30 posts tagged “movies”
...and I haven't been getting enough, until last night. After weeks of inconsistant and scarce sleep, I *finally* fell asleep easily and slept all night long! I did wake up a couple of times because my chest is still rattling from that damn cold, but every time I woke up, I was able to lie back down and fall right back asleep. Ten glorious hours!!! I feel so much better! I was really getting obnoxiously twitchy and moody.
I ordered new pants yesterday, in the next size down. WOOT! That makes three pants sizes I've dropped since late July. I *just* bought new jeans about two weeks ago, and I absolutely loved the way they fit on me ...until this weekend when I started having to hike them up constantly. We went out to the park for a walk, but didn't get to walk the trail I wanted to because I was getting annoyed at having to hike my jeans up so much. I actually almost walked right out of them while I was at home cleaning the next day and had to catch them just as they were sliding off my butt. This all amuses me muchly, aside from the fact that these were the best fitting jeans I've ever owned a couple of weeks ago and I'm a little sad to see them go. I did wear a belt with them for a while yesterday, but I had too much of the waistband gathered up under the belt and that got to be uncomfortable after a short while. So, new pants on the way. At least I've been able to find jeans and pants at great sale prices. Maybe I can resell them on ebay and recoup some of my money.
I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year. I'm not one to say "never again", but honestly, it doesn't seem likely. I like to write a lot, but there are a crazy amount of things that I like to do "a lot". It always seems to come back to "do what you love", and I've discovered that I absolutely do not love writing enough to deal with a writer's life. I did NaNo for a few years until I finally hit that 50,000 words in one month, and I really feel like I've checked that off my list of things to do. I could see trying it again if I was job-free and had absolutely nothing else planned for the month of November and nothing else at all that I wanted to do, ...which I really can't see happening. I always wish my writing friends the best of luck and fun for NaNo, but I'm pretty much out of that game now.
Found a gem of an old movie on Netflix last night: "Spider Baby". I was skeptical, but I'd seen just about everything else in the horror category, so I figured I might as well give it a try. It was delightfully twisted. I'll definitelty watch it again.
Well, enough yammering. I'd better get back to my day. It's been a superhuman effort in recent days to keep myself moving and out of that pit of despair and depression, but the sleep I got last night has helped a ton, and I'm finally feeling motivated to get some stuff done.
Gods, what a lovely day! I know it's not at all exciting sounding, but I absolutely love a low-key non-work day at home.
Today we finally moved our antique desk downstairs and into the back room for Craig to use as radio central. That frees up a little space in our tiny bedroom *AND* gets his radio cabinet off of the diningroom table! ...I suppose I should get all of my crap off the table now. heh.
I also spent an hour or so cleaning off my desk which has been accumulating piles of "found this" and "file this" and "what's this???" In one of those piles I had about a ream's worth of scrap paper ...from my college years! I'd found it in a box of memorabilia. Yes, I keep *EVERYTHING*, even scrap paper. I flipped through it real quick and found a few invitations from parties I'd thrown, some amusing emails from my old sysadmin job, and college lab reports. I cracked myself up reading through the sysadmin emails and school labs because even though I once knew all that stuff, I have *NO* idea what any of it means now. Use it or lose it! It's true! It was almost like reading a foreign language. I've done a very good job of purging unnecessary knowledge to free up the brain cells. *L*
I spent the rest of the day playing librarian. Craig had a shelf full of books he no longer wanted, so I purged them from my LibraryThing.com account, listed some on half.com, some on BookMooch.com, and made a pile to donate. Then I inventoried the rest of his books, logging the new ones we forgot to put into the database, and purging the missing books he'd already gotten rid of. I *REALLY* LOVE LibraryThing!
For dinner, I cleaned out the fridge, slicing up and seasoning some leftover steak and chicken, and sauteeing it with peppers and onions. It was really just a simple "let's eat up what's there" dinner, and I accidentally made the best frakking fajitas I've ever had in my life!
And, we just got done watching "Vantage Point" on Netflix via instant download. It was a decent movie, "a little dodgie in the middle" (said Craig), but the action in the last part was pretty good.
So it was a completely unplanned day but we got a lot cleaned/organized, had a great dinner and a bit of entertainment. That's a really good day, IMO!
