My Top 6 TV Shows of All Time

For not having lived in a house with TV reception since I was nine, I sure have managed to watch a lot of random TV shows. Thanks to Hulu and Netflix and other websites offering TV series viewing, I've found quite a few shows that I've just fallen in love with. This is my list of my favorite 6 TV shows that have ever, ever existed, and why I love them so much.

6. Daria

While Daria isn't always as brilliant a show as the others - sometimes the comedy doesn't work and the animation is awkward - when it works, it works perfectly. Above all, it really fleshed out an amazing female character, with a unique and interesting personality that made me feel, for the first time, that I was being represented on TV.

I've already written at length about why I love Daria the character in my article about TV girls who are most like me, and I mostly love the show because I love the character, so I'm not going to go into further detail about it, but instead move on to #5.

Favorite episode: "Write Where It Hurts."

5. Sherlock

I have yet to show anyone the pilot episode and have them be anything less than psyched to watch the next one. Not all the episodes are great - the second in each season lags a little - but they're essentially full-length movies about, IMHO, the most interesting incarnation of Sherlock Holmes ever. Benedict Cumberbatch brings this modern version of the character to life, and he is fascinating every single second he is on screen. Martin Freeman is fantastic as John Watson - an extremely likable everyman who is quite intelligent in his own right but far overshadowed by Sherlock's genius.

I love watching the way they update the plots for modern audiences, but most of all, I love that this show made such great use of Benedict Cumberbatch, and that it got him noticed. He completely deserves it. He makes this show work.

Favorite episode: "A Study in Pink."

4. The IT Crowd

I do really enjoy my British comedies. I'm actually a little surprised this is the only one on the list. This is one of those shows where every episode gets funnier the more you watch it. The cast is absolutely incredible - I took a poll once asking me who was the funniest character. I couldn't pick between any of them, so I gave up on the poll. While Roy, Moss, and Jen are the backbone of the story as our protagonists, the supporting characters of Richmond, Denholm, and, later, Douglas, round out the truly hilarious cast.

There are only 24 episodes of this show total (4 seasons, 6 episodes each) and nearly every one is really, really, hilariously funny. There are really only one or two that don't make me go, "OH, YAY, THAT ONE" when I realize which episode it is. It's a much, much better nerdy show than Big Bang Theory - smarter, funnier, and kinder to the nerds among us.

Favorite episode: "The Work Outing." Though "Italian for Beginners" is a very, very, very close second.

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This is the longest-running show on my list. Generally shows that last beyond 3 or 4 seasons start going really downhill in terms of quality, or at the very least, are inconsistent across the board. While Buffy certainly has its ups and its downs as it gets into the later seasons, what makes it triumph over all the others is Joss Whedon's incredible character development.

All throughout the Buffy series, the characters' core stays the same. Yes, they grow. Yes, they change. But each change makes sense with who they are at that moment. When I go back and rewatch earlier seasons, I don't say, "Whoa, Willow was totally different at the beginning." I think, "Whoa, Willow grew a lot in the later seasons." As the characters encounter new situations, they react to it in a way their characters would, and it changes them in a way it would change their character. It's truly brilliant character consistency, difficult enough to get right in a movie, let alone a seven-season television show.

(And what other show could pull off a villain -> comic relief -> love interest -> volatile stalker -> redeemed hero arc so effortlessly? Seriously, that is my favorite character arc of all time. In any fictional universe.)

Favorite episode: "Once More With Feeling."

2. Arrested Development

It's hard to think of a show with higher rewatch value than Arrested Development. There are so many little foreshadowing jokes and throw-away lines that it's simply impossible to catch them all the first time around. The more you watch it, the funnier it gets. I still occasionally get a joke for the first time, and I've seen the series probably four or five times all the way through.

The cast is wonderful. Every single cast member here is at their best. Though they're all funny in other projects, I have never liked any of the cast members as well as I do here. The string of guest stars and cameos is also hilarious, with frequent subtle digs at their real-life personas. (There are several jokes my mom didn't get when we watched it because she kept forgetting Ron Howard was playing the narrator.)

The cynicism and lack of likable characters may not sit well with some people, but I still say it's one of the funniest shows ever. Hoping as I rewatch season four, it fits in as well with the rest of the series in its cleverness.

Favorite episode: "Mr. F."

1. Community

Oh, gosh. What is not to love about Community?

It was my third rewatching of the show that clinched it for me. This is my all-time favorite show. It is the most beautifully nerdy show out there, thanks to the genius of Dan Harmon, who was not afraid to say, "Hey, let's do a show where the entire premise centers around a mashup of Pulp Fiction and My Dinner With Andre."

