Apathetic bemusement...ings. And two movies.

I’ve lost my fiery passion for the football games that I had freshman year. And I’m ok with that. I didn’t wake up early to go get blue homecoming pancakes. I’m not really feeling the need to meet all the new ward people. I’m only in this ward, come what may, another 2 and a half months. I’ve been soaking all of my time and energy into school: I live on campus and at the library. I didn’t use to be like that (which is why I’m surprised I survived freshman year with my scholarship intact). I think it’s because I’m subconsciously pining for EFY. Campus seems so dreary and empty with the youth, the polos, and the counselor sandwiches. The only purpose I can find is in class, so I’m throwing myself into it. So I feel like I should want to be more involved in my school and my ward…but I’m perfectly happy with life as is. Such is the apathetic bemusement.
Oh, I’ve seen two new-to-me movies recently: The Dance and The Bridge to Terebithia. The Dance looked promising (beyond the fact that K. C. CLYDE is in it): “The most accomplished LDS film since the ‘Work and the Glory’!” says Jeff Vice of the Deseret Morning News. (Not that stunning, if you think about what’s been done since W&G, but, whatever). As I was describing it to my roommate, postviewing, I realized it was a very good premise: 3 couples in different stages of their relationships, all with their own unique emotional baggage, encountering misunderstandings and such, and finally, share some very honest communication. I love honest communication. Very strong characters, great pasts, they would have brought a lot to it, had the execution been better. Some of the characters felt real, others felt overbearingly bipolar (Clyde; I have no idea what was up with his character or what I was supposed to get out of his story), others were portrayed with distracting acting, and there was no real closure…but I guess that’s life. It portrayed the courage it takes to open up to someone after being hurt (single mom whose husband left her), opening up to someone for the first time in spite of the fear of that person turning out to be fake (36 year old bachelor whose afraid to marry anyone for that reason), and the dangers of sarcastic communication (the married couple…that was sad. They both wanted to open up but they both kept defending themselves from each other’s sarcasm by using sarcasm). It was full of my favorite things: lots of Shakespeare, racquetball, handsome literary men…it seemed like a really good writer’s first film project. Worth a watch if you can watch it with someone intelligent so you can get deeper stuff out of it afterwards.
BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA. One of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen. That movie touched my soul. It makes me want to write again. In earnest. My friends (long-time, so it carries more weight) said they thought of me when they saw it, because of Leslie. That warmed my heart. I used to have that spark and imagination. What happened to it? School and social pressures, I bet. Well, forget that. I’m going to build a tree house and finish all those stories I have.
I am a new-converted fan of weight training. I used to think that people who went to the gym were silly. But wow, this stuff works fast. I LOVE IT. I will have a Soloflex in my future home.

(1:15 pm addition: We're watching the game on TV. Happily, I still get excited about football. Good. I spent too long figuring it out and playing flag-style to lose the love completely. It really is a fabulous game. Check out this fun football essay: Freud, Football, and the Marching Virgins: http://crystaloak.com/Gaijin/Essay/freud_football.htm)