IMDb Top 250

Top 250 Movies from IMDB

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (Completed 18/11/09)
   
2. The Godfather (1972)
   
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
4. The Dark Knight (Completed - again - 27/12/09)
   
5. Pulp Fiction (1994) (Completed 11/3/10)
   
6. Schindler’s List (1993)
   
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
   
8. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
   
9. 12 Angry Men (1957) (Completed: 11/3/10)
10. Casablanca (1942)
    
11. Star Wars (1977) (Completed 14/2/10)
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
    
13. Goodfellas (1990) (Completed: 12/3/10)
    
14. Rear Window (1954
15. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    
16. The Usual Suspects (1994)
    
17. Fight Club (1999) (Completed 14/2/10)
    
18. Psycho (1960)
    
19. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
20. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
21. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
    
22. Memento (2000) (Completed 14/3/10)
    
23. North by Northwest (1959)
    
24. Citizen Kane (1941)
    
25. The Matrix (1999)
    
26. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
    
27. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
    
28. Se7en (1995)
    
29. WALL·E
    
30. Léon (1994)
    
31. Apocalypse Now (1979)
    
32. Taxi Driver (1976)
    
33. American Beauty (1999)
    
34. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
    
35. American History X
    
36. Vertigo
37. Slumdog Millionaire
38. Paths of Glory (1957)
39. M (1931)
    
40. Forrest Gump (1994)
    
41. The Departed (2006) (Competed 1/3/10)
    
42. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
    
43. Double Indemnity (1944)
    
44. Alien (1979)
    
45. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
    
46. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
47. The Third Man (1949)
    
48. Chinatown (1974)
    
49. The Shining
    
50. The Pianist (2002)
    
51. Saving Private Ryan
    
52. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
53. The Wrestler
    
54. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
    
55. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
    
56. L.A. Confidential (1997)
    
57. Aliens (1986)
    
58. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Completed)
    
59. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
60. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
61. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
    
62. City Lights (1931)
    
63. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
64. Raging Bull (1980)
    
65. All About Eve (1950) (Completed: 18/11/09)
    
66. Metropolis (1927)
67. Modern Times (1936)
    
68. Rebecca (1940)
    
69. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
    
70. Some Like It Hot (1959)
    
71. The Prestige (2006)
    
72. Amadeus (1984)
    
73. The Elephant Man (1980)
    
74. 2001: A Space Odyssey
75. The Apartment (1960)
    
76. Sin City (2005)
    
77. The Great Escape (1963)
    
78. No Country for Old Men (2007)
    
79. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
    
80. The Sting (1973)
    
81. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
    
82. Touch of Evil
    
83. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
84. The Great Dictator (1940)
    
85. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
    
86. On the Waterfront (1954)
    
87. Batman Begins (2005)
    
88. Back to the Future (1985)
    
89. Braveheart (1995)
    
90. Jaws (1975)
91. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
    
92. Blade Runner (1982)
    
93. Strangers on a Train (1951)
    
94. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
    
95. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
    
96. There Will Be Blood (2007)
    
97. Unforgiven (1992)
    
98. Notorious (1946)
    
99. High Noon (1952)
    
100. The Green Mile (1999) (Completed 18/11/09)
     
101. The Big Sleep (1946)
     
102. Fargo (1996)
     
103. Oldboy (2003)
     
104. Cool Hand Luke (1967) (Completed 7/3/10)
     
105. Gladiator (2000)
106. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
     
107. Die Hard
108. Donnie Darko (2001)
109. The General (1927)
     
110. Annie Hall (1977)
111. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
     
112. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
     
113. It Happened One Night (1934)
     
114. Heat (1995)
     
115. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
     
116. The Deer Hunter
     
117. The Sixth Sense (1999)
     
118. Ben-Hur (1959)
     
119. Platoon (1986)
     
120. Into the Wild (2007)
     
121. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
     
122. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
123. Gran Torino
     
124. Life of Brian (1979)
125. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
     
126. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
     
127. Ratatouille (2007)
     
128. 8½ (1963)
     
