Books vs Movies #4: Fifty Series

Guess you guys knew this one was coming and I'll try really hard not to dwell too much on the similarities to the Twilight series or the whole fan fiction issue (although it's probably gonna creep up once or twice).

I should give a bit of backstory here. I do read romance novels, although, if you would have asked me that question 20 years ago, I would have probably been appalled at the very fact you asked me. I didn't start reading them until after my divorce and was very anti-the-genre before then. One could argue that Jane Austen is "romance" but, in my eyes, that is CLASSIC literature and NOT up for discussion. The romance novels I do read, don't usually go in the direction of the BDSM or overtly sexual type. I am still a prude, after all. It's one of the reasons why I like young adult novels.

I didn't start with the books though, I started with the Unrated versions of the three Fifty movies and I could immediately see that scene after scene was a blatant rip-off of the Twi's (more book than movie on that front, but still), but Jamie Dornan is enough of a distraction that I tried to not dwell too much. Again, like Twi's and Kristen Stewart, I also don't like Dakota Johnson, so there is that issue to contend with. It's hard to champion for the heroine when you don't like the actress playing her.

Actually, as another side point, I don't care much for any actress period. I can count on one hand how many actresses I do like. And the ones I do like, I'm not sure if it's actually them, the kind of movies they typically do, or the actors they play against. Actors, well that list is almost endless, dominantly British, and usually not subject to change. A good smolder and I'm lost for life.

Now, I should also add I went "Unrated" movie-wise, not for the extra sex (there is no extra sex scenes in the unrated versions), just the extra scenes, period. I know this because I have since gotten the Blu-rays. It's one of those weird word plays that certain movies like to do, especially this sort of movie, to draw in their target audience. Twi's version is "Extended" versions, which are also unrated, but simply because they were created only for the BR or DVD version and not meant for theatrical release so no need for the MPA (Motion Picture Association for those non-US folks) to rate.

The Fifty movies, even though sexually heavy, are still a lot "softer" and more "romantic" than the sex in the books. I think I've become immune to Dakota's boobs because I think they are out more than they are covered. Jamie's butt, however, still makes me blush. I also don't typically watch movies with this much sexual content to them and I probably arrantly turned down the volume during certain scenes because I was afraid of what my neighbors might think (out of prudishness more than actual need to do so), so inner prude still intact.

The movies also make Ana a bit stronger and Christian a bit softer. In the books, she's a lot more of a wuss than Bella ever was and Christian is way more of a total jerk than Edward ever was. I'm not sure if they did this so that the movie-goer would like the characters better, but more on that later too.

I think it bugged me more that the movies lost two major characters (the doctor I mentioned in my last post) and Ethan, the brother to Kate, because I would have liked to see Ethan in screen form. Mia reminds me of Alice and I would have like to see her with at least a sort-of boyfriend. They kind of combined Jose and Ethan's character in the movies, and I really didn't like Jose in the books (or the movies for that matter), so that didn't (and still doesn't) sit well with me.

Even after watching the movies dozens of times, I still refused to buy the three books for as long as I could hold out. I HATE paperbacks (it's the smell of the paper and you have to be too careful so the spines don't get bent) and older printed books are hard to find in hardback (or incredibly expensive). Target had the paperbacks in a box set, but again, I was proud of myself for not buying them the first two times I went to Target after starting this movie mess. The third time I wasn't so lucky and the reason is not why you'd think.

Like Twi's unfinished Midnight Sun, there is also finished (and published) versions of the first two Fifty books from Christian's point of view (considering the publication date on those, I figure the third book will be out this November). I bought those digitally first and started with them.

From this point on, I'll refer to the original books as the "Fifty's" and the others as the "Christian's", to save space.

I also don't typically like digital books because it's hard on my eyes to read online for long periods of time, but I was intrigued because of my love of Edward's unfinished Midnight Sun (and, honestly, it was a late night decision and my OCD couldn't wait until the next day...I wanted to read them right THEN). Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. I do typically put myself in the point of view of the lead heroine because I am female, but once that's established and I'm emotionally attached to the hero, then I want to know what he's thinking too. I felt like the movies had already did that for me.

