Twilight

I can now officially give my long-awaited review of the movie "Twilight." I know everyone's been waiting with bated breath for my revered opinion. Anyway, I went with my Book Club group last night to see it (kind of a fiasco getting there because the theater changed it's times so we ended up going to another theater and trying to call everyone to tell them of the change). I had lowered my expectations quite a bit after hearing a few things about it and, of course, books are always better than the movie made from them. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. It took me most of the movie to really think Edward was handsome enough but I think his personality won me over eventually. I must say Dr. Cullen was spooky looking and his makeup looked pretty fake, but he played the part well enough to make me believe he was the good guy he's supposed to be. Jasper was freaky too. Those weird staring eyes and "on the edge" expression were creepy. Of course, that's the way he's supposed to act, I guess. But, overall I think they pulled it off. Most of the characters were either as I imagined or at least I could accept them without a problem, and the setting was exactly the way I pictured it. The effects were good too and I think they stayed very faithful to the story and somehow were able to condense it into the time frame of the movie without losing anything important.

Tuesday night was our "Night in Bethlehem" Enrichment Night. It was sooo wonderful. The committee had lined the room with a beautifully painted Bethlehem backdrop and set up tent booths for food. We dressed in robes and scarves and ate dried figs, dates, olives, grapes, pita sandwiches with chicken salad made with grapes and apples, and for dessert we had homemake Baklava (so delicious!). We sat on sofas, soft chairs and floor cushions while we ate and talked and then shared stories about our service swap from our previous Enrichment Night. We also shared our Christmas traditions. Afterward, an angel came out and announced the birth of the Savior and then more angels joined him and they sang some Christmas songs. After that we were led to another room where a group of women had set up a nativity scene and Mary told the story of the Savior's birth from her visit by the angel Gabriel through Christ's presentation at the temple after his birth. It was very beautiful and spiritual with more Christmas songs. It was such a special evening. I wore Don's robe and one of his scarfs around my head and as I was leaving, my friend (who's kind of tall) looked at me and said, "Oh, you look like a little hobbit." We all looked pretty unusual (one lady looked like she was dressed like a flapper but she kept explaining she was a lady from Babylon and another folded a quilt in half and wore that over her shoulder with a belt around her waist).

I finally have a night at home tonight, but I do have to go take Joshua to Lane Community College to take his final this afternoon. He's now questioning whether he really wants to get a degree in Graphic Arts & Design. I thought he'd finally decided what he wanted to do, but I guess not. I wish he'd decide and get on with it. He's got enough credits for his AA and quite a few towards his BA but still doesn't really have a focus. He wants to write and has to figure out what to do with that desire and ability.