Laughing Gas and Ennui

Stats

2009-07-28T16:52:00.002-04:00

My blog has been pretty consistently getting 1-4 visitors per day for the past month or so, but on July 21st is got 64. What happened on July 24??

Update

2009-07-28T16:43:00.004-04:00

It has been over 2 months since I posted here, and I was inspired by March. Most of my socializing is done on Facebook and most of my blog friends are over there (Dim is the holdout). I've been busy with summer classes. I told one that was over on July 3rd and then the current one started July 6th, so there wasn't much time to catch my breath in between. The good news is that I will be officially finished with school on August 7th!!! All I have left is 1 quiz, and that's based on presentations that aren't due till July 31st, so I have a little bit of a reprieve. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself when I don't have school work, but I know I'll figure something out. It'll be so nice not to be tied to the chains of school anymore.

In the time I was absent from my blog, it turned 4 and I passed the 6 month moving out on my own point. I've really liked being on my own; I'm the sort of person who needs a lot of alone time. On the other hand, I've been doing more with friends, which is nice. I think I had been in a funk and didn't feel like doing too much, but now I have more energy and motivation. Rusty was here in June, but unfortunately I don't know when I'll see her again. Right now she's in the UK, lucky bitch :). I'm going to D. C. in October for my graduation present and I'm excited about that since D. C. Mile Gravel bumper sticker..is my favorite city. Honestly, that's pretty much it, but I figured I should check in with my legions of fans.

Update: I can probably update by currently reading book and my recently watched movie and take down my Mike Gravel bumper sticker

Idol Thoughts

2009-05-20T08:30:00.002-04:00

Adam reprised my favorite performance of the whole season and Kris did my second-favorite performance of his (first was "Falling Slowly"). I give them both A+ on the first performance, but I have to wonder why Simon is calling Adam theatrical. Isn't that sort of the point? Does he feel that Adam is just now being theatrical? Idiot.

For performance number two I give Adam an A and Kris a B+. Why are the judges criticizing the song choices? Adam and Kris didn't pick them. Idiots.

Kara's song was a steaming pile of shit, and then she tells Kris it was probably too high for him. Ummm, you wrote it, Kara. Idiot.

I don't know when I'll get to watch the finale in its entirety since I work till 9 tonight and am going out to dinner tomorrow night. Whoever wins, I'll be happy, plus it promises to have many cheese-tastic group numbers, so it's a win-win-win situation. The Adam-Kris-Allison trifecta (and Dim's recaps) have really made this a great season for me. I promise that after all this is over I'll write something about what has been going on in my life for the past 4 months. I know my two remaining readers are waiting with bated breath.

Here's a demo song of Adam's that I have listened to about 1,000 times in the past week. I occasionally talk about my love of gay man music, and this is pretty much what I mean:

Idol Thoughts

2009-05-14T19:56:00.003-04:00

Ok, I'm going to make this snappy. I thought Kris and Adam were great (although it's too bad Adam picked such a lame song). Danny continued to annoy the bejesus out of me until the results show (go figure). Kara is really starting to grate on my nerves, and I really hope her contract isn't renewed. I fast forwarded through most of the results show, but I am extremely pleased with the way it turned out, and I can't wait till next week's show. We all know Adam is going to win, but I love Adam, so it's cool. This will be 2 years in a row that I love the winner.

Check out Idol in 60 Seconds:

MTV Shows

Idol Thoughts, the Foreplay Edition

2009-05-13T22:00:00.001-04:00

YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

The first time in 8 seasons where I liked both of the finalists!

More to come...

Idol Thoughts, the RAWK version

2009-05-05T21:11:00.002-04:00

I won't be deleting this epi for a while.

Adam - "Whole Lotta Love" is in my top10 Zeppelin songs of all time. I was disappointed that the bass didn't come in during the second part of the riff. While Adam isn't quite up to par with Robert Plant, he was phenomenal and flawless. I said before, I believe in a comment on Dim's blog, that I wouldn't buy one of Adam's albums, but I'd see him on Broadway. If he did an album like that, I'd buy it. A+

Allison - I love Janis, but I'm not crazy about this song. I prefer "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)". That said, I thought she did a good job, and I'm glad she went with Janis instead of Jefferson Airplane and I'm very glad she didn't do Piece of My Heart. She would have done it up good, but that song has been raped and murdered so many times on the Idol stage by smiling pageant girls (I'm looking at you, Carrie Underwood). A

Kris and Gokey duet - Danny, there's no melisma in Styx. Well, at least not in Tommy Shaw's songs. Loved the harmonies, hated the solos, and I'll admit that Danny was better than Kris. B+

Kris - I liked it and thought he did well on a week that wasn't in his "gendre" (tm Bo Bice). Will it pull him through to next week? Probably not. A-

Gokey - Ummm...Danny does Aerosmith's third single from their first album, released in 1973, and is told by Kara that he should have done an "older" Aerosmith like Cryin' or Crazy (Are those the 2 songs she said? I went a little ballistic after that comment.) which were released on their 11th studio album, in 1993? WTF?! Danny, there is certainly no scatting in Aerosmith. I thought it was pretty meh and he totally screwed up the scream. I think Steven Tyler has some kind of defect that allows him to do that. B

Adam and Allison duet - When I heard they were doing Foghat I was disappointed, but they pulled it out. They both sounded great individually and alone. LOVE them. A+

Will go? Chris
Should go? Gokey

Idol Thoughts

2009-04-29T14:30:00.002-04:00

Dim called me out. I was slacking on my Idol Thoughts because, like Dim, I thought everyone did pretty well. I thought Danny was the worst of the night because of that infernal screaming. Matt was probably the second worst of the night, although I'm afraid Allison might be the one going home tonight. Adam, Allison, and Kris were great as usual.

Sorry about the lame ass Idol Thoughts, but my brain is broken and I can't compete with Dim anyway :). This year is boring because I don't strongly dislike anyone (I do dislike Danny, but not strongly).

Tag

2009-04-22T09:18:00.007-04:00

I was tagged by Dim:

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. Going hiking on my favorite trail this weekend
2. Seeing the Bears win another Calder Cup
3. Getting through this mountain of laundry
4. Getting through the last week and a half of this semester
5. Graduating
6. Rusty's visit home in June
7. Warm weather
8. Getting a massage

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Ate Moons Over My Hammy
2. Managed not to get severe gastrointestinal distress from eating Moons Over My Hammy
3. Went to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library
4. Went to the Levine Museum of the New South
5. Was grateful that I wasn't on the flight to Indianapolis that was delayed because the flight crew hadn't shown up
6. Accepted gum from a stranger on a plane
7. Opened a box of goodies from March
8. Watched American Idol on my VCR because I didn't want to leave my Ti-faux on all weekend

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Find a library job that is full time and pays well (HAHAHAHA)
2. Have enough money that I didn't have to watch every nickel and dime
3. Find a man who doesn't suck (preferably one who isn't gay or already married)
4. Stop being paranoid
5. Get confident, stupid
6. Play the violin
7. Write as well as Dim
8. Vaporize slow-moving vehicles that hold me up

Eight TV Shows I Watch (I didn't count shows I watch only on DVD):
1. The Simpsons
2. The Soup
3. The Office
4. 30 Rock
5. American Idol
6. Good Eats
7. No Reservations
8. Intervention

Idol Thoughts, the Quick Version

2009-04-22T09:13:00.002-04:00

Since I just flew home from visiting Rusty yesterday and had to watch Idol on my VCR (what is this, 1985?) at midnight last night, I'm just giving grades today. The performance order may be off, because I usually get that from Television without Pity, but their site isn't working right now.

1. Lil: B (I actually thought this was one of her better ones)
2. Kris: A+
3. Danny: ? (I didn't watch)
4. Allison: A
5. Matt: B+
6. Adam: A
7. Anoop: B-

Idol Thoughts Part II

2009-04-15T22:16:00.002-04:00

I can't hear "Maniac" without thinking of this:

Poor Matt looked like he was going to puke all night.

Did that person realize her sign said, "YOUG TIT GOING ON?"

I can't WAIT to see what Adam does for disco week.

Just because:

Idol Thoughts

2009-04-14T21:17:00.004-04:00

Why is Quentin Tarantino a mentor for a group of singers? Who is the woman with the horrible face lift that they keep showing? Why don't they just get rid of Randy and Paula instead of doing that stupid taking turns thing? Why was this week so underwhelming? Since this is the top 7, how much do you want to bet they're going to do the douchebaggery of making one of the front runners (probably Adam) choose which group of 3 is safe or not?

Allison - Wow, I thought that was horrible. I love her but I loathe that song (and every Aerosmith song released since the mid-90s) with the fire of 1,000 suns and thought she was screechy and that her voice was all over the place. C

Anoop - What in blazes was he wearing? That was competent but boring. I couldn't help but think of Dim when he pointed to "you" at the end. B

Adam - I liked it, but it was probably my least favorite performance of his since the top 12...er, 13. Bonus points for the Rocky Horror Picture Show shout-out. A-

Matt - Oh God, Randy and I have the same opinion. I thought it was good till the bridge, and then it fell apart. B

Danny - I can't bring myself to care about this tool, and the view of him through the harp reminded me of one of those Time Life love songs of the 70s commercials. C

Kris - Has this song been in anything except Once? I know it was nominated for an Oscar, but I have the strange feeling I've heard it somewhere before. There were parts where I thought his voice was weak, but there were parts that gave me chills. A

Lil - Meh. I'm hoping that her little mouthing off episode will get her out of here, but it might be Matt's week to go. Full disclosure: I loooove this song. B-

Idol Thoughts

2009-04-08T08:01:00.003-04:00

Stupid show running 8 minutes over. I'm only going to write in detail about the 3 performances worth writing about:

Danny: This guy really grates on my nerves. I suppose the singing was ok, but all I can think about now when I see him is when he made fun of Matt's "Viva La Vida." B-

Kris: Good lord, of all the songs out there, you pick that?? They really need to stop performing in the audience. C+

Anoop: Technically good, but boring. B-

Scott: WTF? D

Lil: They finally called her out on her shitty lower register. C-

Allison: First of all, she was born in 1992. 1992?! They keep comparing her to Kelly Clarkson; sorry, but she's much better than Kelly. Even though she's 16, I felt that she was able to pull that song off in a way some of the other contestants wouldn't have been able to. A

Matt: Congratulations, Matt! You didn't bore me to tears tonight. Great song choice! (I loathe the phrase "song choice" like I loathe the phrase "skill set"). He lost a couple of the notes, but overall it was an entertaining, sexy performance. A-

Adam: This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I love what he did with the lighting and he sounded great. Adam's last 4 (yes, going back I find that I like "Ring of Fire" as well) performances have become some of my favorites in the 8 years that this show has been on the air. He's not even in the same league as any of these people. A+

Should go home? Lil or Scott, although I wouldn't mind getting rid of Danny too. Why don't we just have a mass elimination tonight?

