my dear niece erma said that i was gonna do a post on staplers. i don't remember ever saying that. but since she said it, it must be true. so here goes:
staplers are very useful tools for stapling things. the end.

stupid boyhead guy friends

i don't get it. one of my best friends, who said i was the best girl friend he ever had, fell of the earth almost 2 years ago. why would he do that? we didn't drift away. we didn't move away. he just stopped our friendship. all of a sudden there was no contact. oh, except for a year and a half ago, i talked to him for less than 10 minutes when he was driving to iowa, and i'm pretty sure he only answered cuz it was dark and he didn't have time to check the caller id. after that, he just vanished. i don't think anything or anyone could've hurt me more.

anyway - i don't know why i'm posting this. it's not like i haven't complained about it before. i guess i just felt like saying it again to iterate the point. guy friends are stupid dumbyheads.

gil

i so love him. why can't real life boys be like that? (i had a whole longer thing typed out the other night about that, but my computer got all funky so i had to quit, so i lost it. and i don't really remember what i said.)

but anyway...because he's so wonderful, he has made me sit and think of how sad i am that i don't have someone like that. seriously - so depressing. so i'm gonna have to move on from him. i don't know who to, though, so again, you'll have to wait with me through a few days of singlehood.

crazy schedule

this week at work has been tough. i ended up working 7 days straight, and we were short-staffed a couple of those days, so those days were extra tough. actually the second day we were short i was so tired by the end of it that my hands were shaking as i put cheese on some crackers. (i probably stayed up too late the night before, though.) that night i went to bed at 8:30.

but...there is something good about it. i get a three day weekend! that never happens! i don't have any plans, other than to visit didder, but hey, the point is - i get 3 days off! yay!

my parents were sitting by the computer just now while i was wanting to blog and stuff. but i don't want them here hovering when i do it so i couldn't cuz they wouldn't go away. not that i'm writing anything deep or anything; this is just my private little place of no parents. they never hang out down here. why did they have to when i was online? will someone please find me a place to move out to?

claire told me again that she'd post her story. i told her kim is asking for it. so she better. :)

the hot administrative assistant at work

he's quitting. we're all so sad. he's a great guy and so helpful to everyone and so caring and just such a godly man. it'll be a great loss for the home.

and of course, all we young girls are extra sad cuz we'll no longer have anything to look at.

'member when i said i wasn't gonna do another long one right now?

Concerning Tolkien (and Philology) - Part Two (I decided to break this post into two so that it wouldn't look so intimidating)

Anyway - so I'm reading this book that I find fascinating that no one else would find interesting called "Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary," by Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall, and Edmund Weiner. And it so makes me want to be a philologist. I wanted to be one anyway, as soon as I found out there was such a subject to study, but this just makes me want to all the more. It is so fun to see where English came from. Example:
Middle English: Efter noes flode...eontas wolden areran ane buruh and anne stepel swah hehne Þet his rof astiзe up to heofena.
Our English: After Noah's flood...the giants intended to erect a city and a tower so high that its roof would ascend to the heavens.
So, if you know that 'Þ' is 'th,' and you know that eontas means 'giants,' you can see the relation. 'Efter noes flode' is pretty obvious, then 'eontas wolden' (taking the original meaning of the word 'would': 'to desire, to intend'), 'areran' would be hard to figure out, but then 'ane buruh' (a burrow: a town or city), 'and anne stepel' ('and a steeple (a tower)'), 'swah hehne Þet his rof' (getting 'hehne' from context), 'astiзe' would also be hard to figure, and then 'up to heofena.' It makes total sense! Isn't is wonderful!?! ('Wonderful' meaning 'a great thing that leaves one full of wonder and awe') :)
What a fortunate man to get to study such things! And to do what he did with them, using them to create words, languages, and cultures - oh how grand! ('Eontas' - 'giants' - is whence came the word 'Ents.') I could go on and give more examples of what he did with philology, but seeing as this is really long and I'm the only one who cares anyway, I'll stop here. But oh, if only I could study the likes of that!

