Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in wickedcricket's LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Friday, March 9th, 2007
3:49 am	So, in a previous post we were discussing recent TV commercials and the PC factor...racial insensitivity, homophobia, even the G.M. one where the little crane dreams of committing suicide when he screws up on the job. But I just now saw the commercial that wins the patronizing prize hands down. It shows a black-haired Latina woman wandering through a maze of building-sized grocery items...boxes of Cheerios and corn niblets, etc...turning from side to side with a panicky look on her face. A female voiceover says: "Are you feeling lost with your food vouchers? Confused and concerned about how to redeem them at the supermarket? Are you afraid to be sent to the back of the line?" (Here we see a frowny-faced young Asian cashier with vivid purple eye shadow pointing sternly to the back of the line while two white males and one white female in line sigh and roll their eyes at the injustice of having to be stuck behind this dumb immigrant.) Female voiceover continues: "...try Mother's Nutritional Center. A new way of shopping with your food vouchers. We carry all the products that are approved by the state" (as if that doesn't sound totally ominous) "and Mother's brings them right to the counter!" (now we are transported to a checkout counter where a smiling, eager Latina cashier is nodding and helping our downtrodden heroine with her government cheese or what-the-fuck ever. Instead of the scaaaaaary maze of ginormous cereal boxes, we see a pleasing array of products right there on the shelves behind the cashier.) Then. The best part of all time: the customer turns around, beaming, and says with a totally fake accent: "And I even get a free geeft with my purchase!" and holds up...I kid you not...a bag of oranges. ORANGES!! Good job, Mother's, give the wetback* a free sack of oranges, that's what they're used to after all. I'm surprised the next shot wasn't of the woman and her baby stroller out on the freeway off-ramp trying to sell the oranges for a few bucks to a passing car. I mean, whoa. How is that commercial ok? I love the part about "Are you afraid of being sent to the back of the line". I guess we're still opressing our minorities with the ol' 'back of the line/bus/etc.' threat. Also how it is apparently necessary to bring all the products right up to the counter...excuse me, BEHIND the counter, because presumably A.) People on welfare are too stupid to shop for their own groceries, and B.) If you leave the products out on regular shelves willy nilly, they will more than likely be stolen. Well, whatever works! But at least she got a free geeft of ORANGES! This is obviously my new fave commercial. It was even funnier than that "Pussycat Dolls: Search For The Next Doll" show that was on last night, where a fast-moving virus swept through the hopefuls right before audition time, affording lots of gratuitous puking scenes and evoking this statement from host Mark McGrath (!!): "Ladies, I know a lot of you are very sick, so we have medics backstage with I.V. bags and medications." (camera pans to backstage action showing scantily-clad lasses sprawled out on mats on the floor with, yes, IV BAGS being stuck into their veins until showtime. I'm soooo glad I caught this!) I love TV. *remember, it's ok for me to say this word. 'Cause I'm Latina. Well, half. Blah blah. (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, February 19th, 2007
9:31 pm	What flavor Jell-O do you think would taste better with canned pineapple and peaches in it? A.) Wild Strawberry B.) Black Cherry. I'm not much of a fan of artificial fruit flavors but I am for some reason craving Jell-O. I'll probably make it, wait the 4 hours for it to set, and then eat like two bites. But I can't decide which flavor to use! (those are the two that I found in the cupboard. Funny how you always just sort of have stuff like Jell-O and tuna, without actually remembering buying it.) (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
