Alix's Funeral

Today was a hard day. Not the worst day, but I did go to a funeral a few hours ago. The funeral was for a girl I knew named Alix Reese. She was one of the kindest people I have ever had the gift of interacting with. We weren't close friends, but I would consider her a friend, or a closer acquaintance. I first met her in 2004 or early 2005, she was a friend of my friends. I remember seeing her and thinking she was incredibly beautiful, and me, being stupid, assumed she was probably mean or stuck up. But within the first few minutes I interacted with her, I was dazzled. She was SO FUCKING COOL. She was into the same things as I was. She wasn't just some hipster.. (I hung out with a lot of scene kids and hipsters in my early to mid twenties, so it wouldn't have surprised me.) she was into Sci-Fi and D&D and comics and nerd crap just like me! She was incredibly sweet in our limited interaction. I forgot about her because I became a hermit and I never saw her. She probably didn't even remember meeting me.

Flash forward to 2010. I got a recommended link on Facebook from a few of my closer friends (when I used to use FB) It was called Prayers for Alix Reese. What happened was she was driving on the evening of May 27th 2010; taking friend to the friends house, or.. the friends boyfriends house maybe? Basically a gang shootout broke out and she got caught in the crossfire. She was in very bad shape, everyone was worried she would die. But she did not die. She was paralyzed, and had some other complications. She had to live in an assisted care center. I added her as a friend on Facebook and sent her a few messages even though I didn't really know her. We later followed each other on Instagram. I got to know her better after this.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? My thoughts:

A few days ago my husband and I were having breakfast and he asked me what I thought about the new Quentin Tarantino movie. I didn't know what he was talking about and he told me, "It's about 1969 Hollywood, the Manson murders and Sharon Tate is in it." My honest first reaction was feeling a little upset about the film being made. I have literally mixed feelings about Sharon Tate and the Manson murders being depicted in Hollywood. I really like Sharon Tate in Valley of the Dolls (a favorite book and film for me, guilty pleasures) Eye of the Devil and The Fearless Vampire Killers. I think she was good in these roles, and I think she might have gotten really big if she had not been killed. And if I may put my tinfoil hat on, I wonder how things would have turned out with Roman Polanski. I know Roman Polanski cheated on Sharon, but I still wonder... (He's probably just a sexual predator and nothing would have changed his path but...) I have done a ton of reading about Sharon Tate, and EVERYONE describes her as a beautiful person inside and out. It makes me so sad to think that a beautiful person will forever be remembered in such a terrible way. I feel like sometimes people just milk her story. I am not saying it shouldn't be talked about, I'm just saying we should be respectful rather than sensationalizing an innocent woman's death. Let's face it..sensational is a word I feel could be applied to most if not all Quentin Tarantino's films. So my first reaction was being sort of prickly about the film. But then...

I watched the trailer and it looked very interesting. As much as I try to feel self righteous about my feelings towards Sharon Tate, as well as the others at 10050 Ceilo Drive and the Labianca's and Gary Hinman and all the other victims there could be...I am one of the people who eats up everything about the Manson murders. It's fascinating, it leaves you wanting more. I have read many books about the Manson Family and their murders. I have a big interest in cults and that was my main interest in the Manson Family. I never found Charles Manson as interesting as his followers. Maybe it was because they were mostly young girls, and I related to them more. So here I am, feeling a pull between my sensitivity around the Manson murders, and a morbid curiosity and wanting to know everything there is to know about this case. So the whole movie is not completely about the Manson murders, it is more about 1969 Hollywood. This also made me feel a little more comfortable with the film, not completely..but more comfortable.

Finally Writing...

I have been holding off writing this for a few weeks. I decided to start this blog because one night I had insomnia, and I obsessed over how much I used to love Livejournal. Remember Livejournal? I like Tumblr a lot but; I wanted a space to write in and put my thoughts out into the universe. So after a period of weeks I am finally writing something here.

I am a girl, I have a husband I love so much...and I am a crazy cat lady. I have five cats: Ivan (black 14), Dick Sargent (tabby 10), Loki (black 7), Lillian Gish (tuxedo 6), and the baby Mozart (black 1.5). My husband and I met in high school, we have been married three years this autumn. My husband is a software engineer. I have two sisters who are married, and they each have one child, a boy and a girl. My husband has two brothers that are pretty much the same ages as my sisters. His middle brother has a wife, and they are having a baby this summer. My dad died in 2016 from a lung illness, my mom is still fine.

I love painting, writing, drawing, photography, reading, listening to, and making music and cooking. I will probably mostly talk about these things a lot on this blog. I'm obsessed with cinema, I like almost every genre, and I watch movies all the time. One of my favorite dates is going to the cinema with my husband. I obsessively collect media just like everyone these days. I watch a lot of YouTube as well, too much lol. I also LOVE video games, I am mostly into story- driven titles (*cough* Dragon Age *cough*) but I also play some MMO's.