From Beginning to End - Do Começo ao Fim

I just wanted to take a moment and mention this movie, From Beginning to End(Do Começo ao Fim), that I had ordered LAST year and finally sat down to watch. I absolutely loved it. I am not one for chick flicks, but this one, even with it moving slowly thru the story line, held my attention throughout. The ending could have been extended a bit, however, I found it to be a beautiful love story, even if it IS unconventional. It is a Brazilian film and the copy that I have had English subtitles, but honestly reading them did not take away from the film at all. The dialogue was minimal.

Plot: The film deals with two types of relationships that are often considered taboo: incest and homosexuality. The storyline tells of two half brothers who are very close when they are kids, and as they grow up an incestuous relationship develops.^[4] The director, Aluizio Abranches said that his sole intention was to show a love story, regardless of conditions. - Wikipedia

Pics from the movie:

The lead actors are Rafael Cardoso and João Gabriel Vasconcellos. They are gorgeous separately and together in this film. Even though it is reported that neither actor is gay, they have amazing chemistry on the screen.

A couple of people asked me about this movie, it IS available over here now at Amazon. YAY!!

New York City - Part 4 - Central Park & American Museum of Natural History

After we left the Met, we cross through Central Park to the American Museum of Natural History. I never realized how big Central Park is in reality. I mean I've seen it on film, but it's just huge. Anyway, not too much to say so here are my pics. Enjoy!!

Central Park

Belvedere Castle

American Museum of Natural History

Theodore Roosevelt

Example of how brain processes vision











Sensory Homunculus






Easter Island Statue












T-Rex

So, there you have it. Not very exciting, but I had a blast. Got to see a few exhibits from the movie, Night at the Museum, which my kids loved. Anyway, next post will be about our night of debauchery(as Zee calls it). LMAO.


Oh, and Leo, Alexander McQueen was a British fashion designer and couturier. There's the link for you. :-)

New York City - Part 3 - The Met

Here we are to day two. Day two will have to be split up into several posts. We started out fairly early, because we had so much to see and do and, primarily, we wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty display was a big draw and we wanted to get there before the crowds. Let me tell you-the Met is HUGE. lol I've never seen anything like it.

We made into the Alexander McQueen exhibit, however there were no cameras allowed. I did purchase the book after I got home and received it this week. Below is a pic of the book and my favorite outfit of the collection.

After we spent some time at this exhibit, our group went to the Egyptian exhibit. I believe I was more exited about this exhibit then any of the others. Below are some pics that I took.

LOL, I got fussed at by the security guard after this picture with the sphynx, because I was touching it. Oops!

So, this wraps up first part of day two. Next, will be Central Park and maybe the Natural Museum of History. Enjoy!! :-)

Insomnia Sucks!!

Well, if you follow me on twitter, you have had to listen to me tweet on and on about my recent battle with insomnia. In the past, I have had little episodes of it that seemed to rectify itself after a few days, but not this time. This time it has lasted approximately four weeks. Four weeks of getting between 2-4 hours of sleep most nights with a 5 hour sleep night thrown in a couple of times.



I am going crazy. Literally. I honestly think that a person can lose their mind from not getting enough sleep. Today was a particularly difficult day for me, well, this week has been rather challenging, to be honest. I realize that stress and anxiety over the past few weeks are most likely the culprit. Things have settle down a bit, not perfect, but at least not as stressful as right before my trip to New York City.



So after consulting another clinician that I work with who suffers from ADD and corresponding sleep deprivation, I decided it was time to get some medicinal assistance. I had had other tips the past few weeks ranging from *cough cough* taking care of matters to turning off all electronic devices an hour before bed. Apparently, there is some grumbling that the use of electronic devices, i.e. cellphones, ipods, computers, e-readers, before bed can contribute to difficulty falling and remaining asleep.



So, off I went to my local Walmart to score some weapons for my "Kick Insomnia's Ass" arsenal. After consulting varies co-workers, friends and twitter pals, I came up with my list. Below is a pic of what I bought and will use if need be.

Tonight, I think I am going to try the Sleepytime tea, the Melatonin and turning off all electrical devices before bedtime. The electrical devices will definitely be my biggest challenge. See, I take my phone to bed with me and read my ebooks, fanfiction, etc from it and chat or tweet depending on who hollers at me in the night. I realize that will have to all stop and even though it makes me sad, it has to be done. If I want to not go crazy in the next few days, it will have to be this way. lol

Wish me luck, everyone. As soon as I can get these kids in bed tonight, I am making my tea, taking my melatonin and turning off my computer and placing my phone where I can't get to it. lol I need to pull out some of my books to read tonight. Lord knows, I have enough to get to. Mockingjay, here I come.

