Weekend May 30, 2007 ~ 10:05 am
Posted by Julie in : Story Time , comments closedI could tell you about this weekend in words. In fact, I probably will. Eventually. But I’m a firm believer in a picture being worth a thousand words, and rather than ramble on for oh, 14, 000 words and putting you to sleep, I’ll give you fourteen pictures instead. They’re behind the cut.
This is how I spent Memorial Day Weekend 2007. With my best friend from high school and her family in a belated birthday (Leenie’s was May 18) surprise that her mom (my other mom) sprung on us both.
How I spent Memorial Day weekend May 28, 2007 ~ 9:57 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedAt Splash Mountain.
Nuff said.
Get out of town May 24, 2007 ~ 9:44 am
Posted by Julie in : In Da Hood, Shorty , comments closedI have managed every New Yorker’s dream, kids. I am getting the hell out of Dodge for Memorial Day Weekend. Photos and stories when I return.
For the nonce, something pretty to look at:
Taken at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Lower Manhattan:
Random - not the Lady Sov variety May 23, 2007 ~ 11:17 am
Posted by Julie in : Adherents of the Repeated Meme, Urban Family , comments closedFirst, everyone stop by my friend Kim’s blog and wish her a happy birthday. We went to college together where we discovered that we are, in fact, the same person born two years apart. Freaky.
Now, since I have nothing to talk about that doesn’t involve dumb students (and you may yet get a dumb students post), I’m going to do the seven (or eight) random things meme that’s been floating around. So, seven (or eight) random things about me:
1.) If I am travelling or going to a show or a concert, or anything that involves me being at a certain place by a certain time, I am a nervous wreck in the hours leading up to it. I make lists of things that I need to bring, I make lists for the people who are watching my animals, I leave extra early to get to the place I need to be on time, and I keep checking the clock to make sure I am there. I drive people who are with me in these situations nuts.
2.) Interestingly enough, if it is something I do more than once, like going to work or attending a weekly gathering? It becomes less important to me to get there on time.
3.) When I was little, I found a piece of carbon paper in my mom’s desk. I was fascinated that it rubbed off on things and made them blue. I looked at the wallpaper in my mom’s bedroom, decided that it could use some blue, and rubbed the carbon paper on the wallpaper. Did I mention it was expensive wallpaper? It was. At varying points I also sliced my mother’s box spring open with a razor blade and set the carpet in her bedroom on fire with a match by accident. I don’t think she knew about the fire until this very moment. Hi, mom! And no, I was not doing this to be destructive. I was just interested in how things worked. Unintentional destrictiveness.
4.) I’ve noticed that many of my friends were born around the same times of year. For instance, my brother and my friend Colleen’s birthday was May 18, Kim’s is today, and my friend Tony’s birthday is the 27th. I also have a slew of Cancers in my circle of friends and family: my mom, Lori, Rick, Aimee, my dad, and one of my aunts are all Cancers. Not sure why I attract them, but I do. Weird, right?
5.) My brain seems wired for creative pursuits, languages, and patterns rather than logic. I’ve always struggled with math and to a lesser extent science (the ones that involved math), but excelled in English, history, languages, and arts. I have taught myself the fundamentals of HTML, knitting, spinning, and any number of historical facts out of books, but if you sat me down with a math text and told me to learn, I’d be screwed.
6.) I have loved writing since I was a kid. Somewhere in my apartment I have a notebook that my mom bought me when I was about 8 to write my stories down in. My favorite of those stories? One that involved giant killer bugs on the floor of the ocean. I never finished that story. Actually, I still have a problem finishing stories. Apparently I am a process writer and always have been.
7.) When I was in college, I played defense on my sorority’s intramural floor hockey team, and I was damn good at it. We were champions four semesters running. The prize was an Allegheny College beer stein. I still have two of the four somewhere at my house.