Finishing the Christian's is what pushed me over the line and caused me to buy, not just the box set of the Fifty's, but the two Christian's in paperback as well, the last time I hit Target.

Had I read the Fifty's first before the movies, I would have never watched the movies at all and still would have been very anti-Fifty. They were whiney, too sexually repetitive, and the whole "I'll never leave you", "I love you more than anything" business got really old really fast. It almost makes me want to read them for the sole purpose of counting how many times the world "love" is used in the books (like I did with the "F" word in Die Hard 3, I can't remember now, but trust me, it was in the triple digits).

I didn't feel like I was re-reading the Twi's or re-watching those movies while I was reading the Fifty's, I only got that vibe from the Fifty movies (and it was more directed toward the Twi books, if that makes sense), although I could find correlating scenes in each movie series that were almost a match word-for-word. For example:

In Twilight, Edward saves Bella from being attacked by a group of guys and takes her out to dinner. After she questions him on how he found her and he admits he can read minds, just not hers, (although he leaves out the whole "because I'm a vampire" part), the following exchange takes place:
EDWARD: "I don't have the strength to stay away from you anymore"
BELLA: "Then don't"

In Fifty Shades of Grey, after Christian prevents a drunken Jose from trying to forcibly kiss Ana (not as risky of an attack, but another attack), Christian takes her back to his hotel, cleans her up, and lets her sleep (although he sleeps beside her, a first for him...something also repeated ad nauseam in the books). After a morning discussion during breakfast (another meal) where he explains that he's not the romantic type and only has a "certain kind" of relationship (which he doesn't explain at that point...another important factual omission), she asked him why he's brought her there at all and then their exchange is as follows:
CHRISTIAN: "You're here because I'm incapable of leaving you alone"
ANA: "Then don't".

Yeah, copyright warning bells were going off left and right in my head and I actually started Googling the history of the Fifty books because I just knew there had to be major issues there. I found some of the original fan-fiction text online (it was called Master of the Universe at that point and you talk about "word-for-word"...geez!). Apparently, there isn't that much copyright stance for Stephenie Meyer to fight on (some weird loophole) and, even weirder, Stephenie doesn't care and hasn't even read those books. If someone was making millions off my work, I'd care.

Anyhoo, bookwise, the Christian's, are a whole different ball of wax and I much preferred those, but again, I was already attached to the characters by that point, so again, had I not of seen the movies first, I'm just not sure I would have touched them. But there are some pretty big continuity errors with the first book, Grey compared to Fifty Shades of Grey, which bugs me, but I try not to dwell (I dwell too much as it is). I noticed them less with Darker versus Fifty Shades Darker, so either they got a different editor, or someone did their job better. Considering Ana is a book editor for a living, it is a bit insulting to the character plot lines that the editor of Grey did such a bad job.

The Christian books make you see things from his point of view better and he doesn't seem nearly as cold and cruel...he really does love her and everything he does, even the meanest of things, he does because it's the only way he knows how to protect her (and she keeps putting herself in danger left and right...similar to Bella), but Christian's way of dealing with things is punishment to Ana whereas Edward's way is to run away thinking that protects her. Men are dumb.

So, final verdict? This is a more loaded question than the others. I wouldn't have read the books without having seen the movies and, although the books give you more story, I'm not sure I necessarily need it. The lack of the explanation of "vanilla relationship" or "Wanda" as the name of Anastasia's car doesn't make sense in the movie if you haven't read the books (and about thirty other small points like that), but again, you don't notice much...Jamie Dornan has that affect, or at least he does on me.

