September 18, 2008

A week from today...

Two years ago, I had lists of all the new shows coming out. I evaluated them after the first episode and carefully selected what shows I would continue watching. The new fall tv season was exciting. This year? Meh. I watched Fringe because I happened to catch a promo right before the series premiere. I was unimpressed. Unless it was campy on purpose, I just didn't like it. "Let's make some LSD!" I kept switching back to Jeopardy because the show was getting progressively stupider. It's supposed to be the new X-Files, and I opted to watch a game show instead. I'm like an old lady. If there had been a Law & Order rerun, I probably would have watched that instead.

The only show I'm excited about is Survivor. And I know it's season 75 or something, but I still eagerly await every new season. How many has it been? Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Thailand, Amazon, Pearl Islands, All Stars, Vanuatu, Palau, Guatemala, Panama, Cook Islands, Fiji, China, Half All Stars... 16 seasons. Yes, that was from memory. I can also list all of the winners. And the person they beat. My survivor knowledge may be irrelevant, but it is vast. So this is Survivor 17. And I don't care if this show does go on to season 75, I will watch it and I will love it. My first episode I watched was the final tribal council of season 1. I watched it on my first day at BYU, in my room in V Hall, on the tiny tv my parents bought me for high school graduation. Sue gave that crazy rats and snake speech, and the jerk won the million dollars. And I've been hooked ever since.

September 16, 2008

On notice

Fall is on notice. It's always been my favorite season, but it's about to be demoted. While I love the changing colors and the crispness in the air, I do not love the head full of mucus and the constant sniffling. My skull feels too heavy for my neck and the pressure swirls around inside like floating blobs in a lava lamp. I think I'm especially allergic to mold. Since I've moved to a basement apartment in an old building my allergies have intensified dramatically.

That leaves winter as my new favorite season. Even though I hate driving in the snow, my current situation requires very little driving, if any at all. Ever. I haven't driven my car since March. Jill drops me off on her way to work. If it's hot, I take the bus home. If it's tolerable, I walk.

I stopped driving after getting stuck last winter going up the icy avenues. When I decided to get back behind the wheel, I realized my battery had died. In order to drive my car again, I need to buy and install a new battery, get an auto repair shop to turn off the stupid check engine light (it seems my car has never forgiven me for losing two gas caps in one week), and renew the registration. That's a lot of effort, and effort is my kryptonite.

While I hate driving in the snow, I love walking in the snow. I get to wear sexy boots, I don't get all hot and sweaty, and hardly anyone else is out walking. Not like stupid spring and summer with everyone hogging the sidewalks with their dogs and strollers. I love that winter feels so quiet and still, even when it's snowing. Everything is muted, and it's very calming (as long as I don't have to think about driving in it). And best of all, the snow and ice rids the outside of whatever it is I'm so allergic to right now.

September 9, 2008

As the vampire sparkles...

So I've been reading the now "officially" leaked Midnight Sun. I enjoyed Twilight as a fun quick (if slightly disturbing) page-turner, but one book inside of Bella's head was enough for me. The premise of Midnight Sun as Twilight from Edward's pov was intriguing, and what else am I going to do all day? Work?! I got through about 50 pages of Edward describing Bella as a furious kitten and how "the sound of [his] name on her lips did strange things to [his] body" before giving up and reading cleolinda's funny recaps (part 1 and part 2) instead. I should not be reading these at work, they make me laugh too much.

Some moments that made me laugh (from the recaps):
[Quote from book]: A word I'd never said before in the presence of a lady slid between my clenched teeth. [end quote]

Given the "curse words" in the other four books, I'm going to assume the word is "dang."

**

I don't know where Carlisle is, but he's probably off being compassionate somewhere.
**

It's kind of like a sparkly teenage version of "Bad Blood." "All I had for breakfast this morning was half a mountain lion with cream cheese, and it wasn't even real cream cheese, it was LIGHT cream cheese! I DO IT ALL FOR YOU, BELLA!"

If you feel compelled to be updated on the wide world of sparkling vampires, but find it difficult to stomach Twilight's unique "outrageous flavor," I highly recommend reading the recaps linked above. They're available for all of the books. Warning: If you do read the recaps, they have real curse words. Not just the mere mentioning of curse words too delicate for our lady brains.

September 8, 2008

The Day I Wrote in my Blog

I watched Mad Men last night and really liked one of the lines. Four people snuck into their boss's unlocked office to look at his new painting. (It was a Rothko.) Ken, in the elevator afterwards, said: "I could write a story about this: The Day We Looked at the Painting."

It would be a cool story too. It was a neat little scene: suspenseful, funny, and introspective. I forget sometimes that that's all short stories need to be, just an interesting moment. If you watched the episode, you'd realize that while Ken's story would be interesting, it would be completely different from the story Sal would write. Ken's story could be incredibly well written, and expertly capture all of the emotion, but be totally unaware of how enormously different and significant the moment was for Sal.

When I'm in a car on the freeway, I'll sometimes try to catch a quick glimpse inside the other cars driving along side me. I've thought before that there are entire universes existing inside each car, that I am completely unaware of, but driving right next to. That's what that scene in Mad Men reminded of. There were three people in the elevator (one took the stairs down out of fear of being caught). They all just had just done the exact same thing, but each had a vastly different experience.