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Packing has always been kind of a problem for me (as has traveling in general). I know people (like my parents, aka the most organized people on the planet) who plan ahead, lay everything out, ensure that they are prepared, and pack sometimes days in advance of a trip.
I did not inherit those genes, and I don't think my brothers did either. We are total failures, what can I say?
Here's what it looks like when I have a trip coming up:
Four or so days before - I think to myself, "I'm going out of town. Maybe I should do laundry in preparation for packing" and then I do something else and forget all about it.
Two days before - "hmm. I am going out of town and most of my clothes seem to be dirty. I should do laundry and decide what to pack" and then I do something else and forget all about it.
Day before leaving - note: this happens whether I'm going away for a weekend or 10 days. Same thing every time.
7am - wake up and think "oh crap I still haven't done my laundry".
5pm - Scramble to do laundry after work in order to not give out of towners the impression that I don't like wearing clean clothes (unless the trip is to my parents' house in Michigan, where I have been known to pack an entire suitcase full of dirty clothes to do laundry when I get there. Give it up for a 5 state commute to do laundry at the folks').
8pm ish - return home from doing laundry with every intent to pack and get to sleep early. Put laundry away, good start. Decide to sit down and check facebook, just for a minute.
10:30pm - Sitting down to check facebook somehow turns into spending two hours watching a movie and downloading music (or prior to the iPod, checking my email, and generally doing nothing of value). Finally get out the suitcase and start to throw things in it.
Next comes the tricky part. Fitting everything I want to take in the smallest suitcase possible so that my boss won't make fun of the size of the suitcase I'm taking in relation to how long I'm going to be gone (always trying to avoid judgment) but still making sure I have everything I need. I have this one tiny suitcase that I try to use whenever possible if it's going to be less than a week (shown next to a standard two drawer sized file cabinet so you can see that it is, in fact, tiny. Apologies for the darkness of the photo, camera phones are only so sophisticated):
This is kind of a problem when it's February and you're packing for cold weather and you need sweatshirts and sweaters and the like. But you'll note that I did it. The thing may completely explode when I try to open it later, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
30 minutes later (approximately): decide it's probably as good as it's going to get, I'm sure I have everything necessary because I travel all the time, I'll just finish up with toiletries in the morning.
Here's the problem with that last part - the chance that I forgot something I will definitely need at some point while I'm gone is somewhere around 90%. I always forget at least ONE thing. You know, a hairbrush, underwear, pants (I know I have pants this time, at the very least I'll have the ones I'm wearing). This could easily be solved by going through everything one last time to be sure nothing is missing, but when I reach the point where I've decided I'm done, I'M DONE. That suitcase is dead to me after that.
11:15ish - go to bed, vowing to wake up early in order to finish packing.
Day of trip - wake up at usual time, throw final toiletries into toiletry bag, jam suitcase closed, run to catch the bus. Hope for the best when the suitcase gets opened on the other end.
Then there's the unpacking. When I came back from Thanksgiving I didn't unpack my suitcase all the way until sometime around Christmas and the only reason I did it then is because I was having a houseguest and I didn't want any judgment.
Oh well, someday I'll get it right (but not really).
(I have a roadtrip to Maine planned with the girls, depending on the health of an under the weather bunny)
Not that this is a new phenomenon, but after today's failed lunchtime shopping excursion to Barnes & Noble, I can't take it anymore and I have a plea to the college and high school (and probably 20-something) women of America:
TIGHTS ARE NOT THE SAME AS PANTS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PUT SOME PANTS ON. OR AT LEAST A SKIRT.
Thank you.
Yesterday I was going through old email trying to come up with things I had forgotten for 'the list' and because I have gmail (where you never have to delete) and have for awhile, this means I was going back to 2004. When I was 23. And a pretty impressive drama queen. I THRIVED off of it (I'm not gonna lie, I still do, but as one creeps ever closer to 30 and everyone starts getting married and having kids and theoretically growing up, things tend to settle - which is probably for the better).
Anyway, the side effect of this is that reading all these old emails and remembering things from four and a half years ago that I had completely forgotten about (probably for the better) made for some really strange dreams last night. Which makes for a slightly crazy Jessie today. The downside of delving into the past rears its ugly head.
Seriously, the dreams were weird. I was a little nervous around myself this morning.
ps - also, I noticed several spelling errors and sloppy writing in yesterday's post. I had issues with publishing it so I ended up copying the whole thing into my email, then copying it BACK into a new post and by then I'd had enough so I just hit 'Publish' without editing any further. I hope you don't think I'm an idiot with no grasp of the English language. Then again, it's not like this is ever exactly Shakespeare, so I'm sure it's fine. But these are the things I stress out about.
Several years ago, I made this list with my college roommates titled, "Things I Will Never Do". This list was comprised of hypothetical situations that were actually not hypothetical at all because they had happened to at least one of us, but they were just so wrong that we vowed never to do them to another person. First, a little bit of background into what sparked this list to begin with (I don't think I've ever told this story before, but if I have just call this one a throw away day).
