NYC & New Haven Rundown

First, a clarification. We did not go to the East Coast last week for a wedding. We went to see Brian's sister in a play at Yale. And since we'd be nearby, we figured we'd make a side trip to NYC to see Allison and also somehow link up w/ Andrea, one of my college roommates who lives in Worcester, Mass. So we had a lot of ground to cover, and only 4 days to do it all.

It worked out though. Thurs was spent mostly tracking down toy stores in NYC for Brian. We almost got thrown out of Toys 'R Us Times Square because I wanted a picture w/ Geoffrey the giraffe. They said we could take one of him by himself. We had to pay $10 for a picture WITH him. So Brian started taking Geoffrey's picture and I jumped into the shot at the last second. They didn't like that too much. Geoffrey saw what I was doing and turned away as fast as he could. Oh well, at least they didn't kick us out.

Thurs we also visited ground zero. There was nothing really to see there right now though - not even the big hole cuz it was surrounded by construction trucks.

Thurs night, we had Thai food and went to see Brian's sister's boyfriend in a play. Carson was really good, but I didn't really like the play. I'm not into stories about guys finding themselves usually, so yeah...

Friday we spent most of the day at the Museum of Modern Art, then said goodbye to our hostesses. We stopped by yet another toy store for Brian - yes, Allison, we made it to Toy Tokyo - before jumping on the train to New Haven, Connecticut.

Once there, we pretty much just loitered around the Yale campus and around the cute little New Haven shops, pubs and cafes. The coolest things there were Erin's play and this restaurant called The Place, which is this hippie backyard place where you sit on tree stumps and eat BBQ seafood. It was awesome.

Sunday Andrea came up from Worcester for lunch. It was really cool that we got to hang out, cuz we hardly ever get to see each other anymore.

So yeah, that was our trip. Thanks to Allison & Kelly for hosting us in NYC and to Andrea for driving so far on such short notice.

Here are more pics of our trip, if you're interested.

Blogfan

So last Wednesday night while we're having dinner at Pei Wei, this girl (the one <--over there in the picture) comes over and says, "This is probably going to sound really random, I know. Don't think I'm weird, but.."

Now in my head I'm thinking of all of the hundreds of thousands of bizarre things people have said to me before and I'm thinking, there's nothing this person can say that's going to surprise me. But actually, she did. This really was random.

"I read your blog and I recognize you from it," she says.

I was like, "Wow, really? Which one?"

Apparently, she reads both! (HI TARA!!) She was googling her home builder's name and happened upon Jen's blog, then got to Kat, then to me. She's been reading every day ever since!!! RANDOM!! So yeah, meeting her was quite the eye-opening experience. I had no idea anyone but my close friends read my blog. Now I'm all self-conscious!

Anyway.. It was nice to meet you and your husband Tara. You should start a blog too!! (One of us, one of us, one of us...)

Subversive Cross Stitch

Saw this book in a cool store in New Haven, Connecticut. Thought it was hilarious. My favorite is the "Go Fu%@ Yourself" pattern with the pink bunnies pictured at left. :-)

Bad weather, here I come!

We leave tonight for the East Coast. We're going to New York City to see my best friend Allison & her soon-to-be-wife Kelly. We're also going to Connecticut to see Brian's sister Erin, who's starring in a play at Yale. It's going to be rainy the whole time we're there, but that's cool.

Sayonara, over and out

Tonight was the last night of our Japanese class. I'm happy and sad at the same time. :-|

Too movie-licious for ya babe

When I was a kid, my favorite movie in the whole wide world was The Poseiden Adventure. I watched it w/ my dad every year that they played it on TV. It was my Wizard of Oz... except for unlike Dorothy's group in Oz, the Poseiden group arbitrarily lost people to watery, fiery deaths on their journey to see the wizard (or rather, to reach the rescue party.)

So I was a little miffed when I saw they were making, not one, but TWO re-makes of the film this year. The first was a made-for-tv-movie-copy-cat-piece-of-trash that aired a few months back. It suck-suck-sucked.

The second came out this weekend in theaters - Poseiden. My nephew wanted to see it (nudge nudge wink wink), so we went. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It actually did a decent job of replicating the suspense of the original, without being an all-out copy-cat. It was its own film, which I respected.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

All the characters were new. Instead of a sister and brother, it was a young single mom and her child. Instead of Shelley Winters and her hubby, the AARP rep in this one was an old gay guy played over-flamingly by Richard Dreyfuss. And Gene Hackman's hero role was split equally between Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas. They nixed the go-go dancer/waiter love story and went with an immigrant girl and her new gay friend instead. Oh, and the hooker/cop married couple weren't in this one. No substitutions either.

The death scenarios were different too. Amped up for the next generation, of course. One in particular was so horrifying, I couldn't stop laughing.

They threw in quotes here and there from the old one, which I loved. Way to head-nod us old-schoolers.

The one thing I thought was really lame though was the Armageddon rip-off scenario where the overprotective father gives his approval of his daughter's secret engagement plan - by killing himself. LAME!

SPOILERS ENDED

Overall, it was sufficiently entertaining for the matinee price. And it wasn't as horrible a rip-off as I thought it'd be. It used the Poseiden formula, and it worked. Overall grade: B.

