Did you SEE him perform “Hallelujah”??? Oh my goooosh.

And then last night, he sang “The Boxer.”  I’m so all over that song after this competition. It’s the best song ever!

More soon! Sorry so short…Crazy times abound. (In a good way, I mean.)

If you’re not careful, you can get all deep watching American Idol.  I like the show for the singing. But more than that, I like it for the dreams people live and the incredible talent and potential that is uncovered over the course of the show. Often, contestants who succeed on the show are like Adam Lambert–by this, I mean, they were already quite confident and had pretty thoroughly developed their style and vocals prior to even competing for a spot on the show.

But every here and there, a contestant like sweet Lee Dewyze comes along.

He looks like the boy next door. Well, no…Actually, he looks like the boy from a rough neighborhood who probably got into trouble a lot over the years. We don’t know much about him, except that he was a paint salesman at one point. After one performance, Ryan Seacrest quizzed Lee on some extremely strange-sounding colors, and Lee proved himself to be a thorough expert on paint colors. That was pretty awesome. We also know he got fired from a job–maybe the paint selling job–because when asked what he’d given up for all the time spent on the Idol competition, he said not too much, as his lease had run out, and he’d recently gotten fired from his job anyway. Fired. There’s definitely more to Dewyze than meets the eye. He also shared that he’d gotten kicked out of his high school–and added that he’s not that kind of person now. Mhm. A man with a past.  I see.

The thing is, these characteristics–cute, somewhat sketchy past, outstanding voice–actually describe many, if not most, contestants on the show…so what makes Lee stand out? Well, there are his baby blue eyes. They stand out quite a bit. And then there’s his exquisite, clear, perfect pitched, one-of-a-kind voice that in itself is music to my ears (and apparently music to many, many other people’s ears as well!) His genuine modesty and mild-mannered disposition in interviews doesn’t hurt.

So there’s all that…but Lee has one additional trait that sets him apart–his vulnerability. He knows he’s talented, of course, how could he not when he’s made it to the Top 10? Yet, he still doesn’t quite understand the effect he has on the audience and judges. He is already a star. People LOVE him. The judges LOVE him. Usher was the coach on tonight’s show, and after Lee performed for him and left the room, Usher looked at the camera and said “Wow.” USHER. Yet after Lee sings on stage, his face reveals an expression of hope that accompanies a degree of uncertainty that’s somehow unfittingly intense. Hope is no longer a factor in this story. It’s very, very clear that he will either win OR he’ll be a star anyway–like Chris Daughtry or Adam Lambert. Why does he not yet understand that he’s in that league?

He’s still vulnerable. I wonder how long he’ll maintain this sweet and gentle exterior? Will he be like Adam Lambert and become notoriously diva-fied and difficult to deal with? Or will he, heaven forbid, be like David Cooke who turned into an uncontrollable ego maniac? I say he won’t. I am thinking he might be like David Archuletta who is so wildly famous but still seems as genuine as he was on the day he tried out. Of all the contestants I have liked, sweet, mysterious Lee DeWyze is one of my very favorites.

This post won’t be lengthy…As a result of learning about beautiful boy in the above photo, I have been thinking rather than writing–contemplating life, the afterlife, time, and the precious gifts we all are so very lucky to have here and now.

This little boy was James Bulger, and he died almost 20 years ago. He was only 2. His death was not accidental, and the story enraged the local community. Photos and videos of James have touched the hearts of people all over England (his home) and the world. This precious little boy is being officially commemorated through a project:

Here is information about the project and the precious little boy: http://www.justgiving.com/jamesbulger

The project will help save the lives of children whose lives are at risk through a school in England as a safe haven for children who are bullied–specifically those children who are harrassed to the point of serious physical (and psychological) danger. In this shelter, the youths can continue to learn in a supportive and safe environment until they are ready to transfer to mainstream schools again. Classes are set to begin this spring. The project is run on donations.

Please visit this website and see if you feel this is a cause you would like to support. I visited and used PayPal to make a donation. It was very easy.

PS. All donations are in pounds, so if you enter the number “20,” that means 20 pounds, which equals roughly 40 dollars! If you want to donate $10 dollars, enter “5″ into the blank. And so on.

Wow! Has it really been over a month since I wrote on this blog?? Where does the time go? Well, I guess I’ve spent my time mainly 1) fantasizing about new ventures 2) getting very annoyed about certain aspects of my job–not Hot Boss, though 3) enjoying the success of some ventures I started last year. So, while the first two activities are somewhat sketchy and a little pathetic, the third one validates my dreaming and scheming. At least to the point that the friends and family who are forced to endure listening to all my dreams and schemes no longer look terrified when I start talking about my next big thing. (Unrelated comment: for some reason, when I write fragments and treat them like sentences, it makes me feel sort of cool and rebellious. I hope that doesn’t annoy anyone.)

