Okay.
This is how you know for sure that your mind has just completely, utterly run away from you.
Brett bought lobsters for tonight's dinner yesterday, and put them in a cooler on the porch with some ice. Now, if you haven't heard about this, apparently the lady who was fishing the lobsters out for him took his saying 'smaller, smaller!' to mean 'find me the biggest fucking lobsters in that tank or I'll hurt you,' because these things are just monsters. He said that she'd fish one out and hold it up all triumphantly when she found another one.
Anyhow.
He called home to get advice from his dad about how to store them. Let's not go into that too much, eh? We ended up taking them out of the bags and laying all five of them in the cooler on top of the ice, one on top of the other.
The one that went on top was the five pound monster. Holy shit, seriously. I am going to take pictures of these beasts, they're HUGE, that one especially. But the lobsters are understandably pissed off about the change in venue, and were even more pissed off when I added some water to the bottom of the cooler. The big guy in particular was the worst--he started moving that big tail of his, and I can imagine that they're pretty quick swimmers, really. Damn good thing that those claws are rubber-banded.
So, I checked on them this morning to make sure that they were still moving, as I'm sure that Brett had been doing periodically throughout the night. When I opened the cooler, nothing happened, but I prodded at the big guy and the one next to him, and was rewarded with twitching legs and the rolling of beady eyes.
Now...for some reason, that just totally gave me the heebs this morning, and I'm not really doing all that much better right now. Eeee.
The worst? (And *finally*, I come to the point.) This is how I know my mind is running away with me.
I'm in the shower, washing my hair, so my back is to the drain. I keep having these visions of a big-ass lobster popping up out of the drain and whacking at me with a plastic bucket lid, as I was doing to the "little ones" in the cooler.
It wasn't the idea of being whacked on the head that bugged me so much. The big-ass lobster popping out of the drain, though? Eeeewwww. Gah. Just the thought makes my skin crawl.
See? My too-active mind has run away with me. :)
Aside to Satyr69 from LJ: I just heard Travis/Buddy sing That'll Be The Day on 98.5 with Greg Kihn. (It's 'the best of,' so was probably recorded awhile ago.) I wasn't paying much attention, but I heard him and thought, 'hey! I know that voice!'
Kick ass. :) I just wish I'd caught it when it was live.
Update: Hee! Maria Elena Holly's also there via phone. Cool!
Because, you know, trying to take a fish on an airplane makes you a terrorist!
Idiots.
I hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as I did. Good friends, excellent food, much laughter, much fun. It just gets better every year.
Stay tuned, we'll probably have a New Year's party, Brett mentioned that he wanted to cook.
Now, to survive what's sure to be the world's slowest workday. :)
So, I'm sitting here in my office, looking out the window--it's still mostly dark outside, and the cloud cover really helps with that. Across the street are lights on top of a few buildings, but for the most part, the trees are black, and the sky is a leaden grey where it peeks through. It's a bit windy out this morning--not quite so much as yesterday, but enough that it makes the branches move, a dark silhouette against a barely lighter sky. As I write this, as I watch, the sky lightens on another day.
It's hard to believe that another year is already so close to ending--so much has happened this year, too, that it'd be hard to remember it all, but for the fact that it's so well documented elsewhere. That's certainly one good thing about livejournal/blogs--all that stuff I might ordinarily forget is right there for me to remember.
I'd meant to write something meaningful about everything that has happened this year, about all the good things, and the bad, all the things that just make me thankful that I'm alive and a part of this world. I'll probably post a retrospective at some point, but... :)
Anyway. Have a wonderful holiday, my friends, whatever you celebrate--or don't celebrate. My thoughts are with you.
- Yes, stupid evil fucking hygenist woman, I get the fact that I have to have a cleaning. Trust me, I know, they're my teeth. You do not have to HURT ME to make that point.
- Yay for a dentist's office who's not playing constant carols.
- Holy shit, big-ass earthquake. I thought I was all dizzy at first, til I looked up at the blinds and they were moving. I've felt a few of the aftershocks thus far, as well.
- Mmmm, cooking teriyaki on Wednesday for all our friends who are coming over Christmas Eve. I even found some tofu for Jason, yay me.
- But dammit, Albertson's didn't have any flank steak, so I have to go back tonight or tomorrow. Hoorah for savings awards. We have two left.
- Also. Must make candied pecan crack for co-workers. :)
Subtitled: I am old, and I know it.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra recently (this year) released a CD called Beethoven's Last Night. They do rock opera-style stuff--this is about Beethoven selling his soul to Mephistopheles. There's a whole backstory in the liner notes, and a lot of the music has lyrics, and...it's really good, I really like it so far. Requiem (The Fifth) is just freaking amazing.
But anyway. One of the songs on the CD is Fur Elise. Rather than doing it with electric guitars, it's simply an instrumental piano. Very cool.
However.
