Favorite Things

My friend is running the youth lock-in at her church tonight and I promised I would pray for her. Apparently that means that I need to stay up all night to do so. Seriously, I am thankful that God gives me opportunities to pray for my loved ones…even when those opportunities give me insomnia.

November is just a few days away and my mind has been busy trying to come up with ideas for NaNoWriMo. Unfortunately almost all my fiction ideas have turned out to be plagiarized from movies I’ve seen over the past decade. (No kidding, I came up with a lovely idea about an aunt adopting her niece and nephews and all the pitfalls of childrearing and it wasn’t till I was thinking on titles that I realized it was the plot of Raising Helen) I may end up doing nonfiction this year, which wouldn’t be horrible. I tend to get all ADD about halfway through the month anyway and abandon whatever I’ve written to troll wiki and edit pages to spice up historical figures.

Apropos of nothing, I’ve decided to make lists tonight. It’s like writing with no actual talent needed! Yay!

Favorite Real or Fictional Animals

1. Hengroen – King Arthur’s horse. I have no idea how this is supposed to be pronounced (is it Welsh?) so I say “Hen-Grrr-En”. If I ever had a horse, this would be its name and together we would conquer our enemies for the crown!
2. Ham the Astrochimp – The first chimp launched into space. There was a time in my childhood when I wanted to be the first kid in space. I imagined the experience would be much like Ham’s…adorable spacesuit, tiny helmet, hilarious pictures of scientists training me to push levers for banana pellets. (like you wouldn’t have accepted candy as salary when you were a kid?!)
3. Curious George – Cute monkey who gets into everything and causes problems but still is loved by his ‘dad’ at the end of the day. Substitute ‘plagued by daddy-issues Jen’ for ‘monkey’ and you’ll see why these books appealed to me.

Favorite Random Movies That No One Else Watches

1. Ladyhawke – I first read a movie novelization (a total guilty pleasure) of this and searched for the movie for years before I saw it one night on television. Michelle Pfeiffer plays a woman cursed to be a hawk during the day while her love is cursed to be a wolf during the night. The reason I love it is Matthew Broderick who plays Mouse, a skinny little thief who is roped into helping the lovers and manages to be both adorable, hysterical and earnest.
2. Surf Ninjas – You know those things that are so woven into your life that you can’t remember where or when you picked them up? My siblings and I have quoted this movie so often at each other that we should probably pay royalties to the actors. “Money can’t buy knives!”
3. Congo – This movie has scary gorillas, diamond laser guns, a character named Herkermer Holmoka, a volcano and a hot air balloon. It really doesn’t get any better. It also encouraged me to read H. Rider Haggard’s works which was an unexpected but awesome bonus.