yes, i am a sucka. it's written right here:

so tali sends me this and i feel like it's a pretty good barometer for life and general mood.

 
Four jobs I have had in my life: 
1. server, shmerver--it was a diner, i was a waitress
2. managing a glorified concession stand, perfecting pizza
3. before/after school teacher for K-6 graders, believing children are our future
4. mac specialist at the apple store, thinking different...ly  
 
Four movies I would watch over and over: 
1. Serenity 
2. Empire Records
3. As Good As It Gets
4. Angels with Dirty Faces

 
Four places I have lived: 
1. Hoodbridge, VA
2. Northfield, MN
3. Twickenham, Surrey, England
4. The Big Bad Forking Apple

 

Four TV Shows that I watch: 
1. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (who knew)
2. Pushing Daisies

3. Chuck
4. Psych/Bones (if i watch on the interweb, does each count as half?)

Four places I have been: 
1. Italy

2. Holland

3. Mexico
4. Wall Drug (i know, "where the heck?", right?)
 
Four of my favorite foods: 
1. Indian! (yes and yes)

2. Wasabi (let's be honest here)
3. Haagen D
äzs Rum Raisin (yes i'm intolerant. BLÄST!)
4. Sweet Potato Paté (think that outs me as a closet vegetarian?)

 

Four places I would rather be right now: 
1. St. Paul, MN
2. on the beach with my face in the water

3. in a writer's room  

4. the grassy knoll. 1963. with an HDV camera. 

   (and the witness protection program waiting w/ open arms)

Four things I am looking forward to this year: 
1. making a living
2. a new president
3. pictures from Tali's trip to Italy
4. writing a ton & a half and seeing a fraction of it make it to video

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa, get a load of THIS

TWO posts before I have even received comments on post numero UNO. Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet, sweet other half!

First things first: on Tuesday, Trisha announced to Kris and me that she and Adam are getting married (summer '09 or so?). Rad. Apparently, they really decided last summer, then she said,
"Okay. So we're gonna do it. I don't wanna know anything from here on out."
They went up north last weekend and were the only guests in a hotel by Split Rock Lighthouse that is made out of boxcars (the hotel, not the lighthouse ehehehe). More details upon request,and perhaps I can convince her to cough up some of the pictures so I can post them here.

Actually, that's it for now. Just wanted to update you. More later. I love you!

Who's Lame?

I am. I know. But now I will make up for it, with the sun blazing in my eyeball through the window at 4:29pm (i LOVE that) by posting some pictures for your perusal. Some of these are repeats of the ones at chicketycheckitout.blogspot.com, so don't be mad. Some are recently new, though.

On the Wednesday before my birthday, on the heels of work, then class, then preparing a lesson to deliver for the 7:25am class at SLP HS (which meant I would have to leave the house at 6:30am on Thurs), then the Louis XIV, Hot Hot Heat, Editors concert at the Fine Line (we got tix for Xmas)...we arrived home at 12:30a.m. and ncd said, "My brothers both texted today to see what we're doing for your birthday." I freaked out stating that I was in no mood, as an introvert who was away from her house for 17+ hours and was looking forward to scant sleeping hours, even, to plan a birthday and that if someone ELSE would like to plan such an event then they jolly well could, otherwise I'd be looking forward to staring at a wall and not having a task list 10 miles long! SO, after this hissy fit, ncd calmly says, "Well, I was just thinking about having b+j, and e+b, and maybe trisha and adam over for dinner."
"Oh," I said, "Well, that seems like a fine plan."

Arrive Saturday. b+j, e+b, trisha+adam, doug+raedean arrive for dinner as well as susie and colin whose presence i requested. And then Karla who brought, as she styled it, "some shitty lotions that my coworker gave me for Christmas" as well as a Velveeta cheese cuber. Then Doug and Rae brought me cleaning products. People continued to arrive. By the time that Kris and Nels showed up at 10, I realized I'd been tricked into a surprise party. And what was more, I thought people were just finally getting smart and giving me some cool shit (like their old copies of Atonement and Saturday), but slowly began to realize that Nate had instructed them "recycled gifts only". But seriously...it took me forever to figure it out. I just accepted everything--the increasing amount of people showing up at the front door, the awesome gifts...and I kinda like that about myself. I'm quite merry and I think this proves that I'm still easily contented (even though I seem like a crazy bitch freaking out over every little thing because I'm over-scheduled). Anyway, some pictures:



Susie and Trisha doing dinner dishes--now THAT is a champion thing to do for a girl's b-day!



Assorted Assembled watching some of the directors' videos ncd got for Christmas from my 'rents. Michele Gondry is what is captivating the masses right at this moment, I believe.

The weekend before the surprise party, ncd arranged to have bday celebration with Mom who was here chillin' clm the younger out. here is a foto of us in our finery after our foray to the Guthrie for Robert Bly's translation of Peer Gynt!



Below is a picture of clm the younger and Mom in clm's new bed from Ikea (spending clm's xmas gift cards there in attempt to get her organized and reduce the "crack house" appearance of her room was a key element of Mom's 'chilling out' process).



