Heath Ledger

As I signed out of my hotmail account, I was shocked by what I saw: being rerouted to msn.com, I was staring at a photo of one of my favorite actors, Heath Ledger, next to the words "Dead at 28." It felt like my heart just stopped. How could this be?

I've loved Heath Ledger ever since I saw him in "The Patriot" and "10 Things I Hate About You." I always joked with my husband that if ever I had a chance with Heath (which was never) then I would have a free pass. (I believe my husband's choice was Shannyn Sossamon, who played opposite Heath in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Order.") I always felt that he wasn't like the other young actors of his age, that he valued his integrity as an actor more than being a celebrity. He was wonderful at his craft, being able to immerse himself into whatever character he portrayed on screen with what looked like such ease and confidence. He always managed to bring me to tears with his performances.

Right now, the cause of death has yet to be determined. Personally, I believe that it was an accidental overdose, although I do believe that there may have been some emotional issues that he had been battling with which led to the insomnia that he stated he had been suffering from. The fact that he devoted himself completely to every character that he portrayed, experiencing the same pain and psychological suffering that his characters did, could have been a factor also. He seemed like a person who could really get at the heart of a character, and you can't do that unless you possess the same ability to empathize, emotionally and psychologically, the way he did.

I feel broken-hearted, not only for the rest of his fans and myself, who will no longer have the pleasure and privilege to watch him continue to grow in his craft, but for his loved ones who have lost such a wonderful person. I pray for his family and friends during this difficult time, especially for his little daughter, Matilde Rose. This was a loss that happened too soon.

The Importance of Being Generous

One lesson that has been instilled in me by my parents is the importance of being generous. All throughout my life, my parents have always been generous with whatever resources they had, even when what they had was very little. I can remember numerous times when my extended family would go out to dinner and the check would never arrive because my mom would slyly pay the bill without anyone noticing. Being their daughter, I have taken on those same beliefs and I try to be generous in whatever way I can.

But this belief of mine was tested recently when I began attending a big university. In one of my classes, several different people have been approaching me about needing my notes from lecture. In the beginning, I really did not mind, but after the seventh person came to me asking for my notes, I started to wonder if I was being taken advantage of. I did not know any of these other students, but they seemed to notice that I came to class regularly since I seemed to be the only person that they chose to come to for notes. I could have refused to help these people, but I just do not have it in me to refuse to help someone, regardless of whether or not they were really sick and could not attend lecture.

And then it happened. I decided to eat at one of the student dining halls, so I went in, ordered my food, and went to the cashier to pay. To my utter embarrassment, I had not noticed that the dining hall did not take ATM cards, and since I never seem to carry cash, I was in a bind. To make matters worse, the nearest ATM machine was a ten minute walk away. I stood there feeling like a total jerk, furious with myself for not listening to my instincts when it told me to stop by the ATM this morning. The cashier lady asked me if I had any friends that could help me out, and I answered her honestly, stating that I didn't really know anyone on campus. I quickly moved out of the way to let someone else go ahead of me, wondering what in the world was I going to do?

That person who I let go ahead of me was the good Samaritan that saved me from this embarrassing situation. He kindly paid for my breakfast, no questions asked. I couldn't believe it. That person could have easily just paid for his food and walked away, but he chose to help me even though he had never met me before. The cashier was also touched by the gesture and we all went our separate ways feeling a little better about the world.

There are many lessons that one can take from this. One lesson is that we must, as human beings, be generous towards one another. Even with the little things that we can do, the world can be a much better place. Another lesson is to treat others how you would like to be treated because what goes around comes around. So why not send some goodness around to others? It will definitely come back to you one day.

