Cobra Verde, Drugs, Babies, Chests

I watched Cobre Verde last night after cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. It was interesting to see this film after viewing Rescue Dawn because in my opinion there are some pretty disturbing scenes - the caning/whipping of slaves and then the flock of disabled people who arrive at the end. Herzog said in the commentary that if he were to re-do the film he'd omit the close up on the polio-stricken man on the beach because it is crude. However, he wouldn't get rid of the disabled people because to him it signified the crippling of slavery. And Herzog loves the scene where the man on crutches waddles to the stairs only to stop right at the bottom of them and just stare. It was a really beautiful scene, and like he said, totally unnecessary to the plot. Prior to hearing him explain the inclusion of these scenes I was making comparisons to Crispin Glover's What is it? and was wondering if thats why Glover and Herzog are friendly. As usual Klaus Kinski was amazing. Apparently Kinski was completely insane by this point in his life, and filming was brutal with him. It was his last film with Herzog before he died a few years later. He lives on in Natasha (har har).

I had my quarterly appointment with douche-man psychiatrist today to get my fluoxetine refilled. I really abhor this dude. Every time I go I have to wait at least an hour, and he never apologizes or acknowledges how late he is. Then I see him for 2 seconds, get my refill, and leave. Why can't he just let me come once a year? I got him to let me wait until December so I guess that helps. If I had to see him more I'd switch people, but the irritation of my PPO combined with how little I have to interact with this dork makes it not worth the trouble. So reader, be assured I'm going to be medicated the next five months and mostly anxiety-free. Woot.

After the appointment I popped into Macy's to buy my coworker a baby outfit for his first child that was born last week. Then I walked across the hall to Bra Land and restocked after the death of Ole Glory last week. I felt strange carrying infant clothes and bras in the same bag, which is a totally stupid thing to feel odd about.

Weekend Update

Friday night I watched Ulrich Seidl's Models and was thoroughly disappointed. So far I've enjoyed all the Seidl movies I've seen. I had heard bad reviews about this one, so I should have taken that as a warning and skipped it. Oh well. Then Nate came over and we played scrabble (I won!).

Saturday we woke up and biked to some junko diner for breakfast, Mitchells, on Clyborn and Armitage. It was like a giant Village Inn, complete with screaming children. At least we tried something new right? Then we wandered over to GameStop and Nate bought MLB 2K7 and Tony Hawk 4. Naturally, we played both games for about six hours that afternoon. It is really boring to watch someone play Tony Hawk for hours. MLB 2K7 was really complicated but by the 9th inning of our game we seemed to understand it.

Saturday night we walked to Wicker Park Fest and saw Man Man perform. I wasn't excited to see them after Nate described them as "Tom Waits-ish" with horns and costumes. Ugh. While I don't think I'd ever listen to their cd, the live show was alright. A bit too circus-y for me. They reminded me of the Muppet band, what was their name...Dr Teeth? Then we got mexican food with VA, Zamelia and Soup, and headed to Aaron's going away party. Aaron has this amazing porch in the backyard and the weather was awesome, so we sat outside until 3 am. I didn't realize how late it was until I got home - I hadn't intended to be out so late.

As a result, I slept in late, and took a huge nap this afternoon. I feel a little guilty about it because I have so much to do around my apartment, but at the same time it was the first weekend in weeks that I could just pass out on the couch listening to baseball. I won't be able to next weekend because my mom is here, so I needed to take advantage of my laziness. I still have all night tonight (after BB8 of course) to do some of the cleaning crap I want to do.

And so, another week looms. I feel like things have been out of my control lately both at work and at home. I think they'll be out of my control until October, and it sucks but I'll work through it. I've been so happy since moving here that I guess its ok to be flustered every now and then. As long as in the end everything works out without me losing what I want or compromising too much of myself to keep things going. Uhh...oh yay looks like Big Brother is on, time to end this random post.

Randoms

I'm missing the west coast today, probably because I'm currently watching House Hunters and both episodes have taken place out there. I need to get back to SF soon.

I feel like I'm getting a bit too invested in work lately, and I need to fix that. I don't want a job that takes up more than 9-5 M-F, and here I've been traveling and even doing a bit of work from home. It's good that I have a lot of projects and ideas at work to keep me interested, but I need to remember how to turn that off when I go home.