Concerning Tolkien (and Philology) - Part One

My dear Professor Tolkien (a title which he didn't like, so I'll call him Mr. Tolkien, cuz that's what he preferred) was a philologist. (Philology is, contrary to what one would think, not the study of guys named Phil - though Linda might like that. It's the study of sounds, words, and word origins/the development of languages.) What a great job. Just to study words and languages.

Philology is where his heart truly lied. That is how Middle Earth came to be: he invented a language, but in order for a language to exist there has to be a culture to support it, thus the creation of Elves and the rest of Middle Earth. He studied the evolution of languages, and saw how words could have developed and used that pattern to guide the development of his own languages. (There are two forms of Elvish - Quenya and Sindarin.) Mr. Tolkien also used patterns from Old English, Middle English, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse to develop words used by other peoples of Middle Earth that, because they follow a specific pattern, sound not so foreign to us. He also brought back some words that had vanished long ago.

(Sorry if I don't make myself clear. Sometimes when I understand something, I think other people do, too, so I don't see that I'm unclear. [That would be why I can't teach.])

my email

it says that i have two new emails (it has said that for a very long time). but when i go back to try to find them, i can't. so i don't know why it says that. it's annoying.

pop

caffeine is a wonderful thing

i kinda want to do another movie review right now, but i think that might be too much for you people to handle right now. you probably want a short post or two in between.

Movie Review: Vanity Fair

Good, but not as good as the book. Granted, when you try to fit 800 pages into two and a half hours, you can't have the character development you do in a book, but I felt like they didn't do enough to show who Rebecca Sharp really was. They made her too innocent. And they completely glossed over the other characters. The book spends a lot of time developing who these people are, so the movie just seemed abrupt.

As for casting, I liked Rebecca and Rawdon (Reese Witherspoon and James Purefoy), but the rest of the cast just didn't look how I had pictured the characters (especially George and Dobbin). I don't feel they did them justice. But seeing as Rebecca and Rawdon are the main characters in the movie, it's okay.

I do like the movie. It's what got me to read the book in the first place. It was a long time between seeing the movie and reading the book, which I'm glad about, though, cuz I had forgotten a lot, so I could see things as I wanted to when I read it, not how someone else had portrayed it. But I did have Reese in mind when I read about Becky, and I really do think she fits. (Her hair is way too big in the movie, though.)

Anyway, so that's my rambling movie review. I recommend it, but I think if you want to read it, I would read it first, just so you can get things in your mind how you want them.

ohmigoodness - it's been a long time!

Elementary School Enemy - Part 2

During bus evacuation drills in elementary school, they always had one of the big kids help the other kids jump down from the back of the bus. Being that that boy was the biggest kid in 6th grade, he got the job. That meant that he had to take my hand to help me down from the great yellow carriage, with his other arm ready to catch me if I fell. Why did it have to be him? Goodness. Things just aren't fair. I'm not quite sure why I remember that day so clearly, but I do. It was fall. A nice day (I wasn't wearing a jacket). I was wearing my favorite skirt (navy blue with tan flowers), and an off-white long-sleeved shirt. We were only in 6th grade, but at the time, he looked so big and strong back there. But he was still him, so ugh!

Anyway, moving on. Ninth grade came along, and finally that ugh! boy and I went to different schools. I wouldn't see him anymore. I was actually kind of sad. He and I had come to speaking terms in junior high. But finally, I could make my confession to my best friend (the one who's listed in my cell phone as 'myDiana'). In 6th grade, I had had a crush on that boy. To which she replied, 'I knew that.' I couldn't believe it. She knew? But I so always said that I didn't like him! But apparently friends know these things. Even if you don't want to admit them to yourself. They know.

And I guess I know why I remember that day as well as I do. It was one of the most romantic days of my life. :)

clairebare has the best story

and i told her to post it as a comment. so now we can see if she actually reads my blog or not! (plus you have to hear her story.) :)

sleeping

i need to stop getting so much sleep when i have weekends off. it's a wonderful thing, and i feel like i hardly ever get to sleep in, so i like to take advantage of it, but then i can't sleep sunday night, and then like today, i'm completely beyond dead. so see, didder, being able to sleep in isn't all great.

