G’duh, I completely forgot to tell you about the funniest part of my day. I made myself a tshirt. :) I didn’t actually make the shirt itself, I just embellished it. I added a clear vinyl pocket to the front, conveniently sized to the same measurements as a printed-out comic strip. Now I can change out comics depending on my mood. I wore it to that youth volunteer/mandatory thing tonight and it was a big hit, although there was one minor drawback. Since no one was really familiar with the comic I chose (Red Meat), a bunch of people ended up staring at my chest while they read the comic. I’m sure my face turned violently red a few times. It wasn’t bad when some of my girly friends read it, since they were just girls, but then the girls started laughing and the boys heard, which then lead to them wanting to know what the joke was. That wasn’t that embarassing until the local religious leader read the comic. It was entirely strange to have a man who’s in his late forties, a religious leader person, and a guy most people look up to, stand around and stare at my chest. I may have to rethink what I put in that little vinyl pocket, preferably replacing it with something that doesn’t take that long to read.
But I like the shirt itself. I’ve been wanting one for a while. I think tomorrow I may print out a picture of myself and put it in the pocket. It’ll be me wearing a picture of me. Hey, then I could take a picture of myself wearing the tshirt with the picture of me in it, and then it’d be like when you look into a mirror and see your reflection times infinity. It’d be an eternal shirt. (Which would be a great name for a band, by the way: Eternal Shirt.)
Tomorrow I also want to see if I can find a big strip of velcro so I can make a velcro shirt. It’ll have a long strip of fuzzy velcro across my chest, so I can change out letters and every day have a new message on my shirt. Alastair had one of those and I was going to buy one in Brighton, but with the exchange rate the shirt would have cost around $35. I figure I can buy my own shirt for $7, then add the velcro myself. It’ll take a little bit of effort to make the velcro alphabet, but I think I have time.
And the day after that, I’m starting Eternal Shirt. Hehe. :)
Hmm. Not much to say today. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, it’s like I’ve temporarily lost my blog-babble super-powers. Maybe I’m just too busy thinking about other things.
I’m supposed to teach a class on interior design to a bunch of those girls from that youth thingie where I help out with the 12 to 14 year olds. I have until September to come up with something to talk about. How the heck do you teach that to half a dozen 16 to 18 year olds? I’ve never had any classes in it so I have no clue where to draw the line between being dull and saying, “colors are good,” or launching into a full tutorial on the importance of a good foundation in the history of art and architecture. I’m lost. How much do they want me to teach? Where do they want me to start? What do they want me to cover? I tried to ask the leader this and all she said was, “I don’t know, I’m not good at that design stuff.” I’m so lost.
The event is going to be held in my newly redecorated basement, to supposedly “surround them with design.” That doesn’t help me much, though. I tried to think of a way to create a montage of video clips of rooms created on Trading Spaces and Changing Rooms, then burning it back to a VCD, then I can show it as “The Good, the Bad, and the Tacky”, but is that going too far? Too much work dedicated to something that I only need to use to fill 8 to 10 minutes? I think it’d be good for a laugh, but I’m not sure the other girls would get it.
What was really surreal was Megan, the girl who picked me up on Monday for that girl’s birthday party, went and looked at the basement. Then, in the car, she started asking me for advice on what kind of curtains to put up in her room. That wasn’t the surreal part, that came when I started trying to explain the pros and cons of cornice boards, valances, sliding curtains, or just regular pull-backs. I was going to talk about roman blinds, but then we got interrupted.
How can I cover all this in one activity without boring them to death? Especially now that my blog-babble super-powers have gone on holiday without me.
Or maybe it’s just me. Blogging doesn’t seem the same at the moment. It just feels like disconnected typing, nothing fun or even girly. Is it just me? Or has the Super-Babble just been hidden by my arch-nemesis’ evil Invisibility Ray? Or is it really late and all I can think about is myself as a really stupid super hero, facing down a demented cartoony villain with one of those corny 80s-cartoon maniacal laughs? Ugh, flashbacks of G.I. Joe and the Justice League… Make it stop! :)
Duh! I completely forgot to tell you about the most exciting part of the day! See, told you my brain went through a toaster. :) I actually got two entires in my Idolatry of Yore cover art contest! I had to go to the post office to mail a package this afternoon, so I trudged over to my post office box, not expecting to find anything inside. Instead, I got two cards saying I had two packages that were too big to put in the box. Eeee! The entries were from a 12 year old girl and a 14 year old boy. I was so excited! It was so cute to see kids’ ideas of what my characters look like. The girl included a note in her entry, noting that she had drawn the dual moons I mentioned in the story. It was so cute I read it out loud in the car. She’s so getting a prize for sheer cuteness. It was nice to get real in-the-mail entries. I keep getting all these emails from kids, saying they’re going to enter, but I hadn’t gotten any entries yet. Erick sent me one in an email when he found out I hadn’t received any yet, so that was nice. It’s all cute now, so I’m happy. Nice to see what kids thought of when they read my descriptions.
Want to enter? Come on, you know you want to… Enter! You have a whole month. Please? :)
Sorry for the lack of blogging recently. I just haven’t felt like I had anything to say, no idea why, even though lots of things have happened. Nothing bad, mind, just stuff. :)
First off, since it’s what I’m thinking about at the moment - I got new shoes! I know, it’s girly of me, but I haven’t gotten new shoes in a very long time. Mostly because I hate going shoe shopping. I haven’t particularly enjoyed the activity since I was eleven years old, because it would always hurt when I tried on shoes. But ever since the amputation, it’s just been even worse. There are so many new considerations to shoe-buying now that one foot is considerably different shaped. It’s even worse when I have to go with someone. Being all nice, the other person will pick up a shoe and say something like, “Isn’t this cute? You should try it on!” Then it gets all awkward when I have to explain why I can’t try it on for various reasons; not tall enough, not wide enough, crumples the little toes, etc, etc. So, I’ve just generally avoided shoe shopping. This has meant I’ve been walking around in really icky old white sandal things I stole from my mom. They don’t even fit right, but it was better than the alternative. But not now!
I went out shopping with my Dad and brother to get a few things - we needed a cable, I needed some VHS tapes, pretty basic electronic stuff. But we went to Target and while the boys sat at the snack bar, I did a quick spin around the clothes. I saw the shoes and thought, what the heck, I’m alone. I won’t have to deal with the weird questions, I’ll just run through, see if I find anything. Sure enough, there were the cutest shoes on the end-cap and they were only $13! Not the greatest deal, sure, but still. They’re really funny slip-on shoes (exactly what I needed), but they look like bowling shoes. Funny, eh? They’re kinda dark red with white stripe things, then the heels are open to make them slip-ons. Not only are they comfortable, they’re so weird they’re cute. So now I’m all happy. All that I need now are some more dress shoes, since I only have one pair and they’re way too big anyway. My feet shrunk and I have no clue why.
Speaking of things I went shopping for, guess what I got today! The TV Capture Card and my extra hard drive arrived today, so now my computer has been converted into TiVo. :-D I got it for the sole and silly purpose of digitally recording my favorite shows and turning them into DVDs. I just finished recording an episode of Daria and holy crap is it amazing. The quality is unbelievable. It actually looks better than it did on the television set. Hopefully in a few months I will be the only proud commercial owner of the entire series of Daria on DVD. That is, if The N plays the entire series. They aren’t playing them in order and it’s really bugging me. Also, I’m really close to a complete set of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which isn’t too shabby either. Michael Stipe had a cameo in tonight’s episode and that was incredibly strange, but funny. He plays one dang creepy ice cream salesman. Kate Pierson was in it, too (she’s from the B-52s), playing some insane blind millionaire. It’s amazing how many rockers and celebrities they got on that show. Syd Straw, Iggy Pop, entire bands showed up just to be in the background. And that McLaughlin guy from the McLaughlin Group! Hehe.
I can’t remember if I mentioned this, so I’m mentioning it again: I found out what color the dress (Chinese) Sam brought me from China is! :-D He gets extra points for this: it’s red. Perchance, could it be the Infamous Kick-Butt Red Dress? We shall see. He’s leaving for college on the 15th of August, so I’ll meet up with him before then to get it (and of course to see him off and be a good friend and all that.) I’m not sure what to do on our visit, though. It’s, erm, mostly pretty awkward at those meetings. I’m thinking we’ll just go out to lunch then come back to my house to watch a movie. Or maybe go see a movie. I don’t know. It’s entirely weird.
And finally, if I told you I’d do something but I haven’t done it, I’m really sorry. You wouldn’t believe how forgetful I’ve been lately! Two weeks ago, at that youth thingie I go to where I help out with the 12 to 14 year olds, the girls my age planned a surprise party for one of the other girls that’s turning 16. I’m a good friend with this particular girl, Lis, and I remembered that it was her birthday. The plan was I’d be picked up on Monday, July 29 at 2:00 by Megan (one of the other girls), and we’d all go to that girl’s house for ice cream. My job; bring the oreos. Not that hard to remember, right? Just to help myself remember, I wrote a huge note to myself all over my left forearm. Then, when I got home, I wrote it on the calendar. I should have been set.
But this morning rolls around, I slept in rather late, and I completely forgot to make lunch. Thankfully, Steve offered lasagna. Just as he was pulling it out of the oven the doorbell rang. There stood Megan, apologizing for being early. All I could think was, “Early for what?” About two minutes after she got in the door I went, “OH!” I raced around the house trying to find the oreos, had to skip lunch entirely (and I hadn’t even eaten breakfast either), then had to go change clothes. I felt so incredibly stupid. Even after all the notes I wrote to myself, a reminder from one of the adults in charge on Sunday, and I still forgot. I even went to Lis’ house last night to drop off birthday presents. I should have remembered and yet, poof, all gone.
The party went okay, thankfully. I just felt pretty stupid. And now I’m really worried I’ll forget another birthday party I’m supposed to go to this Friday. Lis’s older brother John (one of the guys who tried on the pants, remember?) invited me and my family over for his 20th birthday party this Friday. First off I was nervous I’d forget to get a present for him. I decided to get that done right away, so now his gifts are neatly wrapped and all ready to go (three CDs I burned and designed and stuff, and two neckties [he’s going on a mission for his church so I can’t really get him anything more exciting than classical music CDs and neckties]). But when Friday rolls around I’ve got to remember: John’s House, 7:00, Take Presents. How will I ever do it? If I put notes up all over my room saying that I think the questions from my sister-in-law will only get worse. It seems every time she comes over now it’s, “Why don’t you go on a date with John?” Anyway, maybe I’ll email myself on Thursday about it.
Dang it, nobody’s online and I don’t want to sleep yet. Yay! Someone answered my call - Erick just signed on. Off I go, good night!
So, some depressing news from Seattle. My Grandmother collapsed and was in a bit of a coma thing for a while a few days ago. She’s supposedly better now, but I’m still really worried. Apparently she did the same thing when Grandpa died, and has only done it a few times since. When my mom found Grandma this time, she was all gray and my mom couldn’t find a pulse. That’s just scary. My mom’s arranging to go back to Tucson with her and spend another week, to make sure she’s okay.
In happier news, I’m discussing saris with Sujit. I love saris, they’re so gorgeous. I jokingly asked him if he’d bring me one from India next time he goes and he went for it, so yay! More international clothing for me! :) Now I think I need an authentic Scottish kilt, a grass skirt, and maybe even a Japanese kimono. Hehehe, just kidding.
I love foreign clothing. It’s great to wear something different for a change from what every other American woman’s wearing. Adds more color to the mix, and an extra dash of flavor. I have a few faux-African sarongs that are fun, but they aren’t authentic so it’s not as much fun. You can tell they’re just printed and not hand-dyed. I should make that a part of my travel show. My friend (American) Sam suggested I spend one day in each location wearing local traditional clothing. I rather like that idea, especially if I got to keep all the clothes. :)
I did more research for my travel show last night and I found the perfect production company for it! Screaming Fleas. Not only have they won dozens of Emmys for their educational programming, they also have a dang cute logo. :) Hehe, okay, so that’s not the most important part. The coolest information came when I read the little bios of their production team. I have something in common with almost all of them, thankfully. One of them has lived in Tucson, Arizona and came to the same realization I did, “Hey… it’s hot here.” And yet another one of them, I think, is the same religion as I am, which is usually pretty tough to find in television. All in all, they sound like a cheery group of people and I think they’d be perfect for my travel show. They’ve worked with the Discovery Channel, TLC, Discovery Kids, HGTV, and oodles of other networks that would be perfect. I’ve sent a letter off to them, now I just hope they like the idea.
I’m so excited about this travel show! I really hope it works out. It’d do a world of good, I think.
And now I’m off to get something to eat since I haven’t eaten yet today. Mmm, I get the last taco. :)
Mmmm… I’m still tasting the delightful tingle of Mexican food on my tongue. It’s been my job to handle making dinner since my Mom has run off to Seattle. Tonight was Taco Night, since I’ve been craving it for a while. I even thought so far in advance that I took the meat out to thaw way ahead of time. :) I spiced it all up big-time with celantro, garlic, onion, cumin, mustard powder stuff, chili powder, salsa, and even a hint of my favorite secret - orange peel. There was something else, but I forgot. Anyway, my cooking experiment went well. So well, in fact, that my Dad ended up eating three tacos and he usually hates spicy food. Mmmm. I suppose the final test will come in a few hours to see if any of us have upset stomachs. :) But, I think that will be avoided. I was very careful. I even double-drained the meat to make sure it didn’t get all greasy and nasty. I need a cool apron now to celebrate. Maybe I’ll go design one on CafePress.
