We're not playing a game anymore, you don't have to be so defensive

I really meant to do my post yesterday, like I said I would, but then I didn't. Whoops, my bad. And sadly, I don't even remember what I did do yesterday that distracted me from it. I can only remember the evening time:

- I half-way watched the end of "Ghost" while making dinner, which was pasta (vermicelli) with linguica, bell pepper, tomato, and lots of garlic. Mmm.

- I started to watch "Sleepy Hollow," (why is Johnny Depp the most beautiful man ever?) but then my mom and I watched the last three episodes of "Sleeper Cell - American Terror," and ate creme brulee.

- My dad accidentally filled the living room with smoke while making a fire. The smoke detectors were not as amused as I was.

Anyway, the real reason for this post: I'm jumping on the "Best of 2006" lists bandwagon...

6 Best Movies of '06

"Running Scared" A bit too flashy, and probably the most violent movie I've ever seen, but it was a lot of fun. Paul Walker was hot and a badass, but still got upstaged by his screen wife Vera Farmiga, who was hot, badass, and blew away two pedophiles. There's a lady you don't want to mess with.

"Inside Man" Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster lead the cast of a not-so-typical bank robbery film. Exciting, tense, and funny at just the right moments.

"The Omen" One of the few horror movie remakes that works, just because it sticks so closely to the plot and mood of the original. Julia Stiles' usual whiny performance actually works in this film, and Liev Schreiber is great as the tormented dad of the Antichrist.

"Clerks II" No, not as funny as the first one - but what is? It was good to hang out with Dante and Randall again, though the best performance came from Trevor Fehrman, as the creepy and naive Elias, another worker at the Mooby's restaurant. One word: Pillowpants.

"The Departed" Jack Nicholson being crazy, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon being impossibly duplicitous - what could be better? Oh, and Vera Farmiga is also in this one! Unsettling and totally watchable.

"The Last King of Scotland" If Forest Whitaker doesn't win every award possible for his portrayal of Ugandan 'president' Idi Amin, then I shall dub Hollywood Officially Braindead. Hella deep, with great performances all around.

Honorable Mentions: "Deja Vu" (Denzel again, with some intriguing time travel stuff), "Catch a Fire" (Tim Robbins being quietly evil), "The Illusionist" (Edward Norton as a magician under investigation for a scandalous 'trick' - Paul Giamatti also stars)

6 Best TV Shows of '06

"The 4400" The third season of USA's sci-fi fare has been the best yet, due in no small part to the sudden growth spurt of Baby Isabelle from, like, two to twenty. Unfortunately, we had to lose her mom, Lily, to get Grownup Isabelle - who turned out to be really dangerous to basically everyone, not the least of whom were NTAC agents Tom and Diana, who had way too much job stress this year, and Shawn (ditto), new leader of the 4400's.

"Brotherhood" Showtime gave us this drama about two brothers, one a politician and the other a gangster, and their family in Providence, Rhode Island. Kind of reminded me of HBO's "The Wire" - slower-paced than most TV, but ultimately and leading up to a shocking season finale.

"Dexter" Also from Showtime - Michael C. Hall (HBO's "Six Feet Under") stars as Dexter Morgan, a forensic investigator (specialty - blood spatter) who, in his spare time, kills serial killers (there are apparently lots of them in Miami). Great subdued performance by Hall, and dark humor, make the show really great.

"Prison Break" The first season got Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) and his wrongfully-imprisoned brother Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), and a few other prisoners, outside the walls; the second season has them trying to get safely to Panama. No easy task, with FBI Agent Alex Mahone (William Fichtner) after the guys, and Secret Service agent Paul Kellerman (Paul Adelstein) going after Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies), hoping to get Michael through her. Oh, and a couple of Fox River CO's, and every cop in America. Tense, funny, lots of eye candy - this show has it all. Fans might have to make the occasional leap of faith (Sara saves herself from drowning by pulling out a tub-stopper with her teeth, what?) but are never left feeling insulted.

"Weeds" Suburbanite widow Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) steps-up her marijuana business, with help from her secret DEA-Agent husband Peter (Martin Donovan). Elsewhere, bitchy Celia Rhodes (Elizabeth Perkins) runs for, and wins, a seat on City Council, booting out her longtime nemesis Doug (Kevin Nealon) - and then has an affair with him. Absolutely hilarious, irreverent TV.

"The Wire" The fourth season of HBO's crime drama, set in Baltimore, continues to court the police, drug dealers, and city hall, but also takes us somewhere new: the city's troubled public school system ($54 million dollars in debt? Ouch). Performances by the authentic cast of young kids are thought-provoking and heart-breaking.

Honorable Mentions: "Big Love" (who knew polygamy was funny?), "Entourage" (this show, about four friends in Hollywood, just gets better each year), and "Rescue Me" (Firefighters have never been so controversial before).

3 Best Albums of '06

(What, only three, you ask? My music collection is not nearly as updated as it should be, I know.)

Nina Gordon "Bleeding Heart Graffiti" Where her first album needed time to grow on you, this one is instantly addictive - fun, thoughtful, sexy, and smart, not unlike Ms. Gordon herself.

