ohweohweeeeoh

Dear Horrorscope, please get out of my head. Thank you. That is all.

"Feelings of obstruction and hopelessness could seem rather overwhelming for you right now."

today's coincidences

I taped America's Next Top Model and was watching it this morning before work. (My method, if you're interested, is to watch the end first. That way I can watch without feeling all nervous and without worrying that I will be late to work). It was the first time in Model history that one of the contestants was compared to WWF (actually, it's WWE now since WWF is officially the World Wildlife Fund). It was a terribly apt comparison.

Later I was helping out one of my middle school kids with his research. He showed me his folder and there, next to a picture of him getting an award, was a decal or magazine cut-out of Rey Mysterioso.

If there's another WWE reference today, I will be forced to watch Friday Night Smackdown!

ring around the bayou

I had a lovely walk this morning. I saw the Silver Fox again and realized that he doesn't tuck his pants into his shoes. Rather, he wears those sweats that have elastic around the ankle. Those combined with his high top shoes give the appearance of tucking.

There was a dude out walking 4 old doggies. One of them gave a very lackadaisical bark toward another person's dog and I said to him "Rather unconvincing". He laughed and I gave him the "do you want some pets?" shoulder shake and we had a good scritch before the owner dude caught up with us.

Everyone seemed in a good mood today.

hello, kitty

So I've been experiencing some heartburn the past few days, which may or may not have something to do with the mass consumption of refried beans, pumpkin pie (originally typed as "bumpkin pie") and carbonated beverages. Nevertheless, when a colleague invited me to try a piece of tres leches, did I decline courteously? Not I. I took my piece, wished the departing colleague a happy "real" job and saved my hello kitty napkin without using it because it was so cute.

Heartburn be damned.

and then I got home and made a pie

I had a lot of fun this long weekend. I saw two films (For Your Consideration and The Queen--both highly recommended although for very different reasons), three bands (Alison Fisher et al., Elvez and his opener), cleaned my house, raked the front yard and sneaked Thanksgiving in there somewhere.

I have spent Thanksgiving at a different house every year for the last....oh, 14, 15 years. So it might seem odd that I was a bit miffed about not being able to go to what I consider my H-town family's dinner. Yet I was. On the upside, I got to spend T-day with Jane's family. We had a lovely, low-key day that included wassail, lots of carbs, and early early morning shopping. I've never left the house at 4:45am to go shopping and I doubt I'd do it again, but it was fun because it was novel and because of the company. If I ever again am about to meet my death by crushing in the toy department at Target, surely I want to be doing it with Jane & fam.

kafka beware

From my horrorscope:
"Cupid may have just shot an arrow in your heart. Look at how the romantic side of your nature plays an important role on your life."

Indeed.

more on altman

The very first Altman film I saw was Short Cuts. I might've seen bits of MASH before that but didn't really see the film in its entirety until later. Short Cuts is a whole lot of stories going on at the same time, with characters from each storyline interacting with other storylines. This is similar to the way Altman did Nashville (which I saw later, but which came earlier in his career). I was always amazed at how well he could keep me interested in each facet of the film and how he brought everything together at the end. The Player is one of my all time favorite films. The beginning tracking shot is famous, deservedly so, because not only is it long and shot well, but it sets up the entire mood of the film, letting us in on many of the characters' personalities and motivations without a lot of explication. Altman could make a lot of political and social statements with his films without being heavy-handed and dogmatic. He made you sympathize with the "bad guy" and he made you fall in love with Tim Robbins and Lyle Lovett and so many other odd actors.

It's hard to realize that while there are some films of his I haven't yet seen, there won't ever be a new one.

quick note

I just saw that Robert Altman died. He had a profound impact on my cinematic tastes but I don't have time to give him justice right now. More later...

xmas and musical goodness

I know, Starbucks=evil corporate coffee empire, and all of that. I am of the opinion that a lot of people go to Starbucks because it's convenient (hard not to be...) but they go back because they build a rapport with the baristas. I know a little flirting and a personal greeting helps me swallow the bitter price of my favorite decadent coffee drink. As an aside, if I am ever deathly ill in the hospital, I would like to die with the taste of pumpkin spice latte on my tongue. If they made a gum with pumpkin spice latte flavor, I would buy it. Do you hear me, Starbucks? I would buy it!

Anyhoo, I was in my favorite campus coffee location this morning and I decided to buy a cd that they have on sale. I've coveted it for a while but this morning I had a "what the hell" attitude. Oddly enough, none of the cds were priced and the baristas had no idea how much they were so they made up a lowish price to charge me. Yay! I know it's not post-Thanksgiving quite yet so technically I shouldn't be listening to Christmas music but 1)I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be a little weird and possibly difficult so I am going to make it fun in any way I can and 2)I heart Christmas music.

