School

This week will be my fourth session in my Audio Engineering course. It is not easy.. Every week the reading requires all my attention & I find doing my homework takes a lot longer than I expect. I have to keep reminding myself it's been 10 years (eep!) since I graduated college & had to study regularly. It's like a shock to the system trying to rewire my brain back to study mode.

Another challenging factor is this is an engineering course & I've never studied anything like this before. At first I felt like Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford on SNL, "I was told there would be no math." It's a lot of very technical jargon that takes me multiple readings to wrap my brain around. Some weeks I get discouraged & when I do, I pick up the phone & call someone like my mom or my best friend & talk about how I feel. I used to keep everything bottled up inside which never did me any good & thankfully I learned from my past mistakes & share my feelings whether they are positive or negative.

Reactions to this year's Golden Globes TV nominations

Best Television Series - Drama
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

My reactions: Ok, I watch AHS but it's not THAT amazing & sometimes it's downright terrible but in a very fun way, like "can you believe they did THAT?" Can't get myself to care about BE. Don't watch Boss, don't want to watch it either. LOVE GAME OF THRONES & want it to win. Have heard nothing but amazing things about Homeland & now have to marathon the whole season. Also, please note all of the shows are on cable. Where's the love for network dramas? There are a few good ones still on the air & could even be awardworthy. Mostly though: FAIL. 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Jeremy Irons (The Borgias)
Kelsey Grammer (Boss)
Damian Lewis (Homeland)

SB: Meh. BC: Understood. JI: He's usually amazing so I get the nom even though the show looked ridiculously over the top. KG: I have read he's very good on this show even though it doesn't interest me in the slightest. DL: Is consistently believable & wonderful in everything I've ever seen him in from Band of Brothers to the short-lived drama Life for which he also should've received accolades. Partial FAIL.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Claire Danes (Homeland)
Mirelle Enos (The Killing)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Madeline Stowe (Revenge)
Callie Thorne (Necessary Roughness)

CD: Heard she is the shit on that show. Again, must watch soon so as not to be left behind. ME: Thought about watching that show, decided against it. It's a remake so I'll just go watch the original version. JM: perenial nom & she's good in everything usually even if I don't watch her show. Which I should because Josh Charles is on it & he equals YUM. I've heard MS is the reason to watch Revenge even though I personally do not. I've never liked CT since she was awful on Homicide way back when & her new show looks like fluffy nothingness. If a USA female lead was going to get nominated I'd have picked Mary McCormack from In Plain Sight, which is a good show. PASS for three good noms out of five.

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl

I may not be able to type coherently as I'm currently blinded with rage over Community's epic snub. At least there's a mix of cable & network shows on this list. That said, is Enlightened even a comedy & does anyone even watch that show? Whatever! Episodes was a pretty funny show but more uneven that deserves awarding. Plus, it probably won't even get picked up for a second season so why bother? It's probably on the list because the leads (aside from Matt LeBlanc who was hysterical on the show & deserves many awards for his work there) & writers are British & people tend to thing Brits are funnier than Yanks (I agree that Brits tend to be very funny but they are two very different senses of humor which actually the show called attention to in funny & innovative ways). Glee is not really funny & has more up & downs than a yo-yo. Now if it were up for Best Musical Performances in a Show That is Not Really a Comedy then I'd be fine with their now but they're not. I think MF is a great show & I've heard good things about New Girl but really Community not being on the list shows what a SHAM the Golden Globes are as an awards show. Suck it, Globes. EPIC FAIL.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Laura Dern (Enlightened)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Laura Linney (The Big C)
Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation)
Zooey Deschanel (New Girl)

Oh boy here we go again. LD & LL shouldn't be nominated in this category. At all. If anything their shows are dramedy's which I'm thinking needs a category of its own, Glee could go there too. TF is always nominated & very talented even though I only catch her show sporadically. AP is amazing on P&R & deserves all accolades headed her way (especially for nabbing Will Arnett as a husband, SCORE! ZD is just riding the wave of hype that her show is currently enjoying. There are no real leads on Community so I can see why they didn't score a nom here but there are funny ladies on other shows more deserving than some of these ladies. Could go either way: PASS/FAIL.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
David Duchovny (Californication)
Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory)
Thomas Jane (Hung)
Matt LeBlanc (Episodes)

