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.
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.
The weekend after a three day weekend is always so shockingly short. I swear, I just got off work and here I am preparing for tomorrow.
This one was a good one though. It started on Friday when I took Callie to the Vet and they put another bandage on her tail. They said she could wear it for two weeks this time and then she might not have to wear the cone when she goes bandage-free!
Well this blissful state ended a little abruptly for both her and I when I came home tonight to find her Jets-colored bandage on the floor completely in tact, as if she slipped it off disgusted with their loss. She herself was just chilling on her favorite blanket. She started to lick at it pretty good, so I was forced to put the cone on her…
She gets bummed out wearing the cone, and that bums me out pretty bad. But this could be for the best. I’m thinking that it’s somehow meant to be, because this is really what the Vets wanted to do in the first place. I’m wondering if they put her bandage on in such a manner so that it would slip off easily and we’d be forced to do the truly right thing! The tail needs air, and we’ll just have to deal with our sweet little girl living in her Elizabethian cone.
After the Vet, I went to Best Buy in an effort to get NetFlix streaming on my TV. I had lots of options. Could run a DVI->HDMI cable from my laptop. Could get a PS3. Could get a capable Blu-Ray player. Best Buy did not have the cable, so it was between the PS3 or Blu-Ray. After lots of internal debate, I ended up getting the Blu-Ray. It was half the price, didn’t require a disc from NetFlix to do initial setup, and I just don’t really play games that much.
You may be asking yourself, why not wait for the Wii NetFlix option that is coming soon? Well, there’s a bit of an urgency since I’m trying to catch up a friend on Lost before the new season starts. And the Wii version won’t have HD capabilities. Plus, I’m a bit excited for Blu-Ray. I bought Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Blu-Ray, and I can’t wait to watch it!
So overall I’m glad I got it. It was really easy to setup, and now I have a whole new gigantic option of viewing options whenever I want.
On Saturday I did a ton of cleaning (again), including some de-cluttering that I had planned on doing ever since last week’s big clean up.
Today, my dad and Cathy came up for a visit. The three of us, along with Marissa and Johnny, went over to the Great Indoors, which was a little bit like torture (I’m a renter and I have no real money to speak of), and then had a fun lunch at Panera (yum!).
We talked about how I love to teach people lessons. Okay, more like my family made fun of me for that. They called me George Bluth from Arrested Development.
If you’ve never seen Arrested Development, it’s the episode called “Pier Pressures.” I wish I could show you a clip, but alas, I couldn’t find one.
Anyway, I came home and did computer-y things, and plan to curl up with my Kindle tonight. I never did share my Kindle skin experience. I do love it so! It was really easy to apply and I think it looks so cute!
But then I think about how the sunglasses I usually buy are from the carts in the mall, where you get knock offs for like ten bucks.
Which then makes me remember the reality of my financial situation.
So then I update my budget sheet and see that I’ve got about $2 left to eat on for the rest of the month! Eek! (Okay, not really $2, but you get the point).
And that’s how I end up here, posting about the goodness that is budgeting, meal planning, and being wise about money…and just sticking to knock off cart at the mall if I’ve just got to have gold aviators, which by the way wouldn’t really be my thing anyway. But a girl can dream, right?
So like I mentioned in the previous post, I have been terrible, just TERRIBLE at my Project 365 this month. I mostly blame (besides myself) NaNoWriMo, which I’m using as an excuse for everything else I’m behind on (particularly cleaning). But for what it’s worth, here are some of the photos I did take:
November 14, 2009: Pumpkin Pancakes
I made these delicious Pumpkin Pancakes that I found the recipe for at This Week For Dinner. They were delicious and perfect for the season.
November 15, 2009: Penny
Just a simple shot of my dear Penny cat. She’s such a cutie.
November 17 2009: Water Spots
After a weekend of doing lots of laundry, I noticed these water spots on the ceiling. It freaked me out! So I worked from home and had a very nice maintenance man over, who told didn’t really fix anything but cautioned me from over doing it with my washer. Then he came back a few times to paint over it.
November 18 2009: Rochelle in Curly Hair Form
A self portrait, basically used to show my twitter friends about how I wore my hair curly. I can’t tell you how much I love my current haircut. It is one of the best I’ve ever had. And so for the first time ever I’m going to go back to the girl who cut it. I’ve never done that because I typically have such poor experiences.
