It’s 1:30am, but we did it!
Of course, it took both of us together because as long as one of us stays alive until the other can hit continue, we don’t have to start from scratch, but whatever. It was also kinda disappointing to be told after battling the last guy for twenty minutes that we only got the fake ending because we didn’t do something right, but regardless, we did it!
Bedtime now, and then some…
Where, oh where does the time go???
I guess it’s been a while since I’ve last blogged – we’re in a new month (my birthday month!), the summer’s almost over, and … well, that’s about it. Nah, surely things have happened since my fateful last post on July 23rd when I made the trip that would become the highlight of my summer (thus far, anyways)…
The Simpsons Movie
We saw it the weekend it came out and it was every bit as awesome as I’d hoped it would be! Not at all like the Family Guy movie that FOX attempted a couple of years back that was little more than three episodes stringed back to back, this one felt just like a real movie with all of the gasps and nearly tear-jerking moments, and of course, “Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig…” I’ve been waiting for this movie for a long time and it by far exceeded my expectations – just as a feature length story from The Simpsons should.
Mind you, it doesn’t hurt that the flick already made $128 million after only two weeks in theaters, holding its own with the top blockbusters of the summer and proving that the longest running cartoon of all-time still has its place twenty years after it first debuted. They’ve effectively doubled their budget after just two weeks – Transformers and Shrek the Third are the only other two blockbusters that can even come close to that kind of boast, but it still took Transformers over a month and Shrek the Third close to three. Doh!
Harry Potter and the Last Freakin’ Book
So I finally finished it Sunday afternoon, and I’ve got to admit, I was a little sad to see the story finally end, too. To think that I first got started on the series when I was working at the warehouse up north – maybe 2002 or early 2003. I burned through the first four volumes one after another, yet didn’t even crack the 5th one until after I moved down here. Since then I’ve seen three of the five films in IMAX and really gotten somewhat attached to all of the quirky students from Hogwarts, and their teachers and even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! It was sad to see the tale end, but also I think she did a good job of wrapping everything up – I had a few qualms about things at the end, which I still won’t get into here because I don’t want to be a douche like The Associated Press and every subsequent paper who ran their “story” about JK Rowling that just happened to explain what the title was all about before their disclaimed of SPOILERS AHEAD! Hint: just because you’re not into the books doesn’t mean that you should go out of your way to ruin it for anyone else who might be. There were plenty of other mentions that could’ve filled that column – as far as I’m concerned, it was no better than the Washington Post, whose article ran three days before the official launch date, even though the defended it by saying that they got it “through legal sources.” Anyways…
Wedding Planning 90210
Not much news since we picked the date a couple of weeks ago, but things are overall still going well with all of the wedding-related stuffs. We went to a bridal show one weekend, which was an experience, to say the least, and I’m sure it would’ve been even more fun if I hadn’t been a man, but I won’t get into that now because I’m kind of over it at this point. I’m told that there are more coming up in September anyways, so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to revisit the topic then! Regardless, last night we met with a videographer and were pretty impressed with what he brought to the table, so even though we haven’t officially put down money for either him or the DJ yet, we’ve pretty much made our selections for those. The officiant himself is still up in the air after an unfortunate turn with the catholic religion in general … again, I’m just in too good of a mood to get into this now, but I did write a rather energetic column about it for my writing website, whenever that finally gets up and going! But nonetheless, I think we’re both feeling optimistic about how things have gone thus far and we’re still well on track to having the bulk of the pre-planning done before Sara starts school in January and all hell breaks loose…
The Search for a Better Domicile
I swear, this is going to drive me nuts before all is said and done. Our original plan was going to be to find a rental house sometime in the month of August because our lease is up on Nov. 7th and we need to give 60-days notice, which pushes us back to Sept. 7th to decide whether or not we’re leaving, however unfortunately it seems that most people aren’t really interested in waiting two and a half months for our current contract to run its course before we start paying them, so we’re kind of just stuck waiting right now. Instead I guess we’ll be going crazy in September (and hopefully not October) trying to find something, seeing as we’ll have had to put in our notice by then and officially we won’t have anyplace to stay in November unless we find a new house! Here, crazy and logical me thought that landlords would respect that we’re finishing our current lease the right way, but I guess I can understand their perspective, too – until then, they’re having to pay the mortgages themselves while the places are empty. For what it’s worth, though, we have been finding some pretty decent places online that are within our price range and with any luck, more of the same will be available when we check back for real in about a month or so…
Summer Madness
But I guess ultimately the summer of 2007 hasn’t really been all that lazy. In fact, we’ve probably gone out and done something just about every single weekend just because I feel like we should be out doing something fun when we’re actually both off for an entire weekend together! We’ve been cruising around in the new car a lot, even though we’ve had to do the ever-embarassing pull-over-on-the-freeway-to-put-the-top-up-when-it-starts-pouring-rain move on more than one occasion since we’ve had it! We’ve played a few rounds of mini-golf, the latest of which was nearly cut short by one of those very same downpours that left us completely drenched for the hour-long trip home! We’ve had a few walks on the beach at night, albeit to get our exercise before going to the movies because we felt guilty, and of course, lots and lots of trips to the movies. And that same evening that we saw The Simpsons MOVIE, we also spent part of the evening at a comedy club over in Clearwater, which was a lot of fun, despite the fact that Sara insisted we sit at a table in the very front row!
