The Creator's Playbook Podcast: "Space Ducks" - Turning Point

The Creator's Playbook 

 

Episode 52: "Space Ducks" - Turning Point

 

Hosts: Sarah and Robbie

"What was the moment our life changed directions? What caused it? Why did that thing create a proverbial hinge in our own lives and send us off to new things and new places. Turning Point is something not only all stories share, but we ourselves experienced personally throughout our lives. Join Robbie and Sarah as they take a character and push them in a new direction."

 

This was such an interesting episode to record.  Robbie did the prompt, and I had the darnedest time focusing!!!  In the prompt, without giving too much away, the character wipes bug guts off his face shield, but for some reason I heard "duck's", so as he continued reading I was just fixated on ducks, and why were there ducks, and just didn't hear the rest of the story.  Robbie had to reread it to me again (which is edited out) and ducks became a joke during the episode.

 

Heh, so it was fun.  Still a little hung up on all the ducks. :P  So hopefully you have a little extra time and can check the episode out.  Hopefully you find it funny.

PS. I know I said I was returning to this blog in the beginning of May, but then realized that it would still be good to do the podcast posts.  I still stumble onto social media out of habit, so it's been a challenge.  Uninstalled FB off my phone, and it's been a total eye-opener to how addicted I am to the app.  Constantly I want to open it, go to the empty space on my home page, and get a little sad, so it's good I'm taking this break.  It's just so weird!!!

See you in a week with another Podcast update!

Sarah

 

PPSS: I'm going to challenge myself to not talk about space on my next episode. >_<

 

Taking a Few Week Break & The Creepiness of Ads, etc

I kinda reached a point where I need to take another Social Media break, including a break from this blog.  I'm not going out of town or doing anything special.  It's just good every now and then to take a step away.

One thing is I got a little creeped out this last week!  So... I watch 90 Day Fiance.  It's a little guilty pleasure that started up last year.  Anywho... so, the last half of last weeks episode was a baby special, and one of the people on there is this guy named Jovi.  His name was said quite a bit during this section, and half way through the special I opened my FB app.  What did I see?  Right on top was an ad for the Jovi Patch, something that's used for periods.  Isn't that insane?!!!!  I haven't searched or talked about it.  Never heard of it.  If anything all my ads tend to be for soap/fragrance companies, because it's fun to look through those sites, and I really like mini soaps.

To add to this creepiness, a little while back my youngest brother was talking to my sister-in-law about Christmas gifts, and they were doing so while speaking Spanish, as to hide what they wanted to get.  Well, my brother opened up FB and found an ad for said gift on his homepage, in Spanish!!  There's no mistaking that.

So I'm taking a few weeks break.  I'll also be spring cleaning and organizing, which is greatly needed.  Last month I did an order for Paperblanks journals and got a free gift.  An organizer with dot paper.  Had no idea such a thing existed, and fell down the rabbit hole while researching.  It's for something called bullet journaling.  Oh my goodness, there are websites and YouTube channels dedicated to the topic.  The gifted journal is so cute!  It will get used.  Oh, but it's a little overwhelming, which probably defeats the purpose.  I'm going to use it for goal planning and other fun pages.  Literally the sky's the limit.

Have a nice few weeks,

The Creator's Playbook is still happening,

See you in May,

Sarah

 

The Creator's Playbook Podcast: "Mr. Whiskers" - Animal Companion

The Creator's Playbook

Episode 51: "Mr. Whiskers" - Animal Companion

Hosts: Michael and Steven

"There is nothing better in this world than a faithful furry companion. In today's episode of Creator's Playbook, we talk all about stories with animal companions! What makes a great animal companion, how do they help the main characters grow, and how can we learn from them as an audience?"

 

This is a very sweet idea Michael and Steven played around with, and it's a little out of the norm for some of our stories.  If you have free time I hope you're able to listen and enjoy it.

 

Have a great weekend,

Sarah

Awakening Dreams...

Dreams are fascinating, frustrating, and fun.  They're doorways to our subconscious: worries, aspirations, happenstance, troubles, and random wanderings.  Sometimes they mean something.  Sometimes they simply mean nothing.