129. The Big Lebowski
     
130. The Killing (1956)
     
131. Finding Nemo (2003)
132. The Graduate (1967)
     
133. Brief Encounter (1945)
     
134. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
     
135. Stand by Me (1986)
     
136. Snatch. (2000 )
     
137. The Night of the Hunter (1955 )
     
138. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
     
139. The Wild Bunch (1969)
     
140. Gandhi (1982)
     
141. The Gold Rush (1925)
     
142. V for Vendetta (2005)
     
143. Gone with the Wind (1939) (Completed 17/11/09)
     
144. The Princess Bride (1987)
     
145. The Incredibles (2004)
     
146. Trainspotting (1996)
     
147. Milk
     
148. The Thing (1982)
     
149. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
     
150. Scarface (1983)
151. The Lion King (1994)
     
152. Harvey (1950)
     
153. Groundhog Day (1993)
     
154. Children of Men (2006)
     
155. Toy Story (1995)
     
156. Sleuth (1972)
     
157. The Terminator (1984)
     
158. The Hustler (1961)
     
159. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
     
160. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
     
161. The African Queen (1951)
     
162. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
163. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
     
164. The Conversation (1974)
     
165. Duck Soup (1933)
     
166. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
     
167. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
     
168. The Adventures of Robin Hood
169. The Lady Vanishes
170. Stalag 17 (1953)
     
171. Crash (2004/I)
     
172. Casino (1995)
     
173. King Kong (1933)
     
174. Ed Wood (1994)
     
175. The Kid (1921)
176. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
     
177. Dial M for Murder (1954)
     
178. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
     
179. The Exorcist (1973)
     
180. The Lost Weekend (1945)
     
181. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
     
182. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
     
183. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
     
184. Rope
     
185. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
     
186. Patton (1970)
187. Rosemary’s Baby
     
188. Glory (1989)
     
189. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
190. Frankenstein (1931)
     
191. Magnolia (1999)
     
192. His Girl Friday (1940)
     
193. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
     
194. In Bruges (Completed 16/5/10)
     
195. Spartacus (1960)
196. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
     
197. Big Fish (2003)
     
198. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
     
199. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
     
200. Manhattan (1979)
     
201. Network (1976)
     
202. Roman Holiday (1953) (Completed: 15/11/09)
     
203. Safety Last! (1923)
     
204. Mystic River (2003)
     
205. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
     
206. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
     
207. Great Expectations (1946)
     
208. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
     
209. A Christmas Story (1983)
     
210. Rocky (1976)
     
211. Dolce vita, La (1960)
     
212. Planet of the Apes
     
213. Laura (1944) (Completed 17/11/09)
     
214. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
215. Blood Diamond (Completed 24/11/09)
216. Barry Lyndon (1975)
217. Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
218. Shaun of the Dead
219. Changeling (2008) (Completed 25/12/09)
220. Inglourious Bastards (2009) (Completed: 25/12/09)

101 in 1001

Spiritual/ Good-will/ Relationships (2/9)

1. Read the Bible (Read: Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Haggai, 2 James)
2. Donate blood.
3. Organ donor.
4. Start a prayer journal.
5. Do the 40 hour famine.
6. Bought a new bible - perhaps a study one, so you can highlight and write in it. You want to keep your one now for the rest of your life because it has Mark's special message in it.
7. Write a comprehensive list for life goals. You will keep adding to/changing it throughout your life, but this is a start. (Complete: Posted on this blog)
8. Complete your "Meeting 100 People in 2010". (Complete 12/12/10)
9. Send a army care package.

Materialistic (3/6)

1. Buy a painting from the art gallery (Complete - from Australian National Art Gallery)
2. Get a new camera - DSLR?
3. Organise new photo albums for the trips to Vanuatu, New Zealand, Paris, London.
4. Complete photo albums for 2009, 2010 and 2011 (0/3)
5. Get something else from Tiffany & co (Completed 12/9/10)
6. Get a new phone and ipod (2/2) (Completed 25/12/09)

Financial (7/7)

1. Save $4,500 for trip to Paris and London ($4,500/$4,500) (Completed)
2. Pay dad back $1000 ($1000/$1000) (Completed)
3. Get promoted at David Jones. (Completed)
4. Get an online bank account to put the money I'm saving for travel (Completed)
5. Get a job for the year of '10. (Completed)
6. Send off Ruben Scarf Award for the money. (Completed)
7. 
   

