The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (review)

  

Well. After a year of squealing, watching production videos, watching trailers, and working myself into a lather of fangirling, I finally saw The Desolation of Smaug. Because I'm a nit-picker, this review will mostly be concerned with details and rabbit trails of ranting.

And let me tell you, the ranting will be something to behold. But on with the review!

If You Want People to Hate Your Guts, Glue Your Carpet to the Floor

Our last week in Colorado I was given the dubious honor of helping pull up old, wet carpet from the basement of staff housing that smelled strongly of urine of some sort. (We thought cat initially, but decided later that it was far too fragrant and could only be from a bear. Whatever the culprit, the result was nasty.)

When we first started there were three of us: Tess, Moriah, and myself. We had volunteered for the job of pulling carpet and re-organizing Josiah's office in lieu of shoveling; we had also figured that it would be a quick in-and-out venture. None of us had anticipated the horrors that were to await--but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The beginning consisted of moving boxes, shelves, and furniture off the carpet so we could start prying said carpet off the floor. I think we had figured that it was loose and held down by the furniture, but pulling at the edge revealed glue. Not just a little bit either, but a LOT of glue.

At this point we were still cheerful and unsuspecting of the travails ahead.

A couple of hours into the process we had discovered a kind of method that worked a little bit: prying up the carpet with a crowbar until there was enough to grab a handful, brace oneself, and throw all of one's weight backwards until the offending stuff gave a couple of inches. Rest, rinse and repeat.

Around this time Tess, who has a marvelous problem-solving mind, wasn't happy with our (lack of) progress and started looking up ways to get up glued carpet. We found several methods (vinegar, acetone, and boiling water, respectively) and tried them all. Interestingly enough, boiling water was the most successful method.

Boiling water also keeps people from getting high and trying to play baseball with the empty vinegar bottle. *cough*

Occasionally we would strike gold and, instead of giving a mere inch or two, an entire section of carpet would rip up. It gave us a distinct sense of victory and the feeling that all of our effort wasn't for naught.

By the end of the first day (roughly from 9 AM to 5:30 PM), we had pulled all of the carpet except for a strip in front of the door. By this point we had also decided that our backs couldn't take any more tugging for the day and retired amongst many a groan.

The next day I awoke to hands swollen and weakened by the previous days' activity. It took a good 15 minutes for them to loosen up and be suitable for any kind of use.

It took a good hour to finish the last strip, and then we started on the glue.

Oh, the infernal glue. I could go on for days about this stuff. -.-

Around this point Tess dropped out of the actual scraping--she has a bad back, and it decided to go out on her. So instead she started reorganizing Josiah's desk, and EB and Charissa joined in the crew.

This was around lunchtime, after about 2 1/2 hours of work. We tried vinegar, acetone, paint thinner, Goo Gone, adhesive remover, and hot water in turn--if ever in doubt, boiling hot water is the way to go. It's fast, cheap, doesn't smell, and won't get you high.

EB decided to try on Josiah's bow tie just for kicks. XD

And then there was Tess, working industriously away!

David dropped in for a while at the end of the day. The process at this point was to pour boiling water on the glue, scrape madly until the water cooled (about 5-10 seconds), Shop-Vac the gummy bits and cold water, and rinse and repeat. To say that we all felt incredibly old is the understatement of the year--my shoulders, hands, and knees were all pretty much shot by the end of the process.

The end of Day 2 saw about half of the room scraped, and all of us thoroughly whipped.

Day 3 began with the same people scraping away. Moriah and I tackled the housekeeping shed until I traded places with Tess after she finished Josiah's desk. At that point I was back to scraping, and we (Charissa, EB, and I) spent most of our time trying to sing along with EB's Pandora station and screaming at the floor as we hacked away at the rubber bits. It wasn't a pretty sight.

However, I am glad to say that, after 3 days of scraping and gouging and cursing the people who ever thought to use copious amounts of glue for their stupid carpet, we were DONE.

And Tess finished Josiah's desk too. 

That sucker needed it too, man. (The desk, not Josiah.) It had been in a permanent state of pig-sty-ness all summer.

With that said...don't glue your carpet to the floor. Ever. EVER. EVER. It will make people want to hunt you down and do unspeakable things to you in revenge.

Stressed. And slightly freaked.

I'mma just gonna blow some steam off for a few minutes, mkay?

