Favorite Movies

Now I am terrible at picking favorites. Those people who know me are well aware of this. I don't have a favorite anything. Favorite type of food, favorite type of music, favorite books, favorite anything. If I like the song, I like the song. It doesn't matter if it's pop, country, hip-hop, rap, jazz, or whatever. It just depends on the song. This goes for anything. If I like the book, I like the book. If I like the food, I like the food. I don't have a favorite type of anything (TV shows are the only exception). This includes movies.

So what's with the title, you ask? Yes, it's true, I don't have favorite movies. Well, I will have favorites, but they'll constantly change. I'll be obsessed with one movie one week and another the next. However, the point of this post is because there are exactly three movies that may not always be in the top spot, but I will never, ever be sick of watching and will probably almost always say yes to watching one of them.

They are as follows:
--The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)
--While You Were Sleeping
--The Mask of Zorro

I'm not sure what is about these three films, but they are just forever endearing to me. I say, time and time again that the plot is what always brings me back. (If it weren't for While You Were Sleeping, I would say that my favorite film genre is somewhere in the swashbuckler category or the secret identity category.)

THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL

TRAILER

PLOT: Sir Percy Blakeney is a typical fop, surrounded by adoring ladies and clueless gentry. However, he is also a master of disguise and bears an infamous secret identity: the Scarlet Pimpernel, dashing and fearless rescuer of victims of the French Revolution! Sir Percy also falls head over heels for the beautiful Marguerite who is also wooed by Chauvelin, Robespierre's Chief Agent for the Committee of National Security.

Also one of my favorite books of all time (actually, probably my only other exception to my "no favorites" rule are books). Of course the book is better, but this movie version is very good as well. I will never get tired of it. The actors play their characters so spot on! Especially the main characters. The guy that plays Sir Percy is just so spot on with all the characters he portrays when he's posing as the Scarlet Pimpernel. And then his foppish Sir Percy is so hilarious and believable, I love it. I love the whole mystery of the plot, the "secret identity", and so on.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

TRAILER

PLOT: Lucy is a lonely fare collector on the Chicago elevated railway who has a secret crush on a handsome commuter named Peter Callaghan. On Christmas day, Lucy rescues Peter from an oncoming train after a mugger pushes him onto the tracks. Peter falls into a coma, and Lucy accompanies him to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her fantasizing aloud, "I was going to marry him." Misinterpreting her, the nurse tells Peter's family that Lucy is his fiancée. The mayhem escalates, when Lucy meets Peter's suspicious yet charming brother.

I love everything about this movie! Even though it's such a ridiculous and unlikely situation, the way it plays out and the way it's written just kind of makes it seem like it could happen. The writing is brilliant, the characters are hilarious, and the plot is fantastic. This movie is so quotable, it's one of my favorites to quote. Lots of people say they always watch this around Christmas time. Please. I watch this year round! I wouldn't exactly say that this is one of the prettiest movies I've ever seen, but I always say that the plot is what always brings me back for round 2, 3, 4, etc.

THE MASK OF ZORRO

TRAILER

PLOT: The original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega, is captured and imprisoned just as Spain concedes California to Santa Anna. 20 years go by and his mortal enemy, Don Rafael Montero, returns to California with a plan to become wealthy at the expense of the peasants. The original Zorro escapes from prison and trains a new Zorro to take his place.

There's just something about this movie in comparison to other sword-slashing, horse-chasing, swashbuckling, adventure films. This one is just so good! The main plot is excellent, and the subplots are just as entertaining and not at all confusing and/or pointless like subplots sometimes are. All the actors play their characters extremely well and are very entertaining to watch. The costumes are gorgeous and the sets are stunning (since most of them are on location). Plus, I just absolutely love superhero-esque/secret identity stories.

Moroni

This is the devotional I gave in my Book of Mormon class based on the reading assignment of Moroni 7-10 (NOTE: "moonwalking bear" is referencing this video).


I think that the obvious can be moonwalking bears within itself sometimes.

People always looks for the lessons and morals in the actual words of the scriptures. And I’m not saying that’s bad. No, that’s great! That’s spectacular! I’m not discouraging it in any way. By all means, study the doctrine taught there. But a lot of people tend to overlook the actual stories and the people or characters in them. We can learn a lot from them.

So I wanted to focus on Moroni himself.

Personally, as I read the scriptures, I think about who is writing it and what situations they are in. As I was reading these last few chapters, I began thinking about Moroni. What an amazing man he was!

