Constantly Baffled

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:37:24 GMT

I just want to give a brief thank you to everyone who sent their well-wishes over the last few days. I was at Ben's parents' house and the internet was on the fritz. If I can get back and respond to the comments individually I will, but in the mean time, know that I'm grateful and appreciative of all your love and support.

I'm on the mend, which is nice. Still a little swollen, and I've got a crazy line of bruising on my arm along the vein from where the IV went in. Still hurts to sneeze, but it no longer hurts to laugh (or I figured out how to laugh so it doesn't hurt... I'm not sure) so that's a plus.

Also, I'm back at home instead of at Ben's parents' house, which is wonderful for my boredom (there are things I can do here!) but it was nice to get to spend time with them. Still, I have filing and sewing and mild cleaning and light packing that I can (nee must, considering we move in 15 days) do, so that's good. Ben told me not to overwork myself, so I'm trying not to.

We'll see how it goes.

My biggest sadness of the whole "appendicitis" event (now that I know I'm going to be fine, of course): I was too out of it to watch last Friday's episode of SGA, first or second showing. Ben, who doesn't care one way or the other, got to watch the second showing while I was still in my morphine-and-anesthetic-induced fug, but not me. *pouts* Ah well.

Checking in

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:39:58 GMT

Well, I just got back from the hospital, where I spent about 22 hours between yesterday and today. It turns out I had appendicitis (which is really random). I was admitted to the ER by 11:30 am, in surgery for a laproscopic appendectomy by 7:30 pm, and out of the recovery room by 10:00 pm. They discharged me at 9:00 am this morning.

All week my stomach had hurt, but it was pretty mild and I thought it was just sore muscles from doing the theatrical work out in Saugatuck this weekend. By Thursday afternoon, though, the pain had intensified. I thought it might be something that I had eaten (perhaps the really heavy Italian food we sampled at the training of my new job at the restaurant?), so I thought I'd sleep on it, and if it didn't go away in the morning I would figure out what was wrong with me. So I woke up on Friday (yesterday) and it was still sore, which I know is abnormal, so I called my mom. She said that it might be my gall bladder, because of the heavy food and stress, but when I said that the pain was lower Ben sort of freaked out and thought that it might be my appendix, which in turn freaked me out, because I don't have very much in the way of insurance (just major medical).

So after Ben's parents' primary care physician suggested that I go to the ER, because if it WAS appendicitis they would be able to act the most quickly. So I bit the bullet and Ben took me to the ER. The Resident thought that it probably wasn't, despite the location of the pain, since I didn't have a fever, nor did I have a high white blood cell count (both indicators of an infection), but after they had me drink some truly icky, "berry flavored" gunk they gave me a CAT scan. It turns out that I did have appendicitis, and that I pretty much caught it as early as it's possible to catch it.

They weren't sure at first if they were going to get me into surgery Friday evening, or if I'd have to wait until Saturday morning, but right after they told me they were moving me out of the ER and into a room, they came back and told me that I was going to the OR. The last thing I remember is the doctor telling me to breathe deep into the mask he put over my face, and then I remember waking up and not being able to really open my eyes, but telling everyone that I was nauseated, sore, and hungry (my last meal had been at 1 pm on Thursday, which for anyone who knows me is a really long time for me to go without food... I eat almost every two hours) until I eventually threw up. Then I was out again.

After that it was just recovery. They gave me morphine for the pain at some point in the night (I remember a really groggy conversation where I told the nurse that a small dose would be okay, just to make sure it didn't make me sick) and woke me up every few hours to take my vitals and check in on me.

All in all a pretty crazy experience. So now we're at Ben's parents' house, hanging out while I recover. I'm doing just fine, except for the soreness where they cut into me, but I've got happy drugs, so I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm not allowed to lift anything heavier than 10 lbs. for about a month, which will make moving out of our apartment interesting, but hopefully people will be able to help us.

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend.

Musings

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:06:54 GMT

When I first heard about "Mad Men" I wanted to see it. It sounded like a fascinating show. I was watching Two Weeks Notice on AMC while I cleaned the apartment this evening, and I kept seeing previews for the "First Season Marathon" of the show, and it turns out that the actress who played "Yo-Saff-Bridge" on Firefly is one of the main characters. I love her because a) she's a great actress, and b) she's a real-shaped woman. Even slimmed down as she is in Mad Men, she's still got curves to DIE FOR. It's pretty freaking awesome. So now I definitely want to see the show.

