Juno

I've just come from watching Juno for the second time in two days. It's hilarious and I cried my eyes out and I for sure have a super crush on nineteen year old Michael Cera. It is one of those movies that makes you feel good about life.

My favorite scene is when Paulie crawls into the hospital bed with Juno, muddy track shoes and all, and they lie there without talking. His face is so sweet.

Brit watch 2007 winds down

Britney Spears just popped into the Thai restaurant around the corner from my old apartment. Literally around the corner, I used the walk there all the time to get Pad Thai. The funny thing is that this place is the shadiest, most sketchy restaurant. No one is EVER sitting down eating there, and they do a lot of "deliveries." They are open every night but I can't see how they could stay in business without also being in the mob or drug trade. Apparently Britney was mumbling, "Scary," as she walked in, which is what I said every time I ate there as well.

I'm not linking to any sites because I think paparazzi are scary.

watts up

Naomi and I went on a field trip today to the Watts Towers. It was just the two of us. We went under the auspices of planning a field trip, but I just really wanted to go myself. We ARE going to do a field trip here, and it is going to be rad. I'm going to get my kids all psyched up about different artists in our Imagination unit, and she will get her kids all jazzed about meeting brown, inner-city kids, and then we will SURPRISINGLY be at the Watts Towers on the same day (what a coincidence!) and our pen-pals will get to meet each other.

That's right, our students have been writing letters to each other for the past three months. It's really cute. Her school is all biz-related money money money, super privileged kids, the kind who go to a different country every single winter and summer vacation, and my class learned about Hannukah for the first time this year. One of my writing centers is Write To Your Pen-Pal, and about every two weeks or so Naomi and I trade letters. She came and visited my class to teach them about Costa Rica (she had been), and I came to her class to say hi and talk about the pen-pal project.

So Watts Towers is the perfect place to meet, why not. I was pretty blown away by the sculptures there. We are going to give our own tours, then do a mixer, then have our students work together in groups using toothpicks and clay and beads and shit like that to make their own little Watts Towers.

PS

I did Traveler IQ Challenge again today (UNESCO Heritage sites) and this time got 635,993 points. My UNESCO Heritage Sites IQ is 105, but I'm pretty sure after some careful atlas studying I can boost that baby up by at LEAST five points.

I like map

I found a great way to kill time: Traveler IQ Challenge. I got an embarrassingly low score, so I'm not going to print it here, but I'm pretty sure it was because I have unremarkable fingerprints and the touch pad on this laptop was not moving quick enough. I'll play again tomorrow with my TigerMouse and we'll see how I do. Plus, do you know where the capital of Uzbekistan is? Like, EXACTLY where? Do you even know where Uzbekistan the country is? That's what I thought.

PS: Jezebel is awesome.

vacation is still lovely

I just came back from dinner and drinks with my college boyfriend Nick and I had so much fun! I found out he'd been staying in our married friends' extra bedroom for a few months and left a note on his bed. (After snooping around first, is that wrong? You would totally do it too.) I could tell it was going to be a fun night from the volleys of text messages that issued forth all afternoon. There was the same kind of chemistry / ridicule that marked our relationship oh way back when. I'm not looking to start something up with him, besides the fact the he is (still) not Jewish and has a girlfriend, but dude he is FUN. I myself bring a lot of the fun-ness out, to be honest.

Ever since that latest jackhole dumped me I've been thinking a lot about Nick. For one, the stupid ways he hurt me when we were eighteen aren't as bad as the stuff done when I was twenty five. Another thing is that Nick had a positive, happy personality, he wasn't deep and introspective like the ex, if by deep and introspective you mean conceited and depressed. Around February of last year I was desperately valuing carefree and upbeat. Fuck the brooding indie scene. Lastly, Nick is totally driven and not lazy at all and I like to be around people like that. It brings out the best of my Type A compulsions.

Anyhoo, I'm glad we reconnected. I learned that his relationship with the girl he left me for was sucky for a year, which made me happy. I revealed probably too much about my sex life, but what is new. We discussed the possibility of starting a supper club, which I am pretty certain will not actually happen. He came up with a great plan to secure me a travel companion for Summer Oh Eight Third World Country Trip. It involves some complicated craigslist Scion challenges, so I can't really get into it now.

This week I've reunited with five college friends! Cheers to a new year!

T9word

Just browsing the text messages on my new phone:

I forgot the other thing about Midwestern Boy Hair was that they comb it all FORWARDS.

No, they have to see if the hootage is still available.

Next time you give him a blow job, accidentally use your teeth.

Going 2 be a little late. Just got a bible thrown at me.

I just got a fortune cookie that says: you should work on improving your exercise routine.

bastard, your sperm gave me the flu.

Call me when you have 15 minutes to talk about lube.

I'm at Office Depot, LUSTING after automatic pencil sharpeners.

Another thing jersey knit sheets are good for is you can clean your glasses real well before reading your nighttime book.