8:43 pm	Good lord... I've refrained thus far in making any observations about the whole Anna Nicole thing (though my boss texts me daily with hot-off-the-press updates) but I was just watching CNN, and found myself in drop-jawed horrified fascination as a clip was played regarding the status of her as-of-yet unclaimed body, which is apparently in the center of yet another legal battle, as nobody knows who she rightfully belongs to and there's worry that her body will begin to, ah, decompose soon. But they were showing footage of the judge who is now in charge of that case speaking, and the man looked and sounded like a second-rate Mafia henchman with just about as much class. Here's what he said, verbatim, I wrote it down because I was so appalled: "...dis body belawngs ta ME now. It's cold...but it won't decompose so fast. Dat baby is on a cold, cold storage room. It's nawt decayin' so fast. I kin go ova dere now an' look at it, an' I kin go back inna month an' STILL look at it. Dere's no rush!" Omg. To add to the circus that is Anna Nicole... (12 Comments |Comment on this)
6:13 pm	I was watching TV today and saw a pretty amusing bank commercial, I forget which bank it was for but it depicts the bank manager donning an animal mask and telling the customers "I'm the bank manager, and this is a robbery," or something like that, and then all the tellers put on similar masks and walk around collecting wallets and purses from the bewildered customers on the floor. Obviously spoofing the highway robbery techniques of many of our good old financial institutions. Then I started thinking about the two commercials that have recently generated controversy after debuting during the Super Bowl...did you hear about those...one was for Snickers, showing two scruffy auto mechanics tussling over a Snickers bar, resulting in both of them chomping down on either end til they met in a "kiss" in the middle a la Lady & The Tramp's spaghetti scene. They realize what they've done, recoil, and shout that now they must do something "manly". Gay rights activists had a field day with that one and managed to get it pulled. And also there was the GM one, where the little crane screws up on a job and is ousted from his beloved GM plant job with the roll gate slamming behind him, leaving him to wander the streets dejectedly to the maudlin Eric Carmen song "All By Myself," taking random meaningless jobs like holding advertising signs on corners, til he winds up hurling himself off of a bridge into the ocean. Then he wakes up, it was all a bad dream, and he realizes he'd better continue to uphold GM's high standards because he's gotten a glimpse of what the future could hold if he doesn't. That one drew much criticism from suicide prevention groups and is now being edited to remove the bridge scene. So I was thinking after the bank commercial, wouldn't it be hilarious if some bank robber's association group came forward and protested that they didn't like how they were being depicted? Or, more realistically, some crime victim's group insisting that it made light of the trauma they'd experienced in a true life situation. And! If THAT all wasn't enough commercial drama for one day, about 10 minutes ago I was watching that Cingular commercial that promotes the fact that Cingular has "the least dropped calls" of any other network, showing the young man talking on the phone to his girlfriends' dad and calling him "Mr. so-and-so". The dad says, "Oh, come on, I'm about to be your father in law, call me Jim. Think of me as a buddy!" or something like that, and the guy goes, "Ok, Jim! Jimbo! The Jimster..." and the other network drops the call so the guy only hears dead air and thinks he pissed the dad off. BUT! I distinctly remember seeing this commercial before, and after "Jimster", the guy sings, "Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care..." but it seems to have been removed from the spot. And it has to be because the full line of the song, if you remember this from school or books or movies or whatever, is "Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care, my master's gone away." So it's racist. Geez. They're fucking up commercials right and left these days. Wonder how many ad execs have been canned over these snafu's. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007
11:55 pm	Random conversation of the day at the dry cleaners: ME: (Hands owner a pair of Levi's) Hi, my husband would like these hemmed about one inch, please. OWNER: (Looks up sharply) OH, NO!! ME: (Confused) Um, you don't do alterations anymore? OWNER: Ya...I mean, oh no...I supposed to have jury duty today! I forget! ME: Oh, um... OWNER: SEE? I have right here on calendar! (thrusts calendar at me) ME: Oh, gosh, well... OWNER: What do I do! I just forget! ME: Well, if I were you I'd call them and say you had an emergency... OWNER: (taking jeans) Ok, back by Friday ok? ME: ...like, your car broke down... OWNER: After 5pm... ME: (Eying grammar-school aged child in back of store) ...or, like, you had child care issues. OWNER: CHILD CARE, yeah! ME: OK, one inch then? Thanks... OWNER: Have a nice day! What do I look like, the jury duty police?? Geez. Oh, and