As I look back at some of my posts I might come off too serious, depressing and overly opinionated. So I decided to write about five of my favorite things. Now there are some things that are just a given. Of course my wife Heidi and son Henry are at the top of my list. And despite their limitations I also love being a Mormon and a social worker. These five items are in addition to all of those givens.
1. Documentaries: Learning is definitely one of my favorite things and audiovisual is even better. There are all kinds of documentaries like the psychopathic romance 'Crazy Love,' the urban American political thriller 'Street Fight,' conflict films such as 'The Fog of War' and 'Why We Fight,' and the frighteningly funny 'Jesus Camp.' But if you only have time to watch one documentary check out 'The King of Kong,' one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. As for now I am on 'Darwin's Nightmare.' P.S. We almost named Henry 'William Mitchell.'
2. Dog Parks: Nothing beats the 'Dog Fancier's Park' in Las Vegas. More than two years before we moved from Vegas we met the Andersons and Rosses every Sunday for at least an hour so we spent over 100 hours, probably closer to 200, at the 'DP.' We talked about school, entertainment, church, politics, you name it, point is we had a lot of good times while our dogs played and wandered aimlessly. Naturally Heidi and I were ecstatic when our new apartment complex put in a pretty nice dog park, unfortunately there is no Buddy, Tilli, or Bandit.
3. Audiobooks: My favorite pass time is reading but I am way too busy to sit and read as much as I would like. So apparently God inspired someone to invent audiobooks which enables me to 'read' 2-3 books a week. I check them out from the library, put them on my iPod and listen to them while I drive all over the place for work, go to the gym, or go on walks, which just happens to be my next favorite thing.
4. Walking: I have always loved walking and would wander throughout my neighborhood and mountains while growing up. While serving a mission we did not have bikes, cars, or even the best public transportation. Nope, we walked everywhere. Heidi and I go on two walks a day and some of the most meaningful conversations and best team building we have ever done has been on our walks. Gandhi wrote in his autobiography that he walked all the time for his health, to clear his head, and to get places without having to rely on someone else.
5. Creepy Movies/TV: I do not like slasher flicks, cheap scares are not my thing. But genuinely creepy shows and films such as 'Coraline' mesmerize me. Yeah, I know you might be thinking 'Coraline' is a kid's movie but I'm sorry when the story line involves little kids sewing buttons in place of their eyes it's a creepy movie in my book. Another movie that terrorized me as a kid, 'Dumbo,' specifically the pink elephant scene which still brings on the shivers. Some of my favorite TV shows are complicated creepy shows with flashes of violence and humor such as 'The X-Files,' 'Lost,' and female-friendly 'Medium.'
BONUS: History: History is my first academic love. I was obsessed with the Wild West and Roaring '20s as a kid. I love museums and historical sights (I stopped at every historical marker on our honeymoon). Many books I read are histories and biographies and recently I watched the 'John Adams' miniseries. If there was a practical way to make money off of history besides teaching I would do it in a heartbeat.
1. Documentaries: Learning is definitely one of my favorite things and audiovisual is even better. There are all kinds of documentaries like the psychopathic romance 'Crazy Love,' the urban American political thriller 'Street Fight,' conflict films such as 'The Fog of War' and 'Why We Fight,' and the frighteningly funny 'Jesus Camp.' But if you only have time to watch one documentary check out 'The King of Kong,' one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. As for now I am on 'Darwin's Nightmare.' P.S. We almost named Henry 'William Mitchell.'
2. Dog Parks: Nothing beats the 'Dog Fancier's Park' in Las Vegas. More than two years before we moved from Vegas we met the Andersons and Rosses every Sunday for at least an hour so we spent over 100 hours, probably closer to 200, at the 'DP.' We talked about school, entertainment, church, politics, you name it, point is we had a lot of good times while our dogs played and wandered aimlessly. Naturally Heidi and I were ecstatic when our new apartment complex put in a pretty nice dog park, unfortunately there is no Buddy, Tilli, or Bandit.
3. Audiobooks: My favorite pass time is reading but I am way too busy to sit and read as much as I would like. So apparently God inspired someone to invent audiobooks which enables me to 'read' 2-3 books a week. I check them out from the library, put them on my iPod and listen to them while I drive all over the place for work, go to the gym, or go on walks, which just happens to be my next favorite thing.
4. Walking: I have always loved walking and would wander throughout my neighborhood and mountains while growing up. While serving a mission we did not have bikes, cars, or even the best public transportation. Nope, we walked everywhere. Heidi and I go on two walks a day and some of the most meaningful conversations and best team building we have ever done has been on our walks. Gandhi wrote in his autobiography that he walked all the time for his health, to clear his head, and to get places without having to rely on someone else.
5. Creepy Movies/TV: I do not like slasher flicks, cheap scares are not my thing. But genuinely creepy shows and films such as 'Coraline' mesmerize me. Yeah, I know you might be thinking 'Coraline' is a kid's movie but I'm sorry when the story line involves little kids sewing buttons in place of their eyes it's a creepy movie in my book. Another movie that terrorized me as a kid, 'Dumbo,' specifically the pink elephant scene which still brings on the shivers. Some of my favorite TV shows are complicated creepy shows with flashes of violence and humor such as 'The X-Files,' 'Lost,' and female-friendly 'Medium.'
BONUS: History: History is my first academic love. I was obsessed with the Wild West and Roaring '20s as a kid. I love museums and historical sights (I stopped at every historical marker on our honeymoon). Many books I read are histories and biographies and recently I watched the 'John Adams' miniseries. If there was a practical way to make money off of history besides teaching I would do it in a heartbeat.
4 comments:
Paul and I watched "John Adams" a few months ago and loved it...but we still haven't seen "Coraline" but I really want to because I am with you on the creepy films (and documentaries...have you seen "Expelled," cause I want to know if it is good).
John and I still laugh about King of Kong! I just bought the audio book John Adams for Valentines day so he can listen to it during his commute. He likes it!
I love audio books also. I can drive for hours with a good audio book. I love Lost and use to watch x-files. I brought my daughters to see Coraline and they loved it. They kept saying it was the best movie. But I was very disappointed with the old actress lady who was naked. Maybe I'm a prude, but when Madi is asking why there is a naked women? I have to worry about what they're allowing in kids movies.
Oh, that Billy Mitchell. You should google him, I did, and I found out that he was awarded the title of "Dweebus Maximus Dorkus of both the 20th and 21st centuries" by Maxim magazine and also that he placed 8th in a contest in 2007. I bet that made him furious!
Nicole and I are jealous that you have a 'DP' to go to, they don't have those in VT.
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