Something is about to change

I just realized today that my life is in for a relatively big change. The day after tomorrow, I start a new job, in a new place, with new people. Instead of having my nomadic hours that wander all over the schedule and can be tugged and prodded certain places if I want them to be, I will now have a set (very, very set) schedule. My waking up weekdays will be routine, will need to be routine to catch the right bus. I will be commuting again and walking much less. There will be lots of riding the bus. And I will have to meet strangers and break them in (which means the process of other people being allowed to slowly discover I am weird has to happen again). I have a bunch of all new stuff to learn--just when I was getting good at this job.

I am not really scared of this change. I think I've been ready for something like it for a while, but it just didn't occur to me until today. Here we go. I guess.

[In a completely unrelated note, the boy who is the lead in 'The Black Donnelley's has a ridiculously sick body. It doesn't even make sense, but they showed LOTS of it in the episode this week, and that was all I watched. Just had to talk about it. His body is that beautiful--if really, really pasty.]

Astonishingly Unuseful

That was me. There was just being bums all day yesterday at my apartment. Later, Anna Schelegal came over and joined us, and we drank and stayed up until 4am. That was perhaps not the best plan, but it was great fun. It is her birthday tomorrow, and we are getting together then too.

Today, I made it up and out for work. It was a bright and shining day out, so it was a wonderful walk.

Then I took a nap that went too long and I didn't get to go see my friend Sabrina's improv show. I feel bad about it. I should never have napped in the first place because I had a suspicion that I would be difficult to wake up. That suspicion was right. Well, shit.

Super Saturday

Or slow Saturday, or something. I am washing some blankets and towels right now (hoping to banish the last of the smelly boy smell from our living room). I also All Fabric Refreshed all the furniture (so now it smells like we covered our furniture in freshly laundered fabric).

Later (or soon) I am going to the post office and the grocery store. I must buy stamps to mail bills, and then I will buy taco seasoning to make tacos secretly while Janna is gone (she's taking a mini-break in Ohio to see her boyfriend). We have to make them secretly because Janna strongly disapproves of the amount that Renee and I will eat tacos. She thinks once a week is MORE then enough, and we could pretty much always eat them. I mean, I like food variety as much as the next person, but I also could eat tacos about half of the week and be totally happy.

I should also do some taxes and some adjusting of the student loan info today. To get that all out of the way. Plus I was thinking of some fixing of clothes and maybe cleaning out my closet. There is a bunch of stuff in there that needs pitched or altered since I am not too busy right this weekend. Plus, I could always use more room in the closet.

Next week, really tomorrow it all starts. It is possible that I will be working for 15 straight days between both jobs. That will be a shock to my lazy little system that is used to a break every two or three days. However, it will lead to a very healthy bank account. In fact it could lead to me having a savings account for the first time since sometime back in grad school. Maybe my debt will start to go away to (although very, very slowly). We can hope.

Tornadoes

I am hoping that the many readers of this blog who are from the tornado-y portion of this country are all safe and secure and so are all their peoples. We just got weird rain and then not rain and then rain again (and back and forth all day), but I see this business about tornadoes, and it makes me worry about my peoples. So, I hope you are all wonderful.


In non-sad related news, I got a new pair of glasses today, or I ordered them. They are similar to the glasses that the character Danny on CSI:NY wears in that they have a thin light metal top frame and are rimless on the bottom. My favorite part is that they are the same prescription, so that means I can alternate them with my current glasses as I feel like it (a thing I have always wanted but have never been able to achieve as my prescription has always changed). So starting sometime next week, who know what I will look like at any given time! I cannot wait.

No More Boys

They are gone. They left. Only three of them stayed the night at our house last night. They were quiet when they got here and went to bed. That was better. Also, they cleaned up after themselves. We actually believe there was vacuuming and maybe some swiffer wet jet.

I know, right? Now you vacuum. Strange boys only clean your house when they know they are in deep, deep shit. Oh well, I have my house back and it is cleaner then when the boys left. Although, tomorrow, I am washing all of the blankets that hang out on our couches. Hopefully this will make them smell like nice clean, cleanness instead of stinky boy.

Still Boys

So, it is a little after noon on my day off, and I have barely left my room because there are many hungover and passed out boys in the common areas of my house. There is even a girl. I have no idea who she is and what the hell she is doing here, so that is weird. Definitely going to tell Janna about that (she is the liaison to the band of boys). I was going to get some food, but there are people still asleep in the kitchen, and I didn't know how to get stuff out of the fridge with them in front of it. I also am not sure why I am being so polite and sneaking around them. It is my apartment. I pay rent. But there are a lot more of them, and they are mostly strangers or people I barely know. The nice ones are all still asleep or in the shower. I want the nice ones to wake up and make the others let me have my own food.

I have been watching tv on dvd in my room all morning, which is what I would've been doing even if the band wasn't here, so I can't really bug them about that. I actually may have run errands, but I don't know when they are leaving, and I am not sure which one of them has my key (since I didn't work today, we sent my key out with them last night--but with two nice ones who are responsible, not just anyone). I don't want to leave and take too long and be locked out of my own house. Although I could probably run down the street to the mailbox and the mexican food joint and bring back food in a short time and mail my netflix. Hmmmm. . .

This is weird. I want my house back.

Boys everywhere

Normally you would think that was a good thing, but really it means there are many smelly, drunk punk rockers taking over my house. They get points for letting us watch our shows, but they are still boys--seven of them!!!

Right now they are at the bar around the corner celebrating one of their birthdays. They will probably close it down, unless they get kicked out for being too drunk (which is totally possible). Tomorrow night they have a show, and I will probably maybe go. Who knows. I am going to hide in my room for a while tomorrow (watching some of The Wire) before I head out to go glasses shopping.

So many boys. Not that I dislike boys (these in specific or in general), but this is a little ridiculous.

Also, I cannot begin to express how much I love Mythbusters. It is possibly one of the best shows on tv, and definitely the best science show on tv (and Bill Nye can just suck it).

Oscars Part XVI

That is correct. There have been fifteen commercial breaks since the top of the official pre-show on ABC. Holy dear Jesus! I feel like this is taking longer then yesterday's movie marathon event.

Ryan Gosling is funny! I kind of adore him. Yes, she is getting Penelope's dress! Awesome!

Reese is on in a nice dress that is perhaps a little too severe for her, especially with those bangs. I really need to see the Ryan Gosling flick, and the Peter O'Toole flick. It is nice to see some people really in love like Will and Jada. Forest Whitaker is the biggest badass teddy bear in that audience. Best Actor is of course Forest Whitaker. High fives to Leo and Ryan for being really, really classy and giving him a standing 'o.' I love Forest for really having his moment of Oscar. Beautiful speech by Forest. I really like that actor.

Here are three big guys in film! Lucas, Spielberg, and Coppola are giving best director to Marty! That makes me happy. I thoroughly enjoy his movies, especially "The Departed" although I may like "The Age of Innocence" more (it is a much more me movie. I have to give a shout out to Paul Greengrass though because he is awesome. Marty gives quite a decent speech.

"The Queen" is so good. I really think everyone should see it.

Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson get the honors for best picture, and shockingly she doesn't look terribly weird in her formal gear. She is however way, way too excited at this point in the evening. Yea! They liked my favorite. I really love this movie, so I am very glad that it won. I am also really glad that the show is all but over. Although someone will bore us with their producer speech--although yea that dude for giving a shout out to all sorts of people.

And we are done! Thank God. But there was confetti, and a second ago, one of my roommates came out of her room and said, "It's still on!" But now it isn't. There are only credits. Just shy of four hours folks.

Thank you for all who read along at home before or after. It was fun for me, even if Robyn and Sara are the only ones who read any of this.

Oscars Part XV

Now that was a funny joke. Or not because there is still a shit ton of show. And now Ellen is in blue.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is here, so we are doing best actress now. He seems really tired. My question about Penelope's clip is whether or not she is actually singing for herself. Conversely Miss Mirren is good at the grand and the small performance. WTF is Meryl wearing as jewelry ?!!! Kate Winslet is so freaking cute!!!! And the winner is Helen Mirren, general babe and fantastic actress, plus she gives a good triumphant speech.

Anyway you slice it, that gun is freaking cool!!!!

Oh, now it gets interesting? What were the first three and a half hours for?! Okay, this show keeps getting longer and longer and it is losing all of my goodwill. I did hear that itunes is going to have the short films up for purchase tomorrow which will be cool. I really want to see the musical.

Oscars Part XIV

Will Smith is here, and can I say the man has a distinguished air with his gray hair. Obviously this telecast is starting to go on way to long as I start to rhyme shit.

No we are not watching another random film montage. We are not. I disbelieve it. Although I do love me some dear little baby Jesus funny! I would probably like this montage if it weren't a time sucking hole right now. This is going until well after midnight Eastern time. It might hit 1 AM for those guys. Dude, that sucks.

Kate Winslet quickly jumps to the chase for film editing which goes to "The Departed." Is each win a mark towards or against winning I ask you. Yea for cute older ladies winning things, apparently repeat winning things.

Wow, Jodie Foster looks great, even if her shoes are perhaps a shade to dark. Great hair! And now for the parade of dead people. It seems shorter then usual, and way more depressing music, or maybe I misremember all other times I have seen it. Usually I watch it from the West Coast when it is only a little before 9pm right now.

