Category Archives: Uncategorized

Song Lyric of the Day:

Where’d you go? / I miss you so / Seems like it’s been forever / That you’ve been gone.

Fort Minor / “Where’d You Go?”

11:21AM.
New York City was a lot of fun. I got home late Monday night and am still really tired. My legs are also still really sore from walking a lot and setting a land-speed record on Monday afternoon. All my trip pictures are on my home laptop, so I’ll do my best to post later tonight. Then everyone can see the celebs I encountered, enjoy some architectural shots, and see the biggest slice of pizza I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Song Lyric of the Day:

A man walks down the street / He says why am I soft in the middle now / Why am I soft in the middle / The rest of my life is so hard

Paul Simon / “You Can Call Me Al”

9:52AM.
Genius and master prioritizer of time that I am, I haven’t started packing for my trip to New York City yet. I’m sure you can figure out how I spent my time last night instead. If you guessed watching the Will & Grace retrospective, and watching the season finales of CSI and Without a Trace, then you get the gold star (I Tivoed the W&G finale).

So when I get home from work tonight, I’ll have my usual pre-trip freak out whereupon I will tear through the house looking for anything and everything that I should pack, lest I be without something for two and a half whole days. Then I will spend a bit of time with Rich before heading to Mom and Dad’s house; I have to sleep over there since we have to be on the road to Atlanta no later than 3AM. I’m going to be a sparkly, happy little ray of sunshine at that hour. Samantha will be, too. Can’t wait!

Song Lyric of the Day:

The Fray / “Over My Head (Cable Car)”

10:58AM.
I meant to update last night and didn’t get around to it; I was busy watching the finales of Prison Break and Grey’s Anatomy while 24 and the season finale of CSI: Miami were recorded by my ever-faithful Tivo. I’m just happy that the shows aired as planned since Clueless Leader decided to distract the country and talk about illegal immigration. (What? There’s a war going on? People can’t afford gas?) No, I didn’t watch his address; listening to the man’s attempts at oration is enough to drive me to attempt suicide; it would be less excruciating for me to watch reality TV and try to interpret bug-eating contests as social commentary. So I choose to read about the address instead.

Anyhoo, I’m coming off a good, fun, productive weekend; I say productive because in addition to being social, I did a lot of housework. Friday night Rich and I took it easy and watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We loved the movie, and it was made all the more enjoyable by the fact that the dogs were downstairs and didn’t interrupt us once; I think that’s a new record–a movie watched in its actual running time.

Saturday I ran a bunch of errands and met up with Jonathan and Curry at McKay’s before grabbing lunch with them at Aubrey’s. Rich and I had date night that night; he decided to have his cheat meal for the week at Cha Cha Tapas Bar (if you’ve never been, I highly recommend it). We had a wonderful meal (deep-fried cheesecake for dessert!) over which we engaged in deep conversation before heading to Barnes & Noble to browse. The night was basically a perfect nerds-in-love date.

Sunday, as I mentioned before, I made dinner and dessert for Mother’s Day. Mom, Dad, and I had a delicious meal, if I say so myself. I was doubly flattered that Dad even ate a bit of the Caesar salad I made, as he doesn’t do salad. And while Samantha couldn’t join us, she still managed to get leftovers as she is a leftover vulture. (Note to Brent: I’ll make lasagna and garlic bread for you to celebrate when you get to move home).

Work has been good so far this week. Last week was very productive for me, professionally and personally. In addition to doing a lot of work, I managed to have lunch with seven different people over four different meals, including the one where my supervisors took me out; I had lunch with Kelley at Sullivan’s; ate at Moe’s with Susan, Camille, and Rita; and lunched Friday at the Pizza Kitchen with Ralph. It’s great being social and making new friends.

11:25AM.
I forgot to mention that today’s post title comes from the Weird Al song of the same name. Blame Ralph–he’s got me on a Weird Al kick of late. He’d get along great with Brent

Song Lyric of the Day:

For the life of me I cannot remember / What made us think that we were wise and we’d never compromise

The Verve Pipe / “The Freshmen”

10:42AM.
Happy Mother’s Day! This is the first Mother’s Day that I’ll be able to spend with my mom since 1999–I was in Virginia up until last year and I’m really looking forward to it. So in honor of her special day, I’m making a lasagna, caesar salad, and my patented, sinus-clearing garlic bread© for dinner tonight. I’ll prepare everything here at my house, pack it up, and then head over to my parents’ house for a Mother’s Day dinner.

Thanks, Ma, for always being my best friend, for sometimes knowing me better than I know myself, for lending me a shoulder to cry on, for always being proud of me, for making me laugh, for being a great grandmama to my babies, and for always being an inspiration to me. I love you.

