My friends and I have two girls' night type things planned for this weekend.
One is to go see Fright Night (because we've decided we need more David Tennant in guyliner and leather pants in our lives) (Or maybe just I decided that), and the other is to go see the Bolshoi's production of Swan Lake, playing at our school's art house movie theater.
I feel like we're adequately covering the spectrum of entertainment with these things.
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I also feel like I ought to say something regarding your last post, even though I've commented all over the place, and talked to you on the phone. I really will miss your Nana, and I wish I could be there this weekend. Yet another drawback to this living in different states thing. Remind me again why I insisted on that? *Sigh* I just wish I could give you a hug, that's all.
But there won't be any more books. And after tonight (because, duh, I'm going to a midnight release, and probably another showing on Sunday, and maybe another next weekend), there won't be any more movies. Which just makes me feel like this big part of my adolescence is ending, and then that makes me feel just a little bit more like an adult, which is just weird.
Don't get me wrong, I stupidly excited about finally seeing the last movie, but still. It's weird.
Well, no one named Maury came to my house, but Kara and her gentleman caller did. It was good to have Kara home, and to meet the gentleman caller. (Yes, I really am just going to refer to him as that, because I'm entertained by it.)
While Kara was here we ate a lot of places, like David's Barbecue, Braum's, Texas Roadhouse and Los Lupes. All of which were very good. And we got to meet the gentleman callers family, which was cool. They're really nice. And the gentleman caller is pretty nice too. On Thursday night, we they got here, we watched the Mavericks game, which was awesome! I think it's because we were all together that they won. (They're playing as I write this, but I'm too anxious to watch.)
And now Kara is back in Utah. I'm just going to have to go visit soon.
I have been working with college transcripts- every day- for over a year now. And nearly every transfer student takes some form of freshman English. Freshman Writing, or Freshman Composition, or College Writing I, or College Writing and Rhetoric. I see a lot of the same things, over and over and over.
And today, for the first time ever, I typed "rhetoric" right on the first try!
While none of those things happened for my birthday,I did enter the last year of my mid twenties.
All in all, it was a pretty good day. One of the kids in my primary class made me cookies. I got sang to multiple times. I don't think my facebook page has ever had so much activity. I got cupcakes and a regular cake. And I got to have dinner with my parents, older sister and her family, and my nana. (I guess we were celebrating both my birthday and mother's day, but really, it's about me.) And as a pre-birthday celebration, Julie and I went and saw "Something Borrowed", which I found to be highly entertaining. Kate Hudson was perfect as a vapid, shallow human being. Great casting! Plus, who doesn't love Ginnifer Goodwin and John Krainski?
And Lego Pirates of the Caribbean came out this week, so that was my birthday present to myself! It's so much fun. Kat, you're definitely going to enjoy it when you come to visit! And we can do birthday things for each other while you're here since it's after mine and before yours! Yay for May birthdays!
I know you already know this, Neaves, but the rest of our (six) readers don't. And it simply must be documented here.
The Boy Creature's birthday was last week, and his parents came here to visit. And because they're fairly well off and he's their only kid, they're comfortable with throwing their money around. So they got me a present for his birthday, in addition to getting him presents.
They got me Gilmore Girls. The complete set. In the squishy box.
I can't believe that didn't tip me off, too. I was standing there, waiting for him to open his present, because the birthday person should get to go first, and I could feel through the paper that it was squishy. So how did I not realize? I knew it was squishy. But I was standing there thinking, "Maybe it's a jewelry box or something?" And then I opened it and the Gilmore Girls glory shined forth, and I squeed. I was way more excited about my present than Chris was about his. They got him the complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is cool, and he likes it, but no one loves any show like we love Gilmore Girls.
This all has a point, though.
When we got in the car to come home from work today, "Cherish" was playing on the radio. And I immediately thought of Brad at the Chilton graduation.
And then I realized that if I wanted, I could watch that episode when I got home. I could watch any episode when I got home. I can watch any episode, any time.