Sweet sweet sweet

Jury duty update: The recording says I don't have to go! Yay! Now what am I going to do with the "I Heart COPS" tanktop I was going to wear today??

I found the secret to life...

...I'm okay when everything is not okay.

All in the same week, what are the odds?:

1) Two root canals
2) Police are called to my house (by one of my dial-happy nephews)
3) Cat runs away (he's back now)
4) Japanese final on two separate days
5) Pap smear
6) Jury duty

But the big payoff is coming next week. We leave for New York City on Wednesday night.

(How sweet, sweet, sweet, the sting.)

Dude, that is weak!!

So a few days ago, I was THRILLED to finally get a summons to appear for jury duty. "Maybe they'll actually pick me," I fantasized. "At least I'll get to take a quiet day off of work paid," I figured...

Enter the rain to my parade: My summons date falls on a MONDAY. That's right, IT'S ON MY FREAKIN' DAY OFF!! To add insult to injury, it's also the day of my Japanese final. I am SO getting an extension.

Necessito ayuda

I need help. So my best friend is getting married in September and even though she doesn't want bridesmaids and all that junk, she still wants me to be part of the ceremony. So I have to think of something to read or something to say or something to do that's going to melt everyone's hearts and make her and her wife-to-be love me more than they already do (as if that were even possible, I know).

It doesn't help that the OTHER best friend who's going to be talking is tiny, cute and Asian. And most likely clever. How am I supposed to compete with tiny, cute, Asian, AND clever, huh?? It also doesn't help that everytime I try and think of some funny story about my best friend, it usually involves some kind of debauchary... not so appropriate for a marriage ceremony, methinks. So yeah, I need help. Anyone got any pointers in this arena??

Schadenfreude

I have back-to-back root canals scheduled for Monday afternoon. And it's going to cost me about $1,000 out-of-pocket. At least they gave me happy pills to take before I go in.

Hope your week starts off better than mine.

Kitty Prozac

It's official. Enid is not dying, she's just nuts. So we're starting her on kitty prozac this week. The doc assures us it won't make her loopy, "it'll just take the edge off." I didn't even know they made mood-regulating drugs for cats. I'm still a little uneasy about the idea. Hmmm... what would TomKat do if they had a crazy kitty?

"And she can touch me, all over my body..."

Awe yeahhhhh... David's mom's coming over to my house tonight to give me a massage. There's nothing quite like an in-home massage from your friend's mom to help wash your troubles away.

Muy interesante

Guess who's living w/ me for the next three weeks? Good 'ole mama. Taking bets now on whether we'll make it the full run.

Easy come, easy go

We got our tax refund about a week and a half ago. Then last Wednesday, our fridge died. And took with it everything inside. So this weekend we went on a mission for a new fridge and ended up buying a new dishwasher, new stove and new mounted microwave. Sayonara tax refund, and then some.

"It's not called gym-NICE-tics"

So I went and saw that sassy gymnastics movie yesterday. You know, the one from the people that brought you the greatest cheerleading movie ever made - Bring It On. This time around, it was called Stick it, and it wasn't too bad.

On the plus side, it was total eye candy. Like a kaleidescope - just beautiful, mesmerizing, gratuitous eye candy. They did all kinds of McG-type music-video kind of stuff, for our guilty sensory pleasure. That certainly didn't move the story along, but I didn't have a problem with it, cuz it was just plain cool. The hard-bodied 16-year-old gymnasts weren't too bad to look at either.

It also captured the fun, sassy, youthful spirit of the classic teen-comedies. It had some really cute one-liners too.

On the negative side, the story was super-formulaic, and the main character bordered on obnoxious. Overall grade = B-.

"I'm on the third day of my period."

That's what my 11-year-old nephew said today, as he played with my CycleBeads. He thought they were so bitchin', he wore them all day. Wish I had taken a picture, but alas...

Swimming with Sharks

Last Friday, I went to this seminar on how to defend DUI cases. It was put on by the state bar, so both prosecutors and defense attorneys were allowed to attend. Only about 4 prosecutors went, though, including myself; compared to about 200 defense attorneys that were there.

The stuff the lecturers talked about was vile. Lots of tricky-dick kind of stuff, lots of bad-mouthing of M.A.D.D., spreading of misinformation, and bragging about getting off guilty-as-sin drunk-drivers.

I wanted to argue against a couple of points that got brought up, but, really, it would have been like spilling a droplet of blood into an ocean full of sharks. No thanks.

Show me you're nuts!

Can't decide if this Boys Gone Wild video is an awesome idea or just plain nasty. Maybe a little bit of both? The idea that these jerk-offs got tricked into becoming gay porn stars is cool, but the thought that they are actually doing it because they think they're hot shit is gross.

Holy Administrative Professional's Day, Batman!

Oh crap. I just realized it's Secretary's Day tomorrow. There are 8 people in my office that I need to buy for - 6 women and 2 men. Alright, I need suggestions. (And, no, Cyclebeads are not an option!!!)

Speaking of babies....

I assume that I have Greg to thank for the CycleBeads I got in the mail today. So thoughtful. :-)

Welcome Baby CJ!

