the toothpick's worm

Onward!

2008-07-30T13:45:00.002-04:00

It's been a while, but, hey, I'm bored!

2008-06-24T12:03:00.003-04:00

I had a dream/epiphany last night. This is the first time that I have thought anything worthwhile in a dream, and this epiphany is only arguably worthwhile. I understand that I must have missed/misunderstood many a joke in the past because I hadn't yet realized that MAGIC JOHNSON'S NAME IS MAGIC JOHNSON!!!!!
I mean, whoa! What a name! Apparently, the origin of the nickname is sincere and not, um, perverse? But perhaps sacrilegious:

Johnson was first nicknamed "Magic" as a 15-year-old sophomore playing for Lansing's Everett High School, when he recorded a triple-double of 36 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists.[8] After the game, Fred Stabley Jr., a sports writer for the Lansing State Journal, nicknamed him "Magic",[9] despite Johnson's Christian mother thinking that the name was sacriligeous.

(from Wikipedia)

So that's all. The whole epiphany.

But while I'm writing about things that aren't really worth talking about, I will mention that I have become notably frustrated by weather reports. Old news, sure. Everyone hates the inaccuracy of weather reports. I have always been a fan of weather.com, regardless of it's inaccuracy. I actually switched to weather.com because Yahoo Weather pissed me off (always predicting rain and snow, but never giving an estimated amount). Recently, though, I've been looking at both weather.com and AccuWeather.com, because Jared assures me that AccuWeather is more AccuRate.
On Sunday I was planning on attending a Phillies game with my uncle, who suffers from numerous, serious health problems, therefore requiring at least tolerable weather. I checked both weather sites that morning. Weather.com said it would rain all day. AccuWeather said it wouldn't rain at all. (It didn't rain.. 1 point goes to AccuWeather).
Currently, I'm looking at similar predictions for today. And, believe it or not, the rain/no rain conflicitons aren't even what's really bothering me. It's the variations in temperature. I type my zip code (19147) into both sites, and it's almost always a different temperature. This morning before I left the house, AccuWeather told me it was 64° and Weather.com said 72°. That's kind of a big difference.
Maybe I just need to shut up and buy a thermometer. And a barometer, and a rain gauge. And maybe a kite with a key attached.

Good Choice, Jillian

2008-01-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

My little sister, Jillian, is going off to college in the fall, so she's been in the midst of that awful/exciting college finding process for a while. After her visit to George Mason this week, she has decided that it's the school for her. George Mason is in Fairfax, VA, so I decided to look up how close that is to D.C. It's pretty close. That's good, considering that I told her that if she went to West Virginia University (a runner up), I would never visit her because it would be boring.
At any rate, I went to the George Mason website, and was greeted by the same photo with which I am greeting you.
It reads: "With the help of Mason's Career Switchers Program, Kevin Laub discovered his true calling:" Hanging plastic lobsters on classroom walls. Or maybe he calls them "Laubsters"?
SIDE NOTE: Jill is the one who inspired the name for this blog, The Toothpick's Worm. She came up with it as a team name for some event at school when she was ten. This is, apparently, not unlike the inspiration for the band name Jimmy Eat World

Revalations 1:25-08

2008-01-25T11:44:00.001-05:00

It is a bad idea to live paycheck to paycheck because you might get fired.

A Review of Wendy's Frosty Float or How I wasted $2.13 on Wednesday

2008-01-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, January 9, 2008, I went to Wendy's. I pass the Wendy's at 15th and Chestnut at least once a day, and they have had this big advertisement for the Frosty Float for several weeks. It includes the photo shown to the right. Now, everyone likes Frosties. They're good. We all know it's just a milkshake, but the experience is somehow different. So. A Frosty Float. Sounds Good. It couldn't be very much money; half off the Wendy's menu is only $.99.
Because the weather has been so unnaturally nice this week, I thought, "This is the week I buy a Frosty Float." And it was. I bought one yesterday in between picking up my paycheck and going to the bank. The service at Wendy's was about par, not good, not too bad. I ordered the float and was given the total of $2.13. I looked up at the menu to realize that the Floats are $1.99, but, of course, Frosty Floats are NOT considered necessity by the State of Pennsylvania, and so they are taxed 7%.
After waiting for a minute, I was asked what kind of soda I wanted in my float. I said, "Root Beer." They said, "We don't have Root Beer." I, reluctantly, said, "Coke." I was then handed my sticky, overflowing Float. I had to go over and get a dozen napkins and clean everything up before I could leave. Then, I left.
So, the Float was okay. I ate/drank only half of it before throwing it out. Why didn't they have Root Beer?! Isn't "Float" Root Beer's last name? I don't know what I expected, but it simply didn't do anything for me. I was disappointed, to say the least. (To say the most would be: I was moved to blog about it after over a month of not blogging on anything.)

Later that day, Jared asked me to do one push up for him. I did, but he said my nose had to touch the ground. So I tried again, and I think that my pelvis/diaphragm might be broken.

Good day.

KOZMAPOLITZ

2007-12-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

So it's finally happening: KOZMAPOLITZ. (this is kelly's last name and my last name put together).
The earring business is official. We have a domain and everything.
www.kozampolitz.com
Please check it out and tell your friends!

Jared and I finally applied for our passports yesterday. We had our ugly ass photos taken and everything. In January, we will be booking our flights to Athens (via London) and beginning to thoroughly plan our trip to Greece and Turkey, which will occur in April/May. Very exciting. So in 6-8 weeks the passports will arrive and excitement will ensue.

I still haven't even started my Christmas shopping, but I get paid on Wednesday and the shopping will begin. I can't wait. I haven't bought anything but pasta for what seems like weeks. Not only will I be able to Christmas shop, I'll be able to eat something extravagant... like pizza! And frozen pizza! And maybe even pizza bagels!!!

The Old Soup Can

2007-11-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

Lately, (like, say, during the last month or two) my olfactory senses have been in overdrive. More specifically, my olfactory nostalgia trigger? I've been having so many moments where I catch a scent and get SENT (!) back to second grade gym class or something. Recently, I was sent back to the arts and crafts cabinet we had when I was a kid. It smelled of a combination of crayons, play-doh, construction paper, and laundry (it was in our laundry room). What a wonderful smell! On more than one occasion I had the unfortunate experience of reliving the time I made hot chocolate with soy milk. Not a good smell, not a good taste, not a good memory.
Today I found this website, Swap-Bot, a venue for Mail Swaps. I signed up for two. One involves handmade items and the other ATC's of your favorite comics. Mine will be Charlie Brown or something from his Peanuts gang. I think.
Yesterday I invented the word Goatmeal. The definition goes something like this:

Goatmeal (n) Anything relating to anything that a goat would eat, which is anything.

It came up when Jared referred to something (farts) smelling like old soup cans. I initially said that it would be like a goat's dinner, then evolved it into Goatmeal. So. Spread the word. Put it on UrbanDictionary.com and teach it to toddlers. I doubt it will make Word of the Year for '07, but there are more years ahead of us.
The two images I included today were things that I found when looking up "Open/Closed" in google image search. I was trying to find something to illustrate Business Hours in a flyer I was making. I didn't find anything. Just these.

