Well I'll be a scorpion's babysitter!

Wow. It feels as if it's been more than four days since I've posted.

Not much new going on lately, just work. The one thing that is vaguely irritating about it is that it keeps being switched around between being there for only a short time, or longer. Last week they had interviewed someone for the full-time executive producer position, but she never showed for her second interview so that's out. If she had been hired I would have been leaving in probably a couple of weeks. And today my (supervisor? boss? whatever you want to call the guy who tells me what to do) and I got called in to the big boss, who talked about wanting to keep me on longer and try to give me as many hours as they can. Not like that's a bad thing.

God, I finally get paid on Friday. Let's hope my gas tank doesn't run out to empty before then.

The weather was nice and now it's all blah again. It seemed warm this morning but at lunchtime it was already cooler and windyish, and now it is ugly and rainy. Boo.

A policeman was killed in my hometown this last weekend. He was shot on Saturday (I think) and was on life support while they figured out who to donate his organs to. His wife is having their first and unfortunately only child in just a few months. It's really awful. It was creepy on Monday morning, driving past the store where the whole business started. I wish there was something I could do that would help to make it better, but I can't think of anything except donating to the trust fund for his family. I can't afford to give a lot, which I know isn't the point, but...

I actually did work some on "Good Girls" this week. Sunday night was pretty good as I recall, and Monday morning before I went to work. I just wrote it out so I'm going to type it in tonight after I do some laundry and wash the dishes.

Last night I made some chocolate chip cookies... I was so pissed. I was going to make pan cookies but the pan I wanted to use was dirty. I wasn't down with washing it so I made drop cookies... big mistake. I hate how they spread out so thin and squarish... argh.

I just got my e-mail about registering for LMC. I found it amusing because I just called admissions today on my lunch break and asked about signing up for creative writing again even though it's non-repeatable. There's some form I have to fill out for the dean to look over and approve. WTF? I don't get why it would be anyone's business if I want to spend $78 taking a class I took before. In any case... I was going to stop by today after work to pick up the form to have on hand for when I register, as it was only 3:30 when I left, but I didn't want to get caught in the rain when it started. I don't get to register for fall until June, anyway.

I keep thinking there was something important I was supposed to blog about, but I can't think what it would be. Oh, well.

Even if things get too heavy, we'll all float on

Welcome to a special, updated early on Saturday edition of my blog.

Last night, in an attempt to relax, I made this drink from a recipe in my bartender book called a "Father Sherman." It sounded good in theory but was actually REALLY gross. Orange juice + apricot brandy = Ew. I had like two sips and then threw it down the sink. Tasted bad, smelled worse. I don't know if it was just the orange juice, which is Foster Farms brand, and not at all enjoyable.

I've spent the better part of today downloading. The amount of money in my cell phone account, seeing as I almost never use it, is ridiculous, so I got a few new ringtones. My list in total:

- Elvis Costello "Watching the Detectives"
- "Law & Order" theme
- Coldplay "Yellow"
- The Vapors "Turning Japanese"
- Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"
- A-Ha "Take On Me"
- New Order "Bizarre Love Triangle"
- Berlin "No More Words" *
- "The OC" theme *
- Modest Mouse "Float On" *

The * ones are the three I just downloaded today.

While struggling to subdue my rabid computer, I have at least been greatly entertained by the kickass music they've been playing on Music Choice Retro-Active all day. Altered Images, the Wonder Stuff, Berlin, Echo and the Bunnymen; word. And last night before going to bed, I heard "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo. I can not decide whether that is the most irritating or best song ever.

Not much else to say. I guess I'll be a good girl today and work on "Good Girls" (ba-dum bum!) and figure out something yum to make for dinner.p

God, it's only one o'clock? It feels later... I woke up today just before seven, which isn't bad for me. And I went to bed last night at ten. Sleep rules.

"No, no, dig UP, stupid!"

I forgot to watch that episode of "The Simpsons" earlier. Actually I didn't really forget, but my mom and I were playing Upwords.

I am fairly surprised that my computer is working. Earlier I was futzing with it for an hour before I finally gave up and my dad messed with it, so it is working... for now. Bah. I may update the page with the new graphics and all early, so I can go ahead and fix my computer (we're going to install Windows XP I guess... it's weird... it's on the computers at work and it took me super days to get used to it).

I'm using Firefox right now. Yesterday, also with computer issues, my dad came in to mess with it. Everything that is normally wrong with the computer would magically work when he uses it. Argh! There's not too much of a difference so far that I've noticed except for the pop-up blocker (word) and the toolbars just look more appealing, somehow.

So I worked every day this week except for Tuesday, which is good. They may have found their full-time girl so I won't have much longer doing what I'm doing now, but another guy who works there in marketing has some stuff I could do. Yay money? Except I haven't gotten paid yet, because I just turned in my W-9 and timesheet from last week right before I left yesterday.

Yeah, yesterday one of the guys sent me to the grocery store to get some foodie stuff they needed for a meeting, and the store should ideally be two minutes away, but it took me like twenty minutes because traffic. Buh. Also, admittedly, because I have no idea where they keep stuff in Save Mart.