If Ben and I want to get married before we leave Michigan, it's going to have to happy next Spring. That's startlingly close. Just saying. Wow.

Dear lord, there's so much to do.

Big News ^_^

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:15:30 GMT

I am officially engaged. *giddy*

Ben took me out to dinner this evening, to one of the nicest restaurants in town, under the guise of a nice evening, since we haven't had one in a while. After a very delicious dinner, we went for a drive (we would have walked, but it was still raining a little) up to a building called "Henderson Castle."

A little bit of us history: the very first walk we ever took, what you might consider our first "date" before we were dating, was a walk through the neighborhood surrounding Henderson Castle. We ended the walk in the area behind the castle, and almost shared our first kiss.

We hadn't actually made it back there since that first night, despite living five blocks from it for five years. But tonight we walked back through the area behind the Castle, and then Ben got down on one knee and asked me marry him. \o/

I cannot truly express how excited I am.

Best thing I've seen all day

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:33:56 GMT

If you haven't already witnessed the awesomness that is "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog," by all means, check it out.

Mutant Enemy Productions. (Buffy, Angel, and Firefly fans know what that means.) Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. Tolja you wanted to check it out. ^_^

Meme!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:29:41 GMT

Your result for The Attachment Style Test...

The Cuddleslut

22% Anxiety Over Abandonment and 9% Avoidance Of Intimacy

You're mostly secure, but sometimes you need a little extra reassurance to make it through the tough times. You are usually affectionate and sweet, and you find it easy to fall in love. An encouraging word from a crush or a loved one can motivate you for weeks.

Fictional character with whom you might identify: Kaylee (Firefly/Serenity), Hiro Nakamura (Heroes)

Other Attachment Types:
Secure:	The Unicorn	\|	The Cuddleslut	\|	The Free Agent
Preoccupied:	The Cling Wrap	\|	The Squid	\|	The Insect
Fearful:	The Doormat	\|	The Leper	\|	The Exile
Dismissing:	The Hermit	\|	The Stone	\|	The Player
Confused:	The Waffler

Take The Attachment Style Test at HelloQuizzy

Me, identify with Kaylee? Nooo, really? *laughs*

Highlights of my Fourth of July weekend

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:02:40 GMT

Thursday: Found out that I had all of $1.88 in my checking account (no, really) and therefore couldn't go on my planned trip to Ohio to see friends an family. Bummer. BUT, my friends, Abby and Joe, (who are completely awesome) offered to come up and see us, so that was good.

Friday: Working, but it's time and a half and only four hours. Not bad. Friends arrived in the evening and fun and revelry began. We made food, and hung out. Good times.

Fireworks were good with a few moments of spectacular. Things I would change: the horrible cover band that played before (and the Elvis impersonator, dear lord), and the crap-tacular songs they played during the actual show. Two of them made sense, but two of them were awful. I would have voted for nothing at all.

Saturday: Farmer's market in the morning, breakfast and Dodgeball, which Abby had never seen. Then it was off to the beach (first time in five years of living here, and it's only 45 minutes away... go me). The beach was good although the water was cold, given the mild summer we've had. Abby and I went in while they boys procured brats. We made sandcastles and hung out in the sun.

Evening was spent watching Hellboy and enjoying fine beers and spirits. Not an unpleasant day, all told, despite the sunburns earned at the shore.

Sunday: Ben made breakfast (nummy as always) and we had to show them V for Vendetta, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. Then we helped them gather their stuff and sent them on their way.

Naps were had (and pleasant wake up calls), I finally opened my copy of Pride and Prejudice and now it's time for sleeping. Cleaning can happen tomorrow.

Good weekend, in the end, but I'm sad that I didn't get to see my dad or my sister. We're going for Labor Day, so that'll be good. I can't wait.

Geek girls pin-up calendar

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:11:31 GMT

Awesome.

I guess we weren't the only ones who had the idea, right, Kat? *laughs*

Check these women out. They're pretty hot, and those are just the samples. I almost want to get the whole calendar to see what the whole lot of them look like.

Books!