Anyway, sort of in line with the theme of dreams and schemes, I know of a person who I want to share a little bit about. This person is neat, but somewhat…the type one could worry about due to his lack of diligence and what seems like…well, odd goals and poor decisions in some ways. I kind of want to see what you think:

I can’t tell you his name, but he was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. His mom was an artist and nurse, and his father was an electrical engineer. The family moved to California, so this guy ended up going to Fullerton College. He studied physics and English at first, but majored in philosophy. He ended up dropping out of college and worked several jobs. He found a truck driving job and stayed with that one for quite a while…Then he watched one of the Star Wars movies and felt really inspired about movie making. So, he decided to quit his truck driving job to enter film school.

Do you think that this will go okay for him? The scenario looks bleak, but I hear the story and want to have hope…

Well, fast forward. That story actually happened many years ago. Now, things are going pretty well for that individual. He graduated film school and did a bunch of other stuff. Currently, his movie Avatar is the 2nd highest grossing film ever (at a total of $1.14 billion worldwide). Avatar is second only to Titanic, the highest grossing movie of all time. Funny thing–this guy also wrote and directed Titanic. So this former truck driving college drop out now holds the top 2 spots of highest grossing films ever! (The Star Wars movie that inspired him to go to film school was the original movie that was released in 1977.)

One more note: Both Titanic and Avatar were very, very, extremely widely ridiculed for taking so long to make and costing sooooo much money. It was just assumed that Titanic didn’t stand a chance at earning back its cost, especially considering that the two starring actors were complete Hollywood nobodies…Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

His name, his name, yes, of course the cat’s now out of the bag. The philosophy major, truck driving, college drop out who went to film school because he liked Star Wars is James Cameron. I never knew anything about him until I read this article and this biography about him just now…

Pretty neat. These articles made me think of a book that was popular several years ago. Remember that book Life’s Little Instruction Book? James Cameron sort of embodies my very two favorite quotes from that book:

1) Don’t ever deprive a person of hope. It may be all he has.

2) Don’t give up on anyone. Miracles happen every day.

Darn it. It is 11:20pm now. I am going to try to force myself to go to sleep rather than spend all night researching the internet on other people who inspire me like Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Suess, and John Forbes Nash, Jr. (the guy who inspired the movie A Beautiful Mind). Thank you for stopping by.

He fixed eggs and put a LOT of ketchup on them for my sons. Why am I telling you that part? I guess because I don’t really like that my children are getting into the habit of putting ketchup on food it doesn’t belong on…In fact, what DOES ketchup belong on except maybe hamburgers and fries? Perhaps on a hotdog…I think that’s about it. Certainly not eggs. Certainly not carrots, another food my 5 year old REALLY wants to put ketchup on. Certainly not rice, another food he wants to put ketchup on…Definitely not chicken, another food my 5 year old wants to put ketchup on. Okay, enough. That’s too many times to say the word “ketchup” in one blog post…

SO, my husband fixes dinner. It was great. He’s such a good cook. Those 3 meals he has cooked over the last 12 years were some of the best meals I’ve ever eaten! I’m not joking–about the frequency or the deliciousness.

The problem took place after dinner…I started doing the dishes. I reached in to clean my favorite spatula. It’s plastic, beige, a little burned on one of the sides. That’s ok. Makes it look reliable and well-liked. Because it WAS. That spatula was…super. Super Spatula. That’s what I’m going to call it. Because that’s what it was…Super Spatula was so light, so nimble, so quick. Super Spatula could slide any food from any pan–heck, I bet Super Spatula could have slid fried eggs off gravel and had them looking shiny and smooth.

But Super Spatula is gone. Super Spatula was somehow broken. Broken in half. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. All I know is that my husband put both halves in the sink to be washed, and then pretended like there’s nothing wrong with just using the top half.

“Holly, you can use just this part! You don’t NEED the handle.”

Um, YOU don’t need the handle. I…I need the handle. THANKS.

PS. I want to post a photo of what’s left of Super Spatula, but my camera is broken. I think I’m getting a new one. That’s hard for me to do because it’s expensive, and I hate buying expensive things…It may take a few more blog posts. Oh, I could always use my husband’s $1000 camera (not actually sure how much it cost, but knowing him, no LESS than say…$300.) But I don’t like it. I feel opposed to it because it’s wasteful. Also, I don’t know where it is or how to use it.