Born today around 4pm... 8 lbs 6 oz. Rumor has it he's got a small bit of blond hair. Wish I had pics, but you know how paranoid his mom is. Congrats familia Housekeeper!!

Excitedly awaiting...

Housekeeper's baby (CJ), scheduled for delivery today. Keep us posted!!

Guess I'll Go Eat Worms

Time for more pics:

Karaoke Fun w/ the Clark HIgh School Cross-Country Team

The Return of Greg

Brokeback Birthday

That's right, EVERY BIT of wit and guile!

As you know, Nick (my best-guy-friend-from-college) & his wife Laura (the English honey he met while studying abroad) just had a baby, which they named Pippa (so cute). Before her birth though, they put on a contest to see who could come closest to guessing the baby's name. They made a huge chart of potential names and held elimination rounds. So, guess who won?

Here's what Nick had to say...

"There were many shots for the throne, but not surprisingly Grandmum Carol was able to hold them all off. Until the very end. That’s when our good friend Claudia, using every last bit of wit and guile in her possession, made one last shot for the prize. Both Claudia and Grandmum’s picks (Tegan and Zoe, respectively) made it to the final four in round 6, but only Tegan advanced to championship round in round 7. While it didn’t win over Pippa (it was real close), Tegan gave Claudia just enough points to take first place. Two incredible contenders, one incredible finish. Congratulations, Claudia, on winning the first Great Reese Baby Bracket! And good job, Mom, for the dominating performance you displayed throughout the game."

So, the next obvious question then is: WHAT DO I WIN???

Meka-leka-hi-meka-hani-ho...

Isn't it weird how the more crap they give you to do, the less you want to do any of it?

Your cats could be dying... or they could be just fine. Let's wait and see.

...Huh?

This was pretty much the advice I got Monday from the vet.

As if getting the damn cats to the vet wasn't stressful enough on it's own.

Brian's cat Enid is a hellion. I had to chase her around the house several times before I could snag her and cram her crazy, flailing, 18 lb. cat ass into the carrier. I was panting and sweating and 15 minutes late for the appointment once all was said and done, but at least I got them both there.

So after that kind of stressful morning, I was not needing the kind of news I got from the vet.

Re: Enid (the white one)
Complaint - She's been having some behavioral issues. Namely, she likes to pee on the couch.
Diagnosis - The doctor said worst case scenario, she has a life-threatening kitty disease that's causing her to act batty. Best case scenario, it's a behavioral problem and we have to put her on kitty prozac. (Unless we like sitting in cat pee).
Prognosis - We're now awaiting test results to find out her fate.

Re: Moka (the black one)
Complaint - One of the pads on his paw was peeled back.
Diagnosis - Worst case scenario, he has a life-threatening kitty disease that's going to make all his pads fall off before killing him. Best case scenario, it's a simple cut.
Prognosis - We're keeping an eye on him for further signs of death.

While I appreciate the doctor's honesty with all of this, I can't help but think that maybe there was a better way for him to express to us that the cats needed further testing and observation, which did not involve making me paranoid that my babies were on the brink of death.

Happy Baby Pippa!

Congrats to Nick & Laura on their new baby girl, Pippa. She's a month early, but she's healthy and cute, so why not?? Props to mom on her natural childbirth too!

My invisible voice

I think I sometimes talk at a tone level that some people just can't hear. Yesterday at Chipotle (where I eventually ended up having dinner - just my husband and me), I said something loudly and clearly (I know it was loud and clear, cuz even my poor deaf hubby heard it) to the lady behind the counter. She was like a foot and a half away from us, looking down, sorting salad or something. Anyway, she didn't even flinch! I said it again, and still no response. Guess I was just using my invisible voice again...

Should I Be Mean?

(FYI - I wrote a long post yesterday, but couldn't publish it b/c Blogger was being lame and not letting me post pictures. So whatever, It's passed. Stupid Blogger.)

Anyway, onto seedier things. So I'm torn on what to do on something. Yesterday my friend who's in town for a few days made plans with me. Full-on, time-specific dinner plans. Well, 15 minutes before we're supposed to meet for dinner, he tells me he's decided to go and feed homeless people dinner with his other friends instead. While it's fine and dandy that he went and fed homeless people, the fact remains - I was dissed!

We have plans tonight to go to jumpy-land. Now, in reality, I hate jumpy-land b/c it makes my bum knee hurt every time I go. But, as of yesterday, I was willing to forget this minor detail because I wanted to show my friend a good time. Now, all I want to do is tell him I'll be there at 7pm and then not show up. (Take that sucka!!)

I understand, however, that this move could be viewed as vindictive and immature. Still, I can't seem to fight off the desire to do it. Can I get some advice on what the proper response is in this type of situation please? From the cool, collected, objective point of view, I mean.

Thanks.

One more

Scary prom pictures

These are off an email forward I got. Maybe that quincenera dress wasn't so bad after all, eh??

Old news

A few weekends ago, James and I went down to watch some of my old air-hockey friends compete in the 2006 USAA World Air Hockey Championships. I was waiting for James to email me the photos he took of the final match, but he never did, so all you get is that old 2000 World Championships photo there.

Anyway, the tournament was as exciting as ever. Our pick came in third. His final game was VERY emotional. I know, that sounds ridiculous. But if you ever saw a professional air hockey game, you would understand. It's intense.

