We Sing and We Samba

Today's quick post is a result of nostalgia, the delay in planning a dinner or other kind of outing for my birthday, and my most recent viewing of The Three Caballeros.

The movie starts with Donald Duck getting ready to open a big birthday box from his friends in Latin America. Lucky him, there are three presents for him to open, and we get to open them with him and be by his side as he watches home movies, dances in a condensed street of Brazil which happens to be contained in a pop-up book, and sail across and through moving photographs of Mexico. And then there are the crazy moments that appear out of nowhere of glimpses into Donald's brain of Latin American women looking pretty and Panchito and Joe Carioca behaving incredibly bizarre and somewhat colorful in what may be a drugged up environment. (Donald, of course, is getting high on life, because that is the best high.)

Talk about the ultimate birthday gift! If I could only decide what to do, an international trip guided by good foreign friends with very attractive potentials would definitely be on the list. Donald is one lucky duck.

I also love the cultural immersion that comes from watching this movie as well as another simplistic Disney favorite, Saludos Amigos. Yes, it's about 70 years old, and times have changed since then, but it is fascinating to watch different cultures in action, with their dances and costumes and languages and rituals and all that they encompass. Even when I was a kid, I was interested in learning what I could about these various cultures south of the border. It was harder to distinguish at a younger age, but the older I get, the more I enjoy learning about them and their differences.

With that note, an American duck, a Brazilian parrot, and a Mexican rooster are a pretty diverse group at that. I would love to have all three of them as my amigos. (I also want to be able to hold a note out that long someday too.)

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot

As another year approaches its end and a new one is just around the corner, I have looked back and realized one thing: this has not been a very good year for blogging.

Literally, looking back at the entries I wrote this year, entries I sometimes scrambled to compose before the month was over just to complete a scheduled goal, most of them (especially those of the latter half of the year) are chock full of spontaneous drivel and false promises of more elaborate posting ahead which more often than not fails to deliver. I don't know if it was just a busy schedule or a blank slate of a mind or apathy, but I have a list of thoughts brainstormed which has increased in size as the months rolled by, and for one reason or another, these thoughts were put on the backburner or discarded completely.

I can truly say though that although the blogging may have not been very good, this year has ended very well. A lot of bad things have happened this year, but it truly could have been a million times worse when compared to years of the past. I have been able to make more friends, catch up with old friends, spend more quality time with family, work and work and work to points where I may have exhausted myself while still maintaining a love and enjoyment for my job, travel back to my hometown, take plenty of trips to Disneyland, and actually be happy again with where I am at. It's been a while since I have looked at my life without thinking I wish there could be something more, but I don't need more. I'm happy, and that feels good to write.

I know that 2012 will bring lots of ups and some downs, but I'm looking forward to them all. (But mostly the ups.)

If there is one thing I can put on my new 101 list, perhaps it would be to write more and write better. And so I just might do that. Or maybe I won't. But I'll still try my best. Thank you, 2011, here's to 2012!!

Holiday Hoorays!

Time for Christmas music and movies, hanging up the lights, and putting the tree up!

Here is my tree (old picture but the tree still looks great!):



Here are my lights (which still need to be put up):




And here is a Christmas cartoon:



I do enjoy this time of year. =)

Happy 100th Birthday Mary Blair!

Today's Google logo is awesome and puts a big smile on my face. I want to ride Small World on behalf of this:



Among other things on my mind are reminiscents of my vacation, pondering what to wear for Halloween, questioning my local relations, where to drive to today, and the most recent episode of Community which was nothing short of sheer genius. I'll only be touching on the last thought here for now. It's wrinkles my brain and makes me crave pizza:

SVU Tuesday > Taco Tuesday

Tuesday is upon us again. If there is one thing to anticipate on Tuesday even more than an indulgence of cheap tacos, it's a plethura of awesome SVU episodes. Whoever decided to broadcast a Law and Order: SVU marathon every Tuesday surely knew how to liven up a semi-eventful day that could otherwise be spent getting fat off good old Americanized Mexican food. I would call Tuesday "SVUesday" from now on, but it might take too much effort to add two more syllables to one day of the week while all of the others are still only two syllables each.

Law and Order: SVU has a great way of making life look so much better on this side of the fence when all seems a little more gloomy. If nothing else, I can watch and say, "Sure, my life has been rough, but at least I don't have to deal with this!" Of course, there is only so much I can take on before I realize that I need a feel good Disney movie immediately after marathoning. It's all right, when tacos fail to hit the spot, SVU sure does nail it right on. And BD Wong is awesome too. Okay they're all awesome.



Speaking of Asians, I would pay good money (once I have it) for Jackie Chan's Mandarin and Cantonese versions of "I'll Make a Man Out of You". I can only hope that a little bit of luck and searching will lead me there. I'd better keep that in mind three months from now. Hooray for Christmas! (And I suppose an extra hooray for birthdays is in order too.)

But to conclude on an SVU related note, I am also a big fan of the SVU drinking game which I appropriately play with a heavy and/or nasty tasting soda, and I just might do so before the next episode begins:



I have realized that lately I don't have very many days where I have this time to relax at home for a little bit longer than a few minutes running in and out. Being antisocial is a bugger (and reminds me that I could be turning even more into my father than I already am), but being relaxed is extremely helpful at the moment.

Romance is Overplayed

So I wrote this big BIG post just now, and Blogspot felt it was not worth saving, and maybe it was right for all of what I wrote to be erased. I'll save the big posts for the future. Relating to all I had just written though, this commercial still makes me laugh:

We All Have Emphatic Powers

Last night's awesome superhero themed dream included my powers of flight and The Force, and my stud of a boyfriend who in this case also had powers, one of which was the ability to walk through walls. We also had at least two other superheroes in our alliance, one male and one female, and our alliance had a catchy name that could make for a potentially great film title and involved fashion, which is as weird as it must sound. Or perhaps we were a comedic TV series, which if it involved me is more likely to be the case.

This time, my subconscious is probably telling me that I like even numbers, I am hot for the guy from Suits, and I have been on the Star Tours ride one too many times lately. In fact, all of this could probably be tied to Disneyland in one way or another.

One of the most interesting things about this dream was that when my guy and I had contact with each other we were able to take on each other's super powers. Is this reminiscent much of Heroes? Sure it is, and this could very well be viewed as a lame ripoff of Peter Petrelli. But in this case, the two of us already had our own powers, and it was only by making contact that we were able to use the other's power. Once the contact was broken, we were only left with our own powers.

Although I won't elaborate here, I can definitely see the parallels between these images from my subconscious and the happenings of real life. It even ties into the spiritual aspects of my life in a wonderful way, and whether I may be thinking too hard about it or reading into it too much is very likely. But I will say that walking through walls was a pretty sweet way to travel.