A League Of Their Own

“They’re gonna wi-in. They ‘re gonna wi-in. They’re gonna wi-in” THOMP …kid proceeds to fall to the ground. Way to stay classy by nailing a baseball glove to the side of an eight year olds head, Tom Hanks! Although, I’m not going to lie, that was mildly hilarious. Ok, I did lie, it was freaking funny. Does that make me a bad person?


Going into this movie, I had no idea what to expect. I mean, a bunch of chicks playing baseball-what is so pop culture about that? Well, nothing really, but I did get down right cultured. I guess, being born in 1989, I forget things used to be different for women ( you know, just like I forget that the internet wasn't ALWAYS around). The thought of women being looked down upon for being good at sports seems ridiculous to me, but last night I was enlightened. There was a time women were looked down upon for being good at sports, there was a time when women were shooed to the kitchen, there was a time when women were unable to get working jobs, there was a time when women were primarily only seen as baby making machines. Crazy! Don’t get me wrong, I knew about all that before, I just hadn’t really thought about it.

Thank you to whoever suggested this movie be put on the List. I was reminded of where our country used to be, how far we’ve come, and how proud I am to be a part of it. Also,I was pleasantly surprised to see Tom Hanks (yeah, I didn't pay any attention to the movie cover). He was so young!!!

A League of Thier Own… Check


I give this movie an A+++ AND a huge recommendation to watch it if you've never have the opportunity to see it before.
8 down...82 to go....

The List
12 Monkeys
A League Of Their Own
Airplane
Akira
Aliens
American History X
Animal House
Best in Show
Better Off Dead
Big Trouble in Little China
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Boondock Saints
Bull Durham
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Caddyshack
Casino Royale
Clerks
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Daze and Confused
Deliverence
Evil Dead II
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams*
Fight Club
Fletch
Ghostbusters
Glory
Goldfinger
Gremlins
Heathers
Highlander
Jaws
Lethal Weapon I
Life as a House
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Blue Heaven
Naked Gun
National Lampoon's Vacation
Office Space
Pale Rider
Planes Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Policy Acadamy
Porkys
Predator
Primer
Pulp Fiction
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rainman
Rambo: First Blood
Raw Deal
Red Dawn
Reservoir Dogs
Robo Cop
Run Lola Run
Say Anything
Scarface
Sixteen Candles
Spaceballs
Stand By Me
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars:Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator: Salvation
The 6th Day
The Big Lebowski
The Breakfast Club
The Godfather
The Golden Child
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Goonies
The Jerk
The Karate Kid
The Natural
The Professional
The Shining
The Three Amigos
The Usual Suspects
The Warriors
Top Gun
True Lies
True romance
Unforgiven
Untouchables
Young Frankenstein

Close Call

“I have decided to make a change in the part time person in my office...”


My heart sank as I read the email late Tuesday morning (August 31st) from one of my bosses who informed me he was letting me go. I was shocked and in disbelief, I felt like I had worked my butt off at this job. We even just started a new project that I was heading up and had gone to training for the week prior! This could not be happening.

Well, it did happen. I was let go from my job. See, that morning I had to call into work sick after a doctors confirmation that I had an Upper Respiratory Infection and sever Pink Eye. For the last two months, though, it seemed like either myself or PJ were sick nonstop (PJ with Sinus and Ear Infections and me with the Flu) so really, I guess I can understand why my absences during that period pushed my boss to make this decision. As a single mother, I don’t have the luxury of taking turns with my significant other to take off work and stay home with the little one. Not to mention the times that I was sick myself. But, life is life and this was the icky hand it dealt to me. One thing I’ve learned is that you just got to keep rolling with the punches, but no one ever said that is easy and sometimes those punches really hurt!

Luckily, I still had my other part time position, and after my employer found out I had been let go he upped my hours to 27.5/week from 20/week which helped tremendously.

I hit the ground running and started getting my resume out immediately to as many places I could. Other insurance agencies that could use an experienced individual, temp agencies, careerbuilder.com, everywhere! To my surprise, interviews came rolling in!

“Want a job?” was the title in the email I received last Friday (September 17th) from another Insurance Agent wanting to hire me full time. Offer ACCEPTED! The best part, in 90 days I’ll be due for a raise and benefits (I currently am getting paid less and have no benefits, so this is really exciting for me)!

