Holy Road Trip, Batman! (Part 2)

One thing I failed to mention in the previous post is that, at the beginning of my 10 hour drive to Lake Havasu on Friday, I decided I would tackle another of my Accompl.sh goals, 86. Drive patiently for a full day. If I drive impatiently at any point, I must start again the following day until I succeed. To say the least, this is not the simplest of tasks. I had only gotten 2 hours into my drive (just after I left the Apricot Tree Restaurant, actually) when I became impatient with another driver on the road and officially failed the day.

In any case, I eventually made it to Lake Havasu and met up with my dad and step mom for dinner at Chico's Tacos (which is pretty entertaining seeing as I just left Chico to head to Lake Havasu). The food reminded me in many ways of the Mexican food you can get a La Comida here in Chico. I spent some time catching up with them and discussing the fact that it was apparently the 2nd Annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Lake Havasu that very weekend. I saw the last couple balloons landing as I drove into town (around sunset) and was looking forward to seeing them the following day.

From there, we went to the community theatre where my little brothers have been playing (see what I did there?) for the past few years. John (the older of the pair) was starring as Frederic in Pirates of Penzance Junior and Jake (the younger) was one of the pirates. To say the least, it was vastly entertaining to watch my little brother running around singing in tights and having 12 girls sing about how they like his butt and want to marry him. It was their opening night, so there was a hitch here and there, but the show was very fun and I enjoyed it quite a lot! Plus, my newest sister-in-law was directing, so naturally it was going to be solid.

Holy Road Trip, Batman! (Part 1)

This past weekend, I went on an epic, short, road trip. I left Thursday night and was home Sunday night. Every now and then, I just sort of get the bug to leave town. It's not a sort of situation where I'm "running" from anything, but I just like being out and about, visiting people, seeing new things. You get the drift. This desire has been niggling at me for the past few months, so I just sort of decided that I had to make it happen soon!

After discussion with the friends and family I was planning to visit, I realized I could get visits in with Christie and Laura (both are friends of mine from the Harry Potter and Wizard Rock scene) as well as finally get to see my little brother perform in a show (he played Frederic in Pirates of Penzance Junior). To top it off, I was able to knock off 3 of my Accompl.sh goals in the planning (21. See Christie for a proper visit, 36. Visit Dad, Kim, and the boys, 83. Go for at least one road trip for the purpose of being on the road).

With as little time was dedicated to the trip, I ended up having a seriously awesome weekend filled with fun, excitement, and near-death (read: almost dangerous) driving experiences!

Finding Mr. Darcy Didn't Work Out As Anticipated

I know I said my next post would be about my plans while I'm in the UK, but that will have to wait until next time. Right now I have something even more important to talk about - Mr. Darcy.

Oh yes! I'm referring to the glorious fictional hot piece of ass that is Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley. Before I get further into this, allow me to display a few samples of the modern actors who have portrayed Darcy and stolen so many modern hearts.

Colin Firth - See how nicely he glows here?

Eliot Cowan - Mmm...

Matthew Macfadyn doing Darcy justice!

Okay, I have a thing for Colin Firth and Eliot Cowan in wet shirts. The best part is that when Eliot Cowan's Darcy gets wet, it was 100% a reference to Colin Firth's wet shirt moments in the A&E mini-series that is one of the most watched versions of the Pride and Prejudice story. Mmm....

Ha! Sorry. Was drooling a little bit there.

The Joy of Friends Falling in Love

Back in my high school years, I was a member of an online forum where I met some amazing and interesting people, two of whom have always stood out a little more than the rest (sorry, guys!). In addition to both of these individuals being considered close friends, what makes them so special to me is the courtship between them that I was able to witness from a separate continent entirely.

I used to have regular conversations via instant messenger with both Matthew and Esmee at different times. I remember once, within 24 hours of each other, I had a conversation with each in which they confided in me their feelings toward the other. Naturally, I wanted them to share with one another, which they ended up doing not long later. I got to hear about the first times they spoke on the phone, met in person, and when they got engaged. So these two have a special place in my heart after all of that!

Walking Around Naked Not the Best Part of Living Alone... Who Knew?

I have spent my entire life living with other people. I was born the youngest of 5, so always had my older siblings in addition to parents. When I went away for college, my first "roommate" was my grandma while I hunted for a job and alternative living situation.

The first house I moved into was with 3 other girls. I lived in that house with 4 occupants for a year and a half, then was in an apartment with 1 roommate (who had a boyfriend over regularly, so was more like 2 roommates), then in a house with 2 roommates, and two more places with a single roommate each. This made up the first 24 years of my life.

I have always had at least one roommate - most of the time I had more than one. I never wanted to buy anything too nice, because it would just be used and abused by my roommates, no matter how careful they were. Not to mention that, when we would separate ways, some of the items I had purchased or owned would inextricably be lost to the roommate for one reason or other (sometimes by accident, sometimes they would steal things, and other times they believed so fervently they owned the items that I just gave in rather than fight it out). In addition to the woes of losing property, I've even had roommates wreak havoc with my finances and, if you'll believe it, credit report. Those stories, however, are best kept close to home.

Personal Goals to Accompl.sh

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post about a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in the following 365 days (this original list can be found here). The website for this was originally called 101in365.com, but has since been renamed Accompl.sh. I actually quite like the new name! In any case, I did not complete all 101 items, but did knock out exactly 51 of them. A number were also in progress and partially completed, but others were not at all.

Before continuing, I'd like to give you a little bit of insight into this project. Before the name change, the tagline for the site was, "Avoiding mediocrity one to-do list at a time", which I found brilliant. Jenn, the creator, has brought it into a slightly different realm. Instead of limiting users to lists of 101 exclusively, she allows you to set the length of your list and lock it at whatever size you desire. In Jenn's words, "Accompl.sh harnesses the power of the social web to support personal growth. Its mission is to create a place where you can develop, track and share your goals over the course of the next 365 days and beyond by providing the tools, network and support you need to accomplish great things!" I loved the concept of 101 to-do items, so when I built my new list, I made sure to come up with that number once more.

In creating a new list, I had to take a hard look at my original list and think about why the items that were not completed were left in that state. Some of them were very simple and I should have been able to accomplish them in no time, for example, "98. Post reviews of books I've read on Goodreads". This maybe would have taken me an hour. I could have taken more time and posted even more than a few or reviews of the books already in my Goodreads account. But it would have taken little time. Unfortunately for me, I was lazy. And that sucks. Because I know I could have done this easily.

In Which Dinah Talks About Her Cat While Mildly Inebriated

It has been quite some time since I imbibed a bit more than I should and made a public address during such an hour. I'm sure I've sent random texts, perhaps one to Twitter (on which I have fewer than 50 followers), so it hasn't been much of a ride. The last notable event I can recall was a particular YouTube video I made, what? 3 years ago? (Oh god, how time flies by!)

In any case, I think it shall be fun to once again indulge in the experience!

Moving Life into Hi-Def

In the not too distant past, there was no point in using the words "Standard Definition" to describe the quality of pretty much all televisions and the shows and movies we had available to watch on them. It was just the norm for us. We didn't realize what kinds of details were missed until the (now typical) HD options came out.

Most people can remember the first time they watched an old favorite in HD and realized what a difference it made. Suddenly, the trees and bushes had defined leaves, the outlines of the characters' faces were clear cut.

Today, I experienced, for the second time in my life, a transition from Standard Def to HD - I got my first ever pair of glasses!