Today at the theatre we pulled double-duty.

A 10 a.m. children's theater production of Tiny Tim's Christmas.
And a 2 p.m. matinee of our Winter Musicale.


I helped seat 17 mentally handicapped teens & adults for Tiny Tim. I ran back and forth to the lobby to carry 9 chairs to put on the ends of shorter aisles in the house to seat the last 9 kids without seats when rude chaperones wouldn't stand, and they were put in the very front of the house where they couldn't see for the same show. Making eye contact with an 8 year-old across a crowded room via the good old "I look at you. I point at my own eyes with two fingers - then point right at you. Yeah. You!" (Is there a technical term for this?) and have them jump up and scamper up to you like you were Christmas morning.
And then I tied a little girl's shoes - both of them - before she got on the bus to go back to school.

At the matinee I told an old woman who'd decked her cane out in wrapping paper, tinsel AND battery operated Christmas blinking lights wearing reindeer antlers that she looked spectacular. I gave away 2 tickets to our sold out Tiny Tim performance on Saturday to a grandmother so upset with herself about getting confused by the schedule & not buying ahead.


It was a very after school special kind of day.
Though I think my current cup of hot chocolate with frangelico might bring it up to a PG rating...

~*~*~*~*~

Still plugging along happily with my 101 in 1001 goals & blogging over there on wordpress up a storm. :-)

At work with an older woman at the window trying to figure out if she should buy tickets to our children's theater production of Tiny Tim's Christmas for people in her family. She's off and on her cell phone in the lobby for several minutes, then returns to the box office.

"Got it all sorted out?"

"No. No! Honey, let me just give you a little advice, okay?"

::Nods questioningly::

"Never get married."

"...oh?"

"-Well, okay - you can get married. But Do NOT Have Kids. Or grandkids! Or GREAT GRANDKIDS! Live. Your Own. Life." ::knocks on counter for emphasis::

Beat.

"Can I get a dog?"

~*~*~*~

Said woman laughs & says yes, as long as it can stay in a kennel while I travel. Travel. Do what *I* want. Don't have kids who won't listen to you, will have more kids - make you love them and then take them away to North Carolina so you never see them - then come back with great grandkids and make you care about them but never give you more than a two second window in which to spend time with them.
See the world. Experience what life has to offer.

Well thanks lady... all of that couldn't have been wrong.

"Bristol Riverside Theatre, can I help you?"

"Hi, yeah, uh - Michael Jackson's This Is It - is that playing at like....special theaters, or..."

::sigh::

"Ma'am... we're a theater that puts on LIVE productions. With a stage? Actors? This Is It is a movie, playing at standard movie theater. In fact, at any movie theater that likes to make money. Try Neshaminy AMC."

"...o-oh?... Thank you?"

"Yes. Good luck with that."

Click.

You could read a newspaper to see all the advertisements about This Is It and see clearly that all local movie theaters are playing it?
But no... you need to actually LOOK US UP in a phone book and call US. Really?
REALLY?

You have no idea how often something like this happens...

It's kind of hilarious.
And very sad.

Starting Saturday my 101 in 1001 blog went live on Wordpress!

Check it out here!

I'll be lurking about there more often than not.

I've decided that I'm going to start a 101 in 1001 list... and subsequent blog for said list.
It's going to be on Wordpress (sorry Blogger!)

Not sure how public a public thing I'm going to make it yet.
There'll likely be things people might notice me doing that would likely allow them to draw the conclusion that said activity is on the list.
You might be involved!

Right now though, I do need some help.
If anyone has any suggestions for movies I should watch, or books I should read - let me know!
Part of all of this includes watching 101 films, and reading 101 books.
And I need 10 suggestions from family & friends for each category.
Right now I'm 3/10 for books (I've only asked a few people so far)
And 0/10 for movies.

BTW, I think I'm starting this tomorrow. It'll be the first of a month. Why not?
I might alter it slightly to shift my end date to a Friday or something though.... hmm.

Shrug.

I know racing runs in the family -- so it was no surprise that yesterday I was damn near ready to sign up for Nascar racing.



I had a meeting downtown at 1616 Walnut. Of course, everyone was asking me for this, that and the other thing - and I walked out the door at 1:35 and my meeting started at 2:00 p.m.



Not only did I face down construction traffic on I-95.

I faced down a torn up tire from a tractor trailer somewhere past Cottman - everyone else in front of me was swerving at the last minute - someone damn near clipped the car in the lane next to them.