OW TOE CRAMP! Okay, I'm good.

I will probably take a class at LMC this fall. If I can find some way to weasel into creative writing again even though it is for some reason "non-repeatable" I will take that (there's going to be a "real" one and an online one... I would probably take the online, because driving = irritating and I know the teacher). If it turns out I can't (and I so don't see why they set it up that way) I might take something in "Administration of Justice." Word. Not like I'm going to join the police academy, or anything.

I was watching "Cops" a couple days ago, and imagining myself as one. But the more I thought about it the more it fell apart. I don't like driving places (especially freeway), and I would probably be a little bit crooked. Not dirty, mind you; I don't think I'm shady enough for that. But for me there would always be that temptation of roughing up a bad guy, or telling a whopper of a lie and/or planting evidence to ensure the conviction of someone I knew was guilty. Naughty, naughty me.

There was something else I was going to say relating to this... oh yeah, this morning as I turned from the bypass onto Lone Tree there was this CHP motorcyle guy next to me. HOT.

I got out of work fairly early, just after one, so I stopped by the post office and library here before going home. The weather was really weird... all gray and ugly, but hot.

Last night, I so spaced out during the last ten minutes of "CSI." I hate when that happens! I guess no one was arrested for that girl's murder, though. Bummer! I was amused during the episode because this one guy I like from these car commercials was on there (with bad hair, though). It also featured... I don't know his name, but he plays Omar on "The Wire", apparently the only gay drug dealer in Baltimore. I still need to finish renting out the DVD's of the first season, duh.

Speaking of guys with bad hair on TV, I find Ryan O'Reily's (Dean Winters) semi-mullet on season two of "Oz" way too distracting. In the good way, regrettably. Wait, not regrettably. Anyway; yeah, when my dad was messing around with my computer yesterday and today, I'm so thinking, "Please don't look in my favorites folders and see "Ryan O'Reily Slash" and click on it, or know what it means." I don't know why I keep the link, I haven't looked at it since I found it (you're all thinking, "Yeah, right.")

Why, when guys grow their hair out long, does it looks nice, and my hair looks like crap? When I get paid, I'm so going to get a haircut. And an eyebrow wax; they're so grody. I have like a whole mental list of stuff I need, besides the above mentioned:

- B-day presents for my dad & EC
- Fathers day present
- Nice clothes
- New sweatpants! My favorite comfy black ones have a hole.
- Renewal of "Interview" subscription

And pay for the class at LMC, of course. I had to send in an application since I've been away for super days, and I'm not sure how long it'll take to go through. There's an online application I did last week, but I just mailed the signature page today. I'm such a bum.

This entry is really long enough, but I'm still going to put in this survey I stole from Aries. Hey, it could be a long time before my computer works again.

THREE THINGS I AM WEARING RIGHT NOW
1. Black sweatpants
2. "J'adore purses" socks
3. Glasses

THREE THINGS ON MY DESK
1. Calculator
2. Videotape
3. Work timesheet

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
1. Publish a novel
2. Be in love
3. Travel outside the US

THREE GOOD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. Smart (does that count?)
2. Sense of humor
3. Emotional strength

THREE BAD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
1. Stubborn
2. Lazy
3. Mean streak

THREE PARTS OF MY HERITAGE
1. Mexican
2. Irish
3. German

THREE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. Eyes
2. Hair, when it behaves
3. Being tall

THREE THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
1. Being fat
2. Feet are bigger than I'd like (10 or 11)
3. Nose

THREE THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME
1. I'll almost never admit to anything being wrong when there is
2. I sing in the car whenever I'm driving alone
3. Here's a really embarrassing one, I make up interviews in my head like I'm famous

THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST
1. "Harsh!"
2. "Dude though"
3. "I've been trying to write"

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
1. Canada. I don't care what anyone says, they're dreamy
2. Navy Pier in Chicago
3. Fishermans Wharf, to watch Bushman

THREE NAMES THAT I GO BY (other than normal name)
1. Ivanavitch
2. Evan, according to people in Jamba Juice
3. I don't really have nicknames

THREE SCREEN NAMES I HAVE HAD
1. SissyMcNerdalot (current)
2. Angel-something... it was my first s/n
3. IcieStarX

Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby

Someone did a remake of that song, only I don't know who and it's bugging me... I've heard it twice now in a preview for this movie "High Tension." Apparently it is not new, but a French film from 2003. It looks pretty interesting.

Yesh, so we went to see the new "Amityville Horror" today. It was better than the first adaptation and much better than I expected it would be. Insert my usual comment about things never living up to the book (note the exception for "Silence of the Lambs").

What other previews were there? One with Jessica Biel about some robotic jet-fighter that gets struck by lightning and gets evil. One where LL Cool J trains new FBI agents (Christian Slater among them) on profiling serial killers. One for the movie with Orlando Bloom about the crusades. Hmmm... I'm sure I've forgotten at least two.

I only had to restart my computer twice to get it going this afternoon! Yay that. Ha.

