The Doctor is In

I did a very bad thing. It wasn't my fault, I swear. Netfllix told me to do it.

I have fallen prey to the world of Doctor Who. The program that (re)started in 2005, not the one from 1963, although that one is brilliant too!

This is very bad. Very very. New TV obsessions are always bad (I already have way too many programs I already watch--Sherlock, Parenthood, Once Upon a Time, and How I Met Your Mother are the current ones) and it plays off my love for all things British. Also, it's super nerdy and wonderful.

Although, the first five or so episodes are lame, the show gets so FREAKING good, I can barely stand it. 

Basically, do yourself a favour and watch Doctor Who. It's on Netflix. Do it!! And then we can rant and rave about it.

(WARNING: for those who haven't watched it yet, go away...now. Spoilers ahead.)

These are my thoughts about the program and its characters.

Chris Eccleston's Doctor--LOVE his attitude. I was crushed when he had to regenerate.

Rose Tyler: Okay, this chick. I love this chick. She's smart and pretty and funny and British. I love her accent; I love her relationship with the Doctor(s); I love her passion; I love her wit. When she got left in the parallel universe the first time, I was so mad and so sad. I liked her so much! And then when she came back! Oh, when she came back! I almost cried! Rose! And the (human) Doctor! Despite my still wanting her to be on the show, I felt like they had her leave the show very well. She and the (human) Doctor. The way it should be.

David Tennant's Doctor: Initially, I really didn't like him. All I saw was Barty Crouch Jr. from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I couldn't see an evil murderer being the Doctor that I had come to love. And then it all changed. Now I cannot watch Harry Potter without freaking out about my Doctor! I love this fellow so much it's pretty darn ridiculous. He can come ask me to travel with him any day. He's cute, he's funny, he's sarcastic, and he has an amazing and unique relationship with each of his companions. He is definitely my favourite Doctor. I really really like this guy. I am very glad that he lasted as long as he did although he definitely could have been on the show longer. 

Martha Jones: Unfortunately for this character, she was introduced right after Rose had been sent to the parallel universe and I was still very upset and couldn't accept anyone as the new companion. She eventually grew on me. but I never really loved her.

Donna Noble: Again, we were still relatively post-Rose. I was still super sad. I have the tendency to get very attached to characters (Sherlock, for example. Love that guy). She too, eventually grew on me. I liked that they had someone as the Doctor's companion who wasn't necessarily the most gorgeous actress on the face of the planet. I liked her saucy attitude and her self confidence. It also tickled me that she would never listen to the Doctor.

(At this point, it should be said that I am only eight episodes into the fifth season, so I am barely familiar with the new characters, but will get there (very) quickly and do a subsequent post reflecting on the current characters)

River Song: I really like this chick from what I've seen. She's mysterious and a little bit on a know-it-all. I think she's funny and am excited to get to know her more. ALSO, let it be said now as this is a very appropriate place to put this, NO SPOILERS, people!! I'm not current yet!

Matt Smith's Doctor: No. Just no. Nonononononono. I think his hair is decent (although Tennant's was 1000% better) and his bow-tie is "cool" (I like bow-ties, thank you very much), but beyond that--no. I don't like his attitude very much at all. I don't like his attempts to be funny. He seems like a bumbling idiot wielding a sonic screwdriver and manning a TARDIS who's trying to be the Doctor. Sorry but no. Go away. Bring me back David Tennant.

Amy Pond: Not bad. She's kind of growing on me a tiny bit though. I love her accent. I don't like the sexual tension between her and the Doctor though. There is a big difference between Tennant's Doctor and Rose's romantic tension and the sexual tension between Pond and Smith.

So there. Those are my thoughts. I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts, but, as Professor Song would say, NO SPOILERS. I just watched the dream vs. reality episode. So there. No spoilers.

Beach Discovery

Today on the beach, my two sisters, Ray Ray and Evangeline, and my bestie, Nicki (told you I'd mention you!), discovered the coolest trash ever:

A stunt kite (or racing kite as I would rather call it)!

