The Fountain has been on top of my TV since August 15th. That is not good. I have to watch it tonight. Or send it on. Something. Almost two months. Not cool, self. Not cool.

But I did enjoy my TiVo's latest offering, Please Believe Me, last night. Yummy semi-early Deborah Kerr mistaken identity farce-ish love fluff. With an extremely young and tall and skinny Peter Lawford, who for some reason does not have much of an accent in his first couple scenes, but definitely grows into it later in the film. She looks barely 20 in this instead of almost 30. B&W really is more flattering. (MOM: Just go to OnDemand, it'll be there under free movies cause it was on TCM and they're cool like that.)

My head is killing me. Apparently some muck-up with timesheets or vacation days (I operate on a different system as the rest of the office, so for once it's not the Teamsters, but the regular people who are fubared) has brought the wrath of HR down upon us. Spent some of the afternoon sorting a 3" stack of loose papers into a timeline... tomorrow I'll begin going through them and marking every vacation day taken by the other six people in the department since 2003.

Yippee Skippee.

My head hurts. I'm frustrated. A loud voice on the phone just now almost brought me to tears. The battle of TiVo will have to wait until tomorrow (I want to be on the phone with them while I'm online at their site and my computer still can't see the the internet since the last whatever happened.) So tomorrow. For now, there is grocery shopping. And chicken tacos. And Sims.

I spent over an hour last night taking Sims 2 and every expansion off my computer and reinstalling just the basic game. All families lost. Starting over. Was this a wise thing to do four days before Kevin arrives when I really should be spending every evening minute cleaning and preparing my room to be seen by another human? For this Sim-addict (seriously, when I'm on a kick I go really anti-social,) probably not.

I have done nothing all day but throw bombs (HI RON,) sail the open seas, upgrade my ship and crew, and buy the services of wenches back in town so I can wring every bit of possible energy from my dastardly shipmates.

I kind of love facebook.

Very quiet weekend. Hollywood Bowl was fun, post with pics and vid later if I can ever get the media convert site to work again.

Woke up much earlier than I wanted Saturday morning. Tried to roll over and go back to sleep, cause up at 8am on my day to sleep in just not cool, but then I realized hey... I could go to Target... and there wouldn't be a line or crowds... and I need milk, toiletries, and HARRY POTTER... and Target has all three!

So yes. I bought the Harry Potter book. But Liz bought it off me the very next day, so does it really count?

I read the whole thing in one day. I settled into bed with Harry at 10.30 Saturday morning, and despite cooking a big pot of saffron rice with linguica and peas for lunch, chatting with my mom, venturing online, and doing three loads of laundry, I finished the book at half past midnight. It was the only way to stay unspoiled. It was a wonderful send-off to the series. I think now that it's all over I'll start collecting the British editions off ebay or something. I'd like to read those.

Din Tai Fung with playmayt and benhsu Sunday morning, where I ran into my friends Chris and Shannon! LA really is home now, because I also ran into three people I knew at the Hollywood Bowl Friday night: an old regular of mine from the video store in Santa Monica (yes, a man who came into a store where I worked three years ago so often that I recognized him. I became friends with many of my regulars at the big bad evil video store. They kept me as sane as I could be at that time in my life and were probably a big part of how I was able to stay as long as I did,) a friend from MyPC, and a guy who works here in animation who's also an exroommate of a friend of mine. That's it. I'm officially an Angeleno if I'm running into people I know at the Bowl.

Root beer floats party in the park Sunday afternoon seemed to go well and there'll probably be another one soon.

Potter madness continues behind the cut with this week's specially themed mondaysabitch questions and a recipe for butterbeer that I can't wait to try. ( Check it out! )

NO SPOILERS HERE, DESPITE THE PRESENCE OF A CUT. THE CUT IS ONLY FOR LENGTH. NO SPOILERS. NO!

Also, hurting sucks.

Am home sick. Tried some of the Meiji hard candies I got at the last Din Tai Fung outing, the coffee are more like a strong cup of joe than any other candy I've ever had. If I were drinking them I'd definitely add sugar. The white were disgusting, sort of citrusy at first, then just BLARGH GET THIS OUT OF MY MOUTH. I'm not sure if the third are their butterscotch due to the light mocha or coffee or chocolate notes.

Lunchtime sandwich of ciabatta, prosciutto di Parma, and olive oil is helping, though. A little.