He had everything taken from him. His family, his possessions, his country, and his freedom. He had to flee and hide for his life from the Lamanites. He writes in Mormon 8:1, “I, Moroni, do finish the record of my father, Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father.” This makes it seem that he thoughts that he would only live for a few days or weeks and would only finish the history with a few comments. Of course, he lives for several more years, constantly being hunted.

I’ve got this fantastic book called DEFENDERS OF FAITH by Douglas J. Bell. It talks about the heros of the Book of Mormon from a modern day soldier’s perspective. It’s a really good book, I highly recommend it. Anyways, there’s a chapter dedicated to Moroni and it talks about how soldiers today are given specific training for if they are separated from their troops, or if they’re captured. Like if an Air Force pilot is shot down over enemy territory, this special training is put into play to evade the enemy until they could be rescued or until they could find their way back to their own forces. (The book goes into more detail).

But think about Moroni’s evasion of the enemy for a moment. He didn’t have anywhere to go. South was the Lamanites, the Gadianton robbers controlled the northern wilderness, and (modern knowledge tells us) the Aztecs controlled the rest of the north. The Aztecs were a rather bloodthirsty people who probably wouldn’t have accepted him.

Mormon 8:3-4, 8-9 gives us some insight into his thoughts, “And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfill the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not. Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not... And behold, it is the hand of the Lord which hath done it. And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war. And now, behold, I say no more concerning them, for there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land.”

Super sad commentary there. See, by reading between the lines, you can see how lost and without purpose he feels. He thinks it is the end.

Have you ever felt lonely? Without friends or someone to care about you? Try multiplying that by like a thousand and then put your life on the line on top of that. That is how Moroni felt.

When he comes back with his own book, he has more energy and confidence than before. (He’s ONE of the few writers in the Book of Mormon who seems to feel a bit inadequate about his writing). Because previously in Mormon 8:12-13 he says, “And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you. Behold, I make an end of speaking concerning this people. I am the son of Mormon, and my father was a descendant of Nephi.”

At the very beginning of his own book he says (Moroni 1:1-3): “Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me. For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.”

Even in the middle of his horrible situation, he still held onto his firm faith and testimony. Of course, we all know about his final testimony in chapter 10. He thought himself lacking eloquence before, but chapter 10 is just so straight forward, and beautifully written.

Moroni 10:2-5 says, “And I seal up these records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you. Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”

We think our trials are bad? We think finals are hard? Pfft! This guy had it hard. We can learn a lot from his example.

Me and my Mouth

...wut?

I know, I could go in a whole bunch of different directions with a title like that. It's not what you think. Probably what I'm going to write about is the last thing you'd ever think of. I actually just want to dedicate this to one little quirk of mine: my speech patterns. I have actually managed to figure out the origin of most of them over the past 19 years of my life, so we'll see how this goes.

My biggest "inspiration"

I'm quite proud of my quirky speech patterns. They make me unique. They're one of the few things that I can count on that people will find funny (or possibly, weird) about me. A little bit of them creep into my writing, but for the most part, they stay out and my writing stays professional. My friends and family always laugh and tease me about silly things I say and how I pronounce things. You wouldn't be surprised if I told you that they mostly stem from my childhood TV watching, would you? No, I didn't think so.

I read this article not too long ago that said the subconscious will start assimilating traits from your favorite characters from books and movies over time, the more you watch/read them. Therefore, you will start acting like them, dressing like them, talking like them, etc. You see where I'm going with this?

My first speech "impediment", I suppose you could call it, comes from Tigger. Yes, I have finally figured it out! After years of wondering. Actually several of my speech patterns stem from here, I've noticed, but the biggest one is the pronouncing things as they're spelled. Words like "knight" or "pizza" or "hola" or "hallucination". I actually say the "K" in "knight". I pronounce "pizza" as "pee-zz-uh". I say "hole-uh". I say "ha-look-in-ae-shun". I do this because I grew up watching Tigger do it all the time. Another part of it was that it was a spelling technique I used in school. I knew how to spell it because that's how I pronounced it in my head. Then I just started saying the words like that out loud for fun and to be funny, and it sort of stuck. I seriously cannot drop this one, it's become such a habit that I need to focus in order to say it correctly sometimes. So, it's become a speech impediment rather than a speech pattern.
Also, I suppose this next one is a stick-on to the 'pronouncing things as they're spelled', (although it's not exactly doing that). It's how I sometimes pronounce words with "ible" on the end. Like "horrible" or "terrible" or "incredible". I say "ibibble" instead of just "ible". "That's horribibble!" or "How incredibibble!". This one also got latched on from Tigger. He does the exact same thing all the time.

