Happy Halloween!!

I'm monitoring early voting today, 7am-7pm. I am the most excited
volunteer u will ever meet. I've gotten misty-eyed like 4 times
already!!!

Noooooooo!!!!!!!!

I dropped my freaking iPhone and it broke!!!

Spoooooky Halloween

I ran across this blogpost. Definitely click on the links within: You scare me America.

Incidentally, I finally got my "legal observer" assignment from the Obama campaign last night. I'll be spending my Halloween at an early voting location, watching for voter tampering/fraud. Hopefully, Nevada won't be the next Florida. So yeah. I get to hang out with angry McCain supporters on Halloween. Now that is scary.

Super Gay

So... Brian and I needed to go see a doctor for immunizations for our upcoming China trip. Since we just moved, I decided to find a new primary care doctor who took both of our insurance companies and was near our new house. So I found a doctor who fit the bill and made an appointment.

So... the receptionist there turns out to be this flamboyantly gay man-nurse. I didn't really think anything of it at first.

Then the guy sitting next to us in the waiting room starts having a really loud conversation with his boyfriend. Hmmm... now I'm suspicious.

I looked around and realized I was the only female in the packed lobby.

I started eyeing the men one by one for signs of gayness. One guy had on orange shoes and a matching orange shirt. Check, and check. Pretty much all of the guys in the room had something a little gay about them.

It was kinda freaking me out. It felt kinda like when I accidentally walk into Phillipino mass or Latin mass. I felt super out of place, like everyone was wondering what the heck I was doing there.

So when we got in to see the doctor, he looked really gay to me too. I don't know how to describe it. He just kinda had big gay hair and tapered gay pants. Also, his initial reaction to us was that we were both "young and beautiful, so there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with [us]." That sounded a little gay to me.

Then his phone rang. His ringtone was Enya, "Sail Away." Oh yeah, totally gay.

After we left, I asked Brian whether he noticed anything unusual in the doctor's office. Poor guy had no idea. He said he was just sitting there trying to figure out who was voting for McCain and who was voting for Obama.

When I got home, I Googled the doctor along with the word "gay." Sure enough, his office came up on tons of gay resource web sites. On one, it was listed as an HIV Primary Care Center. So... yeah....

Does it make me a bigot if I don't want to go to an HIV Primary Care Center for my primary care needs?

On the one hand, he was smart, and I felt like he knew what he was talking about. On the other hand, we don't have HIV and I'm wondering if the doctor was confused as to why we were there. Should I call him and ask if he only takes HIV patients exclusively?

I voted for my birthday!!

The Curious Incident of the Garden Gnome in the Night

This is very odd indeed. So, remember how I told you before that my garden gnome had disappeared? Well, he came back. He was just sitting there on my front lawn, exactly where he had been before.

I have two theories about what might have happened:

(1) Some punk kid stole it and his mom found it and made him put it back; or

(2) Vanessa, the person who gave it to me, is just messing with my mind.

My money's on #2.

And when it's party time, like 1999, I party by myself because I'm such a special guy - er, gal

So we drove to Phoenix this weekend to see Weezer. I gotta say, it was the best show I've ever seen a band play. Rivers Cuomo is seriously different. But that's what made the show so unique. It felt like performance art. Okay, so here's how it went down...

When the band first came out, they were wearing what looked like white, full-body, painter's uniforms. And Rivers Cuomo had what looked like pantyhose or some sort of bandage around his head, with only a small hole for part of his face in the middle. It was bizarro.

Then they unzipped those suits and came out in red Weezer tracksuits. Rivers Cuomo took off the head bandage to reveal long scraggly 70s hair and a porn moustache, straight out of the Beastie Boys' Sabotage video. He was tiny and skinny and hunched over a lot, and walked kind of like a T-Rex. Painfully nerdy but in a really endearing way.

During the show, he bounced around on a trampoline. During Hashpipe, he put on a green headband, completing the 70s fitness theme.

