30% More Unpredictable

It's almost that time again: Fall. And that means most of our favorite shows are back. This one, especially:



Let the countdown begin!!


They finally made one of my favorite Stephen King short stories into a movie. The Mist is King's homage to H.P. Lovecraft, and is totally creepy, the kind of tale that stays with you for a long, long time. I've been waiting for the release of the trailer. It made my skin crawl, which is a good sign, since when I read the story the first time I couldn't sleep for days. Admittedly, I have a very active imagination and scary movies freak me out (this from someone with an inexplicable affection for zombies...), but I remember going out with my husband and son about a week after I'd read the story, and as we came out of the store we'd been in I noticed it had gotten dark and fog had started rolling in. I got a little nervous and quickly buckled my son into his car seat and got in the truck in a hurry. It's really dumb, I know, and that's why I don't go out my way to watch scary movies very often. I don't know if the movie will be quite as creepy as the short-story, but you have to remember that the real terrifying aspect of the story is the subtext - how quickly people can dissolve into madness in the face of overwhelming horror and turn on one another. If you took the "monsters" out of the equation, it would still be a tense psychological drama with some very well developed characters. But, it does have monsters. And mist. And monsters coming out of the mist! So...yeah. I will not be seeing that in the theater on a dark and foggy night. *shiver*

"I'm not asleep... but that doesn't mean I'm awake."

I screwed up a project today and ended up staying at work tonight until 9:00. I haven't been sleeping well, and now I'm stressed out and exhausted at the same time. NOT a good feeling.

Edit: I have another cold. Another. Freaking. Cold! I need this three-day Labor Day weekend to recover. So I doubt I'll be doing anything fun like eating burnt food poolside or drinking myself into oblivion...unless it involves my friend Mr. Nyquil.

By lose I mean "run it over with my own car"...

I have a co-worker who has been moved to my office who swears she never loses anything. Today, when discussing how they'd moved the furniture the night before, she said she couldn't find her glasses, and wanted to look in the filing cabinet they'd moved from her office into mine (I have a metric ton of files, and needed more storage - paper free office MY ASS!). Then, later while she was sitting in my office talking to me while I pretended to listen and be concerned, someone from upstairs brought her keys that she'd left in their office. She's come looking for her keys in my office countless times since her first day. Don't even get me started on all of the paperwork that gets swallowed by the black hole that is her department's filing system (I'm starting to wonder if their former secretary filed everything under "circular", if you get what I mean). My departing colleague thinks that there is something wrong with this co-worker now sharing my space. He alluded to someone mentioning something about medication. I have noticed that her thought processes are all over the place and she's very easily distracted. Whatever the cause, it's none of my business, and honestly I don't really care, I just wish she'd stop freaking losing everything and then bragging about how organized she is. It's like she lives in bizarro-world, where in order to be efficient and professional you need to be careless and flighty.

Oh, and I'm suffering from a bout of insomnia - AGAIN!

So, if you see me today and I look like I want to curl up on the spot and sleep like the dead...it's because I do.

Maybe I need to sop staying up so late...ZZZZzzzzzzz...

Today's secret Idle Blog ingredient is:

Fame! A fickle food upon a shifting plate.

Tick...Tick...Tick. Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the local news. I submit for your approval: the infamous Hiccup Girl. She's baaaack. I really hope this is the winding down of her fifteen minutes. My favorite part of the story is how she's making her second visit to the Today Show, and "NBC is paying the family's travel and lodging expenses". Of course they are! What a lesson her parents are allowing to be imparted on their daughter: having something wrong with you gets you perks that just being "normal" doesn't, and is the only way to get noticed if you're not particulary pretty or very smart (i.e - to be mildly interesting enough to get on tv, on the radio, and in the newspaper). And yet, the parents called out a local radio show for "exploiting" her during the height of her "affliction". Right. Dollars to doughnuts she suffers from Munchausen By Proxy as an adult, and we read about her purposely making her own kids sick to gain attention. So what malady can I come up with to get a free trip to New York City?

And speaking of the idiocy of America's youth - from the recent Miss Teen USA pageant, may I present Miss South Carolina, ya'll!! She talks reaaaal good! Like. Such as.

Forget locating the United States on a map. Can she locate a map?

End, begin, all the same. Big change. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.