The second one comes from Tigger as well. Making up words. Tigger would always make up words like "Tigger-nometry" or "hear-llucinations" or "hipper-posterous". I know I've come up with a couple words before, but I've mostly come up with phrases (mostly interjections), such as "Holy fudge muffins!" or "Sweet celery sticks!". Not quite as clever as Tigger, but still. Oh! I've thought of a word I use on occasion: "embarrassible" (embarrassing and horrible combined). You use it as such: "How embarrassible!" or "That's embarrassible."

My third one is the non-descriptive rant. The only one not stemmed from Tigger. I actually mentioned this one recently in a previous post, not by that name, but still. It stems from the TV show, Kim Possible, from watching my favorite character, Ron Stoppable. He would always get hurt or something and cry out saying something like: "Ow! The hot steamy badness!" or "The thorns! They hurt with the poking!". I do that. Point out the obvious and/or be non-descriptive in my rants while under pressure or in pain.

Pivotal Moments in my Childhood

5) THE HARRY POTTER MOVIES CAME OUT

I can hardly remember when the first movie came out, I can barely even remember seeing it for the first time (lame, I know). Same with the second one. The first one I have a relatively clear memory about is the third one, I actually remember seeing that one, but there wasn't anything too special about that experience. I'm sure there was a lot of hype back when the first movie was first announced (of course there was), but I just remember when the last two movies were coming out (the last book split into two parts). Holy cow, so much hype! Potterheads took over my other blog temporarily when the last movie came out.

4) DUMBLEDORE DIED

Goodnightly! Possibly one of the saddest moments of my existence! I got the 6th book shortly before my family and I headed up to Utah... or Idaho? for a Christensen family reunion. I read it during the entire car ride and spent most of my time reading it while we were up there. I can actually remember the exact moment when I read Dumbledore's death. Luckily I was alone, because I was probably pulling some weird faces that would have worried some people. I was upstairs in the Dearden's home (so it must have been Utah!) on my "bed" in the middle of the day, I'm not sure where everyone was. I was very intrigued and weirded/freaked-out by the horcrux experience that I had just read, and then Snape freakin' kills Dumbledore! Oh my freakin' camels on horses! Of all the grrr! I was shocked, then devastated, then furious, then unable to read through my tears. I had to wait forever to talk about it with someone though because NO ONE had finished it! I was like "why do you people read so slow!?!??"

3) KIM POSSIBLE AND RON STOPPABLE GOT TOGETHER

I remember watching the latest Disneychannel original movie back in like 6th or 7th grade, Kim Possible: So the Drama, thinking it was a pretty good movie, even better than the last Kim Possible movie they made, then all of a sudden, it's the end, at the prom, and Kim and Ron are dancing together and they kiss! I was just like, "Whoa! No wait, what?". Then I had rewind and watch again to fully compute, then I was like, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! OMGOMGOMG! 8DDD". And the next day my friends and I were flipping out over it at school. Kim Possible was one of the most popular shows back in the day, practically everybody watched it and just that Kim and Ron had been best friends forever and then they kiss, it was just like I could hear the hallelujah chorus. For some reason, I hadn't really seen it coming, but once it happened, I was unspeakably happy (although looking back, I should have seen it coming, there were lots of things leading up to it).

2) SIRIUS BLACK DIED

Oddly enough, I think I remember this getting more "freaking" than Dumbledore's death did. Probably because it was the first major/likeable character's death in the series. I remember reading the 5th book (it was the first one I read on my own without my mom reading it to me) and getting very into the intensity of the battle at the ministry, then all of a sudden Sirius is dead. It was another one of those moments where I had to go back and read it again and again. Then I was crying, like actual tears were coming out of my eyes. How could JK Rowling do this!?!! He was like my favorite character and Harry's only family and he was awesome and, and... *cries* It was truly devastating and me, my friends, and fans didn't stop talking about it for weeks.