The Killers "Sam's Town" Before this album, I really hated the Killers. A friend played the album for me (I don't listen to radio, and had never even heard "When You Were Young" before), and I bought it myself that very week. Cool, almost 1980s sound.

The New Pornographers "Twin Cinema" They can do no wrong, I tell you, NO WRONG. Doesn't rock as hard as "Mass Romantic" or "Electric Version," but very pretty and catchy.

Best Blog Readers of '06

Duh, you guys! Have a great New Years Eve!

It's been this way since Christmas day, dazzled and doused in gin

I should have asked Santa for a new desk chair. The one I have is basically intolerable, regardless of how I sit, or if I use pillows or blankets to cushion it.

Really - if my biggest problem is an uncomfortable chair - I should be so lucky, huh?

I was too much of a wuss to attempt Day After Christmas Shopping on Tuesday, but did venture out on Wednesday for the beginning of the Bath and Body Works sale. I got so much great, girly stuff:

- Bottle of the 'Sensual Amber' lotion
- Apparently, the last two Tutti Dolci items in the store (I guess they're ending that line? Wah!) - lemon meringue and creme brulee lotion. They smell really tasty, especially the CB, and the lemon smells like a yellow Starburst!
- Antibacterial hand soaps... 3 for $10, sweet
- Hot pink makeup bag (Goldie) that says "Makeup, Make out"... it's too cute
- Tiny bottle of the soon-to-be released Midnight Pomegranate lotion... yum!
- And, because I spent over $25, I got a denim tote bag for $5 (regular price $15)

Not like I really needed a new bag, but there you go. And you will be proud (okay, probably indifferent) that I went through my purses the same day, and I'm going to give away the ones I don't use. Mostly novelty ones, like the bustier, and the Chinese takeout box one.

I also went by Target afterwards, and bought some new Burt's Bees makeup. It's this night cream that smells so good - like fresh apples. I want to eat it whenever I open the jar, which is often. I lusted over the season one of "Prison Break," but didn't have the funds at the time... but guess what I'm planning to buy this coming week? Bwahaha... yeah I'll stop.

A funny thing happened on the way to work on Thursday morning. I was about a block away from my house, and preparing to make a right turn on red. I was looking over to the left, waiting for a break in the traffic coming from that direction, and see a guy in the next lane giving me the weirdest look. I eventually realize that it's because I am singing (quite enthusiastically I may add... happiness over having car speakers again, after a week of silence). I was mildly embarrassed, and drove away as soon as it was possible to do so.

I wasn't at work too long - the office was dead, there was nothing to do, what can I say? So I left, went to Mervyn's, and shopped my little heart out. Two tops, two bras (yes, you needed to know that), and... oh, that was it. Clothes are still expensive, even on sale.

Today was also quite awesome. I managed to get a souffle at Panera (spinach and bacon), and later I went out with JH. We went to visit LS at her office, and she introduced us to the Buckhorn Grill in Walnut Creek. I had a tri-tip sandwich, which I guess is their specialty, and it was so delicious! Good flavor, and really tender - I find most steak sandwiches to be too hard, but this one wasn't.

My mom and I have been catching up on "Sleeper Cell: American Terror." Good lord, what a great show. Lately, I've been all about TV that keeps you nervous the whole time, and SC definitely delivers. Though, my mom and I get some laughs over Darwyn's new case agent, because he looks a lot like Mark Dannon, the weather guy on KRON. We only have three episodes left to watch, and that will undoubtedly be accomplished over the long weekend.

I've been seeing some previews for a movie called "Catch and Release," starring Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith, and... prepare yourself for a real letdown... Jennifer Garner. Ugh. She's just one of those actors that annoy me for no real reason. Her presence, and the fact that it's a romantic comedy (ew) automatically puts this on my "Rent only" list. Though, with Timothy Olyphant there, it is awfully tempting... I think he's just gorgeous, especially his smile. Ooh!





Also, he usually has a creepy-but-sexy vibe going on. He could play a serial killer (actually he did, in "Scream 2") and I'd still dig him. But, I probably have issues.

Well, my last post for the year will be tomorrow. I'll list some of my favorite stuff from 2006, even though I'm not sure how the year is already over. I don't remember 2005 being such a whirlwind (admittedly, I don't remember that year much at all). Let's hope 2007 is not so fast and forgettable.

Now we're headed downhill so fast, picking up speed

I have a lot to blog - nothing more than lists of the various stuff I've bought in the past few days, but still - but my dad and I are taking Pepe to the vet in a little while. Since the cold weather began, he has been incredibly itchy and scratchy (and no, it's not fleas) so we're going to see if they can give him any special lotions or whatnot to soothe his skin.

But, I wanted to check in so I could post this Z-list, copied from Rebecca, who was nice enough to name me in her list as a blog to check out.

