Existentialism
Over the past two days, I've seen two movies that left me empty.
When we were at the library the other day, Jef found "Tuck Everlasting", a movie starring Alexis Bledel (Rory from "Gilmore Girls"). I've wanted to see that movie for a while now. It was ok, but that was it. The Tuck family had drunk from a spring and were everlasting - no bullets, disease or old age could overtake them. Winnie (A.B. character) stumbles into their world unknowingly. There were some cryptic comments made, but nothing ever came of them. Things such as Winnie's being there was the best thing to happen in that house for 80 years. That made me think they knew she was coming or there was some hope in her being there. None of this occurred. The movie moved on, and Winnie & Jesse (the youngest son) fell in love, or so it seemed. The Tucks had to leave or be found out, though. Just as they were leaving, Jesse tells Winnie to drink from the spring & he'll come back for her when it is safe.
Winnie goes home to a Grandma who is dying. She thinks about drinking, sits by the spring, plays in the water, but never drinks. The narrator of the story says that Winnie decided to have adventures, but they would be ones of her own choosing. The last scene of the movie shows the town in the present. Jesse comes back, and finds Winnie's grave/headstone where the old spring used to be. It says she was a devoted wife & mother. The narrator says, "Tuck told Winnie not to be afraid of death, but to be afraid of the unlived life. Winnie chose to live life." (or something along those lines)
The movie was just such a disappointment. I guess what they were trying to say was that you have to live life to the fullest, because there isn't anything else. I agree that our day-to-day lives should be faced with vigor. We cannot undo the past & we have no control of the future. We do have today, however. But there is more than just this life - there is a whole other realm of existence. I guess it gets to me when I see the hopelessness in movies because I know they don't have to be hopeless. Jesus is our Hope. He makes everything better, more worthwhile. :)
So then, today, we get two movies in the mail. "6 Degrees of Separation" and "A Streetcar Named Desire". We watched the first one while we ate lunch. It, too, is a dumb, existentialist-type movie. I totally didn't get it. And there was unnecessary language, and stupid scenes - scenes that were just gross. Will Smith did a good job of acting, but that is about the only redemptive quality this movie had. Throughout the film, there is a double-sided painting referred to - on one side it has no structure, on the other geometric designs that present a structured whole. The characters joke about it by flipping it back & forth & saying "chaos", "control". At the end of the movie, Will Smith's character whispers "(the painting) was painted on both sides." Jef & I didn't understand that. We didn't get the movie, it was too existential. Or maybe it was just nebulous. ;)
The name ...
Baby DuCom has left the hospital, with his mommy & daddy, of course, carrying with him a name! (I thought it might take them a bit to decide on a name, but it didn't!)
...............................................
His name is Eugene Maxamillian DuCom. Max. Good name. I really liked Max in "Gilmore Girls", and thought Lorelai should have married him, or at least given him more of a chance than she did. Maybe our Max will grow up to be an English Lit. teacher, too. Now that would be cool!!! :)
Welcome to the world, little Max! We love you!!
Jane Austen Rocks!!
