Safe Haven

                Everyone has their favorite author, whether they be fiction or nonfiction writers, romance or mystery writers, we all have a preference. Nicholas Sparks has been my favorite author for years now, and I’m never disappointed while reading his books. This weekend, the movie theatre I work at started playing the new movie “Safe Haven.” This movie was produced by Nicholas Sparks himself, simply because he wrote the book that the movie just so happens to be based on.

                Earlier tonight my parents and I went to go see the movie. Yes, I went with my parents; and I had a great time, thank you very much. Anyway, the movie was so much better than I expected. Usually when you read a book and then watch the movie you end up disappointed because the movie didn’t follow the book’s sequence of events, or the actors they chose didn’t fit the image you had in your head, etcetera. But Safe Haven far exceeded my expectations. The actors and actresses they chose were absolutely amazing and played their roles so brilliantly.

                The movie also followed the storyline of the book practically to every point. I mean, there are always parts of the book that can’t possibly make it into the movie without making the movie six hours long. So the fact that the director and script writer were able to create this picture that captured your attention, and made sure to hold it just blew my mind.

                After we got home from the movie, I went on imdb.com to see who the actors were that played some of the roles. I was familiar with a few of them, but others of them I had no idea who they were. I searched “Safe Haven” and the movie critics’ ratings popped up. Safe Haven only received a 6.30 out of 10… which I think is ridiculous. I personally would rate Safe Haven a perfect ten out of ten; I seriously loved the movie that much.

                I think it is safe to say that I will be recommending this movie to every single person I meet. I also think it is safe to say that I will be buying this movie when it comes out on DVD. Oh, and if I haven’t convinced you to see this movie yet, Josh Duhamel is shirtless in a couple scenes. Please don’t hurt each other as you rush to purchase your tickets inside the door. In the words of my fellow coworkers at the theatre, “Enjoy your show!”

 

(421 words)

My Vocal Dreams

                Do you ever wish you could just one day start singing like a star? I mean I’m sure some of you reading this are amazing singers, but some of us aren’t okay? Some of us just have to lip sing to chart toppers while randomly dancing around our rooms acting as if we’re about to win American Idol or something. Not that I’ve done that before...or often.. Don’t lie; you’ve done it sometime in your life.

                I mean come on, please tell me you have always dreamed of singing like Carrie Underwood. She has the most amazing singing voice- like ever. Or maybe you have always wanted to be in Les Miserables with Eddie Redmayne (holy gorgeous man; excuse me while I fangirl) and never got the chance because you suck at singing (not that I ever had that dream crushed). Have any of you ever wanted to be in a school play, but never could because they were ALWAYS musicals? Yeah I’ve never been down that road either… Actually I have, but I’ll spare you my sorrow.

                Have you really never imagined yourself on a stage dancing with Luke Bryan as you sing a hit duet? Let’s be real here, anyone would be lucky to shake it with that fine man on stage. Anyone out there ever wanted to just randomly break into a High School Musical lunch dance number? You know- just randomly jump on the tables and start singing and dancing the same dance as everyone else? No? Liars.

                I know I’m not the only one out there that loves to sing even though I can’t. If you deny it, you are a liar. There is a songstress in all of us- at least I think so. I’ve always wished I could sing, but I never could. They let me into those little fifth grade choirs, but I don’t think they were allowed to turn anyone away. And don’t even get me started on show choir- because I never actually auditioned for that. If I could sing anything at all, you can bet I would. But I can’t. So I think I’ll just stick with singing along with the radio as I drive home from school. I’ll keep the windows up, so as not to make your ears bleed. You’re welcome.

 

(385 words)

Teachers Cause Sickness

                When I say that I don’t get sick very often, I mean it. Up until this past year I would only catch a cold about once a year, if that. But then life got busy between school, work, extracurricular activities, and homework- sleep got pushed out the window. Instead of getting eight or nine hours of sleep a night, I’m down to six or seven (if I’m lucky). It has been medically proven that sleep deprivation affects your immune system. Awesome, right? Now that I’m no longer getting enough sleep (ever), I’ve been getting sick more often. It really sucks, in case you were wondering.

                Teachers always encourage us to take challenging classes and push ourselves outside of the comfort zone we have for learning. Well guess what. The challenging classes they push us so much to take have a shit ton of homework. I’m sorry, but last time I checked the words “Spring Break” meant “time to lay around or go on vacation or do whatever the heck you want to do” not “hey there is an extra week of time you should have free to do even more homework!” Take a hint teachers: do NOT assign homework the Friday before Spring Break. Bad idea. I hope teachers realize that homework doesn’t get done as well as it otherwise would have on a normal school night. Most of us (and by most I mean all except those who don’t have lives outside of school) wait until Sunday night to finish all of our homework, which means we only have a short amount of time to complete all the bullshit y’all want us to have perfected by Monday morning. And then teachers get mad when we come back from break and don’t have everything ready and perfect for them. Sucks to suck, teachers. Maybe you shouldn’t have assigned anything in the first place, considering half of us are planning on turning our assignments in late.