I didn't compete this time around cuz I am WAY out of practice. But, as long as I can get people to practice with me, I plan on playing next year. As soon as James gets back into town, we're going to pull off the old pink and white gels and get to it.

Cherry-pickin' daddies

So the other day I'm at Starbucks, looking at the menu, obliviously asking the clerk questions about the drinks. When I eventually make eye contact with him, I realize that I know him. It's my high school tech-theater teacher! (Awkward!!)

"Mr. Madsen?" I say. "Yes, it's me," he says, looking slightly disappointed that I recognized him.

We chatted a bit about his daughter, who was a few years behind me in school. We also talked about this group of kids he used to cherry-pick to star in the school plays and for the big techie jobs. It was always the same kids.

Turns out his daughter (who he used to cast in everything) is a waitress and struggling actress here in town. The other kids got married and got regular, non-theater jobs.

For some reason this all made me very happy. What this meant was that Mr. Madsen was terrible at spotting potential and terrible overall at making smart decisions. Otherwise, his pupil-picks would all be stars now (or at least working in the theater industry) and he wouldn't be 65 and working at Starbucks. No wonder he never picked me to be Head Lighting Designer! This explains everything!

I had no idea that this bothered me until that moment. I can't help but wonder. Would things have been different if this teacher had encouraged me to be a lighting designer? Afterall, I went and pursued a journalism degree after my Creative Writing teacher, Ms. Carducci, told me I would be a famous writer someday. And I went to law school after a professor told me I would make a great lawyer. I guess we'll never know. It's too bad this guy wasted all his cherry-pickin' skillz on the wrong kids.

Slackers don't mack and mackers don't slack.

Apparently, I'm no macker. This is just a real-quick shout out to my homies who still check my hobo-blog. I'm sorry cuddlies. I'll try to make it up to you w/ more lurid pictures soon enough though. I just did two trials. I got findings of Guilty on 4 out of the 5 charges. Woo! Only five trials left to go....

Stolen quiz

I stole this from Shannon. Here's who I am:

What Exploding Dog Art Are You?

You are "I Think I Need Some Space To Think!" How clever... just stop thinking so much though. Life isn't that hard to figure out.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Still paying for it...

I'm STILL paying for my little quest to be on TV for the World Series of Pop Culture!!!...

1. Plane ticket to Dallas - $250
2. Hotel room for 3 nights - $90
3. Meals & transportation for 3 days - $150
4. 1 work day of vacation taken off - $???
5. Plane ticket to baby shower in Reno this weekend - $150

Attendance at the baby shower was part of our negotiations. My friend wouldn't let me take her husband to Dallas unless I caved on the baby shower. There's somethig SO not right about that. Anyway... so yeah, that's where I'll be from tonight until Sunday night... making good on my deal with the devil. :-P

Fak fak fak

I gotta do this fast. My husband is going to be so pissed when he comes home and finds out that I haven't done anything all day except play on the computer . So here are the pics that I failed to label/upload before (including more fun quincenera pics just for Shannon), plus pics of last night's dildo party. Vanessa did an amazing job. And we're all very excited to see how Rebecca's benwa balls experiment goes. So anyway, here's a little taste followed by all the new links.


V's First Dildo Party

More Quincenera Pics

Mas photos en Dallas

Moustache Party

James/Scott's Birthday

Filthy

Gizoogle it!

My blog in jive isn't actually that different than my blog in my-speak. Gizoogle your own page.

Bri-Curious

So Britney Spears is guest starring on Will & Grace tonight. I don't think I'm strong enough to avert my eyes.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

Last chance to get on the World Series of Pop Culture is today. Take a timed online quiz today at 4pm and 7pm (Pacific). They say get there 10 minutes early to sign up.

Targhetto

Heh heh. "Target" in Japanese is pronounced "Targhetto."

Braggadocious

I got 139 out of 140 possible points on my Japanese midterm. I gotta admit I was kinda irked that I didn't get a perfect score. (That's the OCD talking right there.)

Looks like I may have gotten a deal

I thought $20 was bad. These guys paid $4300 for their burgers!

Free Money

I just noticed that the bastards at Wendy's didn't give me back my $15 change the other day, which means I paid $20.37 for a Spicy Crispy Chicken Combo.

I also just noticed that my credit card company helped itself to an extra $100 of my money this month, by forgetting to credit me a $100 rewards certificate they said they would give me if I booked a plane fare on that card. The guy on the phone was like, "Woops, sorry. We'll get right on that!"

Then today I got a bill from Cox Cable telling me I hadn't paid last month's cable. I thought that I had, so I went back and checked the online bill pay records. It turns out that I inadvertantly paid the wrong biller. Comcast Cable in Sacramento happily took my $42 on an account that has been closed for two years. So I've been on the phone with them for like an hour seeing if they'd be so kind as to give me my money back.

Today's very expensive lesson: keep better tabs on my money.

Redrum

So I had a trial set on Friday on this DUI guy I was looking to put in jail because of his prior record. Turns out he shot and killed his wife that morning. I can't help but wonder if the stress of trial had any influence on him.

