Pudge - Controlling the Weather from the Big Ocean in the Sky

It was a sad day today. I feel a little silly posting about this, especially since other people have lost pets and family members recently.
My favorite pet fish, Pudge, passed away today. He was an old fish and a good fish and he will be sorely missed. It's kinda ridiculous how choked up I get over his death. He was a fish. Never spoke. Never hugged me or purred or barked. Never so much as smiled. But I bonded with him. I'll miss the way he wiggled whenever I walked up to the tank to feed him. I'll miss telling the story of the time he got a piece of gravel stuck in his mouth and Dan had to pry it out with a paperclip. I'll miss lying on my bed, watching him swim back and forth when I'm sad. I'll miss quoting Lilo and Stitch to Dan and saying "Pudge controls the weather." He was a tiny feeder goldfish that shouldn't have lived more than a week, but fate brought him to me and we have lived together for almost 3 years.
In all truth, I fell in love with Pudge. I will miss him and the fish tank looks so strange without his 7 inch span swimming around. Dan said we could get another companion fish for Nemo so he doesn't get lonely, but I don't think I'm ready to replace Pudge yet. Truth be told, I don't think I'll ever be able to replace him.
Goodbye Pudge. I'll miss you.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Taken by Tom Cammett, originally uploaded by Klick Here.

It's my little sister's birthday. She turns the big 2-2 today. It's so weird, realizing that my little sis has not only been old enough to legally drink for a year, but that she's also about to graduate college.

Highlights About Amy

- She is spastic. High strung. Whole lotta energy. She's a gymnast at Kent State University in Ohio, which means she willing throws herself at inanimate objects.
-She's a psychology major. If you knew her, you'd think this was funny.
-She's about 5'2" but for some reason seems even shorter than that when you're standing next to her. She is also mistaken for a 16-year-old fairly frequently. While it ticks her off now, she'll love that in 15 years.
- She's 4 years younger than me. We weren't very close in grade school because we only went to the same school for one year. But we get along much better now. I haven't had to pull her hair in years.
-She hates bugs. Some of our favorite stories of her involve her abandoning her car on the side of the road because there was a spider in it, or trying to use bug spray on the entire exterior of her house.
- She can laugh at herself, which is good because she can be a pretty big klutz.
-She's adopted and dyed her hair for my wedding so she would look more like the rest of the family. (Note: I did not have a Bridezilla moment. She decided to dye it herself.)
- She's so tiny that she wears jeans from the kids' clothing section. This makes me hate her. (Joking... Kinda.)
-She's been dating her wrestler boyfriend, Kurt, for longer than Dan and I have known each other. And total side note, but Kurt stole my birthday present idea for her, which means I have less than 24 hours to think of something else. Stupid Kurt.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Amy! We hope it is fun and memorable and that you get lots of goodies! (And hopefully you go somewhere other than Sheetz for dinner tonight.)

Love,
Sara and Dan

Buddy List

Amie collage, originally uploaded by Klick Here.

I present for your intense viewing pleasure, my friend Amie. (Pronounced, Ah-Me") OK, her real name is Amy (pronouced...Amy,) but somewhere along the line her name was changed. I don't remember if it was by me, by her, or by a caffeine induced hyper moment. It has remained Amie for at least 7 years. And now that I realize that I've known her for 9 years, I am beginning to wonder how she managed to stay almost sane with me as a friend for so long.
Amie, even with as odd as she is, is my most normal friend. Which is either a very high praise for her normalacy, or a serious burn to all my other friends.

Things I Love About Amie:

- She is always able to make me laugh. Normally it's at her clumsiness, but that just means she doesn't even have to try to cheer me up. It comes naturally.
- She gets my jokes. If I were to discuss my imaginary roommate, she'd laugh. Everyone else would think I was weird.
- She plays it cool. Even when everyone else is making a fool of themselves, (see bottom righthand picture) she can sit back and just enjoy watching everyone look like a dork.
- She enjoys Buffy the Vampire Slayer and got me hooked. In fact, I am currently watching the reruns. Love. It.
- She gave up her dining room table to allow me to scrapbook. If that doesn't show love, I don't know what does.
- She gave me her opinion on the guys I was dating. I ignored it of course, but she didn't say "I told you so" when I realized what losers they were.
- She knows everyone. I should say that with emphasis. She knows EVERYONE. You go to a random restaurant in Blythe, and there will inevitably be someone there that she went to school with. Or that worked on a film shoot with her once. Or that took tennis lessons from her mother. Case in point, the winner of Crowned on the WB. Amber from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The inventor of those reflector thingys on the freeway. See what I mean? EVERYONE.
- She lets me paint random phrases on her wall when we're repainting her apartment. "Sara is the coolest" and "pink is this year's black" were rendered on her wall before she could stop me. She even let me take a picture of it before making me paint over it.
- She tells funny stories. Ask her about her run-in with the Canadian Border Patrol.
- She gets herself into funny romantic situations. When I was dating, I enjoyed hearing those stories. It made my love life seem downright normal.
- She has the coolest job. She sets up the Sesame Street museum exhibit in various states/countries. She works with Elmo, people. ELMO!
- She doesn't carry a purse. It's unfathomable to me because I have so much crap with me at all times. I want to be as low maintenance as her. Never gonna happen-9 years of friendship still hasn't changed my purse habit.
- She will let me bitter. We went to Sea World, sat right BEHIND the splash zone and got soaked. She had a waterproof jacket, I didn't. She still lets me gripe about it and it's been almost 7 years since that trip.
- She has blonde moments. And scrub moments. And she will let me tease her about both for the rest of eternity.
- She enjoys flamoyant musicals as much as I do. And we have the same conversation whenever Loathing from Wicked plays...
Amie: This song is just like us.
Me: What's that Amie? Did it say "loving?" Aww, I love you too!
Amie: No, it says "loathing."
Me: Huh, what? "Loving?"
Amie: Loathe! Loathe!

