Thank You, Jon

Funny man.

THIS IS NOT A PITY COMMENT

So it's been said that I tend to leave "pity comments" on people's blogs (particularly the blogs of certain boys that I'm dating). I admit, I have on occasion left a comment or two simply for the sake of leaving a comment. And I even concede that I've gone along with the joke and purposely left one or two shameless pity comments just to be funny (or try to be). BUT it has gone too far. Now I'm accused of leaving pity comments any time I say anything. Not only do I feel pressure to write amazing posts, but I also now have the pressure to write amazing comments. Goodness, comments are supposed to be the easy part. Maybe I should just give up.

...please continue to hold...

I'm on hold. I'm sitting here at my computer, my phone is next to me on speaker, and it's blaring this obnoxious Hold Music. (I really don't like Hold Music.) Every 15 seconds or so, a blandly pleasant man comes on the line and says, "All of our representatives are still busy. Please continue to hold for the next available representative." Well it's been 22 minutes and 13 seconds so far. I've sifted through Provoplat, put in a load of laundry, made my bed, read a bunch of wiki how-to's, and now started writing a post. I'm still on hold. I'm feeling a lot like Pheobe on that episode of Friends where she holds all day long, misses a whole bunch of important things she's supposed to do, and then just ends up getting disconnected.

I'm feeling stranded. Goodness, I've got things to do today! But I've invested so much time into holding that it would be upsetting to just give up now. I really need to talk to one of those representatives! How long do you guys think I should put up with this? There's that stressful tension that prevents me from hanging up... what if I hang up just seconds before some real live person comes on to help me?

Oh man, the message has changed. Now instead of the blandly pleasant man, it's a perky woman who says, "We appreciate your patience, and your call is important to us. One of our representatives will be with you shortly." It's been 31 minutes and 6 seconds. What does "shortly" mean? UGH.

Tomorrow's Forecast: Sunny Skies

The 32nd G8 summit just finished up on Monday in St. Petersburg, Russia. I found something pretty awesome as I was reading about it.

The day before the summit, three Russian Airforce M-17s flew over the area releasing a bunch of chemicals into the stratosphere. This induced heavy overnight rainfall and cleared the air of excess humidity. Russia did this to ensure sunny, pleasant weather for the summit. Sure enough, St. Petersburg had clear, blue skies and 68-degree weather this weekend. They also kept some planes on standby over the weekend as a contingency plan in case bad weather cropped up again.

Apparently, Russia has used this technology to guarantee nice weather for some national holidays too, according to trusty ol' Wikipedia. Goodness! Isn't that crazy?! And awesome?! I mean, what if you could do that to make sure your rafting trip doesn't get rained out. Or you could ensure clear skies for those pesky Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween. OR if you wanted, you could purposely induce a blizzard on the night that your evil in-laws were supposed to be flying in for Thanksgiving dinner. Hmm.

Too bad it cost 20 million rubbles for the G8 summit. I'm sensing a market that needs to be expanded. Any entrepreneurs out there who feel like entering and dragging down some prices?

what's in my cd player

Spending two weeks with my parents in Illinois generally translates into me staying up uselessly late in front of the downstairs TV... alone. Just over 2 weeks ago, that's exactly what I was doing one night. Don't ask why, but I got sucked into this obscure PBS Letterman-esque talk show at like 2 in the morning. He was wickedly Republican, but really interesting, and he had the most fabulous singer on at the end of his show. Thank goodness I was up late watching it, because I've found my new musical addiction.

Corinne Bailey Rae. She's like 26 and from England. She just got released in here in the US in June. I love her cd so much. Really, it's constantly playing in my car.

I found a few of her videos on YouTube. I'm not the biggest fan of the videos themselves, but I'm absolutely crazy about her voice and style. It makes me want to start writing music myself... but... I probably won't.

Anyway, here we go:

LIKE A STAR


TROUBLE SLEEPING


PUT YOUR RECORDS ON


Hope you enjoy 'em.

