Category Archives: Uncategorized

Song Lyric of the Day:

My beacon’s been moved under moon and star / Where am I to go / Now that I’ve gone too far

Golden Earring / “Twilight Zone”

8:50PM.
We did not go tubing today; we did yard work instead. Maybe we’ll make it when it’s hotter than 85 degrees. Since finishing an hour-and-a-half’s worth of yard work, I’ve spent the majority of my day on the computer. Between work and updating my blog, I managed to play another couple of rounds of SSX Tricky, do some laundry, and clean the kitchen. So the day wasn’t a total loss.

For the two of you still holding out hope (and paying attention), you can now finish reading all about my New York City adventures, including my aunt’s wedding, my encounters with the Naked Cowboy and Cameron Mathison, and exploring the city in the posts New York Recap, Part 1 (now with more photos!) and New York Recap, Part 2.

You can also read all about our trip to Iowa, complete with tales of lost luggage, quality family time, showering in sewage, scaring cows, and pigging out at a wedding reception in Iowa Thanks to Big City Life.

Song Lyric of the Day:

She is the prom queen, I’m in the marching band / She is a cheerleader, I’m sitting in the stands / She gets the top bunk, I’m sleeping on the floor / She’s Miss America / And I’m just the girl next door

Saving Jane / “Girl Next Door”

11:58PM.
Nothing like a lazy Saturday. Rich and I woke up later than planned, so we missed out on tubing today. So there’s a fear delayed: being seen in a bikini by your friends (I wear a two-piece to break up the monotony). Weather permitting, we’re going to try for tomorrow.

We woke up basically at lunchtime (but too late to meet my parents for lunch), took the dogs for a walk, spent way too long deciding what we were going to do with our day, and finally agreed on going to see a matinee of Cars (very funny; go see it).

We hit Best Buy on the way home so Rich could spend a gift card; he decided to pick up season one of Battlestar Galactica. I contemplated buying the collector’s editions of seasons seven and nine of The X Files since they are now only $41.99. I decided to do some comparison shopping tomorrow before deciding whether or not to go back and pick them up. If I do, I would then only need seasons one, six, and eight to complete my collection. And all for half of what they were originally priced.

Once home, we vegged. We ordered a pizza from Brunetti’s and ate dinner as we watched the first hour and a half of The 40 Year Old Virgin. Rich got antsy and broke away to play World of Warcraft, so I continued practicing playing SSX Tricky; I’ve been on a roll the last few days–I get really big air now. Rich played a couple of games against me, winning one. What can I say? My snowboarder, Elise, is now a bonafide veteran. I rule.

Song Lyric of the Day:

Everyone’s wondering, will you come out tonight / Everyone’s trying to get it right, get it right / Everybody’s working for the weekend / Everybody wants a little romance / Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end

Loverboy / “Working for the Weekend”

12:32PM.
I’m home from work. Vertigo has felled me for the second time this week, although today it’s much worse than it was Wednesday night. Nothing like sitting in your cube, trying to work, and worrying that you’re going to fall out of your chair if you move in the slightest. I brought six articles home with me, along with my handy style guides, that I need to copyedit by Monday. So I’ll be working over the weekend. Speaking of…

My buddy, Watson, sent me this hilarious video earlier today (hence today’s Song Lyric of the Day). The guy’s facial expressions and timing are priceless. Enjoy!

Now I’m off to Meclizineland, from which I will wake up hopefully sans vertigo and minus the pressure behind my ears.

3:58PM.
I’m up. Feeling a bit better.

4:25PM.
I’ve deleted a couple of links from my People I Know list due to their months-long lack of posting. I also added a new section, Movie-Reviewing Cats I Know. What can I say? Bugsy is a very outspoken kitty. I wonder what he thinks about Superman Returns…

5:49PM.
FINALLY–the photographer I want to do my headshots called back and actually got a hold of me. So now I have to get all prettified for headshots next week. Yay!

