Music, movies, and mountaintops

I've thought of quite a few things to blog about in the past week and a half, but I've been a little too busy to write about them all. I saw "Juno" with a couple girls from the pledge class and, like "27 Dresses," I thought it was fantastic, but for different reasons. For one thing, it has an excellent soundtrack. I've been listening to it for the past week. I also really like the humanity of the characters. They really feel like real people and not like fake, perfect chick flick characters. There are some definite twists in the movie, and it didn't end the way I expected it to end. I also really like some of its observations about relationships and family. It's my pick for best picture, I think, though I haven't seen "Atonement" yet and I really want to.

Speaking of good music, I also saw the movie "Once" with a few friends. It's an independent Irish film about a guy and a girl (named Guy and Girl) who become fast friends and push out a demo CD in a week so that Guy can go to London and become a music artist. There's not much that happens physically, but there's a lot that happens emotionally. I liked it for it's analysis of human behavior; it explores the idea of putting off an idea for so long that eventually you just never do it, but "once," you wanted to. There's also a whole lot of song writing, that's the bulk of the movie, and I really enjoyed that. Another good soundtrack that is now in my iTunes music library.

Lest you think my life is all about movies, the new worship team met for a planning meeting last Thursday night. I am so excited about everyone who is interested. Paul and John played guitar for a while afterward and I sang, and it was so much fun. I can't wait for a full practice tomorrow night. My first batch of quizzes have come back with good marks, and I'm getting ready for my first batch of essays/tests.

I spent Saturday hiking with Rachel, Robert, and John. We went up Mt. Pleasant and Mt. Pompey, both located in Amherst County between Lexington and Lynchburg. We had a great time talking about all sorts of things, ranging from Scripture study, to family, to classes, to God. The views were amazing -- we were very high up, and we could see the clouds resting on the mountains across the valleys from us. It was quite windy, but it was a warm day so it was fine. We were all inspired to go hiking more often, and we spent some time planning our next challenges. :)