Monday, Monday… but it felt like Sunday b/c I didn’t have work today.

I requested today off (I get three days like that a month, now, at work), so I knew I wasn’t working today… but since I normally work on Mondays and I wasn’t working today, it felt more like a Sunday. Hmmm…

I was in the middle of a weird dream when our house phone in the hallway outside of my bedroom rang and woke me up. (My dream was pretty lengthy… I was in this school-esque location that was a hybrid between the street in downtown Akron that the Main Library is on, and the Ohio University campus. And somehow I became aware that there was going to be an explosion at 11:00 am in one of the main buildings. One other person – someone from my high school biology class who I haven’t spoken to since probably junior year of high school – was also aware of the impending explosion. We didn’t know if we should tell anyone else, because we weren’t sure if the explosion was actually going to happen. So, we went about our business. I was then in some sort of classroom, writing responses back to fan letters [they weren’t fan letters for me, though]. Someone came in to ask me questions, but none of them were about the explosion, so I didn’t say anything. Then, I was walking through the campus-y area and, sure enough, at 11, there was an explosion. All of a sudden, the sky turned gray, and it was like it was night… there was rubble everywhere and some windows had blown out and there were small fires everywhere. It was like a war zone. Everyone was told that they could pack one bag before evacuating the area. When I went to my room/dorm to get my stuff, the phone rang and I woke up…)

So, I climbed out of bed and left my bedroom to walk upstairs when I saw my mom heading for the garage. My dad was at the doctor’s and forgot something he needed, so my mom was heading out to deliver what he forgot.

I poured myself some cereal and settled in on the couch next to Yukon. She usually bolts, but she stayed with me for the next 40 minutes while I finished watching The Wiz.

When my mom got home, we Wii sported for a bit, then got ready to run errands. We ran to a store so she could get some new pants and some shirts, then went to the library b/c she needed some books on tape for when she visits my sister this week. I got a couple more books and a couple movies (The History Boys and What’s Up, Doc?). I had wanted to rewatch What’s Up, Doc? for awhile now, so I was super excited that they had it! I started watching it during lunch. It’s such a great screwball comedy… I love Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. 🙂 Plus, the plaid overnight bag in the film is gorgeous… I want one like whoa.

After lunch, I went down to my room to try and make some new playlists for mix CDs I need to make before I go visit my sister. I didn’t get to far, as I got sidetracked reading something… whoops.

My mom ducked her head in my room to see if I was up for some ping pong. Yeppers…

I actually won the first game we played! That NEVER happens! I don’t know how I did it, but I totally won the first game. I then lost the rest of the 10+ games we played, but I still won the first one! So, I was happy with that. I also hit my mom on the head with a ping pong ball and it totally knocked her over… it was pretty funny. She was fine, and everything, but we were laughing so hard we had to stop for a few minutes.

We took a break so my mom could plant some flowers. I kept her company and worked on my playlists while she gardened. I have to make a couple more Broadway mixes, a new Glee-mix, a “current” music mix, and then a couple Darren Criss mixes. So, I have a lot of work to do before I leave 🙂

We ping ponged some more and then when my dad got home, we all made dinner together. We made salad with chicken, hard boiled egg, spinach, pickle, tomato and cheese… yuuuuuuum.

Now we’re watching Dancing With the Stars. It’s guilty pleasure night. And the show opened with Hanson singing “Mmm Bop“… which was totally my jam in the 7th grade. 🙂 So far only two couples have danced… and both couples danced to songs that I love. (“… Baby One More Time” and “Don’t Stop Believing”) I love a lot of guilty pleasure music… it’s not guilty pleasure music to me, though. It’s just cheesetastically awesome music that I proudly listen to very loudly all the time.

Well, I’m gonna watch the rest of Dancing show and then I might head to bed. I have to be up early for work tomorrow. Boo…

But, tomorrow is Glee Tuesday (YAY!!!!!!!!!) and Darren Criss will be doing a live Q&A w/Billboard.com, so I should be home in time from work to check that out. Woot woot. But I’m super looking forward to Glee, “Born This Way”.

Have a good one!

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you (if you are someone who celebrates this holiday… if you don’t celebrate Easter, well then I hope you had a wonderful Sunday!)

I stayed up way later than I should have last night (I was *this close* to finishing something I was reading, so I stayed up to finish it…). So, when I woke up this morning and the sun was shining in my window, I was fairly sure I had successfully slept in.

Nope. It was 7:22 am.

