On a lighter note...

I saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday. I know it was really hyped up, so I didn't know if was really good, or if people just wanted to be cool and hip by saying they liked it. I thought it was good. The first 3/4 of it was REALLY good, but I didn't like the ending. I thought Jake Gyllenhal was so beautiful in it. His performance was outstanding. Everyone had been oohing and ahing about Heath Ledger, but I thought he was ok. He mumbled A LOT and I had to turn on subtitles for a lot of his lines. I was really surpised that you saw both leading women topless. It was a little startling to see Anne Hathaway like that. She just kinda rips her bra off and kabam! Topless Anne Hathaway. I think she's one of the most beautiful actresses out there today, and really recommend Ella Enchanted. Anyways, after reading some reviews, I do have to agree that the love story comes out of nowhere. It's two guys herding sheep on a mountain, and then one night, they are just going at it in a tent. I didn't really feel any tension, heated looks, or a building of emotion. So, that was kind of weird. I didn't see the 'love', just passion and lust. It was still good, though.

Today I saw X Men: The Last Stand and Over the Hedge. I think I may have to see X Men again on a larger screen. I went to the mall theater near my house, and forgot what a small screen they have. It was good, but I guess it's the last in the series, so they killed a lot of people off. I think that's a mistake, with all the mutant characters that have been created, you could do so many movies about them. But, all in all, I thought it was well done. Don't want to get into it too much since it just came out. The character of Angel was done by an actor that was in Bang, Bang, You're Dead. Thought he was cute then, thought he was really cute now. Too bad it was a small part. Saw a preview for Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage which looked interesting. Over the Hedge was really cute. There were a lot of families in the audience, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I laughed out loud several times. Wouldn't buy it, but it was a fun movie. Steve Carell is a manic, high strung squirrel that absolutely steals the show. He was so adorable. There was also a preview for Nacho Libre with Jack Black doing Mexican wrestling - you know with the shiny masks. It looks hilarious. Jack Black always brings the funny.

Anniversary

I've been in a bit of a funk this weekend. I took Friday off just for the hell of it, so I had a four day weekend. I got a ton of stuff down around the house and in the garden. I've been thinking about my grandfather a lot lately. This weekend is the 13th anniversary of his death. I remember it as 'the weekend before finals my sophomore year'. He was my paternal grandfather and by far my favorite grandparent. He and my grandmother lived in town, so we saw them almost every weekend. He was kind, sensitive, extremely intelligent even though he never graduated from high school, and just a loving presence in my life. It was a real blow to me and my family when he killed himself. He shot himself in the head in the evening after seeing all of us earlier in the day. I distinctly remember him asking me and my sister what we wanted to be when we grew up. So, I guess this was something he had planned ahead of time. I was the one that got the call around 11pm. I was reading, and everyone else was asleep. I answered the phone and a lady I didn't recognize said 'your father is dead and your mom needs your help'. I told her to hold on. I thought my parents were in their bed sleeping and didn't know what to do. I woke up my sister and told her what the lady said. She picked up the phone and talked to the woman. Then she said 'fuck' and hung up the phone. She woke up my mom who called my grandparent's house. It turns out the woman on the phone was their neighbor and she thought I was my mom when I answered the phone. My grandparents lived about 10 minutes away so my mom and sister went. I don't know why my dad didn't go, but maybe my mom didn't want him to see it. All I know is that he shot himself in the side of the head. I didn't even know he had guns in the house. I've never talked to them about what they saw when they got to the house. His funeral was the first funeral of a family member that I really knew. He had an open casket and I remember thinking 'that's not my grandfather, that's just a body'. I think that experience is why I want to be cremated. I don't see the purpose in caskets, burials, and cemeteries. Cemeteries are full of plots that no one cares about or remembers. I'd rather be in a pretty jar on a shelf somewhere. Anyways, I wasn't angry at my grandfather for doing it. I don't remember raging 'why? why?'. I knew he was very sensitive and it was hard living with my grandmother who was a complete bitch. Even my father accepts that his mother was a bitch. I found out later that my grandfather was an alcoholic and was addicted to pain pills. But, I was 15 and didn't see any of that. When he drank he got quiet and depressed, so it's not like he was a raging madman when he drank. He was always quiet and gentle around my sister and I.

