3 things no one cares about

1. I forgot to bring in Evie's sunflower last night and it got killed by the frost. She cried and I feel like crap.

2. Ben completely forgot about music practice last night, which is highly uncharacteristic, and the band thought he was lying dead on the side of the road or something. There was much panic and yet no one thought to call his home phone instead of the cell which was set on vibrate in his coat pocket in the closet.

3. Anne, does Slings and Arrows get better after the third episode or should I be enjoying it right away? I just finished the first dvd and I'm pretty meh about it. I'll get the next one if you tell me things improve, but if not, I think I'm finished.

I love my husband

There are so many reasons, but here's the latest insignificant one.

Back story: The end of the quarter is here and the decisions on the TA positions are due by the end of the week. He met with the professor who's in charge of this (read: Man who holds our fate in his hands) and he was non-committal on whether Ben would have the position. This is even when the PhD student doesn't want the position and there's no one else who would really teach it and he said that a TA would definitely be needed for Fall and Winter quarter--so what's the problem? He even thanked Ben profusely for saving the department a lot of trouble by stepping in to take the class this quarter and his review was positive enough. And there were other things but all of a sudden public blog paranoia has set in . . .

Aaaaaaanyhoo, all this was causing me some stomach turning stress and since we were sitting in front of the computer while we were discussing all this, I did what came naturally and turned to YouTube for comfort. I needed to see a movie scene that made me really happy and I knew exactly which one. So I typed in Snow Cake and I was scrolling through the pages unable to find what I was looking for when Ben said, "Why don't you add McDonald's to the search." I felt truly touched that he knew, out of all the scenes that I love in that movie (and there are many!), that the deleted scene in McDonald's where Sigourney Weaver's autistic character says, "I'm lovin' it" was just what I needed.

That's love.


And I never found that scene. So I watched the clip where Alan Rickman says, "I et a cracker" and that was almost as good.

Oh! And someone put the whole movie up, which I know is stealing and copyright infringement and blah, blah, blah, but it still makes me extremely happy since I don't yet own it.

You know those movies where someone is accidentally transported to an alternate universe

and they can't get their bearings because everything they took for granted, everything that was normal and sane, has been replaced with something completely wrong.

I feel like that every time I see Dancing with the Stars.

This is not my world.

Evie just lost her first tooth!!!!

Yellow Starbursts are a betrayal of trust

Once again, nothing to do with the rest of the post.

Two additions to the list--







Ben K's suggestion of Parminder Nagra (who is cute, but still not on the list) brought to mind another Indian actress (of the Bollywood variety) Madhuri Dixit who is definitely list worthy.








She played the prostitute in love with Sharukh Khan's character in Devdas and I was totally on her side. But he just couldn't see beyond Aishwarya Rai and I can't stand her. I call her the Indian Barbie doll.














And I can't believe I forgot Michelle Yeoh. (Here she is being Japanese--she is THAT good of an actress.)








So there, Anne. I hope that's ethnic enough for you.

How can I lose my slippers so often?

That title has nothing to do with the rest of this post--I just have a problem with misplacing my slippers. Just found them behind the door, squished up against the wall--naturally.

Watched Friends with Money again today. Love that movie. Sorry Ben and Julie. I'm feeling really bad about the movies you've seen and hated because of us. Ooo, especially Running with Scissors--I think you should just not pay attention to any movies we recommend. But I have similar hate reactions to all that Jane Austen crap. Blech! (Apologies to Julie and Mandy and the rest of the world since I seem to be really, really alone in this.) Seriously, I get hives from Jane Austen stories. She loves him, he doesn't realize she exists, he loves someone else who doesn't realize he exists, the other two love each other but money issues and family prejudice keep them apart and there is much pining and weeping all around until suddenly everyone pairs up and the credits roll. I was watching Sense and Sensibility and Moira watched part of it with me--even she couldn't stand it. She walked off shaking her head and saying, "Somebody crying again--is that all they do?" Evie, however, was totally into it--she's all about the clothes.

I did not plan to talk about any of that.

But while I am, I must admit I like the same kind of plot lines when they're in those Merchant-Ivory-esq movies. It's the early 1900s so the clothes are better, and the stories tend to be darker and lack the happy, happy endings.

What did I plan to talk about? . . .

Oh! We reformatted our desktop! Talking to Ben K. about it gave us the courage to finally do it, and the computer is much better, thank you. The thing is still a dinosaur, but it's a much speedier dinosaur now.

Look at it go!