This threw the tire into the middle of my lane and I somehow noticed that I had just enough room to swerve into the other lane and back in again and not get hit by the car that wasn't next to me in the right lane - but was almost in my trunk.

So I literally accelerated towards the tire then swerved into the right lane and back into the left again.



This was awesome.

This also left the poor asshole behind me to run right over the tire because I probably distracted him.





THEN there was the twin size mattress.

Immediately after the Girard Exit looms the 3rd lane literally at a dead halt, just when everyone else is speeding up after the construction slowdown.

People are trying to get out of this lane on the left and right and nearly causing more accidents.

Everyone is afraid to get into the 3rd lane after the mattress for fear of even more debris to follow.

Me, seeing it is now 1:56 swerve right next to the line of stopped cars, and cut into the dreaded 3rd lane and get around the now slowing traffic wondering what else they're going to encounter on the road that day.

676 to the Broad Exit, cutting across lanes down to JFK Blvd. without stopping at one light (when I probably should've stopped at 3...)

Take 15th down the Walnut, seeing its now 2:02 and I still have to get to a parking garage.

Large truck doing weird street construction just after 16th on Walnut.... and a newspaper truck pulls out from in front of the construction truck back into traffic, leaving a spot open for me to literally swerve into.

One stupid parking machine later (it was stuck in Spanish mode?) and I'm dashing into the lobby into an elevator whose doors are about to close and ride up to the third floor - walk into the officer on the coat tails of Cultural Alliance employees coming back from lunch and slip into the boardroom as everyone is about to settle down at start the meeting at 2:05.



I miss the first two minutes of content just sitting there dwelling on my sheer awesomeness.



The meeting left me just enough time to consult with tech support about a problem I was having to then race down to my car and be fishing my keys out of my monster of a purse as the meter maid walked by to start ticketing cars for the 3:30 cutoff time on Walnut Street.



I cruise home to classic rock and am in my house by 4:10 - happy to pretend that I technically could've went back to my office for another 50 minutes.



Then I found some website hosting the House premiere - so I sat rivetted to my computer for an hour & a half praying Fox wouldn't find this streaming file in the time I was watching it and take down the website for piracy.

Got through the whole thing without a hitch.



For as much as my job kills my soul. It's a paycheck when things out there are scary.

But the tail end of yesterday, kicked a largely unmeasurable amount of ass.

Just realized that in my thinking House was going to premiere last week, and then finding that it's actually premiering tomorrow - that I will be downtown at The Melting Pot.

!#@&*!


Our tv and old school VCR are apparently hooked up, but can't communicate to tape tv programs because of our cable hookup.

The Fox website doesn't show episodes until 8 DAYS after broadcast, so you're eternally fucked and stuck a week behind everyone else.
Going to cross my fingers and pray for a wonderful hack website that will throw a pirated version of the episode onto the interweb....


Pout.

Who would've thought that Rambo: First Blood in retrospect - actually translates into meaningful social commentary on the deplorable treatment of Vietnam Veterans struggling to reintegrate into our society? An action film with... slight purpose?
It features gratuitous violence by 80's standards (which seems fairly tame now) but... Wow.
It means something.
Even if it does, on the surface, translate into: If you mistreat veterans they will take you to the cleaners, destroy your town and everything you love in the process - but they'll still look like the victim in the end. And it's all your fault asshole.


Now my head hurts.
This is what I get for never EVER reading a summary of the film.
I just assumed it'd be an hour and a half of murderous jungle fever-like action with Stallone killing Charlie and using cute taglines. It couldn't have been further from my assumption.
I love being surprised!

Hooray Sylvester Stallone!
...You still… can't act...


And also sound like you've got muffins in your mouth…


But I enjoy you, nonetheless. <3

Michael Jackson is dead - and my blog feels it too -- but never fear...

If you talk to me regularly(ish) you know that things at work are... lets just say bad, and leave it at that. My schedule is not my own anymore, and so this, that & the other thing are out of whack.


Am I here to catch you up on my life? On my thoughts of the world as it is and the things going on in it? Interesting political events or international upheaval?


No.



I'm just here to share a silly thing I read and say just one thing about -- Dating.