The Christian's I wouldn't have even known about without the movies, so I have the movies to thank, but again, I still need Jamie Dornan in my head for them to work. I still keep re-reading all the books as well as watching the movies, but I think that's more of an OCD thing than an enjoyment thing. I watch the movies WAY more than read the books whereas, with the Twi's, I read the books more than watching the movies. That may be because I watch movies and read at the same time and it's easier to distract myself with a Twi book while there is sex happening on the screen (inner prude at work).

It's an on-the-fence answer, but for now, I'm going movies. My favorite scene in the movie Fifty Shades Freed is the Aspen "chalet" (and I use that term loosely - mansion is more like it) ice cream scene in the kitchen, which I was SOOOO excited to read about in the books, but it's not there. The ice cream part takes place in book 1 and I think it was just thrown in during movie three to appease the fans after a probable backlash. That was the most disappointing part of reading those books when I got to that section and the scene took an entirely different turn, which wasn't better at all. When it read it in book one, my first thought was, "ice cream twice?", but nope. And since it's out of order sequentially (because in the books, they have already been clubbing and Ana is really drunk, but that hasn't happened yet in the movie), her giggling and drunk-acting in the movie never made sense to me since she had just woken up from a nightmare. Again, continuity errors.

I would recommend movies first and then the Fifty's, then the Christian's. I'd like to know which you preferred and try hard not to let Jamie Dornan influence your decision like I do! But choice-wise, I'm going to say movies...for now with the Christian's not far behind. The Fifty's are irrelevant now, just part of the OCD cycle.

The OCD A-Ha Moment

I finished off my first school week (and supposed work vacation) with mixed emotions and spent most of today sleeping off two Imitrex shots for my new routine "end of week" migraine.

Friday, during another social call to my English Professor (she really is extraordinary), I let slip about my little "hospital visit" and how school came out of that. I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut, but she is very easy to talk to. It did leave last October a bit too fresh on my brain by Friday night though. There is a reason why "everything happens for a reason" is one of my mantras.

In the middle of reading the second Fifty book while watching Eclipse on Friday night (I'm getting a bit too good at simultaneous movie-watching and book-reading), a startling realization hit me like the proverbial clacker against a gigantic brass plate.

For those who haven't read the Fifty books (I'll try not to get too spoiler-y, but this wasn't in the movies), Christian sees a shrink on a regular basis (I know, the irony, right?). Ana tells Christian she won't agree to his marriage proposal until she gets to talk to the shrink about Christian first. She has already given him the box with the keychain by this point, so it's moot, but she just needs some reassurances. Dr. Flynn tells Ana she's the reason why Christian no longer needs to dominate, because he's found his future and could stop dwelling on his past, even if Christian's still having trouble accepting that fact (there is this whole discussion about the proper therapy name for it, but it's unimportant). The good doc tells her to hang in there and keep doing what she was doing to keep Christian on the right path to "fixing" him (even though technically he isn't broken, which is what the shrink has been trying to tell him all along). It left her pretty confused, but then the whole helicopter thing happened and well, I didn't pay too close attention to the shrink stuff in the books to be honest (wonder why?).

Since Fifty is nothing but Twilight fan fiction, it didn't take me long to see the similarities with Edward only a LOT more vanilla (pardon the pun). Once Edward realized Bella wasn't dead in New Moon, he was willing to do whatever it took to keep her in his life, even if it meant he had to change how he viewed himself, the martyred demon. He also stopped seeing Bella as an innocent whose soul he was condemning to hell, but rather a partner first, the mother of his child second, and then, finally, his equal. By the end, his new-found purpose became to protect his family at all costs...his past long forgotten along with his demons.

It took me a while to catch on where I was heading myself, so I went back to Christian looking for more similarities with Edward. I tend to relate to Christian more given I'm also "fifty shades of fucked up" (although, ironically, not really that much differently, except for the BDSM part), so it made more sense that he would be the a-ha guy for me.

I have spent my ENTIRE life trying to deal with my past, dwelling on events that I had no control over. I've been trying in vain to forget, or fix, or change, or make right, or abuse, or cover up with medication, or blaa, blaa, blaa. I had a routine down, a pattern of blame were I directed anger at others (like Christian), or myself (like Edward), but three days locked in the psych ward and I'm registering for classes? No wonder I've been "what the f"ing! for months!