Mustache May

"Mustache May" is in full swing. The guy's options were: (1) to grow a mustache, or (2) to pour a can of soup down their pants. Bryant was secretly excited to finally have a "legitimate" excuse to grow a mustache, so he ignored the soup option.

He has since gone above and beyond the call of duty. He took "Mustache May" to mean "Mullet and Mustache May." Yikes. Who wears a mullet of his own free will? ...not including Matt Lillywhite, who is allowed to wear a mullet any time he wants.

(In these pics, he still has a goatee... but the handlebars appeared shortly thereafter.)

Hmm.

I was a bit shocked the first time I saw him. Honestly, it took me a while to get over that shock. But I'm okay with it now. It has been character-building for me. I've certainly learned to stop caring about what strangers think. Plus, I've realized how awesomely fearless Be is. Come on... a mustache AND a mullet?! Now that takes guts. I truly do admire that in him.

And I suppose of all the extreme hairdos that Be has experimented with over the years, the mullet is by far the mildest.

Yep. Point taken.

So what's next? The guys have made some plans:

• "No Groom June" (you can imagine what that entails)
• "Tough-Guy July" (bald head plus facial hair)
• "Big Bust August" (they wanted to be equal-opportunity.)

The scary part is that I think they're serious.

Oh goodness, give me strength. Looks like I'm in for some serious "character-building" over the next few months.

Ready or not...

It's official: I'm ready for this semester to be over.




And that is all I have to say.

Throwing things out of windows

I get a "word of the day" email from dictionary.com. It's a pretty cool thing, I must say. Sometimes the words are duds, but every now and then you get a real gem. Look at Sunday's word:

defenestrate \dē-fĕn' ĭ-strāt'\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.

Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra,
"window." The noun form is defenestration.

Who knew there was a word for that? Do people really throw things out of windows frequently enough that the action merits its very own verb? And check out today's word:

hobbledehoy \hŏb' əl-dē-hoi'\, noun:
An awkward, gawky young fellow.

Now how great is that? Certainly there are enough awkward, gawky young fellows in the world that they deserve a noun all their own, but I think it's unfortunate that it has to be a word like "hobbledehoy." I'd feel awkward and gawky myself if I actually used that word in front of anyone.

"Oh man, those boys are such hobbeldehoys," Kelly observes as a group of hormonal high school boys clamber awkwardly into the restaurant.
"Uh... Kelly, you're a freak," her concerned friend replies flatly.

Maybe I should come up with my own name for guys like that. In any event, it's a fabulous word... even if it's unusable in public. Let's hear it for awkward, gawky young fellows that give me something to blog about instead of doing homework! Now go defenestrate yourself.

"Shards of Glass" is my middle name

I am amazing. I somehow managed to break not one, but TWO drinking glasses by the time the afternoon rolled around today.

The most annoying thing about the second incident is that I had just gotten back from the grocery store and was about to pour myself some milk, when my glass somehow slipped from my hand, shattered, and spewed shards of glass everywhere... including into my open gallon of milk. Sad. So even though I just went to the stinkin' grocery store, I still don't have milk.

Two glasses by the afternoon. I'm beginning to worry what's next. Watch out. This girl should be considered extremely dangerous.

Singing Out Loud

The problem I'm having right now is that I'm doing some homework in the library. Mathy homework, which is my favorite kind of homework... not just because I'm a geek, but also because it's the only kind I can do effectively while listening to music. So of course I've got my headphones on. And let me tell you, I am having the HARDEST time not bursting out in song. I want to sing along so bad! But the library is so quiet, so I can't. Instead, I'm settling for just bobbing my knee and shaking my head with the beat, with the occasional mouthing of the lyrics. People who pass are looking at me with puzzled looks on their faces. Some are kind of smirking, like they know all too well the urge that I'm struggling to fight at the moment (or they think I'm crazy). But goodness. You gotta sing when your spirit says sing.

