Hey there, stranger.

I haven't died, nor do I have any intention to quit blogging... life just got in the way. So to update (and quickly!) I will make a list of positive and negative things that have occurred in the last coupla months...

+I went to the Renaissance Faire with Jessica Eff-Word, Jessica Guitar-Hero, Jeremy, Dimitri and his wife, Jen.

-Ozy was diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus. He gets a diet change, and then later in the month of April, he gets started on insulin. He is rapidly causing his mommy's neurotic tendencies to overwhelm the house by giving her yet another thing to obsess over. :)

+Taundra had her baby on March 20, 2010. He is a healthy, happy little boy. They named him Ebanezrah. I got to hold him when he was only 5 hours old!

-Dad went to the hospital for a mysterious GI bleed. He went to the hospital, had around 10 blood/plasma transfusions, and they finally did surgery and cauterized the artery that was bleeding. He ended up getting out of the hospital the day I left for my trip.

Then...
+I went to Germany to see Will! (That's good!)
-Will got food poisoning the second day that I was there. (That's bad.)
+We went to Paris, France! (That's good!)
-My wallet got stolen in the Paris train station. (That's also bad.)
All in all, it really was a good trip. I swear! I had a great time in both Germany and France, and I loved being with Will. Notably, the ash cloud that paralyzed a whole continent came a week too late to get me stranded in Germany with Will, which would have been so cool.
***To view pictures of my trip, check facebook. I put up about 100 photos.***

Now...
-Work has been BUSY. Really, really, really busy.
+I am going to see the movie The Heathers today for the first time with Taundra and Matt (and Eban, but he won't really be watching the movie). We've been trying to do this movie night since before the baby was born, but something always gets in the way...
+Tomorrow is Jessica Eff-word's 23rd birthday, so we will be going out to eat.

Okay, that's about it. Onwards and upwards! I'll try to be better at updating. Love you guys!

A Terrific Trip to the Theat-ah!

Last night, I went to Beowulf Alley Theatre in the heart of downtown Tucson. Playing was "Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage" by Jane Martin. For a brief synopsis on the show as well as where it is playing in Tucson, click here .

I went with Matt*, a good friend, husband to my other good friend Taundra, and the Special Effects creator for the show that we were going to see. Because he was one of the people working on the gore, severed limbs, and tattoo artwork on the characters, I got dropped off at Shot in the Dark Cafe for about an hour and a half before the show. I managed to read a few chapters of Spook and make myself ill on a too-greasy grilled cheese sandwich, all the while enjoying a delicious iced mocha.

*Clicking on Matt's name will send you to his biography circa 2001, which was when he acted in the movie Wormwood. This biography, being nine years old, is incredibly out of date. For one, he's now pursuing a BA in theatre education so that he may spread his artistic skills to a new generation of thespians. He has a couple of other acting and special effects feats under his belt that he did not have at the time. He's also bald now.

The play itself was hilarious, fast-paced, and immensely enjoyable. There are plenty of times to laugh, a couple of good times to jump, and some times that make you squirm, even with the knowledge that that's fake blood up on the stage. I would not hesitate to call it a success, and I recommend that anyone who can drop by Beowulf today, tomorrow, or next Thursday through Sunday make a point to do so.

I do have to admit that I am glad that I do not frequent a particular Starbucks in town (I will be keeping the specific location to myself), as I was told the one actor that ended up coming out in nothing but socks, a jock strap and a gun holster works there. While he was a great actor, I don't know how easily I could order a drink from him without suddenly envisioning my Barista wearing nothing but a smock and aforementioned jock strap. It doesn't even matter what you look like; that is an unattractive outfit to don.

All told, it was a great night. Today I plan on going hiking, and tomorrow I will be enjoying the Renaissance Faire... excellent! I hope to have many pictures, and possibly some more amusing stories, later.

Crayons, and other essentials.

There are just some days where you want to be a kid again. Yesterday was one of those days. I would have been completely content with staying home, listening to music that I would have listened to around the age of twelve, watching the Labyrinth, and coloring with crayons. In lieu of that, I listened to music that I would have listened to around the age of twelve (eg Savage Garden, which Will so sweetly included on his most recent mix CD to me) and drive to work. I did bring crayons in case I got a moment to decorate the crap out of something. I did not end up doing it, though I did feasibly have the time.