I'm not really stressed at people at the moment, but for the past couple of weeks I've been having this underlying feeling of unrest related to school, work, upcoming work, etc. I've been working like a madwoman on my medical transcription stuff, and sometimes I wonder if I'm even cut out for it. (This may or may not be coinciding with some homework that got returned with a poor grade that had to be redone...) I'm also freaking out because I'm trying to finish a 12-week class in 9 weeks, and there's a wedding this Saturday, I'm still cleaning houses and working at DQ, I'll be in Florida for 10 days in April, and I wanted to go with a friend to Chicago for a day (take the train and make a day of it sort of thing), but my time is getting shorter and shorter and I'm steadily getting more freaked out because of the imminence of it all. *deep breath* Granted, this is the 5th week and I'm working on Week 7 stuff, but it still seems quite overwhelming.

At work lately (on a side note, I'm leaving DQ in about 3 weeks to get ready for leaving in May O.o) my employer has been alternately telling me that I don't do enough cleaning/restocking during slow times and that I'm doing too much cleaning/restocking when we suddenly go from slow to busy. I feel like I'm trying really hard to please, and as long as I do everything right I don't get a word (positive or negative) spoke to me, but the moments that I slip up instantly get pounced upon. I know my employer is a busy guy, trying to make his business work to the best of his ability, and I don't blame him for trying to run things efficiently. It's just.....I'm trying hard to stay busy, gosh darnit. It's hard to do that when one day I'm told to stay only at my register and then next I'm staying at my register too much.

Over the past month I've had 2 guys trying to get me to go out with them (one showed up at church on a Sunday afternoon and asked Pastor for my phone number because I wasn't there, and then showed up at my work the next day *facepalm*). I feel like I'm in this really awkward/picky stage where I'm not interested in hardly anyone to begin with, and all the guys who show interest are not my type at ALL. So first off I'm stuck trying to explain why I don't want to go out with someone, and then I feel bad for turning them down and wonder if I'm being overly picky.

And I need friends, dangit. My best friend is moving to Florida after Saturday and I'll have only one close friend my age who lives within 2 hours. Do you know how depressing that is? I'm sure that going to Colorado isn't going to help that much, because I'll just have more friends and acquaintances spread out all over the place, but sheesh. Growing up is rotten, because all of your friends move away and work/go to school/raise families all the time. *feels like Calvin right now*

Oy. It kinda felt good to complain for a bit. XD Now it's back to the daily grind of transcribing...

Weddings are Silly

For the past few weeks (months, actually) I've been involved with the planning and execution of 2 weddings: one for a very dear friend of mine, and one for my brother. The longer time goes on, the more convinced I am that weddings are very silly.

Case in point: a person spends anywhere from $5,000 (for a very conservative wedding) to $26,000 (the average wedding cost, according to Google) for one day, inviting anywhere from 200-500 people, making everything perfect and wonderful and doing the right thing and getting the right stuff, all for ONE DAY. Am I the only one who sees something a bit off with this? And that's not even going into all of the stress of planning and execution. Most brides are exhausted by the end of the day...it's a lot of hassle....etc.

I know that some married women would probably say to me 'but it's all worth it in the end!' And yes. I agree that marriage is wonderful and SO worth it (not that I'd know, but, y'know, I watch and learn from the people around me ;) ), but I think the whole wedding thing needs to be done differently.

You know what I think would be hilarious and a simple way to get around it? Back in the old days if a couple wanted to get married, they would go up at the end of a church service, exchange their vows, and that was that. So, my idea (if a girl can find a guy--or more accurately, a prospective mother-in-law--to go along with it) is when one is engaged they keep it on the down-low. Like they plan on living arrangements, honeymoon, etc quietly, but not tell anyone except the pastor (and maybe parents, if they can keep a secret) what's up. Then after a church service one day they go up to the front, exchange vows, and split while the congregation reels from shock. And then make sure there's a potluck or something to distract said congregation after the couple leaves. 

I think it's a brilliant idea, anyway. It'd save a chunk of change and side-step all the planning and stress and such. (Plus the looks on peoples' faces would be PRICELESS. I'm just sayin'.)

Does anyone else agree with me? If you're married would you have done something differently? Maybe not as drastic as my suggestion, but something?

Is it just me?

I feel like I'm in this very awkward stage of life where persons of the opposite sex say they want to be friends, but when it comes down to it they really don't want anything to do with you unless there's something more. I'm well aware of the fact that guys and girls at my age are looking for mates, but there have been several occurrences over the past year where a guy has been friendly for a few weeks but, upon seeing that a romantic relationship isn't an option, they vanish.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. But it's gotten to the point that if a guy even talks to me, I automatically assume that they're angling for a catch. This has also gotten to the point that I try to subtly ward them off so that I don't become friends and then have to have the uncomfortable 'no-not-looking-for-a-boyfriend-sorry' conversation, followed by a quick vanishment.

Case in point: some friends introduced me to a guy last year. Don't get me wrong, he and I agree on a lot of issues but we also disagree on some important ones, enough to give me some major pause. A couple of weeks ago he wanted a DTR ('define the relationship' talk), and I had to try to let him down as gently as possible without beating around the bush. 