The list, Started by Mack, latest addition from Jeremy Latham, continued by Miss604:

Creative Think, Soloride, Movie Marketing Madness, Blog Till You Drop!, Get Shouty!, One Reader at a Time, Critical Fluff, The New PR, Own Your Brand!, OTOInsights, bizandbuzz, Work, in Plain English, Buzz Canuck, New Millenium PR, Pardon My French, Troy Worman’s Blog, The Instigator Blog, AENDirect, Diva Marketing, Marketing Hipster, The Marketing Minute, Funny Business, The Frager Factor, Mindblob, Open The Dialogue, Word Sell, Note to CMO:, That’s Great Marketing!, Shotgun Marketing Blog, BrandSizzle, bizsolutionsplus, Customers Rock!, Being Peter Kim, Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise, Billions With Zero Knowledge, Working at Home on the Internet, MapleLeaf 2.0, darrenbarefoot.com, Two Hat Marketing, The Engaging Brand, The Branding Blog, CrapHammer, Drew’s Marketing Minute, Golden Practices, Viaspire, Tell Ten Friends, Flooring the Consumer, Kinetic Ideas, Unconventional Thinking, Buzzoodle, Conversation Agent, The Copywriting Maven, Hee-Haw Marketing, Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn, Multi-Cult Classics, Logic + Emotion, Branding & Marketing, Popcorn n Roses, On Influence & Automation, Bullshitobserver, Servant of Chaos, converstations, eSoup, Presentation Zen, Dmitry Linkov, aialone, John Wagner, Nick Rice, CKs Blog, Design Sojourn, Frozen Puck, The Sartorialist, Small Surfaces, Africa Unchained, Perspective, gDiapers, Marketing Nirvana, Bob Sutton, ¡Hola! Oi! Hi!, Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!, Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together, Community Guy, Social Media on the fly, Jeremy Latham’s Blog, SMogger Social Media Blog, Masey.com, Miss 604, Breebop, audihertz, Joel Burslem, 2Bit Studios, Witty Banter, This Years Girl, Chillaxin, Maktaaq, Bus Blog, Everything is Connected, GusGreeper, Canucks Outsider

And as for my addition to the list, a few of my favorite blogs (in no particular order; well, mostly alphabetical):

Her Own Eyes, In These Shoes?, Planet Claire, Pop culture Gadabout, SkullBolt, Truth, Beauty, Love and Elisa, Are You Up to the Test?

Trains will pass through here someday and take you away

It's been (more than) a few days since I've blogged, hasn't it? First: Merry (late) ChristmaHannaKwanzaa!

Because I get totally lost when I try to update this in a manner other than chronological, here's what I've been up to.

Last Wednesday

- I worked, which was mostly a bore, though I got to take a field trip of sorts to some lawyer's office, so they could copy stuff. I could have gotten it done faster at my own office, but there you go. I had to park in this scary (as in tiny lot), where I had to back out right onto a (usually) busy street, but there was a nice lull in traffic at the time. Thanks for looking out, Traffic God!

- I went to Olive Garden with LS and JH for dinner - so good! I had the asiago chicken (though I couldn't pronounce "asiago" for the life of me, even though I hadn't had anything to drink yet - I think the waiter's sexy accent got me flustered), and some drink called a Cherry Frizzante, which was either wine or champagne that had this cherry jello-tasting stuff at the bottom. Yummy!

I always forget until we do it, that hanging out with those two always does me a world of good. We had lots of laughs, shared tiramisu for dessert (yummy, but weirdly squishy), and exchanged gifts back at JH's house. I'm glad they liked what I got them, because they gave me awesome things - JH gave me a Bath and Body Works gift card (I know where I'm going after work tomorrow!), and LS gave me this really CUTE cherry caboodle, a yummy (as in scent, not taste) soap, chocolates (already eaten) and a Regal gift card... yay movies!

Thursday

- I worked, then came back home in the early afternoon to meet up with my mom and godmother. We went to lunch at Chili's (blackberry lemonade rules) and stopped by Pieces of a Dream. I love that store and all the cute crafty things they sell, but what I love even more is the lady who runs it - she is so sweet. She gave me some hot cider, which was delish, especially because it was cold and rainy outside. Brr. I found a cute little decoration that said "You're splendid!" that I bought for LT's mom, to thank her for letting me work in her store and all.

Oh, and my godmother got me some of the Twisted Peppermint stuff from the Bath & Body Works 'Temptations' line - the shimmer body lotion, and the 3-in-1 body wash, shampoo, and bubble bath. I think it would be neat-o if it was also a toothpaste - it is minty fresh after all.

Friday

- With a full day off, and my grandpa's Christmas gift in hand, I went to Fashion Bug to get some nice clothes. I got a pair of pinstripe pants, the right size of black jeans that I had before, a blue paisley shirt with some blue lace at the collar, and a super-cute brown shirt with stars. I forgot how expensive FB is - I spent all my gift money and then some.

- I picked up LT, and the two of us stopped by his mom's store so I could give her her present, and we went to Nature's Bounty for lunch. This is the first time I've been there during the week, and I found it disappointingly full of annoying people, such as the family who had the obnoxious, bratty little girl, and the teenage daughter(s) of someone who works there. They were loud and whiny, even for high school kids, and they had this weird boy with them who was randomly carrying around a car steering wheel. WTF?

- We headed for Peet's, and meant to go to Target after that, but called the shopping portion of it off when some bizarre traffic turned a ten minute drive into over HALF AN HOUR of stop-and-go. Hello, Traffic God, little help? Eh, I wasn't really down with dealing with Crazy Christmas Target Shoppers anyway.