My super senior year of college (that would be year 5) I was friends with this one guy who was back in school for his second degree. He was an ok guy, totally stuck in 1983, but nice enough. He came to a party of mine, and spent the entire evening hitting on me. Seriously, this guy was coming on pretty strong so I sort of went with it because as I said, we were kind of friends, he was kind of nice, I figured why not? I'll see where this goes. Anyway, cut to the following week when I met him at the bar for drinks with some friends. He asked what I had planned for Valentine's Day (which was the following weekend) and I told him that I was just hanging out with my two single roommates (one of whom was out with us at the time) because none of us had dates and we were going to eat junk food and watch bad chick flicks. He said, "so she (roommate) doesn't have a date? Well, I'll take her out, could you set that up?" THIS IS NOT WHAT WE DO.
The next day, discussing this with my roommates, we decided that we would make the list. Here are some tidbits from it, and it's ever expanding. It's not limited to just dating situations, but at the time that was most of what we had. Anything anyone would like to share is more than welcome. I have lost the original list (which is very sad, I think it was pretty long and funny), but I think I'll keep this new one and develop a set of punishments to go with it. For example, lifelong mockery, drink purchases, etc. Also, please keep in mind that not all of these things happened to me. Only some of them.
Things I Will Never Do:
1 - I will never ask someone if we could get together and then ask to be hooked up with their roommate five days later.
2 - I will never ask someone if they want to have dinner then proceed to go to their house, heat up a can of vegetables that I brought and never offer them any.
3 - I will never tell my very thin significant other that they should switch to drinking Crystal Light because it has fewer calories and is better for dieting (seriously my college roommate weighed like 100 pounds and some guy said this to her).
4 - I will never throw a celebratory dinner party at my house where I cook and then ask everyone for $5 after the meal is over.
5 - I will never invite myself as someone's date to an out of town event and then sneak away in the middle of the night like a thief.
6 - I will never tell another person that I see a theme among thier spouses because they've had more than one and they had a common physical feature.
7 - I will never look at an old picture of someone and say to their face, "wow, you used to be a lot thinner, huh?"
8 - I will never tell my significant other who is writhing on the floor in pain from some bad food eaten in an unfamiliar country to 'suck it up, what do you want me to do about it?'
Well, there's a taste. Please share.
Running bullets on the Oscars:
- Hugh Jackman's opening song was pretty hilarious. I love low-rent props over hugely choreographed numbers any day. Plus, you know, my best friend Anne Hathaway was in it.
- Tilda Swinton may be the most frightening looking woman ever. I like her, but I think she must spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to look scary.
- Seriously, how necessary is it to have reaction shots of Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt while Jennifer Aniston is presenting? Is that another one of those contractual obligations (see opening jokes)?
- The animated short winner who got up there and busted out "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" was awesome.
- The orchestra continuing to play over the host and presenters when they started talking was really distracting and I did not like it.
- If a movie takes place in the 1800's or earlier, it is definitely going to win the Oscar for costumes. You can put money on it.
- Thumbs up to the genre montages. I like showing love to movies that people saw but weren't necessarily nominated.
- Ben Stiller was HILARIOUS
- I think the guy who won for cinematography was wearing Crocs. Seriously, gross. It's the Oscars, you can wear real shoes, even if you don't think you're going to win.
- Jessica Biel's dress was HIDEOUS. Who let her leave the house like that?
- The Judd Apatow short for the comedy montage was great, and it makes me want to actually watch Pineapple Express.
- I liked the musical montage, but seriously they had to get the High School Musical kids in there? Those kids are everywhere. Also, I think there's some sort of major drama with the Mamma Mia! couple. Like, they're dating in real life but he's got another girlfriend or something. Just a little something extra for you. THE MUSICAL IS BACK! sorry, I got carried away.
- An aside - I want to see that Sandra Bullock/Ryan Reynolds movie. It's probably not very good, but I still want to see it.
- I dig the actor presenting with 5 past winners talking about the nominees. It makes it more personal. And it's nice for Cuba Gooding, Jr. to have something to do.
- Why is Seymour Philip Hoffman wearing a stocking cap? Way to look like a total douche, pal. (Sorry about the language.)
- How did I not know that RDJ got nominated for Tropic Thunder?
- Christopher Walken looks increasinly like a werewolf as he ages
- I can't talk about Heath Ledger's family accepting his award because first I need to stop crying.
- Bill Maher is not funny. I really don't understand why he's supposed to be funny.
- What is this little French guy dong balancing an Oscar on his chin? If he tried to do that with my Oscar, that chin would get punched.
- I think it's kind of wrong that an action movie didn't win for best visual effects. Granted, I haven't seen Benjamin Button (I try not to see movies that will make me cry around the holidays) but seriously, it's VISUAL EFFECTS. Stuff should blow up.
