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This week's movies:

Bridget Jones 2
Parent Trap
The Rundown
The Village
The Importance of Being Earnest

How's that for variety?? There's bound to be SOMETHING I like in there.

There is nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing to talk about.
All there is is me here not doing an essay that is due tomorrow.
The fewer classes I have, the less work I do.

I swam 50 laps Saturday, first swimmer finished and the sun even came out.

Cinequest starts Wednesday - must find babysitter for Buffy that evening as she's not coming to that movie.
Oh, the movie is "Thank you for Smoking" and I think it's going to be good. And PARTY after!!!

Really really need a haircut. This is what happens when I actually get it styled for the first time in... well, since before the kids were born? And now it's growing out and the barrettes are back in and I need it cut.

Saw Freaky Friday last week, with Lindsay Lohan - that was pretty good, eh?
Tried LA Confidential again, I love Guy Pearce, but still can't get into the movie.
Loved Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert.
Loved Connie and Carla.
Loved Muriel's Wedding
"Drawn Together" was okay, but I can only take so much of that.
Liked Bridget Jones' Diary - liked Hugh Grant even more.

Trying to slog through Orlando by Virginia Woolf for school. Cheated and bought the audio book. But no time to listen at the moment because... I'm supposed to be writing about Rubyfruit Jungle or Funny Boy. But I'm writing here instead.

Just warming up the fingers.

You know, my kids each have a friend who would have turned out so much better if their mothers/fathers/anyone had cared anything about them. Both are very beautiful people, both are reasonably intelligent - but both are probably lost to the world.

I like the Pink video for Stupid Girls.

Spike wants to go to CCOC next year - the Occupational Center. To study animation. Arrgh.

And now I must write.

What your favorite movie that you've seen so far this year?
Okay this is hard because I've seen hecka movies this year. I would have to go with Crash, I think. I did love Brokeback Mountain, and I loved Capote, but I think Crash was one I would (and have) watch over and over.
Favorite new musical artist?
Black Eyed Peas - I don't care if they're not considered new, they're the newest group that I like.
Jennifer or Angelina?
I'm sure Jennifer is very nice, but I love Angelina.
How often do you check your email?
Ummm... every five or ten minutes?
What are your plans for the weekend?
Swimming Saturday Morning, Gym on Sunday, get stuff together for my mom's estate, and show my son how to use the Light Rail system so he can get to his Cinequest movies on his own.
Oh, and I have an essay due Sunday evening. I need to remember that.

Went to English Lit, wrote 9 pages by hand, only 30% was bullshit, and that's pretty good.
I think I did okay.

Now I deal with a total of 6, count them S-I-X, teenagers. Bah.

Holiday?

Today I have the day off.

At 10:30 I will be taking a midterm in English Lit on old english poets whose poetry I actually like but HATE to study.

But then later I get to go to the gym - three days in a row with Swimming even the day before that.

And I have lost seven pounds!

Someone please write this essay about Wordsworth and Coleridge for me please.

Lord help me

Sparknotes, you CANNOT go down on me now! I have a final tomorrow! I NEED you to study Wordsworth and Coleridge! I NEED YOU. You cannot go down right in the middle of my notes, GODDAMIT PLEASE COME BACK!!!!!

I just miss my mom today.

Friday Questions from Megs

When you think about the next 10 years what are you most excited about?
Honestly, I'm looking forward to living my own life again and playing with grandkids.
Do you wear jewelry every day?? What kind??
I don't wear anything but a sports watch every day.
Do you prefer writing in pen or pencil? if ink, what color?
I prefer to type if at all possible. Otherwise, I prefer a mechanical pencil.
What's your skin regime?
In the shower wash with an Oil of Olay bar of soap. Then, if I remember, I have some L'Oreal cream that I put on, but I only remember sometimes.
What kind of shampoo do you use?
Now I have some new Dove shampoo for thick, colored hair. I like it a lot.
What's your favorite TV show?
Gosh. I like a lot. Heck, I'm listing them all:
The Amazing Race
Survivor
The Apprentice
Project Runway
Deadwood
Rescue Me
The L Word
And since we have mostly no TV, I only can watch those on dvd. WAAAHHHHH
What are your plans for the weekend?
Today I have THE DAY OFF!!! Tomorrow morning I have Swimming at school, and then it's off to Aptos. However, most of the weekend will be spent cramming in half my English Lit book that hasn't been receiving a lot of attention, but I have a midterm on Tuesday. *gulp*