Tomorrow we need to run a few errands, but I'm hoping to get that done early and enjoy another day of just doing stuff around the house and taking it easy. I got just enough organized today that I'm really motivated to do more!
Friday was all about Burning Man 2010. I surfed into a program on the festival, and though I'd casually considered attending many times before, I am now compelled to the point of obsession. Craig and I spent a lot of Friday night (and the rest of the weekend) discussing the logistics. We talked about everything from tents and travel time, desert-appropriate diet, solar ovens and grey water evaporation pools, to even the likelihood that I'll shave most of my head before going to camp a week in the desert (for ease of cleaning as well as heat reasons). There's lots I'm nervous about, say whether or not I'll be able to adapt to the heat, a week of sharing porta-potties with ten thousand plus people (ew!), how I'll cope with the crowd in general, and how my asthma will be in the harsh conditions, ...just to name *a few* concerns, but the more I question whether or not this is a good idea, the more compelled I feel to test myself. Craig and I have also been talking about how we have a little over a year to harden up our soft bodies for this, because there's no way I'd haul my current well-padded self and my fat ass around the desert for week! So the trip serves as motivation to get in shape too. It just seems a perfect thing to do for one's fortieth birthday, rebuild yourself and make a pilgrimage to the desert with a whole bunch of crazy artists from all over the world. I'm stupidly obsessed with the idea.
We were supposed to go catch a band that was playing at a local club in Delta Friday night (Craig knows one of the ham radio guys who's in the band), but we started catching up on some of the episodes of Lost we had queued up on our DVR and time got away from us. The band plays every two weeks I guess, so we're going to plan to try again in a couple of weeks.
Craig's new ham radio hobby has proven to be really enjoyable. I've met some really awesome people in the area because of it. I love knowing more of the people around here and feeling a tighter sense of community! ...Also, we've read that ham radio is the best way to stay in touch at Burning Man, since cell phone coverage is non-existent and walkie-talkies are useless with thousands of people there all trying to use the same frequencies. So Craig is kind of excited to become a Burning Ham (yes, that's what they call themselves), and it looks like I have further motivation to get licensed myself. heh.
Friday night we decided we'd catch a matinee of "Star Trek" on Saturday, so I put word out with my Facebook status in case anyone wanted to join us. So Saturday started with breakfast out, and then meeting up with a few good friends for geeky fun at the theater. I ***LOVED*** Star Trek! Absolutely loved it. It was all the action and suspense I'd hoped, with far more delightful tributes to the history of Star Trek than I would've figured they'd be able to include. It's my new favorite movie!
After the movie, we all went out for a late lunch, and sat and talked and talked and talked! It was a great way to spend the day. We got home a little before dinner and spent the evening talking Star Trek and Burning Man. :)
Sunday Craig did a lot of yardwork and played in the garage. I did a little yardwork and basically just chilled.
So that was my weekend. I have a busy week ahead of me, but my sites are already set on next weekend. I hope it gets here fast!
We just got done watching Twilight. I was mad that I missed it in the theater, but the bottle of wine we drank while watching it in the comfort of our own home really took the edge off.
It was bad, I mean, I knew it would be bad, but it was even worse than I'd expected. The pacing was painful, the dialog beyond lame, the acting ... *sigh* I still had to give it three stars in Netflix though because it did still appeal to my vampire fetish just enough that two stars isn't adequate and they won't let me rate it two and a half.
I told Craig that he didn't have to watch it with me, if it was boring him, and he said, "If millions of teenage girls can sit through it, then so can I." heh-heh.
I know everyone always sayd the book was better, but it really was, by miles.
I put The Hunger in to cleanse my DVD player. All is better now.
I should be outside cutting back my roses for the growing season, but I'm just not feeling it. I had a busy week full of hard work, and I think I'm just going to have a quiet day of slack today. Besides, the thing most needed in the modern, working weekday is recess, and this will give me an excuse to take a break, step away from the computer and sneak outside for a little yardwork daily during the week. So, yeah, I'm planning smart *not* being lazy. ;)
What does one do with blank journals? I absolutely adore pretty journals, but I never can decide what to put in them. A pretty journal is something worth keeping, but not much of what I write is worth keeping. So, do I take the chance and write whatever I want at the moment in them, knowing that some day I'll probably just want to burn them, or do I continue to hold onto them waiting for that perfect purpose to come to me, knowing that it never will?