Oh well…

I got up, wished my parents a Happy Easter and we had breakfast. Because it was a holiday, my mom made a mini Yeast Beast (I don’t know what the official name of it is, but it’s a breakfast dish made with thawed out frozen rolls, brown sugar, butter, butterscotch pudding powder and nuts… it is delightful).

After breakfast and some Wii Sports, we talked to my sister on the phone. My mom is visiting her this week, and I am visiting her next week. It turns out I can be there more days than I originally thought, so we were trying to plan some stuff I could do when I was there. My sister is conducting some concert, so I will see that. Then I’m gonna force her to watch some StarKid stuff before we go to the Digitour concert on the 8th.

After we hung up, my mom and I went out to the garage to play ping pong since the weather was so nice. We played 3 different times today… probably a total of 5 or 6 hours of ping pong. She won every game but one. But, that’s a lot better that I did last summer, so I was okay with it. We listened to Glee music the whole time… it was wonderful.

My mom and I get super competitive. So, it was a super intense day of ping pong. We were also both really tired, so we were saying some random stuff that the other person found incredibly funny. I can’t type out most of the stuff, as it was a “you had to be there” situation, but lots of laughs were had over my mom’s adding skills, me saying “I’m a wizard, Harry,” and me yelling “SHUCK!” really loudly. (I curse like a sailor… so you can use your imagination to figure out the two words I accidentally combined to come up with “shuck.”)

In between ping pong, I helped my mom set the table for Easter lunch. It was delicious… turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and broccoli. I don’t know why our stuffing is soooooooooo good (it’s literally just bread, celery, chicken stock and spices), but it just is. YUM YUM YUM

After lunch was more ping pong. We took a break for some angel food cake and to sit out on the deck (since the weather was gorgeous). The dogs were outside with us… they like laying out in the sun.

We played more ping pong and now we’re getting ready to watch the Amazing Race. I am bonkers tired, so I will likely pack it in very early tonight (or at least try to). I still have a couple shows to catch up on, but I might just wait until tomorrow. Who knows…

Have a good one.

 

I love 30 Rock. Maybe tonight’s episode wasn’t the best, but it was still better than most things on TV…

I think I watched 4 1/2 episodes of 30 Rock today. Three and a half of those were Season 4 reruns, and then I watched tonight’s episode live because my parents weren’t home. (We usually watch Bones… since my mom also likes Bones and my parents aren’t 30 Rock fans like I am, even though if they gave the show a chance, they’d like it too.)

In fact, watched 30 Rock was the first thing I did this morning. I got up, ate breakfast and watched the Season 4 finale of 30 Rock (thank you, Netflix Instant Streaming stuff). Oh, Matty Damon… my “doorman to the sky“. (He’s a pilot on the show.)

After eating my egg sandwich (thanks, Dad) and laughing (thanks 30 Rock), I went down to my room to edit what I have so far of my thesis proposal… 37 pages of Introduction and Literature Review. Yeah, 37 pages. That’s almost 11,000 words of scholarly stuff that I spent months writing. Here’s hoping even a fraction of it is usable 😦 I spend a few hours fixing grammar errors, and adding in some (poorly executed) transitions. Woot.

Just as my head was about to explode, I went upstairs to see how my mom was doing. She made us some chocolate chip pancakes and we played Yahtzee.

She went outside to rake while I went back to my room to email my BFF back and then email my thesis proposal draft to my thesis chair.

Then, my mom and I went to the garage for some ping-pong. I lost all 4 games we played. I beat her the other day, so I blame today on the series of back spasms I had during the 2nd game. (My back is still acting up now… and it’s not supposed to rain, so I don’t know what is up with it. Ow. Long story short, I had a bit of an accident during a softball game the summer before my freshman year of high school. I tripped on a rock – curse you, gravel field at Copley – and fell backwards and F-ed up my neck/back. Even after physical therapy, it’s been hurting ever since. This year was my 12th anniversary… fun times.)

After that, I tried to watch Modern Family through our Wii, but the Wii doesn’t support Flash past Flash 8, so I had to give up that and just watch the show on my computer. (By this time my parents left to go to Wisconsin for something…) I then watched last week’s episode of The Office. I’m still over that show, but there were some okay moments.

After the tv stuff, I folded some laundry. Somehow one of my black pants for work has this big whiteish grayish splotch on it – I know it’s from the laundry detergent – and I am 99% sure that my pants are ruined. Awesome. I paid friggin’ full price for them at the store, only wore them once and now can’t wear them because it looks like someone (pardon my language) jizzed up and down my right leg. Obviously not work appropriate. My mom said she’d try and fix them, but I don’t think it’ll work.