Oh, and thanks for never really following through on your threat to get the belt when we were little. As I recall, you’d only manage to say, “I’m going to get the b-,” before Samantha, Vanessa, and I would instantly start behaving. Very wise choice on our parts.

Happy Mother’s Day also to my favorite mother-in-law, Momma Carol. She has been like a second mother to me since I first met her, and for that I am grateful. I love you, Momma Carol.

And finally, Happy Mother’s Day to my Aunt Bea. Just think–this time next Sunday I’ll be there getting ready for your wedding. Can’t wait!

Song Lyric of the Day:

Just stop, ’cause I really love you / Stop, I been thinkin’ of you / Look in my heart and let love keep us together

Captain & Tenille / “Love Will Keep Us Together”

10:23AM.
Today is my parents’ 34th wedding anniversary. I’d like to thank them for showing me that while not everything in life is always easy, there are so many things that are worth fighting for and never giving up on. I think I speak for my sisters, too, when I say that it’s great knowing your parents still love each other after all these years and are still the best of friends. I hope my parents know how much I love and admire them. Happy Anniversary!

Special Song Link of the Day:

Michael Levitan

8:17AM.
The weather held last night, so I finally got to see They Might Be Giants in concert. The turnout was amazing; I’ve never seen Market Square so packed. The band was fantastic, with both Johns charming and funny in between songs (as well as during). I was particularly fond of how they would introduce each song, which helped us out since we’re not as familiar with their newer stuff. Thanks to the up-front, close-to-the-speakers spots Rich and I snagged, my hearing still isn’t back to 100%; we forgot to bring earplugs and I’m really paying for it now.

Some of the songs TMBG performed: the opener, “Damn Good Times;” “Birdhouse in Your Soul;” “New York City;” “Particle Man;” “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas;” “Fingertips” (the most schizophrenic song I’ve ever heard); “Boss of Me” (from Malcolm in the Middle); “Dr. Worm;” “Experimental Film;” and the closing song, which I waited all night for, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).”

As expected, I had my camera with me, so here are a few shots from the show. As you can see, TMBG have fans of every age.

The opening act was Michael Leviton; who I really liked. A clever songwriter, Leviton’s only accompaniment was that which he played on his ukelele and a glockenspiel player on one song. Hence today’s Special Song Link of the Day–I think he’s such a new performer that I couldn’t find lyrics to any of his songs. I’d wanted to feature “Saltwater to Quench Your Thirst,” his self-described “hate song,” but his MySpace page has four other, equally enjoyable songs.

Song Lyric of the Day:

There is danger in the night / There are things we can’t control but / Will we give ourselves a fright / When we become less than human?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / “Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood”

6:33PM.
Work was fun today. I had a good lunch meeting at the Northshore Brasserie, a French restaurant right near work. Thankfully, neither of my supervisors eats frog legs. I don’t think I could’ve stomached being at the same table if they had. Then I spent the rest of my afternoon working on translating Spanish titles for one of our websites.

And now I’m home, waiting for Rich to finish his dinner so we can head to Market Square and catch They Might Be Giants (hence today’s post title). Hopefully the rain will hold off so we can enjoy the show.

Song Lyric of the Day:

I come here looking for money (got to have it) / And end up living with love, oh, oh / Now you left me with nothing (can’t take it) / How am I gonna get through?

Pet Shop Boys featuring Dusty Springfield / “What Have I Done to Deserve This?”

12:26PM.
The episode of Diagnosis: Unknown in which I was an extra is repeating tomorrow night (Thursday). So check me out on the Discovery Health Channel at 10PM ET on “A Taste of Poison;” it’s repeating again at 1PM ET Saturday afternoon. I make my big impression in the last 15 minutes of the hour as “female clerk in medical examiner’s office.” Unfortunately, my costar got our second scene cut thanks to some rather Shatner-esque emoting (“I think…it’s…arsenic!“). Add in some dramatic glasses-getting-ripped-off-the-face, and you’ve got it.

Now if only the National Geographic Channel would repeat my episode of Interpol Investigates. I actually had a name in that one.

So set your Tivos! I’ll be recording it myself since Rich and I are going to the free They Might Be Giants concert in Market Square tomorrow night. And then I’ll be watching my boy Enrique on Without a Trace at 10PM. Of course.

Song Lyric of the Day:

And now as I stand / And stare into your eyes / I see safety there / I want surprises / What I really need to do / Is find myself a brand new lover

Dead or Alive / “Brand New Lover”

6:22PM.
As I wait for the HVAC guy to get here and give me an estimate on our Florida room, I thought I’d go ahead and start discussing what seems to be a theme today: role playing.