- I love Will Smith.
- This Slumdog Millionaire guy who won for sound mixing is the greatest. I love it when people are genuinely excited and gracious about their awards.
- Is it just me or does Sean Penn's head get bigger every year?
- OK at this point this show has been on for two hours and 15 minutes and I feel like there's been at least 40 minutes of commercials. Is that really necessary?
- I like how the guy who just won for best original score is also doing the singing for the best original song nominees from his movies. That is a multi-talented man. But I gotta say I really love that song from Wall-E. I bought it from iTunes on Friday. Peter Gabriel is the man.
- John Legend is also the man. I'm pretty sure I would believe anything that guy told me, he's that smooth.
- SERIOUSLY I THINK WE'RE AVERAGING ONE AWARD TO FIVE COMMERCIALS AT THIS POINT. THESE PEOPLE ARE KILLING ME.
- I always lose it at the 'In memorium' part and Queen Latifah is not making it any easier.
- Reese Witherspoon is also not doing so well in the dress department. Yikes.
- I think Danny Boyle might be the happiest guy on the planet. Every time they have shown him tonight he looks like he's about to burst out of his skin. And he wins! Yay! And then he does a weird jumping thing. Oh it's Tigger. That's cute.
- Sohpia Loren is looking more than a little rough. I would be kind of afraid to meet her in a dark alley.
- Kate Winslet is super cute. I like her more and more. We could be friends.
- Why did neither of last year's winner for male actor make an appearance at this show? Are Javier Bardem and Daniel Day Lewis too cool for school?
- Wow Mickey Rourke's hands are shake-shake-shaky
- Holy upset in the Best Actor category, Batman! I thought for sure it was down to Mickey Rourke or Brad Pitt. And now we can enjoy our political speech of the evening.
- This Best Picture montage is pretty excellent. Overall the montages this year have been exemplary.
- Slumdog Millionaire brought it tonight, man. And that's our show, I'm going to bed!
So last night's Grey's did not shy away from bringing the drama. Derek & Addison's showdown in the OR, the husband of the pregnant lady having a total breakdown, Christina taking on 'ye olde timey', Izzie getting confirmation that she's sick sick sickypoo, Derek's taking out of his anger over everything in his life on Mark, Bailey having a showdown with the chief, just so many things.
So let's get the unpleasant out of the way first, shall we? I did not AT ALL like the Derek we saw in this episode. I don't like him randomly taking out parts of people's brains because he doesn't want to give in and say that the patient is lost. He's a better doctor than that. I know he's been on a downward spiral (apparently since the clinical trial? I'd need to review) but if you ask me he should have just held his ground the first time around when he was exhausted and the lady insisted that he do her surgery anyway. Just sayin'. And did you see how much booze he drank in the last two minutes? Yikes.
The husband was really hard to watch (and I think those two people are actually married in real life, so that probably had something to do with it - nevermind, I just looked that up and the chick is actually married to Jon Hamm. Sometimes I just make stuff up). He did a great job of being completely devastated, but I would not say that I enjoyed watching it.
I don't like that 'Arizona' (I'm going to continue using quotation marks because I refuse to accept that as a real first name) kept calling Callie Calliope (even if that is her name). It was almost as annoying as the fact that she was wearing roller-shoes.
It is extremely frustrating that we still don't know what Izzie's issues are. It's lovely that she's using whatever is wrong with her as a way to teach the interns, but seriously I need to know NOW. And then I'm gonna need for the show to remember that Izzie and George are best friends and she can hang out with him again when everyone finds out about the issues. Before they both inevitably leave the show. OOh, maybe that's what'll happen. Izzie will kick it due to the brain issues and George will leave because he will be too sad to stay there. Or something. I don't know, I'm just spitballing here.
OK, and moving on to the stuff I liked.
I say this all the time but Mark Sloan is the cutest ever and I thought it was adorable when he once again failed to tell Derek about him and Lexie and then again when he finally admitted it. I'm pretty sure he didn't deserve a punch to the face for it, but at least he gave as good as he got.
Owen and Christina continue to be cute as ever, even when they disagree over Faye Dunaway and the really scary surgical scar she left on her patient. Which doesn't really seem to cause that much friction because they're both brutally honest kind of people and that's what they like about each other. The first time he told her he was going to pry a scalpel out of her hand in 40 years I was like, "aww, he wants to stick around!" and when he stopped her to make sure she realized the point was that he wanted to be around in 40 years I was all "awww" again and then I realized that knowing this TV show that means they're going to break up very soon. Alas.
I kind of liked how even though it bugged Meredith that Addison was around and that Derek wanted here there to help with the patient, Addison deferred to Meredith to ask about Derek's mental state and to get her to step in when he started crossing the line. Yay acceptance from the ex wife over the new relationship. Although I'm afraid that after this little meltdown Derek is never actually going to propose and instead he's going to become king of the bastards for a little while. Because you know, now that Meredith has gotten over most of her crazy it's obviously time for him to have some. Whatever.