Backblogged Again

I don't have time right now to post recent pics and the accompanying sordid tales. Here are just a few shots to highlight the last couple of really fun, crazy weeks:

The Moustache Party (Fri, 3/3/06) - Some kooky creative-types Brian knows had a party to showcase their new moustaches. Those that didn't plan ahead had to come up with an alternate plan.

My Cousin's Quincenera (Sat, 3/11/06) - Dude, seriously, it's my cousin, so I can't be mean. All I can say is that I'm SO happy my parents didn't do this to me.

James's Birthday Dinner (Tues, 3/14/06) - We ate at Fukuda. ("fukuda"... he he he). Good times.

Hanging out in Dallas (Sat, 3/18/06) - After getting our butts kicked at the audition, we tried on cowboy hats, played with bull balls, and rocked Laotian Karaoke (as opposed to Korean Karaoke).



Then we got trapped in our hotel by this crazy-ass flash-flood. (Sun, 3/19/06)

I dyed my hair red today...

Okay, it was really last Friday. I just wanted to use that Tori Amos lyric. But I did dye it. Brownish-red with bright burgandy highlights. (See most recent photos above).

Fu%$ That Fu^%in' Sh&*

We're out of the competition. I wish I could talk about it, but I can't. :-(

Gone Daddy Gone

Gone to Dallas, TX in search of my 15 minutes of fame. Be back Monday.

Such a sickly girl

((cough cough)) My throat & ear and head hurt, so I stayed home from work today. I'll admit, it totally doesn't take much to get me to take a sick day, but I don't care. If I'm even remotely contagious, I'm doing them a favor by staying home, as far as I'm concerned. So there. :-P

So this is good because now I can catch up on all the pop culture stuff from the 70s 80s and 90s that I still don't know. I am running off to the video store across the street now to get some movies for today and for the long-ass plane ride to Dallas via Tulsa tomorrow (don't EVEN get me started on how stupid it is that Texas law only allows you to fly into Dallas from 4 other states). Any suggestions on what I HAVE TO get in order study for this pop culture challenge? Here's what's on my list so far:

Weird Science
Animal House
Seinfeld on DVD
St. Elmo's Fire
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Valley Girl

Fabulous news

Holy crap. Las Vegas now has a tall women's clothes store. How excited am I?

Why are the crazies so in love with me?

So last week there was an administrative meeting between the court and the prosecutor's office. It was your run-of-the-mill waste-two-hours-listening-to-a-few-people-complain and wonder-why-you're-there kind of staff meeting. Luckily, I didn't have to go, so I didn't.

I did, however, get the scoop from the girls in my office that did go. Apparently, this crazy clerk was complaining about me - some garbarge about me blaming her for something - I honestly don't know what she was talking about. Either way, it irked me that she went to a meeting I wasn't even at and tried to call me out for something she should have talked to me about directly.

So this morning I see her two-faced self in the hall and she is CRAZY sweet to me. Not just nice. CRAZY nice. She's all: "Hey gorgeous!" ((smile smile)) "How you doin' today, hon?"

Then just now I got this email from her, with this subject heading:

"I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT MARRIAGE LIFE AGREES WITH YOU. YOU ARE LOOKING REALLY NICE TODAY."

This is what the body said:

"I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT MARRIAGE LIFE AGREES WITH YOU. YOU ARE LOOKING REALLY NICE TODAY. YOU ALWAYS LOOK NICE ANYWAYS.

I DON'T THINK I HAVE EVER SEEN YOU IN A DRESS BEFORE. BUT YOU DO LOOK GOOD IN A DRESS. :)"

So I have a new theory about people that write messages in all caps, and it involves them being crazy and bi-polar.

Show me your bobas!

CRAZY DAY

I am so stressed. We got the email early this morning giving us our audition appointment in Dallas next Saturday for the World Series of Pop Culture Trivia. So I've been online and on the phone trying to work out travel details all morning. We actually have to compete against other teams at the audition, so I have only one week to cram as much pop culture trivia into my brain as possible. Eek!

It doesn't help the we're driving to LA tonight and spending the whole weekend on family stuff. My cousin's quincenera (15th birthday shindig) is tomorrow and then Sunday is my nephew Tony's 6th birthday, so we're taking him to Disneyland. It's crazy stressful/unorganized.

It also isn't helpful that my friend's birthday is Tuesday and that my Japanese midterm is Wednesday.

Fudge.

I just remembered that the 2006 AirHockey Championships are in 2 weeks. I really want to go, but I haven't practiced at all, and it looks like I don't really have time to at this point. :-(

Is this like some kind of weird RPG?

What a strange night. Tonight, a random group of us went to this fancy lawyer fundraiser at the Bellagio to schmooze with Senator Richard Bryan and to see this guy dressed like John Adams talk about the powers of the president. What a bunch of friggin' nerds. For some reason, I couldn't stop giggling the whole time we were there.

I think it was because we were totally blatantly crashing this very dignified event. Vanessa wanted to ask John Adams whether he thought Britney Spears and Kevin Federline would withstand the test of time. Shannon wanted to ask why he was against freedom. I was so relieved that neither actually did.

Anyway, here's us with Adams:

We actually met a pretty nice young attorney there named Rebecca. She was oddly accepting of us and our juvenile behavior. After the lecture, we wandered around the convention center looking for other events to crash.

