Priceless Movie Review

            Priceless is a movie about a man who believes he has lost everything, and in an attempt to get his life together he agrees to drive a truck across the county. It is the perfect opportunity until he learns what is in the truck. Then he has to choose to risk the few precious things remaining in his life or what walk away.

            Priceless is a great plot driven movie. It has action, suspense, drama, mystery, and well placed, but not distracting, humor. Additionally it shares a message in a beautiful way that merges fiction and fact to make its point. The kind of story I am always striving to write. Priceless is not for everyone. It handles the hard, serious topic of human trafficking in a way that respects the severity but does not jeopardize one’s innocence. However, I would suggest parents use discretion if showing this movie to young ones as this movie might spark conversations about human trafficking and modern day slavery.

            While in Priceless the protagonist may attempt to take on human trafficking himself, one should not. If one believes someone is a victim of human trafficking do be a hero, don’t be an idiot. Report it.

    Call 1-866-347-2423 (toll free)

    Call 1-802-872-6199 (non toll free international)

    Report online at www.ice.gov/tips

            Taken from the Department of Homeland Security website.

            One does not have to worry about if local police might turn a blind eye or even be involved because the phone number contacts the Department Homeland Security. Homeland Security works with local police to address the issue.

If one is afraid of what happens to the victims, law enforcement is fully aware of the coercion used and works with other groups to investigate reports and protect victims.

Learn more:

https://www.dhs.gov/topic/human-trafficking

For more information on the Priceless Movement:

http://www.pricelessmovement.com/

Finally as a girl myself, I want to say to anyone who reads this, especially girls. Your worth is not found in your achievements, your beauty, your success, your talent, your special relationships, or your significant other. It is found in God, the maker of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 1:1). You don’t have to give even just your heart to every guy or girl that comes along, basically prostituting your heart out. Your body should not be for sale, neither should your heart. God made you and he knows you better than you know yourself (Psalm 139). He even knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). Which for me as a girl with a lot of hair that is always coming out but never gets any thinner, that is pretty amazing. God clothes the lilies; He can provide for you (Matthew 6:25-34). You are more valuable than many birds or flowers. It is okay to be a strong, kick butt woman, but also have dignity (Proverbs 31:25). A woman of noble character is worth more than jewels (Proverbs 31:10). “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (Proverbs 31:30 taken from the English Standard Version). There is a little encouragement to remember when you feel worthless. God made you and loves simply because you’re His creation. You are priceless.

*New fiction still to come on Friday.

Happy Summer Announcements!

Happy summer!

            I am supper excited to make three, unless I come up with more before I finish this post, announcements regarding Inspirational Skai.

1.      This summer inspirationalskai.blogspot.com is the place to find all things Skai writes. I will attempt to post something new every Friday, May through July and hopefully continue posting regularly into early August.

2.      This past year I have added songs to the ever growing list of pieces I write. So my hope is to even share a few songs I’ve written. Please bear with me on the instrumentation, as I’m still learning how to play any instruments that would be accompanying the lyrics.

3.      And this one I am most excited about. I have finished my second draft of Ladies of C.O.D.A.: Jewel, formerly Ronan and Jewel, complete with a new opening and scenes. I still have more editing and revising to do, but once that has been done I plan on working to get it published. More will be revealed as it comes.

4.      I think that is still all the announcements I have.

Be on the lookout for more fiction, non-fiction, hopefully music, maybe some reviews, and even inspirational words this summer. I am excited to write these and hopefully many more.

Choir Humor: Or What Kills the Mood Faster than Someone Singing Off-key

            Life is full of stories. We tend to glorify the big life changing ones, and forget the importance of the little funny ones.

            Recently I was singing with a choir. It was the end of rehearsal. The director, a thirty-some relatively fit man, was sitting on the bench at the piano, just sort of giving some closing comments. The piano bench sat in front of the piano in close quarters. Only a couple feet behind the bench were carpeted stairs leading up the room and also served as choir risers. But the practice had been a serious time, some of the choir singers had even been crying for various unknown reasons. With that in mind what happened next ruined the serious atmosphere.

            The director leaned back on the piano bench, tipping it over. He started fall. Choir members gasped. Putting his hands behind him on the stairs he caught himself. Quickly he sprung back to his feet. He bowed as if he just finished a piano concerto and just fallen over.

            The elderly members of the choir all started mumbling about him being young enough to recover like that. But he was blushing, indicating that he was embarrassed, and it ruined the serious mood faster than someone singing off-key.

Fairy Troubled: A Girl Power Adventure (Part 11)

"Elina," a voice gently cooed, “Elina,” the brunette figure of her mother knelt by her, holding a giggling Violet in her hands.”I am back, Elina." Her mother shook her awake gently. Elina's eyes fluttered open.