Oscars Part XIII

Jenny from the block shows up in a blingtastic frock that is kind of way ugly. And here comes some singing! Jennifer Hudson looks good in a bright red dress! And oh can she sing! Although I just saw some bra as she leaned over. Beyonce's dress is very fun too, and not as trashy as it could've been--this is Beyonce remember? I really should get around to seeing "Dreamgirls" while it is still in theaters. More Jennifer Hudson bra peepage, and I think you can see the seams from Beyonce's wig when she screws up her face all crazy. Oooh, the other dreamgirls dress is delightful! The bling on top manages not to be overpowering. Now they look like Destiny's classy child. Who is the guy singing? I don't recognize him? And they end in silhouette. That was some good singing. Gee, I wonder if one of those songs are going to win?

Travolta and Queen Latifa. Her dress is kind of boring and not all that flattering, and I can't wait to see them in "Hairspray" the movie. Best Original Song goes to Melissa Etheridge!!! Awesome! That totally rules! Not that I wouldn't have been totally happy for "Dreamgirls" to win, but I really like this song, and I like me an underdog. Can I say, poor Randy Newman? He probably thought he didn't have a shot in hell to win because he wasn't writing a song for "Dreamgirls," and he didn't win, but he did manage to lose to the only other non-dream song nominated. Poor dude. I don't care, I still like me "Short People Got No Reason to Live" and I always will, and the Jesse the cowgirl song. I liked that one too.

Oscars Part XII

I have been sitting on may ass for way, way too long this weekend. This show needs to wrap it up and get to the good stuff.

Best Score is being given out by Wolverine and Penelope Cruz. Their names sound really pretty in her voice. Also, has anyone noticed how this has become random fun non-Oscar related fact night? Babel wins its first award of the night, and Ellen mocks Jack. Oooh, speed explanations could be fun! Dude, I love that they sped it up!!!!! Funny!

Here is Spidey and Mary Jane giving out best original screenplay. Big moment for a CGI buck here. I am not so much a fan of Kirsten Dunst's look in this one. Best Original Screenplay is "Little Miss Sunshine" does this narrow best picture down to it and "The Departed," or does it dump them out of the running entirely. If anyone was still reading I would ask them to discuss in the commentary.

A devil dances into something that I am assuming is from "Pan's Labyrinth." No, Mr. ex-MTV did not just say that there was so much more to watch!

Oscars Part XI

This is beginning to be ridiculous lengthwise and postwise.

The prettiest man in the world is giving out documentary awards with the crazy newest Bond girl. She looks weird, and her dress looks like a craft project with cheesecloth gone terribly, terribly amok. Best Documentary Short is "The Blood of the Yingzhou District" and my spelling may not be quite right there. And another totally awesome 80's prom dress graces the stage.

Seinfeld makes his triumphant return to the Oscars? Or something. I guess. He is presenting documentaries and making bad jokes. Okay, the garbage bit is kind of funny. The Best Documentary Feature is "An Inconvenient Truth" (but boy were a lot of the others about Iraq?) which was probably the worst documentary up there. Technically and form-wise it was not that good, but its message was hugely important, so it wins for importance. It is hands down the most important film in the Oscars this year. It is probably the most important film of the century so far.

Here's Clint. Talking about the score, and Morricone and giving him a special Oscar. Also f-ing up his lines and the title of the tribute film. And now Cline is singing, but I am not entirely sure why. The song is very pretty though, and he jewels are fantastic even if her dress is not. What is she doing with the hand on her ears? Her makeup artist needs to be replaced because her lipstick shade was not okay and the close-ups showed a very bad lip line job. He is not speaking English, and no one is translating which is very weird and kind of uncomfortable, but then Clint steps up with a translation. His LL may be twice as long, and perhaps it wouldn't be lame if we had any idea what he was saying until after Clint does a bumbling job of translating. This translation job screwed up all sorts of things. No one knew when to clap.

Oscars Part X

It past the halfway mark (give or take), and I feel liveblogging (or kind of blogging live) helps keep me more interested and focused. It also limits the amount of crying, yelling, and cursing, most years there's a lot more of that, but I don't want to break the new laptop.

And we're back with Naomi Watts and Robert Downey Jr.. I kind of totally have the hots for him, and I like it when he pokes fun at his own druggy past. Naomi Watts dress would look better if she just ripped her damn sleeves off and threw them in the trash along with the hideous sash. Apparently she is going to the awesome 80's prom oscar party with Lisa Ling later. Visual F/X goes to some pirates. Let's all give a big round of, "AAAaaaarrrrrggghhh's!" I love it when they talk to small children at home.

Katherine Denueve, and Ken Watanabe (yes I had to IMDB them, but I was actually right before I checked) come on out to show us a film about films in other languages. Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen come out to gibe the award. Best Foreign Film goes to "The Lives of Others" which I really, really want to see, and the Germans go wild over something other then David Hasselhoff. Plus the director or the producer or whoever accepts hugs Guillermo del Toro which I find really sweet. This explains the whole slam of awards for "Pan's Labyrinth" earlier--it wasn't going to give it best foreign film.

Ellen does shadow puppets on the really big screen and gets attacked by the dancers who turn into something creepy that eats her and becomse the logo for "Snakes on a Plane." "They're naked," comedy gold.

Clooney in a tux, reasons why the Oscars are always worth watching (can I get a hell yeah Jenny?". Supporting Actress goes to ummm, Jennifer Hudson. No, I am shocked I tell you shocked! Who would have seen this coming? Really who? Holy Jesus are the tears coming. She can't even talk. (Although again with all the hair on one side! Why is this a look?). Now that she has pulled herself together her speech is veering toward LL. Also, I would've made George help me all the way off stage. He would be taking my arm.

Oscars Part IX

Ellen is wearing an Oscar in a cozy. "The Devil Wears Prada" girls come out for costumes. Anne Hathaway's dress is weird. Emily Blunt's dress is a better color, but why didn't she reapply her lipstick before coming on stage to present? Funny interplay with the Streep though. I feel it necessary at this moment to profess my love for dresses made of sequins and fringe!!! I also love the real actors in tableaux for the costumes, and the winner is "Marie Antoinette." Pat Field is just too crazy for Oscar, but this woman may be crazier then we thought--she's wearing a tux with a tie that she may have stolen from the lead singer of The Killers, and she gives yet another LL (but she did do some wicked costumes for "Titus" and some other stuff.

Now the craziest man in America is talking about a woman that I am inclined to dislike because he seems to like her. All right, she has done some good shit, but still, if Tom Cruise likes her, I am not sure that I can. Are they making out? What is he doing? Why is she letting him that near her face? Her dress is very nice though. Her speech was long but not quite lame. She got a longer speech and managed not to be too dumb.

Clint Eastwood is funny, and really damn old. I really love Ellen. She can be the host for a long time. Gwyneth's dress is really bad, and what is up already with putting all your long, straight hair on one side?! It does not look that good, it looks kind of weird and a little lazy. Cinematography goes to "Pan's Labyrinth" again. Viva la Mexico!

More dancing, this time in the shape of a bus.

Oscars Part VIII

"Holy Baldness" as my roommate Renee notices that Jack has no hair. And Cameron Diaz comes back out looking fabulous! Great earrings. Animated feature goes to the penguins instead of the cars (and boy do the monster house kids look pissed), so we of course cut to Abigail Breslin (because she's a kid get it? animation, kids, get it?). The director/producer sweetly talked about his kids, and seemed to dress as a penguin even more then just a normal tuxedo would've done.

Brett Affleck-Aring's cousin Ben comes in and seems like he is really way too bored to be doing this. A mildly watchable little film on writing. Tom Hanks and Helen Mirren come out and make a lame joke. Best Screenplay goes to "The Departed," but does this bode well or ill for a best picture win later in the evening? Is it just me or does this guy totally look just like you would expect a screenwriter to look? And the poor dude delivers an LL, seeming really, really uncomfortable.

Oscars Part VII

And Callie presents a novice commercial in a creepy soap opera time of day commercial.

I love "The Departed," and I flat out hope it wins best picture. I have already said it is my choice.

Now it is time for some singing. James Taylor, a guitar, and Randy Newman--Newman who can't win an Oscar for nothing. He and some sound mixer are the losingest guys in all of Oscar which means that they have always been not quite good enough, and I am pretty sure that this song is going to be the one for him, unless they give him one out of pity, but that hasn't been the case yet. Melissa Etheridge sings her song from a documentary (the scariest movie I saw in a long time, maybe ever). I like this song. It is kind of way good.

Leo and Al Gore show up to talk about climate crisis? That is kind of weird. Also, why are we not giving out awards? Did Leo just try to get Gore to announce a run, or is this the best joke ever, and it might be the best joke ever. They gave Gore the hook, the musical one.

Oscars Part VI

Ellen corrected herself about Penelope Cruz. And she mocks Judi Dench. Awesome. I bet the Dame is sitting at home and laughing.

This sound f/x choir thing is really quite cool. Even Beyonce likes it, they cut to her (because she is a singer, so she must have been in a choir).

I love Steve Carell. Nice turn the mic off sound joke. Sound Editing goes to "Letters From Iwo Jima" because obviously that was were they put the real work in. They were just slacking on "Flags of Our Fathers" (which they were also nominated for), and so it is a good thing their bullet and plane sounds for that one weren't the bullet and plane sounds that one. Although this proves my point that you don't fuck with the war movies when it comes to sound editing.

