I must admit that Miley Cyrus has grown on me. 'Tis a consequence of working at The Rush. Le sigh.

So, let's get this straight. The seven things I hate about you are:
1. You’re vain
2. your games
3. you’re insecure
4. You love me, you like her
5. You make me laugh, you make me cry, I don’t know which side to buy
6. Your friends, they’re jerks. When you act like them, just know it hurts.
7. And the 7th thing I hate the most that you do: you make me love you

And the seven things I like about you are:
1. Your hair
2. your eyes
3. your old Levi’s
4. When we kiss I’m hypnotized
5. You make me laugh, you make me cry, but I guess that’s both I’ll have to buy
6. Your hands in mine, when we’re intertwined, everything’s alright
7. And the 7th thing I like most that you do: you make me love you

Having weighed one list against the other, Miley, I think it's safe to say that you are better off without that Jonas brother. Also, this song reminds me a little too much of the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. But, what I can I say, it's catchy.

gacked from alestar

1. Answer each of the questions below the cut using the Flickr search engine.
2. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
3. Copy the URL of your favourite photos here.
4. Then share with the world.

First Name | Favourite Food | Hometown | Favourite Color | Celebrity Crush |
Favourite Drink | Dream Vacation | What I Want to Be When I Grow Up
Favourite Dessert |What I Love Most In The World | One Word That Describes Me | My Livejournal Name

Big Love is starting to lose me. Hard to be fully invested in a show where only, like, three out of a huge number of characters are remotely sympathetic.

Yesterday, while snowed in, I watched Post Grad, which was a movie with a lot of wasted potential... nice to see a movie that acknowledges how hard it is to get a job after college, but could the protagonist have a personality, please? And does she have to be an entitled little snit about the whole situation? You don't quit a retail job because of one rude customer, okay? You just don't. I'm fairly certain that Alexis Bledel is a decent actress, but to prove that, she needs roles where she plays something other than a more-wooden version of Rory Gilmore.

Also watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which was surprisingly human and unsurprisingly silly. If there's one thing we learned from Jersey Girl, it's that Kevin Smith does his best work in silliness.

The finale of Teen Mom had me tearing up over the engagement of two seventeen-year-olds. Under normal circumstances, I would never, ever encourage such a thing, but these two kids (at least the personas they show the cameras) actually deserve to make it!

Also watched the Lifetime movie The Pregnancy Pact the other day, which was pretty bad. I don't know if there ever really was a pregnancy pact (as I understand it, no girl in the real scandal ever admitted it), but if there really are teenage girls who are actually TRYING to get pregnant, then... they're stupid. I'm sorry, there just isn't a nicer way to say it. The problem with this movie was that they never even offered any actual reasons for why these girls might actually want that.

Maybe my perception is skewed somehow, because to be honest, I can't even wrap my mind around the idea of getting pregnant so young, or even having sex so young. That was not even a possibility for me in high school. Even if I had been having sex (or even seriously considering it) in high school, I definitely knew enough to insist on protection. I suppose my school district was lucky, because we actually got information on birth control in school.

Not to say that there weren't teen pregnancies at my school. There definitely were. I'm sure there were many more than I knew about. Last I heard, my hometown had the fourth highest teen pregnancy rate in the state.

I didn't keep the list of ALL the movies I watched in 2009, but I did write down the movies I saw in the theater... total of thirteen trips to the theater for eleven movies. With the added info of who I saw them with, for those of you who enjoy the sharing of such details.

1. Inkeart- January 31st- with Lee
2. He's Just Not That Into You- February 7th- with Brynn and Chrissy
3. Coraline- February 8th- with Mackenzie
4. Coraline- February 24th- with Lee
5. Up- June 9th- with Brynn
6. The Soloist- June 22nd- with the Bible Study group
7. Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian- June 28th- with Lee and Mackenzie
8. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- July 15th- with Lee
9. Julie and Julia- August 7th- with Lee
10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- September 6th- with Brynn
11. Where the Wild Things Are- October 19th- with Lee
12. The Princess and the Frog- December 24th- with Lee, Dustin, Mackenzie, and Naomi
13. Avatar- December 25th- with Lee, Dustin, my mom, and my stepdad

idea stolen from effani
The goal here was to find a song that I listened to a lot during each year, which also somehow captures my mindset during that same year.