Community's cast is amazing. Though my favorite characters are Troy and Abed, each character gets their chance to shine and be hilarious. From Shirley's self-righteous indignation to Pierce's continued attempts to be relevant to Britta's defiance of everything she deems oppressive, there are plenty of episodes that bring each character to the foreground. Some of these episodes even end up being oddly moving, despite the snarkiness and cynicism in the show. (Season four episode "Basic Human Anatomy" actually made me tear up a little bit.)

Beyond just a good cast, Community does something that other shows try and fail to do all the time: It makes perfect parodies. It captures the exact right feel of whatever it's tackling - everything from Ken Burns documentaries to Star Wars to Dungeons and Dragons to westerns to musicals to zombie flicks to video games to Law and Order... you get the idea. Generally I find parodies lazy and uninspired, but every time this show does one, it proves they don't have to be. Sometimes they even manage to squeeze several parodies into one - "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" spoofs several horror genres in a row and does them all exactly as they should be done.

There's so much to love in this show. I'd argue season three is the most perfectly crafted TV season of all time. Out of 22 episodes, I love all but one, and even that one has grown on me significantly as I rewatch it. I have one friend (and you know who you are) who saw a couple episodes, didn't like it, and refuses to watch any further... and while usually I can understand people disliking the things I love, in this case I'm thoroughly baffled, because I honestly can't think of a single reason to dislike this show. (Well, at least not until we get to season four, where Dan Harmon was no longer involved, so it didn't really hit its stride until halfway through.)

If you haven't started watching this yet, DO IT. Catch up so you'll be ready for season five this midseason.

Favorite episode: "Digital Estate Planning." (And I'm pretty sure that's my favorite episode of any TV series, ever. Seriously. Pretty much anything Community has done, I think it's superlative.)

What are your favorite TV shows? Have you seen all of mine? What do you think of them?

Movies I Saw in June/July

I didn't see a lot of movies in either June or July, due to wedding planning, wedding, and wedding recovery. (In the middle I went something like 3 1/2 weeks without seeing one at all.) So I'm combining both months for this blog entry, in order from best to worst. I didn't really see a lot of new ones I liked these last couple months. Hoping to find some better ones in the month ahead.

New Movies (18)

Quartet (2012) - A sweet, charming story of a group of retired musicians. Good directorial debut from Dustin Hoffman.

The Cat Returns (2002) - One of my favorite Studio Ghibli efforts, right below Totoro and Fireflies. Really a delightful movie.

Three Amigos (1986) - Not laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, but it is fun to watch the three main actors during their best years.

Struck By Lightning (2012) - Surprisingly poignant story for being written by someone younger than me. Not perfect, but I enjoyed it.

The Fourth Kind (2009) - I don't think I was supposed to have enjoyed this as much as I did. Ridiculous, but entertaining.

The Call (2013) - A really brilliant, solid thriller for 2/3 of the movie, then it threw all that away for a cliched, ridiculous ending. Frustrating, but I have to give it some props for how awesome it was most of the way through.

Lifeforce (1985) - Cheesy ridiculous sci-fi is awesome, but I certainly wouldn't ever watch this again.

Trading Places (1983) - Some truly funny moments are brought down by a true "WTF?!" ending.

Destry Rides Again (1939) - I felt like this never really went anywhere with the character, and the ending was surprisingly dark for what was apparently a comedy. Weird and disappointing.

Fun Size (2012) - Not nearly as awful as I expected it to be, but not nearly as good as it could have been.

Side Effects (2013) - What started off as a fascinating psychological drama took the path of sensationalism and ended up with a far more complicated and, IMHO, far less interesting plot.

The Good Doctor (2011) - Still not impressed by Orlando Bloom. Or this movie.

Turner & Hooch (1989) - I might have liked this if I liked dogs or movies about them. As it was... meh.

Warm Bodies (2013) - What is with all these 2013 movies that I LOVE at the beginning and hate at the end? This started off brilliantly snarky and self-aware and devolved into complete nonsense. It made so mad I actually started yelling out loud at my laptop.

The Birth of a Nation (1915) - It's so hard for me to care about dramatic movies without dialogue. This didn't cut it.

She's the Man (2006) - While I give it kudos for not making as many gender stereotype jokes as I anticipated, this is still a pretty terrible movie.

March of the Penguins (2005) - Um. I don't remember a thing about this movie. That is how uninterested I was in it. It had penguins in it, I think.

Identity Thief (2013) - This movie was so terrible, I couldn't even find a way to make fun of it. Whoever wrote this sure knows how to make talented and funny people awful.

Rewatches (8)

I may have missed cataloging a few of these, but this is all the ones I remember.

Fight Club (1999) - Still one of my very favorite movies. Probably in my top 20. Everything about it is perfect, from the visuals to the acting to the darkly hilarious writing to the soundtrack. I love watching it unfold.

The Court Jester (1956) - I can't watch this movie without smiling. It's one of my go-to feel-good movies (as I wrote about here). I will purchase it on DVD someday, but in the meantime, there's Amazon Prime Instant.

