Saturdays really ARE different!

It feels like such a waste to leave this perfectly good blog sitting here, lonely and ignored.  

I'm discovering why people like to make such a big deal out of "The Weekend." As a kid, I never really noticed the weekends.  It went along with being homeschooled, I suppose. Our routine on Saturday was pretty much the same as it was during the rest of the week, but we'd see that Dad guy a little more and my brothers and I might be roped into some crazy scheme that involved weeding the garden or looking for Daddy's missing toolbox.  And, of course there was church on Sunday. Otherwise, the weekend wasn't much different from the weekdays that followed and preceded it. 

When I started at IPFW and got my job at the library, the weekend became 1) time to write as many papers as possible or 2) time to fit in my 10 hours of tax-payer funded drudgery.  I could never consider relaxing on the weekends if there was any school assignment due in the next two weeks; I needed to get that school work done before I could even think about fun or rest. And work was just boring. 

Now, I finally get it. Having a full-time 9:00 to 5:00 type job, I start looking forward to the weekend starting Sunday night. It isn't like my job is tortuous, and in fact I enjoy it most of the time. BUT, on the weekends I don't have to be asleep before 10:00, which means I have time to watch movies and eat ice-cream with my family after dinner. I also don't have to wake up to a squawking alarm at 6:20am. I have plenty of time to read AND dig around in the garden with my mother (or go blueberry picking, as we did today).

Incidentally, I've found that writing really truly boring things at work makes me want to write fun things when I'm at home.  I know I've said it before, but I really do plan on making more use of this blog. It's either this, or I talk my mother's ears off every evening.

Mmmmmmm.....

Yummy hats. I want them all.

Teehee!

If it were not for the fact that I already spend way too much money buying clothes from J. Peterman (on sale, mind you) these pantaloons would be way tempting. I have no clue what I'd do with them, but I'm sure I could figure something out. Of course, once I got started with the cheesy old-fashioned under-pinnings, I would probably feel compelled to find a corset, bustle, and petticoat set to match.... It's like the "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" of Bethany World.

Book Tag

Taken from my mother's blog:

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.
--and, because I'm a negative sort of person, I'm adding another marking
5) Place a '--' next to those you didn't like

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X +
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X +
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X +
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X --
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens *
Running total: 8

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X +
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy*
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot *
Running total: 12

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell *
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens *
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy X
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh *
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky X +
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Running total:16

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy X
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens *
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X
34 Emma - Jane Austen X +
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen X +
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
Running total: 23

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X --
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins X
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X+
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood X --
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Running total: 27

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons *
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen X +
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X +
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X --
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Running total: 30

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov *
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas X
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy *
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Running total: 32

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens X
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker X --
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X +
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson X
75 Ulysses - James Joyce *
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome X
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray X+
80 Possession - AS Byatt
Running total: 38

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert X
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X+
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Running total: 42

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X --
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X +

How many have you read? 48. Less than half? Granted, some of them are on my "to read" list, and several are on my "never ever ever read" list, so those really shouldn't count.

Pondering the mysteries of life

As I sat downstairs tonight, watching Funny Face and trying to do homework, one thought kept invading my mind, driving out all considerations of Gilded Age politics and John Calvin's influence on the American mind:

"Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly?"

This question has plagued me for years. I can't decide which one I prefer.

That should explain why this piece from Ziegfield Follies delighted me so much.



Actually, I was just bored and looking for something else to do.

But what else happened?

I can tell that I have been watching a leeeeettle too much TV of a certain sort.
When I'm studying, it helps to have some sort of background noise going. Most often, I take over the family room and put on whatever old movie TCM is showing at the moment. My brothers make fun of me for this, and any time they see a black & white scene on the TV they will start groaning (even though they like old movies) and talking about their crazy sister.

Well, I just finished watching a DVD of one of my favorite old movies, It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. When the film ended, something just didn't feel right. It was incomplete. Something was missing. Then I realized that I was waiting for Robert Osborne to pop up and start spouting trivia about the movie.
I'm not sure I can live without hearing what sort of tantrums Claudette Colbert threw on set, why it was considered punishment to work with Frank Capra, and why Myrna Loy turned the script down....