A stunt kite is a kite with two strings coming from it that you can control and make it do all sorts of rad things. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. I love it!

Evangeline and  I discovered our gem in a knotted mess. It had appeared that the owner did not know that it was a stunt kite--the two tethers were intertwined and put together--and when it had gotten tangled, had thrown it out. So we scored a new kite!!

Our kite looks like an Air Force Blue Angel, no big deal.  Kinda like this:

So, if you see a rad kite like this one gracing the sky of Southern California's beaches, it's probably us.

Whoops!

My thinking three months ago: "This summer I will blog almost everyday!"

Reality: Haven't blogged since April.

The Reason: I honestly have no idea. I have been too busy doing nothing, apparently.

Sorry, people. I'm back now (supposedly). Now I will StumbleUpon awesome things, come up with great ideas, and pretend I'm smart and share the results with you.

For now, here is a recent discovery of mine (I'm a little late, I know): Pandora.  People, people, people. Let me TELL you. This site is GOLD. GOLD I tell you.

For completely free, you can sign up for your favorite artist (ie. John Mayer), genre (broadway showtunes is the BOMB), or composer (Sting) to be played to you for hours on end (no need to buy it on iTunes anymore) AND it will find songs within that genre that are rad and/or will find you artists/songs that are similar to the artist or composer that you searched for (this is where iTunes will keep getting business from me--I must buy the songs it finds for me that I love, you see) and play them too!

If you don't like the song/s that it finds for you, you can click the little thumb down dealio and you will never hear it on your profile again. However, if you love it, you can click the little thumbs up thingy and it will find others like that song too.

What part of this is not the coolest thing EVER?

I'm obsessed.

Happiness in Some Posters

I love posters, don't you?
I think I need to get some small ones to see everyday and therefore make my day better.

 If I were to get ones that embody my current obsessions, these would be they:

My favourite musical!
(For now--it changes.)
(P.S. Wicked is coming to my area in February and I am already STOKED.)

You may not know this, but Flynn Rider? I'm gunna marry him someday. 

 
This could very possibly be my favourite movie.

 

 Or this one....

(Sorry it's sideways)

  

Or this one....

 

Or Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

(But I just don't like any of the posters as much as the others.)

Time! Got the Time Tick-Tick-Tickin' in my Head

I am confused.

(Isn't that a great opening to a blog? Or a book? I should write a book....yes, yes I should. Perhaps I will when I don't have 2395235 million things going on at the same time.)

Rewind to your senior year of high school (or frankly any school year at all). Do you remember how long the school year lasted? It seemed like summer would NEVER come and you would be stuck in {insert grade of your choice here} forEVER.

Now rewind (or fastforward!) to your freshman year of college. It seems like it lasts like (exactly) .34 seconds (okay, maybe not so exact, but you know what I mean). 

Didn't I just move in to room 231 in Page Hall like last week?! Didn't I just start my first class as a college student? Didn't I just discover just how fattening and icky the food in the DC is (for the most part--some of the salads are d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.)?

Nope.

That was about eight months ago. (Say what?!) Yup, eight months.

I am not even close to being done (mentally) with my first year of college. In a blink of an eye, I will be walking down an aisle wearing a big gown and a strange hat that ruins my perfectly (or maybe not-so-perfectly) done hair to receive my degree and a "congratulations" from the President (of Westmont College). SCARY thought.

How does the time highschool (or any education under that) go by sooooooo slowly, but the time in college FLIES by without even so much as a warning!?

Perhaps it is that I am SO much more busy in college....
Perhaps it is that college is SO much more fun than any other grade....

I just don't get it.

A Letter to Cancer

Dear Cancer,

We have some things to talk about. Very serious things.

You have hurt me and my family for far too long. You have brutally attacked far to many members of my family and have struck fear into my family members who have been blessed with avoiding cancer (so far).

First, you attacked my great grandmother (Grandmother) with breast cancer. She is one of the strongest people I know and she toughed it out and lived.