Idol Thoughts

2009-04-01T11:50:00.003-04:00

Anoop - Hey Anoop, does ~~Barry Manilow~~ Michael Jackson know you raided his closet? I like Anoop, but that was pretty bad, and I think it was partially the fault of the backup singers; they were off their game tonight too. C-

Megan - Girl, I know you didn't just bastardize the song that is going to played during my first dance at the wedding I'm never going to have. Get her off this show!! D

Danny - Danny + Rascal Flatts = me not watching. N/A

Allison - I'm so sick of this song, but I really like what she did with it. The guitar was rather extraneous though. A-

Scott - Scott's doing Billy Joel. Of course he is. I do have to say that this is the first performance of his that I actually watched and somewhat enjoyed. B-

Matt - Hmmm, I actually enjoyed his performance and this is also the first time that I didn't fast forward through him. The judges hated it, but they're idiots. B+

Lil - Again, I don't think she's as good as everyone else seems to. And of all the songs she could have picked, she does Celine Dion? Who the hell listens to Celine Dion anymore? She did fine on the belting, although many singers can belt better, but the beginning of the song, where she needed to show some nuance, was horrible. C+

Adam - Now that's how it's done!!! I did have an eye roll when I heard he was doing this song, but I thought it was excellent. Adam is the only person I look forward to every week. And Kara, what's Studio 57? Is that a few doors down and across the street from Studio 54? A

Kris - So pretty, but the weasel 'stache was a little distracting. I love this song and I love what he did with it. I had another eye roll when he said he was trying to create a "moment," but I think he did, or if not, he at least came close. A-

OMG!!!!!

2009-03-30T17:07:00.001-04:00

Chris and I saw this a few years ago on some public access channel, and when we told people about it they didn't believe that it existed. It has finally found its way to YouTube.

Idol Thoughts

2009-03-26T08:21:00.003-04:00

I know some others (Dim) may not agree with me, but I like Kara (but not enough to look up how to spell her name). I get the feeling that she and Simon are the ones who know the music industry and she, unlike Simon, actually has some musical knowledge. I also like having a female who isn't like Paula on the panel; she's honest, but with a softer edge than Simon. So, on to Motown week, another week I'm not particularly fond of. Come to think of it, I really don't like the themes on this show. They want the kids to be contemporary and then do showtunes and Motown and Michael Jackson.

Matt - I feel the same way about this dude as I have from the beginning. I realize that he has talent, but I can't bring myself to care.

Kris - Stupid shirt, but he's still hot as hell. I don't like this song, but he sounded fine. I don't know if his looks are enough to help him get past Adam's charisma or Scott's and Danny's back stories.

Scott - Holy crap, I really want to like this guy, but he couldn't be more boring if he tried! Singing and playing the piano does not have to be a snoozefest. I also think he has a bit of an attitude. And his arms are freakishly long.

Megan - That was horrendous. I agree with Kara that "My Guy" would have been a better song for her voice. Way too fast, sharp throughout, just horrible.

Anoop - Great voice (although his falsetto is nothing compared to what Adam did), boring song. I think he's damned either way. If he does slow, sweet songs like this they'll tell him to speed it up and have fun; if he does a more up-tempo song they'll tell him he doesn't have the swagger or charisma for it.

Michael - That was pretty bad. I fast-forwarded though most of it. I'm sure Michael's a nice guy, but he's out of his league. Let him go back to entertaining his buddies on the oil rig.

Lil - I'm glad someone (Kara?) called her out on the screaming. Throughout her whole performance I was wondering if they were going to point out her screechiness after they blasted Michael for screaming. She could have knocked Motown week out of the park with a different song.

Adam - Awe. Some. Usually when people on this show try to hit falsetto notes I cringe in anticipation of their voice cracking, but Adam's vocals were excellent. I could do without the 20 tons on gel in his hair, but he has a very handsome face without that pancake make-up. And to get a standing O from Smokey must have felt incredible. Way to go, Adam!

Danny - I don't know why, but for some reason it really bothered me that he didn't take Smokey's advice. Who the hell are you, Danny Gokey? A douche, that's who. You're not nearly as good as you think you are, bro.

Allison - That was excellent, although probably not as excellent as the judges said it was. Did she mess up the lyrics? I'm calling final 3 for her.

I think my issue with this season is that there isn't anyone I love and there isn't anyone I despise. There are people I could do without, but this season doesn't have a "villain." And as much as people want to talk about it being a singing competition, it's not--it's a TV show.

Idol Thoughts

2009-03-18T20:59:00.002-04:00

Ahh, country week. My least favorite theme. Because I don't listen to country I don't usually have too many opinions as far as this week is concerned, although I did find myself less bored than I usually am.

Michael--That was pretty bad and I'm with Simon; I couldn't really understand a word he said.

Allison--Pretty good, I like this kid.

Kris--Good, a little boring, but when you're hot you can be boring.

Lil--I think someone does this song every year and I always fast forward through it.

Adam--I don't know if that was horribly sacrilegious (you know I accidentally typed sacrilicious) or insanely awesome; I'm going to go with insanely awesome.

Scott--This guy bores me to death. I fast forwarded through this.

Alexis--I really liked it, I'm not sure why the judges didn't.

Danny--"Jesus Take the Wheel"? Jesus take my fast forward button.

Anoop--Randy Travis said it's hard to hear this song without thinking of Willie Nelson. Not if the version you know is the Pet Shop Boys'. I thought Anoop did very well.

Megan--Wear a bra. I liked her vocals but can't get past the way she moves when she performs.

Matt--Still does Elliot Yamin things to me. I appreciate the talent but I'm not particularly interested in what he's selling.

Going home? Michael, I hope. Shut up Randy (Jackson, not Travis).

Idol Thoughts

2009-03-12T19:12:00.003-04:00

I can't believe Dim beat me to Idol thoughts this week! I'm still watching the show, but I'm basically watching 2 hours in 20 minutes thanks to my DVR. Because I have some school work to do, I'll make this very brief:

First of all, let me say that I loooove Michael Jackson, although I don't think he's the best theme for AI due to his unique vocal tics. I was very disappointed that someone didn't do "Smooth Criminal."

Lil Rounds: Damn, that girl's got an ass on her! And that's coming from someone with an ample ass herself. I don't dislike Lil, but I don't seem to think she's as good as everyone else thinks she is.

Scott: I loved Simon's comment about AI not being the venue for being artistic. Again, I think this guy is decent, but (non-PC alert) wonder if he would be on the show if he weren't blind. I was glad to see they didn't make an ass out of him during the group sing.

Danny: Hate the fact that he's pimping his dead wife, but I have to begrudgingly admit that he did pretty well.

Michael: I fast forwarded through this. Nothing against Michael, but "You Are Not Alone" is one of my least favorite songs in the history of songs.

Jasmine: This was boring to me.

Kris: Mmmm...hot... It doesn't hurt that I love "Remember the Time." I thought this was pretty good (although I admit I'm biased by his looks), but the guitar was sort of pointless.

Allison: I really like this chick, as much as I wanted to hate her after she dared to sing "Alone." I thought she was off-key, but that doesn't matter so much in a "rock" (that's about as rock as MJ gets) song.

Anoop: I love him (for an embarrassing reason) and I love "Beat It." I don't know what the judges were talking about because this was one of the few performances of the night that I enjoyed. You can't choose a MJ theme and they say "Beat It" is untouchable.

Jorge: Awww, I really liked Jorge. I hate "Never Can Say Good-bye" though. I guess you can say good-bye *rimshot*.

Megan: In the context of this show, I hate her. I might like her if she were on the radio or something. But, really? "Rockin' Robin"?

Adam: Everything says I should find this guy insanely hot (oh how I love the gays), but there's some kind of a disconnect. I thought he did well, but I'm going to reserve judgement for now.

Matt: Considering I had to think for a while to remember who Matt was... I love "Human Nature," and he did a fine job, but he's like Elliott Yamin to me. I recognize his talent, but it's not my taste.

Alexis: Very interesting song choice! I thought she did well and actually agreed with Paula (WTF?) about the oversinging.

My favorites of the night: Anoop, Kris, Alexis, Allison
Least favorites: Jorge, Megan, Jasmine, Michael (again, on principle, since I didn't watch it)

And, because it can't be said enough, shut up, Randy.

Hi!!

2009-03-05T20:22:00.001-05:00

I'm alive, just very, very busy. I hope to have time to write more soon!

Religion, or Lack Thereof

2009-01-31T13:38:00.001-05:00

I took the Belief-O-Matic quiz on Beliefnet.com. Pretty accurate, I must say.

1.	Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2.	Liberal Quakers (94%)
3.	Secular Humanism (91%)
4.	Neo-Pagan (88%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (77%)
6.	New Age (72%)
7.	Mahayana Buddhism (71%)
8.	Nontheist (69%)
9.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (63%)
10.	Jainism (61%)
11.	Reform Judaism (59%)
12.	Taoism (58%)
13.	Hinduism (57%)
14.	Scientology (48%)
15.	Baha'i Faith (46%)
16.	New Thought (44%)
17.	Sikhism (42%)
18.	Orthodox Quaker (42%)
19.	Islam (40%)
20.	Orthodox Judaism (40%)
21.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (31%)
22.	Seventh Day Adventist (30%)
23.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (27%)
24.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (22%)
25.	Eastern Orthodox (20%)
26.	Roman Catholic (20%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (16%)

Ew.

2009-01-23T12:45:00.002-05:00

So I'm reading Bloglines, checking out Passive Aggressive Notes, when I notice the ad that is appearing on my screen. WTF?!

2008 in Review

2008-12-27T22:10:00.001-05:00

I love DJ Earworm's mash-ups, and he just did one of the top 25 songs of 2008, according to Billboard.

Earthquake!

2008-12-27T08:16:00.000-05:00

We had an earthquake last night, although I didn't realize what it was till Rusty e-mailed me about it. Here's her account of the quake.

Update

2008-12-23T22:00:00.003-05:00

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I had a couple people stop by to check up on me, so I thought I should probably give an update. I'm doing well; I had my first post-op appointment yesterday and everything's healing as it should, but I do have an infection. It's not anything serious, I just have to take an antibiotic for 10 days. It's more of an annoyance than anything else. Other than that, life is crazy. I transferred to the York office last week, and it kind of sucks, but I have bigger things on my plate to worry about right now. I'm getting ready to move as much as I can considering there's nowhere to put anything in the house. I'm having an issue with Comcast which sucks because I'm going to be using them as my ISP and the spring semester starts the day I move, so it'll be massively inconvenient to try to do an online class without having internet access at home. But I can always stay late at work, go to the library, or go to my parents' house, so it's not the end of the world.

I'm off to bed--I've been so exhausted lately that I actually sat down at my computer last night at 9 to work on a paper and fell asleep right there at my desk. I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas has a great one!

That's It?

2008-12-09T22:28:00.002-05:00

So apparently the procedure I had done today is a whole lot of nothing. I was under twilight and not full anesthesia, and they said I only slept 5 minutes after I came into the recovery room. The last thing I remember is being worried about 5 people staring at my naughty bits, then the sedative kicked in and I started laughing, then I was out like a light. I woke up what felt like 5 minutes later (it was actually 40) and had no idea where the hell I was, but figured it out really quickly. I asked the nurse if I could have some caffeine and ibuprofin (but first I had her check to make sure I wasn't going to be charged for it because I'm a cheap bastard) and that was it. I was rarin' to get the hell out of there and eat real food! The hardest part was getting the IV in because I have invisible veins, but the nurse got it on the first try after flicking my hand for 5 minutes. I'm in absolutely no pain and just a little tired, but I didn't sleep well last night anyway. I don't want to get too excited though, since I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow. But so far everything's all well and good. Thanks for the well wishes!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T21:53:00.003-05:00

Sorry it has been a while...I think everyone's sort of slacking on the blogging front. I tend to do most of my communication on Facebook, so hit me up if we're not friends there yet. I also started a private blog a few months ago, but my use for that is over. To get you up to speed, I'm having minor surgery next Tuesday and I'm moving out on my own in January. I was using that blog as a place to gather my thoughts.