Speaking of burning, might put the fire circle to use tonight. It's good weather for it, and I do have some old journals I want to burn (nothing pretty, just spiral notebooks), not to mention the scrap wood and bundles of twigs from the yard. Might as well get rid of the old twigs and make room for all I'm going to cut out of my roses this week.
My *BIG* project this year is going to be to organize my photos (digital and physical) and memorabilia. I'm having a hard time starting. First I need to dig it out from everywhere I've stashed bits and pieces, and sort it all just to see what's there. I need to come up with some sort of temporary sorting/storage system. Eventually, I want everything in albums, shadow boxes, pretty storage boxes and/or maybe even a small chest of drawers, but I need to see what I have before I can decide how to best store it. The longterm goal is to photograph or scan as much as possible and get rid of most of the physical stuff that takes up room and collects dust. Digital stuff is so much easier to organize, and electrons take up so little space. This is going to be a huge project though, and I'm ready to start, just intimidated. I'm one of the world's most nostalgic and obsessively collecting packrats. It'll be good to free up the energy in all those old, dusty boxes stashed everywhere though. Hmm. Maybe I'll start now.
I want to knit, but I'm between projects. I'm very much looking forward to going to the yarn store tomorrow!
I think we're having shrimp for dinner tonight. I know we're watching Låt den rätte komma in, which I'm REALLY excited to see! I so wanted to see it in the theater, but Toledo is too pedestrian to have an art theater any more. It came from Netflix in today's mail though so, YAY!
Craig got his new Kindle 2 this week. It's much sexier than my Kindle 1, but feature-wise, there's not much there that I feel like I'm missing. I can wait for another version or four before upgrading mine. Still, the Kindle 2 is verra sexeh! And I love that we have them both registered together and can share our books between either Kindle!
Yeah. I think that's everything that was rattling around in my brain pan. I think I'll pull out one of those dusty boxes and start sorting pictures and travel brochures now.
Monday night we had dinner with a few people from Craig's amateur radio club, very good people. I was at ease with them instantly and really enjoyed getting to know them. ...I enjoyed it enough that I'm considering getting myself a basic, technician class license and joining the club too, just so I can keep meeting with them without feeling like the odd man out. So that's something to add to my already spilling-over plate in the near future. *rolls eyes* Can you say "masochist"?
Tuesday I had my mom over for lunch and a movie. I had "The Secret Life of Bees" out from Netflix and wanted to watch it with someone who was truly interested. (Craig said he'd watch it with me, but it was totally for me and not because he wanted to see the movie - still, points for him for offering!) That was one of my favorite books within recent years, and I was excited to see how the movie was done. I enjoyed it quite a lot. They stayed pretty true to the story, but they left out some of my favorite elements and scenes, the ones that took it from just a feel-good, self-discovery type story into something touched by magic. Very enjoyable all the same but, as usual, the book was better.
Wednesday was art class. We did water color under pen & ink. Well, they did. I spent the whole class just putting down the watercolor. I still have to put some ink over it. I always forget how much I love watercolor until I've got a paint-laden brush in my my hand. I think I have to dedicate some space in my room upstairs specifically to watercolor, so I never have to do more than get a fresh jar of water before sitting down to paint.
We got some sad news though: our teacher's position is being eliminated. Not only is she a great teacher, but she's my kind of people. I'm hoping she and her fiance' have a little room in their social circle for us. We're the same age, we share a lot of the same hobbies, from knitting to scroll-saw and lathe work to hot glass even, they don't want to be parents either, they like to travel, her fiance' is a technology geek, ... I just love talking to her, and I'm hoping we can keep in touch.
Thursday was our monthly "writer's group" meeting, where we get together and talk about anything but writing. heh. Always *LOTS* of laughter there. Good times!
