#59: Vote in a presidential election

Rachel wants you to vote.

While I was in line, the following things happened:

• My phone died, so I had to just look around me to occupy myself.
• I tried to guess who everyone was going to vote for. I couldn't imagine that any of these people were going to vote for Donald Trump.
• A family with two kids let their older daughter run wild in line. She solicited food from 2 different strangers.
• I saw one of those couples that looks so awkward, you wonder how they found each other. He was clutching her hand so tightly and holding it almost in the air, instead of letting their hands fall naturally between them. They weren't talking. I wondered if they would vote Independent American.
• A few school children stuck their faces into the auditorium and started yelling, "Trump!" "Clinton!" It was noticeably awkward, because that is actually illegal. The woman behind me went under the caution tape used to rope off the line and said, "Young man! What's you're doing is illegal!" I was embarrassed that she took it so seriously. When she came back, she announced to the line, "I used to teach here last year."
• A guy behind me in line complained to an acquaintance he had run into about the UVU school schedule, and I wanted to give him a talking to.
• I fell in love with a boy ahead of me in line. Mostly because he was reading a book while he waited. He also had a calculator watch and a pencil behind his ear. When we got to the front, we split off into lines based on our last names. Everyone in front of me was A-L, so I got to skip ahead, and we actually ended up voting at the same time. I wonder how I could strike up a conversation. "So, eh, who did you vote for?"

Then I voted. I got a sticker. I took a poll just outside the door.

Later that day, the following things happened:

• America elected Donald Trump.
• I cried and prayed to God before I went to bed that I would die in my sleep.

The next day, I woke up and wore a black arm band to work in mourning and in protest.

Can you see how depressed I am?

#90: Use a movie quote naturally in context that is very funny and fits perfectly

At dinner with family, discussing the upcoming presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Me: I've never voted for president before. I didn't vote last time.

Family: Why not?

Me: "In the last mayoral election... I went to get a manicure and forgot to vote."

#46 - Watch 5 iconic/hard/serious movies on VidAngel

Call me a millennial, but it's very infrequent that I sit down and watch a movie and look at the screen. Sure, I watch tv all the time, but it's while I'm cleaning my room or while I'm getting ready in the morning. Or if I do sit down to watch something, I can't make it through without playing a game on my phone. #multitasking #distracted

That means I don't end up watching serious movies all that often, which are actually the ones I like most. Plus, I feel like, with only a limited amount of time in my life, I want to focus on the important ones, instead of just watching 27 Dresses a million times. Just like Hodel said in Fiddler on the Roof, "We only have one rabbi, and he only has one son. Why shouldn't I want the best?"

...

I watched The Silence of the Lambs alone on the night of the Harvest Moon. The interesting thing about watching these iconic movies so far after the fact is that, even though you've never seen them, they've seeped into your pop culture experience over time--so much so that watching the original feels almost cliche. I felt that way about watching Good Will Hunting and The Sixth Sense over the last few months.

Hannibal Lecter felt almost cliche. But part of the strangeness of this movie is how you at once relate with and are repulsed by Hannibal Lecter. Clarice always calls him Dr. Lecter, creating a kind of respect for him. He is strangely sympathetic in that he has a twisted sense of morality that you can't necessarily argue with. I found the scene beautiful where he is listening to faint classical music in his cell when he attacks the guards, ending up with blood on his face to contrast the white purity of his jumpsuit.

This won Best Picture in the year I was born, so I think it was meant to be.