AB: Typical, always nom. DD: Eh, I've heard he's good on that show but I don't watch it so I can't really comment. I loved his work on X-Files & the few non genre movies I saw him in so I buy he has the talent deserving a nom. JG: Whatever, people like that show & he's sup[posed to be good on it. I don't know. TJ is the one really taking Joel McHale's nom for Community. TJ is a punchline in real life & while funny in a cameo on Arrested Development back in the day isn't exactly stirring up buzz or talk for his work on a show I honestly forgot was even still on the air. Grrr, to no nom for any male on Community. FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
Paul Giamatti (Too Big to Fail)
Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce)
Tim Robbins (Cinema Verite)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)


I hate that they mas-up these all into one award. It's so unfair to the actors & actresses. I think it's to shorten the length of the broadcast but it's the detriment of Supporting Players on regular TV shows, drama & comedy. Mini-series & movies made for TV always attract big stars in awards-baiting performances, & the truly deserving have to make due with hopefully getting one of the two or three noms left over. Lame. That said, PD was amazing as Tyrion Lannister & deserves any awards that come his way. I'd have also nominated Sean Bean as Eddard Stark & even whoever played Joffrey that spoiled little bitch of a King from GoT. ES is great on MF but so are the other men in supporting roles & equally deserving on a nom. Didn't Ty Burrell just win the Emmy? Where's the love for the amazing supporting actors on a little show called Community? Whatever. FAIL.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange (American Horror Story)
Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire)
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
Evan Rachel Wood (Mildred Pierce)

Again, confusing & weird mash up of what should be three separate categories. Maggie Smith will most likely win as she is a force of nature & just unbelievably awesome all around & on DT. Eh, I can't even be botherered to rant against this catergory. It's so uneven. Stupid Golden Globes. FAIL.

The only reason to watch the GG is to see the clothes the stars wear & watch them get drunk on TV & then speak publicly. It's always more fun that the Oscars that way.  If I have the energy I'll comment on their movie noms on a day or two.

eBooks versus physical books

To be perfectly honest, I don't buy the eBooks I read. I find free versions online & yeah, they tend to have typos & whatnot but I don't usually mind. The brain is amazing in what it's able to comprehend & it's rarely confusing when there's no period at the end of a sentence or there are random exclamation points in the place of lower case Ls.

I started out borrowing audiobooks on cd or Playaways at the library in Braintree but I have yet to visit the library where I live now. I refuse to buy audiobooks on principle because they are so expensive & since they are easily available at the library or online, why bother? My new mentor, Tony, loves audible.com. I keep thinking about that & might subscribe there in the future.

That said, I just went to Sony Reader eStore to look into buying the third book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire (Game of Thrones is book 1) series. I also looked at Amazon for the paperback price. They are exactly the same cost: $8.99. I'm buying the paperback version. To me there's no question, always get the tactile version if they cost the same. eBooks need to cost less than their physical counterparts otherwise what's the point? I feel really strongly about this. People are spending lots of money on their eBook reader of choice & there are a lot of choices out there. Personally, I used to read books on my old Palm Treo phone back in the before-times. Luckily for me, my awesome & generous sister-in-law passes on her old Sony Readers to me so I don't have to spend oodles of money on one. For around two years I had an older version of the Sony Reader & it did me just fine. This Thanksgiving, she gave me an upgrade to the Sony Reader Touch edition & it's smaller & lighter than the last one which I'm re-gifting to a fellow reader. I can't say whom because that would spoil the surprise!

The reason I went looking for it at all is because I couldn't find a free version (ePub which is the file type I tend to read otherwise I go PDF or even audiobooks for which I use the same method of finding selections) online, the files had all been deleted - which I totally understand. I get that what I'm doing doesn't put money in the pockets of authors. But the way I look at it, this way I get to test out & try new (to me) authors & see if I like them. If I do & want to keep these books or share them with a friend, I will go buy a physical copy, usually paperback or trade paperback which is slightly larger & costs a few dollars more. I rarely want a hardcover book unless it's an all-time fave book or author (like Dennis Lehane - LOVE!). They are too unwieldy when trying to read them & too heavy to carry around conveniently.

