On our way!

We leave for our vacation today! I am so excited just to get away -- not only from work, but from the house and from WoW. This is the first vacation in a long while that I'm not even worried about our itinerary -- I just want to drive and disc golf and geocache and hike and not think about anything stressful for awhile. We will have Internet access through a laptop with a Sprint wireless connection, so I am hoping that I can post some updates and do a little email. However, I am not taking my poem book with me, so there will be no "thoughtful" post for next week.

Not exactly a poem

I've finished my first poem book already, American's Favorite Poems, and am now starting on the second book, Poems to Read. I haven't read anything yet worth posting about, so instead I'm going to comment on an old saying that came up at dinner with Justin's father the other night:

I felt sorry for myself 
because I had no shoes
until I met a man 
who had no feet.

We were discussing ways of viewing the world from a more positive perspective and this phrase seemed to hit the concept spot-on. I am really going to try and stop letting work get me so frustrated, since I know there are lots of people out there who don't even have a job.

Martial Sillines

Based on recommdations from a couple friends, I watched Kung Fu Hussle the other night. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but I think it was pretty enjoyable in the end. I'm only rating it a 7, however, because some of the "fu" went just a little over the top for me. I relate it as being very similar to Fong Sai Yuk with Jet Li, howevever, that didn't seem quite as outrageous for some reason. I probably should watch that one again soon so I have a better comparison.

Super-heroes

I had a comic-filled weekend that actually started late last week with the Fantastic Four. I'm rating this a 7 because it was enjoyable, but just didn't give me a "wow" feeling. Obviously, I thought it was good enough to go see Rise of the Silver Surfer this weekend, which I am also rating a 7. It really carries in the same vein as the first, which means that it was a well-written story but didn't have enough action to keep me on the edge of my seat.

After these very decent movies, I decided to ignore the critics and saw Ghost Rider. A rating of 3 seems almost too high. It seemed to me that the special effects team spent so much time on the graphics, that the production may have been rushed for everything else and they just threw a bunch of scenes together.

A gift

This week's poem is by Walt Whitman. Surprisingly, I've never really been that interested in much of his work. Most of the time I feel like he is rambling on and on without any catchy rhythm or imagery that connects with me. This one, however, jumped right out and to the point. To A Certain Cantatrice mirrors my own feelings that every person is valuable.

Another sappy one

This week's poem is another emotional one for me, entitle Love Song: I and Thou by Alan Dugan. Although I cannot directly relate to being a carpenter, I think the theme is that as hard as we try to accomplish everything in life on our own, it helps to have a partner. I am so happy I have mine.

Catching up

Those of you paying close attention will notice I missed posting a poem last week. I continually have this problem of finding a poem to post and then forgetting to actually follow through with the thought. Oh well. I have improved on my updates for this site, which was the ultimate goal, so I will try to keep up going forward.

Other miscellaneous things going on in my life:

• Justin is the most awesome, wonderful, amazing, spectacular husband in the world. He bought me flowers and helped me in WoW get an epic mount and two very difficult pieces of epic tailoring gear.
• The gooey-spray-grass-stuff we had put on the lot with the barn has come in very nicely. In fact, it looks better than the lawn in front of our house.
• The crazy, over-allocated stressful time at work should be over with and I can hopefully return to a "normal life" now.
• We are going to be visiting my Aunt and Uncle in North Carolina later this month -- finally a real vacation this year! Look for more updates on that later.