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Suffering Writer and Unappreciated Genius Scholarship Fund"Ever feel like you have nothing to say, but a need to say it?" |
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| "Keep a diary, and someday it'll keep you."--Mae West "A man who keeps a diary pays, Due toll to many tedious days; But life becomes eventful - then, His busy hand forgets the pen. Most books, indeed, are records less Of fulness than of emptiness."--William Allingham "It would be curious to discover who it is to whom one writes in a diary. Possibly to some mysterious personification of one's own identity."--Beatrice Webb "What is a diary as a rule? A document useful to the person who keeps it. Dull to the contemporary who reads it and invaluable to the student, centuries afterwards, who treasures it." --Walter Scott "We're at the end of the Universe. Right at the edge of knowledge itself. And you're busy blogging!" --the Tenth Doctor |
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| Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm obvious, yet true | |||
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| Me: [running up the stairs] I'll be down in a few for some Who. Dad: Who? Me: Exactly. |
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| Jul. 23rd, 2008 @ 04:57 pm Random Thought | |||
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My mother walks into the room, wearing clomping boots. She says, "Your mother wears army boots, so there." |
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| Jul. 21st, 2008 @ 12:30 pm Penelope: A Fairy Tale about Appearence and Identity | |||
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Current Music: Vinland Saga by Leave's Eyes
I just discovered a new treasure, a new film fairy tale. I know that critics panned the poor thing, but when has that ever affected my opinion? (Personally, I'm beginning to think that all critics audited their courses in mythology and folk lore, or they just didn't have anyone as good as Doctor Thomas) Sure, its silly and sappy, but so's your mom. The film is distinguished by its brilliant cast (Richard Grant, Peter Dinklage, Catherine O’Hara, the dude from Cranford, and Christiana Ricci and James McAvoy), beautiful production design, and awesome costumes. But, for me, as always, it’s the writing and the story that really captures my attention. The film is a brilliant blend of the elements, stock characters, motifs and themes of traditional fairy tales/folk tales, with clever twists that bestow upon the audience a unique tale with a moral that is all too necessary and appropriate for our beauty-obsessed times. On the surface, the film seems to be a pretty standard fairy tale/love story. It's obviousness (part of the tradition of the fairy tale) is probably its greatest weakness as it belies its true message. A “princess” is cursed to have the nose and ears of a pig. Only if she is “claimed by one of her own till death do they part” will the curse be broken. According to the blurb on the film’s box, Penelope must learn to believe in herself. But, upon multiple viewings, it is clear that it is not quite so simple. The fairy tale is a bit more complicated and much more modern. It is a study in psychology, a commentary on class and parenting, and a new definition of beauty and ugliness, appearences and their connection to our identity. ( Read more... ) |
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| Jul. 11th, 2008 @ 04:08 pm Random Thought | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Your results: You are Qui-Gon Jinn
(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters) Click here to take the Star Wars Personality Test |
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| Jul. 11th, 2008 @ 08:55 am Down the Yellow Brick Road | |||
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I decided to take a nostalgic stroll down the Yellow Brick Road. I read The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Tik Tok of Oz, leaving only two of Baum's original fourteen books left for me to read. Nothing beats my favorites of the series, though: The Tin Man of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Marvolous Land of Oz. I read (and hated) Gregory Maguire's Son of a Witch. I've decided that his revisionist version of Oz is nearly sacriligious, dull, and sucks all the magic and wonder and symbolism out of Baum's wondrous and beautiful Oz.
First of all, the film much more accurately portrays Oz and is much more loyal to the books. Dorothy is the right age, for starters. Not only do many things more closely resemble the illustrations of the books (especially the characters and the Emerald City), but the world looks much more real and occupied than the 1938 version that looks plastic and stagey. The mood of the film is also much closer to Baum’s works, mixing silly childish logic and imagination (building the Gump) with darkness and danger of a child in a strange world (the fear of turning into an ornament or to stone or having your head cut off). The film is just as magical as Baum's books. Second, I love seeing Oz as “fallen”. The Yellow Brick Road reclaimed by nature. The Emerald City crumbling and the people all turned to stone. The Gnome King’s palace where people are turned into ornaments. The theme, ironically, of the story is trying to return home doesn’t always meet your high expectations and desires. Fits for a film constantly compared to the 1938 musical. Even in a fairyworld, things change and fall away.