( I'll just leave the contexts to your imaginations. )

I am pretty sure that shedding actual tears over My So-Called Life fan fiction makes me the lamest person alive, but I still think you all really need to read this.
( and then read my thoughts on it )
And you should also read Ramona Quimby, Age 28. Because it's RAMONA. At AGE 28.
These two stories are from very different fandoms, but they have a very similar feel to them-- they both deal with the characters in the future (or present, actually, since we left these characters years ago) and even though both sets of characters have their frustrations, the reader definitely gets the sense that everyone ended up exactly where they were supposed to.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, and is recovering nicely. I am finally home with the kitties, after a few days that were both hectic and not.

Christmas Eve Day: Woke up, packed the car, said good-bye to the animals, drove to Morristown. Said hi, piled gifts under the tree, ate a muffin, went with my brother and my husband to see my aunt and uncle at my grandfather's old house, which they are getting ready to move into. Then went to see my grandfather at the assisted living place, which is a really nice place. He has a whole apartment, not much smaller than mine, and with better lighting! Then, back home to get the nieces and take them to see The Princess and the Frog, which, I'm actually going to have to recommend. The music is not particularly memorable, and the last section drags a bit, but the story is far better than I expected, and the characters are actually developed and multi-dimensional. I would watch it again. Then, home for dinner of much the same fare as Thanksgiving, and some present-opening for and from the nieces-- they would be going to their moms at noon Christmas Day, so to spread it out a little and give them time to appreciate things, we let them open some gifts Christmas Eve. Then went BACK my grandfather's old house to mingle with other relatives before going back to my mom's, where the nieces were already nestled snug in their beds, having left Santa a lemon poppyseed muffin, dry Cheerios, and a Coke with a note that said "Couldn't find any cookies-- sorry!" I love my nieces. Checked on them to find the younger one asleep with her thumb in her mouth and her other arm clutching the Lightning McQueen-shaped pillow we got her. Awww.... The older one, on the other hand, was awake and requested stories. So we read an L. Frank Baum story about Santa being kidnapped but refusing to lose his goodwill, and then the Nativity Story, before finally she nodded off.

Christmas Day: Woken up at 6:37 am by the nieces, and managed to keep them with us, talking about what Santa does when he gets home from his rounds (Does Mrs. Claus have breakfast ready for him, or is he too full from all the cookies? Does he go straight to bed, or does he have to put up his feet and watch some football to unwind for a bit?) until 7:00, at which point they got my mom and stepdad up, and I woke my brother up, which apparently I wasn't supposed to do. Oops. Lots of present opening, and watching the nieces squeal over their Santa gifts (Moxie girls! Art kits! LIVE FROGS!). Lee and I got a shiny brand new vacuum cleaner, which was the thing we needed most in the world. I will talk more about my loot in a later entry... I do love to catalog and categorize.

To be continued...

I went back and edited my decade in review to add things that didn't quite make it in the first time around, but are really too important to be left out. Is that allowed? Oh, well, I did it anyway.

Have been going nonstop today. Worked a double, and did last minute shopping and other errands both in the three hours between shifts and after the second shift. Still have lots of stuff to do around the apartment, including packing and present wrapping.

Leaving for Morristown tomorrow morning, hopefully pretty early because I need to go see my aunt (didn't know until today that she was in Tennessee for Christmas this year) and I told my niece I would make an effort to take her to a matinee of The Princess and the Frog, which I think I want to see as much as she does, if not more. I'm not expecting it to be great, but it's been so long since Disney has come out with an actual FAIRY TALE in 2-D ANIMATION, that even if the plot stinks, it will be a refreshing return to childhood.

January:
I started filling this out yesterday, but it didn't get done.

February:
Eek! February, where did you come from?

March:
Sevvy came into the shelter with his tail all mangled, like someone had tried to cut it off.

April:
It's starting to feel more and more like spring outside, which I am very happy about.

May:
I can't believe it's May.

June:
The following is a slightly revised email sent to a former co-worker.