There was a period of time I kept having dreams where I was in a burning plane or a plane falling apart.  Another period of time my dreams consisted of wanting to use a bathroom and all the bathrooms were either super filthy, had locked doors, or no doors.  I still occasionally have dreams where I'm in my old childhood home in Porterville, stuck there, trapped, sometimes there's hidden rooms, but it always feels dead-ended.

Recently my recurring dreams of the last few years have dealt with being back in school.  There's a class I'm signed up for, just before graduation, and for some reason I never attend this class and fail.  A couple weeks ago it was a history class.  Honestly I can't remember what the classes were in past dreams, but I think those may have been history as well.

A few weeks ago I had a startling creepy dream.  I was in a school setting again, but a futuristic large building with tall glass walls.  There was a flat walking path ahead to my left and an escalator to my right, and on the sign it said those who hadn't gotten the vax shot (the one for our real world situation) had to go up the escalator.   I was forced up, and at the top was a long table with nurses on both sides.  A nurse came up to me, needle in hand, and before I could react she stuck it in my arm.  I felt shocked and violated.  As I moved from dream to dream I kept looking at my arm expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

(I should mention that one of the dreams I moved into that night involved eating gummy bears, pooping them out, and them turning into a gummy bear army with little swords... so there's that).

My family is an even mix between those who have gotten the virus vs the shot.

Where do I stand?  I got the first shot this last week.  I didn't want to do it.  I was going to wait and see, see what the reactions are and new data, etc.  I looked on the app last Friday and there were no spots.  Completely filled up.  And I thought, "Good, remove that stress."  Then on Saturday, in the afternoon, I got the prompting to check the app again.  A full slate of times opened up, and within a few minutes I was scheduled.

I've been feeling great anxiety over it.  Worried.  Mixed up emotionally to the point my digestive track got involved with the stress.  But I went, shocked I was going at all, shocked I was in the chair, and shocked while I waited to see if there would be any reaction.  So far my right arm is sore, but not much beyond that.

Honestly I don't know how I feel about it, and the fact I went through with it.  I just kinda fell into the motion of it all.  I'm still really nervous about possible outcomes, but it has now happened.  I thoroughly understand why people don't want to take the shot.  For myself I'm just kinda amazed.  A full week ago I never imagined I would have gone through with it, but here I am, sore arm and all.

Anywho, I did stress buy history books off the Amazon Marketplace, 5 books by Mark Girouard: Life in the English Country House, Life in the French Country House, A Country House Companion, The Victorian Country House (hopefully it's the 2nd edition as listed), and The English Town a History of Urban Life.  They're like historical HGTV, but in books!  With pictures.  I'm so excited to get them, but I'll have to rearrange my bookshelves again. :\

Sarah

 

This is Me :D

A few weeks ago one of my nieces painted my Mom some pictures, amongst them was a picture of me.  She was very adamant and sure as to what I'm doing in this picture: Swinging on a swing while swinging a yo-yo!!  XD  Honestly not once have I ever performed such an act.  It's sweet that she thinks I'm capable. :P  Had a good laugh over this.  Kids are the sweetest.

Classic Movie Monday: My Fair Lady (1964) & Pygmalion (1938)

What is Pygmalion? It's a play by George Bernard Shaw, written in 1913, and inspired by Greek Mythology where "Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life," according to Wikipedia.  Shaw capitalized on this idea by writing a play about a linguist being challenged to teach a flower seller from Piccadilly to speak properly, and then pass her off as upper class.

 

This play was very successful and inspired a movie by its original name in 1938 starring Leslie Howard (the Scarlet Pimpernel from a previous review) and Wendy Hiller, a stage musical called My Fair Lady in 1956 starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, and then a film version of the musical in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison returning to the role.

 

(Julie Andrews truly wanted to be in the My Fair Lady film, but wasn't cast due to not being famous enough, and then was cast in Mary Poppins in which she earned an Oscar, the same year My Fair Lady won a bunch of Oscars).

 

The first time I watched My Fair Lady was entrancing.  Instant love.  The story was fun, loved the music, and it was the first time I saw Hepburn on film.  Oh, I loved Hepburn so much in this role, and was disappointed to learn many years later that she didn't do any of her own singing, which was done by the incredibly talented, though sadly forgotten, Marni Nixon.  That's another story.  I still love Hepburn as Eliza.