I'll be sure to include this in my next interview....

Here's a tip for anyone who doesn't like being misquoted in the newspaper:

When you're running late, stopping by school to drop off a paper before heading to work, do NOT smile at the friendly looking lady in the trenchcoat as you pass by at full speed.

If you disregard the first tip and commit the enormous faux pas of making friendly eye contact with said trench-coated female, do not reply when she says good morning. In short, disregard all usual rules of politeness and decorum. Brush her off. Give her the cold shoulder. (Insert brusque cliche of your choice.)

IF you make another mistake and allow the woman to engage you in conversation, and she asks if you would mind answering a few questions, don't stop to think, equivocate, or explain that you are freezing and running late. Just walk away as fast as your awesome little high-heeled lace-up boots can carry you.

IF (perish the thought) you are fool enough to answer the journalist's questions, well, I suppose you deserve what's coming. Whatever you do, though, do not answer her questions about Spring Break plans by saying that you will be working rather than traveling. She will twist your statement in a way that makes you sound like an unreasonable, greedy, money-grubbing Silas Marner-type... AND go on to mention your place of employment.

Case in point.

Ok, so I like to blow things out of proportion. The two sentences dedicated to me are not all that horrible or embarassing. I just really, really, really don't like being misquoted. And I don't remember saying anything like what the article suggests. This isn't the first time I've been misquoted in the paper. (Yes, I have been in the paper before. I'm, like, a celebrity or something.) Back in 2003 one of the FW papers did a story on homeschooling and my family was part of it. I don't remember much of the detail, but the journalist who spent a few days with us took almost everything I said to her completely out of context, and was even worse with my mother.

What can I say? Fame sucks.

The Best Bunko Story Ever

Our church ladies gathered for our monthly bunko party this evening. Admittedly, these evenings always lead to some goofiness but THIS was special.

First, for anyone who has no clue what bunko is, here are the rules. I was at a table with our friends Gail and Tori, a mother and daughter who were teamed up for this particular round. My partner was DoRena. We were on the sixes round (the idea being to roll as many sixes as possible OR 3 sixes at a time for a bunko) and were fooling around testing out "magic" words to yell at the dice to make them behave. The round went something like this:

Tori: Cheese! [rolls dice, gets one six]
DoRena: Ovaltine!! [rolls, doesn't get any sixes]
Me: [laughing] Ovaltine? Sorry, but I don't think brand names count.
Gail: [rolls, gets nothing]
Me: Pizza! [rolls, gets nothing] Ok, so that didn't work.
Tori: South Side! [rolls, nothing]
DoRena: [rolls, nothing]
Tori: Try yelling "Concordia", Mom. Maybe that'll work....
Me: Concordia to get sixes?
Gail: Ok, Concordia! [rolls, gets 1 six] Hey! Concordia [rolls, gets 1 six] Concordia! [rolls, gets another six] 666, with Concordia... very interesting.
Me: Bean! Give me a name, someone we don't like.... [holds dice, waiting suspensefully]
DoRena:Oh oh oh, that guy... in Texas... with the megachurch....
Me: Joel Osteen!!! [rolls dice.....]

3 sixes, at once. 666. Not only is that the sign of the Beast, it's a bunko, worth 21 points and a win! DoRena and I erupted in shrieks and laughter. The rest of the room was completely mystified, not understanding why any bunko would be SO amusing. When we told them, they understood.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

There are no words.

At the end of the day, I personally think these are absolutely a nightmare.

My mother found this list of the top ten most irritating phrases yesterday. We got quite a kick out of it.

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

My favorite thing about this list is that one of our local radio personalities--who, by the way, drives me crazy-- uses all of these. Not only does he use them, but he uses them in grammatically and idiomatically incorrect ways. In his honor, I'd like to nominate a few additional annoying phrases:

11. The point being (is)...
12. What that amounts to (is)...
13. I don't know about you, but...
14. I'm just sayin'
15. literally (when something is most emphatically not literal)

Any more nominations for most irritating phrases?

Patrick and I got up "early" (7:30) this morning to go work out at the Y. Generally, the atmosphere is fairly upbeat, and they pump in happy, slightly lame, adult-contemporary music of the "80s, 90s, and Today!" variety. Bearable, fairly quiet, and safe for the whole family.