Baum, I believe, would have loved this clever adaptation of his stories. It totally keeps the spirit, the meaning, the heart, and the magic of the Oz tales. The magic is still here in the form of the American fairy tale: a brilliant blending of bits of American life (subberbia fallen, a doomsday machine, drugs, bars and psychics) and mechanisms (robots, super computers, hippie vans) with the land of the fairy (witches, monsters, princes and princesses). The symbolism/meaning of Baum is still here; the commentary on American life is still here. DG, like Ozma and other Oz heroines, is a little lost girl on her journey through a warped and symbolic version of her own world. She is a lost princess on the search for her identity. Like Dorothy, her greatest strength is her courage and her ability to makes friends along the Brick Road. In a troubled and confusing land, she finds her identity and place. The Scarecrow figure, Glitch, was once a high ranking bureaucrat, a Daedalous figure that made amazing inventions, some of which are being corrupted and used for great evil by the new government. Here is the threat of the cleverness and American inventiveness and modernization. Our creations can be turned to evil. Even worse, Glitch’s brain has been removed, reducing him to a gibbering, amnesia-ridden idiot. He doesn’t know who he was or what he has fallen from. The Tin Man, Cain, was locked in a tin box and forced to watch his family tortured and killed over and over again. A jaded ex-cop (or Tin Man), he may not be made out of metal, but his heart is certainly absent. Raw, a psychic and spiritual character, is part of a species that is abused for their powers and abilities. The evil witch, Az, uses drugs, spiritualism, brainwashing, torture, and machines to keep her power and do evil. The mirrors to our own world are not hard to find. The production design is rather clever. It keeps the magic and mystical nature of Baum’s fairy tale (particularly reflecting the illustrations of the books with the girls costumes). It also borrows from the 1930s period (the time of the original film), but warping it into more Film Noir, so that--visually--we have the same world. For instance, the cars and nightclub, the girl's hair styles. Mixing fairy tale images with the Film Noir is a brilliant blend that creates modern darkness and an otherworly feel. Other images are a nod to the original story, particularly the bronze machines with very visible bolts and the electric beams. There is plenty of modern culture mixed in, too. This Oz, just as Baum’s Oz, is populated by robots (who actually raised DG) who live in a now-run-down 1950s suburban town that was once a near-Utopia but is now reduced to rubble. DG's father flies a hot air balloon, just as the original wizard did. Just like Baum's Oz, everything ends happily, with good redeemed and therefore defeated. But there is a darkness within, too. DG, in her childhood fears, caused the great evil to begin with. Thus, it is not only the modern story of the Romance of the Family and the restoration of it, but also of DG's redemption. |
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| Jul. 8th, 2008 @ 04:00 pm my eyes | |||
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| Reason # 478,382 I hate that we don't have universal health care in this country: Apparently I have damaged my corneas (this is why I have been having trouble seeing lately). How did I do that? By being economical in my use of contacts and visits to the optomotrist. Now, all my money is going to go into my eyeballs to try and save them. Of course, I was going to use my surplus check to pay for the visit and new glasses and new lenses. But, as I am in the poverty bracket, I only got 300 bucks. Man, this country likes to keep the poor down in their place. And, yes, i know that I have it infinitaty better than many, many people. Still bites, though. |
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| Jul. 5th, 2008 @ 04:34 pm 20 Foot Hole and Valley Quest | ||||||||||||
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I feel:
 hungryCurrent Music: The Divine Conspiracy by Epica
Yesterday, Kiel and Chi Chi and I went to the 20 Foot Hole out in the boondocks. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind the Brown-town Fourth of July parade. Kiel rolled the car into town in neurtral (we had to rock back and forth for a while) and we eventually got to 20 Foot, meeting Duby. It is an amazingly beautiful spot, that 20 Foot. It's in the middle of the woods, and the water has carved into the rock. There's fun places to jump off from, and the water is clean and deep. Unfortunately, although I wanted to take pictures, you can't really get any good ones because the best views are from in the water. The guys standing on the rocks above me looked like Maxfield Parrish paintings. Kiel did a cool flip, but he did this wierd head bobbing thing before it that just made us all laugh. Today, Ma and I went on a Valley Quest (like a treasure map) through Paradise Park, to the gazebo and the ponds. I got some cool pictures, but the "treasure" was supper lame, as the box was empty except for a plastic baggie. ( photoes ) ( photoes ) |
