Pictured Up

Lordy lordy, it was the most beautiful day outside. I ruined it all and read the forecast for the next few days, which promise rain and falling temperatures. It was nice while it lasted. And I have pictures!

Stuff Stuff Stuff

I woke up with my stomach area very angry and shifty, due in part to all of the food I ate last night. First there was all that popcorn, then the gummi bears, then the peach rings - oh, the peach rings! Anyway, the insides are not pleased. It doesn't help that Wednesdays are my busiest days, by far. Oh well, at least I'm not working tonight.

Due to my brain not working, here's some cute stuff I'll throw out at you:


Now, I know this is impractical even as silly impractical things go, but. . . aww! I want one! I wish I had a spare $26.00 to drop on one of these. I wonder how one would make it.







I cannot imagine taking this out of the house, but think it's the funniest placemat ever. It's smiling at you!






In the same vein, look! It's a toilet paper cover! How chic!









God! I hate to end on a freaky, macabre note, but "this creep has a second parasitic twin in the form of a wee toothy head" is the best line ever. I get shivers just looking at it.

Dishware

As promised, the photos of the thrift finds. I'm addicted; I'm going back today.



This plate may seem boring but the texture makes up for it. It's classically elegant.







There were several of these laying around (four, I believe) and I loved the bright print. Now I just need cups to go with them.



This one struck my eye not just because it was exceptionally gorgeous, but because it was excessively retro. I couldn't even picture it being used in, like, the '60's. This one seems more '20's.



I enjoyed the nice, subtle print on this one. I know, it's hard to see.





This set is my absolute favorite find of the day. The green cups are a stunning color in person, and there were stickers on the saucer and cup that said "2/20". I was so mad because I wasn't prepared to spend twenty dollars on a cup. I asked the thrift checkout lady, and to my delight she told me that they were two for twenty cents. How much better of a deal could there be? The salt and pepper shakers were the priciest items overall, at fifty cents.

Regression

Good lord. I am burrrrning.

In mock trial today I was a member of the jury in a case about negligence and HIV. One of the expert witnesses was a doctor of epidemiology. So the cross-examining attorney stands up, ambles over to his position, and says "Will you please state your name for the court."

"Dr. Potter," she replies.

"Are you married, Dr. Potter?"

"No, I am not."

(sarcastically) "Okay, Miss Potter, can you please answer a few questions for the jury?"

Oh, no he did not. Every female in the room had to have bristled at that one. The opposing counsel (two women) were too shocked to object. Did he think he was going to win the support of the jury with such a disrespectful introduction? Let me point out that not only was the judge in this case a woman, so is the professor who is ultimately giving his grade. I pointed out his assholery after class, and when I asked why he went that direction, he said "I was just trying to destroy her credibility."

My god! It gets worse! Now he thinks that he can reduce the standing of a doctor by bringing up the fact that she was a woman. Did he think that would work? Did he think that jury members would nod their heads sagely and go, "Wow, he's right. I didn't notice that she was female. She can't possibly have anything of value to say."

I am astounded that this kind of thinking continues.

Spanish Violence

In class today Spanish Partner was annoying me to the point of no return. I started fantasizing about hitting him in the face with my book. He lumbered over to his desk, sat down, and continued to heavily wheeze for the next five minutes, presumably due to that strenuous flight of stairs he needed to climb.

Then, during our partner exercises, he obsessively flipped back and forth between the pages to make sure that every sentence he made was perfect. God, it was a partner exercise. Nobody cares. He would take a minute and a half, hemming and hawing, until he could think of exactly the right way to formulate the sentence brewing in his head. I got a little worried by the extent that I wanted to smack him.

Thrifting

I feel miraculous today. Grace took me to the Women's Thrift Store on Allen Street, and two things surprised me. One: the walk only took about fifteen minutes, and two: the prices were so low they were practically giving things away. The clothing they had there was hit-or-miss; a lot of ugly sweaters and men's blazers. But the dishware; oh! the dishware! Usually for plates and the like at other thrift stores it ranges from about 50 cents to a dollar. Not here! They were either five or ten cents, and in one very special case, a quarter. They were old-school flowered saucered plates, and I am a sucker for retro dishes. My entire bill (including a cool nurse's uniform) came to six dollars. I shall be posting pictures of the dishes later. They are so pretty.

I think that I shall have to start making weekly Thursday thrift visits. And if that's my only vice, then I consider myself lucky. Good thing I have a job.

Finally, Pictured

I recognize the lack of photo lately. This one is a warning about arriving at a 12:20 class more than an hour early while you possess a camera. I don't think a single thing in that room went unphotographed.

