January 30, 2004
We're rapidly approaching the 40th
We're rapidly approaching the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' first trip to the U.S., including their first public concert, held right here in D.C. In honor of that, the AFI Silver Theatre is having a tribute with screenings of A Hard Day's Night. On February 6, it's going to be followed by highlights from the Ed Sullivan performance and a panel discussion. The movie's at 7, the post-film stuff at 8:50. Anyone interested and/or willing to indulge my Beatlemaniac tendencies?
January 29, 2004
I was flipping through the
I was flipping through the channels, not sure of what I wanted to watch. I realized that I felt in the mood for something completely mindless. And, as luck would have it, ABC Family is showing that fine Fox Family classic Time Share. Excellent.
The editor of the Weekly
The editor of the Weekly World News has died. (The link is worth it for the picture alone.)
In middle school and high school I was involved in a children's theater group called Spotlight. Each summer we'd put on a musical (I did Barnum, Oliver!, and Bye, Bye Birdie there). The summer of Oliver! we were on a WWN kick. Each week we'd walk to the Grand Union behind the theater during our lunch break and buy the latest issue, then go over it carefully. Those were good days. That was also the summer I discovered They Might Be Giants. Coincidence? I think not.
I should also mention that
I should also mention that last night I scanned in some pictures of my friends from my life before college. Also one of my adorable dog Ranger.
If you're a Daily Show
If you're a Daily Show fan, check out the chat with Stephen Colbert on WashingtonPost.com.
We got in manuscript last week that made me do the happy dance. For the first time, an editor included me in the acknowledgments at the beginning of the book! Woo! It's really neat seeing your name in a book, even if it's a book I'd normally never read.
Current song in my head:
"The Sweetest Thing" by U2
January 28, 2004
You know what's good for
You know what's good for a bad mood? Turning up music really loud and dancing.
Well, that's what's good for me when I'm in a bad mood. I don't know about any of you.
January 27, 2004
Any mixed feelings about leaving
Any mixed feelings about leaving work early are gone. I took home a 550-page blueline to go through. Woo.
This truly is a waste
This truly is a waste of a week. Yesterday the office was closed due to snow. It opened late this morning due to ice. It's closing early today due to ice and more snow. Who knows about tomorrow. And Friday is my compressed day. The sad thing is, I do have things I should be doing, things I need to accomplish. Part of me is stressed about it, part of me is saying, "Oh well." And, per usual, the "Oh well" part is winning.
Current song in my head:
"Paddy Lay Back"
January 26, 2004
My horoscope for today: SCORPIO
My horoscope for today:
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You're definitely back to work today, even if you work at home. You bring dynamism to your daily chores and can move mountains. Silver-tongued Scorpio wins the family over and can sell almost any idea.
Hahahahaha! I did no work today. Silly horoscope.
I thought I was screwed
I thought I was screwed this morning. My alarm went off at 5:40. I popped out of bed and called my office to see whether or not we were closed. The message was the same as it always is--no "office closed message." My heart fell. I was screwed. I knew I should've gone to bed before 1:45. But I was hyper. The snow was falling and I was strangely excited. I was skipping about the apartment. And I wasn't at all tired at 11 or 11:30, when I should've been thinking about sleep. "But it's snowing so hard!" I thought. "Surely the office will be closed." Well, it didn't look that way. But I knew that they have until 6 to make any decisions. So I got back into bed. And lay there, thinking about how screwed I was. My alarm went off again around 6:15 and I turned on the tv. The morning shows were all going on about the bad weather, about the snow that was still falling, about the slick roads. My hopes raised a little. So I got up and went to the phone. And there was the message. The glorious message. "The office is closed due to inclement weather in the D.C. area." Yay! I told Carrie the happy news, watched more tv, and then slept until 11:45. It was fantastic.
