Actual life stuff, for once

Hey, all! I haven't posting anything about my actual life for a while, so I figured I would do so. Excited?

But before I do that, let me mention one more movie I've seen recently. The Man Who Fell To Earth was a a movie that Mom remembered liking back when it first came out in 1976, so she and Eric got it on Netflix. It's about an alien who comes to Earth because his planet is dying of a drought. He is hoping to make enough money to fund a space program to get him, and presumably water, back to his planet and family. However, he runs into difficulty as he gets more entangled in the lives of various Earthlings.

Now what Mom had *not* remembered was that a good half of the movie is sex scenes. Not actually very sexy sex scenes, but still. So, if you ever feel the need to see David Bowie with full-frontal nudity (yes, David Bowie plays the alien--no big surprise there--and yes, I do mean *full*-frontal nudity), The Man Who Fell To Earth is the movie to see. Just FYI.

Anyway, life. As I am in central Maine, it is quite boring. I mentioned an internship interview a while back, which went well, but I ended up not getting the internship. Sad, but it was only part-time anyway and far enough away that I would have needed to get an apartment (and therefore a second job to pay for the apartment). So in a way it's for the best.

On the other hand, now I'm once again facing the dismal prospect of finding some sort of job in central ME for at least the next several months. Joy. It's really too bad that I'm not an RN, because I would estimate that a good three-quarters of available jobs in the area call for registered nurses. I'm even considering going back to Microdyne, which tells you how many (i.e. few) opportunities there are around here.

On a happier note, I have a rough draft of my first Peace Corps essay. That one was relatively easy, just about a 'multicultural' experience I've had and what I learned. The second one is tougher; I'm supposed to say why I want to join the Peace Corps, what in my past relates to why I want to be in the Peace Corps, and how being in the PC relates to my future goals. In 500 words or less. There is a LOT I could write and a lot of approaches I could take, so I'm mulling it over in my mind and trying to figure out where I want to go with it. Once I have a rough draft of that, it's just a matter of editing them both for clarity, voice, and word limit; then I can submit my primary application and--start on more of their paperwork.

Mom, Eric, Erica, and I have all been passing a cold around since I got home before Christmas. This last time Mom got it, it turned into bronchitis, poor thing. She got some antibiotics, which are helping,....but too late (of course) to keep from giving it to all of us (although we don't have actual bronchitis, thank goodness, just more cold-like sickness).

What else? Um....Eric is giving Erica guitar lessons. The first one was tonight; Erica is learning 'Moon Shadow' by Cat Stevens. She's playing it in her room right now, actually, which makes about the 50th time tonight. I don't mind; she's playing it well (and slowly, with long pauses between every chord change, but that's to be expected).

In other exciting news--hah, who am I kidding. Life in the DFC is spectacularly uneventful. I don't particularly mind, as hanging around reading is kind of my default state of existence, but it makes for really boring LJ posts.

Anyway, off to...read...or something. Later, all!

P.S.

A couple of days ago, I ranted at length about the book and movie Eragon. Part of my rant, of course, was about the stories from which the author blatantly stole. But after all that, and only after I finished writing that whole thing, I realized I had missed one significant similarity/rip-off/what-have-you. And as far as I know, most reviewers have missed it as well. So, you've read it here first:

Eragon is a new-fantasy-retelling of the King Arthur myth.

1. Eragon was spirited away from his 'real' family into the wilderness.

2. He reclaims his birthright when he is 15 (thank you Wikipedia).

3. Said birthright comes in the form of a sword and a 'stone' (the dragon egg, but he thinks at first that it's stone).

4. This birthright indicates that Eragon should/will be the new ruler of his kingdom

And not yet said in the books, but this is my prediction:

5. Morzac (the husband of Eragon's mother) isn't actually Eragon's father (although Uther Pendragon was the king, and I doubt that that Galbatorix is Eragon's father, although that would be a hilarious Star Wars-like plot twist; I'm betting on Brom).

Maybe this should make me like the books better, but it doesn't. It just makes me even more tired, not to mention sad that this absolute trash seems to be enthralling so many. Maybe this is the way people who are sticklers for *great* writing felt about the popularity of the Harry Potter series? But at least the HP series had an engaging hero and an interesting plot that at least had some original *details*....unlike Eragon.