Here's us outside a uniform convention with a Star Wars theme....


They told us we couldn't go inside though, which sucked. And just made Vanessa want to go in even more. Thank goodness we were able to drag her out before she could get us 86'd.

Afterword we all had a nice meal at Peymon's Mediterranean Cafe. I think we're going to try and recruit that Rebecca girl into our cult. Err... I mean group.

Birthday Boys

I have two super-great guy friends who have recently had or are recently having birthdays and I need to get them gifts. I'd like the gifts to be thoughtful and cool. Right now, I'm thinking mix tapes and cookies, but I know I can do better than that. Anyone got any better ideas for amazing birthday boy gifts?

Can't... stand... the wait...

Today is going to be a long and stressful day. I have tons of messy trials this afternoon, followed immediately by a Japanese test on the different ways to count objects. (For those who don't know, the Japanese have a special set of numbers for long and flat objects, another set for long and slender objects, another for round objects, another for general objects, and so on and so forth. So yeah, it's retarded and this test is going to bite the big one.

My consolation prize is a night of decadent TV. America's Next Top Model Cycle 6 premieres tonight with a 2-hour episode. I like these girls, just based on a quick review of the web profiles:



Sara - She's my favorite cuz she's TALL (6'1"), she's from Davis, CA (Go Aggies!), she likes Law & Order, and her lips are hot.









Jade - I like her cuz her look is unique.











Leslie - Her smile is super cute.

As if that weren't enough to satify my appetitie for fashion and scandal, the finale of the best show ever - Project Runway is right after. I have never been so excited for a finale in all my life. I'm actually rooting for Santino, the resident a$^hole. I think he'll do the best job of standing out. Plus I think he's hilarious and just got a bad rap on the show.

Any predictions for tonight's fashion & cattiness extravaganza?

The Pop Tarts Are Done

Awe yeahhhhhh..... The team has been officially assembled.

The players are:
1) My deliciously hot friend Jeanny (4'11")
2) My freakishly smart friend Jake (6'7"), and
3) Me (6'5")

We've sent in the online application for an audition appointment - now we just wait for verification and then we can book the plane tix and hotel for Dallas. YAY!

So they asked us to pick a team name - we chose The Pop Tarts, which isn't really all that original, I'll admit. But we literally went over dozens of other potential team names that were either way too nerdy or too pervy for mainstream tv. (I was personally a big fan of: "It'll hurt if I swallow," "The Va-J-Jakes," and "The Pop Smears," but the rest of the team said no. :-( ) We're still open to suggestions if anyone has anything better - or, rather, more mature.

POP-CULTURE FREAKS UNITE!!!

All this time... I knew this knowledge wasn't just wasting space in my head.

Ok, so VH1 is casting a show right now called The World Series of Pop Culture. They're looking for 16 three-person teams to compete for I don't know what. I don't really care though. All I know is that I NEED TEAMMATES!! Leslie, Vanessa, Jeanny, I'm talking to you! - plus anyone else who considers US Weekly their Bible.

Anyone interested in auditioning with me in Dallas March 18th/19th or in Atlanta March 25th/26th, CALL ME OR EMAIL ME RIGHT NOW SO I CAN RESERVE AN AUDITION APPOINTMENT!!

Like Crack

Ever since last week, I haven't been able to stop thinking of albums I used to have in high school that I really really wanted to listen to NOW. So I went nuts at the music store today. I'm really lucky they didn't have 30% of the albums I was looking for, cuz then I would have bought them too. Here's what I left w/ this time:

Pretty On the Inside - Hole
Live Through This - Hole
Celebrity Skin - Hole
The Rocky Horror Picture Show - 3 Soundtrack Box Set
Romeo & Juliet - Movie Soundtrack
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
S & M Airlines - NOFX


In my defense, one of the Hole albums was only $0.99, and all the others were used... except for NOFX. In fact, I was a little disappointed with the punk selection at Zia. My theory is that all the little punk kids must come daily and raid the place of all the used Pennywise and Minor Threat CDs, cuz there were hardly any left.

So Uninspired...

Here are pics from last weekend... Poker at Brad and Vanessa's on Friday and then Pampered Chef on Saturday. There aren't really that many, and they don't really tell a story or anything, but there are some pretty funny self-portraits of Shannon. (Sorry hon, it was for the greater good.)

Poker's not really my bag. The Pampered Chef party was a little chaotic cuz SOMEBODY wouldn't stop making dildo-party references and giggling while the demonstration was going on (RANDI & SHANNON!!). But I got my highly coveted garlic press, so it was cool.

National Nut Day

This was a bulletin I got from Shannon on MySpace. Go here to see what bizarre holiday falls on your birthday. Here's mine:

October 22 is . . . . National Nut Day

Shut up.

Not My House

I am so ridiculously uninspired... But I feel obligated to post anyway, so here's a little ditty:

Last night we went over to Brad and Vanessa's for our weekly Lost-viewing party.

Brad and V always yell "Come in!" when we get to the door, and we usually just let ourselves in. Last night, my poor deaf husband thought he heard them give the ok, so he opened the door and we walked in. All of a sudden, Vanessa comes out naked (or.. half naked? It was really a flash of flesh cuz she ran so fast), hides behind Brad, then runs upstairs. Uhhhhh... sorry 'bout that, there, walking in on your living-room-sex or whatever, guys. :-|

A few minutes later I clogged their toilet.