1) DISCOVERING THAT THE DISNEY "D" WAS NOT A "G"

I cannot pinpoint the exact moment I figured this out, but I think every child has this moment at some point in their life. It's just that "Ah-ha!" moment. But seriously, doesn't it look like a backwards "G"? I distinctly remember as a little kid, honest to goodness thinking it was actually a "G", even though I knew it said Disney. I even remember learning to read and I could read the rest of the word "isney", but I still thought that the first letter was a "G", but I just ignored it and thought it was some sort of weird pronunciation/spelling thing. I thought, for the longest time, that you spelled Disney "Gisney", but still pronounced it "Disney". I don't remember the moment when I recognized the "D" within the "G", but I think I was older, after I knew how to read.

Catchiest Theme Songs

As I was titling this, I found myself wishing that I could come up with more creative titles for some of my posts. Oh well. Anyways, I recently watched this guy on YouTube talking about what he thought were the catchiest theme songs ever and why. He made some pretty good arguments, but I decided to make my own list. By golly, it was tough, but I made a list of my top 6 (because I want to go one step beyond the norm) from least to catchiest.

6) Doctor Who

Listen here

I know, you're probably shocked that this isn't further up on the list, but I had to be honest with myself that it just didn't top some of the other theme songs on my list. It's the only one on my list that doesn't have words. But seriously though, every time I hear that "wrrrrrreeeeeooooorrrrrr" at the beginning I just have to start singing along (even though it doesn't have words). But every true Whovian knows what "ooweeoo" means.

5) Phil of the Future

Listen here

This was my SHOW when I was younger! As I was trying to think of every TV show I had ever watched so I could think of their themes, I remembered this show and a huge grin came to my face. This show was the bomb! But I'm not here to talk about the show, I'm talking about the theme. Not much to say other than I just think it's catchy XP

4) Kim Possible (Call Me Beep Me)

Listen here

There's so many parts of this song that you can't help, but sing along with (if you aren't singing along with the whole thing). Like every time it says "Kim Possible" *shrugs*, you can't help it. You have to say it with her. And just the clever rhyming and the catchiness of it all! "So what's the sitch?"

3) Darkwing Duck

Listen here

I've never seen a single episode of this show in my life. I don't even know what it's about (I think he's some sort of superhero or something. I don't know). Yet somehow, I know the theme song. I have to be honest, it's one heck of a catchy tune. The best part though is the "Let's get dangerous" bits. Ha! I always say it along with him in the same voice.

2) Psych (I Know You Know)

Listen here

You can't help, but rock out to this one and just sing along to every word (if not at least the chorus). I'm always air-gutairing to the beginning and then head-banging to the rest while totally singing along. This is one heck of a catch theme song. I almost put it in top spot on my list. 

1) Pinky and the Brain

Listen here

I don't know what it is about this theme, but it is ALWAYS in my head! That's why I decided to put it as #1 instead of Psych. They are both extremely catchy, but Psych's theme isn't stuck in my head very often and Pinky and the Brain is. I think that's key to being catchy; it can never leave you alone! I always find myself falling asleep: "They're Pinky, they're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain..." or something. Everything about the song is catchy, every last note. But I just love randomly quoting the beginning before the song starts about taking over the world.

My Best Friend Ron

Yeah, I don't actually know anyone named Ron, much less have a best friend with that name. But there are two characters that I am very much familiar with that are owners of that name: Weasley and Stoppable. Unlike a lot of characters I tend to analyze/rant about on this blog, these two boys have been two of my favorite characters since I was little... Well, littlish (older kid/preteen age). Both of them have a lot in common, I've realized recently. They are both the always-loyal best friend of the hero of the work they are in, they are both underachieving underdogs, they are both hopelessly immature, they are both lazy, they are both not so good with the ladies (but eventually fall for their best female friend), they are both particularly fond of food, and both are completely loveable. Additionally, both are the epitome of the best, best friend. So here are my two favorite Rons.

RON WEASLEY

The red-headed, freckle-faced (in the books) best friend of Harry Potter. He's pretty much always been my favorite character of the Harry Potter series. He serves a foil for the protagonist. While Harry is an orphan with more gold than he needs, Ron comes from a large and loving, but poor family. Harry is famous, but would rather avoid the spotlight. Ron on the other hand, is often overlooked and sometimes becomes jealous of the recognition Harry gets. Lastly, Ron is the most mediocre of his siblings, being neither an excellent Quidditch player (at first), a noteworthy student, nor "the daughter [his] mother always wanted". All these factors have combined to cause Ron some serious insecurities. All the while though, he remains (for the most part) steadfast by Harry's side. He is rather immature, which gives him a major role in comic relief (although his brothers, Fred and George, mainly take that role in my opinion. But they're not main characters, so moving on.) Like when his wand gets snapped in the second book, that sets off a number of funny moments ("eat slugs!", or Lockhart losing his memory), or when he "asked" Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball in the fourth book. He's got some great one-liners too (see below). He's also very brave. He never hesitates to put himself into extremely dangerous situations with his best friends Harry and Hermione, and as shown on many occasions, he would rather die than have someone he cares about harmed. He risks his life on many occasions, and his bravery does not go unnoticed by his friends (or fans). Ron is also a person who likes to do things the easy way. He does not like to work hard (like he always tries to copy off Hermione). This peculiar trait does not seem to go away even after he grows up. For example, he confunds his driving examiner in the seventh book and simply says of it, "Oh, well I could always use a Supersensory Charm for that."