I HATE DTRs, by the by. I've had to wrangle my way through few and they aren't my favorite thing by a long shot. I also try to be as blunt and straightforward as possible, because I hate playing games.

But anyway. After that, zip. It's not the first time it's happened, but it always makes me a little disappointed. It's as if a guy can't be around a girl without trying to see if he can score with her. 

Am I wrong? Do guys only associate with girls if they see a romantic possibility? Or do I just attract guys who have ulterior motives? (Or do all guys have ulterior motives? O.e)

Thoughts? Anyone?

Some Animal Pictures and Randomosity

I was feeling icky earlier today (actually thought I was coming down with the flu for a bit there, but ginger tea, charcoal, and acid water from the Kangen machine have intervened for a happy tummy. I subscribe to the shotgun approach), and as a result haven't really done anything super productive today. So instead I'll post pictures of some various animals and complain a bit. XD

Javert being...Javert. He's one weird dog. 

I think I'm going to request to not work on Saturdays at DQ anymore. I enjoy working during the week, because we only have a few people and actually get stuff done while enjoying each other's company. (For the most part.) But on weekends there are a lot of people (10 just for today) and everyone was chatting, taking their good old time, not tending to the customers, etc. I felt like the only person who was actually trying to work. -.- I'd much rather work more hours during the week than three hours of bumping into idle people on the weekends. 

Javert has broken his tennis ball, finally. He must have had it for a year before it split, but he still plays with it. 

And his rope too.

My root beer that I mentioned earlier was a flop...I let it ferment too long and it was nasty. Next time I'll let it go for 2 days and then strain off the grains, because this way it was disgusting. I had to toss it out. :/

(The Gookster! I've petitioned to change her name from 'Gooky', which is a contraction of 'good kitty', to 'Bakky', which is a contraction of 'bad kitty'. So far no one has taken me up on it.)

Yeah, she's a pretty cat and she knows it. She's currently sprawled out behind my computer because it's warm. -.-

So I've been reading some other reviews for Les Mis, and I'd have to say that the viewing camps have settled into two: the 'I loved it, and appreciate mostly everything about it' camp, and the vitriolic 'this was the worst movie I've ever seen and anyone who liked it was an idiot' camp. 

I would identify somewhere in between, because while I loved it as an adaptation it's still not up to Brick standards. (Nothing ever will, I know, BUT STILL.) I'll probably only watch it once or twice a year in the future because I can only handle so much emotional trauma.

What I don't understand is the people who decide that they hate it, and then spew that hatred and vitriol and attack the actors on a personal level. It's very petty, and shows a huge lack of class. Just because YOU don't like something, doesn't mean that you have to mock everyone who happens to like it, especially when it comes to a story that's impacted people for over 150 years and will still to do so long after the 'hating' opinion is completely forgotten. 

*/rant*

This is a cat from a house that I clean. Both cats find my bag and my boots absolutely fascinating, and I have no idea why.

Okay. I'm done. You may go back to your daily life.

Fury

"Beware of him that is slow to anger; for when it is long coming, it is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused patience turns to fury." -- Francis Quarle

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." -- William Congreve

"If anger proceeds from a great cause, it turns to fury; if from a small cause, it is peevishness; and so is always either terrible or ridiculous." -- Jeremy Taylor

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Without going into an absurd amount of detail, just know that right now I am furious. It's a fury born out of months of silence and deliberate avoidance from another person (they did the avoiding) that was suddenly broken off without warning. 

It's impossible to remain silent. All I want to do is scream and rail into their face about the injustice felt, about the building rage that is pouring out its darkness, about everything that was broken and how dare they think that anything is 'okay' anymore.

It's not 'okay'. It never was 'okay'. And the anger is not something that's going to go away anytime soon. I'm not a switch that can just turn something off (though that would be nice).

Mindsets

Have you ever come across something that so filled with filth and vileness that you don't know exactly how to respond to it? Show of hands, anyone?

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I am unabashedly pro-life. There's not much else I can say to expound upon that without getting into the inherent injustice that masquerades as 'pro-choice'. So coming across a blog post that refers to abortion as a '...medical procedure that should be routine, like getting a filling at the dentist or getting a vaccination...' and tells women to be proud of their 'choice' understandably gets my ire up.

For the entire post, see here: http://www.xojane.com/issues/abortion-fantastic

For a response to the above post, see here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/website-asks-women-to-be-proud-of-their-abortions

Am I the only one who sees something wrong with that mindset? Women have been having babies for thousands of years, with a very high success rate.  When has it become admirable for women to willingly and happily sacrifice their children by admitting access to what should be the safest place in the world for a developing infant, and allowing someone to tear that infant apart? The mindset has become so 'me' centered that people think it's better for a woman to kill her child and 'save her own life', rather than actually be a mother and sacrifice her own life for that child. 