Last night I tried to stay up late, doing "research" for my new Lists sections coming in just a couple weeks. I was working on my list for my favorite "Oz" moments, and there weren't as many as I would've thought. I was practically falling asleep by the end, I was so tired, and I don't have the patience to sift through stuff again. And that one is easy compared to when I get started on my favorite episodes of "The Simpsons." Word.

Today I also stopped by Raley's, to get randomness and also some stuff for my lunches at work... I can't go out to eat every day. I picked up one of those ready-made salads (spinach and bacon... mmm), and a couple Lunchables (I'm so a kid sometimes). I also bought an Uncle Ben's pasta bowl, but I ended up eating that for lunch today before we went to the movie.

For dinner earlier, I made some jalapeno-cheese biscuits. SO GOOD. Going to type that up now, and then have a chocolate muffin (chomp!), and then attempt to work on either "Good Girls" or something for my site (I'm betting on the latter... dammit.)

I want what I want, I don't know how

I only had to kick my computer in the face for a day and a half to get it to work. Argh. I had to use my bro's earlier to do my weekly updating. Boo.

Right now "Caroline" by Concrete Blonde is on. I like this song even though it creeps me out.

Sunday I was PMS-ing hella bad. So dumb... like for a few hours I was crying over the stupidest nothings, and then later, watching a movie that was totally serious and deep and sad ("Hotel Rwanda"), not even one tear. It's just a bummer, not being able to control how you're feeling. I knew intellectually that I wasn't sad or upset about anything, but someone forgot to tell my tear glands (or whatever) that. Okay, enough, enough.

HR was a really amazing movie though, and Don Cheadle was wonderful. I forget whether it won any awards or not... if it didn't they were robbed. We also watched "Sideways", and I so don't get the fuss people are making over it. I like Paul Giamatti but this movie was only okay. Whatever-his-face with the three names (I could have looked his name up in the time it took me to write that but whatever) was such an asshole. I would've smashed his face in with my motorcycle helmet, too, if I had one. But head-covering things (helmets, earphones, etc) always make me feel as if I have a big head, even if the head-covering object in question is too large. Go figure.

Had a pretty productive day at work today. I had to put postage on about a million-thousand things (postage meters are FUN), and fax stuff, and stamp labels on CD's, and put the CD's into the stamped envelopes and blah blah... it was a lot more complicated than it sounds, now. I also had to change an ink cartridge and the printer hated me, and I got ink all over my fingers. Electrical stuff always picks on me.

I don't have work tomorrow so my mom and I are going to go see the new "Amityville Horror." WORD. I saw a little blip of it on the news this morning with the chick in the kitchen, and she looks over at the fridge, and on there spelled with magnets it says, "Katch em and Kill em." There is not one movie that wouldn't be improved with ghostly fridge magnets. Like a Ouija board, but you can open it up and get food from inside. Yum. Speaking of food, I'm craving something salty right now. Must... eat... potato chips... but there are none, and I won't deign to make any. I will gladly settle for leftover latkes from dinner, with extra salt. Yoink!

Wasted early Sunday morning

I just read this article about this stupid Oakley man who wants to change the name of Mount Diablo because he finds it offensive that one of the major geographical standouts of Contra Costa County is named after the unholy prince of darkness, or whatever.

Dude! Get over it! I wonder if he's also written a letter to the Red Devil company, or whatever that vacuum company is named, and asked them to change it?

I hella jumped when I saw that article on Yahoo news. "Something local?" Also because when I was driving home I kept looking at Mt. Diablo, just because I find it reassuring to look at sometimes... if that makes sense. If I can see MD, I'm close to home.

I would blog about more stuff, but we're going to watch a DVD (either "Sideways" or "Hotel Rwanda") and my stuff was all boring anyway. Admit it!

Free Nelson Mandela

There's no political agenda to this post; it just happens to be playing right now on Music Choice "Retro-Active", formerly "New Wave." And now it's Sinead O'Connor. Silly.

When I wrote my last entry, I kept getting this error when trying to post, about the disk being full. WTF? Anyway I got in touch with the people who host my site and they said it was something about log files that had to be cleared off. Indeed.

I write down notes for when I blog and right now I'm confused. I know what "walk with puppies" means; what the hell does "dinner" mean? Blog about dinner?

OH yeah, a couple days ago (Tuesday, it must have been) I made dinner. "Baked Sesame Chicken"... SO GOOD. Definitely going to put that up here this weekend. And some zucchini squares to go with it; I don't know if I'll bother to put that recipe up, it tastes almost exactly like the zucchini pie/quiche/whatever (not that that's a bad thing).

Tuesday, I also got a call back from the guy at the radio place to do some stuff after all. I worked there yesterday afternoon and then all day today (well until 3:45, close enough). It's pretty neat. So far I've only been working on one project, but it's a big one, this list of all their affiliates and getting all this info. I had to call 2394083 people and ask them for e-mail addresses. Today I was calling all the stations like back east and in the south, and their accents were all pretty.

