The Final Hours

Well, we're in single digits now, and crunch time is upon us. I have been informed that now is the last chance to head for the border, but nice though I'm sure Tijuana is this time of year, I think I'll head East to Louisville instead of South to Mexico.

My mom and I sat in the den this morning and ate Dairy Queen biscuit and gravy. It may not seem like much, but it's something that we've been doing together for years, and now that period is coming to a close. There will certainly be more biscuits, and likely more gravy as well, but it won't be the tradition that we've had all these years. It's sad, but exciting at the same time.

Tonight I start a new life as a married man, the head of the household, and the primary provider. It's a daunting challenge, but one I look forward to. There will be new challenges, but there will be new joys as well. Old traditions fade away as new ones are born. Even though it's scary, I have no doubts about any of it.

I love you, Virginia. You are my beautiful penguin, and the reason I strive every day to be a better person than I was the day before. We'll face challenges, but as long as I'm with you, I know I'll have the strength to face them.

...and counting

That little countdown timer in the sidebar is getting awfully low.

I am kind of afraid of it.

All this time, I've been so excited about this whole process, and it never occurred to me the awesome responsibility that goes along with really, truly being an adult. I mean, it did. But the gravity of it all is just... Insane. It's not just bills and jobs and not being able to take my laundry home and do it for free at my parent's house. Home is MY house. The one that I share with my husband. And at my house, we have a coin operated laundry room.

But it's also not being able to go to my mother first with my problems, and my issues. She's always been my confidante, and my help. But now, it's not her job to tell me what to do. It's my job to go to Nathan with my problems, issues, questions, and puzzle them out with him first. I just know that I will have to catch myself before pressing the call button many, many times before I break the habit of calling her first. And I want to talk to Nathan. I love talking to Nathan. But my mom has always been there. And now my relationship with her is changing. Everything is changing. And it's scary.

But... in all of this, one thing has remained constant from the beginning. I have never felt a need to question Nathan's involvement in this. I have never said to myself: "I wonder if I'm settling..." or "Is he really IT?" Nathan, throughout this whole twisty, turny, evolving process, has been the constant. Since the very first time I asked myself if I loved him (and the answer was yes) I have never wondered about where this would go, or why him, or if he's really the one. He has never been the part that makes me nervous.

So as we go into the last 24 hours, I'm not as scared as I could be, as I have been. Because I realized that with Nathan beside me, things won't ever be as bad as I imagine. And sometimes they'll be sillier, and lovelier, and always things will be more wonderful and memorable.

I love you, my penguin. All through the eternities.

And even though I am a little nervous - I'm not afraid anymore. Because I know that I am with you.

Singing with your Hands

I don't know how many people in the blogosphere appreciate sign language, or even have been exposed to it... But it is definitely one of my passions. It is a beautiful language (and yes, it is a language) and is a fun and artistic way of communicating.

And, because I've seen it, I've fallen in love with this song.




Just thought I would share it with you, since, you know, I don't have anything to write about except the wedding. And that's for another blog.

Hello, world!

Well, it's that time, I suppose. Life changes, things happen. I seem to have outgrown my Livejournal, and my fiance recommended that I check out blogger when looking for a new tool to getting the word out about whatever it is I decided to write about today.

So, today, I decided to write about how I came to have a new blog. I'll let you chew over this while I try to think of some kind of content update for whenever I next decide I need to share my thoughts with the greater digital community.

With this, I close.




To quote from the book of Virginia:

"And she clicketh her mouse, saying: Let there be webspace. And so it was. And she saw that it was good.
And she tappeth her keys, saying: Let there be text. And so it was. And she saw that it was moderately okay - and probably not at all as funny as it was in her head.
And thus endeth the first day of blogging."

My Life as a Television Fan

I have an interesting relationship with television.

My viewing habits are not the same as most people, primarily because I don't actually own a television. I haven't purposefully seen a broadcast since the early episodes of this season, and that was because I happened to be in a place where it was on.