- Because I have no social life, I spent Friday evening finally watching the "Dexter" finale. As someone on either MySpace or IMDB said, "Most fulfilling season finale ever!" Though they left plenty for us to wonder about in season two, they did resolve the whole Ice Truck Killer thing. I don't know, I'll kind of miss Rudy/Biney, as actor Christian Camargo is totally my type (tall, lean, dark-haired... meow).

Saturday

- In between cleaning and washing laundry, I watched some season six episodes of "Oz," mostly because I dreamed about Terry Kinney (Tim McManus on "Oz") the night before. It was something where I was on a scavenger hunt, and I was finding all the clues like right after he did. I finally caught up to him, and was trying to convince him that we should work as a team. Did I mention he was wearing tight leather pants at the time?

- I had way too many bagels, but they were so good. My piece du resistance (or whatever) was when I baked one of the cheese bagels, and topped it with garlic, onion, tomato, and parmesan cheese.

Sunday aka Christmas Eve

- My grandmother came over in the afternoon, and everyone else had Mexican food (chili verde, rice, beans, tortillas), and I had a quesadilla. Yes, I'm picky that way.

- I had a very unwelcome visit from the PMS monster, which could not be averted since I hadn't yet received my Christmas chocolate, so I hid in my room as much as possible. I read Jackie Collins, read ghost stories, and played "Bespelled" for way too long - best online game ever, especially when the library inevitably goes up in flames. I always crack up at the pitiful look on the wizard's face.

Monday aka Christmas aka yesterday

- Everyone slept in for a new Christmas morning record (7:45) and opened presents. Hella loot:

* Ginormous Mervyn's gift card (as in monetary, not actual gift card size - though, a novelty oversized gift card would be awesome) from my parents
* Chocolates in these cute martini foil wrappers, Choxie (you know, ch-ch-ch-chocolate with moxie!), and a See's gift card - so much for dieting?
* Adorable pink and purple muffin-shaped soaps that are almost too pretty to use, but I will!
* Kool-Aid lipsmackers
* Cute Santa mask, and a corn husk mouse (no, really) for my collection
* "The Job" on DVD - before Denis Leary was a dysfunctional firefighter on "Rescue Me" he was a dysfunctional cop on "The Job." I don't remember this show much, but I remember it was funny, and I'm looking forward to watching it again.
* Key-shaped keychain watch, from my sis
* Since I mentioned how I coveted the one LT got at my office Christmas party, my parents got me one of the giant apples that's covered in caramel and chocolate and almonds! Again - dieting, what?
* Too many cute things to remember from EC! Notebook, yum body sprays, and some pink grapefruit body butter which is the best smelling thing I've ever... you know, smelled.

- Family eventually showed up, and the PMS monster is gone for another month, so I enjoyed myself. Dinner was a brilliant ham, some rolls, and then Mexican food again (tamales - I tried one, which was good but I could have done without the olive - rice and beans again, wah). Dessert was pumpkin pie from Costco, which is always a good idea.

- I washed dishes for ten years, and watched the new game show "1 vs. 100" with my mom. The show is hosted by Bob Saget, and actually cool - one person answers questions, with a "mob" of 100 opposite them. If the person gets it right, they get to go on, winning X amount of money for each mob member that got it wrong. If the person gets it wrong, the mob gets their money split evenly among themselves. Hard to explain in writing, but I want to be on this show! As I told my mom, I really do think (erroneously or not) that I'm smarter than any other 100 people.

I've been more into game shows lately. I'm a fan of "Deal or No Deal," and my mom and I have also started watching "Identity," hosted by Penn (from Penn and Teller). The contestant has to guess the identities (as in their occupation, or random other things) of twelve strangers. I want to date the cute Asian guy who was on last week (his identity: virgin). He was wearing this hot, nerdy argyle sweater. I'm there.

The rest of my week

I wasn't up to dealing with any post-Christmas crowds in the shop this morning, but maybe tomorrow I will. The semi-annual sale starts at B&BW, and with my gift card, I could really clean up (literally and figuratively). Mervyn's is always having sales now, so I may go this week, or wait on that. I'm not going to have too much work to do this week, but I will be there on Thursday at the very least.

LT and I are supposed to do something on New Year's Eve, but no definite plans yet... he wanted to meet up somewhere near where he worked, but I'm wary of doing much traveling on NYE. So I'm hoping to hang out somewhere closer to home, or even at home. I don't need a big party - just junk food and friendly people!

A place where words are spoken you will never hear

I got two more Christmas cards today! I love Christmas cards. In fact, I like receiving basically anything in the mail, except for bills. MB and I had an amusing conversation about that on... Saturday morning? Or Sunday?

As I think I mentioned, I worked in LT's mom's store for awhile on Saturday. We had a lot of customers - or rather visitors, and not too many sales. Bummer. But she's a really nice, funny, lady, and I like just hanging out. And I did eat at Nature's Bounty again. This time I got some pasta pesto - so good. It had a lot of garlic, but it only made me want more.

I don't know what else I did over the weekend - probably nothing.