my literal interpretation of her broken English was in no way meant to be racist...I just write the way people really talk, I hate when people's actual speech is edited and "cleaned up", I'm all about colloquialism and reality. Besides, I like broken English. Why? because it means the person is A.) trying, and B.) well on their way to speaking more than one language, which is more than I can say for myself. In other news, have you ever noticed that people...specifically, men...who have recently been released form prison never really seem to look right in street clothes? I don't know, there's just always something a little "off". I was watching a highly intelligent, debate-laden talk show the other day (OK FINE, it was Dr. Phil) and there was a fellow on the show who had been in prison for murdering his wife and his daughter was on wanting to meet and confront him...and the point being that the producers of the show had him all spiffed up in Dr. Phil-esque attire and it just looked wrong...and then he gets mad at one point and storms off backstage and yanks off the foofy clothing and puts on his own jeans and shirt, which STILL look somehow wrong. There's just an awkwardness about the person I guess. I always noticed this about one of my brothers-in-law who had a tendency to be "away" quite a bit...whenever he returned from being "away" he looked really weird and out of place in regular clothes, and the clothes were always sort of odd, too, like really crisp jeans and really really white sneakers, and some random T-shirt that you know they didn't pick out themselves. Ok, I'm babbling. Never mind. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 1st, 2007
1:27 am	tagged by phonographgirl Guilt What is yours? Explain yourself Culinary: peanut butter on a spoon I never really eat pb sandwiches, but I love to get the jar o' Skippy out and just lick it right from a plastic spoon (it has to be a plastic one, I'm a total bag lady and steal them from the Rubio's next door to my work). Mmm, peanut butter. Literary: Weekly gossip magazines Every Friday without fail, I wait eagerly at work for the UPS driver to bring the weekly editions of People, US Weekly, etc. etc. and then I rip the box open like a wild animal and gather them all to read on my lunch break. Wanna know how much Nicole Richie weighs this week? Just ask me. Audiovisual: Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator I'm SOOOO excited because they FINALLY aired the one that was filmed in Long Beach, CA just a few miles from where I live. I haven't watched it yet though. Musical: *looks around guiltily, whispers* Phil Collins What can I say...over the years I've come to the realization that whenever a Phil Collins song comes on the radio, I turn it up and sing. I finally gave in and just downloaded a ton of his songs to my iPod. I mostly like the Genesis stuff though, not his whole ballad era. Celebrity: John Frusciante I guess I just think the whole ex-heroin-addict/autistic genius/scruffy street person look is hot...hehe... Now I tag:- ajayne contentcontempt melodyharmonius pathswalker and ktpinto to complete this same Quiz, Its HERE. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 21st, 2007
12:49 am	I just got through watching Little Miss Sunshine...what I had feared would happen, did: that the movie would be so completely hyped up by friends that it would fall short of my expectations. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it definitely was noteworthy...but I think I just anticipated more. More what, I don't know. Today was a day off, so I met a friend out in Manhattan Beach for some Mongolian BBQ...yum...grilled tofu...and then we got Jamba Juice and took a walk on the pier. It was a bit chilly, but I hadn't been to the beach in ages, so it was nice. I totally miss it...I used to not only live by the ocean, but not a week went by where I wasn't going out to one of the South Bay beaches just to walk around or get coffee or eat lunch or whatever. I feel so landlocked, and while my husband would say he likes the beach if you asked him, he doesn't ever have any interest in being there. Blah. So I must take matters into my own hands. I have a vacation coming up next month...no special reason, just to use some of my 188 hours of vacation time...so I should try and make it a goal to do something beachy. Winter is the best time...not too congested. I have a little side gig reading advance galleys for a big publishing co. (don't want to say which one because my "side gig" is somewhat unorthodox...it's outsourced to me by an aqcuaintance who's a rep there) and I just got a new title the other day. The intro letter from the publisher said: "...the plot of this novel revolves around a family and their baby girl, born beautiful and healthy but with unmistakably African American traits. As you can imagine, this newest addition just about tears the young family apart." Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but there were two things that bugged me about that paragraph. #1: I love how he is acting like it goes without saying that the family in question shouldn't expect to have a baby with any kind of ethnic features...it doesn't say "A Caucasian family and their baby girl..." just "a family". Like we are supposed to automatically assume the family's white. #2: the use of "African American traits". WTF is that supposed to mean? The phrase "African American" has always bugged me anyway, in the sense that I don't think anyone should use it unless they are using it for EVERYBODY: Caucasian-American, Asian-America, etc. It's too careful and PC in a smarmy way (in my opinion). And what is an "African American trait"? I'm guessing he means "African features"...but that's a different thing entirely. He makes it sound like he thinks the baby is born wearing a Lakers jersey or something. Hmmph. It just sounds wrong for some reason. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 12th, 2007
3:41 am	Thanks to all of you who took the time to wade through my fashion disaster post, and who made such nice comments and/or got a kick out it. It was really fun to look back at all of that madness. I know a lot of you guys have photographic skeletons in *your* closets too from the 80's etc...be brave sometime and bust 'em out in your own picture post! I'm as much of a voyeur as I am exhibitionist and would love to see :) And speaking of nostalgia, I'm excited because I got two new books from work that look delicious...one is by rock critic Rob Sheffield, it's sort of a valentine to his young wife who tragically and suddenly died in 1997. It looks to be chock full of grunge goodness and lots of mix tapes...damn, remember making mix tapes? That was some serious business when you were using one to convey a message. The other one is by a first-time author who details a young girl's coming of age in the Washington, D.C. punk scene in the late 80's, and the relationships she had during this time. 80's/90's music and relationships? They're sooo up my alley...whee!( click for pics of book jackets and a description of each... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
6:56 pm	Senior Moment?? I'm watching the whole presidential address hoopla on CNN, and Larry King is speaking with Barack Obama. He just asked him, "So, President Kennedy wants congressional support for the troop increase, what do you think about that?" President KENNEDY?? WTF...is that like calling your partner someone else's name in bed? Like, someone from, oh, about FORTY years ago?? LOL (6 Comments |Comment on this)
3:50 am	Once upon a time you dressed so fine... I re-discovered one of my old photo albums (a lot of my photos, scrapbooks, old letters etc. are somewhere in boxes in my dad's garage, if the mice haven't devoured them all yet) and spent some time uploading pictures so that if anything should happen to 'em or they get misplaced again, I'll have them on disc. The photos were mainly from childhood/teen years, and what struck me most as I was looking through them was that DAMN, I really made some, ah, interesting clothing choices through the years. (It *was* the 70's and 80's after all...) So join me on a little tour of Bad Fashion Moments, if you dare. ( we can't rewind, we've gone too far... ) (26 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 8th, 2007
1:35 am	My dad and I are so ahead of the fashion trends of today, according to these photos I recently came across. ( click for evidence of cutting edge ) (19 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
1:29 am	fridayfiver 1. What feels like home? Honestly, not much of anything right now. Before I moved into this house, I had moved 8 times in 8 years. Now it looks like we're probably going to be moving again, soon. (mortgage too expensive, we're going to most likely have to get out.) My hometown doesn't feel like home anymore, because my mom isn't there. (that would have been my answer anytime prior to July 20th 2006). I'm also not one of those people who says "Wherever (insert name of partner or spouse) is, that's home." Just being with that person isn't enough, I have to like where I am. I don't mind simplicity...I even *want* it...but I don't want to live somewhere shitty, either. I guess home is just my own state of mind, when all the synapses are getting along and having tea & playing Scrabble instead of fighting with each other. 