The Lion

Agnes cautiously approached the sleeping lions. The African sun beat down on her as she raised her camera. Others would have used the camera’s zoom from a safe distance, but the picture quality was never very good, and she wasn’t afraid of the lions.
The gathering of beasts were lying beneath the shadows of a small group of trees. They were all aware of Agnes’s presence and they weren’t concerned at all. She was obviously alone, having left her jeep a good fifty feet away and her baggy t-shirt made it more than a little clear that she wouldn’t be any kind of a good meal, humans didn’t taste very good anyways.
Finding the perfect angle she started taking pictures.
One lion yawned.
“Oh perfect,” she whispered snapping away.The true essence of the lion during the day: a sleepy fur ball with a mouthful of teeth.
The sun was beginning to set when she was done, drawing her hand across her sweating forehead she unclasped the water bottle off her leather belt and took a long drink.
Taking one last look at the pride, she raised her bottle in a salute.
“Thanks a lot my friends.” She took another swig.
Slinging her camera over her shoulder she headed back to the jeep, satisfied with her days work.

Disney Memories

I grew up watching Disney cartoons, and as a result if a Disney movie is playing somewhere, chances are I can recite the lines word-for-word until the very end of the movie. We were also big fans of the Disney Sing Along Songs videos. We still have them in a drawer somewhere. I still think the Disney songs are cool and I'm not ashamed of posting Disney clips on facebook and bursting into spontaneous recitations of Disney full length feature films.
I can't help but feel bad for younger generations, I keep an eye on what Disney comes out with, and a lot of their stuff isn't the caliber of fun that my generation got, do they even have sing Alongs anymore?

A Conversation Between Three Parents

Linda: How old are your children?
Jim: Thirty-five and thirty-three.
Martha: Nineteen, seventeen, and fifteen.
Linda: Ooh.
Martha: What?
Jim: Don’t worry, they’ll be gone soon.
M: Why should I worry?
J: Well, when my children were teenagers, my wife and I took every opportunity to be out of the house: golfing, fishing, hunting, women’s group for her and poker every Friday and Saturday night for me, and adult church supper every Sunday evening.
L: Yes, yes. I have a three year old and a five year old, so I know exactly what you mean by needing to get away.
J chuckling: I still remember all of those sleepless nights getting the baby to stop crying!
L: Tell me about it.
M: Well, that’s the deal with babies, they don’t understand how to wait; when they need something they need it now.
L: Yes, yes, but they’re so….needy.
J: That’s how they are, and it doesn’t ever stop. Even now my kids call me: “Benny broke his arm and I don’t think I can pay the bill.” Did you ever think of getting health insurance? He’s not my kid; it’s time you take responsibility.
M: Is Benny your…step-grandson?
J: No, he’s my grandson, why did you think-
L interrupting: Maybe they can’t afford insurance.
J: Oh they could if they thought ahead and saved.
There was a silence.
L: I can’t even fathom three teenagers.
M: It’s really not that bad-
J: Oh, you’re just more patient then the rest of us.
M: Perhaps.
L: I must say I’ve never seen three teens more well-behaved. How did you do that?
M: Love, care, coddling and being honest.
J scoffs.
L: Well, we all do that, but what’s your secret? What do you do to make them behave?
M: I don’t do anything. They learned basic manners when they were really young. Every once in awhile they need reminders, but we all do, don’t we?
M gives a laugh to break the tension.
J: How did you do that?
M: I was always right there reminding them. If I said “No” and they didn’t listen, there was always a consequence. I never let them get away with anything, so they grew up knowing that if they chose to cross a line they would get into trouble.
L: But that sounds so time-consuming.
J: And straining.
M: Sometimes that part of raising a child is hard, but I found most of it all a joy.
J grunts and walks off.
L as she walks away: Well, I have no idea how you can have all of that energy.
M to herself: You don’t care enough to make the effort. That’s too bad for you.