Book Review: Vanity Fair

I very much enjoyed this book. A few weeks ago I gave you some reasons why (those great quotes), and the book pretty much stayed in the same vein throughout. I got a little bogged down in the middle, when it talked about the battle of Waterloo and whatnot. (I get bogged down in the Waterloo parts of 'Les Miserables,' too, though. Apparently I just don't care.) But overall the story is intriguing. Oh yeah, did I say what it was about before?

It's about Becky Sharp, a conniving little money-grubber who's trying to climb the social ladder, and her friend (?) Amelia Sedley, a sweet, though simple, romantic (whose lack of common sense/street smarts is somewhat grating - she's a bit of a mutton-headed dolt). And then of course there are the men involved; Rawdon Crawley (a cad who somehow has some redeeming qualities), George Osborne (a cad who has no redeeming qualities), and William Dobbin (who any girl would be happy to have in love with her).

I read this mostly at work (cuz by the time I get home, I'm so tired I fall asleep the minute I open a book), and when I got to the end, I was getting so mad when my breaks were over, cuz that always happened when I got to a really good part (probably cuz it got really good). It's amazing how Thackeray got into women's psyche. Maybe men should read this to try to get a clue. For we women it's just fun to see how we can relate to so much (160 years later). I highly recommend it.

Elementary School Enemy - Part One

Through jr. high I had a sworn enemy who was just plain ugh! From kindergarten on he was the bane of my existence. Aside from just being him, he had the nerve to beat me on tests and projects and stuff sometimes. So I always had to do extra well to be sure I was number one (or at least ahead of him). I remember especially in 6th grade, when we were basically self-taught/self-paced, a lot of the kids slacked off, but I worked hard, especially in math, in which I finished the book. So the teacher gave me a pre-algebra book to work on. But then a couple weeks later, this boy had the nerve to finish his math book. I was so mad. The teacher only had one copy of the book, though, so he gave it to that boy, and gave me an algebra book. I was so happy. My nose went so high up in the air. I'm sure I must've rubbed it in mercilessly. But I beat him, and that's what mattered.

Jr. high came and we switched schools so I didn't see him as much, but he was still him. Ugh.

here's a woo-wooier picture for chelleybutton =)

i got a new elvis cd!

i just got 'from elvis in memphis.' broller says that this (1969) is when elvis sounded his best. and i must say - this cd is great!

______ parties

pampered chef parties, creative memories parties, jewelry parties...why do women do this to each other? it's just cruel. nobody likes going to them, but we feel obligated. and then when we get there we feel obligated to buy an $8 spatula when we coulda got a 3 pack down at target for $1.75. (the only reason we get it is cuz it's the cheapest thing they have.) and it's not like it's quality bonding time cuz everybody is resenting the fact that they have to be there, and they have to spend time listening to the sales person. these parties are just stupid.

so, to everyone out there who is reading this blog, i promise to never ever invite you to a _______ party.

it's 1:28am

and i'm the charter member of chelleybutton's (which linda is a member of), and she's in mine and linda's, and linda's in hers.

linda's fan club

and i'm the charter member of hers!

my fan club

linda just said she'd join! she's my charter member.

mexican food

ngomba and i went out to eat last night to visit another friend who was waitressing. it was fun. we were there for a really long time talking about anything and everything, and oh, we had a good waitress, too.

it was nice to get out and talk with a Christian friend. i miss that fellowship. i haven't had it the last two years, and frankly, that's just too long! JESUS said we need fellowship. once you lose it, you realize how true that is. it was just so good. hopefully now that ngomba's back in town, she and i will go out like that more often.

oh, and chalupas don't reheat well.

botw pics were really hard to find, and they all look fuzzy when i put them here. so forgive the quality.