And in between that, just to throw yer inner timeline off a little more (just stay on the roller coaster with me) was Give Kids A Smile day. We stay extra on Friday and the hygeniests and docs do free dental work for anyone who wants to sign up and show up. It's always fabulously chaotic. Standing up is Patty (the one who teaches me yoga--which, incidentally, I am now waiting around the office for)and the dds doing this kid's exam is OUR AGE...and has a husband and new baby. And we have another guy who is our age and has a wife and a baby. How DOES one manage to pack all that into just the years we have under our belts?



And here is a picture of your other half as Sweet Bear who reminds you to brush every day, twice a day, and to eat sweets only in moderation. Matt R. once starred in a DVD about this bear. Perhaps I'll find a copy to send you.



And finally, from before the birthday, before Give Kids a Smile, before Guthrie night, but during Mom's visit at the end of January (I think)...there was this visit to Brit's with various people you might recognize (the one sitting next to Susie is her sister...the one sitting next to Justincredible is Colin, her fiancee (don't know if you've met him, but you'd love him):



Speaking of that, did you know that Susz's former roommate, Brenna, and PKO are getting married on the same day as Colin and Susz? C+S are getting married in British Columbia, however, and it is out of the question for me to miss that (for various reasons). Ncd and I are contemplating a split-up to attend both. We should talk about this on the phone.

So, there. Those are all the worthwhile photos on my camera right now. Is it silly to tell the other hemisphere of oneself, "I love you"? If not, I love you.

the hat they barely made....

i swear the underdog hats are never as cool as they should be.

cause you know, when there's a game like this, the loser "champions" merchandise goes straight to poor kids in africa.

NOT THIS ONE!

it's not that i haven't been paying attention....

but i have been lacking in the, you know, actual posting dept. what would that be? postage sounded right in my head but now...not so much. anyhoo, you should know i'm not as much a slacker as i seem. here's what i've been doing...

In A Few Thousand Words

Gotta have somethin' to show to the people, eh? Cause i sure as heck ain't directin' any strangers to this corner of the intergalactic net. But anyhoo - we should also have a web gallery. in which we can both post pictures for the other to download in full-sized glory, which, incidentally does give me a sense of resolution. so there, Alanis! put that in your pipe and scream at it... it occurs to me that this reference, if not explained, may feel ten or so years too late. but i assure you, i hear gems off of jagged little pill every day of my current, supposedly new-millenium existence.  some people. it's like you can take the girl outta the 90's, but you can't take the 90's out of her playlist. ("her" being my reference to the Goddess of alternative retail music. who could be a God for all i know.)

sigh. 

my,

i

miss thine. 

for mine,

though inclined

to unbind

my smile,

after a while

make the miles

seem like files

stacked in piles

that stretch higher

than any fire

they'd sire,

making dire

the choir

of "why"s

that belies

my wise

eyes,

chiding

hiding

abiding

Thoughts from today's walk

I was going to record them here, but I can't remember them with all the static in my head right now. I am participating in "online discussion group" for my interim class. Only about 30 minutes of discussion left, then I have to read the packet for next week because next week I'm the one facilitating. There are so many of these things right now that seem like hoops that I just can't wait to get through and be done with. So much of this seems like it wouldn't have to be done if the screening process for the intellect, sensitivity, and open-mindedness in the teaching field was better. Not that I have any suggestions worth mentioning.

Anyway...what was I thinking??

OH--that my new iPod (can't wait to tell you the name of it, but it's a verbal thing that wouldn't make much sense here) might actually be sensing my mood and might do that even better if I only ever play it in "shuffle" mode.

OH--and then I thought up a good stump for a story. My coworker, Marie, saw a woman standing on the "high bridge" in St. Paul the other week. She remembers wondering to herself what this chick was doing. She saw her throw a rock over the edge. She pondered the fact that the high bridge is a destination for suicide (well, the river below more than the bridge, really). She noted "people don't just stop on that bridge, especially in the winter...I mean, you see people walking over it in the summer, but..." The next day she read in the newspaper that a woman had committed suicide the day before. She doesn't know whether it was the woman she saw...or what she would have said as she drove by.

So I'm thinking as I walk up to another bridge over the Mississippi today--but what about weirdos like me who actually do stop on the bridge in the winter? Then I thought, wouldn't it be great to write a story that began with someone standing on a bridge wearing a t-shirt with the following printed across the back: "I am not going to jump. I just like to watch the river."

Love you.

Productive, but short-tempered

^that would be me description of myself today. The people who call me are being insane, but that could be because I stayed up until 2:30am cleaning the kitchen last night. That was okay mostly, though, because I had my new ipod nano to sing to me the whole time. I was a tad concerned that my temporary headphone-induced deafness might be causing me to be excessively loud and it occurred to me several times to take an ear bud out thinking I might be missing my downstairs neighbor rap, rap, rapping at the door to tell me to shut the hell up.

Much love. Will write more soon. Ncd and his mama arriving today after drive from Arizona. Neato. Pretty sure the 5 hours I spent chiseling pre-Christmas fudge mess from many kitchen surfaces obliterates any chance that I'll have the house (and thereby, my brain) in order before their arrival. Oh well, at least the refrigerator's so clean it's empty, right? Aaand that makes 2 paragraphs about cleaning...which makes me feel like a freak. Alright. Ciao for niao.