Writing/Education (6/29)

1. Have completed a first draft for biography of Alice.
2. Finished researching books for Alice.
3. Written a first draft of your fiction book.
4. Completed a Nanowrimo (November).
5. Completed a Script Frenzy (April).
6. Upload all Romanov photos on photobucket.
7. Complete the 888 challenge. (17/64)
8. Recieve 101 Postcards. (6/101)
9. Watch all "IMDb Top 250" without the foreign films. (19/220)
10. Watch 30 films to make up for the taking out of foreign films (19/33)
11. Attend 15 Concerts/ Festivals/ Stand up/ Plays (8/15) (Big Day Out 2010, Russell Brand, Stephen Fry, Kate Nash, Muse, Russell Howard, Wicked, Eminem)
12. Attend German, French or Italian basic lessons.
13. Get my red P's.
14. Memorise a poem and a sonnet (1/2)
15. Learn how to read music.
16. Write to Kitty every day for a month (31/31) (Completed)
17. Take a creative writing class.
18. Paint/ watercolour/ draw something that you are proud of, that you feel you could hang in your room. (Completed)
19. Received a high distinction in one of your assessments at university.
20. See all Star Wars movies (4/6)
21. See all the classic Audrey Hepburn movies (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Paris When it Sizzles,Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Charade, My Fair Lady, Love in the Afternoon, How to Steal a Million, Two for the Road)
22. Be in the audience for "First Tuesday Bookclub" or "Jennifer Byrne Presents . . ." (Completed 2/7/10)
23. Attend a Twenty/20 cricket match.
24. Attend a NSW cricket match.
25. Attend a Sydney Theatre Company show.
26. Attend the Ballet twice (2/2) (Completed)
27. Vote in an election (Completed 5/12/09)
28. Write poetry. (Completed 29/12/09)
29. See a movie a month at Roseville cinema (1/12) (January - Nowhere Boy,)

Well-being (0/3)

1. Take Adult Ballet lessons.
2. Attend a yoga class, or watch a dvd on yoga.
3. Run a marathon.

Home Life (4/11)

1. Cook twenty dinners for family (5/20) (Rigatoni with Italian Sausage, Lasagna, Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti with Jesse, Enchiladas)
2. Complete a cross stitch.
3. Make bread.
4. Start a recipe folder, putting in all my favourite/good recipes and changes I've made to them.(Completed 28/12/09: Present for Christmas from Jess)
5. Try 20 new restaurants (20/20) (Completed: Terry Hills Thai, Sheriton on the Park breakfast, the restaurant in Christchurch, Flame in Queenstown, Pizzabase in St Ives, new Thai in St Ives, CQ Cafe in Circular Quay, St Leonards Pub for Ash's 19th, El Karim in Roseville, Wagamama in the City, Mamak in Chatswood, Whitewater in Manly, Kingsley's in Wollomolloo, Bathers in Balmoral, The Stoned Crow, ARIA, Burnt Orange, The Rice Den, Station Hotel in North Sydney, Fuuki Japanese in Crows Nest, Small Bar in Crows Nest)
6. Host ten dinners, three have to be with something you cooked (4/10) and (1/3)
7. Cook all recipes from one book/blog (Mars Bar Slice, Butter Cake,)
8. Knit something that is good enough to give as a gift.
9. Attend a wedding. (Completed 18/6/11)
10. Have dinner at David Jones Food Hall in the City. (Completed w/Naomi on VFN)
11. Buy Julie Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Adventure (7/10)

1. Helicopter ride. (Completed)
2. Attend Mardi Gras. (Completed 28/2/10)
3. Attend a soccer game. (Completed)
4. Go iceskating.
5. Skydive.
6. Bungy jump. (Completed)
7. Gamble, go the pokies. (Completed 9/1/10, or 10/1/10, night out for Lucy's birthday at Star City)
8. Make brownies (Completed 4/11/11)
9. Biblestudies Weekend Away. (Completed)
10. Attend a day at the races.