There were some scary moments when discs weren't working and stuff wouldn't download online, but it allowed me to have a rare moment of glory. I decided to compromise and download Windows Media Player 10 instead of 11. We weren't allowed to download 11 because we didn't have service pack 2, and we weren't allowed to download service pack 2 because we didn't have service pack 1. And we weren't allowed to download service pack 1 because they just didn't want us to be happy. So I thought, screw that, just give me media player 10. And for some reason after downloading that, all was forgiven and we were suddenly allowed to download service pack 1 which snowballed into all sorts of downloading success. So I succeeded where Ben had failed, which is something to write down. I would like to put this on my list of things that make me feel accomplished and capable--natural childbirth, fixing the garbage disposal, and downloading Windows Media Player 10 . . . seems like a person should have more things on an accomplishment list.

And after aaaaaaall that, I have finally remembered the meaningful thing I wanted to talk about and now I don't have the energy to do it.

Too bad.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Let's remember how it all started--

Have you ever noticed

that the voice of X the Owl on Mr. Rogers sounds remarkably similar to parodies of Al Gore?

Something to ponder.

THE LIST (in no particular order)

I made reference to it in this post. Let me just say, I cannot explain the existence of this list nor justify its contents. It simply is what it is. But I do think everyone should have such a list, and if you don't, you're a COWARD . . . or maybe just normal.






Lisa Edelstein















Helen Mirren
















Jennifer Saunders













Patricia Clarkson













Julie Walters (yes, Julie frickin' Walters! This baffles me too.)










Tilda Swinton















Lindsay Duncan (Don't think she normally dresses like this, but there were no good pics out there except for the Servilia role)
















Eddie Izzard (oh wait, maybe he doesn't count)















Polly Walker (looking very pleased with herself)










And an honorable mention for Julianne Moore--just not sure if she's completely list worthy yet.





I think I now need to create a What-Was-I-Thinking-Posting-This label. Actually, most of my posts would fit into that category quite nicely.

Feist Concert

It was fun. Not much to say--it was exactly how you would imagine a Feist concert would be. The band that opened was actually just members of her band doing their own stuff which was nice. The opening band wasn't mentioned anywhere and we had no idea who these people were--the lead singer only said his name. And he just couldn't believe that everyone was being so quiet and actually listening to their music. While they were playing I kept looking at the drummer and thinking, Either the Karen Carpenter haircut is really catching on or that's Feist playing the drums. Then she did some backup vocals and, yep, it became quite clear that it was her. That night she played drums, guitar and piano. I hate talented people. Actually, the whole band was switching instruments all night long. One guy even played piano and guitar during the same song. Quick! Pick up guitar and play! Quick! Set down guitar and play piano! Quick! Pick up guitar again!

(I despise car alarms. Especially the one that's blasting away right outside my window.)

The concert came complete with marriage proposal. Out of the blue Feist said, "Is there an Erika so and so here tonight?" (I half expected her to follow that with, "Your car lights are on.") No one responded at first and then you heard a hesitant "Yeah" come from the darkness somewhere. "The only reason I ask is because a Matthew so and so has something to say to you." Then there was silence and finally the girl's voice saying, "Oh my God!" Much excited whispering and finally Feist had to ask, "Did she say yes?" Then the house lights went up and the couple stood up and the guy expressed his appreciation for Feist's help and there was much applauding and then the band played them a special song and blah, blah, blah.

Public marriage proposals always make me nervous. Way to put someone on the spot. That's a lot of pressure on the woman. What if she's not sure? What if the guy was completely clueless and didn't recognize that she wasn't as into him as he was to her? What if he pops the question and she says, "You're kidding, right? I've been sitting here all evening trying to think of a way to break up with you." I don't think that ever happens. But I'm sure there've been girls that say yes when the scoreboard says, WILL YOU MARRY ME, and she finds the ring in the Cracker Jacks and all that, only to go home and tell the guy she didn't mean it and that she only said yes so as not to embarrass him in front of thousands of people.

But the concert was a lot of fun. Feist is really cute both in personality and appearance. I think she's like 5 feet tall or something. She was using a cane for part of the show because she twisted her ankle when she tripped on the sidewalk while "running for joy." Lesson learned: never run for joy on a sidewalk. When experiencing emotional highs, run on a golf course or some other even and soft surface.

That's all I have to report.

AAAAA! Cable is killing me!

