Fill-in-the-Blank Friday: Apology

Last month, October of 2011, was apparently an awesome blogging month. I was hoping to clear 500 total views for the month (I know. I know. Some people get that many views in a single day, but I'm not quite that awesome...yet). That would be a record. Well, I went out of town at the end of the month and forgot to go look at my total views. I was overjoyed and, well, stunned beyond belief to discover that I had over 600 total views last month. Now, I'm assuming that at least 257 of those views were my mom, but, well, views are views.
This month? Phbbbblllllllllttttt. I think that's a word. I think they should add it to the dictionary. I mean, I've certainly used it a lot lately. People have been asking me, "How's your writing going?" and I've responded with "Phbbbbllllllllllttttt." That's how my writing is going. It's going phbbbblllllllllttttt. And while I've tried to put up a good face with my blogging, I know I've really been off this month. I haven't expected any brilliant numbers in my statistics, but it's kind of sad that the month is over halfway over and I've barely gotten a third of the views this month that I did last month.
There's lots of factors that could go into the drop in views, but do you care? No. So let's not get into that. Instead, let me apologize to my readers for being a little off this month. The truth is, I've been a little off in every area of my life since I went out of town at the end of October. This is yet another reason I'm really thankful to be spending a nice quiet Thanksgiving in my apartment. I'm not traveling. I'm not working. ...I am running waddling a 5K that morning, but that should actually be a lot of fun. And since I'm starting the day with exercise, I'll have an excuse to eat more turkey and pumpkin pie!
So while this is the busiest time of the year, and since I am doing a lot of work right now preparing a new website/blogging project, I'm really going to try to start putting effort into this blog. Thanks for your understanding.
I met with a couple of friends tonight to talk about my new project, and one of them (well, both of them, but one of the vocalized it really well) reminded me that I have a lot of people encouraging and supporting me. I believe that. So thank you for continuing to read this and continuing to pray. I'm a very blessed person, and I know some of you are loyal readers (thanks, mom) whether I have anything worth reading or not. I'll try to be worthy of that loyalty!

Fiction Friday: My Second Favorite Fictional Character of All Time

I would eventually like to branch out from the fictional character thing, but I'm not feeling particularly creative right now since my mind really doesn't want to write this blog.  My mind wants to be deeply, emotionally, intimately involved in the reading of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, which I am only about a third of the way through.  In fact, I will have to be at work in less than two hours and would be spending every last second of that time reading, if I had not remembered that today was a blogging day.  And since I'm only two weeks into this blogging schedule thing, I figure I'd better try sticking with it for a while.

So my second favorite fictional character is someone who I very much wish were real.  I wish he were real, just ever so slightly taller, and not married...because of all the male fictional characters in the world, I would most want to be married to him. 

When most people watch or read Lord of the Rings, they're gushing over Aragorn or Orlando Bloom--I mean, Legolas.  They're talking about how dashing Faramir is, or how mischievously cute Pippin is.  There are even a few throwbacks to the late 90's who actually still think that Elijah Wood's FREAKISHLY GINORMOUS EYES are attractive.

Who do I find appealing from LOTR?  Who would I spend the rest of my life with, without hesitation?  I'll tell you who--Samwise Gamgee. 

Now, I don't have anything against Sean Astin (except maybe the fool he made of himself in "50 First Dates." You can't go from playing Samwise Gamgee to that!  Ugh!) The dude is a phenomenal actor who has played THREE of my favorite roles in all of filmdom.  Is filmdom a word?  Now it is.  He was Mikey, the main character in Goonies (GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!).  He was Rudy (I can always appreciate a character who succeeds because he's too dumb to know that he can't possibly succeed).  He was Samwise Gamgee.  But I don't have a celeb crush on Mr. Astin.  He's a great actor, but my love for Samwise has nothing to do with him.  My love for Sam goes much, much deeper.

But in retrospect, I don't know how well a relationship with Samwise would work.  He's a hobbit, which would mean he's probably even shorter than I am...and I'm short.  He's also got hairy feet, which I could probably learn to tolerate.  Beyond that, though, is another problem.  I learned a while back that I don't really want to be with someone like Samwise.  I want to be like Samwise. 

And, okay, I want to be with him, too, but since that's not happening...

I could go on and on about Samwise's loyalty.  I could rant about how he almost drowned in order to follow Frodo, about how he killed the spider and followed Frodo even into an orc infested tower, about how he watched over Frodo in the darkness, sacrificing everything for his friend.  I could go on and on, but there's really only one thing I can say that would sum up who Samwise is.  There's only one quote from the book/film that comes to mind that is the essence of Samwise Gamgee, the reason I love him so much and aspire to be more like him.

As Frodo and Sam make their way up Mount Doom to destroy the Ring, Frodo's strength wanes.  He begins pitifully crawling forward, and Samwise reveals the depths of his loyalty for his friend.

I quote this from the book, The Return of the King by the incredible J. R. R. Tolkien:

"Sam looked at him and wept in his heart, though no tears came to his dry and stinging eyes.  'I said I'd carry him, if it broke my back,' he muttered, 'and I will!'
'Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well.  So up you get!  Come on, Mr. Frodo, dear! Sam will give you a ride.  Just tell him where to go, and he'll go.'"

I'm honestly getting a little misty just reading that over again.  I can't let myself think too far ahead, or I will think of the Gray Havens, when Frodo boarded the ship which parted him from Sam.  I don't really have time for a full emotional breakdown at the moment.

Sam's loyalty.  That's what makes him such an unforgettable character.  He was given a charge to protect his friend, and he did not waver from it.  That's the kind of person I would like to be.  I'd like to be the kind of loyal friend who, when I cannot carry burdens, I simply carry my friends.  But...I am far more selfish than Samwise.

...maybe, since I can't be as much like him as I want to be, I can just hold out that someday I'll meet a nice little hobbit boy.  Just in case, I think I'll keep wearing ribbons in my hair, because Samwise seems to like that.

Rosie Cotton better watch her back.  That's all I'm saying.