I went out for dinner with a friend from high school last Tuesday and then went to dinner with Rusty and her family on Wednesday. Thursday was Thanksgiving dinner with just my parents due to some extended family drama. Rusty and I huge out briefly after our respective family meals, but we were both in a tryptophan-induced haze. On Friday I cleaned and stayed as far away from malls and shopping centers as possible in the morning, then Rusty and I went out to dinner and to some stores...things calm down in the evening. On Saturday I cleaned, did laundry, watched movies, and did some school work. Sunday was more of the same and then I took yesterday off and ran some errands. Today was total insanity at work and I was NOT glad to be back. December is going to be completely crazy starting with bloodwork tomorrow (they can NEVER find my veins), dinners out with friends, surgery, transferring from the Harrisburg office to the York office, post-op appointments, Rusty coming home, Christmas, New Year's, winter semester... I would love to crash in January but there's moving and even more class. I don't think I'll have a chance to relax till June, but it's ok...idle hands are the devil's workshop.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I'll try to check in as much as possible throughout December!

Seriously?

2008-11-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

Florida Boy Arrested for Passing Gas

Worst. Bank Robber. Ever.

2008-11-15T08:25:00.003-05:00

"After being told by two bank tellers that they had no money to give him, a would-be bank robber became annoyed, vowed to file a complaint and left the bank Thursday morning, police say."

From the York Dispatch, Friday, November 14, 2008

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

2008-11-13T21:04:00.001-05:00

I was talking to a co-worker about working as a librarian and she said the thing that you never want to say to a librarian, "You'll get to sit around and read books all day." When I told her that librarians don't read books at work she told me that I could just have staff people shelve the books for me so I could go read. Oy. If you thought the same thing, please check this blog post out.

We were doing a discussion board assignment for my online class, and I made the comment that I am against banning anyone from looking at anything on the computers in the library outside of child pornography because it is illegal (there's more to it than that, but it's not interesting). One of my classmates in my group said that just because child pornography is illegal to me doesn't mean it's illegal and that it's the library's job to decide what's illegal, not mine. Whaa??

Political Art

2008-11-06T07:23:00.000-05:00

All the presidents' heads

Victory!

2008-11-05T06:23:00.002-05:00

"WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break." From The Onion

All kidding aside, I'm so happy that Obama won. I couldn't stand another term with a Republican president. I wish President-elect Obama and his family the very best. He has his work cut out for him.

Happy Election Day!

2008-11-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

20 Costumes That Will Earn You a Halloween Beating

Saying Good-Bye to an Old Friend

2008-10-29T19:53:00.004-04:00

Not too long ago, Rusty asked me what it's like to quit smoking. There are good points and bad points:

Good

Saving money!
My house doesn't smell (as much--Chris still smokes)
I'm so much more productive now that my time isn't dictated by how long it takes me to finish a cigarette
I no longer hack up a lung like an old man after I laugh too hard
My lungs don't hurt in the morning anymore
I'm less likely to die of lung cancer
I feel good about myself for having the willpower to quit my 11 year 1-2 pack a day habit cold turkey

Bad

Not having something to do to fill up empty time
Not getting that buzz that you still get every once in a while
Being on edge
The fights that go on in my head when I want to run to the store to get a pack
The constant craving that feels like a boulder in the pit of my stomach
Obsessively thinking about smoking

Next Wednesday night I'm going to a bar, so that will be the ultimate test (unless it's one of the bars affected by the smoking ban--I'm not sure!)

HELP!

2008-10-26T10:18:00.002-04:00

I have 5 grays! Should I pluck them?! Not only that, but they stick straight up in the air defiantly, as if to say, "You're not young anymore: you're pushing 30, your 10-year high school reunion is coming up, your hip hurts when you sit in one position too long, spicy food gives you heartburn, you're practically blind without your glasses, you get mail from AARP, a kid at work thought you were 60, you think the "music" that kids these days are listening to is noise, you reminisce about getting gas for 89 cents a gallon, and you talk about how much different things were back in your day."

No Smoking

2008-10-20T20:22:00.002-04:00

I am currently smoking my last cigarette. I've smoked for 11 years, but it's time to stop for health and financial reasons. I pity anyone who comes in contact with me for the next couple weeks.

Total Jealousy

2008-10-12T12:32:00.001-04:00

Holy shite! Check out the library in Jay Walker's house.

Art

2008-10-06T10:52:00.002-04:00

I went to Baltimore with L. on Saturday, and one of the places we went was the American Visionary Art Museum. There were a lot of interesting exhibits by artists, most of whom have mental illness or mental retardation. Most of the pieces were extremely interesting, but the ones that really got me were the ones by Dalton Ghetti. He makes unbelievably intricate sculptures by carving the graphite in pencils without using a magnifying glass. Here are some pictures of his work and here's an article about him in the New York Times. The pieces they had on display at AVAM included a bust of Elvis, the letters of the alphabet, two interlocking hearts, a church, and the chain that is seen in the NYT article. This chain was carved from the graphite in the middle of the pencil and each link is interlocking. First, imagine how hard it would be to do that with a big block of wood, then imagine doing it with a tiny pencil. Simply amazing.

Spreading the Word

2008-10-02T10:27:00.004-04:00

Shan posted a link to an op-ed piece from Huffington about Palin, and I wanted to share it with the three people who read my blog who don't also read hers. Here's the piece. Shan posted some of her favorite parts, but mine is this:

Now, I want to be clear and speak directly to those of you who LOVED that Palin interview. You're an idiot. I mean that. This is not one of those cases where we're going to agree to disagree. This isn't one of those situations where we debate it passionately and then walk away thinking that the other guy is wrong but argued well. I'm not going to think of you as a thoughtful but misguided person with different ideas who still really cares about the country and the world. No, sorry, not this time. This time, if you watched that interview and weren't scared out of your freakin' mind, then you're mentally ill, mentally disabled, or mentally disturbed. What you are NOT is responsible, informed, curious, thoughtful, mature, educated, empathetic, or remotely serious. I mean it.

Happy Banned Books Week!

2008-09-29T05:00:00.002-04:00

Happy Banned Books Week! Check out some of these links for more information:

ALA Banned Books Week
ALA Challenged and Banned Books
100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990-2000
Most Challenged Books of 2006
Librarians Against Palin
Office for Intellectual Freedom
Amnesty International Banned Books Week

And, just to show how unbiased I am, you can read this tripe by some homophobic right-wing nutcase: Banned Books Week: Smokescreen of Hypocrisy

Miscellaneous

2008-09-28T10:29:00.004-04:00

A coworker did Reiki on me the other day. It was nice, but I wouldn't pay $75 for it. I'm not a spiritual person at all, but let me tell you, I was extremely relaxed on the drive home. So relaxed, in fact, that I pulled into my driveway and didn't remember driving home at all. One of the things she told me is that the spirits demanded that she tell me to relax, so I'm going to work on relaxing more. My goal is to be like Peter in Office Spac e, but with a little less money laundering.

Speaking of not worrying, I just found out on Thursday night that they are creating an office manager job that would be perfect for me. The person would supervise support staff, do some HR, and generally make sure the York, Harrisburg, and Lancaster offices run smoothly. I already am essentially the office manager in Harrisburg, but I don't have the authority to do anything or the pay of a supervisor. Plus, I should probably have some kind of supervisory experience if I want to get a full-time library job that pays more than minimum wage. I'm pretty sure I'd be qualified to do this (my current supervisor doesn't even have a Bachelor's degree), but my fear is that they are transferring me to a job that no one else in-house would be able to do, and they might not want to go through the hassle of hiring and training someone else. I really want this though, so wish me luck!

My hatred of PETA knows no bounds, but they've really done it this time. They are asking Ben and Jerry's to use human breast milk instead of cow's milk in their ice cream. WTF?!?! First of all, no offense to all the mothers out there, but that is fucking disgusting. Second of all, you don't mess with my Ben and Jerry's. This idea is so ludicrous for a variety of reasons that I'm not going to mention because anyone with two brain cells to rub together (in other words, people who aren't members of PETA) can see how flawed it is. It's so stupid that I'm wondering if it's a joke.

I just finished Season 2 of Dexter and I sent an e-mail to March since he wants to talk about it...still haven't heard back. Where are you Maaaaaach?!

In other TV news, I completely forgot to watch The Office premier on Thursday night. I guess that takes it off my list of the top 10 shows. I did watch it on Hulu and it was good, but I still think the magic that they had in the first two seasons is gone. I won't talk about any specifics since some people may not have watched it, but right now I much prefer 30 Rock. I loved season 1, and season 2 is coming out on October 7 and is on my queue.

Netflix Picks

2008-09-21T22:55:00.003-04:00

I have a new addition to my top 10+ movies of all time: C.R.A.Z.Y. It's in Québécois French with English subtitles. Put it on your queue right away!

And, um, it doesn't hurt that the main character is insanely hot:

Dexter season 2 is also great. I thought the series got off to a slow start, but the end of the first season was awesome and it's only getting better. And, incidentally, the main character in that show is hot as well:

Funny or Sad?

2008-09-16T10:20:00.003-04:00

I normally hate e-mail forwards, but I got this from a coworker.

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic and different."'
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

If you graduate from Harvard Law School you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council, 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second-highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress and left your disfigured wife to marry the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

Politics

2008-09-11T09:00:00.002-04:00

First, I'd like to take a moment to remember the thousands of people who died in the terrorist attacks 7 years ago (I can't believe it has been 7 years already).

Today marks the beginning of the Pennsylvania smoking ban. Granted, there are plenty of exemptions (casinos, bars that make less than 20% profits in food sales, etc.), but it still scares the shit out of me that the government is telling private business owners that they can't allow a legal activity to take place on the premises. You know what they say: absolute power corrupts absolutely. *Update* I just got an e-mail from the PA State System of Higher Education that smoking is no longer permitted on any campuses. Between undergrad and grad school, I've put tens of thousands of dollars toward PASSHE and now I can't smoke outside?? I guess most people are so wrapped up in being happy about not having to smell smoke that they aren't concerned by the government's erosion of our rights.

And while I'm writing about politics, I just read that Palin's church is hosting a conference to "pray away the gay."

The Omnivore's Hundred

2008-09-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

I swiped this from Daily Pie. It looks like I need to broaden my culinary horizons, although that's hard to do, considering my grocery store's "ethnic foods" section consists of Chi Chi's salsa and La Choy soy sauce.

"Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results."