Season Finales

Man, what a night! I couldn't believe the season finale of "The Office"! Talk about a cliff-hanger with the Jim-and-Pam relationship! I've wanted them to get together for the longest time, and now that it has happened, I'm almost afraid to see how this is going to pan out. If The Temp was the one that was offered the position at corporate, then that means that both Jim and Karen are coming back to Scranton. This is what is making me wonder if Jim and Pam are even going to work out because Karen will probably still be around, right? And I know that there is NO WAY that the Scranton branch will take The Temp seriously as their new boss from corporate! They never took him seriously as an employee at their own branch!

Another big finale tonight was the "Grey's Anatomy" wedding between Christina and Burke. I think we all knew that this wedding was not going to happen, so there was no big surprise there. I also had already figured that the woman who hit on McDreamy at the bar last week was Meredith's half-sister, Lexi, because she had said at the bar that she was having a bad day (mother's funeral, maybe?) and she was the Grey sister that was never shown before. I also remember that her mother (the one that died during surgery two weeks ago) had mentioned having another daughter who was a medical student back in season two. Now she is going to be an intern next season? I know that the actress has been cast for 13 episodes next season, so if McDreamy and Meredith aren't officially over now (Did you see that look she gave him at the altar? It was like ice!) this Lexi person is the wrench that the writers are throwing into their relationship.

I feel like I have to put my two cents in on McDreamy and Meredith's relationship. I wanted him to be with her because she loved him so much, but I've always felt uneasy about him because 1) He didn't tell her he was a married man when they were first together. 2) He only wanted her back when he realized that she was going to move on with McVet. 3) He turned her away, AGAIN, when she had chosen him over McVet. 4) He wanted to give up on her after the whole drowning incident. And 5) He resented her for his not being considered for Chief of Surgery when Chief Webber mentioned the promise he had made to Meredith's mother.

I honestly believe that he is selfish as all hell. Yes, he did try to save her and gave her CPR and all that when she had drowned, but that's what you're supposed to do! All of her friends who love her so much would have done the same, if not more. And don't get me started on the conversation that he had with her in his trailer. It is because of moments like these that she doesn't trust him. The other shoe always seems to drop in their relationship, and the only stable thing she has in her life are her friends.

Okay, maybe I'm being too hard on him, but he's irritating me. I think she needs to be on her own for awhile, without him. She needs to have a sense of self worth that is not based on her relationships with men or her memories of her parents. Now that she will be a resident, she's got her career to move forward with. I just think she deserves more from life. If they break up, I think it would be healthy, but knowing the drama on this show, he will most likely move on to her sister. Ewww.

One Year Anniversary

Yesterday was my one year wedding anniversary! Unfortunately, I had to go to school and my husband had to go to the dentist, but we had a wonderful dinner last night at King's Fish House! Of course, we went all out and ordered steak and lobster! Our server knew that it was our anniversary so we got free cheesecake with strawberries, too! It was funny because we remembered how we barely touched our dinner at our wedding reception due to the fact that we were both way too excited to eat, and the only wedding cake I had was the little piece my husband fed me when we cut the cake. I think last night's dinner made up for all of that!

Honestly, this year went by so quickly, and I have a feeling that before we know it, we're going to wake up and it will be our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary! Here's to many more happy years together!

Naruto

Which Naruto Character Are You?
Test by naruto - kun.com

The Naruto Ninja Rank Quiz Your Result: Jounin You are a Jounin. Wow- you must be a really great ninja that has much mastery in all jutsus and good personality. Fellow Jounins are Kakashi-sensei.(though he is a special Jounin, yes)
Chuunin
Genin
The Naruto Ninja Rank Quiz Quizzes for MySpace

I Fell in Love All Over Again

I love to read...actually, that's an understatement. I LOVE TO READ! I have always enjoyed reading novels, non-fiction, anything that teaches me something new or helps me escape the monotony of everyday life. I have library cards to borrow books but I would rather buy books so I can add them to my personal collection. I'm also one of those people who tend to keep my college textbooks after the term is over rather than selling them back for cash. As one can imagine, my personal collection of books has grown into a pretty decent sized library. Believe me, my husband likes my collection also, but when the time comes to move all of the heavy boxes filled with my books, he begins to regret letting me spend so much time at bookstores or online at Amazon.com!