The drives to and from there haven't been too bad, so far, but it's a big change from when I worked like five minutes away from here. I was really annoyed this morning because I woke up half an hour before my alarm was set to go off, and I could not go back to sleep. Argh. But on the plus side, I had a naughty dream about Zeljko Ivanek before I woke up. Is it wrong to want a guy who is older than your dad? (Hey, only by a year). And whose name you can't pronounce? Anyway. The second season of "Oz" is finally restarting on HBO Zone tonight. Drool!

It's really cute - there is a dove living in this hanging cactus we have on our front porch. My dad noticed him/her yesterday, just sitting in there real still. I got pretty close to it without the bird noticing... it's so cute, with this huge dark eyes that it kept blinking. Aw. And I guess there are a couple of eggs in there. We have another bird-family hanging out in our backyard, too, in all the massive vines on the fence. Yay birdies.

I've been having a really hard time writing these last few days. D'oh. I don't know if it's just my usual dumbness or because I have some other little stories sitting in my head.

Whenever I want you, all I have to do is dream

I would have blogged yesterday but there were these guys outside using a jackhammer or whatever it was because there are cracks in the street they have to fix... it was so loud I couldn't even stand to be in my room.

I know I should not be so concerned with fictional characters and what they do, but what the fuck is up with the weird-ass Mr. W. on "Deadwood" killing three women in five minutes on Sunday night? Duh! If Bullock doesn't execute him before the end of the season, I'll so never watch again. And how much longer is the season, anyway? This last one was at least the fourth or fifth episode, and there were only eight in the first season. I finally saw a commercial for the new season of "Entourage" that starts in June. Also I want my "Six Feet Under" NOW.

Also on Sunday, Bronson Pinchot (you know, Balki from "Perfect Strangers") was on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" as this really asshole-y dentist. It's so odd, on PS he was this really nice, dumb guy, and in everything I've seen him in since then, he's been a total jerkwad. Such as the recent LO:CI, and as a total nutjob businessman in the TV movie of Stephen King's "The Langoliers." God, that was a really cool story, and the absolute worst translation of his work I have ever seen.

It had a neat enough premise; there's a flight in the middle of the night, and this group of random people fall asleep. When they wake up, they find out that everyone else from the plane (including the pilots) have disappeared. One of the passengers who fell asleep was a pilot for the same airlines who's headed home because his ex-wife has just died or been killed. He lands the plane in spite of there being absolutely no lights in the city below, and when they get down they find out there aren't any people there, either. Like I said, really neat sounding, but it did not come off well at all, what with the whiny blind girl fretting over these "horrible cereal noises" in the sky, and Balki fretting over getting to a business meeting in Boston and having issues because his father was always yelling at him as a kid for not getting things done.

I made these jelly-filled muffins the other day... I had a cooking class in the 7th grade and I pretty much hated it and everyone in it, but we did do some neat recipes, jelly-filled muffins being one of them. So I searched on the web and found one that sounded easy, but the batter was all sticky and thick and just irritating to work with. I wish I had the original recipe that used Bisquick... yum.

Last night we had pigs in a blanket for dinner... I had the leftover ones for breakfast this morning, which was probably not wise, but it was so good. Tonight I'm going to make baked chicken and a side dish with zucchini, I'm not sure which one exactly.

The other day I was randomly searching through Google news (that is one area where Yahoo still definitely has them beat) and found an article from a Canada news-thing about the movie they're doing about the Paul Bernado/Karen Homolka murders. I originally heard about them on some TV show, I forget which one, and then read about the case, most likely on Crime Library. To sum it up, this young, beautiful, well-liked couple have sex with and torture and kill these girls, one of them the woman's younger sister. "Law & Order: SVU" had an episode loosely based on this, though I didn't figure it out till almost the end of the episode. Duh.

Anyway, they made a movie that is coming out this summer, with some guy as Bernado and Laura Prepon (Donna from "That 70's Show") as Homolka. From what I read Canadians are really upset about this movie... I guess they don't have sensationalism up there. Anyway... I am so going to see this movie when it comes out. It was such a gruesome case, how can I not? Sigh. At least I'm not one of those freaks sending love letters to Scott Peterson or something.

I find the whole Laura Prepon as a murderer thing amusing for some reason. I've never seen her in a dramatic role. I'm still pissed off at her for going blonde... there are so few redheads, and even fewer that I like. My favorite is Lauren Ambrose, who is admittely a major part of why I heart "Six Feet Under" so much. That plotline with her crushing on Mena Suvari was annoying, though.

I had this dumb dream right before waking up. In it, I had to work on this really important writing project; that is, I had just thought of it and was like "It's brilliant!" and wanted to sit down and work on it right away, but things kept interrupting me. First, there was this matter of calling this really unpopular girl because she didn't have any other friends. She was still in school, and this popular girl had invited everyone else to go to this party except for her. So I had to call her but no one was in and I left a message, thinking, YES, now I can write.

But THEN there was this crazy dog running around the neighborhood (we were at the old house) and we had to catch it. There was no way to do it except by like baiting it, so my parents and I were in the front yard with all these little kids. When the dog ran up to attack a little kid, I hit him (the dog, not the kid) with this bag full of heavy groceries. When the dog turned towards me, my dad shot this gun up into the air, and the loud sound scared the dog away. The bullets were really huge; like, the size of golf balls, and also perfectly round. It was odd.