Which gets me back to the convenience & portability of eReaders & why the prices for their content needs to go down. I understand charging 8-10 bucks for an electronic version of a new hardcover release but there is no reason that a paperback book should cost the same electronically & physically. I won't pay that kind of money for an e version so I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, reading free copies.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. Words can't express how moving it is. Yes, it's long & involved, but each section is relevant & necessary. The best way to describe how good it is is to tell you how much I feel for certain characters & how much I dislike to the point of hate other characters. Things happen in the book that I wish didn't, but that is also true in life. It's not fair, the "good guys" don't always win & sometimes there are good & bad people on both sides.

I didn't read this book, I listened to the audio production as I did for the first book in the series. The reader is incredible, he does a great job of creating different voices & accents for different characters & somehow manages to keep them all straight even though there is a large cast of characters. It ends on a positive note where the first book ended in a more depressing manner. Yes, tragedies have occurred & destruction has been wrought, but, well, I don't want to give anything away because I want you all to read this series.

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Stop Censorship in America! Contact your Congressperson!

A Magnificent Journey into Sound

I am at the beginning of a new and exciting journey. Next week I have my first session as a student apprentice at Triad Recording Studios with Tony Ricci, my new mentor. I will be training to become a certified audio engineer and hope to one day be a full-fledged music producer.

After a lot of research and a few exploratory interviews at other schools/programs, I have decided to pursue this dream through a program run by the Recording Connection, hereafter referred to as RCC. I did my due diligence in looking for as much information as I could find on this program before enrolling. First, I consulted with the Better Business Bureau and was initially quite disheartened by RCC's low rating. This was a major blow as I had become quite excited by the prospect of going to school locally (RCC is based in CA but are affiliated with top-tier studios in most major cities nationwide) and affordably. It set me back on my heels for about a week before I regrouped and went back to the BBB website and read the entire entry on RCC. The complaints there were all answered by a representative of RCC with reason and what seemed to me to be honesty and a desire to defend themselves and their programs.

After that, I had a good conversation with on of their admissions counselors but their lousy BBB rating really spooked me which made me noncommittal and very cautious. My mom thought I shouldn't have anything to do with them because of the BBB rating alone but I wasn't ready to give up. I respect my mother's opinion and understood where she was coming from but it was a very interesting chat during which I, of course, took notes and I felt a lot better having spoken to them.

What really impressed me was the lack of pressure that came from them. This spoke to me of their being confident in their ability to not only place a student in a top quality studio but also in their record or successful graduates. At this point, let me explain how the program works. Unlike a traditional school where you learn in classroom, RCC hooks you up directly with a mentor in the field and you "go to school" at this person's studio. You in essence become a student-apprentice. There is a 20 week course planned out, with textbooks and homework and the like, only you get to work one on one with a professional in the field about which you are learning. Also, included in tuition is a copy of the software ProTools and an Mbox, which is an audio interface; meaning when you complete the program you have the tools already to go out & record & mix music/audio.

Another factor that impressed me is that they set up what they call an Open House Interview with potential mentors for you in your area, free of charge. Until you approve your mentor and vice versa, you do not pay any tuition. My mentor, Tony Ricci, and I got on like a house on fire. An average interview usually takes 15-30 minutes, Tony and I spoke for almost two hours! Needless to say, we approved each other and I was accepted into the program.

I am very excited to be starting this program and to be working with a professional like Tony. I will be keeping a weekly journal for school so I will publish updates periodically. I am very fortunate to be able to take this opportunity and run with it and for that I am especially grateful to my wonderful, supporting husband. Without him, I wouldn't be able to reach for the stars & believe that I can do something this amazing. Also, my friends & family fully support me in this endeavor, which is huge.

To quote Eric Cartman: :"Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals; I'm living proof ... Beefcake, BEEFCAKE!"

Community Bingo &/or drinking game

Created by: Online Associates Degree

The Ghost Writer

The Ghost by Robert Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I feel like I should've seen the end coming but I was completely taken by surprise. This is another fantastic book by Robert Harris. I was talking the other day with my dad about some of his books & my dad said (& I think this says volumes about Harris' ability as a versatile writer), "I've read those but I never realized they were by the same author." You can't go wrong with picking up any one of his books.



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Armadillo by William Boyd

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It's a satire but what is it satirizing? I didn't get it.



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Tracking my weight loss

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Quick Book Review

Fletch Won by Gregory McDonald


My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I love Gregory McDonald & the Fletch series. I'm currently rereading them in order as I read them all willy nilly as I could find them in used book stores the first time around. Funny funny funny. I love the way he turns a phrase.





