How I Spent My Valentine’s Day

I know, two blog posts in one day! I’m shocked too!

Valentines’ Day started out as any normal Sunday. I slept in then made breakfast. Then I read a little bit (I’m reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Great book, by the way!). Then I decided to treat myself to a little date of sorts, since I am without a Valentine this year. So I showered, got dressed and checked the movie times for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

I made my way to the mall and parked my car with about a half hour to spare for the 2pm showing. As I’m walking towards the extremely long line snaking in front of the movie theatre, a voice comes over the loud speaker saying that the 2pm showing of Percy Jackson is sold out. Crap. So I decide to use the Fandango App on my iPhone and buy my ticket for the next showing, which isn’t until 4:10pm. Then I made my way over to the Fandango kiosk and printed out my ticket. No standing in line.

Since I had almost 2 and a half hours to kill, I decided to wander around the mall. I walked thru Macy’s and Old Navy, but without a lot of extra money to spend, this was boring. And it only killed 20 minutes.  I then bought a drink at Orange Julius (blackberry xtreme, yum!!) and made my way down to Borders. I slowly wandered around the store, stopping every so often to pick up a book of interest, reading the back and inside cover, trying desperately to kill as much time as possible. I started to get tired from standing and walking, so I decided to sit in the little cafe in Borders and check my email, which lead to checking my Facebook, which lead to playing Solitaire. After a few games of Solitaire, it occurred to me that my actions screamed “loner” and “this chick can’t find a date on Valentine’s day” so I put away my iPhone and journeyed back to the movie theatre.

By now, I have about 40 minutes until the movie starts so I get in line to get a soda and popcorn (which cost more than my movie ticket!!). The theatre is pretty much empty, so I got to choose whatever seat I want. Soon, though, other people fill the seats around me. Since Percy Jackson is technically a Young Adult book, I am surrounded by children and their parents. To my right was a 4ish year old girl, who during the whole movie kept asking her Grandmother “Where’s Harry Potter?”. To my left was a 10is year old boy, who during the whole movie explained the book to his 8ish year old sister. But the real treat was the group of middle school boys behind me that also talked thru the whole movie and kept kicking the back of my seat. Luckily I’m pretty good at toning out the chatter going on around me, so it didn’t ruin my movie experience…much.

But I made it thru the day! To see my thoughts on Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, click here. I hope your Valentine’s Day was better than mine!!

Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightning Thief

 

If you have not read The Lightning Thief or seen the movie and do not wish to read spoilers, do not read any further!!

If you’re not familiar with Rick Riordian’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, I highly recommend you check it out. I’ve only read books 1 and 2, but I’m hooked and can’t wait to see Percy’s tale unfold.

Quick Synopsis: Percy Jackson is an ordinary, everyday kid. But he soon finds out he is anything but ordinary. He’s the son of Poseidon, greek god of the sea. After a series of very strange events, Percy finds himself at a summer camp of sorts for other demigods-half human, half god like himself. Oh, and he’s also been accused of stealing the Lightning bolt of Zeus, brother of Poseidon and god of the sky and thunder. Percy decides that he must clear his name so he journeys to find the missing Lightning Bolt, along with friends Annabeth, daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war and Grover, a satyr (half man, half goat) and Percy’s protector.

My thoughts regarding the movie: I enjoyed the movie. I thought the special effects were great, especially Hades. I thought the acting was ok, not fantastic, but not horrible either. The action scenes were decent. Overall, I thought the movie was fun, amusing and entertaining. If you’re going to go, see a matinee.

My thoughts about the movie compared to the book: Like most books-turned-into-movies, there’s usually a lot of discrepancies. The Lightning Thief is no exception. There are parts of the book left out and things added to the movie that weren’t in the book. I was very disappointed to see that the Oracle didn’t make the movie. I think the Oracle plays an important role in the series. I also didn’t like that “they” changed the conflict between Percy and Luke at the end of the movie.  I did like the fact that “they” gave Persephone a larger part. If my memory is correct, I think she is mentioned in passing in the book.

Final Thoughts: Like I said above, if you want to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, see a matinee. If you’ve read the book, don’t compare the movie to it. You will be disappointed.

One month down, 11 more to go...

Where did January go? It was here, then I blinked and the next thing I know, it's February. I've been really busy at work, working long hours and weekends. But you know what they say about all work and no play.... I managed to sneek in a few fun activities.

I was inspired by one of Chelsea's blog posts over at Triumphs and Blunders of a Kooky Gal (her blog is great. If you don't follow her, you really should!). Basically she started a meme of sorts called "I Never....And Now I Have!" The point is to do one thing a week that you've never done. I have a mental list of stuff I've always wanted to do, but haven't gotten around to doing it yet. Now that I have inspiration, I'm giving my best attempt to do one thing a week I've never done before. Here's what I did in January:

• Week 1 - I tried Sushi for the 1st time....and loved it!!!
• Week 2 - Fail....
• Week 3 - I tried Pho' for the 1st time....and loved it!!!
• Week 4 - I went to a wine tasting at a local winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle....so much fun!!!

I'm looking forward to February and the new things I'm going to try!

In other news, a few months ago I joined the gym. I go almost every day, and I still enjoy going!! In December I set a few goals for myself and about a week ago I exceeded my first goal of losing 13 pounds!!! YAY!!!

When I first started going to the gym, I met with Personal Trainer Ayla Riggle from Thrive Fitness, who got me started on my fitness regime. She's amazing and if you live in the Lake Stevens area and need a great trainer, I highly recommend her. She also has 2 awesome blogs, Live the Healthy Life and Fit Feasts.

In book-related news, I'm finally getting around to reading the Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson. This series was highly recommended to me by Dave, Krista, Logan and Shellie. I finished Book 1-Mistborn last week and I'm part way through Book 2-Well of Ascension. I plan on posting a review of the whole series when I finish Book 3-Hero of Ages. So far I'm loving the series and I can't wait to see the rest of the story unfold.

That's about it for me. If you get around to it, check out Rememorandom's Writing Wednesday tomorrow. Logan is in the middle of writing an epic poem called "The Absurdly Epic Tragedy of Oscambria". I find the poem very entertaining and hope you enjoy it as well.