What's My True Sign?

My True Sign Is Gemini

Charmer Adaptable Never Boring Fun and Friendly Commitment-Phobic Eternally Youthful The Life of the Party Intellectual and Witty

Enjoy some procrastination and find out "What's Your True Sign?"

Seattle International Film Festival

Over the past three weeks, I've become more of a movie geek than I was before. If Netflix wasn't addictive enough for me, I decided to volunteer for the Seattle International Film Festival this year. It was a great opportunity to see movies from all around the world, some of which will never get released. For some of the movies, directors and actors were there for Q&A's after the screening which was the highlight for me because you forget just how much vision and diligence is needed to take the written word and turn it to a visual masterpiece.

Here are some of my favs from the festival:

**Favorite** Quincenera: A beautiful tale about a make-shift latino family that was created due to religious conservatism within their respective families.

Arctic Son: A troubled Seattle teenage boy reunites with his Alaskan father in Old Crow Alaska, population 250. Old world meets new world, where the son learns the importance of living off the land and a simpler way of life.

The Line of Beauty: One of many coming-of-age gay movies set in the upper crust of England during the 80's. The star was a scrumptious looking boy that definitely captivated me.

Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters Hollywood heavy hitters talk about the science, or lack-there-of, to making hit movies.

Liubi: From Greece, this film focuses on a cross-cultural "forbidden" relationship between a live-in caretaker from Russia and her patient's Greek son.

Monster House: The film isn't officially released until July 21st but it was screened at SIFF. It's a good kid/adult movie with a great voice cast about a house that is alive. It's no Shrek but it's entertaining enough.

Factotum: It's a drama that focuses on a man who wanders around LA bouncing from job to job, woman to woman binge drinking along the way.


Weirdest concept:
Brothers of a Head: A mockumentary on conjoined twins who are plucked from obscurity to head a punk rock band. (no pun intended) Interesting idea, bad movie.

Love Sick: From Romania, this film focuses on a love triangle between two college lesbian lovers and one of their brothers. Adding incest was a pretty crazy angle but the film still managed to focus on the power and delusion of love.

Another great barbecue at Golden Gardens, one of my favorite places in Seattle.

It was so great to finally meet Olga, Joho's girlfriend. She's a keeper.

"Campfire Beer-Butt Chicken" Who says you can't eat well while camping? The chicken was overshadowed that night by yet another game, "Tarp Tap". The rain was pouring down around us while we were safe under the tarps we had set up to protect us from getting wet at our campsite. The rain water would gather on the tarp and through the beauty of science, it would weave it's way across the tarp to spill off on the ground in a consistent manner. This repetition became the amusement of the night, meaning it turned in to one of the best drinking games I have played in my life. Every time the rain water crashed on the ground, we had to have a social. (Note: at times the rain was coming down so hard that we were drinking every 50 seconds) Serendipity in the rain forest at it's finest.

Despite the rain, we managed to amuse ourselves with many simple games. This shot was snapped after a grueling "Move that log" competition. The game entails throwing stones from the riverbank at a log so that it's freed from the embankment to flow merrily down the river. Wicked good times.

Newfound species found in the Hoh Rain Forest: Scientists call it a Joho.

"Yakima Wine Country" On Memorial Day weekend, after braving the hail, rain and numb hands, we decided that instead of camping unprepared in the rain and cold, it was better to turn around and head in to town to the safety of a cheap hotel. (and yes, this was Ronald's idea) The hotel was more like a crack-den. Most of the South American hostels I stayed at were nicer and cleaner than this place. After making it through the night I was treated to a full day of wine tasting in the Yakima Valley. Being the wino that I am, I couldn't have asked for a better day.

We decided to leave city life to head out for a fun-filled weekend camping and snowshoeing for the last time this season. It was absolutely gorgeous and was filled with many a butt-slides down the mountain. No sleds needed.

We still haven't learned to prepare fully for the springtime snow. We went snowshoeing and camping this past weekend with only 1 hat. Needless to say, chivalry won out and I got to wear the hat. Ronald resorted to a fleece turban.

Where to go in life?

One of the burdens of being in between jobs is the amount of time you have to question yourself, your purpose and where you want your life to go. I'm surrounded by these types of questions every day with little distraction and am slowly driving myself insane.

I'm smack in the middle of the interview process and am torn about which direction I want my career to go in. Each of the opportunities in front of me is different and has its own set of pros and cons. The challenging thing about being in limbo at age 28 is that I have to begin thinking about the future. The only difficulty is that I don't know where I want my future to go.

Being 28 is a weird age. I'm definitely post-college, am pretty established in my career, am in a committed relationship, living in a location I like but am still confused and not content. I feel as though I can't live life on a whim anymore and that freaks me out because that is something I've always had in my back pocket. It's not that I've shirked responsibilities because I've worked very hard to be able to frolic around and land back on my feet. It's just that I feel as though I should be making my life more stable, whatever that means.

I partially blame society for putting these subconscious life timeframes in to people's heads, especially mine. So where am I going with these ramblings? I have no idea. All I know is that tomorrow is another day full of possibilities. What society hasn't taken from me is the belief that I'll know where to turn when the moment arises.

Kinkiest Tale, Monster Cats and Mr. Personality

Today I volunteered at the Average Cat Show to help out kitties in need. After adopting a lovely, if not whacked cat, of my own, I know how important it is for shelter cats to find a good home. And for the record, I am not turning in to the crazy cat lady although it took all my restraint to prevent myself from adopting another cat.

It didn't hurt that the show itself was a mockery of the typical cat shows. Young kids and adult cat people brought their cats in to compete and were so proud to get a ribbon. Besides first place, all the other entrants got second place. Very pc.

My Favorite Categories
Kinkiest Tale
Most Cross-Eyed
Monster Cat (Goose, one of the cats in my row won, weighing in at 24.8 pounds)
Cat Trick Competition (the winner could give high fives and shake hands/paws)
Best Decorated Cage (winner was set-up like a campsite, complete with a 2 cat tent)
Owner Look-a-Like
Most Obnoxious
Most Toes (a 27 toed cat was the winner)
Costume (there was a tie for a wizard and a girl scout)

"If you don't talk to your cat about catnip...who will?"

TV Show, Pychics and Me

Yesterday, in the midst of my job search and interviews, I decided to volunteer to help out with another program that I've become involved with since returning to Seattle. The group was filming a Public Service Announcement on Seattle's local afternoon talk show and they needed bodies for the audience so I decided to sign up. The show was about a pyschic duo. Oh boy, I had no idea what to expect.

I arrived at the lobby intrigued and looked around at those waiting to go up in to the show studio. The majority of the people were women, much older than I was. From the looks of their dress, they didn't appear to be city folk either. The producers were asking around the audience to see if anyone had any questions they wanted to ask the psychic. I was surprised at how many people jumped at the chance. My skeptical nature prevented me from signing up.

The show started out with a soap opera recap. I was amazed at the audience participation regarding the characters and far-fetched plots. This alone gave me the motivation to speed up my job searching process in fear that I'd turn in to one of these soap opera watchers. (note: I have not stooped as low as watching tv during the day, although I have been burning through more of my netflix queue at a faster pace)

I don't want to downplay the pain and anguish that most of the audience members who talked with the psychics were going through but I felt as the psychics were complete bull. There were few connections made and I felt as though I could come up with most of their answers. Most of their responses had to do with energy which I buy in to but I seriously doubted any of their predictions. At least it was an entertaining experience and it's always fun to see the behind the scenes of show production. Now back to finding a job...