I wanted to make it three for three and burn popcorn in their microwave, but I was foiled by the "popcorn" button on the microwave. Oh well.

I'll have to think of more fun and exciting ways to play "Not My House" at Brad and V's.

Lazy Sunday at the Music Store

Yesterday I was thrilled to learn that Las Vegas actually has a pretty decent music store. Here I thought they'd all gone out of business. The store (Zia Records) inspired me to buy a bunch of angsty albums I used to listen to in high school. Here's what I got (& what I'm listening to now):

PJ Harvey - Dry
PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill
Alanis Morrisette - Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Sinead O'Connor - Universal Mother

So if I seem a little angrier than usual this week, this is why. :-)

The Myspace Movie

Some parts of this were really funny (i.e., "do you want to see the angry beaver??"). It's pretty long, but you can watch one chapter at a time if you're short on time.. Anyway, here it is, the My Space Movie, courtesy of BJ.

Was that messed up?

Just now at Taco Bell, while I was sitting there enjoying my #4 Mexican Pizza combo, this crackhead lady with no teeth that was talking to herself in the restaurant walked up and asked me for a piece of my pizza. I refused to give it to her. Was that messed up??

More fun w/ Japanese

So, for once, I wasn't the only person getting laughed at in Japanese class tonight.

The teacher was asking us to say "Please give me ____" in Japanese. She asked us to pretend we were in Starbucks, so we could fill in the blank with our favorite overpriced, oversugared coffee drink. Brian apparently didn't hear her, so when it was his turn, he said (in Japanese), "Please give me your watch." The whole class laughed. I almost got up and yelled at them for being cruel to my poor, deaf husband, but I held back. They had no way of knowing, I guess....

Later, the teacher asked David to say, "Please give me an apple too." Instead, David said (in Japanese), "Please give me more of myself." The whole class laughed and laughed. Even our sweet, demure teacher had to turn away and chuckle.

Oh no they di'int!

Figures they would wait for us to move before they built an Ikea in Sacramento... bastards. They're probably waiting for us to move out of Nevada so they can build one here next.

Best Friend of the Weekend

I can't get enough of my new friend James.

Friday, he was in the neighborhood taking a big important test (that I'm sure he rocked), so we had a nice long lunch w/ some of my old pals. He gave me a really interesting CD that he'd searched for for over a week.

Later that afternoon, he came by my work for a quick tour of the court and the jail. We almost got locked in the jail b/c it was late in the day, there was a shift change, and the night people didn't know who I was. Talk about embarrassing.

Friday night, James came over to get help painting a trophy for one of his students. (Awwwe.. so nice.) In between doing that, we went out to eat and played Quip It w/ Brian and my nephew. Good times.

Saturday I went out and saw Capote (sans James). It wasn't as great as I hoped it'd be. It moved too slowly for my taste. Too much Oscar hype. Not enough James. (kidding) ;-) Final grade=B.

Saturday night was Brad's Loft Party. James came. :-) The best was when we all did stupid human tricks. Here are pics. The camera battery died before we did the bigtime tricks though. Bummer.

Sunday I saw the best movie ever - Eight Below (also sans James, BUT, the movie was good nonetheless :-P ). I know what you're thinking film snobs, but REALLY, this movie was excellent. I bawled my head off and I don't even like dogs! Final grade=A.

Sunday night, James came over to pick up his finished trophy. He spun my nephews until they almost threw up and then taught me how to play a fun song on the piano. My nephews and I were sad to see him leave.

Some people (like his ex-girlfriend) think it's weird that James and I have been spending so much time together. Brian doesn't really think it's weird, since he's used to my best-friend-of-the-week routine. I don't know if James thinks it's weird. I suppose I'll have to ask.

All I know is that the guy cracks me up and that I can't get enough of him. My hope is that this BFOTW turns out to be more like a Nick or a Greg, rather than a Sadie Jo or a Wally.

The Lawyer Coloring Book

Courtesy of my good friend Nick (who is moving to my town to be with me very soon, right???), it's The Lawyer Coloring Book.

VM letdown

Sorry kiddies.. the spoiler sites were wrong about the February airdate for the lesbian cheerleader episode of Veronica Mars. Here's the real story:

No New Mars Until March
"In order to avoid the competition of the Olympics and reunite Veronica with her Top Model lead-in, UPN has opted to delay the next few episodes of Veronica Mars until March. In the usual Veronica timeslot, the next few weeks will give us repeats:..."

Not funny...

The other night, I found myself reciting the story of "my favorite DV." (DV=domestic violence). Ok, I know DV isn't funny. It's very serious and sad and not fun. BUT, sometimes.. every once in a great while, the stories are so bizarre that you can't help but let out maybe a little teensy-weensy chuckle... as a defense mechanism only, of course... in order to cope... with how tragic the situations really are.

Today we had a DV case where an adult daughter got mad at her mom for staying out all night partying, so she pummeled her with potatoes. No one got hurt, mom admitted she was a jerk. All ended well.