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I Need a Hero

Where have the female superheroes gone?

Buffy is now relegated to comic form. David E. Kelly's Wonder Woman pilot didn't get picked up & was being picked apart by TV journos & bloggers while it was being made. Joss Whedon, who has proven he can write the female voice & do it well, tried to make a WW film for years before finally giving up & moving on to brighter pastures like "The Avengers" - a movie chock full of superheroes, only one of which is female (I think), Black Widow played by Scarlet Johansson & last seen in "Iron Man 2" doing little more than look sultry & have great hair. She doesn't seem to have an super powers either, other than being a highly skilled martial artists with a seemingly unlimited supply of gadgets (like a female Batman) but then this is the post-modern world of superheroes in which we live & maybe we don't want our heroes to be super anymore.

On TV, there are plenty of strong female characters (which is GREAT!), but other than the new ABC Family show about the girl with the catlike powers, Something Chloe King, there aren't any superheroes. There are women who can kick butt, no doubt; off the top of my head, there's Nikita & Alex from Nikita, Olivia on Fringe, Sarah on Chuck to name but a few. There are vampires all over the place in movies & TV, even lame sparkly ones but few of them could be called heroes & even fewer are female.

Perhaps the problem lies with the source, i.e. comic books? Aside from Wonder Woman most female superheroes tend to be merely the female counterparts to an established male superhero, like Batgirl, Supergirl & in their very names they are made inferior to the males by virtue of being mere "girls". There's no Batboy that I'm aware of, let's not bring Robin into this argument.

This is why we need Wonder Woman now more than ever. Buffy is over TV wise, I don't even want to think about the Joss-less movie they are attempting to put together right now. I'm not saying it's going to suck, but...  yes, that is what I'm saying.

If we can't have Wonder Woman for whatever reason, we need another creative force out there to make up a new female superhero & bring her to the masses. Come on, Hollywood!

Blogging Fail

Wow, so much for posting twice a week. I guess it's better to post less frequently than to post inane, vapid ramblings, unless that's what my readers are into. I could totally go vapid. Say the word!

I went to the funeral for my great uncle, James Wells, today. He led an amazing life - WWII vet, taught in Africa, spoke multiple languages. Truly a Renaissance man. He was one of 14 children - 14! Can you even imagine that? His mother had 15 babies, but sadly one died as an infant. Today if someone had 14 children you know she'd be fending offers from numerous reality TV producers. But back then, it's just what people did. They had babies, some died, hopefully most lived & you raised them. My father is one of eight siblings, nine if you include his sister who died a couple of weeks old. That was the norm. It's so different today. People make different lifestyle choices, get married later in life, some choose how many children they want before they ever think of conceiving.


My husband & I talk about having children & what we think/hope our kids will be like, but we're not rushing into having babies. I look forward to being a mother & hopefully it will happen sooner than later but I also want us to enjoy our new married life before the babies come & change everything. Like I said, today parenthood is vastly different today than in the early 1900s when my grandparents were born.

My Dream Emmy List

Here's who I think should be nominated &/or win Emmy's this year. I'm not totally sure some of these are even eligible but really who cares? Here's my Dream Emmy List.

I don't watch The Good Wife or Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Game of Thrones (which is apparently really good & I need to start watching it but there you go) so if you don't see certain shows or actors listed, it's because I've never seen them. Not that I don't think they are worthy, although, that could totally be the case. Preemptive ramble abort.

Best Drama:

• Fringe - this show is AMAZING, mind blowing ideas & totally grounded performances.
• Justified - can do no wrong, as strong in its second season as its first.
• Terriers - short-lived but intense & funny & riveting drama.
• Friday Night Lights - it's last season, never been nominated for Best Drama that I know of, throw it a bone!
• Southland - the move to TNT made a good show even better. Amazing cast, willing to shock you.

Best Comedy:

• Community - I'd say it's underrated but it seems to be a critical darling. All the cool kids watch it. Why don't you?
• Cougar Town - People put off by the admittedly lame title are missing out on a hilariously funny show
• Archer - sure it's animated but it's still one of the best & funniest comedies on TV right now
• Louie - funny but squirm-inducing. Makes you think about what you're laughing about.
• Modern Family - consistently makes me laugh. What more could you want?
• Park & Recreation - adding Adam Scott & Rob Lowe seems to have rounded out the cast perfectly instead of adding unnecessary bulk. It's literally a laugh out loud show. Leslie Knope!