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:43:18 GMT

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read. (Following glorgana's lead, I starred those I intend to read so much I own the books.)
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (I have read the first two, but I was in Germany at the time and couldn't get the third. I've never managed to read the third one, and can't remember what happened in the second.)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller*
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Well, I've not read all of them. But I like most of the comedies.)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 ~~Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger~~
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald*
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adam
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 ~~Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck~~
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen*
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (isn't this listed in #33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (If you want, glorgana, you can borrow my copy.)
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (I think this was read to me when I was little, but I need to read it for myself.)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom*
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I've tried to read this book so many times; someday I WILL finish it.)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (I got about fifty pages from the end of this one, and completely lost interest. Must try again.)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Wordle - new toys for ... people who love words

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:19:34 GMT

Why can I never remember the latin for someone who loves words? It's rather ironic, I feel. Linguaphile almost gets you there, but it's more languages, I think. Clearly not bibliophile, as that's books. *frowns*

Anyway, moving on. Have you guys seen this site? [Wordle.net] lets you put in any text you want and then it makes... well, pictures might be too strong of a word, but neat images in any case.

Example:

Why yes, I did go to Wikipedia and type in the first word I could think of ('Bats' apparently), copy the whole article and past it into Wordle. Why do you ask?

And, just to up your silly-dosage for the evening: Ben snuck up behind me while I was working on the Wordle image above and said, very loud, in my ear, "Bats! And microbats!". I think I nearly jumped out of my chair and I still can't stop giggling. Clearly, I need sleep.

I committed podfic. ^_^

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:24:29 GMT

So, in a feat of technological genius (okay, maybe just a few steps above technological ineptitude, but still) I figured out why microphones weren't registering on my computer (I was missing an executable file and had then had to select microphone as the method of input I wanted) and spent the rest of the afternoon playing around with recording my own voice and various fun noises I found around the apartment.

Of course, being the SGA nerd that I am, I also made a first attempt at podfic. Since I didn't have permission to do turn anyone else's fic into podfic, I used my own to practice on. I think it turned out fairly well.

So, without further ado, [A Place Called Home by ferret_kitty]. And now you know what I sound like, too, which is fun. I'd love to hear any critiques you might have, or suggestions on how to do it better next time. And if anyone decides that they want their fic turned into podfic, I'd be happy to consider it (assuming I have time and all that good stuff). I hope you enjoy. (And do let me know if the file expires. Thanks!)

SGA Season Premier (!!)

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:52:21 GMT

I don't know how or why, but someone uploaded the Season premier three weeks early and I couldn't resist. And it was AWESOME.

lied</i> and said that he would leave Ronon behind if they're positions were reversed, which I was expecting Ronon to call him on, but maybe he just rolled his eyes and I missed it.

Rodney had some absolutely fantastic expressions in the episode. His look of hope and then dismay when he asked if they knew how the other survivors might be (his team!) and then Sam didn't know. His freaking out when he's thinking about delivering Teyla's baby, and then when the little one's born, the look on his face is just... priceless. *heart aches*

And then John and Ronon come running in and Rodney says, "I caught it! Didn't hit the floor or anything!" And John, with his stunned expression, walking more slowly and quietly when he hears the baby, says, overwhelmed, "That's good. You did good, Rodney." *giggles inanely* TEAM!

Also, John is totally playing with a Nintendo DS while in the infirmary. I want to know what he's playing.

Oh and Keller. How awesome is Jennifer Keller?

John: Ready, from my understanding, I'm not doing anything. I was under the impression I didn't have to do anything.
Jennifer: No that's right, you just have to lay still and let me play with your insides.
John: ...
Jennifer: ... sorry.

And then Teyla says she's going to name the baby after John and Jennifer says, "McKay's going to hate that." She knows him so well. *squee*

Wolsey's going got be interesting. I hope they manage to unbend him and get that stick out of his ass.

Today should have felt long, but it was okay

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:06:14 GMT

Today was the day I work for nine hours, three in the morning and six in the afternoon/evening. Not too bad, normally, except that it's very draining to go from one job to the next, especially on a Saturday when work is usually SSSSSLLLLLLOOOOW.

The tailor shop did not disappoint in slowness. I think we had maybe five people walk in the entire day. But, Kay and I were both in good moods today, so it was nice, even if we weren't too busy. I only hate the slow days because it usually involves coming up with something to do to fill the time. I'd much rather just have stuff to do. *sighs*

Ben picked me up (I had walked and it was threatening rain) and we went home and watched the first episode of the Highlander series (There can be only one!), which is more 80s tastic than I had ever imagined. But it looks interesting.

