26 February 2007

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Does anyone else listen to this band? I'm loving their new album right now. Especially "Satan Said Dance," which you can hear by going here.

A caution: if you don't like weird voices and electronic music, please don't listen to the song. You will not enjoy it. And you will be angry with me for wasting your time. And I really like you and want you to stick around.

My pity party has dulled a bit in severity, only because I just got an email from a friend who I haven't seen in, almost 2 years? Say it ain't so! She found me through the wonders of the internet, and hopefully I will see her soon. I should really reply to her email instead of just talking about it on the web.

UPDATE: The link to my Myspace page no longer has the song mentioned above. Now it's got Peter Bjorn and John. Also a band I'm in love with at the moment.

Pity party

I've just come to the horrifying realization that I have no idea what I want to do with this life of mine. I know I've written this before, but it's a recurring theme in my life and if this blog is about anything, it's about what's going on in my head.

I decided to poke around at different universities in the area to get a feel for what's out there in terms of graduate study. I've had a few ideas of what I'd like to maybe try out, but there's nothing that's jumped out at me and made a great impression. In order to even think about applying to graduate school at most places, I'll need to have three good reference letters from professors. At this point, I know of one professor who worked with me almost three years ago. I was not motivated in my college life to make friends with professors, so I don't have much to go on. That means that the free classes I can take at the university where I work will have to give me ample opportunity to meet and kiss professors' asses. Can I do that with a full-time job? Do I even want to?

Again, nothing in a graduate catalog really tells me that I want to try for it. I'd much rather find a job that I love than study some more, although I've always thought that the Sound Recording Technology program at Texas State (formally Southwest Texas) sounded so interesting. But I never thought I could do something like that. Nowadays I still feel like most things are probably beyond my reach, and if the music department at Texas State tells me this is too, I think it'll take me a while to bounce back.

I apologize for this rambling post, but a flood of emotions is hiding behind my eyes right now, and typing is the only thing I can do to keep from breaking down at work. I can't stand administrative duties; I hate being cooped up doing something I don't like for pay that barely helps me get by. I don't want to continue down this road, and yet I don't know what road would be best for me. When I make my next move, it needs to be one I have little or no reservations about. I can't afford to spend the next few years walking down a path that, in the end, holds no pot of gold.

I guess the bottom line is that I'm terrified of the future. I've told people that I'm interested in certain things, but that's usually just been to give them something to hear (and give me something to say). Now I'm realizing how hard anything I try to do will be. And I'm a bit discouraged.

Sorry gang. Hopefully tomorrow's post will be brighter.

22 February 2007

Uninspired

Hi. Lately I haven't had much interesting happen to me, so I guess I'll just talk about some things that have entered my mind in the past few days.

On Monday I had an appointment to give blood. I'd only done this once before in my life, and that was for extra credit in a biology class. And I would have sold my soul for extra credit in that biology class because people, I'm not that good at science. Anyway, we (my roommate and I) walk into the donor clinic about 5 minutes before my appointment. The lady at the reception desk stood up to greet us with a very nice "Hi, how are you doing today?" To which I replied, "Fine, how are you?" To which she replied, "Are you here to save a life today?" To which I replied with a chuckle and "Well, I have a 6 o'clock appointment, so.." It was an awkward moment, because for once I just couldn't contain the laughter at the statement. How do I respond to that? "Yes, I'm here to be better than most human beings and give blood so that others may live." Sure, that's what I was thinking, but who in their right mind would actually say that? Damn, I should have said that.

I recently renewed my vehicle registration through the mail. Well, recently means yesterday. And it goes out at the end of this month. Oh well. As I was sitting at work doing my bills (because there was NOTHING to do at work earlier this week), I looked through all of the little leaflets they stuff in the vehicle registration envelope. Turns out that for $30-$40 I could have gotten a license plate that said "God Bless America" or "God Bless Texas" or my personal favorite, "Fight Terrorism." Actually, I can't remember right now if it said "Fight" or "Stop," but you get the idea. I wasn't surprised that TXDOT would have something like this, but it still shocked me nonetheless. It just seemed to me like a very loud declaration that "this state loves our President and he can do no wrong!" Ugh.

I'm currently putting off my i312 homework. I hope you guys follow that link and see that I now have two blogs. What fun.

I'll hopefully be able to post a bit more in the future, but lately these days have been dragging me down. I hope everyone's doing well.

19 February 2007

Summer's here!!

Well, maybe not. But I sure do have some great summer vibrations going on. I just walked to Jamba Juice and got drinks for all of us at work. And it's bea-u-ti-ful out there. The sun is out, the wind is blowing, winter has left us; at least for the next few days.