Moving on after T-Giving D-ay

2007-11-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

So I've never cared much about Thanksgiving. I still don't. But I had a pretty nice one this year. I guess it was the overall Thanksgiving break that did it for me. This is the first year in a long time that the break has actually been a break from something. In the past, I've always had to work that weekend. This year I didn't even know what to do with myself. So much free time. It was nice. And because I had two days off from work (and I took a few hours off last Wednesday due to a hangover extraordinaire), I'm broke.

For photos of Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving, The Sequel, check out my flickr page.

Because I don't have any money --but I WILL have money in the near future-- I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. This is, by far, the latest I've waited to start shopping. Last year I believe I started in September so that I could budget a little better.

Jared and I are getting our passports this week. That'll be something to check off the list. We are planning our trip to Greece/Turkey for April/May, so we really need to take care of the passport thing.

I'm eating tuna for lunch and it's making me ill, so finishing this blog entry is no longer a priority.

Until next time..

Tuesday is the new Thursday. This week, anyway.

2007-11-19T09:58:00.000-05:00

I have decided to watch all of the movies that have won an Academy Award for Best Picture. I wanted to do it in complete chronology, but the first two (Wings and Sunrise) are not available on DVD and maybe not even VHS. So I will begin with The Broadway Melody. Out of 79 films, I have already seen 17 of them. I don't know that I'll re-watch certain ones, since I just watched On the Waterfront like three weeks ago and I don't feel like I need to see Titanic again. Maybe I will have this project done by next year's academy awards. Maybe not. Who knows.. maybe I'll step up my Netflix account to 3 DVDs at a time for the winter (whoa!).

Part of my daily walk to and from work revolves around walking through Love Park, which was so nice in the summer. The fountain is so tall that the wind blows mist all over the park. So when it was so hot out, I started walking through the park to sort of cool off for a minute. It was also so aesthetically pleasing early in the morning. Well, they've finally turned the the fountain off this week in preparation for the Christmas tree they'll put there. I'm sure that the tree will be lovely, but it's so awful right now. Also, as a side note, in the last four months that I've walked through the park about ten times a week, the water has been red, green, blue, and pink. (It was red as a promotion for Dexter..!)

Cruel, cruel spine!

2007-11-14T09:24:00.000-05:00

So the inspiration for this blog entry is all of the posters and ads all over Philadelphia that advertise New York. "Come to New York." "This is New York." They're all over. I really don't think that's fair. It seems like kind of a slap in the face, especially considering that New York really doesn't need any help luring tourists. It's really Philadelphia that should be advertising in New York, even though New Yorkers usually think of Philadelphia as a sort of bastard step brother who occasionally has worthwhile art exhibits and Live 8 concerts. I can't find any images of these ads on the internet, but if I come across one, I'll throw it up here. Or I'll throw up on it.
I am writing an article for The Bulletin, which involves me going to see Temple Theater's production of The Time of Your Life tonight. I was excited about it, and I still kind of am, but I have so much to do tonight. Part of what I have to do is write the article after the play so that the article can make it into Friday's paper. I am also assisting my mother in purchasing a bulk amount of these pint glasses she is ordering for her bike shop. I won't bore you with the details of my labor, but it's something that I need to do on my home computer. I'll post the image from the glasses after I place the order.
My ever-problematic back has been especially problematic this week, which may or may not be connected with the other pains I experience once a month. But I am making an effort to sit up straight and not cross my legs. Usually I have my legs crossed in a very extreme matter that makes me lean to one side or the other, which only makes things worse. So. No leg crossing today.
Right after I wrote that, I drank some water and crossed my legs.
Ugh.
Well, I'm very busy, eating my Junior Mints for breakfast and paying my personal bills. So I'd better tend to those things.
Happy Hump Day.

Week In Review:

2007-11-09T11:18:00.000-05:00

Let's recount this lost of goals for the week:

1. Become addicted to Super Mario on Super NES. DONE. I played the shit out of that game right after I blogged. I got really far and then I had to turn it off and I lost everything. So I'm taking a break now. I think I more than completed this goal.
2. Make a more than substantial dent in the baby blanket that I am knitting for Jared's niece or nephew to be (arriving in approximately two weeks). (This goal will be difficult considering goal #1) This goal is being altered, since the baby was born on TUESDAY! Jared now has a niece, Ella. A niece without a blanket from me. Yet. I did figure out the rest of the framework for the blanket and worked on it, but the dent isn't as substantial as I was thinking it would be when I wrote the goal. I also haven't watched any movies this week, which is always my prime knitting time. So now I intend to give the blanket as a Christmas gift.
3. Complete the Student Worker Handbook for work that I have been working on for about a month. Um, not done. It's close, but I have been depending on the contributions of one person, and she was out of the office all week. Ugh.
4. Buy a domain for the jewelry business.
5. Take enough pictures of earrings to be able to create a pack of 100 (individual) business cards with. Then create and purchase the business cards. (For more detail on this venture, visit moo.com)
RE: Goals 4 and 5: I didn't have enough money to do these things this week. And now that it is dark out by the time I get home from work, there hasn't been enough natural light to take photos. That's a project for tomorrow, which is still part of this week, so I'm not a complete failure. Yet.

Six O'clock, and all's well!

2007-11-05T18:03:00.001-05:00

This is my first "off-site" entry in quite some time. I'm at home. I just got home, actually. It's six o'clock p.m. and it's pitch black outside, which I kind of like, but I don't think I'll like it for long.
My goals for the week:
1. Become addicted to Super Mario on Super NES
2. Make a more than substantial dent in the baby blanket that I am knitting for Jared's niece or nephew to be (arriving in approximately two weeks). (This goal will be difficult considering goal #1)
3. Complete the Student Worker Handbook for work that I have been working on for about a month.
4. Buy a domain for the jewelry business.
5. Take enough pictures of earrings to be able to create a pack of 100 (individual) business cards with. Then create and purchase the business cards. (For more detail on this venture, visit moo.com)
That's enough goals for one week, I think. They're good, productive goals.

I guess you could say I'm excited..!

2007-10-19T10:14:00.001-04:00

Today I am leaving work early to go with Jared and his family to upstate New York (Hammondsport, to be exact. The photo on the right is of somewhere in Hammondsport. I googled it.). His Aunt (and Uncle and cousins) live on a farm there, and they have a tradition of going up each year to help chop and collect firewood for the winter. This year, I have been invited. I'm excited. Excited to leave work early, excited to be somewhere different and new, excited to be in the middle of nowhere/nature, and excited to do this thing that I have never done.

At work, they are switching around offices, and I am getting a cubicle neighbor. Her name is Bernice (often called Miss Bernice). She is the funniest, most light-hearted woman who works here. She is round and jovial with short curly hair and a sharp wit. She has already brought over picture frames, toys, plants, and complaints about pack rats (!). I am excited about a new neighbor (whom I like a lot), a change of environment, a change of attitude, and more student workers :)

I am bidding on a camera on ebay, which I am destined to win because I placed an overly high bid. If I don't win it, then, oh well. Someone else will be paying way too much. I haven't had a digital camera in months and it's killing me. I really need to be taking photos for the earring business, Rittenhouse Magazine, Bikesport events, and so much more. I wish I had a camera for this weekend. I have been researching cameras for months and THIS IS IT! I am excited about learning to use cameras manually again, taking photos for my and kelly's etsy site (yet to be made), and being able to actually implement all of the photo ideas that I have.

