Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Live from Philadelphia

Hey kids!

Penni Lane was very happy to come on this road trip with me, as was Nina!

I'm taking a brief homework break, so this shall be brief.

Drove through the Pennsylvannia turnpike. Surprisingly expensive. But! I really like the rocks! And we drove through 4 tunnels! Yay!

Philly has a very Chicago feel. I am very disappointed by this. It is like a more posh Chicago with a bit more national history. Seriously, the city's style is very preppy. I am terribly underdressed. Oh well.

Ate at Ladder Fifteen. Yumm. They had Blue Moon on the drink list. I was very proud.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Scorpinox is a pretty rockin' name.

A mere 24 hours ago, Mono and I were beginning our Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen adventure. I must say, despite Mono's constant watch-checking and complaints of "Dear God! It's already 2 am and we're not done yet?! I need to work tomorrow, people!" I rather enjoyed the film. No, enjoyed is not the right word. You see, I enjoyed the second Pirates of the Caribbean. I enjoyed the second Matrix film. I *loved* RotF! They kept the same gags, but did not rely on them. The plot was complex enough to keep me involved, but did not lose me or trip all over itself. Michael Bay, of course, did a fantastic job of making me want to simultaneously cheer and vomit from motion sickness.

My only complaint is that the previews sucked. They were all for 12 year olds. Seriously, G-Force? I will happily admit, of course, that I did enjoy this trailer. I am relatively certain that Mr. Shyamalan will not ruin it for me. I mean, any live action of such a fleshed-out cartoon series that compresses three seasons into a single movie is bound to fail a bit, right? But not all the way. . .

On the ride home, Mono and I started talking about how very, very, VERY open the ending was to yet another installment of the lovely franchise.
Me: It would be awesome if they did Beast Wars!
Mono: Yeaaaaaah! I love Beast Wars. The Cheetah!

So we proceeded to talk about the characters from the Beast Wars manifestation and, because Mono thought that Bumblebee was a bee/wasp in this manifestation, and I did not, I told her that I would look it up. And blog it.

Here are the Maximals:

And here is the Wikipedia page, explaining that the Wasp character was evil--not Bumblebee.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Lack of luster

Plain Jane is getting plainer. Her once gold, glistening scales are now a milky white. I don't think she's losing scales because there are none on the bottom of the tank. Of course, Patches could be eating them. He tries to eat everything. EVERYthing. Like, I stuck my hand in there for .3 seconds to dislodge a stuck something and he came over to try to eat me.

So, yeah, Plain Jane is prlly dying.

In other news, my road trip buddy is no longer able to go with me. Le sigh. Do I go without her anyway or do I just give-in and abandon?

Sunday, June 21, 2009

$160 dollars that I don't have later...

The wedding was…interesting enough. They used the Hallelujah Chorus as the recessional. When I told Noa about the uneventful events of the wedding, she was appalled that I did not make the most out of the night. I tried to explain that I had gone as someone’s date, so I needed to be on my best behavior.

“Pshhhhaw,” she eloquently replied, “you should have snagged yourself a boy toy. Weddings are crawling with people who are hungry for commitment.”

Me: But…as I said, I was there as someone’s date, I didn’t know anyone outside of said platonic male friend. I couldn’t very well have started making out with some random guy I just met behind the cake.

Noa: It didn’t have to be behind the cake—you could have found a garden terrace or a quiet hallway.

Now she tells me.

----------

Took dad out for the obligatory we don’t actually ever talk, but it’s Father’s Day so I should do something so let’s go to dinner dinner. I asked where he wanted to go and he said “wherever”. Terribly helpful, I know. Well, Mangiamo’s had a free entre for Dad special thing, so I asked if he wanted to go there—it is a bit far away from the house. So that’s where we went. Apparently, I was not clear on the whole Father/Daughter part of this outing, because crazycrankymother and FauxRockBro tagged along. If you’ve never been to Mang, it’s not the nicest restaurant in town, but it is certainly no Applebee’s.

