I Dare You to Move

You can probably tell by now that I'm a huge movie fan. I still consider it a pretty good bargain at roughly five dollars an hour. I'm not sure I can name anything I'd rather pay five dollars an hour to watch, especially including the whole theater experience. The cushy seats, the weird people to watch, standing in line to buy tickets, and the previews! I love , love the previews. I'm really disappointed if I miss them...though I wouldn't let it ruin my enjoyment of the movie. Sometimes, no, often, I get so involved in the previews that I forget what movie I came to watch once it starts.

A couple of my favorite movies have a common theme, The Truman Show, and Pleasantville. Pleasantville...my second favorite Reece Witherspoon Movie, a movie in which Paul Walker actually acts well and isn't racing any cars...ah, William H Macy and Joan Allen...and remember when JT Walsh explodes at Tobey MacGuire and his face finally turns color? I miss JT Walsh. He was a fabulous actor. Last Thanksgiving when Reid and I were driving a U-haul truck to Georgia, to move some things into our new home, he watched The Truman Show on his laptop. I will forever remember that drive from Arkansas, and listening to that movie. Ultimately, these movies are about taking what is comfortable and "pleasant," and deciding if it is enough. If nice, but limited, is more desirable in its safety than striking out to discover something wholly new to oneself. There is a sense of uncertainty that I crave; it feeds me, in the way that security feeds others. It doesn't have to be all the time; I've had enough chaos to last a long time. Just...often enough to keep my blood running high.

I love the song linked at the top, by Switchfoot. I am so enamored of the fact that there is more than one way to interpret these lyrics than the standard Christian message the band intended. But I also think they realized this, as well. Seeing it paired with scenes from The Truman Show inspired me to pass it along tonight.

I could say that I dare you to move, like today never happened. It goes well with the earlier post of "if you're in hell, keep moving." It doesn't matter how bad today was, I dare you to keep moving like your mistakes never existed, like your flaws are insignificant, like most of the things you worry about will never happen- because they won't. I don't mean hurt others and just ignore it- I mean it like the song means it, personally, just move on.

When I get really ramped up, really anxiously agitated, I use the "F" word. I hardly ever curse except for that. If the situation warrants, I can use it repeatedly in a variety of novel ways. There is just something so powerful about that word when sparingly applied. Which doesn't seem to fit with this post, except that I find I hardly use it at all anymore. Which must mean I am agitated less and less all the time. And that tells me my path to adventure is feeding me better things.

My boyfriend inspires me a lot. If you knew what he has lived through- enough to rival me, for sure- if you knew the challenges he has and the stories of his childhood, the places he has been both high and low, you would understand why I enjoy his company so much. I wrote this poem for him a while back, but this post made me think of it, so I will share it. It was on Facebook, so you might have read it before.

What is lived in the Life without eccentricity, spontenaiety, surprise and madness?
Quiet cocoons of comfortable stability enrobe the cautious in concrete,
Monuments to proper choices and lesson books left unread on the library steps.

Venturers stride over the threshhold and seize them by their spines,
Smelling the papyrus, parchment and pigmented pages in
Blinding binding glue frenzies, bowing their necks as they tear the experiences
Violently from print to program to progress of their minds.

Worlds of card catalog Dewey decimal microfiche and film in disarray,
Search engines heatedly seared into unuseability with microwaves and mystical
Emissions of a brain on fire, fascinated by rays through the leaded panes
That light their library of a life marked with passion and presence, to Be Present
In their flesh,
And to Know.

TSD 2009
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Like Truman says: Good Morning! And in case I don't see ya, Good afternoon, Good evening, and Goodnight!