Random (8/12)

1. Send a secret to postsecret tumblr. (Completed 27/12/09)
2. Listen to the Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. (0/500)
3. Stay with Nan twice a year (2/5 - 2010, 2011).
4. Watched a court case. (Completed 7/4/10)
5. Made antlers on your head with sticks and take a photo.
6. Meet 100 new people in 2010 (100/100) - rule is that you have to have met them long enough to be confident in adding them on facebook. (Complete)
7. See Muse live again. (Completed)
8. Russell Brand. (Completed)
9. Go to Pancakes on the Rocks (Completed 16/11/09)
10. Catch up on Fringe seasons, Brothers & Sisters, and Gossip Girl seasons (Completed 3/3)
11. Go to a drive-in movie theatre.
12. Second ear piercing (Completed 30/1/10)

Travel (7/14)

1. Been to the archives/places where Alice lived in Germany.
2. Go to Melbourne. (Completed)
3. Go to Canberra. (Completed)
4. Been to Europe twice (1/2)
5. Travel to New Zealand (Completed 7/2/10)
6. Travel to Vanuatu (Completed 7/12/09 - 18/12/09)
7. Spain.
8. Go on a roadtrip out of Sydney twice (1/2) (To Wollongong for Houseparty with Kat, Rosie and Grace/Lili on the way back)
9. Attend the Australian Open.
10. Go to major beaches (Palm Beach, Marubra, Coogee, Bondi, Bronte) (1/5)
11. Write a 101 list for exchange to England. (Completed: see Westminster Emma)
12. Italy.
13. Write a 101 list for trip to Paris. (Completed)
14. Complete the 101 list for Paris. (Completed)

TOTAL = 101 GOALS

End time: Sunday, August 5, 2012

(45/101)

“Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to God your parents don’t walk in? Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, calvins in a ball on the front seat, past 11:00 on a school night?”

—

The Breakfast Club Claire: What's your name?  Bender: What's yours?  Claire: Claire.  Bender: Claire?  Claire: Claire. It's a family name.  Bender: Oh, it's a fat girl's name.  Claire: Oh, thank you.  Bender: You're welcome. John Bender: What’s that? Claire Standish: Sushi. John Bender: Sushi? Claire Standish: Rice, raw fish, and seaweed. John Bender: You won’t accept a guy’s tongue in your mouth, and you’re going to eat that? Claire Standish: Can I eat? John Bender: I don’t know. Give it a try.  The Breakfast Club, 1985.

To Emma by John Keats

With love-looking eyes, and with voice sweetly bland.  

O come, dearest Emma! the rose is full blown,

And the riches of Flora are lavishly strown,

The air is all softness, and crystal the streams, 

And the West is resplendently clothed in beams.

 

We will hasten, my fair, to the opening glases,

The quaintly carved seats, and the freshening shades,

Where the faeries are chanting their evening hymns,

And in the last sunbeam the sylph lightly swims.

 

And when thou art weary I'll find thee a bed

Of mosses and flowers to pillow thy head;

There, beauteous Emma, I'll sit at thy feet, 

While my story of love I enraptured repeat.

 

So fondly I'll breathe and so softly I'll sigh,

Though wilt think that some amorous Zephyr is nigh -

Ah, no! - as I breathe, I will press thy fair knee,

And then thou wilt know that the sigh comes from me.

 

Then why, lovely girl, should we lose all these blisses?

That mortal's a fool who such happiness misses.

So smile acquiescence, and give me thy hand,

With love-looking eyes, and with voice sweetly bland. 

My brain, heart and soul are filled with so many fluttering thoughts and words that hardly connect - there seems no time to focus on one thought long enough.
There seems to be so much going on around me. It's Wednesday, a week exactly before I graduate from six years at high school.
It is hard to comprehend everything that is happening. There is so much to do, to buy and to feel.
The last extension english class. But it's undoubtful that I will see Mrs M again. There seems to be, more than ever, things to discover and learn.
We watched Pandaemonium in class today. The relationship between Coleridge and Wordsworth. It amazes me. Both of them individually inspire me - its hard to comprehend what they mean to me together. Sometimes, like now, I wonder whether this world - this time - was right for me. Whether the untouched beauties were mine to discover. How jealous I am of those who were able to! Perhaps there are things for me to discover?
I have, of course, got my book to work on. I'm not sure whether I've told you about it before, Kitty. I'm writing one on Princess Alice, the daughter of QV but mother to TA. Perfect. I really believe she's the perfect person to start my career as a historian on.
A few weeks ago I know I wrote about wanting to see The Young Victoria five times at the movies. I know next week is the last week it is showing, and I've seen it FOUR times. Once more I believe. I think I shall achieve my goal.