Nate had a Sleep Out show and his DJ night tonight and I skipped both. I've been feeling a bit run down, and some work stuff left me deflated today. A nap, burritos, and Big Brother 8 were more to my liking for the evening. Sorry pals. I must say, its the first show of his in 7 months that I've missed.

Not sure what is in store for the weekend. I need to do some shopping (stupid bras, why must you be so expensive and why must you have wires that pop out and poke my precious right boob?), got housework to do to prepare for my mom's visit, and I want to watch my two netflix dvds I've been sitting on forever (perhaps getting two foreign films at once was a mistake). I want to go on a long walk with Audrey, since she's been pretty ornery all week.

More on Herzog

The NPR interview is finally on, and Herzog just said "I do not want to see violence against the defenseless. And this is a reason why I do not want to see, for example, rape of a woman on screen." Context: the studio told him he needed to include more torture scenes - he filmed them then cut them for the film.

Again, my hero.

A Herzog fanatic reviews Rescue Dawn

You had to see this one coming right? Me reviewing Rescue Dawn? This is the first Herzog feature film (read: not a documentary) that I've been able to see in a theater at first release. More importantly, this is Herzog's first film written entirely in English as well as his first Big Hollywood film. He's never had funding like this, nor has he worked with huge American stars before. Hence, why this film was such a giant f-ing deal to me as a mega-Zog fan.

Let's make this a Pitchfork style review, where I talk about myself a bunch before getting to the film. Essentially, seeing this movie has been very important to me for the aforementioned reasons. I was crushed to find out that its opening weekend coincided with that business trip I took two weeks ago, and then my older brother was here all last week/weekend, so I didn't get to see it right away. And of course, the film leaves Chicago theaters as of this coming Thursday night, which left me with only Tuesday night due to other obligations. There are only a few people in Chicago I'd want to see this movie with because I'm psychotic about Herzog and if I'm going I need a fellow film/Herzog geek with me. One of those people hasn't talked to me since November, another one I forgot about until just this second, and the third would rather sleep than see a movie. So lucky me, I went alone. It may have been for the best because then I could fully absorb myself in the film without having to wonder what the person next to me was thinking. I have to remember that not every human on earth has such deep admiration and obsessions over directors. (insert *deep breaths* hyperventilating joke here) So I saw the film last night alone at Webster Place near my house.

I had heard that there were two reviews floating around of the movie. The first was from Herzog fanatics, and the review was essentially, "the movie is the worst Herzog film ever, god what a disappointment." The other was from your general movie going public: "wow that film was so amazing and unique and powerful!" I was a bit nervous having heard that, and was trying to decide prior to the film if I should attempt to review it from a fanatic standpoint or just a plain-ole lady standpoint.

When the movie started I realized I wouldn't be able to do either. It's definitely not a film I would have considered seeing if it weren't for Herzog making it. First off, the content - an American fighter pilot gets taken prisoner by the VC - turns me off. And you know there will be torture in a POW film. And I don't like torture, even if done 'tastefully'. Herzog had been asked about this several times before the film: "We know Dieter Dengler is tortured, how do you handle that in the film?" Herzog does not like showing gore and violence for entertainment's sake. He said that there are a few extremely brief scenes of torture because you can't ignore the fact that Dieter was tortured, but he left out a TON of Deiter's torture stories that were included in Little Dieter Needs to Fly. No bamboo reeds up feet or anything, thank god. The torture he included in Rescue Dawn was enough thanks, but was also very very very well done.

So yes, the content...it is what it is - a POW movie. Herzog did not create this story, its a dramatized feature of a true story. As a result I don't think it's right to argue that its a terrible film that is way off base for Herzog. A friend of mine said it was boring. It does get a little slow for conventional film pace, but Dieter was stuck in a prison camp for a year! What else can they show other than the grueling day in and day out of prison camps? I thought the pace worked really well. It showed the progression of insanity in the prisoners, worked well with the extreme weight loss Christian Bale had to do for the film, and just as I'd get tired with a scene it would end.

An astute observer could see glimpses of Herzog in it. He shows humanity in all its ugly chaotic glory, from Dwayne shitting himself every night to the prison guards not being all like "Little Hitler." He explores the boundaries of human isolation both in emotional and physical states. He has expansive shots of nature with amazing close-ups on leaves. He incorporates music seamlessly. He selected actors who would be more than willing to fully immerse themselves in the role, even if it meant losing 50 pounds and eating maggots and snakes (fyi: I have an amazing new found respect for Christian Bale for being so into his role). Rescue Dawn may have had fancy plane crashes, big stars, and a war theme, but it was done in Herzog's style as best he could when dealing with Big Hollywood.