Monday, I had a job interview that I think went pretty well. I'm planning on giving them a call tmorrow to say thanks (again) and try to get an idea on when they'll make a decision. I did not want to get optimistic about this one, but I think it's probably too late. Sure, optimism can sometimes (often?) lead to disappointments, but I'd rather have that positivity in my life than be down all the time.

I've been plugging away on my various projects at work. I had a few days where I was getting a lot done, and now I've hit stop signs on a couple things. I need info about One Thing to do Another Thing, but the person who I thought could help me on One Thing totally rebuffed* me. I may have to go above their head on this one. I don't mind doing that, especially in this case, where I've never met them and they're so darn rude.

*Rebuffed is one of my favorite words... it's used in "Clueless," the best movie ever, and it also makes me think of this neat, illustrated kid's dictionary I had as a kid. This girl was walking her pet skunk, and her friends were running away from her. A thought bubble floats out of her head: "Why am I being rebuffed?" I cracked up at this every time. I wish I still had that book.

Various fun activities are coming up:

- Tonight, dinner with LS and JH
- Tomorrow, lunch with my mom and godmother
- Friday (possible), lunch with LT
- Monday (duh Christmas!)

I'm not a big fan of this entry. It seems boring.

I watched the "Nip/Tuck" season finale yesterday (speaking of boring things?). It will always be one of my favorite shows, but this season was lacking something. The finale did have its moments, definitely, and the ending looks intriguing. If there's another season, it might have Drs. Troy and McNamara opening a practice in Hollywood... I kind of liked Miami, but I guess there's only so many drug lords you can feed to alligators and get away with it. Oh, and if there is a new season, and its chock full of 70s music again, I will stop watching.

I haven't watched the "Dexter" season finale yet. I'm scared. I also haven't watched any more episodes of "Sleeper Cell: American Terror" yet. Eh, that's what Christmas weekend is for, right?

I got a super-generous Christmas gift from my grandpa, and I'm kind of debating on what to use it for. My options as I see them:

- Get a tattoo, and my ears pierced
- New clothes
- Take a class at LMC in the spring
- Take a short-term course at the Pittsburg Adult Ed Center
- Save it to pay my taxes in the spring (Uncle Sam is going to own my ass, and I am not looking forward to this at all)

I will probably be going with option #2 here. I want to spend my own hard earned money on a tattoo, not someone else's (and I still haven't decided what I want). As far as classes go, I'd rather have a job secured before getting my head back in school. Taxes? Eh, I'll worry about that when I get to it.

I do need new clothes. I want at least one more pair of nice pants (I have only one - I did have a really nice pair of black jeans, but they are now two sizes too big), another pair of jeans, and a couple of nice interview and/or job shirts. Maybe shoes, because I haven't bought any in the last year and a half or so.

It's been super cold these last few days, and I don't appreciate it. Especially all the ice on my windshield in the morning. That means waiting oh so (im)patiently for the defroster, which wastes the precious (that is, gasoline... and why is it going up again?) It feels nice outside right now, though, and it's supposed to start raining, which is for some reason less cold.

I thought I had something funny and/or clever to say, but I guess I didn't. Sorry about that.

Don't you bring me no sunshine today

I finally finished my Christmas shopping yesterday! The bosses weren't at the office, so the rest of us decided we wouldn't be, either. So, I went to Barnes and Noble and got my last two gifts (and something for myself - I'm a bad girl, I know, but it was hella percent off).

And last night was the company Christmas party - very amusing. LT and I were the second group there, after Boss M and his wife. We sat at the bar for awhile, where I had a cosmo that was way too srong. This was about 6:00, and I guess it didn't help that I'd last eaten about noon. The yummy appetizers we got helped me return from Tipsyland. There was chicken chipotle chimichangas, some kind of delicious chicken on a skewer, and artichoke fritters. Mmm! It was funny, one of the waiters was my friend KA's ex-boyfriend.

The party was a good size - about 30 people, from my company, the construction company owned by Boss M's son, and a few people from their family. M's son and his wife have a month old baby they brought, and he is so cute and so tiny! He was really good, too - though the party got a bit loud at times, I think he slept nearly the whole time and I didn't hear him cry once.

Dinner was also delish. On the buffet: Two different salads, rolls, rice pilaf (which I usually don't like, but this one ruled), stuffed chicken with a hollandaise-y sauce (this supposedly included crab, which I couldn't taste, and was fabulous), and some pork that looked good but I didn't try. For dessert, there were a few different things: Fruit tarts, a chocolate mousse, and something else I can't remember. I had the chocolate mousse, which was just rich and yum... and had a sugar-coated cranberry on top, it was so pretty.

The gift exchange took up most of the party, and was pretty fun. There was a wide variety of stuff. Some people stayed in the range of $15, as we were supposed to, and some people went all out. There was a CD player, some massaging chair cushion that played MP3's (WTF?), a coffee maker, some nice dishes, tools, this ginormous apple that was all covered in caramel and chocolate and almonds (I super-coveted this apple, which LT ended up with at the end of the night), and more.

