It’s been a long week. I was sick for part of it, but healthy for most of it. While at work, I worked hard, and barely had a free moment to tweet or play or pay a bill.
TV was great this week. Loved The Office, with Jim and Pam’s baby. So adorable. I’ve watched the episode twice already. Also, for the past year, I’ve been trying to catch my friend up on Lost so we could theorize about the show. As of yesterday, he is now completely caught up. It’s fun! We’ve never been on the same page, because I’ve always been so ahead. I’ve now seen every episode twice, which definitely helps. And boy-oh-boy does watching Season Five over again really put things into perspective.
If you haven’t heard, Sunday is the Oscars. Usually, I try my best to see everything that’s nominated, but it’s been hard to do so this year, particularly because of the Olympics. It also doesn’t help that there are 10 freaking Best Picture nominees. I hate that. Before the big show, I’ll be watching “An Education,” “District 9,” “The Hurt Locker,” and “A Serious Man.” Leaving just “Precious” and “Up.” I’m also for the first time ever watching all of the Live Action Shorts that are nominated, because Comcast has them bundled into one movie for $2.99. I always have to guess on my Oscar ballot for that category, this year I can actually make an educated guess!
Anyway, not much else to report. Here’s a couple of new pictures of the kitties.
Today’s Friday Five is all about comparisons. Leave a comment if you posted this on your blog too!
What’s something you do more quickly than most people?
Definitely how fast I eat cake. Seriously, I’m like the fastest cake eater this side of the Mississippi. I’ve been known to be handed a slice of cake, and have it finished before the next slice is doled out. It’s quite gross really.
What’s something you do more carelessly than most people?
The way I treat my clothes. I can be terrible about how I keep my clothes. Most of the time they are in a pile, and some of that time, that pile is on the floor. It’s an area where I could use some significant improvement.
What’s something you do more slowly than most people?
I run super slow. I’ve played a lot of sports in my life, and I am by far and always the slowest runner. I also look ridiculous as I do it.
What’s something you do more carefully than most people?
I’m a sucker for formatting. Not only is part of my job but it’s at the core of who I am.
In what contexts are you more patient than most people?
I’m pretty good about waiting in the car for somebody to do something. Especially, if I have my iPhone. It must come from the years and years I spent as a child waiting in the car while my parents did stuff. They would never get away with that these days, which I’m sort of disappointed about.
I decided awhile ago that I wanted to read stories from the series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Of course there was the recent blockbuster in theaters starring Robert Downey Jr., but also because I’ve been watching some of the Jeremy Brett adaptations from the 80s on PBS.
So my first foray into Doyle’s work was A Study In Scarlet. Overall, it was a fun and simple read. Holmes and Watson meet up and become roommates and informal colleagues. Watson is amazed by Holmes’s eccentricities and brilliance, and Holmes is depicted just as I expected him to be from watching all the adaptations. The work is broken into two parts, and that confused me for a long time. The first part was how the criminal was caught, and then the second…well that turned out to be the back story of the criminal. I didn’t get that at first. I felt like perhaps I was in an entirely different book. The motive and back story was completely unexpected. I was surprised and somewhat impressed that Doyle went so cross continental, when I expected something more local.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to reading more, but that will come later. Next up is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.
Oh my blog, I’ve been away. That’s because it’s been one completely crazy week.
First…I turned 31!
And here is my birthday portrait, taken with my new lens.
If you look into my eyes you will see that they are actually completely tired. Here’s why…
I tend not to go to work on my birthday. In fact, in most cases, I tend not to be in Colorado on my birthday. But this year, just staying at home and going to work seemed like a great idea. I guess some things were meant to bed.
Monday
Still reeling from a fabulous Valentine’s Day and excited about my new lens, Monday started great and stayed great all day. It was a really easy day at work. I got to play with camera and snap some pictures, while having a bagel at the UMC.
And then Mike’s daughters came by to bring us all the girl scout cookies they had sold us. Oh my gosh, there was a new buzz around the building, probably a sugar high.
That night at home, I watched massive amounts of Olympic coverage. Man, I love the Winter Olympics. While there, I snapped some pictures of the cats.
It as my last day of 30 and it was pretty awesome.