A few Saturdays ago, I proctored the SAT. Let me tell you, it's really not exciting watching kids take a test for four hours. So I remembered when Kara did this train of thought exercise thing, which went a little like this:
"Knock knife knee know Vikings. Helmet. Head. Armor. Chainmail. Spear. Suckling pig. Boat. T Payne. SNL skits. Sarah Palin. Elections. Obama. White house. Green fountain. St. Patrick’s day. Washington D.C.. Orchestra. Viola. Thomas Tallis. Fantasia. Walt Disney. Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikowsky. Russia. Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov. Mental illness. Shostakovitch. Suicide note. Dissonance. Goosebumps. Nickleodeon. Slime. Green. Easter. Eggs. Bunnies. Viagra. Creepy old men. 30 year age difference. Gold diggers. Breast augmentation. Victoria’s Secret. Lip gloss. Sticky. Gum. Peanut butter. Resse’s. scientist. Archaelogist. Indiana Jones. Crystal skull. Shia Labeouf. Eagle Eye. GPS lady. Britain. London. Buckingham Palace. Bear skin hats. Lodges. Cabins. Ski trips. Snow. Utah. Mormons. College. Leaving. Suitcase. Baggage claim. Conveyor belts. 102 Dalmations. Cake. Chocolate. Frosting. Sprinkles. The Office. NBC. “That’s what she said.” Nathan Keefer. “What an idiot.” Leo. 6.0 GPA. Top 1%- scholarships. Broadcasting journalism. Fox news. Republican. Conservative. Liberal sister. Global warming. 70’s “ice age!” mom. Dad. JFK. Dallas. Lakehouse. Grandma’s house. Green pool. Turtles. Frogs. Miniatures. Bears. Candy. Rollos. Liquer cabinet. Green Menthe. Wicked. Broadway. Spamalot. “I’m not dead yet.” Jenny Grundberg. Funerals. Flowers. New Years Eve. Sparklers. Dances. Jeffrey. Flappers. Mobsters. Johnny Gun’s. Chicago."
Which then lead me to Lorelai's rambling, and I know we don't generally post the whole reference of the entry title, cause, I mean, if you don't get the reference, you're obviously not cool enough to get the reference, but it was just too good. I couldn't not share it. So, here we go:
"My brain is a wild jungle full of scary gibberish. I'm writing a letter, I can't write a letter, why can't I write a letter? I'm wearing a green dress, I wish I was wearing my blue dress, my blue dress is at the cleaners. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue, 'Casablanca' is such a good movie. Casablanca, the White House, Bush. Why don't I drive a hybrid car? I should really drive a hybrid car. I should really take my bicycle to work. Bicycle, unicycle, unitard. Hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey, monkey, underpants."
And all of this is to lead up to what my squishy brain came up with:
SAT, college, relief, real world, suckage, grad school, GRE, math, algebra, Danica McKellar, The Wonder Years, The Princess Bride, Anybody want a peanut, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Woodstock, Kelly Kapour, The Office, hilarity, misadventures in driving, escaping from a mormon dance out a window, boy moose, Anne Hathaway, Jake Gylenhaal, Taylor Swift, seriously? Grey's Anatomy, addiction, Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham, my kind of crackhead, crack is whack, whatever happened to Whitney Houston?, Houston, crazy New Yorkers (House-ton), Empire State Building, King Kong was here, silly little sister, BYU, college democrats, Barack is my home boy, may have to change my political affiliations after seeing someone from my home ward at the BYU democrats table, can't vote for Palin, Halloween, Pac Man, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, bread makes you fat, Kara's dream where butter had no calories, Paula Dean, Miss Piggy, so excited for the next Muppet movie, crap, gotta focus on these kids taking the SAT.
My brain may not have come up with "monkey monkey underpants", but I think it was pretty entertaining anyway.
This weekend was filled with things that sounded like euphemisms for dirty things, but were not. People actually meant all the things they were saying.
On Friday night, Chris and I went to the Chocolate Maven for dinner. It's the best bakery in Santa Fe. The dinner was ok, but any kind of dessert you get there is amazing, and their bread is fantastic. Their dining room is tiny, and one whole wall is made of floor-to-ceiling windows that look into their giant bakery. I liked watching the giant mixers, like this one. But towards the end of the night, when were trying to decide if we should order dessert, or just get cupcakes or something to take home, this guy came over to the table and started unwrapping block after block of butter. Then our waitress came over and said something we did not expect.