I'm getting my creative groove back, so to speak, and it feels good. After I stopped taking art courses in college, I kind of put my artistic abilities in the attic, and now, all of a sudden, I'm making jewelry, knitting, buying expensive cameras, and BLOGGING!

I IZ BLOGZ 2 U NOW!!!!!

2007-10-12T14:19:00.000-04:00

Another week down the drain..
These weeks fly by. I was a little busier this week and the height of my business (busy-ness) will be next week, I think. I have a registration event every day.
Today I spent a lot of time collecting clip art and, more recently this afternoon, I looked at hundreds of lolcats. The one I've posted is really freaking me out.
Last night at Quizzo at Fergie's we came in 2nd place! We've never really come close, and it was really a tie for first, but we lost the tie breaker. So that was a thrill.
Today for lunch I went to the Jamaican food truck, which I've heard so many people rave about. I got macaroni and cheese and plantains... It was like 10 lbs of food! It was a lot and it was only $4, and it was really good. I almost swallowed the mac and cheese in one bite, I got so full. I can't finish the plantains.. they're so greezy. Good, though.
I think that this weekend entails Pizza Hut!!!! I can't wait. Also in store for the weekend: Thrift stores, bicycle flea markets, The Darjeeling Limited, and stopping at my mom's house for photographs for my dad's birthday present. Maybe

Ahoy, Tuesday!

2007-10-09T16:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Professional Development Day, so I was not at the computer all day, which was nice. I had meetings and workshops and things of that nature. It felt very... professional. And this week is the week that registration begins, so things are busier in general. It's nice having tasks at hand.
The weekend was a success! Kelly and I did really well at the craft fair with our earrings. We definitely sold more than anyone else, although I'm not sure what our total sales came out to. And then the Mew Gallery took twenty pairs on consignment. SO. Now you can find our earrings at the Mew Gallery! That felt good.
It was hotter than hell out, so, again, no scarf sales. That's okay, but it would have been nice to NOT get a sun burn. It also would have been nice if the Phillies didn't lose on Saturday night. That was a bunk series, man.
Now that we have a better idea of what earrings sell and what people are into I'm back on the internet looking for ideas. Seafaring clip art seems to rock. So do sock monkeys.
On Sunday I ran errands, cleaned my apartment, made salsa, and had an overall pleasing day.
Today I spent like $8 on lunch at Whole Foods, which is kind of getting me down, since I don't really like to buy my lunch at all. And since I've gotten hooked on Dunkin Donuts coffee. Ugh. Will there ever be a time when I'm not tight on money?

Inability to comply may result in disciplinary action.

2007-10-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

This has been kind of a bum week. I have been so sleepy and I am SO tired of the heat. Will it never end?
Yesterday I got an assignment! One that takes a lot of time! Woo! I am to rewrite the Student Worker Handbook. I am really excited because having nothing to do has also really been bumming me out.
Tomorrow is the Art Extravaganza hosted by the Mew Gallery . That's very exciting. I would like to make at least a dozen pairs of earrings tonight.
We'll see.

Holy S

2007-10-03T10:45:00.000-04:00

I am in awe:

Octoberfest(s) '08

2007-10-02T12:20:00.000-04:00

Good old Tuesday. Yesterday I left work early on a count of feeling queasy --physically and mentally. Maybe I hadn't eaten in a while or something, I don't know. I was shakey and nauseated. And I was getting really upset that there's nothing for me to do at work and yet I can't really work on things that I wish I were at home working on. Then I thought I could improve my grasp of HTML (which is minimal, at best) but I couldn't find a good resource and I was just getting more and more fed up. So I left around 2. The fresh air helped.

I went home and watched an old video tape that I found when I was at home last weekend. It was the first tape I had in my video camera, which I bought when I was 18. It was very funny. My sister is so strange, and she always has been. She has always enjoyed performing impromptu songs in front of people/cameras. So some of that was documented. The other thing that was particularly amusing was the segment where I walked around high school. It made high school look like so much fun, which is not a memory that I have.
I guess that even though I always talk about how much I hated high school and hated college, I don't realize how novel it is for your life to revolve around people who are all the same age as you and who are all in the same boat as you. Come to think of it, that is what I hated about it all. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Either way, I still hope that I never say that those were the best times of my life.

I don't know how October wound up becoming so busy for me. On Saturday the 13th, Jared and I will be working at the Swap Meet at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome (which is all of a sudden called the Valley Preferred Cycling Center..?!). They have it every fall (and maybe even every Spring). Commercial and private vendors buy tables and sell their unwanted wares for shockingly low/negotiable prices. I have never been able to go because I have always been a retail peon who had to work Saturdays because she went to school during the week. So I am excited that I not only get to go this year, but I get to make money while I'm there. This should be fun.
This means that all of my October weekends are officially booked. Maybe I can even sell some earrings at the swap meet..!

T.G.I.F.F.

2007-09-28T15:25:00.000-04:00

You can probably figure out what the extra F stands for.

I have had nothing to do all day today and yesterday, so I feel crumby and can't wait to leave. Today has been going by considerably quickly, though. Just an hour and a half left. Then I get to work at Bikesport for the weekend.

Kelly and I did get into the craft festival at the Mew Gallery. For an overview:
The craft fair is on Saturday, Oct 5 and Sunday, Oct 6 in the Italian Market. It is also sponsored by Di Bruno Brothers and The Gleaners. It should be a lot of fun. Margaux will also be representing herself there. Excitement has ensued.
Also, for more of an overview, Kelly and I are in the business of jewelry, which we make out of Shrink Paper, which is what Shrinky Dinks are made of. They are tres cool (pardon the Green Day reference). I'll be taking photos of them soon (hopefully tonight) and creating some sort of website. We've had a lot of fun making them, but we will need to make a bunch more. We just keep having so many ideas! We will also be selling our knitted goods (hopefully it's chilly out on the 5th so that we sell some g.d. scarves!) and I will undoubtedly be trying to unload some of my 1" buttons. So come out for a nice time. I will plug the event again next week!

Yesterday I received my mail from the Mail Swap. It's a fun thing to do, I recommend it to anyone who loves snail mail (and who doesn't?!). You get a name and address and you have to send that person a letter/package/whatever you want by a certain date. What I didn't realize was that that person has your name. I thought it was all scrambled. So that was kind of cool. When I realized that, I got a little nervous like maybe mine wasn't cool enough, but I think it was pretty even. I sent some office supplies, basing my letter on working in an office. I sent post-its and pens and paper clips. I received my letter yesterday and it was an assortment of postcards from different U.S. "attractions" (some of them were not so attractive, but the postcards were nice anyway). It was pretty cool and very exciting to get something in the mail that wasn't a bill or a red Netflix envelope.

