, there had been so much drama between all of them and us. But, as I am helping his younger sister light all the candles on the ice cream cake, I see two gigantic gift bags out of the corner of my eye. Attached to my chair were a whole bunch of balloons and then the ice cream cake. I mean, I expected a cake, but all those gifts? It really made me feel welcome; it's the most comfortable I've felt around his family in the three years we've been together. When I opened the gifts, one of the cards hadn't been signed. They snatched it away and quickly passed it around to be signed by the whole family. When I got it back, I found money in the card! Gifts and money!? I think they may have gone overboard, a bit. Also in the card was the line, "Now you're just somebody that I used to know..." We all know where that came from. =P His oldest sister (whom I've had a hard time getting along with for many reasons) even gave me a card. I feel even more part of their family now, and I'm happy that I can finally say that.

Now on to Craig's question:  "What movies were your favorites as a kid that you probably shouldn't have been watching?"

This is a good question... When I was 8-9, I was obsessed with Titanic... So much so that I watched it multiple times a week (for the record, I was homeschooled, so I had all the time in the world to do that). But, I suppose that's not all that bad unless you bring up the nude scene... Other than that, the only movies I can think of are some random horror films (I went to see Saw with my mom when it first came out... I was 13), and then Grease and Grease II. It might seem weird to list those two films, but if you watch the videos below, you'll understand why I shouldn't have been singing along with these songs, let alone watching the films.

• Greased Lightning - from Grease
• Reproduction - from Grease II

I think those are the only films I shouldn't have been watching when I was younger... not all that bad, really...  Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better. haha. Well, I can't wait to see what films all of you mention... Hopefully they won't be as awkward as mine. 

See you next Tuesday,

DFTBA 

~ Shelby

Sun Burnt Ramblings

Hello everyone! 

I hope those who celebrated the Memorial Day weekend had fun and did not get as sun burnt as I did. My fiance's father decided he wanted to take a random trip to our neighboring state, California, to spend the day at the beach. The trip was filled with Indian food, "that's what she said" jokes, a French woman not knowing that it's inappropriate to go topless on Cali beaches, sand and terrible hotel beds.  But since my fiance's family is full of tan people, only me and my fiance's brother-in-law got painful red burns. Today, my ankles are swollen from the massive burn, and it's horribly uncomfortable to walk... well, it's uncomfortable to do anything at this point.

Anyways, today will be written in parts. Part one was up there... an introduction and explanation of my Memorial Day trip (which was fun, until the burn set in).

Part Two: Blackwater FTW!

 As soon as I got home last night, I watched episode 9 of Game of Thrones, "Blackwater." This was the most anticipated episode of the whole season for two reasons: 1) George R. R. Martin wrote it himself and 2) All of their budget pretty much went into it (epic battle episodes = lots of money). Did it live up to the hype? YES! 

The part everyone was waiting for was the wildfire, and it exceeded my expectations in every regard. And, the flames were green like they were in the book, which was a plus. The dialogue exchanges were pretty much straight from the book... not so surprising since the author wrote the episode, but still. It was great to see recognizable dialogue and scenes from the book. And lets just say the the characters who stole the show were Sansa, Tyrion and The Hound! It was fantastic to see The Hound kicking ass and being the character I loved from the books. So really, this was definitely the best episode of the season, even if lots of characters were left out in order to focus on the happenings in King's Landing. But all of that will be settled in the finale on Sunday!

Part Three: Question Tuesday (anyone get the reference?)

 On Monday, Craig posed an interesting question to all of us:

• What do you think would help you most in terms of getting work done and motivate you to actually write? 

While I think this might be a difficult question to answer, I'll still try. 

 For me, the difficulty with writing comes from the ideas I have. They are complex, which makes me over-think how to proceed with them. The idea I am working on now is a dystopian story about a man and woman. I have those two characters figured out. I have the challenge they'll face figured out, but all the political and scientific aspects of the story have yet to be decided on, leaving me with a feeling that I shouldn't start writing yet. And it's this way with everything I write. I tend to be a perfectionist with my writing, and I worry about the quality of everything I've typed up. I feel that this story isn't the one to let be mediocre. I want it to be something special...


I don't know if there's a way to get me out of this rut... I guess the only way out is to write. But, like most young college students, there are many distractions. Also, I love procrastinating. I promise to make an effort to write over the summer, and all of my fellow bloggers should see if I'm actually trying. I'd appreciate being held accountable for what I've just said. Keeping a promise is always good motivation, especially when many people have seen/heard/read you make that promise.


Part Four: Conclusion
 Once again, I am so happy to be a part of An Abundance of Blogging. Having read everyone's posts, I can tell that I'm working with some awesome people nerdfighters that I'm sure to get along with. I hope my sun burnt ramblings weren't annoying...

DFTBA y'all!