For random act of kindness number thirteen, I made a donation to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, a cause near and dear to my heart. My Oma has this terrible disease which affects 26.6 million people around the world. There is no cure.
This act is in honor of James Mattioli, a six-year-old who loved basketball, swimming, arm wrestling, and being outside.
I had been wanting to see Pitch Perfect for a while, so I picked a day that Mike wasn’t home to watch it… it really didn’t strike me as the guy’s guy kinda movie.
Director: Jason Moore
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson
Runtime: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Plot Summary (from IMDb): The Barden Bellas are a collegiate, all-girls a cappella singing group thriving on female pop songs and their perfect looks. After a disastrous failing at last year’s finals, they are forced to regroup. Among the new recruits is freshman Beca, an independent, aspiring DJ with no interest in the college life. But after she meets Jesse, from the rival all-male a cappella group, Beca has a new outlook and takes it upon herself to help the Bellas find their new look and sound and get back into the competition.
Rating: TV.
This is definitely a music geek kind of movie (those new to my blog, don’t take offense to that – I’m a very proud music geek). They did all sorts of different a capella cover songs that were a lot of fun. This movie is full of loads of funny one liners – here’s a few of the ones that cracked me up (they probably make more sense in the context of the movie, but I’ll post them anyway):
Nothing makes a woman feel more like a girl than a man who sings like a boy.
Your weirdness is actually affecting my vocal chords, so I’m gonna need you to SCOOT!
I can sing, but I’m also good at modern dance, olden dance, and mermaid dancing which is a little different. You usually start on the ground – it’s a lot of floor work.
If you’re expecting a deep, thought-provoking movie, this is not the movie for you. It’s a fun, light-hearted movie. I probably wouldn’t pay to rent it again, maybe just wait for it to come out on TV. Rebel Wilson was pretty funny, but I think they used up her best lines in the trailer.
Ratings Explanation:
For random act number twelve, I donated to the Drive To End Hunger. This foundation seeks to end hunger in those 50+. A staggering nine million in that age group have to make the choice between medicine, heat, food, and other rising costs. My small donation helped provide three meals to a hungry senior. This is in honor of Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old with a radiant smile. He was incredibly brave – he ran into the hallway to try to help his friends and lead them to safety.
My eleventh random act was to buy In-N-Out for the guy behind me in the drive through today. Trust me, in my world, that’s the biggest gift to date! This was in honor of Chase Kowalski, a seven-year-old boy who loved to play outside. He recently competed in (and won!) his first mini-triathlon.
My tenth act was to leave a lunch card for the work cafe in a random spot on campus. This is in honor of Catherine Hubbard, a beautiful red-headed six-year-old little girl who loved animals and was always smiling. In an even odder twist, she shares both a first and middle name (Catherine Violet) with my niece (except my niece is Catherine with a K). I don’t know why, but that just makes this little girl hit a little closer to home.
Since there aren’t that many people at work, it’s easier to be sneaky in getting these anonymous acts done! My ninth act was to leave a Trader Joe’s gift card on someone’s desk who I happen to know is very health conscious. This act is in honor of Madeleine Hsu, a six-year-old little girl who was an avid reader, loved running and dancing.
My eighth random act of kindness was in honor of Dawn Hochsprung. She was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School. She loved the children at her school and died trying to defend them – she lunged at the shooter in an attempt to stop him. Dawn was married with two daughters, three stepdaughters, and a poodle. For this random act, I left a Cheesecake Factory gift card for one of the janitors here at work. She’s a really nice lady who always says hi to me when she sees me. I saw her working today and slipped it under the door to the cleaning closet.
One of my favorite things about Christmas morning is watching Shadow open his presents. I swear, he actually opens them. And loves doing it.
This year he got a gigantic rawhide bone – he loves those… we’re going to have to saw this one in half!
The squeaky duck was probably his favorite gift… he absolutely loves things that squeak, but doesn’t get them very often because it drives Mike and I crazy. In about twenty minutes the duck was desqueaked and disemboweled.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours – I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Today, with the help of my niece Katie, I completed my seventh random act, in honor of Dylan Hockley. I had bought a bunch of food to donate to the food bank, but they’re only open between 8am and 2pm during the week. So instead, I donated it at church tonight. This was in honor of Dylan Hockley, an autistic six year old who loved trampolines, spaghetti, and the color purple.
Well, sadly, I’m starting Christmas off with a tragic story. Sometimes I just don’t understand people.
Firefighters responded to the scene of a fire in upstate New York this morning. When they left their vehicles to approach the fire, one or more shooters opened fire, killing two of the firefighters and injuring two others. They continued to shoot at first responders for three hours. In addition to the two lives lost, three homes burned down.
This story absolutely disgusts me. Firefighters and first responders are trained to make sure the that scene is safe before entering – but I honestly don’t see how they could have done anything differently in this situation. The details are still very sketchy around this (Have they caught the person(s)? What was the motive?), but it sounds very much like they were ambushed. I hate that people do awful things like this to our unarmed first responders. I married into a family of firefighters – brave men who head towards danger when the rest of us are running away. I just don’t understand what the motive for this could have been.
My thoughts and prayers go out to those killed and injured today.
Click here for the link to the continuing coverage at CNN.
Down The Road I Go 