Why I Hated the How I Met Your Mother Finale

I found How I Met Your Mother a few years after it had started and I loved it. I binged watched my way through all the current episodes available at the time and kept up with the show after that. Even though I think it jumped the shark several seasons ago, I stuck with it. Especially knowing this season was the last.

Like many other people out there, I tuned in for the finale tonight and was horribly disappointed with the end result.

Spoilers from this point on - scroll past the picture to read them. I'm a little hyped up over this so be warned, there is going to be some adult language.

Image: CBS.com

Most of the episode was flash forwards and it was horribly depressing. Robin and Barney got divorced after three years of marriage, which was super annoying since the whole season had been about their wedding!!

Robin pretty much left the group which made Lilly very sad. Now, I've lost friends before and yeah, it's sad, but it's life too. They just seemed over focus so much on the sad parts that I was getting annoyed by the half way part.

Not much was done with the mother, but more focused on the group. Barney backslide for a while until he knocked up a girl and became a father. Lilly and Marshall really didn't do much - they had at least three kids and Marshall became a judge. Finally Ted and the mother got married (after having two kids but that wasn't a big deal - though I dislike Ted for not pissing or getting off the pot). And then all of a sudden, the mother is in the hospital and she fucking died!!!

The whole damn show is How I Met Your Mother - and we finally get to know her and how great she is for stupid Ted. And they kill  her off. 

This may have hit me hard because my own mother is dead and I found a handwritten letter she had sent me in college today, but still pissed me off and make me upset.

Finally it is revealed that Ted is still fucking in love with stupid Robin and the damn series ends with him going to her again.

Such a  horrible ending in my opinion! I hated it so much - which of course is why I'm writing this rant. I hate that Barney backslid so much, I never really liked Robin as a character that much and my least favorite character has always been stupid Ted. 

So it's over and I really doubt that I'll ever watch How I Met Your Mother again. Which is sad because it was a great show.

Literal...

Image: http://charlotteheadachecenter.com/

As I've mentioned before, I suffer from daily chronic headaches. They get migraine bad often, and I'm not just talking about higher pain levels. I get auras that give me vision problems, I have a hard time thinking clearly and I tend to take things very literally.

It took me a while to realize I was being so literal. I did it this morning without thinking about it at work, but I did realize after a moment that the person I was talking to was being sarcastic. It's a very interesting side effect to my migraines.

When my pain levels go up, I feel my intelligence slipping down. I can't brain today is a fact of life for me some days. I think because of the intense pain, my higher brain functions will short out a bit.

So if I take something you say either in person or online literally, it's probably because my brain isn't working correctly.

My Very Own Empire Records

Image: Wikipedia.com

I love the movie Empire Records. If you aren't familiar with this wonderful example of the 90's, it's about a group of people working at a record store. The main conflict is that their store is about to be sold to a major chain, killing the indie vibe and the fun.

This morning I was thinking about how I'd like to watch it again. And then I realized that I had my own Empire Records when I was in college.

My favorite job in college was working at the local movie theater. Most of the time when I worked there, we had the Cinema Four, which obviously had four screens. We also had two one screen theaters downtown - the Ward and the Broadway. I usually worked at the Cinema Four or the Ward. I didn't like working at the Broadway - it was (is?) very haunted with no so nice spirits.

The head manager was an older guy who was a lot like Joe from Empire Records. He loved the theater and he loved movies. We had different people working there and we'd have a lot of time to talk while the movies were playing. It was an easy job and a ton of fun.

There was a Soul Calibur arcade machine along with other games. One of the other managers had rigged it so we could play games for free. My proudest moment at that job was when I actually beat one of the managers. I wasn't great but I had gotten good enough on one character to kick some butt.

Alas, our story didn't have a happy ending. A big 12 screen theater was built and the Cinema Four got knocked down. The last time I knew the Ward was a church and the Broadway was used by the community theater.

I worked at the big theater for a while. It wasn't the same at all and they didn't want to promote me because I was from the old crew. I ended up quitting out of frustration.

Real life is rarely like the movies. But for a short time, I had my own version of Empire Records and I'll always have fond memories of that time.

Kindergarten Readiness Rally

Yesterday, Todd, Emily and I headed to Hendersonville for the Kindergarten Readiness Rally. We weren't really sure what to expect but we try to do the kid-friendly activities around town when we can.

From one end of the mall to another, there were tables of the local schools. At each table, there was some sort of activity. All things that Kindergarten aged kids should be able to do.

Emily had a blast! She did very good at everything. She can sort her colors, she can do some spelling / reading and she's excellent with counting and math.

One of the tables had her write her name down. The lady then wrote Emily's name in different colors and cut out each letter to make a puzzle. Emily easily put the puzzle together, told the lady the letters and the colors. The lady at that table was very impressed.

Emily's been in preschool for two years now and I think that's helped her a lot with learning and preparing for kindergarten. We also have been working on her letters and reading a lot at home lately.

At her school's table, she got to meet the teachers she'll have for next year. She also got to make a stick figure of herself. She got a lot of goodies too - pencils, a cup of dirt with a seed in it and even a new book.

Emily had a great time and it's nice to see that she is indeed ready for Kindergarten. We are keeping her at her preschool for one last year because she loves her school. Then she will head off to public school for 1st grade.

