When my travel buddy told me about "Amelie" a few days before we left for Paris back in May, I've been waiting for it to be released on video in the States. Then, as usual, life happened and I forgot about it until I refreshed my Netflix queue. I finally got to see the movie last night and I thought it was okay even though the ending was another deus ex machina scenario that gave a predictable and quick resolution to the film. Maybe I'm just jaded from all the fancy effects and the increasingly elaborate plots that Hollywood has been churning out, but it didn't get me riled up about anything nor did it bore me. I've been thinking about films like "Forrest Gump" and "Castaway" since I saw a tribute to Tom Hanks a couple of weeks ago and that's what I would call a great movie. It really draws you in and takes you into another world without you even realizing it. With "Amelie", I still felt like I was just sitting in my little apartment watching a movie. However, it was nice to get a little nostalgic when some of the scenes in the movie reminded me of the time I spent in Paris. All in all, it provided entertainment for an evening which is what I had hoped it would be.
I've been spending the past couple of nights checking out iTunes Radio and it is the best internet radio service that I've tried so far. The WindowsMedia tuner had problems behind firewalls, the Real player's tuner was prone to dropping connections and even certain live radio broadcasts from Singapore that played through the WindowsMedia player spent more time buffering than playing music. iTunes Radio has a great selection and the stream is pristine. I haven't heard a single interruption since I've started using it. Unfortunately, the latest reincarnation is iTunes 3 which only works on OS X. If you're still on OS 9, you can download iTunes 2 here.
I had a dream last night where I heard someone play this killer guitar solo. The weird thing was that this person played exactly what I envisioned the line to be. In other words, it might as well as been me playing. Then I was woken up. And try as I might, I could not remember how the melody went. But believe you me, it was a smooth piece. The thing had soul to spare. That much I remember. I keep coming up with musical ideas lately, but by the time I get home, I'm too tired to even look at my guitar. The dream made me realize how great some of those ideas might turn out. I promise I'll pick up the ol' six string this week.
Of course, just when I needed a little help, He knew what I needed and gave it to me. I was offered a paying position at the studio this morning and I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing. More than just the money, what I needed was to know if people appreciated the work that I was doing, if I was making a difference at all. Just a little bit of encouragement to spur me on. Thanks to God for reassuring me that I'm on the right path, that I'm making the right decisions even though some people tell me otherwise.
Certain things happened this past Saturday that made me reconsider my decision to spend so much time and energy working for free and doing a lot of things that I usually wouldn't even do for myself, and the worst thing was putting myself in a situation where I was made to feel painfully uncomfortable. Why, oh why do I keep on doing this? I'm exhausted, broke and hurt.
It didn't take long to figure out why I'll show up at the studio tomorrow and the day after that and so on for as long as I possibly can. Because the good Lord has put the love in my heart. I want to be an engineer, I love it that much. If this is what it takes, then this is what it takes. I really do love it that much.