American Beauty (1999) - There is so much depth in this movie. Every time I watch it, a different character jumps to the foreground and I become engrossed in their story. This time around, it was Chris Cooper's character. This movie hits me on such a deep emotional level - it is incredible and tragic and beautiful.

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - This movie grows on me more every time I watch it. I find more and more to laugh at. Kevin Kline is my favorite part of the entire movie, playing a horrible human being who is also hilarious to watch.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) - I hadn't seen this since it first came out, and I was pleased to see it held up seven years later. It's still full of extremely beautiful and touching moments, as well as being genuinely funny.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - Such a really funny movie. Since I'm not a fan of detective movies or mysteries, the plot itself actually gets in the way a bit for me here, but it manages to keep the same entertaining tone most of the way throughout, so it works.

1776 (1972) - I am not a fan of historical fiction movies, but something about this one captures and holds my interest all the way through. The songs are great fun, the dialogue is clever, and watching the battle for American independence is fascinating.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - I admit it, this is in no way a good movie. But it makes me smile anyway. Woody Allen's dialogue just always works for me, especially when he's writing banter... and this movie is pretty much just a silly excuse for him to write banter.

What have you guys seen recently? How do you feel about the movies I've seen? What are some good ones I should be watching this next month, to counteract all the terrible ones I saw?

The Quest For Skye: Chapter 4

Recap: Doctors Morgan and Tammy Hamilton are on a 14-day Panama Canal cruise (with a super important childhood disease medical convention on board) to recover from the news they can't have children. In the last chapter, Morgan toured the ship, mocked people who ate meals, and met a gym worker named Kim who reminded him not to give up on God. As we left Morgan, he was on his way to the "children's area," where I guess they lock the kids in?

Morgan heads upstairs, freaking out again about the fact that he ate a snack once.

Morgan took the stairs one flight up to the children’s area. Any steps I take will be to my advantage, he thought, with chocolate crème cake on his mind.

In the children's area, all the kids are jumping in a bouncy house room, and then this happens.

His mind drifted to what it would be like to have a child of his own, but his thoughts were disrupted by a voice behind him. “Hey dude, you’re blocking progress. Either go in or step aside, please.” She drew out the word “please” for emphasis.

Morgan looked down at a charming girl. Her blue eyes sparkled and blonde hair bounced as she talked.

*facepalm*

Yup, I hate her already.

I was going to comment anyway on the bizarre usage of "progress" meaning "people going in and out of the room," but seeing it being used by a child is really awful. I have a feeling she's going to talk nothing at all like a human being, much less a child. I'd chalk it up to Rothdiener thinking it was cute, which is already a bad writing mistake, but, frankly, the man doesn't exactly have a knack for finding appropriate voices for his characters. (His previous book featured a girl who had spent her childhood in a Middle Eastern orphanage, like a year of her life in a religious U.S. home, and then the rest of her teenagerhood living on the streets selling out her body, lamenting to a friend, "I was still sexually pure in those days.") So he may not have even thought about the fact that children speak differently than adults. And that adults speak differently than whatever he writes.

He was stunned by the girl’s boldness.

This guy's a pediatrician. He works with kids. A lot. And he has never run into a kid so bold to ask an adult to move out of the way? I mean, I understand kids who are sick may be shyer because they're scared, but, still, seriously. A lot of kids are pretty straightforward. If you're in their way, they'll tell you. It's not a "stunning" personality trait.

The girl tells him her friends call her Skye with an E because when she was born her dad said her eyes looked like the sky. (Sigh.)

When he asks what he should call her, she asks if he's her friend.

Her confidence took him by surprise.

STOP MARY SUEING SO HARD

She's not being particularly confident in asking him if she's his friend. Frankly, I'm a little surprised she didn't just declare he is or isn't her friend. That seems much more likely. Only somebody who had never ever interacted with a child would say this.

Hey, it's occurred to me that we've found Skye. The quest for Skye is over. That means the book can be over too, right?

...But, sadly, there is more.

Morgan tells Skye that, yes, they're friends because they know each other's names. Skye says she's nine years old (I was wondering when we'd finally get an age mentioned). The book tries once again to make sure we know that THIS IS THE MOST SPESHUL OF ALL THE SPESHUL CHILD FLOWERS IN THE WORLD:

Morgan was astonished by the young girl’s large vocabulary and wittiness.

(That's in response to this apparently super-witty and super-vocabularied sentence: "Isn’t [this bracelet] nice? My father gave it to me. He said it gives me personality.")

Oh, and now we meet Skye's father. Turns out her father is...

Doctor Layland Leontiou!

..."Skye Leontiou"? Poor kid.

Morgan and Doctor L. L. talk for awhile.

“Did you teach her to be so outgoing?”

“Me? Oh, no. She came about it naturally. Everything she does is instinctive, and she’ll even tell you that. Wait till she tells you a story. She leaves nothing out.” 

