Oh my goodness, I could have slept for days. But, since I had to actually go to work today, my alarm went off at 7:30 am and I almost went off on it. Boo. Hiss.
Luckily I only had to be at work for 4 hours. (I’m still wicked tired from the weekend.) But, work went fine. And I actually got to take my break and leave on time… so, added bonuses all around 🙂
In last night’s post, I said (well, wrote) that if I got access to a picture of me meeting Darren Criss, I would post it. Well, as promised, here it is…
Me and Darren Criss (!) - photo taken by Jacqueline Bourg on August 13, 2011
Still can’t quite believe that this past weekend happened… but it did! And I’m still smiling 🙂
Besides work, I played some ping pong with my mom (I won 2 out of 5 games… woot) and watched several episodes of Pushing Daisies. I friggin’ love this show so much. Why it didn’t last longer is beyond me. *sigh*
Well, my siblings headed out today so it’s back to just me and my parents at the house (with the dogs, of course).
It was really nice to get to spend a week with the whole family. It’s increasingly rarer and rarer that the 5 of us are ever in the same room at the same time, so this week was grand. Though, much of my siblings’ time was spent playing Rock Band or watching Pawn Stars in the living room. I did not Rock Band with them (I lack the skills to keep up with the guitar playing) and I didn’t watch all of the Pawn Stars either (Big Hoss and Old Man creep me out… though I find the historical aspects of the show fascinating. It’s just super frustrating watching the people who are pawning or selling their items so easily agree when they are talked down from the amount of $$ they want.)
But, the visit was awesome. We all went and saw A Christmas Carol at the Guthrie and it was amazing. We had great seats and the cast was strong. It was really funny and very touching at the same time. We didn’t get a chance to see any movies in theaters as the weather was wacky on our “free” day. But, I hope to see True Grit, The Fighter and Black Swan on my own in the coming weeks.
I helped my mom cook and bake. We made cookies and prepped almost all of the food for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I don’t know how my mom does it every year… she’s such a good cook/baker.
This was one of our best Christmases ever because there wasn’t any fighting on Christmas among any of us kids (usually one of us wigs out at another one at some point during the day. Stress levels are high. Sleep levels are low. Etc…). But, no fighting. Instead we laughed, played games, watched movies and TV, played Wii Party. It was a good time.
My siblings left this morning. I don’t have to work until tomorrow, so I took today as the last day of my holiday weekend. I watched a bunch of episodes of Community and the extras on Season 1 of Pushing Daisies. We also watched Elf, as my mom and I hadn’t seen it yet this season. I still need to watch Love Actually and The Family Stone!
As 2010 comes to a close, I will expand on some of my New Years Resolutions as well as look back on some of the happenings of this year. I will also be getting back to work on my thesis. I have 3 days off at the end of this week, so you can bet your ass I will be sitting in my big, red, reclining thesis chair and doing some coding like whoa.
I hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas. If you are being affected by all of this snow, I hope you are being safe and staying warm.
But more importantly, let us pay our respects to the late Elizabeth Edwards.
I can’t imagine being in the public eye like she was, battling cancer as well as the political and personal aspects of her family. She always came across as so composed and strong. While watching the news yesterday, the news anchors announced she was stopping treatment on her cancer, as it had spread. And now today, she has passed. My thoughts go out to her family, especially the children, as it must be a horrible experience to go through this, especially during the holiday season.
:*(
Compared to the hardships the Edwards family is facing right now, my day was an epic walk in the park with a side of Glee. And while I am continually grateful to be living my life, even in my state of contentment and happiness, I am always aware that there are other people who are not.
I woke up around 7:30 and went upstairs to find my mom elbows-deep in bakeware. This is day 2 of epic baking for our Christmas party this weekend. I ate some granola and an orange, watched an episode of Parks and Rec I must have missed during the second season, and then went back downstairs to throw in a load of laundry and code some more.
Coding is a process… and it’s definitely not as easy as my professor and I thought it was going to be. I’m sure I am still making it a bajillion times harder on myself than it needs to be, but I’m trying to get good numbers. So, I will stick with what I’ve got going on… The biggest hurdle has been looking up people on the Internet. Try and think of all the gender ambiguous names you know… then double or triple it. Wikipedia and Google Images have been my best friends, for sure.
Before lunch, I couldn’t look up anymore people, so I watched last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother. It was all right… I liked the manatee outfit (I love manatees… and Jason Segel, of course).
Speaking of watching television shows from the other night… holy hell has Dexter been AMAZING this season. I can’t believe there’s only one episode left! I am glad I have watched this season by myself because I have been talking at the computer screen during every episode, saying “What the what?!” and “Aw, hell no!” I have some hunches about what is going down in the finale next week…
(POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR DEXTER FINALE…)
I haven’t read anything, but I did watch the promo for next week’s episode and I have read the books. Not that this plot line is in any of the books, but still.
So, I think that Deb is going to find out about Dexter’s Dark Passenger. She knows about it in the books, and I think it’s about time she knows about it on the show. This plot line would definitely be able to be played out over the course of Season 6. It’ll be a good cliffhanger, for sure.
