Thursday, May 31, 2007

Every so often my wisdom tooth that never really had enough room to come up fully starts acting up. The gums around it become red and inflamed, and I am sucking down Orajel like nobody's business. I am currently having one of my episodes, and it is not fun.

You know what else was not fun? Last night. My illustrious writing career *snort* afforded Boyfriend and I the privilege of attending an advance screening of a movie because I had to review it. I was all excited about a free night out and we went to the movie theater way early (didn't know how long it would take to find the place). We must have stood on line for twenty minutes or so just to get popcorn. All of the lines were long but our adolescent server seemed much slower than the other adolescent servers. So we started off the night a little frustrated, because who wants to wait twenty minutes for popcorn?

Anyway, we found an elderly gentleman at the door who gave us a free newspaper and pointed us in the right direction. When we got into the actual theater, it was packed. PACKED. Not only that, but with dozens of children, even small ones. Had I been misinformed? Was this a children's movie?

The gentleman went in with us and tried to help us find some seats. He told us that we could go sit in that middle row that was nearly completely empty, so we did, along with another woman and her kids/friends/I didn't notice who. Once we stepped into the row, however, an elderly woman stormed over to us. "It hasn't been released yet," she told me. "What?" I asked her. She was visibly flustered and yelled at me, "IT HASN'T BEEN RELEASED YET!" I still didn't know what she was talking about, but it soon became clear that she was telling us we couldn't sit in that row. We told her that the elderly gentleman (her husband?) told us we could, and she said, "Well, he didn't tell ME that. You just stand over there in the aisle while I go check with him." At this point, I was annoyed at having been yelled at by a perfect stranger who did not work at the theater, so when I saw the woman we were with sit down anyway, Boyfriend and I did the same. The woman stormed back over. "I just want to thank you for not listening to me," she fumed, as she stood over us. She kept saying it and wouldn't leave. I pointed out to her that I didn't have to listen to her since I didn't even know her, but she just kept on with her tirade. She ended with, "It is probably okay for you to sit here, but I just want to thank you anyway for not listening to me." The woman next to us yelled, "You're welcome!" and the old woman left.

So I was pissed off to begin with.

Then the movie was not so hot. It was entirely predictable and I was so tired from work I guess that my eyelids kept drooping. At some points I was nearly passed out on Boyfriend's shoulder. And all of the is-this-teenage-girl-going-to-have-sex-with-this-guy suspense really made me uncomfortable in terms of all of the children hanging from seats nearby.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Bored with the Bard


Well, not yet. But I soon will be. In nine weeks I have to read the following nine plays:

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Richard II
Part 1 Henry IV
Henry V
Twelfth Night
Othello
King Lear
Antony and Cleopatra
A Winter's Tale

If any of you book-lovers or Shakespeare-lovers out there are interested in reading with me, shoot me a comment or email. You don't have to read all nine, but if you've always wanted to read Othello, read it the week I do and we can discuss! Come on, it will be fun!
Sad to say, the Feminist Pulse is replacing me with another blogger. I can't say I blame them, I have seriously slacked on that front. I told Jaymi, the editor of the magazine and head boss, how much I enjoyed blogging with them but that I totally understand. (I wouldn't keep me either :P) I will, however, keep reading! Great stuff.

Okay so a month or so ago Andi was nice enough to turn me on to Adagio Teas and I must say, as I sit here sipping Almond Tea with milk and Splenda, that I may be able to finally give up coffee! This stuff is mm mm good.

Since Boyfriend has given up smoking, I have agreed - in order to keep him motivated and to not seem like a naggy hypocrite - to curb a couple of my bad habits. I am to choose two out of three: compulsively biting my nails and the skin around them (I know it's gross, leave me alone), eating sweets or drinking coffee. If I choose sweets and/or coffee, I can still consume, just not at the rate that I normally do. I think the coffee is doable if I stock my apartment and cubicle with delicious teas (as I've mentioned) and I think sweets is doable too since I will still be allowed to partake. That one is important because I am trying to lose weight and to not inherit diabetes from my grandmother.


Should I play Wonder Woman and tackle all three? A good manicure will curb nail biting for at least one or two days.

Monday, May 28, 2007

The holiday weekend is at its end. These things tend to go quickly, but I feel like this one lasted a nice while. Boyfriend and I went shopping, out to eat, to the movies (Shrek the Third ... nothing like a movie theater full of children), eccetera. I didn't get as much studying done as I would have liked but I did catch up on the Tudors! Yes, these are my priorities.

Cool Aunt called me yesterday and we talked for like an hour or two. It was great man. She and I have a lot in common, and she cracks me up. I am supposed to go visit her when I am back home (she lives out of state, but not too far) and she is thinking of visiting us here.

