Hunger Games and Poetry

"Hope
is a butterfly
landing on your arm,
gracing you with its presence
for no more than mere seconds,
then flying up into the sky
before you can grasp it
in your hand,
once again out of reach."

--excerpt from my poem "Ode to Hope", October 2003

I have seen a butterfly in various movies and often think of my own line in this poem. However, as I watched The Hunger Games this last March, April, August, and September (yes, I have seen it four times), I pictured in my head each time the same stanza. In the movie, Katniss has just run off into the woods after escaping the bloodbath at the Cornucopia, and she sits down on this dead log. A butterfly, a brilliant blue in color, has landed nearby, and she reaches out and lets it walk on her hand. Then it flies away.

Whenever I see that, I think about my own vision of hope and how it flies away. The whole scene is good (thanks in most part to Jennifer Lawrence), but when I see it, I think of my poem and imagine if Katniss feels like she, even for a moment, has a feeling of hope,then the rest of us have one, too.

Memories and Pokemon

I have quite a few of these that are tied together, but the first that occurs to me is simple.

My mom and dad owned a condo in my hometown where they lived before they decided to have me. They moved to a house about seven months before I was born and rented out the condo. I remember one time my brother and me going with them to clean up the place after some particularly messy tenants (read: they were white trash pigs) left. We found cock roaches everywhere, and thus was born a stereotype about such arthropods that would last for years.

Then, when I was thirteen I guess my dad was helping my mom with some other tenants after he got off work and while she was still busy with hers (they were divorced by then, too). All I remember is playing in the grass with my other toys and thinking about the AWESOME toys he bought for me. An early victim of Pokemon and the obsession with Japan, I had found these human Pokemon figure sets straight from Japan.

Ash and Misty
Jessie and James
Brock and Nurse Joy

All were $25 a pop...and he got me all three just because I asked him to. Because he was trying to be the best dad ever. And you know what? Now that I think about it, he was pretty good. He got me a Furby (that I didn't even want...), Pokemon toys from Burger King along with Toy Story ones years before, bought me most of my Blue Gender DVD collection.

He did a lot besides buy me stuff, but this is where my mind goes when I think about him sometimes. Often he wasn't there for me emotionally, but he tried on many other levels that I often overlook.

He took me to the orthodontist often. He took  me and my best bud to see the first Pokemon flick. He stood inline for toys he thought would mean so much to me. He helped me ditch school sometimes.

So I guess I mean this partly as a tribute to my dad and what I think about when I remember my early obsession with Pocket Monsters.

So, I love you, Dad.

And I'll keep trying to catch them all.

(Pokemon! Oh, you're my best friend in a world I must defend.)

Resume Update

So! Yesterday, I called my grandma and found out there is an employment resource center in her town (my old hometown). My one uncle and his wife went and got help with their resumes. She suggested me and my other uncle, a recent college grad in accounting, could go with her and get the same help. Sounds cool, huh? (And this is free, provided for the public and paid for by tax dollars, yet another example of what our tax money goes for.)

However, I really didn't feel like going to day when I got up. Feeling guilty and like today was going to be another waste, I decided to search once more for some help online. And what do ya know, I found some really helpful, more specific information. In just over an hour, I had put together my first ever resume. I know I still have to work on it and will probably need to make different versions for the positions I am seeking, but now I have something written...er, typed down. Yay me.

I also found out some helpful information for my uncle based on what he majored in and the kind of position he wants to have. My grandma was happy on both notes, and for once I haven't been a lazy bum.

That is all.

Why is it so hard??

Writing a resume, I mean. Inspired by a fellow co-worker, also a college graduate like me, getting a job that will be in her interest field and pay the wage she deserves thus allowing her to put in a week's notice, I have started the process of doing the same. At least, I've tried. I made a list of all of the things (or most) that I would like to include on it, but I've never actually written one before. So naturally I go to Google for a little point in the right direction and find...even more confusion.

So many types, fonts, ways to organize, goals to accomplish with different kinds... It seemed daunting before, but now it more so. Even still, I will do it when I can focus better. I was hoping today would be that day, but alas, I messed around on YouTube for too long, browsed Facebook, and have been paying a lot of attention to Mittens' latest mess up, the leaked tape that can he found in the post just before this one.

(Whole other rant right there but I will save that for later. Maybe. All I know is that I resent being basically called a lazy leech who thinks the world or my government owes me a living because I'm voting for President Obama again. Yeah, 'cause that's why I have a job but am looking for another one that will allow to not need as much or any help to get by and that I am actually qualified and prepared for thanks to my wonderful public school education and the grants that allowed me to get two degrees with no student loan debt along with the roads that I took to get there paid for not in my federal or state income taxes because I've always made crap wages working where I do as is the nature of the biz but in the other taxes I do pay like vehicle license fee, sales tax, etc. just like my mom, my dad, my grandparents before they all retired, my uncle, who finally found another job, my cousins who are also getting an education... Okay, that was a long run-on that I made on purpose. Moving on.)

So today is not that day. Sigh. Maybe I'll venture a play through Slender later and feel like I've faux accomplished something I've been meaning to do.

Creepy and scary as hell

Good day, all. For now.

Comment Win IX

Exactly!

From this article.

BAMF Girl's Club

BAMF Girl's Club

A YouTube series by Comediva about Hermione (Harry Potter), Katniss (Hunger Games), Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Michonne (The Walking Dead), Lisbeth (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), and Bella (Twilight) becoming roommates. It's awesome and hilarious while it pokes fun at each character. Enjoy.

Starters

Pokemon starters by generation:

Gen 1: Charmander (Red); Bulbasaur (Blue); Pikachu (Yellow)
Gen 2: Totodile (Silver)
Gen 3: Charmander (FireRed); none for R/S/E
Gen 4:  Chimchar (Platinum); Cyndaquil (SoulSilver)
Gen 5: Oshawott (Black); Tepig (White)

The Boy

Twelve was not a good year

I had no friends

My grandmother died

My mom's dad was hurt by his own dog

The idea of seventh grade is just a painful thing in my heart

But I did connect with a boy

I was the go-to Zelda girl in homeroom

I discovered my love for science

As thirteen grew closer, my life brightened

I can blame it on my new gang (courtesy of that boy)

Maybe it was beating Zelda finally

But probably it was him

I guess twelve wasn't so bad after all

4/27/2012

CGS

“The Boy”

I'll Say...

Just having some fun with a conveniently placed caption and the man I currently loathe the most.

Much like this one from the former Bush era...

Steps

The first step is always hard
I don't remember my first baby steps
Though I had a penchant for rolling everywhere
And escaping my crib during nap time
I don't remember my first adult steps
Was it graduating high school, learning to drive, getting a job?
Or was it finally deciding to aim for university for real?
I do remember the first step towards myself
It was on a playground with a boy
Who convinced me to trust him, to trust me
Right foot first, then left following closely behind
I didn't just take a step, I took a leap of faith I could, I would end up on my own two feet
His small smile was proof that I was right

4/27/2012
CGS

“Steps”