Philly and a wee bit o' DW

Dave seemed very disappointed that I didn't call it Philly at any point before, during or after my trip, so that was for him. Philadelphia was totally fun. It was pretty hot there, but I wore a light floaty skirt, which was at times made bad by the nice breeze. I saw all manner of historical stuff, such as the Liberty Bell (twice, which I will explain in a minute), Independence Hall, The Carpenter's Hall, Ben Franklin's grave. I also went to the National Constitution Center and took pictures of the outside of The U.S. Mint and Betsy Ross' House. I wound up going to the Liberty Bell twice because I went and took a pictures of it and then I was talking to Rachel and she was all sad that I didn't take a pictures of me wearing Dave's hat(Mom gave me her birthday present for Dave so I could take it to him) in front of the Liberty Bell, like we had discussed. So I went back, because I live to please. I stood around for like 15 minutes waiting for the people to thin out, which they did because it was closing in like 10 minutes. So I got the picture. It is awesome. The lady who took it for me was like, do you want one without the hat too? I was like, I have no dignity left, but yes. And now I have pictures of Dave wearing the hat, too. I saw a first draft of the Declaration of Independence that Jefferson sent to Franklin for proofreading. A man after my own heart. I attempted to eavesdrop on some French people looking at that too. Only one of them spoke English and she was translating the sign and the Declaration for the rest of them. I took a picture of them outside, which I would totally post because I am ridiculous. Even the building I had to go to for the work thing was impressive. It was the Curtis Center and the lobby was giant and marble and had a huge fountain that somehow also had grass in parts of it. It was awesome and I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't want to look nerdy. I got to Disney World mere minutes before Dave and Rachel and the peeps, so that was good timing. We went to Spoodles for dinner and then Rachel and I bought a weird hat with candles on the top that light up, so people have to wear that hat on their birthday. Dave is up first. :)

Absolutely guaranteed to raise your energy level!

I almost forgot. I saw The Dark Knight last night. It was really good, although depressing. But it's not like I expected it to be cheery. There were some really cool moments where I was like, dude, that is badass. I actually did turn to Shannon and say that at one point, although probably not when regular people would have thought that. This movie is the first time the Joker has ever been remotely scary. And dude, is he ever. He has a moment with a pencil that is the coolest gross thing that's been done with a writing utensil since Wesley Snipes and that pen in Demolition Man. Except where Wesley Snipes' moment was stupid and funny, this one is totally creepy and effective. Anyway, it's a good movie.

And a movie that is pretty much the complete opposite of everything from The Dark Knight is Mamma Mia. Stylistically, thematically, cinematographically (I think I just made that word up. It's rather awkward. Try saying it out loud.). The costumes are bright and interesting and the setting is gorgeous. You should know, though, that Pierce Brosnan is not a singer. The casting people really should have switched Pierce Brosnan with Colin Firth as far as characters go. Pierce Brosnan is seriously the worst singer in the film. The best seems to be Amanda Seyfried, whose hair I now covet. They even managed to make Meryl Streep look soft and pretty. Plotwise, Mamma Mia is the opposite of The Dark Knight. It's very light on plot, where The Dark Knight has almost too much plot. There is much more to accomplish in many more storylines. Mamma Mia just has to shoehorn in as many ABBA songs as possible. Some of them are really terribly done, but others are pretty decent. It was almost fun and definitely light. If that's what you're into, then go for it.

Aack.

OK, so I'm leaving home for 11 days in about 24 hours. I have mucho packing to do and need to fit eleven days worth of clothes and toiletries into two checked bags, or, preferably one. We shall see. I wish I had a little bit more notice, but I think the bonus trip at the beginning of my vacation will be fun. I do like that once I deliver the proposal I have one completely empty carry-on size suitcase. The proposals are numberous bound books and fill that suitcase and you have to keep it with you, since that's the whole point of sending a person instead of sending it UPS. I do love UPS though. Anyway, then I have an extra suitcase to fill with crap. When I took one to Chicago, I couldn't even lift the carry-on over my head to put it in the compartment. Some dude totally helped me, which was very nice. I guess I should start working my arms out as hard as I work my legs. Also, I bought the cutest skirt yesterday at Gap. I just hope Rachel doesn't already have it. :-P And Jennie is being kind enough to drive me to the airport tomorrow so I don't have make my boss do it or leave my car in expensive airport parking for that long. That would suck. So yay, Jennie and yay, cute skirts.

Awesomeness squared

So, even though my car is ostensibly fixed, I was still somewhat wary about driving it to Birmingham on Friday. There's always the chance that something could go awry, or that it's not even really fixed at all. I've been trying not to freak, still. This morning I woke up with the worst migraine I've had in a while. So I called work and took and Imitrex and laid down to wait for it to take effect so I could go to work. It helped and then I called work to tell them I was on my way and they asked me if I would go to Philadelphia on Thursday to deliver a proposal. I was like, well, I'm supposed to be in Orlando on Saturday, so I don't know. They offered to fly me from Philadelphia to Orlando instead of back to Nashville on Saturday. And the price of tickets was really the onl reason I wasn't going to fly, because a round trip would have been about $400. I was considering flying to Birmingham and back to Nashville, but now I can fly to Orlando free for me and only pay to fly myself back to Nashville from Orlando. Score!! God dropped some awesome on me today. Also, I get to go to Philadelphia and see some historical stuff! The only hitch is that now I have to have all my work and personal stuff ready for me to be gone for a week by Thursday morning instead of by Friday afternoon. So I'm going to be a little busy. And I think I'm going to a movie later and then also tomorrow. I make judicious use of my time. ;)

Woo

My car is not dead. It is, in fact, fixed! Apparently the original owner had an alam system so no one would steal his spiffy grey Sentra with tinted windows. It was either haphazardly put in or removed, for there were some wires cut all funky and some were just twisted back together. Apparently after seven years of holding together, they started slipping. Anyway, it's fixed now and for a not entirely astronomical price. Eh. Banner day for Benzes! Score for Dave being cancer-free!

Noooooo

I think my car is trying to make me cry and give me migraines. I have been having serious migraine problems for the past few weeks. Urgh. And yesterday my car wouldn't even let me go to lunch because it was really hot. And it still wouldn't start at 5 when it was time to go home. This morning I had a doctor's appointment and when I tried to leave the doctor's office at all of 9:30, my car wouldn't start. So I had to get someone from work to come get me. It's just very frustrating and I do not want to sink more money into that piece of crap. On the bright side, I had the best blood draw ever this morning. I seriously barely felt it. That lady was awesome, so I told her so and she laughed. But it was really good and you know what I mean, because who hasn't had a bad blood draw? Where they jostle it around like it's their first time and what not. I need to go eat breakfast.

True Confessions, Part Deux

I've been struggling with something personal for the past couple weeks and I don't really want to discuss it, but let's just say I need prayers for my state of mind. And no, it's not about what I'm about to bring up. Earlier I was reading an article about lies parents tell their kids, which was entertaining enough, although I've never heard of parents threatening to call the police if their kids won't go to bed. But anyway, I saw a link to this article, about a woman who fears she is passing her eating disorder on to her daughter. You guys, that totally made me cry. I do not have a daughter, obviously, but I had an eating disorder.

I was discussing it with a friend the other day and she says she likes to think of what we did when we were in college as 'competitive starvation' rather than anorexia. Which is kind of funny, but also true. We fed off each other as far as our neuroses about food, as well as our state of mind. I was fairly thin in high school and then in college, I got even thinner. I bought my first two-piece bathing suit when I was 18 and it was a child's size ten (or maybe it was twelve-I am old and forgetful, but either way, that's bad). I lived on pretty much nothing but those popsicles that are just kool-aid in a plastic sleeve that you have to freeze for a summer. It was probably the only time in my life until now that I was not dehydrated.

And in that article they say girls with 'cold' mothers are more likely to have eating disorders. Hello, I got all my 'mom' hugs from other peoples' mothers. I don't actually want to blame this on my mother, not entirely anyway. I was old enough when I started to be in control of my actions and aware of the reasoning behind them. My mother does have a strange preoccupation with weight, though. Not just hers or mine, but pretty much everyone's weight. I don't think I have that. I used to be able to guess people's weight within 5 pounds one way or the other, though. I only ever did that with guys-I'm not that stupid.

I'm not even going to get into how I went from one extreme to the other, but I'm working on that. I just really would never want to pass on my neuroses about my own person to any child I might have. I was talking to someone the other day about it and they were like, well, did you get counseling? Umm...no. I don't think it was ever even discussed with my doctor or parents or anything. It was just something I decided to stop doing, like when I decided to stop taking all the narcotics my neurologist offered. If you think I'm exaggerating or that I wasn't really, trust me, I have some pictures somewhere. I had a friend who was 9 inches taller than me and was double my weight. I bought half my clothes in the children's department (they were cheaper and I really like colors). It was just that it got easier to be that way in college because people weren't always in my face handing me food and asking me if I'd eaten. But that was then, and this is me being smarter. Although, in case you were wondering, if you are already hungry when you eat lunch, a banana and carrots will not suffice. I was running short on food and time yesterday and, dude, was I starving later. Anyway, I don't think I've ever really discussed this, except some with Rachel, so of course I would decide that perfect place to tell people would be the internet. Genius. Anyway, eating disorders are bad and not talking about things that hurt you and what motivated you to do them is also bad. Let's face it, I've done a lot of stupid things, it was just that no one noticed because Dave and Mark were so busy being the squeaky wheels. And I never wanted to talk about them because it's embarrassing. Whatever, I was stupid and got scary thin and now I'm not. I'm trying to be at peace, but it's hard. Salam.

