Friday Five: Long Time Gone

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged in more than a month! I now return to my weekly feature.

1. The new job is going well. January started with a bang. I've started traveling to my territories and made several trips to the Austin office for training and events. I enjoy working with volunteers, and am staying positive about my more challenging events and communities. My boss is encouraging and easy to talk to. My coworkers are friendly and supportive. It's a good fit.
   
   
2. Because of all the traveling I've been doing for work, I haven't been able to establish much of a routine or find a church home. My best bet for a church of Christ here doesn't have any single people my age. The young professionals class I attended was full of married couples. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, but I'd prefer to find some people in the same life stage as me. So I'm still searching for that. I've joined a group of girls that meet once a week for dinner. After three or four weeks, I've determined these aren't the right type of people for me. No one from this group will become a lifelong friend. So I'm "using" them until I find a group where I feel like I belong.
   
   
3. I had a great girls' night with Rachel and Lauren (plus a few add-ons) from college a few weeks ago. We had a blast! It's always fun to spend time with close friends, the kind where you can pick up where you left off, not matter how much time has passed between visits.
   
   
4. Movie Update. I recommend Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button is a classic "Oscar movie." Very polished and epic. I'd read that it was hard to connect to emotionally, but that wasn't the reaction I had. Can I just add that Brad Pritt is beautiful? Slumdog is at heart a romance, which makes all the critical acclaim bizarre. I have a theory regarding the mostly male movie critics and feminine-oriented films. Critics do not forgive weakness in chick flicks, usually romances, but they forgive all sorts of liberties and flaws in male-oriented films. Slumdog is a violent, gritty film that appeals to males, but it's also a love story. Somehow the so-called flaws of this love story are acceptable because it's in masculine packaging. Anyway, I liked the movie and encourage you to see it. The presentation - colors, soundtrack, editing- is great. Also, the subtitles were part of the presentation instead of a distraction. I also enjoyed the movie Last Chance Harvey with Emma Thompson and Dennis Hoffman. Emma Thompson is fabulous! A grown-up love story. Rachel Getting Married was more emotional than I expected. Anne Hathaway is good. She should take more complex roles like Kym and stay away from fluff like Bride Wars. I'm pretty sure the heat wasn't working in the theatre; I wore my coat and gloves. Gloves! In the documentary genre, I suggest American Teen, a profile of high school seniors in Indiana. It's been compared to a the Breakfast Club (with real people) because it profiles a nerd, a jock, the popular girl, and the quirky outcast. Some parts seem phony, but character of Hannah was enough to keep me invested in the story. Worth a rent.
   
   
5. Book Update. I went on a reading kick and read two novels by Tana French - In the Woods and the Likeness. Both are murder mysteries set in Ireland (!) with well-developed characters, interesting, complex stories and excellent writing. The books are a series, so read In the Woods first.