So now it's Friday and this introvert is worn out from the week full of people and socializing. I'm not as cranky and exhausted as I expected to be though, which I attribute partially to spring-time energy but mostly to the excitement of reconnecting with a bunch of old friends on Facebook. It was the weirdest thing, but when we were rearranging furniture recently, I had to move all my memorabilia and old photos, and after quickly flipping through some photos, I got to thinking about some of my old classmates and high school friends and wondering what they were up to. Well almost everyone I'd thought about has popped up on Facebook this week, even my BFF from grade school who moved far away and I never expected to hear from again! I've missed all of my old friends, but life has a way of taking you in different directions and you sometimes just lose touch. Things get busy, you meet new people, next thing you know it's been years and you don't know how to get a hold of anyone or (in my case anyhow) just feel awkward about it. I've been working on my social skills this year, reminding myself to check in with people and trying to reserve more energy for get-togethers, and now I'm so happy to have some old friends back in my life, I'll definitely be working to stay in touch with them all!
And speaking of Facebook, I find the uproar over the new layout kind of amusing. Yeah, I think they made some bone-headed decisions, but things change, and not always for the better - that's just life. *shrug* And, it's a free service anyhow! ...I don't know... I 've gotten used to it already and don't even remember how it worked/looked before.
So, tonight is the two-hour final episode of BSG. Bittersweet. *sigh* Like many others, I've long been worried that it'll end with some damn cliff-hanger that won't be resolved until the movie. I probably ought to remove all throwable objects heavier than a pillow from arm's reach, just in case. But yeah, that's what we'll be doing tonight. Craig says after it's over, we're pulling out the DVDs and starting over from the beginning. It's all happened before, and it'll all happen again. ;)
I want to blog. I'm going about my typical morning, thinking the typical kinds of thoughts, and I keep thinking, "Oh yeah! I wanted to blog about that." But every time I open up a window to start an entry, I go blank.
My brain has been well used and abused for over a week now, and I think it's just done for a while.
It's just as well. I *REALLY* want to finish the blanket I'm knitting (brainless work) ...so I can go back to the yarn store this weekend with the FO and my receipt and get a discount on my next project's supplies. :D
And speaking of spending money, we were back to using colored pencils in art class last night. I was really frakking tired and frazzled, and the project, "drawing in reverse" (working light values on black paper) was extremely meditative and therapeutic for me. It was one of those nights where I was able to shut off my brain and just work, and it was blissful. Except, I brought my Prismacolor pencils, which are very waxy, and I was reminded yet again how very much I want those wonderful, oily Faber Castell pencils. Then I got to thinking that I made a nice chunk of extra money putting all those long hours in this past week, and dammit, I'm going to use that money to order our pencils!
Ok. I just remembered something I wanted to blog about, but it's a rant that's really not worth the effort. So, nevermind. It's always better when rants fade away on their own anyhow.
Oy. My inbox has over 300 messages in it. It's usually bad, but there's an extra 100 over what I can generally tolerate in there from the neglect it's suffered this week. I might have to spend some time catching up on correspondence in the next couple of days. My apologies if you're awaiting a reply.
Craig has set a spare laptop up next to our tv and made all the appropriate connections so we can now watch netflix downloadable movies on our tv, which I think rocks! I'm going to clean out our DVD collection a little now, and get rid of all the movies Netflix offers online, ones that I've been hanging on to just so they're there when I'm in the mood to watch them. I'd like to go one step further and replace the rest our physical DVDs with a video locker at amazon.com, but amazon's seem to be of a better quality and I don't think our internet connection can handle those without buffering issues. Some day though!
Ok. I really need some tea, then I have some easier edits to do for work, some studying (only for as long as my over-stuffed brain will process new information) and then I have a blanket to knit and a week's worth of chores and life-maintenance types of tasks to catch up on. And art supplies to order. :D First though, tea.
Craig and I had a lovely day yesterday, I gifted him with some art supplies ...for only him, not a bowling ball gift. Girl Scout's honor! I gave him some pastel pencils and pastel board I found at our local art store, and he tried to give me the extra sheet of super-nice Wallis pastel board he had from class, but I made him keep it. *L*
Craig gave me an awesome "I Love Buffy" t-shirt I wanted, and an ice cube tray that makes skull & cross-bone shaped ice! :D My favorite though, was the hand-made card! He drew Tux the Penguin on the front holding a heart that said "GEEKED 4 U", and inside he wrote:
[craig@root]# chown jen /dev/heart/
BEST.VALENTINE.EVER! :D *sniffle* :D
We went into town for the day. Craig wanted to catch a bandsaw demonstration at WoodCraft. It was actually really interesting. ...And I was the only female in the room. heh. Then we went to Michael's armed with a 40% off coupon in order to buy some pastels.
