Stranger Danger {Olympus has Fallen review}

Friday night was movie night. The husband and I and a bunch of friends and what seemed like half the people I know in town headed to the movies because really what else in there to do in Chatham? It turned out to be a fantastic night.

Source.

Olympus has Fallen was the movie of choice and I honestly loved every minute of it. I may even go again because I loved it just that much. It was action start to finish and it was wonderful. I am indifferent to action movies typically, I like them, but they are never my favorite  Typically the plot I find lacking or there is an over emphasis on the unnecessary inappropriate relationship and I just never fall in love with the movies. This movie however was wonderful, it had the political, government hierarchy I find intriguing, the idea of sacrificing self for country and it had just awesome awesomeness. I cannot describe it any better other then epicly awesome.

I also believe that the movie Olympus has Fallen is a wonderful example of stranger danger and I may have yelled it at one point during the movie (have I mentioned before that I am a joy to watch movies with?). The only down side to the wonderful stranger danger lesson learned is that anyone young enough to need to remember stranger danger should certainly not watch it. The movie was a touch on the gory/too much detail side of things and a number of times I closed my eyes. A friend of mine ever said she was not sure she breathed the entire movie.

Now the world knows however, if you are under attack NEVER let a stranger and their friends into your top secret super special layer or panic room. The point of one of these locations is for you to go into and panic or stop them or whatever, not for you to then invite the killers in with you.

I would now apologies for ruining it for anyone who has yet to see it (really what are you waiting for?), but really, you had to see it coming. I swear I ruined nothing however because a) you had to see it coming and b) there are so many actual, you never would have guessed it twists that your mind will be blown anyways.

So if we take three things away from this they would be 1) Never trust ANYONE, strangers or friends, shoot first ask questions later (just so no one worries, I do not own a gun and therefore I will not shoot you, but if I were in an epic action movie, watch out!) 2) Watch Olympus has Fallen unless you have a heart condition and then I would still risk it and 3) I have awesome friends who have yet to tell me to 'shut up' during a movie despite my running commentary.

10 Things to do this Spring.

If you live in Southern Ontario (as I do) it certainly has not felt like spring these past few days. The snow is still falling and the temperatures are still ice cold. It makes it hard to think that it is already spring. I for one am starting to hate the cold weather.

A few Sundays ago the temperature got to about 14 degrees Celsius. It was a perfect glorious warm day. I didn't wear a jacket and the husband wore sandals and all was wonderful. Little did we know what a tease that would be as the weather has not come close since. I started running outdoors that weekend and was excited to keep going, but I refuse to do something I hate and have the fear of losing a finger or ear in the process, so I have not been much since.

That aside and forgetting about this crazy weather we are having, I decide to make a list of things I want to accomplish this spring. Yes I am all about lists. If I can make a list for something and cross things off I am happy. If that list can be written on a pretty post it note and crossed off using a sharpie, I am over the moon. Its the simple things in life people. Anyways, this is a list of spring-y things I would like to accomplish this spring.

Reading List.

I feel like I am at an awkward stage of life. I am struggling to start a career, I am working contract to contract, moving around like crazy, little disposible income, out of my parents house and married, not yet ready to have kids and feel the mix of emotions that are associated with all of those things. So that, mixed with my obsession love for pinterest I found a wonderful reading list that I think just might be what I am looking for in my as the blogger puts it 'Quarter of a Life Crisis'. The original reading list can be found here.

I made some modifications and in the end I am more so calling this The Big Goal of 2013 and I am actually super excited to get to reading. The top of the list is to finish the Karen Kingsbury books that I have been working on since I think the summer. I am thinking a list of 30 (this later changed to being a big huge list that I think I will never accomplish but currently I am determined) is being ambitious (however recently spoke with a friend who said she hoped to do more then a hundred books this year, and it made my 30 seem much more achievable , but I love a challenge and I think there will be some weeks when I manage to get a lot of reading time in. So we will see how this adventure goes.

So in addition to the books to read to help me with my 'quarter century life crisis', I am also adding on other highly recommended books and just books that I would like to read/reread. The more I started working on my reading list, the less it started to be about the quarter life crisis and the more it started to be about just random books I wanted to read and attempt to get done before the end of the year.

Chill Pill Required.

I am not a parent. I am not about to be a parent. However, one thing that has been eating at me over the past week is some peoples parenting styles. With me not being a parent I know I cannot have much say on this subject. I also understand that everything changes when one becomes a parent and you do things that you never thought you would do. I am only an aunt and the number of times I have used my hand to whip her nose are increasing with every visit. I get that sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

With that being said, I am currently super frustrated with the over controlling  demanding, rude, attention seeking parents. It would be one thing if they appeared to be bettering their child, for example if no one volunteered for a task, asking your child if they would like to do it. However that is not the case.

This past week has been March Break and with that at work comes March Break workshops. These workshops are intended for ages 8-12, the advertisement says 8-12, the skill set required is that of a kid ages 8-12 (obviously give or take a few years depending on each child, but 40+ is certainly pushing it). We created the QR code library scavenger hunt ourselves and it has been going wonderfully all week. The children are great, they are learning things and for the most part awesomely behaved. It has resulted in a lot of fun and exhaustion.

One Word.

So I just want to say I made a rookie mistake and look for some changes with this whole blog thing. I thought it was cute and fun to try and make every entry a one word title. Lets just say that got old fast. So I figured I would write a quick note to say that it is certainly going to change. I want the titles to actually describe what is going on instead of me picking one world or trying to justify attaching a number of words together and adding a period at the end. So look for spaces and multiple words and everything.

Things are about to get crazy up in here.

