Feline Rescue(4)

I mostly worked alone this evening...which is okay because I like working alone.
I scooped kitty poo, cleaned cages, and cleaned the most of the front rooms. My hands always feel real gross after using bleach, no matter how many times I wash my hands after.

There were what looked like train hoppers in one of the windows of the shelter for like half an hour. I wonder why they didn't just come inside to play with the cats?

Big, fat, grey, cross-eyed, pigeon-toed Wayne still hates everyone and I continue to love him SOOO much. I went to scoop the litter box next to the tube he was sleeping in right when I got there and he just walked away...it was so sad.
There's a very small new cat at the shelter named Squeak, which is the closest thing to a kitten in the place. I kept going back to her cage throughout my time there, and everytime I went to pet her she jumped onto my chest and was content letting me hold her. Again, I would adopt her if I could.

I talked to Michelle about possibly having someone come to our volunteer fair on Monday and she is e-mailing the volunteer coordinator for me tonight. She said she'll e-mail me back tomorrow.

annnnd my mom picked me up on her scooter, awesome.

Feline Rescue(3)

I did my usual Tuesday 6-8pm shift at Feline Rescue today.
It really was not as horrible as I'm about to make it seem, but here's my list of complaints for the evening.
-Chloe couldn't volunteer tonight because she was too busy with end of the school year Senior things to do.
-The shelter wasn't really hot, but I was not dressed for warm weather and while working I got really warm and dizzy and kept losing vision everytime I went to wipe out a cat cage and then stand up again.
-I was playing with the cat that I like named Pearl, who has mood swings a lot. I was petting her in her cage and then she jerked her paw out at me, and I pulled my hand back really fast and punched myself in the jaw right where I used to have stitches under my lip. Not fun.

I did the usual cleaning the litter boxes, cages, and floors. I met some other volunteers, and like the rest they were very friendly and nice. Not many people stopped in the shelter while I was volunteering, except one family looking for their lost cat. The father of the family swore up and down that Pearl was their lost cat named "Tweety". The Mother and daughter were not convinced. After much debate between the family, they eventually left. The father said that he hoped he wouldn't be living with them much longer so he could come back and adopt the cat for himself.

I came home and asked my mom again her opinion of being a foster home for a litter of kittens, she didn't answer but told me to ask my father. He laughed at me and then said no.

Feline Rescue(2)

I went back to Feline Rescue today, after skipping last Tuesday because of my injuries.
I worked with my friend Chloe again. We cleaned out the main room and all the front little rooms.
I started by cleaning out a cat named Pearl's cage, which turned out to be more difficult than it should've been because she kept attacking me every time I put my hand in the cage. She was just playing around and I really like Pearl, If I could, I would adopt her, but she doesn't get along with other cats, and I already have one at home.
There's another cat that I completely adore, and so does Chloe. His name is Wayne, he's fat, grey, and almost cross eyed. Wayne doesn't like anyone but I want to adopt him too.
I knew there would be some risk in volunteering at an animal shelter because I would want to take all the animals home with me. The ones I especially want to keep are all the ones that are fat, odd shapes, crazy, missing an ear, or just walk really funny.
The rest of the volunteers there are all really friendly. They all have a serious love for cats, but I haven't met any who love them a little too much, in a crazy way, which is what I almost expected when I started volunteering there.

Feline Rescue week 1

We started off cleaning the cages in one of the cat rooms at the shelter, and filling the water dishes. Then we swept and mopped the floor. It was not a difficult job at all and we had the company of cats while working. We finished all of this within an hour and then we had free time to play with the cats for the rest of the time we were volunteering.
Unfortunately not even block away from the shelter, I feel face first off my bike and broke my jaw and cut my face up quite a bit. I had to walk back to the shelter and get cleaned up a bit while they called my mom.
I'm skipping volunteering this next week at the shelter because it would be really difficult to clean with my arm in a sling.


I'm not really sure what else i should write....