From silly men's guide to dating or other, my source... anonymous:


"...the physical distance you maintain between you and your date conveys a powerful non-verbal message. On the one hand, if you keep away, she'll think you're not interested. On the other, if you get too close, she'll scream. Think of yourself as the Death Star. Only from the right distance will you seem like a gentle moon."







To my source ---- My apologies to your ladyfriend... <3
Men who need dating tips with Star Wars references in order to crystalize them are a very interesting breed to say the least.

That AND it's not a horrible tip.
At least they're learning... ;-D



That is all.




I did not wake up on the wrong side of the mattress. I woke up under my mattress. Sometimes I even wake up inside of my mattress, in my punching bag, and occasionally, in my dishwasher...

Catch Up...



So for the month of March -- I have failed you miserably, blog. I do apologize, but you see, March was kind of fantastic. I have a lot to say about March. It was just so busy that I didn't have much time to put it into words - but here it is now. Read this probably only if you're bored... this is mainly for me ;-)



"....It's the fucking Catalina Wine Mixer!"

Maine. Bethel, Maine to be exact. What a kickass town. Greg, Davey & I made a long weekend out of March 6-9 and left Friday morning on a great ride towards Sunday River Resort.
The Jolly Drayman Pub was our destination for dinner, a great Irish bar with a live guitarist, great beer (I liked Gritty's! Me!) awesome food, and great locals. And we watched Stepbrothers if you couldn't tell.. The Rostay Inn in Bethel is also adorable. We conquered the outdoor hot tub with bottles of cheap wine on both Saturday AND Sunday night. Bob's Real Pit BBQ made our mouths water Saturday night after a long day at the slopes. But mostly -- this weekend was about the skiing!Sunday River made me fall in love with skiing all over again. To be honest, I desperately needed that.

The icy conditions in the Poconos the past few years have kept me from tackling difficult hills, and disenchanted in general by my own performance. The closer I got to this trip, the more terrified I was of doing poorly, being in desperate need of a lesson - and in general disappointing myself.
But on the very first run we did -- Suddenly I had arrived! The conditions were so amazing. Such fresh powder, and clean runs - the difference was astronomical for me. I went down REAL black diamonds. And I tackled them! You had to if you wanted to keep control of yourself and not fall horribly. It was exciting again in a good way to be able to go balls to the wall on a trail like that again. The only problem was that I wasn't in good enough shape to tackle the Double Blacks. I at least realized that I would literally be too tired before the halfway point to safely get down the rest of the way. What a great goal to have though! Get up enough stamina to conquer those runs! It takes literally a good 25 minutes to get from the very top of the mountain to the bottom. Before the weekend was over, we were already talking about trying to plan another trip next year.
I also skied with a helmet (borrowed from my father, an excellent lightweight, warm invention), a full mask for my face, and goggles (thanks again to my father...) I'd have fared very poorly without all three pieces of equipment. I'll be treating myself over the next few months to my own helmet and goggles --- and possibly new equipment is on the horizon.

"We've got everything down to a science, so I guess we know everything..."
Modest Mouse! March 14th! What a show! Isaac Brock is freaking crazy!
I went to this concert as a tagalong with my brother and his friends Jesse, Guy & Mike. I've known Mike & Jesse forever, and meeting Guy was hysterical. Everybody loved the show - and we ate delicious, delicious Wawa afterwards. Good times...

"Wind down the window, maybe it doesn't smell like swamp anym--NoooOoOo! Shut itttt!"
The flight to Miami was lovely. Our luggage popped out in less than 2 minutes after we arrived at baggage claim. Getting to Key West from there would prove more difficult, ending with me driving (which I was happy about... I like driving) and us not getting to our hotel until nearly midnight instead of 8 p.m. Happy little Nissan Sentra! Delicious Chinese food in Key Largo at 9 p.m. after not eating since 1ish. The yucky swamp smell on the car ride down and trying to battle it with cologne.
We rented bikes for the week and I loved how much riding we did (as sore as it made us). So much Waffle House. Grainorade drinks at the Flying Monkey. Chasing Roosters. Walking down Duval Street with a drink in my hand. A sunshower on the beach with not a cloud in sight. Reading Watchmen on the sand. The best Cuban sandwiches ever down by the Southernmost Point. Scott & Snazzy getting MARRIED! A gorgeous ceremony, fun picture taking and an even more fun reception at the Hog's Head. The Floating Thai Restaurant. Biking home drunk. Lying on the beach for four hours and only feeling like you've been there for minutes. Kayaking through the Mangroves by headlamp. And 'Love is sharing the bathroom' at the hotel. Lots of bonding time with Papa - long silly bike rides, nearly dying biking back up Flagler Street, baking in the sun.


