I Must Confess!

I am about to confess something that I am a bit embarrassed to admit. I tend to be a goal follower right? I try to make some goals and stick to them like any good adult. But, I must confess- I am only human. An exceptional human, but human nonetheless. 

I caved last month and bought Netflix. I am not sure if it was the smartest decision. I told myself that if I finished the blog project I would reward myself with Netflix. But there are so many good original programs on Netflix that I was interested in seeing. And it is crazy how much time I used to spend watching my films and blogging about them that I know seem to spend on 90s movies and TV shows that I have missed or great original programming. 

For example- House of Cards. What a show! Of course that inspired me to rewatch The West Wing. I also have always wanted to watch Parks and Rec after a coworker told me how much I remind them of Leslie Knope. Well I am pleased to announce that right between Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope lies me. I am a perfect mix of the two. Complete with the hoarding and messy apartment. What is funny is that I felt the need to clean a little bit today before I wrote this post so that would be funny and not totally true :) 


I am still dedicated to the project. It just might be slower going, as if this blog could get any slower! I have not blogged about anything in ages that these few blogs feel foreign. I have missed the feeling of checking the stats in the morning and seeing which post was most popular and what country was reading my recent stuff. I am going to get back into it. I swear. I have really missed this creative outlet. Even though it is summer time and I am spending more time outside I am telling you right now that Netflix or not- I will continue with the project. I am currently working on a marathon of Harry Potter movies post. It is difficult to write about movies and books that I so enjoy. I might skip describing them to you- because I am sure anyone reading my blog is a BIG Harry Potter fan anyway right? But instead I might tell you about how I fell in love with the series. And there is a kid sized pool involved in the story too. Just wait. 



Anywho I just wanted to publicly confess about my new addiction, Netflix and making myself accountable to you as my readers by finishing the project. As a hint, as soon as Harry Potter is finished being reviewed, I will have 48 titles left. that is just a shelf and a half in the cabinet. I will pepper in some other films too. Especially since my friend Nic is determined to introduce me to films I did not enjoy in my childhood that I should have. Stay tuned. Great blogs ahead. 

Helloooooooooooo Dolly!

Oh Barbara! Her voice! Her hair! Her choreographed arm movements! Its butter! Hello Dolly is one of my favorite musicals. I know what you are thinking-"she says all of these musicals are her favorite" but honestly I love to hear all of those wonderful notes coupled with dancing on screen. Look at that dress! And her headpiece! Does it remind you of any certain feather headdress that a certain blogger made for her second Vegas debut on campus? 

In this film Barbara plays a woman named Dolly Levi who is helping Horace Vandergelder find a woman to marry. Horace is quite wealthy and Dolly is certain she can find the right woman for him. Another piece of this film that makes it one of my favorites is that Horace and his two shop keepers live in Yonkers, NY. 

Have you ever seen Lost in Yonkers? It is a Neil Simon play that was also made into a film. It is a wonderful story and despite never travelling to New York or Yonkers, it just makes me smile. When I am 85 and there is an autobiography written about my life, I will probably falsify information and claim I was born in Yonkers or something significant happened to me there. Well who knows if something will happen to me in Yonkers between now and then. If I were you, I would set up a google alert with my name and Yonkers just in case. 

Anyway, Dolly Levi is a bit of a local celebrity in New York. Everyone there is familiar with her and her match making skills. In the film we see her work her magic with Mr. Vandergelder's employees Cornelius and Barnaby too. There is a lot of love finding in this film. Dolly also sings to and about her late husband, Ephram. Similar to my post on Yours, Mind and Ours these kind of story lines about finding love after loss have a special spot in my collection.

Even before I started blogging about residence life and higher ed, I have always seen things through my "work" lens. Is that a symptom of not leaving work at work? Is that because residence life is a lifestyle and not just a career? Or is it a sign that I not only have consumed the kool aid, I am actively trying to sell it to others? Anyway as I watch Hello Dolly and her natural ability to read people and find others that would make good mates for them- it reminds me of RAs. 