Next in line.

So I love to play by the rules, I am more then willing to wait my turn and I know patience is a virtue. However the Chatham koodo needs to learn a thing or two in customer service.

If we are next in line, serve us next. Do not go and help the people who just walked up a second ago and who are really just looking. Do not talk to them for almost 20 minutes when we are here simply to pick something up.

This drives me nuts because we rushed to get here before the mall closed because they said that they would not have the phone come tomorrow and would not hold it for us even though it was ordered in for my husband specifically.

I do not care if you know the person or what. I want to be service in my order. I have other places to go and other things to do. Even if you told me be here at whatever time then I would be there I would do what I want but I do not want to sit and wait while you talk to someone out of order.

That is my two scents. I like order and efficiency and now we will not have time to shop for a case thank you very much. I am blogging this because it makes me feel like justice has been served in some what and I could not find a complaint department on my phone while I waited. However I have had time to type this on my oh phone. Something is wrong with this.

Education?

My career is going no where. I have contract after contract. Some of those contracts are in my field doing what I would love to be doing, however not all. I keep finding less and less jobs that I am even qualified for out there and I am starting to feel limited and frustrated.

I have only been out of school for three years now and I feel like there is less and less chance of me getting my dream job. Correction, my dream job actually no longer exists thanks to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and their extreme budget cuts. I changed university programs after first year from Kinesiology to Geography and Environmental studies because of my love of stewardship. At that point I had spent two summers working at the MNR and knew that it was my dream job. I then switched programs and spent another two summers working for the Ontario Stewardship Networks. These jobs provided once in a life time experiences and instilled in me a love and passion for nature. The job was the perfect mix of office work and field work. It involved working with the public and organizations, but also paperwork and applications. It fit what I was looking for to a tee and I knew that was my end destination.

So with the MNR funding cuts and the program no longer existing I know that I need to find another end goal. Right now I would love anything environmental. A job that I know I am making a difference, that I at least once in a while have a reason to go and plant a tree, walk through a forest or put chest waiters on a tramps through a wetland. Something, anything.

The past summer I had a job I loved. A job I love even more looking back on the job as I am stuck working with difficult clients and stuck in an office all day. The contrast has made me relise that I was designed to be alone (or with one or two other people) in nature. At the time when I thought of my job I thought of the countless bug bites, the near death experiences (kind of, I may have fallen down more hills then I would like to admit and there was one close call with a log and another with a naked man (but that is a story in and of itself).

Cake.

Today a wonderful friend of ours turns 30. Last night we had a surprise party for him to celebrate. It went off wonderfully and he claims he was actually surprised. For the party I had the privileged of providing the cake. I was so excited to have the opportunity to make an extravagant cake and I was determined to go all out. The only thing is, it was my first ever cake not from a box.

I love to bake. I am continuously expanding what I can do and what I enjoy doing in the kitchen. A cake however has always been a lofty goal. For me it was hard to turn down a $1 box cake and for a family of two it was next to impossible to eat before going bad or getting sick and tired of it. So when the opportunity came I jumped on the idea of making a cake from scratch.

I went with a three tiered white cake with chocolate raspberry ganache filling and butter cream icing. In the end it was a success and looked/tasted wonderful, however getting to the end was a bit of a nightmare. I had a lot of fun making the cake, and was able to do the entire thing in just under 4 hours. During the course of making the cake I learnt a lot of things to do different next time and I cannot wait for a reason to do so. Anyone need a cake?

I started with this recipe for the cakes.

AudioBooks.

I love audio books  Before my position with the library I had never listened to one before. Now with commuting everyday I am so thankful that I have discovered them and wish I had done so much sooner.

In the past three months I have listened to Summer by Karen Kingsbury and Harry Potter 1-4. I am now about to start Take One by Karen Kingsbury (even though I read the first four chapters before I realized that it was available on audio book from the library) and Harry Potter 5. Both of which are eagerly waiting in the car to be listened to. I feel like the ultimate multitasker when I am driving and reading.

For work I have to drive a fair bit. I travel between library branches which could be up to two hours driving in one day. That plus it takes just over 30 minutes to drop my husband off at work each day, so that is an added hour. Plus the random driving everyone does, it is actually shocking how many hours people spend in their cars. I would say an average day for me is driving for about two hours. So that is two hours of 'reading' that I can get accomplished.

In perspective that is not a whole lot, Harry Potter 5 The Order of the Phoenix for example is 27 hours, so for me I should be able to finish it in about two weeks. That is however if whoever I am driving with allows me to listen to my audio book and does not talk. The rule when dropping the husband off is that if what he is going to say is over a minute he needs to pause the book. When listening to Harry Potter I am not as diligent with pausing when interrupted because I have read the books a few times already and have the movies memorized so I know what is going to happen, in the end he lives.

So just a recommendation if you do a lot of driving or have a ton of books on your 'must read' list (mine is growing everyday!), then I would totally check it out. Some great sources for free books (because did you know Harry Potter 5 for example is up to 75$, that is CRAZY) first and foremost, the library. They have tons and to me getting a set of cds is the easiest. The car remembers where you left off and starts and stops when the car does. There are also what are called playaways at the library which is like a portable device with the book preloaded. Downside is you need a cable to connect it to the car and to remember to stop it when you are finished. Also, online from your library you can download and put on an ipod or any mp3 player. Chatham library uses Overdrive, which has a ton of selection, but you only get 2 weeks to listen, which could be hard.

So all in all I LOVE audio books  I would highly recommend if you have never tried one before, do it. Also, for  Harry Potter the guy reading has an accent and does voices. They are totally better then the ones in my head so a big thumbs up to him.