Well, this morning their radio was possessed by demons. Instead of the usual Coldplay and Sheryl Crow, we were treated to a whole morning of 50 Cent, Akon, and various other purveyors of raunchy rap. Fortunately, the volume was low enough that the majority of the songs were drowned out by the whirring of treadmills and clanking of weights, but enough made it through to make the old man across from me look like he was going to have an attack of some sort.

The highlight of the morning however, by far, was the political commentary to which we were treated between every "song." (Yes, I am calling the musicality of the genre into question. But that's for another time.) The DJs on this particular station let loose the usual digs, suggested that "Those dirty Republicans want to make it so that only gun-toting oil barons feel safe going to the polls" and uttered a few unrepeatable slams on Sarah Palin. Apparently Akon will leave the country if Obama is not elected. Darn. My very favorite comment of the morning, however, was this little gem: "If McCain gets elected, gas prices will be so high, it will be cheaper to take a cab everywhere."

Just let it sink in. Enjoy the feel of deep, considered, intelligent political commentary. Ahhhhhh.

Music, anyone?

I have received a command from my mother. She insists that I blog. Being a dutiful and submissive daughter, I obey with alacrity.

While driving to and from "real" school (I say with a smirk), I have been attempting to educate my ears. I've been taking advantage of our library's music collection, checking out a few different CDs every week, and listening to them in my car where they won't bother anyone else. I've discovered a few good ones so far, and rediscovered some old favorites. (Even done in overblown, bombastic American symphony orchestra style, Brahms Requiem is one of the most amazing pieces of music ever written.)

My mother bought one of the opera CDs I found a while back and I've listened to it enough that I can (1) recognize the pieces and (2) have favorites.

So, sitting on the couch tonight, watching TV, the music of one of the commercials caught my ear. It was a stupid Red Bull commercial, involving a cat preening itself while sitting in an arm chair. Peppy classical music plays.....and the "camera" pans up to an empty bird cage. I started cracking up, confusing my mother. It was a stupid commercial. But the music flitting along was Mozart's "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja", which is sung by a bird-catcher in "The Magic Flute." I was so tickled I had to rewind and rewatch the commercial.

I realize that hardly anyone watching that commercial (let alone paying attention) would "get it", and that the fact that I did and got so excited probably confirms once again that I am a geek, but I loved seeing that someone put some actual effort into choosing the music.

Today is my birthday. I am officially 22 years old.

My last several birthdays have been accompanied by major festivities (dinner for 20-30 at Buca di Beppo) and much excitement. For some reason, I haven't had any of that excitement this year. I didn't want a big party, so we did take-out chinese food and movies at home with just the 6 of us. I haven't been able to make gift suggestions when people (Grandma ;o)) ask for them. I didn't even remember that my birthday was coming until Facebook told me. Facebook.

Not that I haven't had a great day. Church was wonderful, as always. My mother, Patrick, and I went on the West Central Neighborhood home and garden tour. It was the perfect day to walk around outside and any day is a good day to look at old houses. Our dinner was delicious and easy to clean up and there is a cheesecake waiting in the fridge.

Only 258 days left!

It's only Wednesday of the first week of classes and I am already battling some major, unexpected, intense senioritis. It's not that I don't like my classes this semester. In fact, I've been looking forward to them for months. With the exception of the reading and research I'll be doing for my senior seminar, my workload really shouldn't be that bad.

I just want it all to be over with.

So yes, I took time out of studying to figure out exactly how many days are left until graduation. I'll be counting down, starting now.

I'm hanging out at my grandparents' house in Anderson for a few days before heading to Salt Lake City with my mother. We're going to the Melaleuca convention, which I'm pretty excited about. Glenn Beck is the main speaker, which should be entertaining.

I've taken to listening to opera in the last few days (as though I wasn't already weird enough.) I picked up several CDs from the library, one of which proclaimed itself the "Best Opera Album in the World... Ever." While I don't know how valid that claim is, I've certainly been enjoying the music. Also attracted by the title, I checked out the "Opera Babes," which I found enjoyable, if slightly dippy. Just to balance things out, I also grabbed some Killers, Corrs, and Vivaldi.