Okay at the moment Buffy is okay.
Long story short, the Endontist knows what he has to do, but he cannot get to the tooth because it hasn't come in yet. So we get to make the trip back to see him every 30 days until it comes in. Which, with Buffy's record for sprouting teeth may not be until 2008.
So instead, for now she has a prescription for amoxycillin that we hope will kill the bacteria that have taken up residence in the tooth and then the pain will go away for awhile.

It was a long afternoon yesterday.

Buffy stayed home from school today with a bad toothache.
Her dad took her to the dentist and they said she has a cavity in a molar that has not even come in yet (don't ask me how) and the root isn't formed yet so they cannot do a root canal.
So I have to take her to a "root specialist" at 3:15.
Which will probably require a fat check to be written, even though we have insurance
(thanks to ME, and not their stupid father).

One thing for sure, I did not send her to that dentist that is STILL taking money out of my account, although they are still SWEARING that the refund "is on the way."

So guess what.

I had a ten question quiz on Rubyfruit Jungle in Gay/Lesbian Literature Friday.
I got 100%. Of course.

Then I had a paper due on Sunday.
And I missed the deadline.

Yes, that's right, *I* missed a deadline for school. An entire paper! Why? Because I waited until the last minute to do it and then we lost internet access Sunday. When it was due. SEE? I don't always get A's!!!!

Well. Apparently there was mass confusion in class about the exact date the paper was due (12am February 12, which is technically midnight BEFORE Sunday, but on the class calendar it lists it as Sunday) and so she extended the date to this evening.

And obviously, the internet is up again. And my paper is turned in.

So.... PSYCH! I won't be getting an F afterall!

As IF.

I need Apple's phone number please

So don't you think they should come out with a waterproof iPod?
How cool would that be?
I could probably swim all day if I could listen to a book or music underwater.
Gosh that would be so great, why hasn't someone invented this already???

I'm ahead of my time I tell ya.

P.S. Just so there's no misunderstanding, I don't mind having my face in the water, in fact I love swimming at the bottom of the pool most of all (for fun), I just have a difficult time breathing the correct way. I never got that timing thing down I guess. That's what makes it difficult for me to swim more than a few laps at a time because eventually I look like I need rescuing as I gasp for air. I can swim across the pool with one breath - but only once. Anyway hopefully we'll learn that breathing stuff this semester. Although, as suggested to me, I did see one of the swimmers wearing goggles and a snorkling tube...
But if you think I would ever do that, you're crazy, heh. Not in class. You know me, I gotta be the BEST, all the time, and breathing through a snorkle won't cut it for me in class. Not to mention I bet it won't be allowed starting this Saturday.
Now, if someone would just please invent the waterproof iPod I would be a happy happy girl.

Notes back:

Shanni: I checked and my Good in Bed is the abridged version. I agree with you and get the unabridged whenever possible, but this one was almost six hours and I never noticed anything wierd. I still recommend it.

SingleDadGuy: I realized today that I never answered your very very kind email. I apologize. I still have it on my list of things to do. I am very bad with return email, especially when the message was as kind as yours, and I'm very sorry.

Anonymous "i": Whichever of you recommended "Chicken Payback" by A Band of Bees, I love you for it. What a song!!!! Everyone else go download it! and recommend more happy dancing-feet songs!

Juls: I know you're out there - what do you have on that iPod of yours? I know it's books AND music, and you run like crazy, so cough up some good ones for me!

She's a Bad Mama Jama

Also, I updated the journal, if you feel like reading any more about THE iPOD. I know I'm sick of typing about it already, though I'm not sick of listening to it. So I just wrote one long entry, and hopefully we can just have small doses of it now.

Also? Nothing much else happened this weekend.