With my parents gone for a few hours, I fed the dogs and let them outside before I made myself dinner. After my dogs were settled, I made some pizza and watched a few more episodes of 30 Rock – Love. That. Show.

Then, my BFF called 🙂 And it was a wonderful conversation, of course.

After that I watched Community, 30 Rock and Grey’s. Community and 30 Rock were good… not great like they usually are, but still solid. Grey’s was Grey’s… that guy with the District-9 arms was a bit strange. That show is dumb, but at least in the preview for next week it showed a shirtless Avery. Call me shallow, but Jesse Williams is one handsome guy. I can see why Gilmore Girl liked him in that Pants movie…

And then I came down to my room to type this up, read some more “One Day,” and go to sleep. I have work tomorrow from 12-6. *sigh*

Anything else?…

For reasons completely unbeknownst to me, I have been listening to 2 songs on repeat. Both are a bit behind the times, but I love them just the same. Not the most happy songs ever, but they got me hooked for different reasons:

1. “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” – American Idiot Broadway Cast – This is my favorite Green Day song, but I like the broadway version a bit better, especially when the female vocal comes in at the end (@3:08). Those harmonies are beautiful – my favorite part is when they sing “and I’m the only one and I walk…”

2. “Love the Way You Lie” – Eminem featuring Rihanna – Okay, so not the best message to send, especially in the music video… you know, a pair of good looking people fighting with each other, then making out, then fighting some more and then there’s a house on fire. Hmm… But the lyrics are brilliant. I can honestly say I’ve been a fan of Eminem’s for over a decade now and his raps are solid. This whole track is great…

My favorite chunks of lyrics are:
“sound like broken records playin’ over
but you promised her next time you’ll show restraint
you don’t get another chance
life is no nintendo game, but you lied again,
now you get to watch her leave out the window
guess that’s why they call it window pane”

and

“come inside, pick up the bags off the sidewalk
don’t you hear sincerity in my voice when i talk?
told you this is my fault, look me in the eyeball
next time i’m pissed i’ll aim my fist at the drywall
next time there won’t be no next time
i apologize even though i know its lies
i’m tired of the games i just want her back
i know i’m a liar if she ever tries to f—in’ leave again
i’ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire”

Brilliant, Eminem. Brilliant.

(And now I’ll go read my book…)

Have a good one

 

I just got an email from the library – my book is ready to be picked up

And it’s not even a book for my thesis… it’s a book to read for fun. Yes, I still manage to find time for leisure reading. It’s called the last few minutes before I go to sleep and the 30-45 minutes I get for lunch at work sometimes. Yep, I’m that antisocial… I would rather sit in a corner a read while having my PB&J than meeting my colleagues. Right now I’m almost 1/5 of the way into “Middlesex,” but I have “One Day” waiting for me at the library. I think I’ll put a pause button on “Middlesex” and start “One Day” when I get it because that one is being made into a movie right now and I want to have it read before the movie’s trailer comes out. (Yeah, I’m weird, I know.)

So, today was a semi-productive day. I probably could have gotten more done, but the epic headaches are setting in once again, so I couldn’t physically be on the computer all day long.

I woke up around 8 again and went upstairs to pet the dogs and whatnot. My dad hadn’t left for work yet, so it was nice to see him before he left. I made my mom and I some chocolate chip muffins and then she worked on her crossword puzzle while I watched another 1/2 hour of The Wendell Baker Story. I still have about 40 minutes to go… it’ll be over one of these days.

After food and a mug of tea, I went back down to my room. I watched last night’s episode of 30 Rock before I got started on my work… I can’t help it. It’s my favorite show. Last week’s premiere was great – the return of Matt Damon as Carol, Liz Lemon’s “doorman to the sky” (he’s a pilot). Matt Damon is so solid in comedies because you think he’s going to be a tough guy, but then he just breaks down and cries about relationships. It’s really a beautiful sight to behold. Matty D was not on this week’s episode, but Paul Giamatti was… also brilliant. And, I’ve never seen Cash Cab, but the Tracy/Cash Cab stuff was great. And Alec Baldwin making those tapes were money. I love Alec Baldwin. Always have, always will 🙂

I did work more on my Literature Review after 30 Rock. Remember I finished Part 4 of 5 yesterday, so today I started up on Part 5 – Guilds and Associations. Woot.

I worked until around noon and then gave up for awhile because my head hurt. My mom was gone, so I did the dishes and let the dogs outside. Moose threw one of her tennis balls in some of the plants out front, so I had to get it for her. That dog is bonkers sometimes.