I came back to PA just in time to swing into half-day scheduling for the run of Defiance, giving me less time in the office and less of dealing with my box office lackey. After Watchmen I've started reading some excellent graphic novels. It's getting warmer and warmer outside and riding my bike to work is getting even closer to happening!

So that's about the best of it... April is here, and there's lots to do in the coming weeks, so I'll be busy as ever. Hopefully it can live up to March!

Friday night brought Tavern fabulousness --- and me running into, not only my high school theater program's musical director Kevin, but our assistant director Tommy as well! Kevin was the pianist at Tavern and Tommy works upstairs at the bar. It was so bizarre, walking through the door and going, "Now wait a minute...."
Not only that, but a Mr. Matthew Fischetti was there too - so catching up with people I haven't seen in a while (or ages) was a lovely surprise.

I harassed people to sing, sang myself, and we closed down the bar before I drove home still feeling the last drink Lou bought for me.

Saturday brought a gym visit, and meeting up with folks at Jess' place in Northern Liberties to pregame for the walk down to the Electric Factory for Ben Folds. We got a great spot just past the barricades between the floor and bar area, so even the us shorties of the group could see well. Ben could probably sing from the phonebook and I'd be immensely happy to see him anyhow. :-) He did sing "Underground," which I've never heard him do live - and it was spectacular. Ali and I were the definite bounce & dance kids of the group, so at least we were next to each other ;-)
Afterwards we headed to Bob & Barbara's and met up with other folks, closed down the bar, and went to the Penrose Diner in South Philly (after Tom tried to get us very lost with his directions) where both Elliot and I decided to get the Penrose Belt Buster (because everything else cost $7, so why not pay just $8 for EVERYTHING) We didn't eat it all, but felt very fat and sassy afterwards.
By the time Lauren drove us back to Jess' place, and then *I* drove home, it was almost 5 a.m.

I promptly collapsed, and slept till 12:30 -- all thanks to one of those dorky little sleep masks that cover your eyes.
I only ate dinner on Sunday because of said Belt Buster in the wee hours of the morning...


Which brings me to my next point... After last week being so slow losing weight. After a weekend where I didn't make the best choice by eating at 3 am....
I'm down like woah.
Past where I was last week too, by a whole pound. :-)

Last week I knew I was at least making progress strengthwise, because I was lifting heavier on all the machines I use, and was doing the elliptical machine at one setting harder resistancewise without any real difference in my heart rate. So I was getting somewhere -- maybe just getting my metabolism ready to move at a higher rate consistently? Whatevs!

I'm down 5.4 lbs, and the ladies in the office notice, and my mom claims my jawline looks better. All things that just keep boosting me along.

This week I'm really going to trrrrry to concentrate on the whens and whys about my eating habits. Buy one get one salad's at Saladworks are awesome...

Stalemate!



The word of the week. The weight loss has tapered off to a crawl, with setbacks by ounces that make me a disgruntled lady in the mornings staring down at my scale, but take heart, gentle readers -- It's fucking on. And I'll keep on truckin', as it were.



Stalemate is also applicable - because on Wednesday (which now feels like eons ago) I was lucky enough to show up at Mariana Bracetti Academy and observe a 10th grade History class in action for two periods after Ali worked her magic for me. They were starting a unit on World War I, and Justin was trying to explain several concepts, including stalemate. WWI, he explained, was caught in a stalemate oftentimes due to the nature of trench warfare.

It was a really interesting opportunity - I took copious amounts of notes. How he moved around the classroom, different tactics and approaches he used with the kids. How the kids responded to him, their behaviors, their answers to questions and almost A.D.D. approach to learning.



Next week my Dad is setting me up to see two different teachers at his middle school, one an older teacher, and one a younger teacher.


It really hit home how different my education was from alot of folks. I mean, I know lots of people who've done the private/catholic school thing, and I always knew it was different. I actually believed it was probably a little less vicious (as far as the social scene), and a little lower on the food chain academically. But actually seeing it (granted, several years down the line) was a big eye opener. And I'm glad! It just got me to thinking more about things, which is always good.