An Ideal BOTW

(According to dictionary.com, the definition of 'ideal' is:

'Conceived as constituting a standard of perfection or excellence. Existing as an archetype or pattern, especially as a Platonic idea or perception. Existing only in the mind; imaginary.')

Who would be an ideal BOTW? One with whom I've been in love for longer than I can remember. None other than

Mr. Gilbert Blythe

In all of literaturedom, is there a more romantic story than that of Gilbert and Anne? (There might be, but I can't think of any other one just now.) How does a girl not swoon and want to be her?

Actually, this is one of the few cases when I like the movie better than the book. I think mostly cuz Gilbert's not in the book as much.

But anyway...Gilbert is wonderful. He's fun, he's smart, he's a gentleman, he's caring, he's determined, he's forgiving, he's kind, he's subtle, he's...shall I go on?

I love how persistant he is. He doesn't push, but he never ever gives up. Of course we know from the beginning that they'll end up together, cuz after all, he pulls her hair and in every story that has ever had that plot (or the dipping of the pigtails in the inkwell) they do. But that doesn't make us ache for him any less in all his failed attempts at reconciliation. Instead we just sit there and think, 'I'd forgive him. Cuz, hello, who wouldn't want a guy like that? Wake up! He's wonderful!'

My favorite part in the movie is when Gilbert rescues Anne when her boat sinks. He's so sweet. And she's such a brat. But he keeps being so sweet cuz he's so in love with her. He's so sweet!
And he's so romantic. When he takes her dance card at the Christmas ball...I love how she says that such a romantic gesture is beyond him. No it's not! Duh! He is so romantic!

And then there's the best most swooniest moment of him in the movie. When he calls her 'Carrots' at the end. Sigh. How I would love to be her right then.

I suppose this perfect guy has to have some flaws, though. One, his name is Gilbert - but he can't help that. And probably the bigger one - he's not real.

But there's hope...I was in Sweden when the third movie came out (not that great of a movie). We got to see it, though, as a special girls' night, when one of the girl's moms sent it over. All but two of we 47 girls had seen the first two, so we were all so excited. Then it started and we were all kind of like 'Ok, this just isn't the same,' but then Gilbert came on the screen. And we all got so excited and so emotional and so swoony. One of those two who hadn't seen it said in wonderment, 'You all act like these people are real!' To which we all replied, 'They are! That's Gilbert!' Cuz like the Velveteen Rabbit, if you love him so much he becomes real, right?

my mom's older sister (i changed the title of this post)

she has to get props. for years my sister and i have been trying to get out of our mom who her first kiss was. we called one of our aunts, but she didn't know (or at least said she didn't), but then on friday, i asked this aunt, and after much thought, she came through! so thank you, oh thank you, dear aunt! (best part is - didder and i have heard of him in different contexts, so woo-hoo!)

sometimes the residents amuse me

i'm chatty today - sorry linda.

one of the women had her son visit today. as he was about to leave, he said, 'it was good to see you mom.' to which she replied, 'i don't doubt it!'

in the last few weeks we've had seven people die. well, a few days ago the remaining residents got fortune cookies with their lunches. afterwards one of the women came up to me and said, 'mine says i will soon get a promotion. does that mean i'm next?'

he's not my botw anymore cuz i'm single, but i stumbled across these and had to share them

from his website:

One time during the national gasoline crisis, when Mark Madsen was about 4-years-old, his family been in a long line to get gas. It was very hot and there were lots of other children in the car.

After he arrived back home, his mother heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, it was Mark. He was beaming and told her that she would never have to get gas again, and that he had "taken care of it."

Mom looked towards the car and saw the garden hose stuffed down the gas port. The water had been turned on, and the whole tank was flushed of gas now and full of water. Mark was so pleased.