My mom got home and we made lunch and played Yahtzee (I have been kicking ass and taking names these past few days). After that I sojourned back to my room while my mom did some house chores.

I watched last night’s episode of Community and then worked some more on my paper. Last week’s premiere of Community was solid. The study group always has some sort of clash (mostly it’s Jeff vs. everyone else), but the end message of respect was a good one. Betty White was on last week. Now, I love me some Betty White, but she’s freakin’ everywhere these days.

Last night’s episode was good – it featured some good guest spots from Drew Carey and Rob Corddry. However, the best parts featured the various sects of the study group. The scene where Annie chloroformed that janitor and then Abed and Troy were getting the information off the computer was great. Also brilliant was when Jeff tapped in to the pop and lock contest and did “The Puppet”. I laughed out loud 🙂

My dad got home from work super early, so I used that as an excuse to stop working on my paper around 3:30. I couldn’t concentrate anymore – my head was throbbing (as it is right now). I know it’s a stress headache… I had them in high school. Back then my doctor said it was from depression, but I knew it was just from epic amounts of stress about going away to college and whatnot. The stress headaches I’m having right now are all about my thesis proposal. I wish they would go away, but I know they won’t for awhile. C’est la vie.

I played a few games of ping-pong with my mom and then we baked some cookies from a recipe that was in one of her murder mystery books – some sort of pumpkin cookie with pecans and white chocolate chips. They are delicious.

We watched some episodes of HIMYM with dinner (syndication, how I love thee) and then Date Night. I saw this movie before with my sister when it was in theaters, but I put it in the Netflix queue because I knew my parents would like it… and they did. Both of them were laughing out loud a lot. It wasn’t my favorite movie ever, but it’s got a shirtless Mark Wahlberg and a hilarious bit part from James Franco, so I was willing to watch it again.

I went back to my room before it was even 9 PM. By time I post this, it’ll likely be around 10:30. I’ll read for a little and then head to bed, as I have work tomorrow from 10:30-6:45. Blah.

New SNL tomorrow – Bryan Cranston w/music guest Kanye West. That should be interesting.

Have a good one!

P.S. Best Glee Music site ever…

P.P.S. This video from Ellen DeGeneres has been floating around Facebook all day. A friend from grad school shared this link and a note that said “I love that this is ALL over Facebook. I hate that it needs to be.” I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I think it’s awesome that my peers have been sharing this video because tolerance is such an important message, espcially in light of the recent student suicide at Rutgers. Did I personally know that student? No. Do I know students like him? Yes. And I bet you do too. And if not a student, than someone in your life who is being affected by bullying and intolerance. College students, high school students, middle school students, elementary students, and anyone in between, should not have to feel bad about who they are. What about the whole “Do unto others…” line that we hear all the time? You can’t pick and choose who you get to treat well and who you don’t. “All men were created equal,” remember? This is the United States of America… we’re supposed to be able to celebrate our differences, not gang up on people who may be different than we are. Isn’t it time we stop judging people for their sexual orientation or preference? What does someone’s sexual orientation have to do with whether they are a good person (or hell, whether they should be defending our country in the military?)? Gay people are people. Straight people are people. Black people are people. White people are people. People are people. And all people need to be more tolerant of others. You might not agree with everything your neighbor says or does, but you should at least be tolerant of it. Agree to disagree. It makes me so sad that there are children, teenagers and young adults who are being bullied so much that they decide that ending their life is the only way to escape it. It’s hard enough being a young person these days… let’s not make it any harder for them by bullying them during a time when all they are trying to do is figure out who they are.

 

Stand Up To Cancer

So, tonight was the Stand Up To Cancer special… I hope you got a chance to watch it and/or donate to the cause. It’s nice to see that the different scientists who are working toward cures are collaborating in the effort and not competing against each other. The show was really moving (even if a few of the music acts left something to be desired – this year’s song was definitely nowhere near as catchy or powerful as the 2008 song “Just Stand Up”).

I’m actually trying to get on the Stand Up To Cancer website right now so I can donate to the cause (cancer has affected several members of my extended family and friends families, so this cause is important to me). I’m having a bit of trouble loading the site (damn Safari), but if I can’t get on tonight, then I will use my sister’s computer tomorrow so I can log on and donate what I can 🙂

Um… today I did some laundry so I could pack for my trip to Kansas. I ran some errands and got gas for my car and a couple DVDs (I Love You, Man and Fever Pitch). Best Buy was disappointing… I wanted the 2-disc edition of The Dark Knight. Didn’t have it. The 2-disc edition of Iron Man. Nope. The 2-disc edition of Quantum of Solace. They didn’t even have the single disc version. The movie The Fall. Nope again. Pushing Daises Season One and/or Two. Nope and Nope. Come on, store!

