We went to see The Decemberists here in DC on Sunday night. It was fantastic. Interestingly, I had always imagined the lead singer to be very thin and wispy, and maybe somewhat sickly looking, I guess because of his high reedy voice. In actuality he's not wispy at all and is quite down-to-earth. I had no expectations of the other band members, so can't say how they compared to my imagination. All in all, I had a great time, especially now that I'm off the blasted 8:45-5:30 schedule, which meant I could sleep in after my late night and still make it to work on time.
If you don't know who The Decemberists are, you should go to the web site linked above and then download their music from whatever entirely legal venue you prefer. They are from Oregon, which automatically makes them slightly cooler than they might otherwise have been.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Happy Halloween and shiznit like that
I'm a lamer. I can't think of much to say on this, the most hallowed of eves, because unfortunately I'm at work. Although to be fair, I probably wouldn't be able to think of anything even if I weren't. So the orginal plan for this evening, and believe me there was a plan, was to do something really wild and unusual tonight, such as watch The Shining on the DVD. But alas, my boss got sick and I graciously volunteered to swap evening shifts with her (read: saw which way the wind was blowing yesterday afternoon, and decided that if I didn't want to end up having to work an 11-hour day today I'd better offer to switch).
So pretty much all I have to offer are links tonight. But if you're reading this you probably don't have a lot else going on anyway, so I don't feel too bad for you.
I wish I had thought to scan some of my Halloween pictures from childhood, but who really cares anyway? It's an awful lot of work for a crappy blog no one reads (there I go, feeling sorry for myself again). However, the last link has given me an idea (you see how stream-of-consciousness this blog is? I don't even know what I'm going to say until I sit here and type it. Polished, professional writing is for pantywaists!) (And also, do you see how uncreative and unoriginal I am? All I do is steal ideas from other people.)
Oh, anyway, the idea is to make a list of all the Halloween costumes I've worn. I don't even know how many of them I'll remember but here we go.
Age 5ish?: Clown, I think. I'm pretty sure there was a clown in there somewhere. It would have been my brother's old costume that I wore.
Age 6: Cheerleader. I made my mother special order me a cheerleader costume from Sears (or possibly it was JC Penney). My early obsession with cheerleaders and cheerleading in general remains an embarrassing blight on my otherwise pro-feminist record.
Age 7: ?
Age 8: Was a freaky sort of Buckwheat-esque vampire. I really need to find the pictures for these. Wore an old wig my brother had.
Age 9: Flapper. Wore an old dress with flapper fringe my mom let me use for playing dress-up.
Age 10: Punk rocker. This was the Madonna era, in which dressing as a "punk" meant buying a can of pink glittery hair spray and wearing jelly bracelets and fishnet tights.
Age 11: ?
Age 12: I believe this was the year of Beetlejuice.
Age 13: Last year trick-or-treating; dressed as a jester, and made my mother sew the costume from scratch (with a pattern, of course).
I didn't really dress up for Halloween for the rest of teenager-dom. I resumed sporadically in the college and post-college years.
Age 19: Wednesday Adams.
Age 20: Dead prom queen. I don't know.
Age 21: Swing dancer.
Age 25: Butterfly.
Age 27: Pirate.
Last year I was going to dress up as a Canadian, but as it was 70-some-odd degrees outside I threw a mental temper tantrum and refused to celebrate such a clearly Autumnal tradition in such a clearly back-asswards non-Autumnal climate. This year I just couldn't be bothered with the whole thing in the end. Being an adult is so mind-numbingly dull. (And by the way, the high today was 75, in case you were wondering.)
So pretty much all I have to offer are links tonight. But if you're reading this you probably don't have a lot else going on anyway, so I don't feel too bad for you.
- This one has been making the rounds. The yoda costume in particular makes me want to simultaneously laugh and give the poor dog a new home.
- My brother had the same clown costume made by my mother in the 70s. I guess it was the must-have clown pattern of the era.
I wish I had thought to scan some of my Halloween pictures from childhood, but who really cares anyway? It's an awful lot of work for a crappy blog no one reads (there I go, feeling sorry for myself again). However, the last link has given me an idea (you see how stream-of-consciousness this blog is? I don't even know what I'm going to say until I sit here and type it. Polished, professional writing is for pantywaists!) (And also, do you see how uncreative and unoriginal I am? All I do is steal ideas from other people.)
Oh, anyway, the idea is to make a list of all the Halloween costumes I've worn. I don't even know how many of them I'll remember but here we go.