I haven’t done anything terribly constructive today. I just wrote a lot. I worked on a screenplay for a while, just editing it. And then on that sequel to my silly fan fiction. It’s a lot more fun to write now that it barely has anything to do with Harry Potter, hehe. It’s much more like a suspense/thriller/mystery than a fantasy book. Fun, fun, fun. Today’s writing took a while longer than expected because I had to write a large part of it in German, and I had to do some research on the German Navy. The research wasn’t so bad, I went to the Deutschen Marine website and was able to read it well enough to find the information I needed right away without wandering at all. I’m just about convinced I need to learn to speak German, since I can already read it.
And if I learn it I found out I could go to most German universities for free. That may be an answer to my problems. Of course, that would mean I wouldn’t get to go to London, but I could always spend my summers there. But, maybe I’m counting on too many Ifs with the Germany plan - I don’t even speak German yet. And as far as I know, my German accent could be crap. For some reason I always end up sounding French, which I’m sure neither the Germans nor the French would appreciate. :)
I was talking to a friend this afternoon about pictures and it hit me, I should play with my brother Kevin’s digital camera some more before he decides to take it back. :) (Thanks, Kev.) And, it also hit me, I don’t really have any good pictures of my curly head of hair. It’s always pulled back, straightened, or a bad hair day. Since today was an okay hair day I figured I should seize the moment and all that. So, I went into the bathroom cause it had the biggest mirror and took lots of pictures. Here’s one. It’s not the best out of the lot, but it’s the only one I bothered to crop and stuff this late at night. I wanted to post something, since I’m all happy that some of them turned out. So, there I am, as of about four hours ago.
I also had fun experimenting to see if I could take pictures of stuff on the television. It worked out surprisingly well! I had to turn off all the lights, sit right in front of the TV, and take the pictures without the flash. Sorry, none of those to post yet tonight. They still need to be cropped, but they turned out nicely. I ended up taking pictures of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in ‘Roman Holiday.’ I do so love that movie. I’ve had a crush on Gregory Peck for as long as I can remember. Sure, that may sounds funny, but what coming from me doesn’t sound funny?
Gagh… I just answered over 60 emails in one sitting. I’m completely wiped out. I can’t even really remember what all I wrote or who all I emailed. I still have about 15 left in my inbox, but I tried to reply to those and it all came out as jibberish. I can’t answer any more questions! Hehe. :) I think I handled about five more applications from kids wanting to be columnists. This site is just getting way too big. Thank goodness one of my friends just offered to become an assistant Editor. I’m definitely taking her up on that. Congratulations, Michelle, how do you feel about editing articles? :) (I’ll talk to you about that more later.)
I need to get up and move around, I’m all sore now. And I still have oodles of articles to edit. Argh. I really need that automated system up. This is just getting too ridiculously huge for me to handle all alone.
On a happy note, over 185 people visited my blog yesterday. Scary, eh?
Okay, in the light of day Sujit has brought something to my attention. Yes, Terry Gilliam has been responsible for some really graphic movies. But, I don’t know, I was rather thinking that his whole range of experience shows that he knows how to make a children’s movie. And if you had heard what he had to say about his ideas for the Harry Potter film, I think you would have been convinced. He was so completely commited to keeping the feeling of the books intact, the intelligence of the plot. But he went on an on about working completely with J.K. Rowling. He’s a true Harry Potter fan, has been talking about the books for years in no connection whatsoever to making the film. Then, when J.K. Rowling wanted him for the project, he got really excited about it. Not because his kid told him to make the film, like with Chris Columbus. He got excited about it because he loved the books, he wanted to see to it that he kept with J.K. Rowling’s vision. That, to me is the difference.
And, he’s proven himself with children before. He may make graphic movies, but his theories on children’s films negates that, I think. He actually had to answer a few questions in regards to his experience with such films as Brazil. Time Bandits and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen show he can be clean in children’s films, and all of his experience in those genres keep him from being known as That-Guy-Who-Makes-Nasty-Movies. There’s just a difference of perception by most people, and I’m afraid with Cuaron’s latest project being so recent and so rauncy, the media could tie the two together. Just how there were all those Harry-Potter/I-See-Dead-People jokes when rumors were floating around about Haley Joel Osment playing Harry.
On that note, I’m not going to rant about Harry Potter anymore. It upsets too many people and I get too much hate mail. I don’t like dealing with that. And I don’t mean the emails that are actually productive, like Sujit’s comparison of Gilliam to Cuaron. I mean the ones, “You big poopie head, Warner Brothers would never do that. They’re gods, J.K. Rowling trusts them, so should you!” To those I just have one thing to say: J.K. Rowling isn’t involved anymore. They’ve left her in her new castle to write the book. And you all wonder why it’s not finished yet. Think about it. First she’s shoved off the film, then Book four is rushed because of Warner Brothers, her publishers, and the greedy marketing people. I think she’s burned out and frustrated. Go try and find the transcript of what happened at that conference in Toronto after the fourth book came out. It’s scary.
No more rants! I’m through with that and kind of through with Harry Potter. I lost the whole Potter Fever stuff a loong time ago. Now it’s just a matter of keeping up the Daily Prophet. I need that automated system up so the Daily Prophet won’t suffer from my lack of enthusiasm. It’s just a problem of money now. I have the programmers, I could get the webspace, I just don’t have the money. Which really stinks.
Argh, no, no more rants….have to control myself. Happy thoughts… happy thoughts.
Chinese Sam couldn’t bring the dress over yesterday, but he said he’d bring it over soon. I’m so excited about it! I forgot to ask him what color it is, though. :) I’ll have to take pictures when I try it on.
Sorry, Sujit, I’m rescinding my word temporarily that I would try to refrain from expressing so many ill-feelings about the Harry Potter films, but I have to talk about this.
Warner Brothers has hired a director for the third Harry Potter film, my favorite of the four books, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. And it’s Alfonso Cuaron. This is just fantastic. Now the film will turn into Harry and Ron driving around the coasts of Scotland with Professor McGonagall in the backseat talking about nothing but racy and sometimes disgusting topics. If the reviewers said Cuaron’s last film, Y Tu Mama Tambien, was racy, I can’t imagine what it was really like. Reviewers always understate such things, and the clip I saw - the one they said was one of only two that they could actually show on television - was pretty racy in unto itself.
(Excuse me if this is inaccurate, I’m just going by what I was told, what I’ve read, and what I’ve seen of it. I don’t watch R rated films, so I haven’t seen the whole thing.)
But still. So he did a children’s film in 1995. Sure, the ‘Little Princess’ was good, but he basically took all the good parts out of the original with Shirley Temple, and then added a few modern day camera tricks. If they’re interested in directors with an affinity for adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett books into film, go with Agnieszka Holland. Her work with the Secret Garden in 1993 was nothing short of amazing. Not only was it beautiful to look at from beginning to end, the music was perfect, she got amazing performances out of those children, and she matched the tone of that book as if she had written it herself. That’s what Harry Potter needs. A director who can combine acting, style, brilliant cinematography, music, and yet still stay absolutely true to the feeling of a book.
And lets not forget, Cuaron also did Great Expectations. Again, haven’t seen it, but I’ve certainly heard lots about that movie.
What happened to the long queue of A-list directors that were lining up for the first film? Steven Spielberg, Brad Silberling, Terry Gilliam, Wolfgang Peterson, etc? Why don’t they get a second chance? Do they even want it now? Cuaron was the first on the little insignificant list for the third film, and he’s now most widely known for his racy Mexican movie. That’s a great controversy to tack onto an already touchy franchise. They already have enough people wanting to burn the books and ban the movies, let’s add a whole other chemical to this already toxic fire. Yeah, that’s great business and amazing forethought. Thanks, Warners, we all needed another sign that you’re all brilliant business men and women.
So the A-list has disappeared. Big surprise. I’m glad Spielberg didn’t get it, I haven’t been happy with his latest stuff. If he got it the film would be far too violent, far too graphic, and Tom Cruise would show up with his eyeballs in a bag. Brad Silberling, he would have been amazing from a purely artistic standpoint. His camera work and tone is great, but would he have fit Harry Potter? I think the older fans would have loved it, but I’m not sure his sometimes standoffish style would mesh with the ickle kiddies. Wolfgang Peterson? I’m glad he didn’t get involved for one reason, and it’s completely selfish. Ender’s Game. He’s signed on to direct my other favorite book by Orson Scott Card. I’ve never really been into Sci-fi, but that book kicks butt. He has great experience with war films, and that movie needs that. Of course, I’m still hoping they make one of the sequels, Shadow of the Hegemon, into a movie next, because I think I liked that one more than Ender.
But Terry Gilliam. I really do wish he hadn’t been so moralistic. If he would have just flicked Warner Brothers off and said, “Screw you, I’ll make this movie the way Jo wanted it made and you can keep your )*(@# money,” then we would have had a truly wonderful Harry Potter film. Even if you loved the first film, Terry would have made it better. For goodness sake, he was J.K. Rowling’s personal first choice. They discussed the film several times. He was going to get it. He went into the meeting to discuss ideas and reportedly sign the contract. But no. He walks in, Warners says something to the effect of, “Get this straight, we’re building a franchise, not making a movie. You make this for the money or not at all.” He replied, “Fine.” And out he went. Terry, I’m sorry, but dang you for being so moralistic. He would have made this film truly amazing. He had everything - the feel, the attitude, the ability to work with children. The talent to take a children’s movie and make it intellectual enough so that it’s not just some blonde kid slapping his cheeks and screaming, but make it interesting enough for an adult audience as well. If ever any film needed that it was Harry Potter.
But nooOOooo.
I was really counting on Terry Gilliam coming back. Some shift in the system, some punch in Warner Brothers’ arms. I was dying for Terry to direct the second film, purely so he’d make the ending creepy, but not so dark that it’d scare all the extremists. But the third. I was really holding out for that one. He could have shaped Sirius Black into a truly magnificent character, just as he was in the books. He could have made Remus Lupin mysterious enough, while still maintaining that fatherly undertone.
When I went to England the first time I was interviewed by TalkTV in Canada. It was a discussion between the interviewer, a movie critic, and myself about the first film, the direction of the franchise, and what should have been done. Not surprisingly, I was the only one out of the three that was disappointed by the film. It was supposed to go the other way, they said. They expected the reviewer to represent the Against case, and the avid Harry Potter fan to be for the opposite. It flipped, and it got interesting.
I expressed my opinion that Chris Columbus had made the film too shallow, that the twist in the book had been completely lost in translation. That the audience spent so much time having “Snape is the baddie, Snape is the baddie” barrelled into them that when the real villain was revealed it just didn’t make any sense. The viewer, in almost all cases I’ve heard of, was lost. Utterly. The intelligence, detail, and thought that went into the book was lost because we didn’t experience any of the hidden clues. Just “Snape is the baddie, Snape is the baddie!” I tried to express this, and not surprisingly, the adults just chuckled at me and said, “Well, who would you have wanted to direct it?” I suggested Gilliam. They just laughed, dismissing my comments by saying that then Harry Potter would be played by Johnny Depp. Whatever. I don’t think they really knew what they were talking about, since they combatted my comment about how the book could have been translated so much better. They just said, “Well, name a book that got turned into a film and actually worked.” Not a second’s hesitation and I spouted Agnieszka Holland’s triumph with the Secret Garden and Robert Mulligan’s phenomenal work with To Kill a Mockingbird. Both were done with accuracy, with love for the books, and yet they both turned out to be amazing movies.
That’s what Harry Potter lacked. And that’s my problem with Alfonso Cuaron. That’s my problem with Chris Columbus. I want depth, not just eye-candy. I want true characters, I want plot twists that make sense.
Another funny note - they say the principle cast members will all be back. Zoe Wannamaker won’t. (She played the Quidditch teacher, Madam Hooch.) She was thrown off the set while filming the second movie just for gasp talking to the press. She said one ill word to them after years of having duct tape over her mouth, and out she went. Fired. All for saying what she really thought, rather than the dribble Warner Brothers was saying in her name. She claims they’re doing the same to Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, and all the others. I think if they deserve an Oscar for anything, they deserve it for keeping Richard Harris’ mouth shut. He’s one crotchety old coot.
One last tidbit of Warner Brothers info: An 11 year old boy recently won a Looney Toons contest, the grand prize being a brand new WB edition Chevy Venture. WB is refusing to hand the prize over to the boy, claiming that he’s underage and it states in the rules that since he’s not 18 he can’t win. Except, it states in the rules that if a minor wins, the prize will be awarded to the child in the name of the parents or legal guardians. Warner Brothers, in traditional fashion, is refusing to budge. The poor boy has had to hire an attorney to try and get his prize.
And the saddest part is, it would cost Warner Brothers nothing to give the kid the stupid van. It’d be completely paid for by Chevy, WB wouldn’t lose a penny. But instead, they stand to lose even more of their “friendly” image because of all the bad press.