I packed, played some Yahtzee with my mom. She kicked my ass a bunch of times in ping-pong. We watched several episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. We only have 2 more episodes until we’re done with all of them… this show got overly dramatic way fast. Too many serious/heavy/depressing plot lines going on all at once. And the one plot line that I was getting into (Matthew Albee’s anti-depressant pill problem) hasn’t been addressed for a couple episodes now… isn’t he supposed to be starting withdrawal at this point? Geez, show!

And that’s about it… we watched the Stand Up To Cancer special (but I already said that) and now I should get to bed as I am leaving earlyish tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend… I know tomorrow is the 9th anniversary of 9/11. I have so much respect for the men and women who lost their lives that day, in addition to the men and women who were at the forefront of the rescue efforts. I know I can’t speak for anyone else but myself, but I have not forgot about you… and I’m sure the same goes for the rest of the country – Thank You for all you did and all you’ve done.

 

Come on Vikings (?)

Well, since I’m living in Minnesota and I had a crush on Brett Favre ever since elementary school, I guess I need to root for the Vikings. I’m not a football fan (which I chalk up to being forced to attend massive amounts of high school football games because of marching band… and our high school team wasn’t all that great), but I guess I will feign interest for the safety of my Minnesota-living well being.

Besides being the official opener of football season (we just saw Harry Connick Jr singing “When the Saints Go Marching In” during the pre-game), today was my mom’s colonoscopy – success! She’s perfectly healthy and they didn’t find any polyps or irregularities. Clean bill of health = 🙂

While my mom was getting her procedure (or as her wrist band said “Event”) done, I sat in the waiting room and finished a book by Nora Ephron that I had been reading. I also played a bunch of games of solitaire on my iPod. After about an hour and a half, a nurse came and got me and let me go back to recovery to see my mom. Having never seen my mom on a hospital bed before, it was a bit jarring for me. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. I sat on the window ledge and talked to her while she was coming out of a sedative-induced haziness. My mom was so cute – she ended up telling me the same story three times during the fifteen minutes or so that we had to wait before another nurse came to bring her some soda and take her blood pressure.

After receiving the good news that all went well during the procedure, my mom was allowed to leave. She was still a little dizzy when we left and held on to my arm as we walked to my car. She called my dad to let him know everything went all right and then we went to Panera for lunch since my mom could eat normal food again.

Because my mom was still a bit out of it, we decided to put off errands (Best Buy, etc…) until tomorrow. We got home, let the dogs out and then played some Yahtzee. Still a bit sluggish from the day (I was tired too… my mom at least had an excuse that she had medical stuff done, but I was super tired and had a huge headache for reasons unbeknownst to me), we went to the living room. I finished watching American Teen while she did her daily USA Today crossword puzzle. Then we watched two episodes of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I’m a little bit in love with Matthew Perry’s character… but not these pills that he’s been taking. (Drugs are bad, kids.)

I was still tired, but after the second show, my mom was all like, “Let’s play some ping-pong!” Really, my mom?

So, even though I kinda didn’t want to, I played a bunch of ping-pong with my mom. I won one game, but lost a lot. I got a little pissy since I was losing so much and I was tired/still had a headache. So we stopped and played a few more games of Yahtzee (and I took some ibuprophen… which doesn’t seem to have any affect on me anymore. No over the counter pain pills do. That’s because of a neck/back injury from the summer of 1998… but that’s a horse of a different color).

My mom let out the dogs while I read the latest issue of EW – The Fall TV Preview!!! So many shows, no DVR 😦 Thursday nights will be tricky… Community/30 Rock are up against Bones. Blah! I hate watching shows on the computer, so I’ll have to figure something out… like watch it on the internet through the Wii.

I’m posting early tonight so that way when I go to bed later I can just read (or watch a DVD) before I go to sleep. Plus, we have the football game on (Saints just scored a TD), and I’m not the biggest football fan (unless it’s the Superbowl), so I thought that being online and multitasking was a good way to spend my time right now.

Enjoy the game. I hope your team wins.

Have a good one!