Venison
Nettle tea
Huevos Rancheros
Steak tartare
Crocodile
~~Black Pudding~~
Cheese fondue
Carp
Borscht
Baba ghanoush
Calamari
Pho
PB&J sandwich
Aloo gobi
Hot dog from a street cart
Epoisses
Black truffle
Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
Steamed pork buns
Pistachio ice cream
Heirloom tomatoes
Fresh wild berries
Foie gras
Rice and beans
~~Brawn, or head cheese~~
~~Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper~~
Dulce de leche
Oysters
Baklava
Bagna cauda
Wasabi peas
Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
Salted lassi
Sauerkraut
Root beer float
Cognac with a fat cigar
Clotted cream tea
Vodka jelly (Jell-O shots)
Gumbo
Oxtail
Curried goat
Whole insects
~~Phaal~~
Goat's milk
Malt whiskey from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
~~Fugu~~
Chicken itkka masala
Eel
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
Sea urchin
Prickly pear
Umeboshi
Abalone
Paneer
McDonald's Big Mac Meal
Spaetzle
Dirty gin martini
Beer above 8& ABV
Poutine
Carob chips
S'mores
~~Sweetbreads~~
~~Kaolin~~
Currywurst
Durian
Frogs' legs
Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
~~Haggis~~
Fried plantain
~~Chitterlings, or andouillette~~
Gazpacho
Caviar and blini
Louche absinthe
Gjetost, or brunost
~~Roadkill~~
Baijiu
Hostess Fruit Pie
Snail
Lapsang souchong
Bellini
Tom yum
Eggs Benedict
Pocky
Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
Kobe beef
Hare
Goulash
Flowers
Horse
Criollo chocolate
Spam
Soft shell crab
Rose harissa
Catfish
Mole poblano
Bagel and lox
Lobster Thermidor
Polenta
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Snake

Job Interview, Part Deux

2008-09-08T21:02:00.003-04:00

I have an interview with the Department of Public Welfare on the 17th. I'm not nervous at all; because of the way this works, the job is pretty much mine if I want it. Basically I have one week to think long and hard about what I want. I'm leaning toward not taking it for various reasons, among them not wanting to lose vacation time, having upcoming medical appointments, possible issues with leaving early to make it to school on time, and the fact that I made some connections in class this past weekend with people who work in various libraries in the area. Plus, if I turn the job down and change my mind later, I can just re-take the test. I can't even decide what I want to order at a restaurant; how the hell am I supposed to decide what life path I should take?!

You Don't Want to Piss off the Librarians

2008-09-04T21:30:00.003-04:00

Not that this comes as a surprise, but Sarah Palin is, in addition to being a member of the NRA and a fund-cutter to sex ed. programs, a book banner.

"[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. 'She asked the library how she could go about banning books,' he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. 'The librarian was aghast.' That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving 'full support' to the mayor."

Booo!! As a card-carrying member of the American Library Association (seriously), I would like to direct Mrs. Palin's attention to the ALA's Library Bill of Rights:

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Republicans, do you really want someone in office who would fire a person for disagreeing with her beliefs?

Please support challenged and banned books. Civil liberties are one of the founding principles of this country.

Source

Into the Mind of a Schizophrenic

2008-08-31T16:29:00.001-04:00

Check out this multimedia slide show at NPR's website about a virtual reality simulation of what it's like to have schizophrenia. You'll need RealPlayer to view it.

More Stuff

2008-08-26T09:15:00.003-04:00

There still isn't too much interesting going on in my life. I got my results for the civil service exam and I applied to 4 different counties, but there are really only 2 where I would want to work. For York, 11 people did better than I did, 1 did the same, and 200-some did worse; in the other county 21 people did better and 645 did worse. So basically, I'm tied at 12th for the York list and I'm 22nd for the other list. But, like I said, it probably wouldn't be the right move for me to take this job right now. For one thing, I'd lose all my time off, and we do get massive amount of time off to make up for our lousy pay. For another, there would be a lapse in my insurance, and I have a dentist appointment and a couple doctor's appointments coming up, not to mention that I'm on a couple different meds, one of which is a psychotropic, and you generally don't want to randomly stop taking those.

School has officially started, and I am not in school mode yet. I had my school e-mail rerouted to my Gmail because my school e-mail is a pain to access and some e-mails from my professor ended up going to my spam. Luckily they weren't sent that long ago and I didn't miss any deadlines because of it, but I could have gotten an early start. I like to stay ahead of the game, because if I don't, I feel like I'm drowning. My professor is making podcasts for our online course, which is very nice. I used to have to sit at the computer listening to hour-long lectures and now I can put them on my MP3 player and listen to them while I watch dishes or do other inane things.

I'm definitely leaning toward starting a private blog. I have a bunch of things going on right now that I need to vent about, and I have a crew of awesome, supportive blog buddies. And it's cheaper than therapy! By the way, for those of you who have private blogs, I just did some catching up over the weekend. Bloglines refuses to show when private blogs update, so I had assumed people just stopped blogging.

Stuff

2008-08-19T21:20:00.002-04:00

Two good things came out of having our door kicked in: our landlord had a screen door and a deadbolt installed. I have wanted a screen door since we moved in here about 3 1/2 years ago. The weather has been so beautiful here that we haven't needed the AC and I've been able to keep the door open. It might sound like a little thing, but I love fresh air. He didn't have a deadbolt put on the back door, but I got the carpenter's card and he only charges $20 an hour, so I'm going to ask if I can have one put on if I pay for it. It's futile because our doors have windows in them, so all someone would have to do is punch the window out and reach in to unlock the door, but at least you can't kick in a door that's deadbolted.

The kid and his mom were moving out on Saturday (he's actually not a little bastard--he's 19 and has no job and lives with his mom) and I REALLY wanted to go over there, but it's not fair to rip him a new asshole when I have no proof that he did it.

I took one of the civil service exams for a state job on Monday. It was an interesting experience; talk about a motley crew. We were all herded around like cattle and had orders barked at us. One woman didn't know how to use a mouse. Oy vey. The test was pretty easy. It's for an income maintenance case manager at the Department of Public Welfare. The first part was reading over part of the handbook and answering questions that described a household where you had to say whom was eligible for certain benefits based on the text. One of the questions was something like, "Everyone has a right to apply for benefits regardless of eligibility. In this case, 'right' means..." Three of the answers had to do with correctness and one was about something that is guaranteed to you. Are there people who would get that wrong?! There was a math part that was basically calculating benefits and gross income, there was a hilariously cheesy part about interpersonal skills where you had to watch horribly-acted vignettes and say what the person should have done, and then there was a part about grammar. I'm sure I did well, but there's a pretty long wait for these jobs. If I were planning to work for the state and retire I would probably accept it, but my future is so up in the air right now, that I don't know if it would be worth it.

I'm thinking of starting a private blog, but I don't even post on this one so I don't know what makes me think I'd post on a private one. I do feel a little stifled here though, for reasons I don't want to say here. School starts on Monday though, so I should probably hold off.

I hope everyone's enjoying the last few weeks of summer. I'm more of a fall person myself. That's pretty much all that's going on right now unless you want to read more detail about my exciting life of waking up, going to work, coming home, doing inane things in the evening, going to bed, and then starting all over the next day.

A Tale of Two Days

2008-08-14T18:09:00.003-04:00

While Rusty was meeting Jason Castro (I knew I should have gone to D.C.!), I was having the front door of my house kicked in. Luckily nothing was stolen. My landlord thinks it was a kid who lives in another one of his apartments who is mad because he and his mother are being evicted. So because some white trash piece of shit can't pay her fucking rent, I get my house vandalized.

Update

2008-07-30T21:04:00.004-04:00

I'm gonna make it short and sweet because I feel like I've told this story many, many times over the last 30 hours, but I didn't get the job. I knew as I was leaving that I probably wouldn't get it because it seemed like I didn't have the right experience that they were looking for, and I got a call from HR today confirming that. I really appreciate that they called me so quickly to let me know so I didn't have to wonder. I'm sort of annoyed that I wasted my time/ink/nice resume paper/gas running to a post office that hadn't picked up the mail yet to send thank you letters. Oh well. I'm scheduled to take a civil service on August 18, so we'll see how that goes. This weekend I get to go to Rusty's and I must get drunk at least one night to reward myself for going through the ups and downs I've had over the past few weeks.

Thanks, everyone, for the well wishes. I have the best blog friends ever!

Thinking Calming Thoughts

2008-07-29T09:37:00.003-04:00

Today is D-Day. My interview starts at 1:15. I feel prepared, but I'm completely exhausted. After work yesterday, I went to dinner (I had fish tacos for the first time and they were awesome--I don't think Californians are crazy anymore) and then to Hersheypark with a work friend and didn't get home till a little after 11 and then didn't go to bed till after midnight, then I had to get up for an 8AM dermatologist appointment this morning. I just finished my coffee and I stopped at Burger King for a Croisanwich and a large Dr. Pepper, the breakfast of champions, so hopefully the caffeine will help me wake up.

Yesterday my coworker accepted a job, so when she leaves I'm going to be swamped unless management is organized and they replace her quickly (pause for laughter). I have a lot riding on this job and, I'll be honest, I'll be devastated if I don't get it. I'll let you all know how it goes when I get home! Thanks for the well wishes!

Job Update

2008-07-23T21:59:00.002-04:00

My interview is scheduled for next Tuesday. I go in at 1:15 to go over benefits, meet with one doctor at 1:30, another doctor at 2:00, and then a woman who works in the position I'm applying for (I don't know if we'll be working together or if she's leaving) at 2:30. An almost 2 hour interview, good Lord!

One of my coworkers had the best. idea. ever. He said I should get on MedLine and find some research studies that these doctors have done. I found about 12, so I'll read over them this weekend and try to make some sense of them! Gotta love having access to Clarion's databases and inter-library loan!

Answers (Updated w/ B's questions)

2008-07-16T11:15:00.003-04:00

From March:

1. Do you recycle as much as you think you can?
I'm pretty good about recycling, but I don't recycle at work since we don't have any recycling bins and if I have a can with really nasty stuff in it, I just throw it away instead of rinsing it out and recycling it.

2. If you could have any band play a party for you who is it and why?
Even though Depeche and The Cure are my favorite bands, they're not really party bands, so I'd like (assuming I can bring people back from the dead) Skynyrd or Zeppelin. They'd both rock out and then throw back beers with my party guests after the set. They'd also probably sleep with all of my friends.

3. When you were a kid what job(s) did you want?
I wanted to be a veterinarian, an interior designer, or an environmentalist

4. You see a person fall..do you laugh?
No, unless it's one of my friends and they aren't hurt.

5. Chewy Chips Ahoy or regular crunchy ones?
Chewy all the way!

6. What is the oddest thing you "knowingly" ate?
I haven't eaten anything too odd...I guess liver (nasty!), wild turkey (really dry), bear (tastes like chicken), and deer (mmm...deer bologna), but none of those are odd if you live in PA. Two of my favorite foods are brussels sprouts and pickled beets, and most people think it's odd to like those.

7. If you drink coffee, how do you like it prepared?
When I make it at home I use Dunkin' Donuts coffee that I grind myself with half and half and 1 packet of Splenda (but I'm going to switch to sugar when I use up all my Splenda packets because I'm trying to stop eating processed foods)...I make it the night before and put it in the fridge, when I do a Dunkin' run I get iced coffee with cream and sugar and a shot of hazelnut if I'm feeling saucy; if I'm getting a frou frou drink I get a mocha latte.

8. If we were dating, and I said you can't watch american idol any more would you break up with me? remember..I'd be the most awesomest B.F. ever..so keep that in mind..
First of all, Jim Halpert is the most awesomest bf in the world; second of all, I've been in too many relationships where I've compromised myself to make my man happy, so I would kick your ass to the curb and curl up on the couch to watch my AI boyfriends caterwaul their way through some of my favorite songs.