I guess an interpretation of this dream would be, I want to write, but dogs and unpopular girls keep distracting me. Thing is, I'm the only unpopular girl I know; it just figures that I would get in my own way, even in a dream. I finally did some writing on Sunday night, and believe it or not my word count is just over 81,000. Yay... I think. It is really hard for me right now because I can only see everything that is wrong with it, and I'm trying to stop myself from editing as I go. If I don't just get down to it, I'm not going to be able to start something new for Nanowrimo 2005.

I'm also mad that I can't remember what it was I wanted to write about so badly in my dream. It probably was genius, and I won't get it back. D'oh...

Just sit back and stress out for no reason

This is I think my 50th or 51st entry in this blog. I never wrote this many entries in a year when I had my ghetto-journal on my website. It wasn't really any harder to update then than it is now, but I would sit there and be like, "Well, should I update? Wah..." I guess I just like things being automated.

Yesterday we went over to my grandma's house for dinner and cards... it was amusing. I made an appetizer (bruschetta... mmm) and dessert (see "Candy Bar Cake", under "Recipes"; I would put the link but right now I'm too dumb to recall the exact filename.) I'd also made some honey bread in the afternoon, out of boredom... it turned out pretty bad. It didn't get burned but it baked way too long, and the bread is all hard and the crust is like chewy and rubbery. Ugh. I may or may not attempt to resuscitate (sp?) it today by turning it into bread pudding.

After we got back last night, the puppies were all crazy and happy as if they were abandoned for days instead of hours. Poor things, they're so cute. I watched this movie, "Dirty Pretty Things", which was pretty interesting. It was about this man, Okwe, who was a doctor in Africa but now lives in London and works as a cab driver and a porter in a hotel. One night, he goes to clear a clog in a toilet and finds, no kidding, a human heart. Turns out the hotel manager (I think that was his position) is involved in the buying and selling of organs (kidneys, most popularly, which is I guess to be expected), and he wants Okwe to help him since the doctor they used is pretty bad (hence someone's heart being in the toilet). I would say more but I may have already said too much, spoiler-wise.

There was a young woman in the movie played by Audrey Tatou, named Senay. It was the prettiest name, pronounced kind of like shin-eye. I used to have this hogmongous list of names that I liked, supposedly to help me choose character names for stories, but I almost never used it. A name has to come to me out of nowhere or it just doesn't feel right. One thing that is bothering me about "Good Girls" is having characters who have pretty similar names; not because I'm mixing them up, but because I'm afraid other people will mix them up. So in about a million years when I get to the second draft, I'll most likely change some.

I have nothing to really write about. On Sundays I usually update the "Currents", but I'm just not ready to do it today.

Oh yeah, there was something I had to write about. After I got my Gmail account, I was looking around on the web to find out more about it (that's my general MO; jump into something and then do research later) and I found this website that seems to believe Gmail is the tool of the devil. There were lots of reasons, but the main one was in regard to the little advertisements that show up next to some e-mails, and how they may be displayed because of keywords in the e-mail that trigger them.

I laughed this off at first, but got curious, and decided to look through all the sections of "Good Girls" I e-mailed to myself from my old Yahoo account. I was amused by:

- Section 1 mentioned something about road construction, and so did the advertisements.
- Section whatever mentions cookies; advertisers want me to buy cookies. Done and done.
- A section around Valentine's Day triggers Valentine's gift advertisements, which would be LESS weird if it was February instead of April.
- A graduation party has a cake advertisement.
- Here's one that seems totally random: ads for diabetes and carpal tunnel stuff, neither of which there is any mention of, anywhere in "Good Girls" I think.
- A few more things that are mentioned get ads: tables/furniture, makeup for dark circles under the eyes, and one ad is for a dating service where you can meet "Sweet Girls", which is close enough to "Good Girls" to be an obvious trigger.

Anyway... I find this all terribly interesting, and according to Google these e-mails are never read by humans, only computers that see the keywords and spit related stuff out. I don't know if I believe that, but I also don't really care. I've always been of the mind that as long as you're online, there's someone who is, or has the ability, to see what you're up to. The only thing that would bother me is if they started watching me when I was offline. Or if one of the non-existing humans stole "Good Girls", which, considering its quality, is very unlikely.

My Winamp playlist is finished, and so is this entry.

The intoxication of being a public spectacle

Whenever I type or write the word "public", I'm always afraid I'll leave out the "L" and instead spell "pubic." Me = juvenile.