 

I know it’s not “cold” yet by MN standards, but I busted out my grandpa socks…

I get that the low tonight is only 46. And thought that is not in any way “cold” by MN standards, that’s cold enough to make my nose start running and my throat feel scratchy. Ever since I can remember I just can’t handle these sudden changes in the weather. And although I’m perfectly fine in 46 degrees, I totally busted out my grandpa socks. I’m wearing them right now, so my feet are nice and toasty.

Grandpa socks… let me explain.

My siblings and I called our great-grandfather “grandpa”. (We called my mom and dad’s parents “Grammy” and “Pop-Pop”), so I didn’t understand until fairly recently that parents parents are actually grandparents and parents grandparents are great-grandparents… I just assumed everyone had Grammies, Pop-Pops, Grandmas and Grandpas. Anyway, my grandpa (great-grandfather) passed away when I was a sophomore in college. I didn’t get to attend any service for him because he lived in New Jersey and I was at OU and it was finals week. Somehow I ended up with two pairs of his socks… and I think I’m the only one of his three great-grandchildren to end up with anything of his.

So, go ahead and judge if you must, but I totally wear the socks during the fall and winter time. They are super warm and it’s like he’s wrapping me up in a huge hug… or at least a hug that warms my feet. But I think of him every time I wear them and I remember all the good times I got to have with him. I feel lucky that I got to know my great-grandfather and spend a decent amount of time with him, even though we lived far apart. I love my grandpa and I love wearing my grandpa socks 🙂

So, today was a fairly busy day where once again zero point zero school work was done. (Tomorrow, for reals… I already told my mom that I need to work on the paper and not play ping-pong all the time.)

My job interview was at 11:30, but I got to the mall way early because I had never been to the department store before where I was to interview at. I had directions to where I needed to go, but the store had 3 levels and I was under the assumption it had 2. I was wrong, obviously. I found out where I needed to go, then walked around the mall for a bit to kill time and look at purses and Chucks.

You were supposed to check in for your interview 5-10 minutes early. Since I am freakishly early all the time, I checked in fifteen minutes early. I was told to wait outside the office on a chair. I brought a book, so I sat down and read… after 25 minutes no one had come for me. I was a bit peeved. I checked in well before my interview time, and know how important punctuality is at a job interview. So finally I got up and asked again if I was in the right spot. They told me someone would be with me soon.

I finally got called to my interview and was taken to some manager’s office. A nice girl started interviewing me, then saw what my prior retail experience was and called a manager from a specific department (though not the department I had placed my application for…). So, the woman who was interviewing me stopped and had this other manager person interview me for a department that I had not applied for. And after a handful of me awkwardly trying to answer some ridiculous questions (and talking with my hands A LOT), I was offered a position at the store. I said “yes” even though I really would have rather worked in the department that I applied for, but there was an immediate opening in this other department, so I accepted. I need money, and I have prior experience and the manager seems super nice. So, I will be making near minimum wage at a department store that almost makes a billion dollars a year profit (yeah, I read all the information on their website the night before…). But, a job is a job, and I am thankful to have one. I start my training in a week and a half. This weekend is quality time with my sister in Kansas 🙂

An HR woman had me fill out some paperwork and scheduled me for my training and answered some questions. She was also super nice. So far, it’s been a pleasant introduction to the new workplace.

After my interview and job acceptance, I called my mom to tell her the good news. I drove home and we played some Yahtzee during lunch. We then ran errands to the library and grocery store. My mom reads more books than anyone else I have every known in my entire life, which is a huge compliment to her. She likes murder mysteries, and most of them have horrible titles chock full of puns. But my mom can get through an entire stack of books in less than a week (she reads a lot before bed each night… and sometimes during the night if she can’t sleep). I still have about fifty pages left on my Dexter book that I’ve been reading for awhile, and another stack of ten or twelve library books next to my bed. I wish I could read as fast as my mom… I’m never going to get through all I want to read!

After the library we ran to the grocery store to get her another flavor of Gatorade for tomorrow and me some soda for my trip to see my sister. My mom isn’t allowed to eat stuff with fiber in it before the colonoscopy, so we each got a doughnut, because we figured there can’t possibly be any fiber/anything of healthy substance in a doughtnut. She’s not allowed to eat any food besides Jello or popsicles tomorrow, which I know is not ideal for my mom. But, it’s only one day, so I’ll help make sure she gets through everything okay. She’s got instructions for different pills and powders she has to ingest tomorrow. I’ll work on my paper tomorrow morning, but then will try and do whatever I can to make sure my mom is doing okay in the afternoon (she’s a tough cookie, I’m sure everything is going to be just fine). Thursday morning I’ll drive her to her appointment, then we’re celebrating with Panera for lunch *and* she’s getting me a DVD at Best Buy for me being her chauffeur – awesome! But, her health is more important to me than a DVD, just for the record!