Now, when I saw winter I'm obviously not talking about real winter. Although there was that time we had snow that stayed on the ground for an hour or two. In fact, most would probably call our winter fall. But to me, a native Texan, it's winter. Because I had to walk to work in temperatures below 40 degrees many, many days (approx. 20). Way too many days for my comfort.

So the moral of this entry is this: I'm beginning to realize that I'm a true Texan. Because the moment the weather started to get warmer, my mood lightened. I'm sure part of this mood enhancement is due to the protein boost I got in my Caribbean Passion, but people, I like warm weather. I don't really like sweating on my way to work, but I love sitting on the porch after work, going to baseball games, driving with my windows down, and whatever else comes with summer. I love it. And I'm ready.

On death and tea

Saturday I went to the funeral of a woman I've known, well, I guess most of my life. She was a member of the church I grew up in, and was in the church choir (of which I was also a member). In recent years I've gone to church less and less, so I haven't see her too much lately. She had an aneurysm (I can't believe I spelled that word right the first time) early last week, and died on Wednesday. As she wasn't a relative and, like I said, I hadn't seen her in a while, I wasn't too torn up about it when I found out. Just sad. But getting to the church and seeing others crying in the choir loft really got to me. Seeing her husband got me even more. I just don't like funerals or death. I'd very much appreciate it if life could get rid of those sometime soon.

For no reason at all, the boyfriend gave me a gift on Friday night. Yes, that's right. No reason at all. He's of the opinion that he doesn't need a day to love me more, and I'm perfectly happy with that. Especially when he gives me gifts for no reason at all.

He gave me the new Shins cd, "Wincing the Night Away." If you're a Shin's fan at all, you'll probably poop a brick over this cd. It's good. It's different; not every song is Shins-y. They've expanded their horizons, it would seem.

My friend gave me Belle and Sebastian's "The Life Pursuit" the other day and it's been all I can listen too. With, of course, the exception of the present given to me for no reason at all. I just can't get over how all over the place it is and how they've managed to make every song perfect.

On tea, well, there's a song on "The Life Pursuit" called "For the P***e of a Cup of Tea" that keeps getting stuck in my head. Also, I've had a few cups of green tea with honey lately, and they've been rather soothing. Especially because they come out of my Office Space mug.

15 February 2007

Bleh

I stayed home sick today. When this happens I sometimes think that I'll begin to feel better halfway through the day and then I'll clean my room, wash the dishes, do LOTS of GRE studying, watch my Netflix movie--you know, productive things. But no. I sit and watch The Empire Strikes Back, Broadcast News, and The Family Stone. The Family Stone made me cry. It's a sad movie, but I shouldn't have bawled that much. I just tend to get emotional when I'm feeling sick, and this damn movie exploited that. Assholes.

This Wendy's commercial with the "trophy burger" is a bit ridiculous. They have a shot of beauty queens (are they called that anymore) holding a bacon mushroom melt like they're actually going to eat it. Yeah, right. You don't get to be a beauty queen by eating bacon burgers. You don't be to be a beauty queen by eating any burgers. Well, if you have my metabolism you don't.

Tina Fey's trying to be nice on 30 Rock. I really like this show.

I hope everyone had a good Thursday. Make sure your Friday is awesome, ok?

14 February 2007

Not much

Sorry. It's been an uneventful few days, and I think I'm coming down with something that resembles sickness. For now, this link will have to do.

I'll try to post more tonight when I've ensconced (Kim's word) myself with GRE books. I'm sure I'll need many, many breaks.

13 February 2007

12 February 2007

Flock of Dodos

I, my roommate, and apparently my friend Casey, went to go see Flock of Dodos. If you follow the link you'll get a basic understanding of what the film is about, but basically it's a documentary about the debate over what to teach in public schools: evolution or intelligent design. I've always thought that intelligent design came down to nothing more than revamped creationism, and this film basically agrees. It was made by an evolutionist, but he in no way insults or assaults believers of intelligent design personally. (So basically, he's a lot easier to listen to than Michael Moore.) He concedes that intelligent design advocates are actually more personable than evolution scientists, which is one of the reasons intelligent design has taken such a hold of our country.

Anyway, I shouldn't delve too much further into it. I'll just say that I went in to the screening believing in evolution, and I left it believing in evolution. If I had believed in intelligent design before seeing the documentary, I'd probably not have changed my mind either. I doubt the meaning of the film was to sway the viewers; I think it served its purpose of presenting the debate fairly. And I highly recommend that you find a way to see it.

New Link

I added a link to the side bar; wanted to tell you about it.