Shall I offer my services to the 11 year old winner and his family? I might. It’d be a great joke. All of the old players are there, Brogliatti, Feinstein, the legal department, and pretty soon, the dreaded publicity department. All except Ms. Diane Nelson. Apparently she’s not working at Warners anymore. Tee hee hee. Who would have guessed…
I shall quit ranting… for now. I needed to get all of that out, it just makes me mad. How can they be so stupid? First the poor little van-less boy, and now this. Some raunchy Mexican guy has taken over a project about a 13 year old boy who becomes a wizard. This can’t be good.
Hurrah! I love it when I start out the day without any plans and then it turns into something exciting. First the dress from Sam, and just now I ordered hardware for my computer so I can turn it into tivo. Okay, not quite the same as tivo, but it’ll do everything I want tivo to do, pretty much. I’m going to be able to record my favorite TV shows onto my computer then turn them into V-CDs. And, if Kevin will be all sweet and wonderful, he could burn them onto DVDs for me. Then I could have all the episodes of Daria, Pete and Pete, and whatever else I want. As long as I keep recording them, that is. Plus, the quality will be better than recording them onto VHS. I so love computers. This will be so much fun! It means I’ll have to sacrifice my computer for a while, as we’ll have to move it temporarily into the basement. But, I’ll always have my laptop for up here in my room. So, no big loss, really.
But now I might have to figure out what to do for dinner, but just as I was typing that, Steven came in and suggested we convince Dad to get pizza for dinner. They’re heading out to take my mother to the airport (she’s off to Seattle with her mother for some family reunion), so they could easily pick it up on their way home.
Oh! Other happy news - I’ve launched another stupid project! This time it’s just to screw around with the Hollywood Machine, and hopefully get one of my friends, Kimber, into show business. She’s 14 and has Turner’s Syndrome, a very sad condition where she’ll pretty much always look young. She won’t have children and every single day she has to inject herself with hormones or her body will basically shut down. But, she’s figured out she wants to become an actress. She’d be a great character actor, since she’ll always look like she’s twelve years old. And that way she can spread the word about Turner’s and hopefully raise money for research. I think it’s a great plan, and since I’m the only one she knows who has any connections with “the business” at all or any familiarity with it, I said I’d help.
I’ve sent off a packet to Mali Finn, a big-time casting agent in LA who’s always looking for “different” looking people. I’ve attached a professional-sounding note on InkBlotinc.com letterhead, and a smarvy vellum notebook system that I created. Then, the most important part - pictures. I played with some of Kimber’s photos on the computer to turn them black and white so they look fantastic now. Also, for my own experiment, I included two pictures of myself. Not your average headshots, just strange angles of my face, such as an extreme close-up and strange coloring. I figure it’d be interesting to see if it’d be just that easy to get at least one of us into any production at all. I don’t really care if I “make it” (as of last night I’m sure you know how I feel about most of the behind-the-scenes stuff), but if I get even the smallest connection with anybody it’ll just benefit Kimber and her cause. It’s just like how I screwed with the system when they were casting Harry Potter. I might not have gotten into the film, but I caused a little controversy inside Warner Brothers without them even knowing I was responsible (I got the senior casting agent, Susie Figgis, to quit.) It was fun, and now it’s a rather nice memory to have lurking about my brain. It’s always good for a laugh.
The package got mailed today so who knows what will happen. Mali Finn may toss the package aside, or she may give me a call. Who knows. That’s what makes it so entertaining.
Okay so I wasn’t depressed last night, I was just disappointed. That’s all. I really am okay.
My brother Kevin has been working on the new version of AOL Search for a looong time and it’s up finally! Go check it out and applaude his amazing technical skills: Http://search.aol.com He built it and everything. :)
Gagh! My friend Sam (the Chinese one) just hopped online. He’s back from China!! Yay! And guess what? He brought back a dress for me!!! Eeeeee. I’m rather excited now. He won’t tell me how much he paid for it, though, which is getting kind of annoying. But I got a dress! Woooo! :) He might drop by today to give it to me, so I’ll have to take lots of pictures… if it fits. One never knows. He thinks it might be too big, but we shall see. :) :)
I’m off to go order some shampoo now. My mom said I could order Lush shampoo from Canada. You know, that soap place that I fell in love with in London. I found out their Canadian franchise can ship to the US. Tee hee, I’m splurging on soap again and I really shouldn’t…
This is rather depressing. I went looking for some information on how to contact the producers of a show I rather like the style of, and instead of finding the information I wanted I just ended up finding information on the actors. That would have been okay, since I’ve been curious what they’ve been up to, but now I wish I didn’t know. It’s just sad and depressing. Can’t there be a show out there that’s not only nice on the outside, but the people who make it are nice as well? Or is that asking too much? Maybe it’s true and all actors go insane eventually. What is it about that? Do they lose themselves in the characters they play, or do they just become warped? Who knows. Now it’s just kind of sad, knowing what happened to all of these people.
The world can be a pretty twisted, perverted, disgusting, horrific place at times. And that’s just not happy.
I should quit doing research this late at night and just stick to doing pointless happy crap. I think I’ll revert back to that for a minute.
Speaking of demented things, I went to Hot Topic earlier this evening like a good little teenager and browsed their clearance racks. I ended up getting a button to stick on my backpack that says, “I caught you picking your nose” - it was good for a laugh at only 98 cents. And I got some more nail polish because I think I’ve decided this is fun for a change. This time, for another 98 cents, I got a strange bluish purple. I suppose the color’s considered a bit goth, but I don’t think so. It’s just cute. Of course, I’ll probably end up taking it off tomorrow. What would I have to wear with it?! :)
Just kidding, of course.
Hmm… other happy stuff. In between forty pieces of junk email (can you believe it?) that I got today I received a few nice emails that made the day a little different from normal. Other than that, I already blogged pretty much everything else. Dang it, I need a hug. First the hospital, then the long hot car ride, and now my favorite show has been spoiled by demented people. Or chocolate. That might help too.
I’ve made it back from the perils of Baltimore in one piece. I went shopping but it was way too hot to really enjoy it. So hot and humid; I hate that. Give me cold weather, a fluffy flannel blanket, and someone to talk to and I’m in my “natural environment”. (Hehe, can’t you just imagine a cheesy Animal Planet episode now - ‘Crikey! It’s in its natural environment!’ [Sorry, after spending four hours in the car - up and back - in the heat, I’m a little loopy. Especially after my mother got us lost.]) Good news is I got the important shopping done. I found a good gift for one of my friends at the Discovery Channel store, but still no gift for Chinese Sam. I have no clue what to get him.
I ended up going into the hospital anyway. But, I made it out okay. It wasn’t the same part of the hospital, but it still had that hospital feeling. Why is it that all hospitals look the same? I should design one so it looks less like a hospital and more like an expensive hotel. But, then patients would go through relapses when they go to the Ritz, and that might not be such a good thing.
But, seriously, I went through okay. In fact, I’m rather glad I went. It reminded me of a project I really want to get to work on, but I don’t want to talk about it because I’m afraid of someone taking the idea. It’s too good, and too easy to get started. I just need to go talk to some hospital directors at various locations to get it set up, then I might need to either hire a photographer or buy a nice camera so I can take the pictures myself. It’s a great project, something actually that one of the nurses at Johns Hopkins helped me think of while I was waiting for my turn to go into the OR.
So maybe I’m cured. Not only did I make it through a hospital (*and* a fire drill, so getting out of the hospital I had to be crammed into a stairwell for a while as I descended to the main floor), but I also want to go back for a project. We shall see. :)
Oh! And I took lots of pictures at the Inner Harbor, as well as a few out of the car window as we drove away. I have six shots left to take then I’ll go get the film developed. Hopefully they turned out alright. I even got a few photos of a big Danish ship that was in port for a festival in New York (I think. It might have been Boston. The cute little sailor man was kind of hard to understand cause he was so quiet. He smiled a lot, though.)
Just wanted to make it clear that I’m actually okay, I just don’t think I should go to the hospital tomorrow. That’s all. :) I’m okay.
Does anybody know where I can find Tino Rossi lyrics? I’ve got one of his songs stuck in my head (don’t ask how) and I want to know what the heck he’s saying. (It’s in French and since I only speak bits of French I can’t understand all of it. I know the first two lines at least.)
I spent the day over at a friend’s house and it was rather fun. Made me feel all young again. I got a call from Sara, one of the 13 year old girls from that group I go to where I talk to them and stuff, being all mentorish. She asked me if I wanted to come over so she could teach me some stuff on my new violin. I went over at 1:00, found out I’m crap at the violin, then we ended up playing cards. We also baked cookies, hung out with her sister (she’s 16), and I stayed there for dinner. It was a nice day. It was different from my regular routine and made me realize I haven’t done that in a very long time. Just hung out with a younger friend all day. It was nice for a change.
As for the violin, I’ve discovered I’m just not built for it. My colarbone is too pronounced so holding it hurts like heck, and my hands are too teeny and girly to properly press down on the strings. I tried using a shoulder pad to help with the colarbone thing, but it only made it hurt worse. As for the fingers, I think with practice I might be able to adjust that, but who knows. At least I got a few good solid notes out and that sounded great. It was just when I tried to do scales that it got all wonky cause I couldn’t move my fingers that far.
Then I made the mistake of trying to play the piano again. Heh. I can’t believe I’ve forgotten so much. I had four straight years of lessons before my piano blew up, and I got pretty dang good. But now, I can’t even pluck out Blueberry Hill. Pretty sad, eh? I suppose five straight years without touching a piano could do that to a person. :)
But now it’s off to bed for me. I’m going to Baltimore tomorrow because my Mom and Sara’s Mother are going up to Johns Hopkins to visit a friend of theirs whose son is in the hospital. I really want to go visit the little boy with them, but I don’t think I could handle it. My memories of Johns Hopkins aren’t too great and just thinking about it is hard. I don’t want to find out what I’ll do if I actually go in there again so soon. I mean, most of the time I handle doctor’s appointments okay, but right now I don’t think going back is such a good idea. After long periods of time between visits it gets harder. For example, a year after the initial stabbing that caused my bone infection, I had to go back into the same building where that occured for a hearing exam. I couldn’t do it. I ended up sitting in the tiny sound-proof booth and I actually got claustrophobic. I think I kinda slumped over and hit my head on the wall, but I don’t remember much. It was a while ago (I was 11 at the time), and I’ve tried to forget it. Going back to the place where they amputated my toe for reasons other than a doctor’s appointment could be disasterous. If I can keep myself focused on the appointment itself, I’m okay. But not this. Especially not seeing that poor little boy in pain, that’d be too bad.
So I’m going shopping instead. I feel kind of bad about it, but there’s nothing else I can do. They’re going to drop Sara and I off at the Inner Harbor so we can look around for a present for Chinese Sam. There’s a nice store there that might have something interesting for him.
Dang, that got rather depressing. Sorry about that.
I’m rather sleepy and I have to get up early tomorrow, so good night.
I have no idea what to blog about, so this is all impromptu. Just wanted to warn you.
Today’s been interesting. I’ve had a chance to sit around and talk to some friends since today was a Sunday without plans. My mom finally caught the cold that’s been circulating around the house so she was down for the count and unable to plan anything. :) I talked to oodles of people about oodles of things. And it’s been nice. The variances in conversation were amazing, especially when I had three completely different topics going on with three completely different people. That gets confusing.
Guan IMed me this afternoon about a really funny typo he caught in my blog, and we eventually wound our way to talking about Philip Greenspun. (Don’t worry, this won’t turn into another I-Should-Rule-The-World rant.) In particular, Philip Greenspun’s latest vacation with his latest newly-upgraded girlfriend. When I was in Cambridge he was steady with Eve Andersson. Now, wouldn’t you know it, he’s dumped poor, cute little Eve and is going out with the woman I stayed with in Cambridge. Curiouser and curiouser. I never would have imagined Kyle (the woman) Philip together, especially after some of the things Kyle said about him while I was there. We had some funny conversations about Phil. But, knowing they’ve been together for a while, I wonder when he’ll upgrade again. It seems those people are constantly switching around and I find that a bit… creepy. Turns out Kyle had three serious boyfriends in the past year, and who knows with Philip. He’s probably still off somewhere taking nudie pictures again.
I’m so glad I’m not going to MIT.
Guan and I decided their lives sound way too much like a soap opera. Imagine it, ‘As Cambridge Turns.’ We could pitch it to HBO and they’d eat it up. And as Guan says, the best part would be the disclaimer at the end of the credits, “This is entirely fictional and not based on any actual persons.” (Sorry, not an exact quote from Guan, but close enough.) And, of course, it’d be as accurate has humanly possible, right down to Philip’s dog. It’d be hilarious. Geeks revenge, showing the true lives behind the “saviors” of web services.
That’s so evil. That’s what you get from lazy Sunday afternoon discussions. Not sure the evil part is so good on a Sunday, though. :)
On a completely vain and utterly pointless note, I’ve had a nice hair-day, so I have a superficial smile on my face. :) Also, some friends might be coming up for a visit from Florida, which is a lot more exciting than even curls without frizziness. They’re both charming young gentlemen that I met in Italy and went on a road trip with through Switzerland. (it was a big youth trip, I was 12, and there were tons of chaperones. I’m not in ‘As Cambridge Turns.’) I kept tabs with the younger of the two - Nate - and I’ve gone to see him a few times in Florida. But the other one, Chris, he went off to Miami, had some troubles, then left on a mission for his church. Now he’s back and guess what? He’s coming up to Virginia to school, so he and Nate are going on a road trip. They’re going to come stay with me for a while so we can catch up and I can show them around Washington. It’ll be great to see them again. It’ll be nice to see Nate again now that I’m not sick (the last few times I went I had a really bad brain infection, so I wasn’t quite myself.) And as far as Chris, I can’t wait to see what he’s like after five years. Nate says Chris is excited to come see me, and that he kept his promise when he told me when we said goodbye in Italy that he’d “never forget” me. One… two… three… awwwwww. :) Isn’t that cute?