I got a really nasty case of hives at work around 4:00 AM. I took 50mg of Diphenhydramine, which is a fancy way of saying that I took two Benadryl. I'm going to go to sleep now.



Some fun crayon facts lifted off of another website:

Crayola crayons currently come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver. Although Crayola crayons come in 120 different colors, the labels are only made in 18, which cover the full color spectrum.

Nearly 3 billion crayons are made each year, an average of 12 million daily.

Exciting mediocre Bren!

I know I haven't written in a few days, but in my defense, I was at least enjoying myself. My "weekend" was pleasantly busy. On Thursday, I had to wake up to go to meeting at work, which was not fun, and I was not excited by it in the least because Thursday was my first day off, and I really just wanted to sleep. Instead of going home, I went and had dinner with my parents and then went down to Plush on Fourth Avenue and saw Seashell Radio (http://www.seashellradio.com/), Coyote Grace (http://www.coyotegrace.com/), and Leila Lopez (http://www.leilalopezsongs.com/) play. I thoroughly enjoyed all three shows, but I can honestly say that I would not have stayed if Courtney Robbins had not told me to stay for all three acts as opposed to just her's. Courtney has a solo career (you can find that info here: http://www.courtneyrobbins.com/) and I began to listen to her years ago. We have also talked occasionally and I must say that she is quite awesome. She told me that I would be sorry if I didn't stay for the next two shows (and she played with both of them as well), and she was definitely right. For anyone interested in folksy, singer/songwriter music, I HIGHLY recommend all of these guys.

The show was a nice change for me, because things have been pretty hectic lately and I was really hoping to unwind. Everyone at the show was so nice that my usual anxiety didn't even seem to get to me that much. I will definitely have to go to folksy shows more often.

On Friday, I went out with my friend Jessica (Jessica F-Word, for those of you who are keeping tabs) and got the last few things that I needed for the baby shower that I would be hosting the next day. Jessica and I are apparently inept at navigating our way around a Babies R Us, but after wandering aimlessly for what felt like an eternity, we were directed by the manager to where we could find changing table pads and boppies. We also went to Target and did some awesome grocery/medication/baby shower prep shopping before going home and having difficulty wrapping our gifts. It was a blast.

Saturday was the baby shower for Taundra, Matt, and the little child that has yet to be born. It went quite well. We had crap tons of extra food, the gifts were a go, and Taundra and Matt's child that is now two years old, Piperlee, spent the couple of hours at my parents' house blissfully relocating the remotes. It was great. I was exhausted by the end of it (I have been stressing over it for weeks, and I had to wake up at 8am that day), so I went home and took a lengthy nap.

Then, the moment I have been waiting for for MONTHS occurred. I saw Shutter Island! It was a fabulous movie, and I plan to see it again, and probably own it. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I've been excited about this for eons... it was so worth it.

Now my work week is in full swing, and I am back to being mundane overnight Brenna. Le-sigh. I will say that I am reading (on my lunch breaks, mostly) Spook by Mary Roach (author of Stiff and Bonk, both of which are quite entertaining). It's pretty good thusfar. With all of this being said, I'm going to go to bed so that I may continue to be relatively coherent at work. *Thumbs up*

Torment of the year 2000: a trip to my subconscious, and a blast from the past.

Why am I awake right now? The answer is simple, yet it makes such little sense: The Thong Song.

I have not listened to the Thong Song since it infected the radios and TVs of the year 2000. I did, however, wake up involuntarily on four different occasions today singing this novelty in my head. I can't decide what's more frightening: the fact that my subconscious wants me to think of the aforementioned song, or the fact that I know most of the words even now. Granted, the words aren't too tricky... but couldn't I be lucky and forget?

In closing, I don't want to be livin' la vida loca, I don't have dumps like a truck, and really, all I want is to be able to sleep. Please leave me alone, Sisqo.

Irrational Fears.

I realize that I have been really, really awful at blogging recently. We shall not speak of this, but I promise to try a little harder from here on out. So now, without further ado...the blog!