GGGGOOONNNNGGGG! Yep, when it finally dawned on me (again, pardon the pun), it was like someone had hit me on the side of the head with that clacker, and my head was the brass plate! My little hospital visit really was the reason why I decided to go back to school...not to torture myself or to have a "pet project" for the summer, or just to avoid my issues altogether, but to FINALLY stop dwelling on my past and focus on my future!

Given the choice though, and I feel it needs to be said, I would take Edward Cullen or Christian Grey over an education any day, but that, apparently, is not my destiny (Robert Pattinson or Jamie Dornan would also do, but again...fate hates me).

Even though I still struggle with the most basic of tasks like getting groceries, I'm able to deal with all manner of unseemly social situations on campus (although not all of them have been bad obviously) because I now understand that dwelling on the past won't make it go away and my beige/blue room of pain, via Hotel California, was my wake up call.

College is the way forward to a new life, hopefully one in a different city and state, in a better house, and maybe even, with a not-so fictional hero of my own (although I'm sure fate will have something to say about that part). I gotta go through a little pain of my own to get to the pleasure part. The dawn has broken my friends (pun intended)!

Wow, yeah, I know, I'm still in shock myself! Now I understand the pull toward these particular series, why Twilight wasn't enough (and why I just HAD to go Fifty...I needed to go "darker"). I was more worried about my stupid OCD and the subject matter to pay attention to what subconscious was screaming her angry little head off about. Now, if I could just find out where my inner goddess is hiding and and bring her out, I'd really be a new woman (god, now I'm speaking in "Ana-isms"!).

Can I stop the OCD cycle now? No, don't think so, not yet at least. I wish I could. But I don't think my OCD is done with me quite yet and, like Christian, I may have grasp the realization of my modifying situation, but I'm still afraid it could all be taken away at any moment.

Maybe, like Ana, I need a bit of "kinky fuckery" in my life to distract me for now, Then, like Bella, I can proudly claim, "I've decided on my life and I wanna start living it", only after I find a heaping dose of vampire-strengthened courage!

Oh well, time to do homework now. Just thought I'd share. Yeah, who am I kidding? I've got books to read and movies to watch! Homework can wait until tomorrow. At least I did find it hard not to write this post in the MLA format that my English Prof desires us to write in, so my head is must be shifting somewhat, right?

I'm a horrible blogger, but maybe a great student?

I have been HORRIBLE at keeping up with everyone else's blogs, a fact I hope to rectify this weekend. You guys have been so amazing and supportive for me, and I have totally sucked at checking back with you guys to see what's going on with you (and Linda, you have been in my thoughts).

Despite being on "vacation" this week, I've still managed to clock about five hours per day at work. I've also been on campus more than I will typically be, doing various side things that needed to be done (more on that in a minute). And, as much as I hate to admit it, the OCD force is still strong in this poor creature, to the point that I'm doing homework while movies of various Twilight/Fifty versions are running in the background. I think part of me knew that the OCD would not stop once school started, but I was hopeful.

On the school front, I'm a bit confused about the programming class. Day 1 was a "hi, here is the syllabus, bye", kind of day. Day 2, a supposed first day of real programming, was two assignments. Assignment one was opening notepad, typing your name, major, and programming history you have, and then uploading the doc into a program...oooh hard. Assignment two was a group project (something the disability office ASSURED me I wouldn't have to deal with), but it was a good thing because it was a frickin GEOMETRY problem (something I haven't done in 30 years), and then typing the info into notepad, emailing to each team member, and uploading the doc. Again, except for the geometry...oooh hard. I'm not sure when the actual programming comes into play, but this piddling is making me a bit nervous and worried. This is a very first grader-type class and it worries me because a) I don't like being talked to like a first grader; b) I want to actually learn something; and c) I'm paying to learn something, not just rehash something I forgot 30 years ago.