Where is the innocence we can't reclaim?

I have had the title song from Children of Eden in my head for days now. I texted Mark and told him because he was, you know, in it. I was not, and it was ten years ago that I saw it. And I only saw it twice. Once when the school went and another time at night because Mark was in it and I like Mark. I just want you to understand how veery random it is that this song is stuck in my brain. Soooo...I don't know so many of the words. Really just a couple of phrases. Anyway, other things I've forgotten include seeing a movie last week. I saw Get Smart on Thursday. It was ok. It was not as bad as I've read. I like that Steve Carell didn't try to mimic Don Adams' Maxwell because that most likely would have just made fans of the show angry. So if you want to watch something inoffensive and moderately bland, go nuts. Also, I almost labelled this post dorktastic, but I realized that to be truthful, I would have to label all my posts that way. ;)

I am so mature...

Last week, Shannon and I were going to dinner and we were chatting about something in the car when we saw a sign that made both of us start giggling at the same time because we are twelve. I went back the next day to take a picture and it had been changed. I was very sad. It said, "Our "package" will stimulate your heart and soul." And the quotation marks are not mine, they were on the sign like that, and in red, too. The color of harlots. In case you were wondering, it was at the Unitarian Universalist church. Apparently those heathens sex you up if you go there.

Whatever happened to innocuous Superfudge and Ramona and Laura Ingalls Wilder?

So, I've been reading this weekly column on Jezebel where the journalist re-reads a YA book from her youth and reviews it. It's been really interesting and I have not even read or even heard of all the books they've done. But I have come to the realization that, if ever I have a daughter, I am so reading any book that is a YA or adult book before she gets to touch it. Because tons of those books have some sexual content, like people getting raped or masturbating or something (i.e. Julie of the Wolves, anything by VC Andrews, The Clan of the Cave Bear). Some of the worst ones seem to be ones I've not read, but I remember reading Judy Blume's YA books and they were always informative. When I was like 12, I found The Prince of Tides on my mom's bookshelf in her closet and I read it without her even realizing it. It was...disturbing. But anyway, I know my mom did not even look at the books I was reading once I was past like 8 or 9. Thusly, I managed to learn some things. I don't think that was necessarily bad, but I do know that had my parents read what I was reading, I would not have been allowed to read some of it. That is scary to me now, when it would have thrilled me then. But I'll always have Anne of Green Gables.

Apparently all businesses are being affected by the high cost of gas, including brothels. Also, do you really think prostitution is the world's oldest profession? I think maybe farming came first. Or possibly even something else. I don't know...my head hurts and I want to remove my jaw before I unwittingly grind all my teeth straight up into my cheekbones. Blurgh™.

In light of recent events, I give you this PSA

This is informative, if disturbing. And in case you don't really want to read it, here is the link to the list of the best sunscreens. I found it rather surprising. Also, this Wikipedia article suggests that many people do not use the correct amount of sunblock. And, really, your skin is no place to be skimpy.

True Confession

I fear I have become something of a movie snob. Apparently I only love awful good bad movies and movies that are truly good now. You would not believe the look I gave my father when I saw him watching Wild Hogs, or when he told me he and my mom rented Fool's Gold, or that they watched RV. I was horrified. Those movies all looked disastrous. And got terrible reviews. But that is neither here nor there. Who am I to judge what someone else finds entertaining? Not everything that entertains me is acceptable to others. So anyway, if you tell me you saw a movie whose very existence I question, I will try to hold my tongue (and my face, since often it is my expressions more than anything that give me away). And in turn, I expect you to laugh at me when I tell you this: I want to see Mamma Mia. The first time I saw a trailer for it, I was like, what? Are they serious? Then I saw another, and another. The idea started to grow on me. I don't have any particular affinity for ABBA, despite having Dancing Queen as my ringtone for a while. I generally can't stand Meryl Streep. I do love Amanda Seyfried in everything she's in and who doesn't like Colin Firth or Stellan Skarsgard? I saw this video of Amanda Seyfried singing Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight), with clips from the film interposed and suddenly, I had a full-blown desire to see this film. She's not a bad singer, and I like the song, despite never having heard it before. So there we are.

Sybil, is that you?

I've recently realised that my family sees me very differently from everyone else in my life. In my family, I am known for... not letting people get away with things. Or being unfair or mean. Outside of my family, I never confront anyone. None of my friends would even think of encouraging me to confront someone about something they were doing to me, because they know it would never happen. My family, however, thinks I can be a little...harshly honest. I'm trying to be more honest with everyone, because lies don't really help in the long run, but the only time I confront people outside the family is if they are hurting one of my people. Then, all bets are off. The other day, Shannon was on the phone and told me her boyfriend said she was stupid and handed me the phone and I yelled at him. I think I scared him. She thought it was really funny. She said she just wanted to see what would happen(meaning he did not actually say she was stupid-I totally apologised to him.). I've never been able to stand up for myself outside of the family, but I will stand up for others. I also will stand up for people in my family, since they are totally people I love. It's just weird that my family thinks I am mean or something, and no one else would ever think of nominating me to confront someone who needs a reality check.

Stupid anecdote alert-don't read this paragraph if you don't care about me doing something stupid. Actually, one time in high school, this girl was lying to my face(yelling, no less) and that made me very angry (I do NOT like being lied to), so I yelled back and she stood up, so I stood up. It didn't even occur to me that she was a lot bigger than me; I had justice on my side. Literally, because a second later, our teacher came over and yelled at her for yelling at me. That's what good comes of generally being quiet and not much trouble. ;) A friend of mine sat right next to me and he was like, dude, did you almost get into a physical altercation with someone much larger and angrier than you? I remember that right after that, when I realised what had almost happened, I got scared and kind of shaky. I was like, oh crap. That was a poor decision.

Anyway, apparently I have two personalities. Deal with it, Benzes. See? I can't stop myself. ;) I just think it's weird that my family thinks I am someone else. Someone with opinions and the backbone to back them up. Really I hate it when anyone is mad at me, but I guess with family, you're just like, right but they have to get over it eventually because they love me. We all got that speech often enough (we love you, but we don't love the things you do or how you're acting, et cetera).

Post 200!

My car is not dead! It's not even expensive because it was a bad starter that they put in all of 6 weeks ago, so they fixed it for free. You can't see me, but I'm doing a little dance in my chair at work right now. It's the 'my car is fixed for free' dance! I am such a dork, but I feel way better and I am excited about seeing Grandma and the AL Benzes tomorrow. It'll be rockin'. I just have to keep worrying and praying for Dave and several other family members and also the whole stolen identity thing I have going on. Pray for me about that and I will explain later to those of you I haven't already told. Maybe I'll give you step-by-step instructions on what to do after your identity is stolen. That would be a fun read...

I fail at life

Yesterday, everyone at work left at 4:30, except for me because apparently I picked Tuesday to be dedicated. I just wanted to finish what I was working on. When I did try to leave, my car wouldn't start. Awesome. I just got a new starter and alternator a month ago. Why wouldn't some more stuff break? I called Shannon and she was driving past on her way back from Glasgow anyway, so she said she would pick me up. A few minutes later I tried it again and despite the fact that when I tried to start about 35 times earlier, it decided to start. Whatever, I figured while I had it on, I would just drive it straight to the car place and leave it there. I did and they are going to look at it this afternoon and I am trying not to freak out. This is a really boring story, but Shannon picked me up in her psychedelic work van. It's really weird because the whole thing is painted blue with white clouds and there are pictures of people's eyes and people doing cool stuff without glasses. The back is my favorite part because there is a picture of the doctor and his head appears to be floating in midair due to the clouds. It's kind of trippy. Also, I am going to try to remember to go down Nashville Road and take a picture of something that cracked me up before it gets taken down.

If you need a distraction, look no further

Watch this all the way to the end where it gets even more ridiculous than you would think a Japanese game-show version of human Tetris might. If you have never watched any human Tetris before, marvel at the wonders. Why do you think the water is yellow?

Falling Slowly

Today we had our patriotic service at church. It makes me cry every single year. It's always good, but it makes me a little sad because the congregation only gets to sing like two of the songs. And I like the Star-Spangled Banner and all, but it's always one of the ones the congregation gets to sing on and that song is hard for me to sing, because I'm more of a mezzo-soprano than a real soprano. We never get to sing when the choir sings the songs for each branch of the Armed Forces. My dad was like, you can sing anytime you want. Like, yeah Dad, I want to be the only person in the balcony singing. People would totally notice. Anyway, it was a good service, as ever.

Yesterday, Shannon was dog-sitting for a friend of hers, so we took Kazoo and a seven week old pit mix puppy with us to her Dad's(we went swimming). The puppy was adorable-he was still little enough that he didn't quite know how to get his limbs to do what he wanted, and he would get surprised all the time and just sit down and look confused. But there was another pit mix dog she was sitting for, but we didn't take her with us because she is about 6 months old and could be left alone for a few hours. Shannon didn't want to spend the night at the friend's house, so we brought both puppies to our house last night and my poor cats were so disturbed. The big puppy is about as tall as she's going to get and she decided it would be good to chase Fuzzy Tail around. The poor cats just kept retreating to under the table and staring intently at all the dogs. We did take all three dogs for a walk to try to tire them out. The tiny one had apparently never been on a leash and he was so confused by it that he just kept sitting down and staring at it. So I took it off him and he kept up with us. He was so tired by the time we got back that he was out like a light. Anyway, it was a nice day, even if the dogs went a little nuts.