And on that note, Sister is coming here on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it. I am just trying to plan and determine what kinds of things I want to drag her to when she arrives :)

--

I feel slightly guilty (though not much) for succumbing to the Disney Store. They had a 3 for $25 sale and I got three complete sleeping/pj sets (t-shirts and shorts) for all three little sisters. That sale was made for ME, man. I was giddy like a school girl in there. I got for the twins and then a teeny one for the baby. I got Jasmine for the baby, since she's half Hispanic. I know Jasmine is Middle Eastern, but nonetheless, I was/am proud of myself for not blindly buying her an Aryan anorexic bimbo to look up to (like I did for the others, ha!). Why exactly am I so proud? I don't know... I feel like it is somehow my aim in life to not contribute to the child's whiteness.

Does that make me weird?

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I am officially the world's worst daughter.

As some of you on my email list know, I got a serious kick out of this Onion story the other day. I mean, I was in hysterics. Maybe it's the insanity of the cube catching up with me, I don't know.

So I tell my mother the story and I suppose I didn't make it abundantly clear that the Onion is satire... anyway, poor thing was telling the story at a business luncheon yesterday like it was true.

That doesn't make me the world's worst daughter, though. The fact that this cracks me up does.
Does anyone else get depressed reading the news? I mean, I go to the New York Times website each morning and I think it's bad for my health or something. Seriously.

I am doing better, I think, than before, although for some reason I am super tired lately. Last night I went to bed at like 9:00 or 10:00, woke up today at 7:00, and am still very tired. That's okay, though, because I am living for my ... Three! ... Day! ... Weekend! (Wow, I really am a working stiff.)

I need a haircut. I want to grow it out long again but I need a trim for the split endies and to make it grow faster. The last haircut I received was in Europe by someone with whom I could not communicate, if that helps you gauge the need :P

What else...

Boyfriend and I need to find some plans for Memorial Day weekend. We are trying to decide if we want to drive out somewhere or just explore around here. Either way, it should be a nice, fun reprieve (although I should probably take my 2,000+ page Complete Works of Shakespeare with me. *Sigh*)

Am I took young for senility? Or has the ADD that runs in my family finally touched me? I am a bit too young to be opening up Amazon.com and then not knowing why I did it.

9:47 am already? Geez, I got a meeting. I'll be back with more of my boring drivel.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The world was created in 7 days, but was it profitable?

I read that on a white board walking through the office this morning, and chuckled.

I don't seem to have much to say these days. I guess you could say I'm depressed. You know, just one of those weeks or months or something. The Sopranos isn't helping. It's never been a fun, happy, upbeat show, but the last two episodes were so dark... I don't want to watch something that's going to make me feel upset afterwards.


In other news, Sister is supposed to fly here next week and stay with us. With Sister you never know, but we are booking the ticket and it looks like it will happen. It will be fun at first; I just hope we don't fight.

Yesterday I went to dinner with Artsy Friend. She is going to Florence on Saturday, for a month. Lucky. We talked about our former classmates from Honors World Lit and about Italy. German chocolate pie for dessert. Good stuff.

What else to say? I dunno. Blah.

Friday, May 18, 2007

So I'm back in Austin and we moved into the new apartment. It's significantly smaller, but I genuinely like it. It's cozy. We bought a second-hand (or third or fourth or fifth, most likely :) brown couch that I like ten times more than our last green one, which was pretty but had staples poking through that would cause scrapes and minor bleeding whenever Boyfriend and I sat down to watch tv.

Random thought: How come they have not yet figured out a way to make pitless cherries? They've got seedless grapes, pitted olives... what gives?

I'm going to look for some pretty art and poetry to put up in a bit, which always cheers me up.

Monday, May 14, 2007

I know I haven't written much while here at home but there isn't much to tell. Just spending time with the sisters, squabbling with Mother, etc. Tomorrow I return to the loving arms of the South, and Wednesday, it is back to the cube.

A new gelato place has opened up near our new apartment! Madonnnnnaaaaaa ;)

Today I am having lunch with my godmother, and then heading to school to see all of the people who have saved my life multiple times. I have kitschy Texas souv's for them. Wanted to bring something back for Future Priest, who has saved my life the most and who I will most likely see this afternoon, but I didn't think a cowboy boot clock was his thing. I need to look for Jesus wearing a cowboy hat or something before I come home again.
--

Oh man, and how could I forget to mention that I'm in love with the Tudors? New show crush!!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

I'm stealing a meme from Andi, as always...

Booked By 3 Meme:

Name up to three characters...

1. ....You wish were real so you could meet them:

- Pilate from Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is perhaps the coolest character in the entire world.

- Cannie from Jennifer Weiner's Good in Bed; we would so be best friends.

- Mma Ramotswe from Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. She's smart, grounded, old-fashioned but anti-sexist and "traditionally built." She also values the right things in life.