Jessica Biel and Tumnus are presenting. Her dress is vibrant and tastefully beautiful. Sound Mixing goes to "Dreamgirls" because that is the only thing that beats war movies, purty singing (and sometimes aliens or fantastical creatures, but only sometimes--singing always has a better shot). The second cut short speech of the night, and another LL.

Rachel Weiss looks really nice in her dress. I like it, very pretty. Arkin's clip is weird because it is the only one where he isn't cursing. Eddie doesn't sing in his clip. Marky Mark's clip is also weird in order to be without cursing. The Oscar goes to Arkin which is great because he is freaking hilarious. I wish that he would've just spoken instead of reading a very polished note, but I do love that he just set to Oscar on the floor. That is funny. Aww, he tears up in talking about his family.

Ellen goes into the audience to harass a just this second loser Marky Mark, and she gives a screenplay to Scorsese, but I don't think there were any words on the pages.

More dancing, or really just standing on stage? Oh, no they are dancing in silhouette. They made penguins.

Oscars Part V

Right now I am wondering how much coverage I will watch before a speech gets too boring? I predict that a lame and long speech (heretofore referred to as an LL) will happen in about forty-five minutes.

Will Ferrell singing a song that sounds kind of like "Somewhere That's Green." And now Jack Black! This is getting good! Please fight the nominees!!! Yes, John C. Reilly!!!! This is the funniest the Oscars has ever been. This song rules, and when this gets posted on You Tube tomorrow, you should find it and watch it.

Makeup goes to "Pan's Labyrinth" again, but "Click" did not win an Oscar, so I am totally cool. The tiny Mexican woman is adorable, and looks very funny next to the very tall comedy guys!! They cut them off. First team to get cut off of the night.

Awww, cute kids presenting awards. Abigail Breslin is much funnier then little Smith, although now that I see the hoop skirt bottom of her dress, it is a lot less cute. And the little Smith gets the first flub of the night. Someone I don't know wins an award I do not care about. And the first LL shows up. It becomes an LL without going over time. Damn, she's boring. I do not want to see her movie now. And I was thirty-five minutes over optimistic. Ooooh, "West Bank Story" looks actually good, and it wins!! Plus the director is quite good-looking (and he made a comic musical about Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank). Yeah, I bet he's going to get him a feature deal real soon. OMG, Jack Nicholson has no hair!!!! Back to the really sweet, earnest director dude! He's cute. I have a little crush, no lie.

Did I mention that I think Clint Eastwood is really, really boring. He's boring, and I think his movies are boring. Sorry, but that is generally true for me. Although Letters From Iwo Jima is up there near the top of my Clint movie list (with "Mystic River," "Space Cowboys," and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"--that's right I said "Space Cowboys"

Oscars Part IV

I love, love, love the nominees clips!!!!!!! Awesome! I would watch that over and over again. Eddie Murphy getting in trouble for being funny. People just being people. Many of them backstage types, getting a moment. That is fabulous. I love having them all stand. They deserve it. I am going to stop typing to clap.

No dress on Ellen, but a snazzy reddish velvet tux (and cut to her mom and Portia in the audience), but she is wearing more makeup then I have ever, ever seen her in. It looks good, just strange.

Can I point out that Penelope Cruz is from Spain, and she seemed to notice the slip of her being named right before the shout out to Mexico. Whoops. Is that an MLP (misidentified latino person) rather then a MBP (substitute black)?

Abigail Breslin is adorable, just cute as a button. Peter O'Toole may however just kick it during the ceremony (and did we see his companion whispering in his ear what is actually being said).

Wow, Gore is getting some applause there!!! And how cute is Leo when Ellen makes him blush.

Dancing and singing, and some people in the audience standing up. Lots of other sitting down. Oh well.

James Bond is hot, and he came in costume. How nice of him. Nicole is still wearing a giant Christmas bow. Art Direction goes to "Pan's Labyrinth" which seems totally fair. It looks pretty fancy, and I always like it when the non-celebs dress well (the set decorator looks great in basic black). Viva La Mexico.

Weird boob squishing is happening in Maggie Gyllenhall's dress. More dancing, into the Oscar. That was kind of cool.

Oscars Part III

Go Marky Mark! I really want him to beat Eddie Murphy. I don't care that I haven't seen "Dreamgirls" but I feel that the previews for "Norbitt" alone should keep him from ever getting one. Plus Marky Mark is so, so good in that flick.

What the FUCK is up with Lisa Ling's skirt?! This is not the awesome 80's prom goes to the Oscars. And a ponytail? Seriously? I have no more to say about that.

Kate Winslet looks good, and so does Helen Mirren. She has got this total bombshell vibe going while still looking age-appropriate. Go her. She was amazing in the queen. I do not have any idea how someone goes about inhabiting a character that complex so very completely and simply. She deserves all the awards she gets.

The real show is about to start, but I make no predictions in advance. I am however pissed that they moved the supporting acting awards from the top of the show to some where near the end. That is bullshit!

Oscars Part II

Apparently Cameron Diaz has been in the ice cream since the Timberlake kicked her to the curb, but she looks better for it. She could have always used the curves, and they are nice to see.

Eddie Murphy's ho of the moment is wearing a hideous, hideous dress. It is tight in all the wrong places. But Cate Blanchett look fantastic!!! Her dress is stunning!

Why didn't Ryan Gosling bring my favorite McAdams? This upsets me--they better not be broken up, but he is a funny, funny guy, even funny in pre-show, reflecting on having his mom and sister on his arm, he said, "I thought I'd do it like Snoop."

Oscars Part I

What the fuck is Nicole Kidman wearing? Did she steal some mall Christmas decorations and wrap the big wreath's ribbon around her? Why would she think that was a good idea?!!!

Also, no one should wear a dress with pockets, especially not if you are already known as the 'fat' dreamgirl, and by the way, I am ten minutes into the freaking pre-show half hour and all right already with the "Dreamgils" songs!! I don't care, even if those chiquitas can sing.

Plus opening penguin sequence=so far so good, actual laughing. I will keep it coming right here all night long!

Blogging the Oscars

I am going to post here often during the ceremony with my instant responses (probably at the commercial breaks). This will be my first experiment with live blogging, and I am doing it all from Jim's comment the other day.

5 Best Pictures; 1 Best Day

So we did it, and there was no sleeping or anything. I will definitely go next year, and I will bring as many people as I can with me because it was fun. Seeing best picture nominees in a sold out audience full of people who really enjoy movies was probably the best possible way to see them. We laughed and we cried and we gasped and we communed, and by the end of the very long day, we had formed a community of sorts.

The facts: 12 and a half hours from start to finish of films, but we arrived early in order to get good seats, so we were in the theater (sitting) for 13 hours and maybe fifteen minutes. Three large bags of popcorn between the two of us (though we did dump the crumbs on all bags), and five large sodas (but there was some dumping of them too). There were two fifteen minute breaks, one forty-five minute break, and one twenty-five minute break, and we stayed in the realm of the movie theatre the entire time (other people did not). Too many trips to the restroom to count (thank goodness I had already seen two of the films and that Sara had seen one, I didn't miss anything). We got a totally nerdy backstage/VIP pass on a lanyard that we were instructed to wear all day, but Sara and I had already decided to wear it all day no matter what.

After several trips in and out I finally figured out why the theater seemed so strange, every single cup holder held a movie soda cup. It was very odd in its uniformity (we were all provided with a cup and a bag as we entered), cool though.

The movies themselves were as follows:

Babel: Could also be titled "People Are Stupid in Every Language" or "Stupid People are Boring in Every Language." The movie was fine--definitely the "Crash" of this year except since it is almost an exact copy, it much less exciting and interesting. There are come very nice performances and moments, but, in general, it is messy with lots of slow bits. After watching the whole, I thought it was kind of interesting, but I don't know if I would have gotten through it had I not been in a theater. I would've gotten distracted and changed the channel or turned it off.

The Queen: This movie is really funny, and I never would have thought that it would be from all the reviews/press/previews I had seen. It was quick and interesting, and Helen Mirren is exquisite in it. James Cromwell and the woman who plays the Queen Mum are awesome too. I would say that you shouldn't miss this film; it is well worth the watching.

The Departed: I flat out love this movie, and I have seen it three times in theaters now, and I still love it. It is my favorite for Best Picture.

Letters From Iwo Jima: Touching movie, but it suffers from the Clint Eastwood storytelling factor. It takes a very long time to get anywhere, and after you are there you wonder what the hell they were doing for half the movie. However, the fact that I knew very little about the Japanese side of WWII kept it from being as painfully slow as "Million Dollar Baby." I liked it, and I will probably see "Flags of Their Fathers" someday soon.

Little Miss Sunshine: A way, way, way better film when seeing it with and audience and for a second time. The anticipation of the ending is hilarious the second time around. I still hate the father character with a passion, so that makes me crazy, and the ending stops being funny and starts being weird (for me) precisely when Toni Colette gets on stage. Her energy really changes it and kills all the funny that is there before. Steve and Alan are brilliant though!

AMC hosted this party (for a fee), so you KC types should see if there is one in your neck of the woods next year.

In Preparation

I am going to get new glass next week, in advance on losing my pier one insurance. I may also go to the dentist.

I will also spend today psyching up for my best picture movie theater marathon tomorrow. Five movies, one theater, one day. There will be packed lunches smuggled in, as well as candy, and maybe a water bottle. But I will get all the pop and popcorn I can eat and drink at the theater.