Or rather the lack of cable is killing me. Or rather the demise of tv-links and my inability to steal cable is killing me. (Life is so hard.) Why are all the good shows on cable? As I've said, I don't watch much in the way of regular tv. House and The Office are the only shows I want to see. And for some reason I've never watched The Office on tv--just the computer. I think we're usually busy the night it's on. And I run from the room when Heroes comes on. (My ambivalence towards the show has developed into vehement dislike.) And Ben really likes Pushing Daisies, but I can't stand that they love each other yet can't touch. (Kissing through saran wrap is NOT the same.) It's like nails on a chalkboard. So I run from that too, even though when I actually do sit down to watch it, I find myself enjoying it. That is, until they can't touch, and then ZIP! away I go.

So recently I made the mistake of starting another Showtime series on dvd--Brotherhood. I really didn't think it was a mistake when I started. I truly believed I'd watch one episode and hate it. I don't do well with organized crime themes, Jason Isaacs has a Rhode Island accent, the guy who plays his brother has a bizarre chin--all serious strikes against it. But I got hooked. I finished the first season, watched the season 2 premier and then ran smack into the You Don't Have Cable wall. I googled until my eyes bled but I couldn't find a site that was posting the new season's episodes. Aaaargh! So now I have to wait until it all comes out on dvd and I have no patience!! Anything could be happening right now! Life and death hang in the balance and I'm clueless!

At least I can still steal Weeds.


Oh, and I love Jason Isaacs' face in that picture. It could be saying, "I am a very bad guy" or "I am not enjoying this lozenge." Either way, funny face.

God help us all

I've made this blog public again.

Bits of whatever

Moira's having her first sick day. Ben called into school and it was automated. I don't know if it was because we were calling so early or what. So I thought, Heck, I could've called then. I hate the phone. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But I've been told I have a fantastic phone voice when talking to strangers. It's not a conscious thing at all and I never noticed it until Ben pointed it out. But yes, my voice gets softer, I'm to the point and yet politely friendly. I would totally excel at being the recorded voice for something. *Ding* "Department of Mysteries."

Anyway, yes, Moira, sick, me, paranoid, smell of Lysol everywhere.

Hmmmm.

Isn't Eddie Izzard FANTASTIC! I'd only seen the name before and knew he was in that 4 Yorkshiremen bit for Amnesty but other than that nada. But we had a wine tasting night at our place with people from Ben's Aramaic class. 'Cause, you know, you're in Aramaic and you're thinking WINE. But it was a lot of fun, even more so because no one spit any out and they kept getting more and more relaxed. We started out genuinely sniffing and swirling and observing and all that crap, but eventually it was just drinking and not caring. After the 7th bottle you try it's kind of like, Yep, it tastes like wine. So somehow Eddie Izzard came up (and you were wondering when he was going to come up didn't you? "Where is this wine tasting bit going," you ask yourself) and this was edging toward the more relaxed part of the evening and Erin and Charlie went off quoting him non-stop. Usually when people start quoting comics it's moderately funny for about 1 line and after that you just want to shoot them. But I think Izzard is funny enough and we'd had enough wine that it wasn't tiresome to sit and listen to this. Finally Erin said, "I live nearby, do you want me to go grab my dvds?" So the evening ended with hours of Izzard watching. After the first dvd my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. I found myself just wishing he would stop or take a long breath or something so I could let my cheek muscles relax. And, gosh, I just have a thing for transvestites.

I had more things to say in this miscellaneous post but I've forgotten them . . . so I'll just resort to what I always do--

Eddie on St. Paul (because I so often feel the same way when it comes to Paul)

16 seconds to commemorate hours and hours of wasted time

I finally finished my useless quest to see every Alan Rickman movie on Netflix. I actually went beyond Netflix and saw all but three of his movies (the ones not available to see unless I wanted to buy them) plus oodles of television crap he did. The culmination was yesterday's viewing of the "thriller" Dark Harbor. I had to borrow a vcr because it hasn't been released on dvd. It was soooooo bad. So, so bad. But it made me laugh so I gave it two stars instead of one. There was a scene where he dives into the water naked followed by a nice long butt shot of him walking up the stairs. I love him to death, but I just couldn't support the director's decision on that one. To put it nicely. . . he has a physique best left to the imagination. For all our sakes, Alan, stay dressed from here on out.

"Except Valium in wee fistfuls"

Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk are so good together in whatever they do.

Angels in America snippet (I could watch this scene all day)

I'd give anything

to be able to dress like Professor McGonagall on a daily basis.

Ben's city council future?