Million Dollar Baby Assessment

Movie Review
Million Dollar Baby is a film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood.
Released in 2004
Rated PG-13
The movie starts out in a gym in Los Angeles, owned by Frankie(Clint Eastwood). Narrarated by Frankie's best friend and ex-boxer(Morgan Freeman). A middle-aged waitress named Maggie(Hilary Swank) starts working out in his gym and wants Frankie to train her. Frankie refuses to train her over and over for years until the boxer he's been training leaves him for a sponser. They start training and she continues to get better throughout the movie, and wins all her fights.
Along the way, Frankie and Maggie stop by Maggie's old house where her family lives to tell them she bought them a house. Her family not only isn't greatful, but they get mad at her for buying them a house because they're concerned about the affect this will have on their steady stream of welfare money.
Maggie works her way to the top and right as her championship fight is almost over, the other boxer in the ring takes a cheap shot at Maggie and she falls and hits the stool in the ring and becomes paralyzed from the neck down.
Maggie is now stuck in the hospital, and can only leave her bed by being set up in a wheelchair by a bunch of nurses. Maggie doesn't feel that this is worth all the trouble to live like this after she has had the experience of boxing.
It's a good movie, with a sad ending. I feel like they did a good job of turning the short story into a movie. Million Dollar Baby is definitely a movie I would recommend seeing, especially if you've read the short story.

Movie Questions:
How effectively do you think this film was cast? Did the director do a quality job assigning parts to appropriate actors? Why or why not?
I think this film was cast very well. All of the actors fit the look and personality of the characters in the short story. Frankie was a old boxing coach, and even though Clint Eastwood's raspy voice got a little annoying while watching the movie, he fit the character very well. Hilary Swank did a great job with the role of Maggie. She had the hillbilly way of talking down very well and was very believable as Maggie.

Describe how well you think this film was adapted from the story? What parts of the story were missing? What was maintained?
I think the film overall did a very good job of adapting the story. All of the main events from the story were shown in the movie. I didn't really notice anything that was missing from the story, I feel like they covered everything from the story and added more to it. In the story they only really talk about Frankie visiting the church and his priest once, but in the movie he visits several times.

What additional plot lines and characters were added to the movie that added positively to the film? Explain how these characters and stories enhanced our sympathies toward Maggie and Frankie, and also improved the movie overall?
They added in Morgan Freeman's character, Eddie, as the gym's janitor (sort of), ex-boxer, and Frankie's best friend. Also they added in another extra character around the gym that got picked on, that Eddie watches out for and ends up defending him. During the years that Frankie won't train Maggie, Eddie gives her a few suggestions to help her get better. Any character that Morgan Freeman plays enhances movies.

What do you believe about assisted suicide? Do you believe that Frankie made the right choice?
The idea of assisted suicide is scary. I don't think I could ever help someone do that, even in Maggie's situation. I do believe that Frankie made the right choice, because she wanted him to do it and even took the drastic measure of biting off her tongue to try and bleed to death. When someone is that desperate and has nothing left to live for it's inhumane to not help them out. I feel like when you compare it to putting down a sick dog that's in pain,it's the same situation and should be treated the same if the person feels it's their time to go.

Both the story and the movie end after Frankie's painful choice. What do you think happens next in his life? Will he return to training? Boxing?
I think he might try and re-connect with his daughter, maybe. He might just get really depressed and blame himself further for Maggie's death. I don't think he would train again after Maggie, at least not for a very long time. I feel like he wouldn't go back to boxing at his age.

Orientation at Feline Rescue

Yesterday, while hanging out in the Caribou Coffee parking lot with some friends, we started talking about tomorrow's plans and I found out that my friend Chloe would be attending orientation with me this morning AAAAAND we have the same volunteer shift on Tuesdays. This could be the best coincidence I've ever heard.
Getting up early on a Saturday was a struggle, especially with the cold weather. Lucky for me, I live less than a mile from the shelter. One more complaint about the morning was that Freia (my sister) stole my coffee drink that I had in the fridge! (snakes in her bed...)
When I got to the shelter I was brought to the back room with the other volunteers by the volunteer coordinator, and I'm blanking on her name right now. We got to play with the cats for a bit before starting the presentation about the shelter.
They showed us a powerpoint about why you should spay/neuter your cats, which was a bit long for me because I learned about all of that stuff when I went to a camp at The Humane Society when I was younger. The powerpoint was split up with a tour of the building. They introduced us to some of the cats and talked about how things work around the shelter. After that they showed us a short film about the shelter.
http://www.felinerescue.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=120