Speaking of singing like a lunatic... The other day, as I was walking home from school, I passed three different guys with headphones on who where rocking out... and when I say "rocking out," I REALLLY mean it. They were completely uninhibited, singing and gettin' down something fierce as they walked down the sidewalk. These were entirely unconnected events. It really made me happy. Plus they were listening to good music. One guy was jamming to Incubus' "Stellar," another was totally nailing the chorus to the Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (he seriously was... that one was AWESOME to see), and sadly I can't remember what the last guy was singing, but I do remember that I was impressed. I was a little shocked that I got to be the witness to something as exciting as this not just once, but THREE times in a row... my walk home normally is pretty mundane.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you. Back to the grindstone. And back to fighting my urge to rock out.

Run

I walked into the apartment earlier today and found a pleasant surprise. It seems that Star discovered a new song while I was gone. When I came in, she was listening to it over & over on her computer, and I happily joined in. Now both of us are nursing a healthy obsession. It's a good thing, because I think I was overdue for my next big obsession. I like this song so much. It's called "Run" by Snow Patrol.

To share in the joy, listen up.

Here are the lyrics. They give me goosebumps. I'm such a sucker.

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do

Light up...

Slower slower
We don't have time for that
All I want is to find an easier way
To get out of our little heads

Have heart my dear
We're bound to be afraid
Even if it's just for a few days
Making up for all this mess

Oh the sweetness. I'm a fan. I hope this little addition to your day brightened it a bit. It sure lit up mine.

Cops are sneaky. I don't like it.

Cops are sneaky. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not really a fan. I know, I know, I should be grateful to them because they're an important part of society, yadayda. Deep down I probably am, but right now I'm just not all that excited about them. Sorry if any of you are aspiring police men or women. I'm sure you're really a good person... just like my 5th grade math teacher.

My awareness of the unpleasantness of cops was heightened this weekend. You see, on Friday I threw some clothes into my little duffel and settled myself down in my car for the long drive to my sister's place in LA (sorry, not your LA, Ronnie). It was a great trip--I can never have too much open-roadage. A road trip always sounds like a good idea to me. But cops certainly dampen the experience.

Speed limit schmeed limit. Why are they so obsessed? Here's where I really noticed the sneaky nature of the police. On Monday I was driving back to P-town, after a long weekend of laughing and lots of late-night movie watching, when I saw on the side of the road a poor, innocent speeder caught red-handed. (So maybe he wasn't THAT innocent... but whatever.) I always empathize with poor souls like that because I myself am a speeder. So anyway, this car had been pulled over by an undercover cop, which stinks even more than just being pulled over. But what stinks even MORE than that is the kind of car this particular cop was driving. A brand new Ford Mustang. Silver. Does that seem wrong to anyone else? When a speeder sees a Ford Mustang on the highway, she should be able to accurately assume that she's in the company of another fellow limit-breaker. After all, what else is a Mustang for? Am I wrong? Who sees a shiny new Mustang and thinks "Oh, I better slow down; that might be a cop undercover"? I can understand thinking that with an Impala or a Lumina or some ol' frumpy thing, but not a 2006 sports car. I tell ya, they're out to get us. It really has come to that. Their objective is this: to ease you into feeling comfortable about breaking the law and then -BAM- slap you with a ticket. Sounds like leading a person carefully down to hell if you ask me. Good grief. Cops are sneaky.

Found Soon

So... thanks in large part to the amazing Bryant, my blog is up and running. I was a little distraught when, after fixing up my settings and clicking "view blog," I was redirected to a site that said my blog was "Not Found." Yikes. That seemed a little depressingly final to me.
Not Found.
Thank goodness I was chatting with B at the time because his assurances that I would be "found soon" helped me through this trying time. Apparently, you have to actually post something before a blog is really a Blog. That's unfortunate for you... mostly because it means you're getting this nonsensical blabber as my first post simply so that I can look at my webpage and feel like I've created something today. I guess I'm just selfish like that, but it does feel pretty neat to create something. More to come.