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So we just watched Pan's Labyrinth. I'm not sure what to think of it yet. I felt kind of disappointed to tell the truth. I thought it would be more fairytale. But instead it was more about war and an asshole. It was a good movie. It just wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't know anything about it before I watched it. All I knew was there were some interesting characters. Although I did find karma to be a bitch in the end. Right on!

We also saw The Pursuit of Happyness. I really liked that movie. I thought it was Will Smith's best. I haven't seen Ali yet. I almost forgot that I was watching him and not a real person. I probably especially like it because I can relate to it. My mom was kind of in the same shoes as him. We were on welfare for only about a year or so. I remember going with my mom to interviews for second jobs at night. I never understood that situation in her life. I just found it kind of annoying that I couldn't be at home and instead I'm sitting in a car waiting for her to come out so we could leave. My brother and I are eight years apart. So I'd have to watch him every night while my mom went to her second job. I went to a private school so that wasn't cheap, but the education was fantastic. At one time I was in 8th grade and my brother was in Kindergarten. That was double the tuition. That's the year we had to be on welfare. I remember being really embarrassed to go by our lunch tickets because I had to tell them out loud (in front of my friends) that we needed the welfare lunch plan. I was mad at my mom for making me do that. I did it, waiting to the last possible minute so that everybody was gone. Once I got to high school, I had to go to a public one. No more private school. Private high school was too expensive. I hated, HATED my high school. I wanted to go where all my friends were going. Anyway, being poor is really defeating. I wonder how many times my mom cried about her situation, having two kids and having to work two jobs and still not having enough money to be okay? I know she had to. It's too depressing of a situation to be in to not feel like you are at the end. Once high school started, I got a job with my mom and worked at a cafeteria during my entire high school years. I hated it, but we made enough money between the two of us that we were more than okay. I went away to college and I've never looked back. I was the first in my whole family to go to college. So I was proud that I had a career that I could enjoy doing and make decent money. My first job out of college, I was making the exact same amount a year that my mom was making with both of her jobs. I just feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to make a better life for myself. I hope to provide that for my own family.