Bliss with a view

BPoT#167:

Picnicking.

Not a picnic table. Not at a "picnic" event selling hot dogs. But a real, honest-to-goodness picnic. Bring out the blankets, the oversized beach towels, the worn out tablecloths. A sunny day, a stretch of fluffy green grass, a beautiful view and you have the perfect setting. The gardens at Boscobel, for instance, overlooking the beautiful Hudson River to the west, with the sun setting over West Point.

Other things that make it great: sitting with friends, all sharing food, not having to drive, getting to see a shakespeare performance afterward...

And the winner to the obscure bonus question is...

BPoT #166:

Trivia Night!

Because it's so much more fun to do something at a bar besides drink.

Sam is the real hero

BPoT #165:

Seeing your favorite movie in theatres.

Imagine your favorite movie of all time. Star Wars? Casablanca? Shawshank Redemption? If it's your favorite film, chances are that it's not in theatres right now. Especially if it's an oldie, you might have never gotten a chance to see it in theatres.

Mine's The Lord of the Rings. Okay okay this is actually a film series, but who's checking? Granted, I did see the Return of the King in theatres 5 times when it came out, but the extended editions of all three films came out after they were all out of theatres. Nearly a decade after its release, I saw the extended edition in theatres tonight. It was very emotional.

Get busy living

BPoT #164:

Getting ice cream with the family.

When my sister and I were little, my mom and/or dad would take us to a little corner Baskin Robbins and we would both their Rainbow Sherbet. We like it because it tasted great, of course, but I also liked it for two other reasons. I may have been little, but I knew that 1) Rainbow meant all the colors, and the Baskin Robbins was only Pink and Orange and sometime White. 2) It's spelled Sherbet but it's pronounced Sherbert. I didn't realize this distinction until I got a "rainbow" Beanie Baby Bear named "Sherbet." But I also like Baskin Robbins' Rainbow Sherbet for those reasons.

Anyway, years later my sister and I are riding in the back of the car with my mom like we used to, giggling hysterically for god knows what reason, and my mom decides we should go get ice cream. And that's what we did.

On a coincidental side note, I'm watching Shawshank Redemption with Tim Robbins.

the Waking Draught

BPoT #163:

Reading in bed.

Reading oneself's to sleep is somewhat of a cliche, and also more of an inaccurate one as it relates to me. The only book that puts me to sleep is one that I do not want to read, such a something for school. But despite its somnolent properties, I am unlikely to read something I really don't want to before bed unless it's absolutely necessary for academic reasons. Normally, I reserve that little bit of time before sleeping for a bit of pleasure reading, but this isn't very wise because if I am reading something rather good, it actually keeps me awake out of a desire to further myself in the story.

That is why waking up in the morning and reading starts the day off right for me. I don't particularly like waking up early, but I do rather like the early morning, as times of day go. It's so quiet and peaceful; but, that's a post for another time. My real point is, for me anyway, when waking up just early enough at which you don't want to get out of bed yet, but you can't fall asleep, reading is the perfect thing to do. Particularly if I'm reading an exciting book, it's a way to chase away the last vestiges of the night with the characters' adventures. I also finished the book I was reading currently this morning, which gave me an excuse to get out of bed other than the need to fill my stomach to replace all that had vanished, or empty my bowels of all that had accumulated there during the night. Rather a more tasteful way to wake up, I should think.

Gotcha!

BPoT #162:

You're it!

All forms of Tag are great. I'm not much of a sporty person at all, but for some reason I love old school recess games like that: Tag, Hide and Go Seek, Hide-and-Go-Seek-Tag, Flashlight Tag, Sharks and Minnows, Pickle (aka. Running Bases), Sardines, Red Rover, Capture the Flag, Dungeon Master, Spud, Ghost in the Graveyard, and Manhunt (Hide-and-Go-Seek-Tag's older, middle-school brother who only comes out at night). Honestly, anytime anyone ever brings up playing one of these games (especially at my age) you can bet I'm all for it (under good circumstances; you can't play tag with a full stomach or something, but even then I'd probably endorse the idea).

That's part of the reason I love working at a Shakespeare camp over the summer. Naturally I love the old Bard, but one of the best perks of the job is that whenever we have free time, our middle-shool actors wants to run around and play, and since it is my job to supervise, it's more for fun for both us and them if I join in. (Though they do tend to get into one-game ruts; for example, all they ever want to play right now is Spud.)