Wednesday night my mom and I discovered (well for me it was rediscovered) "The Shining" mini-series from a few years ago showing on the Sci-Fi channel. I don't know how it is that the scariest book ever managed to turn into the silliest movie (but Kubrick still rules) and silliest mini-series ever. My thoughts:

THE SHINING MOVIE
+ Jack Nicholson
+ Creepy little boy
- The bloody elevator; though neat, not scary
+ Had the scary-ass guy dressed up as a dog. Ugh!
+ Grady, or whoever that bartender was. He was fucked up in the head!
- Using an axe instead of a croquet (or more properly roque) mallet
- The maze instead of hedge animals

THE SHINING MINISERIES
+ Steven Weber
- Nerdy, annoying little boy
- Rebecca DeMornay... just because I can't like her after her biggest-bitch-ever role in "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"
- Silly, un-scary bartender
+ Proper use of croquet mallet
+ Proper use of hedge animals... though it was more scary in the book how you didn't really see them move, just saw that they were closer every time you looked

We saw like the second half of each the second and third installments... just because we came in late the first night, and last night was "The OC". Yay!

I really have been on a cooking/baking binge this week. Wednesday night I made peach cobbler, adding some cinnamon this time... delish. Yesterday afternoon I baked a loaf of banana bread... it was awesome, almost too sweet though. And tonight I made twice-baked potatoes and chicken fried steak (OK, the CFS was frozen and I just heated it... hee hee). It was so good and I ate so much... but I still want another potato. I would have one right now if there was one left.

Nothing much of importance going on in my world right now. I've had a couple of odd dreams, nothing really long enough to put in my dream journal:

One where my mom had a pet monkey, but I never saw the monkey. We lived at the old house and I came home, and everyone was throwing a fit because the monkey had been smearing its feces all over the carpet. I'm pretty much, "What do you expect from a monkey?" And then it died.

This second one needs some background. Pepé woke me up this morning just before five, barking because he heard the newspaper knock over a vase on the porch (I didn't hear that, though). His barking at what I thought was nothing kinda freaked me out, so I turned the TV on to the news. Mmm, Chris Murphy. (KRON 4) I fell back asleep but didn't realize it, and my dream was:

That I had fallen back asleep, and woke up around 7:30. I got up and my mom was in the kitchen, looking through the newspaper for good yard sales. My brother was cooking something on the George Foreman grill and forgot to unplug it afterwards. My mom told me she and my dad are going out to breakfast, but definitely not to Sylvia's. I say something like, "Oh sure, you get to go eat something nice while I get to stay home and have something dumb like a pizza pocket."

This was so real that it so messed with my head when I woke up for real and discovered it was just 7:15. Ag...

So that's pretty much everything that's going on in my world. I've finished all the new graphics and HTML for when I change the theme in May. I know it's so stubborn, but I just refuse to change it until then.

Justice of the unicorn

Yesterday was kinda busy, well, busy for ME... which is not saying much.

Mid-day, went with my mom to Walgreens and then to my grandma's house. They always have some really neat stuff at WG but I hardly ever go there. One thing that caught my eye (or rather nose) yesterday was some perfume... Jovan's "Pink Musk." I was hella confused by the display at first and then realized they had two different kinds - sheer (lighter) and intense (um... intense). There wasn't really that much of a difference but it is always nice to be given an option. You can always put on more perfume; you can't really take it off without bathing.

When we got back from all that jazz I came home and made zucchini bread... I wasn't sure about the way the batter smelled because of the cinnamon, but it came out really yum. I'm so going to put that recipe up here next week... There was super much leftover grated zucchini, so my mom fried up some zucchini fritters. GENIUS. And then after THAT, I made a casserole... egg noodles, chicken, onion, cheese, cracker crumbs. It was not as good as I thought it would be, but it was all right. Next time - more cheese, less crumbs. Word.

I'm so dumb... last night I meant to call EC but then "Law and Order" was on... naughty me. It was the episode with the school shooting with the creepy kid who reminds me of someone but I can never figure out exactly who. Bleh. While watching it I finished a new collage... it's purdy.

It was neat... I went to bed around 10:30, fell asleep right away, and slept in until after 7 with only one interruption at like 2:30, when Pepé got up to go outside. I always have to follow him to make sure he goes out the doggie door. Me = dorkus malorkus.

My hair looks really bad right now... I could have solved that by waiting to go out until after my hair was dry, or not driving with the windows down, but I was too impatient to do to the first and can't stand doing the second. I went to Mervyn's, where I was the only chick there without a screaming baby attached to her... argh. Going shopping always depressingly reminds me that I'm fat, but I got a few nice shirts anyway, and some argyle socks... and these David and Goliath lip balms in a container that's shaped like boy's underpants. I'm so dumb... I didn't even figure out until I got home and opened it, duh. My brother thinks I'm a perv for buying it.

I really SHOULD have resisted buying it, but it had two flavors I don't have: grape and banana. Yum. My Caboodle is really getting overstuffed. Which leads kinda to my next topic -

I've decided to add a new section to the site, of Lists. I love to make and read and just think about them, so there you go. I won't put it up till the end of April/early May because I want to change all the backgrounds and things too, and I have issues doing it "randomly" (that is, not at the very beginning of a new month). I'm starting to think I have issues in general.

Oh my god, it's almost May... and I'm still fat, unemployed, and "Good Girls" is still not finished.... ACK! Okay, I had to have my little freakout there. This time last year, I was just a few weeks away from getting a job. I think it would be neat but also creepy if I suddenly got a job on the same day as I got hired last year. And by creepy I mean good, cause I need money hella bad.