We have an account with Audible.com This allows us to have one audio book a month (to keep forever, or so they say) and one subscription a month (to something like the NY Post or Wall Street Journal). One of the books we got is Emma, by Jane Austen. I wasn't sure how I would like listening to a book. I often have a hard time listening to the radio or news, just because I can't be doing other things, if I really want to listen/pay attention. When I read a book, though, I am usually lost to the world. :)Jane Austen has been a favorite author of mine since I was in high school. Mansfield Park was the first of her books I read. Perhaps this was the beginning of my love of Brittish humor. :) I loved that book. I read Sense & Sensibility after that, and then Northanger Abbey. Now, I haven't read Northanger Abbey in eons, but it was by far my favorite of Austen's books. I loved the heroine - she was nutty, but I felt like I understood her. I read Pride & Prejudice, and liked that one second best. With Emma on audio book, Persuasion stands as the only book among Austen's writings I have left to read. I have even read one or two of Austen's novels that are listed as juvenille writings (because they were written when she was younger). Jef & I went to see "Emma" the movie when it came out, way long ago, in 1996. I fell in love with that movie. It was the first one of Austen's novels I felt had been justly portrayed on screen ("Sense & Sensibility" was horrid, or so I thought, in that they did not really stick to the book, or present the era of that time well). I felt the movie drew you in, and the lifestyles & era were presented very well. I had not yet read the book, though, so I tried to remind myself the movie could have been just as horribly unjust as "Sense & Sensibility" was. This brings us, rather roundabout, to present. I thought the audio book would be good, if I could do dishes while listening. Suprisingly, I found I could. Listening to Emma made the chore of dishes even more tolerable. I am now almost completely through the second part (it came in three parts, since the book is 15+ hours [on audio book], or 432 pages long [mass-market paperback]), and I just love this book!! Jane Austen rocks. A large part of this book is conversations. Her ability in this area is amazing. Emma was the fourth book she wrote, and the last published before her death (Persuasion & Northanger Abbey were published posthumously). I find the conversations amazing. Austen can say so much in mere conversations that you can clearly see the characters expressions & undersand their intent. It is amazing. I understand a lot more of what is said in the conversations, knowing the end of the book already. But then, most books by Austen should be read more than once. All that to say, Jane Austen rocks. She is an amazing writer. :)
Wednesday
Ok, if I'm gonna do this blog thing, I'm going to have to become more original! I cannot, for the life of me, think up titles for these things!! I go to blog, see "title" and freeze. Nothing comes to mind. :p Matt & Sarah had their baby! Baby DuCom weighed in at 6#, 12 oz., and is 20" long! I think he looks awfully sweet & can't wait to hug him! Matt said he's pretty mellow, hasn't been crying a lot or anything. Hopefully we will get to go visit them in a couple weeks. :) Yay!!! I love babies!!! On a housekeeping note, it has come to my attention that posting a comment is not as easy as I thought. Apparently Blogger has their member identity set up as the default. So, when you go to post a comment, click on "other" or "anonymous". You can always sign your name within your comment, so I will know who you are. :) Jef is working on this whole starting up a computer/network business. He's been brushing up on some skills, reading some more books and getting ready. One of the things that would be really, really nice to have is a Fluke meter. He's entered to win one on Fluke.com (Fluke is the brand name - wouldn't it be great if there was a meter so you could know if circumstances in your life were flukes or not?!). Please pray that he wins it. The meter costs $1700 with tax. It would probably qualify for free shipping with Amazon.com. :D Everyone is kinda sick-y here. Jef is home with a headaches, stomach ache and sore throat, Jonathan, Daniel & Nicholas all have sniffly noses, and I have a headache & sore throat. :( Guess that is all my news for today. I am getting ready to call the Y to see if they will give us any financial assistance. We are hoping that Jef will be able to get unemployment. He's heard that the pay cut would cause him to bring home about half of what he makes now. Pay like that is certainly not worth driving to Seattle every day, paying for gas & car repairs. So we will see what happens. He'd like to get unemployment and then start up his own business. :) Ok ~ so I called the Y ... (drumroll, please)We've been approved at 50%!!!! We have until July 18, to decide. The first month would cost us $113.25, and then it would be $57/mo. after that!! :) God is good!! That is actually less than I was planning to spend to join Pure Fitness. That gym was $22/mo., and for $38/mo. the kids could come to the playhouse while I exercised. All in all, I thought that Pure Fitness ended up being about $68/mo., which didn't include ANY classes for the kids. :)
tiny hand
Sweet sleeping baby
Baby DuCom has arrived!!!!
Jonathan in repose.
Jef is the coolest husband ever!!!
:o)
Ok, so Tina & I are doing this thing where we are counting our calories and trying to exercise at least four times a week. Now, I haven't done so well on the exercising yet, but I have been faithful to keep track of my calories every day. Somehow I have managed to stay under my 1800 limit each day. :)
Now we are at this weekend. Jef had promised to make me a cheesecake for Mother's Day. However, our hand mixer did not arrive on time. :( So last night, Jef started making his wonderful, to-die-for, chocolate (of course) cheesecake. Sweetheart that he is, he carefully measured everything, and calculated the calories. The cheesecake came up to 8000 calories. Wow! Tina & I figured that a piece (if he cut it into 12 slices) would cost 665 calories. That is as much as a decent dinner costs. :)
Today I was going to just say "forget it" and just have a piece of cheesecake, no matter how many calories it put me over. Jef made us a wonderful dinner of rice, stir-fry veggies & chicken. (he is just the cooking machine) The dinner cost me 547 calories. That left me with 552 calories left over. I figured the cheesecake would put me about 120 calories over. Since I've been doing pretty well this week, always under my count (Tuesday is a little iffy, but I am sure about the other days), I figured I could go for the cheesecake. :) I was telling Jef the cheesecake would put me over 120 calories. He said, "How many calories did you & Tina figure the cheesecake would be?"
