Lame lame lame

I was hoping to be in the Cities today to attend the funeral of my friend's sister, however, I am very ill. It has been coming on in spurts. Yesterday at work, I just about closed up early and left because it felt like I was 104 degrees and suffering from the worst migraine ever.

Now I'm at home, and I have the flu... bad. I will not elaborate but let's just say I'm sick of feeling like I'm gonna hurl every two seconds. I am unable to drag myself out in public , so my wonderful mother brought me good sick food, chicken noodle soup, applesauce along with sleazy celebrity magazines. How joyous. My only goal today is to become un-sick.

To accomplish said task I am mostly lying around reading and watching TV... here are some thoughts from said experience:

--I saw Justin Timberlake's new video "Sexy Back" -- never noticed how hot he was before!!! Not sure I like the song but yowza is he attractive. Back in the day I was in love with Lance Bass (yes, the irony) and was turned off by Justin's white boy geri curl.... now it's a whole new story.
bad.... good!!!


--Mel Gibson is such a tool. I'm glad he finally got caught being the anti-Semitic bigot that he is. It bugged me that people acted like, "Oh how dumb, the passion isn't about being anti-Jewish." Oh, really? Cause throughout history that's what passion plays were for... ugh. Now with the drunk driving scandal I think I can safely say, Mel Gibson = boo.

-- I am very happy I was never a childhood star. I look at people like Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears and really any number of other stars who grew up in the public eye, and they seem kinda screwed up. I'm sure it'd be nice to have the money but the notoriety and paparazzi would bum me out. I feel bad for a lot of them, even though they also make me roll my eyes.

If I had a ton of wealth here are ridiculous things I'd buy myself before doing nice things like charity etc:

1. New home-- upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. I don't need 17,000 sq feet or anything. But I'd want a screening room for movies and an indoor lap pool. I'd also want a maid cause who wants to clean all that?

2. New home for parents. Or like a million dollars to fix the stuff wrong with what they have now
3. Chef-- I think I'd eat way better if someone was always making really yummy healthy food. Plus I don't much care for cooking.

4. Driver!! For long car trips, like to visit Grandma or go to the cities, I'd want someone driving so I could nap or read in the backseat.

5. Private plane. Speaking from experience, it's highly annoying to fly from here to Duluth. An hour flight from here to Minneapolis, and then from Minneapolis to Duluth is like, 23 minutes-- um hello? Just keep going, it'll be faster. Plus if you had your own plane, you'd have way more room and could show up 10 minutes before take off.

That's a lot of luxury!! I'm sure if I had the money, I could think of more stuff to spend it on, but I also like to think that I wouldn't just buy and buy for no reason (Paris Hilton anyone). I can think of a lot of great causes that I'd want to contribute to and trips I'd want to go on with friends and family.

Now I just have to figure out a way to make tons of money as a writer and advocate (haha).

I can't believe it's almost 8 pm and I haven't left the house or gotten dressed today. I hate being sick.

Wishing you healthy days! XOXO
~Em

PS: I had a letter to the editor in today. Hooray

Contemplating

A lighthouse in Duluth
The Red River from my plane

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now"...

Sunset at Duluth

Lone sailboat in Lake Superior

Click to see bigger photos...

So these are some photos from my last days in Duluth. Some from our boat cruise, and others from the plane ride back home.

They are pretty and therefore fun to share, but it also reflects my mood. I am somewhat melancholy and thoughtful. No reason for this mood, it's just where I'm at right now. A friend of mine just lost his baby sister in a car accident and although I never met her, I think my mood has been really affected by this... it's so profoundly unfair... yeah come to think of it, that's probably why I'm a little sad at the moment. I hate pain and sadness and I hate being reminded of how crazy life can be -- in the negative way.

I reflected on the conference on my "other" blog :) and am already missing the buzzing atmosphere of conference workshops. It's hard to come home and do laundry and get back to the old routine.

The old routine is about to be revamped anyway. With August around the corner, I imagine I'll be in class before I know it (sigh, I wish I could get excited about that right now).