"What could I do but be pleased also?" mom relates. "I thanked him."

and from the Pioneer Press:

On the question he hates the most: "I don't really hate too many questions. Normally, people don't have a whole lot to ask me. When they ask me, it's a big occasion. I get excited."

gymastics

last night i went to u of m women's gymnastics with didder, my nieces, and two of their friends. it was fun. i've never been to a gymnastics meet before. i think i already knew it, but i think the uneven bars are my favorite. they're all fun, though. the only thing is that after watching however many girls do the same thing (and when you don't see the scores) they start to all look the same. (but then didder and i worked on a project we were doing for my aunt in austria, so it was all good.)

it was also nice just to get out. finally when they asked me at work what my plans were for the evening i could say something other than, 'watch a movie, maybe go online.' i should have plans more often.

the nurse saved the day

the pills the dr. gave me have to be cut in half cuz i'm too small to need a whole one at a time. so i thought, ok, whatever, that makes them easier to swallow, right? and we have my grandpa's old pill cutter, so no problem. except that the pills are too big for the pill cutter, so all i ended up cutting was my thumb as i tried to wedge the pill into it. (got blood on the pill and everything.) anyway, i managed to somehow cut the one with the cutter, and then thought, hey, i work at a nursing home, i'll see if a nurse can do the others.

so i brought them all to work, and the nurse said, 'no i don't have a pill cutter. but they might have one upstairs so i'll go look for you.' so he did, but to no avail. so then he came back and told me to show them to him. so he took one, and just snapped it in half. just like that. it wasn't scored or anything, he just snapped it in perfect half. so then i gave him the rest and he snapped all those, too. yay nurse! now i don't have to cut myself to death on a pill cutter anymore!

how rude

so i'm in the living room lounging on the couch, enjoying the one room in the house that really gets sunlight, when my father comes in, leans over and closes the blinds. and then he leaves the room. i said 'hey!' and he said, 'well, turn on a light.' and that was that. how rude.

uh-oh

i have a new reader. my dear aunt. so once again i guess i have to keep this site family friendly. so much for mekhi phifer being my next botw.

why i guess it's good that i work my awful hours and 5 days in a row

the meds that the dr. gave me have to be taken 12 hours apart, but shouldn't be taken before bed. so by working these awful hours i can take one at 5 and one at 5. i guess it's a good time to not have a day off.

the problem with onions

the aftertaste

we got free subway at work today! woo-hoo!

another doctor appt.

cuz apparently this is what i do. i swear i'm not a hypochondriac. the last times i've been to the dr. is in august and last march cuz i had to cuz of my seizure last year. otherwise, it's been once a year since i've been diagnosed, and not for anything else.
but anyway. i went for him to check my ear today. in the 2 seconds he saw me, he said that they look fine, but the left one has a bit of fluid built up, so he gave me a decongestant and sent me on my way. i guess that's good, but i wish there could be a better more immediate solution. i want this to feel better!
on the plus side, when the nurse weighed me, i weighed two pounds less than i did yesterday. :)
oh yeah, and the dr. told me not to go to this church for a few weeks. and if i go back, to wear ear plugs.

The Sermon - Which I Sum Up Quite Without Eloquence, or Perhaps Even Sense to You

This sermon was so what I needed to hear. I've been struggling as I've sat here the last year and a half trying to figure out what to do with my life. It's not easy to wait for GOD's answers.
The verses were Isaiah 40:27-31. The pastor started out with verse 27, saying that our ways are not hidden from GOD. Why do we doubt that? We think that HE must not know, or must be ignoring our questions as to HIS will for us. But HE is GOD. HE knows. HIS ways may be unsearchable, but HE gives us the power and strength to keep going, even through the times of waiting.
The pastor then pointed out that in verse 31, 'waiting upon the LORD' and 'mounting up on wings' are connected. But they are connected with a promise: 'the LORD shall.' The way the pastor put it was that while we are waiting, we are growing wings by the grace of GOD. HE knows we will need them when HE picks us up and lets us go. If we don't have wings, we can easily fall, but when we have wings like eagles, we can fly upon the WIND. We have to get the wings first. We need to be made ready. We need to be prepared.
The pastor gave the example of Moses in Exodus 24. Before he was given the commandments, he was told to go with GOD onto the mountain and wait for instruction. There he entered GOD's presense, and was on the mountain 40 days and nights before he was told to go down to the people.
The pastor also mentioned that eagles are amazing, majestic birds. They can soar upon the wind (not questioning if it will keep them up - they know it will), their eyes can pick out a target far away (with telescope-like eyes) and stay focused on it until they reach that goal, and they can pick up prey twice their weight, which basically is them achieving the impossible. We are not called chickens. All they do is walk around and crow. We are called eagles.
And the beauty of this all is that all we have to do is wait upon HIM - and HE will renew our strength. HE will raise us up if we are faithful in the waiting.
I know I am not adequately telling what the pastor told - I'm no preacher. I don't even know if I made sense, but I did to me at least, so hopefully now I can remember that waiting is a good thing. And I so needed to hear that. I also needed to hear, though, when the pastor said that we shouldn't wait too long. If we do we get desperate and turn to other things to fix whatever the problem is. We need to listen for GOD's instruction.
It was a good sermon, no matter what I say. GOD knew what I needed and HE provided. I love HIM!