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| Jul. 3rd, 2008 @ 03:13 pm Ode to Delerium | |||
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Current Music: Delerium
Delerium--my favorite group until Within Temptation nudged it out recently--was the gateway drug to so much great music: Enigma, Frontline Assembly, Conjure One, Balligomino, Sleepthief, Blue Stone. One of the first groups who's I gobbled up everything they did and wore holes in thier CDs. It was the soundtrack to my college years, and you could hear it blarring away in my car and suite for hours on end. It was the soundtrack to stories I wrote and books I read. Mystical, magical, other-worldly, with a beat you could jig to, poetic lyrics to relate to, and voices to screech to in the shower. Still, love them deeply. |
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| Jul. 2nd, 2008 @ 11:58 am Doctor Who Squee and Spec | |||
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 Ok, that picture is all kinds of awesome (though, where's Ianto and Gwen??). I finally got around to watching part one of the series finale (part two airs on Saturday). AHH! It's going to be driving me nuts. |
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| Jul. 1st, 2008 @ 10:17 am Singleton Chicks on the Beach. In Maine!! | |||
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I feel:
Yesterday, after it almost being cancelled do to predicted bad weather, Ann and I had our annual Singleton Chicks on the Beach Day that occurs at the beginning of every summer in order to de-stress and unload. This year, Ann had the crazy desire to travel all the way up to Maine for our beach. Since Maine = Heaven to me and its her birthday, I heartily agreed. With a cooler full of fruits and veg and hummus and Cabot cheese and baggets and pomegranate seltzer water and French Silk Pie (as birthday cake) and a crazy highlighted and taped map, we hit the road at like 10:00. When we got to York, we found the nearest beach--Short Sands--loaded the parking meter up with quarters and plopped into a spot on the soft Maine sand. We muched yummies all day and listened to crazy children and the waves crashing and being absorbed in chick lit (I read Laurie Notaro which made me chuckle all day; she's chick lit for chubby girls with tattooes). Ahhh, the ocean. I warned Ann over and over that Maine North Atlantic ocean water is cold. Very cold. Very, very, very cold. Like so cold you can't feel your body and start getting hypothermic shut-down. But even then, and even after baking and sweating in the hot sun all day, when we hit that water, YIKES! I just sat in and got into it, as I'm a little more practiced after 27 years of having to swim every day on vacation. There was some pretty cool surf that was fun to ride, though smacking our heads a couple times. While drying to warm up and dry off, we ate pie. I--as an Italian woman ("he's a big eater, God love 'im" being our motto) who thinks that seagulls are so cuuuute--kept feeding all the seagulls bagget and chips. I then slapped down a pile of whipped cream in the sand, and they gobbled that up, too. I laughed hysterically at that. Then we packed up and headed home, stopping for Chinese buffet on the way. It was a very good day. absolutely covered in frecklesCurrent Music: the "B"s on my ipod |
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| Jun. 28th, 2008 @ 11:04 am book survey | |||
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| The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen |
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| Jun. 23rd, 2008 @ 08:01 pm Summer Goals | |||
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With the freedom of less work and the beautiful warm weather of summer, I like to make goals for myself for the summer. It means I get more done, and I get to do what I want to get done before all the time slips away. Of course, I will also be working the EYP summer program. Trips: Camping trip in August Montshire Museum and Upper Valley fun with Ann and Hez Fairlee Drive in with Chi Chi Sleep out under the stars Activities: Swim across the pond 35 times. Lose 15 pounds Rewrite my novel Enter photography contest at Cornish Fair. Finish Shutterfly Albums of Sisterhood Trip Make new pillowcases Canoe trip down Conneticut River Get Angel Tattoo with Chi Chi OCDS: Penelope on DVD Wood’s Tea Company (July 26 Enfield) Clone Wars Doctor Who series four Robin Hood series two (DVD on July 29th) Psych Annual Civil War visit:
Doctor Who marathon: --watch --post --force Ma to watch |