                Some of us also have jobs because our parents want to teach us respect and discipline; basically it’s just their fancy way of saying they don’t want to pay for our stuff so if we want it we have to cough up the money. I’m working fifty eight hours over Spring Break simply because I have bills to pay. Sleep doesn’t fit into the agenda when there is work to be done. But I didn’t just want my Spring Break to be all about work, I wanted to hang out with friends as well. Three sleepovers later, I’ll be down to almost no sleep, I’ll have made my cold even worse, and I still won’t have my homework done.

                Dear teachers: don’t assign homework over Spring Break. Some of us have responsibilities that need to come first, others just want to go on vacation and spend time with their families. But part of that time is taken away. Why? Because they have a pile of homework stacked in the corner of their room waiting to be completed but being completely ignored until next Sunday night.

 

(510 words)

Les Miserables

                Think of the last musical you went and saw. Was it a school play? Or maybe a Broadway show? I went to one last night and it was absolutely amazing. The musical wasn’t live, however, but a movie instead. It’s been a pretty popular movie lately- I would know, I work at a movie theatre.

                The movie is Les Miserables, and I personally thought it was amazing. The singing was flawless- and the fact that some of the actors were able to cry while they sang absolutely amazed me. The casting was also done to perfection- every actor and actress portrayed their character extremely well. I was unsure whether or not I would truly like the movie, but I absolutely loved it, and from what I’ve heard everyone else has too.

                The songs in this movie get stuck in your head so easily. I literally went home after watching the movie, got on YouTube, and listened to the songs on repeat. Eventually I got bored of waiting through commercials just to listen to songs I’d practically memorized, so I made my way to Pandora and started listening to the Les Miserables station. My life has been changed forever.

                The only thing I didn’t like was how long the movie was; the entire movie was sung, with maybe five words actually spoken (that is a rough estimate, by the way; I never actually counted how many words went un-sung). Two and a half hours of singing seems to drag after a while. The solos were really well done- they just lasted six or seven endless minutes rather than just a few.

                Les Miserables is absolutely amazing. It will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, from laughter to tears, and I highly recommend it for everyone. There is a little something in Les Mis for everyone to connect with; even those that don’t believe there is. Especially the ones that don’t believe.

 

(322 words)

Extra Teeth

                You know how everyone hates going to the doctor? I’m definitely not one of those people- I actually don’t mind going to the doctor. Most hate going because of the needles, but personally I’m not afraid of shots. I don’t hate the doctor so much that I want to be one someday- is that dedication or what? There is one type of doctor though that I absolutely cannot stand.

                The Dentist. I HATE the dentist. I’ve hated them since… forever. I don’t know what it is about my teeth, but the dentists can never seem to figure it out. They never do anything right on the first try- it always takes more tries.

                Of course, today is Monday as I’m sure you all are well aware, and I had to make an extra trip to the dentist office because of my wisdom teeth. Think back to my usual Monday posts; have my Monday experiences ever turned out good? At my last check up, the dentist said I would be getting my wisdom teeth soon, and should think about getting them out next summer. Well, all four of them have already grown in. Yeah, I know. So there I am, sitting in the chair of unhappiness, with a dental assistant shoving a mirror into my mouth. She then rudely informs me that they aren’t my wisdom teeth at all- I just grew an extra set of molars. What the heck.

                It then turned out that the retainers I wear at night no longer fit because of the mouthwash I use. I rinse them in mouthwash, and the alcohol in the mouthwash eats dissolves them. So now I have to get new retainers fitted on Wednesday. Awesome right?

                I just want everyone to know of my latest experience at the dentist office, so that if this ever happens to you, you’ll have something to look back on. If your dentist tells you the next teeth you will be growing are your wisdoms, and you suddenly grow some extra teeth, don’t be surprised. If you go to my dentist, they might even start yelling at you for not knowing you were supposed to grow an extra set of molars. Oh and use alcohol free mouthwash, just to be safe. The lesson to be learned: don’t trust your dentist; all of them are full of lies. And extra molars.

 

(396 words)

At Least I Tried

                Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to try and cook. I can bake really well, but cooking is a totally different story. I just don’t understand how that works: I can make layered cakes with fancy frosting, but I can’t make Kraft Mac and Cheese right. It’s almost pathetic sounding, isn’t it? Okay, it’s really pathetic but you get the point.

                I woke up really late this morning, just in time for lunch actually, but I still wanted to eat breakfast food. I tried to make eggs, and that didn’t go well; I mean, how hard is it to make eggs? My dad always made it look so easy, but no. Apparently you have to keep stirring them around the pan so that they don’t stick to the bottom and burn. Strike one, my friends. I then figured some hash browns would disguise the burnt taste of the eggs, so I stuck some in the microwave. And I ended up eating them cold. Strike two.