Daily Monster

Random

I'm feeling random today, so here's a random post for all of my (i.e. 8) loyal readers:

Last night my roommate and I went to The Moulin Rouge Singalong at the Alamo. (By the by, if you don't live in Austin, you're missing the greatest movie theater of all time. I suggest you move here right away.) Obviously, one would need to be a fan of this movie to go to the singalong; hell, to even watch the movie more than once you'd have to be in love with it. Which I am, forever and always.

Anyway, we go and are warming up our vocal cords with large Cokes. The movie begins. There's the 20th Century Fox part, the overture (I LOVE overtures, by the way), and then John Leguizamo is on the screen. He begins singing. We, the audience, begin singing (as you're wont to do at a singalong). The woman beside me sighs, looks around, and shakes her head. As in, "I can't believe people are singing already." IT'S A SINGALONG, LADY!! Obviously she (nor anyone in her party) has ever seen the movie before. Lord knows why she chooses to come to the singalong. Then, THEN, near the end of the movie, just as Nicole is about to collapse and die, she leans to me and asks, "What's that actor's name? The main guy?" (A collective gasp should be happening right now, unless you're my wonderful friend Marci, who doesn't see a lot of movies) A part of me dies. But I answer, "Ewan McGregor." Then Nicole dies, Ewan cries, and the crazy lady next to me just says, "Aww." Yeah, aww. THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE JUST DIED. Aww's a bit of an understatement.

On to something else, I just signed up for the GRE. My date of execution truth will be March 10. PLEASE wish me luck.

Earlier I found some joy in the fact that the Office Depot delivery guy recognized me outside of the office. Granted, I met him in the building I work in, but it's always nice to know that people you see everyday through business actually do remember you if you're not behind a desk and computer. Our UPS guy (James) remembered me in a coffee shop, and one of the Physical Plant guys remembered me after I'd left my old job, where he'd seen me constantly. I saw him about a month after I'd started my new job, and he wished me luck. I was happy all day after that encounter.

I'm glad these minor occurrences bring me joy. Otherwise life would be dull indeed.

10 February 2007

Updates

I am currently scanning my computer for viruses with Symantec. I normally use PC-cillin, and have been enamored with it. It does its job and stays out of my way, which is exactly what you want in a virus protection program, right? I hate it when programs are all, "I'm protecting your computer and you should know about it, because I'm doing my job well and I deserve some respect and admiration. I won't let you do your work until you acknowledge that I'm saving your ass every single day."

Anyway, I'm having to install and run Symantec for the class I'm taking (the link to the website I'm building for it is over on the right). I thought about asking the instructor if I could just skip that step and keep my PC-cillin going, but I decided to run Symantec anyway. If only to prove that PC-cillin's been kicking virus butt all this time.

The Symantec scan isn't pulling up anything so far. If it finds no viruses, I'm uninstalling that bitch and enabling PC-cillin again (sorry about the B word Mom).

Speaking of Mom, I was corrected last night. Concerning this post: my mother told me that growing up, baseball and basketball were a big part of her life. I had known about the baseball; she's told me about when she kept up with the Yankees. That's when they were the good guys, with players like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Apparently she also kept up with basketball, because that's when people like Wilt Chamberlain were playing. So this recent surge in basketball watching is nothing new to her. It's just new and wonderful to me.

I like finding things like that out about my parents. I guess it allows me to see more of myself in them than before.

Seventeen minutes in to the scan and nothing found. Looks like PC-cillin's sticking around and Symantec's getting kicked to the curb.

09 February 2007

Metabolism

It bothers me to no end when I see skinny people eating more than one pastry in one sitting. Because we all know they won't gain ONE ounce. I drink some water, and all of a sudden my jeans need to be two sizes bigger.

I imagine that at one time my metabolism did more than just take up space in my body. I'm sure it actually worked, and worked hard, since as a kid I was a decent size for a while. Then I discovered Cheetos. I don't remember when I started to gain weight, but by the time I got my braces and contacts, I was ready to lose some of that "baby fat." That was at the end of elementary school.

Through high school I kept the weight off, and I thought I was going to be one of the lucky many that didn't have to work out every single minute to keep my figure. Then college hit. And the infamous 15 pounds that all freshman seem to be required to gain hit me like a ton of bricks. Right in the thighs.

I haven't been able to shake it since. I've grown to not hate my body. Definitely not loving it, but at least I don't hate it like I used to. I work out as much as I can and I only have fries and extensive amounts of fried food every once in a while. I'm not losing any weight at this moment, but I think my muscle might be on its way to taking up more space than my fat.

