Go hug your pets

I was getting ready to leave work today when one of my co-workers made me watch this video. I'm so glad she left the room because I started crying! I am seriously emotional lately.....get a hold of yourself, Tania! At any rate, this video made me want to hug my Sammy.

Story of my life

Ain't No Sunshine



These two are amazing for their guitar-playing and singing abilities. This is what a loser like me does on a Friday night--waste time on YouTube watching random videos. My favorites are of people (with talent) singing and dancing. This search started out with Eva Cassidy. I just love her song "Songbird." If you've watched Love Actually, then you know what song I'm talking about. I only watch that movie during Christmas and I always rediscover that song and become newly obsessed with it. It is one of the few songs that, alone, moves me to tears, I think it's that beautiful. Anyways, this video popped up because these guys are playing her arrangement for the song, as she covered it in one of her albums.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Netflix must love me because I sit on movies forever, and I totally don't take advantage of the flat monthly fee, so this movie cost me $8.99! After sitting on my TV stand for, oh, 4 weeks, this movie finally made it into my DVD player. It's not that I wasn't excited to watch it. I've just been doing a lot of reading lately. Reading for pleasure and reading god-awful chemistry. So I had to set time aside this Sunday to finally watch this movie so I can finally send it out. 

The movie starts out in a flower shop in Bordeaux with art student Angelique (Audrey Tautou) in search of a single perfect rose. She smiles her sweet smile and convinces the owner of the shop to have this single rose delivered to her lover....who happens to be married. She's always sending thoughtful surprises like this to express her love for her Luic (Samuel Le Bihan)--among them, sweet love letters, a work of art she painted herself, and finally a key to the house she is house sitting for a year while her friends are in the U.S. Despite all her efforts, he still stands her up on the evening of his birthday, leaving poor Angelique to wait in her pretty black dress for her date who will never come. Again and again she faces disappointment as Luic keeps letting her down, yet she stubbornly clings to the notion that he will eventually leave his pregnant wife. It really is sad to watch and the movie leaves viewers angry with Luic as he shamelessly uses this poor innocent girl.

After a very significant event in the movie, it at once rewinds back to the beginning scene. It goes through the entire plot again, this time from Luic's perspective. In this, the movie reveals to viewers new information critical to the truth.

This movie has a twist, which had me paying attention the whole time. Even though I had pulled out my latest knitting project (which has been hibernating for over a month now), I found myself with still hands, fully absorbed in the characters' lives. Granted, the movie is in French and attention must be paid to the subtitles in order to follow the plot. But I implore you readers--you all must watch this movie! You will not be disappointed by this dark romantic comedy. It has a great deal more substance than your everyday, run-of-the-mill Hollywood-bred romantic comedy. 

This should put a smile on your face

For those readers who many have not seen this video yet. I think this guy was on GMA or the Today show, both of which I used to watch when I was back in Seattle while I was getting ready for work. They would show brief clips of him dancing in a random part of the world. I also saw him on a daytime talk show, although I don't remember which one. I'm glad there's a compilation of his videos. The music adds just the right touch. I think it shows the beauty of the human race, and watching all the kids dancing with him was really touching! Makes me want to go see the world! Now why didn't he come to Tucson? :D


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging

That's me! I've been curious about my personality type since one of my friends back home revealed her results after taking a test. Semper Fi Wife posted a link to a Myers-Briggs personality test on SpouseBuzz and I was inclined to take it! I looked up the definition of an ESFJ here. 

ESFJs at their best are warm, sympathetic, helpful, cooperative, tactful, down-to-earth, practical, thorough, consistent, organized, enthusiastic, and energetic. They enjoy tradition and security, and will seek stable lives that are rich in contact with friends and family.

One interesting point that I find to be true in my case, and that made me feel so flaky and indecisive

The ESFJ's value system is defined externally. They usually have very well-formed ideas about the way things should be, and are not shy about expressing these opinions. However, they weigh their values and morals against the world around them, rather than against an internal value system. They may have a strong moral code, but it is defined by the community that they live in, rather than by any strongly felt internal values.

