Happy Birthday Tollers

For those of you who do not know, today is the day on which my beloved John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born. Do not feel bad if you forgot. This is in fact the first year I have ever remembered his birthday on his birthday. If I can't remember it, I can hardly expect you to.
In honor of our remembrance of J.R.R. Tolkien, I will tell you the story of how I ransomed Frodo.
While I had hoped to receive DVD Extended Edition The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I knew that most of my family had no idea what that even was, and my chances were pretty slim. So when the envelopes were handed out at the end of unwrapping presents, I decided that all my Christmas money this year would go to buying it myself. I had doubts. I am in college, and since I never eat breakfast in the cafeteria I spend quite bit of money on food. But on Christmas morning when I was opening presents with my immediate family, Karen gave me an envelope that said inside "For your Frodo Fund". That is when I decided for certain that I would do everything I could to ransom Frodo.
I got the last of my Christmas money on Saturday, so I couldn't go ransom Frodo until Monday. I looked up where I could get Frodo though and tried to find the best deal. On Monday morning I woke up bright and early at 9:00. I was putting on my shoes when Mom informed me that there was a race for the van this morning and that I was in the lead. Apparently Dad wanted the van to take Karen's bookshelves that he had built her to her apartment. I informed Dad that I had reserved the car three days prior. I had submitted my proposal and it had been approved. He asked me if I had a receipt. I took the car. Normally I would have let him have the car but I had been planning this for days. I had to rescue Frodo. I could have taken his car I guess, but I've never driven it (it scares me) and I was driving to Chesterfield to see if they had the shiney blue shirt I wanted in the right size.
So I drove out to Chesterfield. I went to the Wal-mart on the way, but I couldn't find Frodo. I searched and searched and finally found the place he was supposed to be, but he wasn't there anymore. So I went next door to Best Buy. I searched and searched and searched. I couldn't find the Extended Edition. So I finally gave up. I drove to the mall. I had a bit of trouble doing this because the other people on the road wouldn't let me change lanes, but I finally made it. Then I searched and searched for the shiney blue shirt, but I couldn't find it. So I left. I was a bit frustrated at this point. I decided to try to get to the O'Fallon Wal-mart. So I took O'Fallon Road off of 94. It seemed promising. O'Fallon Road turned out to be this small winding road that they were doing a bunch of construction on, but it did eventually lead to Highway K. Eventually. I made it to the O'Fallon Wal-mart. And I began the search for Frodo. After my experience at the other Wal-mart I had more of an idea of where to look, so it didn't take as long. I found Frodo. There he was, all alone, tied up. I grabbed him and we practically ran to the checkout. I got a little worried because the cashier couldn't find the thing to take the bonds off of Frodo, but she borrowed one and it was all good. Frodo's ransom was a little more than I had expected, but I paid it anyway.
Frodo and I made it out to my car. I locked all the doors and set Frodo in my lap. Then I began to talk to him. I told him all about how I had been trying to rescue him all day, and how much fun we would have. Then I told Frodo how I got a picture frame that said best friends on it for Christmas, and how we could take our picture with Bear Bear and my boots and put it in there. I told him all about Bear Bear and Boots and how much he would like them. Then I spent a while explaining to him that I was not materialistic. I'm not sure he believed me.
When we got home Karen and I spent a little time admiring him and then we watched the Fellowship of the Ring. This was around 1:00 or so. Karen had to leave and go back to her apartment so I watched the next two movies by myself. This was probably just as well because I stayed up until 3:30 that night and I don't think anyone else in my family would have lasted that long. I took breaks between DVDs to eat and stretch and stuff like that, but it was still pretty intense. I didn't mind though. I think my favorite part was in the Return of the King at about 2:00 when I saw that they had put in some deleted scenes in the Houses of Healing. I was literally squealing with delight and bouncing up and down in my chair. I was happy. Frodo was happy too. He made good friends with my new squishy gumdrop pillow named Chewy. He's bright orange. Frodo's been sleeping on him a lot, in fact I think he's sleeping on him right now up in my room. So anyway, that's the story of how I ransomed Frodo. I could have bought a formal dress at full price for what it took to ransom him, but it's ok. I've watched him all the way through twice already. Once the first day, and then I watched all the cast commentary. I also watched The Two Towers and half of Return of the King with Karen. And I've just started on the appendix on the Fellowship of the Ring. I'll probably watch some more of that tonight. But I also have to watch the first season of Stargate Sg-1 and the first two seasons of Quantum Leap, which is what Mom got for Christmas. Mom wants me to help her take down the Christmas tree now so I have to go.
Happy Birthday Tollers.