MineCraft Newlyweds Would Have It Made

 I had a little bit of a realization driving home today, and I think it’s interesting, or at least silly enough, to bother writing down.

     Playing Minecraft is like being a newlywed (granted we’re just moved into our new place, or rather, I am--but we will be in a month!).

    I know, I know--you could say that’s simple because with both you start something new with less, but hear me out. I’ll lay it out in easily comparable steps:

1.) In Minecraft, one of the first things that you want to do is to find shelter. This isn’t a random act--you definitely don’t want to be somewhere huge and open, or overly crowded where monsters could spawn. Also, you don’t want to necessarily just run far away from Spawn only to die and lose where you were living.
    The parallel? When looking for married housing, you want to make sure you aren’t in a bad location. For us, we really, really wanted to not be on one of the two busiest roads (as we had been before). Too many people, too much waiting or running to get to your destination. Then there’s the other part--specific location. It was nigh unimaginably difficult to find a place that was close to campus (we did get lucky in the end, though, thankfully)--and, really, it would not have been a very pleasant situation to have to ‘run’ so far away from school, our campus jobs, and all our friends.
2.) One of the first things you want to get in Minecraft is light--torches. This keeps away monsters...and allows you to work during the night so that you can actually get settled.
    Similarly, before we moved in, Todd had to make sure we had power (though apparently the girl on the phone didn’t inspire confidence that things were taken care of)...otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do much of anything. Okay, so that one was a no-brainer.
3.) To prevent death in Minecraft, one needs to find a source of food, whether that be plant or animal, and within the first couple of days.
    Like any Minecraft player, we had to get food within the first day as well. Not only had we eaten though a lot of food before leaving for the break, but then our fridge items got left at Todd’s parents house. Mostly the butter. It’s been alright, but it did mean we had to scout out food before Sunday.
4.) Next, in game, you need to make some real (not your fist or wooden tools) tools for yourself so you can actually make stuff to use. This can range from weapons to armour, and stairs, fences to pen in animals--you get the idea.
    On our drive back here, we picked up a couch. We don’t have chairs or a table or...really anything besides a TV, bed set, and desk. So, basically, without a couch, there’s no where to sit to eat, do homework, or relax, or chat--nothing.
5.) Congratulations! In Minecraft, you’ve now become settled enough to not fear death at every turn, and can now start building up your home.
    Slightly less congratulations in real life though. We have been very blessed to have what we have ended up with, but we do still have no place to put half our clothes, no table, a mess of boxes still packed, and we are far from  homey feeling retreat--the list of to-dos here is larger than I like to think about. HOWEVER, like in game, we are finally settled enough to tart building up our place and doing more than just set things up (almost).

    Moral?: The Minecraft newlywed situation would be shorter and easier. :)

I Said I'd Never Share My Weight, But I'm Too Proud Not To

     I’VE DONE IT! I have just completed one of the longest-coming goals I have ever had--and it was a hard one, too. Later, I think I’ll post about my exercise story, journey, whatever in full (especially the part about what did it for me in the end), but for now, here’s the rundown:

    After never being ‘that fit girl’ my entire life, and Freshman year, in which I unavoidably gained weight with so little space to exercise and no kitchen, I was bit with ‘the Zumba bug’ my Sophomore year. I had a fantastic instructor (and I hope to take another of her classes, because she is the best Zumba instructor I’ve had), and over the Christmas break that year, I Zumba’d a ton. I’m talking even 2-3 hours. Finally, after being reasonably committed to regular Zumba by myself, and starting up the Tracy Anderson Method again with more earnest, I was feeling pretty good.
    Then along came Mom (^.^). My family was out here for a friend's wedding, and I was feeling at least decently proud of my fitness ‘progress’...but my mom said she thought I looked...less good. Well that was not any fun to hear, so I ramped it up. Over Spring and Summer terms, I not only did Tracy everyday, but I made up(using her moves for the most part), a very lengthy abs routine to do, too. It was nearly 400 moves. It’s amazing how quickly that stops hurting after daily performance, though.
    Junior year came, and I really made exercise a priority--I did have a weight goal in mind. In the past, I would always just plateau at the same weight, but when I had been a little more exercise-focused senior year in high school, I was about 10-12 pounds lighter than that, so I made an even better goal. With that in mind, I would come home in the two hours I had between classes and do Tracy’s Mat Workout DVD. I was very devoted.
    Winter semester, my schedule wouldn’t quite allow for that, and I was in all film classes, so I really had to focus more. I continued to exercise, but not like the previous semester. That DVD is really great. Truly. I got strong on it. However, I was noticing it was harder to see results; Tracy herself wants you to switch it up every 10 days so your muscles don’t get too familiar with your moves. I began doing her Metamorphosis DVD online, which was only 30 (well, for the mat work only) minutes, as opposed to an hour.  It was pretty killer, I was surprised.
    When I got to the third (of 9) routine, I told Mom that’s what I needed for my birthday, because, what if they stop being posted, or are taken down. So, that’s what I got for my birthday, when I was on level (routine) 4, I believe--already on the second DVD. When I was home for Kiawah, I worked very, very hard. I did Meta, and some things on the side, and cardio. Overall, about 2 hours a day for about 10 days. It was great--especially the amount I could sweat in the humid South!
    I have always had a bit of a problem with portion control. Heck, this time last year, my eyes were definitely twice as large as my stomach. I noticed that this was probably preventing me from seeing all the results I would like to, and, again, at Kiawah, I tried to really watch myself. I did well while there, and tried to stay on track when I got back. I did have a bit of a bump in my resolve a month or two later (I love my food, and I love to eat a lot of it in giant spoonfuls), but I did get back on track. I still have to consciously think about it, but I am SO much better! I am much happier not eating myself sick, to the point where anything else seems out of the question. Then there’s room for dessert ^.^ .
    Back to exercise. I was decently okay after vacation, but then hit a snag in about September after all the each member of my family had come out separately to see me (weirdly enough). However, I was maintaining really well, and that sort of made it harder. I was no longer needing to hide anything because I was uncomfortable with the way I looked, and I fluctuated between about 2-4 pounds away from my goal weight.
    About a month ago, I got tired of my skipping exercise. Turns out I’m a bit of a lazy person, and if my body hasn’t been warmed up from exercise, I don’t want to move, and that makes me feel icky. I was doing a routine at the time that I wasn’t loving, and I had lost arm strength, so much time on all fours was very difficult. I knew that I wanted to get back into full habit again, though. SIDE NOTE: I also give myself $1 per workout (a full Tracy one), but I can’t spend it until I reach $100, at which time I can buy whatever things I desire, as long as they aren’t food. I should have earned my $100 months ago.
    With Mom and Liv coming in town in two weeks to shop for wedding dresses, I did the next routine 5 days a week for two weeks, knocking it out. It was hard, because often I want or need to do other stuff ‘til late, and I’ve exercise around midnight a lot. I hate that. But I love the way I look after, so I did it anyway.
    Meeting that goal, I felt amazing, and was told, genuinely, multiple times that I was tiny. Crazy enough, my legs, which have been around the same proportion to me my entire life, have shrunk up this last month, and are tiny, and can now totally ROCK leggings. It’s brilliant, and boggling. I love the way I feel and look, so I’m hoping to finish this last routine ‘on time’.
    So here’s when I came to realize that this long-term goal, this difficult journey, has been met. Yesterday, though I knew I’d have a more accurate scale at the Greener’s, I weighed myself. It said 115 (which I definitely didn’t want to announce until I’d maintained for a minimum of two days). My scale isn’t the best, so I didn’t want to get too excited. I ate several sliced of gingerbread, had full meals, didn’t even exercise til about midnight last night. So, at the Greener’s, I couldn’t wait ‘til morning to see. I got 115.4. Wow. Then I went to the bathroom, and couldn’t (sorry I’m messed up) resist trying again. 114.6. Wower. After exercising last night, I was even lighter.
    My final read in this morning: 113.8. Holy crow. it’s incredible what hard work and persistence can do for you. I started 2 years ago between 127-130.

Here's the most recent, full-body before I could find (2011):
 

 And today ^.^ Boom Baby. Complete with ab 'dimples', visible ribs, and a toned tummy:

Miss Representation Review

    I was really looking forward to seeing this film (see previous blog post: “Miss Representation”). I;m going to be really honest. I did not really like the director’s way of storytelling. The film was mostly interview-based, but it frequently had cuts to montage scenes of near or mild pornographic images. For a film so adamantly against such things, why did I see more of those images in one film than I have accidentally run across on the internet in the last 5 years? I know, they may have been going for the ‘shock factor’, but after the opening scene, I felt there was no need for it. They were saying it was so bad, yet showing their viewers those same images! Not cool. Overall, nothing was confusing, however, I think it may have helped to have interviews with real women who had struggled with issues, rather than to just interview every famous woman.
    I care about this subject, and the director did present many important points. However, I do not feel I was made to care more as the film went on--the amount I cared about the subject was a result of my own opinions, and not hers. I think that, in an attempt to make people care more, the director used the inappropriate images because if the audience was against such things, then they would surely have to realize that they were of her same mindset, too. I feel that she did not need to to so hard to get people to believe that what she said was important, it just is--fact. Alternatively, I think that some of the most effective scene, for me, were ones where they showed video featuring real women in the public eye (like Katie Couric), and the appropriate, yet not overly stiff, way they present themselves. It was a nice way to really see what they were saying we should strive to be.
    I felt as if the director was trying to manipulate a bit. For example, they focused a LOT on the small number of women in power-position jobs. They kept saying who and it was that women didn’t have more of those rolls. I agree that any discriminate is wrong, however, I feel they COMPLETELY ignored a VERY important point. A lot of women have families on the side, and do not want to have such a huge job, OR they quite the workforce to be mothers. If both those kinds of women are removed from the mix, then yes, there are less even wanting power positions--but that messes with her statistics. She completely ignored that some women just want a small job, or just want to be a full-time mother. This is also interesting for her to leave out as she said she was making this film for her own young daughter.
    I think the film brought up some very important and fair points, however, as the movie progressed, I did feel as if the director did not present every aspect of what she was talking about, and instead provided a some-what narrow view.
    Some important points worth talking about were realized in this film, but I unfortunately must admit that I feel they missed out on talking about all women (with varying desires for jobs), and further rejecting the images (which they presented all too often) that they said they were so horrified at.

"Queen of Versailles" Review

So, a few days ago, I watched the documentary “Queen of Versailles”. As a super short summary, it’s about a wealthy time-share owning family where there is 30 years between the husband and wife, tackiness in taste abounds, and their lives go downhill as the market crashes.
    I think that the director did a good job of telling a story that took place over several years. This was especially effective in his interviews with a couple of the children. As they aged, they became more aware of how imperfect their ‘perfect ‘lives were. Also, there was some nice exposition, allowing me to understand how life and had been, and was, for them at the start of the film. That was contrasted nicely with later interviews while they were struggling, and talking about how difficult this change was.
    I did not find anything particularly confusing or ineffective as far as the storytelling went--although their lifestyle definitely made me wonder how anyone could become like that, at times.
    Interestingly enough, at the start of the film, I found the wife unbearably tacky. However, after getting her backstory, one that had some less-than positive moments that were outside of her control, I had a change of mind. Although she still made me wonder how she could have fallen into being so tasteless, I felt like I understood her initial choices (such as marrying her husband) a lot more, and I felt sympathy for her. It helped that they showed pictures of her from when she was normal, before she had her life turned all around--it showed that she really was just a typical, maybe even pretty level-headed, person once upon a time.
    While watching, I never felt manipulated. Although I think the filmmaker had no desire to make their subjects look bad, they seemed to just show things as they were (which at times did not make them look great). This made the film feel like a pretty unbiased look into the wealthiest’s lives. I think they tried to be fair when representing their subjects, and did not try to skew the events that happened.

The Avengers Premiere

   Alright, so a group of kids from my ward decided to go and see The Avengers the night it came out (I know, I bet you never would have guessed that based on the title, yeah?) There had been talk about how funny it'd be if we all dressed up as Harry Potter characters--especially with the type of fans that would be at the midnight showing. Well, I figured it was mostly just conversation, however, about an hour before we were meant to leave, I came out of my room (which was solely mine at the time. That only lasted about 2 weeks, by the way. However, it's alright, Heidi is my new roommate now, as opposed to flatmate, so it's all good.) and my flatmates were all dressing up. I had nothing better to do, so I thought I might as well, too. I have never dressed up for any movie before--and I was purposefully dressing for the wrong film. That's the way to do it, I tell ya. With Lucy's help, I was able to create a pretty neat Bellatrix Lestrange costume and hairdo.
   As it turns out, no one else had the guts to dress up with us. Goobers--the lot of 'em! At the theater, it was brilliant--so many people talked about us and watched us as we walked (or, in my case, strutted, past). Unfortunately, despite our early arrival, our group had to sit on the front row. On the plus side, it gave people a better view of us, and I was able to strut darkly (haha, yeah...) for my audience. It was great--I held my expression nearly the whole time even though people were definitely looking right at me! It made me miss theatre, that's for sure. Check out the pics--Lucy is Tonks, Heidi is Hermione, Morgan is Professor Trelawney, and I, of course, am Bellatrix.