Ugh clearly I need to go to bed.

Duluth!!

So Duluth is wonderful! The conference has been very informative and entertaining. I've met some great women and men and had some big laughs. We arrived in Duluth at around 5:30 pm Monday and all flopped on our respective hotel beds for an hour. Five other women and I went up to the "Top of the Harbor" revolving restaurant for a look at the city. This spider was hanging around ... happily for me on the outside of the glass. But I decided it was picture-worthy because that spider has some guts to be up on the 16th floor dangling by a thred. So this pic is devoted to her... (click to see her in all her glory!)


I had a very pleasing view from my window. To the right I could see Lake Superior. Not bad.



The night before the conference I couldn't sleep at all. I probably got 5 hours tops! I woke up at 5 am and watched 30 minutes of Mr. Rogers. I took the trolly to the land of make believe, watched him feed the fish, and saw a movie about how socks are made... and also heard a song about socks. At the end Mr. Rogers reminded me that I am "very special. No one else is like me and people love me just the way I am!" I love you Mr. Rogers! Sadly I fell asleep again, probably around 6:00 and I had to get up at 6:45 so I was sooo tired when I did wake up. I did not look so good:

Here I am with some make-up. See how much improvement!? I am ready to roll.

My friend Tessa and I walk downtown Duluth for lunch. Notice the lovely lake in the background. We had lots to laugh about.

Here are two conference pals. Marie and Diana. Diana cracks me up. Anytime Diana is shocked, annoyed or generally any time when normal people would say "oh my goodness," she says "Oh, shoot the ducks."-- WHAT? Funny!! (Diana is wearing the darker shirt).

Pretty. And the sign is appropriate, "Lake Avenue."

Old school friends, Janis and Kayla picked me up and we went to the the harbor area and bought carmel apples-- so good. Had to take pictures.

Here I am with the chocolate store mascot. He was very round and slouchy. This picture is made perfect by the appearance of Janis' new baby, Olivia!


Here I am, gazing at Olivia.




Pretty baby!


So that's what I've been up to. Best get some sleep, tomorrow another long day of conference is ahead. Wish me luck!

Summer Laziness

I'm in my pajamas and it's 3 pm. I love summer. I have the day off and intend to clean, get groceries and um.. that's about it. Tomorrow I fly out to Duluth for a three day conference so I plan on getting some good r&r in today.

Last night I attended Jenna and Cory's wedding. I took my friend Rob, as geek squad had captured Tyler and refused to turn him loose. Rob and I had a pretty good time. There was good music and good people-- several of whom I haven't seen in a long time. Ah high school memories.

It seemed like everyone there was asking me when my "big day" was coming up. And I always went into way more babble than I needed to. Why don't I just smile and say "We'll see..." Why do I go on and on justifying myself and my relationship decisions? It's not like they want a novel, they're just enquiring.

I guess a big part of me is self-consciousness about that question because I truly don't know. With some of my closest friends tying the knot and making plans to move to this state or that, take this job etc... I get nervous. After I graduate college, I have no conceivable plan with or without Tyler. And I'm completely happy with him but was I supposed to date around more? Was he? Are we ready to say "I do" forever and ever? UGH.

And why don't I just let these things come as they will? I'll tell you why. Because there's still a lot of pressure on women my age. I don't see the point in moving away to a separate city with a man I've dated two years and not live with him. Not when I know the cost of living and I know we'll want to spend most of our time together. And yet, I also know my family may disapprove of this. And I'm 22, so my family may have to live with that but do I even approve of it? Do I think it's right to move in with someone for an indefinite period of time as "roommates in a relationship" or should I have that ring on my finger?

Gaaaaa! When did I grow up? How do you know when it's right? I watched this couple last night say with total confidence that they were willing to become joined for life and there didn't seem to be a hint of doubt in that... but I doubt just about every decision I make and fear I'm always doing the wrong thing.