January 23, 2004
Right now I have the
Right now I have the song "Trouble" by Pink in my head. That's just silly. I'm walking around the office, and in my mind I'm hearing, "I'm trouble/Yeah trouble now/I'm trouble ya'll/I disturb my town/I'm trouble/Yeah trouble now/I'm trouble ya'll/I got trouble in my town."
The thing is, I'm not trouble. At all. It's laughable how much I'm not trouble. When I was little I was grounded a few times, though at this point, I have no idea what for. I once got a speeding ticket. That's about it. Plus, add in my non-confrontational, non-aggressive manner, and you have a whole lot of not trouble.
Yet I still wander around, in my jeans and sweater, hair back in a ponytail, mentally going, "I'm trouble." Snerk.
Last night I was in
Last night I was in the Borders downtown for my book group. I got there quite a bit early--it's easier (and cheaper) to go there straight from work than to go home, hang around, and then go downtown. Anyway, so I finished reading a book and was browsing and stuff. I was there for maybe an hour and a half before the group started. And they had some weird mix of CDs in their player. I heard the song "Conjunction Junction" approximately 500 times. It's like they had a 5-disc player, but instead of the entire Schoolhouse Rocks album, they had the "Conjunction Junction" single. In addition to that, they also had the new Barenaked Ladies album, some sort of bluegrass album, and a French album. Very bizarre.
January 22, 2004
I think I'm out of
I think I'm out of practice in getting to know other people. Lord knows I suck at actually meeting them, but once I meet them, I don't know where to go. What do I talk about? I want to start grilling them, finding out about their lives. But that's not really the way to go. First of all, I imagine the other person finds it scary. It's just strange. I'm at this point where I've known my friends for at least 5 or 6 years. I don't remember what it's like to get to know someone.
And then...how do you move between acquaintance and friend? I feel like I'm still on that line with Krishni and Meghan. We do stuff socially...but not much. We aren't in regular contact. It's weird. And harder now that we don't all work together.
How can I become friends with the people that I meet? And, if such is the case, how might I become more than friends? Because while these things might just drop into my lap...well, it hasn't happened so far. I just wish I were a more naturally aggressive person.
And now I feel like I'm rambling. Oh well. It's 3:30 on a Thursday and my brain is fried. Thank God all I have at work right now is mindless organization of a manuscript.
When I'm waiting for the
When I'm waiting for the train in the morning, I'm often reminded of when I studied abroad. I remember taking the train from Colchester to London. When the train was getting close in to the city, it passed by Tube stations in the suburbs, and I remember looking out at the people on those platforms, wondering about their lives. And as I stand in the cold, on the train platform at Twinbrook, I realize that I am one of those people. There's a part of me that thinks that just because someone lives in a different country, his or her life is somehow inherently different from my own. But that's not really true. (Well, that's not true in the case of England; if we were talking someplace like Moldova or Iraq, well, obviously our lives are going to be very different.) They commute, they work, they hang out with their friends. They live in apartments and houses. Their lives are really no more different from mine than are the lives of some of the people I work with, people who live right here in DC.
I know that none of this is profound. But for some reason it always strikes me. But whenever the MARC train passes by, I kind of hope that there's someone on there who's not a commuter. I want there to be a backpacker on there, wondering about the lives of the people standing on the platform, waiting for the Metro.
January 21, 2004
For all that I'm sleepy
For all that I'm sleepy and not particularly motivated to work, I'm in a good frame of mind. I'm happy. And I just thought I'd share that. Hope everyone else is having a cheery day.
January 20, 2004
How sad. A Finnish tax
How sad. A Finnish tax official died at his desk and nobody noticed for two days. At least he wasn't eaten by wild dogs.
Shameful confession of the day:
Shameful confession of the day: I just found myself wishing that Big Brother was on so I could go to a message board and see what was going on in the house (from the live feeds). That's just...oh my. Sometimes I just don't know about me.