I love television. It is, by far, my favorite visual medium. Movies are great, but there's only so much you can convey in a two-hour movie. A typical season of an hour-long television show allows nearly 16 hours (not including commercials) to convey the heart and message behind an idea, the characters have time to stretch their legs and breathe, and stories have time to have nuance and finally come to a logical conclusion.

I don't watch television as an intellectual escape, nor do I turn it off to drown out the silence. As a result, I am not attracted to shows like "Two and a Half Men" or "According to Jim," but I am drawn to shows that make me laugh because they earn the joke and shows that make me think because they earn the thoughtfulness. They don't go for the easy laugh or the obvious one, nor do they use false sentimentality or underhandedness to trick me into caring. When they do, I check out; I stop caring. I don't have room in my life for anything other than sincerity.

There is a line in Aaron Sorkin's ill-fated series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" in which the head writer (Matt Albie, played by Matthew Perry) says to the female lead of the show-within-a-show (Harriet Hayes, played by Sarah Paulson) about why a joke didn't work in dress rehearsal when it did during the table reading.

Harriet: What did I do wrong?
Matt: You asked for the laugh.
Harriet: What did I do at the table read?
Matt: You asked for the butter.

I want my shows to ask for the butter, not ask for the laugh. And like Harriet, they're far more likely to get the laugh if they don't beg for it, but let it come.

When I find a show that works, I tend to devour it. I don’t always keep track of series when they’re on the air, but I will find a show years after it has started or even after it has completely ended. I discovered “Arrested Development” after it was finished and burned through the seasons on Hulu as fast as time would allow. There are similar stories for “Lost” and “House.” Even “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly,” crown jewels of geeky cult classics, were lost on me until after they were off the air.

I wish I could be the person who instinctively knows what is going to be worth watching. I can sometimes get lucky, like I did with “Life” and appear to be with “Community,” but those times are rare. I am unable to support a show while it is on the air because I don’t know it’s worth watching until it’s already been well established. “The Office” or “30 Rock” are perfect examples of this.

I can’t afford to spend all of my time looking for the cream of the crop, I just have to hope it rises in time for me to enjoy it. If you’ve found the cream, let people know about it. Talk about television; what you saw last night, what you’re looking forward to, what you hate. Nearly everyone can relate to television, and you can discuss it with anyone from snobs like me to people watching the most base of reality shows. If they can’t, you probably don’t want to be talking to them anyway.

Oh, and Also:

Invitations were sent out (to most people) on Monday. The rest of you should be expecting your invitations to be sent out within the week! Sorry for the delay, but we're having a bit of trouble collecting all the addresses!

P.P.S.: I would like to give a big shout out to mine and Nathan's families, for being so helpful throughout this process! Especially to my mother, who has spent many hours working to make the 22nd of December and the 2nd of January two wonderful days for myself and Nathan, that we will remember fondly for the rest of our lives! Much love to everyone who is participating and helping!

Update

So, I think it says something about this blog that I had to click through Nathan's personal blog to get back to it.

Or maybe it just says something about me and my inability to update things like this.

Either way, it's been almost two months since either of us has updated, and as you can see from the handy little countdown clock that Nathan has installed in the sidebar - we're getting awfully close to the big day! Things are going as smoothly as I suppose they can in times like these - we're all working really hard at Real Life things in addition to the wedding, Nathan's got his job at Amazon that keeps him really busy, and my focus is mostly on finals. And, of course, a little on the awesome man that I have decided to spend the rest of eternity with. :D

In case you haven't heard, there's been a change of location for the ring ceremony. It was going to be held in the Richmond Ward cultural hall, but for various reasons we have decided to move it to the Owingsville Ward cultural hall, in Owingsville, KY. It's not hard to get to at all - if you have questions, look on the fb group OR just email wilsonadkinswedding@gmail.com - as that is where you should send RSVP's to anyway. :D When you RSVP, please remember to tell us how many guests you will be bringing, so that we have an approxdimate number to know how many chairs we will need and how much food to prepare!