I also think that Lumen will not die. That would just be wrong to kill off another one of Dexter’s “love” interests in a finale. And, as much as I don’t really like Julia Stiles, I am loving Lumen and Dexter together. Dexter never really loved Rita the way people in a relationship should love each other. Their relationship was more of a facade so that Dexter seemed normal. He cared about Rita and cares about her kids and Harrison, but he never seemed very husbandly or genuinely affectionate toward her. However, with Lumen, Dexter is an actual person. He doesn’t have to hide any part of who he is. She knows about the murders and is fine with it, as she is pretty messed up too. And Dexter and Lumen are kinda cute together… they certainly are affectionate and act very much like a legitimate/caring couple. He looks out for her, but also works with her. And Michael C. Hall is such a brilliant actor, the way he plays Dexter. It’s as if Dexter is experiencing certain feelings for the very first time. During the scene in Episode 10 where Lumen takes off his shirt and has his hands behind his back, his eyes darted in a slight panic before he seemed to catch himself and then allowed himself to be intimate with her. And then in this past episode, when everyone at the police is in that room and Deb is talking about how the girl vigilante must have help from a man who loves her, Hall’s eyes and V/O make that scene. He’s working out all of those emotions in his head and realizing that Dexter feels for Lumen in a way he didn’t think he could ever feel for someone else. Its these small moments that really make that character, and in turn, make the show.
I also hope that Quinn doesn’t die. Deb has lost too many love interests as well, and Quinn is a pretty decent character. He’s got a lot of sides to him that could still be explored.
(END DEXTER STUFF).
After lunch, I ran to the grocery store for my mom. She wanted to make butter cookies using this cookie press and she needed some colored sugar to decorate the cookies. We didn’t have any colored sugar in the house, so I ran to the store to pick up the sugar and something for dinner later on.
When I got home, I went downstairs to do more coding. After a while, my mom came downstairs to inform me she threw the cookie press away because it was a hot mess. Poor mom. She opted to do cutouts instead, and they turned out nicely.
After I put away my computer and folded my laundry, I went upstairs after 5 to help my mom with dinner. We watched the first episode from Season 3 of Bones. Season 3 was one of my favorites, so I look forward to watching the rest of the season with my mom.
And then, at 7, it was time for GLEE!!! Christmas Glee, to be exact 🙂
(GLEE SPOILERS)
Oh Christmas Glee, Oh Christmas Glee, you really outdid yourself…
Even though I’m not sure how kosher all the Christmasing in the public school was, I loved this episode as it really put me in the Christmas spirit 🙂
I felt a little bad for Mr. Schue when Emma came up to him to ask him if they were okay. Good for him for saying he needed some time apart. Then it was time for faculty Secret Santa. Since the commercials already gave it away, the audience probably already knew that everyone pulled Sue’s name out of the protein powder jar.
The Glee tree (with its stolen ornaments and empty presents) was so cute. And I liked that the kids were singing “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year” from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, as I love that song (the misfit toys are the best!!).
How horrible was it when the glee kids were forced to sing in front of their peers? That teacher threw a shoe! What the what, teacher?!
It was brilliant to have Brittany still believe in Santa Claus, as her epic naivety was believable that she would still believe. And I liked how the other kids went along with it, even though they thought it was weird.
Poor Rachel Berry and her poor Christmas gift-giving skills. I loved her set-up on stage for “Merry Christmas Darling“. Someday, I’d like to sing a Christmas ballad on a stage with fake snow and lit trees around me. I’ll have to add that to my Bucket List.
And then there was a few minutes over at Hogwarts, I mean Dalton Academy. Kurt was studying in the common room (I’m going to totally use HP terms for Dalton until the end of time…) when Blaine (swoon) walked in and slammed a boom box down on a nearby table. It seems that our Dapper friend has been cast in some Christmas Spectacular at Kings Island (oh, Ohio amusement parks… how I love thee) and needed Kurt to help him rehearse “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. I liked how Kurt was like, “they’d never let us sing that” (referring to them, being two gay guys) and when Blaine gave him a look of “huh?”, Kurt added “two artists”. But we all know that Kurt’s line was a nod to the chunk of society who is against two guys singing a Christmas love song duet to each other. Deal with it, haters, because it happened. And it was soooooooo good 🙂
Here’s two fine looking Warblers serenading each other:
Now, upon further inspection of this video, one might infer that either Blaine is a really good actor and is just practicing his flirting skills for when he has to sing with a girl, *or* Blaine is just as into Kurt as Kurt is into Blaine (Kurt tells Mr. Schue later when Mr. Schue asks if Blaine is someone special that, “I’m in love with him. And he’s gay. So that’s what we call progress.”).
The Glee writers and directors and producers could have thrown in a Kurt/Blaine kiss during this episode, but that would have been too much too soon for these two. And while this relationship needs to happen eventually, I think their Pushing Daisies-esque flirtation is divine. (I say “Pushing Daisies-esque” because Kurt spent a bulk of that song moving around Blaine with his hands crossed behind his back… *classic* Ned move.)
And while I love Kurt (and Blaine) like whoa, I was uber sad that we, the audience, only got one scene with them this episode. I know the show has been a bit Kurt-heavy this season, but he’s a great character. And it is a bit of a bummer that now that he’s at Hogwarts (Dalton…), he is away from the glee kids. I’m assuming that like Hogwarts, the Dalton students stay at school. The show never flat-out said it was a boarding school, but it does seem that they don’t leave there much. Or when they do, they are still in uniform. How is Kurt supposed to be a fashion icon if he’s stuck in his Hogwarts blazer all the time?
But, outside of the castle, Artie and a bunch of glee kids take Brittany to go see Santa at the mall. She asks Santa to make Artie walk for Christmas. Ummmm… that could be bad news.
