Seven.Caged.Tigers

I really must admit I’m enjoying this whole “vacation” thing. It’s been a while since I had lots of time to do nothing. That’s what this break is about. It will be a total of about two weeks when it is all done–at least half of which will hopefully be spent at home doing little if anything. Oh yes…I’m being lazy & enjoying every moment.

Yesterday I complained about the weather in Michigan. A few hours later, the sky opened up and it rained. Then it thundered. Then there were some lovely natural fireworks. It’s been quite a while since there has been a thunderstorm in late December ’round these parts. There is occasional “thunder snow” but it is a rare beast indeed.

JT and I did leave the house today. He had to head to Troy to work on the server a bit. It was acting up. He fixed it. Good boy. I went with him instead of rotting on the crappy off-white leather furniture. We ate at Olive Garden (yay for soup, salad, and breadsticks) and then headed to Art Van to look at mattresses. That’s right folks–we’re FINALLY going to replace our mattress. It is only 6-years-old and despite its minimal size (a double/full), it sags in the middle and the springs are poking all about. It’s really not comfortable. In fact, my poor right shoulder will certainly bruise if we don’t take care of the issue. This girl’s gotta get her sleep now and again. Jeremy is definitely having problems spending money on a new bed, but I keep on reminding him that we’ll sleep so much better if it doesn’t hurt to flip over.

In any case, I’m relaxed. Relaxation is my friend.

Christmas is officially over. JT and I spent a day at his parents and then drove to G-Town to visit with mine. We spent a total of three nights there. In the process we opened gifts, went shopping, and saw my best friend Karyn and her hubby Jim. All was well. We were given lots of wonderful things and lots of various goodies.

It was a great time. However despite our early snow storms, the weather now sucks. It’s like 40 degrees and everything is melting. It really is awful. Suddenly mother nature has gone all Michigan on our asses. Can’t it just hold out for the holiday season? Instead, we’re just given mush and blech.

In any case…yeah…I think I gained a few pounds

No offense to those of you who are religious out there (and I know a whole bunch of my readers are), but I am overjoyed that “Intelligent Design” (aka, calling creationism something else) has been banned form a Pennsylvania school. It has laid the groundwork for more court cases and more rulings to come down saying that the seperation of church and state should continue. This is very important to me because the fact is that I don’t want to have to counteract religious propaganda (aka, the wolf in sheep’s clothing) taught in school in my future unborn children. It is up to my kids to decide what they will and will not believe and it is by no means a school district’s job to teach anything but the closest thing we have to science.

My favorite passages from the AP story linked above are as follows:

The complexity of life implies an intelligent designer, they assert. Most of the movement’s public spokesmen take care not to publicly say whether the designer they have in mind is equivalent to the God of the Bible. On that basis, they argue that their theory is a scientific one, not religious.

and…

The school district will not appeal the ruling, said Patricia Dapp, who was elected to the Dover board earlier this year. The supporters of intelligent design were voted out of office in that election, she said.

Statements by the board members that they had only secular purposes in mind — to improve science teaching and foster open debate — were a “sham,” and a “pretext for the board’s real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom,” Jones said in his ruling.

Intelligent design (or “ID” as the supporters call it) is simply Christianity and creationism by another name. I’m offended that ANYBODY would try to pass it off as science. This is America and we are all entitled to believe as we see fit.

I woke up in the middle of the night to my husband snoring (and then subsequently coughing) like a madman. I turned my head and got a face full of purr and fur. Dewey was laying right at my head. He’s so fat, my nose sinks right into his side. Alas, all things considered purring is much more soothing than snoring or coughing. Plus, I think the cat liked the attention. Me? Well, I never have gotten used to the taste of fur in the wee hours of the morning.

Plus, have I mentioned that JT and I have a double bed with an incredibly crappy mattress? Well, we do. And we are both nearly 6′0″. Factor in the “roll to the middle” issue of the crap mattress, the cat at our feet and the cat on my pillow and we are left with roughly no space at all.

Well…at least I had Thai for dinner last night. Mmmm…drunken noodles….mmmmm…. I love me some hot, HOT, HOOOOT food.

I feel like such a delinquent right now. I just don’t have much to talk about and rather than admitting that fact in public I’d just prefer to wallow in my own self pity–alone, destitute, and bored as all hell. I did buy a new game for the PSP (Marvel Nemesis) and a book and a few CDs on Wednesday but still I feel unfulfilled.

At least it is the holiday season and I’m about to begin a marathon week of opening gifts. This is the time of year I feel like a kid again, or not. Know what sucks about growing up? There are fewer gifts under the tree and they are smaller–alas “big people” things cost more than child things. Now I’m the person buying kid gifts. This year should be an interesting one for JT and I. Our holidays will be filled with much different things. I’m good with it. It’s all about growing up.

And yes, I realize I’m being horribly vague. By the way, ever wonder what my myserious sister looks like? This is her. In Rome. Bitch.

There is something that you all need to realize. I am a writer. I identify myself in this way despite the fact that I’m too rough on my work and that I am my own worst critic. Like me, my sister is also a writer but her style is much dryer and much more humorously sarcastic than my own. Dear sister Cheryl (whose blog can be found here) was asked by a fellow if he could use an entry from her journal in his upcoming book. As any good attention whore would, she said yes.