I just watched Once, which was good. It's really cute and you should totally watch it. It's a musical, but yet not, because the songs are worked in naturally, unlike regular musicals. It's a sweet movie, and it's even cooler since the leads(who are really musicians and not actors) got together in real life. The best scene in the whole movie, for me, came about 15 minutes in. I just read a review of it where the reviewer says, "Instead, they fall into a sort of "musician's love," I don't know what else to call it, in which something like romantic affection turns into, and is created from, a week of artistic collaboration between the two. Sort of like Music and Lyrics only not soulless, this is an exploration of the truism that making collaborative art means that you kind of have to fall in love just a little bit with your collaborators." It isn't really a love story, in that romantic love kind of way. But it is a very sweet story with pretty songs.

You cannot break the rules!

OK, so I think I failed to mention this, but The Strangers reminded me of Vacancy in that after a while of being tortured/chased by the villains, the male of the couple disappears for several minutes. So you spend a good chunk of the movie just watching the lady be scared and being uncertain as to what happened to the man. Also, there is very little gore in The Strangers, if that's not your thing. Funny Games is similar as far as the gore, but it was far creepier than either of those movies. I did watch it while it was still light out, and I still had to pause it a few times to take the dog out and sit in the sun for a minute or read some websites. It just got very intense and disturbing. The time I paused to look at the Internet, I left it paused for more than five minutes, so my player reverted back to cable and a second later there was this commercial for Psych with the two leads singing Ebony and Ivory and wearing various strange black and white get-ups. It was totally the funniest thing to me right then. If I saw it any other time, I would be like, meh, but right then I needed something light and that sufficed. Something else very unusual about Funny Games is that all of the action occurs off-screen. Every single thing that happens is not seen. Heard and inferred by what you see after it happens, but never seen until one hour and thirty-nine minutes into the film(and even that is not something that actually happens). It's really an interesting device. What is definitely a less interesting device is the breaking of the fourth wall. The main villain breaks the fourth wall several times and it really lessens the impact of the scenes in which it happens. Anyway, I thought it was creepier than The Strangers, but you might not.

Movies that are mostly acceptable...

Tonight I went to see The Strangers with Christina. It was...so-so. There were a few truly scary moments, surrounded by a lot of not particularly scary stuff. If ever you wanted to see about 45 minutes of Liv Tyler running around looking scared and occasionally crying in lighting of questionable value, this is the movie for you. At least she's pretty and has fantastic skin(I love actresses like Liv Tyler, Julianne Moore, Mary Louise Parker who have really pale skin and flaunt it. It took me years to come to terms with mine, but I still don't really flaunt it because I don't like to blind people. Also, mine isn't fantastic like theirs.). Scott Speedman is starting to look old, which makes me feel old. And at the beginning, the narrator claims it is based on true events, but after a bit of research, I discovered this is pretty much a blatant lie. It ends with a cheap scare. I think it is rather telling that I found myself composing this blog post during the movie. Never a good sign. It made me want to see the movie it is mostly a rip-off of: Funny Games (the original or the shot-for-shot English remake by the original German director). So I rented it and will watch it tomorrow. Possibly during the daylight hours since it is supposed to be very creepy. I am occasionally a big chicken.

A couple weeks ago I watched Sunshine, which was not bad. Kind of slow, and things got strange in about the last 25 minutes. Up til then, nothing very wrong. It really turned in to some sort of sci-fi action thriller there at the end. It was completely out of tune with the rest of the film. Weird.

I just saw The Other Boleyn Girl. I haven't read Philippa Gregory's book, so I didn't know her take, although we all know the basic story. It was...rather slow and not entirely engaging, but very pretty. Mostly it just made me want to watch Elizabeth.

In addition to renting the English language version of Funny Games, I also picked up Once. Which is supposed to be really good and have a real-life fairy tale happy ending and I meant to see it before now. I will let you know if you should see it. Okay, I actually just do these movie posts so Rachel can know what I think she would like, or she can tell me what she thought of ones she's seen. I guess I could just e-mail her...

Would you like tartar sauce with that crack sandwich?

I read this earlier and I think my favorite part is, "There was quite a bit of it, and I thought, well, this doesn't belong in a sandwich. This isn't part of what I should normally get from Rally's. So, I ate the other sandwich and called the police." I think if I found crack in one sandwich, I would not eat the other even if there was no crack visible. Also, definitely eat what could possibly be evidence and then call the police when you get around to it.

Speaking of food, I bought a little thing of ice cream yesterday because Shannon had a terrible day and I was having my own issue, so we needed some ice cream. I know the little containers are just as much money, if not more, as the big ones, but it was worth it to me to not have a giant container in the freezer taunting me with my misfortunes. Anyway, it was Dove Caramel Toffee Crunch and it was awesome. It even had a layer of Dove chocolate on the top of the ice cream. It was marvelous. I highly recommend it.

Arachnophobia!

I was reading about spiders earlier and now I keep thinking I feel things on my feet. Or my arms, which sometimes I really do because my hair is long enough again that it tickles them sometimes. I'm totally creeping myself out. Must remember: do not read about bugs, even to educate oneself, because I will pay for it later. Seriously, if I saw this on my wall, you couldn't pay me to remove the clock. I would be so gone. At least we don't have any really huge dangerous spiders like Australia. I totally killed couple of bugs while we were at the cabin (including a moth since the sight of it paralyzed Rachel), but I actually always feel really bad about it. Like, I'm afraid that the first shot won't kill them and then they'll be in pain and that's just mean. It's not like I like them, I just don't like to deliver fatal (or near-fatal) blows. Last year there was a wasp's nest on the corner of the outside front door-jamb, so I went in and out the back door for a couple of days before I could summon the nerve to shoot it with Raid. The weirdest part was that there were bees in it instead of wasps, but it was totally a wasp nest. I felt really bad, standing there watching them die. Anyway, now I am itchy and nervous. It's a good thing I never have to worry about bugs in my house. Between the cats and Kazoo, I've only seen like two bugs inside the house.

There's so much on my mind lately, I can't make out my own thoughts anymore

It's good to be home. Gatlinburg was nice, but I was ready to go home. I think everyone was. I discovered that it would seem that higher altitudes give me migraines and tested my theory about me being allergic to chlorine (according to my rather unscientific test, I am not. Yay!). Every time we would go back up the mountain to our cabin, my head would start to hurt after we got about 3/4 of the way there. I also think my cats switched personalities while I was gone. Skinny Tail has been the more personable one on a day to day basis. She is always hassling me and sitting on my lap and forcing people to pet her against their will by shoving her head repeatedly into their hands or arms or elbows. Fuzzy Tail generally only hassles me when they don't have food in their bowl (I put food in there every morning, but some days they eat it all before it's time for me to get up and refill it) or water in the kitchen (they share water with Kazoo and we generally have to fill those bowls at least once a day) and she rarely sits in my lap, but she is always first to hop onto the bed while I'm getting ready for bed. So she cuddles with me at bedtime and Skinny Tail wanders at night and cuddles with me during the day or in the evenings. But now they have completely reversed the system. It's very strange. Kind of like Kazoo forgetting how to sit while I was gone. This is not actually one of the things weighing on my mind, but I'm trying not to think about those things right now. Lately, I can start worrying about something and my stomach will drop immediately and within five minutes, I've given myself a full-blown migraine. Awesome. Althought to be honest, I kind of prefer at least knowing what caused that particular migraine. I will get to the worries in due time, I just want to go to bed and not have a nightmare about my head gasket blowing that makes me wake up and think it's real and nearly have a freak out(seriously, it was just as real as the time I dreamt there were mice in my hair and when I woke up I had to check-I cut my hair off after that). Yeah, it's fun to be me. I know you're jealous, you don't have to say it.

Things that make you go hmm...

The other day I came across this and was promptly disturbed. Who would really want a diamond created from the dead loved one's ashes or hair? That's creepy. And expensive. You can get a regular diamond for cheaper and it won't freak people out. I would rather have a memento that meant something to my loved one than an actual piece of them. Also, you can get them made of your pets too. We went to the cemetary when we were in O'boro for Memorial Day and they had a sign up that said ask about their pet cemetary. Sadly, it wasn't spelled all weird like Stephen King's Pet Sematary, so it probably won't yield zombie pets. Maybe another day I will tell you about post-Rapture e-mails.

Eh

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? unknown
3. Color of Your hair? auburn?
4. Your mother? well-intentioned
5. Your father? brilliant
6. Your favorite thing? laughter
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink?
9. Your dream/goal? living
10. The room you're in? living
11. Your ex? why?
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home
14. Where were you last night? shopping
15. What you're not? idiot
16. Muffins? tasty
17. One of your wish list items? books
18. Where you grew up? Kentucky
19. The last thing you did? literature
20. What are you wearing? pajamas
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pets? adorable
23. Your computer? argh
24. Your life? limbo
25. Your mood? down
26. Missing someone? sure
27. Your car? annoying
28. Something you're not wearing? socks
29. Favorite Store? eh
30. Your summer? hot
31. Like someone? everyone
32. Your favorite color? green?
33. When is the last time you laughed? earlier
34. Last time you cried? earlier
35. Who will/would re-post this? Christina?

