But can you ever be just whelmed?

3 points to the namer of the movie that the headline comes from.

Word question of the week: is mittently a word?

Approximate Context: An occasional event that happened intermittently began occurring mittently.

My conclusion: While I can see what point the speaker was trying to convey, he actually used an obsolete word wrong. Mittent means "emitting" - or did. It's no longer in use. He made it an adverb, but that doesn't work. Back to grade school:
How did the event occur? Mittently.
I'm not buying it.

Tweeted the question to Mighty Red Pen this morning and generated a lot of interesting insights. Twitter's growing on me.

That's all for now.

Dark and sinister man, have at thee!

Who knew that once you "grow up," finding things to be passionate about becomes a daily chore?

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me."

And there is good in maturing (don't get me started on healthcare plans and dependency and boys who can shave and personal responsibility and ... ok, moving on). But it breaks my heart to think how many people have lost that childlike sense of wonder and excitement that wakes kids up in the morning. It's that spark of interest in them that keeps them looking around, asking questions, reaching for things, and stopping in their tracks.

I watched "Hook" last night - again. I'd forgotten how poignant the storyline was - so many subtle lines jumped at me this time around.
Maggie's encouraging "Run home, Jack!"
Tink's "You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you, Peter Pan. That's where I'll be waiting."
Grandma Wendy's "Hello, Boy."
Hook's deep revelations over the meaninglessness of a life that lasts forever.

But I think the part that got me most was Peter's re-transformation (I hesitate to call it regression - it's an old form with new dimensions). Watching him remember how to let go of worry, of rules, of reality, and start to imagine again was inspiring.

It also made me think: If I could live my life with a sense of childlike wonder and excitement, what a cool mom I might one day be! (I told my boyfriend I want to adopt a handful of boys and call them my Lost Boys. He cringed a little.)

For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Oh my giddy aunt - they've done it!  Shakespeare has met Clay-mation.  And there are garden gnomes.  I really don't need to say more!  So here's the trailer:

Gnomeo & Juliet

We cry, that we are come to this great stage of fools.

Do you ever think of your life like a movie that's being filmed? And you're the star? I'm convinced we all do, though most of us will deny it vehemently. (Perhaps because in the script, the character description reads, "modest and self-deprecating"?)

I've come to realize that Pandora is the soundtrack to my life. I've created stations that should be renamed after my moods or life scenarios. For instance, the "Pink" station should be renamed "Bitch." "Andrea Bocelli" should be "Romance." "Needtobreathe" is "Main Theme." "ELO" is "Flashback."

I've been thinking a lot about the movie "Stranger than Fiction." I need to rewatch it. The concept of someone's life being moved (or scripted?) by another person (or Person?) is fascinating. And then to see the character become aware of the Author, to witness the struggle between the Author's will and the character's desires...it is The Story, told over and over again in each of our lives.

To be able to step outside myself as "Jess" and see myself as "character" suddenly lends a new perspective to the choices I make and the events that take place in my life. Of course, I question the Author - who doesn't? But what I've come to understand is this: I do not know how this story ends. What I'm being asked to do is simple; I have a choice. Do I attempt to write my own ending based on my blindered view as "character," or do I relinquish control of that which I cannot control anyway and trust the Author to complete my story perfectly? Simple, and still the most difficult choice I will ever make. Yet I'll make it again and again and again.