Tuesday
Isn’t it always strange to wake up on your birthday? There’s a few seconds when you don’t realize that it’s actually your birthday and then it sets in. That’s exactly what happened. And then I realized that it was almost impossible for me to get up and get going, even though I had an 8:30 meeting. That’s where my tiredness began.
The morning started off a little tense at work with some meetings, after all that I barely had time to sit down at my desk and thank people on Facebook and Twitter for all their birthday wishes before I was being carted off to a fun birthday lunch with some of my co-workers. Right after that, I was in three more meetings, all of which I struggled to stay awake in, and not for a lack of caring. I had no explanation for it.
After work, I rushed off to celebrate some more. I went to see “Up In The Air” right after work, which was quite a strange movie to see regarding work a day before things got strange at my own job. And then with Marissa and Johnny in tow, we went to 3 Margaritas at like 8:00 to eat dinner and so I could wear the big sombrero. Sadly, none of the pictures worked out. Except for this cute one of Johnny and Marissa:
And then it was back home for cake and presents.
I could barely stay awake by this point, and so I crashed pretty soon afterwards. It was a good birthday.
Wednesday
As soon as my birthday goodness ends, it begins for my dad. I love that his birthday is the day after mine. My day started out all right, but then things got a little strange. Basically I found out there was a re-org on the horizon and I was somehow part of it, but my part wasn’t revealed until Thursday morning. I was pretty stressed the rest of the day, trying to guess what it could be. That night I went home and got in bed and watched the Olympics.
Thursday
This day was devoted to understanding my part in the reorganization. It was a day of highs and lows. I was confused, depressed, thrilled, curious…everything.
Friday
Another day of re-org attention with lots of meetings interspersed in between. By the end of the day I had much more clarity about the situation and felt so much more hopeful. Change is really hard. But once I could understand the decisions that were made and understand the vision, it was way easier and even exciting! I was able to provide my feedback and recommend tweaks to the situation. And it was nice to be heard.
I came home from work really relieved and quite frankly exhausted. After some scrambled eggs (it is Lent after all…I gave up Soda and of course meat on Fridays), I watched some of the Olympics and fell asleep at like 10, which was way earlier than I’ve gone to bed in days and days and days.
So my long week is over and I have every intention of relaxing this weekend. Monday is a new start, in so many ways.
Valentine’s Day came and went and I’m a happy girl. I’ve always loved the holiday, probably because it’s so close to my birthday. But I love the pink and hearts and candy and lovey-dovey stuff.
This year was a great one! I was spoiled by my loved ones.
First…I got tulips (my favorite):
Pretty!
Callie loves the smell. The tulip matches her pink nose!
And I got my “birthday cookies.” The story goes that 31 years ago my mom ate a ton of these cookies on Valentine’s Day and the next morning she went into labor. I was born just after midnight on February 16. It’s a tradition that we get these cookies every year to celebrate.
It wouldn't be the same without them!
And I got my new camera lens….for Valentine’s Day, not even for my birthday, so I have no idea what will happen on Tuesday!
50mm f/1.8
As for the day, I changed out of pajamas and into pretty pink pajamas for the day. Marissa came over and we watched Shakespeare in Love, Singles, and 500 Days of Summer. It was a blast!
As many of my east coast friends are buried under snow and stuck inside, I thought I would give you a few tips, since I…a Colorado girl…have been through a couple of these in my time.
Here are my favorite blizzard activities and some tips to help you through this time….
First, when the storm has passed, meaning the blowing hard snow has ceased into maybe some nice fat flakes or stopped all together, go out on foot! Don’t be afraid to go outside and walk around. It’s actually super cool (no pun intended). It’s incredibly quite and still. And with no cars on the road, it’s so very peaceful and natural. Just go expore. And take lots of fun pictures.
Taken after the big blizzard in 2003 when I went for a walk. Cars couldn't get out of the neighborhoods.
Second, don’t blow your load. Sorry if that sounds gross, but I mean it in this sense….space out your activities. You’re going to be inside a lot. Mix it up, games, books, naps, cleaning, and sex. Seriously people, blizzard sex is the best.
There's a car under there!