Waitress: Are you guys going to stay and watch him pound the butter?
Us: Um... what?
Apparently at the end of the night, the bakers unwrap about sixty pounds of butter and smash it with this thing that looks kinda like a cross between a rolling pin and a baseball bat. I'm not sure what this accomplishes, but it sounded awesome. Sadly, we were the last people there, and there really wasn't any reason for us to stick around anymore, so we did not get to see him pound the butter.
Then the next night, on Saturday, two of my friends, Tamara and Scott, had their birthday party. They're a boyfriend and girlfriend, and their birthdays are one day (and five years) apart. Isn't that cute? So we all got together. They made lasagna, and garlic bread, and chili. And then for dessert, because apparently Scott's not a big cake guy, we had pie. There was apple and chocolate silk. And Scott made cinnamon ice cream to go with it, but he had tried out the ice cream maker before, and it came out to a pretty custardy texture. So after we finished dinner, Scott stood up and said, "Well, gotta go make the custard."
And every time he said it, someone pointed out how dirty it sounded. All night long.
Well, the Super Bowl has come and gone, and I must say, I'm not sad to see it leave. There was madness, everywhere. Sundance Square was all blocked off, and ESPN was there shooting live. It was camp for the Steelers fans. At the convention center in Dallas there was The NFL Experience. Apparently it was really cool. I didn't go. The Lombardi trophy was there. There were autograph sessions with famous football stars. The Packers camp was out in Dallas somewhere.
When it came to the game itself, it was less than thrilling. I know that you're shocked, but I actually watched. I went to a friends house and he was having a watching get together, and it was more fun being with a group of people. It was more for the ambiance than the game.
Let's start with Lea Michele singing America the Beautiful.
She's amazing. That's all I have to say.
Then, Christina came and sang the National Anthem. No bueno.
Couldn't Lea Michele have sang both? Christina, not only was really bad, but messed up the words. Come on. It's the National Anthem. She said in an interview that she was excited cause she'd been performing the National Anthem since she was seven. If she's been performing it for so long, wouldn't you think she could get the words right?
Then came the halftime show.
I think the quality of the show was horrible. I've been told that seeing it live was much better. A lot of sports announcers who were at the game have talked about how live, it sounded great, and was quite the fun experience. But on the recording, the mic volumes are all jacked up, at times their voices are over powering, and at other times, you can barely here them. It was a really random appearance by Slash, and Usher. Having both of them there and actually do something would have been cool, but they were there for a minute, and then gone, without really doing anything. Visually it was kind of interesting, with all the dancers, and whatnot. But that was about it.
And apparently Will.i.am changed some lyrics . . . "It wasn't quite a wardrobe malfunction, but Will.i.am had an off-script Super Bowl moment of his own during the Black Eyed Peas' performance on Sunday night. The singer delivered a message to President Obama by changing three lines to his band's hit "Where Is The Love?" during the 15-minute medley:
In America we need to get things straight / Obama, let's get these kids educated / Create jobs so the country stays stimulated.
As far as political protest subjects go, children's education and creating jobs aren't the most radical of topics, but I appreciate Will.i.am using America's biggest stage for a constructive purpose. Normally, stars treat their Super Bowl halftime appearance as an opportunity to promote themselves, their albums or partial nudity, so it's nice to hear a little non-controversial social awareness. I think we're all in favor of smart kids and people having jobs."
Personally, I think they should have had the Glee kids come do something, like they did during halftime of the championship game on the show following the Super Bowl.
Muchos amounts better. :)
Then there were the commercials. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.
Jack in the Box - I Love America
NFL - Best Fans Ever
Best Buy - Really, I'm just amused by the fact that the Osbournes are in a commercial with Justin Beiber. What kind of world do we live in?
Snickers - Logging
Chevy Camaro - Bumblebee
Careerbuilder
Telaflora
And of course, probably my favorite, the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial. I can see my nephews doing this.
