What to do in the winter?

After the first year or so of living in Springfield for college, I started to stick up for this city. It has a lot going for it. Namely, great food. But other things too! There’s the Nature Center, the Japanese Stroll Garden, lots of parks, a mall, movie theaters (including a great independent theater), a bar scene, an ice skating rink, and as we all know—lots of squirrel-watching opportunities. Am I missing anything?

As the weather starts to get colder, I’m feeling cooped up (I hope you took advantage of the beautiful weather today!). It’s usually too nasty outside to warrant a hike at the Nature Center, and the squirrels are all hiding in their nests. By the way, if you didn’t know that squirrels live in nests, you need to check it out. It’s totally adorable.

My fellow Springfieldians, what do you do for fun during the winter months? Do you succumb to staying inside, or is there a wintertime Springfield gem that I’m missing? I tried eating brownies to make the boredom go away, but I’ve now exhausted my supply of cocoa.

What are your favorite spots in this city?

Here's How Redbox Works

Some people don’t understand how Redbox works. If you’re one of those people I’m about to break it down for you. I promise it isn’t hard.

You use Redbox when:

• You want to watch a movie
• You don’t really want to watch a movie, but you have a Redbox promo code
• You don’t have Netflix
• You’ve exhausted Hulu
• You’re bored, possibly lonely, and wondering if a rom-com is the solution to all your problems (it never is)

Redbox etiquette:

• Have some idea of what movie you’re going to rent (you can check out the website before you go)
• Use clean hands
• Most importantly, know how to use a Redbox (there are directions conveniently provided for you on the screen)

DO NOT:

• Call someone and argue with them about which movie the two of you will both like
• Sneeze into your hands and continue touching the screen
• Spend twenty minutes browsing rentals
• Let your kids play with the "cool machine"
• Browse for five minutes and then walk away without a movie

Did that help? Good. Now, don’t let me catch you reading the synopses of every single movie with the word “love” in it while you eat pistachios out of your purse. I'm looking at you, patrons of Kum & Go. 

Blubbering at Bambi

I never used to cry at movies. Really. Five-year-old Cecily would watch Bambi on repeat and never shed a tear. It was something I prided myself on. “Yeah, I’m the tough chick who won’t sob when Simon Birch dies saving all those little children.” Sorry for the spoiler.

No more. Now it seems like my emotions are catching up to me tenfold. End of Game of Thrones: Season One? Check. Gossip Girl series finale? Shamefully, check. Les Misérables? Of course. And my most recent sob installment—The Walking Dead: Season Two. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure The Walking Dead is supposed to be suspenseful, not sad.

What is happening to me? Unlike the Grinch, I’m not fond of this new heart of mine.

Top 10 movies that make me cry (in no particular order):

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2. Edward Scissorhands

3. The Green Mile

4. I Am Sam

5. Cast Away

6. Closer

7. Awakenings

8. A Little Princess

9. The Fox and the Hound

10. Black Beauty

The solution is just to subject myself to more sad movies, right? Harden my heart? Give me some suggestions. What are your favorite tearjerkers? 

Carnivorous Vampires and Emotional Strippers

On a recent trip to visit a friend in St. Louis, I had the pleasure of enjoying two (not surprisingly) bad movies. Renee (who has a wonderful blog about literature and writing) and I rented: Twilight’s Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and Magic Mike. Since freshman year of college, Renee and I have enjoyed a tradition of watching the Twilight movies together and laughing at how obscenely awful they are. So we were excited to catch up on our least favorite saga. And Magic Mike? We’d actually heard good things about it, and we’re not the type to turn down semi-nude male dancing.

And you know what? Twilight turned out to be both the more entertaining and more disturbing movie.

During Twilight:

Me: Oh man. Here comes the sex scene of the year.

Renee: Why is she crying in her underwear?

Me: She doesn’t want to do it!

Renee: She looks like she’s going to throw up.

Me: Did she just tell herself not to be a coward? That’s a good message.

Renee: Is this a movie for pre-teen girls!?

 . . . later

Me: Her baby’s going to die.

Renee: Edward wouldn’t let that happen.

Me: There’s nothing they can do tho—

Me & Renee: HE’S EATING THROUGH HER STOMACH!

During Magic Mike:

Me: Is it just me, or is this kinda boring?

Renee: [Snoring]

Me: And depressing?

Renee: [Crying]

Me: Where’s all the dancing? I was promised good, clean, family fun!

Renee: Want to fast-forward to the dancing parts?

Me: Yep.

In conclusion, I whole-heartedly recommend Breaking Dawn: Part 1 to no one, especially not impressionable young girls. And I give two thumbs way, way up to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Magic Mike parody—not Magic Mike itself.  

And as I was linking the video to JGL's dance, I had to defend myself to my boyfriend:

Yes, I'm watching it again.