I’m staging a musical in my head
I just bought “Hazards of Love,” the new album by The Decemberists. It is, admittedly, quite a trippy and somewhat mystifying album, but I’m loving it. It’s a “concept album” so it has an actual storyline instead of just being a random mish-mosh of songs. It’s taken me a while to warm up to it, but now every time I listen to it, I can just envision this story in my head. Complete with choreography and everything! Note to The Decemberists: If you ever want to stage this into an actual musical, give me a call.
I blame it on “Glee.” For those of you out of the loop, it’s Fox’s new series about a high school glee club. I watched it, and it made me want to go back to high school and join the glee club, or show choir, or whatever the closest thing to it is. And I don’t even like performing. It was super fun, and I can already tell I’m going to be madly in love with this show in the fall.
A somewhat embarrassing admission: I loved it so much, in fact, that I downloaded the song, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” A song that I already love, but the version that the cast sings in the final scene of the premiere. I know it’s corny, but it’s good times. See for yourself. And watch the full episode of “Glee” here.
Because who knows when I’ll get a real vacation this summer.
Ok, I’m a nerd, I freely admit it. I LOVE summer movie season. I’ve already seen the big three movies released this month – Wolverine, Star Trek & Terminator Salvation. I saw them all opening weekend. So these are my big plans for the summer. I mean, other than a vacation, maybe. No, eventually. But until then, these’ll be my mini-vacations! And then actually thru the rest of the year. So many good ones!
Away We Go – June
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen – June
Public Enemies – July
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – July
I may even go see this at midnight!!
500 Days of Summer – July
Where The Wild Things Are – October
I’m especially looking forward to this one because this was my favorite book when I was a kid. And the trailer gets me all teary because I love it so much and it looks so stinking cute.
New Moon – November
Don’t judge. There’s actually not a trailer for this yet, so you’ll have to do with a poster.
Sherlock Holmes – Christmas
I think that takes me thru the end of the year. I’m sure there are more, and I’m sure I’ll see others, but that’ll do for now. I know, I’m seriously a nerd. This is what happens when I actually have free time to blog. I blog about ridiculous things. Oh gosh.
Taken
I just saw “Taken” with Liam Neeson. I actually had no idea what it was about, just that this guy’s daughter gets kidnapped in Paris and he’s some like ninja secret agent that has to go kill a lot of people to get her back. But the plotline actually gives the reasoning for his daughter’s kidnapping. It’s not for money or fame or anything like that, which is typically the reason for movies like that. His daughter was kidnapped by human traffickers in order to sell her into prostitution and slavery. And as soon as I heard that, I was intrigued, fascinated, and completely and utterly hooked.
You see, this whole issue has come at supersonic speed into my direct consciousness. One of the interesting things about working at a non-profit that partners with other non-profits is seeing what the other organizations’ missions are and how they are going about accomplishing them.
Not For Sale is an organization we work with that is directly involved with ending the cycle of human trafficking and slavery. Call+Response is co-partnering with them on their project, and they produced a phenomenal rockumentary on the issue. It touched our staff so much that we created, from scratch, an entire event where artists could respond to the issue for an art exhibition. My Hands Have a Voice had over 81 artists participate and over 500 people attend, and we screened the rockumentary. Those people that attended either had no idea about the issue, or had only an inkling and wanted to do something about it. That may not seem like much, but that’s 500 people that are now aware of the horrors around human trafficking and slavery that may not have been before.
But going back to the movie – one thing that struck me was that this movie *SPOILER ALERT* had a happy ending. Liam Neeson saved his daughter from being sold to a creepy old sheikh and restored his relationship with her, and killed a lot of the bad guys along the way. What stuck with me though was all the other girls who weren’t so lucky. The girls who were handcuffed to a bed and given drugs so they would be indebted to their captors to keep them high. The girls who prostituted themselves on the street to make money for the pimp that gave them the drugs. The girls who were so dead inside they simply retreated inside themselves and couldn’t respond in any way to a kind human face, voice, word.
So yeah, the movie had a happy ending for the hero and heroine. It is Hollywood, after all. But the truth is that there are tens of hundreds of thousands of girls who won’t get that happy ending. There are girls who are going to die in this lifestyle, thinking that no one anywhere cares about them. There are girls who, even if they are rescued, will never be whole again. They will irrevocably be damaged, and that’s a hurt deeper than anyone can reach.
I’m writing this because it’s a burden and a passion that has really been put on my heart. I want to do something about it, and if that just means that I get one person to care and go look up more information on it, I have furthered awareness of an issue that I really care about. I know that not everyone will want to get involved in this cause – some people want to get more involved HIV awareness, or in raising awareness about illiteracy or obesity in America, or with cancer research – and that’s ok. My point is that nothing will ever be accomplished without people getting passionate and getting involved.
Make a difference.
Your difference can be going and getting more involved by volunteering, or by giving to the organizations who are directly involved, or simply by making more people aware.
Right now, my role in the human trafficking and slavery issue is to try and get more people to see what is going on. If I tell five people about human trafficking and slavery, and only one of those people really truly cares and gets involved, that’s ok. And if those other four people at least tell someone else about an interesting fact they learned but then push it to the back of their mind, awareness of the issue grows. That’s how change is made. And that’s how you can make a difference, in local or global issues.
So I challenge you to really think about what you’re passionate about. Look at non-profits in your area and find one that jumps out at you. Give of your resources – your time, your talents, your treasures. You won’t regret it, and I guarantee that it will change your life forever. And who knows, maybe it’ll change the lives of others too.
*UPDATE* I just read this blog that was really, really interesting. And a perfect example of someone really plugging into something that she was just casually interested in, and losing all apathy and investing herself in it. It’s great!!
I need a hobby
A few weeks ago, the high school group at my church had a crossover event with the senior ministry. All the seniors brought their different hobbies and interests – we had guys bring their classic cars, bikes, wood carving and fly fishing apparatus – even some ladies who knit and crocheted outfits for premature babies, and a couple who take their three therapy dogs to CHOC!
One of my friends, who happens to be one of the other leaders, leaned over to me and asked, “Am I lame because I don’t have a hobby?” And while I laughed at the time, I had just been thinking the EXACT same thing. It came up again yesterday, when I was “assisting” with a volunteer orientation at work. Our volunteer coordinator asked all the volunteers to share, among other things, one interesting thing about themselves. Luckily she didn’t ask any of the staff to share – my coworker and I were both racking our brains to think what we would have shared! At least it’s not just me.
But really, I don’t have a hobby, not really. I have friends who craft, and garden, and are artistic and whatnot. I’m just not that way. I read. I watch TV and movies. I clean. I visit with my friends and family. I have lots of interests, but I’m not sure if that can always necessarily translate to a hobby. I don’t know – nothing has ever really jumped out at me like photography does for one person, or sewing does for another. It’s just sad that there’s no activity that makes me excited to go spend hours just doing that one activity. I don’t even really collect anything, not anymore.
Does that make me boring? This really worries me.
Random side note – I wonder if you could consider sleeping a hobby. It really would be a great hobby. I would probably be ok with devoting a lot of time to that.
Anyway, I’m open for suggestions. I feel like I need something, but then again, when would I really have the time? I guess if it was something I really, truly loved, I would make the time. Maybe that’s my problem. I just haven’t found the one thing that I really, truly love and brings me joy. One day, I’ll find it.
Weirdness
Someone found my blog using the search term “secret code fedex phone menu.”
SO WEIRD.