our catholic calendar at work

i should've posted this yesterday, but i never got online, so here it is today:

yesterday was the sisters perpetua and felicity day. so seeing as 'perptua' means constant, and 'felicity' means happiness, yesterday was the day of constant happiness! i told the other kitchen people that at work, so we decided we had to be little pollyannas all day. but then i was sad cuz the cook wasn't there and observance of the holiday would've annoyed him. so much for being constantly happy.

next year we'll all have to remember, and then we can be sisters!

the doctor's office part three

i went today and he said i still have neurons

the doctor's office part two

it was the neurologist's office. they said that my normal clinic wouldn't send blood work results to them cuz they weren't authorized. i said, 'huh?' and she said, 'i know, it's never happened to us before. call them and tell them to send them over.' so i called and the receptionist said, 'huh? that's never happened to us before. i'll transfer you to records.' so she did and the lady said, 'huh? that's never happened to us before. what's their fax number?' so the records got sent. don't you just love hppa?

botw

i don't know who to have next! how can it be that no one is striking my fancy at this time?

running errands

most of the time, i'm not a fan

the doctor's office

the doctor's office called today and said 'this is the doctor's office. call us.' i haven't gone to the doctor in i don't know how long, so it can't be a follow-up to anything. it could be the neurologist cuz i have an appointment on thursday (and they always cancel on me), but then why wouldn't they say it was them? hello whoever you are - there's more that one doctor's office in the world.

chocolat

k, so in the movie she has some weird kinds of chocolates like with chili powder and stuff in them. well now target does, too. my mom got some dark chocolate with chipotle chili heat. ohmigosh. my mouth almost died of it being so hot. who's ever heard of spicy chocolate. it's just wrong.

oops - i was gonna try to keep that short. now i don't know if i should go ahead with the sermon right now or if i should do some short ones in between.

Yay African Church!

Today I went to church with my friend Ngomba. She asked me last week, but by the time last night rolled around I wanted to call her and say forget it. But how do you just say, 'no, I don't want to go to your church,' after you already said yes? So I went.

GOD knew I needed to go.

We got there, and everyone was so welcoming. It's a small church, and I'm white, so everyone knew I was a visitor, and they all went out of their way to make me feel at home. The service started with a guy speaking who was full of Hallelujahs and Amens. It was like a mini-sermon on Job 1, talking about how the devil tries to break us down, but we should still bless the LORD. Next came a few testimonies of things GOD has done in the last week.

Then the singing started, which is so different from a white church. Black people, especially Africans, have the joy of the LORD in them in a way white people don't. Or at least they show it more clearly and freely. (My only complaint about the church, though, is that it was way too loud. I seriously could feel how my chest and head were throbbing and was thinking that it could so lead to a seizure. Now it's 3 hours later and my ears still ache. But one of the men on the worship team said that when [not if - when] I come back, they'll tone it down for me.) There was dancing and clapping; enough to even get this white girl (who's Swedish to boot) moving.

