My Hair and more Game of Thrones

So, I told you about my trip to Nashville. The humidity out there is crazy and kept putting this heinous wave into my hair, so then I got a bug up my butt about hating my current hairstyle, so I came home with that in my head and decided to get it cut.

My usual girl was scheduled for when I went in but then was sick so she wasn't in when I went in but I was hating my hair, so I let someone else cut it. I'm a dumbass.

First, I shouldn't have been hating my hair just cuz humidity was screwing with it. Also, I should have come back when my regular girl was healthy cuz now I'm in permanent hat wearing mode for a few months cuz the non-regular girl hosed it up - Bad (yes... Capital B Bad). It's already been several weeks and it still looks like shit. So, my poor man has to look at me looking like I stuck my finger in a light socket 24/7 and I have to try to figure out how to dress up while wearing a ballcap (I look dumb in any other hat styles - don't go there) at the hand-fasting I'm attending tomorrow. Sigh....

Fortunately, hair grows so I'm not completely crushed by this turn of events but I do have to wait for it to get long enough to let my regular gal fix it. I'm having a wicked bad hair day every day for way too long. Go ahead and laugh... it's ok. I'd be laughing it it were you. :)

And update (SPOILER ALERT on Game of Thrones Season 4):

I started watching season four the minute it arrived. Yes, yes..I'm totally gonna run out of episodes before April. I think I'll go back to Season one and start watching all the bonus feature stuff while I'm waiting. Anywho... I started watching season four and Yay! Joffrey dies a painful death in episode 2. He could have suffered more but at least he's gone.

I had other stuff here but now that I've finished the fourth season, I have to change even that.  The Hound and Arya are a great pair and I love all their scenes, so you can imagine how sad I was with the Hound's death. Arya is turning into a real badass.  Breanne and Jamie are another great pair so I'm glad he sends her off to protect Sansa but I'm sad I won't see them together any more.  But Breanne and Pod work well too. Jamie is definitely redeeming himself and I'm liking him a ton. But he really needs to get over his sister (what a bitch!).

And Bron/Tyrion and Shae/Tyrion are more pairs I like so much so wow was I disappointed in Shae by the end of the season and not feeling so sad at her tragic end or Tywin's. Although I am feeling really bad for Tyrion. But I think I can look forward to a Tyrion/Varys pair to like. And I can't blame Bron, and neither did Tyrion, with his change of events.

And Sansa and Baelish are shaping up to be a strange pair but I can't mourn that crazy-ass Lysa Arryn and I can only hope something happens to her creepy son. Robin.

So I'm sad about some stuff in season four, but overall there were some excellent moments when loads of shitty people got killed most gruesome and there was much cheering from my couch. I think my guy thinks I'm a little blood-thirsty. Could be....

2012 Goal: Write THIS Blog regularly

It's so stupid that I keep ignoring ya'll... since of the blogs I do, this is my favorite one to write.  I like all of my blogs, but this is truly my favorite.  I was going to make this my resolution until I read a friend's blog and firmly agreed that goals is mo' better :)

In the last month, while I was shamefully ignoring ya'll, I went and saw a few films, started writing again and began an affair of the heart/mind/body.

First the movies (since not all of you will be interested in the other stuff).  I saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  This one was as good or better than the first and I loved that one, so it's saying something.  Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are their usual genius (and sexy) selves but we also got Stephen Fry (LOVE this guy!) as Mycroft Holmes, Jared Harris (you may not know the name but you'll know his face) as Moriarty, and Noomi Rapace (SERIOUS lady crush on her) who you may remember me raving about from the Swedish film trilogy versions of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books.  Kelly Reilly is also terrific as Dr. Watson's beleaguered new bride.  If you liked the first, just go see it (since I'm late on this you most likely already have), and if you didn't..... .

The second was the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Really good...the role of Mikael Blomkvist  is perfect for Daniel Craig.  It has a pretty stellar cast including Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer and Robin Wright.  Rooney Mara was good but I thought Noomi Rapace was better.  I  didn't get as much emotionally from Rooney.  But I still loved the movie.  I may have said it when I reviewed the Swedish films too - but truly, read the books, see all the films - this is a story not to miss in all forms.

Next on my list - my writing.  For Christmas, I got a couple writing t-shirts.  One says, "Even if it's crap, just get it on the page" and the other says, "Writer's Block: when your imaginary friends won't talk to you".  Both were valid reminders of my writing during November and December.  If you want more on what happened, it'll be in my other blog shortly. Anywho - A couple things coalesced into me writing again and my imaginary friends are chatting cheerfully away at me right now, so HAPPY DANCING for that!

My love life is also part of the writing story, so more on the other blog, but I will say this.  It's a wonderful thing when you meet someone who inspires you to smile every day at every thought of them, laugh a ridiculous amount when you're together, and act sappy to the point of your friends throwing up around you (an exaggeration - but not by much).  It's wonderful.  

So, here it is - my 2012 Goal for this blog: Stop ignoring, postponing, and delaying writing it.  I will  write regular and perhaps more often than you will want, but there it is.  Happy 2012, ya'll!  Go attack this year with a cheerful vengeance.

"Something Borrowed" and " Water for Elephants"

What do these two movies have in common, besides they are both out at the theaters right now? First, I saw them back to back, cuz that's the movie lovin' fan I am. Second, they both kept me guessing as to how they were going to turn out (not an easy thing to do being the movie lovin' fan I am). Three, both were a lot more dramatic and heartfelt than I had expected (well I sort of expected it from Water for Elephants but not as much as it was).