Obviously, this would have made my day had I played any of these games today, but sadly, I did not. That may sound misleading, but that's why I prefaced that all forms of Tag are great. That's also why the actually BPoT is "You're it!" because the only game I played today was phone tag, and it was a relief that the person I was trying to get a hold of finally called back when I had my phone in hand. Fooledja' didn't I?

I'm not droppin' no eaves, sir, honest!

BPoT #161:

Surreptitiously hearing someone give someone else your own proffered advice.

Have you ever wished you could tell someone something without them knowing you told them, or find something out without that person knowing you know? I feel like this is a similar situation. It's one thing for someone to tell you something, whether it be praise or criticism or love or hate, the one thing I am certain of in life is that you never know what someone else is thinking. Never, no matter how good an idea you think you have, there's no way of knowing for sure. That's why when you overhear something you weren't necessarily supposed to, it has the ring of truth. Naturally, the speaker could be lying to the listener and there are lots of things at play here, like whether or not you were intentionally eavesdropping but let's just stick with the simple situation of truly (by which I mean, unintentionally) overhearing someone give someone else advice you had just previously suggested.

This way, you feel like there's proof that the speaker actually has faith in what you said, enough to relay it to someone else in distress. Hearing it being done, instead of hearing someone sya it had been done, is very gratifying and just enough to send you to bed with a slight perk-up of a smile.

The power of the printed word!

BPoT #160:

I thought this day would never come (in a good way)

In a first-removed relation to my last post, I powered through a book today. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was only 278 pages so not too long, but still it was a nice feeling to blaze through it. Technically I am still engaged in Looking for Alaska which so far I am enjoying, but kind of seeing a lot of similarities between it and Paper Towns, the only other John Green book I have read (and it was really good.) I am still perfectly it though, so the only real reason I stopped to read the Mountain book is because it is the first real book I have ever actually witnessed my sister both buy and read of her own will. By "real" I mean a full length novel and not a picture book or something of the same caliber (being an elementary school teacher she has a lot of experience with those). I was also intrigued because the last book I ever read by my sister's recommendation was The Great Gatsby and no offense to Mr. Fitzgerald but I didn't like that at all. Granted, it was a school book so it doesn't really count.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a Newbury award winning novel based on old Japanese folktales that are beautifully weaved through a creative original story by Grace Lin, so it's no wonder that both my sister and I enjoyed it. It has always been a great sorrow to me, an ever-ardent lover of literature, that my sister always said she didn't like to read. Now I have hope that it's not reading she's against per se, but rather that she just hasn't been reading the right books. I will say that she at least likes Harry Potter and Memoirs of a Geisha (I've read the former and only just tasted the latter) so hopefully I can keep that list growing.

I wish this happened every time

BPoT #159:

Powering through.

Acquiring (and sustaining) the will to work is one thing, but it's also great when you start a project you intend on finishing later, and you end up just plowing through the whole thing. This leaves open the time you left for finishing it, allowing to proofread your essay, check your proofs, or nap. Whichever you feel like doing when the time comes.

BPoT#158:

...

There aren't strong enough adjectives to describe the kind of fandom that Harry Potter evokes.

I'll let this speak for itself.

The last one.

Much speculation over what this is as well. We'll find out at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22.

That was easy

BPoT #157:

Finishing a book and getting a new one in the mail the same day.

It's like the postman read my mind.

Reminiscence Boulevard

BPoT #156:

Nostalgia.

Today I did two things of mention:

1. I saw Midnight In Paris

Spoiler Alert! Basically this movie is about a guy about to get married to this awful girl, but while they're visiting Paris, the guy gets swept up in a trans-era Peugeot off the streets and is brought to the social circle of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dali, Gertrude Stein, Picasso, and many other luminaries of the 20's. The main character of the film, Gill, is an aspiring novelist whose main character works in a nostalgia shop. While he's in his self-proclaimed golden age of 20's Paris, he meets Adriana, the sweetheart of both Picasso and Hemingway who falls for him, and is turn swept back to "La Belle Epoch" of Paris in the 1890's. In the end, she decides to stay in the past, while Gill has an epiphany and decides to return to his own time (and dumps his fiance, but he finds a nice french girl to stroll the boulevards with.)

