Saturday, June 27, 2009

Saturday

Outside my window... I have no idea what's going on. I closed the blinds because I have a headache today, and the brightness of the sun really hurts my eyes and head.


I am thinking... about watching a movie in a little while. But not sure what I feel like watching.

I am thankful for... diet Pepsi, Pay Per View, Facebook, TweetDeck, and photo editing software.

From the kitchen... comes the smell of Ginger Peach Chicken baking in the oven for dinner. And it smells good.

I am wearing... jeans and my favorite Star Wars t-shirt. We watched Fanboys last night and it put me in the mood for this shirt.

I am creating... black and white photos for an album I'm making for my husband.

I am going... to the Renaissance Festival tomorrow! I love the Renaissance Festival.

I am reading... Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I am hoping... to finish that book and begin another within the next few hours.

I am hearing... the dryer, the X-Box 360 running but no game being played, the sound of the keyboard.

Around the house... it is too messy for my taste.

One of my favorite things... is scrapbook paper. I love the way it smells.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Tomorrow's the Ren Fest, then Monday it's back to work. I will finally get a paycheck on Wednesday, and we are going out for a nice dinner to celebrate. And The Pook and I have big plans to go to Build-A-Bear. We haven't gotten to go there in about 100 years. And on the weekend, we're going up to visit my sister and family for the 4th of July.

A picture to share... This one's from 1973, when we still lived in Britannia Beach, B.C. That's my older sister Lianne on the left, and my mom, and me. I know you are jealous of our pants. We are standing outside the train entrance of the Anaconda mine where my dad worked. My dad was always fond of posing us next to mines for group photos -- our family albums are littered with shots of my sister and I standing on the edge of places like Bingham Pit and Carr Fork Mine. Good times.



Wednesday, June 24, 2009

For Today

Ali Edwards posted this on her blog and I thought it might be fun to do it too.

Outside my window... the sun is going to down and the sky is that grey shade of blue, with some clouds drifting past.

I am thinking... about all the movies I want to see. Harry Potter; Transformers; Bruno; all the ones we missed while I was unemployed... it could take weeks to get caught up!

I am thankful for... my new job. And The Pook and Rob.

From the kitchen... Nothing tonight. Ronald McDonald was at the local McDonald's and The Pook insisted on seeing him, so we ate there. I'll cook tomorrow night, I guess.

I am wearing... jammies. Roots t-shirt and cotton pants. And slippers. The a/c makes my feet freeze.

I am creating... just this blog entry. But I'm thinking awfully hard about scrapbook layouts...

I am going... to the Renaissance Festival this Sunday. That means it's finally truly summer!

I am hoping... that I can get some extra sleep this weekend, as I've been weirdly exhausted since starting the new job. I didn't realize that it would be so difficult to get back into the swing of using my brain all day.

I am hearing... a commercial for Fruit Loops on the television.

Around the house... it is reasonably tidy, save a basket of clean laundry here and there. And The Pook's room.

One of my favorite things... is goofing off with Genius playlists in iTunes.

A few plans for the rest of the week... work tomorrow and Friday, hang with Rob, The Pook off to his dad's for the weekend, Ren Fest on Sunday, bake Edyn a birthday cake on Sunday evening.

A picture to share...


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Lazy Sunday

And I don't even have any cupcakes.

I am cooking beef brisket in the slow cooker though. With my own doctored up barbecue sauce concoction. I'm going to feed this to my parents later, for our half-assed Father's Day dinner. So it's not cupcakes, but it IS red meat.

So, I just figured I should make a new post since I finally got a job and that last post is now obsolete. I started my new job last week, at an independent insurance agency, smaller than the one I left but larger than the one at which I originally started in the field. I think there are a total of about 15 of us at my new workplace, and I love that. One thing I did learn at my last job is that a larger office is probably not the best place for me. So that's nice to know, I guess. Also, all the other account manager-type people at my new job are hilariously sarcastic and bitter -- not in a bad, negative way, but in a really funny way. Of course I fit right in. And an old friend from high school also works there, which is an added bonus.

