My step-sister-in-law (that’s a mouthful) has a spunky, energetic son by the name of Ben, who needs a service dog. He’s a great kid and they’re a wonderful family. To find out more and how you can help, click here.
Archive for August, 2008
Facebook is Nifty
I was a naysayer. A facebook nope-ster. I just barely learned how to use MySpace, why should I sign up on Facebook? How many social networking sites does one need, anyway? By the time I sign up on Facebook, there will be another new thing, and I’ll just have to learn how to use that and grrr…
But I was wrong. Mea culpa. Facebook is nifty. It really is. I’ve been a member for less than 24 hours and I’ve been in contact with my bestest friend from Jr. High who I haven’t seen since Jr. High. I’ve always wondered what happend to her… I’ve been in contact with multiple people from high school, and not just the ones I never talked to back then but suddenly look new and shiny because I’m feeling nostalgic–nope, actually people I talked to and liked very much back in the day. Friends from college. It even turns out that my step-brother and sister are on facebook. We aren’t very close and I don’t hear from them often, but it’s nice to make contact and see photos. So, I take it all back. Facebook is nifty. Even swell.
Where Were You When?
I ripped this off from Melissa Anelli’s blog. I don’t really know Melissa very well, or at all, but her blog is interesting. She’s the webmistress of TLC and will soon publish Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon. You should buy it.
Where were you when?
1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (22/11/1963)
Not alive.
2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (18/5/1980)
I vaguely remember this-we lived in Plano, TX at the time and I seem to recall watching it on the news.
3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (28/1/1986)
In ninth grade biology. Mr. Ralph had the television on and we were watching it. It didn’t seem real.
4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (7/10/1989)
I was at home in Fort Worth-saw it on the news.
5. When the Berlin Wall fell (7/11/1989)
At home again. It was intriguing to me, especially because I would become rather good friends with a German exchange student who moved down the street from me one month later. She told me that shortly after the wall fell, she met her grandmother for the very first time. I gather there were a lot of similar stories of families being reunited like that.
6. When the Gulf War began (16/1/1991)
In Utah thanking all my lucky stars that the man I loved, and would marry five months later, was no longer active duty.
7. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (17/6/1994)
I was at our house on Snow Queen Place and, being the complete sports-zero I am, I had no idea why the nation was so completely captivated. I still think he did it.
8. When the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed (19/4/1995)
I was at work at First Security Bank. It was another one of those moments that felt completely strange and unbelievable. Who would do that?
9. When Princess Di was killed (31/8/1997)
It was after my divorce and I was working two jobs at the time. I’d just arrived to my night-time job as a server in a restaurant and one of the other servers told me. I didn’t believe it first, because she was always joking around about stuff, but I quickly realized it was true. She just seemed like one of those people who are so impossibly alive, that they’d never die. Her story still makes me sad-she’s one of the reasons I’m so completely behind any law that restricts paparazzi from invading a celebrity’s privacy. You should be able to go to the grocery store and run an errand without having your photograph taken. And celebrity kids should be off limits completely.
10. When Bush was first announced President (7/11/2000)
I don’t remember specifically. I’m sure I heard it from Tom Brokaw, though.
11. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (28/2/2001)
I don’t even remember this, but I’d just started back to school and was pretty much focused only on that.
12. When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center (11/9/2001)
I was watching the Today Show when the first plane hit and I thought it was just an accident. When I got to work at the school, one of the students came wandering into my office-she looked so completely lost and I asked her if she was okay. She said, “did you hear about the plane crashing…” and I cut her off, told her I saw it on the news a couple of hours ago, and she said, “No, the second one.” And my heart sunk.
13. When Columbia disintegrated during re-entry over Texas. (1/2/2003)
I was watching it on the news at my apartment in Arlington. One of the astronauts, Kalpana Chawla, is an alumnus of the university I work at. They wound up naming the newest residence hall after her.
I was watching it on the news at my apartment in Arlington. One of the astronauts, Kalpana Chawla, is an alumnus of the university I work at. They wound up naming the newest residence hall after her.
Random Thoughts August 26, 2008 Edition
I’ve just finished making my to-do list for today. It is long and detailed and will require a great deal of effort and concentration on my part. So, naturally, I chose to log on and do a quick blupdate. I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with me.