9. What is your favorite artificial flavor?
I love anything strawberry, coffee, or hazelnut flavored.

10. You are at a salad bar..what "bad" things do you put on the salad?
Cheddar cheese and croutons

From B.:

If you had to change the name of your blog, what would you change it to?
Oh no! I'm so bad at thinking up names for things. Maybe "The Wayward Librarian." Or, let's be honest here, "Don't Read This; Not Worth It."

Name 3 things you can do better than the average person.
Speak Spanish, remember song lyrics, play time management games like Diner Dash and Cake Mania (these games are my crack)

Squee!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-16T06:56:00.003-04:00

Holy shit! I have an interview for my dream job!!

As you may remember, we were bought out effective July 1, and they have all these plans for me that they think I like, but in actuality, they blow. So I was putting my feelers out on Friday evening and found a Clinical Research Associate position at a local hospital. I thought, "I'm probably under-qualified, but what the hell?" I come home from work yesterday and have a message that the physicians are interested in meeting with me and would like to set up an interview. I was so excited I was shaking! This job would kick massive ass! I would be using my mad librarian skillz to help ER docs to research. I didn't get the message till after 5 yesterday, so I have to call after 8 this morning to set it up, but it just so happens that I took off Friday and Monday since Rusty came home. Everything's coming up Jenny!

It wouldn't be me without the downsides: I have to treat very lightly at work about this because with the merger they have to get rid of some people. They're not getting rid of me, but if this got out to the wrong people, well... Also, I have to go buy appropriate interview attire and I'd rather be torn limb-from-limb by a pack of wolves than go clothes shopping. I had 3 dreams about this last night: 2 were that I didn't get the job and 1 was that it only paid $20K. Wish me luck/pray/meditate/send me good vibes; I'll keep you posted!

On another note, I'm going to copy B. and open the blog to any questions about anything. I read March's questions to her and was like, "I want to answer those questions!" So ask away!

Simpsons Quotes

2008-07-08T21:47:00.001-04:00

I've had this post simmering for a while, but considering I had a message at work today from a man named Seymour Butts (hand to God!), I figured now was a great time to post it. This is a list of my 10 favorite Simpsons quotes, in no particular order:

Mr. Burns: "Ironic, isn't it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes cost me the election, yet if I were to have them killed, I'd be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you."

Skinner: "Nibbles, chew through my ball sack."

Kang: "Abortions for all."
[Half of crowd boos]
"Very well, no abortions for anyone.
[Other half of crowd boos]
Hmm...Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.
[Whole crowd cheers]

Shary Bobbins: "Hello Willie."
Lisa: "You know her?"
Willie: "Aye. Shary Bobbins and I were engaged to be wed back in the old country. Then she got her eyesight back. Suddenly the ugliest man in Glasgow wasn't good enough for her."
Shary: "It's good to see you , Willie."
Willie: "That's not what you said the first time you saw me!"

Troy McClure: "Hi! I'm actor Troy McClure and you may remember me from such self-help videos as Smoke Yourself Thin and Get Some Confidence, Stupid."

Ned: [Walking up, singing] Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the--oh my Lord! Something horrible has happened!
Homer: [Snickers, then laughs] Fooled you Flanders! Made you think your family was dead!

Ned: Oooh...That's quite a thing-a-ma-jigsaw! But it looks like you're missing a piece...
Homer: Looks like you're missing a wife!
Flanders: Heh heh. I walked right into that one.

Homer (singing to the tune of the Flintstones theme song): Simpson/Homer Simpson/He's the greatest guy in history/From the/town of Springfield/He's about to hit a chestnut tree!

Homer, in a video he made in which he describes Lisa: "My favorite book is magazines."

Homer: "Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!"
Homer's Brain: "Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!"
Homer: "Explain how!"
Homer's Brain: "Money can be exchanged for goods and services!"
Homer: "Woo-hoo!"

And a bonus:

Homer: "Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?"
Lisa: "No."
Homer: "Ham?"
Lisa: "No."
Homer: "Pork chops?"
Lisa: "Dad, those all come from the same animal."
Homer: "Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal."

I'm Alive

2008-06-28T09:38:00.004-04:00

Rest easy, blog peeps; I'm alive and my hiatus is over. March wondered WTF happened to me. I finished my Cataloging class (got a B, one point away from an A, dammit) and have been taking two summer classes. One is already over (A) and one will be over next Thursday. Rusty came to visit, but we didn't do too much since I was busy and she had to spread herself around. I was cat-sitting for her two little bastards and they managed to pee on my floor, and steal a chicken breast and shortcake that I stupidly left on the counter. Rusty's coming back in July though, and I'll be class-free (in both senses of the word), so we'll get to do all kinds of fun stuff. I was looking forward to having life go back to normal after Rusty left with the cats and my weekend class was over, but our fridge broke this past Monday and was finally fixed yesterday. Being without a fridge totally sucks ass! That's pretty much all that's going on right now, considering my summer hasn't officially started yet. I've only had one week without school since January and I spend part of that week in D.C., so I've been pretty busy. I don't have any plans for the 4th, except maybe going to Hersheypark on Friday. My friend at work and I are waiting to see what the weather's like and trying to decide how insane it is to go to Hershey on a holiday that falls on a Friday. I'll update more frequently if anything cool goes on, but I've been reading your blogs even if I haven't been commenting. I hope everyone's having a good summer!

The little bastards, in a rare moment of not being little bastards:

Shortcake carnage:

Movie Recommendation

2008-05-31T22:03:00.001-04:00

I just finished watching The Savages, and it was one of the most brilliantly written, directed, and acted films I have ever seen. There isn't too much I can say about it since it was more of a character-driven movie than a plot-driven one, but I highly recommend it and it received a rarely-awarded 5-star rating by me in Netflix.

Grass and Weed

2008-05-30T23:17:00.003-04:00

Today is a day of great rejoicing!! My landlord, who had not mowed (mown?) our lawn for 5 weeks, finally mowed today!!!!!! The grass was up to my knees and the weeds were past my hip. Plus, I found a tick on my head while I was on the phone with Rusty last Saturday. Nasty!!

I'm leaving you with a joke I heard on the radio:

A man met a little girl and asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She replied that she wanted to be the first female president. He asked her what party she was going to belong to and she replied that she was going to belong to the Democratic party. The man asked her why she wanted to be a Democratic president and she replied that she wanted to help the homeless. The man told her that she didn't have to be the president to help the homeless; in fact, he was going to pay her $5 to clean up dog poo in his yard. He told her she could then go give the $5 to the homeless people to put toward a house. The little girl thought about this proposition for a little while and then asked, "Why don't you just have the homeless people pick up the poo and give them the money directly?" The man replied, "Welcome to the Republican party, my dear."

Woot!

2008-05-22T08:40:00.002-04:00

These are for Rusty to hopefully make up for cheating on our man (I never truly left him, I was just getting a little sumtin' sumtin' on the side):

Theft! from TWoP:

Idol Thoughts

2008-05-21T23:17:00.005-04:00

Tuesday night:

Enough with the boxing metaphors!

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: Wow. I am so in love with David Cook.
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me: Fantastic. Round 1 was awesome.

Dreck #1: Eh. Not bad for one of the coronation songs. It could be worse.
Dreck #2: And it is worse...

The World I Know: I hate this song, but I liked it when David did it. Same deal with Don't Want to Miss a Thing from last week. That's one of my least favorite songs in the history of songs, but I liked David doing it. Maybe I will buy his CD after all...
Imagine: Whatever.

Wednesday night:

I love things that are cheesy as well as things that are bombastic, and tonight proved to be both. Woot!

David, please no more wallet chain. This isn't 1995.

Mike Myers annoys the bejesus out of me in everything except Wayne's World, but I chuckled a few times during the guru bit. And it was worth it to see David C. cracking up, David A. catching the shaving cream, and Ryan riding around on the carpet.

Jason's Hallelujah Part Deux: Awesome! I love this kid!!

Ummm...holy shit...David in his underwear.

Bo Bice!!

So those are the Jonas Brothers. Eh.

Way to backpedal, Simon.

David Cook FTMFW!!!!!!!!!

Awww...Loved the "That's my brother" at the end.

No one I've liked has ever won before. I don't know if this will be good or bad.

Well, I finally have my life back till January. It's been fun.

Where Have I Been?

2008-05-18T07:38:00.003-04:00

March was wondering this the other day; I can only assume it's because he's secretly hankering for more Idol Thoughts. May is usually my busiest month because that's when I come out of hibernation and there are always a lot of birthday dinners for myself and a couple of my friends who share May birthdays. This May has been no exception. As you all know, I've been having nervous breakdowns over cataloging since January. I handed in my final paper in the end of April, then headed off to Mooresville to see Rusty. Two weeks after that, Chris and I went for a long weekend in Washington, D.C. and then right after that, my first summer class started. My second summer class starts June 3; yes, they overlap. And the birthday dinners haven't even started yet! The first one is today, I'm still waiting to hear back from L. (If you're reading this, thanks for ignoring me!! :)) and another friend, there is a breakfast pending with some old co-workers, and an outing to see Sex in the City with a current co-worker coming up. That's a lot for someone who is as adept at sitting on her ass as I am.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. D.C. pics are forthcoming; I don't have too many because the weather was horrible. Steady rains and temperatures 25 degrees below normal sort of marred my big plans, but I had a good time nonetheless. I ended up getting an 88% in Cataloging. I'm usually not happy with a B in a class for which I did so much work, but that was hell and I had D at one point, so I can't complain about a B. Especially since he ripped my paper apart... It's also a little annoying that he considers an 89% an A, so I just missed it. But, as one of my co-workers told me (remember what I said about working with therapists?), I need to let go of the negativity and move on.

I had my first session of my first summer class this past weekend and it was the best class I've had so far. I adore the professor (and I think she really likes me) and only looked at my watch about 3 times, compared to 3,000 times in my other weekend classes. I'm actually considering switching the class I chose in the fall to have her again. On a side note, I just found out that someone else will be teaching cataloging next time it's offered. Arghh!!!!!!! If I had waited, perhaps I could have had a professor who doesn't have such an arbitrary grading system. Sorry; letting go of the negativity... I'm dreading having these two summer classes overlapping (the first one is three weekends and the second is online) because we have to do as much in 5 weeks as we would normally do in 4 months, but by July 3 I'll be 6 credits closer to graduating. By Christmas I'll have 7 out of 12 classes and all I'll have left to take is electives, so I can take things that actually interest me.

There aren't any Idol Thoughts for last week because I worked Tuesday night and my Ti-faux is still out of commission, so I taped it and only watched David Cook's performances. No surprises Wednesday night; Syesha should have gone weeks ago. The Office season finale was Thursday and it was great. Pathetically, I'm glad that I'll have my life back after Wednesday. I rarely watch TV in the summer, and I won't have time to until July anyway. I even bumped my Netflix subscription down to 2 at a time.

Work is still insanely busy, compounded by the fact that I've been off so many days in the past month. I'm off again on Monday, so next week will be crazy again, but I'm hoping that things will calm down after that. Obviously we're closed on Memorial Day, but there's a huge difference in the amount of work required when I'm off on a vacation day compared to a day we're closed. It hasn't helped that they were switching the servers, so our MIS has been down a lot and 95% of what I do requires the ability to use it. The only other thing on the work front is that we got new computers (our old ones were castoffs from the state, so they were probably about 10 years old).
Now it takes less than 2 minutes to open a new window and I have a flat-screen monitor so I have free space on my desk! Woot!

