Woodshop

One of my favorite classes in middle school was woodshop. In fact, I took it all three years from sixth to eighth grade. Looking back it seems kinda crazy - that a sixth grader was permitted to operate power tools and bandsaws and belt sanders. How old were we in sixth grade? Eleven I think. But eventually, when you know, I have kids, could I imagine letting my eleven year old kid take woodshop? When I was sixth grade I felt pretty mature, didn't feel like a kid, so I think that's something to keep in mind. Despite how tiny they look now, kids are smarter and more savvy than we might think. After all, we were all once kids. It's just too bad that woodshop has been canceled at my old middle school, 'cause it was really fun.

Side note, I think the only "serious" injury I sustained from woodshop was actually trying to cut... felt. With a box cutter. I had the box cutter upside down, and pressed my thumb against the bladed side. There was lots of bleeding, but my blood clotting kicked in and I healed like Wolverine. And then I judo chopped that box cutter.

Jaywalkers

I hate jaywalkers. Let me be more specific. I hate jaywalkers who TAKE THEIR TIME. If you want to dash across the street when there's no incoming traffic, be my guest. If you can make it across without requiring a driver to half to slow down, fine. BUT if you slowly saunter across the street, such that I have to slow my car to a crawl, then you my friend, or really that should be enemy, are on my hate list. If there were only some way to teach these people a lesson... you know... without running them over. Because that's the lesson they need to learn! They're lucky I have catlike reflexes.

Drag Me To Hell

... I don't really want to be dragged to hell. That's just the name of a movie.



I don't particularly like horror movies. I don't like loud creepy noises, things jumping out at me, or grotesque images. But occasionally I will watch one -- provided that it;s good. Last week, I watched Drag Me To Hell, which has 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Before that I watched The Orphanage, which is 86% on RT. Before that it was probably the Resident Evil movies. I kinda equate people who like Horror movies to people who like Spicy Foods. They're spicy movies that target the senses beyond what is comfortable. But I do like spicy foods.

So back to Drag Me To Hell. It's actually a fun horror movie. Pretty much right from the beginning it was trying to scare you. And it wasn't torture pr0n. There were some gross out moments, but nothing that relied on blood and guts. Where the Orphanage was more atmospheric in it's scariness, Drag Me To Hell had things jumping at you and then quickly relieving the tension with ridiculous gags, like projectile vomiting. Director Sam Raimi has a quirky sense of humor. I haven't seen any of his old horror movies, but you can certainly see the similarities in his style of directing for the Spider-Man movies.

Horror movies are fun with large audiences, when other people are also jumping in their seats or making comments about how coming to watch this movie was such a bad idea. When the movie is over, you feel good that you "survived" the experience. According to Michael, Drag Me To Hell was one of the scariest movies he's seen. And he whined like a little baby that the speakers in the theater was too loud. And then he huddled in a corner with his hands covering his ears. JK. Well some of it is true, you can guess which parts.

Although Drag Me To Hell was a pretty "fun" experience, I still don't like to be scared in general. But I am perfectly willing to watch a good horror movie.