I honestly couldn't say what I have spent the last 7 hours doing here at work. But before I started blogging, I was (though I have no idea why) reading the Timothy McVeigh Article on Wikpedia, which led me to articles about capital punishment in the U.S. And then I looked into the cases of capital punishment in different states, which was just horrifying. I know that Texas has it's reputation, but please take a moment to examine the following two links anyway:
List of Individuals Executed in Pennsylvania
List of Individuals Executed in Texas

--I also found it interesting that the Pennsylvania executions all took place under the governing of Tom Ridge. (THAT is why George W. chose him to be in charge of Homeland Security, isn't it?!)

OH! I forgot... the first thing that I did this morning was make a paper wallet! I found a link to these simple paper wallet-making instructions on Billy's del.icio.us Page (which is otherwise pretty boring, sorry Bill). It's from a site called Instructables.com, which turned out to be awesome). The wallet I made is pretty neat, maybe I'll try to make some of those and pawn them off on people at the craft fair, too.

No more IMDB pls!!!!!!

2007-09-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

I keep getting stuck on IMDB and it makes me feel like such a waste-oid.
In addition to reading about countless, nameless celebrities, I also perused the New York Times, the New Yorker, and a handful of Wikipedia articles today (I don't need to hyperlink those references, do I? Just enter .com at the end of each one if you're so driven to visit the sites).
Some of the more casual writing on the New York Times site was a little too casual, I think. I mean, I'm not one for stodgy writing, but if I'm going somewhere for information (somewhere as allegedly dependable as the New York Times website), I hope for it to be professional and objective. This article, which I found out after the fact is actually a live blog from the other night's presidential candidate live debate, is a little too blog. Several of the articles on presidential candidates were like that... starting off paragraphs with "Wow!" and "Tim Russert did a great job..."

Another site I've been visiting lately (this week) is VegWeb.com. I've been cooking a lot, but I have recently been attracted to casseroles. Casseroles are great for when you want Sunday night's dinner to last as leftovers (lunch and dinner) through Friday. So VegWeb has served me well. Last night was something called "Rick[']s Casserole," which could have easily been called "Make Pasta and then Bake it" but it was really good regardless of the name.
ALSO
I made tofu for the first time. I found a simple Baked Tofu recipe and researched how to Press it. I rolled it around in bread crumbs and spices and it came out looking like mozzarella sticks, but without the cheese. and the moisture. They were a little dry. Most of them went into the freezer. I plan on frying them tonight. Hopefully that will help.

If you're interested in humor writing, here are the two funniest things I've read (so far) this week:
From McSweeney's - TROUBLE REPORT FROM THE GUSSSSB(GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES SECRET SMITHSONIAN STORAGE BUILDING)
From The New Yorker's Shouts and Murmer's Section - Greenspan and Simpson: On Writing

Oo-de-lally!

2007-09-26T12:57:00.000-04:00

Movies I watched last week while knitting/preparing for the arts/music festival that happened on Sunday:
-The Pianist
-The Royal Tennenbaums
-Bottle Rocket
-The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
-Robin Hood (the Disney cartoon)
-Year of the Dog
-Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
-The Graduate
-Blade Runner
-Rushmore
-Ordinary People

That's all. I don't know why I watched all the Wes Anderson movies, but I did. Maybe in preparation for The Darjeeling Limited. I'm excited for that. Last week, also, Jared and I saw Across the Universe, which I would give 4/5 stars, although I think Jared might lean toward 3. During the movie, the fire alarm went off for a minute, so we all got free tickets. So. We'll see The Darjeeling Limited in two weeks when it comes out.

Lately, the topic of religious affiliation has come up more than once within my group of friends, so I've been trying to pick mine. I'm not quite sure, but I have decided that I am against people saying that they are "spiritual." The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't really know what "spiritual" even meant. So I looked it up, and Merriam Webster defines it as:

1 : of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit : INCORPOREAL
2 a : of or relating to sacred matters b : ecclesiastical rather than lay or temporal
3 : concerned with religious values
4 : related or joined in spirit
5 a : of or relating to supernatural beings or phenomena b : of, relating to, or involving spiritualism

So the definition pertaining to my query would be "concerned with religious values." Having learned this, I hate the word even more. The only people that I could take seriously as spiritual people, I think, are Native Americans.
They seem pretty spiritual.
During one of these conversations, Kelly reminded me of a previous conversation that we had in which she asked me, "Do you believe in God?" and I replied, "I believe in Science."
So there's that.

Anyway, we had this festival thing on Sunday, and I don't think that it was what we expected, but we sold five pairs of earrings, which was nice. We're trying to get into this craft fair thing on October 5, which is held by the Mew Gallery. That would be great.. right in the Italian Market. Anyway, here's hoping.

"Ooh, look at me. I'm off with my way cool friends to sniff floor wax."

2007-09-19T11:19:00.000-04:00

Sometimes PMS just feels like being a teenager, except the upside is that I look a lot better than i did as a teenager, even on my bad days. Maybe I just feel that way because Jared and I watched a few episodes of My So Called Life, which always makes me feel introverted and existential and angsty. --In a good way.
In other news, my job is back on. Through the end of the year. That's reassuring. And a huge relief considering that I owe various people/corporations a total of >$750/month. And the months just keep piling up.
This also means I'll be blogging through the rest of 2007. This will really be the Year of the Blog for me.
Maybe I should acquire some readership.
Somehow I re-stumbled across the art of Shag (shown to the right). We always had Shag stuff at AIA, and I've always sort of love/hated it, but I think I really like it as a collection, not so much as individual pieces.
Last night I watched Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, which was terrible. I really don't like Jennifer Jason Leigh at all. But it reignited my interest in The New Yorker, which may or may not be a good thing. I have spent the morning reading Shouts & Murmers.
Today I had to check the voicemail messages on the shared phone line here at work and the first one was some girl like "Hey i can't believe you have the community college as your voicemail... you're funny! You better come out to Michelle's party tonight, you know everyone's gonna be there. Okay, call me back!"
And an update on the bathroom report: Yesterday, there were dozens of dried beans in the sink/trough. ..?!

When work feels overwhelming, remind yourself that you're going to die.

2007-09-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

It would be wrong for me to not blog about these ecards. I've been sending them for weeks now. And people like them, unlike every other ecard that exists. you can browse and send your own at someecards.com. you'll probably wind up reading every single one.
In other news, I've been applying for a lot of jobs. So if anyone has one for me, please let me know a.s.a.p, as i will be jobless (and therefore without any money) in exactly two weeks.
Also, Kelly and I will be representing ourselves next Sunday, September 23rd at the Deer Park Music Benefit. We will be selling our wares, which include shrinky dink earrings (pics to come soon), knitted scarves, hats, etc, and 1" buttons. The festival is in New Hope. It should be fun. I'm excited. We've been shrinky dink-ing our little hearts out this week.
Here's a challenge: Kelly and I need to figure out how to display the earrings without actually buying displays. AND I happen to have 20+ empty Vitamin Water bottles that need to be put to use (since Philadelphia doesn't recycle plastic). Channel your hidden talents as an engineer and construct diplays for earrings out of the bottles PLS!
That's all for now. I'll be awaiting display ideas!