Song Lyric of the Day:

Every poem’s recited on top of the groove / Smooth, my, floatin’ like a butterfly / Notes that I float, sung like a lullaby / Brace yourself as the beat hits ya, dip trip, flip fantasia

Us3 / “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”

12:44PM.
I listened to the live Emmy nomination announcements on the radio as I drove in to work today. I was absolutely thrilled to hear some of them (Steve Carell for The Office, Denis Leary for Rescue Me (it’s about time!), Scrubs for Outstanding Comedy Series), and flabbergasted by others, both included and conspicuously absent. (Click here for the complete list). As usual, the Emmy board still can’t get it right. But they are getting warmer.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I agree with the majority of the big nominations:

• 24 and Grey’s Anatomy for Outstanding Drama Series
• Kiefer Sutherland and Peter Krause for Lead Actor in a Drama Series
• Lisa Kudrow, in the underrated, misunderstood, missed-by-me The Comeback, for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
• Frances Conroy and Mariska Hargitay for Lead Actress in a Drama Series
• Gregority Itzin for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
• Jean Smart, Sandra Oh, and Chandra Wilson for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
• Jaime Pressly for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

And I was very, very happy to hear Arrested Development posthumously nominated for Outstanding Comedy, although I’ll be just as happy if The Office wins (which I expect it to).

But where was Lost? The second season was every bit as good as the first. No nods for Yoon-jin Kim and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, among others in the cast? The West Wing‘s slot could’ve been given to this more deserving show (in my eyes).

Zach Braff and John C. McGinley for lead and supporting actor in a comedy, respectively? Judy Reyes for supporting actress in a comedy? Scrubs wouldn’t be what it is without these actors.

How about John Krasinski for supporting actor for The Office?

And what does Veronica Mars have to do to get some respect? Enrico Colantoni and Kristen Bell were once again overlooked, and their father-daughter due are the show.

I won’t even get into the Prison Break snubs (the title theme music isn’t the only award-worthy aspect of the show). Okay, I will get into the Prison Break snubs. Where was the lead nomination for Wentworth Miller? As the season progressed, he continued to surprise and impress as his character evolved. And he couldn’t have done it without an amazing supporting cast. So where were the supporting nods for Muse Watson, Robert Knepper, Peter Stormare, and Stacy Keach? Once again, I will have to rely on the SAG Awards to give this outstanding ensemble cast the recognition it deserves as a whole.

Keep in mind, I’ve really only discussed shows I watch and actors whose work I know. That’s about all I have time to rant about right now. But I’m sure I could go on. And if I had more time, I would.

8:34PM.
I’ve added a couple of links in my right nav bar. The first is a link to my MySpace page. The second is a button under Blogging Groups for Blogburst. I submitted my blog to this syndication service, and they accepted me. So hopefully a few more people will be moseying over my way to read what I have to say.

9:53PM.
Killing time and catching up on blogs. My favorite item? This postcard from PostSecret. Priceless.

Song Lyric of the Day:

Panic! at the Disco / “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”

12:11PM.
I need a caffeine IV drip, stat. I’m really struggling today. Knowing today was a workday, Rich and I still went to bed at midnight last night. Why? Because we’re idiots. As if me staying up into the wee hours Friday night through Monday night wasn’t enough, I capped it off with staying up too late last night. And, boy, am I paying for it today.

Rich and I had a last-minute 4th of July get-together yesterday. It was attended by Curry, Jonnie, Benjamin, and Tamara. Brent even managed to stop by before driving back to Clarksville. We ate too much food and followed that up by playing some PS2 games and the longest game of Bang! ever. The gang left around 8PM, and Rich and I agreed that an evening of vegetating would be the best course of action for the rest of the night. So while he played World of Warcraft, I finished catching up on season five of 24 (three hours to go! almost there!).

My big news is that I caved: I finally set up a MySpace page. What can I say? I’m a lemming. I saw the cliff all my friends are jumping off of, and I jumped, too. Honestly, though, the main reason I set up a page is to see who’s looking for me. According to Classmates.com and Reunion.com, people have been looking for me. But I’m not about to pay either of those sites to find out who, so I went to where it’s free. I’ve sent out friend invites, myself, so we’ll see who bites. And now I sit and wait…

This will still be my blog, though. I’m not going to bother with the MySpace blog feature unless it’s to direct people here. For those of you who pay attention to my Song Lyric of the Day, the music player I set up on my MySpace page features a lot of the songs I have used here. Earth-shattering, I know.

12:45PM.
Rich sent me a link to this earlier. A Chewbacca puppet? I would die a happy woman if I could get a hold of that (and, yes, I know it’s not for sale). The Darth Maul puppet is pretty cool, too. Here’s hoping the next puppet yielded by the project is a Yoda one. So long as it’s not Jar Jar Binks.