And there’s still more to come, as my little sister is talking about coming down for a much-needed break here in the next few days, and on top of that, we mustn’t forget my birthday which will be here before we know it and of course only great things will come from that weekend! Time, it certainly does fly by fast, and on that note, I’ve got a rousing game of Bubble Bobble to return to – tonight my record so far is level 32, but I’m determined to set a new record. Man, do I miss those days with the old school NES and not having to start from scratch after I die…
So yesterday we were a little busy…
We’ve Got a Date!
It’s official, and loads upon loads of stress have instantly been lifted from my shoulders – the official date is October 9, 2008 (yes – 10/9/08). It’s a Thursday, which some people remark as being weird, but I still think it’ll turn out ok. At least now we get a little break from the wedding planning, and I do mean little because Sunday Sara and I are going to some bridal show downtown to have even more business cards thrust in our faces. But we have a date!
Movie Time
We ended up filling the bulk of our time yesterday with not one, but two movies – first Ratatouille and then Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at midnight in IMAX 3D downtown. Ratatouille was good – a very quaint Pixar tale (tail?) with a good message and some truly beautiful animation … I swear, every movie they put out ends up having the best animation I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it ranks as high as Cars did, though, and it didn’t necessarily have the feel of a “classic” like Toy Story, but it was still worth seeing. Harry Potter was also a good movie, although I think I liked Goblet of Fire better. Also, I was a little miffed that they didn’t actually use the entire height of the IMAX screen, so for all I could tell it may have just been the same version blown up on the bigger screen, and also, the “3D finale” wasn’t all that impressive in my eyes. I’ll still buy it on DVD when it comes out, and make a point to see the next one in IMAX as well, but overall #4 was still better.
2am Geeks
And of course, afterwards it seemed only fitting to pick up a fresh copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the way home, so we walked into our otherwise deserted local Wal-Mart, grabbed one off a pallet right next to the registers, and were out in a matter of minutes. The cashier said that the place was insane about two hours earlier and there was a line going out the door, but it’s not like we were going to read it at 3:00am last night anyways. Sara started in this morning and is a ways in, and I read the first couple of pages before we got in a fight over it and she wanted her book back … apparently we should’ve bought more than one copy! Oh well – as long as people aren’t complete jerks and I can get through the thing before some local writer or disc jockey tries to be cool and “ruin it for all the dorks,” we’ll be ok…
Rain, Rain, Go Away…
Anyways, now it’s been raining pretty much all day and I’m very, very bored. I know I’ve got lots of things to do, but I really don’t feel like doing them. We were going to go check out the Kwik-E-Mart over in Orlando, but it’s just too yucky to go anywhere, so hopefully next weekend won’t be absolutely nuts with the release of the movie and all. I need to go find something to do…
I’m amused by this little rant “website” not only because it’s actually our local theater right down the street that he’s bitching about and we go there all the time without any problems, but also because the dude got all bent out of shape over a dollar.
http://www.muvicosucks.com/
Going to the movies is expensive these days, dude, but unless you’ve got a 70-foot screen in your living room, it’s just money spent in the name of entertainment. Also, not only was the mistake made over a dollar, but it was your fault! People these days amaze me…
This morning we were woken up at 7:00am by the stupid landscaping people.
I thought they had a rule that they couldn’t start before 8:00am, but apparently I’m mistaken.
It took every ounce of strength and laziness that I had not to go outside in my underwear and beat him to death with his own weed wacker.
Grrrr.
So I did it.
This morning I overcame my deathly fear of needles for a greater cause … well, I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s gone now, but I did temporarily overcome it long enough for them to get a pint of my own! Ironically enough, I had a nosebleed the same morning, so it might’ve been even more convenient and spared me the needle if they’d just been around to catch the stuff then, but what can you do? I did have some “complications” right at the very end – I actually came pretty close to passing out after they took the needle out, but they said that it was due to stress and the anxiety of donating for the first time and my body getting used to what they just took. I’ve got to give them credit because Sara’s told me some not-so-pleasant stories about the people being jerks, including the last time when they wouldn’t listen to her when she explained how to tape the needle down because she’s allergic to the tape that they use, but this particular crew was just great – they helped keep me nice and calm, they answered any questions that I had along the way, and they were all pretty good and bouncing between joking and serious when they could tell that I was either joking to try to relax or when something was seriously wrong. Very professional, and I might just go back again someday!
Of course, I wouldn’t have even gone if it hadn’t been for Sara. I’ve thought about donating for a long time, but it’s always scared me too much, and then along comes Sara who donates every single time she’s able! I swear, we could have an entire closet filled with just the free t-shirts that they give away at this rate! She came down to my office and donated with me this time, and obviously, that helped a whole heck of a lot.
Good thing I keep her around, eh? Forcing me to do all of these things for the sake of humanity and whatnot… 😛
Chinese food ‘made from cardboard
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/12/cardboard.food.ap/index.html
Chinese dude gets shut down when people find out that his food is comprised of 60% cardboard, 40% fatty meat. But what does it taste like?
So we kinda replaced my car over the weekend…
Old:
New:
She’s probably a little more than we should’ve spent, but she drives like a dream and the pictures hardly do her justice – she really is a beautiful car! Sunday night, we took her for a cruise down the beaches after the paperwork was signed … I think anyone living in Florida should own a convertible at least once!
Also, I think I’m becoming a convertible snob, and really, I’m ok with that. More on that later… 🙂
It’s finally done!
http://www.scottandsaraswedding.info
Photos of the both of us growing up, a questionnaire to help us with the planning, and all sorts of other wedding-y goodness! Enjoy.