We all have some thing or things that we really, in truth, should not be frightened of. For the most part, these things are strange, childhood recollections or pointless images or objects that we have actually given negative connotations to in our minds. The other night while I could not sleep, I began to dwell upon my irrational fears. I suppose that these objects, if viewed in the right context, could be frightening or dangerous. In Tucson, Arizona, however, it is unlikely that I will have to meet up with any of them, and therefore it's pretty pointless to even consider them an issue. Here are a few of my favorite (or least favorite, as the case may be) things, further explained by Wikipedia. I will not be posting pictures, because I AM AFRAID OF THESE THINGS.

1. Leeches
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeches)
I don't care if they're the blood-sucking type or not. It doesn't matter. They're freakish. They look slimy, they lurk in water, and they have anticoagulant spit. They leave sores. They feed on the dead and the living. They're just...disgusting. Perhaps I SHOULD stay in an arid area after all.

2. Eels
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moray_eel)
I put the second wikipedia article up there because it illustrates how an eel's jaw works. No creature should have two jaws.
When I was a teenager, I went to a dumpy aquarium in DC. There wasn't really much there and you could get through it in minutes. I usually love aquariums, but this one just about broke me. Eels are camouflaged creatures. I rounded a corner quickly without paying much attention. Suddenly, this big, eerie eel came POPPING out of a rock. He came from nowhere, horror movie style, mouth opened and everything. Thanks, eel, but no thanks; I will not end up as your dinner.

3. Nematodes
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematodes)
Hey, kids! Ready to give yourselves nightmares? Read the wikipedia page about nematodes. I deal with these things REGULARLY...gross. An equally frightening wiki page on nematodes is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeping_eruption

If you haven't yet seen the correlation, I don't like water-related beings. The oceans scare the crap out of me. I'd like to say it's just an immense respect, but it's not. I'm horrified of them. I'll go to the beach, but I will not go in.

I'm going to end this blog with something that I don't find frightening:

Hellraisers.

I just finished watching Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld. This is officially the end of the Hellraiser movie series, which ranges from the original from 1987 to the aforementioned, which came out (straight to video, I may add) in 2005. I have officially seen all of them, and as it was quite an arduous and occasionally painful venture, I feel that it behooves me to reflect upon it.

The series began in a stroke of genius based heavily upon Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart. The first movie bore a strong semblance to the novella, and the second movie bore a strong semblance to the first. The third made slightly less sense and took some deviation from the previous two, but I would still consider it to loosely resemble Clive Barker's original brainchild. This movie marks the loss of the Cenobites' ambiguity: they are no longer angels to some, demons to others; it is quite clear that Pinhead and his posse are truly "bad guys" bent on the destruction of humanity.
The fourth movie was completely different, and was mainly just backstory about the Lemarchand box, the man who made it, and all of his offspring and offspring's offspring. It weasles its way into the future (approximately 200 years ahead, in fact) and we get to see the ultimate destruction of Pinhead, the doorway that one may open to get to hell (the Lament Configuration), and a space ship all at once. You'd think the series would be through, but remember, we still have 200 years of destruction to map out.

The fifth movie was, perhaps, the ultimate failure in the series. It made very little sense, had no likeable characters in it, and the only real reason you could call it Hellraiser at all was because it had Pinhead in it...albeit about ten minutes of him in total. Even Doug Bradley, the actor that brought Pinhead to screen all eight times, admits that this is his least favorite of all the films. Here is proof, from an interview that I recently stumbled upon:

*Marcus:: Now which is your favorite installment and which is your least favorite installment in the HELLRAISER series?
Doug:: I would say that my favorite is still the first movie and INFERNO is my least favorite.
Marcus:: Inferno was number 5 right?
Doug:: Yeaaaaah*

This movie was also the first in which Pinhead goes from being the aggressor to a sort of immoral compass, where he tortures the torturers and wags his finger at those who do wrong upon others.

The sixth movie has Kirsty in it again, but not even she can save it from being lumped in with the fifth movie and the seventh movie. All of these movies have less and less Pinhead, less and less plot line, and make less and less sense. Kirsty has gotten married to an all-around chump, and she ends up trading his soul and the souls of four of his friends and lovers to get Pinhead and his cronies off her back for good. The seventh involves some strange cult that is headed by a distant relative of Lemarchand whom we never met in Hellraiser IV: Bloodline. He looks like he's trying to be Trent Reznor, he can bring people back to life by making out with them, and he can't open the Lament Configuration...which is his ultimate goal in life! At least, I think it is. I couldn't grasp all of the fragments of plot in this movie long enough to have it make sense.