David Lynch talked about working with major studios on films when I saw him speak before the screening of Inland Empire. He said he'd never do it again, that you have to compromise too much of your artistic integrity (his case in point: Dune). I'd imagine that Herzog had to make the same compromises with Rescue Dawn. Maybe he had to add a bit more violence (especially during a specific scene at the end), as well as more action scenes to appease the funders. Therefore, I'm not sure how to rate it. I can't rate it from my normal Herzog scale because it would fall low - a 3 out of 5. But if I rate it from just a major feature film rating scale it would be a 4.5 out of 5. Few major films deal with war in this nature, and it was refreshing to not see a film that glorifies war. I especially liked that the prison guards were so humanized in this film, which is in stark contrast to how Americans generally view our enemies.

Finally, I should mention that I thought Steve Zahn did an AMAZING job. Christian Bale was obviously very talented, but I wasn't expecting Zahn to be so awesome.

Graham asked a question that I can't answer, which is "Why did Herzog make this film in the first place?" I'm sure if I read a bit more about his intentions I'd find out, but I'm feeling a bit lazy right now.

Related:
Herzog interview on Fresh Air

Metacritic reviews

Rescue Dawn Web site

Bored

I'm bored at work, and came across a Great MC for Pitchfork.

What else...big brother is visiting me this weekend, I'm still exhausted from my work conference...still haven't seen Rescue Dawn yet...ugh.

Daily Audrey

Natalie and Matt have taken in Audrey to their cozy home while I've been out of town. Audrey hasn't played with other dogs since the last time she saw their dogs, Lola and Watts. I was a little concerned she'd forget her manners, and at first it seemed she did. But it sounds like she is doing ok now. I miss her, and even Nate says its quiet in my house without her around.

Nat has been so kind as to take daily audrey photos for me while I'm gone, here they are:

Lazer Eyes Audrey:



Sleepy Audrey:



Contemplative Audrey:



Gon' Beat Yo Ass Audrey:



Two more days till I see the love of my life Audrey doggy.

you ruined my holiday!

Another day of intense learning and lectures just went by. This morning we had to do mock instruction sessions, and everyone in my peer-review group said that I was a wonderful storyteller! And they meant it too! The real instructor said I have a real knack for telling a story and that the 'class' was very engaged the entire time. If I can tell a story about different types of grocery stores and relate it to databases and have people like it, then I must be doing something right. This was a very self-affirming moment for me. It was also amazing to see others teach, as my job does absolutely no evaluation or observation. God, what has this stupid conference done to me? I care about teaching!?

I got really cranky in the middle of the day. Much of this experience is an exercise in patience when dealing with other personality types. I also had to take these various learning style and personality tests and all the answers pointed to me=robot. I care little for the emotional connection and don't want any fluffy shit. I demand logic in my learning and want to be taught at instead of forced to work in peer groups. I was able to do a pretty sweet robot impression. New nickname, Robo-trick?

I forgot to bring my allergy meds so I've had a constant sinus headache. I'm in the middle of nowhere, so no access to a store to pick some up. Oh well.

Wow, libraries and allergies, I'm such a fucking nerd. So let's get all mushy introspective to make it worse, shall we?

I think a lot about how I am passionate about my career, but that it never seems to surface at work or outwardly to anybody else. In fact, I am passionate about a few things (feminism, film, libraries, social justice...) but I still give off this impression of coldness. I've heard a few times, and more recently by people I thought knew me better, quips like "you are the last person who would have kids!" or "man if that can make you sappy it must be totally corny *insert lolz here*" It hurts me to know that my friends think I'm some unloving cold-hearted person. Worse, I'm worried I give off that impression at the beginning of a relationship and it results in a misleading idea of who I am and what I want.

So to take these learning style tests and see that all results scream Robo-woman, it's rough. Intellectually I'm very much a realist. I need logic and most everything is black and white for me. My brother would say that means I'm cognitively underdeveloped and therefore not intelligent. But I know that I'm 'bright' when it comes to intelligence. Uhh..what was I saying...Oh yes, in reality I'm not a robot! If I am, I'm like some freaky emotional Cylon or something? I don't know, I guess what I'm getting at is that I need to figure out how to convey that I truly do give a shit without coming off overly mushy.

Mind you, this is all in inter-personal interactions - face to face - not via this sap-blog I have running here.

