The Lovely Bones

I watched the Lovely Bones last night and I was a little freaked out by it. I read the book when I was in high school and I don't remember it being this strange. In the movie the main character Susie gets murdered and then spends most of the movie trying to figure out how to get to heaven. It's was crazy because she was watching her family try to figure out the crime and also find her body. It was a very well thought out movie and the man who played Mr. Harvey was great. He was the killer so I probably shouldn't say he was great, but he was, in a creepy kind of way. Overall I liked the movie and I thought it did a great job of making it as close to the book as possible. I was watching it by myself and when I was done I had the creeped out feeling you have after watching something like this. Mr. Harvey did a lot of window watching from his house and trust me, I shut the curtains right away. I know that makes me sound like a baby but this story could really happen. Minus the part where we see Susie trying to figure out heaven and earth, this story happens all over the place. Towards the end of the movie we meet all the girls Mr. Harvey killed. They were all under the age of 14....that makes you think. This movie also makes you think about who your neighbors are. Mr. Harvey lived a couple of houses away. No one knew he did it until he was about to kill Susie's sister. This was definitely not a 'feel good' movie but I thought it was good. Different from most movies that come out and I like that.

I personally love the underlying meaning thought out the movie and the novel. You may think the lovely bones is her remains but really its her family. They are the lovely bones keeping her safe. I also like the charm bracelet analogy. Mr. Harvey keeps one charm, the house. He keeps it because he builds doll houses but its also a clue. Susie is in his house the whole time and no one knows it. Once you figure out all the underlying messages, the story becomes more real.

Bring it down to their level

Daddy, how was I born?

A little boy goes to his father and asks 'Daddy, how was I born?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!

Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and googled each other. There your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:

You've got mail!

Video Commentary

Sorry about the quality, my web cam isn't the best.

Interstate driving=time to think

While driving back from Fremont today I was thinking of a column to write. I don't want to do anything about the news because I feel like it's all the same right now. Then it came to me to tell a personal story. I know I already did one but this one is very different. I am going to write about my ER visit and hospital stay three summers ago. They way it all happened was strange and I think it will make a good column. The part I think will catch people's attention is the part about where the nurse asks me questions when being admitted. If you have been admitted to the hospital you may know what I am talking about. There were two questions that caught me off guard and it made me freaked out to even be in the hospital. I am trying to think of a good starting point of the story because the incident occurred two days before I went to the ER. I have an idea of a good place, I just need to get going on this.

I can't believe we only have two weeks of school left. This year went by extremely fast! I can't wait for the summer to start but at the same time I wish it was next fall already. Hopefully I can get everything done on time. Hopefully I can figure out this web cam thing as well. Shouldn't be too hard...I hope.

Don't Judge

After class today I was thinking about what to do my video commentary on. I am not a fan of watching myself on camera, let alone hearing myself. So I am trying to think of a way where you don't have to look at just me. I want to tell a story, maybe a personal story, but nothing has come to me yet. I don't think I would be good at giving a review because I would just want to tell you the plot. So I threw that idea out. I think I would be more excited about this if we didn't have to watch them in class. That makes me sound like a big baby and I know its only three minutes of my life. How hard can it be to sit in front of my computer and say my column....not that hard. I will do get it done, its just the fact of doing it.

I am thinking about telling a personal story and interjecting a picture here and there. Bring the column to life a little more. I feel like I am always talking about the same thing so I will have to look deeper into my life to find something good. This is different for me because I am used to writing. As a Language Arts major we write papers all the time. I am so used to expressing myself in writing and not speaking my thoughts. That's why I like this blog, I can just sit down and blab about whatever. I am really enjoying this blog and I think I will keep up with it after the semester is over. But before that can happen I have to get that video commentary done. All I ask is no judging....actually when its my turn.....pretend not to be listening.

Motivation

Why is it at the end of the semester I lose all motivation? The one time I need motivation, it just walks out of the door. I have all these projects to do and for some reason I think they will magically get done. Tonight I worked on a project and got most of it done. If I could just do this every night, I would achieve a lot more. So for the rest of the semester I made a goal to kick it into gear no matter what. Tonight I went to the Y and swam a 500 and that felt great. I even swam it in a good time! I can't walk long distances due to this large blister on my heel, so swimming was my last option. I found great motivation do that and now I hope I can do that with my school work. I wish professors had us do these huge projects in the beginning of the semester. But we all know that is not reality and will never happen. Dead week has it's name for a reason. Bring it on end of the semester...

The Break In

Mark slept on the couch the night he wrestled a kid breaking in to his truck. Not feeling well at 3 a.m. he got out of bed and headed for the couch. As he was settling in, car lights hit the curtains. Thinking nothing of it, he tried to sleep.

Five minutes later the lights were back, this time moving much slower. He found this strange due to the fact that it was three in the morning and a week day. Glancing out the window he noticed his truck door wide open. The truck was parked on the street in front of the house and it was unlocked. There were several cars on the street that night but Mark's truck ended up being the target.

He saw someone going through his glove box with their back to the house. Without thinking of calling the cops or waking his wife he bolted out the door. Without the slightest chance for the kid to escape, Mark grabbed the kid by the neck. Man handling the kid while walking to the house, Mark was yelling for his wife.

"Ann call the cops!"

Ann who was startled by the yelling immediately made the phone call. While getting twenty questions from the cops the kid managed to wrestle away from Mark. The kid didn't get far because before he knew it, Mark had thrown him to the ground and was on top of him.

The kid was pleading and begging for Mark to let him go. Thinking about giving into the plea Mark let up on his hold. But deciding not to let him go Mark began to wrestle with the kid.

The kid broke free and ran up the street like this wasn't the first time he had done this. Mark chased after him because he was not about to let this punk get away. When the kid got out of Mark's head lock, his hat flew off into the yard. Not realizing he lost the hat, he ran up the street, running past his getaway car.

"Start the car, start the car." He was yelling to his getaway. The car started and plowed up the street. After running a couple blocks, Mark didn't catch the kid. But he did catch the license plate number.

Out of breath, not feeling well, and no kid in hand, Mark was determined to get the cops the license plate number. Picking up the hat on the way into the house he noticed the kid’s full name was written on the inside. Having both the license plate number and full name gave this kid no chance of actually getting away.

The cops caught the two kids on their way to Mark's house. Satisfied with this kid not being on the streets anymore, Mark thought that was the end of it. He had landed a story in the Journal Star and was the talk of the neighborhood. A couple weeks later he received a letter from Cedars group home. Not knowing anyone in a group home he was very interested in what the letter was about. The letter was concerning the kid who attempted the break in. It was asking permission for an apology to be mailed to Mark. The apology letter never made it to Mark's house but he decided this kid will never be seen in his neighborhood again.

Not feeling well and sleeping on the couch started this crime stoppers event. Mark locks his truck now and all of the neighbors do as well. Mark didn't intend on being on neighborhood watch that night but instead it was the right time, right place.

Contact Mark Moss at 402-464-3728