The big question will be, after a week of terrible sleeping, can I stay awake through all of the films? Since I have already seen the last show of the evening, will I wuss out and go home early? Stay tuned. Will Sara Jo stay awake for all the movies remains to be seen as well, but there is strong suspicion that the subtitles of Letters From Iwo Jima will be her undoing.

I have a job

That's right. I have a brand new job, and I start in a week and a half to two weeks. It is my roommate's old job (she actually has it right now, but is about to be promoted). I will be a receptionist and office helper at a screenprinting company. They seem fun and informal (I will get to wear jeans and a t-shirt to work, yes!). It is a little bit of a raise which is good, and I will qualify for my new benefits in thirty days.

BTW, this makes Renee my hero of several weeks.

I have a job interview

It is tomorrow for my roommate Renee's current job. It will mean a pay increase, and regular hours if I get it. It will also be actual office job credentials, so in a year (more or less) I could parlay this into a real office job downtown with much better pay. We shall see. Wish me luck.

I am that kid

At work. I am that kid. I am the one that does all the crazy stuff. Like this morning when I climbed a ladder while carrying a barstool. I have a nifty science down for it. What I do is turn the chair upside down and put the seat on my head with the back down my back, and then I use one hand to climb the ladder and the other to steady the chair on my head. Some days, this is the only way you can get things done quickly, so I do it. I was trying to figure out how to climb a fixed ladder (on a wall) with a box of cushions , but someone came in so I just had them hand them up to me.

Everyone else thinks this is strange or funny, and they sometime worry about my safety. I think this is a result of my MFA. Well, I have been fairly phisically fearless for a while (not stupid, but I evaluate the risk), but animal class and Paul's class sort of pushed that to the extreme, so did McB. All that ladder climbing in capes makes me do silly things at work.

Happy Chinese New Year

So my wonderful friends Angie and Sara Jo braved the cold way down in Chinatown to watch the Chicago Chinese New Year's Parade. Like all Chicago parades, it would've been better if there were less people running for office in it.

It was fun. I liked the marching bands and the dragons (although there could've been more), but it was very cold. I lost my toes somewhere during the afternoon, and it would've been better warmer, so I don't think that I will go back unless it is like 75 degrees next February.

Sore

My thighs are sore in a weird way, and I am convinced it is from walking in the deep snow. There are crazy drifts and shifty piles I must cross to get to work, and to cross them you grip the ground with your leg muscles in a different way then they usually are used when you walk. They hurt and ache in that way that muscles do when they are being newly used.

I had some big philosophical question to ponder that I was tossing about at work, but now I cannot remember. Now I am being distracted by Ken Burns' "The West" just watched Sitting Bull get killed and the Battle of Wounded Knee.

I was actually naseous

During Grey's Anatomy, the drilling in the head business was kind of making me sick. I had to look away and let my roommate tell me when to look back. And (spoiler alert) I for sure do not believe Meredith is going to die no matter how much they want me to think it. She's not dying. Shonda, for real, you do not have me fooled. I am not even worried (though Derek and and McSteamy all being mcCuddly was seriously tugging at my heart strings). And ohs no Izzy did not just say that!!!!

Not much else happening here in my life. I am going to clean some room and do some laundry tomorrow. We shall see.

She made it

My aforementioned friend did in fact make it into Midway last night at around 9:30pm, which was only five and a half hours late with a detour to Tennessee. Not bad, I guess considering all of the crazy weather delays of yesterday and today.

Happy Valentine's day all!

Excercise in Futility

I did not go to the museum today because of the blizzard conditions, not to mention the small snow drift outside my door. This made me a little whiny and cranky, but I still had stuff to do. I agreed to go and meet my friend Angie at Midway today. There had been some delays and stuff at the airport, but by mid afternoon some flights were still getting in, and when I checked the Southwest website, her flight was in the air and early. It seemed crazy, but who knows?

I get all bundled up, and I go out. Walking in tall powdery drifting snow takes a lot of effort, and it is best to go at it fast and furious to keep your momentum built up. So I sort of power through three and a half blocks to get to the train, and I arrive soaked. I take the brown line all the way into downtown, and then switch to the orange line which I take to its endpoint at Midway. The whole trip is an hour and fifteen minutes, and I should be hitting baggage claim at the same time as Angie. However, the level above baggage claim, I check the monitors for information about her flight, and somehow in the last 85 minutes her flight went from being twenty minutes early to an hour and twenty-five minutes late. Great.

Down I go to baggage claim--which is crowded with all sorts of people--and I pull up a seat (because I thank goodness find one) and read my book. Her arrival times pass, and I am still curled up with Scandalmonger by William Saffire which is cool because I really need to finish it before it goes back to the library, and it is super long for how little I read now that I no longer ride the train to work. Then Angie calls me--from Nashville. She is stranded there with no idea what she is supposed to do since she no longer has a boarding pass (they took it when she boarded). They got rerouted there when they couldn't land at Midway. So, I turn around and take the long two train trip back to my apartment as well as the hard working hopping it takes to get home since more snow had accumulated in the two hours that my airport adventure consumed. I can't wait to walk to work tomorrow since no one here bothers to scrape their sidewalks (however the walking and the horrendous driving conditions did make me very happy that I didn't try to go to the stupid museum).

Angie did call me just a few minutes ago saying that she got on a plane in Nashville that should, maybe, get here tonight. She was waiting to take off.

A Couple of Things

Stupid cheating museum. Tomorrow is free day at the Museum of Science and Industry, and I was going to go for a couple of reasons. One of them was that the last time I went there was a small child in our party who wanted to run down the long sloping hallway to the U-boat instead of walk slowly and watch every second of History Channel-esque footage and read every word of all of the supporting material (in his defense he was in Kindergarten and maybe couldn't really read) about it. It kind of killed me to be forced to do that. Also, Bodyworks is showing there, and I thought wouldn't it be great just to pay the part of the admission for Bodyworks instead of general admission plus Bodyworks. However, stupid museum heads charge $18 to go see Bodyworks on free days instead of $9.50 which only saves $1.50 from seeing it on a regular price day. Stupid. Anyway, so instead I am going to see if I can get a museum pass from the library, so I can go see it some day that costs money (like this Saturday with my roommate and her cousin Rick) and get general admission free and then pay $9.50. Stupid museum. Can I say that again?

Had a wonderful time this weekend meeting Jeff Davis. Well, really meeting him. We have met very briefly a few other times, but this time we all hung out with Azar. He is hosting a double feature of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Newsies" at his house this weekend (which is in a high rise and has a very nice view).

Also, why is it we only have 'don't leave your house or travel unless you absolutely must' days on my days off when I want to do stuff? Seriously, weather? But, no matter what I will venture out to pick Angie up at the airport. I love that city life is the only place where 'picking someone up' from the airport has nothing to do with automobiles since what I am doing is taking the train to the train to the airport and back helping to pull rolly suitcases. Although with the weather being how it is, we'll see if they let Angie land.

Brilliance and not really

Final episode of season one of "The Wire" is pure brilliance. A complete and fantastic episode on its own while eloquently mirroring the original of the series bringing a degree of closure while leaving many, many doors wide open. I cannot wait for season two. (Also, Det. McNulty joins the parade of bad boys I have a hankering for of late because Dominic West is a fine man and a fine actor).

Saw a show at Steppenwolf tonight, Pinter's Betrayal. Two outstanding actors, one okay actor, and a show that was just fine. Nothing special, just fine. Too bad. Also, I am not sure that I would like an actual production of the play in its entirety, possibly ever. It is far too choppy and disjointed. Not bad, just abrupt in person, in a way that it isn't when I power through it reading it by myself. Anyone seen a good live version of it?

Oh, belated hero of the week, Herbert because I will miss him when he leaves Pier One.

Clearing things up

I am not quite as sad or pathetic as the boyfriend/potential husband gathering entry of the other day. It spiraled out of control with the Jenny and the Lauren not just mocking me as expected. Really mostly Jenny with the being serious when I was almost 100% sure she would be the most mocking (c'mon girl are you falling down on the job, did you retire?)because well that used to be what she does.

Tomorrow I get to spend all day with my favorite crazy Persian, and tonight I get to spend with the final episode of season one of "The Wire" which I have come to quietly love. As Lauren says, "They are all so brilliantly fucked up." They are. The ensemble is full of brilliant generous actors who revel in their characters humanity, and it is an unusual brand of humanity for television because everyone has flaws and everyone has beauties, and the writers don't allow any one side to be favored over the other. Neither the cops nor the drug dealers are heroic, but neither are they villains. They are people who struggle to do what is best, sometimes for themselves and sometimes for the greater good. Sometimes they just struggle.

All five Oscar nominated best pictures in one day, in one theatre

Yeah, so I really think this is a brilliant idea and I really want to go. It is $30 and it is all of them, plus free large popcorn and free large drink, refillable all day long. It is kind of my idea of heaven. Although I don't think anyone would go with me (well anyone who lives here, my friend Bryce would so go with me but he is in Olympia), and this seems just too nerdy to do alone. But really, all five in one day. Heaven, total and utter heaven!

So much stuff, so little time

I really don't understand how most of the rest of the world gets things done. I never seem to have enough time to really do things. Actually, I probably do, but I love tv and sleep and the internet too much to have a ton of extra free time. I was going to go to two museums today, but now I will only go to one. Plus I will hang out with my friends Sara and Kristy, so I guess that ain't nothin' but it is less then I had planned. Perhaps my plans are unrealistic? Or maybe I am tainted by my younger days when I did a ridiculous amount of crap--although that was before I had the internet and I almost never watched tv then.