This post brought to you by my isolation in a dorm room for hours.

Information Overload

Warning: Library jargon and drivel to the maxx below. Perhaps only my fellow librarians need read this mess.

Day 2 of this 6 day workshop is over. Well...the group sessions are over. It's almost 9 pm and I still have homework to do for my practice teaching session I present tomorrow. Day 1 was just an intro day, where we had a social mixer and met everyone. It wasn't so bad. I met this woman from UC Berkeley which made me super excited. And she's young and awesome too! It gave me the chance to talk about SF and bitch about the food here in this college town, and how the food in SF is so amazing. Yay! She said she'd also help me out if I wanted to move back and get a job. Connections like that are so crucial.

Today was super intense. I am learning things I feel like I needed to learn in library school but wasn't taught. I know it's not just my library school, as I've had these conversations with Alycia about how we felt like there was so much we didn't learn. And that's fine. Most of librarianship is on the job learning, much like being an apprentice. In that respect, I'm really excited I have the opportunity to be here and learn teaching methods. Today was all on how to present in a class. As the former second place state debate champ (1998, what what!), I know a lot already about presenting. However, I'm super rusty and clam up in front of classes. Hearing all these great ideas and techniques from fellow librarians was really helpful. I even wrote down some cheesy quotes to take back with me as reminders when I get discouraged. It's like, who the hell is this person that has taken over my body? As much as I dread teaching normally, I'm very passionate about education and the ability to change someone's life (even if it's just with a database). So being here is helping get me super-motivated for the fall semester. I'm excited to try out all these new methods. Now if only I can get over my lack of confidence in approaching my faculty about new sessions I have developed.

Speaking of no confidence, I am yet again reminded that my profession has a serious serious dearth of confidence. I'm listening to these people in my group, who are obviously very intelligent individuals, and they sound so beaten down! This one woman in particular is so discouraged by her faculty being unresponsive, and it has really messed with her confidence level about teaching. I feel bad for her, and at the same time it makes me realize just what a good job I am doing. I wish librarians were more assertive about their talents and stopped letting some snooty faculty members push them around. I want librarians to stop being so concerned about stupid stereotypes (that no user cares about anyway) and just present the persona of who they are. I hate hate hate the whole idea of telling students over and over "we aren't all old ladies I swear! We won't shush you I swear!" That only instills the idea that maybe some librarians will. Just go out there and be who you are and do a damn good job at it and stop sniveling about how you think others might think you suck! And that concludes my pep talk to my fellow librarians.

As much as this conference is exhausting, as much as I'd totally rather be with my pals (it is a Saturday night after all and Rescue Dawn opened up last night in Chicago), and as much as I say I don't like teaching, I've really gained so much in just these 2 days. And there are 4 more left. I'm so glad my boss forced me to apply for and attend this institute. I think this is one of the most amazing career decisions I have made or will ever make. Thanks boss! Thanks me for knowing all along that librarianship was my destiny! Thanks MPL for giving me that job when I was 18 so I could find all this out and not get stuck in a job I don't give a shit about!

I can't even imagine what it is like to either not know what you want to do with your life or to be in your career path and not really give a shit. True I slack off at work and very intentionally picked a career that wouldn't stress me out or force me to work long hours. However, I am more passionate about this than anything in my life when I really get to thinking about it. I may not be a musician or an artist that everyone loves like all my friends are, but I'm doing something pretty damn amazing for the world by being an educator and a keeper and disseminator of knowledge. I'm proud of myself and my profession.

And holy shit was that a corny last paragraph of hokey-ness. All this motivational speaking here has infected me.

the out of towners

I had 1.5 visitors for the past two days. An old coworker of mine from SF took the train from Oakland to Chicago, and his friend met us via a plane from Boston. These friends are 50+ years old, stoners, hippies, protesters who have been beaten and arrested...they have all the coolest stories. I took them out for drinks Tuesday night, and took the day off on Wednesday. We went to Millennium Park and Navy Pier on Wednesday. I had never really gone through Millennium Park, and never been to Navy Pier. It was nice to do some touristy stuff that I normally don't do. My coworker's friend left mid-Wednesday and my pal and I went to the Map Room for beer then got dinner. He met Nate (and approved), and then we went to sleep because his train to Detroit left super early in the morning.