I... I don't even know what to do with this.

It seems outgoing = instinctive = detail-oriented when telling stories?

Doctor L. L. says he has a superpower where he can "pick out a man's occupation and character after [he] first say[s] hello." So, um, that's fun. He senses Morgan is a caring person, so clearly his superpower is broken. Morgan didn't care about Skye. He was just amazed that a nine-year-old existed who told adults to get the heck out of her way and made witty remarks by repeating her father.

Oh, shoot. It turns out Doctor L. L. was just joking about the superpower and he really just figured out Morgan was the guy who talked to Malinda, since he had all of his books. I was really kind of hoping there'd be a sudden sci-fi twist here.

Skye makes them jump in the bouncy room with her and Doctor L. L. invites Morgan to dinner, although he tells them Tammy probably won't want to come.

Morgan heads back to the room, where Tammy is putting makeup on. Apparently Skye raced over to the Hamiltons' room, invited Tammy, and ran away before Morgan made it back. Tammy has been brainwashed by the Mary Sue, thinks she's the most beautifultalentedspecial child of all time, and has agreed to go to dinner.

The chapter ends with Tammy enthusing about the dinner:

“I can’t wait to meet Skye’s father and mother. Malinda is a medical genius.”

Then WHY DOESN'T SHE GET TO BE A DOCTOR?

Poor women. They never get to be doctors in this book. Just wives of other doctors.

(Chapter 5.)

"Love Is a Choice" Is My Back Up Plan

"Love is a choice, not a feeling."

I grew up hearing those words all the time in my church. Initially I just took it to mean that you should act loving toward someone even if you didn't feel loving, rather than hiding behind excuses like "I just can't love them," because of course you can always act loving even if you don't personally like someone. And that's a good concept.

But recently I've been seeing it applied a lot to romantic relationships in a way that bothers me.

This blog: "My husband is not my soul mate," has been floating around on Facebook. And while I totally agree with her on the nonexistence of soul mates and think there's not really any major problem with what she said, this section upholds a series of ideals that are often misinterpreted.

My marriage is not based on a set of choices over which I had no control. It is based on a daily choice to love this man, this husband that I chose out of many people that I could have chosen to love (in theory, don’t imagine that many others were lined up and knocking at the door). He is not some illusive soul mate, not some divine fullfulment, not some perfect step on the rigorously laid out but of so secret “Plan for My Life.”

But he is the person that I giggly chose to go out on a date with in college. He is the person who chose to not dump me when I announced that I was moving to France for a year, then Kentucky for another year. He is the person who asked me to move to DC and I chose to do so. He is the person who decided to ask me to marry him and I agreed. At any step here, we could have made other choices and you know what? We might have married other people, or stayed single, and had happy and full lives.

But now I delight in choosing to love him everyday. 

I like it better this way, with the pressure on me and not on fate, cosmos, or divinity. I will not fall out of love, cannot fall out of love, because I willingly dived in and I’m choosing daily to stay in. This is my joyous task, my daily decision. This is my marriage.

OK. This is all good stuff. But then I started seeing comments on the blog that said things like, "I think choosing to love is so much more romantic than falling in love!" and "It's great to remember that true love isn't about a feeling" and "We need to remember that the heart is treacherous."

Here is the one thing I would add to all this:

In romantic relationships, it's never meant to be just a choice.

Saying, "Love is a choice, not a feeling," does something very disturbing. It negates the feeling entirely. It takes out the need for chemistry or attraction or affection or even just liking each other and reduces it to a series of loving or nonloving actions. If love is merely a choice, then, yes, I can choose to love anyone. I could hypothetically choose to love, marry, and live forever with someone I really don't care that much about.

But God cares about the feeling. He wants you to marry someone for whom you feel love. The choice isn't ever meant to replace the feeling entirely. The choice is the back up. The choice is what you fall back on during those days, weeks, months when you've had it up to here with your significant other, and you just don't feel like you love them anymore. That's when you realize love isn't just a feeling, it is also a choice, and you can choose to love them with your actions and your decisions and hope in time the feeling will return.

When love is reduced to simply a choice, with no feeling behind it or motivating it to begin with, there are some bad things that can happen.

People can end up relationships with people they really don't like all that much. As they're debating whether or not they should advance the relationship, they remember that "Love is a choice, not a feeling," and decide they're going to choose to love them and move the relationship forward romantically, even when they have no real desire to do so. They can end up spending their whole life with somebody who really never made them that happy. Ironically, knowing that "Love is a choice" actually may take away their choice - they feel they must end up with the first person who asks them, because they're not supposed to make these decisions based on feelings.

Some of you may think, "Nobody does that!" but I can think of at least two friends of mine who had this exact thing happen to them, and they stayed in these iffy relationships for a very long time with this internal need to "make it work" because "love is a choice" - even before any sort of serious commitment had actually been made.