Anyway, people with speedy metabolism intrigue and frustrate me at the same time. I'll never know what that feels like again, to eat whatever the hell I want and not gain weight. Then again, it might be better that I'm not able to eat lots of junk at once. I'll just stick with one donut every few months, thanks.

07 February 2007

Ooooohhh Yeahhhhhh!!!!

I've been breathless all morning. I got the official email from the official Astros saying that they're officially giving the email list recipients an early crack at buying OFFICIAL OPENING DAY TICKETS.

On April 2, I will be sitting in a seat at Minute Maid park with an overpriced beer in one hand and a jumbo hot dog in the other. And I will take lots of pictures and maybe even some videos. And I will probably shed a tear when thinking that Jeff won't be playing this game anymore.

It's become a small tradition, going to Opening Day. Two years ago I experienced my first opening day with some friends who happened to have an extra ticket. These boys thought of me when that ticket opened, and that still warms my heart. A year ago we carpooled from Austin to Houston, stopping for greasy food and occasionally singing along to classic rock and Ryan Adams. Another part of the group met us at Minute Maid, and our row was complete. It was great, especially because we got to see them uncover the 2005 National League Champions addition to the left field wall.

This year, I'm expecting a smaller group. I'm not bummed about this in the least, because I know that whenever I'm at a ballpark I feel incredible. It's an amazing feeling that just washes over me when I step into a park and can smell the dirt and grass. I just know that this year, this year's going to be great. And my Astros are going all the way.

06 February 2007

I am speechless



Emmitt, I love you.

By the by

I'm trying to figure out an easier way to archive my posts on the side. Currently, it's by dates only, and that's the default of this template. I don't know enough html to know how to do that, so if you have some advice I'd appreciate it.

I'd really prefer to have it set up so that people can click on what year they want, then what month, then what post. And I'd rather have the post names, not dates. If nothing else, I'd just like to have that; the post names instead of dates.

Any ideas? Would this be a ton of work?

UPDATE:

Casey let me know how to do what I wanted to do. In order to do that though, I needed to "upgrade" my blog. Which means that I can't edit my template in html as I know it. Now I have to know how to do widgets, which we all know I won't learn. This is silly. I'm moving to Wordpress soon.

My mother

If you know me, you know how much of a momma's girl I am. Don't get me wrong; I love my father dearly, and wouldn't trade my life with him for the world. My mom, though, has always been my best friend, even when I called others that. Even when I didn't want to talk to anyone (we all know those years), I always wanted to have my mom around for when I felt vulnerable or sick or whatever. Nowadays I realize that I've grown into seeing her as someone who I can talk to about anything. And while she may not like everything I choose to talk about or do, she's always telling me that I should do what I want; whatever makes me happy (my father does too, I shouldn't leave him out of that one).

I'm setting up a story here, but to really make it awesome I need to tell you something else. Growing up, I went to church every Sunday. My mom plays piano for the choir, and when I was a kid she also co-directed the children's choir. I always thought my parents were God fearing, but later in life I learned that my dad actually went through a time of questioning. Which, of course, made me feel better because by that time I was already on my way to leaving religion. I vaguely spoke to my mom about this, but I never got the feeling that she questioned her beliefs. If she did, she never expressed it. So when my parents began NOT going to church every Sunday, I was surprised. But, then again, they've opened my eyes in recent years. First they were world travelers, then RV owners, then Airstream rebuilders and owners, and now, now they're Texas A&M basketball fans. My dad's an Aggie, which of course means that my mom's an Aggie. I grew up around Aggie football, which is where my love of the sport comes from, but there wasn't a lot of Aggie basketball happening in the house.

Cut to this past Saturday. My parents are watching A&M play Kansas. I believe that A&M was ranked #8 and Kansas #6, but don't quote me on that. Suffice it to say that A&M was a bit of an underdog. Apparently it was a really good game, coming down to the wire. My parents are, of course, freaking out, because all of a sudden they're Aggie basketball fans. My dad's pacing (that's where I got it from!), and my mom has her head down on the kitchen table. She's nervous. So nervous, in fact, that she thinks to herself (my MOM!) that if the Aggies win she'll go to church the next day. And they win. And she kept her word, even taking my dad along. These are people who used to get me up every Sunday morning. I think it's hilarious.

Meanwhile, my dear niece, the first baby I held that was related to me (that I can remember), doesn't know who Prince is. She apparently said something like, "Who was that guy in the halftime show?" I wanted to cry. Are kids that out of touch with real musicians these days? Or am I just getting old?