Phew, that was stressful! Two weeks of being only a part time employee, not sure when or if I’d be able to find a full time job, nervous about getting all the bills paid and keeping food on the table! I am a lucky one though, two weeks is nothing compared to some horror stories of unemployment that I’ve heard.

I want to give a BIG thank you to all my friends and family who were cheering for me and sending all those positive thoughts my way during this process. You all are beyond awesome. I also want to give a special thank you to Lori and Helena for really going out of their way to help me. I was and still am so touched by your kindness.

It was a doozy, but I think the the flop in this game made that icky hand I was dealt playable. Ha, take that life! Another bump in the road, but another door of great opportunity has been opened. Sometimes things we experience in life are a blessing in disguise, I'll deem this as one of mine.

HFL Playoff Recap

Three people, myself included, were disarming the bomb. A grenade gets lobbed into the base killing two of us, leaving only one remaining to try to make sure Sunshine State does NOT get a score on us. The third, and only teammate disarming the bomb, dies to an enemy who crept in the back of the base. The bomb is DISARMED, but wait... my whole team is dead, the bomb is still sitting on the bomb spot. A Sunshine State Sentential waltzed into the base, armed it, and scored.

That is just one of the incredibly intense plays from the HFL playoff games last night.

The season started off with my team, the Seattle Spartans, hanging out in last place of our division. With our first three weeks stats being one win, one loss, one tie, I know I was thinking the outlook on the season was already looking pretty grim! I swear we just couldn't shake the pattern of 1-1-1! Finally something clicked and our team was pumping out wins, miraculously ending the regular season as first place in our division. I am, and always will be, so proud of the Seattle Spartans for how we pulled together and turned the season around.

Last night was the playoff game against the defending HFL champion team, the Sunshine State Sentenials.
The first game was a slayer game on Heretic, one of my favorite maps. Unfortunately my connection was red bar, I lagged out of the game, and had one heck of a time trying to do anything lagging all over the place when I finally was able to play. I don't know how, but we managed to pulled out a win by just a three point lead. Incredible. I almost had a heart attack seeing both teams constantly switching between first and second place.

Now on to the objective games that we knew RoshamboYa, the Sunshine State GM/Captain, would have prepared and planned for. Any team going up against them would know how nerve wrecking that is!

Neutral Bomb on The Pit: Struggling over possession of the bomb at first, we finally snagged it and ran it to Sunshines base for an early score. As you saw above in the first paragraph, there was an intense struggle against Sunshine state but they were able to get the score and tie up the game. For the majority of the time left we were again fighting over the bomb, both teams determined to score the tie breaker and win. For us, it would mean the playoff games were over, securing our spot in the finals. For them, it would mean tieing up the series and a chance to win the third game presenting them the opportunity to proceed to the finals. Within the last two minutes of the game Sunshine State took possession of the bomb, got around our defenses, scored the tie breaker, and held our offense attempts making the final score 2-1 for Sunshine State.

Series tied 1-1 with just one game left. SCARY.

1 Flag on Last Resort: Seattle didn't do so hot the first offensive round. Sunshine kept us at bay and we were held at miserable 0 for the flag cap. Sunshine State's turn for offense turned out to be a quick success. Coming in with invisibility, Roshamboya grabbed the flag, high tailed it out of the base, and quickly made the cap. Now Seattle was DETERMINED to score on our last turn for offense as it was the only opportunity to stay in the game. With an awesome grab from Timtech, the flag was pulled out of the base and half way to the flag cap. A team effort got the cap and again, we were tied at 1-1 with only one round remaining in the game with Sunshine State as offense. Things were too quiet in the base as were anticipating an early rush from Sunshine State and didn't get it. Sure enough, Dinologic pops in with invisibility, grabs the flag, pops a bubble shield to protected his exit from the base and Roshamboya, who was waiting at the base exit, proceeded to pick off any Seattle Spartan going after Dinologic with his shot gun. Another score for the Sunshine State ending the game 2-1.

Series final is 2-1 for the Sunshine State eliminating Seattle from the Playoffs.