8.) I have felt a deep connection to Freddie Mercury since he died during my freshman year of high school. I know many fans of many musicians say this, and it’s probably just the result of listening to so much of his music throughout my life, but I honestly think that Freddie and I would have gotten along famously if we had ever met. We have bitchiness, creativity, fierce loyalty to friends, and a hidden shy side in common. And if all else failed, I would have told him about how I got in trouble with the nuns in kindegarten because I came into school singing “Another One Bites The Dust.” I think Freddie would have gotten a big kick out of that.
Not tagging anyone, but if you want to do this, go ahead.
Clarification. May 21, 2007 ~ 10:37 am
Posted by Julie in : Politically Incorrect , comments closedI would like to salute Jimmy Carter for calling Asshat’s administration the worst in history for its impact around the world. And I would like to shoot the chick on the radio this morning who said “Well, Carter’s approval rating as President was just as bad.”
Let’s review: Jimmy Carter was President when Iran and Iraq had shut off oil production, raising gas prices to new highs. Um, not his fault. Gas prices reached all new highs today because of…oh yeah, that war Dubya started. Completely Asshat’s fault.
Carter was President during the Iran Hostage Crisis. And he worked tirelessly to get the hostages released, even when he knew that he wasn’t going to get anything political out of it (in fact they were released just minutes after Reagan was sworn in), because he is a good human being. Our people being held hostage now? Oh yeah, they’re in that situation because of that war Dubya started. And you don’t see him working for their release.
Economics under Carter, not so good because of OPEC slowing production and residual payments for the Vietnam War, neither of which were his fault. Economics under Asshat, pretty crappy (yeah, sure the job situation looks good - if you want to work at Wal-Mart). Because of that war he started.
Although I was very small when Carter was President, and don’t really remember his term so well, I don’t think there was a war that he started in a place where no one wanted us to begin with killing our people and that country’s people. Whereas Asshat…well, you get the picture. In short, Jimmy Carter = decent President who meant well but had a lot of shit go against him, Asshat = worst President ever entirely through his own doing.
History lesson over.
What iTunes needs May 19, 2007 ~ 8:19 am
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closedYou know what iTunes needs? A button that I could press that says “Keep this thing in my shopping cart, I do want it, but not right now, but please still give me the other five albums I’ve put in my cart.”
Because $75.89 is a bit much to spend all at once to get a non-cassette version of my favorite metal albums of the 80s. Especially on top of the $54-something I spent last night getting…things that weren’t metal. (I admit it, I got the Music and Lyrics soundtrack. And Dolores O’Riordan’s new album. And a shitload of Springsteen because I have finally accepted that I like his music.)
Yes, I have activated my new debit card. Why do you ask?
May 18 May 18, 2007 ~ 9:53 am
Posted by Julie in : Fambly, Random Insanity, Urban Family , comments closedMay 18 has been important to me for a long time now, since it’s an important day for three people I love.
First, it’s my brother Dick’s birthday. He turns 58 today. If he’s reading this (I think he sometimes does), he probably wants to hit me for telling you all that. But ha! He can’t! Happy birthday, big brother. I’m very glad you liked your present. I say present, singular, because the hat wasn’t really supposed to be a birthday present. It just sat in my office for so long before I mailed it that it fortuitously arrived in time for your birthday. But even I would not be so mean as to make a wool watchcap for a May birthday. The Obama book was your real birthday present. I love that you are just as liberal as I am.
Second, it’s my friend Colleen’s 30th birthday. She also probably wants to hit me for telling you how old she is. She has been my best friend since we were 14, and has been going through a ton of crap for the past couple of years. Something tells me that 30 is the corner, Leenie. Your thirties are going to be awesome to make up for all that crap in your twenties. I do have a present for you, as well as a massive surprise, but since I can never be counted on to do anything on time, you’ll have to wait a little bit for it.