But that's what makes this a dramatic show and that is why I love it. Even though what I really want is a happy ending for everyone in the manner I choose. When I rule the world....
Now, not that I'm Ms. Manners or Ann Landers or anything like that, but I think there are definitely situations where the social cues are pretty obvious. Times when it's acceptable to approach someone and try to start up a conversation, and times when every indication is that that other person does not want to be approached by anyone and any attempt to do so is an invasion of their personal space.
For example, when you see a girl (lady, woman, whatever your preferred designator is - anyway we're talking about me) leaning against the wall of the train with her headphones in, hands in pockets, head down and who is sending out a pretty big eff off vibe (though I will concede that it's possible not everyone can pick up on the vibe), this is not an invitation to start talking to her. Yes, she's wearing sneakers with her work clothes. Yes, you can infer from that that she will be doing some walking. What you do not need to do is flail your arms about to get her attention and when she finally looks up point to her feet and ask, "are you going to be doing a lot of walking?" and then follow it up with, "That's great, that's great" and a hasty exit from the car when she says a startled "yes."
Seriously. It's weird.
Monday morning, while sitting at home because it was a holiday, I was looking for something to do. I had spent my entire Sunday doing...well I'm not really sure exactly what I did with my Sunday, probably just watched a lot of movies and knit (aka, the usual). So Monday I was looking for something a little bit different. I made my breakfast, ran to the store to buy syrup when I realized that mine had expired (I didn't know syrup expired) and then I excavated my 'storage' area in my weird L shaped kitchen in order to dig out my PlayStation. First generation. Like so many things that I own, I inherited it when someone I knew was done with it - in this case, my little brother.
When I moved out here, I brought the PS, but in true Jessie fashion, I forgot to bring any games. In the 10 trips back to Michigan I've made and the countless visits people have made out here, I never once remembered to get the games. I also never thought to have them mailed out here. Basically, I just sort of forgot the whole thing existed. Anyway, when friends were going to be in Michigan over Christmas, I finally remembered to send for the games. All five of the ones I like.
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot Warped
Crash Team Racing
Croc
Jet Moto
Three games basically designed for children and two racing games. Before the advent of the music games and the karaoke games (which can hardly be classified as music the way I play them) and the Wii, this was the extent of my video game interests.
What I don't have, as it turns out, is a memory card. I vaguely remember my brother giving me the PS and telling me that he was keeping the memory card because it had stuff saved that he wanted for the new PS2 he had, but it didn't really phase me at the time. Now, however, it really blows. It's a pretty big letdown to play a game for two hours and not be able to save it so no matter how well you were playing you know you'll have to go back and do it all over again the next time. I found one on amazon for $1.85 (+$6 shipping which is just silly) so hopefully this time next week I'll be saving games like nobody's business and I'll be rockin' like it's 1999. Yea!
I agree to spend my Saturday afternoon assisting Toni in her quest for a Valentine's Day gift for the fiance, which consisted of the very arduous task of going to a mall. Yea, boo hoo, I know. So the first stop on this trip was DSW. I've been in the market for some new brown shoes to wear to work because my old ones (much as I loved them) had had it and the heels were broken which made walking difficult, also they had started to squeak. I found this pair that was $35 and then marked an additional 50% off! I thought it was almost too good to be true, and then I saw that they only had two size 7's and a 7.5 left. I wear an 8. I thought just for the hell of it I'd try the 7.5 on anyway and see if they'd work. In a Valentine's Day miracle, they fit like a dream and I bought them. Not bad for $17, eh?
On the way home from the mall, we stopped at a florist owned by the family of a friend in order for Toni to purchase a rose for her Valentine purposes. While standing around chatting with said friend, a lady who had walked past us several times put a rose in my hands and said, "here, you have one too." Isn't it pretty (and can I tell you again how much I love my new camera)?
I rounded out my Valentine's Day with a movie night (Confessions of a Shopaholic - wait for it to come out on DVD) in the company of Alisa, followed by another ridiculous situation on the T (we think a train caught fire or something, all we know for sure is that we were booted out somewhere on Commonwealth Ave and the shuttle buses were nonexistent so we were left to fend for ourselves). We ended up at a bar where we had some food and some drinks, and just generally a good time.
As always, here are my thoughts from last night's Grey's. And this time it actually counts as a crossover episode which was really like a two hour GA episode with a few Private Practice moments thrown in. Not that I'm complaining, I enjoyed it. However, I'm really not going to comment on the strictly PP parts, they do not concern me for the purposes of this post.
One quick question, when Sam showed up and Bailey was talking to him about how Addison was there with her best friend who used to be married to Derek's best friend, blah blah blah - isn't Mark Sloan Derek's best friend? How many best friends does this guy have?