I thought it was cute to have the football guys ask Coach Beiste to dress up as Santa and tell Brittany that Santa can’t make Artie walk for Christmas. Coach Beiste is such a great character.
Also a great character, Sue Sylvester (take that, Ed O’Neill). And it was BRILLIANT to have Sue and Becky pull a Grinch and Max… See, Sue rigged Secret Santa, so she got all these presents. When Will and Beiste took them back to give them to the homeless kids, Sue took revenge. In perfect Grinch-style, Sue put on a Santa suit and green makeup, Becky put on some dog/reindeer ears/antlers, and to the tune of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” television magic was made. With crafty blocking and a playful nod to the Grinch cartoon from back in the day, Sue and Becky destroyed the Glee club’s tree, took the presents and made a giant mess. Cue Brittany/Cindy Lou Who who took Sue/Grinch for the real Santa.
So the next day, when the glee kids saw the mess, Brittany was there to tell them that she talked to Santa and everything was going to be okay. Even though Will and the glee kids were on the right track thinking that it was Sue who destroyed Christmas, Brittany convinced them otherwise, stating that Santa is a boy. (duh!)
Brittany had another run-in with Santa… this time at her house. Beiste, dressed in a suit, sat Brittany down and told her that Santa would not be able to make Artie walk this Christmas, but instead would like to give Brittany patience. Beiste then recounted a story from her youth about how she asked Santa to fit in with the other girls… poor Beiste and her body/self-esteem issues from her past. And poor Brittany, who just wanted the magic of Santa to allow Artie to walk.
But, in true Christmas fashion, all was not lost. The Glee kids were going to go all Gift of the Magi on the holiday, but Will stopped them to explain that there was still something they could do to make the holiday right for those less fortunate. So, the glee kids (minus Artie and Brittany, as they went to Brittany’s house because she lost the Christmas spirit) got on their Christmas jumpers and sang for the teacher. Their version of “Welcome Christmas” filled the teachers lounge with smiles and good cheer, and led Sue Sylvester’s heart to grow ten sizes that day.
When the glee kids got back to the rehearsal room after their teachers lounge performance, they were greeted by Brittany and Artie, who was standing thanks to the help of some sort of body brace/crutches. By some Christmas miracle, they were left under the tree for him at Brittany’s house. It was revealed that Beiste was the benefactor… and to be perfectly honest, my mom and I almost got teary eyed during this scene. It was a Christmas miracle to see Artie standing, and just really touching that all of his friends got to see him take those few steps. 🙂
The episode ended with Mr. Schue going back to his apartment, expecting to be alone for the holidays (he’s divorced and now Emma is married to Carl… poor Mr. Schue). But, Sue was there and she decorated a tree and his apartment. *And* she had all the glee kids (minus Kurt… tear) over to help decorate. Sue’s not really so bad all of the time…
BTW – I am glad Finn and Rachel aren’t back together yet. Though, Finn needs to get over it. For reals.
And now that I’m filled with some Christmas cheer, I am going to miss Glee oh so much until it airs again in February. I might break down and buy a couple more episodes on iTunes so I can tote them around on my iPod for the next few weeks. I must have watched the “Rocky Horror Glee Show” and “Never Been Kissed” episodes 20 times by now…
(END GLEE SPOILERS)
Well, I should get going… I have to be up at 6 to be at work by 8. Workin’ 8-5 blah.
Because of my epic need to read these days, I was up till probably 1:00 this morning (I’ll finish Sarah Silverman’s book tonight, at the pace I’m going…). So, I was not super happy to be up at 5:00 this morning when I heard my mom leave. (Those who know me best know that I like to at least attempt getting 8 hours of sleep a night.) I tossed and turned in bed, trying to will myself back to sleep. When that didn’t work, I turned on my computer, rearranged some movies in the Netflix queue so I would have easier access to them, then read a really great interview with people who work on How I Met Your Mother. It was a reassuring read – looks like Season Six will be more like the earlier seasons of the show than last season. I didn’t hate Season Five, but it was not my favorite season either.
After going on Facebook to publicly wish my father a Happy Birthday, I shut down the computer and slowly trekked to the main floor of the house. I was greeted by Yukon but had to let Moose out of her coup to get my good morning from her. Mom doesn’t trust Moose to roam free like a good girl (she’s only two and a half) because sometimes she’ll bark at random stuff, so I freed her and then gave both dogs breakfast. (As I’m typing this, Moose is laying at my feet and licking them… ew.)
We went outside and I saw that the construction people were back. Once the dogs were done with their respective business, we went inside where I made a banana strawberry smoothie because there were 4 dodgy looking bananas on the counter (I’ll have another smoothie tomorrow morning to finish them off). With my smoothie in hand, I sat down to start watching Synecdoche, New York (2008), as there are only a few more days where it is an instant-stream movie on Netflix and I was in the mood for some Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Though I only watched an hour of it before I turned off the TV to get a shower, do laundry and read some articles for thesis stuff, I saw enough to understand why it was so critically acclaimed. Great cast + interesting/unique/original script from Charlie Kaufman = a solid film.
After some shores, I must admit that I caught up on some Comic-Con news and watched some Late Night with Jimmy Fallon clips that I missed this week. *Then* I read two and a half articles for my thesis proposal. I had a few false-starts, as I had accidentally had duplicate articles in my list of stuff to read. Lucky for me I have a freakishly good memory, so a sentence or two into the duplicates, I realized I had already read some of those articles before… over a month ago. Awesome.