Then there are people who think that abortion is a 'necessary evil', that a person can think it's wrong but they can't tell a woman who doesn't think it's wrong that it is. Following that train of thought, right and wrong become subjective. I could go around punching people in the face, and if they tell me 'that's wrong' and I say 'It's my choice, I don't think it's wrong', who are they to press their opinions of what's right and wrong upon me? (I wouldn't do that, I'm just using it as an example.)

And for those who think that one's right to swing their fist ends where the other guy's face begins (metaphorically speaking), abortion is a really lousy practice to use that argument against. The idea that something is wrong if it hurts someone else actually supports a pro-life POV, seeing as how in a typical abortion the child is either torn limb from limb or made to swallow/be bathed in a saline solution that causes horrific burns inside and out.

If that's not hurting someone else, I'm not sure what is. But back to the original blog post.

If a woman is ashamed of an abortion, that's a very natural reaction. The killing of an innocent being who hasn't even had the opportunity to draw a breath is horrific. Being proud and flaunting one's status as a 'liberated' woman at the expense of another's life, however, is a completely different story.

.....

 After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to keep this post up and public. I'm finding that telling the hard truth has a tendency of weeding out the people who can't handle it...and I'm tired of being told that being a Christian means you can't be angry or say what you really mean, because we're supposed to be merciful and loving and what have you.

Mercy and love have their place. But so do justice and truth. Justice hasn't been very forthcoming concerning this subject, but I can tell the truth and by golly I'm gonna.

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Remember those messy posts I warned you about? This is going to turn into one of those real quick.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ya ever just want to cry and throw things and scream incoherently because you don't know what to say or how to say it, and every word that comes to mind seems to be filled with confusion and anger and such indescribable hurt that you don't even want to say them because you sound like a hate-filled non-Christian who is about to axe somebody?

It's been one of those nights. Or rather, it's turning into one of those.

(Granted, the entire evening hasn't been bad. What with the daily drawing and baking/icing a cake, it's actually been a fairly good one. But certain news has this strange ability to reduce me to a quivering incomprehensible mass of  hurt confusion within a matter of minutes. It should go up as a new superpower.)

To whom it may concern:

Why do you even care how I would be handling this? You, who have done so much damage: Why. Do. You. Care. Are you feeling guilty for what you have done? Congratulations, you show that you have a basic conscience. It takes more than that to be a responsible human being.

You spent an entire year making promises, telling me we would do this and that and that you loved me. Don't give me this 'I CARE about you' crap--caring is less about responding to your emotions and more about realizing that feelings come and go, but promises are meant to be honored. If you merely 'cared', then the entire last year was a lie.

God spoke to you? God speaks to people every day, but I seriously doubt that He would have told only you and never breathed a hint that anything was wrong to me. You think you would have never made me happy and just want the best for me? Well, how would you freakin' know? You never bothered to find out before saying 'AUGH! I give up!'

I am torn between agony over the person you seemed to be, and utmost loathing for the person you seem to have become. No, I don't buy that you 'care'. You have never bothered to ask how I'm doing. You simply dropped off the face of the earth, avoiding people and pretending that you're heartbroken but everything's 'okay'. I don't buy that you're okay either. I think you're just scared, and didn't know what to do, and decided 'whelp, that didn't work' so it'll never work. 

And what it comes down to?

You didn't want it to work. 

If you truly, sincerely wanted things to work, you wouldn't have acted like a child and run away because it was all too overwhelming.

If you wanted things to work, you would have backed up your promises and not suddenly back-pedaled under the banner of 'wanting what's best (even if you don't agree)'.

If you wanted things to work...but you didn't. 

And you don't. 

And you never will, unless you figure out how to be an adult and know that you can't run away from the things that overwhelm you.

That's why I'm writing this here, where you'll never read it, because you wouldn't be able to handle it. If it were sent as a message, you would never respond due to being 'overwhelmed'.

There's more to life than always feeling comfortable and safe in retreating. 

And if you ever do read this? I dare you to prove me wrong and show that you are, in fact, more than the coward you have proven yourself to be. Go ahead. Consider it a challenge to stop being 'overwhelmed' by the demands of life.

You have no earthly idea how much you have hurt me over the past 6 weeks. A year of lies and leading-on is a hard thing to stand up under. Not only have I lost the person I thought would be a life-long friend and companion, but I have to live with the fact that you didn't REALLY mean any of it. And that's the absolute hardest thing to accept out of the entire mess.