I Am Mine

  Me with my ungulate's dexterity trying to work the paper shredding machine is kinda humorous.  By the way, the title of this blog is also the title of a Pearl Jam song, as you may know.
  Last night my wife and I had a discussion about my obsession with blogging.  I realized that this dates back to my childhood.  I've always wanted to be a writer/singer/lots of other things.  My parents always told me I had to be something like a doctor, lawyer, etc. if I wanted financial security in my life.  They really loved it when I joined the Navy.  They told me I'd never be able to support myself, much less a family as a rock star or author.  It became my life's ambition to prove them wrong.  That's why I taught myself how to scream at karaoke.  My whole life has been one of defiance and rebellion against people who no longer have any say in what I do.  I'm almost 35 and I'm still living this empty existence.
  Last night's discussion happened after Kayla and I watched the final episode of Quantum Leap on Netflix.  The bartender, Al, tried to get Sam to understand that Sam himself has been the one in control of his leaps.  he creates his own destiny.  Sam refused to believe him and insisted that it's God, Al the bartender or some unknown force that has been leaping him around in time.  Sam would only return home when he accepted responsibility for his own destiny.  The episode ended by saying that Sam never returned home.  He left behind a wife, a life and many people who care about him.
  The Princess Bride had a character whose whole life was based on finding the man who killed his father and taking vengeance by killing him.  Once he killed him, he found that he had no idea what to do with his life.  His life was always empty of meaning, but it was full of anger.  Once his anger was played out, he finally felt that emptiness that had always been there.
  I don't want to end up like that.  I should be happy that I have a wife and family who love me.  I should be happy that I can sing/scream and write songs and stories.  I shouldn't need fame, recognition or acceptance from anyone outside of myself.  I mean, let's say that I do become famous, then what?  What, should I go up to my parents and say, "Hello, my name is Inego Montoya.  You snuffed my fire.  Prepare to watch me support my family with rock star riches."  That's stupid and meaningless.  I am not going to live my life for my parents anymore.  I'm going to live my life for myself and my family.  I'm glad to have you as readers.  Believe me I'm grateful and appreciative, but I'm not doing this for you anymore either.  I'm in charge of my own destiny.  I will stop leaping from blog to karaoke bar to Facebook trying to satisfy my obsession with achieving fame.  I'm going to return home where I have a wife, a life and many people who care about me.

Il Mare

  Years ago I hopped on a plane to visit my parents in Korea.  One of the in-flight movies was a little Korean production called Il Mare (The Sea).  I fell in love with that movie and its soundtrack.  Back then stuff was mostly still on VHS and audio cassette (ask your grandpa what those are).  Anyway, I bought both while I was in Korea.  There's a song on there called 'Must Say Goodbye'.  Awesome tune!  That movie is honestly one of my favorites of all time.
  Anyway, flash forward several years.  A movie called The Lake House comes out with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.  It purported to be a remake of Il Mare.  I was so excited to see it!  Boy was I disappointed to stand witness to that watered down drivel.  If my frown became any more pronounced, a leprechaun might have put a pot of gold under it.
  Flash forward again to just recently.  I did a search for Il Mare on Netflix and lo and behold they had it!  The clouds opened up and little cherubs descended playing tiny harps.  If my smile was any more pronounced, a dyslexic leprechaun. . . Anyway, if you want to see the inspiration for The Lake House, I highly recommend the Korean original.  Please, tell me what you think!

Sleep With One Eye Open

  Kayla and I just watched a movie on Netflix called Exam.  When you get to the end of the movie, you realize it's just a retelling of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with grown ups.  I mean, geez.  I sat through an hour and a half to see something I've already seen but without a chocolate waterfall?  If any of you out there saw this and have any thoughts, please share them.
  I wanted to talk to you about a phenomenon that I occasionally experience.  I don't really know what to call it so I'll just describe it to you.  I'll be asleep and dreaming but I'll be able to see the room I'm sleeping in because my eyes will be open.  I can move in my dream, but I can't see myself moving.  I can put my hand in front of my face, but not see it.  I can't change the direction that my eyes are facing.
  Usually I'll try to wake myself up by moving around a lot.  I'll be moving in my dream, but my body will remain motionless.  This is called sleep paralysis.  It's a safety mechanism so that you don't act out your dreams.  Only, in this case, I want to act out so that I can wake myself up!
  The coolest time that this happened was only about a month ago.  I was successful in waking myself up, but I was in a different position in my dream than my body actually was.  In my dream I had dragged myself off the bed and I was lying on the carpet on my stomach.  My hand was underneath me with the palm down.  I could wiggle my fingers in my dream and feel the fibers of the carpet.  When I woke up, I could feel the transition between dream and reality.  There was an instantaneous change from carpet to bed sheet because I really was still in bed.  Also, in reality, my hand was under me, but with the palm facing up.  That was the weirdest sensation ever feeling my hand go from palm down to palm up within the span of a second.  Please, if any of you out there have gone through this phenomenon before, let me know.  I'd like to believe I'm not alone on this.

Worthy Sequels

  Bologna is the best thing since sliced bread.  Everybody sing together now, "My bologna has a first name.  It's S-T-O-R-E.  My bologna has a second name.  It's B-R-A-N-D."  You know how they have Easy Cheese that you spray out of a bottle onto crackers or whatever?  My twisted Asian brain came up with the concept of Easy Bologna.  Imagine a bologna sandwich in 3 seconds flat!  I could make millions.
  What I really wanted to talk about was Lost Boys: The Tribe.  It was with hesitant trepidation (as opposed to embrazened trepidation?) that I fired up that flick on Netflix.  I tell you what, that movie pleasantly surpassed my expectations for it.  Kayla said the same thing.  The music was good, so was the story line and the acting.  You could tell that whoever made that sequel, obviously liked the original.  This wasn't just someone out to make a fast buck by capitalizing on a known franchise.  Anyway, I also have Lost Boys: The Thirst in my queue.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.
  In my experience, most sequels just don't live up to the original.  Some exceptions are the Back to the Future trilogy, Aliens, the Resident Evil sequels, Army of Darkness, Star Wars episodes V and VI, and the Nocent books (Your Honor, I object!  Insufficient evidence.  Objection sustained.).  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject of sequels.