02 February 2007

Replacement post

I'm not sure how many of you were able to sell your soul to Blogger in order for my page to load yesterday, but you should know that I took it down. It was all political and stuff, and it was written while my blood was still boiling a bit. I should know a)never to post political stuff, because I might alienate readers and I wouldn't like that, and b)never write political stuff (if it's necessary to write it in the first place) while in the throes of anger. I thought the fact that there were no comments illustrated that no one agreed with me, but then I found out that one friend couldn't load my page all freakin' day. That's just silly, Blogger. You should know better than to do that to a PMSing woman. (By "PMSing woman" I mean me. My friend could be, but we haven't updated each other in that field)

Here's a synopsis, since I hate it when people talk about things they did but then took down and I never saw it so I have no idea what they're talking about. I received an email forward that basically ranted about legal and illegal immigrants and how they're destroying America. And I got all angry because I'm of the belief that the immigrants themselves aren't the real problem, the employers who hire them are. So I ranted about how employers are the ones who should be blamed for destroying America, not the immigrants who come to work. And then I took a shot at Republicans, but everyone should have seen that coming. Because that's how I roll. (For the record, I like that we have Republicans in this world; too much of the same would be boring)

That's that. You didn't miss much if you didn't see the post, and if you did see the post and you hate me now because you're a Bush/Perry fan, maybe we shouldn't talk politics. We can still talk other things, especially if you're a WILCO fan.

In other news, nothing much has happened to me lately. I've been incredibly tired but I think that might be due to the fact that I don't eat wonderfully healthy stuff all the time and I tend to be a night owl. I see all of these skinny, energetic people all around me. It usually happens that they're vegetarians, and I wonder if I'll ever get to the point where I'll give up meat (beautiful, tasty meat) in order to try to lose weight. And then I wonder why the hell I want to lose so much weight in the first place, because as long as I'm healthy and exercising, what's the big problem? The boyfriend loves me the way I am, and that's worth more than a size 2 garment.

That's how my mind has been working lately, just hopping from thought to thought. Sort of making sense, but not extremely cohesive.

Here's what I'm going to do after work: SLEEP. I wish everyone sweet dreams for whenever your head hits the pillow.

30 January 2007

Daily Themes

So I'm in a posting mood today. Technically I'm starting this entry at 11:55 on Tuesday, but I might not get it posted until after 12:00 AM Wednesday. We'll see.

Lately it seems that life has been giving me themed days. A few days ago I was thinking a bit about death and everything that goes along with it. I think I'd had a dream about dying and had woken up a little shaken by it. Then I noticed that Fringes had a post about death. And THEN I saw the first of many front page articles about the Pitonyak case that concluded today. If you haven't kept up with it, just know that there was some gruesome death associated with that case, and reading the details shook me to the core. I just couldn't get rid of this fear that maybe that was going to happen to me, and I should really be careful about who I encounter in my life. (That's just a silly fear, but still, I'm happy with my little group of sane friends)

Today's theme seemed to be sleep; or lack thereof. I had a weird night last night, going to bed rather early. I woke up in the middle of the night, used the bathroom, came back to my bed to discover that I'd fallen asleep with my laptop by my side, plugged it in to charge, and then promptly fell right back asleep. I woke to my alarm thinking "What the hell? Didn't I just go to sleep?"

To continue this theme, my friend Becks wrote a post about her rather eventful night of dreams that seemed to interrupt her sleep cycle. Then the boyfriend told me that he barely slept last night due to a bit of nervousness about something that was to happen today.

Finally, I saw a Lunestra (no link, sorry--I'm tired and want to finish this) ad which, I thought, illustrated insomnia rather well. An ex of mine had (still has, I guess) insomnia something awful, so I can definitely say that of the many things I'm thankful for, not having insomnia is definitely one of them. I LOVE to sleep, and I simply can't imagine not having that one true escape from a stressful life.

The whole point of this post is to wonder if life has themes like this and I'm just tuned in to them for some reason, or if I'm just making all of these links up because I over analyze. Do you ever have days like this? When it almost seems silly to NOT take note of consistencies?

I've also gotta say that I love what Rolling Rock is doing with their ad campaign. They're airing apologies for ads that are apparently so contraversial that they can't air them on TV. Of course I fall for it and go to their website, but come on! A party gorilla AND men in a office wearing thongs? (you don't see the thongs, for the jackets cover everything) I'll fall for those two things any time.

Oh man

Second post today, so scroll down a bit if this is your first visit for Jan. 30.

Someone needs to remind me that I have no business getting a Pomeranian puppy in the Texas heat with my schedule. Because the video below makes me want to retire and watch Pomeranian puppies all day long.