I always have a bit of dread with springtime. It isn't the weather or anything like that, it's how quickly summertime is coming. I usually find this time of year very stressful and hectic, with this year being no exception. Heather and I have successfully moved her and the boys into the new house, but I have no idea as to when I can finally move myself in. Yup, no word from Salt Lake yet as to when we can get married. There were a few delays beyond our control, so now we just hope that it will happen before July hits. It's hard to plan a wedding when we cannot nail down a specific date.
School, which is the source of normal anxiety this time of year, goes ever so quickly, and I wonder if we will get everything finished like we want to. I am behind on marking, keeping my lower lip above water for lesson planning, and just getting a bit below minimum sleep it seems. Add to that a number of students who are under their own pressure that decide to respond to it with acting out, shutting down, cheating, or just plain melting down, and it makes this time of year especially hectic and nerve-racking. Still, there are some reprises like grad that helps things go more smoothly. I just wish fewer students would not give up so close to the finish line.
I had the whole summer planned out for this year...and now there are several uncertanties, mostly associated with the uncertainty of being married or not. Heather and I had been hoping for a cruise that would include staying a few days in New York City, but we'll see. Maybe Christmas...SMACK...don't say that! I am going to Orlando for a teacher's conference (CHA-CHING!) but again, we had hopes to have Heather and the boys come with so we could make it a bit of a family vacation. The biggest thing was just being married! ACK! Sometimes I wish that patience did not take so long to learn. Sigh. Well, we keep going forward. As long as we know that it is a matter of when and not if, we can handle it.
One other nice thing about this time of year is...TV FINALE SEASON! Yup, my favourite shows have wrapped up for the season. I found that I only really followed two shows this year, while others I had a more casual interest in. Survivor was good this time around, and CSI has been...good, but not great without Grissom. I enjoyed V and am glad that it is back for another season. Of course, the big one for me this year was Lost. It is done for good as of a week ago, and I was very happy with the finale. I know many people out there in internet land are very unhappy about it, but I was satisfied with a very happy ending and all the characters that I had come to know and love over the last 6 years having relatively happy endings was great. So, for my Top 10, I give you my Top 10 favourite Lost moments...
10. In another life, brother! When we first found out that Desmond, the man Jack had net years ago jogging, was in the hatch, I did not know how much this character was going to mean to me. He slowly became a great addition to the Losties, and I was happy to see that he has a good ending.
9. Death of Frogurt. Neil was the name of an annoying character that made frozen yogurt (hence his nickname of Frogurt). He was very obnoxious and loved to antagonize others in the Losties group, especially Hurley. In his last "moment", he was berating Sawyer and Bernard, calling the former an inbred and telling the other he couldn't make fire. One second later he is struck by a flaming arrow. Sweet!
8. Hurley, meet Charlie Pace. This is a scene that takes longer to describe than to watch it. In the last episode, when Hurley, after years of not seeing him, sees his good friend Charlie again, alive and well, the smile on Hurley's face is priceless.
7. ***SPOILER FOR LAST SEASON!***
The last of the Kwons. When Sun and Jin share their final moment together, with Jin refusing to leave his wife to die alone, I was touched by their devotion to each other. To have been only reunited so recently and then to go down together, I thought that I understood Jin's decision to stay. Yes, many complained about not having one of them live to raise their daughter, but I understand how they decided to end it.
6. Super Walt...or was he? There was a moment early in Season 1 where Michael was on the beach with Walt. It was raining and Walt was complaining that his dad was not going to look for Vincent, his dog. Michael told him that he would go when it stopped raining. Walt looks out onto the ocean, and then it stops raining. It was very subtle, but I always thought it was cool.
5. Hurley to the rescue! I believe that it was also at the end of season 3 that Hurley, after being told that he would only get in the way, would end up saving Jin, Sayid, Bernard, Jin, and Sawyer by driving the Dharma van into the Others (literally for one of them), our favourite husky multi-millionaire showed us that courage comes in literally all sizes, including plus ones.
4. Locke's revelation. While I felt that Locke should have lasted longer than he did, his first revelation stands out as the most powerful moment in the first season. To see where he had been before the crash and what he became, the whole idea of "Don't tell me what I can't do" became a rallying cry for this character.
3. The reunion of Rose and Bernard in Season 2. I know that most people will say that Sun and Jin, Kate and Jack, Hurley and Libby, Claire and Charlie, Sawyer and any girl that moved may have been the most romantic/special relationships on the show, but I thought that Bernard and Rose were the personification of true love. When they were finally reunited, after weeks (for them) and years (for us) of being apart, with Bernard worried about finding her and Rose confident that he was OK, to see them finally reunite was for me the most touching moment of the whole show.
2. The final scene. I know there are a few people who have not seen this episode yet, so I will not place any spoilers. I will just say that it gave me much satisfaction to see a very nice bookend and have a final good-bye to all my favourite people on this show.
1. Charlie's sacrifice at the end of Season 3. I really felt that Charlie was one of the best characters who ended up having the most heroic and meaningful death. We had been forwarned about it for weeks leading up to it, but it was still a shock when it finally happened.
Finally, the alternate endings to the finale...