"675," I said.
"500," he said.
"What? How did you get that?"
"I cut the cheesecake into 16ths. Who cuts a cake into twelfths?" :)
So I was able to have a whole, VERY yummy piece of cheesecake tonight. The best part is I have 52 calories left over!!!!!
Why? Because Jef is the coolest husband ever!!!! :D
Questions ...
Have you ever looked back on your walk as a Christian and observed places where you had part of things "right" but other parts so wrong? I remember a time when I was full of faith, and knew I was hearing God, but at the same time I was very proud, selfish, self-absorbed, critical, self-righteous, and pious. Yes, I heard God speak to me about where to go to college and stuff like that, but man, was I off on the whole personal aspect of life!! Have you ever seen this in your life?
How do you tackle the day-to-day Christian living? Is it a struggle to remember to be kind, or does it come naturally? Are you as courteous to your family as you are to strangers you meet? I have trouble with that. I am always so cheerful & courteous to people at the grocery store, bank, etc., but my family often sees the worst of me.
Our Weekend
The weekend was very restful. Kamali & Tina took the boys Friday evening. The house was so quiet after they left. It was nice to just be by myself, not to have anyone to look after. Saturday was restful too. Jef & I spent the morning together, then I was able to get some cleaning & a little organizing done in the afternoon.
Sunday we were going to go to Anthony's for brunch, but we decided against it. With Jef's job up in the air, we aren't sure how much money we will have in a while, so we decided not to go to brunch. :) We just had a quiet morning, and afternoon. The boys came home around 6. The house had been so quiet! It got noisy very quickly!!
Kamali & Tina visited for a bit, then they went home. After they left, we watched the second Star Wars movie, "Attack of the Clones". We'd begun it on Friday morning. We've decided we like it ok, except the parts with Anakin. :) It seems the writers got lazy. Instead of transforming Anakin in this movie, they begin with him being a cocky, know-it-all, angry young man. There were different parts where we thought they could have used the situation to show how Anakin turned toward the dark side.
And what's with the whole force thing anyway?? Yoda says that Anakin will bring balance to the Force. Well, the Jedis were busy doing good for years and years. We know the Force is a dualistic theology. Dualistic theologies require balance. For each good thing that happens, something bad must happen. So the thought follows, if the Jedis had been keeping the peace & keeping good on top, then there would have to come a time when a significant amount of evil would have to occur. If Anakin Skywalker was the chosen one, the one to bring balance to the force, then why couldn't Yoda and the rest of them figure out that he would be evil. I mean, you'd figure.
Anyways, the movie was fun anyhow. The fight at the end with Yoda and Dooka (?) was great!
And that was our weekend. The kids went to bed after the movie. I made tuna (170 calories/serving) and Jef started making cheesecake. Sweetheart that he is, he calculated the calories in the cheesecake. (the whole cheesecake costs 8008 calories, in case you wanted to know) I went to put the tuna on our salad, but discovered the lettuce was all wilty. It is hard for me to use the big bag quickly enough. So I decided to run to Safeway and take advantage of their 10 bags (small) of salad for $10. In other words, a buck a bag. Thankfully I was able to spend only $14. I bought six bags of salad, two packages of hot dogs, two bunches of bananas, mushrooms, cucumber, and bread. :) God is good.
After I came home, I discovered Daniel was awake. He'd been coughing, so Jef let him get up. We ate our salads, which were really good!! They were only 230 calories each, with tuna, dressing & some Parmesan cheese. We watched "Magnum, P.I." while we ate. :) I love this show!!! I want to move to Hawaii!!!! :)
Now I am blogging. :) Thanks for reading!! Oh, and if you see a picture of the kids that you like, you can comment on it. They can read the comments. :)
Daniel running. The yard is covered in silly string from Spiderman webblasters. :)