I was grocery shopping tonight and happened to wander down the soda isle - which I normally don't do, since we try to really limit our calorie-laden soda consumption these days...unless I'm buying M her favorite exam-cramming-all-nighter-pulling energy drink with the almost risque name - when I spotted something that caught my eye. It was just above the funky store brand 2 liters - coconut flavored soda. Now I've seen pineapple soda (which is good, in an overly sweet kind of way), but never coconut before. Then I saw, to the left of the "coco" flavor...SANGRIA. Yes M - sangria carbonated soda beverage. I don't know how it would taste, but I do believe we may need to pick some up next time you are planning an extended visit to mi casa. I wonder how it might fare with a wee hit of spiced rum?

Have you ever wondered just how many types of beverages the Coca-Cola company produces, and what drinks are popular outside of the United States? I have your answer: a lot, and some very weird flavors and ingredients. A lot more than Pepsi, which is totally lame. Still nothing compares to Cherokee Red, my favorite drink from childhood that is still in limited availability in Pittsburgh (I know the Sav-Mor on Brown's Hill Road has it for sale). It's just a shame I don't live there and haven't had any in years. And I'd be calling it "pop". The closest I've been able to find is a brand called Cool Mountain, in the strawberry flavor. One of the little farmer's markets locally sells it, so I make a trip way out of my way every once in a while to buy a single bottle of soda. I don't even buy any produce - just one bottle of soda. The Korean lady that runs the market probably thinks I'm nuts. Not to mention the Cool Mountain company supports the American Indian College Fund, so that's another reason I buy it. If I could find a distributor here that sells six-packs or cases I'd buy more than a bottle at a time. My second favorite novelty soda is probably Jones, although I've never been brave enough to try any of the holiday variations. I do enjoy a bottle of green apple flavor every now and then.

Since I'm on the topic of soda, I recently tried the new Mountain Dew "Game Fuel" flavor, and I actually like it better than Code Red, which is my husband's favorite. It's less syrupy-sweet than Code Red, I think, with a nice hint of strawberry. See, I like strawberry flavor. Can you tell?

There's a new magazine out that I discovered while out feigning interest in my husband's purchase of a laptop. It's so new the issue I bought is #3. As in the third published, EVAR. Ahem...I mean ever. It's called Geek Monthly, and although I think it is probably geared more towards geeky men (gamers and fanboys and hipsters, oh my!!) I still found that I enjoyed it. Enough to buy it again if I happen to see it. Of course, I subscribe to Wired, so it's kind of up my alley as far as subject matter. It was in this magazine that I discovered what I really, really want for Christmas this year: the plush Fizzgig. If you love me, any of you, you will buy this for me. If you don't, I'll be forced to buy it for myself. And, really, what's more sad than a grown woman buying herself movie plushies (which are only slightly less pathetic than normal "stuffed animals", but just barely)?

I almost forgot - I got new glasses and dyed my hair. Surprise!

M, I'll see you Thursday. I have to call Neena and make sure that the thoughtless bastages planning this soiree didn't neglect to invite her! The Doc keeps asking me if I'm doing okay. He says his wife asked him about me this morning. I appreciate their concern, and I feel badly that I didn't really try harder to get to know him better. You know I'm no good at interpersonal interaction. I have his new contact info, and I plan on checking up on him in his new role as high chief and big-wig out west. I was so insanely busy today, and for whatever reason I'm not worn out by it. Maybe because it's exciting to have a challenge again, or to feel like I'm making strides in accomplishing what I set out to do this year. Or it could be that by appearing extremely busy I am keeping a certain someone from making my office her second home and monopolizing my time. I still haven't seen the old boss around. That's probably a good thing - I'm not sure how civil I'm going to be able to remain in his presence. Seeing as I'm not a "team player" and all, and I really need to learn to play politics. You know what I say to that. Which can't be reproduced here due to self-imposed decency regulations.

I just looked at a calendar. It's almost Labor Day. It's...almost Labor Day? Eff, man. Where did the time go?

They've got a rehab for that...

A story I felt I needed to share with M: Brian May got his doctorate. So you can too! Just please don't take 36 years to do so.

Also, it seems that The Killers have decided to release a "rarities" compilation by the end of the year. Because after what...two whole albums, they have amassed a catalog of music that would warrant a collection of their more obscure, pompous bullish that their label didn't deem worthy of being included in either US album release. Not to mention all of those crappy mashups that were all the rage for a while. And performance tracks of questionable audio quality. What's next - a greatest hits album? And check out Brandon's "moostache" in the article pic. He's dressed up like an Old West Saloon barman.

