You'll Be a Song I'll Sing

Last night after work was so much fun!  I made dinner right away.  We had salads, blackened chicken and mashed taters.  I had not made the blackened chicken before and there were two cooking methods given.  I went with the one that gave off the least amount of smoke and the first floor still smells like blackened chicken. lol

Hubby reminded me that I said we could go to Best Buy and so we did.  I fiddled with my new GPS that kept telling me the closest Best Buy was 92 miles away.  It had no Best Buys listed in Columbus at all.  At Best Buy I got a NaNo Reward (Pink CD) and pooled gift cards/store credits to get Little Big Planet for our Playstation 3. 

At home we played the game in multiplayer.  Hubby was the main sock boy and I was his "fwiend"; so he could pause the game but I couldn't.  We explored on a few levels and just had fun being goofy.  My sock girl has a more expressive face than his.  When she is the happiest she almost looks rabid because of the wide mouth and the tongue that sticks out.  Right now we're wearing Edwardian Clothes and I have a bunny tail.  Learning how to play is its own fun.  We were trying to do a climbing level race when I grabbed  hubby's character and took him off the cliff with me.  Um... grabbing objects is not my strong suit.  :)

This morning at work I noticed Duran Duran will be coming to town.  How sad is it that I was a member of the international fan club and I've never seen them in concert?

A few weeks ago I realized why I like the red Weezer album.  It was of course, after watching Dr. Horrible, that I realized some of the songs are sung with the earnestness of a musical.  :)

Yesterday at work they had the final table of the World Series of Poker showing on ESPN.  Phil Laak went in with a pair of jacks against another guy with a pair of kings.  Phil was his usual nervous self and I was just giddy with watching him.  It is definitely the most animated anyone had seen me at work while watching tv.  

During Sammy's last class we started learning how to "heel".  As a tip, one of the instructors suggested a wooden spoon with peanut butter on it to keep Sammy focused on me.  He was so freaking cute even with his eyes nearly popping out of his head watching that spoon of peanut butter float in front of him.  I had not been in the mood to go to class and almost didn't go but I bucked up and did it.  I'm glad we did.  At last week's class they took the dogs through an agility tunnel.  This class they had the dogs walk up and down stairs.  He did good on the small ones.  He got up the big ones until it was time to go down.  In one direction was open stairs and in the other was closed.  He had hotdogs and cheese  trailing down the open side but he wouldn't go down at all.  Not even when he had a handful of hotdogs and cheese held just out of reach would he move.  

My favorite birthday present this year has been the red Weezer album.  At my last job when I did documentation I would put in one CD after another into my laptop and be a thinking, typing machine.  It would probably work at my present job but every time I seem to get into a zone while listening to music someone calls my name I'm just working away with no clue until my name gets yelled or they touch my shoulder.  So I don't really listen to music much unless it's to drown out the sound of the commercials and other people's music.  But I bop along with the CD while driving to work.

Lance Armstrong and John McCain are here for a town hall meeting.  I've had my head in the sand so I didn't know until last night that Armstrong is talking about his new LiveStrong.com site and McCain is unveiling his plan to fight cancer today at OSU.  Apparently Armstrong and Kate Hudson were at one of the restaurants down the street from our house enjoying dinner.  Whomever gave them the tip about the restaurant gave them a good one.  :)

 

• For instance, in high school I wanted my husband (then friend) to take me to the U2 concert when they came to town. He opted to go see Matthew Sweet instead and I stayed home. I’ve never seen U2 in concert but I’ve seen Matthew Sweet dozens of times. 
• I saw the Rattle and Hum movie during high school but I don’t remember anything from it.
• I remember watching U2 perform during the Live Aid concert in my parent’s home on the Zenith tv with one of the first remotes. (But I preferred to sit next to the tv to change the volume and channels with my toes.) I felt like I was watching something important and felt like I was a part of history.
• We haven’t bought a U2 album since Zooropa. The older songs have more of the Irish melodies/drum beats than the newer stuff. While U2 was always political and socially aware it’s nice to see that none of this has changed with their success.
• Bono and the rest of the gang can really put on a performance. Only two parts were kind of weird for me during the movie – when Bono reaches out towards the audience (a little too close in 3D) and when he lets off a smoke bomb like a soldier.  If I were to see them in concert I might not know where to look.