Age 5ish?: Clown, I think. I'm pretty sure there was a clown in there somewhere. It would have been my brother's old costume that I wore.
Age 6: Cheerleader. I made my mother special order me a cheerleader costume from Sears (or possibly it was JC Penney). My early obsession with cheerleaders and cheerleading in general remains an embarrassing blight on my otherwise pro-feminist record.
Age 7: ?
Age 8: Was a freaky sort of Buckwheat-esque vampire. I really need to find the pictures for these. Wore an old wig my brother had.
Age 9: Flapper. Wore an old dress with flapper fringe my mom let me use for playing dress-up.
Age 10: Punk rocker. This was the Madonna era, in which dressing as a "punk" meant buying a can of pink glittery hair spray and wearing jelly bracelets and fishnet tights.
Age 11: ?
Age 12: I believe this was the year of Beetlejuice.
Age 13: Last year trick-or-treating; dressed as a jester, and made my mother sew the costume from scratch (with a pattern, of course).
I didn't really dress up for Halloween for the rest of teenager-dom. I resumed sporadically in the college and post-college years.
Age 19: Wednesday Adams.
Age 20: Dead prom queen. I don't know.
Age 21: Swing dancer.
Age 25: Butterfly.
Age 27: Pirate.
Last year I was going to dress up as a Canadian, but as it was 70-some-odd degrees outside I threw a mental temper tantrum and refused to celebrate such a clearly Autumnal tradition in such a clearly back-asswards non-Autumnal climate. This year I just couldn't be bothered with the whole thing in the end. Being an adult is so mind-numbingly dull. (And by the way, the high today was 75, in case you were wondering.)
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Here I am
Sorry about the absence, oh loyal 2.5 readers. Unfortunately, I still don't have much to say...I'm back at the old job, which is still boring but soothingly so - at least so far. I don't have the urge to beat myself senseless with any computer machinery yet, which I think is a good sign, but I am currently in the midst of my second back-to-back six day work week, so maybe things will have changed by Saturday.
I'm trying to think of something cool and Halloween-esque to blog about, but alas, nothing is coming to mind. You know, Halloween has slowly evolved into perhaps my favorite holiday, probably because it's so refreshingly juvenile, has no current religious affiliations, has no real family aspect (I don't feel pressured to spend a month's salary to fly home and see my parents on Halloween), and is a holiday built around these three things: a) dressing up in costume, b) scaring oneself (or others) silly for no apparent reason other than that it's fun, and c) giving and receiving vast quantities of candy, again for no apparent reason. Yay! It's better than St. Patrick's Day, another basically frivolous holiday, because while yes, drinking vast amounts of green beer can be enjoyable, where's the creativity? Like it's really that difficult to find a piece of green clothing to wear. And there is no candy involved, so end of story. New Years' Eve, which is the only other real non-religious holiday celebrated in North America that has no solemn aspect to it, also comes in behind Halloween for the lack of candy.
OMG, get this. I just found a Halloween meme, yo!
Halloween Meme
1. What is your favorite work of horror fiction?
I'm trying to think of something more original than Dracula. How about Turn of the Screw, by Henry James? Freaked the shit out of me. I'm on the waiting list for Scott Smith's The Ruins, which I hear is poop-your-pants scary.
2. What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?
Hmm, it's been awhile since I've read anything in either genre. I guess I would go with 1984, although I think it fits better into dystopia fiction, but whatever.
3. What is your favorite monster?
Well, if we're talking generically, I would have to say vampires. They are the shit. (I seem to be scatalogically-focused this evening. Sorry.) They sleep in coffins, they suck blood, and they can turn into bats, wolves, and mist. I'm sorry, what else can do that? Plus they're sexy.
4. What horror movie gives you the most chills?
Well, for sheer post-traumatic stress syndrome terror, I would have go with The Ring, which haunted me for weeks. I think it was because of the disconcerting images, which have a tendency to stay with me, particularly in the middle of the night when I have to pee. They have since been milked to the point of ridiculousness in all the Japanese horror remake movies, but I still avoid them for the sake of unterrified sleep.
5. Freddy versus Jason?
Whatever.
6. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
As far as things you can only get at Halloween? Candy corn.
7. Ghosts or goblins?
Ghosts, I guess. Goblins are basically little people with a bad attitude. How can they be scary?
8. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?
Do not have one.
9. Do you believe in ghosts?
No, although I still get creeped out thinking about them when I'm alone at night. I think basically I'm just a wuss.