He had been in the Army during WWII and I know he was part of a group that liberated a concentration camp. My mom found pictures after his death that she burned without letting us see them. She said they were disturbing..of bodies and stuff at the camps. I know that whole situation really affected him, and I wonder if that's why he chose Memorial Day weekend to kill himself. Rather symbolic, I guess. His mother had killed herself when he was a young boy by shooting herself in the heart. I have no idea what that did to him, growing up, but I'm sure it was significant. I guess it's a family tradition. Really, I won't be surprised that in 10 or 20 years my dad decides that he's had a good life and wants to choose when it ends. I don't see anything wrong with that. It's one thing for a teenager to be suicidal due to the hell of growing up...I think those people do need help. It's another thing for a person who has lived their life, are maybe in pain or having failing health and they want to choose when to end it. I think that's ok.

When I was in junior high I volunteered for about a year at a retirement home. There were so many people that just stayed in bed or in their wheelchair all day. They'd gone from vibrant, lively, contributing members of society to frail, confused, and despondent ghost of themselves. They had no dignity. What kind of life is that? I sure don't plan on going out that way. I still have a lot of life to live, and hopefully, it's another 30 or 40 years. But, when it's time, it's time, and I won't be one of those old people in a 'home', not looking forward to anything.

Pics of Finished Backsplash

Ok, here you go! Now I just have to paint and put in new hardware! Heh, that'll probably take another three months.

Here is an 'in progress' shot. It wasn't hard, it just took time trying to find the right pieces. It was actually kinda spooky how some of the pieces fit so perfectly into weirdly shaped spaces. Besides a small portion in this corner that Melanie did, I put up every other piece of tile. I'm really proud of how it turned out. Any project where I don't have to measure and make everything even is my kind of project!



Here's a picture of putting the grout up. It took my parents and I four hours, and we had to make two batches of grout. It wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. My dad and I put up the grout, and my mom came behind us and scraped off the excess and sponged off the remaining cloudiness.



Finally done!! Yes, I know my stove is ugly. It's the only remaining thing that came with the house, and since I don't cook much, I can't bring myself to spend money on a new one. I LOVE my switch covers. I can't believe how lucky I was to find them! The green tile goes so perfectly with the mosaic. Lowes has been very good to me for finding cool stuff. I'm getting the hardware from there too, but it has to be special ordered.



Yes, I was going to do some cool starburst above the oven....and this is what I ended up doing. i think it looks okay, though.



I'm going to put some molding around the pass-through space. My neighbor has a nice woodwork shop and he said he'll let me use his miter (sp?) saw to cut the pieces at an angle to make it look like a frame.



This is the part I'm CHOOSING TO NOT LET BOTHER ME. After I was done, I noticed how often I have the gold and light green pieces together. Argh! Oh well.

'Before' and 'During' Backsplash Pictures

These are what was there when I moved in to the house. It's not ugly, but it's not really me. It was wallpaper, and I thought that was a weird choice for a backsplash. It was hard to clean. And you can see how fugly the switch covers were.



Thought you might get a kick out of this. I call it my Italian Workbench. Six banana boxes and a door. Hey, it worked!
Those are all my tools for cutting the backboard.



This is the backboard that I had to put up once I found out that behind the wallpaper was cream laminate. At least it was easy taking the wallpaper off, since it wasn't glued too much to the laminate. The tile wouldn't stick to the laminate, so I had to screw this on. In one part the wall bowed out from the countertop so badly I had to put little pieces of backboard behind the big piece to push it out and make everything even. That's what those drawn boxes are. My dad helped me with this section, but I put up the rest of it. And I did all that cutting myself! (yes I did dull two saws with this project)



This is a picture of the 16 different colors of tile that I chose. It was a really good thing I had that many colors to choose from because it made the mosaic a little easier. I never had to put the same color right next to itself. I do have some tile left over, but I'll keep that if I ever need to make repairs.