This brings me to the eighth movie...oh, the eighth movie. It had more Pinhead than the last three movies combined! It had a creative (although I use this term loosely) drugged-then-buried-alive plot of which Edgar Allen Poe would have been proud! It...still made very little sense! Despite the marked lack of a decent plot, I must say that this was my favorite of the last four gomers. The acting wasn't nearly as bad as V-VII; on some level I found the group of dumb teens in the movie to be endearing. Pinhead was still spanking the baddies of the world. His last line in any of the H films was, "I should have taken care of you long ago!" Ouch, Doug, ouch.

All in all, if ranking the Hellraiser dynasty in order from most liked to least liked, I would have to put them like this:

1. Hellraiser- can't beat the original

2. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

3. Hellraiser IV: Bloodline

4. Hellraiser II: Hellbound

5. Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld

6. Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker

7. Hellraiser VII: Deader
8. Hellraiser V: Inferno

Seeing the sun for the first time.

I have been very busy lately. Busy with work most of all, but also busy with cats (sitting on them, in particular), busy with family, and busy with this holiday season.

Because of my schedule, however, I feel like I never see the sun anymore. I kind of miss her. I have been trying to wake up early enough to see her, but she always goes to sleep an hour or two after I rise. Bummer.

Hank, and human depravity.

Hank appeared at my parents' house two weeks ago with squinty eyes and lots of little scratches and cuts on him. It was obvious that he had seen the brunt of several cat fights. He was hungry, but he was also very frightened. He was frightened of the other cat that hangs around the house, frightened of me, frightened of the dogs inside. Of course my parents put food out for him. While he was eating, I came up and pet him a few times. He loved it. After a while, though, the dogs barked. Hank ran away.

Dubbed "Hank" because he looked almost-but-not-quite like a cat my parents had taken care of before (named Henry), Hank made quite the impression on all of us. He was a big, bruiser of a cat- no neck, a huge head, and big paws. Through all of the dirt and filth, you could see that he was white, with large ginger splotches. He soon became more outgoing, and would rush up to us and rub against our legs. He was neutered, and was most definitely used to people. Why on earth had he been abandoned?

As the week wore on, it became more apparent that Hank couldn't stay outside my parents' house. Linus, the other outdoor cat, was getting beaten up. Hank's eyes looked awful. We finally made the decision to take him to the Humane Society.

The people at the HSSA were absolutely wonderful. They realized just how special Hank was, and took me straight in with them. They ran a few blood tests on Hank to see if he would be able to be adopted. Unfortunately, both the FIV antigen snap test and the IDEXX RealPCR FIV test came back positive. If he had been more healthy, he would have been able to live out the rest of his life at a no-kill shelter, however he also had anemia. His eyes were another issue. No matter how aggressively they tried to treat his them, they would not heal. His immunities were not up for it.

I am going to be with Hank while they euthanize him today.

I can hope that the past two weeks have been high points in his life- I know that he has been warm and had plenty to eat and a lot of love. For those of you who work or worked with me, you guys remember Jane- SHE has been taking care of him. We all know that means he's been WELL loved. I wish there was more that I could have done for him, however I can say that what I wish more than anything that whoever owned him had cared for him. He did not deserve to be dumped and left to fend for himself. Despite all the care my family and the Humane Society have given him, he certainly should have had more. He should have been able to have a life.

A rich, full day.

Today, I woke up ridiculously early after going to bed ridiculously early the day prior- I blame a food coma, despite my obvious lack of turkey consumption. I made muffins and cleaned my house. The muffins were a gingerbread with cranberries and yogurt chips. I was experimenting. They were awesome, freaking delicious. They were so good, in fact, that I invited a friend over to try one. He agreed that they were, indeed, freaking delicious.