When I was 14, I thought "23 is a good age to marry." Well now my boyfriend is 23 and I'll be 23 in less than a year and I feel like I'm still 18 years old and I have no money and no clue where I want to live. Ugh. Chill Emily. It's not a race to the alter. I'm sure if I am proposed to (in the perfect setting with the perfect ring-- ha) I will be able to offer an answer that I am 100% behind.

Okay enough of that-- Here's a picture of Rob and I at the big wedding-- we accidentally both showed up wearing yellow. How adorable... or odd!


He was a good date but kept buying me drinks! Bad Rob, bad. Later I assisted Rob in moving some furniture at his house and this was definitely not aided by all the drinks previously consumed. But I did owe him-- after my surgery, when I couldn't lift a thing he came over and helped me move AND lent me his truck.

Post-moving we sat down to watch a movie. I agreed to give Blade: Trinity a try because Rob liked it and I am into the vampire genre being a total Buffy-fan. Turns out not all vampire stories are created equal.

Here are some of the pearls of fantastic dialogue I heard in Blade: Trinity--

-- "Oh man, we got fucking ass-raped"
-- "You horse-humping bitch"
-- "You cock-juggling thundercunt"
-- "Go fuck your sister"
-- "How about you take a sugar-frosted fuck off the end of my dick?"
-- "When the fuck did you see my dick, fuck-face?"

And my personal favorite... can't believe the actors said it with a straight face, was this "dramatic" exchange:

Dracula: Blade. Ready to die?
Blade: Was born ready motherfucker!
Dracula: Motherfucker… I like that

UGH!! What is with those movies? Do they think that...

Explosions
+ Jessica Beil in leather
+ the word "fuck"
+ the word "dick"
------------
= entertaining??

Ridiculous.

So, sorry about that little random outburst. I was just annoyed with the badness of the movie.

I think I will go see if Vh1 is playing "World Series of Pop Culture" right now-- I love that show. Hopefully by 5 pm I'm dressed and contributing to society. But we'll see.

Love to all!

Adventures with the easy bake oven

My oven at my apt. has been dubbed "easy bake" because it is so small but it has also given me the chance to try my hand at the joys of gas cooking. Thought I'd share with you all a super-easy recipe that I love. It reflects both my heritage and my love of dough products. If I can make it, anyone can! I also included pictures to assist the recipe-challenged... and just for silliness.

German Knoephla Soup

Get a big kettle (like below and fill 3/4 full with water and milk-- more milk than water). Heat. Add 3 chicken bouillon cubes.




Dice half an onion

Try not and faint from onion fumes (see below) then cut about 4 or 5 potatoes up in bite sized pieces

I am truly lazy so I buy my dumplings ready made at the grocery store and just drop the bag in the kettle. Below is the brand I like... tastes just like Grandma's homemade dough dumplings and 1/2 the work!! I usually wait a while for the potatoes to cook, then add dumplings.


When potatoes are cooked through and dough is big, squishy and dumpling-like you have a bowl of knoephla!! I like lots of black pepper to spice it up a bit. But not too spicy, I am German after all!


This makes you a cook! Hooray! Celebrate and eat up!



And that's how I spend a Tuesday night alone... and no that is NOT sad.

What? It's not! I had a hard day at work! I wanted to make din-din and sleep.

Watch for Hawks

Quote of the Day:

"If you are clawed by a hawk you should consult with a physician about the need for a tetanus shot"

-UND press release about the campus hawk

Tonight after work, I had high goals for myself. Was going to do some more cleaning and arranging in my room, going to head to the grocery store for milk and make a bank deposit. Instead, I went home and took off my work clothes and talked on the phone for an hour and a half.

By the time I hung up, I was hungry so I roped my mother into Green Mill. I tell ya, tortellini and beer never tasted so fab.

But onto the main topic of this post... hawks. Pissy ones, as this photo (which I ripped of Google images) shows.

