Saturday, January 16, 2016

Resolutions

It's 2016 and the start of a new year. Maybe it's just me, but 2015 flew by so quickly that I only remember a few bits and pieces from the year. Unfortunately for me, in a lot of ways, it was an extremely rough year--one of the hardest I've ever had, which makes me want 2016 to be the best! How am I starting that off? Resolutions. But not just random ones, because I'll never keep up with those. I've picked myself out a few that I know I can and will keep up with this year--ones that will make me a better and happier person.

I thought it may be a good idea to list out my main goals of 2016 in hopes of helping you create a good year for yourself  as well!

1. Sleep less, but sleep better.

This may sound a bit weird but I love sleep. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess that you do too, am I right? The issue with that is, when I have nowhere to go, I'll sleep in until I can't sleep any more and then I'll hang out in bed with my iPad on Netflix or CrunchyRoll. My goal is to go to bed at a decent time or at least try to and not sleep in past 10 on any day. If I can get myself on a decent sleep schedule, I'll feel less tired throughout the day and the more awake I am, the less grumpy I am!


2. Take my failures and turn them into learning experiences.

Being negative isn't good for anyone and can easily make you depressed. When you're depressed, you lose faith in yourself and in life, which makes continuing to push yourself and grow even more difficult. The best thing you can do is take those negatives and make them positives. I plan to start doing that by taking any failures I have and seeing them for what they really are: a way to learn and grow. Some times, you need to take a situation and look at it from a different angle, and that's what I plan to try and do.


3. Be able to run 3 miles.

This is definitely something I can accomplish and it's an extension of last year's goal to be able to run a mile. I find that taking a goal you've already passed and pushing yourself harder is another way to stay motivated. You already did it once? Why shouldn't you be able to do it multiple times and even better? My goal is to be able to run 3 miles by the end of the year and if I could push myself to run one mile in less than 6 months, I think I can get to 3 this year!


4. Keep pushing myself to go out and do things alone

Being alone is probably the hardest thing for a person to experience. It's hard to find things to do constantly and, at least for me, getting out and going places alone is a form of torture. I suffer from anxiety, which is something a lot of people experience, and mine stems from being alone. Last year, I went from not being able to go hardly anywhere by myself to being able to go to certain grocery stores, different shops and can officially run more important errands by myself. My goal of 2016 is to go even farther. I have my first vacation where I'll be traveling alone in just a month and I'm hoping that will open a lot of doors for me to continue going out there. Freaking out any time you're alone outside of your house or work makes life almost impossible some days, and, when your anxiety controls you, you become a not-so-great version of yourself. You always want to try and be the best version, so I plan to take more steps this year to continue to be a better Hannah.


5. Exercise and eat healthy

I know everyone has this goal and it's pretty much a staple in everyone's resolutions, but it's one that I do try and go for every year. To be honest, I may not exercise as much as I used to, but I do love to run and I enjoy dancing. I plan to try and do both of those more this year, which shouldn't be too hard. I recently graduated from college and have a few extra hours a week I'm going to dedicate to cleaning my life up (literally--I have a lot of things I need to organize) and working out. As far as eating goes, I generally eat more on the healthy side. I eat a lot of salad, chicken and tend to rarely go overboard on junk food. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love chips. I'm especially fond of the brand they carry at Aldi's and could eat them all day, but I typically sort of feel when I should stop downing the entire bag and I do. As usual, I plan to try and cook more now that I have a bit more free time, as well as continue eating as I do with mostly chicken and rice. If you're looking to start a new diet, I highly recommend (and have been recommended myself by health nuts) chicken and rice. It's delicious, easy to make and quite good for you.


Let's make 2016 a good year together and cheer each other on with our goals for the year. The best way to continue with resolutions is by having lots of support. I'll be here to support you through yours--let's do this thing! :)

Friday, January 8, 2016

Superheroes Take 2016

2016 is the year of the superhero movies! Well, not technically, but I can't recall a year prior to 2016 where so many were coming out in theatres.

Deadpool

Set to release first on the 12th of February (just in time for Valentine's Day?), I'd say Deadpool is the most anticipated superhero movie of the year. His character is one anyone can appreciate--he is a hero that is constantly breaking the 4th wall in the comics, loves to talk, and is a total goofball. Of course, who would be better to play him than Ryan Reynolds, who is one of the goofiest guys in Hollywood right now.


Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall the previous Superman movie doing too well, so I'm looking forward to a new adaptation of the character. Personally, I enjoyed Man of Steel and I look forward to Henry Cavill getting another movie with the character. He definitely embodied Superman for me. We also have the first (maybe only because, with these, who knows) Batman movie with Ben Affleck as Batman! This movie is sort of full of firsts, though, because we also have Fast and Furious's Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg (so excited for that!), Jason Mamoa as Aquaman (who's ready for his movie in 2018?) and last, but certainly not least, a new Flash, played by Ezra Miller. I'm quite anxious to see all these new characters on screen (or new actors as old characters) but a little nervous to see this Flash. I've grown rather attached to Grant Gustin in the CW's Flash. He nails the character for me, so this will be interesting! This movie is set to release a month after Deadpool on March 25, 2016.



Captain America: Civil War

Holy crap there are no words in the English language to express how excited I am for this one. I have loved every movie this Captain America has been in and I'm expecting to love this one just as much as Winter Soldier, if not even more. I think Chris Evans's portrayal of Captain America is absolutely on point for what these movies are calling for and his look is everything I could want in a Cap. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't this character's biggest fan before his first movie, but now I adore him. Prep yourselves for an epic storyline--one of my favorites in the comic universe! This releases May 6!


X-men: Apocalypse

This releases May 27th, so prep your wallets for May between this and Civil War! Okay, now, perhaps I'm more excited about this one than Civil War, simply because I grew up reading X-men comics my entire life so, by default, I have extremely high expectations for this one. This movie takes place after the previous, First Class sort of. It takes place after the events that occur in the 80's in First Class. Due to that, we will get some fabulous Jennifer Lawrence action, as well as some more of Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as my beloved Charles Xavier. I felt they did an excellent job casting those two as the mid-twenties versions of Magneto and Xavier, so I am quite pumped to see this story line play out.

Suicide Squad

I'm honestly going to completely bypass Suicide Squad because every preview I have seen thus far has continually disappointed me in casting, style, etc. I may not have read a lot of Suicide Squad comics, but I don't plan to see that one and I recommend you save your movie money to finish out the year because the two final movies for 2016 are going to be mind blowing, I'm fairly certain.

Gambit

It took everything in me to not title this in all capital letters because this is my favorite X-men character and one of my absolute favorites in comics altogether. I honestly have no idea why, but I don't remember loving anyone more than him ever for some reason.

This is set to release on October 7th and stars the always fabulous Channing Tatum as Gambit, the explosive card throwing mutant. That said, they've had some issues with the director so chances are it won't be coming out this year. I am still holding onto hope that I'll see my favorite X-men properly portrayed soon! There's really no back story to give--this will essentially be a movie about the character and is supposed to closely follow him in the comics. Yay for a canon movie!

Tatum is so fabulous.


Doctor Strange

As hard as it was for me to not write Gambit out in all capital letters, this is even more difficult. If you aren't living under a rock with current movie and tv releases, you'll know that Benedict Cumberbatch has blown up and we will be seeing an awful lot of him for quite a while. I mean, he's reported that the reason Sherlock (BBC TV show) has been so behind is because both he and his co-star Martin Freeman are too busy to film together with the other shows and movies they're filming.

Doctor Strange has been awaiting his film debut for a while, I feel, and this movie is bound to be epic with Cumberbatch portraying him. He looks just freaking like him in costume. Any ways, Doctor Strange is, well, basically magical just like Cumberbatch (sorry, I really love that guy). Quite similarly to his role as Sherlock, Strange is another narcissist and, after losing his hands in an accident ruining his career as a neurosurgeon, he ends up getting granted these magical powers. He's essentially going to be the gateway into the magical universe of Marvel.

Seriously guys, see this. If you can see no other superhero films this year, go and see this one. I promise you won't be disappointed. I will make no apologies for you finding yourself to be in Cumberbatch's fan club. Sorry not sorry! You can view the first preview trailer here and the movie is set to release on November 4th.


2016--the year of the superheroes, and I am not complaining one bit! Bring it on, 2016!