This is of a projection screen, cord, and ugly overhead fluorescent lighting.

Cheese

In the midst of my tornado of activity on Monday, I managed to make time to chat with a French foreign exchange student from Limogue. We were talking for awhile, his English was good, and I asked him how he liked the United States. He liked it fine, he said, but he'd only been here three weeks.

What? Already his English was practically flawless! When I'm in France people will start correcting my English. Oh, this worries me.

But one thing made me laugh. I asked him about the foods he liked here. All good, he said, but he can't find some things that he usually ate in France. Like what? I asked. When I go to McLanahans, he explained, they never have Polio Cheese.

(here I paused and tried to disguise a sharp giggle)

What kind of cheese? I inquired.

Polio Cheese! They don't have it here!

Um, polio is a disease. It crippled children in the 1950's. I wouldn't keep asking for it.

Snizzlefleezies

I'm becoming a bit concerned about my manager. At first, he was this wacky, chatty guy who would talk about anything. Now, he won't stop, and he's getting a bit cranky to boot. On Saturday, he complained that I was responsible for checking the work of the afternoon (uh, no, manager's job) and yesterday he nitpicked me to death. Halfway through our shift, I went to McLanahan's and asked if he wanted anything. "Oooh! Yeah!" he said, "Get me one of those energy drinks! The big ones! But, ooh, the one in the blue bottle. Oh, the bottle's so cool. It's aguave cactus. In a blue bottle. Man, they're good!"

Wow. So, okay, I get his energy drink (he honestly needed a tranq at this point), and five minutes later he's like, "I'm hungry! Where's a MTO? God, they're so good! Is that Sheetz on Atherton an MTO? Ooh, I want fries! And that chili with the mac and cheese! All right, I'm gonna go!"

He was like this the rest of the evening. Honestly, I thought he was on something. Like crack. He was shaking, and chalked it up to low blood sugar. How weird.

No exceptional customers, though. Oh, wait. Two guys came up and one ordered a medium drink. "What kind of drink?" I asked. "Um . . . let's make it a Spriz-ite."

Spriz-ite. Wow. Jason (fellow employee) heard that and later said that he and his friends now call snowflakes "snizzlefleezies". God, just say it! It makes you want to say it again. Snizzlefleezies.

And I found a site where I can play the entire "Augustus Gloop" song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's been on-again/off-again in my head for months. Score!

Bingo

Last night, being St. Patrick's Day, was an Irish-themed Bingo. Special games, special prizes. Well, Tal won a special prize once again. I am her bingo wishie troll, I think. In addition to a $10.00 gift certificate to Saint's Cafe, she also received a box of Lucky Charms cereal and a 6-pack of Mountain Dew. Since she is too nice for her own good, she donated her Dew to the Bingo runner-up. Turns out the runner-up won again in a separate game, so maybe he didn't deserve it as much as she thought.

But, yeah, where did my luck go? I came so close. I only needed O-70. That was it. And then the caller proceeded to list six more O's before someone put me out of my misery. I couldn't believe it.

I think the Bingo people are getting cheaper. Last time Tal's gift certificate was for $25.00. Maybe these prizes were less special than before.

Frere Jacques

Today I was talking to Spanish Partner about the days of the week, and he mentioned that you could remember them in Spanish with the tune of Frere Jacques. Nevermind the cross-lingual connection, I had never realized this. He started singing in a high falsetto "Lunes Martes! Lunes Martes! Miercoles! Miercoles!" Oh good god! I was so embarassed! Everybody was staring at us so I made a lot of involuntary shushing noises until, praise the lord, he stopped. He must have little idea of the Socially Acceptable Vocal Tones for Men.

In addition to a five-page essay I have yet to write, I get to serve on a jury tomorrow for Judicial Affairs! Oh, joy! But I can't let any details slip (yeah right) since this is totally confidential. God, I am going to burst with all of these secrets. I'm like another Gretchen Weiners.

And, also, V for Vendetta is coming to our theatre and Nathan is holding an employee-only midnight showing. As much as I want to go (and have free pizza), the whole 'midnight' thing is bumming me out. We'll have to gauge the tiredness tomorrow.

Carmike 2

God, we had some weirdoes today at work. One guy was practically leering at me over the counter. He orders a small Cherry Coke, and then, chuckling, corrects himself and says that he really wants a large Cherry Coke. Whatever. So I'm filling the cup and he , still leering, asks me "So . . . how much do you make here?"

How much do I make? What the hell?

"I make $5.50 an hour," I reply curtly. God, what lack of manners.