2 Do you look at yourself carefully in the mirror before you leave for the day? Yep. Then I shake my hair, smile, and say (out loud) "Just look at that Phiso-face!" (hehe, remember that commercial, from the 80's? No? Uh-oh, maybe I made it up...) 3. How do you feel right now? Frustrated. Last night my direct deposit was supposed to go through to my bank at midnight or soon thereafter. I was unusually low on funds these past two weeks b/c of the holidays, but I checked during the day to make sure I still had a positive balance, which I did. At midnight I checked my online statement and the D.D. hadn't gone through yet, but my balance was still positive. At about 2AM, the D.D. posted, and so did my gas bill, and lo and behold, my previous day's balance was in the negative. So I noticed that although the D.D. and the gas bill were simultaneously posted to the account at the same time, the gas bill was showing it had cleared on 1/4 and the D.D. was credited on 1/5. So this is obviously the bank's fucked up little way to get an overdraft fee from me. So I called them today and told the guy what happened and he tried to say it had posted on 1/4 and I was like, um, no, they posted at the same time, I had a positive balance, I have been with this bank since 1997 and have never had an overdraft so I need you to take it off, please. So he finally said he would, and gave me a reference #, but when I checked just now it is still there. ARGH! I hate banks. I'm going to start keeping my money in weird little hiding places around the house like some crazy cat lady. 4. Are you a star-gazer? I love the stars...don't see 'em too clearly here in the city, but in the desert or mountains? Love it. I'm not good at finding the constellations, though. 5. Friday Fill-In: How much time has passed since you last visited your grandmother? Today, for her 90th birthday, in fact. I hate that she's so old. The odds of me losing her so soon after my mom are way too inevitable and then I'll have no source of maternal comfort or support. She's such a wonderful, generous person. She still lives by herself, in her neat-as-a-pin house where she raised her family, even though she's legally blind. I want her to live to be 100 :( (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 28th, 2006
8:48 pm	I'm excited because I have 2 new (to me...I rarely see films in the theater so when they come out on DVD they're "new") movies to watch. I bought Little Miss Sunshine the other day at work (it even came with a nifty gift-with-purchase: a book containing the shooting script) and An Inconvenient Truth, which I borrowed from my friend Julie. (She's basically forcing me to watch it) I'm just concerned that LMS won't live up to my expectations, because everyone I know has hyped the hell out of it. As for AIT, well, I dunno how psyched I am to watch Al Gore stand there and give a lecture for 96 minutes...but my friend was so passionate about it that I will give it a shot. I actually used to be really scared of global warming (and earthquakes...and aliens...and the weird gypsy guy down the street who used to follow me in his car when I walked to school) when I was a kid, because I'd ordered this sci-fi book called "Dar Tellum" from the Scholastic book catalog they used to pass out at school, and it was about this otherwordly being who somehow was in contact with an average kid, and warned him that the polar ice caps were going to melt and the entire world was going to flood. It was pretty trippy, from what I can remember. The book was just an afterthought because I'm not even a sci-fi person, I think I just needed to order one more title to meet the quota so I would be eligible to receive the "Free Kitten Poster!" offered. Remember those? The Scholastic book club RULED, man! (15 Comments |Comment on this)
2:22 am	Today was the first day of the big semi-annual Bath & Body Works sale, and can you believe I didn't buy ANYTHING? I know, me neither. I took a break from work to go check it out, and just didn't see anything that great. Also, I still have tons of crap from last year, plus my boss gave me some, my friend Jaime gave me some, I still have a big gift basket thingy full of Cherry Blossom stuff from my friends Sandra and Jessica from when my mom passed away...so I guess I don't need any more scented lathery items for awhile. It was also a big turnoff to go into the store and see hordes of crazed little elderly Asian women and rabid, plump soccer moms in capri jeans jockeying for the best position in front of the tubs of $3 shower gels. Gahhh. I want no part of that, thanks. Could it be a little colder here in my house, please? I don't think my nipples have reached their full capacity of pain yet. Seriously! It's super windy outside, and my computer desk is catty-corner against two windows, which apparently have the shittiest caulking ever haphazardly slapped on, because I can feel the wind as badly as if they were cranked open. Yeesh. But Cheapy McGee over here doesn't want to turn on the heater. Whenever my husband puts it on, I sneak over and turn it off. That's what sweatshirts and blankets are for, you big wimp. I grew up with my dad never wanting to use the heater in the house, so it never occurs to me that it exists. Besides, who wants to risk carbon monoxide poisoning, anyway? Speaking of my friend Jaime (well, I was when I was talking Bath & Body Works) when we did our little gift exchange, she was telling me all about her latest catch from Match.com and boy, is this one a winner. He didn't seem so bad at first...lived nearby, was an appropriate age, looked kind of like a young Eric Roberts (not that Eric Roberts is the icon of male desirability, but yunno, you could do worse) and so she had kind of high hopes. Which were soon dashed on their second date. I don't remember what the first date entailed, but apparently a movie excursion was chosen for the 2nd. He picked her up and asked if she was hungry. She said no, and he asked if she would mind if he went to the Jack In The Box drive-thru on the way to the theater. When they got there, he said, "I hope you don't think this is weird, but I only order from the dollar menu," and proceeded to do just that. He then ordered two cups of water, explaining, "Sodas are so expensive that I only ever get water. But now that you're sitting next to me in the car, I can get away with ordering *two* waters!" He then thirstily drank them both up. Ummm. Ok, so she was obviously thinking she had made a mistake here, but too late, they were at the theater. He led her to a lamppost fixture near the entrance, where he began to sort of grope around on top of the post as if looking for something. "What are you DOING?" she asked. He said, "Oh, well, I have a friend who gets two free movie tickets a week from his job, and he always lets me have one. He stashes it for me up here." Bingo! He located the mythical ticket, and gallantly handed it to her, then began to lead her to the entrance, skipping the admission window. "Uhhhh...how are YOU going to get in?" she inquired. He pulled an old, torn ticket stub from his pocket. "Oh, I just flash this at them. They never check the title, they just think I was already in and am coming back. You go in a few feet ahead of me, though." She put her foot down and said she wasn't comfortable with that little plan, and without missing a beat, he shrugged and produced a gift card to the theater, with which he purchased his ticket. Once inside, she excused herself to go to the ladies room, while he waited in the lobby. When she returned, he was holding a large popcorn container. No, not a large container of popcorn, a large popcorn container. Empty. She didn't even want to ask, but he offered an explanation: "While I was waiting for you, some guy coming out of the movie came up and asked me if I wanted his popcorn container. We can get refills in it for free!" And if all that wasn't bad enough, the only euphemism he seems to be able to think of for fucking is "jump your bones". He told her he wanted to "jump her bones" the first night they went out. At the movies, he repeated that her bones looked jumpable. When he took her home, he mentioned that he'd sure like to jump those bones. And the piece de resistance...when he called the next day (after ignoring her polite-yet-firm kiss off email) he lamented that it was a shame she wasn't over at his place, because he'd recently gotten a new bed (I shudder to think from where!) and if she was, they could "jump". Yes, "jump"! Now he's shortening it even! Jesus! Give me a man who can just talk about fucking without having to candy-coat it...that's just icky. What else does he say? "I love jumping you." "That was so jumping good!" "Can I jump you from behind?" Or how about if he's mad at you: "Jump off, bitch!" Oh, he also wanted her to meet his parents, this being like a week after they met. Oooh, I forgot. On Christmas, my aunt was showing me the latest issue of the celeb gossip mag she makes shit up forwrites for, and pointing out which stories were hers, and I came up with a good idea for one. She's going to try and get it in there, so I'm eager to see if it makes it, haha. It has to be interesting enough to get attention, but not so inflammatory or scandalous that the celebrity will want to sue. (21 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 26th, 2006