So, with everything that's going on, I'll be posting D. C. pics and Idol Thoughts next week and then probably won't be around too much till July unless something awesome or stupid happens. I expect it'll be the latter. I hope everyone has a good beginning of the summer!

Every Time That I Plant a Seed...

2008-05-08T08:29:00.003-04:00

...they say kill it before it grows.

Good bye, sweet Jason. I fully expected not to watch this season after the crapfests that were seasons 5 and 6. That all changed during the top 20 when I saw the most awesome pre-performance package ever:

By the end of that performance, I was smitten. I became something much more than smitten after Hallelujah, one of the absolute best Idol performances ever. I'm talking chills, people. I actually voted for an hour; before then (and I've been watching since the middle of the first season), I had cast exactly two votes.

I started looking into Jason's pre-Idol performances and found Crazy, which was unable to be shown on the show due to Dangermouse not giving permission:

The finals were really a mixed bag for Jason. Even Memory, which I consider to be his worst performance, was earnest and moving. Every week Jason came out and gave it his all, changing songs up, playing an instrument almost every week, putting a huge smile on my face during the goofy group medleys, and never once forgetting his lyrics until Tuesday (*cough* David Archuleta *cough*).

All that from a contestant who got no screen time before the top 24, had limited stage experience, and was consistently thrown under the bus.

Of course we all knew it was Jason's time to go last night. He handled it with grace and humor and his singout was the best. singout. ever. Thanks for cutting if off, FOX.

Now, I'm watching for David Cook, but would I buy his album? Probably not. I couldn't possibly care any less about Jon Benet Gaspuleta or ShyMEEEEEsha. Knock 'em dead, Jason, and keep that huge smile on your face. I look forward to your album.

Idol Thoughts

2008-05-06T20:55:00.006-04:00

I sat down to watch Idol tonight, and I even planned to take notes so I could do a better analysis, but my Ti-faux decided to crash right after Jason got his first scathing review, so here's what I saw:

David C, "Hungry Like the Wolf" - That was a very sexy performance; I'd say it was average for David, but miles ahead of many of the other performances we've ever seen on Idol. What the hell was Paula talking about with the Boys' Club reference?

Syesha, "Proud Mary" (of course) - This is what I wrote, and hand to God I wrote it before the judges' critique: Tina Turner impersonation, too rehearsed, screamy but I wasn't bored.

Jason, "I Shot the Sheriff" - Cute interview; adorable performance. I liked how he changed things up and thought it was authentic.

David A. - ? Thanks Ti-faux. I'm sure he got a tongue bath though.

David C. - "Baba O'Reilly" - Caught this on VCR. I thought it was a very good performance, although I'm not crazy about this song.

Syesha - Good technically. She's not going home tomorrow night, unfortunately.

Jason - Oh no. Well, he looked good and sounded awesome, but forgetting your lyrics is the kiss of death unless you're David Arculeta.

David A. - Fast forwarded. Watching this kid makes me feel like I'm exploiting him; like I'm watching Jon Benet Ramsey or something.

I was really excited going into tonight because no matter what, one of my favorites will be in the top 3. I predict Jason will go home, which is unfortunate because although I'm ok with him being in the top 4, I really didn't want Syesha to last longer than he did. Does she even have fans? At TWoP she has about 40 pages while the Davids and Jason have about 200. David C. is in first, followed by Jason and then David A. I just don't get it. If I could only buy one album from one of these crew it would definitely be Jason, and I know he'll put one out eventually. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go try to figure out why the hell my Ti-faux hates me.

I just found this on TWoP and it sums my feelings up quite nicely "If I lose my beloved Jason tomorrow, I just hope Cook kicks everyone else's asses."

Have You Ever Been Jealous of a Dolphin?

2008-05-04T15:10:00.000-04:00

I have...

Work Drama

2008-05-04T15:09:00.006-04:00

I don't usually post about work here because two of my co-workers are also MySpace friends and I link to my blog on my MySpace, but they already know about this and if anyone else finds it, they can go screw. Our company is being bought out by another, much richer company. It has been described by myself and other equally cynical co-workers as a sugar daddy situation where we're spreading our legs and taking it.

Last Friday, before I went to Rusty's, I received an e-mail that said, "Please note attached memo regarding weekly time sheets and the attached time study form that you are to utilize starting on Monday, April 28th. Thanks for you assistance in this matter."

At first I ignored it because I thought it had to do with people who submit time sheets to get paid. Then I read it more closely and read the attachments. One was this (partly paraphrased): "We totally fucked up in our last merger; therefore, we find it necessary to continue to assess various administrative needs within the agency along with the skill set of specifically identified staff members. This is being done in an effort to ensure smooth and affective [sic] operations in each program area. With this in mind, we have identified a number of staff who will be expected to complete a weekly time sheet of daily activities starting on April 28, 2008 until further notice.

Since you personally received this email, please assume that you have been selected to complete the attached time sheet. The time sheet must be thoroughly completed every week and submitted to X by 12:00 every Monday. The sheets will be reviewed by management on a weekly basis to get a better sense of what functions are occurring effectively and efficiently and what areas of concern have surfaced that need to be appropriately addressed. Questions that might arise through the weekly reviews will be addressed with you personally. If you have any specific questions/concerns, please feel free to direct them to our attention. [this will be important later] We want to thank you in advance for helping us complete this assessment which we feel will serve to strengthen our ongoing operations."

By the way, my supervisor didn't even know about this till I forwarded it to her with a WTF?! message attached.

Also attached was an Excel spreadsheet with days of the week across the top and half-hour increments on the side; the squares are approximately 2 square inches each.

This e-mail came from one of our VPs who is not directly over me and who, when I left the York office to go to Harrisburg, called me into her office and said, "Don't start slacking because you're leaving York." You all don't know me, but I am extremely diligent, precise, and hard-working. I've never gotten bad grades or bad performance reviews at work. I did have some shortcomings at my position in the York office; however, many of them were beyond my control.

On several occasions I have brought my concerns to management and my co-workers have made it known to them that I'm extremely underutilized. Apparently management felt the need to treat us like children instead of giving us the opportunity to assess the "various administrative needs" of our position ourselves or discussing with management what we believe to be our "skill set." Here's another great idea. Maybe if we actually got the performance reviews that we're supposed to receive, those could be assessed to determine our fucking skill sets.

One of the other mental health agencies in our area recently closed, so now we're pretty much it, which means not only are we getting all of their clients, we're getting all the clients who would have gone to the other agency. In the first 9 days of April I had done 80 intakes; before this agency closed I usually averaged about 2-3 a day. So, since my workload is so high right now and since I was off for three days last week and since our computer system will be down from noon Monday until possibly Wednesday and since I do a job that was previously done by myself and another full-time employees and since this is the beginning of the month, which is when I have to do the billing, I e-mailed this VP and asked if I could hand my time study in late due to the fact that I felt it was a more effective use of my time to do work that requires use of the MIS while it's working rather than to fill our a time study.

No dice. But she doesn't respond to me directly, she tells the director of the program for which I work, who is also not directly above me, that I can hand it in on Friday (this past Friday) if I can't do it by Monday. WTF?!?!?!?! If I don't have time to fill out the time study by noon Monday, how is it helpful to allow me to hand it in three days earlier!? Apparently logic isn't in this woman's "skill set." God, I hate that phrase. The poor director got an earful and I had a meltdown. Luckily, the upside is that those are more accepted in a counseling agency than they would be in say, a law office (the downside is that everything you do or say is over-analyzed and you're given a diagnosis).

So, being the slacking employee that I am, I spend 4 hours this weekend doing work to play catch-up. And you better believe I made it known on my time study sheet (I made up my own instead of the shitty one they supplied, thank you very much.)

File this one under it's time to look for a new job. At least my resume is updated.

Idol Thoughts

2008-05-01T21:47:00.003-04:00

Well, I don't have too many Idol Thoughts this week, so here's a quickie version. I flew into Baltimore Tuesday evening; my parents picked me up, we stopped for dinner, got to their house right at 8, I watched until David Cook's second performance, and then I went home. I went to the bathroom during most of David A's performance and went into the kitchen to smoke during Syesha's, so all I really saw was part of David A.'s and Brooke's first performances and both of Jason's and David C.'s. I thought the best of the night was David C. who, much to Rusty's dismay, is now my second AI boyfriend (and yes, I did once call him pasty, greasy, doughy, and disgusting), followed closely by Jason.

I'd be ok if Jason went home next week if Syesha weren't still there. I know he's not going to win, nor do I want him to, but he can't go before her.

I loved Paula's gaffe. This show is such bullshit.

On Wednesday night I got to see Ace but my view was tainted by Constantine.

I fast forwarded through Natasha Beddingfield (sp?) and really liked Neil Diamond's song. Brooke's sing-out was touching.

Mooresville

2008-04-30T20:49:00.003-04:00

I just got back yesterday from a 4-day weekend at Rusty's. I also realized I never posted my pics from Philly in the beginning of April. They're on the way!

Rusty:

Fred and George (I have become a crazy cat lady):

Chris insisting on taking my picture when I got home (I was not amused):

Narcissism:

Not from Mooresville, but just for fun:

Idol Thoughts

2008-04-22T21:47:00.004-04:00

I know I haven't been posting much; I've been pretty busy lately.

Syesha - She still bothers me, but it was definitely one of her better performances.

Jason - I thought this was the worst of the night. Horrible song choice. Bo survived Broadway week so maybe Jason will too.

David A. - I fast forwarded through most of it. I just can't watch that kid.

Brooke - Second worst of the night. It would have been much better if she hadn't been so nervous after she screwed up. Was it wrong that I was glad she screwed up since it's Jason's only chance at not going home? I thought her dress was pretty till I saw that it was butterflies.

Carly - Yay for doing a song from JCS, boo for it being JCS. At least it wasn't "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Also boo for wearing a dress that had a design that looked like ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a uterus right over where her ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus are.

David C. - Fantastic!

Someone should have done the screamy part of Gethsemane.

Idol Thoughts

2008-04-10T08:50:00.003-04:00

No Idol Thoughts from last week...it was a busy one (more on that to come).

I thought everyone did pretty well (to varying degrees, of course) on Wednesday night. The worst for me were Syesha and David Cook (I just thought that was a very strange performance). The best was Jason, and I'm saying that totally objectively. I wasn't (as) blinded by lust (as usual) because I wasn't crazy about the outfit. I probably wouldn't have liked Kristy, but I don't know because I used that time to put my dishes away.

I watched about 20-30 minutes' worth of last night's extravaganza. I'm pretty cynical about Idol Gives Back, but it does raise millions of dollars, so maybe I shouldn't be. Although it's sort of hard not to be cynical when ExxonMobil is written at the bottom of my screen and they make millions of dollars every second. Some quick thoughts:

I hate "Please Don't Stop the Music" but I really loved, to a strange degree, Jason's part of the song. I also love watching people who know how to dance well. I'm pretty much the whitest white that ever whited, so my dancing ability is restricted to swaying from side to side completely out of time with the music. It's ok though, because one of the things white people like is standing still at concerts.

Bleep Bloop (although I have Tifaux, so mine just goes "ding.")

I felt sort of embarrassed for Terri Hatcher when she sang "Before He Cheats," but I forgot about that embarrassment when I saw the violinist from Band from TV. Wait, I just looked them up and Terri is in the band. I wasn't ever aware that this existed, although their name makes much more sense now. Apparently the infinitely sexy violinist is Jesse Spencer, who looks a lot less hot on my monitor than he looked on TV last night.