Also: Remember that the ring ceremony and reception are on the 2nd of January. The countdown on the sidebar points to the temple sealing, which will occur on December 22nd, and is when Nathan and I will officially be husband and wife. :D

I will post again sometime this weekend with more details, especially since we're almost done with the wedding dress AND mom says that there is a big box (or two) waiting at Nannie's from Macy's for us to open! (Which means it must be something off the registry! We've also been told that it is perfectly acceptable to open gifts early and send thank you cards as they arrive. :D

Can't wait to see what's in them!

Glee - Musical Comedy or Comedic Musical

I love musicals. There's something about a rousing musical number that I just can't get enough of. In recent years, there have been far too few examples of quality musical for me to partake of. The remake of Hairspray, the movie version of Rent, and a few musical episodes of TV shows are pretty much all we've had for a while.

We've also had quite the drought of good television in recent years, especially when it comes to new shows. The Office and 30 Rock continue to please in the 30-minute category, Lost and Chuck are both good but on hiatus until after the Winter Olympics, and Jay Leno has destroyed NBC's entire 10pm block. That's why Glee is such a breath of fresh air.

Glee is the tale of a high school teacher (Matthew Morrison) taking over the glee club after the last sponsor (Stephen Tobolowsky) is forced to leave. He recruits a ragtag band of vocally-talented misfits including an exceptionally talented and annoyingly driven star-to-be (Lea Michele), the quarterback of the football team (Cory Monteith), and a wheelchair-bound musician (Kevin McHale).

Glee is one of those rare shows that are genuinely funny while integrating music. Jane Lynch is hilarious as the champion cheerleading coach out to destroy the glee club, and each of the other characters have their own funny idiosyncrasies scatter in among their character development. My only real complaint on that point is that the fake pregnancy of Mr. Shu's wife Teri (Jessalyn Gilsig) has lost its charm, but that is the only part of the show that lacks charm. This show has definitely made it to my regular rotation.

Watch it on Hulu.

Temple Dates Finalized

For my inaugural post on this wonderful blog of ours, I thought I might share the temple dates as finalized just this morning. My beautiful bride and I will be sealed on December 22, 2009 at 7:15 pm. Those attending the ceremony should note that we will be arriving around 5:30 pm at the temple to give time for getting ready and taking pre-wedding pictures. We will be going in to receive our endowments on December 19 at 2:00 pm.

For the assistance of all of our faithful readers who are wondering, "How many days is it exactly until those two amazing people get married?" I am putting a countdown widget on the sidebar, so you never have to wonder again. Isn't technology amazing?

Quick recap:

Dec. 19 - Endowments (@ Louisville Temple)

Dec. 22 - Wedding (@ Louisville Temple)

Jan. 2 - Ring Ceremony/Reception (@ Richmond Ward building)

Ring Ceremony Date Finalized & Other News

Last Sunday, Nathan and I set the date officially for the ring ceremony - it's going to be on January 2nd, around 12:30 PM, in the cultural hall of the Richmond Ward building. More information about the ring ceremony will be forthcoming as we finalize things.

Our colors are spring green, pastel pink, and chocolate brown. :) (I realize that the brown doesn't show up well on this background, sorry.) In no way do I want this to be mistaken for a Christmas wedding, since the sealing will probably happen beforehand and the ring ceremony is definitely after New Years. Hence the spring colors (that were my picks the whole time - but Nathan was in favor of them too, and that solidified the decision).

Also today, Nathan found out that there is a full-time position open at Best Buy where he works, in Appliances. Right now he is working part-time in Computers, and his boss told him that he knew that he would be looking for full-time work and benefits since he was getting married, so he should put his name in for appliances. There's also been talk about a job opening up on Best Buy's Geek Squad - which will be a bump in pay, full time, and work that Nathan really wants to be doing - in the next few months. So it's entirely possible that he will be able to move over there when that opens up. We are super excited about this development, because benefits mean insurance, which we will be in sore need of. Also, Nathan will have a job that is pretty sure to outlast all but the worst recessions - people will pretty much always need appliances. :)

My parents surprised me by jumping in with plans and offers for help with the ring ceremony. Mom called me from Lexington Saturday afternoon to ask me to come up and help her pick fabric for my wedding dress, and we ended up picking out patterns and fabric for my dress, my bridesmaid's dresses, and the flower girl's dress. My cousin Alexandra, who is adorable, has agreed to be the flower girl, and she is so very excited about it.