Third, eat. I recommend snacking. Having three square meals carved out is kind of lame in a blizzard. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Why stick to the norms. Plus, you don’t want to run out of the staples. So munch here and there and you won’t start freaking out if you can’t have a proper dinner.
Fourth, play with your pets. They love snow days!!
Penny loved all the attention.
Fifth, put on your Snuggie. You don’t have a Snuggie? Well it’s your loss. Better get one for the next blizzard.
Sixth, let it snow. The more you try to fight it or hate it, the more evil you become. You’ll get cabin fever and before you know it you’ll be like this:
Don't forget this was set in Colorado!
Now all this advice can last you about two days tops. You want to know why? Because in Colorado we don’t really get a lot of snow days. At max, I’ve had two days off in a row, and that’s after we got like 46″ of snow in 2003. We’re trained to brave the snow and go to work no matter what. Which, I will tell you makes us seem really freaking cool and brave, but also really lame because snow days are the best.
Brian digging us out so we can go to work.
In 2006, the university, along with other businesses and places didn’t close down soon enough. Loads of people were stranded on the highways and had to be rescued by humvees and taken to shelters. I’m not kidding.
So enjoy this blizzard! There’s so much fun to be had and you’ll forever be able to tell the story about the blizzard of 2010!
Did you know that I’ve been blogging since 2001? I used to pore out my heart in those old blog posts. Like the icky private stuff. Then I started a blogspot account in 2004, and developed a blog that I could share with my friends and family. After that I got new ideas and went forward in a different direction. I changed names a couple of times, and then a few years ago I switched to wordpress because of the privacy options available.
Wanting more from Wordpress, I looked into domains, and doing a wordpress.org installation that would be give me more flexibility and access to tons of free templates and plug-ins.
It’s been a good ride. And while I’m about to do a little more shifting in the coming months with my template and my domain, I decided to look at some of those 2004 posts, which is where this blog begins, and give you a little update on some of the stuff I was talking about in May 2004.
So here we go……
When I walk into work every morning I always have the feeling that people still perceive me as a student. Perhaps it is my “casual Friday is everyday!” attire or my young demeanor.
Not the case anymore. At 30, people can see that I don’t fit in with the student body. Also…I get ma’am’d like crazy these days.
I hate Quark. If only QuarkXPress wasn’t the frontrunner of desktop publishing.
Good news for me, Quark was surpassed by InDesign a few years ago.
I made the mistake of eating half of a low-carb bagel and now I feel like yakking! So nasty.
Eww! I can’t believe I ever ate low-carb bagels. That was probably the last one I ever had.
I spent most of my weekend designing a new web site. It’s called Nine*Poems Creative Outlet, www.ninepoems.com. It is just for fun, but hey if I make a couple of bucks, that’s cool too.
Ha! Even back then I couldn’t resist new websites. Well as you can see, that old creative outlet was retired and you are currently on ninepoems.com. Funny thing is that I’m actually working on something to transition away from ninepoems.com. More to come on that later.
I wonder if my crafty-ness will ever wear off. That’s all I want to do. I go through phases I guess. This happens every now and again, and then it’s back to books, or some other thing to occupy my time.
No update required. Still the same.
I bought some new fonts today, hooray! Of course I had to pick up stuff for other people too, like a Tungsten C and some canned air.
The key part of that text is the Tungsten C. That’s an old Palm device. We thought it was the bees knees. I’m sure one day, I’ll laugh at my iPhone as archaic.
She’s laying on my feet right now, keeping them warm on a rather bland Saturday morning. Persephone, who we also call “Little Bear,” loves to be at my feet. Great on cold mornings, bad in the middle of the night. I don’t know how many times I’ve kicked her, but it’s the price she pays to be in her favorite spot.
And an update on Callie….
Callie
Her last visit to the Vet was two weeks ago. They bandaged her again. Well two days later, I came home and her bandage was off! So I coned her for a couple of days while the last little bits of her tail healed. By the end of the week, her tail had not only healed but her fur grew back. So fast! I guess the air really did help. So now she is bandage and cone free and very very happy!
And because I shouldn’t leave her out…
Penny
Penny is just Penny and she’s doing great. More lovey than ever, and she’s even letting me pick her up, which has always been a challenge.