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| Jun. 17th, 2008 @ 08:01 pm Writer's Block: The Eternal Nocturnal Struggle | |||
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Werewolves. It's not just my love for Remus Lupin and Wolfie, but that does seem to be part of it. I don't know. Vampires just seem so amoral and so stuck up. "Ooo, I'm a Byronic hero!" They seem to love being evil too much. Vampires are more apt to be victimizers rather than victims. And there's their whole glam thing. Werewolves seem more pathetic, more sympathetic. They didn't chose to be what they are. They can't help being monsters. And the tragedy of that situation just fascinates me more than vampires ever do. With werewolves, there's the whole appeal of the civilization vs. wilderness battling it out within one person. And I that appeals to me, of the beast or the animal within the human being. Vampires are much too cultured and in control for my tastes. And there's the whole going-crazy-at-the-moon thing that I understand too well. The going-crazy-and-can't-help-it. |
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| Jun. 16th, 2008 @ 07:27 pm Review: The Happening | |||
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My first thoughts (pre full-blown analysis) on one of my favorite ( read more ) |
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| Jun. 12th, 2008 @ 07:01 pm JKR's PREQUEL finally online. | |||
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I feel:
Sure, it's not exactly Shakespeare and is quite fanficy, but who gives a flying butterbeer? It's Sirius riding around on his hot cycle. Holy Squee!!!!! Aw, man, I wish this were a whole book series. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHere it is: The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted,"Whoa!" Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail lights, vanished up the narrow side street. "We've got 'em now!" cried PC Anderson excitedly. "That's a dead end!" Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit. There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brickwall and the police car, which was now crawling towards them like some growling luminous-eyes predator. There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside. "Get off the bike!" he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it. They did as they were told, finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair, his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in t-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, timeless rock band. "No helmet!" Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. "Exceeding the speed limit by-by a considerable amount!" (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) "Failure to stop for the police!" "We'd have loved to stop for a chat," said the boy in glasses,"only we were trying--" "Don't get smart-you two are in a heap of trouble!" snarled Anderson. "Names!" "Names?" repeated the long-haired driver."Er-Well, let's see. There's Wilberforce...Bathsheba...Elvendork..." "And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy OR a girl," said the boy in glasses. "Oh, our names, did you mean?" asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage."You should've said! This here is James Potter, and I'm Sirius Black!" "Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little-" But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical, fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets. For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than- "Drumsticks?" jeered Anderson. "Right pair of jokers, aren't you? Right, we're arresting you on a charge of--" But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved. The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying-actually flying- up the alley on broomsticks-and at the same moment,the police car was rearing up on its back wheels. Fisher's knee bucked; as he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him, as flump-bang-crunch- they heard the mean on brooms slam into the suspended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them. The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers. "Thanks very much!" called Sirius over the throb of the engine."We owe you one!" "Yeah, nice meeting you!" said James. "And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!" There was an earth-shaking crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into thin air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby. From the prequel I am not working on-but that was fun! J.K. Rowling.2008 |
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| Jun. 10th, 2008 @ 07:17 pm yawn. sigh. | |||
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I feel:
Current Books: Tik Tok of Oz, Heaven and Hell by John Jakes tiredCurrent Music: Doctor Who Theme Days Left of School: 8 Oh, God. It was so hot today. It broke a record high in the area at 97 degrees. It was like living in a hazy hot dream. Uck. We had the industrial fans going in the hallways, with all us teachers clutching our gauzy skirts to keep them from flying away. We also had all the lights in the school turned off (is dark actually cooler?). And we kept finding excuses to be in the shade when we had to be outside (for duty and gym) and in the computer lab (which has an air conditioner). I drank a ton of water and kept trying to mop myself. But it was so icky. And I didn't get to do my swim because they issued an emergency stand-by at school and tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings. And yet (I am watching the satellite on weather.com) the damn thing hasn't come yet. I'm psyched to see some storms. Not to mention that it will help to break the heat. I am so ready for this school year to be done. I am so tired. The kind of tired that is inside of your bones and muscles and into your skull. I know I have a million things to do, but I am so done. It just doesn't seem like summer unless you're around kids getting out of school, but man, those little delightful darlings really make it so that you don't miss them very much during those months. Fighting and fighting with them to behave and do their math and reading. Ugh. I just want the lazy days of summer, of going swimming and then reading in the hot sun all day and doing nothing because nothing needs doing. My room is a gross mess. And I really need a dentist and eye appointment. |
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| Jun. 9th, 2008 @ 08:36 pm happy swimmy | ||||||
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I feel:
 hotCurrent Music: Am I Wrong by Love Spit Love
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| Jun. 2nd, 2008 @ 08:58 pm he he he | |||
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| May. 30th, 2008 @ 04:45 pm reflections on the season finale of Lost, and season four as a whole... | |||
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| May. 30th, 2008 @ 04:34 pm first one down! | |||
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I feel:
It was warm today and I spent it at school mostly outside (for a Memorial Day Celebration and then we took the kids out for behaving), so I decided to put on my suit and go down to the pond. Ma told me not to go across without her in the kyakk ("you get a cramp and hypothermia and you'll drown"). But once I got in that water, I just couldn't help myself. I went all the way over, took a quick break sitting on a rock, and came back. Man, I love that pond, even though it has a bad reputation for being kinda gross. I'm no frou frou. It just brought back all my happy memories of swimming across last year. Swimming is my absolute favorite excersise. It's just so relaxing. And its so easy because I don't have to haul my chunk around. ecstaticCurrent Music: Epica We Will Take You With Us My goal is to beat last year's record of 35. I got a month's head-start. |
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| May. 29th, 2008 @ 05:11 pm in which I revist Enya | |||
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When I was in Junior High, I totally gave up trying to be a normal kid. I was really reborn into full geekhood. I got smart and nerdy and just embraced the fact that I was wierd. I read and went to drama club instead of sports. I watched I Dream of Jeannie and I Love Lucy instead of Friends and Sienfield. But, I remember most signifficantly, listening to George Winston and Enya on my walkman, throwing out my Boyz to Men cd. I remember being found out on that one. And being embarassed. But I also just remember being very happy in Junior High because I really felt that I had found myself and was comfortable in who I was. Not overly, but just enough. Yes, Enya. The woman who started me along a complicated musical path down the road paved with foreign languages, bizarre instruments, symphonies, eretheral voices. While my peers were listening to pop music and ska, I was listening to Enya and Pure Moods and Secret Garden and the soundtrack to Titanic (the voice on which I though originally was Enya, but was really only meant to sound like her). She started it all. My love for Euro-pop music, New Age, soundtracks, techno music, and eventually Symphonic Goth Rock all began with listening to Enya. I still enjoy her. Her voice is one of the most beautiful, eretheral, mystical ever. It's haunting. I've always loved voices like that. Her songs and voice seem to sing of a magical world, and a very beautiful, pastorale, yet bittersweet one. (She's a fan of Maxfield Parrish, and it shows.) In fact, because I got her Day Without Rain when I got Harry Potter books 3 and 4, and I listened to it on repeat while reading them, her music is an essential soundtrack for one of my favorite fandoms/ocds (particularly Wild Child, which sounds like the perfect theme song). Enya's Top Ten Songs: 1. Wild Child 2. Somebody Said Goodbye * 3. Book of Days 4. China Roses 5. Anywhere Is 6. I Want Tomorrow 7. Sun in the Stream 8. Boadicea 9. Caribbean Blue 10. Tea House Moon *this fan-made video is better than most of the HP movies! |
