In rewatching the trilogy yet again over Christmas break (I’ve seen these movies a million times, but it had been a few years since last viewing), my main takeaway was, “I can’t believe Sean Astin didn’t get a supporting actor nomination for this.” He is so, so good as Sam, but especially effective in ROTK.

The biggest problem, I realized upon rewatching, is that Jackson never quite gets me to care about any of those characters.

Several years ago I was dealing with an overactive thyroid (Graves disease), which, to the uninitiated, means your thyroid produces too much thyroxine and sends your body into overdrive (increased metabolism/heartrate/etc). I had trouble sleeping and would wake up in the middle of the night SOAKED in sweat; I was…

I teach group fitness (including Spinning) and a few years ago, I debated on whether I should get a bike, treadmill, or rower for my home gym. I went with the rower because I thought, hey, it’s a full-body workout, unlike the bike/tread which are very lower-body focused, so it will get me the most bang for my buck.…

My mom and my sister are prone to fits of rage, but I am generally a low-key person. Mom and sis have no issues whatsoever with acting like total Karens and causing scenes in public when a restaurant/store/etc makes a mistake, whereas I’ve always been the type to just let it go and move on. However, every once in a…

I noticed that as well. I work in PR, but for a hospital, so we’ve been busy AF this year dealing with media requests around COVID (on top of still trying to remind people that yes, it’s safe to come to the hospital for emergencies so don’t ignore signs of a heart attack, and no, don’t skip your cancer screenings,…

At first I was SO confused because I thought, “Uh, I didn’t pay back my First Time Home Buyer tax credit” but then I realized you said 2008, and I got my home in 2009 and got the $8K tax credit (which, fun fact, they kept denying my application because they apparently thought I was trying to scam the government for…

Same here. People around here think you’re just being ridiculous if you seriously follow every precaution. I make masks, and just a few weeks ago one of my customers asked if she could stop by my house to pick them up (instead of waiting for me to deliver it to her a few days later). She’s someone who generally…

The LOTR trilogy is what turned me from someone who really enjoyed music as my side passion/preferred form of entertainment to someone who became waaaaay more into movies. I had never tried to read LOTR (because I tried to read The Hobbit when I was younger and thought it was so dull) and I didn’t have much of a stake…

I always get charged for a “contact fitting” even though I’ve worn them for 20 years and even when I buy the same kind/brand over and over. I was told i had to have it done in order to be able to get a new prescription and order new contact lenses for the year. My eye exam co-pay is $10, the contact lens fitting is…

Agreed, the movies she makes with her husband’s involvement have been... not good. 

I think it takes a few episodes to really get going, and I feel like you don’t get a sense of the overarching arc for a while (lots of X-Files-esque Monster of the Week episodes, which are fine and fun). And the guys take some time to really settle into their characters. I found Dean to be sort of ridiculous and…

I’ve taught group fitness for 12+ years and done many, many trainings. i wasn’t super into spinning, but I figured it was a worthwhile addition to my repertoire and I needed the continuing education credits for my primary group fitness cert. I did Mad Dogg Spinning back in 2012 and it was one of the best, most…

Thank you for doing what I should have done. 😂  Yeah, I have a kitchenaid mixer that I use for doughs -- that little plastic blade doesn’t look like it could handle much, honestly. 

yeah, to be honest, the plastic blade didn’t look like it could handle much of anything. I have a kitchenaid that I use for bread dough, and sometimes it struggles with thicker dough.

I just got a giant 9-cup food processor and haven’t explored all its uses yet. Do you use the plastic blade for pie dough? This might be a game-changer.

I actually find fall kind of depressing, but I’m definitely in the minority among my friends. The temperatures drop and the leaves start changing, and all it does is remind me of death and that winter is coming, lol. I much prefer spring, and I get ecstatic when temperatures spike up and the buds on trees start…

My thoughts too. Those ‘home movies’ are lengthy scenes and involve a child killing their family in unbelievable ways, which is stressful to watch. I’d think your heart rate would jump and stay up when one of those movies starts, because you’re anticipating what’s coming. I wouldn’t say that definitively makes it the…

Same. Everyone is used to seeing my tuxedo cat jump on my desk and start headbutting me or walking on my keyboard. And if he’s not around, they get concerned!

One of my coworkers (we work at a university) just had a lengthy email exchange with a professor who was basically asking her to put the text from a webpage into a PDF so he could send it to others... she was asking him why he couldn’t just send the link to the webpage, he kept arguing with her and giving strange…