I'm still completely glued to the Olympics and have come to the realization that I have no life. I've thought before that this might be the case, but my obsessive TV viewing this week has pretty much confirmed it.

Jason Lezak is my HERO

Oh yeah.

Take that, snobby French relay-team!

If this doesn't motivate the Belarusian Olympians, I don't know what will.

Of course, the British have a deal of their own. I think I'd like to be British....and an Olympic-caliber athlete.

Ahhh, The Games

I'm sitting here, watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics when I should be in bed, but I can't tear myself away. I know that it will just be more of the same-- groups of people wearing marginally interesting costumes with commentary by the everlastingly annoying Bob Costas. (Come on, dude. The Americans were not wearing berets. Those were jaunty little flat caps.)

I have been a big fan of the Olympics for as long as I can remember. And not just a big fan... a slightly obsessive big fan. When I was ten I named one of my Barbies "Lisa Schwong" after Li Xiaoshuang, all-around men's gymnastics gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics. During the 2000 games in Sydney, I kept track of every medal won by every country, noted times for races and scores for gymnasts. I clipped newspaper stories about my favorite athletes (which I still have in a box under my bed.) I could never decide who I adored more:"The Thorpedo" Ian Thorpe or Pieter van den Hoogenband.

In 2004 I watched the Olympics almost every waking hour (ahhh, the advantages of being jobless and homeschooled.) I had the schedule almost memorized and I refused to miss certain events.

I intend to savor every moment of the games this year, although my life may get in the way of those plans. I can't exactly justify skipping work for watch TV, whatever the program.

Just what I always wanted!

My brothers are off gallivanting again. This time they are on vacation in Michigan with our grandparents and cousins Kate and Matt. My father was also in Michigan yesterday on business, leaving us girls to our own devices.

Before bed, my mother helped me put in pin curls. I wanted curly hair so badly when I was little-- we tried hot rollers, foam rollers, braids, and pin curls. Somehow, within minutes my hair would always be flat and painfully straight. At some point, I gave up and stopped trying to make my hair curl, but last night I thought that it was worth another try. My mother gooped my hair up and started pinning. I wrapped my head in a scarf to sleep, wishing oh-so-badly that I had an honest to goodness night cap (with blue ribbons....and a matching night gown.....)

When I took out the curlers this morning, my hair was enormous. It would have been fun to leave it like that, but since I had to work, I figured it might be wise to tame it a little and stuck it back in a clip.

Somehow, miraculously and unexpectedly, the curls stayed all day. When I got off work, it was still curly. After going shopping and trying on several shirts--still curly. After brushing it and putting in a pony tail tonight-- still curly. So what if as soon as it gets wet I'll be stuck with stick straight hair again? Now I know that something works.

Putting in the curlers last night got me started on one of my favorite hair-rants: '40s hair. I want to be able to wear '40s hair styles. As far as I can tell, the styles were universally flattering and incredibly feminine. Will someone please bring those back?

Kitty Issues

My poor girl cat has been acting strangely for the last few days. Sure, she's been sneezing and vomiting, but that's really not all that odd. Things happen, right? The odd part is that she has been very, VERY social and friendly. When I sit down, within minutes she is either in my lap or curled up against me purring. When she goes outside, she stays in the yard and either sleeps or calls for me to join her.

You would have to know my cat to realize just how strange this behavior is. Callie has a definite independent streak and has never been super friendly. In the last few years she has often been downright hostile to almost everyone (though she always finds one person in the family to be nice to.) You don't pet her unless she specifically demands it. To do so is to risk life and limb.

I took her to the vet yesterday, which naturally made her extremely happy. As though the cat carrier and the car ride weren't enough, the vet had the audacity to draw blood from Callie (wait, isn't it supposed to be the other way around?) and do other intrusive and uncomfortable things to her. On the way home, Callie yelled incessantly. The vet didn't know what was wrong with her, but she did some blood tests for "old cat ailments" and said she would call me with the results. I got a message on my phone while I was at work, asking if I would please call them back to "discuss" the results of the tests. I'm not sure what discussion entails, or whether the need for discussion implies. Call me heartless, but if my cat has some serious health problem, I am not going to go broke treating her. She is an animal, after all-- an animal that would probably finish me off and eat me if I were seriously ill.