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| May. 28th, 2008 @ 07:26 pm "I didn't know there were many land mines left in Narnia."--MST3K | |||
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Current Music: Epica We Will Take You With Us
A nostalgic diatribe on Narnia, one of my most favorite books, and with review of Prince Caspian. |
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| May. 28th, 2008 @ 05:13 pm a week with the Sisterhood of the Fae | |||
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I feel:
 nostalgicCurrent Music: Blackmore's Night The Village Lanterne "If my friends jumped off a bridge, yes, yes I would." --Billie Last week, my sisters (my college suitemates) all converged on Vermont. Jess and her beau Seth came up from Rhode Island. Billie and Mike (alpha male of the sisterhood) and their spawn Emmy came up from Ohio. They stayed in a crazy, stiffleing retreat house in Ludlow. Hez, her spawn Bethy, and her hus Mark and Ann all were around, too. Sunday, I met Hez's family over at Denny's all the way in Rutland. Some reason, this became a tradition. After spending three hours in there (which included playing with the baby with the most beautiful blue eyes ever, and changing her on the table) waiting for other people to show up, and then being disgusted by the greasey fare that is Denny's, we decided to bury that tradition. Eventually, Ann showed up. And so, we Vermonters went bowling, where we changed Bethy on a table again. The score was: Reepicheep (Ann): 52 Trumpkin (Kelsey): 74 Lucy (Hez): 102 Not Lumpy (Mark): 122Can you guess who brought their own bowling balls and bowling shoes?  the sisters dressed in the most conservative costumes ever!Then we all went over to Ludlow to hang out with Jess and drink tea and eventually Mike and Billie and giant Emmy showed up. Mike attacked me, tossed his child around, and somehow refrained himself from biting my neck. Also, as this was the only time the whole week we were all together, I got a picture of all of us! Also, I got to play with my super cute, super sweet, and super awesome niece and nephew (who also got to play with each other). Me: I am a bad influence. Bill: We didn’t expect any different. me eating restaurant decour. just like old time!Monday, they all came over (I believe there was some major freaking out before it) to my house. Babies! And then we went out to eat at Lui Lui's. There were babies on the table there, too.  the PisaLesters and their new quiltJess, Mike, Bills, and Em came back to my house to hang for a while. I gave Em the quilt (all geeky and very symbolic, with Harry Potter, Charmed, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Faeries for us, crows for Bill, wolves for Mike) I made him for his Wiccanning/Rutebaga. Mike played with Chi Chi's GI Joes. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’ll beat you for that later.”—Jess “She jumped a mile—DON’T MAKE OUT WITH HIM!” –me to Jess as she licks Obi-Wan’s neck Tuesday, we charged over (through unfortunate rain) to Rutland for Emmy's Wiccaning/Rutebaga (we had to call it the later as a code word, ala Charmed because of the nun in the house). The Wiccanning was beautiful and very touching, despite the multitude of mosquitoes in attendence and the rain. But I was very glad to be there. "We need to get drunk and discuss Deathly Hallow's horrifying deaths and watch some Leo tosses."  Emmy like camera! Bethy finds it the height of entertaining when I blink at her like a cat.Wendseday we mostly spent trying to figure out what the plan was for the rest of the week. It was the most challenging logic puzzel ever! We did eat pizza and Hez finally got her peanut butter pie! More playing with cuties!  Yes, we were the ones screaming at the screen. The baby was innocent.Thursday, most of us got together. My baby-starved parents got to babysit (oh, god, I'll never hear the end of how much they miss Emmy and want one of their own). We got some quick dinner at Stubb's. We gals (and Mark) headed off for PRINCE CASPIAN. Really, the fates in so many ways were against the rest of the theater audience. First of all, it's us. Second, we haven't been together or seen a movie together in a long time, so we were wired. And thirdly, we don't behave well in movies, especially movies based on beloved books that we've read a million times since childhood. We act bad in Harry Potter movies, but Narnia movies seem to bring out something worse in us. And we get into trouble. Well, one idiot "shhed" us. Hey, going to a movie based on a book is a social experience. It's more like going to a baseball game than the theater. You have to cheer Reepicheep and scream, "NO! that's wrong!" when Caspian macks on Susan, and cat-call the centaurs and Trumpkin, and sigh sadly when Edmund loses his torch.   