Ding

Why is the "acquitted" rapist Kobe Bryant telling me to give money? Why does he have a white person's flesh-colored band-aid on his face? Now that I think about it, do they even make darker-colored band-aids for African Americans? Who knew that Curad was racist? Who knew that before his rape trial, Kobe had an endorsement deal with Nutella? Who knew that this paragraph would go so far off-topic?

Ding

Heart!!!!! Ann Wilson sounds as great as ever! Ahhhh!! Fergie. Actually, she didn't sound too bad. What is going on tonight? First I'm obtaining enjoyment from a Rihanna song that isn't "Umbrella" and now I'm digging Fergie. Has my brain officially been broken?

Ding

"525,600 Minutes!" I love this song, but the performance isn't so great. Kristy's mike is turned up too loud. Not as good as the version on my original Broadway soundtrack.

Ding

Robin Williams as the Russian Idol is uncomfortable, unfunny, and goes on way too long.

Ding

I was promised by pictures from the taping that there would be white outfits, yet there is one minute to go and Mariah Carey is "singing." Oh, here it is. "Shout to the Lord." I'm a little put off by this. What if they're not Christians? I know Jason, Brooke, and Archie are, and I assume Kristy is, but the others? Did they have a say if they're not? What if they're Buddhists? Some people were pissed that they performed a song from "Rent" and then followed it up with this. It sounds good though, so I'll ignore the lyrics and look at Jason, and in honor of the full-body shot of Jason I'll think of some appropriate lyrics from Salt N Pepa: "Oooh, how you doin' baby? No, not you. You. The bow-legged one. Yeah. What's your name? Jason...that sounds sexy."

Girls, what's my weakness?

Dealbreaker

2008-03-31T21:42:00.003-04:00

Here's an article from the New York Times about "dealbreaker" lit. I'm not too much of a book snob because I read some pretty low-brow stuff, but for me, the dealbreaker would be someone who thinks The DaVinci Code is well-written. Or someone who read and followed The Secret. Although that would be more of a life-outlook problem than a literary problem. I'd just be happy to find a man who reads regularly...I don't know any. Do any of you have dealbreakers?

Fuck You, Melville Dewey

2008-03-29T20:43:00.003-04:00

I had my last class from hell today!!! What did I learn? That I do not want to be a cataloger. This class has pretty much consumed my life for the past 2 months, and now all I have to do is write a 3-page paper by the end of April...and await the grade from my final *gulp*. As of right now, I have an 89.3% in the class, so unless I royally fuck up the final and the paper, I'm good to go. Not too shabby, considering at one point I had a 60%. He took a picture of us that I'll post as soon as he posts it unless I look like ass, which I probably do. Who wouldn't look like ass after spending almost 14 hours discussing the finer points of Library of Congress Subject Headings, Sears subject headings, Dewey, DDC call numbers, Cutter numbers, and Library of Congress Classification. I'm 1/4 of the way finished and by Christmas I'll be halfway there! Woot!

And be warned: if you tell me the Dewey Decimal System isn't used anymore, I'm going to punch you in the face.

At least I get to look forward to Rusty and V.'s visit to York next week!

Idol Thoughts Edit

2008-03-26T10:04:00.006-04:00

This is being written by Jen's ghost. She has died because Jason sang in Spanish. Wow! Everyone was pretty good last night! I do feel old though...only Michael is older than I am.

Ramiele - I actually didn't think it was as bad as others do. Of course she's no Ann Wilson and was very off-key while she was belting, but I've heard much worse. Please, though, no shit-eating grins during "Alone." Not a happy song.

Jason - Oh, sweetie. As much as I loved watching you and your brother rocking out (if there's one thing this world needs, it's more keytar) and seeing those gorgeous baby blues and chubby cheeks, I think you're a lock for the bottom 3 tonight and possibly going home. AI is no place for subtlety, my dear. If you don't belt or screech they have no time for you. I thought you were really good, but I'm worried. And dude, what were those pants? It's good that you like showing off your long, lean legs, but please burn those pants immediately. Happy birthday! I feel much less lecherous now that you're 21. If it had been David A's birthday there would have been streamers and clowns and cake for everyone in the audience.
Syesha - I'm really not a fan of this genre of music, but she sang it very well. Now she just needs to stop doing that baby cry.

Jacuzzi - I do have to admit that this was boring and I went into the kitchen to do dishes while he was singing, but I heard it and it sounded good.

Brooke - She gets praise for starting wrong and re-starting? K... I really like Brooke when she's playing the piano or guitar and singing. She should never sing without playing again. Weird song choice though. Sometimes I don't think people realize what that song is about.

Michael - Good! I think I may have left out the "We Will Rock You" part though.

Carly - Something about her bothers me, and I don't know what! I wish I did. I thought she did well even though she messed up the words and whiffed that last note.

David - God, this kid annoys the bejesus out of me. Still, he did pretty well. He was born in December of 1990?! Holy shit! Did he say this song was by John Bonham? The only John Bonham I know is Led Zeppelin's drummer, and something tells me this is not his song. Is this a Christian song or something?

KKKristy - "God Bless the U.S.A." makes me embarrassed to be an American, and it's a little hard for me to be patriotic when 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died in this bullshit war. I know I'm a big asshole, but I seriously can't be the only person who hates that dreck of a song, can I? That was a very shrewd song choice. If you don't vote for KKKristy you support the terrorists and Saddam Hussein's non-existent WMDs and Osama bin Laden and high crude oil prices. Or something...

David - Please explain to me how a person is original if he constantly uses other peoples' arrangements? That ridiculousness aside, I love Michael Jackson (he must be pretty hard up), I love "Billie Jean," and I love Chris Cornell's cover of "Billie Jean." I thought David did a really good, albeit not in any way original, job.

Top 20 American Idol Performances

2008-03-23T21:37:00.000-04:00

Because I go through withdraw on the weekends...
In season order

Season 1:

Cheesy Group Sing: California Dreamin'

Season 2:

Cheesy Group Sing: For the Longest Time

Season 3:

Semi-finals: Lisa Leuschner, "Sweet Thing." Robbed, I say!

Semi-finals: Jon Peter Lewis, "A Little Less Conversation"

George Huff, "Take Me to the Pilot"

Season 4: Semi-finals: Nadia Turner, "There's a Power"

Semi-finals: Bo Bice, "Whipping Post"

Carrie Underwood, "Alone"

Bo Bice, "Spinning Wheel" and "Vehicle"

Season 5: Semi-finals: Ace Young, "Father Figure"

Semi-finals: Bucky Covington, "Thunder Rolls"

Chris Daughtry, "I Walk the Line"

Paris Bennett, "The Show Must Go on"

Season 6: Hollywood Week: Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh, Tom Lowe, and Rudy Cardenas, "How Deep Is Your Love"

Blake Lewis, "You Give Love a Bad Name"

Season 7: Hollywood Week: Josiah Lemming, "Grace Kelly"

Semi-finals: Alexandrea Lushington, "Spinning Wheel" Bonus points for doing "You Know I'm No Good" during Hollywood Week

Semi-finals: Jason Castro, "What a Day for a Daydream" and "I Just Want to Be Your Everything"

Idol Thoughts

2008-03-18T21:06:00.003-04:00

Amanda - It was OK. I'm tired of her and I don't like "Back in the USSR."

KKKristy - Ummm...maybe you should have listened to some of the songs before you chose one. I thought that was horrendous. Very awkward movements.

David A - Pretty good. Hate that song. He still bothers me for some reason.

Michael - I laughed out loud when he said he wasn't wearing an earpiece (I didn't think he had been wearing one when Paula was blathering). I thought it was just OK. That's one of my favorite Beatles songs and I don't know that it's really suitable for 1.5 minute treatment...I hated the way he cut it up. Oh Lord, he played the dead friend card (wow, this show has made me somewhat jaded). He just bought himself another week. I still hate the way he moves. It reminds me of a drunk Jim Morrison (although really, is there any other kind?)

Brooke - I really wanted Jason to do that song. It would have been much better sitting and playing the guitar. What's with the awkward movements tonight?

David C - Dude. Whitesnake? I was a little worried when I saw the Peter Frampton device, but I really liked this performance! I even got some tinglies at parts, and I normally find him doughy, greasy, pasty, and repulsive. I'm doughy, greasy, pasty, and repulsive too though, so I can't talk. I despised what he did to "Eleanor Rigby" last week, but I think "Day Tipper" is more of a throwaway song, so it worked.

Carly - Nice, but I could have done without the glory notes. I liked the strings.

Jason - I. Love. This. Boy. Jason singing in French gave me the vapors. If he ever sings in Spanish, I'll die. Of course Ryan knows French.

Syesha - Good.

Jacuzzi - The beginning was boring, but I liked the end.

Ramiele - Meh. I like her voice, but I wasn't crazy about the song.

Chester Cheetah All Grown Up

2008-03-17T19:35:00.001-04:00

I love "There's been an incident."

In the News

2008-03-13T18:41:00.001-04:00

There is a lot of ridiculousness going on lately. Two things from the paper today:

"New Haven, Conn.--Contraband candy has led to big trouble for an eighth-grade honors student in Connecticut.

Michael Sheridan was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate.

School spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo says the New Haven school system banned candy sales in 2003 as part of a districtwide school wellness policy."

Boys Tossed from Overpass.

2 Minute Idol Review

2008-03-12T20:23:00.004-04:00

We get it. The Beatles are the best. band. ever. Except not.

Syesha: Boring.
Jacuzzi: Good...I guess...I wasn't really watching.
Ramiele: Boring.
Jason: Beautiful (the song and the boy). Loved the smile and point at Paula; loved the "What was that?" after flashing his four fingers during the announcement of his phone number.
Carly: Good.
David C.: I hate what he did to Eleanor Rigby, one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time.
Brooke: Good.
David H.: So "pizza bistro" is what the kids are calling strip clubs nowadays? Cheesy performance.
Amanda: Ok. That song is an anthem for emotionally abusive significant others.
Michael: Ok.
KKKristy: Horrible.
David A: I kinda hate Stevie Wonder. Trainwreck. Way to forget half of the words, bro.

Idol Thoughts

2008-03-04T21:09:00.000-05:00

Now that we're down to a manageable 8 contestants, I'm ready to give my thoughts on this week's Idol. This is as close to a live blog as I can do considering I have a desktop computer that faces away from my TV and I don't want to miss any Jason sightings.

Luke: Blech. He's hot, but what a cheeseball. I can't stand his voice. Eeeee!! Jason Castro rocking out on the balcony. Sorry...on to Luke. I'm with Simon; girly, but not in a good way. He pretty much sucks.

David A: He's good, but I'm tired of this kid being treated like the second coming of Christ. He breathes way too loud...I don't know if that's because of his vocal paralysis or whatever, but it bugs. Full disclosure: I love this song. Watch that last note, dude, it's a doozy. WHAT!? Paula loved that a couple notes were off, but when Jason has an "off" note he's a modern-day Hitler!!! Oh, Jesus, now he's calling our attention to homeless people.

Danny: Loved the vocal, despised the arrangement. Simon's in a really bad mood tonight.

On to David Hernandez, the gay stripper (way to be a month late to the party, media; I've known that since the Top 24). Ewwwww, Celine? Seriously?? I guess it was pretty good, but I'm pretty indifferent about this guy. That song is NOT from the 80s. Ok, according to Wikipedia it technically is from the 80s.