Along with cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming, and all that jazz, I decided to be a good fish owner and clean my fish tank. It needed to be topped off anyway, but what it needed more than anything was to be cleaned, conditioned, and have its filter replaced. Done, done, and done. There was more than a little complaining on the part of my five fish- especially my plecostomus, who is huge and could probably best me in a battle. I offer to your photographic evidence:

Compare him to the platy. It's like having Shamu in the tank, if Shamu was completely terrifying. I am scared of this fish, yet endeared to him at the same time. Classic Stockholm Syndrome.

I have avoided any retail stores today. I think that Black Friday is a disgusting tradition. Sunflower, the market, was not busy, and I therefore purchased a few meaninful items to om nom at whilst at work. I will need it, as I have not slept much today and I work in twenty minutes. Humph. I suppose I will go now.

,

So I finally got around to getting my car checked out. It's been making an unpleasant noise since about June, but it had been running fine, so I did what most people would do: ignore it under the assumption that if something was really going wrong, my car would subtly tell me of its problems. You know, subtly, like spontaneous combustion while I am in the driver's seat. Turns out all the trips to Phoenix were probably not the best idea, as a water pump was falling apart (hence the noise) and on top of that, the fan belt was wearing down. But the point of this blog is not to talk about how seemingly intelligent people do incredibly stupid things. The point of it is to say that I've gotten these parts fixed, and now my vehicle is running just fine. I no longer have to listen to my music at a higher decibel to mask out the grinding, gurgling noise that it was making. Points for my ear drums!

Speaking of intelligence, grammar and usage has really been getting me down lately. No, I've not been messing it up more than usual. I just assumed that anyone who had gotten through basic eighth grade English class would be better at speaking and writing their native tongue than they truly are. I guess I begged the question. I use this term less because I want to and more because this is the correct manner in which it should be used. Begging the question means to beg (assume) that there is truth to something without seeing real proof. Another painful usage error is the term "for all intensive purposes". Really guys, you should know how to say it before you try to act smart, irregardless of your true IQ. (Irregardless is another pet peeve of mine, and therefore was placed in that context purposefully.)

Will found this sentence on a slashdot.org forum the other day, which is why I bring all of this up:
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. Which begs the question, "Who cares?"
Please tell me that someone else is as annoyed by this as I am.

xo,
B.

PS- My birthday is in approximately ten days, depending on where you live geographically (this means you, Robin). This means that I have succeeded in proper metabolic function for twenty-three years!

Dreamscaping.

It's not that I am feeling mopey or pathetic, but I am having mopey and pathetic thoughts run through my head I may as well dump them out into some sort of medium before I go to bed in the fond hopes that I sleep slightly better.

I have had unsettling dreams for the past three nights in a row. Though I have yet to wake up from said unsettling dreams to find myself changed in my bed into a monstrous vermin, things still haven't been rosy. Each night, these dreams have caused poor sleeping, waking up more frequently and more fatigued than anything else, and uncomfortable night sweats. I wake up remembering my dreams and the feelings involved in them better than I remember the previous day, and I am caught in some sort of haze that I'm not fully freed of until I actually leave the house completely.

This is not a new development. I am not sure why this happens to me as often as it does. All my life, I have had vivid dreams. They became particularly unruly when I got in to middle school, and I usually can't go a month without having something that, for me, is truly a nightmare. As far as I know, there is nothing I can do about it. I am not one who can trim and tailor my dreams to fit my wishes; I am a terrible dreamscaper. I can't just will myself to think of something else. I just hope that it doesn't last much longer. I want a good night's rest- never mind the fact that it will be during the day!

An open letter.

Dear Sir,

I am sure we have a lot in common. For instance, we both appear to be human. I will take a guess and say that we are both probably within the ages of 18 to 55. And both of us certainly like music. This, though, is where we part.

I say this because I would not park in front of a set of apartments with my music blasting. I do appreciate being able to hear my music when in my car, but not at quite the same decibal level as you. No, if I have to scream at the top of my lungs so that my friend may hear me, as you were clearly doing right outside my apartment this evening, I would probably have turned it down. Also, if my vehicle was vibrating because of the bass notes that were eminating from the speakers, I have to say that would have been a clue that the music was too loud. However I do know that some people like vibrating sensations, and who am I to judge you on your more personal likes and dislikes?