FAVORITE QUOTES:
Albus Potter: "Why are they all staring?"
Ron: "Don’t let it worry you. It’s me. I’m extremely famous."

Ron: "Viktor? Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?"

Ron: (sitting bolt upright in bed) "Spiders... the spiders... they want me to tap-dance. And I don't want to tap-dance!" 

Harry: "You tell those spiders, Ron." 

Ron: "Yeah, tell them... I'll tell them..." (falls straight back asleep) 

Ron: "She's gone mental, Hermione has. I mean, not that she wasn't always mental, but now it's out in the open for everyone to see!"

Hermione: "Don't play."
Ron: "Say you're ill."
Hermione: "Pretend to break your leg."
Ron: "Really break your leg."

Hermione: "Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!"
Ron: "Oh, yeah. (to the first-years) Hey-hey you lot! Midgets!"

Ron: "It's obvious. You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know. (imitates Hermione) Oh, Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong..."

Ron: "Percy wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy."

Ron: (about the crystal ball) "I don't need help. It's obvious what this means. There's going to be loads of fog tonight."

Professor Trelawney: "Look at the cup, tell me what you see!"
Ron: "Oh yeah... well, Harry's got a sort of wonky cross... that's trials and suffering. And, uh, that there could be the sun, and that's happiness, so... you're gonna suffer... but you're gonna be happy about it..."

Ron: "Why spiders? Why couldn't it be "follow the butterflies"?"

Ron: "IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU HARRY!"


RON STOPPABLE

Kim Possible's best friend and sidekick (and later, boyfriend). One of my favorite cartoon characters of all time! His name's a play on the word "unstoppable", which is both true and false I suppose. When I was younger, I always thought that "unstoppable" was a better word to describe Kim instead of "impossible", but now that I'm older, I guess that it serves Ron just as well. He hardly ever gives up no matter what's thrown at him, like seriously. Even though he handles what's thrown at him in less butt-kick ways than Kim (his ways normally consist of bumbling around, screaming, and running), he still pulls through and never abandons his duty. His main duty is normally the distraction (which is why he does a lot of running and such). His bumbling itself is normally distraction enough, but sometimes he comes up with clever (or stupid) ways to distract the bad guys so that Kim can shut down the laser, or deactivate the bomb, or whatever. Like Ron Weasley, he serves as a main source of comic relief (along with his pet naked mole rat, Rufus). There's a lot of running gags associated with him such as he often loses his pants (it becomes such a common occurrence that he is no longer embarrassed by it and it becomes known as "The Pants Thing"), or his many phobias (such as monkeys, bugs, garden gnomes, or mechanical horses, to name a few. All mostly stemming from his traumatizing summer camp experience as a child at Camp Wannaweep), or the villains can never remember his name, often referring to him as "that guy" or "the sidekick" or "the buffoon" (Monkey Fist is the only villain to ever remember his name, which Ron openly respects him for). He's the inventor of the "Naco" (half nacho-half taco) at his favorite fast food restaurant, Bueno Nacho and even temporarily became a millionaire from its royalties. Also like Ron Weasley, he serves as a foil for the protagonist, opposing Kim's drive and competitiveness with his laid-back personality. He faces a lot of the same insecurities and issues as Ron Weasley does, but most of them are played off in a more comical tone than in the HP series.
I've come to realize where I've picked up some of my speech patterns from though. Yeah, from dis guy. "Ow! The hot steamy badness!" or "The thorns! They hurt with the poking!". I've still yet to figure out if I got the pronouncing-words-like-they're-spelled from a TV show.

FAVORITE QUOTES:
Ron: This is the cafeteria, where I'm told you can find a nutritious, hot meal. I haven't yet, but your mileage may vary.