Finished off the SevenUp series last night with 49Up. Fairly interesting. I still like the same kids I did at the beginning. Watched the Battlestar Galactica miniseries this morning. Was just about to send it back without watching it today after it sitting ignored on my table for a month or two. I am so glad I didn't. I kind of love it. liebewanze, trade?! You still interested in my S1 VM for your S1 BG? Am now half paying attention to Tea and Sympathy only because Deborah Kerr is in it, but um, I'm just not feeling it. In other not at all interesting yet slightly embarrassing news, I watched John Tucker Must Die last night. What? My 10 year old cousin highly recommended it. I have to say my favorite part was Tim Riggins dropping off a plate of brownies in the first five minutes. After that it went way downhill.

Like I said, the apartment is mighty boring in the middle of day. So am I.

I've been in a foul mood most of the afternoon. When I get tired and hungry, I get fussy and snappy and cranky. When I spent most of the drive home yelling at everyone else on the road and ended by cussing out a schoolbus driver, I knew that I was not fit to be around people. I called and cancelled my plans for tonight, because I would not be pleasant to be with. I'm on self-imposed time-out.

Remaining plans for the week:

Tuesday: My last free night. I must do laundry and sleep. And write. Remember the writing?

Wednesday: Big Love watching and BBQ with molly_drew! Yay!

Thusday: Dinner at Pitfire (yum) and Wicked with Ron! Yay!

Friday: Poker and birthday celebrations with roommate Liz! Yay!

Saturday: SoCal Games Day and Glamnation at the Cat Club with playmayt! Yay!

Sunday: Tea at the Huntington with lots of wonderful girls! Yay!

And I INSIST upon it being a much slower and calmer weekend. Hmph.

It's been a pretty great weekend, but I feel like I've fallen off the wagon.

I had a lot of fun last night with some really awesome people watching movies on a giant screen in my friends' front yard, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, which I had never seen before, and The Hot Rock, which I had seen before, but liked much more this time, even though I fell asleep near the end. After we cleaned up a few of us headed into the house for a little nightcap... otherwise known as GHII. A chance comment by another guest about his band name resulted in the two of realizing that we have a really cool friend in common... and that we both love Disneyland. We then talked about this for four hours as everyone else played GHII. They played GHII for four hours until 5am. Come on. That is a little crazy. Much crazier than talking about Disneyland for four hours. Totally.

I was not happy about waking up at 11 this morning so I rolled over and cocooned til 1pm. Then I surfaced, regained consciousness while watching a little TV with my roommate, and stumbled back into my room. I've spent the last few hours wandering around the internet and watching lots of "Friday Night Lights." I've decided that the way for this show to stop sucking my time is to finish it all off so that I can focus again. Yeah, that's the ticket. But now it's 6pm and I haven't written a thing all day. So I'm going to bop over to final draft, torture myself over a page or two, and have some dinner. Then I'm going to finish FNL. I've only got six episodes left. I can handle that.

Oh! And I got this email just now from final draft. Apparently they run a script contest in June and the extended deadline is June 15th. So I've decided to make re-entering the finished rom-com a priority so I can submit it by then. Woo-hoo! Off to write and eat and giggle over FNL a little more. See you tomorrow!

EDIT: 3,397 words on 15 pages, people! :)

I didn't work out last Friday morning. Or Monday. Or this morning.

I didn't post to my Disney blog or FWDT Thursday or yesterday.

I hit the snooze button this morning. Three times.

Good intentions and all, but maybe it was a lot to attempt all at once. Or I'm just a lazy bastard no matter what high-falutin' aims I may claim.

Bah.

Maybe. I'll do my best to stay awake. I'm so tired I just answered the phone with "Hello?" instead of "____ ____'s office."* So tired. It just hit me all of a sudden. Woof.

Wouldn't be so much of a worry but I have impromptu dinner plans tonight with a friend I worked with in SF when I first moved back to Cali after college five years ago. I haven't seen her in forever so I'm excited to catch up with her. I just hope I don't faceplant into my salad.

Brendon's totally right about Pandora, the supersweet online radio service that creates your own personal station for free when you tell it what music you like. I've been loving it all morning day** and may never bring my ipod into work again.





*I also just picked up R's line, thinking it was C's, then immediately hung up on whoever was there when I realized my mistake. They called right back. I'm hoping R and the caller (whose name on the ID I recognized) will just think it's a tech hiccup.