Happy visitors to end the summer will be a nice thing. Now I need plans for the fall… Any ideas?
My small, not-yet-taken-over country’s cabinet is growing. Since I posted about my ‘Axis of Evil’ my friend Erick was asking which companies are on it besides McDonald’s. Here’s the official list from our Minister of Propaganda, Alastair Alexander:
Warner Brothers - For obvious reasons.
McDonald’s - Cause Al says they’re really icky, and I tend to agree. Except they have nice cookies now…
ArsDigita - Cause they wouldn’t give me my freaking server. Harumph.
I have since dubbed my friend Erick the Minister of Pants, to which he replied, “I vow to serve thee, oh great and wise powerless figurehead and keep the pants of our citiens, where they are supposed to be, upon their heads.” This is shaping up to be one interesting little country. Cabinet seats are still available. Got any ideas?
I think I’ve finally gotten rid of my annoying stressed out vibes for today and am back to being careless and happy. Which is always a nice thing to get back into right before I go to sleep. I have better dreams that way.
And now I’m off to sleep, to dream happy Machiavellian dreams. :)
Turns out I got to do something fun this afternoon! I went to see K-19 and I quite enjoyed it. I liked going to see it without knowing much about it at all. I’ve been very deliberate in ignoring all previews and articles for it, cause it looked interesting. Turns out it was! I think the most shocking thing - apart from a long line of naked rear-ends - was that National Geographic was one of the production studios. I think that’s really amazing.
All in all, I’d definitely recommend K-19, but it certainly wasn’t a “summer” movie. Although it had action and was suspenseful and all that, it made me think more than it made adrenaline flow. I liked that although some of the accents weren’t really authentic, they were consistant and that made them more convincing. The characters were interesting, but because it was Russian I had a hard time remembering several of the characters’ names. (I’m not even going to try and spell them since my spelling has been awful all day in my native language anyway.) But it really put a new perspective on the cold war, and the way the world handles nuclear capabilities as a whole. As I walked out of the theatre it almost felt like, if we came that close to Hiroshima in the Atlantic ocean, do we really know what we’re doing? It seems almost like we’re just a bunch of excited children, playing with our new toys, and racing the other children to the toy store to make sure we have the greater collection to show off at school. We don’t really know how to keep that addiction to the newest toys in control, and do we really know how to use it?
But I don’t feel like getting all anti-nuclear at the moment. I think nuclear weapons are awful, but they’re probably necessary. I think if we were able to get rid of all the nuclear weapons off the planet, then that would be fine. But I think it’s silly for just the United States and Russia to get rid of ours when we aren’t the biggest enemies anymore, nor do we have the biggest stock-piles of nuclear arms. If we could rid the middle east of them, then I’d be peachy keen with Russia and the US getting rid of everything. But I mean everything.
It all adds more meaning to what Einstein said, how he wished he’d had no part in its creation. I feel rather bad for him.
Anyway. That got rather serious rather quickly, didn’t it? Especially considering I’m way too tired to be all serious. Dang it, now my happy vibes have waxed philosophical. Time for useless babble to prepare for Daria, otherwise I’ll end up spending the rest of the night wearing black and a beret, and I’ll start writing poetry and finding meaning in David Byrne songs. And that really wouldn’t be good right about now. :)
Dang it, found something else important to blog about. Happy vibes later.
I’m stuck worrying about where I’m going to find money again. You know how I blogged about not being able to get that $80,000 a year job? Well, that’s sent me into panic mode again, worrying about how the heck I’m going to be able to pay for school (really funny typo replaced here, thanks to Guan). I’ve even started looking at options besides Courtauld, even though I’ve gone through this search a million times and I’m still in love with that school. I’m really frustrated by it. I feel like crying out, “I need $40,000!” But then again, who wouldn’t say that? But seriously, I need money by next fall and I’m not sure how to get it. If my travel show works out, then great, but I’m not going to count on it. That’d be silly to count on that of all things. There’s another out-landish plot I’ve been thinking about, but I haven’t blogged about (even though I’ve been working on it for the past two months.) But again, that’s way too questionable to bet all I have on it. I need something concrete, or I at least need one of my crazy plans to work. Then I’ll be all set.
Or I need to win that screenwriting contest. That’s another crazy plan that could set me up.
Maybe if I get enough crazy plans going the odds of success will increase, thus leading to at least one of them working out. I need more ideas, then. Or, more avenues with which to implement even more crazy ideas. Believe me, I have tons of dream-scenarios that might work if I got in with the right people.
But that’s entirely silly and they’re all the products of an over-active imagination. So what am I to do? Business proposals, like that couple did to get their wedding sponsored? Scholarships? Again, those are just as risky. Getting a job at McDonalds? First off, a job like that would never get me enough money. Secondly, I’d be miserable. Can you imagine knowing that you could make a great President and knowing you could make it if it weren’t for just one teensy problem, but then you have to settle for spending all of your time as the Mayor of Hell, South Dakota? That’s what it’d feel like. I’d be stuck in Hell… South Dakota. :) And finally, I’d be working for the enemy, since Alastair and I have placed McDonald’s on our Axis of Evil, since we’re planning on taking over a small European country. We’re getting our policies in order, and no policy is complete without its own Axis of Evil. :)
Tee hee.
Oh good! The Happy/Stupid vibes are coming back! Maybe I’ll quit stressing about college.
Naaah. I won’t quit doing that until I have $40,000 in the bank. Or at least promised to me so I know I have access to it.
Holy crap that’s a lot of money. Why does art school have to cost so flippin’ much? It’s art, for goodness sake. Most great artists never had anywhere near that much money in their entire lives! Why spend so much studying them? The college system is so stupid.
I’m just about done with the logo for my travel show, but I wanted to let some people see it, for feedback and such. Here it is. It’s not quite finished yet - I’m not sure what to put in the bottom triangle. I’m thinking of a collage of world monuments, drawn in the same cartoony style as the top triangle. But, my fingers are pretty cramped after drawing all that stuff free-hand on the computer, so I’ll wait to do that later. (I hate drawing freehand on the computer in PSP, with all those stupid little tools. I have to be so precise and I’m not that great at that.) But I think it turned out well. What do you think? Post replies in the guestbook, please oh please.
I like my little palm trees. I think the mountains could be better, but hey, they’re supposed to look cartoony. I think I may take the sun out from behind the mountains - it repeats the yellow too much and detracts from the snow.
Anyway, I like it. I think it’s cute. Now I just need the show. :)
Sorry about that rant last night, that got a bit odd. Not surprising, since it was almost 2 in the morning! My sleep schedule is so out of whack, but I’m not sure that I mind. I like the world at 2 in the morning; everything’s so nice and quiet.
I took another Daria personality test last night while looking for information about the music they play on the show, and guess what? They told me I’m Jane again. Different test, different questions, and I’m still Jane. Of course, that’s only reinforced by my sleeping habits. “Or early, whatever.”
Gotta love Trent quotes. :)
I went looking for a file on the DProphet server earlier and came across an old self-portrait that I took well over a year ago. My first attempt at self-photography. It’s interesting to see how bad it was, hehe. Wanna see? And to think I was trying to go for a ‘far-away visionary’ look. I only started with self-photography because my brother told me about the site, Jezebel’s Mirror. I thought it was interesting, so I gave it a shot. I took that one while I was still living in Reston, in my bathroom in the basement. I had a big mirror in there so it worked out pretty well. But the coloring is all weird, and I took it with a real camera instead of the digital one.
Now that I think about it, I think those were a late night project, too. Must have been around 1 in the morning when I took that.
I don’t really have any plans for today. I may try to work on the english textbook again, but I think my brain’s too fried to try that. Maybe I’ll work on a logo for my travel show. My friend Greg made a great one for me, but there’s something I want to add to it. So, off I go, to do… something.
Argh, I’m tired, I’m just waiting around for a song to finish downloading. I heard it at the end of Daria and decided I needed to download it. So, here I am, dead tired, sitting on the internet, wondering where my favorite pajamas are, and waiting for Kazaa to hurry up.
I had to go to the dentist today. Hooray for me, no cavities! But, I did have tarter build-up, which meant the cleaning hurt quite a bit. But it was all okay when my Mom rewarded me for “being a good little girl” at the dentist by taking me to get mexican food. Mmmmm. I take back what I said, there’s an authentic Mexican place right in Herndon. I just didn’t know about it. It was so close to perfect. They even had shredded beef! I didn’t have to make a special request or anything. It was smarvy.
While I was waiting at the dentist I was a good little CEO-in-training - I read Business 2.0. Aren’t you proud of me? I would have read Fortune, but it was an older issue. And besides, I wanted to see what Business 2.0 had to say about the leaders of the future. And I’m a bit familiar with the magazine. They interviewed me last fall for an article about the state of the merger between Time Warner and AOL. Funny, eh? They were asking me about my experiences with them, my thoughts on Warner Brothers’ ethics, what I thought of their business and where it was going. When I first got the email from the reporter I started laughing. ‘They want to talk to a 16 year old?”
Turns out the reporter did, but not the editor. When the reporter took the final article to the editor, the editor scrapped all three paragraphs about what I said, saying, “What does a teenager know about the business?” Heh, thanks guy. Evil editors. That would have been a great thing to add to my resume. And besides, that editor needs to get his head on straight - I may not be a business genius, but I know kids even younger than I am who could whoop his butt. Case and point: Aaron Swartz. That young man gets paid butt-loads of money to go in and make companies more efficient computer-wise. He’s amazing! He’s a business uber-genius, and I think he’s two years younger than I am. (If not, sorry, Aaron. I know you’re younger than me but I’m not sure by how much. And if you’re reading this, have you heard from Stallman yet?)
Businesses need to realize that teenagers are just teeny-boppers anymore. We’re sugar-crazed juggernauts, waiting to break out of a stereotype so we can finally be allowed to implement business practices that we know will work. I’m incredibly frustrated with my age, not because of raging hormones or a “lack of respect”. That’s not it at all. It makes me sick that, according to all the business magazines and classifieds I’ve read, I’m qualified for a job at $60,000 to $80,000 a year, but they can’t even legally hire me because according to the commonwealth of Virginia, I can’t work a 40 hour week. How stupid is that? I have to sit around and twiddle my thumbs until I’m 18, and then what if all the local employers have the same attitude as that editor? They won’t pay an 18 year old without a high school diploma $60k. In fact, I may even frighten them. Someone I was talking to, maybe it was Alastair, said that - because of PotterWar - I might have a hard time getting a job because the companies will be afraid I’ll lead some revolution and take over the company, all with nothing but a single connection with USA Today and a website.
Hey! I’m like a corporate MacGyver! :)
But seriously. I think the reason Philip Greenspun won’t talk to me anymore is because I tried to make the last few days of his company’s life as miserable as humanly possible. He may have hated aD, but he still worked with them on a few things. I think I took his hatred to another level, and maybe that bothered him. Based on what he said, that’s what I’ve decided. It’s a pity, though, in a way. I was his little puppy for three days, and that was kind of a funny thought. I liked hanging out with millionaires, playing with their cell phones and befriending their $15,000 dogs. It was nice while it lasted. He and I were even friendly and emailed back and forth after I got back from MIT. We had loads in common - we spent a long time comparing foot operation stories. But that all kind of ended when I told him I wanted to get as much as I could from aD, and then kill them as mercilessly as possible.
I guess people can get rather protective about their creations, even if their creations bit them in the butt. :) Gee, who knew?
So now I’m kinda staring at Philip’s AIM name. He’s online quite a lot. Whether he’s actually there, who knows. But it’s aggravating. Maybe he’s just a big stooge, and was doing all of it for the press of the prize. I wouldn’t put it past him.
Where did that big rant come from? I don’t think I should eat chimichanga leftovers after 11:00 ever again. I think it plays with my brain. And my song even finished downloading five minutes ago! All I can say is I think I’d be a happy little CEO, but as of right now, I just want my travel show. I’ll practice taking things over there first, scoping out territory and all that. :)
(And don’t you dare laugh - I would too be a good CEO. You just haven’t seen my serious kick-butt-lawyer side yet, cause all I post here ends up being late night, chimi-enduced babbling. So there. :-P)
I tried to be a good little blogger and blog this afternoon, but I couldn’t get into it. My computer was being evil again. I just defragmented, just checked for viruses, I even did a full scan disk, and it’s still being a pain in the butt. All slow and stuff. Ergh.
My brain has been misbehaving all day. Maybe it’s in cahoots with my computer. I haven’t been thinking clearly at all. For example, it took two hours to code a stupid webpage for that english textbook. Two freakin’ hours! Normally I can churn out a website, start to finish, in half an hour. I sat here for two hours, frustrating the heck out of myself, wondering why nothing was working. I stepped back for about five minutes, then came back into my room and took care of it in ten minutes. Then all was well, and now it’s up on the net: http://www.dprophet.com/style/ Mind, none of the links work yet because I ate up all my time trying to code it when I was being stupid.