Then work at the fabric store, where things are STILL in a complete disarray because they're redoing our carpeting (Yay, fumes!) and all of our fabric is jumbled up with no discernible organization or logic. Still, it's fun to try to find things, kind of like a big puzzle, and I was working with the three other young people today, which made the first three hours go really quickly. I was also working with my favorite manager, who informed me that I can still take the fifth of July off, even if I can't get someone to cover for me, because we get one vacation a year where we don't have to work our assigned Saturday. *dance!* But work was still LOOOOOOOONG because there was no one at the store. We spent most of the time standing around and talking because after the first two hours there wasn't even anything to put away, and we can't clean or straighten because there would be no point.

BUT. But but but, Ben and I decided this afternoon when we were eating lunch that we were going to go see Get Smart this evening after I got out of work. It was what got me through the evening. I get off work at 9 pm, the movie started at 9:15, and I made it with five minutes to spare. Win!

Get Smart is hilarious. When I told my co-workers that I was going to see it, my announcement was met with a lukewarm response, which surprised me because I've been looking forward to this movie since I saw the first hilarious preview. I was informed that the reviews were so-so on it, which also surprised me, but I told everyone I'd let them know how it was. And? It was awesome. *grins* I didn't stop smiling the entire movie, and there were several points were I nearly hurt myself laughing.

You have to have an appreciation for slapstick and physical comedy, as well as an appreciation for the absurd, but it was too funny. And, while the preview did have many humorous parts in it, unlike some movies, there were many, many more humorous parts in the actual movie. *giggles* So yeah, if you don't have some aversion to Steve Carrell, or to lowbrow humor, I highly recommend it.

Product of the internets? Of my education?

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:29:39 GMT

I often find myself reading a book or an article in a magazine, and trying to figure out ways to create a dialogue between myself and the author or editor of the article.

Usually I'm disagreeing with some point that they've brought up, and want to point out to them why it is that I think they're wrong. It never occurs to me that they might be considered my superiors, or that they wouldn't be interested in what I want to say to them. The only snag I can see is that I don't know the best method of communication. Email? Letter? Video on Youtube? What?

I wonder if this is a product of the internet 2.0, where we can comment on videos created, or blog posts by writers, actors, or whomever else puts their thoughts out into the great world wide web. We have easy access to companies information through their websites, and while communication with these various entities used to require a letter that would take weeks if not months to get a response (if at all), now we can fire off an email or a comment and the response is often there the next day.

Or maybe it's a product of my education, where I learned to question what was on offer and ask the tough questions, even if the theory was my professors. Maybe it's a combination of both.

Does anyone else feel the need to strike up a conversation with entities technically much further up the social ladder? Or is it just me and my curious foibles?

I was reading the lastest issue of WIRED (the 15 Year Anniversary one, with the bright orange cover; we haven't gotten the new one yet) and there was an article on Environmental Ideas and why they're actually wrong. Which I'm fine with, usually, because there are some ideas and ideals that environmentalists hold onto that actual aren't forwarding our progress and the health of this planet.

But.

The way they went about it was either very tongue-in-cheek (I'm hoping) or very poorly-researched (which would be sad), but the worst bit about it was that I'm still not sure. I've read the article three or four times, and I'm still not sure if they were trying to be cute, or if they just got their information wrong. And it was well-written enough that the ways in which they are wrong, or misinformed, are harder to spot. Which means that there are a lot of people out there who took what they wrote at face value (more of them than usual, probably), think that WIRED made good, solid, strong arguments against what we're currently doing environmentally, and now know just enough about the subject to be dangerous.

Yes, let's cut down old-growth forest to reduce our carbon foot-print. Let's all drive SUVs because they're more carbon conscious than even old, small cars. Let's all become vegetarians because meat is produced in such a way that it consumes more petroleum than anything else in this country. Wonderful. To an extent the suggestions have some merit, but the solutions they provide are either small minded or invalid.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure it was tongue-in-cheek, but how many people will recognize that? Bah.

Harken here, friends of mine

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:03:03 GMT

I am attempting to compile a database of my friends contact information and birthdays. One of these days I will be on top of my shit and then you all might just get Christmas cards and birthday cards. I always want to send them, and think of sending them, but then I ... don't. Either because I can't remember the exact date (in the case of birthdays, despite having it written down in TWELVE PLACES) or I'm not sure the address I have is correct. Hell, sometimes I'm not sure that the email addresses I have for some of you are correct.