Another thing that worries me about the programming class is that it's full...of guys. There is only one other girl in the entire class. I had two guys in my group for the project, both of which were under the age of 20. One did the math, the other just sat there. I managed to figure out about 1/10 of the geometry and did the typing, although I couldn't understand guy #2's first name because he apparently can't speak louder than a mouse or in full sentences, so I had it wrong at first. When I corrected the document, I only changed it at the top and not throughout the entire thing, so I ended up having to email the instructor and explain to her that I screwed up and asked her to just dock my grade. She told me not to worry about it, so I'm not sure if that means we still got docked or what. That class is very confusing.

My meeting with my advisor didn't help much on the whole boy/girl front. He told me (after spending and exhaustive amount of time trying to talk me out of the BS for my major), that only one girl graduated in my major last year. I told him that I thought that was weird in this day and age and his response was that "girls don't like to get their hands dirty in the engineering course" and "they tend to get bored and move to different departments". I assured him I had no issue with getting my hands dirty, especially since computer hardware is what I'm best at anyway and I didn't answer the boredom question (I'm a bit worried about that myself). He just changed the subject back to software and how he just did a data mining project that helped find star distances and when I explained that was EXACTLY the kind of work I WANTED to do in the future, only with planets, I think he FINALLY understood what I was trying to accomplish. He still thinks I can graduate in three years, and he didn't like it when I laughed in his face, but oh well. He also said he had no adult students under him, so maybe he just doesn't understand full-time jobs, bills, mental illness, and trying to fit class in the middle of all that?

English Comp II, on the other hand, seems to being great (although my first paper hasn't been graded yet, so I may be jumping the gun there). I met with the Professor yesterday and I absolutely ADORE her! She is AH-MAZ-ING! I think I'm really going to learn a lot from her and hopefully it will improve my blog writing as a side-effect. I wish I would have taken her class on campus instead of online. I think I would have enjoyed her in the classroom setting. I don't like having to do discussion boards for the class though and I know I'm going to bad at that. I'm too afraid to speak my mind (because you guys know how that will get me into trouble), but it's also still graded work, so I'm also afraid not to give my honest opinion (which also gets me into trouble). Papers and reading I was expecting, but discussion boards? Ugh.

Oh well, back to work and then check in on the homework front and then back to OCD mode. Tomorrow, I'm hoping we can FINALLY program something, anything! Just don't make me work with smelly boys who can't enunciate their own names any more please!

Introducing...

May I cordially introduce Keebs...college student extraordinaire!!

After a SEVERE panic attack on Sunday (the worse I have had since leaving the "hospital" and even worse than Saturday), I decided to watch Infinity War, which has been sitting on my kitchen counter for a week. A co-worker told me how "good" it was and how much "I'd love it" and how it was "the best Avenger's movie ever". Well, he lied. He KNEW how I'd react to that ending (and I won't give you spoilers, but I started bawling five minutes in and was scream bawling by the very end). I texted him the nastiest text and he told me to watch it again because it gets better the second time...well, it DIDN'T!

Needless to say, my nerves were completely in check all day (other than the five minutes before class when I was backed into a corner and completely surrounded by smelly 19 year-olds), because all I could see was Captain America saying "oh my God" at the end of that movie.

I told my co-worker, I didn't know whether to kick him (for making me suffer like that) or hug him (for making my anxiety go away). I'm still leaning toward kicking him. Yes, Cap survived (which was my biggest fear), but still...SERIOUSLY? They better do some serious fixing in the next movie to make all this right!!

I've personally decided I'm going to have to break down and tell work to back off. The Disability Office said the same. They won't take it well. I've told them no before and they laugh me off, but this time I HAVE to mean it. If not, I have to find a new job. If school goes well, I will need to take more hours and I will need the extra time to study and go to classes. This job won't allow that, at least not for me (although they do for other people). I see that now.