I was channel surfing the radio this morning on my drive in to work, and landed on the morning show on Star 102.1 where the hosts, Marc and Kim, were in the midst of discussing role playing. They took phone calls from listeners who shared their stories about role playing and discussed their own stories. Which led me to wonder, why do we role play? And I’m not just talking about the spice-up-the-bedroom-life type of role playing (which has no doubt saved countless relationships). How often do we play to what others expect of us? How much have you changed who you are to conform to what others want you to be?

Which leads me to Oprah’s show today. Her big guest was Lance Armstrong‘s ex-wife. I expected Mrs. Ex-Armstrong to discuss her marriage to Lance, but instead she went off on a tangent about how she lost herself in her marriage. She blamed her marriage for why she was no longer the independent, opinionated woman she’d been before getting married. She was joined on this tangent by Oprah’s resident female shrink–with a book to shill, no less–who also complained about how her own marriage made her lose herself. They also had an engaged woman who is doubting her impending marriage because she doesn’t see how she can continue to be herself, including being friends with people she’s known for years.

I gotta say, I really disagree with what they had to say. Marriage–and relationships in general–don’t dictate what type of person you become or change into–you do. I’m not saying that relationships don’t influence you; it’s a given that they will. But how you respond to this relationship stimuli is still up to you. I will once again freely admit that getting married helped me come out of my shell and become a much more social person; it changed me for the better in that regard. I’m also much better at compromising, thanks to a low Rich and I had to hit in our relationship. But did I stop voicing my opinions, lose my independence, or stop being friends with people I knew before I met Rich? Absolutely not. We’ve worked hard to build a strong marriage, and I’m really proud of that. My friends are his friends now, and his friends are my friends. And Rich is still the artistic, creative, independent man he was before we got married.

I guess my bottom line is that the idea that marriage forces you to change who you are is a load of crap. And I felt like sharing that.

9:16PM.
Big blog announcement–my awesome hubby created an email application. So for those of you who don’t feel comfortable leaving comments (neglecting my need for instant validation), you can email them to me instead.

The email tool is located in the right navigation bar below the Rocky Top Brigade and Toplist icons. Under the obvious “Contact Me” heading.

11:04PM.
I just read my friend, Brent’s, blog, and you have to check it out. His latest post, No Casserole For You!, is hysterical. What can I say? The man is a natural storyteller.

*Note to Wentworth and Enrique: You can email me now. Seriously. Email me. Now.

Song Lyric of the Day:

Oh, I’m overdue /Give me some room / I’m comin through /Paid my dues /In the mood /Me and the girls gonna shake the room

Christina Aguilera / “Dirrty”

11:06PM.
I put in three and a half hours of yard work on Saturday. Right after showering off dirt, grime, grass, and very likely some bugs (ewwwwww), Rich called me to meet him and make a run to Best Buy. A reward, I suppose, for working my ass off and straining my little twig arms to the point of breaking. Seriously, sometimes having a lot of land really bites you in the ass. I know Rich wanted a treat after countless hours spent doing freelance work the last several days and his art show Friday night (which had a great turnout).

I armed myself with a $20 gift card that a never-to-be-named friend did not receive from us for Christmas after all (dude, you should’ve returned calls) and our $45 in Reward Zone certificates. After a stop at our friendly local comic book store to partake in Free Comic Book Day, we hit Best Buy and went on a mini-spree. See if you can figure out who picked what:

CDs

1. Lest We Forget by Marilyn Manson
2. I’m Not Dead by Pink
3. Move Along by the All-American Rejects
4. 10,000 Days by Tool

Movies

1. Halloween II
2. Steamboy
3. Open Water
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
   

If you guessed numbers one and three under both lists as my selections, you’d be right. That’s right, I like Marilyn Manson; their cover of “Tainted Love” rocks, among other songs. And I love the All-American Rejects. I’m a horror movie buff, so Halloween II was a no-brainer (and only $5.99!). Open Water will play to my love of sharks. And as a reminder of why I never go farther than waist-high in the water when at the beach.

I met Samantha and Elizabeth yesterday at David’s Bridal to check out bridesmaids’ dresses. We found a few we really liked, so now we just have to see what Vanessa and Megan think. After some much-needed grocery shopping, I headed home for the day and did some even more-needed laundry.

Work is going really well. I’m loving the work I do and enjoying getting to know my coworkers; there are several, both female and male, I can see becoming lunch buddies. Today, though, I had a 24 lunch break, watching my season five DVD at my desk. I’m hellbent on catching up before the season finale so I can watch that live. Some people cram for tests, I cram for TV. It’s all about priorities, people.