2. ....You would like to be:

- Arwen from Lord of the Rings. She gets to live in that crazy fantasy world, marry Aragorn and be royalty. Although that whole giving up immortality thing would probably be a scary decision to make.

- August Boatwright from Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. She's got it all together in life, one of those nearly perfect characters that you love rather than hate.

- Lucy from Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy. It's been a while since I read it but I zipped through it in like two nights. Can't remember if the character was sarcastic or just had an amazing turn-of-phrase.

3. ....Who scares you:

- Dick and Perry in Capote's In Cold Blood. Even scarier that they were real.

- Randall Flagg in Stephen King's The Stand. Okay, so I only got about 400 pages into a 1,000+ page book, but I watch that movie religiously. Eight hours long and I must have seen it at least five times.

- T-ray from The Secret Life of Bees again. He scares the crap out of me.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Sick again. Why do I get sick every time I come home, huh? I don't know what brought it on... worsening allergies, sleeping with my pie hole open in the dry air... but yeah, it's bad.

I have had the good fortune to see some of my friends while here at home. On Saturday, Boyfriend and I had lunch with Bro and Bro's Best Friend (who is also a friend of mine, but I don't remember giving him an alias on here - Bro, any ideas?). Bro gave me a book of slave narratives that he had to buy for an African-American course that he eventually dropped. Frederick Douglass, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Olaudah Equiano ... too bad no Sojourner Truth, eh? ;)

Since I took Kid Sister #1 to lunch with me on Sunday, I took Kid Sister #2 to dinner with me, Childhood Friend & High School Friend last night. I wasn't feeling well so they came to my neighborhood rather than vice versa, and we had a great time. They are both teachers and they were so good with K.S.! She's normally very shy but she loved them, and warmed up so quickly. Afterwards they hung out at my house for a short while, seeing Baby Sister for the first time and getting a chance to say hello to K.S. #1, Sister and Mother. Lovely evening. Thank God I felt better yesterday than I do today!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

I need to read something funny... I could really use a laugh. I want to laugh until I cry.

Any suggestions??

--

98% on my creative writing final that I took on moving day, which gives me my A in the class. Aaaahhhh yeah :)

Thursday, May 03, 2007

"You're getting fat."

The honesty of children. It's beautiful, really. I remember a babysitting job I had in high school. The seven-year-old boy, who was a monster, took great pleasure in informing me one night that I was fat. And you can't get angry, because supposedly kids haven't yet grasped that whole 'the truth hurts' thing. It cut like a knife that night, because I was younger and infinitely more sensitive, if that can be imagined.

So last night at dinner, Kid Sister #2, who adores me, who worships the ground I walk on, who grabbed my leg and told me not to go back to my job and whenever I mentioned "this is from Texas, where I live" she said, "You do not live in Texas! You live here!" ... she grinned and said to me, "You're getting fat."

And I know it wasn't malicious. She was just making a comment. To be honest, it didn't really bother me at all. I was like, "Yeah, I know," and we kept eating. I still had dessert - fuck that, you only live once.

I know I gained weight in the past six months, and I'm working on it. Today Kid Sister's words resurfaced in my mind as I made better food choices, did some exercise and downed water by the glassful. So perhaps honesty is a good thing, huh?

Eh, whatever.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I'm on a plane, looking at those ice crystals that form on the windows. Only about an hour left, thankfully. I kinda like flying - especially on Jet Blue - but by the end I'm glad to get off.

Moving was rough, but I guess it's never easy. This was my first time actually doing it, and Boyfriend and I were exhausted as we passed out in a seedy (but cheap!) motel last night.

The funniest thing happened when we put our things into storage. An older heavyset man in a button-down denim-ish shirt and glasses was at the desk. First of all, he was a KICK-ASS guy who said that instead of paying $60-80 for a 5 x 5 unit, we should get a 7 x 10. We were like, "No thanks," till he explained that they had a special - the month of May free. (We only need it for about two weeks). We gave a $30 deposit that we'll get back, so the grand total came to three dollars and change. We wouldn't have had any idea had he not told us!

Secondly, he judged from Boyfriend's voice that he was from India. Not only that, but he went on and on about cricket, Boyfriend's favorite sport ever. Turns out that this Texan with a Southern drawl had lived in England and knew a lot about both the sport and people from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in terms of the nuances of their last names.

This is not a nice thing to admit, and I hope my online friends will forgive me, but I am from a city up north. There is definitely a - 'prejudice' is a strong word, let's call it a 'perception' - that Southerners are not the brightest. Obviously, this must come from the idea of uneducated farmers and such, and it isn't fair, but that is often how American Southerners are portrayed in movies.

I have lived in Austin for eight months now, and have found it to not be true. Nonetheless the man surprised the hell out of me. Perceptions - hell, let's call it what it is! prejudices - die hard.

And it is definitely not fair, because I know people from back home who are practically unaware of a world outside their neighborhood, and have no interest in conceiving of one.