In defense of the internet, I love the blogs I read daily. They make me feel like a part of a community--sometimes of strangers but more often of friends, the very friends who read this blog--and they are my daily news and entertainment. The movies I watch from netflix and blockbuster are important to me as well. I started watching copious amounts of movies in high school when I got my license. I rented every classic movie "Crazy Mike's Video Store" had (granted that was like 65 movies), and I watch lots of award nominess and critical favorites. My netflix queue is over 200, and that is only probably only half of the movies I want to watch. It has been a goal of mine to see and know as many movies as possible--focusing on critical favorites and classics and even cult classics. That may be a weird goal, but it gives me a great deal of pleasure, so spending my days off watching 6 hours (on average) of movies isn't a waste of my time. It is working towards a goal. Now watching 5 hours of City Confidential on A&E, that's probably a waste of time, but the voice over is so lulling I cannot change the channel.

Umm, so that above was probably for myself as much as for any of you. Shout out to Jim and Donad for giving me credit for my Nathan prescience. Also, I am very sad this week because Herbert and Kristy are both leaving me at Pier One. In the next week. Two of my favorite coworkers gone. It won't be the same without them. It should motivate me to find a more financially rewarding job, so that I can start actually paying off my student loans and be able to live my life at the same time. Actually if I had posted yesterday, it would've been a long post about how just when you start to get your life in order it gets all fucked up again. Or if not fucked up, it just runs right off the track you had laid for it. I just want it to be easier. I just want someone else to take care of everything for me, so that I can spend my days watching movies. This is perhaps too much to ask. Some days I wonder if I wouldn't be happier living back in the tri-cities, married to some good Catholic boy watching movies and Oprah, and occasionally teaching and directing for ACT and maybe CBC and Hanford High School? I am of course missing the good Catholic boy, but I hear David Bruce is still single. I don't actually think I want that, but maybe I should go on a date with one of the eligibles my mom and her friends think would be good for me when I go home this summer? After the date, it should pretty well clear thing up right? Most likely, I will hate the very idea of being tied to him all the time, or I will be head over heels and all problems solved. Or none of the above because quite frankly we all know life is much more complicated then that.

I wonder who (other then the Bruce) my mom and her friends would hook me up with? Lauren and Jenny feel free to post potentials in the comments that would make me laugh or be serious or both.

In a commercial

Not me, of course. But Brian Smith was in a Bud Light commercial during the freaking super bowl. For those who missed it or are unfamiliar with my fellow CMS Mule, Brian was the tall groomsmen in the Bud Light commercial who hired the auctioneer for the wedding. I went to school with him, he was my Benedick to my Beatrice in advanced acting in undergrad. He's a good guy and now he was on during the super bowl.

On a much angrier note, stupid Chicago CBS did not play the extra special good episode of Criminal Minds after the game. They played post-game shit because apparently they missed the part of the game where the Bears lost. Infuriating. I am writing my local CBS affiliate a nasty letter. Stupid, stupids.

Fuck it is cold!

That is really all I have got. It is cold inside our fucking house. It is cold outside, and there are major warnings to cover all skin if you MUST leave your house and limit time outside to less then thirty minutes at a time. Fuck me. I don't want to go to work ever again if possible.

What is the difference between nine degrees and nineteen?

One means your snot still stays liquid as it drips down your nose, and the other means it freezes or congeals onto the inside of your nose and there is stays on your walk to work. It is bitterly cold here, and it will only get worse this weekend (which means the frozen thermometer is the weather icon for Sun. forecast on my forecastfox). My plan is to not leave the house tomorrow. I will do my taxes, do some apartment cleaning, watch some movies, and basically wrap myself into a blanket for the whole weekend--my roommates have the same plan.

See you later, decorator? Seriously?

I cannot believe that that is their tag line for Top Design. It is so awful it hurts me a little in my heart, but I am so using it on crap-headed designers who come into our store and are meany-faces. Anyway, I hope that show gets better.

And Marcel (or whom I like to call Teenwolf--thanks to ALOTT5MA, my favorite blog) has lost Top Chef mostly because he cannot play well with others. That goes out to you Jenny, fan of the dreaded teenwolf (although Ilan is kind of a brat too, he just has enough social skills to not be a brat to people's faces, Marcel has almost no social skills).

I think my alarm clock doesn't like my radio station

My clock radio has been tuned to a top forty/greatest hits of the 80's, 90's, and 00's station since I got it a few months ago. It has a really funny morning program, and it plays lots of music I like and very little music that makes me want to throw it against the wall when it goes off. It has been getting a little static-y lately, slowly but surely. Plus it tends to become just static if I get too far away from it or stand up near it (who knows with the magical airwaves). Then a few days ago, it cleared itself right up. Which was awesome, but it also was on a different station. This time it is an alternative radio station (so still playing music I like but a little bit harder then my pop usual choice). Admittedly it is a very mainstream alternative music station, so it is essentially the greatest hits of the alt rock genre in the last decade and a pinch. I guess it was just sick of playing pop music.

It is getting really cold here. Both my face and my legs were stinging cold after the walk to work, and I took a bus home--which didn't really lessen my walking all that much but it did allow for me to walk down streets that had a lot less wind blowing in my face. Plus I rented the Spike Lee Katrina documentary at my Blockbuster (where it let me off).

Hero of the week: my mailman for bringing me the Sims 2, so that I can play it. I may or may not have been so silly as to make myself a sim-Henry Rollins who is married to a sim-me and given sim-me and sim-Henry two kids, a teenage boy and a cute little girl. I may or may not have been that silly.

"Please release unspecial Ando"

Or, "I will be in charge of who I am in love with if you don't mind." Those were the key quotes from my evening of tv watching last night. I heart Hiro and Masi Oka, and there was a double feature of him last night (even if he only had about 30 seconds of him in Studio 60) I am liking studio 60 more and more the less they show me the actual sketches. I am more ready to believe a fruit of the loom sketch is funny just by watching the actors struggle in their costumes back stage because my imagination will assign it more potential then the actual sketch may prove to have.

I love Heroes even in lame episodes, and Masi Oka is responsible for a lot of it. "I am special!" was hilarious. He cracks my shit up, and he has a wonderful partner in Ando.

I should be on freaking design on a dime

We redid my friends Angie and Sara's apartment this weekend, without buying or painting anything. There living room is now officially very cozy and cute. All of their other rooms have been all rearranged too. We really ought to have done before and after pictures, the results were so dramatic.

Well timed buses

I have finally cracked the magic code that is the owl Belmont bus that stops near Jon, Angie, and Sara's house because it took me a little less then a half hour to get home last night including 3/4 of a mile of walking. Awesome. In sadder news, Jon has headed back to Idaho for a stint at the Boise Shakespeare Festival. I will miss him, but as I told him yesterday that I am only letting him go because he is coming back with more people I like (that means you Daigle and Chris Plummer). I have decided people may temporarily move as long as they come back in multiples.

My sinuses seem to be unwilling to fully drain lately, even when I take my loratadine all regular like, but then when I do that I feel really dehydrated unless I drink so much water I pee every five minutes. That balance is a hard thing to strike.

Plus I am very excited because it looks like I may be able to get really cheap tickets to get to go see Paco de Lucia play flamenco guitar at the Chicago Symphony. It will be awesome. He is world famous genius of new flamenco. I cannot wait.

I have been watching a lot of the Wire and some Ken Burns documentaries lately. The Wire is a really fascinating complex little show. I kind of love it becuase the characters are so human and fallible in a believable sort of way. You don't always feel like you have to like them to stay with the show, but they are normal enough that you are at least a little involved in the stories. It is way good. The documentaries are me being the world's biggest nerd and liking stories about the wild west. Hmm, well. Later I am going to go watch movies with Sara and Angie.

Funny and thanks to Jenny

How to make a

Ingredients: 5 parts competetiveness 5 parts crazyiness 5 parts ego

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add lovability to taste! Do not overindulge!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Yesterday

I was watching CNN before work yesterday morning, and I caught the weather report. It was the one they have in the mornings that highlights which portion of the country will be experiencing "America's Worst Weather." Yesterday it was here in Chicago. Now I knew it was going to be cold, so I was all layered up for the day with cuddle duds and two sweaters, so I was prepared for the fierce cold that earned my portion of the Midwest that dubious honor. However, outside was a whole different thing. It was definitely cold, but it was a beautiful day otherwise. The sun was shining so brightly and the sky was clear, and it was fairly still--wind-wise--for Chicago It was as nice a day as it could be with a high of 24 degrees. So, of course I ran all kinds of errands and trudged around in it for probably two and a half miles, maybe three miles of walking in one day.

The Wii is Waay fun

I was over at Kristy and Mike's hanging out, eating banana cake, and playing Warioware Smooth Moves on the Wii. Quite frankly, it was way more fun then any weird Japanese things should ever be. I could play it all the time forever. Who knew I was such a monster at throwing imaginary ninja stars? And you watch it because I could saw you in half in like half a second. However, me and imaginary driving is not really perhaps a good idea. Overcompensation seems to be the rule. Anyway, Donald and Margaret and whoever else has a wii out there, get this game. It is great. And than you Kristy and Mike for letting me come over and play.

I almost forgot. I made a mii on the wii, and it wears a blue dress and has curly hair and glasses.

