I am a little brain-dead today for some reason, so I'll start out with Promoguy's Monday Mission 2.31 and see if that gets the creative juices flowing. I was going to write about Mel Gibson's new flick Signs already, and one of the questions asks for a quick review of a movie. So I'm already half way there. :)

1. Ever considered just deleting your Blog and not doing it anymore? What prompted that and what stopped you?
I've only been blogging since May 2002, so I haven't considered closing it down just yet. I do wish more folks would leave feedback, though; I'm just a feedback kind of person and I like exchanging e-mails with folks.

2. How about a quick review of the last movie you saw?
What great timing! The latest movie I saw was Signs and I loved it. I don't want to give too much away here. I will warn you that, if you're expecting Men In Black or ID4, this is not your movie. It's more the style of a good old-fashioned suspense thriller than in-your-face sci-fi. There's a lot of story, a lot of laughs, a lot of things that go bump in the night (by far the scariest element, I thought)...But there's not a lot of aliens. I think I liked it more because of that suspense element. Graham, played by Mel Gibson, is a widowed Priest who has given up his pastorship. He is bitter at God and about life since losing his wife six months prior. A lot of the movie is about Graham's struggle and what the crop circles and alien invasion means to him personally, not just the world at large. The acting is excellent, and I mean excellent. It's so hard to give a brief review without giving too much away. I think I'll have to write a review, complete with spoilers, and just post a link to it in my blog.

3. What's your favorite gadget? Are you lusting for any new ones? Will you ever be satisified???
By far my favorite gadget (second to my PC, of course) is my Olympus C-2100uz. This camera is awesome! We just upgraded to it from an Olympus C-2040z, and we're really pleased with it. Am I lusting for new gadgets? But of course, dear reader! With the innovations bombarding us every week, how can you not have gadget lust? I view the love of technology as parallel to the love of learning; the day I quit learning is the day I die, and likewise my excitement for technology is insatiable.

4. Saturday night I played "UNO" for the first time in years, I mean it has been over 10 years since I played it. It was great fun, but it really made me want to learn how to play Backgammon again. What "table game" do you enjoy playing most with other people? Have you played it lately?
I'm a word game freak. Scrabble's my favorite, and we have a travel edition which is great for playing in bed. There's nothing like getting a great word on a Triple Word square, and using all seven letters in that word. Wooooooooo!

5. About a year ago I was obsessed with loosing weight, and I dropped pretty low before I got a handle on things (I've actually gained about 8 pounds of it back, and it is still a struggle sometimes to not try to loose it). Thankfully, I like fattening sweets and buttery popcorn too much to live like that for too long. Have you ever been obsessed with something so much that it was close to causing you physical or mental harm? If not, have you known anyone else who has?
Probably the most dangerous thing to me was the way I let my biodad manipulate my feelings. I fretted constantly about my relationship with him because, truthfully, I didn't have a relationship with him and I didn't want one. I finally got clued into the fact that he was just going to use me up and alienate me like he did his brother, sister and every friend he had out where he lives, and I decided to cut off contact with him. It's one of the best decisions I've made.

6. Did you grow up in a family or community that displayed racist or prejudice attitudes? Did it influence you in any way, either toward or away from those views? How did you manage to avoid it, or did you?
My biodad is a prejudiced man, yes. And of course that effects me; how could it not? Of course I hear the phantom racial slurs in my mind from time to time, but I am a grown up and I know from life that those mocking words are just that: phantoms. I choose to look beyond the outward stuff, because that's not what makes us people in the first place.

7. Good grief, I am starving! You got anything to eat around here?
You just missed some real kick-butt chili. It was sprinkled generously with shredded cheddar cheese and topped with a dollop of sour cream. Mmmm-mmmmm good!

BONUS: What did you tell them?
Aaaaarugh?

This week's Comment Question: What browser and version number are you using?
IE 6.0.2600 ad infinitum. ;)