I'll be there

I think I finally understand the madness of those Hairy Pauter fans. I can't wait for this movie to come out. I love this book and indeed the whole His Dark Materials trilogy. I'm not sure if the movie can compete with my imagination but I'm willing to give it a try. I'm still willing even after watching the trailer, which was lackluster. I don't care; I'll be lining up to see the first viewing. I mean, maybe. But not if the line is like, really long. But still, I am excited.

I was at B&N the other day and wanted to buy The Golden Compass because the only other book I had in my bag was this one (don't ask) and lord, that wasn't gettin' me through my subway ride. Unfortunately the store only had copies of the next two books...but they also had the trilogy conveniently bound in one book. What to do? I actually already own the 2nd and 3rd books so I didnt' really need a full volume but wouldn't it be handy to have them all together and if I bought it then I could just let my other copies stay in circulation in Book Club and I could keep this one all for my greedy self and I know I'd have to use my credit card because I don't have any money but that's what credit cards are for right or should I spend that money on some other books that I don't already own? What a dilemma. I didn't buy it. But I did, a few hours later, take an unnecessarily long train ride to go to a different book store where I was either going to buy The Golden Compass or, if they didn't have it, give myself permission to buy the full volume. They (unfortunately) did have the single book but now I'm almost done and I don't have the other two, they're loaned out! Now what will I do? Read something new? Never!

bringing...back

I know sometimes I seem cold...distant...self conscious...sad. But that's not always the case. (At first I typed "but's that not true." I quickly realized my semantic mistake.) Get me in the right setting and I'll set my inner fool free. Usually that setting is my solitary room, late night, window shades drawn, lights off, pipe out and thoroughly smoked. But this time it was a pool.

Hooray! Water! I feel so free! And reflective!


Oo! Eeep! Hah hah, it's tickling me! Good thing I'm wearing sunglasses.

But where would we be without just a little bitta sexy?

Oooh yeah, baby. This is so hot and not at all completely annoying. No, I love chlorinated water getting splattered into my eyes. Gets me goin'!

It seems like in a lot of anime I watch a recurring power (usually of the evil character) is the ability to absorb another person (also usually including, and most importantly, that person's soul). Then they either gain that other person's power or their hair turns colors or they just get generally stronger or something. The point is, I think I might be developing that ability.

It begins. She can't escape.


Does that make me evil? Who cares! As long as I get better skin and softer hair out of it, that's fine with me.

I also like that though Miss M is holding the beer, I'm the one who appears to be drunk. Or am I just sleepily sexy? I've been cultivating that look a lot lately, though often dropping the sexy.

pretty (something)

"This is one time, growing up on the farm..."

Welcome words to some, dreaded to others. But no longer need you rely on my lackluster storytelling abilities. No longer need you use your imagination, or at least not as much. Come with me on a tour of my childhood.

It's starts, appropriately and stereotypically enough, with a barn.

This barn belongs to my old neighbor. Dry, weathered, dusty. Everything you'd expect.

And then there's this thing.

This is a really really old beet digger that's been sitting there for as long as I remember. I think maybe my grandfather used it when my dad was a kid. I think it's pretty cool. Of course, I think all these pictures are pretty cool.

And now, my cherished childhood stomping ground: the mighty WATERFALL!

Can't you just feel the danger?! I swear it was bigger when I was 6. It really freaked me out. It seemed like a rushing river. Those are my sisters sittin' on the bridge. We used to go swimming in that canal, pesticides and all. It's probably about 3 1/2 feet deep. That's enough to drown in.

And a view from the other side.
See those tall trees in the distance on the right? Well, just to the left of those are some shorter trees, that's my old house. I used to weed that field. It was filled with mint when I lived there and my sister, my dad and I would weed it all by hand and there's a lot more you don't see. That was a bitch, but having mint waft through the open windows of your house on a summer evening was pretty delightful.