When I went up on my turn to choose, you know what the gift I opened was? One book called "Do Penguins Have Knees?" and was full of other stupid questions (and, presumably, stupid answers) and a set of self-help tapes, clearly from the 80s... and one of the tapes was missing! I traded this quickly, and, at the end, went home with a coconut bath set (gel, salts, lotion, and a pouf).

When Boss J was opening something (I think a car emergency kit), he was a bit tipsy, and was rambling on reading all the different things it contained. And he ended his monologue with, "...and a partridge in a FUCKING PEAR TREE!" I have never laughed so hard in my life.

In other work news:

- I'm going to work with LT's mom at her store again today. I am excited about this, if for no other reason than that I'll have "Nature's Bounty" for lunch again.

- I have an interview on Monday! I don't want to jinx it so I won't say a lot, but they seem eager to hire someone (I applied Thursday night and they called me Friday morning) and I intend to be my most charming (yeah, which is not so much) and employable on Monday.

Turn on your radio and listen to these words til you believe them

Hard to believe Christmas is less than two weeks away now. Yesterday morning, I went by the post office to mail EC's present and the place was, as LS would say, poppin' off. This crazed postal worker (cliche, I know) wearing a santa hat was running around carrying a box filled with stuff like delivery confirmation and priority mail stickers, trying to pimp said services to everyone. I declined her stuff repeatedly, then changed my mind when I got up to the counter, and sent the package priority after all. I'm a silly girl.

Yesterday was a long day. The business meeting changed from the office to my boss' house, where he made dinner. A really delicious dinner that I wanted to stuff my face with, but restrained myself... somewhat. The menu:

- Veal marsala
- Grilled zucchini and yellow squash
- Penne pasta with lots of butter and garlic
- Garlic bread with lots of butter and garlic... mmm!
- This neat salad of mixed greens with chopped peppers, berries and nuts

It was delish, and the guys we had the meeting with really helped explain an aspect of the project I was confused about. Still, I'm totally ready for this week (and the project in general) to be done - I'm in charge of getting most of it done, and being in charge of stuff makes me feel uncomfortable (not exactly a desireable trait for the future president, I grant you).

But yeah, yesterday: I left the house at 9:45, and didn't get home from the dinner until 8:30. I half-watched "Super Nanny" (oh, the badness) while doing the dishes and some laundry, and got myself into bed at a respectable time (10:30). I did have weird dreams all night, including one where I went to a jazz festival/renaissance faire where several characters from "Deadwood" were there, their method of travel being... uh, time travel. Yeah. No more vanilla bean ice cream before bed for me.

More TV notes:

- The fourth season finale of "The Wire" was Sunday, but I watched it a day early On Demand because I just couldn't wait. Um, best season ever?

- The first (?) season finale of "Dexter" is this coming Sunday. Is it wrong that I want them to dispatch the Ice Truck Killer without Dexter's whole "I'm a serial killer" secret being exposed?

- My mom finished watching the fall episodes of "Prison Break," so to me, Mondays are now pretty much useless and stupid (even more than before). January 22, I await you eagerly!

- "Sleeper Cell - American Terror" started Sunday night. I vaguely remember the first season, and the second is already off to a great (if gruesome) start. Oh, but it just won't be the same without that disturbingly hot French skinhead.

Oh, and they are for some reason showing the entire miniseries (eight episodes) every night, instead of weekly. "Why are they doing that?" my mom asked. "To ruin my life," I replied. Yeah, I'm going to have to catch that On Demand.

- Peter Krause (who played Nate Fisher on "Six Feet Under") is on this miniseries on the Sci-Fi channel called "The Lost Room." Because it runs from nine to eleven, and I'm an old person, I'm taping this and will catch up later.

- Fourth season finale of "Nip/Tuck" is tonight. Will I stay up to watch it? And if I do, will I stay awake? We'll see... I've been pretty lukewarm about this season. Though that 80s-music loving gangster Escobar Gallardo amuses me, their bringing him back this season seems like a big stretch (then again - what plot on this show doesn't?) And what's up with everyone, especially Sean, hallucinating all the time?

Though I have to admit, his imagining last week that he was a ventriloquist and Christian was the dummy, was hilarious. I can only imagine how Brooke Shield's character would have fit that into her whole "Christian is in love with Sean" theory. Also - where the hell did her storyline go? Meh.

I'm working the rest of the week, and then the company Christmas party is on Friday. I think it'll be really fun. I got a sneak peek at the menu, and I forget now what it says, but it sounded good. Also, I distinctly heard the secretary say something about an open bar. Don't worry, I'm taking LT (non-drinker) as my guest, so I will be good.

When I got home last night, another thing I had to deal with was hella mail. Besides the usual junk credit card offers, and book club stuff, I got Christmas cards from a few of the people in my writer's club... they're really cute. They also reminded me that I need to send out the second half of my cards... oops.

Anyway, one of the club members included a copy of my favorite story of his, about this lady named Sally who is always "accidentally" kicking people in the groin. I think I was her in a past life (if not this one, J/K). He also included a note referencing a story I haven't worked on in awhile (Katrina and Prison Boy): "We're still waiting for that sex scene." Since I am going to be working on Thursday, I guess he is going to have to wait until January. Hee.