12:27 am	Really freaking long. Yay, the holidays are over! Well, Christmas. New Year's really doesn't mean anything to me as far as going out (I've always disliked going out on New Year's Eve)or obligations of any kind. I didn't really have to shop a lot for too many presents. I made a couple, and my husband made a couple, and for my co-workers I gave either keys or keychains from my husband's business. I bought my dad the new Joseph Wambaugh mystery and a crossword puzzle book; my brother got the Dr. Demento 20th anniversary CD (we used to be obsessed with Dr. Demento as kids) and my grandma got an audio book of "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and a CD of "rare recordings" from The Judy Garland Show. So I of course got all of that at work, with my discount/coupons/holiday savings program dollars/blah blah. One thing I was NOT looking forward to was going to my in-laws for Christmas Eve. It's usually pretty fun; my husband has 5 siblings and they all have kids, so there's a lot of activity and rowdiness. But this year my husband and his oldest brother/ex-boss are still not on speaking terms, and his brother is the patriarch of the family and pretty much dominates family get-togethers. So that was destined to be A W K W A R D. Another issue was gifts: we always would come over with nice gifts for everyone. The kids would all get gift cards to Game Stop or Target for $20 each...and with 10 nieces and nephews that's not cheap...and we would have presents for the adults, too. But what with finances being way tighter, it wasn't in the budget to do that. I was stressed about coming empty handed, and then a few nights ago I had a perfect idea:( click for more because this is getting long ) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006
5:31 am	My dad emailed me this photo of himself that his friend Bruce took a couple weeks ago out at the Pt. Fermin lighthouse in San Pedro. This is where he wants to have the memorial picnic for my mom, that we never did at the end of summer as originally planned. Now I guess he's aiming for March of '07. But what a view, huh? ( don't the sun look good goin' down over the sea?---Bob Dylan ) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 16th, 2006
1:19 am	fridayfiver 1. First kiss? My next-door neighbor Chris Gardner, I was 6 and he was 9...I've written about it before in here. We played "house" in a tent in my backyard, I used to serenade him with rockin' Captain & Tenille hits, and he gave me a silver 70's-style pendant with a filigree owl on it as a token of kiddie love. ( the tallest boy in the photo, 'member? ) 2. Underwater swimming or skydiving? I've never been skydiving, I'm kind of a wuss but it looks like fun, so I may do it one day, what the hell. As for underwater swimming, been snorkeling a few times in Catalina Island. 3. Careful as you cross the street or never look both ways? Careful for the most part, although I do get feisty and sort of play "chicken" with cars in parking lots if they look like they're not going to stop. Then if they don't stop, I might kick their car or hit it with my purse as it passes by. It's fun. 4. Ketchup: a vegetable? No, but yummy with french fries or omelettes 5. Underwear - optional? For sure, although my husband gets all pissy and irrational if I don't wear any...like, what, is the fact that I'm not wearing underwear going to magically make me unfaithful? "Gosh, I sure feel like cheating on my husband today...oh wait...nope, I'm wearing underwear. Damn." *sigh* (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
8:13 pm	Wow, thanks for all your input about "Brokeback Mountain"! From what I gather, nobody really said it sucked or anything, and there were a few glowing recommendations, so I think I will probably like it. I watched the first few minutes and it looks aesthetically pleasing, and I often find that films my friends said were slow (i.e. "Shopgirl") are ones I enjoy. The only thing is, I kinda wish there was more hot guy-on-guy action. I'm like a straight man who digs watching lesbians (or as is often the case, chicks pretending to be lesbians) in that I am somewhat fond of homoerotic tussling. Maybe that's why I like hockey so much, with all the fighting. They're always grappling each other. Like the other night I was watching Kings vs. Avalanche, and Ian Laperriere (ex-King, used to be my favorite player) and Sean Avery were majorly scrapping and I was like, oooh. (That