Hot List

BOOKS
Hector and the Search for Happiness, and Hector and the Secrets of Love - Francois Lelord. These short and sweet books are about a psychiatrist named Hector who travels the world looking for answers to life's difficult questions. In the first book, he travels to the corners of the world asking different people what happiness means to them. Along the way, he keeps a notebook of the lessons he's learned, like "Happiness is knowing your family lacks for nothing" and "Happiness is to be loved for exactly who you are". In the second book, he's sent to find a friend who has stolen a new pharmaceutical drug that can cause people to fall in love. In this adventure, he questions love and what it means to love someone and be loved in return.


Bossypants - Tina Fey. I want to be her friend so badly!!


Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me - Chelsea's family and friends. I want to be her friend so badly too!

TV

Bones. I started watching this show on Netflix Instant just last week, and I already finished the first season and half of the second! I can't stop watching! If I have to work, I'll give myself an extra hour or two in the morning so I can squeeze in at least one episode before going.

So You Think You Can Dance. I look forward to the summer just for this show!

Big Bang Theory. Started watching it through Netflix, and now I own the DVD sets. Love.




MUSIC
The Antlers. Indie rock love right now. I listen to their song "I Don't Want Love" just about every day.

Ratatat. I was watching this year's Coachella feed on Youtube, waiting for the Strokes, and Ratatat came on. They're so cool. Two guys playing music. That's it. Music. No words or lyrics. I love "Loud Pipes"!

Music that I listened to in high school. Lately I've been listening to a lot of old school Weezer, The Strokes, The Killers. I'll throw in some Dashboard and Coldplay. With a lot of the songs, I can remember specific things I was doing while listening to that song. The Killer's Hot Fuss album reminds me of driving to play frisbee at a neighborhood park after a hurricane. The Strokes' Reptilia reminds me of driving to my crazy SAT tutor's house everyweek in the summer.



COOL STUFF
Whole Foods Market softball team! We sucked so bad! I've never played softball, so I was an assistant coach/official cheerleader. The team was put together because all of us wanted to go out and play for fun. Not many of us were "athletes". There was Dawn, 38-years old with one arthritic knee; Seafood Steve (not to be confused with Produce Steve or Specialty Steve) who is 50-pounds over weight; and Sandra, who has never played a sport in her life. We were part of a 8-team league that held games every Thursday night. Of the 12 games we played, we lost all of them. And the scores weren't even close. Three games had to be called early because of the Mercy Rule. Even after being killed 25-8, 26-10, or 11-1 (yes, real game scores), we would laugh and make fun of each other and show up the next week, just to be creamed again. I can't wait until next season!

Seeing the last Harry Potter movie at midnight! The plan was for Mike (brother) and I to see HP/DH Part 2 together at midnight. He loves HP as much as me, so we wanted to go all out and see it in IMAX 3D. When the advanced tickets went on sale in June, we got them and were killer excited! But, I kid you not, the next day he found out that Ohio State University scheduled his campus tour the same week as the movie!! I had his ticket and everyone else I knew already had their tickets already, so I ended up dragging Matt (other brother, who has never read a HP book or sat through a HP movie from start to finish) with me. On the car ride to Muvico, I gave him the basic details and told him to not bother me during the movie with his questions. And I told him that if he looks over at me during the movie and sees me crying, to just let me be and not say anything.

When the movie started, I already started to cry. This was it. The last Harry Potter anything. No more books to read. No more movies after this one. This was probably my favorite HP movie. Funny when it needed to be, and heartbreaking at all the right times. Some parts could have been done better, but from start to finish, it was amazing. At the very end, when the credits started to roll, I had such sadness in my heart. Harry Potter has been linked to so many treasured memories I have. All the midnight book release parties and midnight premieres. Making wands and bracelets. Crying over Sirius and Dumbledore. Laughing everytime Ron says "bloody hell". Spending hours trying to figure out what JK Rowling meant when she wrote about this or that, or why characters keep saying that Harry has his mother's eyes. I really don't think anything will come into my life that will hold the same magnitude as Harry Potter.

Vacation! 34 days until we leave!