When my head felt like it was starting to explode, I shut down my Mac (I should have a name for my computer by now, but I don’t… I must think on that. My car’s name is Blue Car and my iPod is named The Pie Maker, so surely I should think up a name for my computer…) and took the dogs outside. Excellent timing on my behalf – I managed to get both dogs out and in before they starting paving the street with the giant machines that make the loud noises. (Gotta do my best to make sure Yukon doesn’t have to get more high-strung then she already is.)
I fixed myself a chicken salad sandwich, grabbed an orange and my water bottle, and settled back onto the couch to finish watching Synecdoche, New York. With the whole play-within a play-within the movie going on, I began to rationalize it out like when I was watching Inception. Synecdoche, New York was a good movie, but it made me sad as much as it made me think, so I don’t think I’ll be watching it again any time soon.
My mom called before the movie was done and told me that she was in Kansas, but my dad and sister were not. She sounded a bit weird on the phone and was all like “I’m here. I’ll call you later, okay. Talk to you later.” (That doesn’t read as dodgy, I know, but her tone of voice made it seem like she knew something -perhaps something bad – but was avoiding telling me flat-out what was going on.) Of course I was worried, but she said she’d call back.
When my movie was over, I had good intentions to read more thesis stuff, but I ended up tagging prior blog posts (yeah… I should have just done it while I was posting the first time around. Whoops.) Somehow, my post yesterday about my love for Constantine Maroulis gave my site a bit of a boost 🙂 I’m glad there are other people out there who appreciate the previous American Idol contestant as I do. Thanks for reading my post!!
When it got to be 2:30, my mom hadn’t called back yet and I got extra worried. So, I called her and left a voicemail on her phone. Since she didn’t pick up, I was assuming the worst had happened and my dad and/or sister was hurt (or worse). After a few more minutes, I called my dad. Thankfully, he picked up. I asked if everything was okay and then I burst into tears because I was worried that mom didn’t call back or pick up when I called. He assured me everything was okay and I tearfully wished him a Happy Birthday.
We hung up and I had no desire to work on school work so I opted to fold laundry. I popped in my You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown soundtrack and belted it out along with Anthony Rapp, Kristin Chenoweth, Roger Bart and the rest of the gang.
When that chore was done, I returned to my computer, determined to work on more school work. I got 1/2 a page of notes done when I found myself watching youtube videos of Glee stuff – I can’t help it. I love Glee.
Five o’clock rolled around and I fed the dogs and let them outside. One of the across the street neighbors came out while the dogs were poking about the front yard. Usually no one on the block acknowledges my presence, but this guy decided to yell, “Welcome back, Sue!” at me and the dogs went berserk. They started barking, so I thought the guy would stop waving, but instead he kept talking and Yukon bolted across the street and Moose started dragging me toward her as I tried to command Yukon back to our yard and communicate to the neighbor guy that I am Sue’s daughter. I corralled my dogs back to the yard while the neighbor guy commented that I look so much like my mom letting the dogs out. If by “you look like your mom from a distance” means “you and your mom are both girls,” then he would be correct. My mom and I look a bit alike, but not from a distance – I have long dark brown hair, she has shorter light brown hair. I am pasty white while my mom is very tan. I was wearing an “I ❤ NY" t-shirt and cargo shorts while my mother would never wear that… Come on, neighbor guy. Please do not yell across the street when I am trying to shepherd two large dogs about the yard.
(Commercial for Charlie St. Cloud… totally going to go see that even though it looks beyond cheesy. Go ahead and judge – I like Zac Efron. I totally have all 3 HSM movies and saw Hairspray, HSM3 and 17 Again in theaters…)
When I got back inside with the dogs, I scolded them for running across the street like they did. They understand more people words than one would think (breakfast, biscuit, treat, coup, food, dinner, hungry, deck, outside, leash, ball, duck, rope, bone, banana, animal cracker, etc…), so I’m assuming they got the gist of it because Yukon went in her coup without me saying so.
I had picked some tomatoes from the backyard and had those along with my burger for dinner. Instead of watching another movie or the next episode of Dexter, I opted to rewatch the pilot of Pushing Daisies. It was nice to see it now being familiar with all of the characters. Love. This. Show. Maybe I’ll watch some more later…
(Charlie St. Cloud trailer again… twice on NBC in less than 15 minutes. Must be distributed by Universal. *checks movie’s website* Yep. It is.)
After Pushing Daisies, I did some more house chores and then turned ye olde computer back on to type up this blog post while watching Community/30 Rock/Glee. And then I’ll watch something else… though I’m not sure what. Either Blindness, Dexter, Pushing Daisies or something musical. Hmmm…
Regardless, thesis proposal articles can wait until tomorrow.
Yes, I watched The Bachelorette Men Tell All episode.
Why?
Because I like to follow through with seasons of shows that I have started. Need I remind you that my sister is the one who sucked me into the world of reality shows, more specifically The Bachelor/ette (among others…). So I watched tonight’s Men Tell All. And I come away with this – Kasey was a bit much (see title of post, and then add some awkward songs) and I felt bad for Kirk. The end.
But let us start at the beginning…
Today started off with my kidney getting stepped on.