Oh, except I keep having dreams about Will. I need to call him I think. His birthday was just ten days ago. I'll get to that soon.

Old skool Diaryland

If anyone remembers CordeliaMeg, long-time disappeared Diarylander and founder of Diaryland Survivor, she emailed me today and she is alive and well. I can't tell you where she's writing now, but because she is someone we sometimes worry about and always care about, I just wanted to pass on that she is still around at least. So that was some happy news. I thought so at least.

Also, I totally forgot to tell you, but thank you to everyone who suggested songs to download - I used almost all the songs you suggested, including all of Meg's workout list. Thank you everyone!!!

I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT... SHE LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT...

My iPod arrived today - Can you believe how fast that was?

So now I'm busily putting all my music onto it...

Wish it came with a little more instructions...

Okay, for instance - I had wanted to take the music and audiobooks off my computer once the were on the iPod so I didn't take up so much room on my work laptop - but it says if I remove them then they will be removed from my iPod at the next update... is there a way to avoid that? Do I HAVE to store everything on the computer also?

Super Freak just came on... you know those commercials where the iPod listener is bebopping down the street, dancing to music only they can hear?

That's totally going to be me.

I can't wait to go to the gym with this now - OH, but how the heck am I supposed to hold this thing at the gym??? I have the 30GB video iPod, there's no holder, no clip, nothing. And apparantely those armbands don't hold this... What do you all do with it when you're not holding it or at your desk?

I heart my iPod already.

Ohmigod, this book gets better and better and better - totally not what I expected!
I definitely recommend this book to everyone, whether it's an audio or paper book, you should all read this!

WOOOO

I downloaded my first book: Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner.
This was a book I had heard was good, but didn't know much about.
And I'm really surprised, because I REALLY REALLY like it.
I thought it was much more of a light comedy, and it is a little, but it's also kind of serious and sad, and anyway, I am really glad I chose this one.
I wasn't sure how it would work to listen while working, but it's working just fine. I've been working away, and better able to block out everything around me out while I concentrate.
Next up when this is done: Bridge Jones Diary

Waiting for my white ear buds

My iPod won't be here until next week, but in the meantime I have iTunes now and have already spent $20 on Pink, Cake and Reel Big Fish. Oh, and some Black Eyed Peas. Tell me some good songs. To listen to at the gym. Happy, upbeat songs!

And now we Get This Party Started...

Holy Moly I just bought a 30GB iPod from Amazon.com right now.
I think I'm going to faint.
I could go to Target and get one right now, but at Amazon I don't have to pay taxes, shipping is free, and there was a 5% discount, bringing my total to $284.

I don't know what else to say about spending so much money on an unnecessary item other than Holy Moly, because otherwise I'm going to start swearing.

I want my movies!!!

I hate when my Netflix movies don't arrive at Netflix right away.
HellOOOOOO, I have no cable, I want my movies!!!!!

One last question

Okay guys, one last detail:

I need it to download books. How big a memory will I need to get?
(You guys are so smart and enthusiastic! haha)

Daydreaming

So last night I spoke with Spike about... not being a loser, heh... and we hit upon a career that actually interested him and wasn't like, Magician, or Door Man, or Comedian.

He thinks he may want to teach physical education in college. And I think he would be really great at that, and I think he could do it.

So this morning I was driving along the freeway to work and daydreaming like crazy about my son who was going to finish high school and go to college and get his Masters and go on to teach college...

And I passed up my exit. Heh.

The daydream was worth it.

LET'S GO

And we're set.
The kids and I are all going to run the 5K at the Mercury News race in March.
That overachiever part of me wants to sign up for the 10K, but I would rather run a really good 5K then a crappy 10K. So that's what we're going to do.
I am really really happy with the decision.

Need your help

Okay, I have decided to get an MP3 player, mainly to download books to listen to - I won't be downloading much music, only books.
What do you all recommend?
I find myself resisting getting an iPod because... well because I always resist getting what everyone else has.
However, if that is the best option, I'll do it.
What do you all have and what do you recommend?

Scott is unable to come over tonight so my schedule has changed.