Tonight Tyler called and suggested we ride bikes. Since my bike is a killer 1950's model with a squishy seat, I was game. Plus I like Tyler. However, I hung up the phone and the beer and tortellini kicked in. I awoke to him knocking on my garden level windows. I opened the blinds to see him riding away dejected and I lept out of bed and tore out of my house-- almost-- had to grab some pants (I had underwear on, stop freaking out) and yelled at him to come back.

So we were tooling around campus together and going right by "my" building. I call it mine because I literally live there-- all my classes are there. It's the religion/english building, after all. I see all these signs up of "warning- hawk attacks"--- Um what?!! So, Tyler informed me what has been going on at UND. Check it out here. Craziest shee-yat ever. Seriously, that is right out of the show Family Guy, where the birds nest in Peter's beard and he can't move them cause they're endangered.

So people going to summer school have to run to class to avoid being attacked by the hawk. A hawk attack on my way to class is now on my list of "Scary shit I don't want to experience at school." It's right up there with that old-faithful nightmare of showing up to take a test buck naked.

Speaking of school and lists, I found something pretty funny today while sorting through loose papers. Tyler and I used to have a communication class together and since it was boring, we often resorted to writing notes. I found our infamous "Axis of Evil" list which we made one day in honor of George W (we all know I'm such a fan of his). Here it is:

Emily and Tyler's Axis of Evil circa Spring 2005 semester

• Crummy films and their makers
• Alarm clocks
• Bills (but not Tyler's friend Bill)
• Badly written tests
• Mike Liffrig (former republican candidate for senate in ND-- real weirdo)
• Disappearing socks
• Bad dreams
• Plasma people that poke you too hard
• Wanting to sleep in class but the professor stares at you
• Conglomerate rip-offs (aka Barnes & Noble school bookstore)
• In-class essays
• Teachers from 1915
• Overhead projectors
• Falling down
• People who clean the bathroom and complain that no one praises them (do it and shut up)
• Menomic devices (no clue on that one)
• Simplot
• cars... correction, cars in the shop
• flat tires that happen weekly
• shooting two interviews all wrong (studio one memories)
• The girl to Tyler's left with the huge boobs (Tyler, stop staring!)
• Wells Fargo
• People who are falling down drunk when we are sober

I think that list took a good while to accumulate. The rest of the sheet has random scrawled things like "You have a friend named Bill?" / "I want big boobs!" / "Ahh, I think your boobs are fine!" / "Hey! Quit looking at MY boob!" -- wow, good thing we learned a lot in that class.

I am really enjoying summer. I don't mind working 8 hour days really because at the end you go home and have no homework, you can take late night bike rides and just chill. This Saturday, Tyler and I are off to yet another wedding and on Monday I fly out to Duluth for a conference on how we can make the media more aware of domestic violence. I am looking forward to it providing there are no snakes on my plane :)

