74. Make a list of movies I’ve wanted to see, and rent/watch them all

Leo may be a great actor, but this movie was booooriiiing. It wasn't even as scary/creepy as the previews made it out to be. And can I just pause there for a moment? Why, world, why do studios continue this move to make previews in one of these two extremes:

A) Showing all the good/funny/plot revealing parts of the movie in the preview so that actually watching the film is very disappointing

or

B)Splicing scenes from the movie together in such a way that they end up promoting an entirely different film than the one that is actually playing?

It makes trailers like this one seem almost believable...



All that to say...movie did not equal preview.

Moving on....





FINALLY I saw this movie. I liked it. Really enjoyed Geoffrey Rush's character and thought he did a fantastic job. Colin Firth also did good work. I won't say this is the best movie of the year (I think my vote would be The Fighter), but it was good and I recommend it.

I did have this thought though --- *spoiler alert* (even though I think I was the last one to actually see this so there's a very small risk of me spoiling anything) --- If I had a speech impediment and was going to do radio addresses, I would have used the playing music trick for the really important ones until I had trained enough to get over the impediment. No one listening would know and there wouldn't be weird phrasing....just sayin.

But anyway, good movie. Interesting story. Final Thought: Guy Pierce looked younger than Colin Firth

21. Do Blood Water’s 40 Days of Water Campaign

Blood:Water Mission is a fantastic organization based out of Nashville, TN and created by the members of the band Jars of Clay, aimed at building wells in Africa to help communities overcome disease and enhance their lives through clean drinking water.

I have known about them for about 6 years now and the more I learn, the more I respect and want to support what they are doing.

Each year during Lent Blood:Water holds a fundraiser called 40 Days of Water. The basic idea is that for these 40 days (or 46 if you don't take Sundays as feast days....but I most definitely did feast on those days) you give up purchasing beverages and instead drink only water. Through their website and mobile website, you can track the amount of money you would have spent on each drink you're giving up, and at the end of the 40 days, you donate that amount of money to Blood: Water.

So many benefits from this campaign - it only takes one American dollar to supply fresh water for a year for one African. The impact of even the relatively small $78 I donated can be a great benefit to our brothers and sisters in Africa.

Personally, the benefits were so great for me - I was healthier because I was cutting calories from my diet (though, unfortunately I didn't lose any ell-bees).

As with all types of fasting, you start to realize things on which you rely and depend that don't satisfy - constantly pointing you back to Christ and his glorious riches.

I also developed a good habit of drinking a lot of water during the work day. I used to drink way too much Coke, and haven't really gone back to that now even though the 40 Days are over. Developing the water habit has also eliminated that 3pm lull where I used to crave caffeine.

It was interesting to try and justify what I would have paid for a beverage....like..should I tally the glass of wine I didn't have at my friend's house, even though I wouldn't have technically been paying for it?.....

Despite those silly instances, 40 Days of Water was a great experience, and I couldn't be happier to help Blood:Water in their work in this way.

Check it out:
http://40days.bloodwatermission.com/