True story
My dad had an early doctor’s appointment (to get the staples removed from his head from last week’s accident), and afterward he and my mom were going to go to breakfast and run some errands. They asked me if I wanted to come along, and I said yes. So, my mom woke me up around 7, as we had to be out of the house well before 8. So, I woke up on my own accord when my clock said 7:02, but I shut my eyes to wait for the official wake up from my mom. Moments later I heard my mom open my door and I opened my eyes in time to see both of my dogs running into the room and up to my bed. Yukon knows enough to just stand by my face and breath on me while she wags her tail. Moose, however, leapt up onto my bed and stepped all over me while she licked my hands and face. I love my dogs 🙂
My mom, dad and I piled into the car and went to the doctor’s office. What should have taken 15 minutes ended up taking an hour and a half. The hospital never gave my dad any sort of papers, they just told him to get his staples removed after 5 days. Well, it had been 7 days, so we thought he was good to go. However, without the paper work, a nurse couldn’t take out the staples, a doctor had to. We were sent upstairs, then back downstairs and he had to wait to get squeezed in to see his doctor. My mom and I were prepared with our respective books (she was finishing up a book she borrowed from my sister, I am rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – woot). We read and read and read some more, freezing in the waiting room surrounded by a bunch of coughing and sneezing people who weren’t doing anything to cover their mouths. Gross.
I hate doctors offices and waiting rooms. I still remember sitting in the waiting room at the ER at Akron General with my sister when she thought she had some sort of skin disease on her arm. We sat for 3 or 4 hours in the tiniest waiting room ever. The guy sitting across from up was spitting/throwing up into a plastic bag for the entire time. That grossed me out like whoa (I’m not good around people who are vomiting), but I knew I had to keep it together for my sister because she thought she was going to die. (She didn’t – it turned out to be nothing serious… just some sort of oil had gotten onto her skin and looked like it had killed her skin and was spreading all over her arm. Nothing a little rubbing alcohol couldn’t fix…)
After awhile, my dad walked out sans staples and we headed to Panera. (Carbs!) It was here that I found out that I owe my parents around $2000 from me taking classes last summer. Whoops… Lucky for me they are not expecting me to pay it back right away/any time soon. They know I’m good for it 🙂
After that, we went to Half-Priced books. I wanted a bunch of DVDs, but I didn’t get any. (I was in search of Pushing Daisies – of course they did not have it. Although they had Wonderfalls – another Lee Pace series – but I’m not gonna buy DVDs until I get a job. Duh.)
While in the bookstore, we got a call from my younger brother. Turns out he got a GA position for next school year that will seriously help him/my parents out financially. We were super happy for him and very proud – so much so that both my parents teared up. Awwwwww…
From there we went to Target because we needed a sympathy card (one of my dad’s friend’s dad’s passed away) and some tea for my mom. My foot was hurting again so I pushed the cart. (A couple days ago, both dogs mashed my foot while they were barking/jumping while I was answering the door because someone had rung our doorbell. My foot has a few bruises on it, though I’m not sure if all of them are from the dogs… more than likely yes.) I stopped to look at the Woody and Buzz Buddys and my parents walked ahead. Pushing the cart behind them, I got to see the two of them share a little moment… it was adorable. I have the cutest parents known to mankind – fror serious 🙂
Upon arriving home from errands, mom and I played some Yahtzee and then made some pancakes for lunch. We thought we were being all creative – we had an apple cinnamon pancake mix, so we added toasted pecans and mini chocolate chips. but the mix must have been old, because they were the densest pancakes ever. They weren’t horrible, but they weren’t awesome either. As we choked them down, we kept saying “Man vs. Food” because you just can’t let food beat you.
I think we played some more Yahtzee… then I know I was reading my Gilda Radner biography when I fell asleep. Usually I can’t nap, but it was another one of those days where I pretty much just passed out on the couch and slept for 2 hours. I don’t know what was up with that… but I woke up and it was 4. Whoops… so much for working on any school work today.
I got up and played with Moose for awhile while mom paid bills and dad was on his computer. At 5:00 I fed the dogs. Then I helped my parents get dinner together. Dad grilled burgers while Mom and I set out everything else. She started feeling super tired and achy – I know it’s still from that huge trip she took w/my sister. But she doesn’t have time to recuperate.
See, my dad is leaving for Ohio tomorrow to help Sarah pack up our apartment. They’ll start driving to Kansas on Wednesday (my sister is going to KU for a doctoral program). My mom is going to meet them there later this week to help unpack (my brother is too). We (my sister and I) have moved around a lot in the past ten years, so the whole family is used to this by now, but it’s still a pain in the ass. Moving sucks.
After dinner we all went about our own business until The Bachelorette came on… and that pretty much brings us up to par on how uneventful today really was.
Tomorrow my mom is bringing my dad to the airport really early in the morning, then I know she and I will run some errands later in the day. Will I get more school work done? Maybe… I know I need to organize my room and continue the job hunt too…
I need to make an epic list of what I need to get done and by when. Thesis stuff and job hunt are definitely going to be on the top of said list. Then we can fill out the rest of it with stuff that would be nice to accomplish… like figure out what I want to be when I grow up, or where I might like to apply for doctoral programs upon completion of my thesis sometime this year. Soooooo much to do!
Well, today was another small step for Katie-kind back into the realm of working on my thesis proposal. I got another 2 articles read and another solid pages of notes down… over 11,200 words of notes. Yikes Stripes. I have another 10 articles or so saved in my “Thesis Proposal” folder and then a bunch of guild websites and a few books to peruse, but the note-taking end is in sight. Then just organizing and writing to go – Yikes Stripes again.