Now, let me discuss my transition from PCs to Macs. It was about three years ago when my husband talked me into getting a Mac iBook G4 because he was getting a Powerbook. I needed a laptop for school and he needed one for work. I was a little worried because I had been trained on PCs most of my life. How hard was it going to be to switch over? Surprisingly, it was a piece of cake! And I can still use Microsoft Office on my Mac which allows me to send files to people whether they use PCs or Macs. Plus, when I received my iPod, adding music to it was so simple that I could have taught my puppy to do it himself...okay, maybe not my puppy since he thinks that anything not nailed down belongs in his mouth. I was just trying to emphasize how easy it is.

What do books and Macs have to do with each other? Since my library has been growing and I have not had an opportunity to do a proper inventory, I was looking online for some kind of system to help me keep track of all of my books. I also tend to forget when I lend things out to people. I searched Google for library software compatible with Macs and I found this website, Delicious Monster, which showed me EXACTLY what I was searching for! It is a program for Mac that allows you to inventory your books, movies, music and video games. By entering the bar code found on the back of each item, the program finds all of the available information on your item, including thumbnails, prices, reviews, description, etc. You can also use a web-cam to scan the bar codes, making it even faster and easier to enter items into the computer. It keeps track of who I lent certain items to and helps organize my items into categories or genres.












I'm looking at our collection of books, DVDs, and video games and thanking the stars above that I found this program! If I had not found it, I do not believe I would ever get it all done! No more Excel spreadsheets! I love my Mac!

What a surprise!

I've had two great surprises happen to me recently which I wanted to share. The first being the birth of my niece, Naomi Shayne! My sister-in-law was due on my husband's birthday, and since it was going to be a c-section, we figured there wouldn't be much of a surprise there. She and her husband didn't want to know the sex of the baby until the birth, but my entire family was already assuming that it would be another boy. The only people that believed differently were my father (who bet my younger brother fifty push-ups that it would be a girl) and my sister-in-law who claimed that this pregnancy just felt different than her last one. She took that to mean that it was a girl this time. On the morning of January 3rd, my mom called and told me that it was, in fact, a baby girl! Now my brother and my sister-in-law have a complete set! My husband and I immediately hit a Target and bought her a bunch of pink baby clothes since the hand-me-downs from her brother were all blue. I even saw a pair of baby ballerina slippers and just could not resist getting them for her! Yesterday, I went to the Hello Kitty store and picked up a Hello Kitty pillow with a ballerina outfit!



The second surprise came from my husband. Ever since I read an article last year about the Nintendo Wii, I have wanted one so badly! We could not find one anywhere, and believe me, my husband did everything he could to get one minus flying to Japan himself. Since I've been on break from school, I wanted to have the system to play during my free-time. When we were in Ventura to meet my new baby niece, we even checked all of the Targets, Best Buys and EB Games there to see if they had any in stock, but alas, they too were completely sold out. The only thing we could get was an extra controller from the Target, and since we had heard that all the stores were sold out of them also, we decided to pick one up for when we do finally get our system. Then, on Monday, my husband and I came home from running errands all day and he found a package sitting on our doorstep. He pretended he didn't know what it was, then he said that it was something he had ordered for me a while back. When I ripped off the paper, there it was, my brand new Nintendo Wii system! He told me that he had won it off of ebay and made sure that it wasn't delivered to us until we returned home from Ventura. And all those times that I was out looking for a Wii with him while we were in Ventura, he just kept praying that they were all sold out also so that he wouldn't end up buying two! I was so elated when I got the Wii that I was screaming and jumping up and down on the couch like a little kid!

The Wii is so much fun! We were bowling, batting, golfing, playing tennis, spearing fish, and shooting meteors to the wee hours of the night! My arm does get tired very quickly, and I do find that I take a lot of drink breaks while playing, but it's worth it!