I had some unexpected exercise this past week. After proving I could fall asleep in a lawn chair in front of the Wexner Center when it was 90+ degrees outside we made it to the parking garage only to find that the elevator was out of order. I had my purse and a lawn chair slung over my shoulder. It was about the fourth flight that I started to not do so good. When we got to the sixth and final floor I thought I was going to pass out.

Then on Monday we had two fire drills. Two! We barely had time to walk up the stairs and sit down when the alarm went off the second time.

The second plumber to look at the water from the roof is supposed to show up at 8am on Friday.

One show I've really enjoyed watching is Flight of the Conchords. I was surprised to find out the show was picked up for another season. :) Thinking about it, I think it has a lot to do with the musical numbers. They are often an homage to a genre or the music of a specific person. The lyrics seem like they are more stream of consciousness than set lyrics though I know that's not the case. But the stream of consciousness makes the lyrics downright silly at times.

I'm feeling a lot better. Unfortunately my husband has been feeling down and up. We had tickets to see Morrissey on Friday. He didn't feel up to though. I could have left work early because everyone knew I had plans but I stayed. Hubby found someone at his work to take the tickets.

Without meaning to do so, I've introduced a time suck to our lives. michaeljr915 offered me a copy of Oblivion for the PC but I declined. As it turns out, the PS3 version is just as addicting as any PC version of a game. In a way it feels like EverQuest all over again.

Hubby is flying through levels and I'm stuck. I can't even do "little" quests to advance in the fighter's guild. I couldn't even close one of the gates without him playing my character. It's a little dispiriting.

Sunday we went to four open houses. We really liked three of them.

We visited with my husband's maternal grandfather on Sunday. He has good and bad days. Fortunately, we were there on a good day. He knows the lung cancer will kill him; he just doesn't know when his time will come. The good thing is that he's making his wishes known now.

A few weeks ago we had a family poker get together where he gave my husband a $2 bill with a dime embedded in it. At Christmas he shared some of his memories with the family, including the story of the bill with the dime. When my husband was young he wrote a letter to his grandmother and included the dime because she was always giving him money and he wanted her to have some. For thirty years he's carried that bill and dime in his wallet.

The last two weeks have brought some books in the mail for me to review. I began one and now I can't find it. I was enjoying it so I hope I find it soon.

I watched the preview of Prince's Superbowl half-time show this morning. Seeing him live is not the same as listening to his albums at all and I was curious if my experience from so many years ago held up. It did. He reworks tunes to make each show a new experience. Or maybe he just likes to blues up his live performances. :)

I knew yesterday afternoon at work was so slow that something had to be wrong. It was and I walked into a lot of work this morning. I was upset and trying to hurry to get things done and our new person didn't understand the severity of it until someone pointed out that for every commercial that doesn't air we don't get money. Our director bought everyone lunch today (what... 60 - 70 people?). Someone asking me how I was doing and truly caring about the answer combined with a co-worker telling me the pizza was here and I should go get some got me crying. After cleaning up in the restroom I headed into the room with the food and one of the guys was giving me hand signals on where to find it. And later when I was getting something to drink someone else asked me if I got any food. Then a manager came by to see if I had gotten some. It took so much willpower not to cry.

Sure, I stayed until 10:30pm on Halloween and had to cancel my evening plans. Sure, I stay late a lot of nights. But I am still so thankful to work with the people I do. I didn't dress up on Tuesday because I had asked a few people if the company did anything for the holiday and I was told no. So imagine my surprise when the building landlord had a cookout for everyone with costumes encouraged! I made it downstairs about 30 minutes after it started. It was raining so the food was inside on tables for us while one gentleman was grilling outside. I thought I was lucky to have gotten the last hamburger - the rest were cheeseburgers - but I was in for a surprise. When I took a bite of my hot dog I realized it was no hot dog. It was a Bahama Mama! If I'd known I would've had two of those. What was truly surprising is that they brought coolers of drinks... and they were cold even though there was no ice in the coolers. Where were the coolers stored?