9:16PM.
Well, well, well. The dumbing down of America continues. Apparently, there’s a movement to increase literacy rates and help kids learn faster by changing the way words are spelled. Excuse me? How in holy hell is this going to help anyone? I guess instead of improving our education system and literacy programs it’s just easier to change the way words are spelled so they’re spelled phonetically. I understand the English language is complicated, but what language isn’t? Granted, I think we have more idioms than most languages, but the issue here is the way words are spelled. I’m an English major, so this offends me to my very core. Seriously. Misspelling on purpose? Dumbing down our language? I actually think my head might explode. In the near future.

What next? What else could make our lives easier? Using giant Legos to build houses?

Simplified spelling? More like streamlined stupidity.

Song Lyric of the Day:

Just how deep do you believe? / Will you bite the hand that feeds? / Will you chew until it bleeds? / Can you get up off your knees? / Are you brave enough to see? / Do you wanna change it?

Nine Inch Nails / “The Hand That Feeds”

11:11AM.
I haven’t been awake very long. I slept like the dead, enjoying an almost dream-free night for the first time in ages; lately my dreams have been so out there and vivid I feel like I’m working most nights trying to sleep. So it’s nice to feel rested today. The down side is I went to bed right after showering with my hair still wet. The result is my hair looks more or less like this today:

Anyhoo. Rich and I had a very busy weekend. Friday night Tamara hung out with us and stayed over (our guest room’s been busy lately). We started the evening by playing Bang! with the Dodge City expansion pack so we could play with only three players. Rich then retreated to his lair to play World of Warcraft while Tamara and I watched Sleepy Hollow, which she’d never seen. After the movie, we watched a couple of Family Guy episodes on Tivo and called it a night.

Saturday morning Tamara went with me to my parents’ house to check on the yappy squad (Mom and Dad were in Cincinnati for the day). We then hit Kohl’s to check for sales; I got a cute pair of Mootsies Tootsies heeled sandals for $15.99. Alas, my favorite underwear was not on sale, so I’ll check the other location today. We then hit Super Target to stock up on assorted necessities before grabbing lunch at McAlister’s Deli. Our final stop on the way back to my house was McKay’s so Tamara could replace a book.

Once home, Rich showed off all the hard work he’d done around the house while we were out. Very impressive, indeed. The three of us then played a game of Puerto Rico before Tamara and I headed back to my parents’ house to feed the dogs dinner. We came home, Tamara left, and Rich and I hung out for the rest of the night.

Yesterday Rich and I caught a 12:30PM showing of Superman Returns. I loved this movie–it was just wonderful. Bryan Singer did a fantastic job, Brandon Routh was perfectly cast, and Kevin Spacey was a hoot. If I have time, I’ll write a review later, but the bottom line is if you’re a Superman fan, I think you’ll be really happy with the new movie.

Rich and I then hit Lowe’s and The Home Depot to price doors and windows for our Florida room remodel. We then headed home to meet Matt and Kristen, who were in town for the weekend. We hung out at our house for a bit before going to Cancun Mexican Restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we came back to the house and watched Failure to Launch. The movie was cute, but I think the guys thought it was a half hour too long. Once the movie was over, we all vegged and talked for a bit before saying our goodbyes.

And now here I am. I need to get a hold of the photographer I want to take my headshots; we’ve been playing phone tag for almost two weeks now. I also need to research fencing clubs and lessons in the area. As I told Rich, in addition to learning fencing, I’d also like to learn stage combat and how to handle a gun as those would then be skills I could add to my acting resume. You can blame The Matrix; for me, the movie was the epitome of well-done, balletic stunt work. Now I want to learn some of those skills and learn to channel them creatively. And hopefully look like a badass doing it.

Song Lyric of the Day:

It’s a drag, it’s a bore, it’s really such a pity / To be looking at the board, not looking at the city

Murray Head / “One Night in Bangkok”

12:07PM.
When I say I get a long weekend for the Fourth of July, I’m not kidding–I get Monday and Tuesday off. Combined with my flex work schedule this week, which means I get to leave work today at 12:30PM, I am going into a four-and-a-half day weekend. I haven’t said it lately, but I’ll say it now: I love my company.