So, if you'd be so kind (and you'd like to hear from me over the course of the coming years), I'd love to get the following information from you:

Current Address:
Home #:
Cell #:
Primary email address:
Birth date:

I will, of course, screen the comments, so your secrets are safe with me.

Thanks!

Yup, GOOD day.

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:32:39 GMT

Today, much to our surprise, Ben and I realized that we both had the day off. I know, amazing, right?

Well, I had a few things that I had to do, but we made impromptu plans to spend the evening together. And it was good.

In the morning I went to my sensei's house to further hash out details of our house-/pet-sitting that we'll be doing next year. I'm very excited.

After that, I grabbed some lunch and went to an "intermediate" microsoft office class. Or so I thought. Turns out it was just Excel, which I know more about than any other part of the suite, with the exception of Word, and they were going over some of the more basic functions. "Intermediate," my ass. Not only that, but all of the other women in the class were clearly uncomfortable with the technology, and would have been much happier in a lower level class. *sighs* They had trouble formatting for god's sake. *sighs* So, yeah, it was ... fun. I did learn a couple things I didn't know, so it wasn't entirely a waste of time and money, and I got the woman to show me how to do the few things I didn't know how to do with Mail Merge (pretty straight forward, I know, but I was missing a few small, key steps) and so I was much happier.

What really made me laugh (which is better than grinding my teeth, I'm sure) is when, half-way through the class, I was up and helping to explain the process to the other women in the class, because the teacher was busy with helping someone else. *shakes head* Oh well. Oh, and the other great bit (and the part that tells me we REALLY need to step up our education in this country) is that the woman had to explain basic Order of Operations to the class. Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract. I wanted to bang my head on the desk. Clearly I should have signed up for the advanced class. Ah well, live and learn.

But after the class I went home and Ben and I vegged for a bit, then went to a local Brewpub for dinner (great beer there, and I got the Ahi tuna steak, which was so good.) and then to see Iron Man again because, really, it's worth seeing twice in theatres. Gotta love the draw of the big screen. ^_^

So, all told, a wonderful evening. Great to have a night off with my sweetie.

Re-connecting and Regrets

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:16:26 GMT

I just chatted, albeit briefly, with one of my oldest and dearest friends from high school. I still consider her my best friend, despite the fact that we haven't actually spoken to each other in ... months, probably. I really need to work on staying in better phone contact with those whom I consider important to me.

I should also call my father, whom I haven't spoken to in weeks it seems. I bought him (and mailed him) a Father's Day Card and it struck me as I was writing in it that I'm not as close to my dad as I once was and that is tragic. We're still close, but one of the downsides about moving away from home is that you lose track to a certain extent of the small, but important and meaningful, things that happen to those you care about. And I always seem to be the one doing the moving away.

My friend, Heather, also told me that one of our good friends, Tiffany, from high school is getting married. Heather is, of course, the maid of honor (as well she should be). I know that Tiffany has a lot of sisters who are probably going to be in her wedding party, if she's having a large wedding party, but the thing I'm most sad about is that I'm not going to be there to be a part of the planning of it. I would have LOVED to go wedding dress shopping with them, which they were doing today. One of the things I wish I had more of here in Michigan is female friends. I'm sure that the wedding will beautiful and I look forward to the bachelorette party and getting to see them all again when I go to the wedding, but I wish I could be there for the planning of it, and the excitement beforehand.

I just... sometimes wish that I hadn't charged so quickly ahead in my life and moved so quickly away from the known into the unknown. My old friends are growing and changing into such fun and interesting people and I'm missing it and that's sad.

Ah well, no use regretting the things that cannot be changed.

Some bits of news and an article

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:55:28 GMT

Bit of news 1: Power returned to our house on Monday evening around 6:30. Shortly after we returned home with ice and coolers in order to save the contents of our fridge and freezer, of course. Ah, irony. Fortunately during the outage Ben's parents were good enough to put us up. Family, gotta love 'em. (And sometimes you even want to. *grins*)

Bit of news 2: I found someone to sublet my apartment!! Hooray for craigslist, which is (mostly) awesome, but also for word of mouth, which is great.

And article: My friend Julia posted [this article] in her livejournal and I thought, even though some of you have seen it before, through her, those of you who haven't should check it out.

Feminism that I can get behind (and a rallying cry for democrats):

"...sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man -- if it's the right man.