My inner editor did leave me alone most of the night. My total word count is 897. It's not much but I'm happy with it. Not only is it more than I wrote last night, it's also words I wrote after 10pm. I usually can't get more than 50 words out after 10pm.

A few months ago my best friend announced she is getting married. We received our invitation and the wedding will be in Las Vegas just before Valentine's Day. She called me from Germany on Sunday and we spoke for about an hour. We don't get to talk as often as we'd like, but it's nice to know the bond is still strong. I told my husband I would plan this trip for us, so I am checking out poker tournaments and have reserved some books from the library.

The last time I was in Las Vegas was between my 21st birthday and the month I began dating my husband. I try to live my life without regrets but I do regret not going to my grandmother's funeral. I should have said to heck with work and my customers. My grandmother was too ill to travel by the time I was married but she would have liked my husband. Part of me wants to show my husband the house my grandfather built and where my father grew up. And wants him to meet my aunt and uncle. Another part thinks it would be an intrusion.

Yesterday evening I saw the headline about Prince in Las Vegas and I laughed. I am certain it would be quite a show but I've already seen him once in concert. I don't think I need to pay $125 a person to see him again.

As I expected, my allergies from the dust in the office are acting up. I put our small hepa air filter in there all day but maybe I need to get the big one.

This afternoon I went to see Little Miss Sunshine. filmmaker raved about the ending and he was right. While every family member seemed to have a blindness about something they all loved little Olive. The ending shows it beyond a doubt. I found myself laughing at the absurdity and crying at the non-sentimentality of it. Three minutes and twenty-one seconds couldn't have seemed more like twenty minutes if the directors had put the song on loop.

Later in the afternoon I watched March of the Penguins. I fell asleep during it. Later when I went back to watch the part I missed I fell asleep again.

In case you want to know how many calories you can burn butchering animals, here's a link for you. In all seriousness, the list of activities is huge. I figured out when I cleaned office buildings I was burning over 4k in calories each night I worked. No wonder I lost weight.

I saw a cat on salon.com that made me think of the Japanese comic, Who's Michael?

The house that was torn down and is now a lot with a piece of plumbing now has stakes on the back part of the lot. Across the street from us has been an empty building. I noticed earlier this week the Lease signs were removed from the windows. This weekend I noticed the Lease sign out front is gone. I wonder what will be there next? First it was an appliance repair center (with apartments above) and then it was a furniture store.

I've started cleaning again which feels good.

Last night I don't know how I did it, but I sat through nearly all of Dirty Love. I just couldn't watch the last 30 minutes. The best part of the movie was Kathy Griffin as the fortune teller. And she was seen in the first 10 minutes? Today we saw Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. Some of the performances were very good and so were the stories with Leonard Cohen. After the second or third song I drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the movie.

This afternoon we went clothes shopping at Nordstrom's. For the first 15 - 20 minutes I had an inner monologue regarding the prices and what my husband could possibly be thinking. He pointed out later he gave me warning; he'd mentioned he wanted to go shopping at Nordstrom's or Brooks Brothers for clothes for his trip. I had focused on the Brooks Brothers part. :) We left with one shirt. I was rooting for a suede washable jacket but when he tried it on there wasn't the same "oomph" factor that it had on the hanger. The sleeves were a little long and something just wasn't right about it. Maybe when he comes back from Toronto he'll go back for the pants he wanted. He was afraid they wouldn't have time to hem them before he left and he didn't really want to make another trip out to Easton Mall. I nearly fainted when I bought my new purse a few months back and it was $110 or $125. He talked me into it and I'm glad he did. I love my purse and use it just about everyday. Tomorrow we'll probably go shopping for more clothes for him.

When he and I went to Toronto together we'd go shopping before we went. Now it's just him who gets the goodies. I get a few things before my Maryland trip each year. Last year I got to miss out on that shopping trip since I didn't go out of town.

Today is one of those days where I just feel happy and blessed. Sure, there are things that could improve in my life but they will happen when it's right. Leaving my old job was just the beginning.