 

My Fair Lady follows closely with Shaw's vision, though with grander settings and music.  Eliza is still the flower girl turned lady, but there's a horse race and other delightful sets, both grand and simple musical numbers ("Wouldn't It Be Loverly?", "Just You Wait", "The Rain in Spain", and "I Could Have Danced All Night", etc, are all favorites), and wonderful costuming. 

 

A couple weeks ago My Fair Lady was on TCM, and I sat for the whole of it, and it was wonderful until the end.  Eliza coming back to Higgins, and Higgins smugly asking for his slippers.  The built up left me cold, and how is it, after all these viewings, did I not realize how unhealthy this relationship was going to be?  If you've seen the movie you know how egotistical, lack of empathy, and needing to control Higgins is.  By the end you learn how dependent Higgins has become with Eliza.  He seems to want her not because he loves her, but because he needs her in a superficial way.  She seems happy to oblige, though Eliza could have ran off with Freddie.  

 

Talking about Freddie, the other guy.  When he sings "On the Street Where She Lives" is quite romantic.  Though the way he fawns and waits for her is problematic, and a little annoying.

 

I was wondering how the 1938 movie depicts the story, being closer to the original stage version, and it sadly has the same ending... with the call for slippers.  And Freddy is an absolute dolt!!!!!  Oh, he's stupid.  At least in My Fair Lady he seems to be respectable and honestly in that telling Eliza should have ended up with him instead of the demanding, take credit for everything Higgins. 

 

(If you want to watch Pygmalion it's on HBO Max.  It is enjoyable, apart from the ending.)

 

Eliza should not have ended up with Higgins, and apparently Shaw agreed!!  It is a hugely troublesome relationship, that is if Higgins never learned to truly love Eliza, which we never get to see.  It seems "Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life," only I greatly doubt that Higgins truly loves Eliza.

 

This is from Wikipedia, though no source was given. "Shaw fought against a Higgins-Eliza happy-end pairing as late as 1938. He sent the 1938 film version's producer, Gabriel Pascal, a concluding sequence which he felt offered a fair compromise: a tender farewell scene between Higgins and Eliza, followed by one showing Freddy and Eliza happy in their greengrocery-flower shop. Only at the sneak preview did he learn that Pascal had finessed the question of Eliza's future with a slightly ambiguous final scene in which Eliza returns to the house of a sadly musing Higgins and self-mockingly quotes her previous self announcing, "I washed my face and hands before I come, I did"."

 

Oh I would love to see the My Fair Lady version of Freddy, not the super dolt version, with Eliza in a flower shop.  Wouldn't that be Marvelous??!!!  That's the ending the show should have had.  It would have been better for all the characters.

 

A girl can dream...

 

Sarah

The Chosen & Latter-Day Saint General Conference

So, my heart is full.  Very, very full.

I just finished watching the live stream for The Chosen, a show about Jesus Christ and his followers, which was on YouTube, though the rest of the show will be on their app.  It's free!  And it's AMAZING!!!!  They're on Season two (just started airing), completely crowd funded, and if you missed season one it's all on the app.  The show truly is amazing.  We forget how human they all are, and this show truly expresses that, makes it so relatable, and makes me want to understand the scriptures better.

And this, along with being Easter Weekend, was also General Conference weekend, where leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints speak in televised sessions.  There's five sessions, three on Saturday and two on Sunday, and I watched all five.

This mornings session was just so beautiful.  Most of these talks were given by those around the world talking of their faith in Christ and thankfulness for the atonement.  Learned an interesting thing.  Apparently, I'll have to re-listen to the talks, but both Elder Gong and Elder Ballard spoke of how there's more singles in the church than married.  Did I miss hear that?  Singles as in never married, divorced, or widowed.  These two Elder's spoke such words of comfort.  It's so easy to feel alone when single.  And President Russel M. Nelson's talk was just so beautiful.  I need to re-listen to that and write down those five points of faith he spoke of, as I don't take notes while watching conference. 