In character:

And posing at the front of the theater:

   Oh, and the movie was really good, too!

Miss Representation

   As a Tracy Anderson Method consumer, I get emails from TA every once in a while. Today, the email came with several links for women, as Mother's Day is approaching. At the bottom, Tracy recommended watching the doc "Miss Representation". I read the little blurb about it and figured that this movie was about how oppressed women were and how much life sucks sometimes because we are so victimized (or something like that). However, I clicked the link that took me to the site, and immediately realized that I was wrong. I watched the trailer and was shocked. This film talks about how objectified women are in society. My favourite quote is: "You can't be what you can't see". Now, I am not suggesting that every point is being represented perfectly, however, I am very interested in this and feel very passionately about it.
   In the trailer, there is a montage of clips of women as portrayed in the media. It was shocking and sickening. Though I've always tried my best to avoid such things in the world, I have also been fairly sure that I at least know enough about what is going on. Especially in Church, I hear about how this is the most wicked time and the most wicked world, and, quite honestly, I end up boggled a lot of the time after hearing this. I understand that there is an exceeding mount of wickedness going on, yet I cannot imagine a world where things are that much better (what do they do there--just skip through the flowers all day?). Watching that trailer was a huge eye opener--seeing a collection of what is popular and considered good entertainment. It really helped me to see how horribly objectified women are. It's so wrong. Hollywood tells us that we must be beautiful to be successful, and watching just one thing that sort of supports such a message may not seem too bad, however, when you realize that that is the message that nearly everything is selling women, it is revolting.
   Now, there is really only one major thing that I disagree with from the trailer. They say that when boys are girls are young, about an even number of them want to be president when they grow up, but when you ask them when they are 15, girls are far less likely to want that still. There probably are some who just don't think they could, but, at least for me, I think that it isn't as tragic as they make it out to be. As girls get older, I think that many of them probably decide that they would rather be mothers or have less stressful jobs (so they can balance a family, or whatever). Political life isn't that huge a draw for a lot of people, I feel. Either way, check out the site, here's the link. Also, here is the link to the longer video. I highly recommend it. This is a pretty excellent cause, I feel.

Click here to go to the Miss Representation site

   Back to Tracy Anderson. I just found out that she is having a second child this month. I have to say, I really admire her. One of her original DVDs was a post-pregnancy workout, and she talks--fairly often--about how women can be mothers and have a body that makes them feel beautiful. I remember a while back when Jillian Michaels said she would never have children because she did not want to lose her body. In response, Tracy sent out an email saying that was a horrible mindset--that women are naturally nurturing and many of us want to have families. She also said that you can look great afterwords (you can see the results with her and her clients). However, when Tracy last had a child, she wasn't the super-trainer that she is today. I was really pleased to see that the trainer I have aligned with puts a high value on family and motherhood, even though she had the perfect body.

   On a final note, I would just like to bring up that there is a difference between 'sexy' and 'sexism'. I find nothing wrong with innocently (for lack of a better term) wanting to feel sexy--it's the devaluation of women that I have a problem with.

Oh, and that guy--(in the trailer) that replied, "You mean besides the pms and the mood swings?"--can go to hell.

Zumba--it's a dance party!

   I've been meaning to blog about this for several months now. Brilliant. Anyway...
So, my freshman year of college, I bought a bracelet that allowed me to attend Zumba classes (and others, but I mostly did Zumba) in the evening. For about a month, I was really good and went a couple of times a week, however, after that, I stopped going. Since the bracelet only gave me access for 1 semester, I went Zumba-less for nearly a year. Fall semester of my sophomore year, I enrolled in a Zumba class (for credit). There, I was bitten with the Zumba bug. Some days, I really hated that I had to exercise (the grades were solely based upon attendance. However, I actually memorized the choreography to several songs we did and would do them in me flat on days when I didn't have the class. Over Christmas break, I went Zumba crazy. It was pretty much the only productive thing I did. I would dance for a couple of hours--it was great! This past Winter semester, I bought another bracelet, went once, but then ended up Zumba-ing on my own. There are so many routines online, so you can choose which songs you feel like doing.
   I love the results I've seen. Dancing definitely increases full-body coordination, and I have shaped up quite a bit!

Pre-Zumba:

Post Zumba:

   To anyone curious about Zumba--try it. It's loads of fun. If you don't know too much about it, then check out this video. This is currently my favourite routine to do, so I thought I'd film it for those who want to know what Zumba is all about.

Click here for the video :)