July:
The current count:
Jobs applied for: 40
Interviews: 2, both of which ended ambiguously ("I like you, but I don't know if I have a job for you right now")
Interviews Promised but Not Delivered: 3

August:
First day at The Rush went well.

September:
Hello, September. Please be kind to me.

October:
I have had the realization that I really need to be patient with myself.

November:
I found this list in an old entry from 2003 and decided it needed updating.

December:
That really isn't like me at all!

My therapist just told me that she feels like she's taking my money for no real reason-- that my problems are practical, not psychological, and that I'm really doing everything she would normally be telling someone to do. This should, I guess, be a good thing to hear, but it honestly doesn't make me feel much better. Because I don't know how to get around the practical problems.

Constantly wishing things didn't have to be so effing hard,
me.

Seriously, you guys. I give up. I am resigning myself to working part-time for minimum wage for the rest of my life.

I never should have left Jewelry Television. I thought I deserved better. I was wrong.

Oh, yes. They did.

I found this list in an old entry from 2003 and decided it needed updating.

a tiger
Strawberry Shortcake
a star faerie (an obscure cartoon that I was in love with)
a unicorn
a princess
Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
a rabbit
an owl
a "sea queen" with a monstrous crown
a court jester
my friend Ashley (lamest, most last minute costume EVER)
Daria
a faerie
another faerie
a generic anime superhero
Catholic Schoolgirl
Witch Baby
Kim Possible
Vampire Willow
Snow White
a Hufflepuff (Hogwarts student)
SuperNanny
yet another faerie
Persephone

what about you?

Also, Grey's Anatomy has gotten really stressful to watch. Characters keep getting fired for arbitrary reasons, usually involving simple human error, and it hits very close to home.

I still don't have any plans for Halloween. I want to go to Sapphire, the bar downtown where my friend Amanda now works, but I don't think anyone wants to go with me. There are parties, I know, but not where I actually know anyone. All the employees at Sapphire are supposed to be dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland-- come on, people, it will be fun!

I haven't updated for ten days, which really isn't like me. I will fight to keep LJ alive, darnit!

I think part of the reason I've been putting it off is I kept thinking I would write more about Where the Wild Things Are, and how psychologically interesting it is, and how amazing Lauren Ambrose is and how her presence in WTWTA makes me feel better about her NOT being in The Time-Traveler's Wife. She, not Rachel McAdams, is very definitively who I pictured in that role. Haven't even seen The Time-Traveler's Wife. The reviews did not have nice things to say.

While we're on the subject of movies, the trailer for The Lovely Bones looks like it has potential and got a lot of the details right. And the trailer for the new Alice in Wonderland gives me a strange feeling of intrigue mixed with ambivalence, because it seems like it's just Tim Burton being Tim Burton and Johnny Depp being his go-to guy, they don't seem to be doing anything very special with the story of Alice. And Alice is way too old. But perhaps it will be a pleasant surprise. I still want to see it, of course. And I love Anne Hathaway, and the white queen could be a fun role for her.

Yesterday, I watched the weirdest horror movie ever: Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the original Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and is more a ripoff of Carrie with elements of The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street thrown in. I kind of want to write an in-depth recap of it, just to share the strangeness.

The Reader's Digest version: In 1957, Mary Lou is a big slut. And tells a priest so during confession, rather proudly. Then she goes to the prom, cheats on her boyfriend, publicly breaks up with him, and then gets crowned Queen of the Prom. Her boyfriend, to get back at her, drops a cherry bomb from the rafters, the fuse of which catches her dress and lights on fire. So she burns to death, somehow without the fire spreading to anyone or anything around her.

Thirty years later: it's 1987. Vicky is a good little Christian girl with a strict conservative mother who disapproves of her motorcycle-riding boyfriend and will not spring for a prom dress, so Vicky goes digging in the high school prop room for a dress she can use, and ends up finding a trunk containing the crown, sash, and cape that Mary Lou never got to wear in 1957, thereby releasing the very pissed off spirit, who spends some time running around causing nightmares and bringing to life the full-size carousel horse in Vicky's bedroom (why does she have a carousel horse in her bedroom?) so that it can display red eyes and make sexual tongue motions. But eventually Mary Lou manages to fully possess Vicky and spend some more time being strange and having pseudo-sexual/deadly encounters with various people, including the guy she cheated on her boyfriend with back in 1957, who is now a priest. And SURPRISE-- her former boyfriend, the one who accidentally killed her, is now the principal of the high school, because when you watch your girlfriend die a violent death, of course you would want to spend long hours in that location as an adult.