American Idol, sigh

I kind of cannot handle the sheer delusional ridiculousness of the audition episodes. The people in it hurt me. Presumably, they watch the show, so they should know what they are putting themselves up for in an audition. Why then are the shocked when they aren't sent on? I can understand being shocked to get sent to Hollywood since so many people don't get through. Like Randy says, they are looking for the best, not just anybody with a nice voice or a serviceable church choir voice. Although, it did get Renee the quote of the night, "I love it when white boys sing! Especially soul."

Hanging out

I spent the day with my friend Johnny B today. He is getting ready to leave us Chicago types for a stint back in Idaho, acting up a storm with the Idaho Shakespearience. Yeah, they are clever down there in Boise (in case you are wondering the Shakespearience is a traveling cutting of a Shakespeare play for junior high and high school kids because that wasn't obvious without an explanation).

We just sat around and talked for a while, and then we went to the airport to pick up one of his best friends from home who is here to visit and drive cross country with him. It is interesting to see someone you know well interact with someone you know not at all but that they know well and that they have known well far longer then they have known you (have fun with that parade of pronouns). You learn lots of things that way; bits of how they got to be who they are, bits of parts of them that you never see, and just more of them. Plus it often involves laughing very hard. John's friend Tyson is great and just the kind of old friend of his from Boise I would imagine. It was fun, plus I got to see some more Angie and Sara Jo too.

Sometimes you can miss something that you have always had

I work with a great friend of mine named Kristy, but since we are sort of the rocks of the associate team, we don't actually get to work together a lot. Often we are both working on only three days a week, and lately since hours have been trimmed, we may not even be at work during the same hours. Anyway, we haven't seen each other much. Today, we hung something like 12 rugs up on our rug displayer--a job that meant that I am covered in jute and woolen bits and so are my nasal passages. It is a two person job with one person lifting from the floor and the other clipping it to sliding panels, and it is actually a pretty sucky and strenuous job, but today it was the most fun ever. We just were wacky and laughed a lot, the way you do with good friends you enjoy. This makes Kristy my hero of the week. She moves to San Diego in a few months, and I will miss her; I will miss her very much. I am also thrilled to go over to her house on Thursday and hang out after work.

I made an online quiz

It was kind of fun, and so far my current roommate has done the best on it. It makes me laugh to read the questions and see the answers that people give on questions that I thought were easy or conversely that they would have no idea about.

If you would like to take it, you can go here:http://www.testriffic.com/friendtest/1789318

There is a reader board of the leaders on my my space page, but whatever.

I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping through the night lately. I keep waking up around three or four AM no matter when I go to sleep. I went to bed super late and woke up a few hours later then, but I also went to bed normally and woke then. I just don't know. Maybe it is because of my dreams. I kind of remember having bad dreams. Not nightmares, not that kind of bad, mostly just unpleasant in a slightly realistic sort of way. I guess. I don't know.

YESSSS!!!

So I love being reattached to the internet. I love it. My new computer is way the fuck faster then my old one. I guess that is what comes of being a dual processor, or having one or something--I do not speak this form of nerd. However, the buttons on the 'mouse' are in just a different enough place to confuse me, and it is weird that the keys aren't all worn smooth on all the home row letters and common letters. But it is shiny and bright and I can burn CDs and DVDs and I am wirelessly connected to the internet which means I can IMDB from right in front of the TV!!!!! Although I have been warned that using the computer while watching TV will get me in trouble with the roomies. Although really, I mostly watch complete and utter crap on the TV, so if they want to watch something else they could just say. Unless it is a new episode of one of my shows, but some of my shows are also their shows, so they are watching it anyway, or it is House which had to be given up for Gilmore Girls way earlier this season (which is fine since I am already committed to buying it on DVD anyway. Plus I can watch almost all of everything on the internet now, so it really is no never mind. They should realize this. I do like to hold the remote control, but it is fine to tell me it is their turn with the TV.

New Computer

I did it. I sucked it up and bought a brand new laptop that may be some kind of wonderful. I don't get to play on it until after work (ensuring it gets a full charge before I go full boar).

I also got a rerouted Christmas Card from Ken and Mandy, so they get added to that list. And I was/am charmed by all the affection in the comments during my brief technologically enforced hiatus.

RIP my computer

Okay, so its time of death has not officially been called, but it won't go past start up without freezing and making bad noises. So, I am not using it, thus the lack of posting and commenting. Umm, am in the market for a new laptop since I will be getting a stupendous refund this year, and will be using the portion that was to go to a trip to Florida on a new computer and some of the portion that was to go to paying down debt on it too. Oh well. Anyway, trying not to rush into buying a new one, but I might have a bead on a good one today on clearance at best buy. We shall see. I am sure I will post very soon if I get me a brand spanking new laptop.

Postscript

I just cut my own hair, again. This DIY attitude toward my hair is really kind of working for me. I am not sure exactly what this one will look/be like once it is dry, but it feels healthier--the first thing I did was trim it about one inch all over. My last self haircut was last June, and it looked really good and people loved it (although eight inches was a pretty drastic change). This one isn't quite so drastic, although there is more of a sweep of bangs,except not really bangs so much as a shorter bit that can be swept aside or linger across the face. Hopefully it will look nice. I will post some pictures later this week after I can dry it some.

pigs and candles

My roommate Janna is engaged. . .to a candle. They made their love official last night in the kitchen as we laughed and talked and got just a little tipsy. It was pretty funny, but I could see why she fell. He is a good-looking candle. I will post a picture later this week

Also, we were all going through and sharing old photos, and I came across one from my FFA hog showing days. It is pretty hilarious, but he was a beautiful hog from the summer after my sophomore year in high school. We decided it needed to be added to the mess of coupons and cartoons and crazy magnets on the refrigerator, so we put it right up there in the middle, next to the fah-q, and the fah-golf (thanks Carlin, we'll always have the memories).

Guitar Serenade

On the way home tonight, I was serenaded by two early 20's aged guys. They were standing outside their apartment in the light mist playing a guitar, and as I came closer they began to sing about me. It went something like this, "Hey miss lady, walking down the street. We're playing guitar outside." It was very sweet and one of the reasons I love living in the city.

My roommates were watching the very end of "The Wedding Singer" and I sang some really terrible Billy Idol karaoke in my living room. It was tons of fun.

Something to ponder

If young men are said to 'sow their wild oats' does that mean that young women 'gather their wild oats' or 'collect their wild oats?' And isn't that kind of a weird and perhaps a little disgusting as far as metaphors go?

Think about it.

Also, I think I like to have something fairly pointless to worry over in my head as I go about my life. Like I was a dog with a chew toy or something. I just like to have something their to rattle around, and if I don't have something there I kind of seek something out. So recent circumstances that have given me something to chew on (brain-wise) may be a good thing. They have little to no real consequences as things stand right now, but give me lots to think about and rehash. Keeps me busy. Off to bed.

PS I am not really a stalker and I have proof

I was cleaning out my email account and ran across a folder that I made a long time ago but almost never use. In it are a few emails that were all saved for sentimental reasons--a few from Patrick, a great inspirational one from my friend Yellow Heather, etc--including a copy of an email I wrote to someone else but blind cc'd a copy of it to myself. It was the email where I may or may not have professed my love (but was like 80% sure I didn't). I totally didn't. It was a perfectly harmless email. I hinted at someone taking me out, but that is all, and I did it in a totally joking way, and if you don't believe me I still have the email proof.

It is however true that even if this means I am not a stalker, it probably means that I am some sort of sad pathetic weirdo.

History is just one fucking thing after another

Or so says one of the boys in the movie "The History Boys" which was quite good, though a bit draggy near the end. Then it was a little bit of a deus ex machina whoa at the very end. I liked it, but if I tried to say more I would majorly ruin your film experience when you go to watch it (which you should--based on a tony winning stage play).

It also has the best portrayals of teachers ever. They are real people who do real things like smoke and curse and fuck up and get their kids scholarships and teach them good life lessons.

That is all for today.

Perhaps 2007=trouble

Maybe, probably not though, but I spent the morning of New Year's Eve in full panic mode. Also, boy was I ever drunk when I posted that last post. I didn't realize how drunk I was until I read that entry just now. It is startling how drunk I was, but I had a good time.

This is the entry where I catch up on what boy trouble I caught from Jessica--although upon reflection it really isn't trouble at all, just surprising at how quickly I can stir things up. I was going to really go into detail here, but that's not going to happen, I am too tired. Anyway, I spent two hours on the phone with an old friend with whom I have a history (or unfinished business--as he calls it). This may or may not get me into trouble in the future, but as he lives thousands of miles away from me, I have decided to not worry about it. Fortunately this time he doesn't have a girlfriend to accuse me of sleeping with him (which I never did). So we shall see, but I have the feeling that 2007 will be the year I have a lot of fun and get at least a little stupid. Here we go!!!

Also, hero of this current week, my boss for letting up the teeniest bit on the dress code today. I am grateful.

Welcome to new years super drunk edition

I got too drunk to party on new years, and I got just drunk enough to be stupid on new year's eve eve. more on that later, like Tuesday.

Belated hero of the week for last week, my roommates. They just rule. That is all I have for tonight. Really all.

But some people I called o new year's suck, but none of them read this blog. Also Jessica Smith is in trouble for her boy trouble contagion (see above where I say there will be more later like on Tuesday).

