Advice from Mom

Life is full of decisions and consequences. We all make bad decisions from time to time and that is ok. That is how we learn and grow. You can eventually recover from most mistakes. Unfortunately some mistakes are so bad they are almost impossible to recover from, if you can at all. You should always take a moment to think about the consequence before making any choice and decide if it is really worth the risk. Here are the four most devastating mistakes and some basic guidelines to help you avoid them.

1. Don’t kill yourself or someone else:

a. If you feel that something is so bad that you need to end your life, come to me. We can work through it together. I worked through a lot in my life and can help! I may be upset, but nothing you have ever done can make me angry enough to want to lose you. You are my life and I will help you!

b. Don’t drink and drive! Don’t get into a car with someone who is intoxicated. Make no mistake, a car is a weapon. It can kill you, your friends, and innocent bystanders.

2. Don’t do physical damage to yourself:

a. Abstain from sex when reasonable, be choosy when you don’t.

b. If you are going to have sex, use a condom every time. Most people spread disease because they don’t know they have it. It’s not a matter of trust; it’s a matter of safety.

c. Take a moment and think before you do something dangerous – Is the dare to jump off that bridge really worth being a paraplegic for the rest of your life? I’d rather be a coward who can walk.

d. Avoid drugs. I know there is an urge to experiment, but they really are dangerous.

· Injecting anything into yourself can easily kill you not only by OD’ing but just by doing it wrong, plus needles spread disease.

· Uppers can give you heart attack or stroke, even the first time you try them.

· Downers can make you suicidal (see rule #1)

· Drug addiction is a horrible disease and easier to get caught up in than you think.

3. Don’t let someone harm you:

a. Always watch your drink. Never accept a free drink from someone unless you get it directly from the bartender or it is in a sealed untampered bottle.

b. Always be aware of your surroundings, don’t walk alone in dark unpopulated areas.

c. Always be choosy about who you are alone with whether it is in your home, their home, or a car.

d. Go to parties in pairs. Make a pact to watch out for each other. The designated driver should help the drunker ones make all decisions.

e. Always make sure someone knows where you are.

4. Don’t get pregnant until you are ready:

a. A combination of birth control (oral or other) in addition to a condom is always best. Once again, be choosy.

Of course these are just basic common sense rules. Remember, always try to think before you act. If you are in trouble, you should come to me. You would be surprised to learn how similar our lives can be and how much I can help. :) Other than that, enjoy life. It goes by far faster than you think!

Love always,

Mom

Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - review

Let’s start this review with a quick trip to the past. If you remember, in the original Mummy Brendan Fraser was at his wise-cracking best as the dashing adventurer, Rick O'Connell. Rick is saved from execution by beautiful and intelligent, though quite naive, Evelyn Carnahan affectionately known as Evy (Rachel Weisz). Accompanied by her bumbling brother, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah), Rick and Evy set off on an adventure to find Hamunaptra. By the end of the movie, a Mummy had been raised and vanquished, Rick and Evy fall in love, and they unknowingly recover several bags of treasure.

Then came Mummy 2, Rick and Evy are still very much in love and now have a precocious 10 year-old son, Alex (Freddie Boath). The original trio, now a quad set off on yet another adventure which involves killing the original mummy again, as well as his lover, and a scorpion king. Both of these movies were amusing and charming with great CGI.
Now let’s return to the present. Rick and Evy (now played by Maria Bello) are leading a boring existence. She is an author fresh out of material and he seems to be retired. Alex (Luke Ford) is all grown up and digging up tombs of his own.
The plot is a rip off of the first movie, setting up an ill-fated love triangle between a powerful leader and one of his most trusted men. All of this of course leads to death and a curse. I always find it amusing that if the cursed king/emperor is revived he becomes the most powerful creature in the world. If I had the power to curse someone, I would make sure that if they were revived they would be reduced to a lowly unintelligent weakling, but I digress. This curse involves a Chinese Emperor and all his armies, turned to stone (not mummies) by a good witch in retaliation of him killing her lover. The original gang is joined by an acquaintance of Alex's, Lin (Isabella Leong) as they set off on yet another adventure.
Though they try to create it, the chemistry between Rick’s and Evy’s characters is gone. Maria’s Evy just does not cut it when it comes to being affectionate or bonding with Rick or Alex. I think she was a poor casting choice that hurt the charm of the movie. Rick and Jonathon do a good job keeping the movie entertaining and Alex’s and Lin’s chemistry is warm and playful but definitely does not make up for what was lost in Evy’s character. We also have the added pleasure of seeing Jet Li as the emperor, though I think we saw him a lot more in CGI than live action.

Overall the movie is fun, but not worth all the hype. Hopefully when they film Mummy 4, they will have the sense to give Rachel Weisz whatever she wants to return as our beloved Evy.

That's my rant for the day, Thanks for reading!!

Unitarian Universal

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a religious person. However, I believe that everyone has a right to belong to any church and praise any god(s) they choose as long as they don’t hurt anyone else. I have been to numerous services including Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, and Buddhist to name a few. In my opinion they all have their good and bad aspects.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a Unitarian Universal service for the first time. Out of all the services I have attended in my lifetime this was by far the most disappointing. I was at the service to attend a dedication ceremony for an infant. At first glance it seemed very promising. There seemed to be a fairly eclectic group of people at the service. That is usually a good sign.

The sermon was definitely not what we expected. Out of all the possible topics the clergy could have presented during the dedication service (i.e. welcoming a child, being part of a group or family, it take a town to raise a child, etc), he chose to make it an infomercial instead. He went on and on about how Unitarian Universal is all about tolerance and they accept all faiths. The only guidelines they have are tolerance and acceptance. He went on about how they only turn away bigots, racists, and misogynists (those who hate women, I looked it up after the service). So he finally ended the sermon making it very clear that regardless of your religious beliefs you are welcome to join their church.

Directly after he went on about religious tolerance, he made a very firm and emphatic statement that a “dedication service is a welcoming process and does not wipe out any imaginary original sin!!” I am certain that any Catholics in the service were not feeling very welcome or accepted at that point. Then they made all the children, other than the infant, leave the service.

My cousin arrived late due to a road closing caused by horrible storms that morning. She arrived just after the mass exodus of the children. When she attempted to join us at the service they stopped her at the door and told her that her child must remain downstairs with the other children. She tried to explain that they were not members of this church; they were there as invited guests of the parents of the child to be dedicated. Her child would not know anyone downstairs and feel scared and alone. She assured them that she would be quiet and well behaved. They would not hear of it, and refused to let her attend services unless she sent her child to the basement with the others. Does that sound tolerant to you? So what are the Unitarian Universal guidelines? Maybe they are, we accept all races, sexual orientations, and religions (minus the parts of your religion we find silly), but we do not tolerate children?! It doesn’t sound like a group of globally accepting people to me.

Well that is my rant for the day, thanks for reading!!