It was nice to see an old pal, although I'd rather have been the one visiting rather than the host. I am someone who really needs some downtime away from people each day, and you don't get that with visitors. Other than my high school besties who totally wouldn't mind if I took a nap, I'd rather not have people visiting for extended periods. Oh well, it's good to see old friends and do stuff out of the ordinary.

Today I am taking Audrey to Beagle Camp aka Natalie and Matt's house for the weekend. Nate needs a break from dog sitting, and Audrey needs some play time with other doggies. Then I'm off to a work conference that I really would rather not attend. It's about teaching theory and library instruction, two things that are on the last of my list of things I like to do at work.

Worse, we have to stay in dorms and the daily events go from 7 am to 10 pm all the way until Wednesday morning. So no text messaging and no internet until bedtime until next Wednesday. I'll die. Hopefully I'll find someone cool to talk to, but I doubt it.

Then my brother visits. That'll be a good time. Still, I would really like a weekend off to just hang out with Audrey and sleep in.

Race to the Bottom

I was flipping through the channels and came across the following video. Drugging someone isn't funny, nor is beating someone at the ATM, nor is raping someone who is unconscious. It's just not funny, and no 'oh come on its ironic these kids are just playin' bit will make it acceptable. I'd like to think that every adolescent male on earth isn't in love with this show but I get a feeling they are. Not sure if reposting it only helps the show though...since it was first aired back in November, aren't I just digging up old dirt or something? But isn't it important to highlight disgusting pigs? Ugh, it's too late for any analytical thinking.

A Normal Weekend?

I had a 'normal' weekend this weekend. It was the first in awhile, and the last for about a month. Friday I hung out with Nick on his new fancy couch and we watched Hackers. Somehow I had escaped seeing that film until then. Hackers was really funny! I loved the mid-90s techno parties and hacker speak. Then Ed and Nate came over and we walked to the Beat Kitchen to watch our friends band New Black. They haven't played in a few years, so I've never seen them before (you know, that whole 'I lived in SF' bit). New Black did a great, and loud, job. The only problem was that I started to get really bummed for a bit, about how I missed a lot by not living here after college. I got a bit mopey as I looked around and saw all my friends enjoying New Black and inevitably any memories they had of their past shows. I snapped out of it when I remembered how much I love SF and don't regret it, living there made me who I am today, blah blah blah. Not sure what got into me other than a tinge of jealousy about having missed out on some bonding time with my friends here.

Saturday Nate and I watched baseball almost all day. Watched the Sox then the Cubs, got food, then went to Jacob's birthday party at the Village Pub. Saturdays are karaoke night there, and the place was in rare form. A trolley full of stupid bachelorettes stumbled in, most of them barely able to keep their eyes open. They did the standard stupid songs like Lean on Me and other songs with love and friendship themes. Whenever one of our male friends would sing they'd hang all over them. It was very entertaining because they were so stereotypical - they even had the dick tiaras and blow-up doll man (complete with 70's porn moustache!). The highlight of the night for me personally, was seeing Nate and Steve do "Hey Jealousy" as a duet. Now I know why he's a drummer.

Today I made us waffles and we watched the Cubs and Sox games. Then we ordered pizza and I made him watch Big Brother 8 (from now on referred to as BB8 or BB) while I chatted with my literal big brother online about it. Nate said "how is this different from real world/road rules challenge?" and got a glare from me but no answer. Really, it's not very different other than someone gets booted off each week and theres a big ca$h prize at the end. It just 'seems' more intelligent, although anyone who doesn't live and die for it like me would disagree for sure. This season will rule though if the first two episodes are any indication.

This week should be interesting. My 50+ year old friend from SF will be here for two days. We worked together, which is how I came to know him. He is so very 'San Francisco' in that he grows his own pot, hitchhikes all over, has a deported boyfriend, gets arrested at protests...so basically he is awesome. I wonder if he'll "approve" of my lifestyle here.

Then on Friday I have to attend this intense work conference until next Wednesday. I'll be stuck staying in a dorm, sitting with some other library dorks learning better teaching methods from 8 am to 10 pm and attending mandatory 'social events'. I'm not looking forward to it. And as soon as I get back my big bro shows up to visit, then after that my mom. Then summer is over.

For a gal who isn't in any bands, sports, clubs, or extracurricular activities I sure feel damn busy. At least its busy with fun social events for the most part.

