This past weekend, I cajoled an unsuspecting friend of mine to go see Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson and written and directed by Luc Besson , but I'm afraid I felt that I had to apologize immediately when the credits started to roll. This movie was truly dismal, and I wouldn't recommend paying full ticket price (or even any ticket price, really) to see it. Before I start to rip it apart, let's focus on the good. Because there really was some good tucked away in this abysmal excuse for a film.

My goal in life is not to drive people crazy, but this made me smile. Peace. Stef.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I have gotten a seriously ominous feeling over the last week because of all of the air traffic disasters that have been happening recently. Disasters in general, really. It all started back in March of this year when Malaysia Airlines flight # MH370 went inexplicably missing. You guys all heard about it, and if you watched CNN you got your fill of hyperbolized and endlessly repeated news footage mostly of open expanses of sea. The world was transfixed, because how can you just lose an entire plane filled with 239 people? With technology what it is, it seems damned near impossible. But somehow they did it. And then they went ahead and informed the alleged victims' families by text that they were officially presumed dead. Excellent idea, guys.

In the room where you are right now, what are some surfaces you normally do not see? For example, the underside of the table, or underside of the chair. Perhaps there is something you can only see if you stand on top of the chair. Perhaps you would notice them if you were a dog lying on the rug, or a fly buzzing around the ceiling . List and precisely describe these surfaces. 1, 2, 3, GO!

Absolutely. For any of you who know me personally, you know that I worry about all of the small things. I am seriously the biggest worrywart of all time, and I frequently find that I work myself into a tizzy when, at the end of the day, worrying accomplished nothing other than giving me anxiety and frustration. Yes, there are problems that warrant anxious worrying, but it's incredibly important to recognize that normally the problems that arise are not worthy of energy spent on worrying. Being able to differentiate between the two is a skill that I'm working on at the moment. I fail most of the time, but at least I can recognize that my judgement is less than accurate when it comes to these sort of circumstances. It's a start, right? How about you? Are you a worrywart? Peace. Stef.

"You need to grow a backbone." "Why are you being so sensitive? It's not that big of a deal." "How do you know that? That's so creepy." I cannot tell you how many times the above statements and questions (among many, many others with similar sentiments) have been tossed in my direction, oftentimes due to ignorance and/or lack of understanding. Before I continue, I guess I should explain the idea of empathy and list out some basic empathic traits . WHAT IS AN EMPATH?

Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse  From Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady, here's an example of "echoing" in dialogue: "She has offered to take her--- she's dying to have Isabel go. But what I want her to do when she gets her there is give her all the advantages. I'm sure all we've got to do," said Mrs. Ludlow, "is to give her a chance. " " A chance for what?" " A chance to develop ." "Oh Moses!" Edmund Ludlow exclaimed. "I hope she isn't going to develop any more!" In this example, echoing works well to show the two characters' easygoing affection for one another. So, try writing a similar scene with echoing in the dialogue. If you need a prompt: a boss and h

This is a lesson I'm learning right now. Bigtime. I have the tendency to put up with a whole bunch of bullshit simply because it makes other people happy. I put my needs and my ultimate happiness on the back-burner because, truly, it makes me happy to make other people happy. I take it too far, though, and completely disregard what I need. It has been a difficult learning process for me - to find the balance between allowing myself to be happy and serving others - and I'm still working on it every day. But I'm getting there. How about you? Have you ever had to give yourself a quick kick in the pants to remind yourself that you're allowed to leave behind the things that don't serve you positively? Tell me about it in the comments! Peace. Stef.

A few days ago, I was on my lunch break at work which, due to my schedule, is around 2300 (11pm) when I came across something in the middle of the road.

Your character's eyes, eyebrows, forehead, lips, neck, hands, torso, feet - in short, the whole body - how would it react in the following situations? a three year old girl, on seeing a neighbor's very small and gentle dog same girl, when that dog wags its tail and comes up and gives her a kiss a senior vice president of a major investment bank who has just heard that his long-time rival's fourth wife has left him for the owner of a miniature golf course by the freeway a ninety-year old woman surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, when presented with her birthday cake 1, 2, 3, GO!

Guys, the Korean... I had to. Also, you know how I feel about Mark Twain .

I have been writing on this blog for seven years. I don't know how it happened. It doesn't feel like seven years. But the calendar tells no lies (unless you're talking to the Mayans, it seems). JLaw is my spirit animal.

It was a dark, stormy night, and Peggy jumped every time the wind rushed itself against the windowpanes of her home. Built in the 1800s, her house was one of the oldest ones on the block, and generally she much preferred the creaky floorboards to the modern buildings that were being constructed around her. There was history here, and she loved that she was connected to it in some small way. It was only during the storms that she cursed her predilection for the antique. Just as she was about to settle down in her chair with a book and a cup of tea, a lightning strike sounded not 50 feet from her house, effectively shutting down the power with a bang. "Oh no," she said aloud.

Very briefly, describe an attic. High up in the rafters in this attic is a trunk. Describe that trunk and how it gets opened. Inside that trunk is a suitcase. You open the suitcase and inside is a shoebox. Inside the shoebox is a another box. Describe that box. Then: describe what's inside. 1, 2, 3, GO!