During El Scorcho, he mounted a bodyguard's shoulders and rode him around the audience. It was awesome.

For the encore, they brought out 35 random Weezer fans who had won the opportunity to play an instrument of their choosing at the show. So they did Island in the Sun & Beverly Hills with 35 random people of all ages playing trumpets, cellos, didgeridoo, xylophone, bongo drums, etc. It was badass.

For the second encore, a roadie set up a Weezer-themed record player on stage. He got out a vinyl Red Album and started playing Heart Songs. So there we were. A huge arena of Weezer fans sitting there listening to a Weezer record. It was odd. When the song referenced Nirvana's Nevermind, Rivers Cuomo came out, kicked over the record player and started playing Nirvana's "Sliver." You know, the one that goes, "Grandma take me home" over and over. It was amazing.

So yeah, the moral of the story is, Weezer puts on a fantasic show and I hope they go on tour again soon.

Corruption in Algebra Class

So Jesse has been trying very hard to raise his grade in Algebra. He got a rocky start, but he's been studying extra hard and going in early in the morning to do math problems with his teacher.

The other day, he heard someone say he could get extra credit in the class if he brought in boxes of Kleenex. 5 points per box is the going rate. He was told to keep it on the down-low because not everyone was supposed to know about it.

So he came home and asked us for Kleenex for extra credit. We said no because we don't think you should be able to buy a higher grade. Even if the currency is Kleenex.

After some investigation, we found out this is a very common practice amongst school teachers. Apparently, kids are very snotty and the district doesn't provide enough Kleenex, so the teachers usually have to bring in their own. So, potentially, you could look at it as extra credit for special "participation," for providing Kleenex for the class community. On the other hand, it's not going toward his citizenship grade, it's going toward his academic grade.

And now there's a new issue. The teacher told Jesse he could get extra credit for bringing in recyclables for the Senior class fundraiser. I'm more okay with this, since you don't have to buy recycling. You can pretty much find it in any trash. But it's still extra credit for something totally not related to Algebra.

So what's the right answer? Is there a lesson to be learned here? And, if so, is it worth getting a worked-for C instead of a paid-for B? Are we just ethics nazis?

****UPDATE**** Brian confronted the teacher with his extra credit policy and the teacher straight up denied, denied, denied. He admitted to "joking" with Jesse about getting extra credit for bringing in recyclables. That makes absolutely no sense. Why would a teacher kid about extra credit?

Las Vegas is SO weird

Ever wanted to sit in a room made of ice, and drink out of a cup made of ice, while admiring a giant ice sculpture of Elvis Presley? Well, now you can...

Minus 5 ice lounge at Mandalay Place

Game On Bitches!

I know exactly how you feel. You're super bummed that I Love Money is over, and that Project Runway is almost done too. How are you supposed to get your trashy reality-TV rocks off now??

Well, don't despair, my chickadee. Your next dose of schadenfreude is on its way... This Sunday is the premiere of Rock of Love Charm School and The Pickup Artist 2. OH YEAH!

Charm School is going to have Heather, Brandy, Megan, Kristi Jo, Frenchy, Lacey and a bunch of other skanks from Rock of Love. I cannot wait.

As for the Pickup Artist, it's a good thing it's coming back because I was getting a little bit rusty on my pickup artist lingo. I-O-I, Pivot... what else was there??

If that's not enough human suffering to tickle your fancy, you may also want to check out Paris Hilton's My New BFF or else Exiled, the show where they take the spoiled brats from My Super Sweet Sixteen and torture them in a third world country. Yes, it is as delicious as it sounds.

Let the fun begin!

My best friend's back and you're gonna be in trouble...

My best friend Allison is moving back to Vegas! YIPPEE!!

Wanna know a secret?

I'm listening to Creed on Pandora, and I like it.

It's possible that I may have also attended a Creed concert before in my life.

I may have also held hands with Scott Stapp from the audience.