1. Go home and beat the kids
2. Look at the mail.
3. Beat the kids maybe some more.
4. Eat some soup.
5. See if any more beatings need to be distributed.
6. Watch The Brothers Grimm
7. Hand out the Before Bed Beatings.
8. Go to bed and dream of being childless.

See? Sounds like a LOVELY evening!

Getting things done

Yesterday I:

Had my final transcript sent to the University < insert Big Smiley here >
Bought my English Lit book, which ended up being a newer version and so the page numbers don't match the syllabus < insert Smiley that tears its hair out here >
Found out my son may be gearing towards a career in counterfeit currency < insert ROFLMAO Smiley here >
Found out my daughter is following in her big brother's footsteps regarding her grades < insert Smiley with smoke coming out its ears >
Sat and tried to relax while watching A Bronx Tale on DVD. Ahhhhhh... Finally a good movie...

Today I:

Called the high school and left message asking why I still have not been notified that my son may be in the counterfeiting business < insert Smiley with ?? >
Called the dentist to ask why I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN A REFUND BUT THEY DID TAKE OUT ANOTHER $100 FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT (Answer: I'll get my refund in 4 more weeks) < Insert Smiley loading its gun >

Tonight I'm going to:

Take Scott out to dinner at Aqui's
Make the kids sit at a different table
Watch Madagascar with Scott
Go to bed and dream about a childless life.

*****

Itsy: A really really good time for a 5K would be around 15 to 17 minutes.
I *think* my best official time is a 24, when I ran my ass off for a bet but wasn't really trained yet
My worst time was a 35 when I was stuck in the porty potty as the gun went off and I had to sprint up a hill and down the block to catch up to the crowd.
None of my official times are any good because I never managed to race when I was in great shape for the 5K.
But I would be really happy if I did a 20 this time. I think I can do it, No reason why I can't one day soon.

Why not?

Okay, I decided. I'm going to run the Mercury News race, and I'll do the 5K. There's no reason not to, really, since I'll be in San Jose and I can definitely run a 5K (anyone can run a 5K, Itsy, everyone should try it one day!), and there's really no excuse to not run it. To not run it would just be laziness.

I didn't ask the kids yesterday because I was basically trying to not kill them last night, and that required so much concentration I forgot about the race. But if I'm calmer by the time I get home I'll ask them tonight.

And also, for those who asked, a 5K equals 3.1 miles. Plenty of people walk and run, or just plain walk. So a 5K is always open to anyone. I really would like to take on the 10K (6.2 miles) though, so I'm going to delay registering until the end of the month to see how much progress I can make.

Kids are exhausting.
I don't know how many more years of this I can take.

Today's schedule:

I leave work in ten minutes. I will then:

1. Go to school and a) have them send my final transcript to the university, b) buy my English Lit book (that's what happens when you only have 7 units, you turn into a slacker (SLACKER!).
2. Go to bank, deposit child support check
3. Go home, make... spaghetti or something for the kids...
4. Go running
5. Eat spaghetti or a soup
6. Read English Lit book

I finished Ruby Fruit Jungle. Excellent. You all should read it, especially if you're a woman, and not necessarily because you're a lesbian, because in my opinion this was a women's book whose lead happened to be lesbian.
It was good though.

Do I dare?

While looking something up for an email I was writing I came upon the website for the Mercury News 10K, you all remember, that race I had planned to do again... last year? two years ago? However long ago it was that I started school and let the ole body go all to hell?

Anyway. I remember that was my big goal for that year, to better my time by ten whole minutes, but school got in the way, blah blah blah excuses excuses, and that goal was not achieved. But as I looked it up today I realize it's coming up again...

Now, there's no way I can better my time by ten minutes in less than 2 months, in fact, I'm not sure I can get up to a 10K in that time... but I can definitely do the 5K... which is a shame because I love that 10K course so much... but still, a race... I haven't done a race in so long... !!!!!!

I just checked the calendar, I'll be in San Jose that weekend... there's a 5K walk the kids can do if they want... or they can run or they can stay in bed until I get home for all I care.... do I dare?