Those worms they took out of Addison's brother's brain were extremely disgusting. I will probably have nightmares about tiny worms lodging in my brain and killing me.
I hate when they call Addison "Addi". It makes her seem like an 85 year old woman. There has to be a better nickname.
The brother is a total d-bag. But that scene with him crying when he thought he was going to die was pretty funny. Particularly when Mark said, "I don't care if he's dying, I'm gonna kill him." Or something like that.
Izzie's little intern game started out kind of dumb, but the end was good with three interns racing for the finish line, and it served two important purposes. 1 - Izzie is starting to have vision problems so the brain issue she's having is ever so slowly making its way to the surface. 2 - It proved that Meredith's really annoying friend actually is an idiot and now she can leave. I will not miss her.
Alex's little chat with Addison about if she was happy after she ran away because that's what he wants to do sometimes made me a little nervous. However, I think once Izzie's brain thing comes out it will give his character more opportunity for really good dramatic scenes once he has to deal with her dying and everything (she's totally gonna die).
I have missed sassy Miranda, and she dished it out pretty well when Sam & Mark were giving her a hard time for applying for a peds fellowship. "I smile. I smile FREQUENTLY."
This might be the most likable Taye Diggs character in awhile. Not that he's ever really unlikable, it's just that he's this hot doctor who is allergic to everything and also has asthma and all these issues with being nervous around women, and it's pretty endearing. He was pretty cute when it turned out that he was allergic to the inhaler they gave him and not having a panic attack seeing his ex-wife comforting her new boyfriend. He fist-bumped Dr. Bailey. Awww.
Owen. I'm sort of at a loss with what to think about him. After meeting the ex-fiancee and her father and hear him tell stories about them I sort of want a flashback sequence of what he was like before he left. Because apparently he was nothing like what he is now. I really dug the scene at the end of the first hour when he took Christina into the on call room. He gives a good little impassioned plea, that guy.
That song that Derek wrote for Addison at their wedding was pretty ridiculous. When Meredith was talking about how she didn't really know anything about the person he was then I was thinking, "and why would you? He sounds like someone you probably wouldn't like anyway."
I thought it was pretty great when Derek came in and threw the CT scan back at the douchy brother to prove to him that he was fine and upon being asked if Archer would be ok he replied, "He'll be an ass, just like always." ha!
I do not like where this story line is going with the aneurysm lady. And I do not like the previews for next week that show Derek yelling at Addison not to touch his patient. I'm trying to reserve judgment.
Also in the previews for next week, why is Derek punching Mark (I think that's what it was)? Is he about to turn some sort of corner in to becoming Angry Guy? That's not a good look for him.
Well, until next time, these are the days of our Grey's.
Have a great weekend and enjoy your Friday the 13th! This always brings back fond memories of the time I picked out a black cat on Friday the 13th while wearing red socks (did you know it's bad luck to wear red socks on Fridays? According to my elementary gym teacher it totally is). My father always says I'm the only person he knows who would actually do something like that. Good times. :)
I'm completely messed up this week. I'm still a little sick, I missed work on Monday so on one hand it only feels like Wednesday, but on the other work is a thing that sucks the life out of me so I feel like it should be June. Makes for an interesting mental state.
A little further insight into that movie I watched yesterday. There was this boxing scene that was pretty funny, but everything else not so much. And I really REALLY didn't like the lady who was in it (Virginia Cherrill). Plus, you know, there was that whole Charlie Chaplin thing. Anyway, I have at this point seen two of his movies and I feel like that's enough for one lifetime.
Last Friday I saw He's Just Not That Into You and I will be seeing it again this Friday (to take into account the friend that was unavailable last Friday). In a nutshell, I heart this movie. If you like romantic comedies (and I swear to you after this I will take a break for at least the rest of February from talking about romantic comedies. If for no other reason than my hands need a break from typing 'romantic comedy') you will like this movie. If you like the book this was based on, you will like the movie. If you keep an eye out you will see a cameo by the guy who co-wrote the book.
This reminds me of a story. I read the book that inspired the movie a few years ago (this would have been sometime in 2004 I think). I don't remember why I bought it, probably I read or heard something about it somewhere. Anyway, I'm not usually a self-help book kind of person, but this sounded interesting enough that I purchased it. And read it. And laughed. A lot. It's a very common-sensy kind of book, but the way it's written is very funny and engaging. After I finished it, I suggested it to a friend of mine who I thought would also enjoy it. I believe I said something along the lines of "you should read this, it's HILARIOUS." What I failed to anticipate was that she took it to mean I thought she needed the book's advice because she was a failure with men, causing her to get hugely offended and refuse to even consider cracking it open. All my arguments as to why I thought she would enjoy the book were met with an increasingly icy tone saying, "I don't need that. I know everything that book is going to tell me." I was at a loss. I felt bad about offending her, it was clearly not my intention. However, since that day I am very nervous about suggesting any book of this nature to anyone for any reason lest they think I'm subconsciously trying to tell them something. Yikes.