I woke up this morning to the sound of dogs barking. My parents already left for their canoeing obligation (they were riding on the Park’s boat to make sure the paddlers were staying safe, etc…), so only the dogs were home with me. I ate my yogurt and granola while watching the first 40 minutes ofSerenity (you know, the movie that followed the short-lived but epically brilliant series Firefly…). So far, so good… love me some Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher.
I then brushed my teeth and got dressed – ready to face a day of thesis stuff. I turned on my computer and somehow ended up watching youtube clips, parts of various episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that I had missed, and reading up on Comic-Con. When it got to be 12:30 and I hadn’t done any homework, I knew I needed to turn off the computer, let out the dogs, eat lunch, watch the rest of Serenity and *then* get to work.
Which is exactly what I did…
Oh, Serenity. I thought you were a fitting end for Firefly. Although I was aware of the characters that died (I won’t spoil which ones), I was shocked when one of the deaths went down all of a sudden. Sadness! I immediately grabbed my phone and texted Matt because he watched it a few months ago and was the only person I knew who watched the entire series and movie (and this was his favorite character). I watched the remainder of the film with my mouth hanging slightly open, talking at the television every now and again in genuine reaction to what I was seeing before me.
The movie ended and I had to get to work. I rebooted my computer and nestled down into the recliner. While my dogs slept, I typed away at my keyboard, digitally jotting down notes from the lengthy articles I managed to make it through today.
Upon completion of the second article, my parents arrived back home. My mom and I had a slice of pie while she told me about their morning adventures (my dad was fast asleep in the recliner I just vacated). Mom and I played some Yahtzee, each winning two rounds, though I was the overall champion (842 to 791 – woot). I playfully chided “Go f**k yourself!” in a high voice as my mother had done over Christmas break, mimicking a phrase my brother had introduced to us over the course of the holiday season. Both she and my father looked at me like I had said this out of nowhere. I stopped to remind them of what went down over Christmas and they both were like “What the what?!” So, I texted my brother for verification that I was not making this up. He texted back that I remembered correctly. His girlfriend seconded it. I also texted my sister and she called back to verify that my mother had indeed been chanting “Go f**k yourself” at us over the holidays (not maliciously, mind you). I love my family.
My parents left again around 6. I made dinner and watched two of my favorite episodes of Pushing Daisies (I didn’t watch them in their entirety, but fast forwarded to my favorite parts… basically it was 40 minutes of Ned instead of 80 minutes of everyone…). I was then going to work on school work, but when I checked my email, I saw that I had a message from a nice guy that I have been chatting with online as of late.
Now, I have been thinking about this long and hard, but I don’t think it is wise of me to even be thinking about being in a relationship right now. Chalk it up to horrible timing… I just got out of grad school, I moved to a new state hundreds of miles away from all my friends, I have no job, I have no idea what i want to be when I grow up, I am trying to work on my thesis proposal so I can defend it and then do my thesis, I recently had a (temporary) falling out with my best friend of 15 years, and I just went through the emotional wringer regarding unrequited feelings (among other things…). So, really this is not the best timing to be launching myself into a relationship that is anything more than friends right now. And as much as that really sucks, it’s the most sensible thing to do. I need to figure my shit out before I can be in a relationship with someone else, as it’s not fair to him.
So, I did what I thought was best and messaged the nice guy back and told him what was on my mind. I felt like I was breaking up with someone, but we weren’t even dating. But I still felt super crumby about it 😦
And now I’m watching the rest of Bandits with my parents… and soon we’ll watch the Jon HammSNL. I have no idea what is in store for tomorrow… only time will tell.
I was watching Bandits with my dad, but was too tired to make it through the whole movie… but that’s totally my favorite line 🙂 (But, of course this scene can’t be found on youtube… at least not in English)
So, today was Friday, but my days of the week are epically thrown off.
Woke up this morning and breakfast with my parents (this will be weird for awhile, I’m sure…). I then went back to my room and read an article for my thesis proposal (first time I had done that in weeks… yikes). Since one was more than enough right then and there, when I finished, I went up to the deck to see if my mom needed any help with gardening stuff. I brushed out the dogs, then went back downstairs to find four hummingbird feeders. Upon fetching them, I was sent back downstairs to try and locate two big “S” hooks to hang a couple of the feeders – no dice.
However, around that time, my phone rang and it was Robin! (And you don’t get the most shout outs just because I know you’re the only one who probably reads this… you get them because you are a rock star for being such an awesome friend 🙂 ) Catching up on awkward sauce stories and thesis woes is always good times!
Back on the deck, I played with the dogs while Mom gardened and we all took a lunch break to regroup. I then headed back down to my room to do more thesis stuff (another article or two read… that’s 39 or 40 articles down, and 22 pages of notes – woot). I will do more tomorrow while my parents are out on the boat for part of the 2-day canoe race that’s going on.
I would have done more today, but I was physically falling asleep with my computer in my lap (much like I’m doing right now… blah). So, I went upstairs, grabbed the mail (magazines!), took my water bottle out of the fridge and headed back to the deck. My mom took a drink break with me, then I read while she finished up some planting stuff.