Two things struck me over dinner with the fam: I am astronomically more cultured than they are, and I am astonishingly more courteous than they are. The former can be summed up in the fact that my mother had never heard of crème brulee before this outing. The later can be summed-up in their poor treatment of the wait staff. ::This is me shaking my head in disbelief::

So, the check comes and I cannot allow dad to pay for family dinner on Father’s Day—it just doesn’t seem right. Of course, my mother is a housewife and has no actual assets in life, and FauxRockBro has not had a job in 4 years because he’s working on his music that I had never actually heard him play. Just saying. This is where I start to get frustrated and think that people are idiots and rude and insensitive. My family knows where my paycheck goes. They know that the economy is down and that I have not been able to pick up hours like I have in the past at the Libe. If you weren't paying for your own meal, perhaps you should have thought twice about ordering the $30 steak and the fourth round of top shelf drinks.

So, even though dad got a free entre and I ordered a modest chicken dish and water and splurged on a crème brulee, the bill was a heart-stopping $160—before tip. My entire meal and my father’s desert added up to $32. Good thing I have a credit card. . .

Friday, June 19, 2009

But it's a card game!

I forgot how loud thunder can be. It's kind of weirding me out...just a little.

I was hanging out with a guy the other day. He's tall, brunette, devastatingly handsome, Catholic, and I will never date him. No, I'm not being a whiner. I'm not fishing for complements, either. You see, I would never date him. We were hanging out in a very mixed group of people, and a ginormous red flag reading "No Dice" shot up like a pistol.

We were talking about something silly, and one of the other young gentleman at the table said something to the effect of "Obama's health plan is bullshit. He's just leading us on." And boy got all upset. Yay! I thought, Someone who thinks progressively and socially and also showers! . . . I hope my hair looks okay. If only, friends, if only.

Boy: I'm sorry, I can't sit here any more. I don't tolerate foul language.

Me: [dumbfounded silence. staring in disbelief]

Seriously? Where the fuck were you raised that no one swore? Because it wasn't the city, that's for sure. And I know many farmers who all swear as though no one would understand instructions devoid of expletives. A box, then, I should think. Or by a commune of religious zealots who just so happen to be mutes.

And really, who gets their feathers ruffled over "bullshit"? It's a friggin card game.

Oh well. Wedding tomorrow! That'll be. . .I'll let you know how that one goes.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Gah!

I haven't blogged all week! I'm such a bad person...I'm sorry.

Coop and I chatted for forever today. Love him! He talked me through my vocal drama. He told me not to go to Barbara McCargar--apparently he had a bad experience. Doo doo doo.

I am in the process of job hunting again. I filled out a few online apps. We shall see. I feel horridly underqualified, but I don't think that this is the case. . .I need to get beter at selling myself, I think.

My problem, I think, is that I have so much experience...from undergrad. I feel like I can't use Budget Director as a heavy-hitting bit of experience, you know? I haven't done anything with myself professionally over the past year. Whoops.

The new issue of Gourmet had a wonderful recipe in the back. Yummm. Who am I making these with/for?

Monday, June 15, 2009

Wait...this *isn't* $port's house?

Okay, I'll admit it. I had fun at $port's open house. Of course, I stayed far longer than I intended (no offenbse, $port). You see, BestBossEVER and MissT and husband and DaBoss and hubbie and AuntieV were all there when I arrived, so I hung out with them. Then, ChicMonica appeared with her lovely daughter and I hadn't seen her in ages! Such trendy sunglasses, such friendly conversation...I had to stay! And then ...coworked that I like but haven't named on the blog yet...came. I couldn't leave her all alone!

Then a million gazillion proffs from undergrad institution came and I had to play catch-up with Michael DeRoose (if you guys get that reference, I have a new reason to love you). And then, out of nowhere, it was 5:30. Okay, bye!

My radiator continues to foil me. I couldn't figure out how to get the fan out of the engine compartment so that I could access the radiator to remove it. Daddy didn't know either, but I gave him a super-sad face. He told me that he would fix it tonight and that I could drive his car to work today! Yay! Poor Penni Lane...it's not her fault that the engine design is jumbled and non-conducive to repair.