2. I pulled out my old binder of Pokemon cards.

Date on the newest one: 2001. That was exactly a decade ago. A decade. I can't believe I've even been alive long enough to be able to remember doing things a decade ago.

The point is, I feel like most everyone has a little nostalgia. I especially do; I love old movies, old books, old architectures, typewriters and ballgowns, horses and good old chivalry. But you know what? I also love electricity, vaccines, hot and cold running water and video games. You can't pick and choose what's part of generation and what's not. You just have to take the bad with the good, and do the best you can.

Feel like crap? Step A. Find a puppy. Step B. Succumb to "awww!"

BPoT #155:

Puppies.

It had to be said. What makes you feel better when you're in a crappy mood? Looking at puppy pictures. Extra points if you get to play with actual puppies.

And then I just think of my favorite things...

So I missed Friday. But it's better than breaking out a whole BPotw.

BPoT #154:

When your favorites converge.

There are some things that always make your day. Going to a bookstore is one for me. I can spend unlimited amounts of time in bookstores, especially in little local ones where the crammed shelves tower over and aren't laid out in an organized way; kind of like the Stew Leonard's of bookstores but tinier and even more twisted. I also feel good spending money at one as opposed to buying a book at Amazon or Borders (now closed, giving me even more reason to shop locally) because I'm supporting a small business instead of handing money over to a huge company.

In addition to going to such a bookstore, I my sister and her boyfriend went to a new shop we've dubbed Cakes n' Shakes for its joint offerings of cupcakes and milkshakes. Just previous to that we went for a slice at my favorite crunchy-crusted pizza place. To top it off, we went to a small local record store where I bought two old DVDs for $4. I could have paid with the two $2 bills I got from the bookstore, but I figured I'd hang on to something like that for a little while longer.

The M&M in the brussel sprouts

That's my updates version of "the diamond in the rough." Yay metaphors! Anyway...

BPoT #153:

A tiny ray of sunshine underneath a mountain.

You know that feeling where you've been working really really hard for a long time and it only seems to get worse? Those times where sleep is a luxury if only because it means you don't have to work anymore. Well that's why those little moments during which you can put your mind on something else for just a little while are so precious. Like watching a couple of episodes of your favorite show for instance. Even if you have to get back to the grueling grindstone later, at least you have the time to take a break. And if you you really don't have the time, you should still take a break anyway, for the sake of your sanity.

Make-believe go-fer

BPoT #152:

Feeling professional.

Today I was sent on an errand to buy wine glasses for an Art Show Preview Party. I went to three separate stores with specific instructions to find the cheapest glasses that were as close a match as possible to one bubble-wrapped in my purse. I needed them to be in boxes. And I needed 60. When I finally made my selection, I requisitioned at least 4 separate store staff persons to help me find three cardboard boxes, wrap the large, breakable quantity of glass in paper and put them in the cart. The most official part of it was having a tax exemption form, which knocked a couple dollars off the purchase price and made me feel even more of an extraordinary customer.

The best part of it, though, was having a blank check. It was longer and wider than personal checks, and had the name of the foundation at the top, and a signature at the bottom. Even though at first I was mortally afraid of losing it when it was first handed to me, it was cool in the end when I filled it out as if I did this every day. I had to show my driver's license to the store representative, who took down my license number and my DOB before running the check through a machine and calling over his superior to validate it.

Ironically, I think the reason why this was fun was because it isn't my real job. It was almost like playing pretend but as a grownup at work instead of a kid at play. If I really did do this every day, I imagine I would get inured to it and it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary to me. In fact, it would probably feel more like an irksome chore. But that's why I'm glad it wasn't.

Thoroughly enjoyable

BPoT #151:

A many-faceted gem.

Usually picking something to be the daily BPoT isn't very difficult. When I'm not having a good idea, I can always find one little drop of sunlight to expound upon in a few words. But from time to time, there are days so filled with awesomeness that it's hard to pick just one. So today's post goes out to those days where everything seems right. Or, even more satisfying, the days with the little worries that turn out just fine, emphasizing the enjoyment of the day's turn of events. The days that turn into nights when you can go to sleep smiling.

It's that time again

BPoT #150:

Deciding what to wear for a big event.