                I’m sure by now you’re trying to guess what strike three will be. To be honest, there was not a strike three. This was just my most recent cooking failure, as my past attempts at food haven’t generally turned out all that great. I mean for goodness sake, I’ve made Mac and Cheese the right way maybe three times in my life. Every other time I’ve either added to much milk, forgotten the butter, not cooked the noodles all the way, or the worst one yet: forgotten to drain the water before adding the other ingredients. I think it’s safe that culinary school is out of the question for me in the future.

I’m just glad my mom is the chef in the family and not me- if I was in charge of dinner every night, we would most likely be eating sandwiches and cereal (obviously I’m very classy with my specialties). Of course, we would always have cake for dessert; I mean that’s basically the only thing I can make correctly.

 

(338 words)

Musical Music

                Think of your favorite radio station. What kind of songs do they play- are they pop songs, today’s hits, country songs, songs from other decades, a combination of random songs? How many radio stations out there include songs that are from your favorite musicals? Locally we don’t have one, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.

                I searched the Internet for radio stations that included Broadway songs, and interestingly enough, there are some. http://accubroadway.com/ is a website that leads you directly to the station that plays all Broadway music. As a Thespian myself, I personally love theatre and theatre music. It’s refreshing to listen to music that isn’t crap like a lot of today’s hits are. These songs are written to entertain, and they are meant to be sung and danced to. They are written to express feelings and get a specific emotion across to the audience. That’s what I love about Broadway music: it is different, refreshing, and fun to listen to.

                So why do radio stations today not incorporate songs from musicals into their playlists? I think it’s because a lot of people aren’t familiar with theatre songs. But is it really so much to ask to play Hakuna Matata every once in a while? Come on, don’t lie. Tell me I’m not the only one who has dreamed of the day when you’re driving down the road and “Bend and Snap” from Legally Blonde the Musical comes on the radio. If I am, I’m sorry to hear that; y’all are missing out if you’ve never had that dream.

                Haven’t any of you ever wanted a break from Rhianna and Taylor Swift? Why not take a break from the normal, usual songs you hear every single day and try listening to something from Wicked? I know I would love to listen to The Little Mermaid instead of a plethora of rap songs- scratch that, “(c)rap” songs.

                And it doesn’t just have to be Broadway music- it could be any catchy, theatre songs. Glee would be a good example of this; how many times have you heard Glee on your radio? Probably not very many times, if even at all. Every now and then it’d be good to hear a cover of a chart topper rather than just listen to the chart topper over and over again.

                Why are radio stations so selective with the songs they play? I know they are trying to appeal to a certain audience, but why not give people a taste for other songs as well, rather than the same old stuff over and over again? I think it’d be a good change for the radio world. I mean, who wouldn’t want to sing along with their favorite Grease songs?

 

(457 words)

Love Never Fails

Every little girl grows up watching Disney princess movies and dreaming of the day she will find her Prince Charming. We imagine ourselves riding off into the sunset to live happily ever with some random hunky man who managed to sweep us off our feet. For the average, every day, not very rich, normal woman, this is just a fantasy. For the rich and famous, the sky is the limit to make their wedding dreams come true.

For instance, let’s look at one of my personal favorite couples in the world of fame today: Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher. The country star and the hockey jock couldn’t have seemed more different to the press, but they fit together like two pieces in a puzzle. I’ve always been a Carrie Underwood fan, from the first time I heard her sing on American Idol until now, but her husband was someone I hadn’t heard of before. Needless to say, they are two gorgeous people who seem absolutely perfect for each other.

 

Their wedding was a lot more extravagant than I was expecting, as she is from a small town in Oklahoma. From her dog wearing a pink tuxedo jacket, to the pink flowers covering everything, to the forty carat diamond tiara on Carrie’s head, the wedding exceeded my expectations. I thought they would stick to a more traditional, backyard wedding- but I was wrong! I loved the pictures of their wedding- and I honestly wish I could have been there.

                Everything about their wedding was pink- which is Carrie’s favorite color. Really, the only thing Mike had a say in was the tiara he bought her as a pre-wedding gift (it was forty carats of diamonds… the bar has been set very high, future husband) and the hockey puck table numbers to represent his career. I loved the class and tastefulness their wedding had- when you have money to spend like they do, weddings can be overdone and tasteless, but they managed not to do that.

                Mike and Carrie shared their first dance to Brandon Heath’s “Love Never Fails.” As I’m sitting here listening to this song, I imagine Prince Charming the hockey player and his Princess the country star slow dancing to its sweet melody, and I’m jealous. I mean come on, it’s a beautiful song and they’re a beautiful couple. How could you not be jealous of their happiness?

                Someday I want my Prince to come, but I want him to treat me the way Mike treats Carrie. You can just see it in their faces how much they care for each other, which is what I’m pretty sure most women in the world want someday (I mean Disney set us up to wish for these kinds of things, didn’t they?).

 

(461 words)