            “Oh, hey," Elina started to spring to her feet but her left arm was pained at the sudden movement. She slowly stood up.

            “If you are ready to go I will take you back to the house now." Her mother kindly said.

            "Yeah, thanks," Elina grabbed her backpack.

When her mom's car pulled up to Rayna's house, Elina tenderly kissed Violet's head in the back seat, next to where she sat. Elina quietly got out because her sister was asleep. Her mother got out of the driver's seat and met Elina outside the car.

            “Be careful, have fun, I love you," her mother said planting a kiss on her forehead just the way she'd done to her sister a moment before. "Do not forget to brush your teeth, and mind your manners."

            Elina nodded, "Love you too." She ran up to the porch where Beccie sat. Mrs. Ridley got back in her car and backed out of the driveway, thinking how much Elina had matured since the last time she'd seen her.

On the porch Beccie floated to her feet. She was about to go in but Elina's right hand grabbed her arm first. "You're not going to tell Rayna, are you?" Elina pleaded.

            "No, it's your secret to keep or share," Beccie replied. Elina was about to head in as Beccie added, "Your mom doesn't know."

She didn't need to add more, she'd changed Mrs. Ridley's memory of the fairy. So that she remembered the fairy with a different hair cut, and slightly different shaped face. She even now thought she'd seen brown eyes instead of Elina's sparkling green eyes.

           

Inside Rayna's house Elina was relieved her secret was safe, but she was very hungry for dinner. Once it was bedtime she wasn't tired at all. She'd spent too much of the day sleeping. So she snuck out to the backyard for a little skateboarding.

Rayna had had a long day, training the other girls, but she also was having trouble sleeping. Instead she went to her private study. The study looked like most every other study, every the walls were covered with books. There were even a couple more bookcases in the center of the room. In place of what was usually would be a heavy wooden desk, was a small square table and a comfy chair. Rayna sat in the chair holding a large book. The cover read, “The Biology of Mythological Creatures,” it was written by a Dr. Andrea Hunter. It was almost completely disregarded by scientists and doctors, but Rayna trusted the author. Dr. Hunter was a personal acquaintance. She, long before becoming a doctor, was member of Girl Power member herself. After spending years with Girl Power, meeting all sorts of people and creatures, she became a doctor and studied all she could to learn about how best to doctor different creatures.

            Rayna had pulled out this book because, the whole business of Elina, her clumsiness and her accident proneness, had worried the lady. She flipped to the chapter on “Fairy Anatomy”. Dr. Hunter began with the anatomy of a full fairy, especially as it related to their ability to fly. After all that was the most distinguishing feature of a fairy in contrast to human anatomy, their ability to fly, produced simply by their wing power.

            It read, “The most distinctive characteristic of fairies, their wings, is a recessive gene. Meaning a human and a fairy cannot reproduce a child with wings. However, two half-fairies have the genes to have a child with wings. While the probability of this is 1 in 4, it is unheard of simply because there are so few half-fairies to have children together.

“Fairies have a very distinctive bone structure. Much like that of a bird’s, their bones are actually hollow with thin supports running across them. This creates a stronger, more durable bone than that of a human bone. Necessary for them to survive crash landings, especially while learning how to fly. The bones are no lighter than that of a human’s, and contain all the same functions for life.

“One deformity that is common amongst half-fairies is in the bone structure. One aspect of human DNA and fairy DNA is that the genetic code for bones doesn’t combine well. Often it leave the half-fairy with extra delicate bones that are hollow without the supports running across. They seem to still have all the same functions of life and this difference cannot be seen on an x-ray. This also causes them to weigh less than the average human or fairy.

“With that said, the easiest and most effective way to diagnose this condition is to take a person’s body mass and height, and determine what the weight should be. A human’s bones make up 15 percent of a person’s weight. A half-fairy’s bones are often only about 8 to 12 percent of their body weight. Meaning a grown adult human who weighs 200 pounds has bones that weight 30 pounds. A full grown half-fairy with this bone condition having the same height and body mass could only weigh between 186 to 194 pounds.  The rare case has been reported that a half-fairy’s skeleton only weighs 6 percent of their body weight.

“I would suggest that all half-fairy’s take calcium supplements to fortify the bone mass they do have. Also they should avoid high impact sports, as their bones are more easily broken than those of a full fairy or human.”

Rayna found this article very informative, but it also concerned her. Elina was very accident prone, and had just come back that morning with a “sprain”. There was always the possibility she had broken it and didn’t even know. As Rayna was responsible for her wellbeing at the moment she decided she would have to watch Elina and look at her arm later, when the girl wasn’t so guarded.