One last thing before I go. I found this poem today and I really like it. It can be about romantic relationships or friendship and family ties. But when I read it, I was reminded of so many people in my life...

~~~~~~
Comfort

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out, just as they are,
chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand
will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping,
and then with the breath of kindness
blow the rest away.

- Dinah Craik (1864-1887)

The fire inside me and the heat outside = bad combo

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"It makes life so much more simpler to let God be God, and to try to follow his commandment to love one another."

-My amazing, inspiring mother

Words to live by in so many situations, in this particular situation, she was referring to the gay marriage debate but it's good advice for me in general. For as long as I can recall, I have been getting into trouble by sticking my nose into drama (I've discussed this in previous blog postings). I often read our local newspaper's "mail bag" just to see if someone wrote a letter to the editor I find really upsetting (that way I can write back). It's true!

Last night I left a party early, knowing there would be drama with a certain person there, and sure enough the next day I heard "someone got punched." Now I did the right thing initially. I got out before the drama started but then what did I do? I immediately had to ask someone for all the details of what did happen-- sheesh, why didn't I just stay and witness it firsthand? Oh right, because that would have sucked.... *sigh* I guess I hate drama as much as I love hearing about it.

I think all this nosiness stems from my problem of "wanting to save everyone"-- It's not so much a Christ complex, but possibly a Wonder Woman complex. It definitely has something to do with selfishness. To think I can fix everyone is absurd. But I was always the one standing up on the bus and yelling at kids to quit picking on the nerdy guy. I'm the one who when she sees the "father's rights" group downtown (aka: the "former wife-beaters who want to harass their estranged wives" group) I have to roll down my window and glare at them. I am so full of passion and feeling it just spills out. It spills out in a big, yucky mess. Why can't I be refined and quit pissing people off? Well, at least I just annoy people with opinions, I don't punch people out.

You know, it's funny because I was always a wuss when it came to standing up for myself-- I'm getting much better. The bad comes when you pick on my friends-- watch out. There was a specific incident when I was on a 9th grade church trip... We were all out in the Seattle wilderness doing a service clean-up project and one of my good friends went in to use the port-a-potty. A group of snotty, senior boys came up and started rocking it back and forth. When I heard her screaming inside, something snapped. I ran full force and launched myself onto the back of one of the guys and proceeded to beat him over the head with his own baseball hat. It was quite a spectacle. Now that I'm older than the impetuous 14, I try to curb the violence, but my reaction can be equally as ugly --even in the wise old age of 22 (ha).

Well, enough about drama. The party before the drama was mucho fun with a luau theme. There are some great pics on facebook in the same file that had photos of my house. Here you can see Heather and I enjoying ourselves thoroughly. She is also enjoying my boob. Highlights of the night were seeing a cat wearing a lei and seeing my boyfriend light his straw hat on fire. Damn tiki torches.


Heather, you are naughty!!

Life has been flying by me. Considering July is half over and this next semester is my last before the "real world" hits with full force, it's a wonder I'm not panicking more. What do I mean when I say real world though? I mean, what's really gonna change?

I already live away from home (okay 5 minutes away). I pay my bills *(with help when it gets desperate... which is often)* I already work. I'm already bitching about insurance and taxes. I mean, really I'll just trade obsessing about my class schedule for obsessing over my career. Yikes... career.

Here are some things I realized on the drive home from Fargo today:

--I could never live anywhere hot. It's been 100+ here the past few days and all I want to do is hide in air conditioned places.
-- The song "Drops of Jupiter" by Train makes me cry.
-- I love the song "Ain't too Proud to Beg" and like to sing along
-- When I was young, I was determined to one day own a Winebego, that goal is no more.
-- I wish desperately that I could sing like Kelly Clarkson.. I'm sorry but "Walk Away" rocks my socks off.
-- Mad. I'm mad at whoever came up with the movie "Snakes on a Plane" --flying is scary enough without thinking of snakes on board
-- Childbirth scares me. I used to think C-section might be the way to go, but now I've had abdominal surgery and I know it's no picnic either. Ah! Maybe I'll go Angelina Jolie style and adopt.