Work Log - Sept 13

2007-09-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday on the internet I looked up

-Second Life because I was curious. I am an ex-Sims addict. i didn't want to install anything onto this computer at work, though, so I just registered and that was that. i'm in to it, though.
-The Abominable Dr. Phibes. This is a movie that Kelly and I saw at the Secret Cinema halloween fest a few years ago. We loved it, but we had missed the beginning, so we didn't know what movie it was. Well, now I know and I can't wait to watch it again. to figure out what it was, i googled "gramaphone organ horror movie" and it was the first thing to pop up. the guy --Vincent Price-- is some kind of creepy doctor trying to kill off the surgeons who "killed" his wife years ago. to speak, though, he has to plug his throat into a gramophone. and he plays the organ in his old castle house and these pretty ladies come out in gymnastics uniforms. i don't know... the movie is crazy. i'm so excited about it!
-Halloween Costume research. I've got a mask, a glowing finger, and an Elliot. This is gonna be awesome.

That's really about it from yesterday. I found out that my job here is ending on the 28th of September, which is way sooner than I thought. So I'm back in the job market. Ugh.

Yes, I am stubborn

2007-09-13T10:50:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I added the Visual Bookshelf application to my facebook account. If you're unfamiliar, facebook has stepped it up and added "applications," which range from the Graffiti Application (which allows you to leave other people drawings using a Paint-like program) to the Where I've Been Application (you mark on a map of the world the places you been, places you want to go, and places you've lived) to the Visual Bookshelf Applications (shows the covers of books you've read, you want to read, and you are currently reading). There's probably a hundred different applications. I can't keep up.
So I added the Visual Bookshelf and have been going through, selecting books I've read. I think that there should be an option for "Books I Will Never Read. Ever." But there isn't, so I will list them here:

-The DaVinci Code Sorry guys, it's never gonna happen, no matter how many people recommend it to me. I'm not reading it. No interest. This stands for Angels and Demons, too.
-Anything by Chuck Palahniuk. I started one of them, after so many of my friends tried to get me into him, and I wasn't into it. Yes, I went into it not wanting to like it, but I also just didn't like it. It's not my thing.
-Harry Potter My feeling about this is that I have a ton of other books I'd like to read. I'm not going to bump them down in the queue to read Harry Potter just because everyone says it's cool. I've seen and loved every Harry Potter movie. Dominique had a good idea about this. She said she'd read them with her kids. I'm into that. When I was little, my mom and I read all of the Chronicles of Narnia and I have good memories from that. I think Harry Potter can provide the same thing for my potential children. So I am sure that they are great books, but it is not important to me to read them right now.

So the list ends there for now.
While I'm in list mode, though, I wanted to make a sort of disclaimer regarding the Work Log. When I list things that I've viewed on the internet on a particular day, it should be considered that I have also gone to the following sites. I visit these daily:

BoingBoing This is a wonderful site. In fact, it describes itself as A Directory of Wonderful Things. It's a pretty famous site, so I know I'm not releasing hidden information by sharing the site with you, but it truly is great.
Local Weather - 19147 Because, hey, the weather widget is just a straight up liar.
Facebook and Myspace - No hyperlink. Although I visit these sites everyday, I don't spend very much time on them, and I'd really prefer if no one knew that I spent any time on them, but I do. And I don't want to talk about it anymore.
Flickr That link will take you to my Flickr site, but I usually surf around Flickr in search of nice photos, photos of people I know, and potential digital camera investments.
WikiPhilly.com I've been trying to get back into writing articles for WikiPhilly again. Yesterday I did some for SEPTA busses, trains, subways, and trolleys. Today: who knows.

That might be it. You could also consider that I go to Ebay pretty often, and I also check my bank account balance regularly.
It's only 11 a.m. and I've already blogged so there might be another post later.

An Overview of my Work Environment

2007-09-12T12:57:00.000-04:00

I was inspired to write about my work place after my second trip to the bathroom today.
The bathrooms here are public. They are oddly located behind a giant pillar, so they aren't very easy to find and there's no direct way to access them, you have to circle the pillar. At any rate, I understand that bathrooms smell bad for obvious reasons. This bathroom, though, is the worst smelling public bathroom I have ever used, and I use it every day. I have never been one of those people who gets creeped out by public bathrooms and just sort of hovers over the seat. I always just go for it.
Not any more. I grab a big wad of toilet paper and wipe down the seat every time. I can't not. Nine times out of 10, the seat is all wet, which I don't understand. Is it from the hoverers? Is it from women who bring their little kids in there? The other thing I have never understood is why there is always toilet paper all over the floor. I can't imagine a situation in which I would have to throw toilet paper on the floor -new or used. Just throw it in the toilet, if you have to! A toilet is nothing but a trash can full of water. I'm not gonna make an episode out of this complaint, or describe the smell (because it's not a normal bathroom stench, it's got all kinds of exotic characteristics). I'll just say that when I was in there for the second time today, one of the janitors was in there complaining about how dirty it is (at first, she complained to someone, and when that someone left, the janitor just kept talking). She said that she didn't understand how someone could leave their own piss in the toilet and now flush but then when they come into the bathroom they won't use a stall that still has piss in it. So, to make herself feel better about this, she doesn't clean those stalls. "That's what you get," she said.

The rest of the situation here is this:
It is an office, so you're supposed to look presentable. I'd say that maybe 10% of the staff wears appropriate business attire, 50% wear casual -yet presentable- attire, and 30% wear styles and colors I never knew existed. This makes me feel okay about the days that I don't go all out with my business professional outfit.
The job itself requires little attention. My job revolves around New Student Registrations, which are not occurring right now. There were a bunch in August and they'll start back up in October, but September is slow. So there are days where I don't have an ounce of work. Most days I have an hour or two worth of work, but it's usually something like printing posters, which takes an hour to print, but I'm just waiting.
I wonder how many other people have jobs like mine. I could probably take on the responsibilities of three other people and still have down time.

Yes, I have a cubicle, but there's a second desk at the other end of it, which is shared by student workers most of the time.

QWERTY WARRIOR!

2007-09-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

Today I was all set to read the Spark Notes on Hamlet (I'm too lazy to actually read Hamlet), when I checked my bank account balance, saw an overdraft fee, and got mad (I intend to fight it). So that kind of effed up my day. Since then, I have played some typing games. I found this on flickr and thought that the comments were amusing.
Jared said that he liked my blog because all I do is say, "I found this.. it's awesome!" and I never go into why I like it.
I'm okay with that for now.
Yesterday at work I saw a tiny baby mouse in my cubicle. My cubicle is actually shared with another person, who is usually a student worker, but right now it's someone who is being trained. She's apparently terrified of mice. I don't care about a tiny baby mouse, just as long as it isn't a fat momma cockroach.
I was just complimented on how fast I type, so I guess those games are really doing the trick!

Work Log - 6 September, 2007

2007-09-07T16:20:00.001-04:00

Not a lot of putzing around yesterday (or today). But my internet surfing mainly consisted of travel research yesterday.