If it was me you wanted, why don't you just say so

I woke up with a bad headache this morning. I thought it was a sinus headache at first, but now I'm wondering if it wasn't a migraine. It had some elements I am sure not used to - light sensitivity and nausea - but I've always imagined migraines as being agonizing and unbearable. While this headache did suck, I've had regular ones that were worse. Anyway... took some Excedrin and now I feel fine. Yay pills! Or whatever... I just hope this headache was a freak occurence and not the start of something new and annoying.

I am so trendy... I got a Gmail account. I've had my Yahoo account for a few years, at least, and I just can't really be bothered with it anymore. So I'm moving some stuff over to my new account (the main of it being "Good Girl" sections sent to JH and EC) and then I'll give everyone (like the 3 people I know) my new addy. Back in high school when we still had (ugh) AOL, I had a new e-mail practically every few months.

My family is having a family reunion this summer... oh dear. I read the thing and it says it's from like noon to 8 PM. Guh??? I can barely spend that much time around myself. Crazy little family... it's funny, when I was younger I used to think I had the only family in the world that had issues (alcoholics, people in prison and all that), but now I know better - everyone's family is messed up. At least my immediate family is sane and good. Word.

All I've had to eat today are a few Ritz crackers and a low-fat Strawberry Pop-Tart (it so tastes low fat, too) because I felt blah earlier, but now I think I'm hungry. I'm going to cook today - a yummy (I hope) casserole for dinner, with egg noodles and chicken and cheese, and I'm going to bake some zucchini bread. It was so sweet... the other day for dinner I made these cheese-onion muffins, and my dad smoked this brilliant meat. At least I thought it was brilliant until he brought in the racks and bowl from the smoker... I couldn't even bear to look at them, they were so gross. My mom washed them for me and then washed the rest of the dishes because I've been cooking a lot lately. She's such a doll.

Last night I watched this new Lifetime movie "Odd Girl Out", where this girl in the popular group starts getting dumped on by all her friends. These girls were such rampant bitches... Argh. It was one of the better LT movies, which is still not saying much, but it did make me think as opposed to just making me laugh as most of them do. Why are some girls so mean? Given the choice, I'd rather be verbally picked on by boys than by girls. Most boys are just kind of dumb, but some girls seem to have a born talent for knowing how to really hurt you.

The thing that struck me the most was the way the picked-on girl acted before she got shunned by the rest of them. She wasn't as active as they were about teasing the "outcasts", but she sure didn't stand up for them either. It made me think about HS and this girl who was in some of my classes... she really got messed with a lot and I was right there and knew better, and didn't have the guts to stand up for her, to tell people to leave her alone. Shame on me. And shame on you, Lifetime, for making me feel bad about myself; I rely on you for enjoyable trash, not thought-provokingness.

Yet, I must still honor the premier channel for women (and some men; my grandpa and brother both watch Lifetime on the downlow) by giving a nod to my favorite flicks:

- "She's Too Young" A girl in high school is pressured by her friends and a supposedly cute older boy to start having sex. One of the co-stars of this was Miriam... something... anyway, she's the goody-two-shoes 'Emma' on "Degrassi: The Next Generation." In this movie, 'Emma' and pretty much everyone else in school catches syphilis from sleeping around with each other. Grody.

- "Death of a Cheerleader" I know this is based on a true story, but I can't help but laugh every time meek little Kellie Martin stabs bitchy Tori Spelling (though of course her murder gets blamed on the token goth girl). Two thumbs up on that action.

- "Face of Evil" Tracey Gold is a demented artist who gets into a prestigous school by taking the place of a musician she murders, stuffs into a suitcase, and throws into a river. When she needs to get her schedule changed from music to art, she unflinchingly breaks her own finger by slamming it in the door. Her roommate, Shawnee Smith, is irreversibly traumatized (both by the finger breaking and her own bad haircut, I think).

- "Fifteen and Pregnant" A young Kirsten Dunst gets knocked up, and complains a lot. We had to watch this one in health class in school. And who says the public school system is flawed!

Important Irma Imbecile

That's the title of a spam e-mail I got last week. It's one of the more interesting ones. I prefer it greatly to "Find your soulmate in 7 days!" or "Learn how to please her!" I shant (should there be an apostrophe in there?) dignify that one with a response.

Friday, my mom and I went to a few yard sales and then to some antique shops. It was so cute, at one of the yard sales there were these two dogs... one was a Pepé-twin and the other was this HUGE dog who was so sweet... he sat on my mom's foot and then flopped over for a tummy-scratch. Aw! I got a couple of purses at the yard sales... one is silver and the other has flowers, and they're both like new. Awesome. There were SO many things I wanted from the antique shops. At one I got a reall pretty mask for my collection, and some notepads (in shapes of margaritas and martinis) at another. Not antiques, I know, but still cool.

My parents got this new, cute little fryer, and we've been having way too much fried stuff but it is SO good. Friday night we had fried hot dogs... mmm, bye bye, arteries! And last night I made these treats where I flattened out refrigerated biscuits and sealed two up with chocolate chips inside. Word.