Now I feel all bad. I got an email this afternoon from a guy. He sent his resume to InkBlot, inc. looking for a job. I was slightly flattered, but I feel really bad about it. I was to professional looking, I suppose. I hope he didn’t get his hopes up too high. I sent him an email apologizing, and explaining that all of InkBlot, inc is pretty much just me, the lone little 17-year-old who’s not even making enough money to go to school, let alone pay an employee. Poor guy. I hope he finds a job.
And now I’m going to do something pointless so I quit frustrating myself. It hurts to just write this stupid blog entry. Stupid… brain!
Holy crap! 166 people have been to my blog today! That’s so exciting! But now I feel all bad that I didn’t post more earlier. :)
So, Mr. Genius Erick came up with the perfect title today for my travel show. I was thinking and thinking all day, but all I could come up with was “Heather’s Way”, like a One Way sign, but I wasn’t even sure I really liked it. But, he comes up with something perfect. So perfect in fact that it already matches a kind of fuzzy mental image I’ve been thinking about for the logo. He suggested “Walkabout with Heather Lawver”, like the Australian Aborigines. What do you all think, all 166 of you? I’m going to see if I can’t draw up a little logo for it to see how it looks in writing. Sure, I know the show is still a huge IF, but it’s been loads of fun to dream about, so why not go another step farther and make a logo? If nothing else, I can use the image on my next travelogue website, right?
I finally answered a few emails today. I got through about twenty, but I still have 52 to go. Egads, I’m buried in it. But, I’m working on it. Working, working, and working… Hehe. :)
I’m definitely going to work on that english textbook tomorrow. I remembered a great quote from Stephen King that I’ve been saving for the textbook, so I found it again and typed it up. Now that I have that, the rest should be a piece of cake… :) Right?
Right. It’ll be the basics of good english, and then my opinions on how to work on style. Nothing too complicated or too huge. My own version of the Elements of Style.
I so should not have eaten that brownie after dinner. I’m pinging off the walls with energy, but that really isn’t good since my legs are all sore and bruised. The funniest bruise I have is a straight line across both of my shins where as I was walking through a doorway, a dowl rod I was carrying flipped sideways, got jammed in front of the door, but I didn’t notice it in time. I ran straight into it, head on, and nearly tripped over myself. I bet it looked really funny but ooooo, it hurt. At least I have a funny bruise now, so maybe it was worth it.
These past few days have been nice. I’ve allowed myself to goof off in order to recover from doing the basement. I’ve just been talking to friends and playing stupid games on the computer. But I think I’m finally getting bored with doing nothing and I’m about ready for another big project. I’m not sure which project that should be, though. If The N writes back and says, “Congratulations, we’ve come to save the day!” then that’ll solve my project problem and all will be well in the world. Then I can get to work on something really important.
But, in between now and when/if someone picks up my travel show project, I’m thinking of writing an English textbook for the Daily Prophet. There’s been an upsurge in really inane errors in the columns and I’d like to be able to tell everyone to just go read my little textbook. That’d solve everyone’s problems and make my job as editor a whole heckuva lot easier. It’s just the little things, like misuse of they’re and their, or your and you’re. They really bug me, but it’s hard to explain that over and over again in emails. Sure, it’s my job as a tutor, but I think a textbook would be a lot easier and more efficient. Now it’s just a matter of writing it. I’m not too worried about it - if I can handle an HTML textbook I can handle a refresher course in English. I think I may use William Strunk’s The Elements of Style as a base, but set it more for the use of a Daily Prophet columnist. Just pick and choose a few of his rules that are imperative, but put my own spin on them.
Can I do that legally? I think so. I won’t be quoting whole passages, just referring to his work, and telling the kids to go get their own copies for easier reference in the future. It’s the perfect little guide, every writer should have one on hand.
So, while I was goofing off earlier, waiting for a game to load, I noticed the little jar of nail polish that I got the other day while I was at Hot Topic. It was only 50 cents; I figured I’d use it for a costume one day or something, cause it’s such a lovely shade of red. The game was taking forever, and it was calling to me. I pulled it open and I painted my nails. Now I feel silly. I hardly ever paint my nails! I don’t think I’ve had them done in a year, maybe more. So now I have deep red fingernails and I’m not sure how I feel about it. :)
The French are glad to - die - for love,
they delight in fighting - duels.
But I prefer a man who lives and gives
Expensive jewels!
A kiss on the hand may be,
quite continental,
but diamonds are a girl’s best friend!
A kiss may be grand,
But it won’t pay the rental on your humble flat
or help you at the automat.
Men grow cold as girls grow old,
and we all lose our charms in the end.
-dee dull dee dee -
But square cut or pear shaped
these rocks don’t lose their shape!
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend!
Sorry, I’ll quit singing now. :) I couldn’t sleep last night so I flipped open my laptop and just watched a few of the musical numbers from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It was amazing how Marilyn Monroe knew just how to get at least one little wiggle in after every phrase of that song. And they were the perfect little exclamation point. And then to watch Jane Russell perform “Ain’t There Anyone Here For Love”, there was such a difference. She didn’t do as much of the wiggling, but it was still impressive. With Marilyn Monroe her little wiggles were more like shyness, but with Jane Russell it was all just out there. She was bold about it. I need to study those…
Hehe.
But seriously. It’s an amazing contrast in flirtation. (This is getting to be one strange blog.) I almost performed ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ for that variety show I had to put together a few months ago, but I’m not sure I could have done it right without studying the number. I tried to mimic it last night but those wiggles are a science, dang it! It’s tough.
Sorry, I have no idea where all of that came from. I’ve just got that song stuck in my head. :)
So I sent the letter off to The N about my travel show. Eeps! I’m slightly nervous, but not really. As my friend Greg said, the worst they can say is No, and if they say that, too bad for them. I’ll take the idea elsewhere. Of course, it’d be a lot easier and a lot nicer if they say Yes, cause the more I’ve thought about it the more I think the show would work really well there. Sigh. I so want it. It’d be perfect for me.
I suppose I should get going on the day now, since it’s already almost noon. Tee hee.
Mmm… chimi. I got to go to that restaurant today and get my chimichanga. Oh, it was nice. I usually ask them to replace the ground beef with steak, since you know how I feel about that sacreligious ground beef. It gives it a slightly different taste, but it’s a good substitute for not being in Arizona and getting a real chimi. The only problem is, now I’m all tired after eating that much. And this also means I’ll probably skip dinner cause I’m so full. Then I’ll end up eating a snack around 8, and all will be well in the world. :)
The letter to Noggin about my travel show is almost done. Thanks to Erick, most of the problems with it got fixed, but he’s such a good editor I want him to read the newer version to make sure it’s okay. He gave some really amazing advice, he should certainly be an editor. He’s really good at it.
Anyway, just wanted to type all that, not sure why. I’m off to lay down for a while now, I think.
Mexican food, Mexican food, tomorrow I get Mexican food!
Eh hem, sorry. I’ve been craving Mexican food for the past week but have been too busy to go out and get one of my beloved chimichangas. But tomorrow, ha HA, I‘m going to my favorite local Mexican place to get a celebratory chimi, in honor of finishing the basement. I’m rather happy about that, as I’m sure you can tell. Just thinking about it is already making me hungry.
Oooh, and the tortilla chips and salsa…
You know, I really miss the Mexican food in southern Arizona. There was this great place in Sierra Vista, the little town I lived in right before I moved to the east coast. It was family owned and operated by real Mexicans fresh from Mexico (that may sound really racist, but it’s not meant to be. I mean this stuff was real Mexican food, meaning it’s not at all like taco bell. It’s the real enchilada.) It was fantastic. They had chimichangas that were big enough for two people to eat, and they’d still be stuffed. And they made all their salsa fresh and from scratch, and holy crap was it spicy. Not at all like this sissy east coast stuff. Funny, I used to laugh at those Old El Paso salsa commercials, where those cowboys are sitting around the campfire and one of the cowboys brings salsa over. Then all the other cowboys scream, “Made in New York City?!?!” One of them usually pipes up, “New York City don’t know nothing ‘bout salsa, boy! Leave it to Texas!” Then, of course, these old style cowboys whip out this glass jar from no-where, proudly proclaiming that their salsa’s made in El Paso, Texas. Sure, it’s over dramatic stereotyping, but it’s so true. I haven’t had good Mexican food anywhere but the southwest United States. And I’ve been around. Nothing like a real, close-to-the-border chimichanga with melted cheese on top. Real shredded beef inside that’s so tender that it falls apart in your mouth, letting all those yummy juices out. For some reason all the mexican restaurants out here put ground beef in their chimis. I’ve never once had a chimi with ground beef in it out west. It’s gotta be blasphemous or something.
Mmm… and tortilla chips, and quesadillas, and enchiladas, and… and… and… dang, I’m hungry.
Yay! The pictures of the basement have finally been uploaded, despite WS_FTP trying to keep me from getting them up. It was being so annoying! Kept cancelling the uploads, freezing up, and generally trying my patience. But I came, I uploaded, I conquered. And that’s what matters. :)
You can see the Before pictures by clicking here.
And the After pictures by clicking here.
Enjoy! :) Now I’m off to go sleep cause I still haven’t recovered from all the work.
Finally! I blogged twice (as you can see) but it wouldn’t post. Blogger was having template problems. Anyway, there you go, lots of new stuff to read, and it’s all pretty much paint-fume-induced insanity. So, yay! :)
I’m not going to blog any more about the basement for right now. I’m too sore. I’ve got bruises up and down my legs and oooowwwww. :) Sorry, you’ll just have to wait for pictures until after my nap. I may have just woken up, and I had a nice sleep (it was raining all night, and I’m sure you know by now how much I like that since I’ve blogged about it a million times), but I’m still tired. I’m going to run downstairs, eat a waffle, then crawl back into bed. Sleep, sleep, sleep.
But one more thing before I go - read the Saturday post and then read this:
I thought of a slogan for my cowboy picture! (I’m still running the caption contest, though, so post them, please.) “Squinting as I ride off into the sunset.” What do you think? :)
So the basement’s done. I’ll give a full account of today’s proceedings tomorrow, when I upload the gallery of before and after pictures. It was a big hit, though, and everyone loves it. Even another family came over to see it before my parents came home and they liked it. Hurrah, I can still pick out colors! :) Hehe.
I wasn’t even going to blog tonight, but I happened to see something that I thought might prove interesting on the AOL welcome screen, and sure enough it to be useful. About six or so months ago I had a really disturbing dream and I’ve been trying to find something that might explain why I had the dream. Normally I’m not into that sort of thing. I usually believe my dreams stem from what I watched on TV, what I’m currently busy thinking about, and only sometimes do they provide insight into my emotional state. But only sometimes. Most of the time my dreams are too stupid to say anything about my psyche.
Anyway, so this dream I had. I remember it so vividly and I really wish I could draw well enough to try and get this image out of my head. During the entire night’s dream I was simply staring into a mirror, looking back at myself. Although what I saw was recognizably my face, I was horribly disfigured. And I mean horribly. I’ve seen some pretty awful disfigurements, and this one topped them all. Teeth showing, skin burned beyond recognition, an eye missing, hair gone except a few strands; I’m telling you, it was really bad. It was so bad I remember feeling my eyes burn from the hideousness of it all, and I tried desperately to wake myself up just so I could quit looking at it.
I finally did force myself awake. When I woke up, though, the image wouldn’t leave. I could still see it just as clearly in my mind’s eye. My heart was pounding, I couldn’t slow my breathing down. I was seriously frightened. I kept thinking, ‘Does this mean I’m vain?’ or ‘Is this a reminder that the toe could be just the beginning, and that all those jokes about accidents coming in threes could be true?’ Those thoughts may seem strange, but when your dreams force you to wake up at four in the morning, then you can talk about me being strange and I’ll put faith in your comments.
I’ve never forgotten that dream, but I’ve tried to. I had given up trying to find meaning in it and opted for trying to erase that image of myself. But about two months ago I was talking to a friend and the topic wound itself around to dream interpretations. I can’t even remember why. My dream resurfaced in my mind and I tried to look for something in a dream dictionary that could explain disfigurement. I couldn’t find anything, though. But, I found something tonight.
“We are used to the modern proverb “it’s all screwed up” as a metaphor for situations and relationships that fail to meet our expectations. Dreams of this nature often reflect our verbalization of people or things that fail to fulfill our needs. How many disfigured people or objects you encounter in your dream is an indication of what facets of your life are not meeting your expectations. Can you ascertain how the object or person came to be disfigured?
Does the disfigured object continue to work, or does the disfigured person seem unaware of what you are seeing?”
So, the number of disfigured people: One. One facet of my life that doesn’t fit my needs. Hmm. Food for thought. But how to ascertain how the person became disfigured, no idea. If I were that horribly disfigured, there’d be no way for me to be alive. Car accident? Burns? No, it was more than that.