Yes, I am ONE THOUSAND years old...

I went to the used bookstore today to see if I could find anything good for the trip. Which, not so much. All the books at our used bookstore are old and not so good. Also, easily half the store is romance novels, historical romance novels at that. You walk in and are assaulted by the racks and racks of pinks and peaches and purples. It's kind of scary. It makes me wonder why the people who read romance novels seem to be partial to historical romance. Is it less cheesy that way? I would think it would be cheesier, like with people trying to write in period-appropriate dialogue and winding up sounding ridiculous and stilted. I don't know, I was just wondering. I did, however, find a few Christopher Pike books in the very back room and I totally bought two of them. I loved Christopher Pike books for a little while, somewhere between R.L. Stine and Stephen King. They didn't have my favorite one, which was Remember Me, although they did have Remember Me 2. So I bought Die Softly and The Lost Mind, neither of which have I read. I am a giant nerd. Lately I seem to have picked up a habit of saying that I am [insert random large number here, i.e. 100, 600] years old and like, really, really emphasizing the number. It's kind of weird. People keep not knowing what I am talking about and then I feel old, and then I say weird things.

This made me giggle

Ummm...so, drugs are bad, ok kids? No person who wasn't totally high would decide that they need to change their entire life because they got a nasty cheeseburger. Also, way to be passive-aggressive with the thank you, Robert Downey Jr.

I am not a crazy cat lady, please do not give me any feline themed knick-knacks!

Last night, Shannon and I went to one of her four year old nephews' tee-ball games. It was completely adorable. Some of those kids were so tiny! Then we went to Petco, where we got Kazoo an awesome collar with chile peppers on it. And I got two collars for the cats. Because while it took me several tries to get them to come outside, now Fuzzy Tail is venturing off the porch and even to the sidewalk. She really wants to go outside in the evening and she will cry about it, but I don't trust her enough to let her out and not be out there watching her. So, she gets a collar and a leash so I can tie her to the porch. I know, ridiculous. And yes, her collar does have a tag that says Fuzzy Tail, not her original name. :) You would not believe how freaked out she was when I put the collar on her. In her defense, I did forget to take off the bell that came on it. She seemed slightly less freaked after I removed the bell. But Skinny Tail was following her around and trying to figure out what it was. So I put one on Skinny Tail too. Hers is pink, with polka dots, while Fuzzy Tail's is blue houndstooth. Skinny Tail got over the collar trauma pretty quickly after I started petting her. But I took them off before we went to bed, so they can just slowly get used to them, which is how you're supposed to do everything with cats. They are extremely averse to change.

I have been in a weird place lately. There are a lot of things going on and I've been struggling. So I keep thinking about Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I really need that reassurance right now.

A bad movie, a good one, and a so-so one, and an awesome show!

So, the recent dearth of new material on television has led to me watching more movies. I recently viewed 27 Dresses, 30 Days of Night, and The Golden Compass. 27 Dresses was surprisingly pleasant. I enjoyed it about as much as I've enjoyed any recent films. It's strange, but it seems now that there is a serious lack of entertaining, fun movies lately. Everything that gets good reviews is depressing and long. Sometimes you just want to watch something simple and light. Which is not something that 30 Days of Night is. It is, in fact, awful. It is not even a little scary, has too many strangely abrupt cuts, and tries to be too complicated. I really like scary movies, and I like ridiculous horror movies too. But this is not scary, nor is it ridiculous enough to be funny. It's just bad. It takes itself too seriously and the dialogue is terrible, and let's not even get into the acting. I rented The Golden Compass because I wanted to know why the Catholics got so upset about it. It was...strange. From what I've read, it is merely part one of three. So there was much exposition and set-up. I don't really have a problem with fantasy films or books, if they're well done. I will say this one was pretty to watch, in a completely different way from 27 Dresses. It wasn't particularly good, but I'm sure they're already working on the second one. Right now I'm catching up on season three of Weeds, so I can get ready for season four.

Better than the time Wal-Mart sold Nazi shirts...

"Is K-Mart selling abstinence pants?" is definitely the funniest headline I've read recently. I don't understand why you would put the words true love waits on your merchandise if you didn't mean for it to be about abstinence. But I love whoever said, "Because nothing says 'I plan not to have sex until marriage' like plastering text across your ass." Too true.

Deficient!

At our center here in town, they do CNA training and every time they begin a new class, the students have to take a pre-test that they are supposed to fail. Some of the questions are multiple choice, but there are a few sections that are not. Usually people don't even try to fill these in (many of them don't even answer all the multiple choice ones, which is ridiculous because you have a 25% chance of being right!), but I was grading some today and one student guessed on pretty much every question and cracked me up. I had to giggle. Because, according to this student:
AD LIB = adaptive liberal
STAT = sugar, temperature, adult, thermometer
QID = Quit in disgust
NPO = No patient left out
QH = Quietly humming
ROM = radial osteo matching
The inability to speak = mute
Seeing, hearing, or feeling something that is not real = crazy
The lack or absence of breathing = suffocating
The frequent passage of liquid stools = frequent urination
The amount of force exerted against the walls or an artery by the blood = pulse force
Post mortem care = nursing home
Bluish discoloration of the skin = cold

In conclusion, awesome. Made my Monday.

I teach part time...

So I saw a few movies this weekend, one even in the theatre. First was I Am Legend, which was pretty good, although depressing. We actually had to stop it Saturday night because it was too intese and depressing since we knew the dog was going to die. So we finished it up in the daytime. I don't think that made it any less sad. Sunday afternoon I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (otherwise known as Indiana Jones and the Longest Title Ever). It's pretty good. It's not as good as the old ones, although I may be seeing them through the haze of fond memories, but it is definitely not terrible. There were a few moments that it gave into the cheesy with the dialogue, and I rolled my eyes, but overall, not bad. It was fun and light, which is, I think, what it strived to be. It's not a commentary on society, there's no deeper meaning, but there doesn't have to be. Sometimes you just want to watch a fun movie that you don't have to think about. And most of the effects were good, although there were a couple times it was just too cheesy to bear, including one ridiculous re-enactment of Tarzan. But there was a delightful surprise in the form of The Janitor and Alan Dale! Awesome squared. I think sometimes people get too bent out of shape about movies and forget that things like Indy are supposed to be entertainment and nothing more. Although when we were watching I Am Legend I started questioning where he was getting his power and running water if no one else was alive, and Shannon had to remind me that it was just a movie. Then I watched An American Crime after I got home. Which is just about the most depressing movie I've ever seen. I do not recommend it. I mean, it was well done and all, but just don't watch it unless you want to feel awful (it's based on a true story).

Jennie and Chad's wedding was today and everything was so beautiful-I'm sorry Dave and Rachel didn't make it up for it. We threw pink rose petals instead of rice or blowing bubbles. It was cool, and everything was pink-the flowers were fantastic. I'm pretty sure they're not going to stop smiling for a few weeks(not because the wedding was great, but because they are adorably in love). Also, their house is awesome and I covet it. So that was a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I am absolutely not going anywhere this weekend though. It's been months since I've actually had a weekend where I didn't have to work and/or leave town.

When I was down in Alabama recently, Zoe and Addie wanted to know why I have a roommate and what that means (Zoe thought they slept in your room with you). I was like, well, it's kind of like having a sister-they borrow your stuff, sometimes they break it, sometimes you do the same to theirs, sometimes you argue, but in the end, you are still friends. And I don't really know if that's what having a sister is like, since I only had brothers. And Rachel's been in my life since just before I turned 14, but we've never lived together (and also, when she and Dave started dating, I was still afraid of like, all people I didn't know, so we weren't close at first just because I was uber shy). But that's my guess...

Mint is the official herb of adventure!

This is just bizarre. I'm really not clear on the corrolation between religious beliefs and car sales. Also, that picture is hilarious. I have found the car I want to replace Ye Olde Sentra with! Who would seriously drive around in that? It has to be distracting to other drivers... Oh, and here's a follow-up to that article, along with another picture of that awesome car-check out the license plate! I find it hard to believe that a commercial like that could just slip under their radar. Also, the owner doesn't even go to church, yet he was trying to pander to the Christian sect?!

Katherine Heigl, what is the deal? Why would you do this? I can only pray that there will be commercials that involve the phrase, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." That picture of her on the opening page is weird. Although I do love the pretentious line names, like Nantucket and Monterey. Somehow, the brown Nantucket top looks like the top of a women's pantsuit.

Super Pii Pii Brothers?

I am hovering between amused and horrified on this. Read down to the bottom where they list some of the features of this particular Wii game. Just, wow...

