Friday, January 30, 2015

This week....

So, I need to make a post this week to try to keep up with my goals! But first I want to comment on some of my other goals, so far I have not started the "working out" I am planning on, I never got the stuff on the calendar so 2/2 sounds like a good start date right? Then I also failed to see my mom and grandmother this month. I WILL see them both in February. My moms father in law has been very sick for like two months and then he passed away this week so I am blaming not seeing her on that. BUT as for JoJo she just lives further away and I work weird hours. NOT good excuses.
I got my name changed pretty much on everything! Now just waiting for all the new documentation to flow in, the big stuff I have already but there is a lot that I don't have yet... No worries it will all come in time at least I have done my part. Well, except for going downtown to the Jefferson County Attny office, which I REALLY don't want to do. I need to change my name on my restitution stuff, but the guy didn't pay last month so good chance I have to go down there for court again bc of that, I may just wait do it all at the same time. I have my passport that says I am both Shelby Yates and my ID that says Shelby Gray so I think it'll be ok.
House hunting is going no where. BUT the apartment has decided to be nice and just let us give 30 days notice we are leaving, don't have to fuss with new lease or pay more again. Thank goodness, I am convinced its only bc they have so many open units and don't want to have to turn mine over and try to rent it too. This however does not mean I am ok with just waiting it out. I hate living there so much and cannot wait to get out. I have even agreed to look at some homes in Lyndon I am so fed up with the apartment.
That's all the excitement I know of and honestly its not exciting. Hopefully I will find a new recipe or see a good movie to tell you about besides just random life updates....

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Officially Gray

I got my new social security card in the mail today I am now officially Shelby Alisa Gray, so tomorrow looks like I will be driving to LaGrange after work to change my name on my license. Then I will only have like 27 other people to contact to change my name. It really is quite a lot of work and the more I think about it the more places I think I have to contact. I guess bank first then everyone else. I don't even know how to begin to go about changing my title on my truck..... I will say I will be glad that now that I am married and changed my name I can be much more lazy and make Chase take care of things I don't want to, lol. I really hope its not like jumping through hoops to get to change my certifications through the ARRT and the state for my radiation operator license.
Also, everyone keep your fingers crossed for us on this house situation we are hoping to know something tomorrow or Monday on a decision. VA has 11 offers to choose from so no way to know how its going to pan out but we can hope! This house would be the end all be all!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Movie Review: The Island

So, not too long ago I was told by a friend of a friend if I could write like I talk I could review TV and movies and make money doing it. The problem is I think quite quickly and thats when I come up with my most whitty comments. But I type and write so slowly I forget all the gems I come up with in the correct order before I can get them down. Then I am disappointed that the perfect idiom for any occasion is lost, because my brain works faster than I can get it down. With that in mind I am going to attempt a review of a movie I recently watched and become slightly obsessed with, The Island. Here are a couple of things you need to know, one I am going to include spoilers so if you want to watch it and be surprised by any event minus the ending dont read any more, and two to explain this movie I feel you need a basic understanding of 3 other older movies, which at this point I am going to assume people have seen and just need a refresher on the information that is important to The Island.