-- Why do I keep planning my wedding in my head? I'm not engaged.
-- Could I throw a party and wear a pretty dress instead?
-- Marriage is a scary concept to wrap one's mind around
-- Why do I keep thinking about marriage?
-- The latest Pirates movie was a dissappointment, how can you have Kierra Knightly, Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp and make a snooze of a film? Lame.
-- My dream job might be doing voice-overs in animated movies. I could see myself in a Dori-like role. "Just Keep Swimming" :):)

Wishing you drama free days!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that shes back in the atmosphere
With drops of jupiter in her hair, hey, hey
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that theres time to change, hey, hey
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like june, hey, hey

Tell me did you sail across the sun
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star
One without a permanent scar
And did you miss me while you were looking at yourself out there

Now that shes back from that soul vacation
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey
She checks out mozart while she does tae-bo
Reminds me that theres time to grow, hey, hey

Now that shes back in the atmosphere
Im afraid that she might think of me as plain ol jane
Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land
Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back to the milky way

And tell me, did venus blow your mind
Was it everything you wanted to find
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know youre wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone
Conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back toward the milky way

I'm not gay but...

I get weirdly hypnotized when the PussyCat Dolls are on TV. And I'm pretty sure this is not normal.

This morning I gave up trying to sleep around 7:15. It was an awful night. I chose to quit trying to "fake" sleep and rolled over to go toast a bagel, where I made the ultimate mistake-- I turned on the TV. I was carrying a dirty dish through the living room when I saw the PussyCat Dolls on VH1's countdown.

If you haven't seen the video yet for their new single, "Buttons," I can sum it up pretty quick:.

Little clothes.

tons of hair flipping.

gyrating bodies.

So that's about it. As they sing things like "You been saying all the right things all night long/But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off/Baby, can't you see?" Ahh! Sweet poetry. But I can't be a music snob. For one thing, I'm really not one. If "Toxic" by Britney Spears comes on the radio, I'm definitely cranking it up. Likewise for some PussyCat Dolls music. I'll jam when I hear it because it has a club-like beat.

When you think about it, the PussyCat Dolls could be this generations Spice Girls. Their first single "Don't Cha" is upbeat, comparable perhaps to a "Tell me what you want what you really really want" scenario. Then came the slow ballad, "Stick wit U" -- the Spice Girls had "2 become 1" (let's all pause to shudder at the memory). Both are girl groups and cater to the top 40 scene with songs that make them seem positively ADD. Do you want 2 to become 1 or am I supposed to try harder to "get with your friends." Am I supposed to "loosen up your buttons" or "wish my girlfriend was hotter?" AHH. Oh wait, you're half naked. I'm no longer supposed to have any questions.

Anyway. I find it disturbing when I see this video. Why do I just stare at these women? I think I was transfixed because of sleep loss and fascination at the lack of fat (they jiggle, but nothing on their body does... well, save the boobs)

My thougths run like this:

Sheeyat... Am I supposed to look like this, seriously? Why not quit eating now and in 20 years, I might be ready. Then again I'll still never move that way without throwing my hip out.

I hate these women. I really do.

Why am I still staring, seriously? Just look away. Move to the kitchen do something!

Sick something is wrong with me.

It's over. Thank God. RUN!

(whereupon I go toast my bagel, come back and switch to MTV where I find the music video for.... wait for it... that's right-- PussyCat Dolls-- DAMN!)

Bad dreams go away!

I woke up a while ago from a terrible nightmare. If I had to name it, it would be:

"Former insecurities"

First I dreamt I was in a high school musical production and all my friends had leads and I was in the back dressed in some horrible leaf outfit and dancing like a freak. Then the director yelled at me for "sucking the life out of the show" and kicked me out. Then everyone laughed. Next I did the weird dream thing, where you segway to an impossibly different place and scenario in no time. I was standing in front of a former high school crush. Still in the leaf outfit naturally and instead of talking, all I could do was burp. Then out of no where, I was in gym class -- and guess what day it was? Oh yeah, the day where you had to run the mile. Also known as Emily finishes last and has an asthma attack day....

WHAT'S THAT ABOUT? It was like my own personal "High school's Worst Memories Mega Mix."