Plus we're getting 20 new temples!!!!  Oslo, Norway. Brussels, Belgium. Vienna, Austria. Kumasi, Ghana. Beira, Mozambique. Cape Town, South Africa. Singapore, Republic of Singapore. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Cali, Colombia. Querétaro, México. Torreón, México. Helena, Montana. Casper, Wyoming. Grand Junction, Colorado. Farmington, New Mexico. Burley, Idaho. Eugene, Oregon. Elko, Nevada. Yorba Linda, California. Smithfield, Utah.

We always get excited over new Temple announcements.  Like, really excited.  And we never know when they're going to be announced!  20 has to be the most they've ever announced at one time.  It's crazy.  So happy for all those people getting a temple closer to them so they don't have to travel as far.  It's such a blessing.  I love the temple so, so much.  It's such a warm, special place.

I'm cooking dinner.  Got something in the oven and need to start on the other things.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  It's so beautiful right now!  We got up to 77 degrees and I went with my Mom on a quick drive up to the lake and back in between the last session and The Chosen streaming.

Good Night,

Good Sabbath,

Happy Easter,

Sarah

P.S.  Classic Movie Monday will be released later tomorrow as I haven't written it.  I know I missed it last week!  But this week I'm comparing two movies, so two in one.

50th Creator's Playbook Podcast Episode!! All 3 of My Siblings and I are on It!

The Creator's Playbook

Episode 50: "32 Years Late" ~ Unexpected Letter

Hosts: Michael, Steven, Robbie, and Me!!! (First time all four of us has been on an episode)

"From Romantic beginnings, to lost loved ones, Unexpected letters can enrich your stories with messages your characters need to get them to where they should be to make your stories great; for an unexpected letter can send your story off in mysterious ways. Join Michael, Robbie, Sarah, and Steven as we talk about messages your character could not possibly expect and take you on an adventure from one unexpected letter to the next. Bonus content at 42:28"

50 episodes in, how amazing is that!!??  We thought it would fun if all four of us was on this episode creating the story.  It actually worked! (We were afraid in the past that four at one time would be too much and capped it at three, but now we want to be on more episodes together).

This was a really fun episode to record.  (Well, they're all fun. :P)

Aaaaaand!  Wait till after the episode to hear one of our warm ups.  Before every episode we record a warm up to get us in the creativity flow, and this is the first time we've decided to share one of them.

This episode is full of firsts.

Have a great weekend!

Sarah :D

 

April - December 2021 Health Goals: Last Health Post for 9 Months

9 months.  That takes me through the end of the year, so my next health post will be in January 2022.

I've just realized that I need to stop blogging about this, simply because there's natural highs and lows to the weight loss process, and posting is getting me too caught up in the lows.  Reporting an off month, or more, threw me off, and now I'm getting back on track.

These 9 months are going to be a discovery process.  I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and reading articles online, so there's a lot of things I want to try.  "Calories in/Calories out" keeps popping up.  "You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight."  I don't like counting calories, but it's come to the point where I need to try.  It's not long term.  Get a sense of what I'm eating.  Play it by ear.

I'm also going to weigh myself everyday.  Bought a scale to replace the one I threw out in frustration awhile back.  But... what I'll be doing is paying attention to my average weight.  So weigh everyday, divide by 7, and track that number to see if it shifts down, maintains, or goes up, and analyze accordingly.

A fun challenge I'm giving myself is to take all my cookbooks (went a little crazy on Amazon marketplace a few years back) and make 3 recipes from each book by the end of the year.  Though I also got historical cookbooks as well, so that will be interesting.  I got the Food Network Kitchen app and paid for the upgrade to get more recipes and instruction videos.

With exercising, I'm not going crazy like last December.  Learned my lesson!  This will be trial and error, but my goal is to find a balance.  Walking, elliptical, indoor bike, and strength training.  I have quite a few exercise DVD's, plus Amazon Prime, plus YouTube, so I'm just going to have fun.  Do a strength workout 2-3 times a week, a new one each time, and just have fun discovering what I like vs not like.

There's a lot here to keep me busy.  I'm not giving up.  But I do need to chart and experiment quietly.  In January I'll say how it all went.  What worked.  What didn't.  There will be no before and after photos, as that's just something I don't want to do.  Doing it for myself privately, and that's good.

These next several months will be interesting.

Wish me luck!!!  And good luck on your goals.

Sarah