Working for most of the week just about frickin' killed me though. I did not realize that it would be such a huge shock to my system after 10 weeks off to get back to work. After all, I was quite bored and irritated by not working. But it damn near exhausted me. I started on a Tuesday and that was fine, but Thursday and Friday got really frighteningly sluggish toward the end of the day. I realized I'd been mostly laying on the couch snoozing through Ellen and Oprah beginning at 3pm for the better part of 10 weeks, and I have to assume my system will adjust once again to using my brain all the way to 5pm (Does the drive home count? Hope not, or we're really in trouble).

I woke at the crack of dawn today, owing to allergies, and have been parked in front of the television ever since, multitasking, watching crap with half an eye while reading literary blogs (meaning blogs that concern themselves with discussion of all things literary). I did take a brief break to put the brisket on, but otherwise, here's what I've watched already this morning:

- VH-1 Top 20 Video Countdown. Confused new Daughtry video with a generic Nickelback song till I actually saw Chris Daughtry in the video. Turns out this is the song he wrote with the lead singer of Nickelback. Just... ew. Also, realized that one only digs Katy Perry while Katy Perry is actually playing; then you just forget about her ten minutes later. I mean, Lady Gaga is totally irritating, but her songs are catchy enough to stick with you and sneak up on you later in the day. Not so with Katy Perry.

- America's Sweethearts (5 minutes). The totally crap movie starring John Cusack, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Billy Crystal. With that cast, I'm sure the filmmakers assumed it would be awesome. But it's horrible. The problem with a cast loaded with heavy-hitters is that the moviegoer has no idea where to look. You've got John doing his thing, Billy doing his schtick, Catherine playing a bitch, and Julia convincing no one that she's a put-upon wallflower. The whole premise is ludicrous, but only because of the casting. Also, no one really wants to see movies in which Hollywood pretends it understands what's ridiculous about Hollywood.

- Six Pack (beginning about 20 minutes in). This movie, on the other hand, is awesome. Back before Kenny Rogers did that thing to his face, he played a down on his luck race car driver who finds himself saddled with the care of 6 youngsters who miraculously know everything about cars and racing, help him win a bunch of races, and capture his heart along the way. This movie is awesome.

- Mask (final 45 minutes). The 1985 classic starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. And the dad from Prancer. I love this movie but it is pretty depressing. I guess I never noticed before how depressing it is. Also, I didn't know anything about the Grateful Dead the last time I saw this movie, so I only just noticed that Ripple is playing at the end, when Rocky is dead and Cher goes in and finds him. Which makes it sadder. Dude, though, it's totally awesome that she trashes her house. I think I might actually trash my house if anything ever happened to The Pook. I can totally relate to that reaction. Also, this movie no longer makes me cry. I used to sob uncontrollably at the end. No longer. Interesting. Also, "Roll Me Away" by Bob Seger, which plays over the end credits, is still a really killer song.

- Fuse Hit List. This is the video music channel that still plays music videos. Actually, they all still play music videos; you just have to know what time they play them. On the Hit List, they just play whatever's currently a hit. Doesn't matter if it's hip hop or metal or pop or whatever -- they just mix them all up. It's mostly rad with a bit of irritating thrown in. I can usually only stand this for about 45 minutes before I have to change the channel. Rob and I have learned from the Hit List about how Canadian bands can always be identified by their shitty videos that follow some kind of stupid plotline about a kid who's fixing to run away from home because his or her family doesn't understand them. We have also learned that hip hop is more effective when you stay away from "singing" along with AutoTune. We have also learned that the Killers are no substitute for Bruce Springsteen, hard as they may try, and that Paula Abdul did the Rebel Without a Cause video most effectively with Keanu, so no one should bother trying to redo it.

I was hoping for a marathon of Locked Up Abroad on the National Geographic network, but no such luck. And today's Degrassi marathon doesn't even start until 4pm -- what good will that do me??

Now that Rob's awake, we're gonna watch Fanboys on pay per view. Yay!