Does anyone else remember that McDonalds commercial? By now, if you really remember it, you're already shouting "YES" and cursing my name. :) But it was the one with the girl who had to play Fur Elise at a piano recital, and her dad tells her that they'll go to McDonalds when they're done. So, she's playing, and in her head, she's singing along.
Oh, I wish I were already there
instead of here
playing this song
I would have a cheeseburger
a shake and also fries
and I would eat the fries myself
and not give any
to my dumb brother.
Oh how I wish I was already there
instead of here
playing this song
I'm sure the lyrics are wrong, but that's the gist of it. ARRRRRRRG.
Fur Elise is ruined for me.
And I am old. :)
I don't know how many of the people who read my blog heard about the Penny Arcade 'Child's Play' charity--Penny Arcade is a video game comic that I haven't read very often, but anyway. For Christmas, they put up an Amazon wishlist for Seattle Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center, and also set up a Paypal account. Well, I don't know how much money people spent donating toys and stuff, but they received over twenty seven *THOUSAND* dollars via Paypal. And check out the website, that has links to some of the pictures they took of all the toys they got.
Holy crap. Seriously. Holy crap. They're not accepting donations anymore, because of shipping times and stuff, but they're talking about making it an annual thing, and broadening their scope.
Wow.
The news article in the Seattle Times where I found the link to all the pictures. Go gamers. :)
Woo. A bit of shopping, a bit of food, a bit of ballet up in San Francisco tomorrow night with my friend Melissa, as she mentions in one of her latest posts, about her busy week. We still don't really have any definite plans, aside from the ballet tomorrow night, but it'll be a lot of fun, regardless. I'm really looking forward to it.
Extend the cheer! Charge $100 or more on your Mervyns charge card, and make no payments until March 2004! Yeah, because having to pay off Christmas bills is really going to extend my cheer.
Also, once again, what the fuck is it with people who take $100s to 7-11, at 6:30 in the freaking morning? Sure, buy a few expensive magazines, but the guy doesn't have more than $20 in the register, why should $25 in magazines make it any easier on him? He still has to get money out of the safe, and he STILL has to make us 'really starting to get fucking cranky now, must kill' people in line behind you wait. And trust me....you really don't want to make us wait. Grr.
Greg Kihn's daughter Lexie has an absolutely beautiful voice, and his son Rye, the guitarist, is extremely talented. I hope they decide to release some of these Christmas songs on CD someday.
Hmm. If I want to get a tree this weekend, probably Sunday, that means I have to finally take those boxes of books to the library, for cryin out loud. They've been there for months. I should empty the wedding box, too. Heh. Anyone want some 60 or so bottles of navy tulle-wrapped bubbles?
I am eternally in Matt's debt for introducing me to Burt's Bees, specifically the beeswax lip balm. Woo.
Must also send stuff to my mom's house this weekend. Oh, and I must send Andie's box this weekend. Guess I know what I'm doing on Saturday morning.
Must get back to work now.
*yawn* I am so freaking tired. Movie was supposed to start at 11:15, but because of the stupid monkeys at Homeytown, and the TWENTY FIVE MINUTES of commercials and previews...BAH.
However. Prisoner of Azkaban trailer on big screen. Nice.
Anyway, I'm also not going to bother talking too much about this, especially not right now. I did have to point out a few things, though.
Please DON'T click 'more' or click on the link in LJ unless you've either already seen the movie, or don't mind some mild spoilers.
- I would have enjoyed the movie more had the audience not been full of fucktards. The foursome sitting next to me kept whispering, even when I told them to shut up. One of the girls got up to pee no less than three times, and had to be brought up to speed each time she came back, to say nothing of all the other loud rustling, kicking of chairs, and coughing. Jeebus, people, SHUT UP!
- This sort of goes hand in hand with the last point, but good god. Can I point out a couple of things, folks? Smeagol murdering his brother for the ring is NOT FUNNY. Watching Smeagol's descent into madness because of the ring is NOT FUNNY. Eowyn's heartbreak over Theoden's death is NOT FUNNY. Shelob wrapping Frodo up in spider webbing is NOT FUNNY. Getting the point here? Yes, there are moments in the movie that are at least put in for some kind of humor value, but stuff like that? No. Not funny. Shut the fuck up before I kick you right in the nuts.
- I think that my expectations may have been too high. It was a good movie, and I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong...and maybe part of the problem was the audience, but I just didn't get as much out of it as I was hoping.
- I'm stopping now before this turns into a full-scale pick-apart, similar to what Brett and I engaged in on the brief drive home.
Some of you may remember the condensed parody version of Two Towers that I linked to/passed around last year.
Well, the same author has done the same thing for Return of the King.
Lots of spoilers here, if you haven't seen the movie, so no clicky unless you've already gone to the theater, or unless you don't care about spoilers. Okay? Lots of spoilers in that second link. No, seriously.
I agree with everyone who has said that the extended edition of Two Towers is better than the theatrical version.
Yay, interaction between Pippin and Merry!
Yay, the elven rope that Galadriel gave Sam!