being said...it's not like I would want the man in my life to be bisexual or anything, I guess it's just a visual thing sometimes...ehhh. Never mind!) Have you ever had those moments where you picture something...just a flash in your mind, for a split second...and it's somthing really awful, that you would never do or want to happen, but it enters your mind anyway? Not something you're afraid of happening, like crossing the street and picturing a car hitting you because you're watching out for it...just something totally random. Like, my husband has this fish named Buster in a big aquarium in our living room, and he always says I ignore Buster and don't "love" him as much as the cat and the lizard. And just a little while ago, I was passing by the aquarium and I pictured Buster in a saucepan, frying up!!! Just for like a second! And I DON'T want to eat him or have anything bad happen to him, but that's what crossed my mind. Oh god. Nobody's safe around me. Heeeey! What the heck happened to the auto-draft save feature on LJ journal updating??? I totally loved that, because I get interrupted a lot when I'm trying to write. Wahhhhhh! (9 Comments |Comment on this)
5:11 am	Should I bother to watch "Brokeback Mountain"? I Tivo'd it, but my gay male friends say they didn't like it, it was too slow, etc. I think they may have just been expecting a bunch of hot guy-on-guy action though (they've pretty much admitted this) and were disappointed when it didn't materialize. I don't know if I should give it a shot and am too lazy to research lengthy reviews on Amazon etc. (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
5:15 am	Don't you hate when you run into someone you used to know and you forget their name? Tonight I was at work and a co-worker paged me that someone was there to see me. When I came out onto the sales floor, I saw that it was a guy who I used to work with maybe 7 or 8 months ago. He just sort of disappeared and stopped showing up one day, so I just kind of assumed he was probably dead or something. Anyway, there he was, grinning at me all expectantly and I couldn't remember his name for the life of me, so he was all, "HEEEEEEY Rachel!" and I was all, "HEEEEEEY...you!!" We made small talk for awhile, he said that he had been at the bar across the street and just wanted to come say hi. It was really busy at work tonight though so I didn't have a lot of time to chat, and I began to make the initial moves to extricate myself, still searching the recesses of my mind for his name. I had pretty much decided that it was "Chris", and as I was walking him toward the door I was about to say, "Well it was good seeing you, Chris!" when another co-worker passed by and said, "JEFF! What's up!" So I'm glad I didn't say Chris, yeesh. And then after that I could freely use his name, which at that point probably sounded obvious. Anyway. I'm glad he wasn't dead after all, but he was making me a little uncomfy by giving me hugs that started to feel like gropes, and saying, "you're looking good" while actually eyeing me up and down...who does that!? The same thing happened to me about 6 years ago at a friend's memorial service. A girl came running up to me in tears, hugging me and saying, "Rachel, can you believe this?" I was pretty much still in shock regarding the suicide of the friend whose service it was, but not enough to not realize that I had NO FRICKING IDEA who this girl was! And she sat next to me and kept talking and wanting to catch up, telling me about her husband and her kids and her job and her house, and I'm frantically racing through my list of acquaintances and coming up empty. I knew at some point I was going to have to say something that indicated familiarity with her or look like a big jerk. But I finally lucked out when she wanted to show me pictures of her kids and whipped out her wallet, which happened to have the pictures in a plastic sleeve right next to her drivers license! Whew! And she had a really unusual name, which I immediately recognized as belonging to the girl who had sat in front of me in SEVENTH GRADE ALGEBRA! So yeah, I STILL didn't have anything to talk to her about, I mean come on, I hadn't seen her since then! But I realized she had been kind of nerdy (in a cute, sweet way) back then and so as we got older, she probably had been aware of me more than I was aware of her (not saying I was all badass or anything, but definitely more...well...ok, badass. Lol) and that's why she seemed to "know" me still. It was weird. Anyway, she grew up to be a very nice person. Whose answers I used to copy over her shoulder in Algebra. (10 Comments |Comment on this)