But most importantly, I think, was I unaware of what I was seeing? I most certainly was aware of it, and it frightened me. It still kind of does. I can’t think of a single thing that I could have seen on television, or could have possibly been thinking about that could have lead to that dream. Nothing. Completely out of the blue, and it’s still just as vivid in my mind as the night I dreamt it. I think it’s one of those one-in-a-million emotional sign dreams, but I’m still not sure what it means. Am I vain? I don’t think so. As of right now my hair is unkempt, I’m wearing completely unflattering pajamas, but I don’t care. Am I worried I’ll become vain? No. Am I afraid of disfigurement? Yes, but who isn’t?
It’s all so confusing and I wish I had more clues to go on. I wish I would have smashed the mirror, walked away, or gone in search of clues. Now all I’m left with is that horrible image, and this one entry from some strange dream dictionary that’s probably been dreamt up by the same wackos who write the rest of the rubbish on AOL’s Women’s channel. :)
Erm, sorry about last night’s blog. That got a bit… odd. I was thinking maybe I should avoid blogging tonight, to try and save you all from another incredibly strange trip into the inner-world of my sleep-deprived mind, but then I realized I’ll have to blog tonight to let you all know what my parents think of the basement. They’re coming home tonight (even though I wish they weren’t - I want more time) and all I can say is they’d better like it, or else.
I’m really sore today and I still have curtains to make, then I have to clean up down there, then Steve needs to put up one last shelf, then we’re done. Done, done, done. And I’ll be avoiding paint brushes and rollers for a very very long time to come. I can promise you that.
Well, that is, until I convince my mom to let me redecorate the living room. :)
That’s it, I’m a decorating masochist, now it all makes sense.
Finally, I may be redesigning my blog shortly because I found (with the aid of my brother) the most hilarious picture ever. Check it out, you won’t regret it. It’s just begging to be the new logo for my blog. I wonder what my new site name could be. Maybe, “That’s Right, I’m Not From Texas”, or I just thought of one that would be really funny, but I can’t say it cause it’s really not like me and I’ll regret it tomorrow if I type it out. So there.
Hehehe. But it’s so funny!
Yet again, I loath paint fumes.
But that gives me a grand idea. 50,000 points to the person who comes up with the best new site name or slogan to match that picture. 50,000 points; that’s the most I’ve ever given out! So what do you have to lose? If I like you enough, I may even give you a door prize of, oh, say… 500 points, just cause I like you.
For someone who’s so tired, I certainly am babbling a lot. For example, I just bombarded Erick with a whole thing about the phrase “resting on your laurels.” I have no idea what that was about.
But speaking about random thoughts. (Get it?) I had another thought for my TV show (my mind wanders when I’m painting, and it gets worse when I sew. Guess which one I was doing today. [both, gack!]) Anyway, my idea is, at the end of each show I could wrap things up with my Ten Favorite Things about wherever it was I just went. Like London, for instance. Number one on that list would be how everyone seems so cheerful over there when they say “bye” on their mobile phones. It’s always so upbeat, even after someone has an argument. I’ve overheard the funniest (and sometimes rudest) conversations whilst on the Tube, but they always end with a pleasant “bye-eee!” I think it’s hilarious, and it’s one of the highlights of my trips to London. The list could be nothing but personal things like that, things that may seem silly but what makes each trip special or unique. See?
Erick came up with a good one, too. At the end of each show there could be a special section for blog-style randomness. The producers would time me, giving me exactly two or three minutes to try and express a full idea. It’d be funny. I’d get all tongue-tied, my fingers would start twitching as they itch to type what’s trying to spill out of my mouth. My fingers can keep up with my brain much faster than my mouth can most of the time. It’d be great. Well, at least I’d think so. I wonder how long it would take for me to actually complete the thought in three minutes, without even bursting into giggles about just how ridiculous it all is.
Of course, I don’t think I’ll accomplish that soon. I still can’t control myself. After all, this whole idea is pretty ridiculous and it’s had me laughing for a few days straight. At least it’s something to think about while I’m working.
Want to know something else entirely random? I hate sewing. I’m really bad at it. I always think, ‘Oh, that won’t be so tough.’ Sometimes I’m right, and the rest of the time I’m so, so wrong. Like tonight. I tried to make decorative pillows. Big mistake. I actually almost did break the sewing machine, and I think I ruined a few yards of pretty silver satin. I may be able to salvage it, but then I won’t get the exact pillows I wanted, which makes me kinda sad. I was just too tired to attempt construction tonight anyway, I don’t know what I was thinking. I think I’m just in that scary Obsessive Designer phase where I’m like an addict; if I stop moving I think I’ll die. I’ll get all shakey and chant, ‘Must… add… color…’ I need to get out of that before I go through withdrawl tomorrow when the room’s all done. It’s one love/hate relationship, me and decorating. I absolutely love the process, but I hate all the work involved when it’s just me and one other person covering a huge room. And the rush. I wish I had a week to finish all this.
I’ve so got a song stuck in my head.
In case you’re wondering why I’m still blogging, it’s cause I’m tired, there’s no one on AIM, and I’m waiting for a song to download. How sad is that? I could be responding to emails, sure, but they’d all end up like this blog entry; scary and not making much sense. Someone would write to me saying, ‘Can I be a columnist for the Daily Prophet?’ and I’d probably respond, “You know, dryer tubing is a great thing. You can do so much with it! Sculpture, venting, and just a few months ago my brother made a cool lamp out of it. Yeah. Dryer tubing rules.” Thats why I can’t answer email. No one wants me to respond to their varied questions with only one answer, especially when it involves such obscure objects as dryer tubing.
I think my family’s weird. I’ve been watching Daria, and I took that quiz and my results said I was 100% Jane Lane. I don’t think it was too far off, as far as family structure. We aren’t quite as hippy-ish as the Lanes, and we don’t have any punk rockers in the family (as much as I love Trent’s one-liners, I wouldn’t want him as a brother.) But that whole creativness side. We’re always trying to build something, like Steve’s dryer tube lamp. I was sitting outside painting today, watching my neighbors go about their lives, when I realized just how ridiculous and weird my family must look from the outside. Two homeschooled kids, one of whom was spending one of the hottest afternoons in Virginia history sitting outside on the hot driveway, painting a star-trek-looking storage unit that my brother built earlier that day. And it was violently ice blue. And I had funny plaid flannel pants on. And, I happened to accidentally paint part of my face.
And apart from that, my parents left town for their anniversary and they actually trust two teenagers to properly decorate the basement. What’s even scarier is it hasn’t turned out looking like puke, it’s actually pretty dang good (if I do say so myself.) Full of color (coordinating, no less), copies of modern art, strange furniture built by the family. It’s all there. My parents have spawned a family of Jane Lanes, but thankfully we don’t have any Trents or that Wind guy who’s always moping about his failed marriages. At least none of us have turned out like that yet, who knows what the future holds.
But what I don’t get is my parents are nothing like the Lanes. I could tell you who they’re like, but I won’t go there. :)
Now, I don’t think Steven and I are as sarcastic or whatever as Jane, but Kevin might be. (That’s a good thing, cause that’s what makes him Kevin.) But I suppose he’s sarcastic in a more outgoing way than Jane.
Heck, why am I comparing my life to a cartoon?! Next thing you know I’ll be going through the forest, hunting fow wascally wabbits. I loath paint fumes and their darn effects on my brain!!! If I could, I would stay away from that basement for as long as possible until the air clears, but that darn Obsessive Designer Disorder is getting to me. I can’t go too long without wanting to remind myself of the colors.
I can’t believe it, the basement has driven me insane. I think I’m going to try and sleep myself back into sanity.
I’m really pooped. I’ve been working all day today and I don’t think I’ve had a real break yet. But, I’m not complaining, I’m just explaining why I’m tired. I’m actually really proud of everything I’ve accomplished today and can’t believe how far ahead of schedule I am, especially considering my brother (my one and only helper) hasn’t been feeling too good today. I won’t go through the whole list - I already typed it up in an email to a friend and I don’t feel like retyping it or even copying and pasting. But, I will tell you about what I’m most proud of:
I’ve successfully copied - or rather, interpreted - three Kandinsky paintings to hang up in the basement as three out of four central art pieces. They worked out really well, I think. They aren’t completely accurate to the original works, but that’s okay. They’re my own impressions of Kandinsky. I’m not going to say which ones I copied, just in case my parents happen upon this blog. I don’t want to risk blowing the surprise. Anyway, it took about 3 and a half hours to do all three canvases, and they were huge! That’s what I love about modern art - you can speed through it and it still looks pretty dang good. :) I debated copying some Paul Klee paintings, but decided I’d best stick to one main theme for the artwork. I think it turned out looking much more uniform that way, while still keeping different patterns on each painting.
The basement’s really close to being done. If my brother can build the thing he’s supposed to build tomorrow, then I know we’ll be done. It’ll be so nice once it’s all done. That way I can actually sleep in again without feeling guilty. :)
I’ve just had the strangest feeling of deja vu. I sent off that aforementioned email, that’s when it started. I had a freaky feeling that I had typed those exact same words before, and anticipated the response before from the same person. And then* I thought, “and isn’t Erick supposed to IM me now?” Five minutes later, I get an IM from my friend Erick. Then I start writing my blog entry, and *again there’s that stupid feeling. Sigh. And I bet in the next few minutes I’ll go to bed, and have dreams, then wake up tomorrow and start decorating…
Now I’m just cheating. :-P
And now it’s off to bed for me, after I finish talking to Erick. So much decorating to do, so little time.
I was about to sign off and go to bed when a thought hit me. Straight out of nowhere I thought to myself, check out the N’s website to see if there’s any contact information up there. Pitch your travel show idea, go for it.
(In case you don’t know, The N is a cable kids’ network, an off-shoot of Nickelodeon, which is an off-shoot of MTV. I only watch two shows on there, since the rest is pretty much aimed at junior high kids. But, they air ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’ - something I used to watch when I was a little kid, so it’s kinda nice to look back. Plus it’s just plain odd, in a funny way. They also show ‘Daria’, which I just recently got back into watching for some reason.)
Okay, so it’s The N. They show TV programs for junior high kids. So what? If you think about it, it just might work. They’re always looking for new shows, and I thought it might be an easy way to get my idea out to someone. What’s the point of just blogging about it when it’d be worth a shot just to send one silly email and see if it works.
Right?
I’ve been thinking about my joke about the travel show a lot lately. It started out as something funny; a ploy to satisfy my gypsy tendancies while still making money for school and not completely blowing my time. But the more I’ve thought about it the more fun it seems. The more I’m really getting into it and the more I’m getting funny yet strange ideas about how it just might work.
So why not send out an email, right? One little email. That is, if I could find their email address.
I toddled on down to the-n.com, got slightly distracted for a moment because of a “Which Daria Character Are You?” quiz (I’m Jane, supposedly, if anyone was wondering), but found my way to their contact section. Down in the bottom left-hand corner was a ‘business’ link. I clicked it, and sure enough, there it was. “If you are interested in developing TV or online programs write to…” Sudden thought, sudden results. Usually when I think of these things good things happen, i.e. PotterWar. That started as a late-night mission when I couldn’t sleep. Maybe this will be the same.
I figure, hey, it’s certainly worth a shot. Even if it’s horribly unpopular and my ratings suck, I’d still get at least a few trips out of it. I’d still get the experience and it’s one more thing to add to my application for school. Thanks to PotterWar I know I’m at least not horrible in front of a camera, and today (okay, technically yesterday) 155 people visiting my blog as of 11am. 155 people by the middle of the day. I wish I would have checked the counter before the clock struck midnight. I wonder just how high it got. That’s a ton of hits for some random teenager’s blog. I think I might have beaten my brother, even. Take that number and imagine what could potentially happen when Megness is released on the unexpecting telelvision-viewing public. Mass mayhem, good or bad?
I don’t know. Just more random late-night ramblings. Thoughts, anyone? I’ll take anything, good or bad opinions, I don’t want just a bunch of people playing to my ego. Tell me the truth - would you watch me wandering around the globe, meeting internet friends, and doing things I’ve always wanted to do? Like flying to the Netherlands to meet a Nun I’ve known over the Internet for two years, or flirting with a piano player at the Ritz in London, or singing classic Antonio Carlos Jobim songs with a jazz band in LA. Ooo, or making an amazing chocolate torte at that famous hotel in Austria. Would anyone seriously get into that, or am I just too egotistical this late at night, or too caught up in wanting to travel? I’m not sure what to think of this idea, whether it’d be a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I’ll let the people at the network decide. I think I’ll sleep on the idea and prepare an email for them in the morning. I’ve got the email address, so why not? Some great things came from past “why not”s, let’s see what happens here.
Post your thoughts in the guestbook, please. I’d really like feedback on this cause I’m kind of lost.
The basement’s painted. No stripes as of yet, but the basecoat’s entirely done. It’s certainly blue. :) I love it, though. It’s an absolutely perfect shade. I’m glad I decided to use that as the basecoat because it turns out some of the walls down there had never really been painted. It was just kind of straight drywall and was soaking up the paint like crazy. And, I’m glad I painted the basecoat before my parents left because it turns out one gallon wouldn’t cover it all. Tee hee. I’ve used up almost two whole gallons down there. I’m telling you, the basement’s huge. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get those stripes done.
More good news - the curtains are almost done. I just got finished putting the second panel together, but it still needs to be hemmed and the top needs to be taken care of. But that’s the biggest bit of work finished on those silly curtains. I hope they look alright once they’re up. I’m kind of nervous about them since I’ve never made curtains before, but so far the measurements are correct and they look pretty cool laid out on the cutting table. If they’re crap and my parents don’t like them when they get back they can just go out and buy new ones. So, I think I’ll quit worrying about it and just get them done tomorrow.
