Best Birthday Ever: Best Birthday Weekend EVER!!

What a great weekend!  Sorry I missed a couple of days of tips.  I was too caught up in the best birthday weekend ever.  Here's a quick rundown:

• Friday:  Had sleepover party with friends.  Played game of Survivor.  (Tom was the sole survivor.  I was runner up.  I saved Tom early in the game by giving him my individual immunity and then he won the whole thing!!) Got presents.  (I have a whole set of Lantern Rings now.) Watched a movie. (Bandslam . . . thumbs up.)  Stayed up late.
• Saturday:  Woke up and went swimming with friends. Had playdate with Emil, because he couldn't stay at the sleepover because of his baseball game. Grandma came down and started making my caterpillar costume for Alice in Wonderland.  Ate at Casa Brava . . . thy gave me a sombrero and sang Feliz Cumpleano to me.  Watched Doctor Who . . . big thumbs up.
• Sunday:  Family came to our house for birthday celebration.  Went swimming with my cousins.  Ate lunch.  Got presents (comics, a scooter, and some Legos).  My favorite comic I got was the Absolute Edition of Crisis on Infinite Earths in hardback.  Performed "Ode to Joy" at piano recital . . . thumbs up.  Ate subway . . . a footlong for a nine year old tummy!  Then, watched Survivor finale . . . thumbs up, except I think Sandra shouldn't have won, I wanted Colby or Jerri to win.  I liked Russell, but I didn't want him to win.

What a BIG weekend.

So my last tip for the Best Birthday Ever is make the most of everything you do for your birthday and you'll have a blast like I did!

Sleep Study

When you can't sleep, I can recommend four different ways to try to fall asleep.  They are:

1. Try to remember all of the characters of whatever book series you're reading.  Lately, I've been naming all of the members of the Justice League.
2. Relax every muscle in your body.  Start with the very tippy tip of your toes and work all the way to the top of your head.
3. Say the alphabet backwards.
4. And this old standby: Count some sheep.

If you want my opinion, #1 works pretty well and so does #2.  Number 3 really works!  And #4 is a little bit of a joke.

Heroic and Villainous Reality

I love this show called Survivor.  It's a great reality show.  They're doing Heroes vs. Villains right now.  My favorite person on the Villains team is Russell.  He's just a bad, bad dude.  My favorite guy on the Heroes is Rupert.  He seems like a really nice guy.  He's from Indianapolis.  And he runs Rupert's Kids, which seems like a good program for people.  On the Heroes, James is a really bad person.  I kind of hate him.  He's a big cut hunk, though.  And he has washboard abs.  Whoa!!!

If I tried out for Survivor, I wouldn't be fast enough to do the challenges.  The strategy though I would be good at.

You should watch this show.  If you're really smart, good at strategy, and could live without food and drink for awhile, then you should try out.

Movie Mayhem Day 6: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

One thing you have to know about me is that I love the book The Lightning Thief.  So, I had a hard time enjoying the movie of Percy Jackson and the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief.  They cut out about half of the book and some of my favorite parts.  Then, the movie made some things much more important than they were in the book, like Persephone's pearls. 

Some of my favorite things that they cut out were the fight on the Greyhound bus that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover fought with the furies; the Tunnel of Love scene in the old abandoned water park; when Percy meets Aries and challenges him; and all of the stuff about Kronos.

What I did like about the movie was some of the action and the scene at Aunty M's (even though they didn't eat burgers there).

I think they might have a hard time making the rest of the books into movies.  They might be able to do the second and the fourth books, but the third and the last books are so much about the Titans and Kronos that this movie didn't give the background that you'd need to make them into movies.

One cool thing about the movie is that, even though I don't know the person who played Annabeth, my dad had the brother of the actress who played Annabeth as a student a couple of years ago and even went on a trip to India with him.  Isn't that interesting?

So, my recommendation would be that you might like the movie if you haven't read the book.  But, I'd really recommend that you read the books, because they're some of my favorites.

Super Tip

There is this thing called Justice League.  It's about these guys that get to fight villains and destroy bad guys.

You can collect figures and DVDs.  I have about 50 action figures and the space ship.  I used to have the Watchtower, but it broke.

My tip to you is that you should rent the videos from Netflix and see what you think about them.  I think they're really good.  But, before you get all crazy for it, you need to be careful.  If you get the wrong kind of Justice League, your collection can get all messed up.  So be careful which one you choose.