30 Before 30- LAST THREE!!

This week I finished the mammoth 30 Before 30 project that I began in 2010.  First, I finished the wonderful Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (January 2013 goal), which was finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death.  Jordan intended for this series to be a trilogy, but the story and characters grew to such epic proportions that he died before he could finish this 14 book story.  I will admit that the end of the series wasn't as satisfying as the journey leading up to it in the previous 13 books.  But I am strange in that I don't like the endings of stories.  I often lose interest in movies right at the predictable climax and inevitable tying-up-loose-ends of a movie.  I am all about the psychology of character development, growth, and the handling of conflict.  Just like my desire to be in the trenches of life rather than back at the grocery store.  But the final book really was amazing and thought provoking.  Maybe Sanderson's own series is a promising sources of more epic adventure stories.

Next, I finished my huge "Best of" movies list from Christianity today.  For the interested cinephiles, the complete list with my fave pics in bold is below.  As I mentioned, the movies that I have watched from this list quite often end up sticking in my mind, especially the ones that I never EVER would have watched if I were simply picking movies I thought I would like. I would like to recognize my wonderful husband here, who watched enough foreign and independent films for one lifetime, in his opinion, during this project.  We can watch all of the dark superhero movies you want now, hon.

And lastly, I decided to make a substitution for the last item.  I wasn't as excited about learning to ride a motorcycle, and $250 is a lot of money to spend to not be too excited.  Besides, I took a motorcycle lesson back in 2007 and drove this thing (a similar thing) all by myself.  Didn't fall over once.

And because it is notoriously difficult to attach a car seat to a motorcycle (they don't even have LATCH!) I figured the bike thing just wasn't a good fit for me anymore.  I substituted an awesome class that I found through the Sheriff's department here- a women's self defense class called RAD.   It was awesome!  Last night was our final class, where we fight off a ton of bad dudes. Someone, either me or one other girl- split one of the guy's lips despite their "red man" gear. Sorry, but AWESOME!  Haha...  (I know I look a little disheveled- I had fought off 4 guys about 30 seconds before.)



The huge list of "Best of" movies from Christianity Today, 163 total (my favorites in bold purple)!!

Finding Neverland	2004
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Passion of the Christ
The Return
Spiderman 2
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Woman, Thou Art Loosed
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Dogville
Million Dollar Baby
Hero
Spanglish
America’s Heart and Soul
Les Choristes (the chorus)
The Avaitor
Vera Duke
Mean Creek
Before Sunrise
Before Sunset
Forgiveness (Ron Reed)
Cinderella Man	2005
Batman Begins
Crash
Munich
Dear Frankie
Pride and Prejudice
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Millions
Because of Winn-Dixie
Broken flowers
March of the Penguins
The New World
Star Wars: Episode III
Corpse Bride
Serenity
Walk the Line
Murderball
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Grizzly Man
Mad Hot Ballroom
A History of Violence
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
June Bug
Paradise Now
Squid and the Whale
Akeelah the Bee	2006
Charlotte's Web
Babel
The Fountain
The Pursuit of Happyness
Superman Returns
Little Miss Sunshine
Casino Royale
Apocalypto
Pan's Labyrinth
Children of Men
The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada
Tsotsi
The Second Chance
Joyeux Noel
Sophie Scholl: the Final Days
The Nativity Story
Aquamarine
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Half Nelson
A Prairie Home Companion
Ushpizin
We Are Marshall
Little Children
The Queen
United 93
L’enfant
Lassie
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
The Proposition
Requiem
Thank you for Smoking
Wordplay
Into Great Silence	2007
Lars and the Real Girl
Juno
Bella
Into the Wild
The Kite Runner
Ratatouille
Freedom Writers
The Bucket List
Dan in Real Life
Once
Spider-Man 3
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
Evan Almighty
The Ultimate Gift
Amazing Grace
Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Devil Came on Horseback
Eve and the Fire Horse
Gone Baby Gone
The Painted Veil
Rescue Dawn
The Savages
No Country for Old Men
Hairspray
Zodiac
Cave of the Yellow Dog
In the Shadow of the Moon
The King of Kong: a Fistful of Quarters
The Lives of Others
Paprika
Sweeny Todd
3:10 to Yuma
Wall-E	2008
The Visitor
Gran Torino
Rachel Getting Married
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cloverfield
Mamma Mia!
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears an Who
Fireproof
Shotgun Stories
Man on Wire
As We Forgive
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Defiance
Doubt
The Fall
Happy Go-Lucky
Iron Man
Ostrov (the island)
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
U2,3D (no 3D)
Wendy and Lucy
4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days
Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale)
Flight of the Red Balloon
Jodhaa Akbar
Milk
Paranoid Park
Speed Racer
Tell No One
The Wrestler
Australia
Up	2009
The Blind Side
The Soloist
District 9
Julie & Julia
Avatar
Precious
(500) Day of Summer
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
Invictus
The Road
Where the Wild Things Are
Hurt Locker
Up in the Air
Sin Nombre
Crazy Heart
Coraline
The 13th Day
A Serious Man
Bright Star
Earth
Ponyo
Summer Hours
The  Messenger
Tulpan
Fantastic Mr. Fox