Movie Amnesia/Party stuff/Oh crap, am I a grown-up?

I memorize movie lines. Not intentionally exactly. It's just that I like them so much, they sort of stick with me. The problem with this is after a number of years, I start forgetting which lines belong to what movie. So some random bit of dialogue will pop up in my head, and then I drive myself crazy, trying to remember what movie or television show it came from. This week's useless bit of movie/tv conversation:

Speaker A (a guy, I'm pretty sure): "Do you ever think about death?"
Speaker B (not sure if this is a guy or girl): "Well, yeah--"
Speaker A (in a dismissive tone): "Sure, the occasional thought floating through the transom of your mind." (Voice intensifies): "But I spend hours, days, contemplating death."
Speaker A: "And I suppose you think that makes you deep."

I may not have the words exactly right (I can only do that with certain lines from most movies and only Star Wars and Ghostbusters in their entirety-- "Tell him about the twinkie.") But does anyone know what movie this from? After typing it all out, I now have a suspicion, but I'm not sure. I think I know who Speaker A is, but I'm not positive. So send me your thoughts -- put me out of amnesiac misery and tell me what movie this is from, please!!!!

Party stuff...
-Book Party news: Right now, we've got about 20 some people who will be attending, yea!!! Still more RSVPs likely to come in as we get closer to the date!

-Prizes for the party: Here's what I'm thinking on this...I'd like to have raffle prizes that in some way relate to the book or writing in general. So here are my ideas, let me know what you guys think:

• One or more of those really cool journals (the leather bound or fancy covered ones you buy at B&N.)
• Cool pens. You can never have too many cool pens (as Stacy G. and Heather, I would imagine, well know!)
• An alien emergency road trip kit: all the things that Zara wishes she would have had with her -- I've got some ideas of what this might include. Those of you who've read the book, do you have any suggestions about what else might have been helpful that would be fun (and not too expensive) to include?
• The Silver Spoon soundtrack: okay, not really (but wouldn't that be cool!?!). I did write most of the book while listening to particular cds, so I thought it might be fun to give a couple of those same cds away (not my copies, obviously, but new ones!) And certain songs do sort of belong to certain people or scenes, which is kind of fun.
• Perhaps a RuneStone t-shirt or baseball hat or something of the kind.
• A copy of The Silver Spoon, of course!

Any other suggestions? Please let me know, post a comment below or send me an email, sklemstein@msn.com

And finally...

Oh crap, am I a grown-up?

The biggest secret that adults have over children is that the adults never actually feel any older than they did at say, eighteen. I don't mean physically, obviously, because I swear my knees started cracking the moment I turned 26 and it's only gotten worse. I mean, adults never feel like they've reached a stage where they know everything they need to know (at least that's my perspective as I rapidly approach -- think Warp 8 -- age 30). The insecurity, the fears, the doubts, it's all still there, just over different stuff.

But I think children, watching the adults from the outside, get the impression that once you reach a certain age -- boom, all the knowledge to be a grown-up is implanted in your head and you wake up one day, a fully functioning adult. At least, that's how I thought it worked when I was a kid. And even now that I can rationally understand that it couldn't possibly work like that, I think subconsciously I've been waiting for that sudden burst of wisdom to suddenly appear in my brain. Like, I'll feel like a grown-up when I get married. Uh, nope. We're still having way too much fun and acting too immaturely to qualify as grown-ups. Well, then I'll feel like a grown-up when I have a house. Yeah, that would be "no" again. Most of the time, I feel like a kid with a large scale tree house that requires cleaning on a regular basis. How about, I'll feel like a grown-up when my book gets published? Ha! If anything, getting a book published is reverting me back to teenager-dom. I haven't been this nervous or worried about so many things since freshman year in college!

In fact, I can't even refer to myself as an adult without that sort of squeamish feeling on the inside that someone's going to call me on it, and say, "You're not an adult. Who are you trying to fool?"

But, what I'm starting to realize is that, the transformation doesn't happen in one giant burst or in one big life event. And more often than not, you don't even realize it's happening, which is scary!!!! Last night, my husband and I went to the grocery store, which I hate doing. Usually because we go when there's nothing left to eat in the house and we're starving -- the very worst time to go shopping (we came home with two boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts last night). And when I got up this morning to make my usual cup of tea, I saw all the groceries put neatly away in the pantry and felt a nice, warm, happy glow on the inside. I realized how satisfying it was to see all the food there in the new pantry. To know that I had the stuff to make dinner for a few nights in a row and that I wouldn't have to tear through three horribly unorganized cabinets to find it all (like in our old house) or give up in frustration and just order out. And then I thought...oh crap, did I just become a grown-up? I still don't feel like one! And then I thought, Maybe I never will. Maybe this is just me! And this is how it will always be. No sudden wisdom, no uncanny grown-up confidence. Just an ability to handle some things a little better and to hide the insecurities a little deeper.

I know I can't be the only one thinking this way...right? Right?!?! Some of you, I know, are getting to some major stuff in life (moms and dads to be, especially), do you feel like grown-ups? Does anyone ever feel like they've reached that plateau of adulthood and it's smooth sailing from here on out (okay, ignore the mixed metaphor [plateau=land and sailing=water], you get the idea)? I feel like Neo realizing the restaurant where he's eaten hundreds of times before ("They have good noodles.") isn't real!

Okay, definitely babbled on long enough.

Talk to you tomorrow.