Happy 2007! I feel I will definitely cause myself a lot more trouble there. Trust me on this one.

"Heather has very good ovaries"

As quoted from my good friend Mary Trotter outside of a Wrigleyville bar tonight in order to make sure her friend Derek didn't punch me in them. Although my ovaries were never in danger, but Mary's were. You have to keep drunk people in line, and sometimes that means getting rough. That quote was followed up by, "John O'Hagan would be very sad if you punched Heather's ovaries." I don't really follow or understand Mary's logic there, but she was really, really trashed. It was lovely seeing her if even for only what seemed like a moment (or two hours really).

We did however go to a bar with her friend Robyn and her current boyfriend (as well as one of her ex-boyfriends--who was in the group of Mary's undergrad friends) to watch another of Robyn's ex-boyfriend play in a band. Robyn is not really my kind of girl, mostly because she seems to get a perverse pleasure out of bossing the group around and making us be around her and all of her ex's and currents. Plus I have the feeling that the current was not really a big fan of this plan and that she was getting too much of a kick out of that too. The band we saw was a country and western cover band. The lead singer and the guitarist had a general feeling of being authentic country people, but the rest sort of were like doing a straight person's version of drag by dressing up as 'country' singers. It was very weird and sort of like wandering into any karaoke bar in my hometown--NOT what I am looking for when I go out in Wrigleyville.

Also, I have been working my way through Criminal Minds season 1 with Renee because she got it for Christmas, and tonight we watched an episode of maybe ritual satanists killing people. I screamed in the middle of the teaser because the first person to get murdered in the show was Matt Bennett the first (who may have predated many of the CMS types who read this). He was Emily's boyfriend before Kevin, and I had the hugest crush on him. Plus he was playing a high school quarterback--at thirty and vastly unathletic, he has this crazy liquidity to his gait and his being, awesome. Anyway, it was fantastic to see him on my TV. Fantastic.

75% of the way

Through my twenties. Today is my half birthday, and I am 27 and 1/2 which means wow am I close to 30. However, I don't feel close to thirty and I don't feel my adult life reflects real adulthood all that much. So, whatever.

I received Christmas cards from Sally and David (wow on the weight loss!! Awesome!) and Jim and Amy (this may be a repeat). I also got my parents card which included a family photo. The best part is that it is of everyone in my family but me, and then my sister cut and pasted a kind of crappy photo of me from the summer vacation into the corner of it. I will have to post a copy for you all to see because it is kind of hilarious (if not a little unflattering--it was of me looking bored and tired and also probably hungover on one of our wine tastings).

Anyway my Christmas was quiet, but Mystique (Sara and Jon's cat) made it better. She snuggled me. I also got blamed for things by clowns during the clown show. It was fun and funny, and I inadvertently sat next to Paul's family during the show to, so I met his brother. He nearly fell out of his chair laughing at the show. I seriously just grabbed an obviously single seat in a different part of the audience then I had formerly sat, and it was in the Kalina section. The show was great again--a little girl in the crowd came up and hugged Paul in the middle of it when all of the clowns are yelling and after he has come back from running away. It was pretty much awesome.

Umm, that is all more later.

Missing

Every time that I have called my sister Natalie or my brother Dan this past week they have been together. I miss that. I miss big long breaks at Christmas where you have time not just to see your family but to just be with them. Just hang out and watch TV or play hearts or anything. I miss going to the grocery store with my mom.

I won't be going home this year for Christmas (again). It is too expensive and that pretty much sums it up. Also Christmas has always been a pretty low key affair at our house since people stopped being little kids, so it isn't some big dramatic event. Thomas won't be home this year either. He is going to Mexico. I can't imagine Christmas being event-like until one (or more of us) gets hitched or gets real serious and then people start having babies, but that seems pretty far off. It is just church and a dinner in the dining room on the good china. But I do miss my family. I genuinely like them all as people, and it sucks not to get to hang out with them like that. My sister gets to all the time (since she lives in the hometown still), but I hardly ever do. Plus when I am home it is such a whirlwind of events crammed into a short amount of time that there is no just being--I usually need a vacation from my vacation.

Anyway, I won't be alone for Christmas, and there are even some good things planned (courtesy of Angie and Sabrina). Plus I get the apartment all to myself for a few days (which will be so awesome I can hardly believe it). Not that I don't like the roomies, it just doesn't happen very often that any of us is truly alone in the apartment for more then a few hours at a time, so I think we all sort of treasure that. One day I will be solvent and have a place of my own. I think it says something about me that I want my own apartment a lot more then I want a significant other. Things to ponder.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe trip to wherever they are going on these few days before the holidays.

Plus cards up from Amy and Jim, and the stockings are finished and I will post some pictures later.

Hero of the week 4

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

Hero of this week : postal workers. Let's face it right now is when they need some love.

Post Office non-drama

I went to the post office yesterday, and I was scared that it was going to be bad. It wasn't though. It was quick and easy and calm. I was in and out in fifteen minutes. It was great.

Less great was my plan to carry my three boxes the six-ish blocks to the post office. It kind of sucked, so after two blocks I waited on the corner of a busyish street to get a taxi. It took a couple of minutes, but with tip it cost me five bucks and was way worth it. I think it may have taken longer to get to the post office then it too being there.

I also went out for Sara Jo's birthday, and it was great fun. We had a great time at Ed Debevic's and a really fabulous waiter to thank for it. Then we went back to the Idaho house and fell asleep after ice cream and about 2/3 or a little more of "It's a Wonderful Life." I crashed on their couch and came home this morning. It was great fun.

Wine crimes

My roommate put two bottles of cabernet-sauvignon in the FRIDGE!!!!! I cannot handle it. It was just wrong. I love my roommate, but we had a little lesson tonight of what wines get chilled and which don't.

Also, Sara and Jon gave me a Christmas card, and I finished the first round of stockings. They kind of look awesome. I will post pictures later (probably on Tuesday).

More Christmas Cards

I got two more today. One from my grandparents and one from Donald and Margaret (the handmade kind with a cute picture on it). Send me a Christmas card, and I will talk about you in my blog. See, I have already done it.

Umm, busy at work--in the fun way. Most annoying SASM has quit (or as she called it, resigned). It was her choice (our main boss told me) which I figured because our boss would have given her a chance to change and adapt to the feedback she was given. Really it seems far more like annoying to quit out of pouty pettiness--she is super immature and just proved it. Least annoying SASM has sort of bonded with me. I feel like we get along much more, and he is way better when not anywhere near most annoying.

Still busy sewing, and I was a jackass and didn't go to the post office this morning, so I have to go tomorrow night which will suck. Post offices in big cities at Christmas=no fun at all. Plus I don't have a present for my babiest brother or for one of my roommates.

Oh, and I could've gone and seen the clowns again tonight for free but I was working. Very sad. Plus, I should be a life coach. That is all.

Hero of the week 3

This week's hero goes to Robyn and Joe for sending me my first Christmas card of the week (what can I say, it was a relatively uneventful week), but what pushed them over the edge was the look of their Christmas card/photo. Their faces are superimposed onto Han Solo and Princess Leia. It is certainly the nerdiest Christmas card ever while also being pretty awesome. Anyway, thanks guys.

Merry Christmas and many other holidays celebrated round a bout now to all of you out there reading this.

The Internet is my friend

It let me order my photo prints online today, and I can go pick them up from Walgreens in an hour or so. That means that when I wrap presents tomorrow the photographs will be in the frames that are going to my grandparents and my great aunt and my sister. Plus I just develop exactly what I want, and I am off.

The only bummer is that I have to go to a Walgreens that is slightly far away from me (not really because I can take the El and it is only three blocks to my stop and a half a block to the walgreens). The one five blocks from my house is not acccepting online orders at this exact time (although they say it is a temporary disruption in service). That would have been better. This is what I like about cities. This and ordering something online from best buy and then walking down the street to pick it up forty-five minutes later. No dealing with crappy people, minimum lines, and no shipping and handling brew-ha-ha. Very happy Heather.

Santa wouldn't let me go to his bar

I am serious. A man in a Santa suit told me I couldn't go into his bar today because it was a Santa bar. I only wanted to look in because, after seeing four men in Santa suits (one also smoking and another in a blue Santa suit--all sans beard) standing outside this building in a clutch trying to open a back door, I realized that the bar was in fact filled with drinking, smoking Santas. Filled with probably 50 or 60 drunk off their ass Santas. It was kind of awesome in a parallel universe sort of way. I have no idea what the hell was going on, but I was so glad that I was present to see it. Especially because earlier in the day, I had seen a Santa ice skating and thought that was kind of cool. Apparently I had no idea. I am going to go back to my pink champagne now.

Ugh!

I absolutely hate it when I figure out thriller movies way before they are through. I hate it. Stupid actors who telegraph the ending from the beginning, so you just know that the innocent person is in on it. Then, of course, shock--shock--shock the innocent person is guilty. Anyway, it pisses me off. Audiences are not completely stupid. They just aren't and treating them as such only makes your work worse. It does not help you to pander, ever. Pandering=suckiness.

Hero of the week 2

Week 2's hero is scarves, just in general. They make life better, especially when it is cold. They cover your face and your neck (and sometimes your ears and head too), and they keep the terrible cold wind out. Well, they do that as best as they can.

Thirty pieces of government cheese

Last night the Colbert report made me laugh so hard I nearly peed, and it got my Republican roommate to laugh (one of them anyway)--at the idea that Jesus is of course a Conservative. It was pretty funny.