One last note on this really long entry: Yesterday I got this postcard from a new company where you can, if I understand it correctly, make (or rather flavor) your own beers, wines, and coffee, and the postcard says: YOUR invited. Not you're as in you are; your. Mistakes on advertisements make me sad.

I'm sure enough to know that's all I ever want to be

My boss and I have a meeting with these dudes on this new project we're working on, and the meeting isn't until 4:30... and I will likely be all alone in the office until then, with nothing to do. So, I am off the clock, and blogging.

Um... or I would, if I had anything to blog about. Also, the computer monitor is making these freaky whiny sounds that may or may not preclude imminent explosion.

Sunday... which was yesterday (I keep thinking it's Thursday), we had girl's day! We met up for coffee at Starbucks (I had a strawberries and creme... yum) then went back to my house for pizza and Apples to Apples. Besides the usual hilarity, it was nice because the rest of the family went out to have lunch and stuff at my uncle's house. The dogs were still there, and clearly very annoyed by this, but what you gonna do.

After everyone left, I still had two whole hours by myself - very rare, so I enjoyed it with more junk food, and TV (Gordon Ramsay's "The F Word," and in this episode, they finally killed the turkeys they were growing for Christmas dinner. It was so sad! It made me consider becoming a vegetarian... for five seconds. They also had a segment on breastfeeding in restaurants, and they totally showed this lady's boob. Now, I've always been pro - or at least not anti - public breastfeeding, but if I had to see that lady's tig ol bitty again, I might reconsider my stance. Yugh. And I'm not being mean - no one wants to see my boobs, either).

This entry is boring. Sorry about that. Skip the last paragraph if you do not care about my psycho dreams:

I'm watching a movie at first, but then I become part of it. It's set back in the 40s or 50s, about a woman (who wears this pretty purple dress most of the time) who falls in love with a widower who has two kids. The oldest kid is a boy about 10 years old, and he's all demented because of his mother dying when he was younger. The woman goes over to see the widower one day. He's in the backyard, sitting on a swing. The woman is holding a gun in her right hand, because she's going to threaten to kill herself if he doesn't marry her. They start talking and then the boy comes out, wearing a weird hat (like one of those beanies with the spinning dealy on top) and holding a huge knife (cleaver?) in his left hand. The woman tries to hide her gun, but the three of them get into this huge struggle over both of the weapons. I'm in the movie now as the woman, and I run away from the boy and into the bathroom, where I wedge myself into the tub, thinking that a bullet can't go through it.

I have issues.

If I could change I would

I got called back into the office this week for some mysterious project... bum bum buuuum! I was fearing something terrible, but it's actually a cool-ish project. It mostly involves copying-and-pasting, which is pretty much one of my specialties, so I'm down. I don't think I'm needed tomorrow, but I am going to one of the boss' houses (and possibly the office again) on Friday.

I finished up really early today (10:30) so I went to Barnes & Noble to get my bro's Christmas present. Done and done.

B&N is a cool store and all, but I hate how every time I'm there (admittedly, not often enough) they try to pimp their card to me. "But you'll save 10 percent!" Or maybe it's 25 percent, I'm never paying very close attention. Yes, I know I'm an idiot by not paying $25 a year (or maybe it's $10 - once again, not paying attention) to save money, but you don't have to keep reminding me of it.

Oh, "Growing Pains" reruns are on... how neat. I cringe whenever I watch this and hear Kirk Cameron call Tracy Gold fat. Can you imagine being called fat (especially when you're not) on TV every week, in front of millions of people? Good lord, no wonder she was anorexic. I think it was really brave of her to do that movie where she portrayed a young woman who became anorexic. All I actually remember is the part with the family (Christmas?) party and she comes out in her new dress, and they're all devastated because she's just skin and bones. Seriously, Lifetime movies are traumatizing.

I'm so excited, I saw the trailer for the remake of "Black Christmas" today! I was just telling LT yesterday (we went to see "Deja Vu"... dude, time travel hurts my head) that it was supposedly coming out, but I hadn't seen the preview. Now, I have! The day after Christmas - I'm so there at the theater to see this movie. It looks like it will be gory and stupid, but if Hollywood folk never got it in their heads to do disastrous remakes of classic movies, this blog might not exist...

My mom is finally catching up on all the "Prison Break" episodes she's missed this fall, and every time she watches one, I'm right there too... how else am I supposed to satisfy my Scofield fix until the end of January? At least Fox is not making us wait until March, like they did last year.

Oh, another Christmas shopping thing: I just found out a few days ago that we're doing another gift exchange at the company holiday party, so I went and bought that today. There was a $15 maximum limit, not as if I could afford much more than that this year. Last year I took an awesome gift - a basket filled with a bunch of yum food-y things from Cost Plus World Market. I love that store. I wish I could live there. All they need to do is install a private bathroom, and I'm in! Okay, so I also need a closet for clothes, and I guess appliances - but they have food, books, towels, and so on. It'll be like that stupid movie where Natalie Portman (go away, Whiny) lives in Wal-Mart, only, not stupid.