It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It's time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women."

resurfacing

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:44:48 GMT

Hi everyone. Yes, I am still alive, aren't you all happy to know that? I fell off the face of the earth for a while (as far as lj is concerned) because of a whirlwind of visitors.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my good friends Abby and Joe came to visit. We had a lovely time with them, as always, exploring the local liquor mart (which is fantastic) and just hanging out and having fun.

The Thursday after Memorial Day, my mom flew into town for a week, and I took that week off work. We did a lot of sewing, a lot of movie watching, and a lot of house cleaning (my mom mom loves to organize and who am I to argue when my house is clean!. We basically had six uninterrupted days to hang out, with very few outside interruptions. It was wonderful. We also made me a dressform, which was fun. It worked really well, until we tried to fill it with foam. I'm still not sure if that was the best plan, but it didn't not work, so I guess we're okay.

And Friday after my mom left, Christine stopped by on her way up to Mackinaw Island. We got to see each other for about five seconds before we both collapsed into bed, and had plans to do something breakfast like before she left, but I overslept so it wasn't an option. Sad, but maybe we'll be able to see each other on her way back through. *hopes*

On Friday there were crazy storms in Kalamazoo, which was alternately fun and scary. Only scary because one of the tornado sightings was near-ish my house and I was at work and couldn't check on things. One of the neat things about where I work is that three-quarters of our store is big, huge windows that face to the South and West. So around 5:00 on Friday we looked up and the sky to the West was almost black. Since tornado sirens had been going off, we decided that this was not good. For the next twenty minutes we all watched, fascinated, as the storm rolled into town. The leading edge was moving so fast we could track it as it passed over us, and for a few minutes before the torrential rains hit, I could see the rain falling from the clouds across the airport next door. It was nuts. Then KRACK-BOOM, and we were deluged with rain and hail. It only lasted about half-an-hour, but it was intense.

Other than that, I've got today off, but it's Ben's brother's graduation Open House this evening, so still things to do. Also really should do a load of laundry. Nothing too exciting otherwise. Just life being life.

ETA: Oh oh oh, I went last night to see Kung Fu Panda with Ben and it was awesome. The previews sucked, but that's to be expected. At least there were no singing Chihuahuas. But the movie was just as funny and silly and great as I'd hoped.

Want to bleed from the eyeballs (again)?

Mon, 26 May 2008 13:49:17 GMT

My friends are visiting and they showed me [this page].

It's ... terrifying. The little animals move when you put the mouse over them (creepy!) and the descriptions of his "friends" are... just check it out.

Kiwi and Robin's Wedding

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:39:22 GMT

I don't know who's coming to Kiwi and Robin's wedding, but if you need a place to crash, Ben and I have a very nice futon that we can offer up. Someone by themselves or a couple can sleep on the futon (or two close friends, I suppose). We also have a couch for someone to sleep on, if they wanted. Just to save people some money, since I know that's important.

If you want to stab your eyes out with sporks...

Wed, 21 May 2008 02:26:26 GMT

Ben and I went to see [The Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian] today, and it was just as awesome as I had hoped. I haven't read the book in a long time, so I can't say one way or another how well it measured up, but the first movie did a darn good job, so I'm going to hazard a guess that this one did too. The nice thing about books the size of The Chronicles of Narnia is that they fit well into a two to two and a half hour movie. Unlike the Lord of the Rings. ^_^

Anyway, the fact that it was a good movie is not why I wanted to stab my eyes out with sporks.

[This movie trailer] would be the cause of that horrible, painful urge. Not only does it look completely horrible and awful, but it's also apparently a musical. I don't normally mind musicals. On the contrary, I enjoy musicals quite a lot. I can't wait for [Mamma, Mia!] to come out this July. But this movie is just... wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong.

But there were several very good trailers to offset the horrible one:

[Wall-E] - We got a longer version that gives a bit more of the plot and it looks even more awesome than I had previously thought. I'm very excited.

Also, on the subject of Wall-E, if you are interested in seeing this movie, check [this video] out.

[Igor] - I wasn't sure where this one was going when it started, but it's also pretty damn cool. When the list of talent ... crashed into place, Ben and I said, in unison, "John Cleese! Eddie Izzard! Steve Buscemi! Awesome!!" ^_^ I'm very excited.

[Hancock] - I hadn't really heard much about this movie before this preview, except that it had Will Smith in it. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it looks good. I'm always up for a superhero movie.