1:11PM.
It’s finally happened: Rich has updated his blog.

6:34PM.
I’ve had a nice, lazy afternoon. It’s been fairly relaxing, although I played Silent Hill 4: The Room for a while, which always makes me jumpy. It took me forever to get to the next world (Forest World 2) thanks to my albatross of a sidekick, Eileen, whose only purpose seems to be to get in my way and trip me up. If she keeps getting on my nerves, I’m going to take my rusty ax to her. I wonder if there are tips on how to kill her in my cheat guide…

Song Lyric of the Day:

You are an obsession / I cannot sleep / I am your possession / Unopened at your feet

Animotion / “Obsession”

10:53PM.
I have a lot of things I obsess over, as any of you who read this blog even semi-regularly have picked up on. TV shows, movies, song lyrics, pop culture, Fantasy Second Husbands©(FSH), to name a few. Maybe obsess is too strong a word, but you know what I mean. Why do these things preoccupy me so? Why do I talk about certain things ad nauseam? Who the hell knows? All I know is, I’m not alone in my obsessions, fixations, and compulsions. Whatever you want to call them, every one of us has them. Admitting to them is another story.

My love of TV and movies is pretty simple and straightforward. I think every TV lover and movie buff loves these mediums for basically the same reasons: we love getting lost in the stories, plots, characters, settings; it’s escapist entertainment. These are essentially the same reasons why I love to read, too. Books have the edge, though, because as the reader, I get to conceptualize those facets filled in by TV shows and movies. With books, I get to fill in the blanks–what the characters look and sound like, what their homes look like, their mannerisms, the worlds in which they dwell.

I feature a Song Lyric of the Day for every post because I love nothing more than a lyric that moves me, says what I want to say, breaks my heart, tells someone off, states the obvious, or simply makes me smile or laugh. Really, I just love words.

The pop culture fixation is a direct result of all of the above.

The FSH© fixations are also pretty obvious: I appreciate a good-looking man who has an equally attractive personality (see: the hubby). And, as a married woman, it’s a fun way to indulge in harmless crushes. Because, really, even if I were single, what are the odds that I’d run into Wentworth Miller, Enrique Murciano, Johnny Depp, George Eads, or Ray Park and they’d fall hopelessly, completely, head over heels in love with me?

Where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah. It wouldn’t be terribly likely.

Speaking of the lovely Wentworth Miller, I know for a fact that I’m not alone in my love for the man: today alone people in Romania, Israel, Sweden, Chile, Brazil, and Norway have landed on my blog because of this post, the most landed-on page in my blog. Why is it the most landed-on page in my blog? Because of these:

For good measure and sweet dreams, here you go.

Note: Murciano photo courtesy of Drenched in Pain; Park, Eads, and Depp photos found via Google search.

11:48PM.
One last thing: to further illustrate my compulsive tendencies, here are the top 10 most played songs on my iPod Shuffle according to iTunes:

1. “Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison (it’s a classic)
   
2. “Fell In Love With a Girl” by The White Stripes
3. “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)” by Garbage
4. “American Idiot” by Green Day
5. “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats
6. “Vertigo” by U2
7. “Sway” by Michael Buble
8. “C’mon C’mon” by Von Bondies
9. “Starry Eyed Surprise” by Paul Oakenfold
10. “Don’t Be Cruel” by Cheap Trick

Song Lyric of the Day:

Once I had a love and it was a gas / Soon turned out had a heart of glass

Blondie / “Heart of Glass”

11:09PM.
I am now certified in American Red Cross CPR and AED training. I got lucky in that work offered the training session, so I was able to participate today onsite at the office. Four and a half hours of training later, I passed my written exam. I’ll receive my certification card in approximately three weeks, and hopefully I will never, ever have to put my training to use (knock on wood).

I figured that since I’m technically a grown up it was about time I learned something truly practical. A useful skill, if you will. Because as my insightful revelations, meaningful dreams, other insightful revelations, obsessions, and most recently, geekcon worship demonstrate, I am nothing if not a mature, grounded adult.

Song Lyric of the Day:

Batman Batman Batman Batman

Batman Batman Batman

Batman Batman Batman

DA NA NA NA NA NA

NA NA NA NA NA NA / NA/span>

– Batman

I met Burt Ward. He was nice.

I am doing well. Those of you who have asked, there you go.

Rich