I have this lovely plant that I inherited from my old boss when she quit. Sad she didn’t want to take it with her. I think maybe she had inherited it too. I took over it’s care, and I’ll be honest with you, I’m not the best plant owner, as you’ll see later in this post.
Well…over the past eight years it’s had it’s good days and it’s bad days. Mostly because I forget to water it. Poor thing. There was a really great period of time when I used to share an office with one of my student assistants. She had tons of plants and so she kept her eye on this little guy too.
Since then, I’ve been up in my own office and the plant just chills in the window. I would water every now and again and it was doing pretty well. Then a couple of months ago I noticed something odd. Not only did my plant look amazingly alive and well, but there was a mysterious bottle of water next to it.
Ok….
I figured I must have placed it there. I am notoriously bad at bringing drinks into my office and letting them fester.
But I wasn’t sure. So I left it there to see what would happen.
Sure enough, the water in the bottle would deplete and then I’d come in the next day and it would be refilled!
So somebody, I don’t know who, is sneaking into my office to water my plant. I’ve asked around and there are no answers. Perhaps it’s the cleaning staff? But I sort of doubt it. They are are really short staffed and just overwhelmed. Perhaps it’s a secret watering gnome?
Maybe it’s my plant? Could it have magical powers?
Anyway, I know there’s got to be an explanation about it, but truthfully I want to stay in the dark. I love coming in each day to see the water bottle and my very healthy plant. I feel like the answer may disappointment me.
So if you’re out there secret plant waterer…THANK YOU!
Basically, Amanda got me the bamboo as an engagement present. The plant thrived, until Brian and I broke up, and then it dwindled. Mostly because the cats kept getting at it. So I brought it to my office and tried to revive it, but there was no hope. It was gone.
So I kept the dead plant around (am I a hoarder?) and decided that once my divorce was final I would put the plant to rest. How dramatic is that? Sure enough, I somehow remembered that little idea, and so the day after I got my divorce papers I did just that. Goodbye bamboo. I think I’ll replace you with another bamboo.
Let’s travel back in time to 1994, and review a little movie called “With Honors.”
You remember the one…snotty Harvard kids, brilliant hobo, cliches up the wazoo, and lessons learned by all. Yeah, that’s the one.
It opens with a ringlet laden kinda gay Patrick Dempsey (Oh McDreamy), Harvard student radio station host, spouting off about how it’s crunch time for seniors, there are only so many days left to finish that senior thesis.
Can I just interrupt right here. When this movie came out, I was in high school and starting to think about college. This whole “thesis” concept scared the crap out of me. I had this off-base notion that a thesis was a total requirement and that it would be the hardest thing in the world to do because of this stupid movie. Maybe things are way different at Harvard than at CU-Boulder, but this was not the case at my college. Senior thesis projects happened, but it was way under the radar. In fact, true story, my roommate wrote her senior thesis and I didn’t even know about it until she graduated and won an award for it. I am either a very bad friend, or it just really wasn’t that big of a deal.
I’m already digressing too much…
As Dempsey prattles on we get our first glimpse of Monty…aka Brendan Fraser. Wearing one of his many Harvard sweatshirts, he’s out for his morning run, where of course he’ll run by the (co-ed?) Harvard crew team, lead by his obvious from the get-go love interest Courtney (Moira Kelley, fresh off her Cutting Edge stint….TOE PICK!).
Only the enlightened Harvard senior thesis writers have time to jog in the cold Cambridge mornings, unless of course they are DJ’ing with a Rooster. They can do it all!
And Monty is such a stud. He not only rocks a Harvard sweatshirt like no other, he can memorize the opening chapter of his Thesis, and out run the Harvard crew team.
He’s great at everything…except backing up his work!
Oh Noes!!
What an idiot. Good thing he’s a good runner, and he’s got a Harvard colored scarf to wear as he runs in the middle of the chilly night to make photo copies of his first 10 chapters. Wait, you’ve got 10 chapters?!?! Asks annoying overly-competitive roommate. Yes, the one that is studying to by a gyno. The up-tight gyno guy. Because that’s the only way he’s going to get close to va-jay-jay.