School has started back up. I spent a half hour yesterday downstairs greeting bright-faced newbies and their more jaded counterparts. You can absolutely tell them apart. The newbies have that “wow, college is sooooooooooo much cooler than high school and DUDE, free coke and kudos bars…EXCELLENT!!!!!” The jaded ones are all, “do you have anything stronger than coke?” Seriously, they’re already stressed and bored and they remember us from last year. One asked me to please “tone down the perkiness, ’cause [she] just ain’t ready for another semester…” Just for her, I pulled out the chocolate. Chocolate does not cure boredom or stress, but it’s really tasty. Also, I am not “perky” and I resent the implication. Silly? Yes, yes I am. Goofy? Uh-huh. Little bit melodramatic? Okay, sometimes. Perky? No.
My friend is coming back from her trip today and I’ll be picking her up. She went by train, which I think is kind of cool except for that it takes so freaking long. She’s spent almost as much time traveling as she did visiting her friends. But still…she told me that the trains have these really comfy, roomy reclining seats and you aren’t limited to your seat. You can walk around and go to the dining cart or the common area, where the seats face out so you can see the view. Pretty dang cool, if you ask me. I think if I had a LOT of time for travel, I’d groove on trains. Hate the planes. Love the automobiles. Sorry, the movie is now stuck in my head…
I saw Tropic Thunder over the weekend. It’s one of those types of movies that I laugh hysterically at, only to feel guilty for laughing once the credits are rolling. It’s unbelievably crude, a wee titch racist, but it’s self-aware racism, which is funny in and of itself. The thing that just kills are the actor stereotypes, true enough to be fully recognizable, and exaggerated enough to be freaking hilarious. It’s all just a little bit precious and it cracked me up. I’d guess most theatre artists would get a huge kick out of the film-more so than those who don’t know and associate with actors, designers, and their techie friends.
Here endeth the randomness. I can only procrastinate the inevitable for so long…
Shakespeare QuotATION* of the Day
I do now remember a saying: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
-TOUCHSTONE in As You Like It (brought to you by my No Fear Shakespeare Daily Calendar…)
*QuotATION, rather than “quote” in deference to Chauceriangirl who must have fearfully achy jaws, since she clinches them everytime she hears a grammatical error
Travels and Trials
TRAVELS. Everybody’s doing it. My friend Elle is traveling now-off visiting some of her friends in Indiana. Jehara just got back from a trip to Arizona. Chauceriangirl occasionally spends the weekend with her mister when he’s out of town for work-I think the last trip was to SoCal. My co-worker went to Alabama a couple of weeks ago. My friend, Mellie, just got back from Rome. And of course, there’s the amazing V, who did a show in Prague at FringeFest and rocked the city. Actual people leaving the state in which they reside to visit, however briefly, another state or country. Me? I don’t usually do that so much (or in the case of visiting another country, at all). In fact, 99.8% of my vacations have been with family members or to visit another family member and, of that 99.8%, at least 95% have been in the same state in which I currently lived at the time. I’ve taken two vacations without family and outside my state: once, right after my divorce was final, my friend Pammie drove me to Las Vegas. The second time, with a group of close friends, was to AK. Both trips were a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself, but these types of trips are generally few and far between. But next week (and, SEE, there was a point to all this babbling) I’m taking an actual mini-vacation far away from my home state and without family members! I’m going to Washington, DC with the aforementioned group of close friends, and I’m super excited!!! I’ve never been to DC. We’ll spend one day at Shenandoah Park, and one day at the Smithsonian (I’ve always wanted to go there!). I’ll need to hit up chauceriangirl for her digital camera. And friends!! My friends I haven’t seen in ages and ages all in one car at the exact same time!!!! I get to see Mellie about once a year, and I see D about as often. C, I haven’t seen in ages, but the four of us together??? Not since that really fun, all-too-short trip to AK. D is flying up with me-we managed to get seats together on both flights, so he can catch me up on his life. And mellie and I will share a hotel room and have mucho girl talk. And we’ll get to tease our two boys, which is always good fun, mostly because they take it well and they give as good as they get. And the only thing missing will be chauceriangirl, elle, and jehara… It will be okay. I’m still super excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much so that I feel the need to use many exclamat!on marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TRIALS. Seriously? I have GOT to get back on track with my weight loss goals. I was doing so well and then I got stressed and sidetracked by the youth conference and other work projects. And why do I do this to myself? I’m mad, so I eat. I’m sad, so I eat. I’m happy? Great, let’s celebrate by eating out somewhere. Gah!!!! Stupid stinking thinking. So, I’m back on track starting Sunday morning (my WW weeks end on Sunday, so that seemed a good day to start tracking in earnest). So there, I typed it on my blog, for all two of you to read. I’m doin’ it, ya’ll!!!