The building was brightly colored and inviting, and the people that volunteer there were all friendly. We didn't do any volunteer work today, but I start Tuesday and I'm actually looking forward to it.

http://www.felinerescue.org/

I'm also going to try and convince my family to be a foster home for a cat or two....

High Fidelity(4)

Summary
Laura gets Rob a DJing gig. He finds this out when he sees a poster with him name
on it. A woman named Caroline wants to interview Rob for a magazine article about why he decided to start DJing again. Rob falls for Caroline right away and offers to make her a mix tape and take her out for a drink. While out for drinks with her, he figures out that he doesn't like Caroline, he just likes the idea of a new girl coming along. He figures out that the only thing wrong with Laura is that she isn't a new thrill anymore, and that he isn't nervous around her, or constantly trying to get her approval. He later proposes to Laura in a very odd way and Laura sort of rejects him for marriage, but they continue on as usual.
Rob has his gig, and it goes better than he hoped. Barry's band plays during the intermission and plays a bunch of old hits and the crowd loves it. Rob has a great time and decides to start DJing again. The book ends with Rob playing a song that Laura had requested back when he used to DJ, before they had ever started dating.


I refer to Rob as a "socially awkward music junkie" because he compares events in his life to certain songs. I think because of how involved Rob is with his music, it's harder for him to relate to reality. I think it's better to only engage yourself in music and movies a little, and not fully because it's better to develop your own sense of reality instead of having it completely influenced by the media. I think a person becomes a dork or a junkie about their hobby when they can't get it off their mind, a good example would be when they start waking up thinking about it, or reference it all the time.
I think that both Laura and Rob settled for each other in a way. Laura didn't feel up to trying to find and start a new relationship with someone, and Rob is just too nervous to try and meet new women.
Tragedy can destroy a relationship pretty bad if the people in the relationship don't know how to work through it. Even if they do find a way to work through it and stay together I think it still has a negative effect on their relationship.
It really depends on the couple wheather they stay together out of convenience or commitment. I think as people get older they stay together more out of convenience because of money issues or they feel that they're getting too old to try and start something new.
My upbringing around romantic relationships has been that you should never settle for someone because of convenience, or because you're almost 30 and you still haven't found exactly who you're looking for. That waiting for the right person is worth the wait, and it's never too late to change your mind if you know that person isn't right for you. This has definitely impacted my view on relationships, not really romantic relationships though. I hate to see people who settle for someone just out of convenience, or because they're too scared to be without a significant other for a while.
In the end of the book, after Laura makes the gesture towards Rob's DJing career, and Rob plays that same song that he had played for Laura years ago, it leaves you with a feeling like maybe they do work well together and it is a good thing that they got back together. I think they ended the book in the best way they could have.

High Fidelity(3)