Mom and I started work on my wedding dress today, and it's going to be gorgeous. The dress itself is strapless, tea length, and princess cut, but the pattern included instructions for a very elegant looking jacket as well, and we're going to make it out of the same material. I would post pictures, but Nathan isn't allowed to see it until the day of the temple sealing, so... No pictures for you!

At least not for now...

The Big News

After much conversation, gaining of advice from adults in our lives, consideration of said advice, and (most importantly) prayer, Nathan and I have decided to get married.
Those of you who know us will not find this idea very shocking - we've been moving toward this almost since our first date. :) What may be news to many of you is that we have decided to be sealed at the Louisville Kentucky Temple, over Christmas break. No date has been officially announced yet, because we are waiting to meet with the bishop, get my reccommend updated, and set dates with the temple for the endowment and sealing ceremonies, but we are fairly sure that it will be during the four weeks of EKU's christmas break.
There is not much to say about the proposal - it wasn't a surprise for either of us and we decided against buying an engagement ring, because of expense. The conversation has been had so many times over the past few weeks that I'm fairly certain he said "I'm going to marry you." And I said "Good, because I'm going to marry you."
...Here I invite you to laugh at our oddity. If you aren't used to it now, you will be, the more time you spend around us. (I make no promises that we are funnier in person.)
For the moment, we are using my CTR ring to hold the place of an engagement ring, as a nod to the traditionalists in our families who would want us to have one. And, I won't skirt truths here, I came very close to tearing up when he slipped it from my right hand to my left. It was a cool thing - and it's a very awesome thing, to look at Nathan and know that I will be with him forever.
Anyway, news hasn't officially been broken yet, so NO TELLING until we get to talk to the parents. *stern face*

I'm a Winner!

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General Update

I find myself on the verge of a new chapter in my life, one that has be scared out of my mind. Starting tomorrow, I will be moving to Richmond, KY. Home of the EKU Colonels, Lake Reba, and now, Nathan Adkins. Money is tight and stress is high, but I still feel good about the whole thing.

I start at Best Buy on Saturday, which will be pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to being around computers in a work-related way on a regular basis. I lost my edge while at Walmart, but I'll be back up to speed in no time flat.

One of the things that is going to be interesting about this change is keeping myself fed. I would like to keep a log of the things that I eat and how cheaply I am able to do so. Should be fun. I have several recipes I would like to try out once I get the financial situation in a bit of control.

Julie & Julia

Over the weekend, V and I went to see "Julie & Julia" at the local Cinemark. First off, let me say this: theater chains are completely corrupt. The reason movie attendance is down is not because of the evils of pirating, nor can it be blamed (solely, at least) on the sorry state of our economy. The reason, by my completely arbitrary and unreseached estimation, is that going to the theater is expensive. On our trip, we bought too non-matinee tickets, a small popcorn, a large drink, and some SweetTart dots, to a total of about 30 dollars. Had we been seeing a 3D movie, the total would have been $5 dollars more for the two tickets. It's outrageous.

Now, once my heart had settled a bit (okay, to be fair, that's hyperbole; I expected it), we sat down to enjoy the film. I had the benefit of having seen no trailers and only one movie poster, so my preconceived notions of what the movie was supposed to be were fuzzy at best. I knew Meryl Streep was playing Julia Child, and that there was theoretically someone involved named Julie, but that was about it.

The film tells the story of an almost-30-year-old woman and her goal to cook her way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in a year's time, and blog about it the entire way. It also tells the story of Julia Child becoming who we remember her as. The two stories are told in interchanging scenes as related events happen to the characters.