Hammer? Meet Tile. Tile? Meet Hammer! (wrap tile in towel first - this part was FUN!)


Finished pics tomorrow!

Melanie has crossed to the dark side

Ok, Melanie and I went in on Sunday to meet my tattoo guy Mike. Before he did Melanie's he retouched my window a little and a bit on my panda. I've had some scarring issues with the panda and hopefully the stuff he added will help. I'd forgotten how excrutiating my ankle tattoo is. I'd rather get 20 on my arm than one on my ankle. But, I did decide to go ahead and get a 'closed door' on the other side of my ankle (explanation can be found here: http://speckoftexas.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_speckoftexas_archive.html)
I talked to Mike about the design, and I'll go in a few weeks to get it done. I love hardware on doors, so it'll look like an old door with heavy hinges and a large handle. It'll all be in black/grayscale which will contrast nicely with the colors in the window.

Melanie's went very well. Damn that girl's got a high pain tolerance! It took about two and half hours, which is longer than I thought it would. I tried to keep her entertained by looking at the binders of artwork from the artists in the shop. Holy cow do they do some nice work. All in all, we were there four hours. Here are the pics!!! The shading will fade a little as it heals.

I'm Done! (ok, almost)

I just put on the last piece of tile on my backsplash! It looks so good!!! I even added quite a bit behind my stove in case any future stoves are lower than the one I have now. Tomorrow night (ok, it's 1 am now...so I guess that's really 'tonight') my parents are coming over to help me put in the grout, which I'm kinda nervous about. It's taken me three months to put the mosaic up, and if I screw up the grout I'm going to be so pissed. All in all, it took me longer than I thought, but I didn't work on it every night. I kinda slacked for awhile. I'm not going to let myself be annoyed with any of it. Yes, some colors are a little close together, and in some areas I could have used more of one color than another. But, you know what? I'm DONE, and there's no redoing it. So, I choose to like how it all came out.

btw, Melanie's tattoo appointment got reschedule for Sunday afternoon, so no update yet.

Quick movie updates:

Just Like Heaven (with Reese Witherspoon): very fluffy movie, something to listen to while cleaning the house. Mark Ruffalo always seems menacing to me, I don't know why. Maybe it's the way he carries himself. His voice is also grating, which doesn't lead to a pleasant movie going experience. I thought that about him too with 13 Going on 30.

Solaris: Ok, I got this for George Clooney. I thought, hey George is in it, it's probably good. Holy cow, that was a horrrrrrrible movie. Incredibly slow, didn't really understand the underlying cause and effect of what was going on, and didn't care about the characters AT ALL. And it was directed by Steven Soderbergh who I usually really like! What a disappointment.

Shall We Dance (the US version) Very entertaining. Even though Jennifer Lopez is in it, they don't focus too much on her character. Richard Gere is really good, and the ballroom dance sequences were riveting. I also have the original Japanese version in my queue, so I'll let you know later how that one is. I would recommend it.

Monster-in-Law: saw this awhile ago, don't think I posted anything. It has Michael Vartan (Alias), Jennifer Lopez, and Jane Fonda. I was prepared to not like it. Instead, I was laughing so hard. Wanda Sykes is in it too and steals all of her scenes. I recommended it to a few people and they've all come back saying they enjoyed it too. Sometimes people give Jennifer Lopez a hard time about her acting, but I think with the right vehicle she can be really good. Out of Sight: good. Maid in Manhattan: bad.

Millions: independent movie recommended to me by Heidi. Very cute, touching film. Recommended.

The Transporter 2: Lots of good fight sequences. There's a blond chick that's a bad guy and really almost ruins the movie with her dialogue and acting. Besides that, very enjoyable. I respect that Jason Statham does most of his own fighting. I don't know why he doesn't have a bigger career.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Surprisingly, I did not care for this movie. Just couldn't get into it. Haven't read the book.

ok, going to bed now.

Sunday already?