But Oh Noes! Again. Monty stumbles and his beloved thesis finds it’s way into brilliant hobo’s lair. I can say without a doubt there is no way anyone gets to live in a boiler room of a library unnoticed. Let alone, a Harvard library.
Okay, okay…we’ve got a lot more to watch. We know how it goes. Simon (brilliant hobo) steals the thesis, and snobby Monty calls the cops. And then Simon dazzles the courtroom with his smarts and his wit. Monty bails him out and the lesson learning begins.
First, here’s how to make a little extra cash. Right out jail, steal newspapers and sell them cheaper. Only people in the 90s would come crawling for a paper newspaper. INFORMATION….I NEEDS ME SOME INFORMATION. No wonder we’re addicted to the Internet.
Newspapers and pay phones!?! How 90s.
Okay…so Monty is learning lessons, along with his roommates. They are so curious about Simon. Patrick Dempsey is a fan OF COURSE. Jeff (Mr. Va-Jay-Jay) is of course not pleased. And Courtney is simply hoping Simon’s attracted to her like the rest of her roomies.
Jeff studies for his future career.
Monty, in yet another Harvard shirt (in case we forgot where this movie was set), is not pleased with “the bum,” because he’s been working on his thesis since JUNIOR YEAR! Not Junior year. OMGah.
But then his heart melts when he wakes up in the cold night and decides to give Simon his Harvard blanket. Not invite him into the house, no. Give him a blanket for his new van pad.
Okay…so now Simon is following Monty around. Lots to do. Study, read, stink up the library…
So while they do all that academic stuff, let’s take a moment to talk about Brendan Fraser.
Ah, Brendan. I used to be in love with you. Back when you were like this….
And not like this…
Back at Chez Cliche, we learn that Jeff has only written one page of his thesis. Really? One page? That’s so unrealistic. How about 11. Sounds way more likely and frightening. One page just sounds stupid.
And the lessons keep on coming. The next day, Monty, who wants to work in government goes to government to help out Simon. But Simon doesn’t want help that he actually deserves. He’d rather hold a thesis ransom. So many lessons!
And then Simon teaches Monty a little bit about geology.
Each rock represents a moment. And let me just say in my limited geology knowledge, that rocks as shiny and pretty like these typically aren’t readily available at important moments. But perhaps I’m not looking hard enough.
And since we’re talking about important life moments, it’s time for Monty to spill his guts about his disappointing father. Daddy issues aside, he’s turned out okay. More life lessons!
Monty decides to take Simon to class. Because that is going to go off well. Naturally, Simon gets called on. And some brilliant dialogue commences:
Like, from the Prof, “There are no bums, there are only the financially challenged.”
And at one point Simon says, “Colleges produce a lot of garbage.” So very true.
Prof: “At Harvard, we don’t end our sentences with prepositions.” OUCH!
Time for Simon to school you. And he does just that. Going off about the Constitution. It’s like a prequel for “Good Will Hunting.”
How do you like them apples?
And so now we’re back home in the van pad. Monty is smitten with Simon. Who wouldn’t be? “Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.” He wants to bring Simon inside, but Jeff’s a dick head. Jeff needs to learn some lessons. Something tells me that he will.
Disappointed, or something, Simon takes off. I’m not sure. He’s teaching some sort of lesson I’m sure. Leaving Monty hearbroken, just like his father left him.
Time has passed, and we learn that not only did Monty get his cast off. Thank God. But that he’s using an awesome dot matrix printer. I’m personally jealous.
The sound of it brings tears to my eyes.
It’s now Christmas time and we hear the light melody of Madonna’s “I’ll Remember.” Such good 90s. We also learn that Monty isn’t going home for Christmas, because it’s too expensive AND his thesis won’t let him go. She’s a controlling bitch. Thankfully, the rooster is there to keep him company.
Lonely Monty nostalgically visits Simon’s old haunts. But there’s no Simon. When he’s given up hope, there’s a knock on the door. Simon has sent a messenger because for some reason, he doesn’t want to see Monty.
The messenger has brought along the thesis and has a message originally penned by Walt Whitman, “You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, not look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books. You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, you shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.” What is the lesson in all this madness?? Why Simon?