Summary
Laura finally decides to move her stuff out of Rob's apartment, a month after the break-up. They get along for the most part, but then Rob ruins it by picking at Laura's new relationship.
For his birthday, Rob decides to rent three movies he's been wanting to see, sit at home, drink beer, and watch them alone. Before starting the second movie he gets a call from his mother, she comforts him but then makes him feel worse about himself. Right after he gets a call from Laura, who just wants to wish him a happy birthday, but he gets over dramatic about the fact that she's calling him from a phone booth and can't just call him from home. He then decides to go out for his birthday, he calls a couple of friends that he has almost lost touch with and Marie LaSalle. They all go out for a few drinks and make decent conversation but no one is really having a good time. Rob reflects on how he has lost his old group of friends while dating Laura because he started hanging out with her friends more, and his less.
Laura's dad dies. She calls to tell Rob that her mom wants him to come to the funeral. Rob agrees to go to the funeral with their mutual friend Liz. While at the funeral, Liz starts casually talking about Laura and her new relationship and Rob gets overwhelmed with emotion all of a sudden and leaves. While out walking he sees Laura's car coming towards him, he jumps over a wall and lays in a flower bed until he thinks she has driven away. She is still there waiting for him and tells him to get in the car. They talk about why both of them left and Rob goes even further by saying the reason he cheated on Laura was that he knew someday she would die and he was afraid of losing her, so cheating on her was his way of trying to distance himself from her. Laura accepts his apology, and then asks him to have sex with her. Rob feels guilty but then agrees. They drive to a private road where Laura's dad used to take her. They start to fool around a bit but then Laura starts to cry. They decide to go out to a bar instead and talk some more. They go back to the funeral briefly, and then decide to go home.
Rob and Laura are back together and living in the same apartment again. All of their conversations together are them pointing out how they've changed, and all of the flaws they see in each other. Laura admits that she's only with Rob because she's too tired to not be with him. Rob just feels he needs a woman in his life at all times and it might as well be Laura, but he never says this, he just gets offended when she says her side.

Reflection
I do think that men have more tolerance and understanding when reading about other men in unfortunate situations because it's probably easier for them to relate to. While reading this book I can't help thinking what I would do if I was in the same situation (which would be moving on to Marie LaSalle, she seems much more interesting). I'm sure if I was reading about a woman getting dumped and not doing so well with money, I would have a little more sympathy than I do while reading about Robert Fleming. I would still point out what she could do better, but in a more constructive way and less of a "you're such a pathetic idiot" kind of way.
I've been anticipating a sad ending since I started reading this book, especially now that I'm almost done with it, because things can't really get better with so many issues and so few pages left. I still think Rob is a pathetic loser, and he'll probably end up settling for Laura.

High Fidelity(2)

Summary
Robert Fleming has now slept with Marie LaSalle, and started avoiding her like the plague immediately after. He meets with Laura and asks inappropriate questions about Ian, and if it's serious, and asks (and ends up begging) if they could someday get back together. He got depressed and went back to visit his parents for a day, which led to even more distress and him questioning why all of his past relationships failed. He decides to call up all of his old girlfriends and meet up with them and figure out what went wrong. Most of the girls just tell him how much of a jerk his was when breaking up with them. The others, who left him for other men, ended up either marrying them or having an even worse break-up.
Dick, who works with Rob, has started seeing a woman named Anna Moss. He's trying to train her to like the right music, because she's a Simple Minds fan, which is number one on their "Top Five Bands or Musicians Who Will Have to Be Shot Come the Musical Revolution".
Marie Lasalle visits the record store and gets Rob to come out for drinks with her and T-bone. They have a good time and Rob feels less awkward about their one night stand.

Reflection
Rob is very conflicted about remaining in a relationship with Laura. He wants her back, but at the same time is curious about pursuing something with Marie LaSalle. Rob wants Laura back for all the wrong reasons. He wants her to want him back, and to need him. The night they meet up to talk about things and he asks her if there's a chance they could ever get back together, he begs and repeats the question several times until she says that maybe one day they could possibly get back together, but she doesn't think that will happen. This shred of hope of her still wanting to be with him lifts his spirits just enough to work up the courage to sleep with Marie LaSalle, not to try and work things out with Laura.
Rob is dissatisfied with most things going on in his life right now. If i were to list the things he's unhappy with they would be relationships, his buisness, his general appearance, his friends, his apartment, basically his life in general isn't satisfying him. He makes no genuine effort to try and change any of these things really. The only thing that's really starting to look up a little for him is his relationship with Marie LaSalle, and that's only from effort on her part.
This book still depresses me just because of how helpless the main character is. The book itself is a pretty fast read and keeps me interested enough where it isn't painful to read more than a chapter at a time.