Accountants-There’s a Reason for the Stereotype
I’m trying to get an invoice paid and there’s this one guy in the accounting department who is the most annoying, pedantic, little four-word pain in my butt. He loves to find errors even when there aren’t any there. I did my last voucher exactly according to instruction. He sends me an email this morning asking where my exception approval is (exception to a policy). I reply that it was completed and approved last month and his co-worker said they keep that info on file. Now he wants me to send him a hard copy even though I’ve sent him a scanned copy of the approval with his boss’s signature on it. That wouldn’t be a big deal, per se, except last time I did a similar voucher, I DID send the hard copy and he sent me a scathing email about wasting paper and he didn’t need it. So what the hell. I think he’s just a bitter, unhappy person. Personally, math always makes me cranky, and I think that’s why he’s the cranky accountant. I blame the math.
Randomness 8/9/08 Issue
- The opening ceremonies for the Olympics were awesome with a side of freaking cool. Elle came over last night and we watched the entire thing. It was completely movement based, which is perfect, because-Olympics. That’s why. I loved the guys who did the dance-calligraphy. It was so elegant and clean. And then the thousands of people underneath the boxes performing the perfect motion of ocean waves interspersed with Chinese symbols for Harmony. The young woman dancing on the stage carried by hundreds suggesting that the actions of one are nothing without the contribution of the many. It was just stunning. And then seeing the athletes parade into the birdnest (which is also a visually amazing bit of architecture) is probably my favorite part. I cheered loudest for the USA, because there’s nothing like the Olympics to turn me into a jingoistic, loud-mouthed, America-lovin’ fool. Elle and I also gave a healthy cheer for Mexico on account of, in addition to being an American, she’s a Mexican citizen too. It was neat. I’m really glad I watched. So far today, I’ve tuned into fencing (American sweep in Women’s fencing), rowing, bicycling, volleyball and beach volleyball. I think I missed swimming while I was out today. The Olympics always makes me want to work out harder and lose weight and learn how to play tennis or soccer or something and be all, “what? these abs? Please. They come naturally. I love food, I just love the thrill of the game, too.” Then, I ruin the perfectly good visualization by giggling at the probable reality of me with a tennis racket. It probably would not be a safe thing. Could still be fun though…
- Explain it, ’cause I don’t get it. What’s the point of paying in excess of $80K for a car? What’s the point of spending $40K for a car? Seriously. Even if I lived in the tax bracket that could afford that type of purchase, I would never do it. Ever. My monster is watching the car show on PBS (auto world or something like that) and they’re previewing a Bently. The Bently costs more than the house I currently live in. And I’m not saying I live in a mansion or anything, but it’s a pretty, nice-sized house in a really good neighborhood. It’s just freaking wasteful to spend so much on a car. There’s a really judgemental person who lives deep down inside who rolls her eyes every time she sees some sconehead behind the wheel of a car that costs more money than I could make in five years. I don’t get it. But then again, Nascar bores me to pieces and I’m not much of a car person anyway. Plus I’m probably just jealous that I have $40K in school loans and “Dude” is driving a Porcshe. But still. I’m just sayin’
- Teen conference is over and I’m glad. It actually ran smoothly-the best it’s ever been. There were a few minor freak out moments, but overall it was awesome. Everything was set up the way it was supposed to be; the speakers were excellent; the booth fair was the largest we’ve ever had; the food was mostly good (the pizza buffet wasn’t too popular); and the kids had a blast at the amusement park. We got some good constructive feedback from the kids that we’ll try to incorporate into the next conference. So, it was good. But I’m glad it’s over for this year. I just deleted all my conference emails from my work computer last Thursday and filed the reports away. It took a little while to decompress, but I think I’m back now.