And finally, a stupid Audrey update: She has this tree trunk thingy that you put stuffed squeaky squirrels into and she digs them out. She has eaten/murdered two of the three squirrels but for some reason has kept the third one alive and kickin for her fetch-playing pleasure. Well, the squirrel has been missing since my trip to DC. I realized today what Audrey is doing. She has taken squirrel as a POW and is hiding her in some secret torture chamber in my apartment (perhaps under the fridge?). When I go to work she takes out squirrel and talks in human voice to her about how squirrel is a naughty little dick. Then she puts squirrel back in her private prison before I return home. Now to prove it I just need to get a motion-activated camera so I can see what she does all day when I'm away. I think this story shows that I need to get a life.

We'll Build Skyscrapers Together

I've been avoiding my blog because so much has happened in the past week, and every day that I go without posting makes me more anxious about figuring out how to detail the wedding, etc etc. So let's see...

Friday...Friday night sucked for many various reasons that aren't blog-worthy. I went to bed at 11 pm to rest up for the Big Day Saturday. In retrospect, that was the correct choice.

Saturday I was super busy. I hadn't had a day to get groceries or catch up from my DC trip yet, and I also didn't have some stupid bra I needed for my dress. So I ended up running errands all day before the wedding. Picked up Nate, got dressed, went to wedding. We both looked nice, so its too bad we didn't take any 'serious' photos. If you took one, send it to me.

The wedding was at the Catalyst Ranch, a sort of warehouse/studio/loft meeting and event space. It was very "Zamelia" if that makes any sense. Lots of color, funky furniture, silly stuff. Very un-stuffy. We enjoyed some cocktails and appetizers before the ceremony. I loved seeing all my out of town friends! A rare treat. The ceremony was also very Zamelia. Casual, personal, fun, not too long. I cried my eyes out during the ceremony, and felt like a bit of an ass because of it until I saw Tamar was doing the same.

After the ceremony they did this awesome dinner that consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, quesadillas, these crazy awesome mac'n'cheese tater tots, and other 'American' food. It totally beat the typical chicken or fish dinner you get at other weddings. Dessert was cupcakes, a chocolate fountain, rice crispie treats, all great things.

I spent the rest of the night dancing and enjoying the great company of all my awesome friends. Then there was an after-party at a bar down the street, where most of us went to cap off the evening. I cabbed it home around 3 and passed out. This was definitely the best wedding I've been to, and it made me hope more friends would start getting hitched so all the out-of-towners will have more reason to visit us.

Sunday and Monday were spent recuperating. Sleep Out played Monday night so I went to that, but was super tired the entire time. They played really well though. Tuesday I had a big lecture to present to a class, and I was nervous about it. Ended up going off without a hitch, and I went home happy.

Tuesday night Nate and I went to El Cid then to the Logan Square movie theater to see Knocked Up. The movie was pretty good, although it was much heavier on the romantic sap factor than I was expecting from an Apatow film. Definitely a sexist film, for both men and women. Very gender-roled on all aspects, which was a bit irritating. Not that I expected anything else though.

Yesterday was the 4th of July and we did nothing. Watched the Cubs game, then played scrabble (I lost as usual), then watched the Sox game. Thought about seeing if anyone was BBQing but didn't bother to call people. Got ice cream around 8 and walked around a bit, then went to bed. Hows that for ultimate independence day excitement?

Tonight I have possibly the dorkiest evening ever planned. I'm going to watch the season premier of Big Brother 8 with my brother...online...as in we will chat during the premier. My old coworkers and I watched this show religiously, then I found out my brother does too so we plan on being geeks about it all night. I know the show gets a bad rap, but seriously, its pretty amazing. After that show is some strange Survivor-esque show called "Pirate Master"???

Tomorrow is a New Black show. They are my friends band, but haven't been together since I moved here so I have no idea what they sound like. All I know is everyone is insanely excited for it, so that is a good sign.

I'm in a craptacular mood today, despite the bland nature of this post. Not sure how to fix it other than hope it goes away soon.

Slow to get back on the bloggin' horse

This past weekend's wedding wiped me out, hence the lack of any ability to blog. I also went to Nate's Sleep Out show at Schubas last night, preventing me from blogging. And now I have to teach a bunch of incoming PhD students, leaving me totally freaked out. I'm really not meant to be a teacher I don't think.

Things to look forward to:

Day off tomorrow

Celebrating the 1/2 year anniversary of being a couple tonight (shut up)

Seeing my doggy all day tomorrow, attempting to get her in more psychotic poses like the one just to your left (click on it for its full scary glory).