It's true that your personality is more important than the way you look, but for better or worse, your appearance is all you have for the everyday passersby. If someone you know well knows that you are generally a smart dresser, they'll understand if you show up to work looking slightly more disheveled than usual. However, those new people in the lobby who've never seen you before will not understand, and all they will is a slightly slovenly looking person. That's why it's important to dress your best whenever and wherever you can.

This particularly includes large events with lots of people where the expectation to dress up is high. Now imagine that the particular event in question places the focus on your personal craftsmanship of your outfit. People are not only looking at what you wear, but also how well you made it. They can either stand back in awe and gape at your garment, or pass by with a derisive look and an unspoken thought, Look at that stupid costume.

That's right, I'm talking about an anime convention. My sister and I will once again be attending Otakon with some friends, and after much deliberation, we have decided on what outfits to create and wear.

First of all, I shall be Rosalina, the caretaker of the Comet Observatory and the inhabitant Lumas in Super Mario Galaxy. Additionally, my sister shall be Princess Peach, and will carry her stuffed Turnip that will matched the stuffed Luma I intend to make.

Then, I plan to be Toadette. My sister will be a feminized version of Toad.

Given that neither of them are in fact human, the dimensions of the costume probably end up looking more like this:

It should be fun. Pics of progress to follow.

Pass Along Power

BPoT #149:

Remembering a grandparent.

Even though my grandmother was alive for most my life, I didn't get to know as much as I would have liked to now. But as I grew older and more aware, my grandmother grew weaker and less aware, so I didn't know her as she was, only bits of her in an increasing diminished state. I was sad when she died, but I didn't cry. I didn't cry at the memorial when the priest was performing his duties. But when my father stood forward to deliver his eulogy, there was nothing about the tragedy or how much she will be missed, but rather he spoke of what kind person she was. He told us about her positive attitude, her love of music and language and gardening, and he sang us her favorite lullaby that she used to sing, and it became harder for me to keep tears from sliding out from under my sunglasses. Not because I was sad she died, but because I was sad I didn't get to really know the wonderful person she was, magnified by the fact that I never knew my grandfather and have been told I would have liked him. But I'm glad that I at least got to hear how she was.

The only element you cannot see

BPoT #148:

The wind.

I always enjoy sitting out on my tree covered porch, where the sun paints irregular patterns of filtered light over everything and the wind shifts it here and there, like moving painting, never still. Frequently I found myself looking from my book at the massive trees above, swaying like they were no more than dandelions. The sound is one of an impressive magnitude too, and audible reminder of the wind's awesome power. Little seeds, leaves and broken twigs littered the porch, and me, with each gust, hitting the ground with a sound akin to rain. I was almost afraid to stay where I was lest something larger and considerably more formidable was forcibly removed from one of shivering towers. It's amazing to me that something you cannot see but can only feel is capable of so much.

Never ftba, or your gps

BPoT #147:

Reaching new distances.

If you're like me, driving is kind of stressful. Instead of putting me to sleep, driving wakes me up because I get so nervous about it. I'm not a really bad driver, just not very experienced. But today I drove an extremely long distance (for me) on the highway and am exceedingly pleased that I didn't die, or even get lost. The worst of it was only that I had to take my sister's car because she had taken mine, which had the GPS in it, so I had to go buy another one and got a great out-of-box deal on the floor model ($40 for a GPS: unheard of!)

I drove for about 50 minutes to visit my great friends from school, Britteny and Sara (the one with the awesome vlog) and our new friend George (who also has an awesome vlog) from New Zealand! Now that is a long distance, my friends. And apparently the airplane food was not good (but the real surprise is that they even served food at all.) Since we are all very big nerds, we named both Sara's and my GPS Cedric, because Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders. (What the hell is a Hufflepuff?) For the same reason, we watched Dr. Who and made a TARDIS cake, seen below. (However I have been informed that real TARDISs are actually grown, though no one knows how. Which explains why there are none just flying around by accident.)

Sadly, "kiddie sized" ice creams aren't what they used to be, so none 0f us had any room to ingest time and relative dimension, either here or in space, even if it was funfetti flavored. Still I managed the second leg of my journey without getting too lost (minor construction-related detour aside) or exploded from overindulgence in awesomeness.