Movie Review

The five movie reviews I read were:

-Juno
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20163026,00.html

-The Boondock Saints
http://www.danielthomas.org/pop/film_reviews/bsaints.htm

-Garden State
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/reviews/garden_state.html

-Blow
www.moviesforguys.com/drama/reviews/blow.shtml

-Sunshine Cleaning
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/reviews/la-et-sunshine13-2009mar13,0,4279595.story

My interpretation of the 12 basic rules of writing a movie review are...
1. Capture the readers attention
2. Provide a brief overview of the movie
3. Name stars of the film
4. Talk about the main characters a bit
5. Provide and explain your opinion on the movie
6. Must mention opening date
7. Name the director
8. Name where the movie takes places
9. Don't give away the ending
10. Don't give away anything that will spoil the movie
11. Talk about some twists in the story
12. Explain why you should or should not see this movie

Here's an example of my own movie review on one of my personal favorite movies..
The Faculty (1998)
written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Robert Rodriguez
It starts out as an average day at Herrington High School, but soon turns into a struggle to survive an alien invasion of their small town. First the students start to notice the faculty of their school acting strange, and soon whole town is taken over by alien parasites. It's up to a small group of students Zeke(Josh Hartnett), Casey(Elijah Wood), Stokely(Clea Duvall), Stan(Shawn Hatosy), Delilah(Jordana Brewster) and Marybeth(Laura Harris), to try and find the queen alien and save their town, but they're only way of distinguishing the aliens from their fellow peers is by snorting a cocaine-like drug that one of the students, Zeke has created, which they've found out dries out and kills the alien parasites inside humans. The students slowly get picked off one by one, becoming more and more paranoid they resort to killing their principal who they believe to be the queen, their guess was half right, she was infected but not the queen. It ends with one of the main characters being the hero and one turning out to be the alien queen.
I enjoyed this movie a lot, it has a good story line and if you're a first time viewer it has a good surprise ending. I would recommend this movie for anyone who likes sci-fi/horror movies, or just anyone who just enjoys watching Josh Hartnett and Elijah Wood team up against aliens.

High Fidelity

The book I chose for the assignment to read a book that was later turned into a movie is High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. My smelly friend Anna recommended it to me, and told me she could lend it to me, and since i don't like checking out books at the library because i'm usually a slow reader, it seemed like my best option.
The book starts out with the main character, Robert Fleming, going through all his past relationships and analyzing them and what went wrong. They all lead up to his most recent relationship of 2 years with a woman named Laura, that just came to an end. Rob soon figures out that she had been having an affair with the guy named Ian that lived in the apartment directly above them.
Rob owns and works at a record store that isn't very successful. The two other men that work there are named Dick and Barry, they're both socially awkward music junkies. They take rob out to a show one night just to try and cheer him up a bit. He starts to fall for the singer that plays that night named Marie Lasalle, who invites them to her next show out of town.
All of the record store boys split a cab and go to her next show. Marie is singing with a guy named T-bone and Rob gets upset and leaves the show alone.
Then there's a flashback to Rob and Laura's relationship. Rob cheated on Laura for a week while she was pregnant which was a main reason she got an abortion. Rob's record store started to go under and Laura lent him a few thousand dollars, which he has still not paid back to her.

That's as much as I've read so far.
So far the book is really depressing. Rob doesn't know what to do with himself and his only comfort is in hope of finding another girl to put all his time and effort into. Also his life is just kind of dull, he has no real goals or anything going on with him besides a sad break-up and a failing buisness, and it seems like it isn't even a rough patch in his life, it seems more like his life story.

INTHEBEGINNING

I would like to try and volunteer weekly at The Feline Rescue Center. I've made no effort to try and find any information about wheather you need to be a certain age to volunteer there or what their hours are, but hopefully since the weather is getting less horrible out i'll be motivated enough to bike over there and figure out - or even see if they have a website.
Volunteering there would be my preference mainly because it's what would be most convenient since it's under a mile away from my house.
If there is an age restriction for volunteering, like there is at most animal shelters, I'm probably going to try for one of the places we volunteered at during the last two times I took this class. Second Harvest might be a good choice besides the issue of transportation. I know they can always use volunteers, it's a good cause, and it can be fun to help out there if you're working with people you know.