Yay, more background about Aragorn, including how old he is!
Yay, the Boromir-Faramir-Denethor triangle!
And yay...11:45pm tickets to see Return of the King tomorrow. Woooot. Must remember to take a box of kleenex. I know I'm going to need it.
Yay. According to the payroll website, our bonuses pay out on Friday. This means I will not be anywhere near as crunched about Christmas as I thought I would.
Why is it that, when trying to send just one single eCard, you either have to pay for the priviledge through Blue Mountain or American Greetings, or you get swarmed with the world's most annoying pop-up ads? I remember when all that stuff was free.
The worst part is, for Blue Mountain, at least--they'll give you a free month, but you have to CALL THEM to cancel, or they'll just merrily bill your credit card. What's wrong with this picture? If I join online, I should bloody well be able to cancel online, too, you bastards.
Had my third and (hopefully) final root canal this morning. In spite of the fact that I told the referring dentist that I was a great big baby (why else go to a sedation dentist, after all?) and could he please send me to someone gentle, well...I didn't get someone gentle.
I mean, a gentle endodontist doesn't cause his patient almost two hours of extreme discomfort, does he? I'll spare the gritty details, but let's just say that I have a small mouth, and gee, my lips really aren't all that flexible. Ow.
But it's done, yay. I go back there for the followup on the 19th, and hopefully, I won't ever have to go back to see that guy again. We'll see.
Anyway, let's just say that I'm extremely glad that's over, and very soon now, all the big and nasty dental work will be done.
Random thought from the dentist's office today:
They have one of the constant Christmas music stations playing, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer came on. Anyone remember singing that as a kid, and interjecting those comments in? For example: 'They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.' "Like football!" Today, the logical adult mind kicks in. Why the hell would we ever say that reindeer play football? I mean, I dig the whole 'kids have no limitations to their imaginations' thing and all, but...*football*? Er. :)
And, on the up side, I got some *very* good news today--yay, my financial aid came through, and as of December 18th, I'm officially a student of the University of Phoenix. Go me.
So, I saw the very end of Dirty Dancing today, the part where they're doing the last dance and the movie's reached a happy ending, blah blah blah. It made me think of other movies that I've seen in the past, that seem a lot different to me now that I'm an adult.
Take Labyrinth, for example--which has always been one of my favorite movies, and probably always will be. I used to watch that with my mom and my brother, so much that the three of us can probably recite every freaking line. :) Anyway, think back to the end of the movie, when Jareth says to Sarah, "I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."
When I was a kid, that whole line passed by without much thought at all. In fact, sometimes it was 'oh, how romantic!' It was only after I'd had a few relationships as an adult that the line made me either a) snicker a whole lot, b) roll my eyes, or c) both. I did that in front of my mother once, and she shook her head at me. "I liked it better when you weren't so wise!" she said.
I have tons of movie moments like that from childhood. I'll re-watch something and catch some of the veiled innuendo that only the adults were supposed to get, or just *understand* a lot more of the movie's dynamics and things like that.
There's still one that I don't get, though, and maybe it's because I haven't seen the movie for awhile. There's a point during Pretty Woman (hey now, no rolling your eyes, you boys who are reading this, you know who you are) where Edward and Viv are talking, after Edward has told one of his friends that she's a hooker. They're out on the balcony, they're arguing, and Edward turns to Viv and says, "I have never treated you like a hooker." Then, he walks inside. As he's walking away, Viv says, "You just did."
I still don't get that.
Maybe I will, someday.
Bah
The results I got from this tells me two things. My political beliefs are still as mixed as ever, and they've actually changed substantially since the last time I took a test like this.
Here's the result:
1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Libertarian Candidate (66%)
3. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (48%)
4. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (47%)
5. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (46%)
6. Bush, President George W. - Republican (44%)
7. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (42%)
8. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (38%)
9. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (34%)
10. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (34%)
11. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (30%)
12. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (29%)
13. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (24%)
14. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (22%)
Ain't that just grand? In theory, there's a libertarian candidate somewhere with whom I might agree 66 percent of the time, but we all know that it's unlikely that this theoretical libertarian probably won't win a presidential race. So, I'm stuck with either the freako Democrats, or the freako Republicans--with whom I might agree *LESS THAN HALF THE TIME*.
What's wrong with this picture?
Why should I have to choose between the lesser of two evils, when it comes to voting for a president? Am I the only one who runs into this problem? Sheesh.
FUCK!
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!
Long time readers of my livejournal will remember when I lost the stone out of my ring back in May of 2002.
Well, guess what?
In fidgeting a few minutes ago, I realized that IT HAPPENED AGAIN.
And, interestingly, it happened in about the same time frame--a year and five months or so after I got the damn thing, the stone popped out. And here we are about a year and five months after I got the thing back from the jeweler, and poof, there it went again.
Last time, I was just sick to my stomach about the whole thing. This time, I still have that, but I'm also really fucking pissed off. I have never, ever had such problems with jewelry before. Arrg.