This weekend went by fast. Yesterday I was at the shelter for 8 hours, which I did not plan on. Orientation went well, and I usually only hang out for an hour afterwards to answer any questions. Well, adoption was so busy, I just kept helping one person after another. We had several good adoptions, so that always makes me happy. One woman came in and said she lives by herself, no other pets, and wants an adult cat. Jackpot!!! We love people like this. So many of our cats need quiet households. She visited with five different cats, and liked a shy kitty named Cheech that hid under her bedding. We thought Cheech would be there for a long time, but it all worked out.

Melanie and I were going to see a movie this weekend, but nothing looks interesting. I wanted to see Kinky Boots, but I don't think it's out in Austin anymore. I did see The Aviator and Hide and Seek from Netflix. I wasn't expecting to like The Aviator, but I think they did a good job with it. Hide and Seek was so so good. I didn't see the end coming (I never do). Well written, and good acting. I love Dakota Fanning. I like how in interviews she always mentions people's names that she works with (director, makeup guys, dp, etc). I think it shows respect for the people that help create the movie.

Tuesday night Melanie is coming over for the Veronica Mars finale. And then Thursday is her big day. Melanie is getting her first tattoo! She's going to the guy that did my ankle tattoo, who now works at Tru Blue on Red River. We stopped by a week ago for a consultation on the design. She said she felt comfortable with him, and he was excited about the artwork, so I think it will all go well. I showed him how the window had healed and asked if he could redo a couple of the lines to make it a little crisper. He'll do that on Thursday when he does Melanie's tattoo. I'll try to remember to bring my camera to take pics of the process for her. It's a fairly large piece on her upper back between her shoulder blades. It'll be two hands cupped, holding an African violet (called Melanie!). I'm interested to see how he'll do the coloring since she has dark skin.

This morning I was a little out of it. I woke up around 10 from a really vivid dream. Every once in a while I get dreams that are so real to me, when I wake up it takes a few minutes to figure out if it really happened or if it was just a dream. Anyways, I dreamt that Mark from NY called me out of the blue and said he was coming to visit. The even weirder thing was that I was still in Stockton, and the house he came to see me at was like a cross between my house in Austin and my parent's old house in Stockton. Very weird. Don't know what brought this on. There was also this guy Stu that I haven't seen since college too. I'm not quite sure what my subconscious is trying to tell me.

Two weeks of what

My mom's birthday was a couple weeks ago. We all got together at AM's and had a big barbeque. We realized that next year she'll be 60, I'll be 30, and my brother-in-law will be 40. So, we're going to do a trip to Vegas to celebrate. I haven't been to Vegas in a couple years, so I hope we do it. Love roulette.

Saturday I went into the shelter and we had some good adoptions. We have some really beautiful cats right now, so I think our turnover will be short. Orientation is next Saturday and I hope we get a good group. Sunday I slept in a little and then did three hours of yard work. Can I say how much I HATE yardwork? I like edging and pruning cause it's so destructive, but I despise weeding and mowing. Thank god for self-propelled lawn mowers. Just hit the lever and away you go! Both of my yards are so frickin huge, I would die if I had to push it around the whole thing. Oh, and yes, I did buy a guest bedroom set. It's so cute! I found a great set on sale and everything fits just fine. I just need to put the curtains up now.

Sometimes it's depressing when you see all these movie remakes. They remade the Poseidon Adventure. Did they really have to do that? If you haven't seen the original, add it to your Netflix list. It's really good. I heard a rumor they want to remake Westworld (add that too!). It's like just cause we have such great special effects now, everything should be redone. I still can't believe Lucas redid Star Wars/Return/Empire with the new special effects and won't even release the originals. There's something to be said for the feel and romanticism of the original special effects. The Last Starfighter, Krull, Back to the Future, Flash Gordon, and all those great Sci Fi movies from the 50s could all be redone now with better effects, but should they? (War of the Worlds - I'm looking at you) Why can't we just enjoy the originals? It's like the public ignores anything old and just wants things new and shiny. I'm also depressed that Austin doesn't even have a true oldies music station. There's a couple that play some 60's/70's, but I don't think anyone does 50's. ....I don't want to get into this now. It angers up the blood.