I helped my parents put together dinner – mom and I made pasta salad with vegetables we picked from the garden while my dad grilled on the deck. Afterwards, I let the dogs outside – they dragged me over to the neighbor’s yard where, after 6 weeks, the neighbor finally said Hi to me and introduced herself. (People in our neighborhood have hardly acknowledged my presence, even though I am a stranger who has been here for almost 2 months now… what the what?!)
My mom and I then took a page out of Pushing Daisies and baked an apple pie, as we had a bunch of apples that we needed to get rid of before they got all mushy. The pie was so cute (and way yummy) – although it made the house smell like Thanksgiving. Oh well!
Dad ordered me to bring up some DVDs so we could pick on to watch… I think I brought up around 20. My mom said that I have too many DVDs (I have 300+…) and that I could probably have a wall of them. I told her that is exactly what is on my Bucket List – to one day have an entire wall full of DVDs. Arranged by year of release, of course.
So, from the 20 or so movies I picked out, we opted for Bandits. It’s a pretty good movie – I had only seen it once a long, long time ago, but I totally say “Beavers and ducks” at least once a week since that initial viewing.
And now it’s time to shut down the computer, read some HP7 (can’t wait for the movie!!) and go to sleep.
Have a good one!
P.S. Totally watched an interview of David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel from Comic-Con about next season of Bones. I friggin’ love that show (even though I am mad at David Boreanaz for cheating on his wife… what the heck, yo?!)… and was reminded how much I loved the 100th episode 🙂
So, I know I owe this blog a massive post recapping my time in Ohio. That’s still not going to happen right now, as I am physically too tired to keep my eyes open for much longer (and it’s only 10:30 as I’m typing this… blah).
But, I can give you a recap of a recap…
Friday: 15 hour car ride
Saturday: Campus to check email, run into my friend Ashley (plan to go out that night to Boogie on the Bricks/drinking), run errands, not able to find Pushing Daisies DVDs anywhere, pack/clean apartment, plan to see Inception the next day w/my best guy friend (who everyone and their mom knows by now that I had feelings for him for the entire school year) meet up with the girls to have drinks at several bars, get drunk and text friend to try and get him to come hang out, go to another bar, said friend ends up coming and we talk for multiple hours as I proceed to flirt/hit on him
Sunday: Meet up with friend to see Inception, as the credits roll after the movie he turns to me and tells me he has something to tell me, which results in this (I = Ralph Wiggum in this scenario…):
Sunday (con’t): He and I talk some things out, then I have to drive home in the worst rain storm I’ve ever been in in my entire life, I call Robin later and we had a much needed epic conversation (I love you, Robin!!), too worn out to pack so I begin to write a short story as this entire day is prime material for a story/script
Monday: (Awkward) brunch with group of friends, I cancel my bank account in preparation of moving to MN, I call my mom and tell her that I can leave OH on Wednesday instead of Thursday because I cannot stand to be in town anymore because of the prior day’s events, I go see Eclipse because I needed a good laugh, then I went over to Robin’s for the rest of the evening and she made dinner and we made cupcakes and it was really great getting to spend time with one of my favorite people I’ve gotten to know this past school year :), got back to my apartment only to find I have a phone message from my mom saying that my dad had a bit of an accident and was in the hospital and had to get staples in his head. We agree to leave on Wednesday for this family emergency, which is fine by me seeing how I was embarrassed to be in town any longer than I needed to be.
Tuesday: Went over to Matt’s apartment to get my DVDs back/say goodbye before I left town for good, went to campus to check email, went home to clean/pack, my mom and sister got in at 4 and we unloaded my sister’s car, Robin came over b/c I wanted her to meet my mom and the four of us went to The Coffee Cup for dinner. I opted not to go into town to the group gathering at Casa…
Wednesday: My mom and I drive 15 hours back to MN… my dad is doing fine. The staples aren’t as bad as I thought. I meant to go to bed early, but ended up chatting online with a seemingly nice guy from the dating website Robin suggested I sign up for… 🙂
Thursday: Errands with my mom, accidental 2+ hour nap, dinner at the dining room table w/mom and dad – it’s super weird being here with both parents.
And that’s about it for the recap of the recap. And maybe this is all you’ll get… though I am pretty sure I should be working some of this weekend into some sort of story or script. Even though there were more tears than I would have hoped, I’m sure I am going to be laughing about most of this sometime soon. I’m going to take inspiration from Jason Segel (LOVE him) and use all of this humiliation (you don’t even know the half of it…) for comedic effect. 🙂 See, look at me moving forward… woot.
Anyway, sorry for the lame posts these past few times. I’m out of my routine/rhythm, but I will get that back soon.
I made it to my apartment in one piece last night around 9:45 pm. It took just over 15 hours to drive from our house in MN to my place in OH and a couple of times, I was pretty sure I wanted to not drive ever again.
My dad woke me up at 5 AM and I was on the road by 5:33… the first five hours actually went really quick. I didn’t stop once and I had a solid selection of mix CDs to keep me entertained. I snacked on some Chickadees (the Target version of Goldfish crackers – woot) and drank some water like a road trip champion.
Then things started pissing me off.
I planned on stopping to get food for the rest of the day and gas in my car in the same area and then pressing on some more until I needed to stretch my legs.
Turns out where I stopped to get food (Subway – each fresh, yo), all of the gas stations were either on the other side of the busy road, or miles from the highway. F-you, whatever town that was where I stopped. I drove out of there shaking my head and wondering why that place didn’t decide to construct their service stations in a more logical layout.