The Longest Winter Ever

I've lived through some long winters thanks to growing up in Michigan, but usually the winters are much shorter and more mild in North Carolina. Not this year though.

Thanks to the polar vortexes, we have gotten tons of snow. The last time we got this much snow was in January 2011, but that was one storm. We had a normal winter after that.

I love snow for Christmas but I hate snow after, especially in March. The up and down with the weather has caused my pain levels to be much worse than normal. In the 60's one day and then below freezing and snowing the next doesn't help at all.

Yesterday I had been resting in the bedroom after work because of high pain levels. I went out into the living room and nearly started swearing. The grass was covered by snow... again.

It's nearly April and I'm praying that Spring will actually come soon. I have a picnic that I'm invited to in May and my husband keeps joking how there will be snow for the picnic. I really hope he's wrong but who knows at this point!

A Low Key Birthday

Yesterday was the day of my birth. Even though I'm pushing 40, I still like my birthday quite a bit.

I was a little bummed because we canceled our plans for this weekend but I still have the cold that never seems to end so it's probably good we aren't going out of town.

Instead we did some things around town. First we went out to dinner at one of our favorite Chinese places and had yummy, yummy sushi. After that, we headed into Asheville to go to the Hop.

Emily and I used to go to the Hop all the time when she was a baby for a meeting with other moms. I hadn't been there in years but it was still the same. We had some ice cream and Emily played in the kid's section

until it was time for the Multiverse's Game Night.

The Multiverse is the local geek group. Because of Todd working 2nd shift and me being on Emily duty, I hadn't been to any of the meetups yet. But we decided to give it a try last night.

They had videos set up as well as board games. It was themed to the 80's so it was a lot of old school games. Emily and I played an old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game with a little boy and his dad - it was a ton of fun!

Once we got home, I got Emily to bed. I sat down and watched some of Iron Man 3, but I was beat so I went to bed early.

It was low-key but fun. I got a lovely present from a Bpal friend of mine that had BPAL, a travel mug, notebook and other things. I also got a card and Saving Mr. Banks from Emily and Todd.

Here I come, year 37! Here's hoping it will be awesome!

Disadvantages of Working From Home

Last year I wrote a post about the perks of working from home. Being able to work from home in my pj's had a lot of advantages but there are some things that can suck about it.

Because I work from home, have a small child and have a husband that works 2nd shift I don't get out of the house much. Most of the time it doesn't bother me too much but I do get a little stir crazy sometimes. I'll go to the store just to get out of the house.

I try very hard to keep my work separate from my home life. I have room that I use as an office and I generally only go in there for work. But sometimes I go in there just to check to see if I have a call rating or to check my email. Working from home makes it hard to completely disconnect from work.

While this one applies mostly just to my job, I think it probably happens with other work at home jobs. I work six days a week and it gets very tiring sometimes. I only work 6 1/2 hours a day so it's still about 40 hours. But since my only day off is Sunday and because I go to church, I don't really ever get much of a day off.

This disadvantages are generally pretty minor and right now the advantages do outweigh the disadvantages. I do hope to go back to working in an office again someday when Emily is a little older.

Ash Wednesday

Emily's cross from last year

Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. I'm Lutheran so we observe Lent and Ash Wednesday.

My church here is the first church I went to that did the ashes on the forehead. My other churches would have a service but that was it. It was a little strange the first year I went but it's a great symbol. I have pictures of Emily with ashes on her forehead from every year she's been alive.

I like Ash Wednesday service. It's a somber reminder that we came from dust and to dust we will return. Lent's a somber season so it's a great beginning.

I remember one year in college, Ash Wednesday fell on my best friend's 21st birthday. We went to the service but then we went out drinking a little. It was a rather surreal day!

For this year, I'll be going to church early for choir practice and then will be going to the service where I'll be singing with the choir. Emily will be with me, of course, so there will be another picture of her tonight with ashes on her forehead.

Camp Fire Girls

Emily wearing my Camp Fire vest

A few days ago a high school friend posted that her mom had passed away. I was a little startled and sad to see that I knew her mom. She had been my leader when I was in Camp Fire Girls and it brought back a lot of memories.

I joined Camp Fire Girls in elementary school. I had briefly been a Girl Scout but my parents switched me to Camp Fire for some reason. I really loved everything about Camp Fire. I learned all kinds of crafty things, made friends and got to go on camping trips.

Every summer, I'd go to day camp for a week and have an overnight stay at the end of the week. We'd cook out over fires and make crafts. I remember one year I made a really ugly clown doll that I named Fred. I still have him - he's in Emily's room in her sea of stuffed animals.

Like Girl Scouts sell cookies, we sold chocolate bars. I'm not a great salesperson even back then so I was never a top seller. But one year I really wanted to go to the special weekend camp out for the top sellers. My mom drove me all around town to sell in different neighborhoods. I still remember one of the streets was Elm Street. I got to my goal and got to go on the special camping trip - it was a lot of fun.

I loved Camp Fire so much that I stuck with it until my freshman year of high school. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to do the school plays which had rehearsals that conflicted with the Camp Fire meetings.

I have a lot of fond memories and I'm a little sad that North Carolina has no Camp Fire councils so Emily will never be a Camp Fire girl herself.