The Island is a combination of three other movies, The Matirx, GATTACA, and Never Let Me Go.
Never Let Me Go, is a small time film that most people have never heard of or seen. I only saw it bc it was on the 5 for $20 bin at the Blockbuster and I needed another movie, I hadnt seen it, and Kiera Knightly is in it, cool lets give it a go. Well, here is the general synopsis of that movie, its about 3 friends who are growing up in an orphange type environment, 2 girls Kathy and Ruth and a boy Tommy, obviously you can imagine how that particular part of the plot takes over ::enter love triangle::, but the twist here is these kids are not in an orphanage they are in a facility to help them grow up to be medical donations. As they age they have surgeries to remove organs for transplant to other more priviledged people. Really they arent people at all but property they never say if they are legitamitly clones or if they are just manufactured. There are only two was to escape having all of your organs donated out, first a deferral - a temporary reprieve from organ donation for donors who are in love and can somehow prove it or  become a carer, a "clone" who is given a temporary reprieve from donation to do the job of supporting and comforting donors as they give up their organs. I am not going to bore you with every other detail of this long sad movie the point is that in this alternate universal humans use and view other "humans" solely for the purpose of personal salvation and infinite health.
The Matrix is a movie I hope everyone is familiar with, if not either go back to the hole you just crawled out of or go watch it immediately! Basic premise, a future where AI has taken over and humans live out there lives in cocoons merely being fuel for the machines that rule the world, there is however a group of people who live outside of the virtual reality that are trying to find the one person who can put an end to the machine oppression.
GATTACA, well this movie is very clever. I saw it for the first time in school, a science teacher showed it, notice how the name is all caps and only consists for 4 letters? Well, those 4 letters make up the sequences of your DNA. This movie takes place in a future/alternate universe where humans have stopped breeding naturally and have their children genetically engineered to be perfect combination of the parents DNA, in other words nearly everyone is a test tube baby. BUT occasionally someone is born as a "love child" and they are then considered "invalid", making everyone else valid. The actual story line in the movie isn't important just the world.
So, here is how those ideas all meshed into a Michael Bay film- The Island.
The movie opens in a very clean futuristic facility and we meet Lincoln Six Echo as he wakes up, we follow him through his morning and then through his day. Within a few minutes of waking we see a "lottery" drawing, where one member of this society is chosen to go to the island. They explain that this world is the survivors of a world contamination and they all believe they survived and are rebuilding society, but they cant leave the facility due to the contamination outside, they believe the only safe and clean place outside the facility is the island and the only way to get there is by winning the random lottery. Obviously this all seems a little too good to be true, plus why are the peoples diet, exercise, UV exposure, etc all so closely monitored? And my big question was what about all these fools working there? Did they survive the contamination and how come they cant win the lottery???
Well, the answer is they are clones. This is a future where humans can pay a ridiculous amount of money to have a clone made to extend their life 60-80 more years, or your clone can carry your baby etc. BUT the people who are buying the clones are told that the clones live in a vegetative state and do not have feelings, emotions, or thoughts, they are merely a "product". The clones even work in the facility helping to make the next series of clones. One aspect of this movies concept is that the clones are brought to life at the age that the person is scanned, so a 50 year old person gives a clone that appears to be 50 but is merely a few years old. They then live there life in the facility until they are chosen, once they are "birthed" from the cocoons they are made in they are shown a video that brainwashes them to believe they had a normal life and childhood before the contamination. It also tells them they are special and have a purpose.
I was going to go in to depth about the rest of the movie but I don't want to ruin the end for everyone so I will just stop there. If you are intrigued you should go watch it!
BTW I wrote this in 2014 and apparently never published it so its old, lol.

2014 In Review AND 2015 Starts!

2014 went by quickly. I spent most of the year planning a wedding. Which was awesome, but it already seems like it was so long ago and it has only been a few months. So, in case you missed that yes, I am married now.


STILL trying to get out of the damn apt, its killing me, I don't know what is going to happen, we have to be out end of Feb and right now things are not looking like they are going to pan out well for that. I am trying to stay positive, but easier said than done, we've been at this house thing forever. Note to all buying/acquiring a house is NOT easy or fun!


My moms relationship with everyone is strained at best. I am doing my best to have a relationship with her even though she chooses to stay with Ray, but my brother and my grandmother have written her off completely, they will not forgive her and she wont divorce Ray so there is a stand-off and I don't think anyone is ever going to win. I am sure one day all three of them will regret the decisions they have made in regard to this situation but I cant make any of them realize that now.




My friend Elizabeth, over at http://chubbymadness.com/, has a lofty bunch of goals for this year! Really its 101 goals in 1001 days so its like two and a half years but its still a lot of stuff! Anyhow, she has inspired me, once again, to do more! First I enjoy she has set goals not "resolutions". Second they are lots of little and big things, things you can do daily, weekly or monthly, and things that will take some actual time and effort. But best they are real, reasonable and fun! SO if you have time jump over check out her blog and her list she might inspire you too!


Here are my goals for the year!


1. Credit card debt GONE!
2. Finish Empires 300 top movies of all time! (stole this from Elizabeth, and I only need 135)
3. Spend one day a month with my mom and grandmother, respectively.
4. Blog at LEAST once a month, hopefully weekly!
5. Do simple daily exercises, plank, wall sit and sun salutations, start small work up to longer lengths!


I think 5 simple goals are enough, right? I can always add more!