There's a sort of primal satisfaction in buying your children winter coats

As humans we don't get to dig holes in the earth and line them with our own fur (thank God) so we must make do with the yearly purchase of winter wear to get our "keeping the young warm" fix.

Boy, I sat down and actually felt like this would be something to talk about.

Silly me.

This kid's parents must be really satisfied.

I am joining Mandy in sending out positive, winning vibes into the universal ether

Although I can't quite comprehend the Ben Kessler for Bexley City Council thing (because a. I lack all ambition and b. I have no desire to interact with people) I am still infinitely supportive and believe he'll do an excellent job. Obviously that support didn't translate into any help with the campaign, but that's not the only kind of support out there. There is also the quiet support that doesn't express itself in anything other than a crummy blog post on election day. I excel at that kind of support.

So GO BEN! We know you'll win!




Okay, seriously, I went to google images for some sort of picture that said Win! and this was there--What the huh?

You can't serve God and mammon, but WE can

Last night was wonderful and horrible.

We skipped out on Cypress again and went to see Ben play at Meadow Park. Once again it was a lovely service with a very good teaching. But I'm just not ready to pull up stakes at Cypress yet. Even though I hate it, I can't bear the thought of starting over and making a place somewhere else. It's so weird when the people at Meadow Park start talking to me--I don't want them to. I want to tell them not to waste their time, not to invest in me because I'm only an observer. I keep thinking that they'll leave off once I tell them I'm with Ben. "Hey, I'm just a band groupie here. Pay me no heed." But they still talk to me and they're still nice and I feel just a little bit awkward and guilty as they persist.

We met up with friends afterwards (after running out of gas--that was fun) and found out that it was a VERY, VERY good thing that we missed out on the Cypress service. One of the gross things they've been doing with the building campaign is encouraging (read manipulating) the kids into giving their money to the project. They made it a competition between the girls and the boys--whoever gives more money gets a pizza party.
Last night they took that money, divvied it up between all the kids, pre-school through high school, and created some grotesque parade with the kids all lining up and walking across the stage dropping their money into a collection box. "If your kids can do it, so can you." (This is where all sorts of swear words race through my mind and I'm paralyzed with profanity.) This happened without any parental permission. You can bet if we'd been there our kids would have been jerked out of that line pronto. And you can bet that if we'd know all this had happened while we were at dinner we would have completely gone off on the Children's Director who happened to join us last night. She used to really scare the crap out of me, but I feel like I have nothing to lose now and I know I wouldn't have held back.

One of the reasons I feel like I don't have anything to lose is the fact that we have amazing friends that we can be open with and wouldn't drop us if we left the church. And those amazing friends impressed me again last night. After dinner we went over to Adam and Sue's place with Kim and Tim and Brandon for coffee. Everyone talked and shared about how we weren't okay with the campaign. It was great to hear people just be honest and find out that we aren't the only ones that feel money should be given to the hurting people in this world and not spent on fountains and nifty buildings.

We found out some more disgusting things--like the church inviting the top givers in the congregation to a Dublin country club for a special building campaign preview. (Hmmm, James 2:2-4 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?) And how they've been pressuring high schoolers by taking them into a room and asking them to sign pledges right then and there.

Give me an E! Give me a V! Give me an I! Give me an L! What's that spell?!?

But our awesome little group of do-gooders decided last night to screw the church and figure out a way to do something that makes a difference--even if it's a small one. Our friend Adam has been collecting supplies for the homeless for a while and now we're going to start gathering together breakfast bars, etc. for the kids in west side schools that come to school hungry. Columbus City Schools provides free breakfasts but the district in question doesn't and there's a real need for it. The school nurse was thrilled with the first donation and said that kids come in with stomach aches all the time and it's just because they're hungry. One kid stole food at school and when they confronted him about it, they found out he hadn't eaten all weekend.

So while it's devastating to find out that your church is, well, shitty, it's life-affirming to find out that you have friends with good hearts that still value compassion, friends that won't let their church define them as Christians or hold them back from what they know is right. Hoorah!

We finished off the night with The Girl in the Cafe which perfectly fit everything we'd been feeling and talking about.
The first part of the movie is about the relationship and is filled with fantastic Bill Nighy-ness. So many great lines it's ridiculous. The second part gets more into the politics/compromises that cost millions of lives and the power of one person with courage. SEE THIS MOVIE!

Sorry this post was so long, but most of you were skimming anyway--admit it.

THIS

is SUCH a good album.