November 19 2009: New Moon
Like I talked about in my last post, I went to the midnight show of New Moon with my sister and my friend Michelle. It was such a blast. First Twilight at 9, and then New Moon at midnight. The atmosphere was such a blast!
And that’s about it! Everything after New Moon was all about writing my NaNoWriMo novel!
You should actually take that as a good sign though. It means that all of my writing energy has been poured into my NaNoWriMo book! Last weekend, I finally got the breakthrough I was looking for and I have seriously increased my word count. That being said, I am still massively behind, at only 19,000 words. But I’m not afraid anymore. I feel rather confident that I can get it done, and I’m quickly falling in love with my story.
Falling in love with my story makes me happy, but it makes me worry about the other novel I’ve been working on for a year. I have already invested 300 pages into it and I am still determined to finish it. I’m pretty good and splitting my attention, but I must be honest and say that I am currently obsessed with what I’m working on now and the influences that I’ve been accessing to motivate me. I have a whole new music collection that I’ve been listening to as I write that is completely different from my other book (Click here to see it). I’m not going to lie. A lot of these songs come from Grey’s Anatomy and I think that’s a great thing. There’s a reason why the show uses these songs, because it evokes emotions and allows scenes to play out very well.
So anyway, if you’re wondering what I will be doing the rest of the month, you can bet it’s writing. I’m attacking this NaNoWriMo challenge hardcore!
Speaking of hardcore…I have some other things to report.
As you may recall from 2008, I am a Twilight fan. I shouldn’t be so ashamed about this. I have a strong philosophy of “to each their own.” My hugest pet peeve is when people who have their own nerdy, fringe, or even super popular interest are critical of one of the things I like. This comes out like crazy in the workplace. I happen to work with a lot of lovable nerds that love Sci-Fi, etc., that have literally gone to conventions, and some that love playing WoW and spend a good chunk of their free time doing that. So you would think that I wouldn’t get grief when I mention Days of Our Lives right? I totally do. It’s the most fucking obnoxious thing in the world when people do that and the most hypocritical. Star Trek is not my thing. I barely tolerated the movie and thought it was only okay. I’ll never own it or go to a midnight show for the sequel (actually, I might, because I like going to midnight shows of things). But I have a friend who loves it and I would never try to bring him down. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to bring me down either and totally grasps the “to each their own” philosophy.
So if you’re about to roll your eyes at the next part of this post, because I talk about Twilight. Spare me. It takes so much more effort to hate something than to just accept that some people like it. And if you think that hating on something that is popular, especially amongst women (which I would argue is part of the problem), makes you somehow superior or cool, it doesn’t. It makes you seem insecure.
Life is hard, and so it should be celebrated when anyone can have a ton of fun loving something in the fictional/escapism realm. To-each-their-fucking-own.
Last night I went to the Twilight double feature with my sister and my friend Michelle. It was a blast! We saw Twilight at 9 and then New Moon at midnight. It was a great time and I’m going again tonight with a larger group of friends. Is New Moon the greatest movie ever? Hell no. Do I care? Not one bit. Because I have fun watching it and living in that world for two hours.
So I guess you could call me hardcore for Twlight.
But do you know what you should actually call me hardcore for….
Grey’s Anatomy.
Because even though I got home at 2:45 in the morning and I had to be at work by 9 this morning, I stayed up and watched the new episode of Grey’s Anatomy at 3 in the morning. HARDCORE.
Truthfully, I am not actually hardcore for any of these things. I personally know people that actually attend Days of Our Lives fan events, went to the New Moon premier in Los Angeles, and make montages of Grey’s. And while it’s unlikely that I’ll ever go that far, I could never discredit or mock those girls for being passionate about something they love.
So the next time you’re working hard at hating American Idol, soap operas, Nicholas Sparks, fan fiction, Star Wars, WoW, Lady Gaga, or High School Musical….remember, it’s all for fun and life is too short to stop the fun.
PS……
Grey’s turned out way better than I thought it would for Cristina and Owen last night! I hate that a love triangle is coming, but at least this episode made me pretty happy:
Time for Friday Five! It’s been awhile. Here’s the Friday Five website. Copy these questions and write your own answers on your blog, then leave a comment so I can check them out!