Another blogger named Hannah over at Wine and Marble has even shared her story about how her marriage actually fell apart because of that kind of thinking - they got into a marriage relationship that, really, should have never happened, because one of them was never in love with the other.

Then there was the day when I felt a cognitive dissonance when he said “I love you,” and I began to wonder if he had really shaken off the stunted emotional habits of his own childhood and adolescence spent in the sister-church of my former church home.

And we talked and we talked and we talked in circles about what “I love you means.”

Then one day, he told me that he wanted a separation, and maybe we could start over and try again. That the teachings of one SGM pastor who’d told him (shortly before our wedding, when he came to him scared and confused) that it was okay that he didn’t have “feelings” for me, that if we were best friends and he found me sexually attractive, that it would all work out once we were married. That the feelings would come.

So he had married me, telling himself that Love is a Choice, and that Love is Sacrificing Yourself and Your Desires, that Love Is Getting What You Don’t Want For The Good Of The Other.

And I watched him fade away, disappearing into despair and loneliness and self-hatred I couldn’t possibly touch. I cried myself to sleep in the dark many, many nights while he walked alone in the dark, fighting the lies of depression.

The choice part of love is not meant to be the foundation of a relationship. It's meant to be the final culmination. This is why marriage is a big deal to me. My wedding was my moment of choosing to love. Up until the day I married Jacob, if I wanted, I could say at any point, "Meh, I haven't been feeling this for awhile, it's not working, let's be done." But the day I married him, I promised him that I would choose to love him. That if the feelings fluctuated, I would still choose love. That I wouldn't give up on it, no matter how long it took to get the feelings back. That's a big deal. That's a big promise. You can't start with the promise.

As a final though, I think the whole "Love is a choice" mantra ties in to the emotional purity teaching as well. They both encourage you to dismiss those giddy feelings when the boy you like tells you you look nice, because 1) that's not real love, it's just a feeling, and 2) until you make the commitment to choose real love, you have no business having giddy feelings about anyone. There's a sort of promise in all of it that if you ignore the feelings for people who you haven't chosen, then when you do choose somebody and choose to have a serious relationship with them, the feelings will just come, and that time they will be good and pleasing and blessed. And, well, that's just not always the case.

Love is a choice.
And love is a feeling.
And, in a healthy relationship, there should be both.
If your love is only a choice, something is off.
If your love is only a feeling, it's not very deep.

It's not one or the other. Pursue and pray for both.

A Lesson On Overstuffing Keywords

My sister Bethany and I both work for a website where clients can request various pieces of writing. We're available to write blog entries, bios, press releases, sales copy, reviews of products, whatever. The clients can ask us to use certain keywords in the article. For example, they may ask for a 300-400 word article containing the phrase "personal injury lawyer" 2-3 times. Usually the keywords are pretty easy to fit into the article... but the other day I got this Facebook message from my sister.

I was out to lunch with Jacob when I got the message and tried to read it to him, but I just kept dissolving into helpless giggles. (And then the waitress tried to take our order but I was laughing and crying too hard to say anything. Heh.) I hope it amuses you all as well. I've changed any identifying information in the article.

Bethany's intro:
The article I was looking at was supposed to be 350-650 words, and it was about this specific dentist practice, and in the "Required Keyword" section, there were 84 phrases to use, adding up to 255 words! And I was like "this is ridiculous!" But it intrigued me.

So...I wrote the article (very sloppily) and I still have 100 words left to try to to make it better. But I'm just going to leave it like this, not submit it, and laugh at it. Here's the article I wrote. Every phrase in asterisks is a keyword that I was supposed to use, exactly the way it was written. Do you think you could do a better job than me?

The fake article:
Dr. Jane Doe is a great dentist who received her DDS degree in 1993, and received her pediatric specialty certificate in 1995. Practicing in the Los Angeles area, in her practice “Jane Doh DDS Pediatric Dentistry”, she is a great citizen and the *best pediatric dentist*.

Dr. Doe is a *24 hour dentist*, who offers *affordable dental care* at an *affordable dentistry*. She’s an *Agoura Hills dentist*, and starts with *age one pediatric dentistry* and up. Some of the services offered here at Jane Doh DDS Pediatric Dentistry include *Fillings & Restorative Care*, *Nitrous Oxide Sedation*, *Early Orthodontic Treatment*, *Two-Phase Orthodontics*, putting in *Damon Braces*, using *Invisalign Teen* or *Sealants*, *Exams & Cleanings* and help for any *Dental Emergency*.

If you want to know about *braces cost*, *braces for adults cost*, *braces for children*, *braces for kids cost*, *braces prices*, *cheap braces for kids*, then go to this *cheap dentist* who does *cheap orthodontics* and *child tooth care*. Seriously, if you’re worried about *children and braces*, *teeth braces cost*, *tooth care for kids*, *children braces* or *childrens braces*, this *cosmetic dentist* is great. She offers *free braces for kids*! Even *free dental treatment*!