I finally got gas and then stopped to eat about 6 1/2 hours into my trip. I had a text from Robin (I hope all your library stuff went well!) and then called my mom.
My mom and sister were in New York. And while I was super jealous about this, I was beyond jealous and really upset when they told me they were currently at my favorite restaurant in the theater district and then seeing a Broadway show.
Not fair. Not fair at all.
I love Broadway. I would probably give up movies forever if I could just sit and watch Broadway shows all the time.
And not only were they seeing a show, but they were seeing A Little Night Music, starring the new cast – BERNADETTE PETERS AND ELAINE STRITCH!!!!
(See how this is all not fair?)
So not only did my mom and sister go traveling all around the country on a super fun road trip, but they were in my favorite city, seeing Bernadette friggin’ Peters singing “Send in the Clowns”.
I told them I had to get driving and hung up the phone, in tears. I was jealous, but I was more tired and just pissed that I don’t know the next time I’m get to go to New York to see any shows.
I got back in the car and kept driving. Still mad at the world, the tears were coming down my cheeks like it was raining inside my car. I know that driving on a highway while crying is not safe, nor very becoming, so I tried to cheer myself up with some happy thoughts. Or at least think of how lucky I am to have what I do have and try not to be petty about not being in New York… That kinda worked, but I refused to listen to my 4 Broadway mix CDs the rest of the trip.
To add some more arsenic on top of the already poisonous day I thought I was having, traffic and construction was bonkers the entire day. I was in standstill traffic probably 4 or 5 times, especially surrounding Indianapolis and Columbus. I was super bummed about the Columbus traffic because I was literally an hour away from my apartment and my car was stopped because people can’t figure out how to merge when lanes get shut down. Also, it would be awesome if people used their blinkers.
Okay, enough bitching about my trip.
I finally made it to my house and called my dad, left messages on my mom and sister’s phones, and texted some Ohio friends to let them know I made it to town in one piece.
A cold shower and multiple fans helped rid the feeling of being in a car for 15 hours. I texted with a few friends and then tried to get the Internet in our apartment re-connected.
I managed to plug in everything and make sure all the wires were where they should be. But somehow, our Internet won’t work (I am typing this from my laptop at the Student Center on campus… I needed to come to town for errands anyway. Maybe look for some Pushing Daisies DVDs at Hoffa’s…). It still didn’t work this morning. BLAH.
As I nestled in my bed to watch Glee before falling asleep, my phone rang around 11:30ish. It was my mom!
They had just gotten out of their show and Sarah was at the stage door of the theater to try and get Bernadette Peter’s autograph. My mom recounted the rest of their day since I last talked to them. They went to Macy’s, then to the NBC building to try and get tickets for Jimmy Fallon’s show. They got standby tickets, but were able to see him rehearse his monologue and the Thank You notes! They saw Jimmy, some of the writers (even Miles!), and James from The Roots. I think they even got to talk with Morgan, one of the writers. I was super jealous, of course. I love Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I have seen almost every single episode. My mom, however, hadn’t seen any episodes. Crazy times.
Anyway, my sister ended up getting a bunch of people’s autographs, including Bernadette Peters. So, my mom is giving me her Playbill, so now I will have Miss Peters’s autograph. That’s kinda cheating, though, since I didn’t see her show… but now I can add that to all the other autographs and Playbills I have.
My sister and I are already planning a trip to NYC for next year as Daniel Radcliffe will be starring in the revival of one of my favorite musicals of all time, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I really want to see American Idiot too, but preferably with the original cast.
Anyway, I should get going… need to see if Hoffa’s is open, then off to the grocery store for fresh fruit.
I probably won’t be able to update this again while I am in Ohio unless my apartment’s Internet magically decides to start working.
(Note – I will fix italics and link out to stuff later)
Okay, to be frank with you, I haven’t worked on any school work in maybe a week now.
There, I said (well, typed) it.
And although I told myself I would work on thesis stuff while I’m in Ohio for the next week, I highly doubt that I’m going to get a whole lot done. I still need to pack up some stuff in my apartment and clean a bit. But more importantly, I need to hang out with friends and see Inception. (yes, *need*)
Today I got a lot of stuff done around the house, except for working on thesis stuff…
I brushed the dogs, watered all of the plants (back deck, both sides of the house, in the pretend forrest out back, and all of the ones on/near the garage, those in the front yard and on the front porch…), did laundry, washed dishes, gathered all of my sister’s mail, packed my own stuff (I still have some left to do), played outside with the dogs, accidentally took an hour-long nap with Moose, and watched my last two episodes of Pushing Daisies.
Oh, Pushing Daisies, how I loved thee. And how I plan on watching thee again with my mom once she gets back home 🙂
I cannot stress this enough – that show was magical. Not only because of its magical elements, but the stories were entertaining, the characters were relatable, and there was a pie shop called The Pie Hole! This show just cemented my wish to open up a baked goods shop at some point in my life.
Aaaaaaaand, that’s about it.
I’m super tired and my day was super uneventful in the grand scheme of things.
I have a 15+ hour road trip ahead of me which I am dreading whole-heartedly. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see my friends in Ohio… I just hate driving, especially for 15 hours all by my lonesome. Blah. But, I have my mix CDs and the promise of seeing friends who I haven’t seen in over a month, so that’ll keep me going. Plus, I get to sleep in my bed tomorrow, right next to my baseball bat. That’ll be nice.
Enjoy your day/night (whenever you are reading this)
Two Degrees and Separation 