I will be honest with you. I did not actually wake up because you were screaming at the top of your lungs. It wasn't because I thought that maybe, just maybe, I was finally being abducted by aliens when my walls and bed began to shake. No, I was renched out of a comfortable stupor because my cat began to cry every time the bed lurched to your bass-heavy rap. Yes, I mean it. He wailed every time.

In closing, I'm going to beseech that you please, please learn to turn down your dial. There are many beneficial elements to this. Not only will I be able to sleep and you won't scare poor, defenseless critters, but you may have better hearing in the years to come. So go ahead; turn it down. You'll thank me later.

Yours,
Brenna

Phobia!

I went to Phobia tonight, and I must say that I was impressed for several reasons. I like being scared, and this definitely did it for me. They had good jumps and a couple of things that were truthfully unnerving enough for me to be scared. It was quite easy to get trapped in the moment and become frightened. Plus, it was in a huge, empty Linens N Things building. How creepy is that?

There were two 'haunts': Voodoo and Asylum. The way that they were described to me by the ticket lady was as so: "Well, Voodoo is more of the outdoors elements as well as inside, you know, graveyards and that kind of stuff. Asylum is an asylum, it has patients and doctors and clowns." Because, you know, all hospitals have demonic clowns. I must say that while I despise clowns, Voodoo scared me more. It had the advantage of being longer, and it seemed much better coordinated. The first thing you saw upon turning the first corner was a black-shrouded figure walking past you and disappearing into a black wall. The tricks and chills went on. You never knew where to look; at one point some guy started screaming at me, and it took me a second to realize that he was actually squatting above me on a fence. One of the creepier effects involved a blood stained bride walking towards me in a dark hall lit only by a strobe light. She had the perfect evil face, and because of the strobe, it didn't look like she ever moved, she just got closer.

Because I am who I am, though, I did manage to make a couple of the actors break character. My favorite break of character was the cannibal cook. The room was blood splattered and there were body parts all over the table. This equally bloody cook came out clanging a pan and cleaver and screaming. He got right in my face (they like to do this, especially to someone who looks scared) and screamed, "DO YOU WANT SOMETHING TO EAT???" to which I replied, "No thanks. I'm a vegetarian". I don't think that this guy had ever had a response like that, because he paused (stopped clanking around and everything), chuckled a little, and just said, "Really?" Then tried to get back into character. He got me back at the end, though, because I had just come through a dark maze to the exit and he popped up and said, "DARK IN THERE, ISN'T IT?" To which I jumped, because I hadn't seen him appear.

Payback is hell.

We have such sights to show you!

I just finished what can only be considered a "Clive Barker-a-thon". By this, I mean I watched both Books of Blood and Hellraiser II: Hellbound in one night. I had no particular purpose in watching these movies, other than the fact that I felt that I needed a break from reading Let the Right One In, which is probably what I would have done. Not that this book isn't amazing; it's just...well, let's just say that one has to be in a particular mood to stomach it.

This is not to say that either of these movies were big ol' pick-me-uppers, but whatever. It's October, and nearing Halloween...I hope I can get some leeway for my morbid tastes. Speaking of morbid, here's probably the only picture of me that I will ever post up on my blog!

I couldn't sleep a few nights ago...so I became a zombie. Sassy, no? Tucson has an awesome zombie walk on October 24th (http://www.myspace.com/tucson_resurected) that I will be missing (damn you, work!), but as you can see from the above, I obviously belong there with my people. Anyone who can make it definitely should, and take lots of pictures for me. I WILL be going to Nightfall (http://www.nightfallaz.com/2009/) this year, though. I have heard it's delightfully cheesy. Huzzah! Another haunt that I'll be observing is Phobia (http://phobiatucson.com/). Ah, Halloween! My favorite time of year. And Tucson really gets into the spirit of things, no pun intended.

Ok...it's been a real scream, but I should go. It's almost 9am, and I've yet to sleep. :D

P.S.- Robin, we must Skype soon, no?

Yes, I did see that door.

I saw Paranormal Activity yesterday. The movie was horribly undermined by all of the screaming and hysteria coming from the crowd. I probably would have found the movie to be more frightening if there had been a marked lack of "OOOH SHIT!" and "DIDJA SEE THAT DOOR?!?!" commentary. The part that really struck me as funny, however, is that everyone in the theater actually thought that the movie was real. Doesn't anyone else remember the Blair Witch Project? Same thing. The movie was supposed to seem real, and people truly believed it until the presumed dead college students began showing up on various tonight shows to talk about their present fame and what it's really like to be dead.