Kim: (catching Bonnie and Ron kissing) WHAT. IS. THE. SITCH!?!!
Ron: Hey, I was the kissee here, not the kisser!

Ron: 'Scuse me, scary orb thing? Where are you taking us?
Robot: The attitude adjustment center.
Kim: (looking ahead) Isn't that the high school?
Robot: Prepare to be drained of all individuality and spirit.
Ron: Yep, high school.

Shego: Where's Possible?
Ron: (shouts) She's not my girlfriend!
Shego: Whoa there, never said she was.
Ron: Oooooh, right... (laughs nervously) ...awkward.

Ron: Aw, Fuji. Why is it ALWAYS monkeys? Why can't I ever be attacked by crazed super models?

Kim: You do know what happens in February, don't you Ron?
Ron: Groundhog Day? Presidents Day? Dental Health Month! Ooh, that reminds me. (pulls toothbrush out of his pocket) Happy Dental Health Month, KP.
Kim: Valentine's Day.
Ron: Oh, I don't celebrate. You know I never had a girlfriend... (realizes) Holy canoli! I have a girlfriend on Valentine's Day!

(Giant monkey roars in Ron's face)
Ron: Dude, personal space.
Preteen Ron: Future me isn't afraid of monkeys. I get brave!

Toddler Ron: Leave her alone! It's her turn. Taking turns is the basic foundation of preschool. The jungle-law of daycare is behind us. We have structure! We have rules!

Ron: (after Bueno Nacho is destroyed) Why is it never Cow n' Chow?

(After dropping into a tank of sharks)
Ron: Why is it never otters? I wouldn't mind dropping into a tank of otters. They're fun!

Ron: Taking over the world is one thing, but you ruined Bueno Nacho. You're gonna pay. 

Dr. Drakken: You can't be serious. 

Ron: (scowling) Note serious face. 

Dr. Drakken: Please, have mercy, uh - the name escapes me - oh, I beg of you! 

Ron: Say my name. SAY IT! 

Dr. Drakken: It's... uh, er... Stoppable! 

(crack of thunder) 

Ron: (quietly) Boo-yah.

Stoppable and Rufus. And Weasley and Scabbers.

Not the best outfits for their formal dances. Though Stoppable is a bit
less ashamed of his apparel.

From friend-zoned to BF

The protagonist's school rival (Bonnie Rockwaller and Draco Malfoy) almost 
seems to pick on their rival's friends more than their actual rivals sometimes.

Once they actually try out for a sport (Quidditch and Football
respectively), they are both quite good.

Crazy Meyer Fam-Blam

I hail from one of the nuttiest families ever! It's true. But I am not ashamed like some people are of their crazy families, not one bit. Oh sure, sometimes I shake my head or roll my eyes at some of their odd behaviorisms, but I accept them for who they are just the same, (and I have my own quirks as well so I can't really talk). I realized just how cuckoo my family really is after a couple of semesters at college of talking about family lives with other people. After hearing about my roommates', friends', and FHE group members' home lives, I've really come to appreciate just how much more exciting my family is than their's XD (and I don't mean that in a negative way. I'm sure they've got entirely happy and enjoyable home lives). It's just that, back at my home we've got "Hilarity Hour" (as my Mom calls it), we play pranks on each other, we've got crazy dogs, we quote movies and comedians and stuff to liven things up, we sing loudly and dance while blindfolded, we make movies, we have boxing matches, and we try to imitate Irish dancing, just to name a few things.

First off, I'll quickly explain what Hilarity Hour is. It's that time of day when all of us reach the height of our hyperness and just go absolutely nuts. It typically does not last toooo long which is why my mom dubbed it Hilarity Hour. Sometimes, there is more than one Hilarity Hour in one day, depending on different circumstances such as how tired we are or how much sugar we've consumed. The time of day varies although it's usually in the late afternoon or evening after we're all home from school and Dad is home from work, when we're all really tired and about to crash.

A picture taken during Hilarity Hour. Apparently it was
"really bad" on this particular night.

DAD (aka Brad)

The root of our family's weirdness. The salsa-loving, pancake-making guy who loves his Vita-mix and Apple supplies. He constantly does goofy things, sometimes trying to embarrass us (like his "speed walk" or his "butt dance". Oh dear). Everybody who has ever met him loves him though, there's something wrong with you if you don't. He makes life fun. I fancy myself more like him than my mom personality-wise, though I have traits from both of them. I did not inherit his general outgoingness unfortunately. He is not afraid to just be himself in front of people (which is a big loveable goofball). His laugh is totally contagious too (he has several, but his full on outburst laugh is the most contagious). You should see him when he's taken his sleeping pills though (or maybe you shouldn't), one of the funniest things you'll ever witness.