*What is a dental emergency*? Dr. Doe will help in any *dental emergency* or *tooth emergency*, because she’s a *dental emergency dentist* who offers *dental insurance for children* in *dental offices that accept medi-cal*. No *dentist near me* is as good as this *dentist that accept Medicaid*. Remember, in every *dentistry emergency*, you should find an *emergency dentist* performing *emergency dental*, specifically *emergency dental care for children*. You need *emergency dental help* in this *emergency dental office* doing *emergency dental work* by an *emergency dentist* who knows *emergency dentist care* in her *emergency dentistry*. Did you know she’s an *emergency pediatric dentist*? If you have an *emergency tooth* that needs *emergency tooth care*, find *a pediatric dentist* or find *pediatric dentist*. She offers *free emergency dental* with *full coverage dental insurance*. She is great at *pediatric dentist emergency care* because she’s a *pediatric emergency dentist*!

At your child’s *first dental visit age*, they may need a *fluoridated mouth rinse* with *fluoride mouth wash* or *fluoride tooth paste*. The *invisalign dentist* or *orthodontist* will work on it. Ask about *cost of dental implants*, but remember that these *local dentist offices* offer *low cost dental*, even *low cost dental care*. This *low cost dentist* has *new dental treatments* in her *pediatric dental offices*, because she’s a *pediatric dentist Los Angeles* loves. With her new treatment are *new patients forms dental office* has you fill out. These *painless dentists* will use *sedation dentistry*, also known as *sleep dentistry*, for *orthodontist prices* you can afford. You should make sure you have the *best dental insurance*, such as good *kids dental insurance*, as well as *orthodontic insurance* or *orthodontics insurance*. Best of all, Dr. Doe teaches you *professional tooth cleaning*, specifically *professional teeth cleaning at home*, even *professional dental cleaning at home*!

This great dentist for your children is definitely the best place you can possibly in the whole region of Los Angeles. So don’t waste a second! Check out her dental clinic and get whatever free/low cost/cheap/emergency dental care that you need! And don’t forget to check out the braces children cheap for kids braces prices costs!

The Quest For Skye: Chapter 3

Recap: Chapter 1 told us about Doctor Layland Leontiou and his wife, Malinda, who blew up a lab trying to do some sort of medical nuclear test. Chapter 2 introduced us to Doctor Morgan Hamilton and his wife, Tammy, who have just learned they cannot have kids but have ended up on a 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal (which, as a few friends have pointed out, is ridiculous, as the Panama Canal takes less than a day to sail through) where there is some sort of childhood disease medical convention on board that they were unaware of. Morgan left Tammy to be sad so he could go explore the ship.

Morgan wanders throughout the ship, where every single staff member he passes greets him. Poor introverts must feel stifled. He goes to get a snack at the ship's buffet, picks up a "few delicacies" that he worries will make him gain ten pounds, then mentally mocks the Learys, who he sees eating two full plates of food each.

“That’s enough to feed a platoon of soldiers,” Morgan whispered under his breath, snickering.

Ugh. I've mentioned before how I really dislike Morgan, right?

It's pretty traditional to eat two plates of food at a buffet. This is not outrageously gluttonous behavior. If I go to a buffet and only eat one plate of food, I'm probably not feeling well. Add to that that this is the Learys' first visit to the buffet, so they're probably going to want to sample it all.

Here are the possibilities. Either:

1) Morgan is obsessed with body weight and fitness, to the point that he worries that eating a couple buffet snacks will make him gain 10 pounds and he mocks anybody who eats what he views as an unhealthy amount and he thinks a platoon of soldiers can and should be fed entirely on 4 plates, or
2) The cruise ship serves some sort of special food where just a few bites has a huge caloric intake, so you really only need to take like a bite before you've eaten all you need, and Morgan knows this and is concerned about how much he's eating, but the Learys do not.

I think I'm going with #1.

Morgan wanders over to where the convention is, runs into the guy who's on the front of the convention brochure (but doesn't recognize him at first), then browses the bookstore, where he finds several books by...

Doctor Layland Leontiou.

It's all coming together!

He runs into a woman by the bookstore (I am assuming this is Malinda Leontiou, although it hasn't been confirmed yet) and he shows us his first trace of actually being sad about his situation:

“How many children do you have?”

After a long pause, he added, “None.” 

“Not in the picture yet?” she smiled. 

“Not in God’s picture,” he answered weakly, feeling like the wind had just been knocked out of him.

Yay! He's not entirely a robot!

It's confirmed that he's talking to Malinda, and the two of them talk. It's revealed that Malinda actually knows who they are because they once wrote a journal article with the very academic title of "Why We Are Concerned About Rare Childhood Diseases."