You've also assaulted my other great grandmother (Grams) with cancer of the colon. Again, you failed. Both my great grandmothers are alive and well.

Not to long ago (three or four years ago?), you attacked my grandmother (Nana) with breast cancer. After long months of chemo and radiation, she too lived (and her hair is coming back in).

You also got to my childhood best friend, my rabbit Honey, with cancer of the uterus. She, however, didn't make it. You killed my best friend.

Two weeks ago today, we discovered you had also attacked my best friend, my bed-hog, my snuggle-bunny, my Scottie dog, Hamish. We had no idea you were hiding in his stomach until it was too late. You killed another best friend.

Do you know how hard it is to remember these things and type them out? It's brutal. I have cried so many tears both very recently and in the past over my best friends and my family. As a matter of fact, I'm crying now. The other day, I found a something-of-mine that smelled like him (generally, not a pleasant smell, but it was a good smell this time) and I cried.

You have nearly killed three of my heros and did actually kill two of my best friends. How many of my family members have you instilled with fear of you? I don't know. I know I'm afraid of you. I know I'm afraid of my other dog, my other best friend, Havie, catching you. Very afraid. I'm going to treasure every second with her.

You know what I'm also afraid of? Going home. I have only heard that my Hamish is gone. I haven't seen it. I haven't felt it. I am afraid of going home and realizing he actually is gone and losing it all over again.

"To Hate, V. :To hold in very strong dislike; to detest; to bear malice to. The opposite of to love. (OED)." I hate you, Cancer. I hate you with all of my being.

I've had enough with you.
No love at all,
Margie


Hamish is the sleeping one.                                 Grandmother and Nana







If we're friends on FaceBook or you follow me on Instagram, you're seen this one before. Hamish is the one on my tummy on the upper left. Such a love. I will miss him so much. I barely remember life without him (I was only about 6 when my parents brought him home--SURPRISE!!!--that was a good day) and it's gunna be hard to be without him.














(Sorry to Grams--and Honey--I couldn't find any pictures on FaceBook of you--and Honey--and, sadly, unless I took the photo myself or it's on FaceBook, I don't have it with me at school.)

Red and Yellow, Black and White Part 2

I have discovered, over 17 years of living, that the thing that makes me the MOST infuriated is when people speak "ill" (this being a kind word) of my interracial family.

Like the lady at Starbucks who called my family "disgusting" RIGHT in front of my mother!? (Had I been there……)

Or what about the lady on the beach who told her kid that she could only play with the "white one" (referring to my blood-related sister, Evangeline) and not the "black one"--except she used the N word?! (My mother had to pin me down so I didn’t slap her with all my might—not kidding.)

How about the countless people who asked us while we were in the process of adopting Ray Ray, “Why would you adopt a black one?” (To this I spat back, “Because there were no PURPLE ones!!”)

Can you believe the RUDENESS and the AUDACITY of these people?!

Seriously! WHY is a white family with a black baby (or husband, or wife, or brother, or sister, or ANY relation) such a big deal?! Answer: It’s not. It really isn’t.

People generally associate racism against African-American people with the pre and post-Civil War eras, but it still prevails today! I just don’t understand. Why does the color of one’s skin change how people think of them?! That’s NUTS!!

People don’t compare the size of each other’s feet or length of hair, or height, or tone of voice to decide who’s worth anything! If someone tried, everyone around them would laugh or call them crazy. Why does the color of the skin matter?!

I know I’ve had a post about this before, but it is worth reposting.

For the record, I fully plan to adopt many children from other countries and the majority of them won’t be white.  (My husband has really no say in the matter—sorry whoever-you-are! Hope you love adoption!)

I am not as patient as my mother is. I do not have her kind of self-control under circumstances such as these. I have no qualms with slapping people or shouting at them regardless of where I am or whom I’m with.

Please, think about your words before you say them! My sister has cried before because she has different colored skin than the rest of my family does and she didn’t even hear these mean words; she just came to that on her own! Think of how hearing these things could crush her—or anybody—before you say them.