I feel like I need to see a few more teachers in action, in different settings. If I could land something somehow and get an emergency cert, I'd be on cloud nine, but what are the odds of that happening? But going out there and really getting a better grip on the teaching process is the next best step in figuring out if this is what I really want to be doing. If it feels right, I guess taking the assorted tests for grad school entry would be wise. I'm thinking Temple... because it's not La Salle. ;-)



Anyways - this weekend is shaping up nicely. Show at La Salle tonight, Ben Folds Concert tomorrow. Gwen's back in town, and I'm expecting a little gaggle of alumni to do something fun after RTE is over... So let's do this... :-)

Fiber One Bars!

:-)

Anyone who knows me well enough or has road tripped with me, or snacked with me knows that I can at any moment burst out with a, "Behold! The Power of Fiber One Bars!" promo that should really have me on television.

Well... they're just that good.



So I might as well keep track of my progress here so I can look back for encouragement or at leas to track my progress. Otherwise I'll just start posting vague song lyrics and then who knows where we'll be!

I'm down another pound... in 2 days.
4.4 down in less than 2 weeks. I was actually very surprised this morning on the scale. Not that I didn't do well yesterday, it's just that I'd expected a slow loss day. With the roads getting more and more snow last night, by the time I finished dinner, driving to the gym didn't seem like such a great idea.
So I only got in some good stretching, and 15 minutes on the treadmill doing running bursts. Fun thing about our treadmill - A. it was free -- but B. it's stuck on a slight incline. It's not horrible, but it makes running... fun. ;-) And by fun, I mean slightly insane.
But I done good, apparently.

No gym tonight either. Tonight is my first trip to Ikea - ever - with Jess to get some stuff she needs at her new place.

Tomorrow night though, I have an idea. I'm hoping it works out. I'm going to see if there's a fit looking woman I can stalk, and follow into the heavy lifting area where normally guys who look like American Gladiators hang out. I really want to try my hand at free weights. Its supposed to be so good for you, and mixing it in with weight machines is even better, because you have to really work on coordination to control free weights properly. Few women venture that direction. I need to find one that doesn't look like a bitch that I can either approach and directly ask for some pointers, just tail casually to see how she does things.

I might have to try this on a low traffic evening so as not to embarass myself too horribly. ;-)
I also might have to try kidnapping Lish to come with me so she can at least be there standing next to me if I fail at something and still feel validated.

So my next goals at the gym are - getting enough nerve to try the pull up bar machine (it offers a weight handicap, but still, scary to me), getting into no woman's land and trying some big free weights, if my schedule allows - get into a spinning class and see if I don't throw up trying to keep up with the pack.


Boosh!

This past week my brain and my body went - Enough Already!!!

It is in fact ass-whoopin' time.
I went to the gym Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, moved Jess into her new place Saturday and was back on the horse eating fruits, veggies, pounding back water like its my job, and really tracking what I've been eating.
And I'm down 3.4 lbs.
So I feel like there's something to be said for a good jump start.

I started slipping past the point of maintaining weight.
I felt uncomfortable wearing newer, smaller clothes, and a whole slew of other emotional repercussions resulted in the weeks that followed.

My gym gear is in my car.
I've got a Fiber One bar to tide me over till I hit SaladWorks afterwards.
This week's results may not be so high, but I can do my best, and I'd rather have it be realistic anyway.


The wedding in March is a wonderful excuse for me to finally get back to really working towards getting into the shape I want to be in.
Do it up!

Nah Nah Nah Nah! Hey Heeey! Goodbye!



Oh Thank God...






















So long sir, may your descent into private life offer the dignity you've lacked so desperately these last eight years.

Ski Season is Here!


Even late lasst night, you could almost smell the snow in the air.
It's a deep, cold, subtle smell, that's almost as much of a innate sensing, as a smell.

The snow today made me happy! Even if it DID make my drive to work slightly more treacherous than normal (you know, river pirates) - my lightweight little car needs to pack some heat in the trunk...

Skiing this weekend was amazing! Friday was some good fun teaching some newbies (Kate and Vall) & looking out for our repeat offender (Doug). Davey's brilliant addition of radios to the mix resulted in hilarious call names, and us acting like we owned the place. Sorry Greg, Anal Thunder is much easier to remember than Yankee Bravo. :-)

Saturday the Big Kids went skiing. The first weekend of the season isn't necessarily the best weekend to go two days in a row. We were sore & tired in a LOT of ways, but desperately kept our spirits up. Each run brought some problem or other, whether it was complete blindness due to snow & fogging glasses, or boots hurting several legs - we went the distance. Mostly. ;-)

Which brings me to our next adventure... Maine. We'll get in some more skiing before then, I'm sure, but:

How do you go from this...
Camelback Mountain, the most... varied & difficult resort
in the nearby Pocono area - 33 Trails

To this...?
Sunday River, in Bethel, MAINE - 131 Trails
And four times the size of anything I've ever seen...