New York City - Part 2

Well, here is Part 2. J and I arrive, finally find each other in the airport and begin our adventure into New York City. Now, we flew into Newark in New Jersey, so we had to make our way to Zee. Zee had instructed us to take this train and that train, honestly it just all went over my head and I was totally dependent on J to get me there. lol After, several phone calls to Zee and only getting off the train once at the wrong spot(that was a little scarey) we make to NYC and to Zee. :) This is the train that we rode from NJ to NYC. My first train ride. We had to stand and I almost fell several times, but we made it.

When we arrived and climbed out of the train station, with all our luggage, this is the first site I see. Yea, I had no idea what Zee was telling me and I think I ran over somebody. I can't remember anything but thinking "OH MY GOD!!"

After I stood and stared at the very, very tall buildings, we walked over to the Republic for lunch. J and I got to meet @greenabsinthia, @scribeninja and @Vio_laine. This is what I had and I can't remember what it was, but is was delicious.

From there, Zee took us to our apartment we were renting to unpack and rest a bit. Later, we took the subway(another first for me) to the Highline where we met up with @tydestra. It was amazing. This was the view from it and it was getting dark so I didn't get very many good pics, but I included the Wiki site for it. It is an amazing addition to NYC. **@zeewriter has informed me that this is 14 Street, also known as the meat packing district *snort***

The last two pics were the Empire State building.

We stopped off at New York Burger, Co. The food was great and I had a Brooklyn Lager to go along with it.

So, I think that wraps up Friday in NYC. At this point in the evening, J and I had had virtually no sleep in 2 days and we all decided to call it a night because we made plans to hit the museums in the morning. Hope to get Part 3 up soon. It kindof took me all day to get this post done so not sure when. lol

New York City - Part 1

As some of you know, last weekend I took an epic trip to New York City to meet up with @jagr9563 and @zeewriter. Now, this was the first time I have flown on a plane since summer of 2001 right before 9/11. To say that I was a little nervous about the trip would be a understatement. Anyway, I have to start in the beginning because it never seems to amaze me how interesting things happen to me.

I drove myself to the airport and parked in the long term parking lot. It was just easier for my family to do it this way and it worked out great. I had always heard since 9/11 that I would have to arrive at the airport 2 hours early. So, like the good little traveler I am I arrived an hour and 45 minutes early. Weelllll, much to my surprise when I arrived at 3:45 am, there was nobody there. I mean no workers and two other travelers waiting. I'm thinking WTF.

See the ghost town over there. LOL Finally, after waiting for a while the airport employees arrived for work and I was sent over to security where I had to wait for 45 minutes until the security people arrived. So far, I'm handling it pretty well until we have to board the plane. Now, this plane was so small that we had to go outside on the tarmac to board. I use the term plane loosely, because in reality it was a bus with wings. It even had propellers.

We boarded this tin can of a plane and were literally packed in there like sardines. I'm tweeting my little panic attack until we are told to shut down our phones. I start talking to this lady beside me and all seems well as we start taxiing down the runway. Now, I'm watching out my window at the wheels and just as we are about to take off the plane suddenly jolts and slows down to a stop in the middle of the runway. We all just look around at each other with wide eyes and a little freaked out at this point. I'm so wishing I had had a drink or two, even though it's 5:30 am. After a few minutes the captain comes on the loud speaker and makes the following announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the inconvenience. We have had some technical difficulties, well not too terrible of difficulties. See, while the co-pilot was taking off his seat slid back and he could not reach the peddles. We will now circle around and resume take off shortly."

As I sat there in disbelief, all I could do was laugh. Of course, all my confidence in these pilots was lost but ya know at least they didn't screw up in the air. We eventually did take off after sitting 30 minutes while they filled out their non-take off paperwork. I have to give it to them though. They made up most of the time and those of us with connecting flights managed to make them on time.

So, this is the beginning of my adventure. Not sure how many posts there will be or how long it will take me to get them posted. I've been struggling with some insomnia and work issues so my time is limited. Thanks for reading and I hope to post Part 2 soon. :)