In light of news that For Better or For Worse will *finally* be meeting its end (But M - you still have Bucky!) - have you ever wondered where to find a website devoted to applying caustic observational comments to comic strip panels? Well, wonder no more! Its brilliance is matched only by its snarkiness.

Now for the video portion of tonight's program:

Amy Winehouse may be a skanky, horrifying, crack-AND-heroin-addicted mess, but she has a voice - when she's not wasted. She's currently at the top of my personal celebrity death pool. Losing ground to Lindsay Lohan, though, so she better step up her game if she wants to win the prize for infamous and dead skeeze of the year...


And now, I must counter with Lilly Allen, since she and Amy Winehouse supposedly had a little bit of a feud going. I decided to post this video over some of the others because I like the song, even if it isn't really an "official" video for the song since this one was never released as a single.


And finally - a remake of one of my favorite Dylan songs, ever. It's not bad, really. I like the strings.



For those purists who insist on the original just search the 'tube for it, but there's also a Duran Duran version out there that would be worth checking out too.

The monster is destroying the...uh...whatever that is...

Best viewed with the sound up, for roaring and giggling in full effect!

Catching a breather

I have a week's worth of blogging to cram into one post here, so bear with me.

I'll start with last Monday, since that was when we ventured over to The City That Walt Built (yes - I'm talking about Orlando, or what my son calls "Lando") for some theme-packed good times. We'd gotten vouchers in the mail for a free admission ticket and about half-off up to six additional tickets for one-day two-park admission to the two main Universal parks, to be used before the end of summer. Since the little guy was getting a short break in between pre-K and actual school, I wanted to seize the opportunity to have "family time". I will preface this by saying that my husband does not enjoy these kinds of activities. I think he's an alien, but I haven't been able to prove it. Yet. The DNA tests were inconclusive.

Anyway, back to the point. Without the vouchers, the regular one-park admission alone for the three of us would have been over two hundred dollars. With the passes it only cost the price of one regular admission ticket to get us into both parks. We went. We had fun. We were exhausted by the end of the day. I enjoyed Universal, but there weren't as many rides for kids, so we only spent a couple of hours over there (spent mostly walking in a giant circle and bemoaning the end of the Back to the Future ride - although we did take pictures in front of the Delorean, for posterity).

Back to the Future - a thing of the past...

My son got to have his picture taken with Jimmy Neutron, and he loved the Nickelodeon and Shrek rides (it was incredibly hot, so we spent as much time doing "indoor" things as possible - thank goodness they were running the misters at pretty much every ride), and then we headed over to Islands of Adventure, which I think is the superior park. My son loved the Cat in the Hat, and Red Fish, Blue Fish. He got to meet Spiderman and have his picture taken (which later cost me $25 and came with a terribly cheap plastic frame that didn't even have plastic or glass in it to protect the photo -- what a racket), and we had fun riding the Flying Unicorn and Accelatron (think Disney's spinning Tea Cups, and you get the general gist of this one). I swear, my son would have ridden the Hulk coaster if they'd let him. He's so fearless when it comes to rides. I have no idea where that comes from - lord knows his dad and I are weenies when it comes to that stuff.

"Dale Hart Junior" used to drive the #8 car

We had dinner at the NASCAR Cafe between the parks, to make the little guy happy (since this was his day) and to get out of the rain that had thankfully held off until the early evening. My feet were killing me for days, but it was great fun. I think I'd like to go back to Seaworld later this year, or maybe Epcot. We're saving Disney World proper for next year. Or maybe the year after. As much as I like theme parks (and my love of theme parks, amusement parks and fairs is equal to my husband's aversion to them), the main Disney park is not one I especially enjoy. It's just too much - too big, too crowded, too expensive. But, my son wants to go, so we'll make the trip eventually.

I had some time off between then and now, mostly filled up with resting, wasting time and vegging out, generally. It was rough going back to work in between those times of rest, and each time I had a little break my resentment over the situations at work would build up again, leading to stress. It's just tiring. And it is probably best to speak of it as little as possible at this point.

My son's first two days at school have gone well, although he really wants to be a bus rider. I keep telling him "Maybe next year". It's probably more likely than maybe, since his school is on the "short list" of those going to be closed by the county due to decreased enrollment and budget cuts.