And speaking of work, can you set a syphon?
Ida can do it one handed. I never could.

And lastly, one more picture of the swimmin' canal.

Look at that blue sky. I miss it. New York is great for a lot of things but open space isn't one of them.

stuffin' stuff

Today I: went on a date (sort-of), saw Harry Potter (eh) and got my written final back from my Pilates instructor (good). First, the date. This guy contacted me on Friendster (which actually I just remembered that I have a link to this blog posted on my friendster account so I'll have to delete that because he might read it, I mean, if I saw a link to his blog I would totally read it. I don't think he has a blog though). Anyway, we only three short email exchanges and today we met. We met at Columbus Circle and then took a walk through Central Park. I got nervous (the meeting place was my idea) so I ran into Whole Foods and bought some bread, cheese, apples and two different juices. We ended up walking all the way to 90th before we sat down and ate. He didn't eat anything, just drank his juice. But we talked the whole time. About what you ask? What else, art. We seriously only talked about art the whole two hours we were together. It was actually pretty interesting and I realized that he definitely had a more interesting education than me. We have a lot of similar opinions on art and it was nice to talk to someone who didn't worry about immediately talking about art and only art, because that's often what I want to do when I meet people. Here's the question though, do I have to be immediately attracted to him? Because I wasn't. I think I'm still too superficial, how do I change that?

Second, Harry Potter. Laurenj was nice enough to invite me along with her and some friends. It was fun to hang out with them, even though we were all facing forward and coudn't really talk. Still, what a bonding moment. But the movie: I was unimpressed. I mean, I had fun-ish but I didn't think this was was nearly as good as the last one. And I certainly don't think this one is the darkest so far. This movie reminded me too much of the first two, too much sappy happiness with "beautiful" sweeping shots and flowing sentimental string music. Ugh. For me, this movie captured a lot of what I find annoying about the books, all the plot holes and confusing situations. Plus I just kept waiting for ol' Fiennes to show up. That lack of a nose only makes him sexier in my book. That just means his tongue could get deeper. Hot! But he was really only in the last few minutes. Really, there wasn't enough adult acting in this movie at all. Almost every adult in these series is a wonderful actor and yet they never get to do anything. Oh Maggie.

Third, my Pilates instructor said my written final was great. That felt nice. She encouraged me to take my practical test so that she could start scheduling clients with me or, more accurately, have the potential to schedule clients with me. I don't know if there are enough clients to actually schedule. We'll see where that goes.

that's what the sun does

A few weeks ago the head of my department invited her staff out to her house for a little get together. She apparently does this every year and yet so far no one's been able to go. Well, not this year. I asked around to see who could come and at first the turnout looked good. Five of us peons plus my immediate boss and her husband. By the time last Sunday rolled around though two people dropped out. So three of us jumped on the bus Sunday morning at 10AM (did I mention she lives in New Jersey?) prepared for we didn't know what. It turns out my boss boss has a lovely house, a pretty great yard and a very nice pool...that only I went swimming in. No one else even brought a bathing suit; but I wasn't to be deterred. I stayed in that pool for as long as possible. I had two Bloody Marys, two margaritas and 4 cigarettes, some while still in the pool. I haven't smoked for quite a while but it just seemed right to smoke while all cool sunglassed up while hanging on the side of the pool.

We were there for about 6 hours. A pleasant retreat from New York, I don't think I heard a car honk once. We were pretty tuckered out (or at least I was) on the bus ride home but none of worse for it. HL graciously let me use his shoulder.

Awwww.

Yesterday on our lunch break, HL and I made up a new game called Spitty Splashy. It's played with, duh, two people. Splashy needs a cup of cold water, Spitty is empty handed. The rules are as follows:

Splashy: dip your fingers in the water and flick it as your opponent
Spitty: quickly lick your fingers and slap your opponent's arm

The object of the game is to win. Actually, the real object is to annoy the hell out of each other. It's pretty fun. Guess which player I was.