The book was recently published and can be gotten here. 2005 Blogged: Dispatches from the Blogosphere (edited by Tim Worstall) collects entries from some of the best writers. My sister’s entry is apparently one of the more memorable. It is short, it is sweet and it is about something we all dread. Colonoscopy. Well…the Guardian (a popular UK paper) picked up on the book and gave it an outstanding review.

A handful of the entries were pulled out and Cheryl’s (or “Chocolate Covered Bananas”) earned its own little paragraph. Despite the topic, it is an awesome testament to her talent. She apparently always wanted to be in the Guardian, but never really wanted it to be in this way. Alas, here is her paragraph:

Vitriol on UK blogs is exchanged mostly in left-wing trench warfare over Iraq. More common and much more entertaining are the tens of thousands of journals in which ordinary folk document their lives with self-deprecating, deadpan irony. It is a tone that one day will be globally recognised as the house style of the British blogosphere. ‘Dear My Colonoscopy,’ starts an open letter on the blog, Chocolate Covered Bananas. ‘Things you don’t want to hear as you slip into sedation: “Is this the clean camera”?’

The birthday went well yesterday. No major bombshells or surprises or shocks or whatever. Rather, it was a calm and usual day at work and at home. JT did finally manage to scrape together a little time to go shopping. I’d suggested that he pick up some iPod goodies. Of course I don’t have an iPod yet, but I intend on buying one in January. I’m thinking I’ll get the 30GB one, but we’ll see how much I have to spend come mid-January. Plus, I like the look of the black one and if it’s black Jeremy has little chance to accidentally mix up our iPods (his is white):

I got the Griffin FM Transmitter/Car Charger/Mount for my soon-to-be-loved iPod in addition to a hard, rubberized case to protect it in the event I drop it (something which I’m famous for).

So now I’m 29. Old, not quite wrinkly, and very very tired. Alas, the trials and tribulations of entering middle age.

I’m old today–29. That means that next year this time I will be 30. God. That’s terrifying. That also means that Jeremy and I have been together a long ass time. We’re talking over 8 years now. So if you ever go out with us, that is why we act like an old married couple.

Thanks to everybody who has already wished me birthday greetings and for those of you family members who have sent cards and presents. I like presents. They are nice. So…happy birthday to me!

The new teaster (or “announcement”) trailer for X-Men 3 is up. It is simply AWESOME. I’m so excited for this movie I can’t contain my nerdiness. You can see it in any number of sizes, resolutions, etc… and catch glimpses of the May 26, 2006 release. I for one say Angel, Kitty Pryde, Callisto (and some Morlocks), Juggernaut, Phoenix, and Beast among many other outstandingly wonderful things. It’s directed by Brett Ratner instead of Bryan Singer (who was too wrapped up in making Superman Returns so I can forgive him) and stars all the usual suspects plus some new folks in the roles of various mutants.

Here are two photos that I at least found interesting.

Ben Foster as Warren Worthington/Angel:

Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy/Beast:

Oh yes…I for one am really psyched up for this movie.

So this morning I used my remote start, chipped off what ice was still left and headed off for work. As I reached the stop sign at the end of my street I turned on my wipers. Apparently I didn’t get a bit of the ice that had the blades glued to my car. Something horrible happened.

The next thing I knew, my wiper blades were tangled together. I got out, untangled them, and tried one more time to get them to work. Alas, they did not. My driver-side blade flopped over the side of my car while the passenger one flailed around uselessly. Ironically, the passenger one has not worked properly for a while (it never went all the way down) and now with both of them broken it actually sits like it should. Go figure–that’s just my luck.

I called and told JT that the wipers were broken and if breaking your car can be funny, this was the time. I had to drive the truck to work. I was fortunate enough to find an end space (we ONLY have parallel parking). I don’t think I could have parked had I not found something I could pull into or back out of. The Impala is going in tonight for work. Looks like I’ll be driving the truck tomorrow too. Hmph.

You may have thought I completely stopped watching America’s Next Top Model. If that’s the case, you are very wrong. I’m still following it closely and biding my time until the finale. The field has now been whittled down to three girls. This week saw Jayla’s elimination while last week saw Kim’s. Truth be told both deserved to be there longer than Bre…but Bre is clearly Tyra’s favorite. It is too bad that she doesn’t get the final say. It seems that others make the final choice.

This last episode shows the girls on the means streets of London. The final four had to do their required seasonal go-sees (which weren’t as emphasized as in past cycles) and found themselves having to specifically focus on Bollywood influenced fashions. The final photoshoot also had to do with this as Nigel Barker’s mother is Sri Lankan and he has a “special interest” in the theme. In any case, I thought the whole thing was a mess. I was particularly perplexed by Jayla’s shoot in which she wasn’t even in the center of the frame unlike her competitors. It was nearly impossible for her to “stand out” like the judges wanted with that kind of awful setup. That said, here are the badly photoshopped (not by me either) photos from UPN.

Bre (The Bonkers):

Jayla (The Eliminated):

Nicole (The China Doll):

Nik (The Fierce?):

By the way, don’t let JT ever tell you he doesn’t watch the show because he does and he enjoys it and he freely discusses the competitors. His favorite was Jayla who he thought was hot. He never thinks girls on TV are hot either.