Ugh, now that I've been awake for awhile it's kind of funny but I do wonder what triggered that. All those insecurities from high school came flooding back. I guess there's some things you never get over, like feeling not quite as good as your friends, hating yourself for not attracting that one special guy, and LOATHING your bitchy ass gym teacher who thought she was somehow encouraging you to incorporate exercise into your life by taking an allergy-ridden, out-of-shape asthmatic outside and making her run next to skinny blonde people. Some pains die hard. It's nice to laugh about them now, as opposed to crying into my pillow like the old days.

So new topic...

You know what my problem is? Well, there are many, but mostly I can't seem to butt-out at the appropriate time. It's not a good quality, but my ears perk up at drama. It's not that I like to cause drama, but once there is drama, I want to know the story. All the juicy details, and then I get really invested, and I choose sides. The smart thing to do is to walk away and say, "don't tell me, I don't want to know." That's what smart people do, and they stay out of trouble. But on the other hand, my friends can always count on me for righteous anger about stuff. Cause if they have drama, I'll sit right there and be like "OH my gosh! Go on! Let all the anger out. Tell me more about it!"

A friend of mine is having major drama with some people. I have the ardent desire (that's right, I used the word "ardent") to write said people who are giving her all this grief and be like, "Grow up. Do you not understand how the real world works? Quit smoking crack! If you don't quit being a beyotch, I'll squash you."

There, I'll say no more so as not to get myself and this girl into any more trouble. But see! Why am I even involving myself? Cause I have anger issues... not good.

Yesterday was my first day at work. Ultra-scary. I felt clueless and I was alone. The credit card machine refused to work. Bad. Then a lady came in from another country and she didn't know the English words for all the makeup she wanted. Really bad. She wanted an eyebrow pencil with, "How you say, the joushhh on the end?" I stared at her. What the deuce is a "joushh?" So we looked at catalog pictures until she saw a makeup brush and then she pointed all excited "Joushh, joushh!" Okay, I showed her pencils with brushes and she goes "No. Not the putta jousshh the joushh." --- Putta jousshhh? WHA?

So it's hard to sell product you're not that familiar with and even harder when key words are not available to you. I ended up figuring out that she actually wanted an Estee Lauder product. Wow. Not cool.

Must get going, another work day is ahead. This weekend I am escaping to Fargo for a party and some fun but in the meantime, gotta bring home some bacon-- so to speak. I actually hate bacon.

I'm dating a geek

Oh so happy for my Tyler. He's become one of these guys. I'm so proud of him though. He's worked hard at Best Buy for over a year. And he finally got the chance to take the Geek Squad test and of course, he passed with flying colors. Some boys are uber obsessed with cars, my guy is all about the computers. I buy an U.S. Weekly, he gets P.C. Weekly. But I love it, if I have any issue with my computer, it's always fixed. Not to mention, he finally took my parents off dial-up and gave them high-speed internet. Ta da! Hooray for him. I'm pretty sure that his work uniform is the hottest ever and I already told him I want to ride in the bug.

Well the news has FINALLY officially broke (HOORAY) so I can put it out there that my best buds Aaron & Heather are engaged. I'm so excited for them both and have thoroughly enjoyed helping the bride-to-be pick out dresses and think of fun plans. I'm just so happy for both of them. Most importantly they are going to make each other happy!

Fourth of July was great with lots of fireworks and perfect weather. It was a relaxing day save for the part where I accidentally shut my finger in Tyler's car door (ow Ow OW!) -- nothing quite like crying like a little girl in public to make you feel awesome. I think I've permanently killed the nerves in my left pointer finger, I can't really feel much, it sort of has the "asleep" feeling that limbs can get. I hope it heals because typing is difficult and it just feels odd.

The apartment has mostly come together. I've had maintenance guys in every other day for random problems though. Today I have bizarre dripping sounds coming from my kitchen vent. It worries me for sure, but as long as the water doesn't flood my place, I'll not panic. I'm pretty sure housing facilities is on my speed dial and I've met all the technicians, so we're good.

But if you'd like to see how the place came together, visit an album I created. Blogger is being crabby about pictures at the moment.

I just started a new job at Merle Norman cosmetics. It's delightful fun and makes me want to learn how to do makeovers... especially since I'm supposed to be able to provide them if customers ask... dear lord, please don't let me stab someone's eyes out with a mascara wand.