What I read:

Lonely Planet Guide
-The lonely planet guides are very helpful. I actually went to Borders yesterday after work to read some of them in the flesh and they were very specific. I was researching routes from Cairo to Tel Aviv to Istanbul and found all the information I needed (for now).
Transitions Abroad
-I have found this one to be helpful in regard to working abroad programs.
Eurail.com
-Although this was monetarily informative, this website doesn't offer a Europass that includes Britain at all. So that was stupid.
Heather Matarazzo
-I didn't know she was gay!

Other things I did at work:

Lots of registration. That's about it. I was pretty busy. Here is an excerpt from an email that I sent Lisa the other day describing the Registration part of my job:

i have been doing registration (sitting at a counter, calling, "next!" and registering students for classes), which can be heartbreaking (when students come to the counter and their classes have been dropped for apparently no reason and now they are all full so they have to redo the schedule they so meticulously created six months ago and they are mad at everyone --one student asked me to call security on one of my co-workers and several others threw their papers at me and stormed away..) and gratifying (when they come to the counter for the tenth time after all their attempted registrations have been rejected because of full class capacity and finally everything works out and they say, "there is an angel on your back" [one person said that] or "you are beautiful, thank you for all of your help, you have made my education possible!" [another person said that]).

Work Log - 5 September, 2007

2007-09-06T08:53:00.001-04:00

Things I read on the internet yesterday:
Family Guy Trivia + other "Fun Stuff"
-I was wondering about why Lacey Chabert did the voice of Meg for the first season and then they switched to Mila Kunis. I did not find an answer, but I did find out that Chris Griffin's middle name is Cross.
Mila Kunis
-I wound up reading a bunch of stuff about Mila Kunis after that. Turns out she's engaged to Macauly Culkin. I don't know if that's still true. IMDB can be a little outdated.
American Nystagmus Network
-I found this website about Nystagmus, the eye condition that I have. It was quite informative and quite interesting.
WikiPhilly City Paper Article
-I edited this article and created one for The Clog, Local Support, and the Astral Plane restaurant. I also learned that the Astral Plane no longer exists.
British Monarchy Family Tree
-Since Dominique and I watched The Queen the other night, I was curious about how the monarchy worked. I looked up wikipedia articles on the Queen, her consort, her son, and a handful of other people. Including Tony Blair.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
-Just as I was about to go on to read Gordon Brown's Wikipedia Page, I decided to be a patriot and read Hillary Clinton's.
Stephen Hawking
-Somehow I also wound up reading about Stephen Hawking. Oh.. I know why.. because I heard that he and his daughter had written a book. And I didn't know that Stephen Hawking had, or could have, a daughter.
Woz
-Because yesterday I read about Steve Jobs and it kind of seemed like he gave Woz the shaft. I guess he didn't (?) but anyway now I know about both of them.
This Fishing Lure Art Exhibition
-I read about this and thought it was awesome. That's what the chicken leg picture is all about.

Other things I did at work:
Not much. I was asked if I would like to continue working here (in another position), which is pretty great news. Other than that, I really didn't do anything. I feel guilty about that, but if there's nothing to do, there's nothing to do..!
--TGIT?

Work Log

2007-09-05T09:24:00.000-04:00

What I read at work yesterday:

Steve Jobs
Author Events at the Free Library of Philadelphia
This NYT article on the future of author events
John Phillips and all of his wives and children
Sally Field Filmography
All ebay auctions for this camera that i really want

Other things I did at work:

Registered students for classes
Entered some event data into the college database
An equal amount of disappointing and helping students
Stayed 2 hours later than I needed to on a count of losing 8 hours to Labor Day
Snooped on a (cambodian) student worker's idle instant message, which read, "when i pee in rice field i think of you :)"

Postal Activities Welcome

2007-08-23T15:18:00.001-04:00

i think about blogging every day, but i never have anything to say. when you read too many blogs, it's hard to come up with material.
one blog i found, though, has given my creativity a nudge. a girl (i don't know anything about her, which is cool) started this mail collective. like temporary pen pals. it's more for the giving than the receiving. well, in my case at least. sometimes they are themed. this one isn't. (here's the link...scroll to the bottom).
i used to be so postally active and i'd like to get back into it. so i've signed on for the next mail swap. it gives me something to think about at work, which essentially means that i've decided to theme my letter/package with post-its and paper clips.
it's fun, though.

My Favorite Web Ads

2007-06-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

Usually when I go to weather.com or cnn.com I see these ads for lowering your (my?) mortgage. More often than not, there's a little animation of someone drawing George Washington and Abraham Lincoln out of connect-the-dots and then they come alive and do a little Vaudeville dance. I don't understand them in any way. Sometimes it's a silhouette of a guy dancing.
Today, it was this:

I almost wish I had a mortgage!

This World

2007-05-06T22:32:00.001-04:00

Why did Of Montreal change the words to one of their songs to fit an Outback Steakhouse Mothers' Day commercial?

It just occured to me..

2007-05-05T22:57:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from seeing Spiderman 3 in the theater. As a whole, I liked the movie. I caught the latter half of the 2nd one on TV last night, and I had only caught the first half of it at the nail salon like 6 months ago. So I was feeling up to speed and my dad suggested that we see it. So we did. And I liked it. But I was wondering...
Why did they pick Tobey Maguire to play Spiderman? I'm sure he's a swell guy and everything. I think he's a good actor, and I even had a small crush on him when I was 18. But:

Topher Grace, James Franco, and Thomas Haden Church (even in THIS photo) are each a hundred times hotter than Tobey Maguire. Was this done on purpose?
I don't have any more philosophizing on the subject.. I'm just throwin it out there. Oh, except that they could have had someone hotter than Kirsten Dunst, too.
That's all I have to say about that.

What? What? What? What? Why?

2007-04-30T00:02:00.000-04:00

i've been searching for the video for this song online, but for some reason it's been taken down. fortunately (?) i found this little gem..

Hey Billy

2007-04-11T13:19:00.000-04:00

This is from Benji, maybe you already know about it. it's fucked. www.SeeMeRot.com. Hm.. what else? My WikiPhilly article for Rittenhouse Magazine is just about done. Maybe I will post it on here when it's done.
I think that if I ever tried to make this a real blog, like one that many people read, I'll be tempted to just say "It's fucked" about everything that I post.

Greetings from...

2007-03-15T21:11:00.000-04:00

...my new MacBook!

Another Day without a Dollar

2007-02-27T14:54:00.000-05:00

So, today my iTunes pretty much stopped working and then spat on my face. And then I accidentally put my copy of The Hotel New Hampshire through the washing machine. On the up side, I found my high school blog in the internet archives. On the down side of that, though, it turned out to be incredibly boring. That's all for today. I'll be going back to work on Thursday, so my life of solitude and humility ends tomorrow.

Hooray!

2007-02-22T13:10:00.000-05:00

...for the Beautiful Traps!
...and for me! I took a shower, and I'm about to take another! And I'll be back downtown for the weekend. Additionally, ever since I wrote the WikiPhilly Y100 article, I have been listening to YRock on XPN. It's been a blast from the past, but I also feel a little more hip, since I haven't listened to any radio in quite some time.