Third, today marks the 14th anniversary of the day my mom quit smoking, cold turkey. I was in Canada on a band trip at the time, and I came home to find that she had taken the edge off her nicotine cravings with a little bit of home remodeling. As in, she had taken a sledgehammer to the walls of our bathroom. She had been a heavy smoker, so I guess this was reasonable. Later that summer as we hung drywall in there (yes, we did it ourselves), I caught a great case of walking pneumonia from the dust, since my bedroom was right next door to the bathroom. I had to spend a fair amount of time lying down that summer as a result, which blew. So, in summary, Mom quitting smoking: good for Mom’s lungs, not so good for mine, at least in the short term. But I’m very glad she quit. Congratulations, Mom.
To top it all off, the Landlady called while I was on my way to work and my ATM card came. Considering I wasn’t expecting it until Monday, I think Supervisor Karen over at HSBC lit a fire under someone’s ass. That is good. However, I am still closing that account as soon as my work direct deposit flips over to WaMu. My friend in payroll says that should happen in time for next week’s check. We shall see. But it’s good to have friends in payroll.
May 18th. A memorable day all around.
Quite possibly the best thank you ever May 17, 2007 ~ 1:21 pm
Posted by Julie in : Academic Office Monkey , comments closedI just got off the phone with a student who is almost done with his requirements. I have spoken to this student before and he is very sweet with a heavy Russian accent. When I told him that he would in fact be graduating, he says to me “Okay, you the best, Julie, I love you!”
Things like that make being an academic office monkey worthwhile.
Come on out, Tinky Winky! May 16, 2007 ~ 10:58 am
Posted by Julie in : Politically Incorrect, Rants , comments closedYou can show your purple triangle antennae again. And bring your purse! It’s the end of an era, kids. A bigoted, small-minded era, but an era nonetheless.
In other news, I am shopping for a new bank. Because those morons at my bank, HSBC, sent my new debit card to one of their branches halfway across Brooklyn instead of to my house. Where my landlady was waiting all day for the DHL guy to show up. I have no idea why they would have sent it to a bank branch that I have never ever been to, and the supervisor I talked to couldn’t tell me either. So now I am waiting until Monday for the new card to show up, because apparently HSBC doesn’t understand the concept of overnight delivery, those fuck ups. I have lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and flat out told the chick that I talked to that they had just lost a customer. I also told her I will have her head on a fucking pike if I don’t get the card on Monday.
I would like to warn all of you that if you have HSBC? You should get the hell out and find a bank who cares about your security. Because HSBC obviously does not if they will not only allow my debit card number to be stolen twice in two years, but then deliver a replacement card to somewhere I have never been and allow it to be signed for by someone whose name was not anywhere on the card or the envelope (I had them place landlady’s name on the envelope just in case - fat lot of good that did me).  I will say it in big capital letters:
HSBC IS THE WORST BANK ON THE PLANET.
I’m switching, even though it’s going to be a huge pain in the ass with the direct deposit I have at work. I’m thinking WaMu. They seem to value customer service and security.
Random Thoughts May 15, 2007 ~ 12:05 pm
Posted by Julie in : Random Insanity , comments closedHas anyone else noticed how many of Colin Firth’s movies make reference to Jane Austen? I mean he was in Pride and Prejudice, and was cast in Bridget Jones’s Diary as Mark Darcy because of that (Bridget Jones is in fact a retelling of P&P - she and Daniel even work for Pemberley Press at the beginning of the movie). But last night I was watching What a Girl Wants (shut UP, Colin is in leather pants in that movie, I don’t care if it was a teen film) in which he plays Henry Dashwood (the family’s last name in Sense & Sensibility) and his mother was the Countess of Wickham (Wickham was in P&P).
Maybe all this just means I should start reading my Jane Austen again…
But now I am thinking of Hugh Grant because he was also in Bridget Jones. And he was in one of my new favorite movies, Music and Lyrics. And just because I found this online and I love this song, here you go:
Why yes, I am trying to distract you from the fact that I really have nothing to say. Hugh Grant is an excellent distraction, isn’t he?