What a great goal to start the year off. I remember when I ran that 10K for the first time so long ago my mother was SO PROUD of me, and bragged to everyone at work that her daughter ran the race, and ran it faster than some other teacher's daughter who worked with her... Heee....

Well WHY THE HECK NOT? I can run a 5K. It may be my slowest time ever (or probably not, considering I was stuck in a portapotty at the starting gun of a race in Monterey once, heh) but I can still cross the finish line...

To be continued while I think about this some more...

I had no idea

What do you know, Coffee and Cigarettes shares the same director as Broken Flowers!
I am quite amazed, because I thought Broken Flowers was much much MUCH better than C&C.
But what a coincidence, eh?

Requesting a movie about Harper Lee next...

This was a big movie watching weekend.

First, Scott dragged me to see Capote, a movie I had no plans to watch, ever. But I went, and within 5 minutes I was LOVING the movie, and by the end of the movie I wanted to do more research on Capote AND Harper Lee. I had actually not known anything about Truman Capote, and thought this was going to be a movie about a stuffy, boring old man. I had no idea that Capote was the exact opposite of a stuffy, boring old man. I actually didn't like him a whole lot, I found him very irritating and arrogant, but he was still interesting and I really really loved the movie. I definitely recommend this movie.

So then I came home to watch Coffee and Cigarettes. My god. No, really. Who liked this movie? I was bored to death in 20 seconds, when it was obvious these were neither scripted conversations, nor real interviews... what were they? Made up as the actors went along? Adlibbing by actors who were not skilled in adlibbing? After five minutes I started fast forwarding to other conversations to see if there was anything better.... there wasn't. I shut it off. Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen and would have been the biggest waste of time ever if I hadn't just shut it off before ten minutes were over.

So then I put in Broken Flowers. This is where I hopefully make up some points with Catie, because I absolutely loved Bill Murray in this movie. However...
*** SPOILER AHEAD ***
So I watched the movie, and honestly, I LOVED the movie, just adored it, all the way until the very en- ...
Oh wait, there WAS NO ending. It didn't end, it just... stopped.
And I am taking a stand here and saying - this is a cop out. This is writer's laziness, this is not art, this is not good writing, this is laziness. I really, really hate when they do this in movies and it seems to be turning into a fad lately. The only movie I have ever seen this work in is 25th Hour with Edward Norton. By stopping 25th Hour when they did it forced you to not only make up your own ending, but also wonder what you yourself would do, what decision would you make? It forced you to take up a moral and ethical discussion in your mind and with the people who watched the movie with you. In Broken Flowers it just... left you. With no answers. The entire movie is about him looking for the mother of his son and his son too, and to leave off without any answers at all is just.... laziness.
So I am left in a quandary here, because up until the credits rolled I was ready to whole heartedly recommend this movie. I really loved every minute of it... but that non-ending pissed me off. I just can't recommend it like that because it left a sour taste in my mouth.

So all, what did you see? Any of those three movies? I would definitely love to hear what you think about any of those three movies.

And now, we dance: "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! SHE LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! HE LIKE TO..."

DVD status so far:

Corpse Bride: Was not impressed. It's only 75 minutes long, so that was wierd, but it also had the story quality of a television show. I would expect to see something like this every year as a holiday special or something (which holiday, I have no idea). It was cute, don't get me wrong, but theater quality? I'm glad I didn't pay to go see it.

Madagasgar: Loved it. The beginning was okay, but I was CRACKING UP at the rest of it.
"I'm steak! Me me me me me me me me!!"
"Excuse me... but you're biting my BUTT."
"Oh, that's OK. I've got a bigger crown. It's got a gecko on it. Look at him shake! Go, Stevie, go!"
"Well, this sucks!"
"I like to move it, move it / She like to move it, move it / He like to move it, move it / You like to... *move it*!"
I danced around the whole house last night like a lemur singing that song, "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT!!!"
Spike said I was CRAZY. HEEEEEE...

Like Water for Chocolate: I don't know if I talked about this one yet. But I loved it. I did have some problems cheering her on to be with... whatshisname, I thought she should be with the doctor. But I still loved the movie.