And then we ran around crazy in the parking lot. Blasted Within Temptation in the car home. Then we looked everywhere for Sparks, to no avail. But went home and watched some Charmed (Leo tosses, sexy tormented Chris, Cole tormented by bitch Phoebe) with Emmy (who played with the boxes and check out the hot chicks, just like his dead ol' dad). What a frigging great (though thoroughly exhausting) week! Sigh, have I mentioned how much I love my sisters? these chicks are my frigging soulmates! There must have been something special in my stars to be so fated to meet such bloody awesome people in college. Not only to have so much in common (seriously), but also to be as thoroughly insane as me. Damnit, I miss them so much! Next time, we are going to make sure that we have our Yule Ball and get into costume!! |
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| May. 27th, 2008 @ 06:42 pm Camping and Gardening | |||
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I feel:
I am so behind on this journal. So much happened in the past week. I'll start with the most recent first. I was very sick all day Friday. I just lay in bed watching my overdue rentals and crawling out of bed to pee. I am still full of snot and I am facing a repeat of last year when I lost my voice. But I did feel better on Saturday and went yard saling with my family. I didn't find much, but my treasures include some picture frames, a Titanic documentary series, some DVDs.  okayCurrent Music: Blackmore's Night Then we went to the Ascutney State Park for fresh and cold air in the very green woods. I curled up and read mostly. There was a fire up on the mountain as a VW bus apparently burst into flames and burned a truck with a canoe down. Exciting. We were in the same leanto as last year, which was interesting. Chi Chi was being a firebug and burned all our firewood prematurally. We played hearts into the night. There was a Phoebe bird nesting in the leanto. And there were some obnoxious drunks swearing and roistering long into the night, apparently (I was so sick I slept like a log). The next day, Chi Chi, Ma, and I (after too many pancakes) went hiking up the Weathersfield trail to Little Cascade Falls and a nice little look-out on Mt. Ascutney. I did pretty well despite being chewed alive by black flies and wearing skater shoes (with fuzz on the bottom) and barely being able to breathe due to snot and having two people have dreams recently about me falling off a cliff. It was a fun and beautiful hike. Chi Chi climbed the whole mountain and back down. He left, and we went for creamies! And then we had a nice fire and decided to pack up and go sleep in comfy warm beds. Me: stop poking my butt. Dad: I thought it was a marshmellow. Dad: [burp] It was a grouse. Chi Chi: You're right, it was gross. Me: [playing hearts] I dealt it. Dad: and smelt it. Chi Chi: [on seeing Dad hobbling out of woods dripping toothpaste] a rabid bear! Pictures below the cut of the hike up the trail and also of my garden shortly after it all got planted. ( Pictures! ) |
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| May. 26th, 2008 @ 12:25 pm Books 21-40 of the year. Goal=100. Red=Recommended | |||
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I feel:
 full of snotCurrent Music: Prince Caspian soundtrack 21. Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse (174 pages) 22. Fluke by Christopher Moore (321 pages) 23. Charmed: As Puck Would Have It by Paul Ruditis (222 pages) 24. The Giver by Lois Lowry (184 pages) 25. Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi (310 pages) 26. Sinking of the Titanic Eyewitness Accounts Edited by Jay Henry Mowbray (287 pages) 27 and 35. More Letters from a Nut and Extra Nutty by Ted L. Nancy (150 pages) 28. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (148 pages) 29. The Forestwife by Theresa Tomlinson (170 pages) 30. Three Rules for Writing a Novel by William Noble (378 pages) 31. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (214 pages) 32. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (132 pages) 33. By a Lady by Amanda Elyot (372 pages) 34. Jane Austen for Dummies by Joan Klingel Ray (362 pages) 36. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck (193 pages) 37. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (100 pages) 38. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (108 pages) 39. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (292 pages) 40. Why I Love The Phantom Menace and Shroud of the Dark Side: Analysis of the Myth and Meaning of Attack of the Clones(200 pages) by D. Trull (online)( Read more... ) |
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