The Strangers

Okay, so...There are very few 'horror' movies that are able to find the delicate balance between soft suspense without any real thrills and utter gruesome terrifying nightmare-inducing gore. I happen to think that The Strangers is one of them. My mother, for the record, does not.

I just think it was well done. The dialogue and situations were realistic...there was good character development in the beginning with the two main characters, and Liv Tyler was beautiful.

If you like horror flicks, you should definitely try this one...It will keep you TERRIFIED, but in a good way...and it hasn't given me a nightmare yet:-D

Happy Birthday Tayva!!!

Acrylics.

In 2006, I got acrylic nails put on for the first time. I hated them.

But let's just say I'm a sucker for second chances...I can't stand the idea that if I didn't give someone or something just one more chance, I might have missed out on something I would end up really liking.

Then again...if something doesn't impress me on the second try, it's out the door, basically forever:-D

I got acrylics done again two days ago. Exactly one day later, I had them taken off.

All I can say is, 'Wow...that was one short-lived phase.'

I never plan to wear acrylics again.

BAM, BAM!!! Take that, Europe!!!

I have made a decision about what I'm doing when I get out of high school.

On April 17, 2010, (give or take a couple days), I am moving to Italy. I am thinking somewhere in Northern Italy, but at the moment Florence and Rome are the two major cities on my list.

Whenever I tell people I am doing this (especially people at work), they ask, "Why? Why does it have to be so far away?" I am always surprised at what a negative reaction I get whenever I tell people I want to see the world. I always thought traveling was a good thing...I always thought experience was a good thing. But here is the answer to that question, 'Why Italy?'

It's really very simple. I want to go to Europe. I have tried learning Italian in the past and loved it. My friend went to Italy, and she says the people there are friendly and warm. Italian food is delicious. Venice, one of the two most romantic cities, is there. The drinking age is only 16. And what in the world is cooler than being able to say that you lived in Italy??? Okay...so maybe there are cooler things...But not to me.

As flippant as that paragraph may sound, I have been seriously looking into this. I have been browsing rooms for rent on sites that advertise apartments...Deciding which city I want to move to, and even invited my mother and sister to come along for a month and help me settle in when I move. My mother is also going to be looking at apartments with me. I am saving like crazy...Right now, for a car. As soon as I buy my car (which should happen next year around the time I turn 18, if not before), I will save up for Italy, so I can have a foundation as well as extra euros when I get there:-D

I am sooooooooooo excited!!! I can't wait. I have always known I wanted to travel, and I knew I wanted to live in Italy for at least awhile...but it wasn't until my friend Sunnie came back from a visit to Italy and France that I decided to make a plan. To get serious about it. With a vague outline of what you want, you get nowhere. I have a solid plan now and I know what I want. I am YOUNG! Now is the time to do these things!!!

Europe won't know what hit it;-)

Being Who I Am.

A much admired coworker said to me today, "You know what I love about you, Kendra?"

I looked at him.

"You are your own person. You're different. Not like everyone else." He went on to tell me that that was what first attracted him to his girlfriend...that she was different than other people, and didn't care what others thought.

I have always known that that was an attractive quality to me, and that it was supposed to be an attractive quality to other people, but I didn't know that it WAS an attractive quality.

I wish I could be even more like that. I have my own sense of humor...my own likes and dislikes...and that shows. But I care too much what other people think about me. Even if it's just because I have a need to be on top, I want other people to know how wonderful I am. That sounds really conceited, but it's true. I just want people to think I'm spectacular and as shrewish as this sounds, to be superior to them. It bugs me to death when people think I am somehow lower than they are, and I go out of my way to prove to them that I am not.

So when my friend said that to me, it got me thinking...and I came to an important realization.

It really and truly honestly does NOT matter what they think. There are some people whose opinions I am never going to change. Mr. Jerkface is always going to think I'm an innocent, naive little twit. Mr. Dud is always going to think I'm jealous of his girlfriend and desperately want to be with him. Mr. Tyrant is always going to see me as nothing more than another female for him to dominate. All of these are idiotic assumptions, and not worth the time it takes to fret over them!

My friend at work is a very, very special person. I haven't known him for very long, and already he means a lot to me. He is one of those people whose opinions count...and he seems to think a lot of me.

I have friends that love and care about me. I have family that live with me day in day out and still like me for who I am. I don't need to prove to the chauvinistic pigs that I'm good enough to be a man. Their opinions mean ZERO, and they are no longer going to bother me:-)

I am my own person.