Phew. Those were by far the most intense games I have ever played. Couldn't be more proud of my team or the Sunshine State for their outstanding performance.

Hard fought... well executed... insanely intense... a LOT of fun...

Huge thanks to the HFL Architechs and all the HFL participants for an amazing time. See you next season.
Special thanks to my amazing team mates Timtech, Hawker, Mickey, Assasain, Sauce, and Blythe!

Congrats and good luck to the Sunshine State as they go to the Finals against the Montreal Gausshogs.

Stand By Me

Can I just say that I haven’t gotten the song “Stand By Me” out of my head since I finished watching this movie yesterday afternoon!?! Goodness gracious I don’t think I’ll ever get it out!!


“When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me…. “

I wish I would have seen this movie earlier. So.Stinkin.Good! Those kids were freakin awesome. Crude, vulgar and gross, but awesome! I have never seen kids swear or act like that in my life but it was hilarious to watch them interact. Granted, if one of those were my kid and I caught him acting/speaking that way it’d be a serious problem. And when I say serious problem, I mean sending him off to boot camp, lol! But, for the sake of entertainment, they did an awesome job portraying the parts. It was especially heart warming seeing the kids face the hard decisions in life at such a young age and how they were really there for eachother. Kind of makes you think about kids who really do have rough lives like that...

I don’t  feel like there is much else of a review to give, it simply was a great film. A few quotes I did pick up though…

“This is SO Boss”

“Your ass is GRASS” (my personal favorite and one that I will be using constantly now!)

I almost forgot… you call that thing a computer (shown at the end scene)? Wowzers.

Stand By Me… Check
I give this movie an A+++

Seven down...83 to go....

The List

12 Monkeys
A League Of Their Own
Airplane
Akira
Aliens
American History X
Animal House
Best in Show
Better Off Dead
Big Trouble in Little China
Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Boondock Saints
Bull Durham
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Caddyshack
Casino Royale
Clerks
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Daze and Confused
Deliverance
Evil Dead II
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams*
Fight Club
Fletch
Ghostbusters
Glory
Goldfinger
Gremlins
Heathers
Highlander
Jaws
Lethal Weapon I
Life as a House
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Blue Heaven
Naked Gun
National Lampoon's Vacation
Office Space
Pale Rider
Planes Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Policy Acadamy
Porkys
Predator
Primer
Pulp Fiction
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rainman
Rambo: First Blood
Raw Deal
Red Dawn
Reservoir Dogs
Robo Cop
Run Lola Run
Say Anything
Scarface
Sixteen Candles
Spaceballs
Stand By Me
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars:Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator: Salvation
The 6th Day
The Big Lebowski
The Breakfast Club
The Godfather
The Golden Child
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Goonies
The Jerk
The Karate Kid
The Natural
The Professional
The Shining
The Three Amigos
The Usual Suspects
The Warriors
Top Gun
True Lies
True romance
Unforgiven
Untouchables
Young Frankenstein

Enrolling in School

So, Spring semester it is! Applications to Jefferson Community College and the University of Louisville are a go! Well, theoretically. I’m in the process of getting my high school transcripts, SAT scores, and all that juicy good stuff that applications require. But, the process is certainly rolling.

I must say though, I’m nervous. I haven’t been a student since 2007! And I wouldn't even call that truly being a student. I loathed my high school experience and enjoyed working way more than sitting in the class room. But, I graduated, thank God.

I hear that college gives a different perspective on education for people like me though. I’ll be paying for it myself, so I know I’m going to be giving 200% effort to get good grades. And now I know education is the big hoop life forces you to jump through before you can really attain a good career.

Now I have a big decision about whether to stop working completely and go full time, or work part time and go to school part time. I know I qualify for Grants and Financial Aid, but I just can’t see myself being a full time student and racking up all that debt. I’ll be living off my Financial Aid if I go full time (that means not only school fees/material being paid, but rent, bills, childcare, etc ). In fact, being that I am a completely debt free individual right now, it outright scares me!

Decisions, decisions. But, at least I got one decision right, and that is finally starting school again (one way or another). Win-win situation in my book!

Time to buckle down in life and bite the bullet. Heres to opening a new chapter...

If you have any advice, comments, or opinions on this subject I’d love to hear them.


Nikki