Wolves - If everyone cared

I found this yesterday. I believe it to be a great representation of the beauty of these animals. Wolves have been greatly misunderstood for centuries. If we all learned to think with clarity and logic, we would all understand that the wolf is a needed animal in the wild to keep the balance of life and death. The elimination of this vital strand of the web of life can only lead to disaster. Not to mention the wolves serve as a reminder for us humans that all things of nature have a place and are beautiful.

When They First Met

Jessica was exited the High School bus. She and her family had just moved into town and this was her first day at school. She came up to the brick building that resembled a prison; it even had bars in the windows.
As she stepped inside, the over-cooled air seemed to assault the exposed skin on her face, arms and hands. Thank goodness she had been thoughtful enough to wear jeans today.
She managed to find her first class without too much difficulty, and took a seat just moments before the bell rang; which didn't give anyone time to speak to her, and that was okay with her.
Jessica had always gone to public school, but she had never been able to find any long lasting friendships. She had always been different, even when she was little. She hadn't played with dolls, nor had she ridden a pink bicycle with streamers coming out of the handle bars like all the normal little girls. Jessica had liked to play with toy cars and she had ridden a black mountain bike as soon as she was big enough.
Whenever she met kids her age, it would start out fine, Jessica wasn't an unlikable person, then the differences started to show and something would come up that would cause everyone to be uncomfortable around her and they'd leave.
Now that she was in High School, she was just as different as ever, and she had no reason to expect making friends to be any better than it had been in the past.
Getting to her second class wasn't as easy as the first. When the first bell rang, she finally gave in and decided to approach someone.
Looking around, she saw another girl closing her locker.
Walking up to her, Jessica asked where room 24 A was located.
The girl seemed to be older than Jessica by at least a year; she gave some clean cut directions to the classroom.
After thanking the girl, Jessica introduced herself; the other girl said she was named Grace.
As they parted, Jessica had no way of knowing that Grace would prove to be the best kind of friend one could have.

My Movie Grievances

Maybe I’m weird, and out of the loop, but I don’t care, I can’t get this issue out of my head.
Yesterday we watched “Nowhere Boy” a movie about John Lennon’s adolescence. I mostly
enjoyed the movie; it was well put together, and well told. The key word in that statement is “mostly”. They had a sex scene that I felt was completely unnecessary, and didn’t contribute to the story in any way, shape or form; if anything it decreased the quality of the movie as a whole. We get it, John messed around a lot. We know this. The whole world knows this; they really didn’t need to do that.
That’s my standing point for all movies, TV shows, and even books: you don’t need it. People who are into that kind of thing have plenty of romance novels and pornography to keep them entertained; they don’t need to put it in my movies too. People, like myself, who watch movies for the acting and the story, don’t need (or want) to see that. We get it. The camera can phase out and go onto a different scene before clothes start hitting the floor, really, really.
The same goes for action scenes. Some of them go on way too long. We get it, they’re fighting…now what. Things like that in real life rarely last very long. Either you’re a good fighter, or you’re not. Luck is on your side, or it isn’t. That’s the way it really goes.
Give me a more expanded and twisted plot; more things going on in the story. You might say that I’ll like things that the British come out with. No. Things that could be summed up in two minutes take them twenty minutes. They even make an exciting plot,like a worldwide epidemic take forever: Okay, main character is fine, world is sick…view the government people panicking…view other people who aren’t important panicking……view the main character in her everyday life as people around the world are becoming ill……see main character’s dysfunctional family…see the government panicking again…see main character start to cough…see main character’s best friend get sick…see dysfunctional family again…main character’s husband starts to wonder if she is sick.
At this pace I have grown old and died before we find out if the main character has the same illness as everyone else, or if she just has a cold and is somehow immune to the disease.
As a result there are only a couple of movies and TV shows that I enjoy completely. Maybe I’m just picky…Nah, the sex scenes are still unnecessary.