Team Benz, for the win

I had a lot of fun this weekend with Dave and the girls, even though the girls took turns begin crazy. We made it and all four of us took turns playing MarioKart. Zoe was getting pretty good by Sunday, but she never watned to be opposing anyone-you always had to be on the same team. Some of the courses on that game are really difficult, although exploring the course was why Battle Mode was my favorite on the old school MarioKart, and since these courses are so incredibly long, it seems more like that to me. I didn't like that the Battle Mode on this is only three minutes and you can't change the length. Battle Mode on the Funky Stadium was Addie's favorite part if someone would hold down the A button for her, she would just play around on the ramps because it was ok if you ran into a wall, because the walls were more ramps. Also, kids are funny-
Addie: "Why you're gotta go home tomorrow?"
Me: "Because I have to go to work on Monday."
Addie: "No, you can stay here and go to my mommy's work Monday."
Sadly, it doesn't quite work like that. All works are not interchangeable.

While watching The Phantom of the Opera, which I had somehow managed to not see until this weekend (while Addie watched it four times this weekend alone), Zoe had the following query: "Why does the phantom have so many mirrors if he doesn't like to look at his face?" Excellent question. My theory is that because there rarely exists a "tortured artist" without a little bit of self-flagellation. That's if you buy the whole conceit of the tortured artist in the first place, which I don't particularly. Anyway, I liked the movie and I don't really know why I didn't see it before. We watched Enchanted on Sunday, which I had also not seen. It was cute, if very dependent on Amy Adams' charisma.

In the name of science

This is based around a colloquialism I've never heard before. But it's still entertaining to see pictures of jello being nailed to a wall.

Where's my kosher meth?

Hah! How would this even happen?

Sophisticated tastes...

I'm kind of ridiculous and I usually just click the link on my blog from Rachel's to then go to mine and click on the link to Christina's blog. I'm not sure what that's about. I don't know why I don't just type it in once, cause then it will be there. But no. Anyway, I just did the above mentioned maneuver and noticed that my books list is silly. Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, and depressing tome about capital punishment. I am so mature.

Blurgh! (TM Liz Lemon) And nerfshmir!

I think my car hates me. Truth be told, I do insult him a lot. Especially lately. I guess he doesn't like that. In case you didn't know, I have a tendency to anthropomorphize things. Many objects get names. But this car has never had a name. What does that mean? It means that I assign him emotions (and a gender) out of habit, but that I have never liked this car enough to give him a name. He doesn't have enough personality to deserve one. And I have had this car for six years now. I only had old Snake Eyes for about two before he died. But he was awesome.
Anyway, I think nameless vehicle hates me because I had to get a new starter on Tuesday. Fine. It wasn't too expensive and I was hoping it would get me through the summer. But my brake and battery lights kept coming on when I accelerated after that happened. So, today I have to get a new alternator. Terrific. If I had known I was going to end up spending $500 on this car before the week was out, I would have seriously thought about not getting it fixed the first time. I'm trying to be realistic and I know this car is not going to last forever and it is 11 years old, so I haven't wanted to put too much money into it. I've been trying to save all my money for a better car that I will love instead. But no, not this week. Suck it, nameless Sentra! It's also not even five hundred dollars. The new starter was $217 and the guy told me today that the alternator would be $220, where most other alternators are $300. I told my dad that's because it's for a toy car. It's like a midget car. It's like how Kazoo is almost a real dog, my car is almost a real car. See, insults. He does not like it. I just think it's ridiculous that I am 26 years old and my car is not reliable enough for me to drive down to Birmingham anymore. So much so that my dad was like, your mom and I figured you could take her car. Great, that's really nice, but I am 26 years old and I have to borrow my mom's car to go away. Geez. I hate having to ask for help. I'm not good at it. And I feel bad about it, like that I shouldn't need help in the first place. And it's not like I can't pay to get my car fixed, because I can, so at least I don't have to asak for money too. But I feel like I shouldn't need to borrow my mom's car in order to ensure that I will get to my destination and back. Urgh. But this weekend is going to be fun and Rachel is going to make a valiant effort to stay up until I get there tonight. See you guys soon!

regular randomness

So my poor car wouldn't start the other day when I was trying to leave the gym. It needed a new starter. And since I'm not quite ready to buy a new car, I got a new starter instead. Fun.

On a completely different note, I don't usually watch commercials because I dvr everything I watch, so I can start watching a one hour program fifteen minutes in and it comes out perfectly. But right now I'm watching The Real World live because there is nothing good currently on TV on Wednesdays. And I just saw a really disturbing commercial for Schick razors that involved a cactus morphing into flowers and then a leg. So weird. As was the first part of the House season finale. I kept thinking he was going to wake up and have been actually just laying in the bus imagining it all. Except I knew they wouldn't steal from themselves like that because there was already a season finale of House that involved him imagining everything and then waking up with the answer.

I got really excited at work the other day because I managed to do my end of month reconciling by myself. Usually it takes at least two other people to figure out, but I did it. And it only took me an entire day. But really, I was very happy. I was like, it's actually zero! And my supervisor just laughed at me. But if you know me, and the way I feel about math and how it turns me off so much that I don't even generally try, then you know that's big. The other week Christina posted on her blog about Colossians 3:23 ("Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"). And we all know the Benzes have a tendency to be underachievers... So I've been trying harder at work lately and taking initiative on some things. And I pretty much never take initiative on anything, because I'm so afraid of doing something wrong. And I don't mean just at work, I mean all areas of my life. So, thanks for that push Christina.

I've been pretty busy lately. I saw Baby Mama, which was much better than I expected. I thought it was going to be crap, but went anyway because Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are awesome. Tina Fey got to wear actual cute clothes in this movie, and it was pretty funny, if predictable. I actually did finally get a Saturday where I didn't have to do anything, but only because my stomach was really upset all Friday night, so I didn't go with my parents to L'ville to see the grandparents. But fortunately I didn't have whatever nasty stomach bug my mom had last week, so I felt much better later on Saturday. We went to see my Grandma in O'boro on Sunday after church. It was barbeque fest weekend, so we had barbeque. My grandma is awesome and really funny. She lent me a book I'm excited about reading, but Shannon already started it, so I guess I'll read the book a guy at work lent to me. Which I started earlier and there was a phrase I really liked, "illusory juvenescence." It probably seems nonsensical, but I think it sounds pretty. Sometimes I like words or phrases just because of how they look or sound. When I was a kid, my favorite word was algae because I liked how it looked and sounded. But I certainly did not like algae itself. And now I really need to go to bed because I'm old and I have to get up early tomorrow so I can vaccuum because my small group is meeting here in the evening. Although last time we met here, we sat outside because the weather was nice, so maybe tthat'll happen again...

What are Life magazine and Mary Tyler Moore?

I'll try to post for real later, since I know it's been a while. Although everyone who really cares has since talked to me on the phone or the gchat. But whatever. For now, here is something that amused me today. Things Younger Than John McCain. I am particularly fond of Alaska, McDonald's, and that weird poster about the polio vaccine tasting good. Bear in mind, I don't particularly dislike McCain, I just think it's funny.

An actual good thing to balance the bad from earlier...

Something more awesome than my injury...my pants are falling off! Shannon threatened to pants me when I saw her earlier (and I think it would be a possibility, were I not wearing a belt). It's true, all my pants (and some of my shirts) are way too loose now! Yay. I guess I need to dig around and find some of my smaller pants and shirts. While I hate searching through my crap, this is a good reason, so it's cool.

I have been having blepharospasm issues with my right eye all week. I was trying to figure out what that was about, when I remembered that when I hit my nose last week, I also hit my right eye and brow bone. It was terrific (my contact even fell out). But the nose thing hurt more than my eye, so I forgot. I guess that could explain this issue. I hope it stops soon.

When the weather is nice like this(and it is beautiful today!), I like to drive around with my windows down, but I keep forgetting that means people can hear me and my music. I have been listening to a cd Rachel made for me a long time ago and today I got totally embarrassed by it. It's an awesome cd, it's just not something strangers should see/hear me listening to. Thanks, Racho!

Good moves I made recently. Not.

This is mildly gross, so unless you're like Rachel and enjoy poking at gross stuff, you may not want to read it. I don't know if you've ever hit your nose very hard, but I have. I mean, I broke my nose once, but that was about 11 years ago. Dave and Rachel were there. Anyway, that's not the point now. The point is that last week I hit my nose on something (we will not discuss how I managed to do this, because we all know what a picture of gracefulness I am...not) and it hurt a lot. I was waiting for it to turn into a bruise, but it didn't really. I have what appear to be blackheads where I hit it, but they are not blackheads. They are filled with...blood! Dun dun DUN! Or, just eww. Also, Shannon is all sickly this week and now my throat hurts and my nose is stopped up. Of course, I'm a genious and I took her to UrgentCare the other night and sat in the Sick waiting room with her. Good job, self. Oh well, I'll manage.

I feel so old...

Last night I was watching part of Ugly Betty and one character kept talking about Gabrielle Union's character and Stoneybrook. As soon as they said Stoneybrook, I was like, ohhh, is her secret that she's actually from Connecticut and was a member of the Baby-sitters Club? Cause that would be awesome. Turn sout they were spelling Stoneybrook as Stony Brook. So that's not as fun. But now I can't stop thinking about the Baby-sitters Club books.

Some things that entertained me today, and a random thought

I have been trying to drink more water, cause it's good for you or something. In doing so, I now realize just how little I was actually drinking on a daily basis before. No wonder my skin was ridiculously dry and my cuticles were always pulled back and I sometimes even got my symptom that happens when I get really dehydrated (it's not anything gross, or females only, it would just take too long to explain). I was drinking about 30 oz. a day. Oops. Now, even if I've had more than 30 oz. by say, lunchtime, I will get very very thirsty within about an hour of lunch. Crazyness. So, drinking more is good, but also a pain in the butt. And now for more entertaining topics.