For the record, she doesn't really loathe me. I hope.

Amie still lives in California and I miss her a lot. Hopefully this blog will convince her that she should move back to Arizona to hang out with me. 115 degree summers, torrent downpours that flood the streets during monsoon season, snowbirds...what's not to love about Arizona?!

Goodbye

I love my little Mazda Protege. As much as I love my new car, I will miss this one. I got it in 2002, during the summer break. I had been driving my Dad's Mustang, so most of my friends thought my new car was a bummer. But I loved that it was mine. It was compact and easy to drive. It had a little Good Luck Cat on the dashboard that melted from the heat a year later. It had a no smoking rule. It also had a "no boys riding shotgun if there are girls in the car" rule. The latter being the most important rule.
I was told that it was bad luck to not name your car, so I pondered it for months. Jason, finally shaking me out of frustration, told me to just pick something. It was like having a child and calling him or her "It." So I hemmed and hawed over it some more. There just wasn't a name cute enough for my little car. There wasn't a sound or a symbol that was perfect enough for my little car. I kept calling it Little Car, which eventually turned into LC. Jason sggested Elsie and it stuck. Only took us 2 years to name her.
This is hard to see, but the shiny spot highlights a dent in the side. Dan was trying to show off and lift a chair out of it. He almost dropped it, so instead of letting it fall since it was in a protected box with lots of padding, he thrust it against the car to catch it. It left a dent. I proceeded to tell everyone that Dan threw a chair at my car. Sounds more exciting that way.
There's also a long scratch along the side. Hazards of dating crazy people. An ex took a key to Elsie's side. She's a trooper though-didn't even flinch.

This is a bullet chip in the paint. I could tell you how it happened, but then I'd have to kill you.

Art Stevens-A Disney Legend

"Disney Animator Art Stevens Dies at 92
Jul 2, 4:50 PM EST
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Longtime Disney animator Art Stevens, who began his studio career working on "Fantasia" and went on to co-direct "The Fox and the Hound" and "The Rescuers," has died. He was 92.
Stevens died May 22 at his home in Studio City after a heart attack, Disney spokesman Howard Green said.
Stevens applied for a job at Disney in 1939 after he learned that Walt Disney planned an animated feature based on one of his favorite stories, "Alice in Wonderland," which eventually came out in 1951.
In his early years at Disney, Stewart was an "in-betweener," who created the drawings that made the characters move on the screen after the main animator had outlined the scene. He worked on "Fantasia," "Bambi" and other 1940s features before becoming a full-fledged animator with the 1953 film "Peter Pan."
Among Stevens' other credits as an animator were "101 Dalmatians," "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day," "Robin Hood," "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks."
He co-directed the 1977 film "The Rescuers" and co-produced and co-directed "The Fox and the Hound," which became Disney's highest-grossing film when it was released in 1981.
Stevens also worked on the Academy Award-winning Disney shorts "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" and "It's Tough to Be a Bird," and he helped animate the title sequences for live-action features such as "Freaky Friday" and "The North Avenue Irregulars."
He retired in 1983.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press."

I met Art Stevens when I worked at Disneyland. He came to the grand opening of Tower of Terror, where I was a "red carpet extra." Art slipped by unnoticed-the crowd was more concerned with the Disney Channel stars and the occasional celebrity. I didn't recognize him either. I knew he was important because he was wearing a suit and a name tag, which all animators and Imagineers did, even if they had retired years ago. Luckily, I hung around to watch the opening gala with some of the other Guest Relations people and one of them introduced me. I nearly keeled over. I probably embarrassed him with all my gushing about Bedknobs and Broomsticks-it's one of my all time favorite movies. He was so polite and tried to lean the conversation away from my fawning, asked me about working at Disneyland and myself. It was nice to meet someone who was so instrumental in shaping the Disney name and history. He was a genuine person and a charming man. I wish I had gotten the opportunity to talk to him at length, ask him about his experiences and ideas. I hope his family is doing well during the tough time. Art managed to touch the lives of people he only met in a brief instance-I can't imagine how he touched those he knew well.