 Best Actor, Drama:

• Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights - if I thought it's help him win, I'd leave the rest of the ballot blank or put his name five times. He IS Coach Taylor & he is SO deserving of the Emmy. Again, last season!
• Timothy Olyphant, Justified - sigh, love him. Love his conflicted character.
• Ben McKenzie, Southland - OC? What OC? He's totally left his teeny-bopper past behind him & grown into this fully realized adult role.
• John Noble, Fringe - Probably will be shut out due to snobbery over the SCI-FI elements of the show but he made you believe he was two different versions of the same man. Each was impressive & flawed, one was funny, the other terrifying.

Best Actress, Drama:

• Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights - see Kyle Chandler's entry above, insert Mrs. Coach.
• Regina King, Southland - her detective is the best character on a very strong show. She is a force to be reckoned with but not in an intimidating way.
• Anna Torv, Fringe - see John Noble's entry above, change pronoun to she!
• Mary McCormack, In Plain Sight -I don't know that I'd quantify IPS as a straight-up drama, because it makes me laugh a lot, but I'd love to see some different cable shows get some Emmy love & she's great as the good at her job but lousy with people witness protection US Marshal.

Best Actor, Comedy:

• Joel McHale, Community - I love this show & I love every actor on it. I'd nominate them all if I had the power. "I've got the power!"
• Louie CK, Louie - Sure he's basically playing himself but he can't be this funny in real life, can he? Actually, he probably could but props for being so unflinchingly honest.
• Matt LeBlanc, Episodes -I seriously doubt the Matt LeBlanc played by Matt LeBlanc is a carbon copy of the real guy, but holy crap, he is a funny bastard. I wish more people had seen this show when it originally aired on Showtime so we'd get more eps of Episodes but I'll savor the few gems we did get.
• Garret Dilahunt, Raising Hope - he's so funny? Who knew? I knew he was a great actor from seeing him on Terminator: Sarah Connors Chronicles & Life & Deadwood & a bunch of other shows but I never knew he could be so damn funny.

 Best Actress, Comedy:

• Courteney Cox, Cougar Town - when the show first premiered, people (mainly TV critics & disgruntled forum posters) gave CC flak for being the weakest link in an otherwise strong cast. I think that's crap, I think she's the crazy glue that holds the Cul de Sac Crew together. If not for her, who would bring Ellie & Laurie together? Or Grayson & Bobby? Or any of the other characters in any permutation?
• Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope - I was sure about this character in the pilot but she has grown as the show progressed & while some of that is surely due to the writers, a lot of it is due to MP's sexy, funny, grandmother, Virginia.
• Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation - she took what could have been a one-note character & imbued her with so much hope & optimism & just enough crazy to be believable.

This post is getting away from me, length-wise & also the amount of time I've put into it. If anyone responds to this, I'll post my Supporting Actor/Actress in Comedy & Drama picks later.

Whatever happened to Chandra Levy?

I'm reading a collection of essays & short stories by Chuck Palahniuk & in one he's describing watching the media coverage of 9/11 with friends when one asks if they ever found Chandra Levy, that intern that went missing. I can't even remember the senator or congressman's name that she worked for. He's probably a high paid consultant now helping lobby groups or political action groups or something like that. Gary Condit. I think that was his name. I could Google it in five seconds & I probably will when I'm done writing this. I'll read the Wikipedia entry on Chandra Levy & learn some basic facts that are probably mostly true & still not know what REALLY happened to her. That's the world we live in today. Everyone wants to know everything about everyone but no one really knows the truth, only the image of truth that we project to others. Sarah Palin comments about Paul Revere riding to warn the British & the media & the bloggers (myself included) make fun of her but she's really a scarily accurate reflection of America today. We know things, "we hold these truths self-evident" - I think that's a mangled quote from the Declaration of Independence - but what do we know really? Paul Revere didn't even make it the whole way to Lexington or Concord, he got caught by the British. There were at least two other riders that night but the majority don't know their names. That's not even really the point of this post. The point is instead of passively accepting the vagaries & the bias that is constant spewed at us, we need to look deeper. We need to investigate things on our own. "I can't do that, I have 2.5 kids & a mortgage & a DVR full of America's Got Talent to watch." Well, to co-opt a phrase, you get what you pay for, America. & it's a damn shame.

