15 posts from January 2008

Seriously, George Orwell is kicking my ass.
I'm reading a section in 1984 that is a treatise on how war enables people to justify inconsistencies of 'truth' and causes them to choose to give up personal liberties for the 'greater good'.  I was seriously contemplating driving my car into a bridge abutment on my way to work today.  This story has a little too much bearing on today's world for my comfort.

Plus 'apparently' I've become 'air-quotes' lady in my recent posts.

No more 'quotation marks' for me :)

preventing cute, corpulent, red-heads with a marked propensity towards cynicism with a side of conspiracy theory from reading 1984* during an election year.
I'm just saying.

*is it the book on CD or is it NPR I listened to on the way to work?  I don't think I know any more.

(that's MI-5 to us lot in the US)

Danny:Harry, why are we investigating this? It's a police job
Harry:Do you understand atomic theory? Quantum Mechanics? How there are six extra dimensions and infinite universes parallel to this one?
Danny:No.
Harry: Nor do I.
Pause
Harry:  I don't understand politics either.

So I went to Moe and Kris's yesterday eve.  I miss them.  We had good conversation, yummy Potato soup...it had evaporated milk and cottage cheese in it (odd and intriguing), and was scrumptious.
Zao is huge...at least compared to the two new-borns I get to hang around with all the time, but he was fun, and smiley and drool-y, as a 6 month old should be.
We exchanged Christmas presents, Finally, and they got me the coolest book ever.
I'm trying to learn french.  Je voudrais parler bien francais.
This is the book they gave me. 

It has all kinds of fun-ness, and the stuff that my french teacher couldn't tell me, like how to talk about the internet, and how to text message in French, and derogatory terms, (sadly yes I already knew how to translate the f-bomb) and also how to comment on jolie hommes.

Unique tidbit?  The literal translation of the french term for "big boobs"?  The balcony is crowded. Isn't that just fun?

Good news, as now I can tell you I need to belch, and that your feet stink, and get down with all the french celebrity gossip!
Such fun.

What are 10 things you've done that other people probably haven't? 
Submitted by Janette.   

Hmmm. I've had a lot of unusual experiences..I wonder if I can come up with 10 that you don't know already.
Warning...This might be a bit long-winded.

1.  I voted for Ross Perot.
     Funny thing was, so did my parents, and In the car on the way home my dad told me I wasn't allowed to tell any one at his office (all staunch dems.) and mum told me I wasn't allowed to tell anyone at church (mostly staunch Rep's). 
2.  When I was 12 there were a couple of guys that visited us for a meal who were getting an advanced degree in maths. They were talking about some unique equations they were doing, and my mum said "you should tell Bekki about this, she'd love it."  They eyed me skeptically, but I was gung ho, so they gave me a precursory explanation of what they called Intrinsic Coordinates.  They both about fell over backwards when I grasped the concept and began to work on the equation. They actually were kinda pissed that I got it so quickly and was so young. Yeah...I love math.  I'm a geek. I do math for fun.
3.  I used to accuse my mom of cheating at heigh-ho cherry-o.  (for those of you who don't know, it involves spinning a spinner, and is completely random)
4.  I handed over about a half a kilo of cocaine to the cops at work today.  We found it stashed in an ice machine.   a couple bags of white powder, and an electronic scale. For those of you who were wondering....no they didn't stick thier finger in and taste it to make sure they knew what it was...apparently that's just for the movies.
5.  I taught myself to speed read at about the age of 6.  I came out of my bedroom (I read quite voraciously) and told my mom that I had figured something out.  I told her that I figured I could read much faster if I read the entire sentence at once rather than all the words separately. I pretty much left my mother speechless.
6. In a related story....I got an award my junior year of high school, from the school librarian.  Basically I read a book a day for the entire school year. Yeah, we didn't have a TV.
7.  I went windsurfing in the Netherlands with my dad, when I was 9.  The best part of that trip?  The place we stayed had breakfasts where you could pour half hot chocolate, half coffee into a large bowl, and then dip bread in it for breakfast.  I loved coffee, even then, and was in heaven.
8. I saw Whoopie Goldberg and Patrick Swayzee filming Ghost in NY on my Senior Class Trip.
9.  I created the entire northern hemisphere in glow in the dark stars on my ceiling in a house I rented.  I loved that ceiling.
10. I bought a working phone made out of Lego's.  I love that phone....I love Lego's.  I collect them. I even have a Lego watch. 

