I saw this movie weeks ago and it hasn’t left me yet. This movie was educational, funny, dramatic and heart felt.
I learned so much about Australia and the aboriginals there and got a new perspective on Vietnam that has never been done in a movie before.
Chris O’Dowd will blow you away in this film and the girls are tremendous. The music is fantastic and the story will stay with you forever. Go see this movie!!
OK I recorded that video of my prediction before seeing the movie.
I wasn’t totally right about everything I thought and I was pleasantly surprised by the EXCELLENT movie that unravelled before me.
Tom Cruise in ON his game in this movie looking AMAZING for a man of 50 and frankly just any man. The script is EXCELLENT as are the special effects. This is an original take on the alien invasion movie. It has elements of other storys, just like EVERY movie out there. But I found the story to be utterly compelling and I wasn’t bored or waiting during any part of the movie.
The people who made this movie are definitely fans of Total Recall, Star Trek, Mission to Mars and the game Portal. When you see it, if you know what all those things are you will get it. Definitely go see this movie!!!
Today I got angry and sad about what happened yesterday in Boston. I have never been to Boston but I have love for it, for its history, for the people I know from there and just because it is part of America.
I was so angry. I hadn’t felt quite like this since 9/11. I felt helpless and lost and like I needed to be doing something serious right now. Like get in a uniform and kick some ass type of situation.
And once again I felt useless. And that made me even more angry. Then I read online someone’s solution which was ridiculous and I can’t even repost it here and retain my sanity but lets just say it enraged me. Then as I was driving I saw my local fire stations flag at half mast. And all of a sudden I smiled, I cried even a little. Here I am in a small coastal city and here, all the way across the country, at my little fire station they are sending love. Sending love to Boston, to the injured, to the families and to the fallen.
I felt the love. I decided that my rage wasn’t helping anyone. Getting mad isn’t going to help. In the words of Dr King, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
So I am passing on my little bit of love here from Ventura to you all. I hope it helps. Maybe we can all spread it around.
Ladies!!! What????
Have we stopped our progression? Are we just mere fighting Bitties who can’t STAND it when another one of us is deemed pretty by the opposite sex?? Why do we throw up our arms at compliments and act like they are murdering all our progress by calling one of us, gasp, PRETTY??!! How dare he!
I guess no one took the time to notice all of the other things that were said before the nasty P word came out. Is “Pretty” now a bad word? Should we shun it like the C word? I think not. Lets’s embrace our pretty. Lets use it for us. Also Kamala Harris IS the best looking Attorney General in the country. Man or woman. Notice POTUS didn’t say female Attorney General just the post.
Would he have said it if Kamala were a man? Maybe if he looked like Brad Pitt he might have. But who cares. It was an aside, not an entire description of her or her qualifications.
We have to stop knocking each other down when we get a genuine compliment and stop punishing people who give them. This wasn’t one of those “She’s a good Attorney General, for a girl” kinda moments.
Let’s leave our outrage for real issues like equal pay. I am done shaking my fist in the sky about this one.
Today I walked along the beach for over an hour with my eldest son. We talked and found shells and sea urchins.
At the end of our walk we sat for a bit on the beach watching children, not that much older than him, surfing.
It was magical. Watching them waiting for a wave. Trying to judge if it was a good one or not. Missing out in waves, taking small ones, standing too soon and bailing way to early. Watching their friends take advantage of the others lost fortune but none relishing in someone else’s defeat.
They were all at peace with each other and one with the sea.
There is so much to learn from these children at this moment that the words fail me right now. I am still experiencing it and being changed by it.
But this is life in a nutshell. Waiting for our wave, hoping it is the “one” that will carry us to our dreams. But life isn’t about one wave. It is about all of them. It is about learning to catch every opportunity and make the most of it. It is about how we all share in them together and how we can keep them coming for all of us.
Today I went down to the beach alone. To Surfers point to meditate this morning. I have really been trying to be more diligent about meditating every day but getting stressed about something that is supposed to relax me seems counter productive.
So this morning I did it. I went and sat and just was there for quite some time. Listening to the world. The ocean, the birds, the surfers and passers by. Feeling the warmth of the sun and he cool, salty breeze on my face was pure bliss.
I felt peace. Stillness. A quiet in my mind that hasn’t been there for many decades. I felt love.
Watching this ballet now in front of me, the surfers and paddle boarders along with the birds all working with the sea for life is beautiful. Just magical.
Marriage. Hmmmm. Well as a married woman I have a LOT of thoughts about this. Today is a good day in my marriage. So probably best to talk about it today! Marriage is a deal you make with another person to be with them and only them, through everything and to fill each other lives with love. Every day is another day to make good things happen for each other. Every day is another day to get to tell them, “I love you.” But I think more than that we, me included, should all start our days, us married people, by saying “Thank You” to your partner in life. “Thank You” for being here with me. “Thank You” for giving me love and attention, for helping me when I need it, for listening to me when I ramble, for not laughing when I cry at lame commercials, for not being grossed out that I want hot sauce on EVERYTHING, for letting me pick which team we root for, for having the courage to disagree with me and still love me anyway.
We need to be more grateful for what we have. We straighties need to realize that Gay people are in fact PEOPLE damn it. My neighbors marriage doesn’t affect mine. If they have an argument, I don’t also have to have one. If they get a new car I am not obligated to get one. If they have a kid I don’t have to immediately get pregnant. So what would be different if Gay people got married? Would I then have to make out with women and watch my husband have sex with men? Ummm no. Certainly not. Would my marriage be less valid because they were married? No I am pretty sure I am gonna still have the same last name I have had for 8 years and my kids are gonna keep on just the same. So what is the big deal??
Tomorrow is a HUGE day for the history of this country. The Supreme Court is going to possibly decide on Prop 8. We could be taking one huge step forward as a country, finally declaring EVERY citizen equal under the law no matter who they choose to love, or we will remain in the stone ages.
I hope that LOVE will perserve here. I hope it really will conquer all. LOVE is beautiful and should be celebrated with ceremonies and flowers and cake. I love seeing people in love. I don’t care who they are. Love is what makes the world go round and if we could all love a little more freely then I think we could take one step closer to being better as a species.
So straight people, do not fear, nothing is going to change for you. You are still straight and your marriage is real. The only thing that will be different is now EVERYONES love will be as valid as yours. All LOVE will be EQUAL. Isn’t that beautiful?
Well it has finally happened. After moving to Los Angeles 18 years ago I have had one single thought, when the HELL can I get out of here. I don’t know what exactly it is about LA that I don’t like. But there is an energy there that is overwhelming to me. I feel squashed by it. I know that some of you out there thrive on that. The hum that is the City of Angels. I respect that. But I never, despite being born in Beverly Hills, felt like I belonged there. I always felt like an outsider. A tourist in my own life.
We have officially moved to Ventura. Still in Southern California, but definitely NOT Los Angeles. There is a peace here that I have not felt in many years. It is quiet at night. It is still during the day. No one is in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything, yet I get more done here in a day then I ever did before. I am relaxed pretty much all the time. Walking on the beach with my family brings me a fulfillment that I didn’t know was possible. I guess it is true that the greatest things in life are free!
Now that my life has gone in this new direction I find myself interested in things that I never thought were in my reach. Sailing for example. I have always loved the ocean and the few times I have been out on it I have loved every second of it. I can’t wait to learn how to sail and to someday have adventures out on my own boat.
My new found peace of mind has led me to believe that I was right 11 years ago, after a long struggle to change my life, I decided that I would never again do something that I didn’t love. I spent the last 11 years trying to get out of LA and to a place I could really call home. I have found that now. I encourage all of you to do that. It is remarkable how everything else falls into place once you are at peace yourself.
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
CC: Senator Diane Feinstein
Senator Barbra Boxer
Representative Judy Chu
17 December 2012
A Solution to Guns in America
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for your noble words on Sunday. They were poignant and powerful and I believe you spoke for our nation. Our nation grieves for those children and brave women who lost their lives in that tragedy. I was given a spark of hope during your speech that something, finally, was going to change.
I learned today that Senator Diane Feinstein is proposing a new assault weapons ban. I am 100% for this and I couldn’t be prouder to have her one of my Senators from the great state of California.
This ordeal has gotten me thinking a lot about how this whole gun/ 2nd Amendment issue should be handled. Before I go into my proposed solution in detail I want to say that we forget sometimes that the 2nd Amendment was written in a different time in a much different America. We must acknowledge and take responsibility for our violent past and our violent nature. America is a country born of violence. We took this land by force. Killed or isolated the native population to make way for our objectives. We enslaved an entire race of people with violence and force. When this amendment was written there weren’t 50 states. You could go out to the “Wild” west and stake a claim in land that you “discovered” and to keep it you had to kill animals as well as people. There weren’t local, state and federal police like there is now. It was up to you to safeguard your rights.
Now we are an evolved society. We are innovators and dreamers and we have created the capability to go to the moon and back. We have made machines that are no bigger than a lighter yet they can hold over 1000 songs for us to listen to whenever and wherever we please. Yet for some reason, that can only be attributed to our violent birth, we cling to killing machines. We must move forward. We must not stay in the past. We are in a brave new world, it is time we finally took our first steps in it.
This assault ban being proposed by Senator Feinstein is a good first step. And that step must be achieved. The next step is gun ownership reform. Without using up further space here to draw all of the comparisons between current gun ownership and other licences let me just put forth my proposal:
Step One:
Guns and ammunition can only be bought and sold in licensed and permitted single function, aka gun shop only shops. No trade shows, pawn shops, Goodwills, Wal Marts or any other location, including online, can buy or sell these items.
Step Two:
a. Before any person can own a gun they must be 21 years of age.
b. They must enroll in a gun training academy.
(Since everyone is worried about the economy still this is a job creator moment for you Sir. Part of this proposal involves the creation of Gun Training Academies Nationwide that will be staffed with Veterans and other law enforcement personnel to put any prospective gun buyer through a course with theory as well as practical portions with guns. They would learn about guns, how to care for them properly and be required to assemble and disassemble them. Then they would learn how to fire a gun properly and do hours on a range. Minimum of 20.)
c. They would then have to pass both a written and firing test in order to get a gun licence. This would be issued by the states similar to a drivers licence with picture and address.
d. At this point a person could purchase a gun.
Step Three of this reform is to create a database of all of this information. A central Gun Owner Database which would hold their licence and test data as well as the serial numbers for all the guns they purchased. Similar to the database that holds DMV data. So when a gun is sold again by the owner they would have to file for a change of ownership just like a person selling a car does.
I would love to see a database of bullet striations so that law enforcement would know immediately who owned the gun that had been used in any crime but that may be too large a project for right now.
I believe the steps that I am proposing here are reasonable and would bring about a more educated and responsible gun owner.
Thank you again for all you have done Mr. President, and all you will do. I look forward to working with you to solve this for America.
With respect and love,
Nora Crest
Tragedy doesn’t even begin to describe what happened this morning in Connecticut. I don’t live in Connecticut. I have never been there. I don’t know one single person that was affected by this unconscionable act. Yet I am reeling from it. I swing between crying, I mean large, sobbing, UGLY crying and being so livid that I wish I could revive this psychopath and kill him myself with my bare hands.
Of course that won’t make any of what happened better. Nothing can. Nothing.
WHY is this happening EVER in our country? WHY are kids killing each other? WHY????
We must, as a society, take responsibility for our contribution to this trend of psychopathic behavior in our children. Yes guns are the problem, yes violent video games are the problem, yes a lack of discipline is the problem, yes the “everyone is a winner” philosophy is the problem. WE are the problem people.
Kids need love. They need to know that when they fall down you will be there to kiss their boo boo and to reassure them. Kids don’t need to be put in a bubble and never allowed to fall because that is too scary and NEVER know what failure is because everything they do is magic and never get ANY punishment for anything because they are just so precious and if you yell at your kid or discipline them you should just burn in hell and go to jail because you are evil. Kids have to know what life is. It is getting bumped around and figuring out how to NOT get bumped. Life is hard. Life is an adventure. But nowhere in that adventure of life should be included, running for your life from a crazed gunman.
We have to stop perpetuating this cycle. It ends here.
Of course all sides of the gun issue are shouting loudly about what would have made this a different outcome.
Here is the truth. NO ONE NEEDS A SEMI AUTOMATIC WEAPON.
Outside of military use it is UNNECESSARY. The end.
Jesus when ANIMALS are killed the whole world freaks out. When the show LUCK had horses die on set PETA got the whole show shut down because there is no way anyone is going to stand for a HORSE dying. That is just UNACCEPTABLE. But when people kill people with weapons, whether it is kids or adults, well then it is everyones right to own a gun and no one can take our guns. And it KEEPS HAPPENING. SO why the HELL aren’t we melting down all these guns for scrap and making playground slides with them or something.
How many kids need to die or god forbid KILL each other until we get the point? How many? There is no acceptable number. ZERO. That’s how many kids should have their lives ended by senseless gun violence in their classroom. A child goes to school to learn. That should be the only thing on their mind.
Mister Rogers sums up what we need to do here:
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
Let’s all try to be the helpers. Let’s help our children heal from this and let’s teach them to treat each other with love and respect and to help when it is needed.