This LA Times article about Oxygen network and it's new makeover is absurd. The "pink pastel ghetto?" Telling us what the GM had for breakfast? Read down until you get to Zalaznick's first quote (reading other funny tidbits along the way). Here's what I have to say about her and her thoughts. H2 O no you di'int! (I swear to you, Tyra Banks actually said that on an episode of Top Model this cycle. That show may be the guiltiest of my guilty pleasure shows.) Zalaznick and co. are the ones who took a website I loved (TWoP) and turned it into something almost completely unrecognisable literally days after its founders left. At least I still have Glarkware. Anyway, my ranting is over, I think. I seriously doubt that I would ever say the words, "That's so Oxygen." Unless maybe I were mocking the network or one of it's crappy shows. Or I used it to describe something crappy. And I totally have taken to saying H2 O no you di'int. Shannon can't get the whole phrase out with a straight face, but I can. You know you're jealous.



Something that really entertained me is this cat box. It is extremely expensive and I don't know that I would want to sit on a cat box anyway, but it's an interesting thought. These are just fun to look at and much cheaper than the bench one. But I'm not in the market for an expensive cat box. And I don't need to hide mine, because it's already hidden away in the laundry room. If I were going to spend $65 on a cat box, I would probably go with the pink house one. ;)



This seems like a conversation my brother might have. If they cared about PacMan or ever noticed when their conversations were completely ridiculous. But still.

This was too long to leave as a comment on Rachel's blog.

I know Rachel was talking a little about American Idol on her blog and I wanted to share this with you. I'm not watching Idol this season because it's on like 15 days each week and I just didn't feel like making that kind of a time commitment this year. I am still reading some of the recaps because they're funny and you don't have to actually watch it to get it. But seriously this recap cracked me up. Just read like the first couple pages and if you hate it, then fine, it's just not your type of humor. I won't press the issue anymore. Kind of like how The Office isn't for everyone because some people really don't care for the awkward, uncomfortable humor. Although I don't necessarily agree with the recapper's opinions(in the unlikely event that Mark actually reads the link, I don't want him to get all umbraged with me about it), I think the recaps are funny.

Also, I wanted to mention that there is a Walgreen's seriously on every other corner in Chicago. I only saw one CVS, but approximately 500 Walgreen's. It just seemed strange to me.

And apparently I can't stop pressing the issue right now. This part of the above recap that I bet you did not click on and read any of was really funny to me. He is talking about David Cook's performance. "Will: "This blows. He could have rocked this out and at least made it interesting. By keeping it the same as you would see in the show he pales in comparison to the real voices that can sing it. Two last notes does not a song make. Drop the Chandelier on him. ALW will now write Idol: The Musical. The most expensive set piece will be Ryan's hair." [If I'd ever heard the song before I have no doubt I would agree more forcefully. As it is, meh. I am not ALW and I did not ask to make out with you, and yet you made that choice for me.]"

So each step she's taking is a step of faith towards who she'll be

I really enjoyed Chicago. When I think about taking a trip, I really want to go to D.C. again and maybe New York and several other places, but I never would have thought about going to Chicago. And I'm not sure why, because there's nothing wrong with it. My hotel was downtown near a lot of stuff because I got a hotel as close as possible to the federal building I had to deliver the proposal to. So I walked about for about 5 hours straight yesterday. I did some shopping (bought some skirts) and went to the Chicago Cultural Center and a museum (can't remember what it was called). I went to the Sears Tower, which was within walking distance of my hotel.
When I got there Monday night, after I checked in to the hotel I went to the Hancock Building and the security/doormen told me to go to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor instead of paying $12 to go to the observation deck on the 94th floor. They also said, more than once, that the ladies restroom at the Signature Lounge was the place to be. So I went to there, because I take direction well. And they were right. All the walls in the restaurant (and one wall in the bathroom) were windows. It was really pretty. The nighttime view from the Hancock Building was cooler than the daytime view from the Sears Tower. Of course, after I got up there and looked down, I remembered that I have a mild fear of heights. Smooth, Andrea. I walked so much yesterday that when I finally sat down for a few minutes to eat a late lunch, my legs were shaking. It was kind of disturbing because they were shaking violently and I couldn't make them stop. And my feet are still sore today. But it was fun and I didn't even get lost or do anything stupid in the airport. It would have been more fun if I could have found someone to go with me, but it was really short notice. And I managed on my own!

It was a pretty fun weekend with our AL Benzes. We laughed a lot, as is usually the case with Dave and Rachel around. And Rachel helped me figure out something to make my hair better
(products are fun). I started showering at night a couple weeks ago and just leaving my hair alone. Apparently most people didn't realize my hair is wavy because I always pulled it straight while I dried it. Then yesterday was a pretty productive day. I got a lot done and Shannon borrowed someone's real mower and mowed the yard. It got way too tall and thick for the little one to handle. Actually, it got so thick that the real mower kept getting jammed and turning itself off. So now we know, don't wait so long ever again. It looks so much better.

I'm flying to Chicago today and I'm kind of nervous. I've never gone on a trip by myself. I think this will be good for me though. I keep thinking I've forgotten something. Also, I haven't flown in a long time. I know it's a much bigger hassle now. But I think this will be the shortest flight I've ever been on. But the flying part itself isn't what makes me nervous. Anyway, gotta go get some work done before I have to leave.

Young Adult Readings

I noticed earlier that The Face on the Milk Carton was on SoapNet and I couldn't resist watching some of it. I loved that book when I was a kid. I read the first three, and just found out there is a fourth. But I remember liking the first two a lot and thinking the third was so-so. I also distinctly recall being mad about the TV movie because they changed things (other than the fact that the movie combines the first two novels). Like they changed the Springs to the Sands and the Johnsons to the Jessmons for no real reason. How is that a big deal in the movie world? It does make some sense that they took out the twins who were her real little brothers, but I didn't see that when I was a child. And I was mad because her boyfriend Reeve was so much cuter in my head than the dude they cast (he was also Kyle on My So-Called Life). I also recall thinking it was weird that the only people with Southern accents were Sharon Stone and her new sister and even cringing some at the sister's bad acting
(cringing hold up on rewatching). Oops.

My very favorite books when I was a kid were the Anne of Green Gables series. I loved those books so much. I remember that my grandparents gave the set to my cousin for her birthday and I read the back of all of them and really wanted to read them. So when my ninth birthday came a few months later, I also got a set of the books! I was so thrilled. And I read all eight books at least eight times. I learned new words. I was such a nerd. I never looked them up in the dictionary or anything, it was all context clues, so sometimes when I would use these new words I would be a little off. Which, whatever, I was a kid. I do remember that I went through a phase in fourth grade where I said things were queer (I learned it from a book) and I couldn't figure out why my mom would yell at me for saying it. Anyway, I also remember being irritated by the movies based on the first couple of those books. They just didn't fit my mental images.

I still kind of get that way about movies based on books that I've read. Recently I saw Into the Wild and thought, while it did have beautiful scenery, it just wasn't the same as the book. It dragged more than the book, and you can tell that Sean Penn was a little too in love with his subject, where Krakauer obviously saw the folly in McCandless' actions, as well as his reasoning behind them. Penn also saw fit to add an abuse plot for his parents. Which, no, dude. He was a middle-class white kid whose parents made some mistakes(but whose parents didn't?), but there was no abuse. But apparently the real story wasn't exciting enough for Penn. In case you couldn't tell, I don't really care for Sean Penn, as a director or an actor. But that's neither here nor there. On the plus side, Alaska is very pretty.

Migraines ad infinitum

Have you ever run for an hour with a migraine? I now have. And let me tell you, I do not recommend it. By the time I was finished I really wished I would just throw up so I could feel better, but I never did. I'm glad I went even though I felt crappy. And I was nauseated all day Sunday, but I think that was just because I went to my grandma's house on Saturday and so ate like crap because my aunt was there, cooking. But it was good. It's so boring to complain about the same thing all the time, so I've been trying not to whine when my head is pounding. And apparently I am an excellent actress because my parents didn't even know I'd been having chronic migraines again until I told them I'd been back to the neurologist. So, yay for me not being super whiny.
I was making good progress on the book I've been reading, but on Saturday when I went to the gym I decided to take Harry Potter instead because it had been a long week (during which I only missed one day of running) and I deserved some frivolous reading. And then I wound up taking book 2 yesterday. Oops. Shannon's sister lent the books to her, so I'm rereading them since I read them a long time ago. And I'm a giant nerd. Yeah, despite what I said about not reading real books at the gym, I have been taking The Executioner's Song with me. It's a little slower than, say, Harry Potter, but having an hour each day when about all I can do is read is good. Well, I guess I could bring headphones and watch tv, but that would be a hassle.
Also, I have mostly been using bits of lyrics to whatever song is in my head that day as my post titles and the other day after I posted I noticed that my title said "what I am's not good..." and then I started my post by saying I was still better than Dave. I meant better at posting regularly than Dave, but I didn't realize it made a sentence when put together with the post title. It struck me as funny, especially since Dave is one of the best people I know. So I altered it a little so it wasn't as insulting. I love you, Dave-you're awesome and definitely the best big brother ever.

Wish I had an umlaut...