Dear Senator,

I cannot tell you how happy I was the day I realized that the next president of the United States would either be an african american or a woman.

Happy day indeed.

I have to say I would rather it be Senator Obama, for several reasons, but one of the chief being, if you are president, then it will officially be 20 years that the white house has either had a Clinton or Bush, and that seems more like a legacy/monarchy than a democracy.

This being said, I would vote for you over anyone else, other than Obama.

However these last few weeks have made me really annoyed at you.

Stop acting like an ass.

Win the Presidency because you are smart, and capable.NOT because you have the ability to manipulate and misquote.

You would throw a fit if we started dredging up Whitewater stuff.

Come on, be the champion of doing campaigns differently.  Be the  candidate of integrity I hope you can be.

I don't want to have to vote another ass into office.

 

So yesterday my friend Becky and I were geeks.  And yes she is real, I'm not referring to myself in third person.
We were geeks because we went to back to back movies all day.
the schedule
12:10 - 27 Dresses
2:00 - Cloverfield
3:55 - Atonement
6:45 - The Kite Runner
9:50 - No Country for Old Men

It was good.  Lots of tears.
Here's the highlights.
27 dresses was much needed fluff, and enjoyable. As a frequent bridesmaid/wedding singer I had a deep affinity with the main character.  I, too, had a collection of dresses and dyed to match shoes all a shade off of each other.  I gave a bridesmaid dress away as a white elephant gift once.  My worst story: I had hair down  between my shoulder blades (I have a lot of very thick hair) and the bride wanted all the bridesmaids in French twists with curls on the top of our heads. The hairdresser looked at me and said "I just want you to know I'm sorry" before she started on my hair.  I had to drive with my head at an angle, due to the curls on the top of my head going so high.  I also had a huge bow on my ass and, insult to injury, the bride had made hair combs for our French twists, and they all had huge hot pink flowers on them.  Me.  With hot pink in my tower of hair.  Egads.

Cloverfield.  great concept.  fun movie. Take Dramamine or other travel sickness items before watching this film. It is entirely shot on hand held camera.

Atonement.  As good as the book.  I cried.

Kite runner  Atonement part two. I loved the book, and thought the movie was excellent.  It skipped the suicide attempt at the end, but I have to tell you  I was so emotionally overwhelmed at this point, I was happy they did. I cried harder.

No country for old men.  As my friend Becky says "yet again the films up for awards are incomprehensible".  I usually like the Coen brother films, but I have to say this one was lacking.  Too many loose ends, and no direction. This led to great conversation over the worst, most lauded films.  The "I didn't understand it therefore it must be brilliant" catagory is led by 'Magnolia', 'Mullholland Dr', and pretty much anything directed by Robert Altman. (that should open up a can of worms :)

Anyway, good day, good friends, good food, and good cries.

What do you think is your best physical attribute? 
Submitted by Nacwolin.

I like a lot of my body, but have to go with my nose and my dimples...both are adorable. See?

So Lily (the little darling of the house in which I reside) got a new bath mat. It is clear and bubbly with lots of little fishes in it. 
Yesterday morning I went to take a shower.  It was about 5:30am. I stepped on to the bathmat...which went flying, as did I.  I pulled down the shower curtain, and clocked my leg, just below my knee, on the side of the bath tub. 
It really hurt. 
I was biting my lip, as the rest of the house was meant to be sleeping.
It left a mark.
'bout the size of my fist....raised, red and purple.
Very uncomfortable
And I have to complain about it now because later today Lily's mom will be pushing something the size of a watermelon through her ho-ha and I will officially not be the person in our house in the most amount of pain.
Katie gets a new baby to show for it though.
I just get the indignity of knowing I have less grace than Cletus the slack jawed yokel.
That, and the pleasure of knowing I swear quite proficiently in my head.

So today I voted. 
And it really sucked.
I had to either a) not have my vote count for anything (thank you Democratic National Committee for you unwavering support of a primary election determined by a few states that consist of a less than complete picture of the diversity of this great nation as evidenced by refusing to seat any delegates from the great state of Michigan*) or b) vote for something I'd rather not have it count for.
Well. Since I was deprived of the ability to vote for Obama (sigh, something I've been longing to do since the 'audacity of hope' speech at the DNC 4 years ago) I went with b.
I checked 'Republican' as my party affiliation, and voted for Ron Paul.
Then I went home and washed my hands.

*Florida too! And I would really like to know...deep down...is it really legal what they did?  And if it is,as I sadly suspect, who can I slap for screwing me out of my constitutionally amended right?