Meryl Streep is excellent as Julia Child. Now, that may be because I have no idea what Julia Child looked or acted like, as I have no attachment to her. Either way, Streep performed to her usual excellence. Amy Adams stars as Julie, the blogger. I'm a fan of Adams, but this performance didn't seem like her best work. Maybe I just can't separate her from her bubbly "Enchanted" self. This is not to say that she was bad in the role. I thought she was very good, just not as great as she has been in the past. All the supporting characters were good, but not quite as much so as the hilarious Jane Lynch. Her portrayal of Julia's sister was fun and funny.

My only real complaint was that the movie didn't seem to have an ending, but that's an issue you occasionally have with true stories. Real life doesn't always have an ending at all, let alone a happy one.

All in all, it was a fun biopic, and a great date movie. If you aren't bothered by a few less-than-perfect moments, it is highly recommended.

Push

I saw "Push" last week. Its the story about how precociously street-wise Dakota Fanning is, and there's something about powers thrown in too. She can apparently see the future, but she kinda sucks at it. Also, she gets drunk. How adorable.

In all actuality, it wasn't that bad. It was no cinematic feat, but I've seen much worse and enjoyed movies much less. There were a few interesting powers, though I could have done without the "Bleeders," these really annoying guys who yell like punks and make your ears bleed. I don't see why they couldn't behave like respectable Chinese characters and use martial arts to make you bleed. It would have been twice as cool, and 30 million times less annoying than that stupid yelling.

Final score: See it if you like superpowers and have super low standards. If you're still watching Heroes, this is a movie for you. (For the record, I still watch Heroes.)

Dual Movie Review - Bolt and Inkheart

Bolt
In a year with "Wall-E" and "Kung-Fu Panda," it's easy to overlook a movie like "Bolt." Disney's most recent venture sans Pixar finds a dog who has been led to believe he is actually the superhero he portrays on television. When he accidentally finds his way from Hollywood to New York, he must return home to rescue his person.

This is standard Disney fare. Blah blah blah friendship blah blah blah love blah blah blah be yourself. It's all pretty standard, but its wrapped in a shell that is just fun enough to be entertaining. The colors are bright and crisp, which seems to be a theme in the new non-Pixar Disney movies, if "Meet the Robinsons" is any indication. The voice acting was excellent, as well. Within a few minutes, I had forgotten that I was listening to John Travolta and was instead listening to Bolt. With a distinctive voice like his, that's a pretty big feat, one helped a lot by the pacing of the story and the visual effects.

I don't think "Bolt" would rank any higher on my list that any Pixar movie, even a weaker showing like "Cars," but it is an enjoyable film that kids will love and an adult will enjoy while its on.

Inkheart
"Inkeart" takes us to a world where Brendan Frasier's character has the power of the "silvertongue," which causes the things he reads aloud from a book to be transferred from the book into the real world. When one of the villains he accidentally read out wants him to do some more reading, Frasier and his daughter have to save the day.

You may notice that I didn't put the name of any of the characters above. That's because I forgot them, which is really representative of the entire movie. It is mostly forgettable. With that said, there are some cool aspects. The visuals were pretty spectacular, with the exception of the minotaur. All the animals in the menagerie of half-read animals were realistic looking, but the minotaur looked like an oversized muppet. The CGI was impressively decent, given the quality of the rest of the film.

On the other hand, it felt like the movie could never decide what tone it wanted. There were little comedic bursts awkwardly placed throughout what was mostly a dramatic second and third acts, and the prostestations of the great-aunt were over the top most of the time. Of course, some of this can be forgiven since this film seems largely made for children, but the issues are there all the same.

This is a movie that I should have loved. I love books, I love reading, and I love all things "Wizard of Oz" (which in this movie includes flying monkeys and the twister). Unfortunately, it could never find its legs and present anything memorable. I don't think it was a particular waste of time, but it sure wasn't a good use of 90+ minutes.