I'm going to do this in the opposite order I saw the movies - I don't know why... stop asking. Water for Elephants was wonderful and heartbreaking and tough to watch and so good. A friend, V, told me he wasn't a fan of Reese Witherspoon which sort of surprised me and now I can't remember if he liked the movie or not. I thought she was good. I did go because of her, Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz. Casting directors have my ticket punched.

Do you remember when Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for playing the bad guy in Inglorious Basterds? That same night he was on Jimmy Kimmel Live and he did the funniest, most ridiculous sketch "Christoph Waltz on his part in Der Humpink" and yet both movies I've now seen him in, he's a bad guy. I want to see him play a good guy. He's awesome! Ok - he does a good bad guy, but still. V said he plays good guys in his German films - I may have to check them out.

It really is a very good movie - and I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but there are some tough moments - be prepared.

As for Something Borrowed. It's a Rom-Com. (V, stop making that face!) But I am seeing a trend where more Rom-Coms are starting to have some real substance to them on the emotional level - it's not just all fluff these days. I like fluff, so that's all good too, but I'm also liking this new depth. This one had me guessing who our heroine was going to end up with. It bounced around a couple times and I wasn't really sure. I was surprised I can assure you - surprised that I wasn't sure, not at who she ends up with. There are three options and two of them are good ones. This stars Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, John Krasinski (so funny!), Steve Howey (total horn-dog and too cute), and this complete hottie (uber-doobie hottie) Colin Egglesfield as the main love interest. Awesome cast and a really good movie. I did nail some of the plot points though (cuz I'm just that movie-lovin'-fan-tastic). It's worth the watch.

Know what I learned from it? Yes - it has a little message tucked in there... I learned that you should not let people or shyness or your own insecurities keep you from trying for what you want. This secondary character (played perfectly by Ashley Williams) even says it - "Well, at least I tried." If you try, you won't have regrets. Regrets are a terrible thing, my friends.

So, I think I'll leave you with that thought... if you try for whatever or whomever, the worst that can happen is you get a no, but the best that can happen is you get that yes. And either way, you have no regrets. Win-win if you look at it right :)

Business and networking

I just finished a grueling and wonderfully amazing three day seminar: The Superstars of Writing. I am wonderfully exhausted from an intense overload of information and networking. I loved every minute.

As a writer, I am constantly working to improve my craft through reading books, taking classes and workshops, attending conferences, and of course by writing. But one thing that is hard to find is other writers sharing with you the business of being a writer. How do you find successful people willing to give you hints, debunk myths, give you a behind the scenes view, and tell you the straight 411 on any business. That is what this seminar does. That is what five immensely successful, NY Times best-selling authors shares with you. I believe in this enough to endorse it.

The authors involved are Kevin J Anderson, Brandon Sanderson, David Farland/Wolverton, Eric Flint and Rebecca Moesta. They are all SciFi / Fantasy writers, but what they share is valuable to any writer, whether you write non-fiction or fiction in any genre. If you do not know who they are, I recommend checking them out - you'll be impressed.

Now, onto some general thoughts. There are professions in this world where networking is crucial. Writing is one of them. Yes, it is an art and you have to be able to craft an appealing product that people want to to read. But getting that writing published and in the readers' hands requires a lot of networking. Doing it without the networking is possible, but it makes your job about a thousand times harder. So, a writer needs to attend conferences and meet industry people.

Another type of networking is that with your peers. This is the kind also done at conferences, but done too at writing groups of a wide variety. Peer networking gives you new friends and new resources for specialized information in everything from legal to medical to puppetry advice. These will be your peers that come up through the ranks with you. Before CS Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and JRR Tolkein (Lord of the Rings) were the epic writers known the world round, they were peers sitting in a coffee shop talking writing with each other (fact).

I am talking writing, but this applies to life, my friends. Meet and be nice to one another, you never know when you have met someone who will play an important role in your journey through this world.

Regrets

Today I am unbelievably sad, so no movies, no books or actors, no perky Clancy. Today is for reflection. Yesterday, I called a dear friend of mine only to find out he had died the day before - very sudden, very tragic. He was only in his early forties.

We met several years ago under somewhat unusual circumstances , but quickly became friends. Over the years, we have dated on again/off again, but we were always friends. He was a kind and generous man valiantly fighting to correct health issues, and get his life on track in several areas. He wasn't perfect, but he was a really good guy. And now I feel a huge void in my life that he filled. Even when I hadn't talked to him or seen him for awhile, he was there and I thought of him.

On his behalf, I have regrets...little things, maybe even silly things. I regret that for the first year in a long time, his favorite NFL team, The Kansas City Chiefs, is in the playoffs and he won't get to see them play. He collected a certain author's books, but was saving them to read when he had them all and could read straight through - now he'll never get to read them. These things make me sad.

For me, I regret not spending more time with him and being a better friend... can't we all be better than we are? I have similar regrets about my dad's death two years ago - I wish I'd called more, visited more, and so on. I don't want to have regrets - they're so awful because no matter what you do in the present and future, you can't go back and change whatever it was you didn't do and now regret. You can do many things but the regrets are there forever.

I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but I'm resolving to be better... and if I think I should do or say something, I will. I don't want to look back and think ...why? Why did I hold back? Why was I afraid to reach out? Why didn't I make time for this or that? Don't say - oh, I'll call tomorrow... I said 'tomorrow' for about four days and when I did get around to calling, it was too late. Embrace life, loved ones, friends and even strangers...for life is truly fleeting and unpredictable. Here's to my dear friend Jon - he is greatly missed.