I’ve had more random thoughts while painting today, but I’m too tired to type them up. I really need to get some sleep now.
I feel really really bad. My inbox has piled up with 62 emails and AOL’s starting to delete some of them again. I hate it when that happens. I get sick, emails pile up because I’m not conscious enough to answer them, then those poor people think I’m ignoring them. I hate this, it makes me feel all bad. Like I lost one email from a very nice man sending me a picture of Antoine de Saint-Exupery for Calculo because he said I accidentally posted a picture of someone else in Antoine’s place. It was very sweet of him, and now I don’t even get to thank him and I lost the picture. So, Mr. Picture Man, if you read this, I’m really really sorry and I feel awful about it.
To everyone else, I’m really sorry I haven’t gotten to reply to you yet. There’s just something that happens to my brain when I get sick for an extended period of time. For the past two months I’ve been trying so hard to reply to them. I always end up staring, literally, at a blank reply email for an hour, wondering what to say. I question everything I write, wonder if it’s enough or too much. And when I do end up sending one it’s usually so full of errors that I end up getting embarrassed.
How is blogging different? I’m not responding to anyone, I don’t really go into blog writing horribly intent on making any sense. Which is why I’m surprised anyone actually reads this thing. Blogs just come pouring out. I can’t do that with email replies. Well, with most email replies anyway. There are a few friends who I manage to reply to regularly, but that’s only because I don’t feel any obligation to make sense. Why that is, I have no idea. Some people I just don’t think will mind if I babble, or maybe I think they’ll understand what I’m trying to say anyway.
It’s all pretty distressing. I wish I had a secretary on hand to so I could dictate emails, so I wouldn’t actually have to look at the imposing white canvas, waiting for words to be put on it. I can’t do it when I’m sick. Symptoms from my brain infection come back and I get all tongue-tied, even in writing. Especially now, since this cold has changed shape so many times I don’t even think it’s a cold anymore. It just is.
Anyway. Back to my point. If you’ve emailed me and I haven’t responded, I’m really sorry. Like you wonderful people who took the time and effort to email me when I made that request so long ago to let me know who you are, you people who read my blog. I feel bad that I haven’t responded to yours, but I’ve lost what to say. I’ve lost any sense of correspondence, I suppose. I’ll try my hardest to get to it, I promise. But my brain’s somewhere else, I think.
Right now I don’t know where it is. About 15 minutes ago I wanted to work on an english tutorial I’ve been planning on writing for the Daily Prophet staff, but I bet you can guess how well that went. Now I’m just kinda babbling, not thinking about anything in particular, trying to delay going to bed. It hurts to go to bed, isn’t that sad? This cold has turned into body aches. My brother said it might be growing pains, but I don’t know. It’s been going on an awful long time, and it’s slowly getting worse. Like last night. I rolled over onto my side and it hurt so bad it woke me up. Like someone had stabbed me in the hip, then the pain shot up my back. I feel like such an old person, a wobbly 80 year old woman with gray hair and a walker. I think I need to go to the doctor. Only thing is, I’m kind of afraid of what kind of tests they’ll have to do. I know some icky tests are on the horizon for my ulcerative colitis, I’m not sure I want to add to it. I don’t need another bone scan right now.
This is getting too depressing and I didn’t mean it to be, so I think I’ll change the subject.
Good news on the decorating front - I managed to wobble back to the hardware store where I bought the paint for the basement. They took it back, no questions asked. I said it was too purple, they said, “okay,” and I got $71.00 back. I decided, for how expensive it was, the paint was really crappy quality too, so I didn’t want them to just remix it. So my Dad and I went back to Lowe’s (thanks to Californian Sam for the proper spelling of this - told you, my brain goes nuts when I get sick and I can’t spell stuff) and my Dad happened to spot the perfect colors. They were a bit more blue and a bit less gray. In other words, perfect. The paint’s a better brand, and yet it was the same price as the runny purple stuff. If I’m not all wobbly and old tomorrow I’ll start painting. If I am, I’ll finish up the curtains. The basement’s gonna rule.
Oh, and I took pictures of the basement all empty this morning. So, the Before pictures are ready. I’ll try to post them tomorrow, if I remember.
I’m off to try and sleep now. Good night!
This is great. First it was David Bowie, then Lyle Lovett, and now I’ve had Annie Lennox songs stuck in my head all day! I think it’s because they played “Keep Young and Beautiful” during the credits of Daria the other night. (Yes, I’ve succombed to a teenage stereotype - watching MTV. But just Daria, mind you. I wouldn’t be caught dead watching TRL.)
Eeeuuuggh, now I have icky MTV thoughts.
I spent the afternoon painting a huge canvas for the basement, and I used the colors for the walls. But, you know what’s sad? The colors dried way too purple. I have to take the paint back tomorrow and I really hope they’ll give me my money back. The weird thing is, in the can the colors look pretty close to right. They’re supposed to be blue, and they are. But when they get painted onto something, they’re drying all lilacy. Now, normally I have nothing against lilac, but it absolutely cannot go in the basement. Pastels do not go with my theme at all. So, back to the hardware store again tomorrow. Sigh. And I have to redo the painting I did. And it was so perfect! It’s all geometric so I had to spend ages with a ruler and a pencil, sketching it onto the canvas. Major pain in the butt, but with the right colors I think it’ll look smarvy.
I’m really tired and I think I’m not making any sense.
Kevin, Jen, and Max came over after dinner to play a few games. Max is so cute. He got his hair cut and it made him look so much older. He’s just so dang fun. He wouldn’t scat with me tonight, though, but that’s something he kind of has to instigate. It’s not an on-command sort of thing. But he was running around in a tshirt way too big for him, wearing a bright red hat that says “I believe in elves.” That hat’s been around forever. There’s even a picture of me in it when I was his age. Sigh. He’s growing up too fast. He’s actually really talking now. He says please and thank you for all sorts of things. He can read. (Holy crap, he’s two and a half! He’s going to make my future children look like idiots, even if they’re little mini Einsteins.) Anyway, no grand Max stories for tonight. We just played with magnets, spelled tons of stuff with alphabet flash cards, and had a grand Max time. Kevin should have pictures up of the Elf hat tomorrow. Dang, he’s cute.
I think that’s all for now. Good night!
Happy happy happy. Yet tired. After two straight days of shopping, and inumerable trips to Home Depot and Loew’s, I think I finally have everything I need for the basement (except for one galvanized pipe and four flanges). I’m really excited. I have accessories, paint, MDF, fabric, galvanized wire, eye hooks, and a dreeeeaaam… :) And, believe it or not, I’m still way under budget. I rule! I can’t wait till it’s all done.
I had to run back to Home Depot and Loew’s today, which was only supposed to take a few minutes, but ended up taking until 4:00. Whoops. :) But, that meant I got out of having to pack up the stuff that was already in the basement. I hadn’t planned it that way, Mom just got busy while we were gone. Thank goodness for that! Packing up the old stuff is my least favorite part of redecorating. Pretty much all I had to do was spackle up a bunch of holes in the wall - I am now the Queen of Spackle. Those walls were littered with holes! Which is part of the reason I wanted to redecorate. My mom likes the cluttered look, I don’t.
So, since I can’t really babble anymore about the basement in case my mom reads this (the basement’s a surprise, in case you forgot), I’ll post my list of random thoughts from yesterday. Here we go:
- It would be really funny if I married someone with any of the following names: Hearth, Heath, Colin Firth, or Feather.
- Sometimes I forget my big toe is gone. I try to wiggle it and I think it moves, but I look down and get rather shocked. Then I feel kind of stupid.
- I would love to build furniture.
- I think those body builders on those Bowflex commercials are icky.
- Sometimes sound effects make more sense then aowrds. “Oooo” is so much more fitting when you spot something “cute” while shopping, cause it says so much more. And besides, “cute” is so overused, but “Oooo” can have so many more meanings yet remain clear.
- Don’t make fun of Texas. I don’t know why. Just don’t. (You can say it smells bad, though, cause some of it smells like the place where skunks flock to die. But don’t be mean about it. Just state the facts and move on with life.) And remember, that’s right, you’re not from Texas, but Texas wants you anyway. *
(Ten points if you know what song that’s from and who sang it.)
- Fashions fade, style is eternal.
- I’m really tired of strip mall architecture.
- I say “really” too much.
- I think the sound of an Irishman singing a traditional ballad is a soothing sound. I just recently discovered that.
- Ralph Fiennes has a great accent.
- I hate feeling sick.
- I don’t like Vin Diesel and I don’t get why he’s “cool”. From what I’ve seen, he scares me, and not in a nice David Bowie kind of way. He’s too cocky to be “cool”, and if I saw him in person I think I’d either rant at him, slap him, or run away.
- I wish I had a nicer voice.
- Which would be worse: Plenty of distant admirers but no love, or a pleasant flirtation with someone you know you could love, but nothing materializes into commitment?
- We’ve got some beans and some good cornbread,
And I listened to what the preacher said,
Now it’s to the Lord let praised be,
It’s time for dinner now let’s go eat.
(This is a bonus quiz worth an extra 15 points! [But really, I’ve just had this song stuck in my head.]) :)
- Boys: If you like a girl - as a friend or more, whatever - ask her out! A lot of girls end up feeling left out just cause you think she’ll say no when you ask. Here’s a tip: if they say no, they aren’t worth it anyway, and you’ve only further proven the worth of the girl who says yes. So there.
- Sometimes silence is even better than sound effects.
- I think it’s sick how magazine cover pictures are needlessly edited. Like Redbook trimming 2 inches off Cindy Crawford’s thigh and another two inches off her underarm. Why?!
- Back hair is absolutely disgusting.
And on that pleasant thought, I’m going to bed. Thoughts? Post them in my guestbook please. :)
I am so tired. I’ve been up since 8:30 this morning (I know, it’s sick, but that’s early for me) and it’s been nothing but go-go-go until about an hour and a half ago. I went out to Home Depot this morning for paint, but that actually took stops at two other hardware stores as well before I could get all four gallons of all four colors of paint that I need. I also had to get MDF, paint brushes, cabinet handles, etc. And believe it or not, I’m going back to Home Depot tomorrow. I need to get hinges, piping, and some other miscellaneous stuff.
After that and a few other things, I went out to Ikea for the accessories for the room. Gagh, I love that store! I swear, the fates have been intune with this basement plan; everywhere I went today there was some kind of special deal that I happened to find by accident. For instance, my brother and I had both - independantly of each other - thought of getting the exact same rug from Ikea for the basement, but when I looked at it online it was something like $85. I worked it into the budget, but just barely. But guess what! I get there and they have it marked down to $24.95! And it’s just perfect. I was so excited, it was hilarious. I kept petting my rug, saying over and over, “I just love my rug.” It was fun; I’d never bought a rug before, all on my own. My mom still hasn’t seen it. She was with me, but I kept sneaking off then dumping things in the cart when she wasn’t looking. She saw a lot of it, but thankfully I only got obscure accessories and the big stuff (like end tables and the rug) were packaged up so she couldn’t tell what they’re like.
I also got a cool aluminum trash can for half price, absolutely perfect picture frames for about $1 to $2 each (hallelujah!), beautiful glassware, art-lights (for attaching to the wall just above artwork - you know, ambience lighting), and really fun other wall art stuff. And it was all dirt cheap! I think after all of today’s shopping I’m about $100 under budget. Woohoo! I should have a designer room for just over half what they spend on Trading Spaces. Where does all their money go?!
Well, I suppose we’ll find out when I finish the basement. If it still looks empty I think I’ll be able to answer that question. :)
I was going to type out a list of random thoughts that struck me throughout the day (shopping is a philosophical experience for me, even at a hardware store [tee hee]) because I thought I would be too tired to make sense, but I think I got my general message across. And that was; I’m really really psyched about the basement. I can’t wait to get it done. I’ll be taking tons of before and after pictures so hopefully within the next two weeks you’ll have a virtual tour posted here somewhere. Exciting, eh? Now I just need to get to work.
But first, sleep. Emails, decorating, and conquering the world will have to wait until tomorrow, cause I’m about to fall asleep sitting at my computer. Lyle Lovett is just too easy to fall asleep to. (And that’s a compliment, Mr. Lovett, I swear.)
You know what’s kind of embarrassing? I had a crush on David Bowie when I was five. That’s not only embarrassing, it’s scary. I’ve been thinking about past stupid/scary crushes over the past few weeks, ever since I saw part of that Live David Bowie request concert on A&E. It was a great system. People could call in or email and request a song, then if you’re lucky enough to make it past the producers, he’d play the song for you. And if you were really lucky, you’d get to talk to him for about five seconds. If my parents hadn’t bullied me into relinquishing the television so they could watch ‘Chocolat’, I would have called in. Just thinking about it instantly reminded me of my toddler crush. I knew just what I’d request, too. “As The World Falls Down” from that silly movie Labyrinth. I remember falling asleep to that song for several nights in a row.
And what made me think of that right now? I found an old MP3 cd and on it was “As The World Falls Down.” I really wish I would have called in. But I don’t think my parents really like David Bowie. At least I got to hear ‘Fame’ and ‘China Girl.’ There wasn another one, but I forgot what it was. This was a few weeks ago, after all.