Update: My Foot is still Broken

2007-02-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

My stitches come out tomorrow! The most exciting thing about that is that I can finally shower! And shave my legs. Great Scott, they look horrible.
Dominique told me to watch American Idol tonight so that we could talk about it tomorrow, but I got distracted and watched Adam and Steve. That was entertaining. I hadn't watched any television or movies in almost a week. I intend to make buttons tomorrow --after the shower. Yup, it's a big day tomorrow! I'm gonna get out of bed and everything!

Founded for Life

2007-02-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today Jared and I were speaking, briefly, about the idea of "Self." We said everything that you can say about it, I think. You can't really ever know yourself. But the only thing you ever know is yourself. You have a self that you are aware of, but everyone else is aware of you in a different way, which is both entirely separate from you but also contributing to the self that you create. ET CETERA.
I made a comment about how maybe my favorite thing is the idea that I am aware of my Self to whatever extent I am aware of it, and that's my business. But people think about me in ways that I will never understand without being myself, and that's none of my business. People own parts of me that I don't even know about. That is my favorite thing.
So.
Then I found myself wandering around the internet for the first time in days. I have been pretty bored with it lately, but one thing (or, two things, I guess) I will never get bored of are FOUND Magazine and PostSecret. Lisa had something on her blog from Post Secret a few days ago and it's been in the back of my mind since then.
Jared and I were also talking about people owning photographs of you that you have never seen. I personally own thousands of photographs from middle school up to the present and they are filled with people that I don't speak to anymore, or have never spoken to in my life... Strangers wind up in the background of your photos all the time. I am in the background of people's vacation slides. So are you.
These things exist.
As a side note, the image that I uploaded from FOUND is something that was found in Philly. That's why I chose it. I am not (aware if I am) infertile. But I am (so far) under 24. And, oh yeah, I'm (not) married.

Good Brief

2007-02-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

Me no blog in days.. sorry.
I don't really feel like doing it right now, either. This was a depressingly boring week. I don't know where it went. I wiki-ed a bunch, but I have a whole bunch of other things I want to be doing. I haven't read a thing. And I'm supposed to be making buttons. I will make buttons next week. I have to.
I am getting some tax money back. That's awesome. I haven't spent any money in almost two weeks, which is also awesome. I was worried about getting back to the city and not having any money but it looks like I may have more money than ever! It's still not much, but any money is good money. I guess.
Ok, bye.

Good Grief

2007-02-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

Today I am sad because it is snowing. It is snowing and I am sitting around doing nothing. I can't go outside because I can't wear a shoe. And one of my favorite things is when it snows in the city. And I am not in the city.
I realized that two of my favorite days were when it snowed in the city.

I just wrote out the story of both of those days and erased it. It seemed like it would be boring to someone else. They were great, though, because nothing happened but it snowed. And the two days were the days of the only big snow last year and the year before. And this is going to be the big one this year and it's going to be a sham.

Well, this is stupid. I'm gonna go eat some chocolate.

Oh, Mondays! ...It is Monday, right?

2007-02-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

Lisa sent me that image. Her brother gave it to her. It's classic.
I've just finished watching The Color Purple on demand. It was good, but in the movie the weather is always so beautiful and it's so shitty here. Not that I've been outside in the last 48 hours. But still. I'm upset about this snow storm that's allegedly on its way because I love being in the city when it snows real hard and I'm going to miss it. Not only am I not going to be in the city, but I'll be in the HOUSE. I can't even go out in it. I can't even wear shoes!
I did a lot of wiki-ing this morning. I exhausted myself for the day. Between staring at the computer, watching TV and looking at all the stitches in my knitting, my eyes are shot. I was going to try to do some reading today, but I'm thinking now that that's probably not going to happen.
I just realized that I've watched two Whoopi Goldberg movies in the last week. And now I've mentioned her twice in my blog, too.
My eyes are dying...

I've eaten 1.5 bags of chocolate now

2007-02-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I didn't blog yesterday, because I really did nothing all day. I wiki-ed a little and I watched some of the Bob Dylan movie while I knitted. Then my mom and I went to visit my grandfather in the nursing home. He's pretty sick. He hasn't eaten anything but apple juice in a long time. That's sort of humbling. Then my mom and I went to Applebees, which was also humbling. I don't know why anyone goes to that place. Then I came home and took the vicodin that Steve so graciously provided me with. So I knitted some more and finished watching No Direction Home. The knitting is going better. Then I went to bed and slept real hard for like two hours and then I woke up really thirsty and sweaty and I had to hobble downstairs, which was a pain. I went back to sleep and had a dream that Joy died while shaving her legs!!!! It was terrible. That's the dream I woke up during this morning. Oh, and now the dog sleeps on the pillow that I use to prop up my left foot. It's precious, really.

What's the Temperature, Ginny?

2007-02-09T21:40:00.000-05:00

Today was my re-entry into the world. The bitter fucking cold world, man. My mom and I went to South Mountain Cycles, which is a bike shop co-owned by the former manager of my mom's store (Bikesport). (Note: I don't know if SMC has a website, but I found that one. And Bikesport's website is in progress. My apologies for it looking like Scheisse.) Anyway, we went there first (it's in Allentown), and had coffee, etc. then we went to Target (no hyperlink neccessary, I hope) in Allentown, where I rode around in a wheelchair and was stared at by children and fat people alike. Mom bought me silverware and some shirts. That was rivetting. After that, we stopped at Home Depot in Quakertown, where I stayed in the car and talked to Dominique on the phone about babies having grown up names. Then we went to Old Navy in Montgomeryville, where my sister works. I picked out some clothes for her to buy me with her discount. Then we went to Home Goods, which I had never been in before, but I managed to knock several dozen pillows off their shelves in my wheelchair. We came home after our tri-county tour down Route 309. I made frozen stir fry for dinner, then I took a bath. (I DID wind up taking a bath yesterday, as well... sorry I forgot to mention that). Now here I am. I am exhausted. I just wrote Lisa a tediously long email and I'm ready to crash. I was wanting to start watching No Direction Home tonight, which Jared leant me via USPS. But I'm tired. I didn't watch any TV today or yesterday, though, which feels good. But I didn't wiki anything today, either. I went to the deathtraps of America, Target and Old Navy. God Damn.
Okay, I'm boring myself. I'm going to find a picture on my computer to put with this post because, frankly, it just makes the posts look more exciting and enticing when they are accompanied by photos!
TTFN, Friends

*Okay, I chose the picture of me and my parents at graduation last week, because it's their fault that I have bunions. And because Jared's brother didn't know that they are divorced, so when he offered to take a picture of the three of us, my dad said, "Sure, we can always crop out who we need to later."

**Something else: My mind has been blown by this. Thank you, Brian, for making me a more worthy R.E.M. fan. And Dan Rather fan, I suppose.

***BTW, I have been promoted from my non-existent place in my sister's Top 8 to being number 1 (ONE!) in her top 12! I'd say that's quite an accomplishment. I must be doing something right, sitting around all day. Maybe it's because the dog sleeps with me now...

Do You Realize...