I also had one today between two homeless, gay, interracial lovers. One guy got mad and set the other's tent on fire (with boyfriend in it!). It was actually a pretty bad case - the victim also got beaten with a chain and the firestarter got stabbed in self-defense. So yeah, bad.. but c'mon... there could be a potential Brokeback Mountain sequel in the works here... About a relationship that defies all of the odds... even arson.

Friends With Me

This is Red Flyer. He's my new friend from the Friends With You line of toys. His tag explains why he's special:

"Ever wonder what God looks like? Well this is him, and boy does he look different. At the subatomic level, he is literally the fabric of space as we understand it. He is what makes up the earth, the air, the water and, well, everything. Swipe your arms through the air and you are reconfiguring an unimaginable amount of Red Flyers. In his enlarged state, he offers invincibility and absolute power to his human companion."

I'll take this cute little guy over a new-best-friend-of-the-week anyday...

Best-friend-of-the-week

It never fails. Each time a new friendship develops quickly, it seems as though it's just a matter of time before it's over. Is it me or are the quick-to-be-clingy ones always just crazy?

Happy VD

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Props

So we saw Matchpoint this weekend, and I really enjoyed it. I was surprised to see that the film only got one Oscar nomination (best original screenplay). It was a really clever flick though! Very engaging. Very entertaining. And I love ScarJo in general, but I ESPECIALLY loved her in this. Wet in a white shirt, making out in a field.. running around in her underwear... she was amazing.. :-) Her acting wasn't half bad either. Actually, thinking back, almost everyone in the movie was hot. Woody Alllen definitely knows how to put together a cast of hotties. The movie itself was this weird but cool combination of witty and funny and tense. It was really unique, which is like the #2 thing I look for in a movie (right behind entertaining). So yeah, definitely worth seeing in the theater. Final grade = A.

How to tell if you're an asshole...

If you go to your friends' wedding and do nothing but complain, criticize and exude anger and hostility, then you're probably an asshole. Next time do everyone a big favor and stay home.

Hell week continued

I am about 75% sure the judge reads my blog. (Hi judge!) So yeah, no more work talk on here.

Currently experiencing emotional difficulties...

This is not a good week...

Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, and the luckiest man on earth...

The only thing that could have made this picture hotter is Rachel McAdams naked. Damn her for punking out!!

For realz?

Send a Fecalgram for Valentine's Day!

Lesbian Cheerleaders

Just found out that Kristen Cavalleri from Laguna Beach is going to be guest-starring as a lesbian cheerleader on my #2 favorite show Veronica Mars on Feb. 15. Oh no, too sexy!!

New pics

I posted pictures I should've posted a while ago on my mac gallery. Here are the many new and exciting links as well as a brief explanation:

Shannon & Simone's Birthday Dinner - Yes, we had to wait 2.5 hours to get a table at the Cheesecake Factory, but at least we got to see the boys cook up cola right there at the table!!

Poker Party at Brad's - Wait, what? You mean the whole world doesn't stop having fun just because I'm out of town? From what I hear, Vanessa kicked everyone's butts, but that's probably just cuz I wasn't there.

My Weekend in Sacramento - So yeah, I stayed w/ Megan F. in Sac, which was super-fun. We took a little road-trip to San Jose for a babyshower and to see her newborn nephew.. Then it was back to Sacramento for various stops down memory lane. ((sigh)) I miss Sacramento..

This last weekend - Erica came to town! - Friday we went to First Friday and had dinner at Tinoco's.. Saturday we had dinner at Bahama Breeze and then went to the Pinball Arcade/Museum (which rocks!). Then we went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show at it's new venue, which was fine and dandy, I just didn't like the location for it. Then we had a kick-butt session of Korean Karaoke. Not pictured are Sunday's Superbowl Parties and Brad and V's and at James's.

Can't ... take ... anymore...

Lance Armstrong & Sheryl Crow Split

Is nothing sacred???

I'm really starting to lose faith.

Locklear Files for Divorce From Sambora

Are YOU a donut?

I had my first funny Japanese snafu in class tonight. The teacher was asking us to read out loud from the book and to interpret what we'd just read from Japanese to English.

One sentence structure we've studied alot is: "__(noun)__ desuka." Which translates to: "Are you a __(noun)__?"

Up until my turn, everyone got to fill in the blank w/ words we'd already learned. So now it's my turn to read out loud, and my sentence is: "Donata desuka." The teacher says, 'Ah, we have a new vocabulary word, "donata." What does this mean?' I tried flipping to the index to find out, but couldn't find it fast enough... It was dead silence, except for maybe some crickets chirping. The sensei urged me again: "Can you guess what this means?" So I gave it a shot: "Are you... (pause) ...a donut?"

The whole class laughed. WHAT? A lot of Japanese words are just converted English words (like hoppi owa and Amerika)! Why can't donata be donut?? Who knows what "Are you a donut?" is really a euphemism for? Those freaks buy teenage girl undies out of vending machines, for goodness' sake. How am I supposed to know what kinda freaky, deviant, breakfast pastry lines they like to use on chicks?!

So anyway.. later on, I overheard this girl a few seats down from me getting all frustrated because all she could think of when she read "donata desuka" from then on was: "Are you a donut?"