Ever since I broke my two front teeth in half as a kid, I've exercised caution in a lot of 'falling' sports, particularly where hard ground is involved.

This past weekend Davey & I challenged ourselves by hitting an intimidating looking hill with moguls and everything at Camelback.... we were... less than impressive. But we did it, despite not being in the best condition to try it.

In order for me to *not* die in Maine, several things need to happen... Battle Plan!!!:

I need better face protection from the cold -- AND goggles that I can live with that won't fog up.
I still think I need better gloves.... and something has to happen in the neck area. Otherwise I'm quite warm.

My ski boots need tweaking. Friday I did okay, Saturday I put them on, and my left foot failed at life, my big toe specifically. Either they need to be heat molded again, or I might need bigger boots... I *have* had them since high school.

I need to get to the gym and start doing a lot more lower work with my legs on the weights.

And more skiing needs to be done!
Building stamina back up for tackling hills is the best thing to do aside from hitting the gym.
I feel I'd have been better able to tackle more difficult hills if I weren't feeling so exhausted come the end of Saturday (that and the knot in my right thigh)

I'm very excited. Sunday River has ski clinics for skiers to better learn advanced tactics. I've never HAD advanced lessons, just rudimentary instructions from my Dad & things I've picked up from watching people. This prospect is the even MORE exciting.

Davey & I *aren't* Greg. But we'll do our best, & hopefully learn alot, and keep laughing our asses off while doing it. That's all that matters. I'll try my best to be as ready to tackle Maine as I can be by March 6th...

Whiskey Tango, out. :-)

Talk about a jam-packed weekend.

It started out Friday going straight towards the mall to grab last minute decorations and things for Sunday afternoon, and placing my order of balloons.

Then Sarah's birthday at the Khyber - we were only out till midnight because we were all still exhausted from New Years festivities/having to work during the day Friday.

Saturday was the Bachelorette Party/Scavenger Hunt Extravaganza, which came together under Julia's direction perfectly!

My location was Bob & Barbara's, where Jess was kind enough to chill with me for a PBR & whiskey special while I had my ususal, before heading to the Wilma to meet Amanda. The vodka & cranberry drinks there are wonderful because they come in pint glasses. And I had three.

In that time, the bartender, aptly named Butch, and I conversed about the wonderful crap on the walls (So much PBR content), how the PBR special originated at Bob & Barbara's, and about the Scavenger hunt I was a part of.
During this time, Butch decided I was a classy lady, and began pouring me several free shots of whiskey, to help fight off the cold for the next leg of our journey.

Amanda arrived - the toilet paper veil was craftily assembled in the bathroom, and advise on marriage was offered by both Butch, and another patron we will always remember as St. Tim.

The belligerent stumble down South street to Manny Browns eventually led us to Mixto on Pine Street, where I wisely chose not to drink any further till the end of the evening.

Sunday morning, bright and early I was off picking up the balloons, to my aunt's for more extra chairs for the party, and back to my house to whip up a batch of Green Bean Caserole - one of my mother's prized dishes which sadly takes a good hour & a half to cook. I dove into my car and the rest of the day went alot more smoothly. We had an ungodly amount of wonderful food and snacks at Ali's apartment, and ooh'd and ahh'd over Amanda's pretty presents.

After doing some cleaning up, I drove back home, took many antihistamines and passed out early in the evening.

So today, despite feeling like I haven't had any weekend at all -- things are good.
Even with another ridiculously busy weekend on the horizon.
Everything turned out better than we'd hoped (and we were desperate for things to go well) and there are a ton of pictures floating around out there to document our every move. :-)

And with that... I'm crawling back under my desk ;-)

Happy New Year!

Last evening was spent at Cantina Los Caballitos where Mexican food was delicious, free nachos were plentiful, and a 2 hour $15 open bar sealed the deal very nicely.

Good times were had - photos were taken - just not on my camera.

There IS one great one floating around out there with the group of us each double fisting our drink of choice.