**Seriously, it's after 4pm already? What's the past tense for "sleepwalk?" Sleepwalked doesn't seem right. But that's pretty much what I did all day.

I haven't been out since Monday night. What is up with that? Do you know how long it's been since I had two weeknights at home in a row? TOO LONG. In my defense I was only supposed to have Tuesday night at home, cause I intended to hit the double feature at the Egyptian last night, but my tummy had other plans. Thank goodness for the healing powers of ramen, king of all foods.

Upcoming:

Tonight: Laundry, disco nap, then midnight screening of Spider-Man 3! Woo-hoo!

Tomorrow: Gilby Clarke @ The Key Club w/playmayt which apparently will be FREE cause everyone in Hollywood knows and loves playmayt and I get to ride her coattails!

Saturday: I'm roadtripping it down to Long Beach to visit gypsy_pie and JIM and Squishy! YAY! I don't think I've seen them since before Christmas and let me tell you, it's been hard, y'all. YAY!

Sunday: Jim & Elisa & I are meeting some of my game friends at Din Tai Fung for beloved SOUP DUMPLINGS. My weekend now wins at life. Games afterwards in Duarte; late night rock at the Cat Club with playmayt to see the pretty Swedish triplets in action. Sweet!

Monday: I will go to bed at 6.30pm in an attempt to recover from my weekend.

Tuesday: Games with SFVG.

Wednesday: Games with LCG.

Thursday: Games again. I may lose my mind. Watch out for that.

Friday: I feel like there's something here but it's not written down in my book. If I'm supposed to be hanging out with you, please let me know so I can be there and stuff.

Saturday: Tea at Chado w/molly_drew & playmayt. Yay!

Sunday: DISNEYLAND w/playmayt and whoever else chimes in. Do you know when's the last time I was at Disneyland? FEBRUARY 4TH. Over three months ago. I AM FREAKING OUT, PEOPLE. It ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin. Ain't fittin'. We'll get there when we get there (not ironed out yet) and dinner will probably be at Yamabuki's unless playmayt objects (though I don't expect she will) or they're not open (again.)

Ugh. Head hurts. Tummy hurts. It's probably a good thing I was going to fly solo tonight to the Noir double feature so I won't have to bail on either GHII bar or LCG. I see a couch in my future. And some tea. But I really wanted to see Abandoned!

"No name for her baby, only a price!"

When my alarm goes off I hit the snooze button. Again and again. Lately it's been getting worse, and I hit the snooze seven or eight times or so, spend an extra hour in bed, then rush about getting ready for work and still end up late.

Also, I don't feel so great afterwards. It feels like I get groggier and sluggier every time I steal nine more minutes from myself. I don't like it at all.

So I'm not doing it anymore.

In May 2007:

I will wake up every work day morning at 7am when my alarm goes off. I may lie in bed for a minute and listen to the song playing if it's one I particularly like, but I will under no circumstances hit the snooze button or close my eyes again.

I will work out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning for about half an hour. I'm going to have almost an hour of extra time every morning. Got to do something with it!

I will post at either my Disney blog or Fun With Dead Trees on Tuesday and Thursday, just so that they don't feel like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are getting all the fun. My Dad's been giving me hell about neglecting my duties, asking me if we're ever going to get out of Adventureland. Yeah, Dad, you made your point. And I love to read and must conquer typepad. The interface is different and a little confusing, but it's not like I knew everything about livejournal when I started writing here. I can't let a few questions of form stop me from talking about books when Kapgar was kind enough to add me to the site.

That's it. In May it's all about the day to day working week.

I suppose it's a good thing that someone was banging on a nearby window at 8.30 this morning and woke me up, though I have to admit I didn't think so at first, especially because I just fell into bed at 2.30 last night and was still exhausted. I'll tell y'all about yesterday later. There's a lot of yesterday to tell about.

But I'm glad I woke up early because even though tomorrow is the last day of April and technically the end of 30 in 30, I'll need to watch all four movies I need to make my goal today, as I have plans tomorrow night. Mrs. Miniver is almost done, and there's a nice range to get through today. I can't wait to see them all!

And all it took was blowing off work and lazing it up for two days solid. Rock!