After errands, I kicked her ass in Yahtzee while we had a drink/doughnut break. Then she kicked my ass in ping-pong… we played for over an hour, which was probably eight or nine games and I lost every single one. My mom then mowed the front lawn and our neighbor’s lawn while I checked email and my entertainment news… and was super pleased to see on EW.com that Amy Poehler is hosting the SNL season premiere and that Jenny Slate is leaving the cast!! I was not a huge fan of Slate’s, but I will say that I did like her Marcel the Shell with Shoes Ons video. It’s adorable!

My dad got home a bit later and we all watched the two Glee reruns, much to my dad’s chagrin. (Spoiler Alerts ahead if you haven’t seen the episodes…)

Laryngitis – Seeing/hearing Lea Michele sing Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” is super funny. My mom even said that it must have been hard for Lea Michele to sing that bad on purpose, and I tend to agree with her. This episode hit a lot of serious notes… the whole Puck using Mercedes for popularity was on the low end of the serious spectrum, while Finn’s paralyzed friend and the ongoing Kurt/Burt Hummel story were heavy plot lines to be tackled in one 42 minute program. There were almost too many dramatic moments. But I love Glee, so I’ll watch regardless.

Dream On – Oh, Neil Patrick Harris as Bryan Ryan. Soooooo worthy of the Emmy win for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series 🙂 I wish there was a full length version of the Bryan Ryan/Will Schuester duet of “Piano Man”. I laugh so hard when NPH sings into his beer bottle… as I’m totally the type of person who sings into any bottle, remote, brush, ping-pong paddle, etc. The Artie wanting to walk plot is another one of Glee‘s heavy, yet briefly mentioned themes. His dream sequence of the “Safety Dance” flash mob is great. Kevin McHale is a great dancer 🙂 Besides the return of Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff!!!!!!!), the other two best parts of the episode are the Bryan/Will duet of “Dream On” and the Rachel/Shelby duet of “I Dreamed a Dream”.

“Dream On” is money… that note that NPH hits at the end is SICK. Just sooooooo good. I love me some Mr. Schue and NPH.

“I Dreamed a Dream” is great because Lea Michel and Idina Menzel can SING. They are well cast as daughter/mother and their singing voices complement each other very well.

And that’s that…

Please remember that the Stand Up 2 Cancer special is on this Friday night on all the major broadcast networks at 8/7c.

Now, off to try and finish my Dexter book… then sleep!!

Have a good one 🙂

 

Let’s just get it out of the way – no I didn’t do any Lit Review today. Sorry.

Yep, it’s been days since i worked on any of my thesis proposal… but the holiday weekend is over, so I will get some of my Lit Review done this week. Just probably not tomorrow…

I have a job interview tomorrow morning. And even though this is not a life or death situation, I’m still a little nervous about the interview. There is nothing to be nervous about… it’s for a retail job. I’ve worked in retail before. It’s certainly not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but retail is great part-time/short-term work because you get to work on a team and help people.

My mom even offered to drive me to my interview… awwwwwwwww. I told her I can drive myself (because I totally can), but she said if it’s raining tomorrow morning she would drive me because 1. she won’t be able to do outside chores and B. said retail store is at a ginormous shopping establishment. What better way to spend a rainy morning than by immersing oneself in commerce? (I would probably rather spend it at the movie theater attached to said shopping center, but walking around a mall isn’t so awful now and again:) )

So, since I already admitted to not working on thesis proposal, what did I do today?

Ping-pong (of course)… though I only won one out of a bajillion games played today.

Ran errands with my parents… they needed some frames and scrapbook stuff from Michael’s and then I ran to the grocery store with my mom. She’s on a restricted diet the next few days before her colonoscopy on Thursday, so we picked up some Jello and Lemon Ice. Fun times.

I did some laundry, played some Yahtzee, started watching the documentary American Teen (2008). I wanted to see this when it was in theaters, so I was super excited to see it was available on Netflix Instant Stream (woot!). I have 1/2 hour left, but so far I am super into it. Even though I am several years older than the kids that were followed around for the movie, it’s interesting to see that high school really hasn’t changed much in the past decade. (Well, except for waaaaaaaaay more cell phones and texting.) I highly recommend this movie.