Let me tell you about Michael's. You can get good coupons for that store just about everywhere you look, and let that be a warning! Wow, was their art stuff marked way the hell up! Dickblick.com has a set of half sticks in 30 colors for about $30 that I want. They price the full stick set at $54. Michael's didn't have the half-stick set, but they wanted $120(!!!) for the full stick set. Even with the 40% off coupon, that would've been $72, verses getting them online for $54. You could add in shipping, rush shipping even, and they still would've been cheaper on line than with a 40% off coupon at Michael's! Do your homework before shopping at Michael's. They obviously can afford to offer those great coupons so freely because they've marked everything way the hell up! I mean, that's common sense, but every time I see it for myself, well it's kind of infuriating. I should've known better than to get my hopes up. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything there.
We stopped at Chipotle for a late lunch (MMMM! Veggie burrito!!!), and still had an hour to kill before the movie we wanted to see would start, so Craig suggested we head down the road to downtown Maumee, and check out the glass shop there. I've always wanted to check the place out, but they aren't open evenings or Sundays, which always seemed to be when we were passing through.
Prism Glassworks, Ltd. was *nirvana*! They carried a lovely selection of the Moretti rods I like to use, a large selection of frit, tools, and all sorts of odds and ends. Most of the shop is dedicated to stained glass supplies, but those are a lot bigger supplies for a hobby that's a lot easier to do at home, so that's to be expected. My stuff was in the back, but it was still all there. *happy sigh* I talked to the owner a bit, mentioning how timid I am about prepping this kiln I have and putting it to use, and she very kindly explained *everything* I need to do ...which wasn't much at all. I'm going back this week to pick up some shelf primer so I can fire that baby up soon. :D I talked to another employee there too, and she was also very nice and extremely helpful. I think I love this place. :D They will definitely be getting some of my monies this year. :D
It was movie time, and based on Myke's recommendation, we went to see Coraline in 3D. It was an enchanting movie! So much so, that I rarely heard any of the many children in the theater, In fact, there were several quiet parts in the movie when I couldn't help but marvel at how very silent the theater full of very young humans was! Everyone loved it. Only Craig and I seemed to laugh now and then though, which was weird. There were some delightfully humorous moments. *shrug* And I fear a lot of the 3D was lost on me. I noticed a few magic moments that really stood out, and a few times I could see some depth in the scenes, but for the most part, my eyes don't get the 3D effect. Still, a fantastic movie! Even the soundtrack was hauntingly beautiful. Good times.
There were a couple more stops on the way home, to pick up some supplies for projects ...and for feeding the bunnies. :) Then we spent the rest of the night watching some of the last season of Lost, which we're trying to catch up on.
It was a lovely day, but much like the rest of the week, it seems to have gone by so fast! I'm going to do whatever it takes to let time linger this week, even if it means reading accounting books to slow things down with enforced boredom. (Totally joking about that! Accounting? *shiver*) Last week flew by, but this week will be savored, even if I have to wrestle time and pin it to the floor until I'm done with it!
I've been looking forward to art class ever since the last one in November. Tonight was to be the first night of our next class, but the snow came. I can't be mad at the snow; I still love it and want more. It was kind of silly to cancel classes and close the museum so early in the day when the sun came out a short while later and by 6pm (class time) things were clearing up, but my teacher lives even further out in the boonies than we do, so I can't even be mad about that. Still, it was disappointing.
Craig brought home Thai for dinner though, and we had homemade pumpkin pie for dessert. Then I made killer gingerbread martinis and we watched Repo! The Genetic Opera, which was delightful auditory foreplay (mmph, Anthony Stewart Head!) and total hot sex for the eyes! (I must own this movie and commit it to memory.)
So no art class today (pout), but the night was still all kinds of yum *AND* I got to go out and shovel snow! Total win!