Waking up before 7 these last few days has made me do this weird thing where I wake up at 4 or 5 from weird dreams, and then I fall back asleep. Each time I think, "I could get up and write that down... and on the other hand I could just go to sleep. Yeah, sleep... I'll totally remember it when I wake up again..." and of course I don't. There's two I kinda remember from last night:

- There was an earthquake (a major one, like Loma Preita) and I was freaked out because there hadn't been any aftershocks, and I just knew there was going to be one, and I was waiting. In the meantime, I drive around downtown Antioch for awhile, and then end up in a big meeting my dad is in charge of, where a bunch of us are leaving the area. We all have BART and plane tickets, but someone else there is worried that since our names are not on them, we won't be able to use them. No one else besides me thinks the thought of riding BART when there might be an aftershock at any moment, is scary. Guess I'm a wuss.

- A bunch of us are hanging out at this guy Sean's (random dream person, not real) house. The party is leaving his house and we're going out somewhere. I go into his parent's bathroom to change (I'm wearing jeans over a bathing suit), but before I can start his dad comes in. His dad is super hot (tall, dark blond hair) and I'm nervous because I'd heard rumors about him sleeping with one of the other girls we hang out with, and now he's flirting with me (one of my suit straps is tangled, and he fixes it and starts rubbing my shoulder). Truth be told, dream friend's pervy dad or not, I still preferred this dream over the earthquake one.

You will believe in me and I will never be ignored

I didn't do a lot this week. There was like, zero work for me to do for my bosses, so I didn't. I went into the office Friday morning to pick up my check (from the week before), only to find no one there, and my money nowhere. Boo... but I am going in on Monday to work on a new project, so hopefully I'll get it then.

But, I went and hung out with LT that same day anyway. We (rather he) did some shopping at Kohl's, Target, and Barnes and Noble. We had lunch at this yum Chinese place in Antioch.

It was really funny, we somehow got into this discussion about the movie "A Christmas Story" and he told me how the kid who sticks his tongue to the frozen pole ("Flick" played by Scott Schwartz*) grew up to a porn star.

Me: "So he basically spent his whole career sticking his tongue to things?"

I was proud of myself, I can rarely come up with hilarious comments on the spot.

*Looking this guy up, I inadvertently found out that Jaimee Foxworth, the actress who played the youngest daughter (that disappeared without reason) on "Family Matters," also grew up to do porn. Ew. I'd be pretty bitter and jaded, too, if I got written out without any explanation whatsoever. Oh, well.

Yesterday was Antioch's Hometown/Christmas parade, and LT's mom asked me to go in and help her in her store because all of the extra people downtown. We were not super-busy, but we had a fair amount of people in. It's funny, one of the things she had on display was a little Nativity scene, but one of the Wise Men had his head missing. This little girl came in, noticed it, and said, "I think I'd be pretty mad if my head fell off." Kids are amusing.

I had lunch at this little health food type cafe around the corner, called Nature's Bounty. I had a carne asada panini (delicious, really fresh tasting) and Kettle Chips. Mmm, potato chips... I've been craving these all week but somehow never got around to buying any.

We closed up the shop for the parade, which was pretty nice. Being a Pittsburg girl, I felt vaguely guilty for admiring the Antioch High marching band. It was so weird, I kept seeing people that either were or looked a lot like people I used to know. In the parade there was a guy who looked like my major high school crush, and in the crowd, I thought a saw a former classmate's mother, a girl from my Creative Writing class last spring (I'm actually positive it was her, but she passed by so fast I didn't get to say hello), and I did see and talk to one of the ladies fromy writer's club and her daughter. They were looking for this piercing place, to find an eyebrow dealy that would match her daughter's dress for the dance that night. That's so cute.

Today, I'm going to give my bedroom a major ass-kicking (and by ass-kicking I mean cleaning). I have a bunch of clothes I don't wear, and probably never will, so I'm going to gather them all together and take them to the Goodwill hopefully this week. And it's time to put out my Nativity scenes! My mom and sis started doing the Christmas decorations in the rest of the house yesterday so I guess I should follow suit.

Give, if you have anything at all to give

Anyone who reads my blog on even a semi-regular basis knows it is usually about the silly, superficial stuff in my life, but a friend's MySpace bulletin reminded me that I should, on occasion, use my blogging powers for good instead of evil.

So, in honor of my longtime friend LS, who has generously given much of her time and money to raising HIV/AIDS awareness in spite of her busy schedule with work and school, here is some information on World AIDS Day, which is today. The following is completely and totally copied from her bulletin (sorry about the copyright violation, dear).

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.

Africa has 12 million AIDS orphans.

At the end of 2006, women accounted for 48% of all adults living with HIV worldwide, and for 59% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Young people (15-24 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide - around 6,000 become infected with HIV every day.

In developing and transitional countries, 6.8 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 1.65 million are receiving the drugs.

During 2006 around four million adults and children became infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus that causes AIDS. By the end of the year, an estimated 39.5 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS. The year also saw around three million deaths from AIDS, despite recent improvements in access to antiretroviral treatment.

Do your part to help, today and every day. Donate your money and time. Or simply wear a red ribbon to raise awareness. DO SOMETHING. Silence, inaction and apathy lead to death.

World AIDS Day website

HIV/AIDS Statistics