Whoa, I promise I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

I just got married & that apparently takes up a ton of your time. I even had my best friend as my wedding planner & her sister as day of coordinator & I was still busy with wedding stuff. I know people plan weddings & hold down jobs at the same time but I'm super grateful I lost mine (hey, where'd my job go? Oh, to some other person. Never mind.) when I did. It seems odds are I'd have lost it eventually when my brain was fully consumed by wedding stuff. Ok, that's not fair & probably only partly true.

Anyhoozle, the wedding is done & the marriage has begun. We went to London on our honeymoon & it was FABULOUS! We also managed to get to Paris for an overnight & that was magical. My husband is amazing & supportive & thinks my brain is sexy. Well, that my mind is sexy not my actual grey matter, that would be disturbing & gross on numerous levels. He suggested I take this opportunity to go back to school & get my master's degree - even if it's not for a job just go back to school & learn more. It's something I've been bandying about for like ever, I just need to firm up what I want to go to school for. Going back to school is a major decision & knowing me, I need to be really interested in whatever I plan on studying. My first inclination is to get my master's in history - it's a subject in which I've always been interested & I even got my minor in history back when I got my BA in English. That's the other major interest for me, literature, or maybe film studies even but that drips of pretension. There are so many options but like I said I need to be into it 100% or I foresee a struggle & why sign up for a struggle. That said, anything worth doing is going to be ... not 'difficult' per se but not 'easy' either. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Stupid James Franco getting 18 zillion degrees from prestigious universities & making it look effortless.

Bits & bobs

I almost wrote "bits & boobs" but I caught myself in time. Sorry folks, it's not that type of blog.

I challenged myself to write on this blog twice a week & thus far I'm not doing so hot. My main problem seems to be that all my great ideas come to me when I'm nowhere near a computer - like laying (lying? hmm) in bed trying to fall asleep or driving somewhere or some other place that lacks keyboards. To be honest, they're not even great ideas, it's more like just ideas but it's always nice to add a pejorative, right? ... Ok, I just looked up pejorative to see if I used it correctly & no, I didn't. It turns out what I wanted to say was an antonym of pejorative, like something nice, which is the opposite of pejorative. And now I've written that word so many times it completely lacks all meaning. Moving on.

I think we should pass a law that makes lobbying illegal. Stop laughing! I'm serious. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way this country goes about the business of making laws & crafting budgets & whatever the heck else the legislative & executive branches of the government are supposed to do, like, say, legislate & execute. While I'm crafting laws to save our country, I'd also do away with interest groups in general. They're just another word for lobbyists. People who have money hire people to whisper their wants & desires in the ears of elected officials & people who don't have money - namely the other 90% of the population suffer for it.

Do we really need commercials telling us that cheese is a good thing or beef is for dinner or eggs are good this week? Was there really ever a danger of people not eating cheese? Or beef? In America? I so doubt it. But for some reason a group of like-minded individuals/producers of said products paid some ad group a bunch of money to come up with catchy slogans so that when someone goes shopping they buy corn or rice or alfafa or some other damn fool thing. Paid for by Association of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, because only Wisconsin cheese is good for you, that other cheese from that other state is crap. You hear me, Vermont? Crap! So now we have an ad for Vermont Dairy Farmers touting their super awesome cheese & it just never stops. This is why I bought a TiVo all those years ago. So long commercials! Oh no! TV runs on commercials, let's just stick them at the end of the tv show in the bottom or right hand side of the screen. Ha, that'll teach 'em! Bastards.

Hmm, this got sort of rant-y. I didn't even get to talk about how much we need to find a new source of energy or find a way to take oil off the commodities market/exchange/whatsit so that every time some Middle Eastern country has a crisis or a revolution, (so, weekly) the price of oil doesn't skyrocket. US doesn't even get the majority of its oil from the Middle East. It comes from South America. Which means we have to keep old Crackers in Caracas (TM John Oliver from The Bugle), Hugo Chavez, happy so he won't threaten withholding oil from the US, like he does, weekly.

Heck, Shut the Government Down!

Would the government shutting down have been such a bad thing? Everyone is breathing such sighs of relief that we narrowly averted a shutdown but I think it might not have been the end of the world.