10. Favorite Halloween costume?
One year I dressed up as the character Beetlejuice, from the eponymous movie. I bought a black-and-white striped prisoner outfit from a costume store, and had my mom cut up the shirt and sew it into a suit jacket. It was great, although I doubt very many people understood what I was supposed to be. I think I was in sixth grade at the time - one of my last years trick-or-treating.
I'm trying to think of something cool and Halloween-esque to blog about, but alas, nothing is coming to mind. You know, Halloween has slowly evolved into perhaps my favorite holiday, probably because it's so refreshingly juvenile, has no current religious affiliations, has no real family aspect (I don't feel pressured to spend a month's salary to fly home and see my parents on Halloween), and is a holiday built around these three things: a) dressing up in costume, b) scaring oneself (or others) silly for no apparent reason other than that it's fun, and c) giving and receiving vast quantities of candy, again for no apparent reason. Yay! It's better than St. Patrick's Day, another basically frivolous holiday, because while yes, drinking vast amounts of green beer can be enjoyable, where's the creativity? Like it's really that difficult to find a piece of green clothing to wear. And there is no candy involved, so end of story. New Years' Eve, which is the only other real non-religious holiday celebrated in North America that has no solemn aspect to it, also comes in behind Halloween for the lack of candy.
OMG, get this. I just found a Halloween meme, yo!
Halloween Meme
1. What is your favorite work of horror fiction?
I'm trying to think of something more original than Dracula. How about Turn of the Screw, by Henry James? Freaked the shit out of me. I'm on the waiting list for Scott Smith's The Ruins, which I hear is poop-your-pants scary.
2. What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?
Hmm, it's been awhile since I've read anything in either genre. I guess I would go with 1984, although I think it fits better into dystopia fiction, but whatever.
3. What is your favorite monster?
Well, if we're talking generically, I would have to say vampires. They are the shit. (I seem to be scatalogically-focused this evening. Sorry.) They sleep in coffins, they suck blood, and they can turn into bats, wolves, and mist. I'm sorry, what else can do that? Plus they're sexy.
4. What horror movie gives you the most chills?
Well, for sheer post-traumatic stress syndrome terror, I would have go with The Ring, which haunted me for weeks. I think it was because of the disconcerting images, which have a tendency to stay with me, particularly in the middle of the night when I have to pee. They have since been milked to the point of ridiculousness in all the Japanese horror remake movies, but I still avoid them for the sake of unterrified sleep.
5. Freddy versus Jason?
Whatever.
6. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
As far as things you can only get at Halloween? Candy corn.
7. Ghosts or goblins?
Ghosts, I guess. Goblins are basically little people with a bad attitude. How can they be scary?
8. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?
Do not have one.
9. Do you believe in ghosts?
No, although I still get creeped out thinking about them when I'm alone at night. I think basically I'm just a wuss.
10. Favorite Halloween costume?
One year I dressed up as the character Beetlejuice, from the eponymous movie. I bought a black-and-white striped prisoner outfit from a costume store, and had my mom cut up the shirt and sew it into a suit jacket. It was great, although I doubt very many people understood what I was supposed to be. I think I was in sixth grade at the time - one of my last years trick-or-treating.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
A pointless post in which I really don't say much of anything
So now that my life is on a relatively even keel, I find I have very little to blog about. That's why I should probably buy No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for a Blog, but it cost $20 at Barnes and Noble, so I just flipped through it at the store instead. And of course now I can't really remember any of the ideas that were in it, so I'll just rip one off from Dooce.
This idea is to talk about your dealbreakers in regards to dating. Well, guess what. Apparently I have no deal breakers, because I'm still dating my first boyfriend. Before you start thinking I'm some creepy person who is still dating their high school sweetheart at the age of 29, let me assure you that I didn't meet the BF until I was 22 and in my last semester of college. How did it come to pass that someone as cool as me didn't have a boyfriend until the ripe old age of 22, you ask? Well, it is tragic, but I chalk it up to a unique combination of painful shyness as a teenager+basic Catholic fear of the opposite sex, based mainly on the larger Catholic fear of getting pregnant out of wedlock+a bad case of acne+a crushing inferiority complex. All of those have pretty much cleared up now, except for the acne.
Anyway. If I was single and back in the dating world, I think these might be my dealbreakers (patrons and staff at the library where I work, please take note):
1. Drunkenness.
2. Calling me honey, baby, sweetie, or gorgeous before we've even been so much as properly introduced.
3. Leering at me in a disgusting manner while drunk, high, or stinky, and muttering obscene remarks under your breath as I walk by.