And apparently, the Super Bowl was the place to be for the rich and famous. Everyone was there. Usher, Maroon 5, Sarah Shahi, Steve Howey, Lauren Froderman, George W and Laura Bush, Consoleezza Rice, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, A-Rod, Cameron Diaz, Leah Michele, Chord Overstreet, Matt Bomer, Hayden Panettiere, Josh Duhame, Chase Crawford, Jessica Szhor, P-Diddy, and the list goes on. Arlington Texas is on the map.
Oh yeah, and somewhere in all of that, foot game was played. A team from one of those northern states where it's cold won.
Today was a snow/ice day. Mostly ice. The high was 18 today. With 20-30 mph winds, it felt below zero. Everything's closed. The Mall, Costco, everything. There are truckers stuck on 30 in Dallas, and some of them (apparently about 20 truckers all together) have been stuck all day, causing major blockage. It's the coldest it's been in 15 years. I like the cold, I just wish there had been more snow along with all of this. It's not as much fun playing on ice.
And the superbowl is coming. The Steelers and the Packers got their own personal sand trucks to drive in front of them where ever they were going. How not far is that? It's supposed to be in the 50's on Sunday for the big game. That's crazy Texas weather for you.
Right now I'm just happy to be inside with Gilmore Girls and hot chocolate. What more could a person want?
So, my sisters and I and our friend Kat have an overwhelming obsession with Gilmore Girls. My sister Lauren and Kat started a blog devoted to their love of Gilmore Girls called The Devils Starchy Fingers.
And today I get to contribute to their blog! So here it is...
In case you didn’t know, I am Lorelai Gilmore. Yep, me.
So at the mall at work the other day (yeah, I worked at the mall over Christmas. It sucked.) I was going to the bathroom on my break and there was this woman in there with her two kids. A daughter, and well, not a daughter. Which would have been fine if the not daughter was 2, 3, 4, or 5. Because at those ages they hopefully wont remember when they are older. (Like when they are 40). But this not daughter was easily 10 or more. The mother wasn’t very tall (I’m not very tall and she was shorter than me). The not daughter (aka son) came up to my shoulders and a little taller on her. Why o’ why o’ why???
Now, I admit, I have had some bad experiences sending my twin boys to the men’s restroom. There was the time one of them had an accident in the stall at the mall and wouldn’t come out. And I stood in the hall crying because I couldn’t figure out how to get him. Finally some nice woman walked into the bathroom and yelled at all the men to zip it up because a Mom was coming in to get her son. And then I did. And then there’s the fact that the boys seem to take FOREVER in the bathrooms sometimes, and I stand there listening to them playing in the sinks and singing. But I figure all of that is better than the trauma of them coming into the women’s restroom with me. But apparently that would be considered modesty, which according to Lorelai, “went punk”.
From the Gilmore Girls transcript
Outside of the Restrooms at the Harvard Yale Game during season 4
PENNILYN: Of course there's a line. Why wouldn't there be?
LORELAI: You know, you kind of want to hang out here anyhow.
PENNILYN: Why is that?
LORELAI: Some woman just took her forty-year-old son in there.
PENNILYN: No.
LORELAI: He might not be forty, but the images he's gathering up in there will last until he gets there.
PENNILYN: Why do women do that?
LORELAI: I don't know.
PENNILYN: When I was growing up, there was such a thing as modesty. I suppose that's not in fashion now.
LORELAI: Nope, modesty went punk.
And for exhibit 2 that I am Lorelai Gilmore.
The twins, the baby, my sisters, and I all went shopping after Christmas with some of our Christmas cash. By the time we left store number 1 one sister and the twins each had a bag of stuff. After store number 2 both sisters had bags and one of the twins had 2 bags. And me? Nada, nothing, zilch. Just like Lorelai.
From the Gilmore Girls transcript Rory and Lorelai exit a clothing shop and begin walking down the street. RORY: If I still want that sweater in twenty minutes I'm coming back to get it. LORELAI: Okay, wait. What is wrong with this picture? RORY: Huh? LORELAI: You - look at you. An armful of bags and a potential twenty-minute sweater on the way, and look at me. Completely bagless. RORY: Relax, the day's still young. LORELAI: There are no more clothes out there for me. The Lorelai look is over. I wish someone had told me. RORY: That would've helped.
