Les Miserables

Hello, guys!

So... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Through Christmas and New Years I've been busy reading like crazy, writing excessively, putting together 500 piece puzzles, playing boardgames and assembling legos.

I also kicked off the new year by going to see Les Miserables.

  Yesterday I walked into the movie theater knowing next to nothing about it. 

   I walked out of the theater like this. 

And sort of like this 

It was powerful, intense, heart-wrenching, tragic, and...AMAZING!

The plot was a story of redemption, forgiveness and bravery.
The characters each had a depth to them that went beyond a lot of movies' regular superficial portrayals. The characters were portrayed in a way that showed you the state that their souls were in.

 It made you admire and have compassion for each character, even if you didn't agree with what they were doing or saying. (Except for the Inn Keepers. They're scumbags). ;P

From an artistic standpoint, the movie was also beautifully made. The camerawork was amazing.

 Also, don't let the fact that this movie is a musical be the only reason you don't want to see it. I don't typically like musicals (although the only musicals I've seen are High School Musical, Dreamgirls, Mama Mia and the Cheetah Girls... ;) but I think the singing added a lot to the movie. It just sort of amplified the emotions the characters were feeling, and it was really moving.

^This part. D:

It's a movie that's tragically beautiful, making you sad and happy and feeling like you've just witnessed something special.

Also, Jean Valjean is a total boss.

New Years and Milestones

Soooo 2012 is practically a day away (I'm starting this post at 11:30... so by the time I finish, it *will* be a day away!). I really don't know what to think about it. I think right now my brain is scrambled with several different thoughts/feelings about the upcoming year:

1. Where the heck has the year GONE?! I'm still pondering over what happened to 2010, which vanished into thin air yesterday. It seems like only a few hours ago I was chatting with a really good friend of mine on Skype for three hours to see him into 2011... (good times). :)
2. I'm going to be OLD this year. Ok, maybe not *old*, but I'll be what society considers an "adult." Old enough to vote, old enough to date a 35 year old... (Just kidding, mom). But the whole idea of being an adult weirds me out. What happened to being 10? 10 was a good age...
3. I'm going to graduate this year! :O *brain freezes* Think happy thoughts.... think happy thoughts...
4. The world is going to end this year.

*Kaboooooom!* Heheh, it's kind of easy to want to freak out over all the "end of the world" predictions. I wonder what December 2oth of next year is going to be like, with everyone thinking they have one day to live. People are going to do some pretty crazy things. But... we don't know the day or the time, no matter how much we want to try and predict it. :P

So yeah.

There are a lot of things I'd like to accomplish this year, too.

• Fix our sewing machine and finally get some use out of it! (Maybe I should learn how to sew, while I'm at it...)
• Try cooking more
• Read my Bible more
• Graduate
• Meet more people
• Get my driver's license!!!
• Get a job
• Get a tattoo of a skull on my face (once again, kidding :)
• Continue working on ASL and get this whole "college" thing figured out...

Aside from the milestones for *me* that I mentioned, Kyla will be a teenager this upcoming year, Khloe will be a decade, and Kianna will turn one, just to mention a few of them. It's so freaky for me... I don't do well with change. I'm the kind of person who can get emotionally attached to a t-shirt. So when bigger things change... well, you can imagine.

There are some milestones going on over here already.

What am I talking about?

Oh, nothing... only the fact that my baby sister is a GENIUS!

She's sitting up already! She's 3 months old. O_o

We couldn't believe it! My sister is a freak of nature. :P

She's not sitting up all the time or anything, but if you sit her up, she can sit there for quite a while. :D

I don't think we have anything extra-special planned for New Year's Eve... just the usual staying-up-till-midnight-banging-pots-and-pans-drinking-apple-cider thing. :D It's still gonna be great!