So today was the start of the OSU Football season. And where did it find us? At the movies, of course! We saw The Illusionist. I knew it was a stylized film and it had a fair review from xeyda. When I saw it was based on a short story by Steven Millhauser I perked up a bit. It was certainly a good piece of entertainment.

Friday night I was at work until nearly 10pm. According to my boss there were another 130 spots that needed to be encoded for Sunday and Monday. I really wasn't needed for that long. The last two hours were spent putting tapes in boxes, and doing weather crawls for later in September. He bought us lunch from City Barbecue. I spoke to him about going to Maryland in October and he didn't have a problem with it. And he said that the time off in December for the family wedding wouldn't be a problem; we're not busy right before New Year. The encoders were supposed to come in on today and Sunday to finish the spots.

I'm learning how to use Quicken. We have Quicken 2004 at home and since I'm taking over the bills now I'm trying to figure out all the features it has that we didn't really utilize before. I read the newer version has an easier backup system but I'm not ready yet to buy a newer version.

The last few days I've not done any cleaning. Since my in-laws will be here from Ecuador I was hoping that we could have them over for dinner one night. They haven't been over in years and even if they were to decide to leave ~C~ with my parents-in-law they could just relax. When we went to NorthStar one night for dinner, the four of were talking so long we closed the restaurant. It would have been natural to invite them over but we don't have anyone over. Thinking about all the cleaning that needs to be done to make a few rooms presentable for company just made me feel overwhelmed and I shut down. I just have to remember that I need to take baby steps.

We watched the VMAs the other night. I hardly knew any of the bands and I only knew one video. So it was rather boring overall, though I liked The Raconteurs as a house band.

I meant for that last post to be funnier, but I was hungry. We all know I get a little grumpy when I'm hungry.

The new job has had its ups and downs which is to be expected. HR came by one day to check on me and our Director has come by twice. I asked the person who has been training me if the Director comes by often and he said, "No. In fact, he tries to avoid us as much as possible." That made me happy. The worst time of the day for me, is lunchtime. I don't have any friends yet and most of the people go out to lunch. My husband's cousin and I haven't been able to hook up yet to have lunch and when I've stopped by the office of a manager in another department, he's been out. So I'm thinking it's kinda silly to drive around while I figure out what I'm doing for lunch. I think the best course of action is to go home. Forty minutes driving back and forth four times a day, but I'll get to save on lunch and spend some time with Zilla. My boss brought me a present on my birthday but he doesn't know it was my birthday. He brought me a step stool so I can reach the top shelf. Already one other person has used it so it's good to know I'm not the only one who needed it.

It will be weird going to work on Wednesday after having five days off. I'm glad I started doing laundry on Sunday. This next week is also casual week at work. I was surprised I could wear so many jeans last week. They were mostly size 20s which I really am not ready to wear again. When I was diagnosed with Crohn's I'd just started buying 18s. One of the facilities workers at my husband's work was diagnosed with Crohn's twenty years ago. When he was diagnosed he was down to 99 pounds. He's had several surgeries and hasn't had a flare-up in a long time because he knows what foods to stay away from. The person who is training me keeps asking me if the stress is getting to me and I'm like, "No." The only stress I have is what I put on myself and the reports system that is so slow in generating my daily report. That's the only stress I've had so far. On Friday I learned how to rename files on the server and how to query whether or not they are there. That way I can check on the encoders before I leave for the day.

I came to the realization the other day that our apartment would be very lonely without Zilla. When he was about five years old I started thinking of life without him and worrying about it. It's kind of been on my mind because so many Corgis that were part of the Corgi-L list when I first joined have passed away in the last seven months. I decided not to think about it until it happens and then I find out that he's got some tumor cells. Well... shit. That's depressing. He acts like his normal cheerful self so I shouldn't worry about it until I know for sure what's going on.

My hubby added some music to my iTunes so I've been listening to it that last few days.

My birthday was a good one. My mother and mother-in-law called during the day and left me a phone message. michaeljr915 surprised me with a gift card to Amazon.com and I got to leave work on time. My husband came home late with goodies for me. He took advantage of a sale at Barnes and Noble to get some replacement DVDs (including Totoro) for us. I got an assortment of yummy Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares, a spice rack, and I think there was something else I can't remember right now. We went to Skyline for dinner. One of my old employees sent me a nice birthday card.

