Friday, May 28, 2010

The end of Lost... and other things

I can't believe Lost is over. This season I seriously procrastinated watching the episodes, because I felt like if I watched them at the time they aired, the show would somehow go away quicker. Dumb logic, I know. So I finally finished the series the other night and I'm both happy and sad. Sad because it's over, but so happy that they actually remember being on the island together. I think my biggest fear was that they were all going to just forget each other, and after all they've been through, that would have sucked.

I cried like a baby when Jack died though. It was so sad. Definitely sadder then any of the other deaths on the show. And who else was expecting Richard to just disappear when they were on the plane leaving the island. Well, I thought he would either disappear or would suddenly become some kind of crazy skeleton in his seat. Glad that didn't happen.

Anywho... True Blood season 2 came out, and of course I went right out to buy it. I saw it when it was originally on TV, but that hasn't stopped me from sitting down and watching the episodes one after the other like a big freak. I also have gotten my mom hooked on it. She think the vampires are seriously gross, but watches because it freaks her out so much. Haha. I got the latest Sookie Stackhouse book too, and just haven't had a chance to read it yet. I've been reading Nicholas Sparks, which TOTALLY is NOT my thing normally. But my grandma gave me The Last Song, and I read it just because it was there, and then I wanted to see the movie Dear John, but Sarah told me to read the book first because it's so much better, so now I'm some kind of weirdo Nicholas Sparks fan. I even went out and bought another one of his books because I was told it was really good. I am oddly ashamed of my sudden love for his stories, but oh well. I can't help that he pulls at my heartstrings.

Today I got this weird thing from Netflix that allows me to put a disc into my Wii and play some of the movies in my queue straight from the Wii/internet/TV/whatever. It's pretty nifty, and I can also watch some TV shows. The selection isn't wonderful, but it's pretty good considering that I could watch those streaming movies all day and night, and it won't cost me any extra. Danielle's really excited, because we were just talking about the Witches of Eastwick this morning, and she turned it on and it was one of the first movies to come up. Pretty cool.

I've been falling in love with Lost in Pacific Time all over again, and I've started writing again. Two events that are not-so-related, but really make me feel good.


Oh, BTW, I am so excited about this Peg Connolly Scholarship. I get to go out to Spokanel, WA in September, and while I'm out there I'm going to spend a few extra days and head out to Seattle for the end of the week and into the weekend. I love traveling, and I have always wanted to go out to Washington, so this is the perfect excuse.

Friday, May 21, 2010

The Best Day of My Life (so far)

Last night I went to an event called Arts through the Ages. It focused mostly on the elderly and intergenerational programming, and featured a panel of four young women who have different endeavors in art, writing and drama. I was particularly looking forward to hearing more about the writing program, being a writer myself, and also because I had JUST been talking with my mom and Rachael the day before about at some point doing a research study of the use of writing as a modality with individuals with dementia (and because I just did my whole case study on a huge writing project).

The Best Day of My Life (So Far) is a project created by a woman named Benita Cooper, an architect who was inspired to create this writing project after conversing with her grandmother and hearing all of her wonderful stories. In fact, she's working currently on writing a book filled with her grandmother's stories - something that I've always contemplated since my first grandma day in 2001 (*"grandma day" was created by me in 2001 after reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and becomming obsessed with the concept of spending one day a week with someone you love. I began going to grandma's after school every Tuesday. This lasted all through high school and college, although the days and times have changed through the years. Now they're on Saturdays, when I go over after work, eat dinner with her and then spend the night, and go to work from there on Sunday.) Anywho... Benita was so inspired by her conversations with her grandmother, that she decided to begin volunteering with seniors in the community. Now she has her weekly writing program at Philadelphia Senior Center every Thursday. The participants come together, and given a theme, put their memories to paper. The memories are shared through conversation, and through a blog www.thebestdayofmylifesofar.blogspot.com .

I found the entire thing extremely interesting. After working in recreation my whole life, and then completing my bachelor's in Therapeutic Recreation, I think it's amazing that someone so far removed from the health professions took the time and effort to actually begin a project like this one. I know she's looking for volunteers, so anyone interested can look her up on the blog, or on facebook (search "the best day of my life so far"). I'm hoping to be of assistance with some more clinical aspects of things, but really I'd love to help wherever I can. Hopefully I'll actually have time coming up to do so.