Hmmm...what else...oh! Sr. Jean is retiring, so Susannah is already asking me about taking her position after she leaves. . .I don't know how I feel about working at GHL...

I learned how to play Canasta last night! It's a slower, less fun version of rummy (Rummie?).

That's all for now!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Coolant leak!

I'm glad that, like the good girl that I am, I checked the fluids in Penni Lane today. My super awesome powers of observation led me to discover a CRACK in my radiator.

DADDY!!!!!!!! Fix my car!!!!!!!!

In other news, Pumpkin Angel Food cake...batter was delicious...not so much on the baked product. Bummer. Super bummer.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I got an A+ in Technical Services!

No, really, that's one of the courses that I took and I got an A+

What other cool, hip, trendy but feasible thing should I do to my way too cool for school website?

I already included the pic of that R2D2 cake that I made, so I don't know how much more awesome it can handle. There must be a limit on that, right?

Monday, June 8, 2009

How did we get here, how the hell?

So long, good friend.

I can't believe that I am saying "good-bye" all over again. It **sucks** I think this good-bye syndrome is why I've been replaying RENT in my head for the past few weeks.

I year has passed and I feel that I have nothing to show for it. I have made no advances, I am, essentially, just as I was before. I don't want to be. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want to be enthralled in the same drama.

And yet, I have such resolute doubts. Where else could I go where I can sing in prestigious choirs without auditioning? Where else can I have snow and a job and a car and summer?

I am trapped here.

Well, at least I get the Davinci Horse, Yesterdog, and Beltline Bar, to name a few.




Sunday, June 7, 2009

What undergrad program were you in again?

I hate working in groups. Like, school work, not work work. Well, I might hate it later in life, but group work at work work just means that things get done more pleasantly and at a quicker pace.

You see, friends, I always end-up working with people with domination complexes. Now, I'm not saying that I don't have a controlling personality. I realize that I am the kind of person that will redo something if it is incomplete, and if it is a group paper, I demand edit time. Because that's just a good idea.

So, there's this girl in my group who has an undergrad degree in pre-med, decided that she didn't have the right stuff to be a doctor, so she wants to work at a medical library instead. Not judging her, I promise. As someone who majored in science, however, she sucks ass at writing. I haven't seen such long sentences since I read Dickens. So, I fixed them. And then I sent the editted draft back to the whole group and said...feel free to take another peak.

She reinserted all of her original text and said that I had changed the meaning of her work by making it grammatically correct. Grrr. Other writing pet-peeves: she began every third sentence with "However" NO COMMA! even when it was a correct use; "there" was present in far too many sentences, considering you should avoid its use like the plague; she would begin numbering things and then just stop using numbers halfway through the list.

Okay, rant over.

In other news, I might be allowed to speak again tomorrow! That'll be fun!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Talent is a myth

Plain Jane, the fish in my aquarium, is looking sickly.  Like, she's losing scales...or maybe they are just paling, as I have found no mound of scales at the bottom of the tank.

Patches and Hailey the Comet seem to be unaffected.  Carlton's looking good, though, isn't he?  So is Connor the Betta.  I saved him!  From Meijer!  Stupid Meijer...

In other news, one class down, three to go.  Ugh.  Hate shit week.  I hope to finish another class tonight or tomorrow, a third by Saturday night, and the 4th Sunday.

So...yeah.

Watch this:


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Because if you don't, I will

Overcast weather like today makes me sleepy.  Which is okay, because so does my homework.  I hate that all of my courses have projects instead of exams.  Exams are far more manageable, timewise.  I wish that at least one of my courses had a writen exam.

In other news, I might have vocal nodules or nodes.  They're like blisters on your vocal cords.  Gross.  My normal doctor gave me the name of a ear/nose/throat specialist, but I can't get in until Thursday.  It was really weird...my doctor told me not to talk or sing of whisper or laugh or clear my throat or consume dairy or do anything else that might irritate my cords.  

Fingers crossed!

In other news, I am of the opinion that I need to find a new job.  I hate looking right now, though.  It's terribly depressing.  Terribly.