MOM (aka Stefani)

The more mellow of the five of us, I'd say, but definitely not out of the ring of silliness. I'd say she plays the straight man of our comedy team (like Abbott in Abbott and Costello). She's silly, but not always in the entirely cooky way like Dad is. She fun and outgoing, but in a different way than Dad (I didn't inherit outgoingness from her either. Hmm...). The scrapbook-loving, bright-color wearing tiki head (explained below). She's kind of the butt of a lot of our jokes because she's so lovably dorky sometimes (I DO NOT mean that in a bad way!) She's also got a very contagious laugh (probably more-so than Dad's). She spends a lot of the time on the sidelines, laughing at our stupidity and cracking comments at our dispense. I don't think I've ever really seen her hyper. She's usually the one that's there laughing along with us and it's great. (Something I'd like to just say that has nothing to do with our craziness, she's very cuddly. I love giving her hugs ^_^)

ME (aka Kelsi)

And there's me. Another one of the more mellow ones of the bunch. Although, I'd classify myself just a step above my mother just because I've got a little bit of my dad in me. The Disney-loving, movie-making artist who loves British TV shows. Our family's movie sense of humor stems a lot from me, I am the movie quote queen. Whenever someone wants to remember a quote the usually ask me first. I am not typically as nutty as my dad or my siblings, but get me hyper enough and I can be. I sometimes serve my mom's role of sitting on the sidelines and cracking sarcastic comments. I'd probably classify myself the most sarcastic of the bunch (which is the majority of my sense of humor). I'm usually the first to feel bad for a snide, but joking comment I've made and I always make up for it by hugging the one I've just made the joke about. Dad has pointed this out and always laughs every time I give him a hug after I've insulted him.

SISTER (aka Afton)

What can I say about this one? She takes after my dad in the cuckoo category. Put her and him together during Hilarity Hour and well... hilarity ensues. Our sassy, dramatic, fun-loving shopaholic. She has mine and Dad's sense of humors rolled together. She's also very sarcastic and is more blunt in her sarcasm than I am. She's a big movie quoter as well. I usually go to her if I can't remember a quote or a character's name or whatever. But she is such a screwball! She's great at pulling funny faces, imitating people, and becoming a different character. She can also be a little slow and naive (sometimes it seems like she's playing dumb... maybe she is, maybe she isn't, who knows), which is where a lot of our laughs come from. She says the funniest things sometimes, also she opens her mouth really wide when she laughs, making it all the more funny. She reaches her wildest and weirdest point right before she crashes and sleeps.

BROTHER (aka Brady)

When you first meet this kid, you probably wouldn't realize what a riot he is. Most of the time, he's very mellow and laid back, just a very go with the flow type of a person. But when he gets hyper... boy does he get hyper. Our video game-playing, T-shirt wearing basketball player. He refers to himself as a monkey. This is quite accurate actually. One of the key traits to his humor is his broad imagination. He comes up with the most bizarre scenarios, characters, recipes, costumes, phrases, words, etc. I remember his stuffed monkey named Redd (he made sure we knew it was spelled with 2 D's). Or his weird recipes like Tortilla Surprise (tortilla with cheese, pieces of bread, and ketchup on it). Or his character, $teve (some sort of salesman whose job was to make lots of money by selling random stuff. He made $1000 every 8 seconds). One day he said about milk: "I just had to have one more cup of salvation." Of course, he gets crazy too. Like Afton and Dad, bouncing off the walls and stuff.

THE DOGS (aka Chase, Macy, and Troy)

Macy (left), Troy (middle), Chase (right)

Chase has since passed on, but I'm mentioning him anyways. These guys are a big contributing factor to our humor and hilarity. They are so full of energy (well at least Troy and Chase). When they squirm around on their backs like they've got an itch, or when they're so proud of themselves when they catch a squirrel, or whatever. TONS of funny stories from our house come from these guys. Like when Macy caught a mole and dropped it on Brady's lap while me and him were watching TV, then Dad chased us around the house with it, making me lock Afton out of the pantry where I was hiding. Or how about the many times they've gotten sprayed by a skunk? Just the silly expressions they give (like Troy's super cute "I want something" face. When he rests his head on your knee and looks up with his biggest puppy eyes ever). Or when Troy has way too much energy (or Chase when he was alive) and we need to burn some off, we have someone upstairs in the parents room and someone downstairs i the family room and we have him run as fast as possible between the two points. Funniest thing ever! Macy is funny too, she's just not very hyper. She tries to get on the fun of the other dogs, but she doesn't know how and ends up ruining it. It's really funny to watch. These dogs are hilarious!