On another note, I recently watched a music video that has been in my iTunes for a while. I've seen it before, and I remember having an equally confused reaction to it before. It has continually baffled me...so I would like to present for your viewing pleasure "Looking Glass" by The Birthday Massacre. Please take a moment to watch the link below and potentially get back to me with commentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctrcpgIo_9I

Note: I really do like The Birthday Massacre. I just have no idea what is going on here.

Life's Lessons: Lots of Lyrics

Yesterday, I went to Phoenix. Not having much experience driving in Arizona (outside of Tucson itself), I was a little stressed about getting up there. I arrived without getting lost and with minimal emotional duress. I stayed in Phoenix for the night, and left in the wee small hours of the morning (8 am).

For as horrified as I was getting up there, the drive back was freakishly liberating. It's about a two hour drive, and I sang the entire way home. My throat was aching by the end of my trip. For the sheer giggle factor, the "play list" that I created for myself during my drive is as follows:

1. Depeche Mode- Precious

2. Depeche Mode- Enjoy the Silence

3. Depeche Mode- Policy of Truth

4. Depeche Mode- World in My Eyes

5. Depeche Mode- I Feel You

6. Depeche Mode- Walking in My Shoes

7. Amanda Palmer- Astronaut

8. Amanda Palmer- Runs in the Family

9. Amanda Palmer- Leeds United

10. Amanda Palmer- Guitar Hero

11. Amanda Palmer- Oasis

12. Crazy Loop- Crazy Loop (mm-mm-ma)

13. Katy Perry- Hot N Cold

14. Daft Punk- Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

15. MGMT- Kids

16. Head Automatica- Beating Heart Baby

This relatively schizophrenic, kind of embarrassing and utterly predictable grouping of songs fueled my return. I came home feeling pretty good. I really needed it, after what has been a pretty emotionally draining week.

I work tonight. I really should be sleeping, but-surprise! It's not happening.

.

I am almost officially done with being overworked (for now).

There comes a time...

...when you realize that laying in bed, wide-eyed and staring at your cat, is counterproductive. Nailing this point home is when your cat is laying in bed, wide-eyed and staring right back at you. It appears that I have not only tossed and turned myself awake, but Ozymandias, too. Poor Ozy.

I suppose I should be happy that I am awake. Because of my innate inability to sleep longer than four hours at a time (today it was six! I should be so proud), I have the chance to get up, greet the world, and go do...stuff. I'm sure there are things that I could do. I could go grocery shopping. I could do laundry. Interestingly enough, neither of these things seem "get out of bed" worthy. The questions that arise, then, is this: Do I try to go back to bed? Do I wake up, putz around for a few hours, then cram in a nap before work? Do I give up completely? Such deep questions...questions with no suitable answers!

What I really should do is take a shower. The sad thing is that no matter what time I wake up, someone in the apartment building is always taking a shower right when I want to. I tried to forge through it last night. The net result: no cold water. I was absolutely scalded before I finished.

Hark, I hear no more running water. It's my turn to use the cold tap!

cough/hack.

So the past week has been filled with:

A) work, and
B) the flu.

Yes, I know it's only September. But my immune system decided that it just couldn't wait to get sick...and I mean sick. Like, "hack so much your muscles ache" sick, or "sleep eighteen hours straight in the fond hopes that you won't cough and/or choke while unconscious" sick. I finally got well enough to get up go out yesterday. After a few hours, I became very, very fatigued. But you know what? I'm not coughing nearly as much as I was. And last night I only slept ten hours.

I really want to rent My Bloody Valentine: 3D. I saw it in theaters, and no, it wasn't anything amazing, but it was enjoyably gory and quite entertaining. Besides, seeing a Boston Terrier in 3D was faboo...not that I don't get to see that on a regular basis, anyway.

Which reminds me of the BEST PICTURE EVER:

Speaking of black and white (a small jump, but bear with me), I've been wearing a lot of monochromatic outfits lately. It makes me wonder if I'm secretly aspiring to be a mime. Thanks to Speed Bump, I'll end this blog with a brilliant comic: