MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Well, I'm a genius.  This morning I decided that I was going to be efficient.  I knew I was going to make myself go to the gym and I knew I had to go to the bank.  Since I wasn't going to have to get out of the car at the bank, it only made sense to drive over there after the gym and go to one of the drive in tellers!  Two birds with one stone, don't 'cha know.  I was so proud of myself for thinking ahead and not wasting a trip and all of that, and when I got to the bank I was even prouder of myself for getting there bright and early to avoid the long lines!

Then I remembered that today is a holiday and the banks are closed.  So much for efficiency.

Curses.

2) The Sunday before last, it was very cold outside.  Probably colder than it had been all winter up to that point.  While I was getting ready for church, I looked in my closet and realized that I couldn't stand the thought of putting on a dress while it was that cold outside and opted to wear slacks and a sweater instead.

Unfortunately, I was also having one of those "I hate all my clothes and nothing fits" days (some of you know what I mean) and couldn't find a sweater that fit or that didn't look ratty.  It hasn't been cold enough to really justify buying any new ones this year, so I was stuck with last year's models.  Well, except for one sweater that was brand new and I'd never worn it before, but I was hesitant.

See, last November, we went to the Mall of Georgia and visited a store called Museum Replicas.  This place sells replica movie and television props and costumes, and for reasons I still don't understand, I got a replica Hogwarts uniform sweater/tie combo- Griffindor house colors, in case you're curious.  It was a licensed replica, so it didn't have any patches or words on it that said it was connected to Harry Potter in any way, it was simply a nice gray sweater that looks like this:

Ten points to Griffindor!

I know I don't usually wear ties, but it isn't unheard of, and I thought that since there were no words stitched on the sweater, or a big Hogwarts shield on it anywhere that I could possibly get away with wearing it without any problems.  A lot of our church members are old, so I didn't think they'd recognize it, and since I sit in the sound booth during services, I knew I'd be in the back out of sight anyway.  

Believe it or not, I was told by a couple of our older church members that I looked really nice and they didn't mention anything about movies, so I thought I was home free.  However, it didn't take long before someone recognized it for what it was. Then way more people than I expected to know what it was figured it out.  If they asked, I was honest, but I still felt kind of silly.  I think I probably would have still been OK, if one of the men who noticed what I was wearing hadn't stopped me in front of the youth group and start asking me if the stairs changed around while I was going to class, and then start talking to the picture of King David in the window like it was one of the sentient paintings. 

So yes, I wore a Hogwarts uniform to church.  I wasn't trying to be weird or trying to get attention, I was just trying to stay warm.  I promise.  * Facepalm. *

3) I was checking my page tracker to see what people had been searching for when they came across my blog.  Someone had typed in "What are tapioca balls made of?"  Sigh.  In case anyone else comes across this while asking the same question, the answer is narwhal horn dust.  It isn't suitable for vegetarians unless they aren't that strict. Oy.

4) Last Friday, Mr. Lee took Steve and I out to dinner to celebrate my birthday!  We had a lot of fun, and thankfully we managed to get out of the restaurant before anyone sang to me.  *shudder* He also mentioned wanting to see a movie, and his only stipulation was that he wanted to see a 3D movie since that's his thing.  I think he goes to see all of the 3D movies that come out, just to see how competent the film makers are.  :)  Since there were only 3 of those kind of movies playing, and I for darn sure wasn't going to see Ghost Rider 2 (Sorry, Nic Cage) and I didn't want to see the one with Dewane Johnson in it about a mysterious mountain or island or whatever, we decided to go and see "The Phantom Menace."  Shut up.

It has been a long time since I've actually watched that particular movie, so time had faded my memories of it a bit.  I know that I like Star Wars just fine, and I didn't even remember hating Jar Jar Binks all that much, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad.  

I was wrong.  So very wrong.  The movie was terrible.  Not only was the 3D conversion terrible and unnecessary, the movie itself was just awful.  The acting, save for Liam Neeson and the guy who played Obi Wan, was dreadful.  The dialog, the cartoony-ness of the special effects...just...bleh.  Obviously I'm not the target audience for this, but I can always appreciate good movies, no matter who they are directed at and this was not good.  No offense to Mr. Lucas -mainly because I'm sure his company could figure out a way to track me down and do something else to me - kill my dogs or something since I don't have a job to get fired from this time. (You still aren't forgiven you web crawling bastards!) - but you need to just walk away.  Please.  Leave the movies the way they are and retire or make other movies or something.  This re-release was nothing short of a money grab, and I hate to say that we added our own funds into that pot.

Honestly, and I'm speaking directly to you now George Lucas, I say this with full conviction:  When it comes to movies, you are one of the most brilliant and creative minds on this planet.  You have done things and continue to do things to almost literally create magic.  Without the things you and ILM have developed, I'm sure movies wouldn't be as fantastical as they have become.  You created a wonderful thing with Star Wars, a thing that probably blew up way bigger than you ever thought it could, and that is honestly fantastic, but I'm begging you to just. Leave. Them. Alone. No more tweaking, no more conversions, no more Greedos shooting first...just leave them be. You are bad touching a lot of childhoods, and that is not cool.  I don't care if you made these movies, they no longer belong to you. They belong to everyone who love them and the majority of them don't want you messing with them anymore.

5) Anyway..so I just ranted about Star Wars. This must mean my blood sugar is low and I'm not being rational anymore.  I going to go eat breakfast before I start talking politics.