Love at First Sight

"And they lived happily ever after..." says the storyteller as the prince and princess, or prince and peasant girl, or farm boy and buttercup walk or ride into the fairytale sunset. This of course follows a trying episode in which most certainly the lovers would never be together. That was preceded by the magical first meeting where the two looked into each others eyes and realized they had met before "once upon a dream," and that life as they know it has come to an end." Ahhh, yes love at first sight, it had been wrote of, dreamed of, talked of, and laughed at.

A couple weeks ago my industrious students and I stumbled onto the question of love at first sight. "That's a fairytale," one of my girls declared. "No one can fall in love at first sight."

As it is my duty as teacher to challenge their assumptions, all I said was, "Really?" and looked at her with half-raised eyebrows indicating that she had not considered all the options.

But, really? Maybe my student just knows that real life is better than dreams and reality firmer than romance.

And yet... In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo declares when he first sees Juliet, "I never saw true beauty until tonight." If what he saw was really true than didn't he need to love her? Isn't that the proper response to beauty? And if he saw her right, that he means he really looked... perhaps the reason no one loves at first sight is because something is wrong with our sight. And if our eyes were less blind than maybe we could really see, and love. Crazy? Maybe, but love usually is... At least this idea made my students pause.

And after all, once, when I was in Spain browsing an outdoor market, wandering through the different merchandise. I saw...



A beautiful blues Spanish style pendant and I knew that it had to be mine.... Love at first sight my friends ; )

-Leilani

Indecision

I had a bride this week who loved two dresses:

She was paralyzed. Completely trapped by indecision. I've had plenty of brides fall in love with two gowns, resulting in a love traingle between the bride and the dresses. But I've never had anyone quite so indecisive as her. The resulting appointment had all the pathos and drama of a soap opera: there were tears, anger, frustration, and she even broke out in a case of hives.
And before you think, bridezilla, don't. She was one of those good, down to earth people, making her a likeable heroine. All I wanted was for her to find the gown of her dreams and ride off into the sunset with it, free from the anguish of confusion.
So what happened?
Well, we tried on both the gowns a total of twenty-one times. I discussed the various pros and cons with her. She asked everyone in sight what they thought. We reviewed pictures.
Finally, 3 hours later, she picked the first gown (and my personal favorite for her).
And then she was happy. All the stress dissolved. A simple choice relieved hours of tension and frustration.
Oh, and by the way, she picked the first one.

Huntington Library and Lakers

I went to the Huntington Library today. It's one of those places filled with guys proposing to their girlfriends and senior citizens meandering around the gardens. I don't really like being outside or exploring nature but I did smell five dozen different rose bushes (resulting in a mild high brought on by the rich fumes).

I love roses. They are my favorite flower. I used to like white ones until I realized they were at every funeral I've ever been to (thus, tarnishing my affection for them. Now they just look morbid).

So now I like hybrid flowers, which, I've learned don't even grow naturally. They are manufactured in a lab, the result of two roses being mixed together. They are better than your average rose because they are TWO colors and not just one!

And while today was all about culture, high tea, and roses, last night I went to a basketball game. The Lakers! Which was amazingly fun. I like basketball because, unlike soccer or baseball, it's indoors, so you can be nice and warm while you watch. No cold bleachers involved. And it's fast moving which equals exciting.

It was my very first Laker game so I was careful to put on a lot of makeup. After all, this would be the first time Kobe Bryant ever saw me.

However, it turned out Kobe was NOT there (which, as a paying customer, made me upset). But Shannon Brown was. And he was super cute. And while he didn't seem to notice me (I still supported him and clapped every time he made a basket), it was a blast. Since Shannon didn't seem interested, I channeled all my love to my man instead:

Cause after all, I have to be honest. He's way cuter than Shan or Kobe. -Autumn

Firefly

TV shows and me have a love/hate relationship. Begrudgingly, I have allowed myself to watch Alias and slowly become interested and then wish I wasn't...because there were SO MANY episodes.

And, I haven't sat down to seriously watch Lost, well because, the first couple episodes were scary. I tried to do laundry at 11:00 pm after watching a few and walking through my typically "safe" apartment complex I genuinely felt fear, usually, that's not me. But, the hardest obstacle (as already alluded to) is the time commitment. If I start watching a show that means years worth of TV time- its a big promise. So what to do?

Well, the first step was to realize watching a show with people is "bonding." Together we get to know characters and bemoan their bad decisions and laud their triumphs. It is a safe, newsy topic of conversation. I mean after all "It is just awful that Bones refused to be with Booth. I mean can't she see what's good for her?" (Of course we the audience know what she should do, and they the script writers know they better keep that conclusion far off to keep us the audience watching.)

The next step was to actually watch a complete season without skipping episodes, something down the lines of the journey is worth it. (And depending on the story, it is worth it... If only one could know that from the start.) So Buffy, season two, oh yeah.

But to complete an actual series? Now that would be a feat. Well, over the past several weeks I have gotten to know Mal, Captain of serenity, and his crew of space cowboys. I have enjoyed the theme song, big, commanding, take all this, but I still have my freedom, sort of theme song. I liked it. I didn't appreciate some of the "lower" elements, but I pretty much thought the captain was amazing. (He was loyal, doesn't get much better). Yesterday, I did it. I watched a complete series! Firefly. Done.

Oh, did I mention the best part. Firefly was only FOURTEEN episodes long!! So, Lost here I come... I CAN commit to a TV series.

-Leilani