RAs are always match making with their residents and helping them make friends with each other. Hopefully after a couple years of practice and solid RA training they will retain that skill for life. To this day I can greet someone in the waiting room at the doctor's office and make a fast friend. Even when I go to Pinterest craft club at the public library I make new friends. RAs are similar to Dolly Levi as they help to create life long relationships in the halls. And also just like Dolly they sometimes end up finding friends for themselves too! I bet if I were to survey my RAs right now they would report that they have make life long friendships with their residents, or while running programs or attending them, or just with their confidence and skills in meeting new people and starting conversations. I cannot wait until RA training to let my staff know that I just compared all of them to Barbara Streisand! 

No Capes!!

Edna Mode is probably my favorite character in all the Pixar films. She is based on costume designer Edith Head, one of the more famous faces behind the camera in Hollywood. When Pixar made another great film The Incredibles they chose Edith as the perfect inspiration for Edna. Movie trivia is one of my favorite part of movies. I think it is a sign of a wonderful film when the trivia speaks to those "extras" that are added to the film for people like me. I am sure that part of Disney's and Pixar's marketing strategy to make viewers feel like their movies were made just for them. Their stories are easy to relate to and have a little something for everyone. 

I am suckered in every time. 

The Incredibles is a film about super heroes that have been forced to hide their super powers and now just live in the burbs like the rest of us. Mr. Incredible and Elastic Girl have three adorable children who are also pretty super. In stereotypical as-time-passes fashion, Mr. Incredible ages and feels as though he is in a rut in his life. He gains some mid life weight, does not feel fulfilled in his day job, and is lured back into the super life underground. When he takes a job that uses his super abilities he finds some new zest for his life. In all of the adventures there are of course a couple things that do not go according to plan and Elastic Girl, Mr. Incredible, Dash and Violet save the day. Even Jack Jack, the youngest member of the clan gets in on the "saving the world." 

I am also pleased to report that there are hidden gems about the importance of family and celebrating your individual strengths and how they can better the whole. Sort of like a team of RAs all come together to help a building of residents. During RA recruitment I am fond of reminding candidates and current RAs that we are not looking to hire a staff full of the same kind of person. While we assign specific residents to specific RAs on each floor- the team of RAs work in that whole building. Some residents will connect with their RA, some with the RA upstairs, and still others will connect better with the Hall Director than they do with any of the RAs! So it is important that there are multiple personalities represented in that building for our residents to meet.  Some RAs are really funny and outgoing like Dash, others are quiet but very approachable like Violet, others are flexible and drop everything for you like Elastic Girl and there are also those are brave and make you feel like you are in a safe space like Mr. Incredible. Those skills make for a great RA staff- maybe I should ask the RAs to watch the film as homework before we get cracking in August eh?

Oh Goodness!

I cannot apologize enough to my faithful blog readers for my absence! I could sit here and type excuses for you- but you are better than that. You are readers who find my movie project interesting, or my humor so wonderful, or maybe you read this blog because I pay you to do so. Whatever the reason you are here to read- I will provide you with some material today.

The past couple weeks I have done some fun things! First of all, I learned what is called "trolling" as it relates to fishing. We all know I enjoy to fish, I like the catch and release method personally. I also have a strong and possible irrational fear of drowning so that makes me a less than good fisherwoman from the boat. But I braved those elements, got on a boat, and learned a new way to fish! I used a fishing pole that has a counter on it for the first time, I used these planer boards and was sort of in charge watching those boards to find the fish. 

I even wrote a song, I did not want to sing it out loud in front of John and Renee because John might already think I am a bit ridiculous. But imagine you are listening to the music from the song Ridin' by Chamillionaire (for those of you who are unfamiliar with Chamillionaire- imagine Weird Al's White and Nerdy) and read this small sampling of lyrics:

They see me trollin'
For walleye 
and white little bass
Avoiding weeds and sheepshead
Watching planer boards be floatin'
They see me trollin'

Well the moral of the story is that I helped to catch my first walleye ever and then I watched it get filleted. It was a pretty great morning.