And speaking of, I knew I'd forgotten a trailer (I love the number of previews we get). [The Incredible Hulk] - You know a movie had to be bad if they remade it not five years later. That means they probably started talking about remaking it little over a year after it tanked. This one, though, has Edward Norton, which elevates any movie as far as I'm concerned. It also has a cameo by Robert Downy Jr. as Iron Man, which is completely awesome as well.

This movie and trailer update brought to you by the letter S and the number 7.

Season Finale of Bones

Tue, 20 May 2008 01:15:57 GMT

Who else just watched the season finale of Bones and thought that it was awfully... final?

I mean, think about it: They wrapped up Brennan's father thing a couple episodes back, they found the Gormagon killer (and killed him, so no trial to come back to), we found out who the apprentice was. Hell, Booth and Brennan even kissed right before the writer's strike, so that's something for the fans anyway. I mean, are they going to have another season? People who know where to learn these things, can you tell me?

Of course, I thought Eureka was done after last season for the same reasons, and it's apparently being continued this July, so what do I know, really?

And what is with Zach as the apprentice anyway? Okay, I can kind of see it, because he's got that whole "logical to a fault" thing going, but still. No cool, guys! I like Zach. *sighs*

I love the beginning though. Emily Deschanel can really throw a punch. Or fake throwing a punch really convincingly. That was pretty awesome. I will admit, I was sniffling at the thought of Booth being dead, and when I saw the whole gang come up and say, "Brennan, it's time," I thought, 'No, they couldn't possibly have killed Booth!'

So yeah, I hope the show is continued, even though it won't be the same without Zach. And didn't we say that last year? Sure, I mean, coming back from the war is a lot easier to do than getting released from a mental institution, but don't you have to wonder if they won't try to swing something to get him out? I can see how they might be setting it up, since he never ate the people and he was overwhelmed (or whatever) by the stronger personality. Hmmm...

Anyway. I look forward to thoughts others might have on the subject.

Sunday and Mother's Day

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:01:25 GMT

Now that it's officially not Mother's Day anymore, I'm going to post about Mother's Day. Because I am contrary like that.

This started out chilly, damp, dreary. The best thing to do on days like that is to lay, snuggled under the covers, with a good book. Considering that it was Sunday and my first day off in six days, I did exactly that. And it was glorious.

I finished my book (the latest in the Dresden Files from the library. Crack in literary form, I swear to you. Those books get so good.), showered, and then was productive for a few hours until Ben came home and we headed to his mom's house for dinner.

His mom is a fantastic cook, and his step-dad is a master at grilling meats. We had twice baked potatoes (covered in bacon and cheese, of course), green beans, baked sweet potato spears, steaks on the grill, and apple pie for desert. Not eating all morning (except the bowl of cereal I had around 2 pm to keep from getting too cranky) was completely worth it.

And, as a side note, while we were there, I found out that the man who is going to grant me an interview in two weeks is a close (business) acquaintance of Ben's mom, a member of their church, and a really decent guy. *dances* God, I really want that job. *hopes* Ginny (Ben's mom) said that she'd be happy to write me a recommendation and that she and Elizabeth would help me get ready so that I looked good for my interview. Tomorrow I need to take my navy suit into the tailor shop to make sure that it fits me properly. I hope it won't be too expensive.

After we left Ben's mom's, we went over to his dad's to wish his step-mom Happy Mother's Day as well. They were watching the end of Survivor: Fans vs. Faves and ... we got sucked in. I've never really watched the show, but what little of it I've seen over there is fascinating. I don't think I could watch it (reality TV like that really bugs me most of the time), but it is interesting.

And now we're home. Ben is recovering from working this morning and spending all day with his family by having "me time" and I'm thinking bed sounds better and better, despite the fact that I didn't wake up this morning until 11. (Like I said, it was GLORIOUS. Best Sunday morning I've had in a while. The only thing that would have made it better is if Ben hadn't been working... if you know what I mean. *winks*.)

Movies!

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:05:48 GMT

Just introduced Ben to Shakespeare in Love, which is one of my favorite movies. It's an excellent movie, with a whole cast of brilliant actors and actresses, but as a theatre person, it also takes on a whole other level of meaning, and is completely awesome.

This is one of my favorite quotes from the movie:

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?
Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Fennyman: How?
Henslowe: I don't know. It's a mystery.

Also, one of the best, most accurate descriptions of theatre, pretty much ever. I kind of want it on a shirt. *nods*