Michael: He sounds almost exactly like the Simple Minds guy, whose name is Jim Kerr (thanks again, Wikipedia!). I hate how he moves on stage. WTF is Randy talking about Michael Hutchence for?! INXS is not Simple Minds, Randy. My research (guess which site?) does not indicate that they ever recorded that song.

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Sorry, on to David C.: Ummm...is this Lionel Ritchie? Yes, yes it is (Google this time). Interesting... Pretty good though.

Eeeeeeeee!!! My Jason!!!!!!!! There has been some speculation that he smokes weed. I don't know where anyone got that idea...

Anyhizzle, who cares? A 20-year-old college student who smokes weed? Who has ever heard such a preposterous thing!? Here's a tidbit for you: Jason's song for the top 24 was the most downloaded from iTunes out of all the Idols'. That was a very awkwardly-worded sentence, but you know what I mean. Ok, that story about his dread falling out was really nasty. But is it wrong that I want that dread? Maybe I shouldn't have shared that... I thought the performance was beautiful but I was really nervous about what the judges would say, especially since he ran out of breath there at the end. It looks like he'll go to the top 12, but I'm still a little scared, especially since he didn't do a more well-known song. But on the other hand he has a lot of good feedback on message boards, and I doubt they would get rid of him, having the most-downloaded song (oh please, don't tell me you think the votes matter).

Jacuzzi: Zzzzz...

Very Important Announcement

2008-02-28T08:17:00.002-05:00

After one season of not giving a rat's ass, I now have a new American Idol boyfriend for season 7: Jason Castro (the dreadlock guy). He's only 20 and I'm not so much into the younger guys, especially the ones who can't legally drink, but I love his goofy awkwardness, his dreads (I LOVE well-groomed dreads), his gorgeous blue eyes, his smile, and his voice.

So, with all that being said, I have to apologize in advance to Jason and his fans for his boot tonight because being my American Idol boyfriend is the kiss of death, as Ace very well knows.

2 Things

2008-02-26T20:03:00.002-05:00

Check out Song Tapper. You tap out a beat with your space bar and it tells you what song it is (well, it gives you multiple choices of what the song might be). It recognized Billie Jean and Iron Man. It thought Iron Man might also be a song called Baby, Pull All Dat Ass Out by a group called Registered Sex Offenders. Nice.

Ahhhhhh!!!!! A library classification game!! Noooooo!!!!

An Open Letter to American Idol Contestants Past, Present, and Future

2008-02-21T14:33:00.002-05:00

Dear Contestants,

We've been over this before, but apparently we haven't learned. "Piece of My Heart" is NOT a happy song. Please do not smile while you are singing it.

Sincerely,

Jenny G

The End is Nigh!

2008-02-11T11:10:00.000-05:00

The end of the writers' strike, that is. The Office should have 5 to 10 new episodes in April and May. Check here to see what's going on with your other favorite shows.

WTF?!

2008-02-10T20:05:00.000-05:00

Is the fact that Charmin is so durable it will stick to my ass supposed to be a selling point?! Why is the toilet paper on the side of the bear's ass?! Why is the other bear standing outside of the "bathroom" with a vacuum cleaner?! Look at the hose on the vacuum cleaner! Was there so much TP on the bear's ass that it's jamming the hose on the vacuum?!

Things I've Learned in Library School

2008-02-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

Cataloging is like a scavenger hunt. But not like a fun scavenger hunt. More like a scavenger hunt that makes you want to suck on the business end of a .22.

2008-01-29T10:50:00.000-05:00

It's things like this that make the future librarian in me want to cry.

Fattening Lard Bake

2008-01-27T21:30:00.001-05:00

There's a new recipe up, complete with a picture, at Fattening Lard Bake. The template is FUBAR, but it's still readable.

York's in the National News Again...

2008-01-25T22:44:00.000-05:00

Race riots, teaching intelligent design in science class, principal shootings, and now this...

Kinky Sex, Shocking Death

I'm not sure if I think he should be held responsible since his wife was a willing participant.

2008-01-20T22:27:00.000-05:00

Check out these public service spots from Canada...unless you're squeamish. And don't say I didn't warn you! This kind of thing would never fly in the States. J., have you seen these on TV?

2008-01-18T22:59:00.001-05:00

The Internet Party: What Happens When Google's Parents Leave Town for the Weekend?

Stuff

2008-01-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

I've been MIA lately because there isn't really much going on. I hate January, so I usually spend it hibernating. I slept through my alarm for 2 hours this morning and went in an hour late and put in for some vacation time to make up for it. Oops. Chris finally finished building my Ti-faux, so every day I have a new gift from the TV gods. I hadn't been watching TV lately, but now I have episodes of "Good Eats" (which go straight to a DVD-R...beats shelling out hundreds of bucks from the DVDs on Food Network's website!), "Anthony Bourdain No Reservations," "Intervention" (AWESOME show), and "Twilight Zone." John Cusack is on "Inside the Actor's Studio" at 1AM, so I get to come home tomorrow, curl up on the couch, and lust after my man. Just what I need...something to make me waste even more time. I feel like I've finally caught up to the 21st century now that I have a digital camera, an MP3 player, and a DVR. And yes, I'm fully aware that there is more advanced technology available, but let me bask on being somewhat current. On the Netflix front I just finished "My So-Called Life," which now goes on my list of TV shows that were canceled too early along with "Freaks and Geeks" and "Arrested Development."

The semester officially started today, but I'm only taking one class this semester and it's one of those three-weekend classes so I don't have to go till next weekend. I'm sooooo dreading it. I'm also afraid we're going to get massive snowstorms. The professor hasn't posted anything about the class yet, and I'm sort of worried. I always feel like everyone knows what's going on except for me. I have no idea what books to buy, what building the class is in...you know--information that might be a tad helpful.

That's pretty much my life right now--watching TV, hating winter, and dreading school. I hope everyone else's life is not as massively lame as mine!

For Maaach

2008-01-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

March wanted to know where the picture of him was, so I searched in my camera and found it. Notice how he's holding a CD (which is helpfully labeled) and a hockey stick. The little black thing levitating is not a turd, but a puck. Don't get caught high sticking, March!

Merry Christmas to Me

2008-01-03T22:10:00.000-05:00

I bought myself a digital camera for Christmas. I had it shipped to work, so here are the first pictures, taken in my closet...I mean office.

My bulletin board:

My hideous teal bookshelf. I keep soap in my office because the cleaning people never replace the empty soap in the bathroom across the hall from my office:

The view out my window, a brick wall. Notice how the window is artfully held closed with a block of wood. You can't see it very well, but the blinds are closed at the bottom to keep the homeless people who live between our building and the one next to us from watching me.

My carpet stains. Mmmm...

Resolutions

2007-12-31T15:41:00.000-05:00

How did I do on my 2007 resolutions?

1. Continue to eat better - I did ok...till Christmas. I gave up sweets, but of course at Christmas everyone gives you cookies and candy. I did manage to use more fresh ingredients though.

2. Exercise more - I did ok with this one too. I went walking/running a couple times and my dad and I rode bikes most weekends this summer.

3. Quit being so stagnant - I can check that one off now that I'm in grad school.

4. Stop giving a shit - I'm not sure what exactly I meant by this, but I think I did better at not taking things so personally.

Now, for my 2008 resolutions:

1. Cut down on smoking - This will be hard.

2. Continue to eat better - I'm completely giving up sweets now that most of the Christmas candy and cookies are gone.

3. Exercise More - Now that I have an MP3 player I'll have more motivation to go walking/running. Using a Walkman just wasn't cutting it!

4. Be more thankful for the things in my life - This is something I don't want to go into too much detail about, but it's something I need to do.

5. Take better care of myself - I've made some doctor's appointments that I've been putting off, but there's one thing I need to have checked out that I'm dragging my feet on. We'll see how this goes.

I hope everyone has a great and prosperous New Year! I plan to spend the rest of today and tomorrow watching the Twilight Zone marathon on Sci-Fi.

Centralia 12/26/07: Part IV

2007-12-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

This is the sign that greets you as you near Centralia. This is the old route 61 (the one with all the cracks) that has been replaced.

The amount of graffiti in the town is unbelievable. The batteries in my camera died when we got to the crack (of course), so I wasn't able to get any good pictures of it.

There's obviously a pyromaniac who likes to come to Centralia. Among the detritus were shotgun shells, a bottle of brandy, McDonalds bags, old spray paint cans, and many, many cans of cheap beer. I'm not sure that I want to know what the mattress and garden hose are used for.

They still decorate for Christmas. There was a nativity scene in the town square. The saddest part of the trip was that the mayor's house was torn down. Here's the story. Within 5 years there will probably be nothing left.

Centralia 12/26/07: Part III

2007-12-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

These are various vent pipes around the town (notice one has become a kind of garbage receptacle and has some nice graffiti) as well as some pictures of the gorgeous Orthodox church.

Centralia 12/26/07: Part II

2007-12-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from a cemetery that we missed the first time around.

Centralia 12/26/07: Part I

2007-12-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry about the bluish tint; I'm not very familiar with the settings on Chris's camera. This first series is pictures of smoke coming out of the ground (it shows up much better on a 40 degree day than a 90 degree day!), views from various parts of town, and, to begin the group, a sign that greeted us.

Red Velvet Cake

2007-12-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I wish I could say I spent my days off feeding the homeless or doing something productive, but I've spent it vegging. I'm allowed though. Tomorrow Rusty and I are going back to Centralia, so I'll post pics. In the meantime, you can look at pics of my red velvet cake. I'm not deluding myself into thinking I can quit my day job and take up cake decorating, but this thing was delicious...I'm ashamed to admit that it's almost gone.

Feliz Navidad

2007-12-25T08:22:00.000-05:00

Laughing Gas and Ennui

Stats

Update

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts, the Foreplay Edition

Idol Thoughts, the RAWK version

Idol Thoughts

Tag

Idol Thoughts, the Quick Version

Idol Thoughts Part II

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

OMG!!!!!

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

Hi!!

Religion, or Lack Thereof

Ew.

2008 in Review

Earthquake!

Update

That's It?

Thanksgiving

Seriously?

Worst. Bank Robber. Ever.

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Political Art

Victory!

Happy Election Day!

Happy Halloween!

Saying Good-Bye to an Old Friend

HELP!

No Smoking

Total Jealousy

Art

Spreading the Word

Happy Banned Books Week!

Miscellaneous

Netflix Picks

Funny or Sad?

Politics

The Omnivore's Hundred

Job Interview, Part Deux

You Don't Want to Piss off the Librarians

Into the Mind of a Schizophrenic

More Stuff

Stuff

A Tale of Two Days

Update

Thinking Calming Thoughts

Job Update

Answers (Updated w/ B's questions)

Squee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simpsons Quotes

I'm Alive

Movie Recommendation

Grass and Weed

Woot!

Idol Thoughts

Where Have I Been?

Every Time That I Plant a Seed...

Idol Thoughts

Have You Ever Been Jealous of a Dolphin?

Work Drama

Idol Thoughts

Mooresville

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts

Dealbreaker

Fuck You, Melville Dewey

Idol Thoughts *Edit*

Top 20 American Idol Performances

Idol Thoughts

Chester Cheetah All Grown Up

In the News

2 Minute Idol Review

Idol Thoughts

Idol Thoughts Edit