18. Stage Door-- Fun little movie about actresses trying to make it on the New York stage. Very well known, mostly because Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers do time here. And yes, I meant that to sound a little like they're in jail. It's fun and all, but it's no one's best movie. This feels very much like a studio machine picture with the actors slotted in. If you want Ginger dancing, skip the one little scene in this and watch almost anything she made with Fred Astaire (but especially this one.) If you want Ginger funny (the Ginger I prefer) check out Bachelor Mother or The Major and Minor (one of Billy Wilder's best.) If you want Hepburn the alienated, you want Holiday. Hepburn funny: Pat and Mike. I know this is beloved and all, and I'd enjoy it if it were on one afternoon and I stumbled into it, but I doubt I'd make any effort to seek it out again.
3 wags

19. Judgment at Nuremberg-- Truly excellent three hour behemoth about the trials of four Nazi judges after WWII. I've never been a huge Spencer Tracy fan (I acknowledge that he was good at what he did, he just never quite made my motor run) but after this, I may have to change my mind. Tracy is amazing and strong in this movie, along with everyone else. Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift (sigh) were both nominated for supporting actor Oscars for their bit parts. Both were past their prime in Hollywood and not their former beautiful selves when this movie came along (Clift in particular is practically unrecognizable with all damage he'd done to his gorgeous self with alcohol.) Both give spectacular performances that made me sad they didn't get to do more work like this before their pretty faces drove them so crazy they had to destroy them. This movie is so good it didn't even feel long. Flew by. You want to watch this. Seriously.
5 wags

20. Long Life, Happiness, and Prosperity-- Sandra Oh reteams with the director of Double Happiness (much better movie which is where I discovered Sandra Oh and why I've been so happy to see her do well in Hollywood, and which you should definitely watch instead of this.) Not to say this isn't a good movie, just that their first movie together was better. This wanders a bit, struggles to unite all its loosely connected storylines (yep, it's one of those movies,) and falters a bit towards the end in its mighty struggle for meaning. Meh. Enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, but really I'd have rather just watched Double Happiness again. Have I mentioned that movie before? It's really good. I recommend that you watch it.
3 wags

21. An Inconvenient Truth-- Al Gore does his surprisingly entertaining horror slide show about how crappy a place we've made the Earth into and tells us why he cares about the issue. While watching this I remembered that he was mocked for being "wooden" during his presidential campaign in 2000 and I couldn't believe that it was the same man here who is personable, charming, funny, dry, sensitive, knowledeable, prepared, and all around PRESIDENTIAL. Because yes, I'm one of those really annoying people who like to point out that Al Gore (as he says in the movie) "used to be the next President of the United States." This movie made me want to buy a Prius. I still might. And carry my own bags to the grocery store (which I really should do more often.) But the "updates" and special features after the movie almost put me to sleep. A girl can only take so much environmental activism on a Saturday night.
4 wags

22. Pizza-- This movie is horrible. I do not recommend it. I recommend you avoid it. I'm going to stop talking about it right now because I have absolutely nothing good to say about it and I'd hate for one of the people involved in it to stumble across this and feel bad. Cause I can tell they were trying to make a good movie, but that's part of the problem. They're all trying too hard. Except Ethan Embry. He's pure unaffected brilliance in this, the one bright spot and the only reason I stuck with this dreck through the bitter end. If I even love him in a movie this bad, he must really be good. He is. But this isn't.
1 wag

23. In the Land of Women-- I had to see this due to severe OC withdrawal. I was pleasantly surprised by Mr. Kasdan's little boy. Sometimes talent does run in families. Genuinely good little movie that like Prime before it is being done a huge disservice by its marketing. No matter what the commercials tell you, this is not a romantic comedy for the youngsters. This is an intelligent family/relationship drama with funny bits. Meg Ryan, despite not appearing in a single poster or ad (and I'm sorry, but tv show success and all, she is still a bigger star than Adam Brody, no?) has a much larger part than the teen chicky shown kissing Brody in the posters and commercials. Ryan is very good here, maybe her best since Courage Under Fire. Also good is Olympia Dukakis (how did I not know she was in this til she appeared onscreen? STUPID MARKETING TEAM, STUPID.) Brody is adorkable and very Seth Cohenish, but I was left feeling like he could give more. He could do much more and be wonderful, but it's like he just won't let himself. He plays it a bit safe for my tastes, but that's alright, I'm sure he'll knock one out of the park soon. If it's not too much trouble, may I please request that in his next movie he makes sure he plays opposite this fine young actor? I'm sure they'd have great chemistry.
4 wags

I was wrong. But it's alright, cause I was extremely lazy this past weekend and watched a ton of movies (more on that later.) The plans I didn't realize I had for this week:

Monday-- IGGY POP w/playmayt! I'm so excited I can hardly stand myself.

