Friday, September 30, 2016

In Which I Watch All The Shows!!

I'm sure you thought I'd dropped off the planet again. But no, I did not. I've just been busy avoiding my feelings and trying to organize my room, which may sound sim
ple, but it's actually similar to decluttering Howl's Moving Castle. I don't know how many of you got that reference, but I love that movie. If only I had a Sophie to come clean everything up for me...

As you have probably realized, it's Autumn. And with Autumn comes new TV shows! Sometimes I watch a new show and wonder what it will be like when I have a TV show of my own premiering. That will be exciting. But, until then, I'll just keep watching all the shows. Like Designated
Survivor. Are you guys watching that one?! If not, you should! It just got picked up for a full season, which it totally deserves! I never watched 24, but if Kiefer Sutherland is half good in that show as he is in the first two episodes of Designated Survivor, I may have to watch it. He is incredible in Designated Survivor. He portrays a very sincere "every man" type while also killing it as a strong leader. Just. Just go watch it.

Also, I started watching This Is Us. The writers really must be applauded for their ability to write such a compelling story that throws you a curve ball that makes you stop and go" wait.... What may happened... " and then you have to wait a week for the next episode. And Milo Ventimiglia is just fantastic on this show. I've been a fan since his days as Jess Mariano on Gilmore Girls. #teamjess But really, it's a compelling story that is very relatable. It also just got picked up for a full season.

And, next week starts my superhero shows starting!! Here's a great video to get you pumped if you already watch them:

I'm so excited for all these shows to start again!

In other news, I have been working on an idea for a short story for Halloween based on the song Long Black Veil by Johnny Cash as covered by Dave Matthews Band. I've never written a first story, so this will be fun! I'm quite excited. I'm going to channel my inner southerner because I'm setting it in a small southern town. I love the rich history of the south. I've really been missing North Carolina lately. I'm homesick for it!

Any way, I will keep you all posted as it progresses!

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Connections

Firstly, a HUGE thank you to everyone who read Unrequited. It is, hands down, my most read post and I'm really grateful for everyone that helped me achieve that. If you haven't read it yet, go check it out. It's on this blog, not one of my others that I write, but yeah. Go read it. I poured my soul into that piece and then it go rejected. #ironic.

I am a huge nerd. And I am proud of that fact. I read a lot of comic books. This is a well known fact. My last car was named Grayson after Dick Grayson AKA Robin AKA Nightwing. I LOVE all things comic books. And I live an hour away from Salt Lake City who has the 3rd largest comic con in the country. Go us! And I have been a to many of them. I have met lots of people and I've had really great adventures with my friends.

I wasn't going to go this time because money is tight and I really can't be spending a ton of money on non essential things. But, Chiquita convinced me to come and even gave me a pass. Which was awesome. So, I went. And thanks to some really generous friends I was even able to get a couple more signatures in my Arrow graphic novel. Which was fantastic. And so much fun. AND, I was able to get some ideas for my StarStruck Baking blog, which will be coming up in the next little bit.

It was really a lot of fun, but one of the highlights for me was the train ride home. The train was pretty full because there were LOTS of people at comic con, but there was an older gentleman sitting alone with a few empty seats by him. So, I kindly asked if I could sit by him and he replied that he would love some company. As I sat down, in the midst of hundreds of people, he started asking me about myself. I hate small talk because I'm really not good at it. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I really am not good at small talk. It's awkward for me, but this nice gentleman just kept asking questions and then I would ask him in return and he'd start telling me about his life.

I didn't ever catch his name. He might have told me, but it was too loud to hear him. But it really doesn't matter because in that moment it was like there were no other people on the train and he just wanted to tell me about his life. He reminded me a lot of my grandfather, probably because they both served in World War II. But it was still great to hear him tell me about how he ended up in Utah of all places and about all the places he'd been to and the things he's seen. I got to just sit and talk to someone and hear about their life. And just as quickly as it started, it ended. His stop came up and he said goodbye and hopped off the train.

Everyone has a story to tell. EVERYONE. Even you, person I may not know reading this. You may not know me (though, if you've read much of this blog you have a good idea), and I may never meet you, but in this moment, right now, we are sharing a moment. This experience right here is something that we don't always get with people. The sun rises and sets and how often do we actually see who's lives we touch? We are all connected.

And speaking of connected, I saw this video on Facebook the other day and it really got me thinking. I can't find the link, so if anyone can find it, put it in the comments. Any way, the premise of this video is that these researchers got a group of people from all over the world together and asked them about where they're from. The people talked about how they'd lived in the same country for generations and they were really proud of their heritage. The researchers then asked if they would be willing to go on a journey based on their DNA. Many of the people were skeptical, but agreed.

It was interesting to see the people's reactions when they discovered that none of them were 100% anything. But that their DNA showed how many different countries and heritages each person had. It got me thinking about my own ancestry. My Great Grandparents on my Mom's side came to America from Holland. That's two generations. That's so close! My Dad's family is from all over Europe. I even have some ancestors from Africa. I love learning more about where I come from. I want to go visit Ireland, Scotland, England, Denmark and Holland. I want to walk the streets that my ancestors walked. I want to see what they saw. I want them to be a part of my life. Because without them, I wouldn't be me. Without my great great great Grandma Dablestein I wouldn't know that I have a rich Jewish heritage. Without James and Mary Anne Pace, I wouldn't have a love for my hometown, which they settled in the early 1800s. Without Eric Anderson Svard (with whom I share a birthday) I wouldn't know about my Swedish ancestors. All of us come from all over the world. And because of this, we are literally all connected. How cool is that?

I am so grateful for my ancestry. For a heritage so full of vibrant stories and history! I love where I've come from and I'm so grateful for all those that sacrificed so much so that I could be me.