A Nostalgic Blog

Well the other day my family held our traditional Christmas Party at my cousin's house. Like every year, it was really boring, but this year I noticed that it was exceptionally boring and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized what it was. My fiancee was missing. Usually at boring family parties like these we'd hold hands together on a love seat and dreamily say to everyone,"We have an announcement to make." But he's gone now. This will be my first Christmas without him. I think I've been getting along pretty well since he left, but now that Christmas time is coming around, he's supposed to be here...but he's not. I think it's finally starting to hit me. Today I was out shoveling snow by myself. I was worried for some reason that I was going to get hit in the face with a snow ball, but it never happened. Today was the first day in my life that I've shoveled snow without a snow ball fight breaking out. Last year we started playing baseball in the snow. I wasn't very good at making the broom(bat) contact the snowball. When I finally did though the pitcher had "mistakenly" thrown two snowballs to me. One hit my broom and the other hit me smack in the face. Sigh life's getting to be depressing without my fiancee around. It's like watching a Shakespearean play without the comedy relief. But nevertheless the play must go on. I probably miss my fiancee a ton I guess, I just try not to think too much about it. My cousin just returned from his mission on Friday so I'm probably just jealous. Anyway as long as I don't ruin Christmas for myself. I just need to remember that we're still engaged.

The Great Dictator

Well I've selfishly been watching a whole bunch of movies lately from the library ( I get free ones without over-due fines) so I thought maybe I'd start analyzing some of them when I have the time. Last night I watched,"The Great Dictator," with Charlie Chaplin(and it wasn't a silent movie surprisingly). It was pretty good I guess. It was basically just Charlie ridiculing Hitler. He plays both Hitler(Hinkel) and a Jewish barber and combines them creatively for a good ending. But even with all the jokes and slapstick comedy thrown in, the WW2 and holocaust things still hit me like they always do. I just can't imagine such barbaric things going on. How lucky we are to live in such a sheltered environment. Last year I interviewed a lady who lived in Europe during WW2 and her experiences seemed so real and personal. Her dad was a Jew, but he didn't look like one and he hid all his records. German soldiers used to come into their houses and take all their butter and good clothes. She and her sister used to hide English pilots in their barn. It was so fascinating, yet so intense and astonishing. How did it all happen? After I finished watching the Great Dictator I thought,"They for sure most have made this movie after the war or else they would have been in trouble." But then I learned that it was made in 1939, during the war. It was Charlie Chaplin's own fight against inhumanity and showed his views on what he thought a good government should be. After seeing Normandy and the American Memorial in France I was even more flabbergasted at the hardships people went through during this time. I guess all this WW2 toughness stuff just came back to me after watching this movie. It's pretty good and strangely funny, yet powerful. You should see this sometime. Well I spent too much time on this so now I need to make corn and frosting, do the dishes, vacuum, get ready for choir and practice the piano all in 8 minutes. Think I can do it? Me neither but I have to so bye.