Sure, civilian employees would have gotten furloughed & yes, Congress would still get paid (which isn't right, In my humble opinion), but we could have figured out how "essential" some of our government offices really are. According to that bastion of accurate, reliable information known as Wikipedia, "[g]overnment employees who provide essential services, often referred to as "essential employees," are required to continue working." So federally run hospitals would still have their nurses & doctors, air traffic controllers would still be managing the airways, fire & police would still be doing whatever it is they do when not fighting fires & crime, respectively. (Sidebar: do you think police are paid too much or too little? I find lefties (politically, not writing-wise) think they don't get paid enough while righties (same) think they are vastly overpaid. I'm torn on the issue, but I don't think we need them controlling our traffic for $50/hour. )

I'm of the opinion that our government is a bloated, lumbering bureaucracy that has gotten too big to  successfully do much of anything well. & I say this as someone who currently receives unemployment compensation after losing my job last year (I love that expression, "losing my job", like I misplaced it & now can't find it - dang it, where did my job go? I left it right next to my keys). So I'm sure the government shutting down would not have a been a good thing for me personally or the millions of others collect/receive unemployment assistance. But looking at it objectively, I think a government shutdown would have been a fine way to determine how much of our enormous monolithic government is actually essential and what is so much pork.

I just wish Congress got furloughed as well because that is a group of useless blowhards only out to protect their seat & therefore their electorate. But that's a posting for another day. Feel free to comment & share your opinions.

These are a few of my favorite foods

My favorite foods are fairly pedestrian & boring. The joke is to blame my Irish heritage, but I'm not even a big fan of boiled dinners. I'm trying to expand my repertoire as my fiance has vastly different tastes than I do. But it's a struggle. I also suffered from a swollen gallbladder & gallstones for about 15 years so I did have a tendency to avoid foods that made my symptoms act up. Even now, sans gallbladder, I find that fast food irritates my stomach as do foods with lots of spices. My stomach is on the sensitive side.

It's been said that breakfast is the most important meal or the day & it's by far my favorite. I like ham, egg & cheese sandwiches, pancakes, or scrambled eggs & toast for breakfast when dining out. When eating at home, I tend towards cereal or if I'm feeling adventurous, eggs with a little ham & cheese to zazz them up (I rarely feel that adventurous. Mainly I don't want to clean dishes first thing in the morning). When I worked regularly (note the past tense), breakfast was an oatmeal bar or English muffin with jam. Of course, with these goes coffee & OJ at home or apple juice when out - I hate the watery OJ most restaurants serve.

Lunch & dinner are basically the same to me. I love salads but I'm invariably hungry sooner rather than later when I have a simple salad for a meal; it's a different story when I add tuna or grilled chicken, that keeps me fuller longer. I'm a big fan of making pizza on flat bread which is great because I can control the amount of toppings & keep them on the healthy side. I'd almost always rather have a grilled ham & cheese or a cheeseburger or salad & pizza over a steak, potato/rice & veg meal. I'm just not that into traditional dinner fare. I'm totally content having a couple of low fat hot dogs with some baked beans or rice rather than cooking some chicken or pork or what have you & coming up with appropriate side dishes.

I've become known for my "simple" meal plans & have been on the receiving end of countless recipes, tips & cookbooks & I do appreciate the thought behind them. But until we organize our kitchen, they are in cupboards or drawers & rarely see the light of day.

What are you favorite foods? What do you eat more often than not? What do you think you should eat more of?

You Haven't Seen What?

What movies have you never seen that you KNOW you should have by now? Or movies you are embarrassed to admit passed you by? My list is pretty epic but I'm putting it out there! I'm not going to go by category or by decade, this list is by no means all-encompassing, I'm sure there are other movies out there I haven't seen that I forgot to put on this list.

1. Easy Rider
2. Apocalypse Now
3. Taxi Driver (I started this one but couldn't get into it)
4. Amelie
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. Casino
7. Any & all Sergio Leone movies w/Clint Eastwood
8. Dirty Harry & its sequels
9. Unforgiven
10. Mulholland Falls (pretty much any David Lynch film)
11. The Hustler
12. Rebel Without a Cause
13. On the Waterfront
14. Aliens (forced to watch the first one in film class & cried I was so scared. I'm a little girl when it comes to horror movies)
15. The Shawshank Redemption
16. West Side Story
17. Schindler's List
18. Sunset Blvd.
19. Wall-E
20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I'm going to stop here because I'm starting to have trouble thinking of movies. What's your list?

