You Haven't Seen What?

What movies have you never seen that you KNOW you should have by now? Or movies you are embarrassed to admit passed you by? My list is pretty epic but I'm putting it out there! I'm not going to go by category or by decade, this list is by no means all-encompassing, I'm sure there are other movies out there I haven't seen that I forgot to put on this list.

1. Easy Rider
2. Apocalypse Now
3. Taxi Driver (I started this one but couldn't get into it)
4. Amelie
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. Casino
7. Any & all Sergio Leone movies w/Clint Eastwood
8. Dirty Harry & its sequels
9. Unforgiven
10. Mulholland Falls (pretty much any David Lynch film)
11. The Hustler
12. Rebel Without a Cause
13. On the Waterfront
14. Aliens (forced to watch the first one in film class & cried I was so scared. I'm a little girl when it comes to horror movies)
15. The Shawshank Redemption
16. West Side Story
17. Schindler's List
18. Sunset Blvd.
19. Wall-E
20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I'm going to stop here because I'm starting to have trouble thinking of movies. What's your list?

Two things that disturb the shit out of me

Virginity testing. Yes, you read that correctly. According to Amnesty Int'l, three women in Egypt arrested at a peaceful protest on March 9th were forced to take virginity tests or face charges for prostitution. This is just one of the many ways women around the world continue to be degraded. I realize that Egypt's societal norms are very different from those in the USA but Egypt is supposedly one of the more progressive nations in the Middle East & this is how they treat their women. Unacceptable.

Wasting vast sums of money. I read in Sports Illustrated that "Cal" (I'm guessing this means a college in California? I don't speak college sports lingo) managed to raise between 9-12 million dollars to save a number of sports programs that were going to be cut due to budget constraints, including women's lacrosse. Oh no, a handful of women can't play lacrosse! The world is going to end. Now, really, the sports themselves aren't the issue. To me, the issue is that those millions of dollars could have gone towards feeding the impoverished in our own nation. According to the US Census, in 2009, the poverty level was 14.3%. 14.3%!! There are almost 300 million people in this country, what's 14% of 300 million? A shitload (aka around 42 million)! I'm grateful every day that I have a roof over my head & food to put on my table. I know people who have in the past not been so fortunate & to me it's a miracle they are still alive to this day. Right now, someone is diving in a dumpster looking for food to feed their family. This isn't happening in Indonesia or some country in sub-Saharan Africa, it's happening in the US & it happens every day. I'm not saying we don't owe it to ourselves as a society to do something about the world's poor, I'm saying do something in your own backyard first.

Sleep - underrated, overrated or unecessary?

I love sleep. I love napping. If I could, I'd nap everyday! Given how intense & messed up some of my dreams are, you'd think I'd avoid sleep but no, it's one of my favorite things, like raindrops on roses.

Friday night, I couldn't fall asleep. I had what I like to call "the jimmy legs" - I was very tired but my legs were so jumpy, I couldn't settle down. Usually it takes me around 30 minutes to fall asleep but that night I got up & went to the living room to read for a few hours. I finally went back to bed exhausted around 3AM & fell asleep. I think the root cause was the glass & a half of wine I had with dinner hours earlier, that was the only real change in my usual routine. Even after dinner, I made sure to drink a lot of water to combat the alcohol effect but that is what I think did it. Which is odd, as usually alcohol makes people pass out - not fall asleep but literally lose consciousness which is why it's not exactly a doctor recommended sleep aid.

Insomnia thankfully is not a huge issue for me, but I know it is for a lot of people & I'm curious for tips of combating it. Do you have problems falling asleep? How do you handle it? I've heard that if you don't fall asleep after an hour, you should just get up & go do something else.

On a totally different topic, I had my bridal shower yesterday & it was a wonderful event if I do say so myself! It was great to spend time with family & friends that I don't see very often. Thank you to my bridesmaids for all their hard work (especially Karen!), to everyone who made it & to those who couldn't, you were missed.

Drumroll please!

Well, here it is: my official blog. No more myspace faux-blog for me! This blog probably won't change the world, but hey, it might, I don't want to downplay my communication skills & ability to sway people to my point of view.

I'm watching Greg Giraldo's Midlife Vices on demand & psyching myself up for my Filipino Martial Arts class tonight. Did you know Arnis, Kali & Eskrima are all different? That's one thing I've learned so far; the three names are considered the same here in the US but they are each from different parts of the Philippines. Even the website I linked to above say they are all basically the same. Well, we're more focused on Arnis at my school and my instructor Lorne Therrien was taught by the late Remy Presas. 

I'm obviously new to FMA, I only started this month, but my background in kickboxing as taught by instructors who come from a kung fu background has helped me adapt to this style fairly well. Shout out to South Shore YMCA Kickboxing class! I'm also taking Womens Thai Kickboxing class on Saturdays which is far more similar to what I'm familiar with. I'm interested primarily in self-defense & that is the focus while also being very cardio-intensive. Cardio is my weakness but I know I will only get better as I practice more.

Ok, that's enough scintillating insights! I wonder should I come up with some sort of witty catchphrase to end my blogs? Meh.

Seacrest out!

p.s. I'm thinking of copying some of my old myspace blogs here because just one post is kind of sad.