“Dr. Hamilton, you and your wife must come to the convention.” She emphasized the word “must,” raising an eyebrow, and waiting for his response.

When I was reading Twilight, I would frequently giggle out loud at the fact that Stephenie Meyer appeared to really hate the word "said" and instead preferred to have her characters "pout, waving an arm to show her displeasure" or "mumble, his eyes narrowing." The actual things they said so seldom corresponded with their body language, which fluctuated wildly from moment to moment, that it was hilarious to image.

This feels the same way. Everyone do it with me. Everyone say, "Dr. Hamilton, you and your wife must come to the convention," while raising an eyebrow, and you'll notice that it feels ridiculous, because raised eyebrows go along with actually asked questions, not with invitations or insistences. (I don't think "insistences" is a word, but it's what's happening here.)

“Thank you for the invitation, but I don’t think we’d be interested. We’re trying to get away from work. That’s why we’re here.” Morgan blew out a lengthy breath.

“I understand. If you change your mind, the offer stands. Wait! I have an idea. Maybe the two of you would speak at one of our meetings.”

"If you don't want to come to the convention, maybe you'd like to speak at it! That'll help you get away from work! Boy, I have the best ideas!"

Malinda gives him a copy of all Doctor Layland Leontiou's books for free, and Morgan cheerfully muses that this way Tammy will have plenty to read on the cruise. Because yes, I'm sure she really wants to read about childhood disease research, which is all Doctor Layland Leontiou writes about. Does this guy think at all about what he says or does?

He continues to wander through the ship having terrible interactions with people, such as this one with a girl named Kim at the gym:

He stopped long enough to try out the bike and treadmill.

A young woman with jet-black hair sauntered over. “You look like you’re familiar with the equipment.”

Because the bike and treadmill are so terribly difficult to use. If this book was well-written I would assume she was being condescending on purpose, trying to make him feel important for understanding the basics of walking on a moving walkway so he'd come back to the gym or pay extra for something. But it's not well-written, so I'm pretty sure this is just Rothdiener's idea of small talk.

“...I’m only here for a cruise, but it seems like everyone I meet is talking about the convention.”

“I guess it’s a big thing. Well-known doctors from all over the world are here for seminars on childhood diseases. Word on the ship is that some of the greatest medical minds in the world are gathering here for fourteen days of discussions and recreation.”

Man, of all the needlessly two-week-long cruises the Hamiltons could have taken, they took this one, somehow having absolutely zero idea of this majorly important conference. If they're such great brilliant ground-breaking professionals, how come they don't have even the vaguest knowledge of what this conference even is, much less that it was happening on the very cruise they had booked? The bigger a deal the author makes of this conference, the more it makes me think that the Doctors Hamilton are pretty bad at their research-y jobs.

Gym Kim shares that her son recently passed away from leukemia, and Morgan shares that he and his wife can't have kids. He mentions that Tammy is "down on God," and Kim talks about how God got her through the time when her son was dying. She shares her back story, which was that she was a "wild child" in high school and once spent the night at a friend's house and everyone came over and apparently had a sex party and thus her baby was conceived.

Eventually she stopped participating in sex parties and got her life figured out. I will give Rothdiener kudos for not saying that everything went perfectly for her afterward - her son's death, of course, is sad, and her parents died shortly after her son was born. That was one of my chief complains about The Quest For Forgiveness - it had Facing the Giants Syndrome, where everything miraculously gets completely fixed once the character finds God. Because most of the time, that's not how it works.

Gym Kim offers herself for Tammy to talk to and randomly offers her fiance Zack for Morgan to talk to. Morgan announces he's going to "the children's area" next, and also that dinner is soon. (I guess his expert time spent on the bike and treadmill worked off the 10 pounds he gained from his snack earlier, so he can eat again now.)

But first, he's going to the children's area in chapter four, and, from what I understand from the book synopsis, he's probably going to meet the titular Skye there.

I really don't want to read Rothdiener's portrayal of an inspiring child. I really, really don't. I hate her already.

(Chapter 4.)

Are Introverts Happier When They Act Extroverted?

Well, this article is making the rounds and stirring up all sorts of opinions. It's called "How an Introvert Can Be Happier: Act Like an Extrovert," and, I'll tell you, even just reading the title made me angry. I've tried acting like an extrovert. If I do it for short periods of time, I'm bored. If I do it for long periods of time, it generates anxiety, self-loathing, and depression. Which, no, do not make me happier.

Turns out the article itself is less definitive than its controversial title. It cites a study that claims introverts are happier when they behave like extroverts, but then quotes several introverts basically saying, "Well, that doesn't make sense." So the article isn't as bad at it sounds, but I still have some issues with how it phrases things and with the study itself. Let me quickly go through what the article says.

Extroverts, those outgoing, gregarious types who wear their personalities on their sleeve, are generally happier, studies show.