Tuesday-- Games at my place w/SFVG

Wednesday-- Games in Tarzana w/LCG

Thursday-- I sleep, I watch lots of TV, I think of ways to postpone doing laundry.

Friday-- Lunch with the one and only ubbercatta; then I see Sweeney Todd, the guy from doctorphizzle's favorite show Quark, and that guy who knocked up Kirstie Alley in a play by Tom Stoppard w/playmayt. It should be pretty awesome.

Saturday-- Opera in the morning w/playmayt, roller skating in the evening, Queen cover band show late that night. Seriously. I couldn't make that day up if I tried.

Sunday-- I'll try to check out the Mission West Spring Art Show in South Pasadena solo in the morning (unless anyone wants to come along,) then lunch at Larkin's (new soul food in Eagle Rock) with songlian.

Next week! Next week is blessedly unscheduled!

I've taken to marking emails in my inbox that I still need to answer with gold stars, that way they catch my attention when I go to gmail. I was thinking this would help me answer them quickly. All they really do is remind and nag me when I open my email. Seven emails, seven people convinced I suck because I've taken so long in answering their emails. Like I said, crappile day.

It's grey and cold and dreary outside. The skies promise rain (though supposedly not til tomorrow night) and it makes me even more hermity. I don't think I'm going to make it to the Polanski double feature tonight. I just don't like him enough (or at all) to fight through the blahs and force myself to go. For Cary Grant I'd try, but this... meh. Think I'll hit Target for household necessaries (and a new coveted funstuff) and hole up in the house tonight. New Sims. The OC. Something warm and savory and rich in my tummy. Mmm...

Oh, and I haven't forgotten.


Get your own valentinr

I was gonna do laundry.

I was gonna sort and clean out the clothes all over my room that I haven't worn in dogs years.

I was gonna do stuff.

I was gonna get it done.

Intstead I slept in. I watched another disc of The Office. I fell further under Jim Halpert's spell. I installed the music software for my phone and downloaded the six songs that will fit on the silly thing.

It's been an alright day. And there's still time to get the rest of that stuff done. Some of it.

If I can bring myself to leave my bed. Cause really? Cary Grant is calling to me. Talk of the Town. Different for Girls. 40 Pounds of Trouble. That's my kinda film festival.

After you die... Guardian Angel After death, you will exist as a guardian angel in order to protect your still-living loved ones. You might even inspire a classic Christmas movie.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

warm and fuzzy.

on that newly virtuous note, even though the health resolution may not have sounded all that sincere, I really have been doing my best to eat better (other than that bacon cheeseburger/ garlic fries/ Oreo malted backsliding last night.) been eating a lot more fruit and making my lunches to both save money and prevent myself from getting yummy greasy lunches. Sunmaid has decided to help me out with this with little boxes of vanilla yogurt covered raisins. yum. they are so good that I'm considering adding them to the cookies I'm planning on making this week and transforming the choc. chip I was going to do into kitchen sink cookies with TJ's almondina chocolate (little cookie pieces indide the choc inside the cookies... cogitoergoludo's experiment with this was really successful and so I'm stealing it,) yogurt covered raisins, oatmeal, and walnuts. good idea? we'll see...

11. Madagascar-- was alright. half watched, half knit and played Sims. was about as much attention as this movie deserved. Sasha Baron Cohen's lemur king was awesome, but what was with the honking giraffe? I'll accept that it talks (even though giraffes don't have vocal cords and are therefore largely silent) but the honking weirded me out. don't know why I'm ok with the talking and not the honking, but... bottom line: I can't recommend this movie. (an no, that isn't the only reason.) if you need to amuse small children, maybe pop this in if your "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" video can't be found anywhere, but this isn't even that good as far as children's movies goes. was better than "The Country Bears," but that ain't saying much.

a big two loans came in today. bored. want something to do, but am ok with just waiting passively for the lunch they're buying us today to arrive.

it appears that more than one thing can now inspire me to leave my shoebox on a school night. just checked my little datebook and I've got plans every night next week except Monday, and plans for all day Sat and Sun. I'm not going to be any fun at work. have already warned the boys... looking foward to it.

just in case anybody hasn't noticed yet, it's been another really slow day. one whole loan! yay!