I talked to my sister today for a bit… I’m looking forward to seeing her this weekend. I’m still trying to decide whether I’m going to head down on Friday or Saturday. Regardless, I plan on watching the Stand Up 2 Cancer special that’s on TV on Friday night at 8/7c. It’s on all the major broadcast networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) and HBO. I remember the last time it was on it was a very powerful and informational show. Plus, there was that awesome song that all those talented singer ladies performed… “Just Stand Up“. I know my family has been affected by cancer. I’m sure someone you know has been too… check it out!

Um… I think that’s it, really. Job interview and more errands tomorrow (library!). Then 2 Glee reruns on tomorrow night 🙂 (Laryngitis and Dream On… I looooooooooooove the Dream On episode. Neil Patrick Harris, how I love thee as Bryan Ryan! Plus, Joss Whedon directed it. And Laryngitis is pretty solid too. I like Finn’s version of “Jesse’s Girl” and Kurt’s take on “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy. That’s a good one to belt when one is mad…)

Anyway, off to read some more Dexter. I still have a ways to go…

Have a good one!

 

I = epic fail right now when it comes to school stuff…

So, once again I didn’t really work on anything related to my thesis proposal today. I did start reading a book that I got in the mail this week about early women filmmakers… so does that *maybe* count for doing any thesis proposal work? Probably not… Ergo, I = epic fail.

I think I am just scared of actually typing out anything involving my research for my thesis proposal because I’m afraid that my research isn’t good enough or thorough enough. Which, I’m sure is a completely ridiculous thought that I should not be having… but I am not uber confident in my paper writing skills (types the girl who just made it through an entire year of graduate journalism school where she wrote lots of little big papers). Writing is not my forte. I can write about movies, and I can write this blog, but the big scholarly papers are daunting. Though my vocabulary is pretty good, my paper is not going to be chock-full-of those big, academic-y, words that just confuse the bajesus out of readers. I am not going to write something that I wouldn’t understand, you know?

BLAH. My goal is to have this ridonkulous thesis proposal written by the end of August to defend in September. My brother is going to be in town all of next week, so I likely won’t make much headway on the paper… but I seem to do all right under pressure. So perhaps creating my own deadline and making my own time crunch will help me in the end. At the end of spring quarter I wrote 19 pages of my 20 page Ethics papers over a holiday weekend… perhaps I can do the same for my thesis proposal. Plus, my outline is details, my notes are pretty good, and I’m actually super interested in my thesis proposal topic whereas I was only “meh” interested in my Ethics paper topic…

What else, what else?

I rewatched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog today – I love NPH 🙂

I played Yahtzee with my mom, and then later with both my mom and dad… I’m awesome at this game. Probably not something that’ll help me on my resume, but it’s a decent skill to have, at least in my family.

My mom and I also played 5 games of Ping-Pong… and she won every single game. However, my learning curve is like / and not \, so eventually I think I will be better than her. Plus, I can also play equally well with my left hand as I can with my right, so that’s an advantage.

Instead of thesis proposal stuff, I watched last night’s episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon because Billy Crudup was on (and I looooooooooooooove Billy Crudup – he’s one of my favorite American actors). Billy Crudup was in the first Broadway play I ever saw (The Pillowman) and I will remember that show forever. Even when I reread the play, I can hear the actors voices in my head and my eyes well up with tears during certain parts. It’s such a powerful show… I hope they *never* make it into a movie.

This evening we watched Tropic Thunder because my parents had never seen it before. As much as I am not a fan of Ben Stiller or Tom Cruise, I still like this movie thanks to Robert Downey Jr. He’s soooooo good as Kirk Lazarus 🙂 He’s also good in the Cobra vs Panthers SNL sketch that I’d like to see put up on the NBC/SNL website…

I also started rewatching Waiting for Guffman. I love Christopher Guest’s movies – Guffman is my second favorite, after A Mighty Wind. (*Note – how friggin’ adorable/awesome is John Michael Higgins in this movie?!)

Right now I’m waiting for the James Franco SNL rerun to start (20 more minutes…). I love James Franco – he was solid both times he hosted SNL. He’s great in dramas (Milk), but I loved him in Pineapple Express!

We also have a Tornado Watch until 1:00 AM. Those who know me best know that I am super afraid of tornados even though I have never been in one. But I have nightmares about them all the time 😦 Here’s hoping we don’t get one!

Some SNL and then sleep… I’m gonna take part in some clean-up effort in my dad’s Park tomorrow, so I needs my sleep!

(*NOTE* I will link out to stuff tomorrow… no time right now to find the kind of clips I like to share 🙂 )