I finally met Julia this weekend! Could there be a more perfect little girl? I fell in love with her in a second. She's so tiny, very quiet, and amazingly strong. She snores like her daddy and has his ears. She can hold her head up on her own and look around for a few seconds before collapsing back against whatever she was pushing up against (Usually her daddy's chest.) I'm already calling that she's going to be a Daddy's Girl, but as much of a cuddlebug as she is, she'll have enough love to be a Mommy's Girl too. Right now, she's sleeping most of the day, and when she's out, she is out. Not even moving her between people and positions will wake her up. When she's up, she spends most of her time sticking her tongue out, and she'll mimic you if you stick yours out at her. Mommy has her listening to tradition Hungarian kids songs; Daddy has her listening to punk rock. She's going to grow up with a lot of influences from all across the board.
It's also been decided that Mommy and Daddy are going to teach her sign language (I've heard it's good for children's development). I've always wanted to learn it myself, so I've added it as an additional task, my 102nd. I don't know a single letter of sign language, but I've always been good at picking up new verbal languages. How hard can it be?
I also decided I'm going to change #90. I mentioned doing it earlier, but never could come up with something that would be 1) a donation task and 2) would push my boundaries of comfort. It came to me this weekend - Instead of spending 2 hours giving hugs, I'm going to donate blood. I have never considered doing it before - for a long time, I was too young or too light. Plus, I am absolutely terrified of needles, like paralyzing fear. I can barely suffer through required immunizations. Optional ones are right out! Hell, just making this post is making me queasy and light-headed. That's why I'm going to do it: to face my fear, go far outside my comfort zone, and to do something good for a stranger(s) who will need it. I'll just...need to look up regulations and requirements, and find out where it can be done. I think one comes by my office occasionally. Maybe I can get a coworker to do it with me.
We watched a movie called Ip Man over the weekend. It's a historical martial arts movie, taking place in China during WWII, when Japan invaded the coast. It starts lighthearted and playful, with minor conflict between friends, then takes a very dark, depressing turn with the invasion. The main character, Ip Man, is a talented martial artist trying to keep his family safe during the invasion. It's not a "man out for revenge/fighting against the oppressors" film like you would expect from the description and a normal martial arts film - he's just a quiet man gone from riches to rags who wants to keep his family safe and alive. There's little fighting, but what is there is so amazingly satisfying. I don't know how much of the movie is fact versus fiction, but Ip Man at least was real and was one of Bruce Lee's teachers, and at least some of what was covered in the movie was likely factual. All in all, I think it's definitely at the top of my favorite martial arts movie lists. Pity I already had an I movie...
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