So the moral is, I'm not telling any of you to check this book out (or the movie for that matter now that I think about it - disregard up there where I said you'd like it. I'm not implying anything about anyone. Ever.), I'm just telling you that I read it (and saw it), I enjoyed it, I laughed a lot, and that you should do with that what you will.
I watched 20 minutes regularly and almost couldn't take it.
I put it on 2x fast forward and finished it.
What a pointless movie.
OK. It's Wednesday. TV on Wednesdays is crap (you know I don't watch Lost). I'm still under the weather but I have to stay up until my groceries are delivered (yes, I caved) between 7 and 9pm.
I am determined that I'm finally going to watch City Lights tonight. It's been sitting in my apartment since 1/22/09 (according to Netflix) and I was all gung ho about all these romantic comedies, and then just pfffffttttt (that's the sound for fizzling out).
Here are the reasons it's taking me a long time:
1. It's silent. It's really hard for me to watch something with no talking for an extended period of time.
2. It's an hour and 27 minutes long. That is a long time with no talking.
3. I'm really not a huge Charlie Chaplin fan. They may revoke my movie-buff membership card for that, but what can I tell you? I've heard he wasn't all that cute or friendly in real life.
I really hope I'm wrong about it and that it's spectacular. I am most definitely dragging my feet.
I need to give myself a little pep talk to make me want to sit there and watch it. So here we go:
1. AFI is a reasonable and prestigious (I have no evidence to back that up but they have a cool name and the website is fancy) institution, they would not have rated it #1 if it was not worthwhile.
2. It gives me a good reason to sit down and continue working on the two knitting projects I'm anxious to finish.
3. At least it should be early enough that when it's over if I hated it I can watch a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother on DVD.
And that's all I've got. Let's hope it's enough. :)
Every year I tell myself that THIS is the year that I will not get sick in February. It's not going to happen, I will not succumb.
It never works out that way.
Last week every day was a little more of a battle, but I was sure I was winning. I was at work every day, I was productive at home, this cold was not going to get the better of me.
Which was all well and good until Sunday afternoon when the stupid cold decided it had had enough of my shenanigans and threw down a knockout punch.
As a consequence, my yesterday was spent entirely in bed, as opposed to at work earning my living.
Stupid cold.
For two weeks, ABC has been running ads about the '2 hour Grey's Anatomy / Private Practice crossover event' airing last night.
Will someone please explain to me how it constitutes a crossover if no characters from the two shows actually share any screen time? The two ends of a phone call at the end of both shows does not a crossover make. These ads should have been running using next Thursday's date, that's all I'm saying. Very misleading, ABC. I don't like your tactics.
And now, I give you my highlights.
The Jane Austen-esque music playing every time Christina and Owen passed each other in the hallways with their stolen moments, almost hand-holding, and intense glances was hilarious, as was Christina's running commentary about 'diary #9' to Meredith ("I'll let you know when they do it").
Mark really is like a 14 year old girl in that it took him about 6 seconds to tell everyone in sight that Derek is proposing to Meredith.
And while we're on the subject, did he really leave the hospital that much earlier than Meredith that he had enough time to completely cover their bedroom in roses and candles and then clean it all up when he got the call from Addison, leaving no trace whatsoever except one rose petal under a pillow?
Why would anyone take the Chief's advice about romance and the 'right' way to propose? I mean, we're talking about a guy who had a long standing affair with Meredith's mom, almost left his wife for her and then didn't (an event which went pretty far toward ruining Meredith's childhood), then got booted out by his wife a few seasons ago because he spent too much time at his job. I'm serious, someone please tell me why you would take his advice over Christina's about the proposal?
I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when Meredith was talking about how cute her and Derek's babies would be all nonchalantly like it was no big thing. Talk about a 180.
"I want your crappy babies." - loved it.
If Bailey is going to become a pediatric surgeon and we're going to be looking at sick/dying children every week from now on, I don't know how I feel about that. I'm doing my best to keep an open mind, though.
Is it possible for Izzie to be more passive/agressive in trying to figure out what's wrong with her? Having the interns run all their tests on her first? How is that better than confiding in one of her friends (hello, George) that she thinks there's something wrong with her and she needs some help to figure out what it is?
Either way we're probably a couple weeks away from figuring out what the deal is because of this whole crossover deal with Addison's brother and his brain parasites (I know. Brain parasites. Yeesh.)
Did the issue with the aneurysm lady get resolved or is that going to be an ongoing case for a few episodes? I'm pretty sure it didn't get resolved, the last thing I remember is when the lady said, "you just told me I have a time bomb in my head. I promise you I am not going to be relaxed" but it's possible I missed something. And does that actress play anything other than a pregnant lady? She was in the very short-lived show Notes from the Underbelly and she was pregnant in that too. It wasn't a very good show.
