Literary

One of my favorite movies is Stranger Than Fiction. It is perhaps the most unique film to grace the silver screen in decades.

I love that: Will Ferrell is an understated funny, Dustin Hoffman exudes literature professor and eludes to his Rain Man days with his bombarding questions about numbers and figures, Emma Thompson is so obsessed with how to kill Harold Crick that she flirts with suicidal psychopathy.

There are too many scenes to name that are memorable. However, I'll do my best to highlight a few.

"Well Harold, I'm sad to admit that there is nothing literary about you." Prof. Jules Hilbert (Hoffman)

I cry a little inside every time I hear that. My whole life is about writing and making connections about life through the films I watch. Shakespeare even believed that "all the world's a stage..." so when I stop to ponder about my life I wonder "Am I the star of my own show?"

Another favorite film (for different reasons) broaches this very topic in a dialogue between two characters, The Holiday.

It is this scene that Kate Winslet's character receives sage advice from a retired Hollywood film writer that she is not acting like the heroine of her own life. "Iris, in the movies, we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are the leading lady, but for some reason you're behaving like the best friend." She realizes that she is merely acting upon outward stimulus, not choosing what to do before a situation presents itself.

I have found too often that I let others determine my role in this life. When I don't show up wearing the same clothes as everyone else, that's not weakness on my part, that's courage to be myself, to go against the norm, to swim upstream, etc. etc.

Now that I have pummeled that tangent to death, here's another great quote from Stranger than Fiction:
"Did you just say 'little did he know?'`I've written books on little did he know. I've taught courses on little did he know. I once taught a seminar all about little did he know. Little did he know. That means there's something he doesn't know, which means there's something you don't know, did you know that?"  - Prof. Jules Hilbert

Even though Professor Hilbert is fiction, I'm jealous of his knowledge of third person omniscient. I've been to my share of English Teacher conferences and have thoroughly enjoyed myself, call me a nerd. Too late, I already did. I wish I could go every year. There are so many interesting, unique, thoughtful, inventive ideas on how to teach English to the digital teenager.

So my goal is to try to be more literary. Find moments in my life as a SAHM to explore the literary side. I guess that means, back to the book.

Until next time!



~Lady Jane

Cultural

I should probably do some research before I start complaining, but I hate to research, and I'm an English major (a very complex individual)... Anyway, I would really like it if someone did a research paper on which cultures are the more openly exuberant.

I've met my share of a few cultures, okay I'm lying, most of them have been from watching TV. But I did meet a few rowdy Italians in London on a trip with the hubs back in the day and boy howdy were they loud and proud of it.

So what I'd like to know is if my in-laws' reserved nature is cultural because it's all foreign to me.

Maybe it's the feisty Irish, the boisterous Mexican, the passionate French in me that overpowers the reserved English nature. (I've got quite the pedigree) On a side note, not joking my grandmother's mother was Mexican so that makes me...drum roll please an 1/8 Mexican. Although to look at me no one would consider it.

But I digress.

So who wants to take on that project? Or find the research for me?


~Lady Jane

Nerd

I'm not gonna lie, I've always had a kindred connection to the geeky and let's face it ridiculous. Heck, I even asked my blind date (I call him husband now) if he liked Star Wars; an important measuring stick for future dates. If he didn't like Star Wars, he was going to learn to like it. We watch a few TV shows on the SYFY network, our favorite being Warehouse 13 and Alphas, another favorite is Doctor Who. It completes the trifecta.

We are impeccably perfect for each other:

We know a plethora of useless pop culture trivia. I have now become my mother's own search engine. Ask Jeeves? No way, ask me.

We know lyrics to otherwise unknown tunes.

We both get excited when we find a Cheeto shaped like a caveman's club.

We speak in accents to each other usually no one else is around.

After a blissful (hectic, exhilarating, momentous, etc.) nine years of marriage, we're still as nerdy as we've ever been, perhaps even more so.

And on that gushy note, I'll be excusing myself now.


~Lady Jane

Obstacles

It started out as the camping trip from he- you know. We forgot our blankets, pillows, sleeping bags and had to turn around and drive back for them after we already left an hour and a half later than I wanted to. Then while driving I remembered that we forgot to bring our box of chips and hot dogs, I suppose it wasn't that big of a deal since we were coming closer and closer to civilization and could buy another pack of hot dogs and a couple bags of chips. When obstacles get in my way I immediately think of, "who is trying to stop me from going? or doing this thing?"

Similar obstacles befell me when I started my first day as a vocal coach. My babysitter got into a fender bender leaving school and I had to bring F with me which meant working it out with my husband to meet me at the studio to pick F when he got off work and switch cars. Then as I was heading out to my husband's car and I tried to turn the lock with my key, nothing happened. F was already in bed by the time I was done teaching. Hubby couldn't come and rescue me. Luckily, I had a spare key which turned out to be for the lock and nothing else.

I wonder if that's why my hair is falling out in thick strands? Am I stressed? I suppose these new hats of home ownership and voice teacher that I've donned have magical properties that release my hair from its roots.

I try to remember that there is only so much I can control. I'm trying to be better about sorting through the mail and reminding myself to pay the bills (hubs has been the primary bill payer for about the last nine years of marriage). There are days where I feel really in control of my life, but when obstacles find their way to me, I lose my footing. Blogging has been my stabilizer though since I haven't devoted time to write more in my book. It's nice to have a release that I can always come back to, something that I know I will never tire from.

~Lady Jane

Unlikely

Inspiration hit me last night around 11 pm. Completely unheard of in my universe. I'm more of a thinker, doer in the morning hours, so what do you think I did? That's right, I did not go straight to the computer and write it down, nor did I pull out my smart phone to type in the thought either as it sat right there on a pile of books on my nightstand, literally less than a foot from me. I assumed that if it was important enough or clever enough that I would remember to pull it out of my subconscious in the morning. WRONG! I read somewhere (probably from Goldberg) to immediately write down a thought that comes to you. I suppose that's why she said she always carried a notebook with her every where she went.

For an avid writer, such as myself you would think that sudden inspiration would be more important than sleep. An author friend told me that the only uninterrupted time she got to write was after all the kids and even her husband were in bed.

Perhaps, one day I will actually finish the book I started my junior year of high school. If I deem sleep more important than writing, then finishing is highly unlikely.

~Lady Jane