You know what is the best time for it to be raining? When you are on a train.

naturally I've had three illnesses in four days

Sometimes I just can't wait to come home and take off my pants.

You know when you're having tons of fun and enjoying yourself but deep in the back of your mind you keep remembering the awful chores you have to do, like dude, it's really fun making out with you but tomorrow I'm scheduled for a root canal. I've had to designate Saturday as my Get Shit Done Day.

I know it's vacation, and I'm supposed to be vacating and all, but as you read previously it's not going to be three weeks of sitting on my couch. I have rows to hoe, and whatnot. So far it's been pretty much five days of sitting on my couch (and other people's couches) but that's not entirely my fault. First there was Coming Down With a Cold, so we had to sit that one out. Next there was Getting Over a Yeast Infection. No comments. Then there was visiting Haley and Charlie and Luke (and Dan), in which we collectively sat on the couch while watching Project Runway and eating Christmas cookie icing. Finally, there was the flu thing, which I'm only now getting over. Thank goodness there was not any nausea however there were a whole lot of stomach cramps which are never pleasant. The worst part is that I can't take Pepto or Tylenol this whole week because I am having some minor surgery on Friday. So I suffered silently with my trusty heating pad at my side.

Perhaps tomorrow I will be ready to eat some vacation food? I hope so. I am tired of this whole plain toast and white rice thing. Don't even get me started on the Saltines. Who would eat those when they weren't sick is all I'm saying. I am going ice skating with Sierra in Pershing Square and nothing goes with ice skating more than hot chocolate. We're going to hang out at her place afterwards, and as you know, I like to eat seaweed when I'm with Sierra. So I hope my digestive track is up to it.

In sum: Get off the couch! Eat some good food! Read Knowledge for Thirst, it is rediculously hilarious!

things I get to do over winter break

1. Cash my checks (literally)
2. Cash my checks (figuratively)
   
3. Finish the Peru album (long overdue)
4. Play with Haley and Charlie and Luke and watch Tivoed Project Runway
   
5. Clean up the mess that is my dining room table
6. BTSA homework (yesssss!)
7. Car wash (long overdue)
   
8. Watch Lost season three
9. Hang the curtains I bought in September
   
10. Hang the towel rack I bought in September
11. Hang the mirror disco ball ornament I won at the school holiday party
    
12. Interior decorate Sierra's little studio
    
13. Step into my brother's apartment, haven't been there since August
14. Create an aesthetically pleasing banner for this site
    

two truths and a lie

We played this game at our school holiday party and no one had any problem identifying that these clues were mine:

1. I have ridden an elephant.
2. I have ridden a camel.
3. I have ridden a motorcycle.
   

guess that movie

"I told you not to do the jazz squares!"

"It's a crowd favorite. Everybody loves a good jazz square."

people are stupid

WHO THE FUCK GIVES A FIVE-YEAR-OLD A GUN!?!?!?

Good lord, his father taught him to shoot when he was two. These people make me sick.

I heart weekends

Whew! I just finished my first concert season as a soprano! It's been a lot a lot a lot of work, but very rewarding. I love singing. I love music. The people in my choir are fun and crazy and full of life. I've been afraid of adults pretty much my whole life. Seeing this group of alta-cockers act immature and silly made me realize that adults are just children in old bodies. We had men pulling out chairs from beneath their friends, women ringing bells by jiggling their boobs, jokes about reindeer poop, and LOUD ENTHUSIASM for snacks. This group gets excited when the word "chocolate" is mentioned. Fifty-year old folks swarm to the kitchen like buzzards.

Yesterday we did the Tour of Hope, traveling around LA in a bus, singing to various shelters and organizations. It was exhausting. We had a big dinner at the end and I think I made friends with some of the younguns in the group. Also, I am enamored of two members who make me laugh every time I see them. One of them came to dinner dressed in a green shiny chambermaid costume.

I went to sleep at nine-thirty and didn't wake up until noon. That's FOURTEEN AND A HALF HOURS. I don't think I've slept that much EVER.

in which I slept eleven hours every night and did not have sex

Thanksgiving round-up, two weeks late:

1. I watched season three of Arrested Development. And all the special features. Plus the commentary on several episodes. There really is nothing funnier. This is the be-all, end-all of sitcoms. Bob Loblaw's Law Blog.
   
2. I went shopping and bought lots of shirts.
   
3. I also bought an electric pencil sharpener.
   
4. I obsessed a lot about the boy who isn't calling me, either because he is out of town or because he is a NON KISSER (what the fuck, who doesn't like to kiss?). Then I admitted said obsession to several friends, including the guy I've been sleeping with for the past seven months, and he offered to come over and make out with me. Sweet, right? Wrong! Doing the right thing sucks!

they know more affixes than I thought!

During vocabulary, my students came up with the following definitions:

discarded: (v) Took cards out of the pile.

request: (v) Take a trip to look for something, again.