2007-02-09T00:45:00.000-05:00

Just a few quick things:
-My foot is probably really fucked up and ugly right now and I have no idea how horrific it is because it's all bandaged and hidden for 2 weeks.
-I haven't been up this late in like a week (it's approaching 1 a.m.).
-Nothing is good enough. My BA is hardly good enough for more than half the jobs on monster.com :( Looks like I might have to use my charm to get a job :(again
-Three posts in one day?!

That Thing I Do (Sit Around All Day)

2007-02-08T16:11:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Catharine, for introducing me to this band. Specifically this song, which I like too much to listen to the rest of their songs.
In other news, I did some wiki-ing on Stephen Starr restaurants today and also made a XXX category. If you have any ideas about other things to go in that category, please let me know.
Actually, I wanted to put it out there that if you have ANY ideas for wikiphilly articles, please let me know and I will make them. That's a promise.
So I did that and then Jared came over and we ate pierogies and watched part of That Thing You Do! but only part of it because it was much more boring than we had remembered, so he left and I played some piano. Now I'm here and I think that tonight is the night that I bathe! That's not a promise, but it is a dream of mine. I'll keep you all posted on that. Until then...

Lap Dog

2007-02-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is me and Maggie. Maggie sits on my lap all the time. While I'm sleeping, while I'm eating, while I'm trying to use my computer. I'm too nice to push her off, but WTF, Maggie?

Two Days Down, an Eternity to Go

2007-02-07T20:12:00.000-05:00

It's 8:12p.m. Today was boring. I woke up early, like 8:30ish. My sister was home because school was delayed, but she left pretty soon after I got up. I practiced knitting while I watched T.V. Today I watched:
Something the Lord Made, which was an HBO movie that I had seen at least twice before.
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, which I have seen at least 12 times, including once in the theatre.
Part of Pleasantville, which I have also seen.
My new resolution is to not watch movies that I have already seen. Or at least not movies like Sister Act. That's just pathetic.
What else, what else...
My dad sent me flowers today. That was nice. They're pretty.
I had Grape Nuts Crunch for breakfast, burrito, avacado and soup for lunch, and talapia with potatoes and wax beans for dinner. Oh, and mango peach apple sauce. I am eating more than usual, but I am also eating better than usual.
My sister came home and was being a bitch because she can't afford to go to florida twice AND canada (once) this spring. She can only do two out of three, and it looks like she's not going to canada. But her daddy doesn't live in canada, so I think that's an okay choice. Either way, she doesn't understand money yet. She's at piano lessons now.
Jared might come over tomorrow. Katie is coming over tonight. Finally, I'll have someone to entertain me. Yes, my mother is here all day, but somehow, I guess, Sister Act 2 is more entertaining than her? That's not true, but she already entertained me for 20+ years when I lived with her, and it is true that I have never lived with Whoopi Goldberg.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Yours,
Dougie Howser, M.D.

My Left Foot

2007-02-06T15:24:00.000-05:00

So today a man broke my foot. With a saw. It was really something. Now I start my month long "vacation," and, inherently, my month long blog binge. Not a lot going on today, though. I'm just really hungry. Here's a photo of my foot and my loyal dog, hogging all the pillows as per usual.

The Future

2007-01-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for jobs lately and I stumbled across this ad on craigslist:

LOVE our city, TEACH our children.
Become a teacher in the School District of Philadelphia.
No experience or coursework in education is required.

I thought that was a pretty good summary of Philadelphia schools.

Anyway, I still might apply..!

Live, from Sarasota...

2006-12-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

This is my Christmas vacation in Sarasota post. Things are great here, with the exception of the chilly weather (it's only been 65... :( too cold to swim). It's only been two days, but I've got three more to go. Here are some pictures that might aid in capturing the essence of my trip thus far: (check in with my flickr page to see more pics)

BTW

2006-12-18T00:32:00.001-05:00

AIA Bookstore Summer 2005
Originally uploaded by thetoothpicksworm.

I've been uploading pictures onto my flickr account. Nothing special, just stuff I have on my computer. So, I've got nothing to report. You can waste your time here.

This Happens

2006-12-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

This week a giant saved some dolphins by putting his arms down their throats. No one else could reach in to pull out the plastic they'd eaten off the side of the aquarium (and I guess no one had one of these or even one of these). So they called up the tallest man in the world and he pulled out the plastic with his 41.7 inch arms.
My question is, why were they teasing the dolphins with that delectable plastic if they were going to have to fly in Monstro to pull it out of their stomachs? Here's the article.

In other news, I graduated college this week. I feel almost entirely complete, but I still haven't beaten Zuma yet...

The Truth about why Fresca Superior Really Sucked...

2006-12-11T23:10:00.000-05:00

Fresca Superior, the salad and pizza place just a few doors down from chez Mallory, closed down this summer, to almost no one's disappointment. For what it was, the place was fine, but it was overpriced and I felt that the quality of the salads deteriorated within my lifetime of three visits. Anyway, owner Scott McLeod dropped Fresca (who's sad front door later donned a flyer for another pizza place...), and started an online porn site (who's sad main page now dons a picture of McLeod's absurdly pencil-like penis). According to the City Paper Article , McLeod -who has renamed himself Scott LaRock- has honed in on every girl's desire to be with a bad ass tattooed guy (who apparently also wears make up).
His amateur porn videos focus on the bad ass-ness of the guys; McLeod says that the girls are just "holes."
I understand that my blog cannot compete with this. So, here's the link: holeandaheartbeat.com .

How to Address a Tuna:

2006-12-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

This is my new favorite book, which I ordered from McSweeney's. It's part of a series of three books (the other ones, which I haven't received yet, are called Giraffes? Giraffes! and Your Disgusting Head). So this one, Animals of the Sea, In Particular, the Giant Squid poses as an academic review of the ocean, but its contents are mostly absurd lies. My favorite line as of yet is in the section on fish etiquette: How do you properly greet a Tuna? "You smell like Tuna, but I like it."
For more information, go here.

Don't ya think you're a little.. you know, old?

2006-12-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

So, here it is: The new Rocky Balboa trailer. I'm mostly indifferent about the film, but part of it was shot outside my apartment, which can be seen in the trailer. At around the 50th second of the trailer and again at the 1:17 mark, Rocky is across the street. So is the hot kid from the Gilmore Girls. And I didn't even know it...

We found $100, so we went to The Garden

2006-12-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

No, not the Olive Garden.

2006-11-27T00:26:00.001-05:00

i didn't know it was sunday

Envisaging My Workload

2006-11-26T19:23:00.000-05:00

I'd like to feel more obscure right now. School makes everything too fleshy. I honestly feel like once I get through this next week and a half, I will never have to do anything this trying again for the rest of my life.

Energy and Attention

2006-11-24T22:43:00.000-05:00

My writing energy and attention are currently being spent on wikiphilly moreso than anything else. I should be writing for school. I have two weeks until graduation, but you would never guess that by how much time I'm (not) spending on schoolwork. So, here is where the premier post ends and the thirty pages on "The Cinematic Rebirths of Frankenstein in the Children's Drama Genre as seen through Edward Scissorhands and The Spirit of the Beehive" begins...