I got caught up in some movie watching. In the past week I've watched Bedazzled (the remake - not the original, and thought it was kind of cute, but not something I'd pay money to see), Girl with a Pearl Earring (I love Colin Firth, and he was great at being the moody, brooding artist, and Cillian Murphy is in it as well, but I'm not a fan of Scarlett Johanssen...I thought she did a lot of standing around blinking her eyes and looking appropriately vacant, which reminded me of a cow - although I've never read the book that the movie was based on, so I don't know if it was a product of the material or the actress), and Mansfield Park, which is based on both the story written by Jane Austen and some of her other, more personal writings (yes, it is a little cliched and trite that she is one of my favorite authors of her era, but, again, unlike one quarter of the U.S. population, at least I read!). I thought this was a beautiful movie, filled with a wonderfully accomplished cast and brilliantly nuanced performances. I could see a couple of the events coming from a mile away, but it's Jane Austen - no one does the "quietly enduring love from afar that no one quite realizes until it's almost too late" in the way that she does.

We were supposed to go out to dinner with friends on Sunday evening, up in the north side of the county. My son had a stomach ache that morning, but he'd been acting like he felt better all day, so we figured we'd be okay. As we were driving I kept glancing in the side mirror (since my husband's truck is designed in such a way that I have to sit in the uncomfortable little seat in the extended cab), and noticed my son getting paler and paler. And sweattier and sweattier. As we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, my husband and I noticed him make a face, and just as my husband said "Oh, no...", the poor kid got sick. All over himself. My husband ran inside to get some paper towels and tell our friends, who were already waiting for us at a table, that we wouldn't be able to make dinner. On account of a vomit-covered kid. Thank GOD it didn't happen a couple of minutes later inside the restaurant. My son got sick three more times on the half hour drive home. I can only imagine what the people driving next to us must have been thinking. I tend to think he picked up a little nasty bug at his school orientation the day before, since the next day he really was perfectly fine. The joys of parenthood, people!

My son would like to go swimming now, and since it's just shy of a hundred degrees outside, I'd say that's a better idea than going to the park.

I.O.U.

IF ONLY more of my work meetings were like this. Instead of the snoozefests that they usually are. This clip is from College Humor. So, just be warned that there is foul language - as in copious use of the "eff werd"...




I know I haven't been around much (for the one or two of you who might have been wondering what happened) - I wasn't swallowed up by a sinkhole or spirited off to another alternate dimension. I've just been busy. I owe this blog a coupla' few posts of real meaning and substance. I'll get around to it eventually.

M! I hate to be a bearer of bad news...but it looks like Darren Hayes of Savage Garden is kind of a jerk.

Brought to you by the letters F and U.

My boss is out today. Our primary purchasing system is down for updates, so we can't buy stuff unless we use our credit cards. I have tomorrow off. So, I feel like wasting some time and bringing you news from the internet! First, this is your umpteenth reminder that Elvis died 30 years ago today. And yes - he's still dead. Unless the aliens came for him and took him home. Or he's pumping gas in Nebraska or somewhere. Now that we've got that settled, on to more important things...

Quote the raven - "Forevermore": A Baltimore tour guide says that he invented the mysterious individual that supposedly brings three white roses and a bottle of cognac to Edgar Allen Poe's grave every year. As a way to popularize the grave site. But he also doesn't know who is doing it now. So I guess it's still somewhat of a mystery? From reading the article, the guy's a loon. A snazzy dresser, though, so that's something...

No longer just Idiot Boyfriend: Jimmy Fallon got married. It's not that interesting, but I just thought I'd mention it.

Rock you like a...well, you know how it goes...: Here we go again. May I be the first to throw out the initial "Hunker Down" of the season?

Also, my co-workers are making my job twice as difficult (and frustrating) as it needs to be. But it's always like this, so you'd think I would be used to it by now, huh?

This week's motto was: The Value of Hard Work Pales In Comparison to the Value of Blaming Others For Your Failures.

Let me clear my throat...

Bronchitis more resistant to antibiotics
NORTHBROOK, Ill., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- First-line antibiotics such as amoxicillin and ampicillin are becoming ineffective in treating chronic bronchitis, U.S. and Greek researchers say. Second-line antibiotic use in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis is becoming greater because of an increase in first-line drug resistance among those with chronic bronchitis, reported a study published in the journal Chest. To compare the effectiveness of first- and second-line antibiotics, researchers evaluated patients with acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis from 12 randomized control trials. The researchers found that second-line antibiotics were more effective and that there was no difference in mortality or safety, when compared with first-line antibiotics, the study said. (story courtesy of upi.com)

This is relevant to me because I just got over my bronchitis. Do you know how many times I've had an upper respiratory infection/sinusitis/bronchitis in the last couple of years? Neither do I - that's how many. I've lost count. And I'm allergic to penicillin and all of its related antibiotic derivatives, which makes getting sick a real party for me.