What’s your favorite sports movie?
What’s your favorite romantic comedy film?
What’s your favorite animated Disney movie?
What’s your favorite non-Disney movie musical?
What’s your favorite stranger-in-a-strange-land / fish-out-of-water movie?
What’s your favorite sports movie?
It is absolutely without a doubt Field of Dreams. I’ve seen it a hundred times and it just gets better each time. It’s also a family favorite and one that we watched together when I was a kid. We still quote lines from it all the time, and it feels like our own private joke, even though every one has seen it.
This scene always gave me the chills.
What’s your favorite romantic comedy film?
Say Anything, if you can call that a romantic comedy. It’s also one of those movies that gets better every time. John Cusack is obviously amazing in that role, and I love the unusual challenges and obstacles that come between the characters. Plus, who doesn’t love to sing “Joe lies… when he cries.”
There is a serious lack of Say Anything clips on YouTube. This was the best I could do…
And if you’re unfamiliar with the movie (you’re weird, but…) here’s a remake in six minutes that’s pretty funny.
What’s your favorite animated Disney movie?
Pocahontas. I’m like the only person I know that loved that movie, but I really did. I loved Mel Gibson’s voice as John Smith. I loved all the songs and the furry creatures. I think I saw it four times in the theaters.
What’s your favorite non-Disney movie musical?
Moulin Rouge. Another great one that I love to sing along to. I love the color in that movie and the little details. The sets, the costumes, etc. It also helps that it has Ewan McGregor
My friend Katie and I used to sing this song to each other when we lived together.
What’s your favorite stranger-in-a-strange-land / fish-out-of-water movie?
The Holiday. What a great movie. I remember when I resisted watching that movie for a long time because I don’t care for Cameron Diaz, but I saw it on TV one day and gave it a shot. Now I watch it like crazy. I love the concept of a house swap and wish so badly I could do it. Sadly, I don’t have much to offer, except the exquisite Rocky Mountains.
It was a Labor Day I’m sure to never forget. First the badgood memorable news. Brian came over today so we could fill out our divorce paperwork. It was a pretty harmless visit for the most part, and the task wasn’t too challenging. We had nothing together. It did cross my mind that I should make him responsible for the debt I incurred for when he was laid off from his job and from the wedding. I only entertained that thought for a moment.
After divorce-o-rama, I scored 87,000 points on Bejeweled, which was awesome. Then I went to pick up my sister to see The Time Traveler’s Wife. I had read the book back in 2005/6, and it’s been stuck in my memory ever since. I didn’t overly enjoy the book, and at times struggled to get through it. But I like the concept and the story a lot. So once again in my life, I enjoyed the movie a lot more than the book. I think I’m the only person that happens to. My sister sobbed through the whole thing, but I knew what was coming and so I held back pretty well. As a result of holding back my tears, I got a massive headache though.
After the movie we went to the mall, and that leads to today’s picture. I have been saving up and planning on getting a whole bunch of new clothes. I haven’t bought clothes all year, and so I was definitely due. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I bought so much. It definitely turned into a shopping spree and I went with it. I got plenty of clothes for my trip to London that will also be great for work.
Lots of blacks and greys, and a few bits of color.
Today I watched TK’s funeral and balled, of course. I also went to see Inglorious Basterds with some folks, which was pretty fun. Very interesting movie that led to lots of interesting debate. I didn’t get an interesting picture of any of that, but instead took one of a box I got in the mail a few days ago. I ordered some knitting supplies through KnitPicks for making socks, including these sock blockers. Love them!
Tonight I hung out with my sister. We have this thing where we like to make each other cry. I know, weird huh? But it’s so easy to do. It’s especially easy to make my sister cry. She’s never seen True Blood ever, knows nothing about it, but when I put on the end of this past Sunday’s episode and showed her a very sad scene between Eric and Godric, she started balling. Then, I saw that we Little Women on OnDemand, so I played it simply to get to the part where Beth dies. This scene gets me every single time too, so we were both balling like babies. The only picture I captured today was from watching Little Women. Marissa thought Christain Bale looked hilarious and reminded her of someone, so I snapped this picture of her. Sadly, before the night ended I got really sick, and so this was the best I could do.
I didn't know that Victorian-era dudes could have 90s style haircuts.
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!