For the most part, my values have remained unchanged, but there is a different emphasis on certain issues here in this "red" state than I experienced in the "blue" state of Washington. I feel like I've seen perspectives of both "liberals" and "conservatives" and seen both extremes, and I'm confused about where I stand more than ever. But I'm still pretty much moderate.

As I was reading the profile of an ESFJ, I was floored by how true the characteristics were to myself. I usually take these tests with a grain of salt, but then again if I read about this particular profile on a different website it might say something different. One thing that worried me, however

An ESFJ who has developed in a less than ideal way may be prone to being quite insecure, and focus all of their attention on pleasing others. He or she might also be very controlling, or overly sensitive, imagining bad intentions when there weren't any.

I'm not controlling, but I can be overly sensitive about things. I haven't gone as far as imagining bad intentions, but sometimes I have a hard time accepting that people genuinely like me and like being around me. I can get in the mindset that they're just acting out of pity. And really I just want people to like me so maybe sometimes I can get a little caught up on pleasing others due to my insecurity. The more I make them happy, the better they will like me, right? 

So, what personality type are you? Take the test and post your results in the comments!

OK I admit it....I'm a Harry Potter fan

I finished Harry Potter book 6 (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) on Friday. One of my co-workers has been gracious enough to lend me the whole series and I've been going through the books pretty fast. I think I started the series last summer or a little bit before. Now I have one book left! Book 6 was my favorite one by far! I can't wait for the movie to come out--I just found out to my horror that it's due out in November when I was expecting it for the summer. The beginning of the book was really slow and hard for me to get into. I think I stayed on the same page for over a month! But once my knitting started to bore me I dove in. Once I passed the halfway point in the plot, everything started to happen and I finished the book in a snap!

I got through the book by reading during my lunch hour and on Friday I was two chapters short of finishing the book, but a very upsetting thing happened in the story (if you want a spoiler, read Wikipedia's entry about the book). When I wandered back in the lab, one of my co-workers (the one who lent me the book) noticed that I was very upset about something. It's funny now that I think back on it. When I returned to my workspace, I was silent with the events of the book still turning over in my head ("It didn't happen. Rowling got me good that time--maybe in the next two chapters she'll fix what she's done!"). I barely responded to him when he talked to me and no smile escaped me. So he asks me what's up...what's wrong. Imagine his amusement when I wailed out "I'm upset at how the book is turning out right now!" Seriously, watching me over the course of those few minutes and you would think something horrible happened! But after a while, the events of the book faded into the background as I reluctantly focused on Western blots ....again (I'm admittedly extremely sick of these!). I hope I get book 7 soon so I can be done with this misery!

La Misma Luna

I decided to get out of the house today, which resulted in spending some money. What am I supposed to do? I wander throughout the mall and find stuff I like! Well, I also caught a movie: Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna). I remember seeing the preview for this movie when I went and saw Juno. It went straight on my list of must-see movies. This movie is about a mother and son seperated for four years when the mother illegally crossed into the U.S., leaving her son behind. Her life was to work so that she could send money back to her son, in order for him to live a better life. During her absence, her mother cared for her son. When circumstances changed, little Carlitos decides to go looking for his mother. This movie is about his journey across the Mexico-U.S. border and his search for his mother.

It's a very touching story that rings true for many families, torn apart due to different circumstances, in this country. It's a very complicated issue and this movie forces you to look at the situation from "the other" perspective. I was personally touched by this story, especially since my parents made the same sacrifice so that their children could live better lives. I'm very greatful!

It's a beautiful movie and I encourage anyone to go see it. There are both very sad moments and other funny ones, and the end is a happy one :)

A must see

I just got back from watching Juno (finally!) I loved this movie! Ellen Page, I feel was a perfect fit for her character, and she played it very well. The dialogue was very witty and quick, and I couldn't find a dry moment in the whole thing. Michael Cera was adorable and still the same nerd he played in Superbad. I love how in most of his scenes he's wearing these bright gold track shorts. In short, the movie was very cute, funny, and realisitic. I encourage everyone to see it!



On a side note, how about that caucus. Any Washingtonians participate? From the pictures, it looked like a zoo! I'm so glad Arizona just has a primary!