We'll see how things go, but if I do good and I see I can handle this, next semester things will really have to change.

Will the chicken win out?

I've been trying every OCD trick to stay distracted. My Twilight obsession has now progressed on to Fifty Shades of Grey...a series I swore I'd NEVER touch with a ten foot pole, strictly on it's fan fiction-status alone. And yet, I'm still watching the seconds, minutes, hours, days fly by faster and faster to Monday, my first day back in college in 15 years and they are getting worse and worse with each passing moment.

I've spent the entire day reading every single Twilight book and then every single Fifty book (my reading skills are getting speedier...at least one positive outcome from all this), I've watched the Fifty movies, and now, at 10:30 pm, I'm on New Moon. Yeah, I got up REALLY early this morning (more on that in a moment) and yet, even with my eyes darting from TV to book to clock, Saturday has lasted all of 5 minutes. I can imagine Sunday will take all of one, but I also figure there will be no stop between the two days...even if I take my meds that would typically knock out a horse.

I'm not sure if I can do this whole college thing now. After all the struggles of getting back in school in the first place...the financial costs, the fighting re-taking the ACT's, the re-getting boosters I've already had, the endless meetings with counselors I didn't want to go through, yada, yada, yada, I'm starting to waver.

Don't even get me started on the hell I'm still going through on a weekly basis at work, which reached its highest crescendo Friday when I got blindsided with the news that even people who have no stake in my current, or future, position with the company are "concerned" about how school will affect my work and think "measures" should be taken and have been discussing said "measures" with senior management. Seriously people, mind your own damned business already!

Needless to say, I went to bed very late on Friday (or some might say Saturday morning) and woke up very early this morning (or some might say an hour or so later) unable to continue sleeping, hence my current predicament.

But still, as I sit here typing, my anger still not in check from Friday, my head aching from sleep depravity, my fear keeping me from doing online things that NEED to be done before Monday for school, I'm starting to wonder what would happen if I decided to NOT go back to school after all? What if I decided NOT to show up Monday or Wednesday or Friday or log in to the website again, ever (except maybe to send the loan money back)?

Am I really THAT chicken? I have been saying all this time I didn't know why I was doing this, especially since my "hospital stay" affected me so negatively in every other aspect of life...why did I push SO hard for this school mess? It didn't make sense. Maybe it was just a "project" to distract me and now the "project" is done, I don't need to actually go through with it? Is that possible?

Could I give work the satisfaction of knowing, "hey, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere and you can keep taking advantage of me as an employee all you want!"? Do I really want to live in this trailer for the rest of my life, never leaving this small town that I hate so much because I'll never make enough money to get out? Can I really continue on working for peanuts in a highly-paid job field simply because I don't have a degree? Right now, I'd say yes to every single one of those points just to be able to stay home on Monday. How sad is that?

When the time comes, when the alarm goes off Monday morning (if I manage any sleep between now and then), will I be able to open the front door at all? And even if I do actually make it out the door, into the car, and the five minutes to campus, somehow make it out of the car again, walk to class, walk in class and make it through class...who's to say I won't make it worse in my head than it actually was and never go back?

Every day will be a struggle and I've known that this entire time (obviously, because it's why I started with disability services in the first place), but I haven't dealt with that fact until now and I'm obviously not ready to deal with it now either because Edward is leaving Bella now and I have to get back to the movie (and I'll think I'll see if I can read the Fifty books while I watch the Twilight movies...double OCD whammy).

Cape San Blas off of Port St. Joe

So, just to start, here's a look at my tree as the two, mine and the ones my parents planted, are now fighting for control:

Sorry for the close proximity...I tend to find that my 35mm fixed lens tends to work better in the car for movement pics, so I was kind of locked as to position. But they are both growing back well, although not as tall as I would like.