The past day has been a bit of an anticlimax and I’ve been rather reluctant to blog. How can I top the stories of all those young men trying on pants? There was just no way. Nothing exciting really happened to blog about. Well, I did go shopping yesterday and had a lot of fun, but that’s kind of a hard thing to blog about. It wasn’t really funny, nothing really to tell about, it was just fun. It was my mom’s birthday so three of her friends came over and we spent the day at an outlet mall in Leesburg. I tagged along and ended up talking with Mike and John’s mother almost all day. We had fun, and she helped me pick out a nice bracelet which my mom bought for me. I just love getting pretty presents at other people’s birthday parties. :) It’s very antiquey looking and lovely. I’ll try to take a picture of it tomorrow (or rather, today, since it’s past midnight.)
Tomorrow I might have more adventures to blog about. A whole buttload of people are coming over for a fourth of July picnic tomorrow (today) and many old favorites will be amongst them. Who knows what will happen. :)
P.s. Please post in my guestbook. Even though I don’t know what it’s for I still like seeing messages in there. :) Please, humor me.
Too tired. Spent day shopping. Have headache. Ow. Way too hot today. Good news; got new bracelet. :) Tired of bad sentences. Must sleep.
Hmm, what to blog about. A lot has happened today, but I feel like it won’t match up to the past few blogs, hehe. No guys trying on pants. Well, actually, two more guys did come over, but they didn’t model them. And Mike and John came over again, but we just watched Whose Line Is It Anyway? and John and I looked through some architecture books. That was about it.
I did do one exciting thing today, though! I got to meet another internet friend! “PH19” from the Infamous HP4 board came to Washington, DC from way up in Canada to visit some family, and we met up this afternoon at a strip mall in Maryland. It was great fun, but also kind of strange for me. I created the HP4 board when the fourth book came out and it quickly became its own little island. I was the moderator for ages, along with a friend of mine (yet another guy named Mike.) One member of the board put it well, saying it became its own little country. We’ve had leaders, civil wars, pagentry. It’s all in there. But what’s strange is how I was always - and still am - viewed on the board. I was their Mommy, basically. Ruling the board with an iron, yet nice hand. They came to me with their problems, I handled them, and that was that. Which is why I quit moderating after a while. It got to be too stressful. But I’m still the infamous “Madam Meg.” That’s fine, I can handle that online. It’s weird, but I can handle it. But in person, how do I live up to that? As we drove to Maryland I kept thinking about meeting Amber for the first time, the girl I went to England with. I met her through the HP4 board as well, and I still remember the first conversation I ever had with her. She was oooing and aaaahing over how I designed the Daily Prophet, how I managed the HP4 board. It was really weird! Nice, but weird. It’s strange to feel like a Mommy when I was only 15 at the time. Heck, at my age it’s still weird.
So, anyway, driving up to Maryland, trying to imagine what “PH19” would think of me in person. Would I be “Madam Meg” or just plain Heather? How should I act? Motherly? No, that would be weird. There is a bit of an age gap between her and I, but not by that much. I just decided I’d be whatever came naturally at the moment and go with it.
Too bad my cold decided to come back. :)
I felt so silly, coughing every other second. But we met up at a toy store and we talked about the board while her younger brother ran around looking at the Legos. And what was even cooler was her younger sister is also a part of the board, but she came to it shortly after I left. She still knew me as Madam Meg, though. It felt so strange.
It was still great to meet more internet friends. Nice to finally put faces to names, and real names to pseudonyms. PH19 was really sweet, and her family was really nice. After the toy store we went to Sutton Place and got some ice cream, then wandered around and took pictures. (I’ll have some to post as soon as I get the film developed, or until her Mom sends me the digital images.) It was a nice, relaxing visit.
So now I think I’ve met about 9 or so Internet friends, but I keep thinking I’m forgetting one (and I hate that.) The first was when I was 11, Marx. A drummer in an awesome jazz band in Tucson, he was a coworker of my brother’s at AOL. He and I started IMing for a while and got to be pretty good online buddies, then we met up a few times. He was sweet. Then there was Amber and Mark (we won’t go there), who were both from the HP4 board. Lindsay, the girl who actually is responsible for me starting the Daily Prophet. Then Anna, a Jewish girl I met online and we discovered we lived only a few blocks from each other. Alastair and Matthew, the PotterWar men. And now PH19 and “Draconita”. I know there’s someone else and it’s really bugging me. If you’re reading this and I’ve met you but I’ve forgotten I met you in person, I really apologize. The late hour is playing with my brain.
Good news! I get to redecorate the basement… all on my own! I finally convinced my parents to just go away for a week so I can attack the basement without interruption. I’ve got the plan all worked out - Kevin and I came up with it last night while we were having that joint birthday party. See, I had thought up all these color schemes, but my Mom kept saying she wanted a theme. I didn’t want something cliche or kitchy, but Kevin sparked the perfect idea. The World’s Fair. Almost like what people in the 1950s thought the future would be like. That’s where the idea started, and my how it’s kept going. :)
As we kept talking and kept getting more and more animated as we came up with one exciting idea after another, we eventually wound our way around to the World’s Fairs. This is really perfect because not only will it be fun and easy to do, it already fits perfectly with a color scheme I’m already in love with. When I got home I immediately started researching World’s Fairs and I came across photos from the 1939 fair in New York, but in particular, the General Motors “The Exciting World of 1960” exhibit. It’s perfect! I remember watching a newsreel on television about the exhibit and it was absolutely hilarious. Four-lane highways in the middle of Manhattan that would replace all walkways and regular streets; a downtown completely devoid of residences and all the people would live in suburbs outside the actual metropolis. It was great fun. I think they even thought about personal jetpacks. :)
This new excitement led to even more research and I found tons of fantastic photos. I got all excited again, remembering all the pictures and videos I had seen before about the amazing architecture and beautiful landscapes inside the exhibition. (They so need to have another World’s Fair like that, but don’t get me started on that one or I’ll never stop ranting.) I’ve got the basement entirely planned out now, and it’s going to be so much fun. Huge neo-art-deco art work, photos of the trylon and perisphere, funny artwork I have planned that will be absolutely awesome, and cool stripes on the wall… and… and… and… it’ll rule. I’ve been so psyched about it. So much, in fact, that I dreamt about it, and it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up. How silly is that? I just love that world’s fair. I would give almost anything to go back to April 1939 for a while and walk around the pavillions. I’d love to take pictures. They really need to have another one of those. And don’t say that it wouldn’t work because the we all already know about the latest advancements in technology. Psh, whatever. There’s stuff going on at MIT that hardly anybody knows about. There’s still a bunch of other stuff we could have at world’s fairs. So there.
And you know what else makes me mad? They made all of these cool buildings for the fair, and what did they do? They tore them all down!!! That just makes me sick! That stuff was amazing. They should have left the trylon and perisphere up at least. And maybe even the four freedoms. And the Westinghouse building. And…
I’ll quit now, sorry. I shouldn’t rant about architecture, that just sounds a wee bit silly. :)
Geeze, I have no idea what’s gotten into me lately. Last night’s blog was like a marathon, with my fingers running the race. And again tonight, I’m all hyped up, but thankfully not as much as last night. But I’m still in constant motion for some reason, unable to contain myself. Wiggling, dancing in place, getting into strange conversations with friends; it’s great fun. :) I know what caused it last night. I should stay away from smarties (the american compressed sugar kind) unless I’m fully prepared for the after effects. I need to start making a catalog of what certain candies do to me. Normally I don’t react badly. Chocolate can sometimes make me tired, gummy worms make me flirty for some strange reason, and now smarties make me incredibly hyper. I don’t think that’s a sugar thing, though, cause it lasts way too long to be just a plain old sugar high. I was wiggling and dancing around until around 2:30 in the morning. I haven’t done that in ages. Maybe the smarties’ effect was multiplied by all the pent up energy that’s been lethargic over the past three weeks as I’ve had this bad cold. Now that I’m finally getting over the cold all that energy is just tumbling back out. Yeah, that’s it. I hope. Or I’ve regressed and I’m five years old again. :)
Hmm, events of the day. Went to church, as usual, but spent the time wiggling in the pew and doodling on the church bulletin. I haven’t been to church in weeks, because of the cold, so I was glad that I could make my come-back in a new dress. (This sounds silly, and it’s meant to be.) A lovely red dress with a black shirt over.
Geeze, what was in those smarties? First the pants, then the PMS, now I’m getting giggly about a new dress. This is seriously scary, I must redeem myself.
I went over to my brother Kevin’s house for a joint birthday party. His wife Jen’s parents are in town for a visit and their birthdays are both in July, as is my mother’s. So we turned it into one big bash. We had dinner, I played with Max a lot, and we had some serious conversations, mostly about the direction of the country in its various endeavors, both national and international. Again with the news-talk! Just talking about current events in that situation made my stomach hurt. After about an hour of intense talking, Jen’s mom came over to the table and said “Where are the TV cameras?” We were all confused until she explained that it seemed each one of us in the conversation was a small microcosm of parties and social groups in the United States. She explained it one by one. I don’t think she labelled me right, though, but everyone else was pretty spot on. She said I was the optimistic opportunist. I just don’t think I was expressing myself well. I was trying to explain how everyone at the table seemed to be saying the same thing, acknowledging the same thing, but putting different spins on them to suit their own lifes’ experiences, etc. I was actually trying to avoid expressing my own opinions about some things at some points, while trying to point out what I think they were all trying to say. It was interesting. I felt somewhat pushed aside at times since I was the youngest one at the table, but who knows. It’s strange to be in that situation where you’re surrounded by adults that you know, and yet at the same time you’re still the “little kid”, the one who everyone admits to thinking of as still being thirteen years old. Just a few hours before this discussion, Jen’s mother said that I shouldn’t be allowed to date at all because she thinks I’m still 13.
Strange little situation to try and have an opinion on such important topics. Either way, I still think they were all saying almost the same thing about past events and where it will lead, there were just minute differences between them based on their perceptions, experiences, and own personal prejudices. Not really party lines, since I know each person there has flip flopped between several. Just personal spins, and the reluctance to accept anyone else’s spin. It’s all confusing and if I don’t quit thinking about the topics we discussed I’ll never get to sleep cause my stomach will start hurting again. (I feel like such an old person mentioning that. ‘Oh, I can’t get stressed, I have an ulcer.’ All I can hear when I say that is my New York Jewish doctor impersonating his mother.)
Other exciting news. I’ve joined a cult. Tee hee, not really. But it is a strange and mysterious collective. Have you ever heard of Are You Dave Gorman? It was a show on the BBC for a while about this comedian, Dave Gorman, who went around the world trying to find other people named Dave Gorman. It was hilarious! The whole thing started when Dave explained to his friend and flatmate, Danny Wallace, that he had gotten email about some bloke named Dave Gorman who was the Assistant of the East Fife football club. Danny didn’t believe him, Dave protested, which lead to Danny betting Dave that he couldn’t find “loads” of other people with the same name. They were drunk, so naturally they kept going with the conversation. Dave Gorman insisted that he could. So, they went off on a train to East Fife to meet Dave Gorman. Eventually, Dave asks what Danny meant by “loads.” Danny hands Dave a deck of cards and says, “This many.” Dave’s shocked, and Danny adds, “Plus the jokers.” So the search began for 54 Dave Gormans.
That one drunken night led to a TV show, a book, a tour, all sorts of fun stuff. That’s how I found the cult. Sort of. Late one night I went looking on BBC America’s website for information about when they’d air Are You Dave Gorman? again, but sadly I couldn’t find that. But I did find Dave Gorman’s personal website. And through that I found Danny Wallace’s. I was bored, couldn’t sleep, it was 2 am, and I had nothing else to do. On Danny’s site there was a strange link that said “Join Me.” I read it and he said he’d appreciate it if I’d consider joining him, and that if I’m interested I should email him. I was intrigued (and not to mention gullable), so I emailed him. He emailed back, and here I am today. An official Joinee of a collective that I know nothing about. But it’s seriously funny. The questionnaire I filled out today was hilarious. But now on to more important things, greater missions to further the mysterious purposes of Join Me.
So I must ask. Would you possibly consider Joining Me? Joining Danny Wallace? It’s a brotherhood, a sisterhood, of a purpose unknown. A grand adventure that I’m sure will be even grander once he decides to tell us what the heck is going on. He promises it’s not even “slightly dodgy”, simply something that he says will make his Gran smile for many years to come. So, if for no other reason than to bring joy to a single grandmother in the world, would you please join us? For more information you can go to Danny’s website at www.dannywallace.com or you can visit the official Join Me page at www.join-me.co.uk. Email him, and let him know Heather Lawver referred you. He’s a nice bloke, it’ll be fun. :)
What to do now that I’m hyped up yet again and I have exploring time? I’m going to do some research for redecorating the basement. I almost have complete permission to decorate the basement as I please, but I want it to be fantastic. I’m thinking of going with a worlds fair theme. It’ll rule.
But, maybe I should get some sleep. I think maybe I’m finally calming down, which is a good thing. If this blog entry made no sense, I apologize. Heck, if any of these don’t make sense the apology applies to them too. Post complaints in the guestbook, maybe that’s what it’s for. :)