4. Body odor.
But maybe I'm just picky.
Well, to change the subject completely, I saw The Queen last night and really enjoyed it. It's one of those movies that won't really change the world, but the great acting and interesting point of view made it quite enjoyable just the same. Also, I just finished a really intriguing book called Gilgamesh by Joan London (not the Joan Lundon of Good Morning America fame). The writing was excellent - tight, sparse, clean prose. I expect she will win the Booker or Orange prize one of these days (I say, acting all like I know what I'm talking about). But really, an excellent book - check it out. Now I'm on to The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, which was short-listed for the Booker, but I haven't gotten far enough to know how it'll be. Maybe after that I'll start on Bleak House.
Speaking of writing, I'm gearing up to participate in NaNoWriMo once again this November (National Novel Writing Month). I did it last year (don't remember if I publicized that fact) and churned out what can only be described as a piece of shit. However, try, try again, right? I really do want to get back into writing again, which I know is what I always say, but maybe I'll actually do it this time. I just need some discipline.
Anyway, I'll post again when either a) something noteworthy happens, which, it being my last week at the job from hell, is entirely likely given my patrons' penchants for having psychotic episodes and/or exposing themselves OR b) I start my new job, which begins Saturday, the day following my last day in Hell.
This idea is to talk about your dealbreakers in regards to dating. Well, guess what. Apparently I have no deal breakers, because I'm still dating my first boyfriend. Before you start thinking I'm some creepy person who is still dating their high school sweetheart at the age of 29, let me assure you that I didn't meet the BF until I was 22 and in my last semester of college. How did it come to pass that someone as cool as me didn't have a boyfriend until the ripe old age of 22, you ask? Well, it is tragic, but I chalk it up to a unique combination of painful shyness as a teenager+basic Catholic fear of the opposite sex, based mainly on the larger Catholic fear of getting pregnant out of wedlock+a bad case of acne+a crushing inferiority complex. All of those have pretty much cleared up now, except for the acne.
Anyway. If I was single and back in the dating world, I think these might be my dealbreakers (patrons and staff at the library where I work, please take note):
1. Drunkenness.
2. Calling me honey, baby, sweetie, or gorgeous before we've even been so much as properly introduced.
3. Leering at me in a disgusting manner while drunk, high, or stinky, and muttering obscene remarks under your breath as I walk by.
4. Body odor.
But maybe I'm just picky.
Well, to change the subject completely, I saw The Queen last night and really enjoyed it. It's one of those movies that won't really change the world, but the great acting and interesting point of view made it quite enjoyable just the same. Also, I just finished a really intriguing book called Gilgamesh by Joan London (not the Joan Lundon of Good Morning America fame). The writing was excellent - tight, sparse, clean prose. I expect she will win the Booker or Orange prize one of these days (I say, acting all like I know what I'm talking about). But really, an excellent book - check it out. Now I'm on to The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, which was short-listed for the Booker, but I haven't gotten far enough to know how it'll be. Maybe after that I'll start on Bleak House.
Speaking of writing, I'm gearing up to participate in NaNoWriMo once again this November (National Novel Writing Month). I did it last year (don't remember if I publicized that fact) and churned out what can only be described as a piece of shit. However, try, try again, right? I really do want to get back into writing again, which I know is what I always say, but maybe I'll actually do it this time. I just need some discipline.
Anyway, I'll post again when either a) something noteworthy happens, which, it being my last week at the job from hell, is entirely likely given my patrons' penchants for having psychotic episodes and/or exposing themselves OR b) I start my new job, which begins Saturday, the day following my last day in Hell.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
And so it is done.
I gave my two weeks' notice today - next Friday will be my last day at the Job From Hell. I still haven't gotten an official offer from my previous employers, but have been assured it will be forthcoming. I gave my notice now because last Friday was a hideous day - crazies yelling at me, stupid people trying to use the Internets (one woman asked me, when the computers automatically logged off at the end of the day, if she could use my computer to close out of her email account), and homeless galore, who stayed right until the dot of closing, then left all their newspapers, books, magazines, and various shit on the tables for me to pick up. So I decided enough was enough. I still don't know if this is a good move or a bad move; I'm happy to be going back to someplace where people care about me, but on the other hand I feel like a big loser - who goes through the pointless tediousness of getting an MLS just to work as a paraprofessional?
Fuck.
Fuck.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
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