On Saturday we watched A Life Less Ordinary. One of us will pick four DVDs and the other person gets to pick the one we watch. That's the one I picked. Ewan McGregor singing and dancing always cheers me up. He's one of those men I could just keep watching over and over again, like Cary Grant or John Cusack. I never get enough of their movies.

I did like Krrish when we saw it. If you like Bollywood films it's one I recommend. If you ever run across The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes I recommend it too. What's funny is Christopher Lee plays the brother of Sherlock Holmes and later played Holmes on tv. We saw Shane on Friday night. The son really got on my nerves. Even in her 50s, Jean Arthur was still a good looking woman.

If you want to be blown away, I suggest watching The Proposition. There is some violence against women which could turn some people off. Australia is as much a character as any of the people in the film.

My parents-in-law made it safely to Ecuador.

I wrote down my list of writing things I need to work on and am slowly working my way through them. I finished a drabble and a big boob story yesterday.

Oh! The first night Zilla wore his t-shirt he decided he needed to go out at 4:30am. I got to see some girl rollerblade down our street, talk to some people in the nearby apartments about someone who tried to pick her up, and then rollerblade back down to Grandview. Sometimes I think no one should believe the things I see but I'm just so darn honest, how could they not?

My husband just reminded me: I finally finished Prague. I'm so ready to pick out my next book to read and get started.

So... there was a show called Tuesday Night Book Club which intrigued me. I told my husband I would love it if the show were about a book club that discusses books but I thought it would probably be more of an excuse to show all the dirty gossip on these women's lives. TV executives think the American public could only handle the second kind of show, you know. I didn't watch the first episode but I watched the second and don't recall seeing a single book. Is it no surprise the show is already cancelled?

My new job isn't quite what I thought it would be... but that's okay with me! Some of the duties are being given to the other person with the same title. It's like I get to do the "grunt" work and he gets to deal with the account executives. That's perfectly fine with me because it means he gets the stress. I only have to stress out over whether or not I've gotten the spots marked in the database correctly and whether or not the encoders get their job done quickly. Once in a while I have to go hunting for an old tape. That means I get to sling boxes around! Woo hoo! Between the extra walking and the moving boxes around, I think I might get my activity level up a bit. I've left between 5:30pm and 7pm so far.

It is weird working kinda downtown and so close to the apartment. I park in a nearby lot and walk up the stairs to our visitor lot. So it feels kinda like I'm working in a downtown city not in Ohio. I haven't been down to the cart yet, but I've heard at 11:30am a lunch cart comes to the lobby of the building with soup, salads and sandwiches. The lunchroom is super small so people really eat out at lunch. I could walk down to the convention center but since I'm out of shape I don't know where that would fit in the 15-minute to 30-minute timeframe. I get a full hour, but I'm not supposed to rush through my meals. One day I drove to my doctor's office to get a prescription refill and today I stopped off at the library to pick up some reserved items.

The really strange thing is how people in my department laugh. It's usually just stupid stuff but it's nice. One thing they've done is cut sound bites from commercials to play at random times. This afternoon they were trying to find good clips to play when telemarketers call. Of course, not everyone in my department is happy but that's normal; they've been there several years and some of them are young. It's their first office job.

When I first went into the department, I kinda thought we were in a dungeon because the lights are so dim. But I thought it may have been because it was the early morning. (I do have to figure out how to get my overhead light working so I can read the teeny tiny print on the reports.) They have the main light turned off so there isn't a glare on the monitors when spots are being encoded. One afternoon we were watching one of the World Cup games. The lunchroom has a tv and our department is one of the few departments who has one. My first three days haven't been too bad and I'm so happy I made this change.

I don't have any medical insurance until August 1st so my sinuses may make me wish I still had the other job, but that will only be temporary. I lost some vacation days, but I made up for them with the holidays I get off work. This year, we get both July 3rd and July 4th off work. That means Friday will be extra busy since we will be doing work for Friday - Wednesday. Our boss has already said he's having lunch brought in for us since we probably won't be able to leave for it.