M just called me to confirm our plans to hang for a little bit next week. And all of my sites are getting uber-hinkey and not working (par for the course for MySpace...), so I think I'll stop for now and come back later to talk about my adventures from earlier this week.

A sorta fairytale

This is just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed...nay, LOVED...Stardust on Saturday night. Even though M and I were only among a handful of people in the theater (it was the last show of the night, though), the movie is currently number 4 at the box office, according to IMDB, and has garnered a 73% rating from reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. So, it doesn't seem to be doing too badly for a late summer adventure fairy tale love story with sky pirates. As far as the reviews I'd read panning the film for just rehashing tired elements from other films (Pirates of the Carribean, specifically, which I think in retrospect was a pretty poor comparison), I didn't see that at all. Everything was familiar, and the story was fairly simple and straightforward, yes. But archetypes are what they are. To me the humor was fresh, not the same over-done cliched jokes (maybe some American critics have lost their appreciation for a certain type of British wit?), and every single actor cast in their roles was more than capable. Of course, I knew I would enjoy Michelle Pfeiffer, and Robert De Niro's depiction of the Captain Shakespeare character was effectively over the top in a way that made it surprisingly endearing (if a little cheesy - but I think "campy" was what he was aiming for, anyway...). Even Claire Danes managed to not annoy me. I think her affected accent was a big steaming pile of fail, but she tried, so I give her credit - plus, she gave the character of Yvaine a nice edge. Extra points for a fallen star with attitude. Supposedly Sarah Michelle Gellar turned down the role to spend more time with husband Freddie Prinze, Jr. Seriously? I think her manager should smack her in the face, but her loss is our gain. If she wants to be remembered as Buffy for the rest of her life and just fade into the Tinseltown equivalent of irrelevance and obscurity, I hope it truly makes her happy. The big "Ahhh, I love this movie" moment for M and I came with Tristan's transformation from smitten shop-boy to the dashing (if slightly reluctant) hero. Whoever Charlie Cox is, THAT was brilliant casting - he made Tristan seem so ordinary and believable, and the character arc was a subtle enough shift to seem like natural character progression. What did it for M was the duster (she does so love a man in period dress). The ending is a foregone conclusion - and well it should be, since it wouldn't be a "fairy tale" otherwise - but it didn't feel forced or contrived. In fact, the whole "romantic" aspect to the storyline seemed to take a backseat to the characters for almost the entire film. I know that this movie is different from the book in a lot of ways (and that it's not considered Gaiman's "strongest work" by some fans [I'd recommend Good Omens, personally]), but I'd like to think that the writer's involvement made for a slightly more faithful adaptation than we might have gotten otherwise. Because I think this movie needs as much good word of mouth as possible, please visit the movie's official website. And the imdb page. And read some reviews - here's a decent one from Badmouth (although whoever wrote this infuriating review - replete with mis-spellings and some pretty glaring errors about the basic plot - is an ass, and obviously either wasn't paying attention or didn't bother to go see the movie at all), and here's a write-up with some quotes from some of the stars. Please visit Neil's website, too (plus, this is the Time magazine article I was talking about before - but I won't link to their review of the movie because it was not very positive...and I agree with M that Beowulf looks terrrrible...what a shame)

Scary Trousers!!


Also, since I'm here, I'm posting pictures. It's what's expected. Just try to imagine yourself in Sienna Miller's place...


Oh, and - I found a fansite for Charlie Cox. You're welcome...

Bold marquees with stupid band names

People. I'm back. Again. For real this time. Antibiotics: wonder drug of the milennia. Now I must pose a dilemma to you. I had previously made tentative plans to see Tegan and Sara (for those who may not know, you can get a taste of their sound via their MySpace page) at a local show here in November. But now I've discovered that one of my other favorite bands is going to be at the same venue in the previous month - headlining with two other really great bands. So, now you know my cunundrum. What do I do? I can try to get my friend to see the show we had agreed on, but probably not both. I'm going to try to get my husband to go to the other show, even though this is way out of his musical tastes. He's not really into current music, which I find depressing since he works in radio part-time. Of course, it's a station that plays mostly 70's and 80's - and some very early 90's - "hits". He really does need to get out more...