Then came the offering, which included another mini-sermon (I don't remember the verses, though).

Then came the actual sermon, which was on Isaiah 40:27-31 - the verses about those that wait upon the LORD mounting up on wings like eagles. It was just what I needed to hear (I'll do a sperate post so this one doesn't look so long). The pastor preached in English, but then a guy translated it into French. This was actually kind of nice, though, cuz it gave me a second to take in what I just heard. It was a good sermon - I would like to hear it again to see what else there was to get out of it.

Then there were announcements and prayer. The whole service was loaded with prayer and Scripture. When it was over (almost 3 hours later - but it almost seemed shorter than a white service), several people introduced themselves and told me that I should get their numbers from Ngomba and if I ever needed prayer to call them and they would pray for me. And they were all so sincere. Throughout the whole service, everything was so sincere.

I would like to go again. Actually they all kept saying, 'when you come back...' and 'next time...' - there were no 'ifs' involved. :) The only thing is, if I do, I'll have to consider bringing some sort of ear plugs, that hopefully wouldn't be too obvious. That won't hold off the seizures, though. I'll have to think of something. But I do want to go back. So I'll leave that for GOD to figure out.

I Don't Know if I Can Be Friends With Them Anymore

This is some of the greatest sacrilege I have heard in quite some time. Linda and Michelle, my dear friends, have stated, and I pretty much quote, 'Sean Connery is not woo-woo.' What!?! I could hardly even type that just now, it's just so wrong. They say he is not handsome. I can't even believe it.

If you go to the kitchen where I work, you will find several different opinions among the women about what celebrities we find attractive. The sole unifying man is Sir Sean Connery himself. Whether it be strictly his looks, which, sweetie, have certainly improved with age, or whether his accent and the fact that he occassionally wears a kilt factor in, we'll never know, but he

is the dignified, debonair gentleman who has captured the hearts of more than just you average Bond girl. If only men of today would take the time to learn some lessons in class from this handsome man...

Leonardo DiCaprio

After seeing 'The Departed,' I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio would definitely be my next BOTW. After all, his looks have grown with me - when I was 10, he was Luke on 'Growing Pains,' when I was 16, he was Jack in 'Titanic,' and now that I'm well, older, he's Billy in 'The Departed.' He's had the right looks for every age. He's a good actor - his roles have been right for every age I've been at. He's all into taking care of the earth and stuff. He's 5'11," which isn't tall, but isn't short. He's 32 (Nov. 11th, 1974). Leo has many things going for him.

However, as I started to do my research, I found that many things that he has said bother me. What a cocky prig. But I thought, hey, all my BOTWs have unfortunatelies, this can be his. But the more I researched, the more I couldn't get past it. Especially when he'd be following a nice guy like Mark Madsen.

So what I have decided is that this time, the unfortunately is that I can't have Leonardo DiCaprio as my BOTW.

Movie Review: The Departed

Very boy. That's the first thing that comes to mind. It's very boy. But I knew that going in, so that's ok. I've been kinda sick of chick flicks lately.

It's also very good. I don't know if it shoulda won the Oscar for Best Picture, but I haven't seen the others, so I don't know. It is good, though.

So basically, in case you haven't been in the country for the last 6 months, it's about 2 guys who go undercover - Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a cop turned mafia guy and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is a mafia guy turned cop. They each have to find out stuff about the other organization, and then when both organizations realize they have moles, they each have to figure out who the mole is.

The casting is very good. Jack Nicholson is Frank Costello, the mob boss, Martin Sheen is Oliver Queenen, the head cop guy, and Mark Wahlberg is Dignam, the jerk cop guy. The only one I'm not really sold on is Alec Baldwin as the other cop guy. Matt and Jack were extra good, but Leo should get special mention, cuz he was exceptional.

It wasn't as violent as I thought it would be, so that was good - no horse head like 'The Godfather.' :) The language was beyond horrid, though. I think they only wrote one one-worded line for Marky Mark, and since he wanted to be in more of the movie, he decided to repeat that line over and over. The plot wasn't overly predictable, but there were a couple things that I figured out before the moles did. But that's ok, cuz it made me feel smart and made me feel like I should go undercover for either the police or the mafia.

