If men are like buses...

I read a book once called "If Men Are Like Buses, Why Can't I Catch One?" The title alone made me pick it up. I can't remember much about it, except one statement the author made that really resonated: "If it ain't stopping for you, then it ain't your bus."
Hmmm.
But what about those buses you aren't sure of? The bus that may be an Express but then again it may be a Local, making numerous stops along the way? What about the bus that sort of idles at my curb with the door half open?
I know. I know.
It ain't my bus.
But...
Not my bus.
Do you think...
Not my bus.
What about...
No.
Darn.

Life 101

Raise your electronic hand if you still feel 19 inside.

Yeah, me too. That is until I actually run into current 19-year-olds and mistake them for junior high students. Then it hits me (as I rapidly approach 34) - I truly am not 19 anymore.

When I was younger I thought I knew everything. Maybe being an adult is realizing that you don't know everything and won't know everything and accepting it. I'm still trying to puzzle that one out.

I've certainly got the trappings of adulthood - the mortgage, groaning about car repairs, the To Do List. Yet there are times when I feel like I'm almost an actress in a play. Who is this person - I catch myself asking at times. Who is this girl gulping a SlimFast shake on her morning commute while trying to track down a muffler shop for my ailing catalytic converter? What happened? Where did she come from? I don't rememeber a college class about this.

As a matter of fact, I propose the following class for freshman college students, to be mandated as a core curriculum requirement. It would cover the following helpful life tips:

1. How to select an appropriate bank, mechanic, realtor, etc.
2. How to figure out how many deductions to take on your W-2 and what that will mean (maybe they covered this in the business classes, but we sure didn't cover it in the English dept.)
3. How to do an interview. Professionally. Seriously. Not like that poor guy who walked in, totally clueless, in his flipflops and nose ring. Did I mention the Bob Marley print t-shirt?
4. How to make that transition from realizing your college major will not be your lifelong job - how to morph it into another profession.
5. How to break up with someone gracefully.
6. How to maintain your dignity when your heart is broken.
7. How to unclog a bathroom toilet. Very, very useful.
8. How to effectively hang curtain rods.
9. How to create a meal that does not consist of Ramen noodles and Doritos.
10. How to react when your car breaks down.
11. How to change a diaper. Effectively. Not put it on backwards.
12. How to handle stupid sexist comments from stupid sexist men. (Not all men, mind you, just that idiot at the gas station wearing brown Birkenstocks with black socks up to his knee.)
13. How to handle rude waiters.
14. How to handle nice waiters, i.e. - you're an adult now - TIP!
15. How to realize you've had enough.
16. How to say "no" when one more "worthy cause" asks for a favor.
17. And not feel guilty about it.
18. How to evaluate the best gym membership.
19. How to schedule time alone with God into every day.
20. How to successfully transition from being someone's child to being that person's friend.

I told my mother that I feel 19 inside on some days.

"Oh honey, I do too."

Maybe I'm normal after all.

Time for a little move

Welcome to the new home of my blog! For various and sundry reasons, I've decided to switch over from Live Journal. Those interested in past posts can access them at www.livejournal.com/users/lisa39.

I do not have any cute pictures. I am of the truly ignorant when it comes to lovely decorations online. :) Also, my username on here is "Shell." Friends of mine may wonder at this. I offer it as a corruption of my middle name and leave it at that. More to come later on.

Leonardo Lunacy

Well, the review is in. I saw The DaVinci Code Saturday night. Having read the book a while back (good plot, aside fro all that obvious blasphemy, and horrible characterizations), I was rather interested in seeing the film because, um, frankly because it was filmed in a lot of places I have been to and I wanted to see them. I know, it sounds fairly shallow. I also wondered how they were going to translate what is basically a cerebral puzzle kind of book to the big screen. And I was fairly confident that a couple of hours of Tom Hanks with long hair was not going shake the foundations of my faith.

And my verdict is - I thought it was kind of boring. It wasn't as bad as some reviewers have made out, and I don't know if it was because I already read the book, but for the first time in I don't know how long, I got up in the middle of a movie to get some popcorn and a drink because I was bored and restless.

I won't go into how off his facts Dan Brown is. What added up to an eye roll here and there as I read the book ended up as a full on snort of disbelief in the theater because when the line of dialogue was spoken it just kind of sounded hokey (in my humble opinion). The movie stayed fairly true to the book. I'm glad I went because I like to be prepared when people are talking about it. I do wonder somewhat about people who will believe the book is true, but it really doesn't take that much digging into history to realize this is pretty much fiction through and through.

My moviegoing buddy thought the movie was pretty good, however. He didn't read the book though, so I wonder if that made a difference.