Did all those ads for Google's new custom time mail freak anyone else out? I find it disturbing that they are offering to help people lie to friends, family or employers, even going to so far as to not just predate e-mails, but make it appear that the receiver already read it and forgot. It seems very wrong. Almost related story: there's something wonky about our timestamping here at work and last week my supervisor was out and she e-mailed us a couple times and it kept showing our replies as being received before her e-mails. It was mildly entertaining.

I'm groggy today. I got sleepy about 15 minutes after I took my medicine last night. The bad part is, it was only half a pill and I'm going to be working my way up to two pills. I feel like I have a Benadryl or Flexeril hangover. So I had some coffee earlier. Also, I used to be a super light sleeper, but having two cats has helped break me of waking up with every little noise. They go to bed when I do so we can cuddle for a while, but then they get up and wander around after I go to sleep. Last night, I woke up at 4:27 because I heard this jingling noise. It took me a minute to figure it out because of the grogginess from the medicine, but Kazoo had walked through my room into the laundry room and started eating the cat food. Little turd! We keep the cat food in the laundry room and don't allow him in my room so that won't happen. He's uber allergic to everything and turns bright pink on his stomach when he's been eating stuff he shouldn't like cat food, garbage or people food. Anyway, I sat up just as he was coming back into my room from the laundry room and Kazoo just froze. Like, if I don't move, she won't be able to see me. Not quite, dude. He's such a ridiculous, adorable dog. I adore him, but sometimes I'm just like, really Kazoo? You needed to eat Nerds and then strew them about Shannon's bedroom? I recently discovered he likes baby carrots, apples (but no skin! see? ridiculous), bananas, and oranges. I don't generally feed him because I like to discourage the begging(and his crazy allergies), but he sits and stares at you while you eat. So I threw bits of all of those things at him (on separate days)because I wanted him to leave me alone and I didn't think he would really eat them. But he did. So now when I eat any of those things I give him little bits because he likes them and will twirl around all crazy like for them. I should know better by now...

To fall is not to fail...You fail when you don't try

Yesterday I went to the neurologist for the first time in about 2 years. This migraine has just been kicking my butt for a month now and I broke. It was kind of funnny because he didn't even realize that I had stopped taking all my dailies like a year and a half ago. Oops. But I was almost ok for a long time! Now I'm going back on something. I get to take Elavil, which he said is really good for chronic migraines (and the girl at the pharmacy told me the same thing, without me even asking). So hopefully it will start helping soon. But I didn't make it to the pharmacy to pick it up yesterday, so I will start tonight. People keep telling me it is an old school kind of drug and will make me really sleepy. Like I need to be sleepier. So, let's hope it doesn't knock me out too badly.

Also, I would just like to share that I ate a banana at lunch today. It wasn't bad, just the texture of bananas is so strange that I don't eat bananas, only banana-flavored stuff. I once sat outside for five hours because my mom said I couldn't go inside until I finished my banana. I did not finish it. Do you know how gross a banana gets after being exposed to the air for five hours? Just, no. Anyway, maybe it's kind of like how I wouldn't eat salad until I was 18. I'm just very slowly outgrowing my quirks about food.

Word to Your Mother

This made me giggle. I can't tell you how much I wish this guy were our local weather guy. I love that he's so enthusiastic about it. Watch some of the Dance Party Fridays related videos. There's one where he raps and some girl does the sprinkler. I think he might rival your dancing skills, Rach. Also, I just love some random Vanilla Ice usage. Ice, Ice, Baby is my ringtone for Dave and this weekend when I was at my grandma's house, Dave called and my phone was out so you could even hear the word to your mother part. My grandma was like, what on earth was that? She's awesome.

So I'm changing who I am...cause what I am's not good

I swear I'm still better at posting regularly than Dave! Ummm...but apparently I also have nothing to say. Shannon's parents got her a lawnmower for her birthday because we are responsible for the yard. Which kind of sucks, but is also good, since that means the landlord doesn't care if Shannon feels like planting flowers over every inch of it. Now, I think you all know I have never mowed a lawn before. I have two brothers, so it was never necessary. My mom sometimes would try to convince me by telling us about how she loved to split mowing duties with her brother when they were kids, but I was too smart for that. Anyway, Shannon's mower is completely people-powered. It is small and light, so we can store it in the dungeon without killing ourselves. So, I tried it for a few minutes. It was a little bit fun and probably a lot good for your arms. And now there is less danger of losing Kazoo in the grass. Also, we have one buttercup blooming! The rest of them are kind of straggling. But it's going to be so pretty. And Shannon bought a ton more plants and seeds to plant, so that will be even prettier.

Kazoo has spring fever, so he has been crazy. I think I have spring fever too. I really want to go outside. Which is rather unlike me, as it is hard work to remain this pale. But I was outside this morning and saw a bee, which helped me remember part of why I do not like the outdoors. Once, I was seeing this therapist (KWC payed for students to go to one for like 6 sessions per problem or something) and he told me that I have seasonal affective disorder, but I was like, dude, I really don't go outside and get any vitamin D in the summer either. Really, truly, I do not-how else would I continue to glow in the dark like this? He seemed skeptical. But I don't think I really have SAD. Just so you know, I did not even go back for a second session(he also told me I had issues with my mother. Duh! I had known that for years, Sherlock!). Speaking of vitamins (and my mom), my mom bought me some vitamins that are for women. It's freaking four pills a day. That's not really a problem, because for a while I was taking 6 pills a day, but four vitamins a day? That seems like a lot. But there's a fish oil one and biotin and calcium and a daily multi. So I'm trying it. Fish oil (Omega 3s) is supposed to help with migraines and since as of tomorrow I will have been going strong for four weeks with this migraine, I am willing to try. I am seeing the neurologist on Monday though, so that may be helpful also. It's just kind of ebbing and flowing. Like right now it's not too bad, but this morning I thought my head was going to explode. It just really gets to you after a while and makes you cranky all the time, even when it doesn't hurt a lot(note-this is not the first time I've ever had a migraine daily for four weeks, but it has been a long time since I've had this much trouble with my head). I've gotten ridiculously weepy and way too empathetic. So hopefully either the fish oil or the doctor, or some combination thereof, can assist me soon.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

So I dvr'ed The Return of Jezebel James on Friday because Parker Posey is awesome. I mean, Dazed and Confused, House of Yes, Best in Show, Josie and the Pussycats. Even though she is in some things that make you go hmm...she's usually good. And I like Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino because they did Gilmore Girls, which was quippy and generally good. But this show is awful. It has a laugh track that is incredibly intrusive and annoying. The laugh track is so bad that at first I thought maybe it was one of those show within a show things. Like a show poking fun at the making of a sitcom. But sadly, I was wrong. Even if I were almost amused by something, the obnoxious laugh track would convince me that I wasn't. Every five seconds the "studio audience" is laughing at Parker Posey. I feel like she's not even trying here. It's so weird. They brought in Lorelai's fiance Max from Gilmore Girls; he and Parker had an exchange about Kleenex that went on for far too long and I honestly think the actors were filming their lines in separate rooms. It didn't seem like they were responding to anything at all and that they had possibly never interacted with another person before. And the second episode, which aired right after the pilot, despite featuring Dianne Wiest, was really no better. Still with the laugh track that just seems to point out how not funny the 'jokes' are. And in the pilot she had a big house, but in the second episode she had a huge apartment with a spiral staircase in the corner. Weird choices in set design and acting. Disappointing all around.

In case you didn't know...

I am kind of a bitch sometimes. Now, I don't want anyone to think I think tattoos are stupid or anything, because that is untrue. I am, in fact, fascinated by them and the people who get them. But I think people who get tattoos just to get tattoos are kind of...stupid. Anyway, the other day Shannon was telling me about one of her friends who wants to get a tattoo of a word and she wanted a cool sounding word, a big word. Now to get a tattoo of a word, just any old word that happens to be big (so people will think you're cool, because not only do you have some tattoos, but you have a tattoo of a fun word!), seems stupid to me. So I suggested ostentatious (I realize ostentatious doesn't actually mean tacky, but Shannon and I discussed it and decided it had that connotation, for us anyway).

And we don't care about the young folks, talkin' 'bout the young style

This weekend Shannon and I got a little bored and did some online shopping because we are old and lazy. We bought Benefit's Erase Paste and That Gal face primer. I think the Erase Paste is totally awesome. You know how I usually look like I have two black eyes because my eyelids are kind of purple (just part of my birthmark-doesn't really bother me anymore) and I have huge, really dark blue marks under my eyes (do still bother me and are only getting worse as I get older)? Yeah, well, not today buddy. It's like a super concealer and I think I love it! It was kind of ridiculously expensive for the tiny jar we got, but you really use a tiny amount, so I think it will be worth it. Shannon loved it too, so much so that I think we'll be getting a second jar so that we each have one. The face primer I am less sure about. It seems fine and all, but I don't know if I love it. We may need to give that one a few days. Anyway, just thought I would share my new product crush with you. I love products. Now if only I could find something to keep my chin from peeling. I know, I'm so gross. But my skin is absurdly dry and once it starts, I can't make it stop. I want to put the prescription stuff I put on my eyes to keep them from flaking off, but it's so expensive and comes in such a small tube that I hate to waste it like that. Dilemma! Anyway, suggestions from anyone else out there with really parched sensitive skin?

The only way to pull off manpris is to PULL OFF your manpris.