The showing of A Scanner Darkly sold out but a few people didn't show up. Or at least that is what the empty seat next to me and in front of me told me. :) I never read the book but I found the movie interesting. There was a bit more humor in it than I expected.

At work I checked my email and found an ecard from my best friend that made me cry. I wish I could go to Germany to see her; I'm about a month overdue on an email for her. I try to email her once a month and she's got a link to my pictures so she can view those whenever she wants.

My summer mix CDs from akirad arrived safe and sound! I'm listening to the loud one either coming home from work or while running errands during lunch.

The cable guy never called. Instead, I got a phone call from their HR department (before I left the message) asking for a second interview for the other job. I think it pays more money to go with the longer hours. I returned her call and she just happened to be away from her desk. So now I have a second interview for next week.

It's weird. There has been nothing for so long and now I kind of feel like something is going to happen soon. I've been putting forth a lot more effort in finding a new job in the last three months which is probably why I'm seeing some results even if they are rejections.

Soon I'm off to see The Grace Lee Project. Should be good.

It's been in the 90s here the last two days. My husband left the fan on in the bedroom while we were at work. Good choice. The upstairs feels a little cool. We're going to try sleeping with the windows open tonight.

In music news, I've been listening to Blondie's Greatest Hits CD.

I realized yesterday that I just take myself way too seriously at times. Things get bad for me when both my husband and I are taking ourselves too seriously. There just aren't enough laughs to go around.

Last night I was writing in bed with my favorite dog next to me. Well, after a while he decided he needed more room. Zilla just sprawled himself across the width of the bed. This is no small Corgi. He rightfully grew into the name Dogzilla. My laptop was in his way so he scootched (is that even a real word?) his behind on my laptop. I just stared at the tailless butt for a moment before I moved the laptop. I swear I heard a satisfied sigh come from his lips.

On the way home I decide I'm too hungry to get my mind on writing so I will go to the store, get some food, and then head home. While at the store I get the brilliant idea to buy hot dogs. Memorial Day is coming soon and so is the Ohio Corgi Picnic. Since we aren't going to any cookouts, I will make hot dogs tonight or tomorrow. An evil gleam gets into my eyes. After making my purchase I scurry home. The Cardigans on the CD player lift my spirits and I'm suddenly reminded of the concert at The Newport with more 12-year-old girls than beer but that's another story entirely.

After a minor debate my husband and I decide tonight we will eat hot dogs. And I have my chance to mess with Zilla. I have his water dish in my hand and I call upstairs to my husband to bring the digital camera. This smart dog is looking from me to the stairs and back again. He knows something is up. His eyebrows and eyes shift with each look.

I set the bowl down and Zilla gingerly picks the hot dog out of it and starts to gulp it. He tricked me! I thought for certain he would be unsure of how he should get the hot dog. Foiled again by the Big Z.

For the next 20 minutes my husband is camera happy and Zilla can't decide if he should like all of the attention or try to run away.

So for those who made it this far… ( <a )

On the way home I decide to pop in the Grease soundtrack. It immediately takes me to Stockholm. ~C~ and I were on our honeymoon, walking down the street. A convertible rolls on by blaring Frankie Valli singing the theme song. We look at each other and know we had another reason to like Sweden so much.

My oldest brother went to Venice High School where the film was made. Not long after, our friend ~S~ went to college with Lorenzo Lamas and when Lorenzo wouldn't give back the biology book he borrowed, ~S~ called his house. He spoke to Fernando and Lorenzo returned the book to him the next day. So I'm only a few degrees from knowing John Travolta, one of the loves of my life, you know.

I'm thinking about all of this and singing my heart out when I realize the car in front of me has a personalized license plate. Swede Luv. Talk about weird coincidence.

And then I'm thinking about Stockholm again.

This morning before I left for work I logged into EverQuest and cancelled my account. I'm getting up the nerve to post I feel I should step down from my co-admin position on the EverQuest Role-players board.

In American Idol news, I'm in shock. I thought for certain Katherine or Taylor would be the next to go.

I guess that's all for now!