- Going to jehara’s tomorrow so gemma can train us. He’s super nice to work with me so much. It’s funny-his workouts aren’t usually much longer than 30 minutes (closer to 20-25) but I defintely feel them the next day. I can do a really good workout on my own, but the strength training is not something I know very much about. Plus, I feel like I try harder with gemma and jehara there, so I get a better workout.
- I finished the last book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. I have mixed feelings. Overall, I think it was a good book and there were some moments I really loved. In fact, my favorite moment of the whole, entire series occurs at the end of Breaking Dawn. I won’t spoil it here; suffice it to say that I thought it was a truly lovely moment of intimacy that had nothing to do with the physical aspects of Edward’s and Bella’s relationship. Did not like the resolution for the character of Jacob. I wanted happiness for him, it’s just this particular storyline weirded me out a little. But Meyer set it up perfectly. If you go back and reread, the hints for a lot of the last book were there.
- Last week I was at a diner with my parents and I ordered a diet coke. There was something wrong with the mix, so I wound up ordering a Dr. Pepper instead. It was so good that I have had 2 Dr. Pepper’s since then. I really have to nip this in the bud, because I love Dr. Pepper and I could easily get re-addicted. If I thought I could do it as an occasional treat, I wouldn’t be feeling so guilty, but that’s one of those things that (for me) is difficult to stop once I get going. Don’t know why I felt the need to share that here. Huh.
- I cut my hair. A bunch. I cut eight inches off my hair. It was pretty a much a spur of the moment decision, but I’m glad I did it. It’s been about two weeks and I’m still happy with it, so I guess that’s a good thing. It’s weird, though-I’ve had long hair for such a long time and this is a big change. I get it trimmed again in September and I’m thinking about taking my stylist’s suggestion to color it a rich chocolate brown instead of the auburn I currently have. It was kind of cool the first day I cut it, because my head felt so light. I forget how much long hair can weigh you down. Plus I haven’t had an updo headache since I cut it. It’s too short now to pull back into a ponytail so no more tension headaches and it blowdries FAST.
Well, this concludes the randomness. Have a good rest of the weekend…
Bad Ideas (Or, Damn you, Lone Star Comics!)
It is a bad idea to pick up Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed Sandman graphic novel and read it for the first time just before going to bed, thereby ensuring that when you are finally able to go to sleep, you have bizarrely strange dreams. And I’m talking bizarrely strange for me, which is saying a lot. It took a couple of issues for me to get into it, but once I did, I really did. He’s such a terrific writer and the artwork is fantastic-that type that you have to really pay attention to, because all types of little things are hidden in nooks and crannies and it makes the story that much more compelling.
It is a bad idea to pick up the latest Buffy comic book and be so astonished by the end that you text your sister something along the lines of, “HOLY SHIT! I just finished the latest Buffy!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!” This frustrates said sister who knows that (a) I will not spoil it, and (B) it will most likely be a few days before she has the comic book issue in her hot little hands. Also, (C) she now knows there’s a twist and will be looking for it ahead of time. I’m sorry, chauceriangirl. Please forgive me.
It is a bad idea to pick a comic book series based on one of a series of novels you once read and disliked, for the sole purpose of mocking it. What happens instead is that you are immediately captivated by the comic and have to buy it or risk being “that person” in the bookstore who reads the book in the middle of the aisle without buying it. The comic in question is the Anita Blake series. I didn’t like the one book I read very much, and after reading the graphic novel, I’ve figured out why. It lends itself so well the comic genre. It’s meant to be a comic. It’s a wonderful comic. Plus…vampires. I like the vampire stories. Not sure what that says about me, but who gives a crap. I like ‘em anyway.
It is a bad idea to pick up the graphic novel on display at the comic book store cashwrap and thumb through it while you’re waiting in line. ‘Cause you know what happens? You start to get sucked into the story. And even though you already have two Buffy comics, two Spike comics, Volume One of Sandman, and the stupid Anita Blake (of which you already know you’ll be buying more), you still plunk down another $15.00 so you can read the Watchmen.
It is a bad idea to go to Lone Star Comics and “look around” instead of just going up to the frakkin’ cash wrap and paying for your subscriptions only. What the hell, Lone Star peeps. I may as well set up the direct deposit now, ’cause you freakin’ own me.