I'm sitting here getting ready to make a CD for M. I know it will have all three versions of "Something Stupid" on it, and a few other songs that I like that she may not have heard. I'm debating on whether to put the new Shins song that she said she likes on there. That would require some...ah...detective work on my part. Maybe the next one, then. Tomorrow evening we go see Stardust. I'm all sorts of jazzed. Michelle Pfeiffer - looking fabulous. Robert De Niro. Peter O'Toole! It's gotten some mixed reviews, but it's my opinion that most professional movie reviewers have their heads situated squarely in their rectums. Not everything has to have "artistic merit". Sometimes we'd like you to let us have our pretty fantasy without you sanctimonious bastages feeling the need to pick it to shreds.

Feel free to harpoon Rush Hour 3, however. I'm pretty sure that one's going to suck.

I'm currently slowly reading through the copy of The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse that I bought off of Amazon when I ordered HP&TOOTP (since my husband was told it was currently out of print the last time he tried to buy it for me as a gift). It took forever to get here. Of course, it was shipped from Alaska...So far, it's a delightful (if totally twisted) story.

I love the character of Eddie the Teddy, although I imagine him in my head looking and sounding just like the teddy from Steven Speilberg's AI (but with the requisite mismatched button eyes from the book). The humor and the phrasing are just as British as. Only more so.

Like M, I'm suffering from some post-Potter withdrawal symptoms. Rankin, Pratchett and Gaiman are going to have to be the literary equivalent of Nicoderm CQ for me...

You know you live in a small town when there's a banner on your newspaper's website that says Breaking News: Early morning crash kills horse

This is the same town that had the run-away wrecking ball in the heart of downtown last month...Can you believe I sometimes think I might want to live there? And then sometimes I come to my senses and appreciate the benefits of living in a more urbanized "metro" area. Like not slamming my car into a horse...

Coasting on the buzz. And then crashing...

Just thought I'd check in and proclaim myself to be {*this*} far from a little bit drunk...also known as a lot tipsy, which is closer than I've been in a long, long, looong time. Not saying this is something to be proud of [insert legal disclaimer about drinking responsibly]...just saying sometimes it's nice to have an evening of socializing that ends in a pleasant floaty sensation. My sister-in-law and her husband can mix a mean drink...

WTF, my husband is watching the Family Guy episode where they all deliberately get violently sick. So. I'm sober now. "Who wants chowder?"

I would recount the story of how my son tore open his knee tonight, but I'm pretty sleepy, so that's my cue to get off to bed. Work tomorrow. That just sucks, doesn't it??

Update...No. No work. I woke up in the middle of the night hacking and coughing, barely able to breathe. I sat at my doctor's office for over an hour just to be told what I already knew: Upper Respiratory Infection and Bronchitis. So I'm taking the day off from work - again.

Vapid obnoxiousness is their hallmark

What is it with so many young twenty-something girls? It's pretty sad when you encounter a group of 22-23 year olds in public and you swear not a single one of them is older than 16. My husband and I decided to have lunch at Chick-fil-A this afternoon, and were actually repelled from the building halfway through our meal by the conversation of a gaggle of chicks a couple of tables over. Apparently no one ever introduced them to the concept of an "indoor voice", so the whole place could hear every freaking word of their totally inane and borderline retarded conversation. Example: "Like, oh my gawd, my cousin went to SPC!!", and their friend's penguin-themed wedding (WTF??). I honestly wanted to walk over to them and slap all three of them...or at the very least shake them violently until they shut up. They need to stay the hell off my lawn, too. It struck me that they might have been trying to get people to look at them or something. Yeah, we were looking at you, alright - but please do not confuse a piercing glance filled with abject disgust with whatever else emotion you were looking for. We finally just left, because they were so annoying they gave me a headache.
I guess I'm just used to the friends I have in this younger age bracket at least having a brain, and being capable of having a normal conversation in a more appropriate tone of voice.