It was going to be
It was going to be a quiet weekend. I didn't have any plans for my 4 days off, other than tutoring and maybe going to see Return of the King. Then on Friday I got an email from Spike asking if I was going to be around for the weekend. The upshot is, he wound up coming to DC and crashing on my couch (well, it's actually a sofa bed). It was loads of fun, even if it did mean spending time outside in the cold wetness. We went to the American history museum and saw the new Beatles exhibition and went to the natural history museum and saw a very large moose. It was excellent. And we did go see Return of the King, as well as some other quality movies.
I had a blast. I had wanted to do something this weekend, but couldn't really think of anything. So it all worked out really well. Unless, of course, I get sick from the cold, wet wandering.
January 15, 2004
Apparently my single status--and my
Apparently my single status--and my lack of any sort of breakups in my past--is good for my mental health. Well, that's good to know.
January 14, 2004
I feel like I'm in
I feel like I'm in school again because there's snow in the forecast and I'm totally hoping for a delayed opening tomorrow. It's kind of sad.
I got my West Wing First Season DVDs on Monday. They're so pretty. I promptly sat down and watched all the extras, which were good. You can tell that the cast really likes each other and they all seem like really cool people. And I'm making my way through Band of Brothers, courtesy of Netflix. It's good, though it's hard to tell the guys apart. But they're all so cute! Hee.
January 09, 2004
January 08, 2004
I think I scared Carrie
I think I scared Carrie earlier today when she innocently walked into my office to ask a question and I gave her the Look of the Damned. I'm working on a book that needs to be out approximately now. I'm proofing second pages. I had finished the first 240 pages yesterday, but this morning I found the next 310 pages sitting on my chair. So far I've checked changes. I haven't even started proofreading. My eyes are about to climb out of my head and run away. I took a short break and went next door to buy some Diet Mountain Dew. My eyes were confused, as they weren't being required to a) read print or b) concentrate on something a foot from them. They were quite confused at needing to focus on things hundreds of feet away. Now...the proofreading.
Current song in my head:
"All I Have to Do is Dream" by the Everly Brothers
January 06, 2004
You can learn more about
You can learn more about current events by watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart than by watching the regular news. Or, at least you'll retain it better.
It was horrible this morning.
It was horrible this morning. The escalator at the Metro station was broken. I had to walk up the escalator. And we're not talking some little escalator. We're talking hundreds of stairs. Definitely not the way to start the morning.
I'm back at work and it feels like I never had a break. As expected, it's crazy busy. For the first time I have work for two projects at once. Like, decent-sized work, not something major on one and something little on the other. We're talking fairly major on both. And the thought that at some point I may to have to juggle close to 4 or 5 at once? Scary.
Anyway, have you actually listened to the lyrics of "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)"? They're much worse than what I thought.
Current song in my head:
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes
January 01, 2004
Happy 2004! I hope everyone
Happy 2004! I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. Mine was lovely; I won over $4 from Steve, Brent, Tim, and Amy, which was nice. Hey, it enabled me to pay for lunch today. It was obviously a lot quieter than last New Year's, but it was excellent.
My only resolution is to record the books I read this year. I bought a nice little notebook to record them in. There are a number of things I'd like to do this year. I'd like to pay off my debt and buy a new car. I'd like to travel a bit more this year. Ideally that would mean taking a couple of weeks and going to Russia or maybe England and Ireland, but I'd be happy with a trip to Charleston.
I'm fairly happy with 2003. It didn't go precisely how I planned (not that I know what I planned), but it was good. I got Colin, for one thing. And though I didn't lose the weight I wanted to, I am growing more confident in myself and my looks. So that's good. And if what you're doing on New Year's is an indication of what the year ahead will hold, that's fine with me. Hopefully it's an indication of getting more money. Plus, VH1 is doing a marathon of I Love the 80s and I Love the 80s Strikes Back, so everything is good with me.
Chocolate Frogs Which Harry Potter
Chocolate Frogs
Which Harry Potter Candy are you?
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You are: KETCHUP! A good loyal friend with a
sense of humor.
---What fast food condiment are you?---
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