My town at 2am...Southerner's aren't much for staying out late:

I am NOT a fan of driving in Alabama, which is odd because most people around here would say they hate and are scared of Mississippi. I actually like driving in Mississippi and feel safer there. I took the straight Alabama way so I could get there quicker instead of my usual Mississippi to coast road. But with Alabama, at least on the interstate, this is usually all I ever see:

And, if the fog does actually clear, more of the same of this:

I did see this sign...so I did get a "Twilight" moment during the trip...my favorite Cullen/Hale/Whitlock!

Another interesting side fact...I tend to pronounce Birmingham like the Brits do (because that's where Duran Duran is from, so that's how I learned to say it). Drives my Sister insane! She corrects me every single time, but I still say it the Brit way instead of the Southern way.

Alabama does not make for an exciting road trip because there is just nothing to see. Then you have to worry about when the interstate ends and you end up in the scary little towns. I'm from Northeast Arkansas, and trust me, I've seen some pretty scary places, but Alabama just isn't my cup of tea apparently. Repressed memories as kid maybe? I think my issues tend to stem with the fact that there are just less interstates in Alabama and more highways which means more small towns. I prefer the interstates. Mississippi has plenty. But anyway, I finally arrived at 1pm:

And here is what the other side looked like toward the Florida coast:

Normally, I'd walk on the beach for maybe and hour and come home. But it was so beautiful there, I ended up walking over three hours (almost 5 3/4 miles round trip) and still barely made it halfway down the cape. That's a goal for another trip. But here are a few shots of what it looked like there (oh, and some where taken with my camera, some with phone, so forgive some of the quality differences):


I got a little "wave" happy and took a lot of shots of them:

The shells there were smaller than St. George, but I still picked up WAY more than I could carry:

And after walking miles in the water with my flip flops, I actually took them off because my feet were hurting. I NEVER walk barefoot in the water because I ALWAYS get stung by jellyfish (although I always have my flip flops on when I do, so I'm not sure why I think flip flops are going to save me, but there's also glass and needles and god knows what in the sand, so maybe that's why, but still). So here is the first EVER picture of me BAREFOOT in the ocean!

A little know fact about me is, as much as I love the ocean, I HATE walking in sand. Sand at the water level is fine to walk in, but getting through that dry stuff makes my skin crawl. My Sister thinks this is hilarious, I don't. Because I'm a "bigger" girl, I tend to sink and it's just hard to walk through it (plus, I just hate the feeling of it). The wet sand, however, is different (yes, I already know I'm weird). Once I get to the water, I rarely stray from the wet sand until it's time to leave and I walk super-fast through the dry stuff. But here is me flying through the dry stuff:

When I was a kid (and a budding artist), I used to draw bubbles all the time, so I also found myself taking a lot of pictures of bubbles:

There were also several tide pools...the first I think I've ever seen:

And, it's hard to tell, but there were fish in them! I was going to walk in one until I saw the fish and then I didn't.

I also thought the sand patterns at the edge of the pools was neat, but that might just be that repressed artist in me seeing beauty in something weird:

When I realized I was never going to make it to the end of the cape and I turned around, but stupid me forgot to actually take a picture of what cape was left...you can sort of tell from this pic, but not by much...those tiny little black specs are people:

I literally followed this bird all the way back to the parking lot:

The only jellyfish I saw and I didn't step anywhere near it:

I was never so happy to see a walkway back to a parking lot in my entire life! I was sore, sunburnt, and knew I was going to get home VERY late, but it was so totally worth it! What a beautiful place!

I also love lighthouses, but their's was pretty pitiful:

And then I made the biggest mistake of all...I started home via Hwy 98, a road I know like the back of my hand since it's a coast road because I didn't want to navigate Alabama in the dark. Yeah, coast road, end of summer, Saturday night. Stupid. I went as far as I could until I got to the first I10 exit. The thing about I10 is that it is ALWAYS got red sections because of deadly wrecks and it's backed up for miles. For some reason, the gods much have been smiling on me because it stayed green all the way to Biloxi. I managed to make it to Wentzels for my Eggplant La Rossa to go (my favorite dish) before the closed and headed home my usual Gulfport way through Hattiesburg, Jackson and back through Memphis.

