Romantic? Or Maudlin...
The last storm to blow over us happened while I was at my cousin's place (playing computer games, I need to write a post about that for Frank's Geek site). It was actually pretty impressive, down here (I don't know what the storm did up in Logan). I got there before anything had started falling...and when I left (at about 3 am), four inches of fluffy, white, beautiful packing snow had piled up on my car.
It was a fast-moving, fast-falling storm; but because it came through so quickly, the ground never cooled off from the day. So the drive home had an odd, ethereal, almost postcard quality to it. Everything was covered in white...except the road, which was wet enough to be black, and very stark contrast.
And as I was driving along, I was struck by just how incredibly beautiful the scene was. A little depressed, in fact, by the knowledge that I couldn't have gotten a good picture of it, even if I'd had my camera...the sheer panorama of it had to be taken in to truly appreciate the sight. And I was thankful to be driving home at 3 am so I got a chance to see it.
I would have just stuck to musing about the romanticist in me (which I find, personally, to be somewhat amusing, as I tend to be a pragmatist about many things in life)...but yesterday afternoon, I finally got a chance to see Harry Potter (I hadn't seen any of the earlier HP movies until they came out on DVD, and I wanted to catch at least ONE of them on the big screen--and the movie house in Kaysville only costs $2 ($3 on Saturday nights), so it was a good bargain (next up, I think, is Walk the Line).
But I could be found laughing at myself during the movie...especially near the end, the scene in the graveyard (not going to spoil this for anyone, in the off-chance that I'm not the only one who hasn't seen this film yet and is planning on seeing it--and the even further-off-chance that anyone in the previous heading hasn't already read the book). But I found myself getting misty-eyed...even though I knew what was coming, even though I knew it was just a film.
I've always had a soft spot for stories about self-sacrifice for a greater cause. I don't regard myself as an altruist--but I have my moments. And each time I face that choice, I fight a little battle inside myself, between the desire to take the easy way out and get the immediate gratification, or doing the difficult thing and enjoying the longer-lasting gratification I get from looking back at it. Thus far in life, those moments have been pretty small and relatively meaningless, in the grand scheme--giving truly impartial advice to a female friend that I would like to be dating, when she comes to me about relationship problems--rescuing a crippled pigeon--things like that.
I'd like to think, if I found myself in a situation where it was life-or-death (for me), that my higher motives would win out over my base instincts. I guess that's why I'm so touched by stories that create that kind of moral dilemma for the characters. I can understand if they don't make the hard choice...but I'm thrilled when they do (I still recall watching an episode of MTV's Real House/Road Rules competition, where both teams were supposed to be running a very difficult obstacle course...a member of one team was so rattled and tired by some of the obstacles that she almost quit. And a couple of her teammates, rather than rushing off to try and finish the course and abandon her to face the ignominy of losing the event for her team all alone, stayed with her...they coaxed her along, helped her through the tougher obstacles, and at a couple of points even carried her--and never did they make mention of the fact that it cost their team the victory. Their thoughts--at least the ones they vocalized--were all about her, and their desire for her to see this thing through, regardless of where she finished. I still get misty-eyed, just typing about it...)
So, yeah. Maybe I'm a Romantic. Maybe I'm maudlin and overly-sentimental. But I wouldn't want it any other way.
The last storm to blow over us happened while I was at my cousin's place (playing computer games, I need to write a post about that for Frank's Geek site). It was actually pretty impressive, down here (I don't know what the storm did up in Logan). I got there before anything had started falling...and when I left (at about 3 am), four inches of fluffy, white, beautiful packing snow had piled up on my car.
It was a fast-moving, fast-falling storm; but because it came through so quickly, the ground never cooled off from the day. So the drive home had an odd, ethereal, almost postcard quality to it. Everything was covered in white...except the road, which was wet enough to be black, and very stark contrast.
And as I was driving along, I was struck by just how incredibly beautiful the scene was. A little depressed, in fact, by the knowledge that I couldn't have gotten a good picture of it, even if I'd had my camera...the sheer panorama of it had to be taken in to truly appreciate the sight. And I was thankful to be driving home at 3 am so I got a chance to see it.
I would have just stuck to musing about the romanticist in me (which I find, personally, to be somewhat amusing, as I tend to be a pragmatist about many things in life)...but yesterday afternoon, I finally got a chance to see Harry Potter (I hadn't seen any of the earlier HP movies until they came out on DVD, and I wanted to catch at least ONE of them on the big screen--and the movie house in Kaysville only costs $2 ($3 on Saturday nights), so it was a good bargain (next up, I think, is Walk the Line).
But I could be found laughing at myself during the movie...especially near the end, the scene in the graveyard (not going to spoil this for anyone, in the off-chance that I'm not the only one who hasn't seen this film yet and is planning on seeing it--and the even further-off-chance that anyone in the previous heading hasn't already read the book). But I found myself getting misty-eyed...even though I knew what was coming, even though I knew it was just a film.
I've always had a soft spot for stories about self-sacrifice for a greater cause. I don't regard myself as an altruist--but I have my moments. And each time I face that choice, I fight a little battle inside myself, between the desire to take the easy way out and get the immediate gratification, or doing the difficult thing and enjoying the longer-lasting gratification I get from looking back at it. Thus far in life, those moments have been pretty small and relatively meaningless, in the grand scheme--giving truly impartial advice to a female friend that I would like to be dating, when she comes to me about relationship problems--rescuing a crippled pigeon--things like that.
I'd like to think, if I found myself in a situation where it was life-or-death (for me), that my higher motives would win out over my base instincts. I guess that's why I'm so touched by stories that create that kind of moral dilemma for the characters. I can understand if they don't make the hard choice...but I'm thrilled when they do (I still recall watching an episode of MTV's Real House/Road Rules competition, where both teams were supposed to be running a very difficult obstacle course...a member of one team was so rattled and tired by some of the obstacles that she almost quit. And a couple of her teammates, rather than rushing off to try and finish the course and abandon her to face the ignominy of losing the event for her team all alone, stayed with her...they coaxed her along, helped her through the tougher obstacles, and at a couple of points even carried her--and never did they make mention of the fact that it cost their team the victory. Their thoughts--at least the ones they vocalized--were all about her, and their desire for her to see this thing through, regardless of where she finished. I still get misty-eyed, just typing about it...)
So, yeah. Maybe I'm a Romantic. Maybe I'm maudlin and overly-sentimental. But I wouldn't want it any other way.
posted by Curtis at 10:01 AM
1 Comments:
We spend most of our time being pragmatists by going to work, grocery shopping, paying bills, etc. It's nice to be able to give into the romantic every once in a while through films, theatre, art, etc. By the way, I LOVED the last HP film and I wasn't really crazy about the others. This one affected me as well.
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