Also funny was me slipping and falling while on the way home from a movie. I totally bit it. One second there I was upright scooching across the ice covered sidewalk in 20 degree weather, sidewalk that had not been cleared by the gas station it belonged to, and the next second there I was lying on the ground laughing. It kind of hurt. I hit pretty hard, and it was my shoulder, my ass, my hip, my side, my arm, and my elbow. I feel that justifies getting chips and salsa mixed with sour cream for lunch today. Hey, it's my day off and I am walking wounded. Okay, I am just walking bruised.

The movie we saw (for free in a preview) was quite excellent for a cheesy romantic comedy with a slightly Christmas theme. We saw "Holiday" and I would highly recommend it, if you are into that type of movie. I laughed aloud a lot, and there was also cringing as I watched other girls do dumb things.

The funny part is that I invited Sara Jo to go with us (since my two roommates and I had four tickets total), and we were just going to meet her at the Grand redline stop. We were to head south from fullerton, and she was to head north from Jackson. However, as we got off the brown line at Fulleton to transfer, we hear an announcement that the red line is experiencing delays heading southbound. That sucks, so we grab the next purple line that arrives and take it to State and Lake to run down the stairs and transfer to a red line for one stop north. The station is packed with people (and a really excellent street performer singing some donny hathaway Christmas songs all bluesy/folky--how'd you like that musical reference Chrissy, aren't you proud?), and we can't get onto the first train, so we wait like two minutes for the second train. When that train arrives, who do you think is standing immediately in our doorway? That's right, Sara Jo!! So all worries about us finding her were for nothing, since she or us were put into the others way. It was very crazy, considering the rigmarole we had to go through to get downtown where we were going.

Also funny for the day was how I felt like I was on an arctic expedition to get to work in actually six degrees, feels like freezing to death weather at 5:30 yesterday morning. I was dressed for an expedition that should have included sled dogs. Where were my sled dogs? I ask that with all sincerity.

Movies on the couch

That is what I have done all day today, after waking up really, really late. I did go out to blockbuster (three blocks away) once, but other then that, living on the couch.

I watched a bunch of episodes of West Wing Season 7, and now V for Vendetta is on, but the bulk of the day was taken up with Star Wars Episode 3 which sucks hard. Really, really, really, REALLY hard. I was very saddened by how heavy-handed and leaden the story-telling was. It was just terrible. Very, very disappointing (which is especially amazing when my expectations were that I probably wouldn't like it very much, it managed to be worse then my poor expectations).

Although I did discover that my roommate Renee is 'charismatic like Hitler.' Those are her words not mine, and I feel we all need to poke fun at her. She is a nazi and a fascist (she then made the mistake of telling me she isn't a real nazi but a new one--like we all don't see where I went with that one). Anyway, hilarious. Great fun.

Also, there will hopefully be changes at work since we have talked about how crappy one of our SASM's is with the manager and the manager will talk to the SASM on Tuesday. Awesome, huge relief. Also it is cold out and it won't be warmer tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Tree

I have a Christmas tree. I splurged on a very ghetto 6 foot fake one from the local Walgreens, but it is pretty full even if it is very fake. I put it up and decorated it (and inspired by Margaret got LED lights for it). The lights are crazy bright, but I should've bought more. Oh well, maybe I will just mix in some of my roommates lights. We'll see.

I watched Clerks 2 as I put the tree together and decorated it, and that movie is hilarious. It was a much better movie then I expected, and I think I liked it a lot more then the first one. It even made me feel better about myself, like the movie's moral (and yes it does have one) was directed at me and things that I have been thinking and worrying about in the past year or so. It was a good night--even if it is probably snowing like a mother outside my door.

Sending out better karma

I really believe that what you put out in the world comes back to you, and I feel that I have been putting more badness and pettiness out into the universe then I ought to lately (bitching about work and my bosses and random other cattiness). To head things off at the pass I am going to concentrate on sending out some good.

I am going to be nicer at work. Not say anything if I can't say anything nice. Speak up with a compliment when I see something good in others. Smile at people as I walk down the street. Be a good friend. Listen. Okay, try to listen better.

That is a start. We shall see how it goes.

Guys, I am just not worth it!!

My brother and my cousin cut down a tree this past weekend. They are however fairly dangerous idiots (or at least they can be), so it got kind of exciting, and I am told that when I see the pictures I will shake my head.

They decided to cut the top off first, so that it didn't take out my cousins tree as it fell, but the ladder they had was not tall enough. My brother decided that was no problem he would just climb up the rest of the tree like a monkey, and from his perch in the tree he would use the chainsaw to trim off the little branches making it tilt. They decided to go after the little branches first because eventually they would have to trim the big branch that was really causing all the leaning over toward the house problem--figuring that would minimize the pull back when the big branch finally fell. But they did trim the big branch, or rather my brother cut it off with a chainsaw while he was still sitting in the tree.

Think of all the ways this could end badly--swaying from a tree branch with a moving chainsaw in your hands. Fortunately, it ended fine with the tree getting cut down and no people or property suffering any damage (except for the tree itself which was, of course, the point). My brother remarked that afterwards he had the thought, "What the hell did I just do? That was stupid."

I remarked that he could have died or been maimed. Yesiree, that's my gene pool at work.

Oprah is making me cry

I am watching her show sobbing right now. Instead of her favorite things she gave away $1,000 a person to give to a stranger to pay it forward. The things people did are so wonderful and touching and snowballed so amazingly that as they tell the stories I start to bawl. Tears are running down my face, and my nose is all snotted up.

A woman's shelter in Atlanta got $200,000 from the $1,000. A family in Centralia who have a father with a brain tumor got $73,000--including paying off all the medical bills and a college scholarship for one of the kids. A hospital in Hawaii got bunch of air fare tickets so the families of the sick kids could fly from their islands to the hospital.

The stories are amazing. I wish I could stop crying. Or maybe I don't. This is fabulous. These people are just normal people, but when given the opportunity they all raised to the challenge and became extraordinary.

Closing

I closed with two managers and another associate and it still took until forty-two minutes after the hour. Seriously, Keith manages to slow Laura the caffeinated wonder down! Amazing. We only got out of there early because Laura was there. It was ridiculous. Also the day started with me finding a dirty diaper sitting on a chest of drawers at work.

Someone changed their kid's diaper and closed it all up and left it on a piece of furniture. In the middle of the store!!!!! The wrongness of this is kind of overwhelming. Who does that? Really? That was the kind of people I got today. It was long, long, and very long, and it was a busy day. How busy days get long, I do not know.

Hero of the week

New thing, each week I am going to name someone who is my hero for that week, just because I think it is a good thing to do.

This week it is my friend Sara Jo. She is the hero of the week because she went to an audition where they told her not to prepare a monologue and then asked for one, and she did it, and she was awesome. Then, they asked her to dance for it, and even though the thought scared her. She did. She danced on camera in a room where all the other auditioners were sitting around and watching, and she did this without dance training or preparation. She just stepped it up. Then, later, we went to a play and danced on stage like monkeys.

That play was the 500 clown Christmas, and it ruled. It was hilarious and weird and I highly recommend it. I would however not recommend going on the same night as drunk Bob. He sat in front of us and was wasted (or there is an outside chance he is mentally handicapped, but I am pretty sure it is wasted). The clowns talk to the audience before the show and learn people's names, and one of the clowns knows Sara and I quite well (yes geniuses, Paul). He introduced Sara and I to drunk Bob, so Bob asks Sara (as he shakes our hands), "Are you promiscuous? He said you were promiscuous." I laugh, and Sara tries to extricate herself from the conversation as rapidly as possible. I laugh. Then later in the show, I am helping pour seltzer water for everyone in my row (don't ask, it has to do with Christmas being the best time of the year. . .to be drunk), and Bob grabs my ass. Yeah, he grabs it (while sitting next to his son, his daughter, and his wife). Even later he farts. Like whoopee cushion farts. Awesome. Things I won't miss when I see the show again, Bob. Pretty much just Bob.

The show is however wonderful, and I would recommend it to people in Maryland (where they will be next week), and all Chicago types. It runs through the holiday season.

That's all I got folks, talk later.

Perversity of Cussedness

I spent a portion of my afternoon watching a little documentary on a fascinating would-be polar expedition that never made it to Antarctica. Instead they got frozen into the chunky ice flow right off shore. They were stuck there for an Antarctic winter, and then their ship was crushed by ice. They abandoned and then spent like another 7 months (after the 7 months stuck on it) trying to get rescued facing every terrible freezing cold odd that you can imagine. Their ship, by the way, was called the Endurance as was the movie. It was amazing.

The human body and spirit has such incredible survival capacity that it blows my mind. We here in the advanced world tax it in almost no way. My cousin the Ultimate Fighter pushes it a little, as does my brother the extreme climber, but really the rest of us have no idea what our physical beings are capable of. Just contemplating how easy life is in comparison to any other time in history begins to bring it into perspective. Even one hundred years ago, life was much physically harder. Oh, this expedition happened in 1914-1916 when they had like wool sleeping bags for cover. Wool, just wool (some people had fur but not everyone).

Now I am watching a discovery channel show about climbing Mt. Everest, and Sherpas are freaking badasses. They are amazing. The rest of us whiteys who climb Everest are freaking pansies in comparison. Wow.

Tonight I will sleep pondering the amazing capacity of the human.