So there.

pre-thanksgiving pi

I watched Pi yesterday. It's by the same guy who made Requiem for a Dream and the filming is similarly dizzying, although Pi is in grainy black and white. The human themes are also the same: obsession, life spinning out of control, patterns of behavior, etc. I had a positive reaction to Requiem, but Pi...at the end I didn't feel like I'd gained anything, any perspective, any deeper appreciation of math or universal patterns. Was it just me?

tgi-freaking-f

Boy howdy, has this been a week! Nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of work and several outreach programs and who knows what else. Anyway, I now have just one desk shift to get through before I have some free time. The group that came today was a lot of fun, excepting the teachers. They had a s*it fit when they found out that the borrower's cards they brought with them only work with a picture ID. This is laid out on the website I'd directed them to, but they either forgot or didn't see this stipulation, so a lot of kids were unable to take their books with them. The teachers were busy yelling at me (and the circulation folks--I owe them a big apology) about how they spent all of their field trip money on this visit and blahblahblahblahblah you get the idea. So the teachers pretty much stormed off and some of the kids said "thanks" to me as they were leaving but they left the room a wreck and the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily there was cake left over from yesterday's potluck so the bad taste has been expunged.

yazeehoozee

My work peeps decided that having Game Night at the li-berry isn't such a crazy idea after all, so I just gave a list of board games to our money guy and he is going to order them for me. I am so excited! I used to be a part of a big group of kids who got together to play games on Wednesday nights. It was called the Beer and Games Enthusiasts' League, or BAGEL. It was a nice stress reliever after work and I hope it will serve the same purpose for our students.

Not that playing games is always stress-free...I had some friends in college who were found pulling each other's hair over a game of scrabble and one of those same friends wouldn't finish a game of monopoly one night because it looked like she would lose. I am apt to crow every time I win Settlers of Catan and I don't play it anymore because my winning streak is perfect. Still, a bunch of soda & chips and games...who could ask for anything more fun?

disappointitude: a capacity for being disappointed

I'm in the midst of a season of mild disappointment. No real storms, certainly not a drought, but a sort of drizzle of sadness. I wonder if it is because my expectations are too high or because people really are disappointing. I know that I disappoint myself fairly frequently, but that doesn't give me any insight into which of those two theories might be correct.

fashion advice

Everyone knows that even when out exercising at 6:30am I am fabulously appointed (*snort*) but I cannot say the same for everyone. Here is some pointed advice for my fellow early morning exercise enthusiasts.

To the heavy set fellow on the bicycle: kudos for getting some sweat-time in before work, big guy. However, the waxed handlebar mustache is Not a Lady Pleaser.

To the silver fox: hotty hotty, please, oh please don't tuck your pants into your high top sneakers.

To the guy with the dogs: yup, I saw you checking me out, but I have a hard time taking seriously anyone dressed in shorts that look like the Texas flag.

To the couple with the standard poodles: your dogs match so your outfits don't have to!

To the guy in the plastic jacket: I assume this is some sort of exercise device but it looks like you're walking around wearing a washing machine. Besides, it skeeves me out to think about what's going on inside the jacket.

seriously freaky

Here's my horrorscope today, verbatim:
"A coworker with whom you might be friends could well leave your place of employment, and this might make you a little sad. However, you'll acknowledge that the person is moving on to something new and different, and will probably share her enthusiasm. Other changes on the job could find you climbing up the hierarchical ladder, for your efforts over the past few months have not gone unnoticed. Expect to spend a lot of time on the phone."

I cannot even comment on this.

adopted?

I went outside this morning to see what was going on in the backyard. I'd opened up the back door but the cat had been hanging out inside. I immediately noticed the ginger cat, curled up on one of my chairs. This kitty is very sweet but does not live at my house, so I always squirt him with water. I want Annika to feel safe hanging out in the overgrown jungle that is my yard. I kind of want to kidnap this cat because his owners haven't had him neutered. It makes me mad that people are so irresponsible. Where is Bob Barker when I need him?

mmm, grape

Grape laffy taffy is the best!

I am busy speeding through my day of "hey, let's get a whole bunch of things done because suddenly I am starting to feel better". Last night I had a dream that I was visiting Jenica and some friend of hers was getting married. I got all caught up in the fun and ended up owing Jenica $1000. Yes, I was astounded, too!

And now I'm at work asking for money for all sorts of projects and purchases. Go figure!

early voting or voting early

Usually I get out for early voting, which I happen to think is a very nifty idea. This year however, what with the out of townness and general sick, I voted today on Election Day. I expected a line at my polling place, but I was able to quickly park, go into the building, sign the roll, get my code and vote. The only thing I missed was a sticker. I am very sad without my sticker.

Now please, refrain from asking me for whom I voted. It's rude and I never tell.

okay, not so pathetic

I was just over looking at Mimi Smartypants and discovered that she has even stranger conversations with her cat than I do. Somehow this comforts me.

phlegmy needs a nap

So while I was home, the snot monster (see pic) gave me his virus. It was quite kind of him but after a long, drippy and wheezy week I would like the virus to go away. It makes me very sleepy and Saturday I completely lost my voice.

Still, it was a small price to pay for getting to take my nephew out trick-or-treating. He even gave me some candy, without my having to ask!

not dead yet

So I'm back in town and slightly less sick. Yay!