Final Answer

Charleen just told me that she has no idea what we were doing when we went to see The Goonies. So I'll tell you.

We were all about 18 or so, and the Ex and I had just broken up for the first of, oh, probably 200 times that summer. This first time he told me that, oh heck I don't remember what his damn excuse was, but it happened to be the day before he left for his Senior trip to Hawaii. And his excuse was some innocent sounding thing, that's what I really remember.

So Charleen and I decided we would spend the night at her house, and get up early in the morning to go see him at the San Francisco Airport.

So we went to see The Goonies that night at the drive-ins. I didn't watch it real closely because I was in the back seat of the car wailing "Why oh why does he not love me" crap, stuff like that. Then we spent the night at her house, got up very early and drove to San Francisco. Where we saw that he was back with his previous girlfriend. He definitely looked more scared to see us than we were upset to see the girlfriend, that's what I remember.

So anyway, we scared him and sent him off to Hawaii, and then got back in the car to drive home, but Charleen feel asleep in her seat and I got on the freeway going the wrong direction and we were halfway to Oregon before we realized what was going on.

So. That's my Goonies story. Charleen said she definitely remembers that day, she just didn't remember we saw The Goonies that night. But that was definitely it.

Okay, you ready for the answers now?

1. Princess Bride
2. Crash
3. The Goonies
4. Wierd Science
5. Dukes of Hazzard
6. Like Water for Chocolate
7. The Laramie Project
8. The Incredibles
9. Run Lola Run
10. Wedding Crashers
Bonus: Swingers

Great job everyone!

Wow, I'm proud of you guys so far! Murphy - I always expect you to do well!

Charleen - Your specific question is... What was going on in our lives when we went to see The Goonies at the drive-ins?

Wednesday Movie Quotes!

All right, we haven't done this in a long time.
Let's see who can figure these out:

1. That's right. When I was your age, television was called books.

2. She had these little stubby wings, like she could've glued them on, you know, like I'm gonna believe she's a fairy. So she said, "I'll prove it." So she reaches into her backpack and pulls out this invisible cloak and she ties it around my neck.

3. Dad! Dad! It's my marble bag. The Fratelis forgot to check it. I emptied out all of my marbles and put the jewels in. We don't have to leave the boon docks!

4. We need more input. We gotta fill this thing up with data. We gotta make her as real as possible, Wyatt. I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicize.

5. You know what's gonna happen. They're gonna get caught and get thrown in jail. Then I'm gonna have to shake my ass at somebody to get them out.

6. Don't say that. As my youngest daughter, Tita will care for me until the day I die. She won't marry.

7. My son, Matthew, did not look like a winner. He was rather uncoordinated and wore braces from the age of 13 until the day he died.

8. I also brought Mozart to play while he sleeps to make him smarter because leading experts say Mozart makes babies smarter? And the beauty part is the babies don't even have to listen ?cause they're asleep! You know, I wish my parents played Mozart when I slept because half the time I don't even know what the heck anyone's talking about!

9. "What if I were in a coma, and the doc says, 'One more day?' "
"I'd throw you into the ocean... Shock therapy."

10. Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bullseye.

BONUS: You're so money and you don't even know it!

Okay guys, Go for it! I wanna see some answers here!

The S Word again!

So school is officially starting today.
We're reading Rubyfruit Jungle in Gay/Bi Lit and discussions will be starting this week.
I sorted out the specifics with the English Lit teacher - this class again is an in-class class but they are letting me take it without going to class. Scott doesn't understand how I manage to get this special treatement over and over again - he doesn't believe that I don't understand either. But I'm going to run this School-Luck thing until it's over, that's for sure. We're going to be reading Frankenstein sometime in the semester and I'm really looking forward to that because I have never read it.
Saturday is Swimming.

So for Gay/Bi Lit I have 3 essays and a couple quizzes throughout the semester.
For English Lit I have 1 essay, 1 research paper, and 3 in-class midterms.

So that's my school entry for today. I'll let you know how the books are as I read them - and if any of you have read them, let me know what you think too.

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