Wow! What a weekend! Our festivities kicked off on Thursday when we had Dave and Kelly over for dinner and pumpkin carving. Craig carved his pumpkin pi right off the bat, while the rest of us sat around complaining that we didn't know what to carve because we'd forgot to plan something. heh. We all managed though, and shared some great laughs while singing along to the annual viewing of "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
Friday was the big day. Craig took a half day from work, as did Debra & Brian, who drove down to join us for the weekend, so before most people were even home from work, the four of us were already having a grand time kicking off the weekend. We carved some more pumpkins and got our porch all decorated with the usual black lights and flying bat. This year we added the most awesome thing ever: a combination bubble/fog machine that blows bubbles filled with fog! The trick-or-treaters were few and far between, and I don't think anyone else on my block was giving out candy. Sad really. But when kids did come, I was able to give them huge handfuls of candy, and in between trick-or-treaters we amused ourselves playing with fog-filled bubbles. Best costumes of the night was the "Michael Phelps". We saw him walking down the street in what we took to be underwear only and were puzzling over WTH the crazy kid was doing. When he got closer, we saw the medals around his neck and had a good laugh. The worst costume was one I missed, but everyone else described to me. Apparently, the neighbor boy who looks to be around twelve years old was dressed as a Chippendale. Yes. Seriously. Tight black jeans and black bow-tie and no shirt. Yeah. heh.
After it was clear we weren't getting any more beggars, we brought the party inside and ordered some pizzas. Myke and Beth showed up just a bit after the pizzas, weary from the road and cats in tow. We got them all set up in the spare room, and the six of us enjoyed pizza and drinks, candy and conversation until well after the witching hour. We watched my favorite scary movie, "The Prince of Darkness", and eventually all made it to bed.
Saturday morning Craig made us eggs, bacon and pumpkin pancakes to lure all sleepy-heads to the table, then he went out to the garage to do some wood work. The guys followed him outside, and us girls stayed in. Craig was the only one who really did anything all day. :) The rest of us just chilled and chatted. There's not much to report, just very good company. We ate an early dinner just about the time we started getting hungry after our late brunch, and then Myke and Beth had to hit the road and complete their journey. I tried to get them to stay as long as possible, but our slow weekend sloth could not hold them. I do suspect (hope) they'll come back and visit again before too long. I even promise not to make them sleep on the floor next time.
It was such a lazy day that we didn't get around to decorating sugar skulls until after Myke and Beth left, which is a shame since I made skulls for them, but Debra and I did them all up ourselves. Those really fancy ones in the back are hers, and the front row is mine. It was amazingly fun work. I'm definitely doing this again next year! I'm even thinking I might pack the leftover sugar into some holiday tree molds I have, and decorate those in preparation for the winter holidays.
The rest of Saturday night was spent chatting and watching tv, very low-key and comfortable.
We woke up this morning and Craig treated us to another yummy breakfast. We had pumpkin waffles this time, with ham and baked apples left over from our dinner on Saturday. Again with the laziness then for a while - it's just what we do ...or "don't do" maybe? Had a nice, comfortable morning, played a little Wii, and then the four of us did something we almost never do. We got all dressed up and went to church. heh. We had tickets to see The Toledo Symphony play at Rosary Cathedral. Cathedral is the church Craig and I grew up in. Our elementary school (where we first met) is right next to the church. This was our first time seeing/hearing The Toledo Symphony Orchestra perform there though, and it was ***AMAZING***!!! The acoustics are phenomenal, the setting unbelievably gorgeous and the actual piece played, Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, was divine. The whole experience was transcendental. Craig and I will definitely be watching the schedule for future performances at Cathedral, as I can't think of a more perfect place to listen to a symphony orchestra perform.
After the symphony, we stopped at The Grape Leaf and stuffed ourselves with tasty Mediterranean foods, then headed home so Debra & Brian could pack their car and make the drive back to their place.
It's just Craig and I here now, and we're enjoying the last lazy hours of the weekend. The house feels kind of empty now after days of good friends passing through, but we have a ton of great memories from the past four days. It was one of the best weekends this year, a most fantastic way for this heathen chick to celebrate the pagan new year! If one counts their fortune in friends (I do), I'm quite sure we're some of the richest people in the world!
And now, it's time for bed. I'm beat! ...but so very content. :)