Oh, and also, I spilled sweet, delicious polynesian sauce on myself. So that was great. :(

As an aside, I thought I'd share some great news for boobs: some British scientists have run a study that determined that exposure to sunshine fights breast cancer. The article states "The majority of vitamin D comes from exposure of the skin to sunlight but many women – exposed less in winter and reluctant to bare themselves in summer because of the dangers – are deficient." and also notes that users of self-tanners - while not being exposed to an excess risk of skin cancer - may be setting themselves up for an increased risk of breast cancer later in life due to not enough exposure to sunlight. It will be followed by another study that completely contradicts these finding. And now for some bad news for boobs (the 'after-market' variety, at any rate): Another study (posted on Fox News's website, so you know it's valid scientific medical data...) has determined that women with breast implants are at an increased risk for suicide. I found myself intrigued until I got to this line - "The study also found a 3-fold increase in deaths related to suicide, alcohol and drugs, as well as deaths from injuries and accidents for women with breast implants." I'm going to be glib and say that the alcohol and drugs, in combination with four inch lucite heels and a slippery metal pole might, in fact, contribute to increased injuries and accidents for women with breast implants. *snicker*

In other news, if my social calendar gets any more full this month I'm going to have to quit my job and hire a nanny. I can't keep up!! It's cool though.

...did I just hear them say *rabid red squirrel*?

I've got a bone to pick with a squirrel. A squirrel of the RED variation. That squirrel comes in here and acts like she has every right to just hang around for hours, trying to parse out details on resources that aren't even officially hers yet and acting like someone is purposely hiding them from her - like nuts, buried in the ground, that she'll never see again. I want to just yell "Trust me - even if we were, you're too damn dense to even attempt to figure out how to find out!" Rodent, please! The whole world isn't out ot cheat or deceive you. If it were, you wouldn't be the over-educated, over-paid, grossly incompetant middle manager that you are. You'd just be the neighborhood cat lady.

That's my cue for a segue into a less blood-boiling subject. Coming home from dinner last night we found that there was a very large, very floofy tabby cat (that I had never seen before in my neighborhood) laying prone in the middle of our street. Being the bleeding heart that I am, I immediately ran over to check and make sure it hadn't been hit by a car. Nope. All bits attached and seemingly functional. It just didn't want to move. As I stood there, another car came up the street, and had to slow waaay down to swerve a little to avoid hitting the cat...that still refused to move! So, I walked over, picked it up and put it down in my yard. Big. Mistake. The minute I dropped that cat it was like it came out of a trance - started rubbing and purring and meowing. And every time I tried to step away it chased after me. And that's when the neighbor's male cat came on the scene and I started putting two and two together. My husband didn't believe me when I told him that the reason that cat was being so friendly was because she was uh...how shall we say...wanting the sexy time, kitty-style. Yeah. He didn't believe me until the mating ritual commenced in our front yard. Of course, we weren't having any of that. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about this issue with the semi-strays. My husband wanted to drive up a few blocks and drop the cat off in someone else's neighborhood. I flat out refused to make it someone else's problem. So, we grabbed our cat carrier, uncerimoniously stuffed Miss Floofy Sluttypants in before the flea-bitten Romeo from next door could be successful in his advances and drove her up to the 24 hour vet clinic up the road where I have surrendered strays to the local SPCA in the past. There she was pronounced very well fed (no kidding - she was huge!), and not exactly a spring chicken in terms of cat years. So we figure she was someone's pet, but she didn't have a collar. Well, now she'll be spayed and held at the SPCA for evaluation, so hopefully if she really is someone's lost pet they'll look for her in the local shelters. Better than finding her on the side of the road, or full of surprise kittens.



Hey. It's Friday. Work? Hmmm. No thanks.

Or Monday, as the case may be...

Or even Tuesday. Maybe.

Post nasal drips

I'm back. Sort of. Yesterday was spent crashed out in bed thanks to my new best friend, Mr. Bottle O'Nyquil. I started getting that feeling like I was getting sick on Sunday night, and then it really started to hit me Monday, so I told everyone not to expect me at work on Tuesday. A day of rest and recoup was needed. So yesterday I slept from 9:00 am until about 4:00 pm, when my husband called to make sure I was still alive. I stayed up for a few hours (during which I made dinner because my husband was trying to sleep off a sinus headache), and then around 9:30 - 10:00 pm I crashed out again, and slept until almost 7:00 am. I still feel kind of blaaaah today, but I'm getting better.

In other news - it's rainy. And then it's unbearably hot. And humid. And then rainy again.
Welcome to Florida, where you can only enjoy the outdoors for three months out of the year!