First off, let me respond to this with a great blog from Psychology Today which points out that extroverts may not actually be happier, they just may be more inclined to say they're happy. Many extroverts have a tendency toward extreme answers, while introverts are more likely to choose the ones in the middle. An introvert and an extrovert may feel the same amount of happiness, but when asked to rank it on a scale of 1 to 5, an extrovert may easily choose 5, while an introvert would rather call it a 3 1/2.

Experts aren't entirely sure why behaving like an extrovert makes people feel better. One theory is that being talkative and engaging influences how people respond to you, especially if that response is positive.

...Honestly, I'm not sure what that's saying. If you're talkative, people respond to you differently, especially if they respond to you positively? I'm not sure I can critique this because I honestly don't know what it's saying. Maybe my brain is just shot. If someone explains this in the comments I can go back and edit it to respond to what it actually says.

Others speculate that people get more satisfaction when they express their core self and opinions.

I have no qualms about expressing my core self and opinions as an introvert. Nor do many other introverts I know. Introversion =/= shyness. In fact, introverts are often impatient with small talk and would much prefer to talk about core opinions and who people are deep down. I have intensely rewarding conversations with introverts all the time.

(Also, how in the world could being an introvert but acting like an extrovert constitute "expressing my core self"? Isn't that hiding my core self?)

Another possibility: Happiness might come simply from having successfully completed a goal, such as giving a speech.

And here, the bizarre implication is that introverts don't/can't complete goals. I understand the idea of it being exhilarating to conquer something you're afraid of, but that's not what's being stated here. Also, not all introverts are afraid of giving speeches. These are huge, bizarre generalizations and I'm not OK with them.

They interview an introvert who is vice president of a media firm, who often has to do public presentations and be on TV.

Though he may dread making a presentation, he says he is exhilarated afterward. "I do feel a sense of relief and elation, but I don't know if that's because of the experience or because the experience is over," he said.

Well, it is one of my favorite things in the world to come home from a socially busy day. I feel elated as I leave, but I can tell you right now: for me, that's not because of the experience. It's because in contrast to the experience, the peace and quiet is too wonderful and beautiful to put into words. It's like how awesome it feels to sit down after you've been standing up for hours. It's not that you're glad to have been standing. You're just happy to sit down.

A series of studies, which included more than 600 college students, found that introverts misjudge how they would feel after acting extroverted. They often predicted feelings of anxiety and embarrassment, which never transpired.

"Introverts kind of underestimate how much fun it will be to act extroverted," said Dr. Zelenski. "You don't think you want to go to a party and then go and have a great time."

Let me say a few things here.

1) Going to a party is not necessarily "acting extroverted." There's a difference between socializing with people and pretending to be something I'm not. I've gone to parties and spent them hanging out with just one or two people, and I've had a great time.

2) Introversion =/= social phobia. I seldom anticipate being embarrassed at social gatherings. I anticipate being bored. I anticipate being awkward and uncomfortable, not in an "OH MY GOSH EVERYONE'S LOOKING AT ME" way, but in an "I'm not quite sure I know where to sit, so, um, I'll just stand up the whole time" kind of way. It's not mortifying, just... awkward.

(Also, today's introversion post is brought to you by analogies about sitting and standing.)

"We didn't find a lot of evidence for…the idea that acting like an extrovert would wear out introverts," said Dr. Zelenski. However, he said: "We found acting like an introvert tended to wear out extroverts," who performed worse on cognitive tests.

I have a theory about this, actually.

I think a lot of introverts have adjusted.

There's still not a lot of room for introverts to really be introverts all the time. We have learned to adjust and act extroverted, not because we want or because it'll make us happier, but because we need to. I think a lot of introverts have become accustomed to that to the point where even if they may be tired, they don't recognize it as introverted-related tiredness. I certainly didn't in high school.

It's like chronic pain. If my arthritis has been acting up for weeks and somebody asks me if I'm in pain, I may at first say no even if I am because I've been in constant pain for so many weeks that I forget that that's not normal. That pain level becomes the new normal.

Similarly, that social exhaustion level became the new normal for me as a high schooler, and I suspect it has been that way for a lot of other introverts. It wasn't until I started figuring out how to have non-exhaustive interactions that I realized that probably wasn't supposed to happen.

"We live in a culture that very much subscribes to the extrovert ideal of being bold and assertive," said Susan Cain, a former corporate lawyer who wrote a book last year called "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking," which argues that introverts are unfairly maligned. Rather than trying to get introverts to act more extroverted, she argues that society should be drawing on their natural strengths, which can include being a good listener and working creatively.

Thank you, Susan Cain.

Maybe the findings of this study are true for a lot of people, but they absolutely have not been true in my experience. I am happy when I am allowed to be my introvert self around other people, and when I get a chance to recharge. I am my happiest when I am the most comfortable with myself. Acting extroverted is sometimes a necessity, and it may bring me results, but it doesn't bring me happiness.