But I can't stay peeved due to the phenomenally good weather today. I wore a t-shirt, and, at times, was hot. But I didn't mind! There was a nice cool breeze every so often. And then it downpoured. And then I learned that the temperature is set to drop forty degrees by tomorrow. It still didn't manage to ruin the day, though.

Guiltily enough, I got totally sidetracked today on J.K. Rowling's official Harry Potter site. I didn't mean to, but there were tidbits of information all over the place. Dear, what I am going to do after book 7? Pore over the rest again, I suppose. I had all of my elaborate theories all set before book 5 came out, and they turned out completely incorrect.

Back Home

Wow, I guess that I was correct when I predicted that I would be too busy sleeping and watching movies to post anything. Literally, that's all I did. Well, I went to Bingo on Thursday and didn't win, and I also ate a lot. I underestimated the metric ton of random odds and ends that I brought back with me and had to wait for my manly apartment mates to come back and shovel all of my bags up three flights to my room. Now my computer is back on, music is playing, and it's messy. Just like usual.

I started thinking about all of the things that I have to do for this week, and got really depressed. It's a shame that classes get in the way. I am going to miss the lazing life.

I guiltily brought all of the Anne of Green Gables series books up here with me. They are truly a guilty read. It's a shame I didn't begin them until two years ago. They are classic literature.

Pictures

Here, there's been a serious lack of imagery lately. Enjoy.



You know, I remember a time where it was nice and sunny at college. God, it was so long ago. Months, even.







Yeah, I don't know what happened here.









Nice!

Sweet Smell

Ryan came over last night and we relished The Sweet Smell of Success, which has the sneakiest characters and the best one-liners that I have heard in so long. Some of my favorites:

"You're more full of twists than a bag full of pretzels."

"Match me, Sydney."

"You're dead. Get yourself buried."

"That's fish four days old, and I don't buy it."

"I'd hate to take a bite out of you - you're a cookie full of arsenic."

"The cat's in the bag, and the bag's in the river."

I wish people still talked like that. Oh, and Project Runway! Why didn't Daniel Vosovic win? Chloe's dresses wear horrid, like a pseudo-eighties shiny prom dress gone wrong. Danny V's cuts were stylish and after almost every model went down, I was like, ooh I would buy that. Oh well. He still gets publicity.

Lame Post

So . . . yeah, blogspot is being a little bit wonky today. In my Mozilla browser, it is telling me that the blog does not exist. Oh, panic. But in the Verizon browser, everything is fine. Hm.

God, do I have anything to say now?

Oh yes, saw Match Point this evening. Very good, better than I had expected. Everything that I wanted to happen, did. How unusual.

And since I am a cinematic fool, we saw Capote last night. Oh, Phillip Seymour Hoffman! Oh, your incredibly effeminate accent! How did you do it?

That's really all. Sorry.

New Things

I think it's been sufficiently long enough to have another shallow Things that Alaina wants but Can't Have posting, right? Here we go.


Two tiny lollies and a white birdie make up this one-of-a-kind set of three whimsical pins, they say. Could it get cuter, or smaller?








Oh, a pretty tote. I don't know how often I tote things, but I have a feeling I would do it more with this bag.







And to end on a darker note, these lovely macabre skull bowls. God, imagine waking up to cereal in those things. I really want them!

And I think that "Argh! Put some sauce in me bowls!" is the best line ever.

Spring Break

Warnings to all, I may be a little sporadic next week since I will be basking at my glorious home. Or, perhaps, I will post like a fiend since there's nothing to do until 3:00 PM. We'll have to see what the future holds . . .


Here's a picture that made me literally say "awwww" although I was in a crowded computer lab. This is Thomas's kitty Oliver, presumably after Oliver and Company. Strangely enough, I have yet to see that movie. I am desperately behind on some animated classics. Only recently had I watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for the first time, and Lilo and Stitch, while perhaps not a classic, is still on my viewing list.

I can see myself watching quite a few films this week.

Mo Rocca!

I HUGGED MO ROCCA!!!!

God, I just had to exclaim that. I've never touched a celebrity before - the closest I came was listening to the dulcet tones of James Earl Jones. I have to totally photo gallery this.


In the coolest move of the century, he called Sam Richards to the stage and they just chatted for awhile. Sam seemed higher than normal, which is saying something.





Here's one of Mo (we're close, personal friends now, so I can call him that) in a pensive moment.









Oh god, Mo and I! He looks kind of burned out at this point, and I can't blame him. There were throngs of people crowding the stage. Throngs.



Travis took the initiative and wrote a short hello to my mother on the back of his 'diploma' since she likes Mo Rocca so much. Go, Travis!