Friday when I came home from work, my husband had done something nice for me. He took his CD case (it was bought when he drove Passat #2) and filled it with CDs for me. There’s got to be around 80 CDs for me to listen to. So far I’ve listened to Abba, Liz Phair and Len.

The drive to work was very relaxing and I was feeling peaceful and maybe a little bit hopeful too. Work of course, got in the way. For the last week or two I’ve been trying to think of five things I’m thankful for and I’d really made some headway on the list (with the not so obvious things) and they went poof. I wish I could write while I drive but that would be dangerous!

Our living room is completely torn up at the moment but I’ll give details on that later.

Last night went "pret-ty wel-l-l-l-l" as Larry David would say. After work I let out Zilla and then took a short nap before going over to the Wexner Center to see A Tale Of Cinema. I probably enjoyed the first half of the movie more than the second half. Even with my nap I got a little sleepy during the second half. The director's appearance was cancelled due to a leg injury he experienced last week. It made him unable to do the traveling he was expecting to do here and the other places he was going to visit. The discussion after the movie was a bit of a lively one. The audience was varied; it wasn't all Wexner Center regulars. It wasn't packed with Koreans and it wasn't packed with an older crowd either. It was a good mix. Some people asked questions or shared thoughts who I wouldn't have expected to.

Afterwards we went to Mad Mex for food and drinks with a film friend and a friend of his. While there, I was asked if I'd want to go out dancing with the film friend's wife and their neighbor. Under different circumstances I might have. I wasn't really dressed for dancing in my Clan MacLear t-shirt and jeans. And I felt huge. All day I'd felt big as a cow and about as graceful as one trying to do the two-step. We were there for about three hours. The mild buffalo wings I got were flavored very nicely. The music was good but it was way too fast. The restaurant sped it up quite a bit.

I went to bed about one and didn't hear my husband sneak in at three.

My husband's promotion brings a pay raise which we weren't sure he'd get until July during their annual reviews. Woo hoo! I think it's still less than what he should be making, but I am glad they recognize how valuable he is.

The university redid Larkins Hall, one of the athletic facilities, and now have times when faculty/staff and guests can come in free to use the facilities. I think I'd like to do that.

My husband went to the barber yesterday morning. His haircut is cute.

Last night my husband asked me to read a Yahoo article about Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. I was afraid it was leading up to Matthew divorcing his second wife for her so you can imagine my relief to find out they've been working on an album together. It's called Under the Covers: Volume 1. I went to his web site today to see if there was any news and there wasn't. (No new news since 2004.)

I did find out they have a page on My Space with three downloadable songs. The covers are of the Beatles, Velvet Underground and the Bee Gees. :)

I forgot to mention that on Sunday night my husband popped in his DVD of Peter Gabriel's Secret World Tour. It is thanks to this concert that our engagement was delayed. And that's okay because I think the resulting story is more romantic than what my husband first had in mind. One of these days I'll probably get it down on paper. We've told it so many times it's part of our repertoire. I found the DVD today on a pile of DVDs so I guess he is going to sell it. While I wouldn't like him to he's free to do it. After we'd been married about three or four years he started selling off some of our DVDs and I got mad at him because he included DVDs I had picked out or that he'd bought for me as a present. We have so many DVDs I can't keep track of what we have. It got even harder when he arranged them into the two categories of ones we'd seen and ones we hadn't seen. At one point he arranged them by director's name instead of title and I flipped out. I have a better memory for titles than I do directors names. It got changed back to titles pretty quickly.

I woke up at 2:30am trying to get rid of my stomach contents which wasn't very much. I called in sick to work then. Mainly it's my back that's achey now.

Isabella Rossellini won't be coming here in March after all. I suppose that's a good thing because I don't know if my heart could take it. I was reminded of that because her former maid, Lucyna Turyk-Wawrynowicz, has been found guilty of grand larceny, forgery and identity theft. She said Grace Hightower was mean but Isabella always treated her with well. There are just some celebrities who seem to have the complete package. John Travolta, my main girlhood crush, would make my heart go into palpitations also.

Jennifer Pelland has noted the SLF is launching a mentorship program. I don't know if you need to be a member or not. Information can be found on Jennifer Pelland's LJ.