Haha, inside jokes are one of our families' specialties. Here's a list of some of my favorites:

TIKI HEAD

For the full story on the tiki head, read my mom's post here, I'll just go over it briefly. Several years ago, I was asked what our family's crest would be and I said 4 monkeys and a tiki head. The monkeys were my dad and the kids and the tiki head was my mom because the four of us were always goofing off and Mom was always more serious. So whenever we come across a tiki head, Mom always has to pose by it. Whenever we feel like my mom is being a party-pooper (or anybody for that matter) we shout "TIKI HEAD!" at them.

SHARE OUR BOUNTY

My personal favorite. One night, Dad brought Panda Express home for dinner. Brady was at his friend, Esteban's house and so my mom called him to come home for dinner. She also said to invite Esteban to come over to have some as well. Afton, overhearing, was upset saying she didn't want to share our food with him. Dad berated her, saying that we should learn to "share our bounty" with others. We all laughed at Dad's choice of words. Mom then asked Dad to bless the food, jokingly asking him to ask the Lord to help us to share our bounty with others. So Dad started praying. It started out fine with the normal "we thank thee for this day" and so on. But then he said, "please bless that we will share our bounty". That did it. We all started laughing, but Dad tried to continue. But he couldn't, we kept laughing. Finally, after several minutes, we gave up and tried to start over. No good. We stopped again and Afton suggested that she prayed, but she couldn't do it either. Eventually, Dad tried again, but still couldn't do it. Finally, we agreed that we would just persevere through it no matter who laughed. (Probably at least good 10 minutes had passed by this point). So Dad started praying, very slowly through his laughter, trying to ignore everyone else's giggles. Brady and Esteban came in somewhere in the middle and saw us sniggering over our plates. Brady said later that he thought we were crying because one of the dogs had died or something. Finally we got through the prayer and ate, sharing our bounty with Esteban.

WILHEMINA HOACOX/ SEAL

We used to play a game when I was younger where my mom would pay us a certain amount of money if we could guess who was singing on the radio. She would sometimes gives us hints like the first letter(s) of their name or something like that to help us. We usually wouldn't guess it right, but there is one occasion that we did. Mom gave us the hint that the singer's same started with an S and Afton randomly yelled out "Seal!". So out of the blue, guessing a random word, she got $5. Whenever guessing again, we would always guess Seal, just in case.
Another time, my mom said the singer's initials were WH and that it was a female. I had no idea so I made up a random goofy name: "Wilhemina Hoacox!". From then on, Whitney Houston has been known as Whilemina Hoacox to us.

WOW DAD

Afton will get embarrassed or weirded out by my dad's antics sometimes. So she'll usually just say "wow Dad" dryly as she rolls her eyes or something. She says it kind of nasally which Dad noticed one day and started laughing at it. He started imitating her in an exaggerated nasally voice, laughing all the while. Then everybody started imitating her in the same exaggerated nasally voice. We all still do imitate her now after she says it, but mostly Dad.

THE POINT

I'm not even sure how this one got started. All I know is that whenever we have a family photo shoot we have to do The Point. This is when we point off to a random point in the distance with someone with an awed/dazed look on our face. (I think Brady and/or Dad might have started this).

OR... FIREWORKS

There's a looooooooong story behind this one (which you can read about on my mom's blog here), but I'll just briefly go over the joke bit here. One day Macy and Chase got lost. We found Chase before Macy and we were worried sick for her. Eventually I found her and all was well. Of course we were talking about the dramatic event later on that day and how timid Macy is. Somebody wondered how scared Macy would be of something like thunder. Everyone agreed and someone added "or fireworks". Each of us repeated the statement in agreement one by one. Then the silliness of it struck us and we started laughing. We then all started repeating the phrase over and over in different voices and different tones.


So yes, my family is weird. Do I care? Nope. Not a bit.

How many Meyers does it take to change a lightbulb?

This video never fails to make me laugh. I mean who DOES stuff like this? Our family, that's who.