Today was my first time seeing the Mummers Parade in person. I've watched it on TV. I do a mean Mummers Strut, complete with parasol, when given the opportunity. But it's just never worked out properly.

We wound up with a spot right along the fenceline just south of Broad & Washington right at one of the performance areas.


Television really doesn't do this bizarre tradition justice, let me tell you. We went into the streets armed with spiked hot chocolate or orange juice just as the String Bands hit the street.

We laughed, ooh'd & aah'd, and hooted the entire time. We reached the point of near death due to exposure just as the last of the String Bands were finishing - so it worked out perfectly.

I'd love to watch it again next year, probably slightly more intoxicated, and definitely with several more layers of clothing on!

Traditional New Years Dinner of pork & sauerkraut was held at my grandmother's, where Craig & I giggled over SNL clips.


And now -- after nearly 2 weeks off -- I'm headed back to work tomorrow.

At least I'll have 2 paychecks waiting for me. ;-)
And next week is only a four day week...

Never having been a great fan of New Years, 2009 certainly started off on the right foot.

And with lots of girly Wedding-Type-Things this weekend I'm sure to be busy.

But I figure, last year I broke my blogging record... so I might as well shoot for that again this year - and start that off right too!

Best book Read This Year (found randomly through a late night chat with Michael Borton): Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies by Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman


Best Book Devoured in one day of SAT proctoring and subsequent BRT night shift: Twilight, by Stephenie Myer


Best new bad habit: Book-stalking and holding books at the library/Hunting down all other books written by favorite authors I have yet to read = Enormous Task AND following the Sookie Stackhouse series both in print and on the HBO adaptation...



Best Book Published Before 1930 Read This Year: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer (1928) It's like Jane Austen never died...




Best New TV Obsession: House



Biggest Loss to the Literary World: Kurt Vonnegut
Biggest Loss to the Musical World: Luciano Pavarotti
Biggest Loss to the Film World: Paul Neuman
--Saddest Loss to the Film World: Heath Ledger
Biggest Loss to the Media World: Tim Russert
Biggest Loss to the Fasion World: Yves Saint Laurent


Biggest Loss to the World in General: Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose experiences of brutal enslavement & eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in '79 inspired The Killing Fields, which is still the best wide-reaching testament of the genocide that happened there.



Worst Setback to the Women's Movement in 20 Years: Sarah Palin

Revelations & Affirmations

-The gym and I will be better friends in 2009, even if my social life slows down slightly because of it. I've gotten too far to stop now. :-)

- No relationship is perfect. The closer you get, the worse the damage can be sometimes - but it's worth it for that closeness & comfort level.

- Now I just need to keep talking.

- I miss having conversations about books, film, art... just something different. I've got to find an outlet for that...

- Learning to let go isn't a simple process, but I think I'm getting it.

- The shortlist of things I want to do but haven't, due to money or whatever, is getting penned in this year, I can feel it. :-)

Over the next few days, 2008 will come back to me in a cluttered fashion, which will allow for posting of random thoughts on its occurences.


My Best Decision on a Whim: Dyeing my hair fun colors.

My Best Eureka Moment IS My Best Dumbass Moment This Year: Those JESUS signs. That consist of a little block of wood with other little pieces of wood glued on top and it says, "Jesus," on them? There has been one in my house since I was born.

I never actually saw the word 'Jesus' in the negative space until sometime this August.

I always though the weird squiggles of wood were something akin to very basic Aramaic symbols that represented Jesus name.
I was elated and felt completely idiotic at the same time.

Come on everyone, laugh at me. This was awesome.


Best Film I watched on DVD: Goodbye, Lenin!

Best Film (as in *I* had the best time) I saw in theatres: Iron Man/Dark Knight/Tropic Thunder three-way tie. Don't make me pick -- because I can't!

Most Underrated Film of the Year: Australia (why do you all hate it so much! lol)

Worst Film of the Year: Hancock (Why, Will Smith, WHY?)

Best New Online Guilty Pleasure: Kate Beaton Comics (http://www.katebeaton.com/) She has 2 series of 'Historic' Comics that are ridiculous.


More later. I'm only here because I was out Christmas shopping and A. My phone died, and B. My cousin desperately needed me to email him a cute photo of him and his sister so he could print it and put it into a frame for his parents for Christmas.
And my back feels like its going to implode on itself from weakness in structure. Yay Chiropractor... but, yeesh...