I don't know if you guys have ever looked at Stuff White People Like, but regardless, I think this might be the most awesome headline I've seen lately.

P.S. Umm, what? It had to be a Kentuckian.

Fear me now!

15

you need that... like a bowling ball dropped on your head, which means not at all

So, yesterday I read that Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, which is sad. But like a month or so ago, Shannon and I made Jack watch Dirty Dancing, simply because he had never seen it. We could not fathom why he had never seen it and seemed to have little desire to (could have something to do with him only being 21 and also a boy, or it could be that Jack hates things that are awesome), so we made him watch it. So this morning, after GMA assured me he wasn't going to die tomorrow or anything, I asked Shannon if she knew what we should make Jack watch in honor of Patrick Swayze.
Shannon: "Dirty Dancing again?!" (Trust me, she sounded excited.)
Me: "No, Ghost!"
And then we had to discuss Ghost and how Whoopi won an Oscar and the film was up for Best Picture, which is just absurd. It kind of surprises me that if Ghost could even be considered for Best Picture that year, that Pretty Woman wasn't also up. I mean, really. Because according to IMDB, Ghost was also up for a Golden Globe for best motion picture-comedy or musical. Now, I think Ghost is kind of funny, but I didn't think it was really supposed to be a comedy. And it's definitely not a musical. I know it has moments when Whoopi is on screen and she is supposed to be comic relief, but if I am remembering correctly, it is not a comedy, it just is funny bad. Or maybe that's just me.

Speaking of movies, I have recently seen the following:
The Darjeeling Limited, which I recommend you watch if you like Wes Anderson movies.
Waitress, which I liked, but it is weird. It's not a romantic comedy, so don't think it's going to be like a Kate Hudson film, because it is decidedly not.
Live Free or Die Hard, which I liked and recommend to my brothers. They would enjoy it. I am a little embarrassed that I watched it and liked it, but you guys already know I like some ridiculously plotted action movies. Also of note, it is PG-13, unlike the previous Die Hards, so Willis' signature saying is out. But there are still some awesome effects and explosions.
Smiley Face, which I only got because I like several of the people in it and think Anna Faris generally does a good job. I think she did the best she could with this, too. It was no Dazed and Confused, that's for sure.

And then Shannon and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix On Demand and then all the ones they showed on ABC Family this past weekend because we couldn't help ourselves. They are all so good and neither of us has any of them on DVD. And we came to the conclusion that one of us also needs to purchase the books so she can read them (and I can reread them). Because while all the movies are good and I understand that things had to be cut in the interest of making movies that were not miniseries, there are a lot of things missing in the movies. Like poor Ron and Hermione get smaller parts with each new movie (which I think is totally ok in the case of Hermione's SPEW plot in the book-I found it annoying). Anyway, we could get the first six books for like $35 from Amazon, but I kind of want to be a nerd about it and have all seven in paperback rather than six paperbacks and one hardcover. But six books for $35 is awesome, compared to the cost of six of movies!

The playground is where I spent most of my days

So, I was looking at purses online this morning and accidentally came across this. Is that not the most ridiculous, early 90s thing you have ever seen? Except for the fact that it is compatible with ipods. Or something. Anyway, it made me laugh.

Things I recently discovered

Kazoo loves it when people sing.
Skinny Tail gets all hyped up when people speak French. I think she may be a Canadian cat.
Skinny Tail and Fuzzy Tail are scared of storms, but rather than hiding under the bed like normal animals, they huddle separately on top of it.
Some of our windows still have the storm windows in instead of screens. (Are we expected to change them or can we call our landlord to do it?)
The ceiling in our bathroom is slowly falling down. It is mildly disturbing. If only one of us could remember to call the landlord...
Some of the flowers Shannon planted in our yard last year are starting to come up!
Apparently I hum rather frequently without realizing it. Oops.
My car has an oil leak. Whatever, car dude. I totally know how to check the oil and refill it. Not a problem to me!
I need more socks.
I am almost always dehydrated. I'm working on it!
I am super picky about my purses. (I am searching for one now. If you have any places or brands you love, share the knowledge. All the ones I love on Zappos are way expensive.)

I find this mesmerizing

How awesome is this? I think it may be the coolest thing ever to scare the crap out of me. I think it looks really rad, but I would not want to go up or down that.

Anyway, have I mentioned that I love books? I do, and I don't think I've been reading enough, so I've added a thing on the side of books I've read in '08. Hopefully that will motivate me to read more and to read more real books instead of generic crap. Although that doesn't mean I won't be recording the crap that I read just so I would appear smarter or cooler. No, I would not do that, because you fools already know I'm not sophisticated. Also, because that would go against my new policy of honesty. I'm starting a new book today and I'm rather excited.

All alone I built these walls and now I'm gonna let them fall

You know the rules. I am not tagging anyone. Everyone I know has already been tagged, except Christina, so feel free to do it if you so choose, Christina. I also may not follow the rules.

1. I only recently started reading more than one book at a time. And it's really just because real 'literature' books are not suitable for reading while at the gym , so I read regular crap at the gym. I never understood why people would want to start a new book when they weren't finished with the last one.

2. I have always wanted red hair, but I am wary of dying it. So I make do with my brown hair. Even though my mom keeps telling me it's getting darker.

3. I can't fathom why people would want to chew their fingernails. I tried it and, eh. But I do sometimes chew on the skin around my nails. I know, gross.

4. I think my cats think they are dogs. They are such attention whores and never leave people alone.

5. When I was younger, I would get really upset when my mom would tell me that people thought I was snobby because I was really just painfully shy.

6. Even though my brothers have both had lots of problems with their toenails, somehow I have managed not to have any ingrown nails. Which is good because I think feet are disgusting. All feet, not just the Benz feet.

7. I can't stand it when people use big words incorrectly in a failed bid to seem intelligent. Just give it up.

8. Unlike my devious brothers, I pretty much only got in trouble for mouthing off to my mother when I was a teenager. We are finally getting along almost all the time. She even calls me sometimes, which is weird because she never used to call me, since I still live in town and see her at times. Also, she's giving me all the old cups she doesn't want, including the jelly jar Muppet glasses! I love those.

9. I had my tonsils removed when I was 22. It was ridiculously painful. Especially since the doctor hit my uvula with the laser and it was not numbed. It was still totally worth it.

10. I realized the other day that I have been mispronouncing mischievous as mischievious sometimes. Mischievious is not a word. And now I am mortified, but it's not a word I really say much and I doubt anyone around here would notice [I wasn't spelling it wrong, I just apparently wasn't paying attention to the difference in the way I spelled it and the way I (and many other people) say it.]. Still, oops.

Still You listen to every word I say

I've been meaning to post all week and now I can't remember what about. Except for this gem. We went bowling to celebrate my birthday last Saturday and as we were leaving, we paused in the front by the doors to put on our coats and a skeazy dude walked by and started talking to a security guard. The conversation went a little something like this:
Security guard: "Where you been hiding?"
Skeazy dude: "I been in jail, man."
Security guard: "That's a good place to hide."
I never really thought about it, but, wow. We were so at the bowling alley, as Shannon kept saying. My birthday was ok, not great. Although I did decide not to go to work on my birthday. Instead I just got up really early on Monday morning and went in at 6:30. It was a long day.

I got my hair cut tonight and I think I like it. I guess I will know more tomorrow after I wash and dry it. But what I do know I want to say right now is that in my small group on Thursday the lesson we were on was about fears and what you do when faced with yours. Now, I didn't really say anything of substance, which is not unusual because I am afraid of everything. I am so afraid that if I open my mouth and tell people what I think, rather than things I've learned from books, then they will think I am stupid. I almost always handle my fears by ignoring them or running away. I think I should start having the courage to be myself. I am terrified that people will look at me and listen, and see me for what I really am and despise me. I don't share my opinions on much with many people because I am so afraid of displeasing someone. Shannon started harrassing me the other day because she realized that we've been friends for 12 years and she doesn't even know what my favorite restaurant is. I recently noticed that I alter my speech patterns and even my vocabulary to match those of the people I'm talking to. It must be time to do something different. But maybe I should start small. Like asking for help when I need it, instead of being too ashamed of needing it in the first place to even ask. Or just speaking up once next week in small group... We'll see. I know this might seem inconsequential or ridiculous, but I was listening to this song earlier and the lyrics were something like 'I feel guilty sometimes when I pray, Stealing time from needs that are great.' And I almost always feel that way, but I'm going to try not to. Apparently being old has made me uber introspective. But it has also made me tired after a long week and I have to work all day tomorrow and I think it's going to seem much longer than my real job.

Wow.

So it's kind of crazy in the BG this morning. It got all icy on the roads within 30 minutes of the time the freezing rain started. Even thought at 6 this morning they were still saying the freezing rain wouldn't start until after 9. They were so wrong. Unfortunately, I was already on my way to work and now I'm stuck here because there are so many accidents that all the roads are blocked. Three of the 10 people in our office made it in to work. Anyway, I got an e-mail this morning about the death of a family member of someone who works for us and it made me giggle a little because it says the intermittent is to follow the funeral. Yes, intermittent. And now I can't get the "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." speech from Julius Caesar that we had to memorize in the tenth grade out of my head. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar. I won't continue with all the honourables and ambitiousness that follows. But for real, I so can't get it out of my mind.