Two things that disturb the shit out of me

Virginity testing. Yes, you read that correctly. According to Amnesty Int'l, three women in Egypt arrested at a peaceful protest on March 9th were forced to take virginity tests or face charges for prostitution. This is just one of the many ways women around the world continue to be degraded. I realize that Egypt's societal norms are very different from those in the USA but Egypt is supposedly one of the more progressive nations in the Middle East & this is how they treat their women. Unacceptable.

Wasting vast sums of money. I read in Sports Illustrated that "Cal" (I'm guessing this means a college in California? I don't speak college sports lingo) managed to raise between 9-12 million dollars to save a number of sports programs that were going to be cut due to budget constraints, including women's lacrosse. Oh no, a handful of women can't play lacrosse! The world is going to end. Now, really, the sports themselves aren't the issue. To me, the issue is that those millions of dollars could have gone towards feeding the impoverished in our own nation. According to the US Census, in 2009, the poverty level was 14.3%. 14.3%!! There are almost 300 million people in this country, what's 14% of 300 million? A shitload (aka around 42 million)! I'm grateful every day that I have a roof over my head & food to put on my table. I know people who have in the past not been so fortunate & to me it's a miracle they are still alive to this day. Right now, someone is diving in a dumpster looking for food to feed their family. This isn't happening in Indonesia or some country in sub-Saharan Africa, it's happening in the US & it happens every day. I'm not saying we don't owe it to ourselves as a society to do something about the world's poor, I'm saying do something in your own backyard first.

Sleep - underrated, overrated or unecessary?

I love sleep. I love napping. If I could, I'd nap everyday! Given how intense & messed up some of my dreams are, you'd think I'd avoid sleep but no, it's one of my favorite things, like raindrops on roses.

Friday night, I couldn't fall asleep. I had what I like to call "the jimmy legs" - I was very tired but my legs were so jumpy, I couldn't settle down. Usually it takes me around 30 minutes to fall asleep but that night I got up & went to the living room to read for a few hours. I finally went back to bed exhausted around 3AM & fell asleep. I think the root cause was the glass & a half of wine I had with dinner hours earlier, that was the only real change in my usual routine. Even after dinner, I made sure to drink a lot of water to combat the alcohol effect but that is what I think did it. Which is odd, as usually alcohol makes people pass out - not fall asleep but literally lose consciousness which is why it's not exactly a doctor recommended sleep aid.

Insomnia thankfully is not a huge issue for me, but I know it is for a lot of people & I'm curious for tips of combating it. Do you have problems falling asleep? How do you handle it? I've heard that if you don't fall asleep after an hour, you should just get up & go do something else.

On a totally different topic, I had my bridal shower yesterday & it was a wonderful event if I do say so myself! It was great to spend time with family & friends that I don't see very often. Thank you to my bridesmaids for all their hard work (especially Karen!), to everyone who made it & to those who couldn't, you were missed.

Drumroll please!

Well, here it is: my official blog. No more myspace faux-blog for me! This blog probably won't change the world, but hey, it might, I don't want to downplay my communication skills & ability to sway people to my point of view.

I'm watching Greg Giraldo's Midlife Vices on demand & psyching myself up for my Filipino Martial Arts class tonight. Did you know Arnis, Kali & Eskrima are all different? That's one thing I've learned so far; the three names are considered the same here in the US but they are each from different parts of the Philippines. Even the website I linked to above say they are all basically the same. Well, we're more focused on Arnis at my school and my instructor Lorne Therrien was taught by the late Remy Presas. 

I'm obviously new to FMA, I only started this month, but my background in kickboxing as taught by instructors who come from a kung fu background has helped me adapt to this style fairly well. Shout out to South Shore YMCA Kickboxing class! I'm also taking Womens Thai Kickboxing class on Saturdays which is far more similar to what I'm familiar with. I'm interested primarily in self-defense & that is the focus while also being very cardio-intensive. Cardio is my weakness but I know I will only get better as I practice more.

Ok, that's enough scintillating insights! I wonder should I come up with some sort of witty catchphrase to end my blogs? Meh.

Seacrest out!

p.s. I'm thinking of copying some of my old myspace blogs here because just one post is kind of sad.