Monty finds Simon in an alley and he’s really sick. Poor Simon. He refuses to go to the hospital and Monty gives in way easily. Instead, he takes care of him at home. We learn he’s got bad lungs from asbestos. God damn the Man! Stupid ship yards.
While the two soul mates have a heart-to-heart. I want to talk to about Joe Pesci for a minute. What is there to say? I think this was his one shot to break outside his typecasting. I guess he did just that. He fits the role well.
So Monty is now learning lots of lessons and finding that his thesis is total crap. He hates it! It’s 83 pages of drivel. He’s going to start fresh. Bad plan Harvard.
The two sit down to a romantic New Year’s Eve chicken dinner. Simon made it for him!
But boy-oh-boy-oh-boy was it hard to pluck those rooster’s feathers. Whatcha’ talkin about Willis? Not the ROOSTER!! OH NOES!!
RIP Rooster.
Jeff is back and he is not pleased to find Simon in the house taking a dump. Jeff still hasn’t learned his lesson. But he’s going to break sometime.
Okay, okay. So much has happened. They’ve recovered well after the Rooster death. First, there’s a montage. We see Monty cruising on his most excellent new thesis. And Patrick Dempsey has Simon on his radio show so they can drink wine and be phony. And we see Monty and Courtney growing closer.
Montage over…back to work. We get a nice Jeff and Simon moment, where they bicker. But Simon has french toast to offer and Jeff just can’t resist. And then Simon drops the bomb. The big old lesson. Simon says, “You know why you hate me so much? Because I look how you feel.” LESSON. LEARNED.
Days later, Simon, who is blatantly dying, even though we rarely see him cough, is writing his obituary. He’s studying others to get ideas. Classy. And he spouts off this little nugget about one man’s obituary “How can he die? He never lived.” Very wise Simon.
Then Monty finds out that much like his own papa, Simon ditched his wife and kid too. Harsh. Lessons are overwhelming for both Simon and Monty. Monty is pissed. Daddy issues are surfacing and he walks out on Simon.
But he can’t stay mad for long. In fact, that whole issue just gets dropped and Monty takes Simon as his date to some huge pajama party. I would have loved to go to a pajama party in college. Why didn’t we do that?
Courtney gets in another fight with her (bro) boyfriend and Monty capitalizes on the moment. He finds her outside by a fountain in her lingerie (slut) and just kisses her.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“I’m ending our friendship.” SMOOTH.
But the lovemaking can’t go on forever. Simon IS DYING. And he decides to tell the saddest story about a dying dog. The director and screenwriter both knew it would be the only way we would feel emotions.
More daddy issues. And then it’s road trip time. Monty is not done with his thesis, but he’s taking Simon on the road anyway, to see his abandoned son. Everyone is going along, even Jeff (who finished his thesis. He must have had a break through. Perhaps it was the french toast?).
Good thing Simon fixed Patrick Dempsey’s van pad, cause they are cruising! They arrive at Simon Jr’s house. Understandably, Simon Jr rejects him. It does not go over well.
Regardless, Simon picks up a nice little rock and puts it in his pouch. MOMENT PRESERVED.
Simon is now super dying. He wants to find a quite place in the grass to die like the dog in his sad dog story. Harvard & CO won’t let him. Instead of taking him to a hospital STILL, they take him home to die there. And they do it with urgency.
Now comes one of the most ridiculous parts of this movie. Instead of getting him medical care they read to him Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.” Even Jeff gets in on it! JEFF!
They read him into eternal slumber. Ultimate lesson learned.
The funeral commences and Monty reads his obituary. Jeff gets a shout out! As do the others.
Simon is gone.
Of course, Monty has missed the thesis deadline, and there is no way he can graduate with honors. But he graduates anyway, with….(get this)….HONOR.
And as he walks through that infamous Harvard gate, he picks up a rock to capture the moment.
Hi! I'm Rochelle. Welcome to my blog. This is a space that’s almost like a scrapbook, a little bit of a rant room, a gallery of creative work, and a dash of nonsense. My life is not terribly exciting but I have a lot of creative energy that’s got to be focused somewhere.
The Simple Sisters
Two silly sisters acting like grown ups. Check it out!