Bullet points:
-- The second Pirates movie came out and I'm very much ready to go see it!
-- I read way too much msn gossip and watch E! True Hollywood Story, but I've decided that people like Naomi Campbell and Brandon Davis do not deserve their money.
-- Hooray! I bought plane tickets to Portland-- oh yeah, I'm going baby!
-- Jenny got married last night. Delightful fun. I think I've been to 3 weddings already this summer and I have more to go. It's beginning to feel a little like a montage from Wedding Crashers.
-- Recently I stole my mom's bike (old 50's style, wicked witch of the west style) and have been riding it all over. I feel retro and cool and am enjoying the summer air on my face.
-- I HATE those Enzyte commercials. You know the ones with "Bob" who's really smiley? Speaking of... Did anyone else hear that Rush Limbaugh got detained for having Viagra without a prescription? HA! Sweet justice! Mr. Conservative family values who calls rape victims "hos" gets caught with a drug that helps you have sex... and hmmm... he's not married. I guess this makes him a big ho too. A big impotent ho at that. HA! I love it when mean people get their comeuppance.

Alright I'm off to enjoy more of my lazy Saturday.

Devil Wears Prada

Tonight I went to see "The Devil Wears Prada"-- I "listened" to this book on tape coming home from Sioux Falls and thought it was pretty fun. And as a big Merryl Streep fan, I was excited to see the movie.

I really enjoyed it, even though it wasn't very faithful to the book, but one thing really bugged me.

There were constant jokes about how fat Anne Hathaway was... these jokes were not in the book. Anne Hatheway's character was supposed to be a size 6, which according to one of the characters in the movie, "is the new 14."

I get it, the movie was poking fun at the fashion industry's obsession with thin but come on-- it gets old. It was the long-running joke of the film. Anne Hathaway picks up a Chanel gown and asks, "Do you think it'll fit?" and someone replies, "If we grease you up with crisco and get some fishing wire." Or when Merryl Streep is mad at Hathaway's character and says, "When I hired you, I thought, why not try hiring the fat girl? But you are just another dissapointment." The other assistant constantly criticizes Hatheway as well, "You don't deserve this job... you eat carbs!!"

No one, including Hathaway's character, points out the obvious, that her being "fat" is absurd.

Again, I have no doubt that the audience was supposed to be aware that this was a joke. But still, it would be more funny if it weren't so hypocritical. I mean, something like this... a critique of the "thin is in" mentality coming from HOLLYWOOD? Come on. You know people like Anne Hathaway feel the pressure to conform. If she was actually a size 14 (gasp-- god forbid), we wouldn't even know her because off the top of your head, name an "it" girl of Hollywood who is a size 14? Got anything?

Besides, you look at this picture... how can they joke about her feeing fat... how?

It just makes me sad because the people who design high fashion and cast movies like "The Devil Wears Prada" really do think this way. To them a size 6 IS fat! To them, they don't need to make gowns that fit anything bigger than a 2... and to "fat" girls like me... that's just not so funny.

Anyway. Otherwise a good movie. Mindless summer fun :) and Merryl Streep rocks my socks off.

History of Dance

http://www.youtube.com/v/dMH0bHeiRNg

Something fun.

Super memories

So tonight, I chilled for a bit and reveled in the joys of old school Nintendo action. Bringing back the memories of being in 3rd grade, sitting in front of the TV for hours and screaming in frustration as I once again managed to jump right down a crevice to my death-- kind of a spooky omen for some of my future life choices but anyway...

It's great fun now and surprisingly much easier than I remember. Got me thinking, there are some serious perks to being in Super Mario land.

10 best things about being in Mario land

1. For one thing... you are "super" --- everyone says so.
2. If you do something stupid and die, you'll start over at the beginning right after the vaudeville music plays.
3. Depending on your luck, you'll either earn the ability to shoot fire or fly with a cape (handy not to mention flashy).
4. You have one outfit and it's totally comfy overalls that mask your "problem areas"
5. When you smash your head into blocks, they go away or reveal really cool shit-- vines to places full of money!!
6. Scary places are always easily recognizable by their sinister music and flame throwing bad guys
7. There is always stuff laying around that you can pick up and hurl at your enemies
8. Your pet, Yoshi is totally faithful and never complains if you feed him too much or leave him to pursue exciting possibilities *(up the vine towards money)*
9. Never getting lost. Everything is 2-dimensional!
10. The dating scene is NOT difficult to navigate. One guy, one girl. You rescue her, you got it made.

Okay, enough Nintendo. Time for bed.

PS: Welcome to July! Holy crap, summer is flying by!