Selma – Review B+

I have finally been able to see Selma. I know I’m really late but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I saw it. I think that Selma was a really great film. Well written and directed. The pace of the film seemed right on pace. I’ve heard people say that it was too slow and some to say it seemed rushed but I feel like it was just right. I think that there were a few historical inaccuracies but this is a drama that is ‘based on a true story’ and not a documentary. Some liberties are to be expected.

Overall this was a great historical film and a must see. I give it a B+.

First Quarter Goals

It’s already almost halfway through the 2nd month of the year and 2/3 through the first quarter and I haven’t accomplished a single goal. I’m falling into the procrastination mode. I have set goals for each quarter of the year. I thought this would be an easier way to achieve them if I broke it down every 3 months. I still have time though.

My goals are simple this year. I plan to build on them every year. I find that simplicity works best for me. When I try to do too much at once things fall apart. The goals are simple and probably really familiar. You know the same old stuff; save money, spend more time with family and so forth.

The first half of the year I plan to pay off as much debt as possible and the second half of the year I plan to save as much as possible. During my pay down period I still plan to save. My plan for this year is to get out of debt and have a nest egg for the future.  So far I’m not really off to a good start. I was able to compile all of the debt that I have so far.  Some of them I wasn’t even aware that I had until I pulled my full credit report.. I think that by the end of these 6 months that I’ll pay off the majority of my debts since I don’t have much, but the small amount that I have needs to be taken care of.

I’m looking forward to this year and every year going forward to being more prosperous and financially minded in the future.  I don’t want to have to worry about not being able to do something or take care of an accident or mishap because of money. I don’t want to live that life anymore.  So the first 6 months is all about paying off debts and the next 6 months is all about saving money.

Waste of Time/Money

One of the things that I despise in life is when someone tells me that something that I’m doing is a ‘waste of time’ or ‘waste of money’. Umm it’s my time and my money if I want to spend it doing something or buying something that I like them who are you to judge?

This came about because a coworker noticed the different bow ties and sneakers that I wear to work. As she was complimenting me on my style she asked how many bow ties and how many shoes I owned. I wasn’t/am not 100% sure so I gave her a round about figure, that I will not disclose here just know it’s more that 100 shoes but less than 300 shoes and about 40-50 plus bow ties. The next thing she says is ‘oh my gosh! That is such a waste of money’. Then she goes on to try and lecture me that there are people in the world that don’t own shoes. Girl, bye.

I was always taught to respect my elders so she didn’t get cursed out but she did get the side eye of death. I just politely said that it is my choice to use my disposable income how I see fit and that the shoes that I buy are not of her concern and that I find it rude to tell someone that something that they are doing is a waste of time.

She had me so mad! I really really wanted to curse her out but I didn’t. Who does that? Who are you to tell someone that something that they are doing is a waste of time? That’s just so rude to me.

Old People Suck

Something that bothers me is when an older person talks down about the younger generation. This really pisses me off. It’s like they weren’t young at one point and didn’t make more than likely the same mistakes.

Instead of encouraging or teaching the younger generation they decide to talk shit about them and what they are doing or not doing. Give me a break.

This came about during a trip to Starbucks. While I’m sitting there enjoying some free wifi and a passion fruit tea lemonade I overhear this guy behind me talking to some lady. He was talking about this kid he was ‘mentoring’. Apparently they were emailing back and forth and the younger kid didn’t really have a grasp on email etiquette and was probably using slang or putting ‘u’ instead of you. Something trivial like that. So he goes on and on about how this young generation has no clue about how to talk to people because of the way they text and the shorthand that they use.

While I hate people that use shorthand all the time of I’m suppose to be someone’s ‘mentor’ then I should probably tell them and not spread their business to some lady I’m trying to impress in Starbucks.

Each one should teach one. It only makes sense right? If you know so much and the younger generation knows so little then maybe you should take it upon yourself to teach them the way to go.

Digital vs Physical

What’s better, digital or physical media?  I’ve had so much discussion about this lately.  Some people are all about that digital life, like myself, and then there are the purists that want to be able to feel and thumb through the books. Split crowd.

While I’m about that digital life I do like certain “live” versions of books. This is typically some type of reference book that I’ll highlight, write in or come back to at some point. I’ll take a physical copy for that purpose. If its some murder mystery that I’m reading to pass the time then it’s digital all the way.  I feel like physical books shouldn’t die just for purposes that I mentioned but at the same time I can understand how they are dying due to the new digital age and ease of technology. 

Mostly all of my media is digital from books to movies to music. Everything is in the cloud or digitally stored on some external hard drive somewhere. This is a good and bad thing. It’s good for access but bad if it gets corrupted or lost. I’m one of the people that has a backup for a backup and I always have the mindset that if I lose it I can get it again, even if it took what seemed like forever to get it in the first place. I’m ready for the digital revolution I just don’t know if the rest of the world is.

Who Gets Sick On Their Birthday? This Guy!

So I have been under the weather since my birthday on December 31st.  Who gets sick on their birthday? This guy!!!! It started out when I woke up with a slight tickle in my throat. When I felt it I just knew it was bad.  As the day went on things just seemed to get worse. The tickle turned into a cough that turned into a fever that turned into a sneeze that turned into me being too weak to do anything.

Thankfully I caught it early and self medicated myself with robitussin and vitamin c which turned out to be a pretty good combo for fighting this thing.  The good thing about when I got sick was that it was right before the holiday so I was able to quarantine myself for the next few days,when you are contagious, without having to worry too much about missing work. So for the next 4 days I stayed in my house in bed under the covers only to emerge every 4 hours to take more medication.

This cold/flu had me so weak. Thankfully I was taking the vitamin c pills and drinking orange juice and other fluids to keep me somewhat hydrated.  The bad thing is that I would force myself to eat to keep my strength only for the cold/flu strain to say “no way buddy, you go throw that right back up!!”.

So now I’m on day 12 and I’m about 89% back to normal. I think the flu strain has run its course and is pretty much over.  The only thing left is this slight cough. My appetite is back with a vengeance!!! I’m starting to slowly gain my strength back.

During my downtime I discovered this wonderful food called soup. I am not sure why I never explored the goodness that it is beforehand.  I have been on the basic chicken noodle kick mostly but I also tried some other stuff like a stuff cabbage one.  I will definitely be exploring more options and flavors. Soup is such an easy thing to make and consume, especially when sick. 

Soup is my new meal of choice and will probably be eating it for every meal for a while. At least until I’m 100% and move on to something else.

American Sniper – Review C-

So I read this autobiography by Chris Kyle a few years ago. It was a good book and when I heard it was becoming a movie I immediately thought of Lone Survivor.  The movie Lone Survivor was a really good book that turned into a really good movie.  Needless to say I was ready and excited for American Sniper. Same genre, war story about a modern war.

Once I learned that Clint Eastwood was directing I kind of had my doubt but still thought it would be alright.  I was wrong. I think this movie was horrible. It was very in cohesive and just was all over the place.  The bad southern accent from Bradley Cooper and the poor dialogue during the “family” scenes was deplorable.  I think that is what slowed the movie for me. It made the movie boring and didn’t add anything.

The war scenes were the only scenes of interest and they were quick and poorly cut. I couldn’t even finish watching the movie and I tried twice but couldn’t do it.  This movie is not nearly as good as the book, and needs a definite redo.

In my opinion I give it a C-