So, the pope died yesterday. Maybe I'm just being bitchy and picking on an old man who didn't know any better, but I can't be sad or upset about the death of someone who was so anti-women, in preaching and in practice. I'm really amazed and kind of moved when I look at the news and see how upset some of these people are. It makes me feel positively blasphemous... more so.

We have this loaf of bread that I can't stop eating... it's jalapeno-cheese and it makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever. It is exactly hot enough, and not a bit more. I am still determined to become a bread nerd... my mom is going shopping today so I hope she picks up the zucchini for the recipe I found.

Last night my dad went to a friend's retirement party, so my mom and I had potstickers and cheesy rice for dinner, and watched a bit of "Cape Fear." I don't like either the original or the remake, because both Robert Mitchum and Robert DeNiro both scare the hell out of me. In fact, most Roberts do. My enjoyment of the film is also ruined by the episode of "The Simpsons" where Sideshow Bob (hey, another Robert) stalks them and hides under the car, only to be hilariously injured when Homer takes a detour through a cactus patch. "Two against one!" Genius.

Daylight Savings Time started, or ended, I'm not sure which. I sure as hell don't know what time it really is. Stupid farmers. Hee hee.

I had the coolest dream right before waking up. I was on this train that was on these tracks high above the ground. I was sitting by the window and looking at things going by. I knew it was a dream, and knew that I could see anything in the world I wanted, so I was trying to think of things to look at. I saw all these gorgeous hills and mountains and lakes and people... it was really awesome and unfortunately cut short by a dream where I was being chased by some guy (a Robert, perhaps) in my old house. There was one part where he was on the other side of the door, and tried to pretend he was my dad. I opened the door just enough for him to put his fingers through, and started smashing them. That's what you get for interrupting one of my coolest dreams ever.

Going far, getting nowhere

I so love Tears for Fears... I have one of their like 'Best Of' CD's, I forget exactly the title... I'd go across the room and read the case but I'd rather not. It's odd; when I was younger I used to think people who bought Best Ofs and compliations rather than getting all of a band's CD's were irritating, superifical fans... now I'm collecting them myself. While it would be nice to have all of the songs from all of your liked groups... who has the money and inclination? Not me.

Something I forgot to mention in my last post; my old job at the school is open again. I am still not desperate enough to consider going back, if they would even take me, which I doubt. There would have to be some serious changes, such as:

- If my boss wants a peanut butter sandwich, she can walk down to the kitchen and ask the cook to make it, or make it herself, instead of sending me. I'm not your mom, and you're not so busy that you can't spare two minutes.

- If my boss neglects to pay her PG&E bill, and is in danger of getting all of her stuff shut off, she can call them herself and negotiate a later time to pay it. And she lectured me about responsibility.

- Stop sending out memos to everyone about how their being late is cutting into productivity and blah blah blah when you NEVER show up when you say you're going to.

Enough about that.

Wednesday afternoon I was desperately bored and, in spite of near brokeness, went to Cost Plus World Market (BEST STORE EVER... I want to live there) and Target. At CPWM, I got a thing that is a brush on one side and a pumice stone on the the other, and a mix for cherry scones that I made this morning... delish. My fave thing about that store is definitely all the neat "ethnic" food products they have. When I have money, I am so going to buy the cans of Treacle (like a weird pudding I think?) and of Spotted Dick (!), also a weirdish pudding. Hee. Spotted Dick. Yeah, I'll stop now.

On the way to and from those places, I had significant time (well not really) to ponder the stupidity of other drivers. I've come up with an alarming list of symptoms which are certainly probably not unique to East Bay residents, yet I'll complain anyway:

- Turning left when they have a red arrow. Yes, we do have a RIGHT turn on red law; this is not the same. Speaking of which:

- People who turn right on their red when the lane who has their green light are STILL GOING. Wait your turn; you're not important.

- People who take their turn ahead of time at four-way stops. I'm not just bitching about those who know you were there first, and go anyway; I'm talking about the people who trail right behind the car in front of them that has the right to go, as if no one will notice. Assmunchers.

There's surely more, but I can't be bothered.

Wednesday night, my mom and I made doughnuts by cutting holes into refrigerated biscuits and frying them... drool. I liked them a lot better plain than with glaze, though. I'll eat fried anything. That explains so much...

Yesterday, I didn't really do anything except for make lunch (quiche with leftover ham, onion, corn and not-quite-enough-cheese) and then help my mom with taking a buttload of stuff over to my grandma's house... her neighborhood is going to have like a little flea market next month. HOW CUTE!

I heard on the news that the Pope was given his last rites. Eep. I would like to say that his death would greatly sadden me... alas, I can't say it 100% truthfully. I do hope that his passing could bring about good things, a more progressive and enlightened Catholic church perhaps. I somewhat doubt it, but I still hope so.

Oh, the name of my Tears for Fears compliation is "Shout: The Very Best of TFF." Damn right. "Head Over Heels" is the best song ever... I fall in love every time I hear it. Which incidentally reminds me of a dream I had last night... way too stupid and embarrassing to post. The end.