All in all, I left at 2am-ish on Saturday morning, got to St. Joe at 1pm (but there was a time change, so that affected things), left there at 4pm, and pulled into my drive at 5:08am on Sunday morning. 1378 miles, so not bad! I will definitely be going back there again...when I figure out how I'm going to manage this whole school thing that is! I'd actually like to go up there and stay a couple of days so I can actually walk that entire cape. That's my goal! Oh, and here's the link to the entire album of pictures.

Oh yeah, and the shell haul this time:

Have NO CLUE what I'm going to do with them...they won't fit in my shell jar unless I remove the gulf sand that I made a special trip just to get. So, for now at least, on my kitchen counter they live (or stay dead...you say potato...).

I did it!

Well, I don't have a Books vs Movies post this week because I went to the coast this week...by MYSELF!! It's the first time I've done that since my "hospital" stay and I had the best time ever! I went to Port St. Joe and down to Cape San Blas.

It was also the last so-called port of call of the Gulf that I've not been to. From Bay St. Louis to Alligator Point, there is no where else on the Gulf coast plate that I can go via car that I haven't already been to at least once in my life. That's both sad and rather gratifying. I guess, since some of those places I went as a kid with adults might not count (like Alligator Point), I could revisit as an adult alone, but still, the entire gulf has been covered now. I will say, Cape San Blas is now my new favorite place though. It was beautiful and serene and I felt more peaceful there than I have in a very long time, so maybe I've finally found that perfect "get away".

Pictures will follow (whenever I get around to getting them edited and uploaded), but needless to say, I stayed there for three hours walking the beach, picking up shells, and just generally enjoying life, something I don't do enough.

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting back to being me again...which I guess is good, considering that this is my last real week before school starts next week!

Books vs Movies #3: Harry Potter

This one will be short and sweet, just because I think this one is a no-brainer, but maybe you guys can offer me a different opinion. I should also say that I'm only talking about the first seven books and the first eight movies...I haven't seen or read any since (I'm a bit afraid of stirring up another old obsession, which is why I haven't bought any of the new series).

There will NEVER been an ensemble cast like there was in these movies...honestly, it was the best of the best of British actors. Even the ones with tiny roles (like David Tennant or Robert Pattinson...nudge nudge) managed to explode on the screen, and hold their own even with the amazing genius that will forever be Alan Rickman. I think the movies would be too hard for me to watch now because of Alan's loss and I kind of hate that.

But...and, here it comes, even as fabulous as the movies are, they can't even come close to comparing to the books. There is just too information left out of the movies from the books and I feel like I'm probably more attached to the actors in the movies more than I am to the characters in the books. They are almost like two separate worlds to me.

I always felt like the first books reads like a "first novel" in that it's a bit too simple and I'm not a fan of Chamber of Secrets in either form (but it's needed to progress the story, so I deal with it), but the complexity she hits by The Deathly Hallows, her writing has matured so much that you no longer feel like you're reading youth fiction. It's like you grow with the novels like she (and her characters) did and I admire that. I can't say I've ever been so completely lost in a book series before or since in my entire life (and no, I can't compare it to Twilight because that's more of an obsessive thing than an actual "enjoyment" kind of thing...two different beasts, but yes, I'm still neck-deep in that mess too, damn it).

The Potters are truly amazing books and I tend to gasp audibly when people tell me they've seen the movies but never read the books because they are missing so much of the story. Then again, I also find that people who watch movies like this (serials) aren't often readers anyway and, a lot of the time, it's the same way the opposite...if they read the books, they often never see the movies. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm more of the "give it to me in any form you can" kind of person...books, movies, soundtracks, toys (or rather, collectibles I guess I should say), documentaries, podcasts, etc (just not fan fiction, ha!). Maybe that's because of the OCD though. Sometimes I'm unsure what is "normal" behavior and what is just me being "me".

What do you guys think? Books or movies or both or even neither?