Love's Secret

William Blake

Never seek to tell thy love,

Love that never told can be;

For the gentle wind doth move

Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,

I told her all my heart,

Trembling, cold in ghastly fears.

Ah! she did depart!

Soon afterwards she was gone from me,

A traveller came by,

Silently, invisibly:

He took her with a sigh.

Thoughts from the 21st century:

1. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
4. I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?
5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
6. That’s enough, Nickelback.
7. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
8. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
9. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.
10. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
11. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.
12. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it. - Out of all 62 of these things, this one definitely describes me the most.
13. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
15. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
18. Was learning cursive really necessary?
19. Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.
20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
21. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
22. My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.
23. Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
24. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
25. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
26. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”
27. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
28. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.
29. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
30. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
31. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
32. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
33. I would like to officially coin the phrase ‘catching the swine flu’ to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: “Dave caught the swine flu last night.”
34. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
35. Bad decisions make good stories
36. Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!
37. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
38. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
39. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
40. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
41. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
42. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
43. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
44. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
45. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV.. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’
46. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
47. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
48. When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
49. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
50. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
52. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
53. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
54. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
55. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.
56. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
57. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?
58. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
59. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
60. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
61. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
62. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner

"Today I was driving by the lake and I saw a Jeep full of guys pass me. They were hanging out the windows and the sunroof, paddling with canoe paddles, and singing "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas. It easily may have been the coolest thing I've seen, ever. (MLIA)"

whitepajamas and i have watched 'twilight' at least eight times.

but never with sound, because the bookshop/cafe we have lunch in insists on playing it non-stop all day on mute.

our substitute dialogue is better.
it makes no sense, but it’s better.

“THE SECRET TO BEING A WRITER IS THAT YOU HAVE TO WRITE. IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO THINK ABOUT WRITING OR TO STUDY LITERATURE OR PLAN A FUTURE LIFE AS AN AUTHOR. YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOCK YOURSELF AWAY, ALONE, AND GET TO WORK.”

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS

Reading old diaries. It’s a become a ritual, especially on the occasions I’m infrequently home, or late nights filled with an emptiness, where nothing else seems to matter. So, I turn to the past. Retrospective and reminiscing, the silliness of an old version of myself, many old versions in colorful sizes and formats. There’s the pink Juicy Couture journal, with its thick gold embossed pages holding all the secrets of my first real romance. There’s the interchangeable slew of cute Asian notebooks with broken English and adorable designs. There are the trusty moleskins, with cramped writing crawling up the pages with endless aspirations, fears and stories and stories.

Stacks and stacks of notebooks (my love of stationery probably doesn’t help this quick turnover rate of angsty journals) with days, months and years of life fitted inside. Each revisit of these old stories is quite a different feeling. There is relief, of course, that I’m no longer the trapped, fearful, naive girl I once was. That I’m no longer undergoing the hell that was high school, San Diego. There is a sense of bitter-sweet nostalgia. Those stories of the past meant so much at the time, after all. And then there is this inescapable fluttering sense of loss.

Like the joy that used to come with every little experience, every night spent away from home, every day in some familiar but far off destination. Or the simple happiness that rushed in after finishing a horrible school assignment, the butterflies from a glance of a crush. It was so painfully complex, but now complicated is the expected, simplicity is impossible.

Perhaps this is how it’s meant to be, this evolution, this habituation, so that the little things that used to inspire blissful exhilaration now, at most, inspires a small smile, or some resigned acceptance. And always, striving for something greater, bigger, some adventure and excitement that exceeds the past, some explosive surreal dream that turns my life into another fantasy.

Someday this pile of notebooks and journals will turn into a massive box of them, pages and pages of daily life, endless pages in scrawling handwriting telling stories that I can’t tell, feelings I no longer remember, faces I’ve long lost. For now they remind me of the incredible changes that occur in just a year, six months, a summer. And I wonder how much more can possibly happen in just a week, a month, a year.

The blank pages ahead voice their excitement.

Do you keep a journal? Read diaries of years past?