If you're ever in the mood for a boy movie, I highly recommend this one. It actually has a plot, and while it says it's R for strong brutal violence, it really isn't that bad (considering I also just watched 'Gladiator'). So yeah, watch it - it's good.

afternoon snack

i was leaning against the counter today eating doritos, when i noticed some bananas sitting nearby - one of which had a sticker that read 'snack healthy.'

'Happy Side of Winter' kinda sounds like a movie title

Happy Side of Winter

Last Sunday I had to trudge four blocks through a foot or more of un-shoveled snow to get to work at 5:30am. It was so not fun. All along the way I was talking to myself asking myself why I had to be so dumb as to work in a job that actually matters. (If no one gets to the cash registers at Target, who cares, but if old people don't get food, yeah, that just isn't ok. Someone has to be there, and since I live so close, I have no excuse for not going.) I was also saying that if one person complained about the food that day...

I was pooped by the time I got there. But whatever, I got through it. When it's your job you have to do it. Then, on yesterday, happy thing, everyone who worked Sat. night, and Sun. morning got a $25 gift certificate to Target in appreciation for us actually getting there! Woo-hoo! What a happy day!

(Oh, and did I mention that I was speaking to myself in British?)

Winter

I don't mind winter. Sure I complain sometimes, but for the most part I really don't mind it (it's better than 100 humid degrees). But why, this year, do we have to get it all at once? If this stupid snow had come gradually, we all wouldn't have had to shovel til our backs and shoulders gave out 20 times in 3 days. And there's nowhere to throw the snow anymore either. At work the parking lot got plowed so that all the snow is now in front of the windows of the kitchen and dining room, so you can't see a thing. It's so depressing!

I suppose I should be thankful I don't live in New York, but still. This stinks.

The Oscars - Fashion Police

(The fashion police would be me and didder, not any of those people like Joan Rivers who claim to know fashion but are either dowdy, ho-y, or bouffonty. This time it's just me, though, cuz it's my blog.)

Seriously lacking any excitement in fashion this year. Nothing stood out too much. And they didn't show anybody. I didn't realize til afterwards that there were none of the usual red carpet darlings there. No Angelina Jolie, no Catherine Zeta-Jones, no Jennifer Aniston, no Salma Hayek, no Halle Berry...What a dumb year! And of the people who were left, no one impressed me. But since I have to have comments...

Best Dressed - Reese Witherspoon (if I looked past the blah hair - which was the same blah hair she had at the Golden Globes - the dress in itself was beautiful) and Helen Mirren (she could've had more color, but the dress was age appropriate, and dignified for a lady who won the Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth II)

Best Hair - Jodie Foster (and the color of her dress was lovely)

Worst Dressed - Kirsten Dunst (what the heck was that?), Nicole Kidman (I'm glad she had a color, but the dress was ugly, what with its huge bow that looked like a parrot was perched on her shoulder), and Gwyneth Paltrow (she could be so regal looking - why does she choose such ugly dresses?)

Poofiest Dress - Penelope Cruz (I think it was even too poofy for a 4 year old to enjoy while playing dress-up)

Looked Most Like a Wedding Cake in a Fancy Bridal Magazine - Abigail Breslin (I'm glad she was in something that a 10 year old would choose, though - she looked cute)

Best Accesory - Jada Pinkett Smith (Will)

Ugliest Wrap Thing - Jennifer Hudson (thank heaven she took it off once she got in the building)

Worst Pockets - Jennifer Hudson (ladies do not stand with their hands in their pockets)

Most Annoying Hairdo - long straight blond hair all brushed to the left side (it was dumb and unglamorous on one person, why were there several?)

I guess that's all I can think of.

No Scarlett Johansson, no Liv Tyler, no Jennifer Garner, no Sandra Bullock, no Julia Roberts...