In So Many Words

I’m not actually going to write anything about school; I’m just really excited that the year is almost over.

I did declutter another drawer today, however; I was actually surprised by how little I had left to put in it when I was done. My husband also agreed to get rid of two box fans that have been with us for many, many years and were basically just collecting dust. Baby steps, but feels pretty good!

Michael & I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 tonight and both loved it. Bob wasn’t feeling too great, so he took a nap and rested a bit while we went over to the theater. We got to see a Cars 2 preview as well, which was pretty neat.

I don’t go to a lot of movies, but I noticed something that seemed odd to me – the screen that came up before each preview said it had been approved for “appropriate audiences.” Didn’t it used to say “all audiences”? Does that mean they can get away with more stuff in the previews now if the film being showed has a higher rating? (Or lower rating, depending on your perspective of the rating system, I guess.)

It feels sort of weird still to have things going so smoothly with Michael. I had two friends call today who are experiencing some difficult situations with their children, and it felt a bit surreal not to be the one who was stressed out and overwhelmed by things. I actually felt sort of guilty that we are doing so well.

I suppose I should feel thankful that things are stable enough here that I am able to offer a listening ear and whatever support I can to others. They have certainly listened to enough of my troubles over the years, for which I am truly grateful.

What a great start to the conference! I didn’t get to type up all of my notes because of a special film screening they did last night, but it was awesome.

First of all, the attendance was down from 2500 to 1700, which made it much easier to get around. They are doing a lot more web streaming, which they believe is part of the reason for the attendance change, so it is not necessarily a bad thing.

The opening speakers were wonderful, and the research symposium I chose turned out to be perfect. I could actually apply a lot of the afternoon information to my job (hmmm, maybe I should try to put those 3 hours on my time sheet!)

Last night, we had the opportunity to see a film called Including Samuel by Dan Habib. Dan has an extensive career in photojournalism and used that in this documentary that focuses on the full inclusion of his son with cerebral palsy into the school and the community.

The film goes far beyond just their son’s story, however; Dan profiles several other individuals of different ages, diagnoses and backgrounds to examine the issue of inclusion from a variety of angles. You can watch the trailer and get information about showings (or how to host a showing) on www.includingsamuel.com.

I’ll definitely be writing in more detail about what I’m learning. Right now I’m off to Day 2!

I often share about books I have read, and I do read a lot of books!  But lately I have also been getting into watching movies, especially since we now have the ability to access Netflix through our Wii.

Here are a few of the flicks that I have seen lately and would recommend checking out (I’m linking to them on Amazon because it so much easier with the widget right inside of Blogger):

Arranged – the story of two young women who meet while working in a school and find they have a lot in common.  Despite one being an Orthodox Jew and the other being a Muslim, they connect through their understanding of each other’s conservative lifestyle and the prospect of an arranged marriage.

This was a truly wonderful movie – I enjoyed every moment of it!

Outsourced – A fun story about a US call center manager who is sent to India to train his replacement as the company moves order fulfillment overseas.  He goes with the intention to teach them about America and finds out that he needs to learn about India.  This was a very fun movie.

Timer – What if you could know exactly when you would meet your soulmate?  The Timer promises to do just that, but our main character’s timer is still blank and she is over 30 (oh, the horror!).  Basically a nice romantic comedy with the twist of a device that makes me think of eHarmony on steroids, this was a cute movie, although it isn’t as clean as the others I’ve listed so far.

My Faraway Bride
I stumbled upon this movie one day while Bob & Michael were out of town and really enjoyed it.  The two main characters meet and fall in love instantly, but she is suddenly called home to India due to a family illness.  He decides to follow her there and miraculously finds her (well, maybe not such a miracle, as she turns out to be the most popular Bollywood film star in the country!).  A lot of fun!

As you can tell, I am mostly into light romantic comedy in my movies, just like my books.  This is definitely an escape valve for me.  I apologize if any of these have any offensive parts in them – I have to admit I tend to forget about the specifics.

What fun flicks would you recommend?

I need to beef up our Netflix queue, but I don’t want to end up watching a bunch of crap, so I am asking for your recommendations on what movies to request.

Please leave a comment and give me some ideas. I primarily like romantic comedies, but not too raunchy, and good drama or action without too much violence. I absolutely do not like anything with horror.

I am also open to kids and family flicks that aren’t painful for adults to sit through, i.e. not The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl!

I don’t know if that’s enough to go on, but I would love to hear what films you always recommend to people.

Well, we have hopefully paid our last fine to Blockbuster.  Bob had rented several movies when I was sick, a couple to keep Michael occupied and a couple for us, and we just kept not getting to them.  So, he took them all back now and we signed up for Netflix.  It was a lot of fun picking out films for our queue; everyone had different lists, of course, so we will just be taking turns! 

The coolest thing about it, which I didn’t know before today, is that some of the movies can be played instantly on your computer.  I just finished watching Becoming Jane, and, while Bob would probably be dissatisfied with the quality of the movie experience, I really enjoyed it.  I guess I have lower technical standards than he does.

My mom just got a computer and is now online, which is great because I am so much better at keeping up with people via email than by phone.  And I am a thousand times better at emailing pictures than getting them printed out to be mailed; I already sent her pictures of Michael and me on our new couch.  (Alright, alright, I’ll post one here in case any of you care what our new couch looks like or how incredibly tall my almost-seven-year-old son has gotten.)

Now that we have graduated from our futon (a very nice one, but still) to real living room furniture, we are hoping to complete the decorating in this room with some sort of window treatment and some better lighting.  We both have a hard time making decisions about things like this, which is why it has taken us so long to even get a new couch.

Well, I’m off to accomplish a couple of things before they get home from running errands.  Plus there’s another episode of the Amazing Race tonight – woohoo!