Owen's issues are about to go into hyperdrive. Good thing for Christina, because I think she likes people who are damaged (I mean, look at her best friend) and she's got the perfect temperament for handling them. Just the right mix of compassion and attitude.
So Callie is finally going to get a storyline? I have to say I did not see that coming with the peds doctor (seriously, what kind of first name is Arizona?) but I think it's a good thing. A little more toned down than the constant level of shrill that was Dr. Hahn (I was not sorry to see her go) and less 'male fantasy' than the crazy intern who is friends with Meredith (I can't remember her name, and I'm pretty sure she's leaving soon anyway). Anyway, I'm happy to see where this goes.
I am also looking forward to the Meredith/Derek reaction when they find out that Lexie and Mark are together. I think it will be extremely funny.
As you all know, I am a frequent Amazon Prime user. Lovely Amazon Prime with its free two day shipping.
This has completely ruined me for online shopping from anywhere else. I want my (semi) instant gratification and I don't want to pay extra shipping for it!
So last Wednesday I ordered some pants online (one pair black, one pair gray, for work). And I mean, I looked at the shipping that said it would take 5-8 business days, but I didn't really consider the possibility that it would actually take that long. I ordered a docking station for my iPod (it seems like I've typed that 'word' a lot in the last couple of days) a day later and it also said 5-8 days, but I got it on Monday. In my world it really shouldn't take more than 4 days to get anything from one place in the continental US to another place in the continental US. We have the technology, we can do it. Plus, I'm very spoiled.
In my head I I felt there was no way it would arrive later than yesterday (one week from the order date). Imagine my dismay when I went to track the package and discovered that it's not scheduled for delivery until FRIDAY. It's in Massachusetts, but it's being transferred from FedEx to the USPS or something so it's taking an extra long time. And I'm very bitter. Particularly because they're so close! I think it's crap to have to wait an extra three days for them to travel across one of the smallest states in the country to get to my apartment.
But then I tell myself that they didn't even charge me shipping in the first place so I really have no room to complain and if I'm going to be so lazy as to order my clothes online instead of go to the store and buy them in person I should just be happy to wait as long as necessary.
That's really not my style. I'd rather whine about it. :)
I think I mentioned a few days ago that I just got my first iPod (please note that my father had an mp3 player before I did, but only by a couple of weeks). And that the only reason I now have an iPod in my possession is because someone I know got a new cell phone that has an mp3 player, and gifted me their old iPod Shuffle. It's blue, I like it:
In discussing this very serious problem with my younger brother, he had the genius idea to rip the cds I own onto a computer that DOES have a cd drive, and then transfer them to a flash drive that I can plug into my laptop and retrieve the music. Obviously this is a lot more steps, but it doesn't involve me having to buy a new computer or an external cd drive, so it works for me.
My trial run is today. I brought three cds into work with me, ripped them all onto my computer, transferred them to the flash drive, and deleted them from the computer (which doesn't have speakers so having music on it does me no good). Here's hoping that this works and doesn't make my poor little laptop have heart failure (it is a senior citizen as far as computers go).
And now I will give you all a chance to judge the music I like. It's only right as I listened to and judged the music of the person who gave me the iPod for a good week before I got a docking station and replaced it with my own. Please note that I am completely ignorant about new music because I don't have a car anymore so I don't listen to the radio and I just got my first iPod two weeks ago so I have not been kept in the loop with iTunes. Much like how some people get married and never update their style again, I gave up a car and never updated my music again.
My three trial run cds are the Once soundtrack, Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way, and Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway. The first one I picked because it's soothing which is important for the train, and the other two I picked were because they have the highest number of sing along songs and I listen to them all the time in my apartment when I'm cleaning (though I try my very best not to actually sing along when I'm out in public).
On Monday I downloaded a Guster album and several super cheesy songs that either remind me of movies or I like to sing along to. A couple Journey songs, some Beyonce, Alicia Keys, James Taylor, The Righteous Brothers, 'Moon River', 'Bittersweet Symphony', 'Ain't No Sunshine', things like that.
If this whole transfer of music works, the next on my list are Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and Stevie Wonder. You are now free to judge as you so choose.
I'm willing to take suggestions on what other people listen to that I might like, to further my musical education.
Over the weekend I was over at Floyd's Cove and I was presented with my Christmas present.
I'd been hearing how awesome this present was for about two months. I was warned ahead of time that it probably wasn't going to make it in time for the big day, which is fine with me, and since Christmas I've been getting almost weekly updates as to the progress of this mysterious gift. I heard alternately that it was an amazing spectacle and that there was absolutely no way I would be able to guess what it was. The anticipation ruled my life for many weeks.
On Friday as I walked through the door, Toni stopped me and said, "Okay first. I have to preface this by telling you that the reason it took so long is because this was hand made in the Ukraine and it had to be constructed, painted, and shipped here."