Weirdest. Movie. Ever. Can't deny that it was entertaining, however. More so than the far more logical Prom Night.

So, the frozen wedding cake wasn't bad-- the lemon filling was a bit congealed, but the rest held up pretty well. Melting Pot dinner was amazing, of course.

Then, we went to see Where the Wild Things Are, and it was pretty amazing. I'm not too proud to say that I bawled like a baby. I kind of feel like the movie was made just for me. I will absolutely write more on this subject later-- my brother said it best: In a way, the movie doesn’t feel real to me; it feels like a dream I had. With a movie like this, I can only regard that sensation as a mark of overwhelming success on the part of the filmmakers.

Today: went to Gatlinburg, met up with tangledstories and sawbladesestina, which was awesome. Ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp, went up onto the Space Needle, which I had never done before. It was a pretty awesome view. I am not afraid of heights, but man that is REALLY high to have just a metal railing between you and the drop. Then took the tram to OBER Gatlinburg and saw the animal exhibit that I didn't know existed. Black bears pacing, sleeping, and snuggling. One really seemed to want its belly rubbed. Otters swimming and eating. Nocturnal exhibit-- snakes, a possum washing itself, two very dignified looking owls, a flying squirrel, and (my favorite) skunks. Skunks get a bad rap because of their smell, but they are really beautiful animals. I would love to have a pet (descented) skunk, if I had any idea where one would come by such a pet.

I just saw a bug in my apartment, and it completely disappeared before I could get it. A little freaked out by that encounter. But Lee says if we can't find it, there's nothing to be done. So I will go to bed and try not to worry about creepy crawlies.

No, I haven't seen Where the Wild Things Are yet, but I am growing very impatient. Lauren Ambrose's voice has been in my head all day-- her reading of that line in the trailer intrigues me.

I have been really sleepy all day today. Don't even know why. Did not have to work, which was good because I do not like working Sundays. Day of rest and all that. Trying to get out of next Sunday for to go to Mountain Makins. Already agreed to work a double on Friday after many text messages.

Last night was a YAHOO game night, during which it took me over two hours to lure people away from the DDR and into a more traditional game, but ultimately it was a marathon game of Taboo which ended with my team winning and bursting into a chorus of "We are the Champions." Tabooty call, anyone?

Tomorrow is our one-year wedding anniversary, which is kind of amazing. I wish our first year of marriage hadn't been tainted by employment issues and money woes, but as far as the whole "love and marriage" thing goes, I think we've done well. We unsuccessfully tried to make plans to go away overnight... every desirable place was out of our price range, so we decided to take that money and go out to a really nice dinner-- Melting Pot! Yay!!

How long are you supposed to let a year-old frozen cake top thaw for?

I did some guest-blogging for my brother.

These thoughts had been in my head for a while, they just needed a reason to be publicized. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, which makes me think even more that I need a solid theme for a public blog, which seems to be the in thing these days. Hmm. Food for thought.

Such as, Devon and Thomas are engaged!!!

I am SO EXCITED about this, you guys. It was expected, but the timing was a surprise, and in general it's very unexpected for Devon-- she always said she'd never do this. But Thomas has changed all of that. And we like Thomas. More importantly, Aisling likes Thomas.

I got this news in a text message Saturday morning, while I was in a most magical lake house with the other YAHOOs (that's Young Adults Hanging Out Occasionally, for those playing along at home). It was a lovely, relaxing weekend, involving marathon Jenga games, magically lit paths, hammock chairs, and randomness. Lee and I had to sleep separately, because the other two married couples got first dibs on the grown-up rooms, leaving the rest of us to the two upstairs bedrooms-- each with three twin beds, one decorated in pink and the other in blue. I found the decor incredibly amusing.