That was the point I realized she wasn't kidding when she said I would never be able to guess what it was.
Words really won't do it justice, so here you go:
I have a small to moderate fascination with Bruce Willis (in short, I love him), and Toni found this place on the interwebs that made these and ordered it for me. I mean, wow. This is a legendary Christmas gift. It has definitely earned a place in the Hall of Fame. I think the biggest and smallest ones are both from Armageddon, I think the 2nd largest and 2nd smallest are both from Die Hard and I'm not entirely sure about the middle one but it could be either Moonlighting or Hudson Hawk.
Let me also tell you that while taking the last picture my new digital camera utilized the facial recognition feature and after I snapped the picture it informed me that one or more of the subjects may have blinked. I explained to my camera that it was wrong, it was more of a glare than a blink.
Well worth the wait. I know you're jealous, it's ok.
Well, I don't know how many of you watched and how many didn't, but that was some game yesterday, huh?
It's the kind of game I like best because I didn't have a vested interest in who won, I like both teams enough that I was ok with either team winning, and I have enough friends who are fans of both sides that there were plenty of people to rag on no matter who lost. All I was hoping for was an exciting game that was fun to watch until the bitter end.
And that is exactly what we got! Of course I stayed up way too late to see the end of the game and then watch The Office afterward, but I'm ok with that. Apparently I'm not a lot of fun to be around today but I'm pretty sure I'm ok with that as well.
Here are my highlights/notes of interest from the game yesterday:
- The opening credits and animations and Faith Hill song were all pretty annoying. And it was really confusing to have Faith Hill out on the field singing O Beautiful. I was like 'where is Jennifer Hudson and why do we need to have TWO patriotic songs?' Seriously, one isn't enough? I mean, I like this country, but do we need a reason to make this telecast LONGER? I think not.
- Jennifer Hudson looked incredibly beautiful last night. And she sang the crap out of the national anthem.
- I think I want to be friends with Mike Tomlin (the Steeler's coach). Seriously, he just looks like a cool character, totally laid back.
- The Doritos commercials were hilarious. They win for being the most random and the funniest.
- While watching the commercials, there was a preview for a movie that came on that looked pretty cool and Sacha said, "I wonder what this is for?" Then the title came on and I shouted "GI JOE!!!!!!!" like it was the most exciting thing I had ever seen. That got me a raised eyebrow and a "um, you like GI Joe?" That and Star Trek are the two movies I'm most excited about this spring (with Transformers coming in a close third)
- At the end of the first half I was totally behind James Harrison for that interception/runback. My esteem for him lasted until the 2nd half when he pushed somebody around after the play was dead. Bad form, he has lost my respect. I don't care if he is the defensive player of the year.
- Speaking of which, the number of personal fouls in that game was a little crazy. I didn't realize there was so much heated-ness between these guys. Wow.
- During the 3D portion after the first half I kept saying, 'why is this weird? Why don't my glasses fit right? Why does this whole thing seem off?' At first I thought it was because I had the 3D glasses on over my regular glasses, but afterward I realized that it was because I forgot to punch out the nose piece. Oops.
- Bruce Springsteen did a way better halftime show than Tom Petty, but it was still kind of weird. Can someone please explain the guitar throwing thing he was doing at the end? I didn't get it. Plus, could the E Street band have any more people in it? I don't know how they'd fit on stage.
- At one point in the third quarter I texted my friend Katie who lives in Phoenix "dude what is the deal with your boys?" and they immediately mounted a comeback and almost won. Seriously, the timing could not have been better. Cardinals fans, you're welcome for the almost victory.
- We ate kind of a ridiculous amount of food. I made a layered taco dip (which was delicious), Sacha made some kind of disgusting olive balls that I can't even go into. They were gross. He also made enough chili to feed a small country, and I made some cornbread to go with it. We neglected to get any kind of dessert, but that was probably for the better after everything else.
- By the 4th quarter Toni had completely lost her patience with football and started watching tv on the computer while waiting patiently for the game to end so she could watch The Office. So she was sitting off to the side with headphones in, and most of the quarter saw Sacha and I jumping around and shouting "holy crap! oh my god! did you see that!?! holy s***!" I can only imagine what was going through her head listening to us. I'm pretty sure she thinks we're crazy.
- There should be some sort of law in place barring Matt Millen from being paid to talk like he knows about football. I'm pretty sure the last several years in Detroit have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he DOESN'T know about football, and if anyone should be out of work during this economic crisis, I'm pretty sure it's him. As soon as he picked the Cardinals to win I thought to myself, sorry Cardinals you just lost. You never even had a chance.
- I enjoyed last night's post-Superbowl Office but in retrospect it probably wasn't good enough for me to lose an extra hour of sleep and be cranky today. Oh well. Live and learn I guess.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Superbowl Sunday and that this Monday is not too painful!
