February 2009 Archives

Jen went to the hospital last night. They induced the labor.
I got to hospital at 7pm tonight.
Visited with Jen for an hour...mostly because she was watching American Idol and the waiting room TV would only show crap about some sports guy who died.
Ate Twizzlers because I spent 6 hours staring at a vending machine.
10:20 Dale comes in and says they will be starting the birth whatnot in 10 minutes.
3 hours later we still have heard nothing and there is only a security guard to ask and she doesn't know anything.
So I had to leave. :-(

So, who knows.

While we waited I started a baby drawing contest. Whoever's picture most resembled Dylan will win.

The baby will pick the winner once he is born. And whoever wins receives his love and devotion forever.

So WineStyles holds blind wine tastings every week. Remember like three years ago when I went to these? Apparently MK goes every week and invites people. Notice, I have not been invited in about three years. Luckily he invites Alina and Alina is a good friend and so she invited me tonight. Alina > MK.

We drank wine. I got all the whites wrong.
Then after getting halfway through the reds I determined it didn't matter so I mixed up all my glasses and guessed. I got those all correct :)

Since it was Jess and Adam's 6-month anniversary we then shared a bottle of bubbly...

So thank you Alina for being a good friend and congratulations to Jess and Adam on making it further than most Hollywood couples!

Oscar Night in ten items or less...

1. I went to JoeW and Meredith's place to watch the Oscars. I can't remember the last time I've watched the Oscars. I also can't remember a time when I'd seen so many of the nominated movies. I'd seen TWO!

2. I actually saw the winning movie! That is the first one since 2003. (I have only seen fifteen of the winners total)

3. I love Joe and Meredith's bathroom because it looks like a hotel.

4. I totally am in love with the main guy from Slumdog Millionaire. He's so cute!

5. I absolutely HATED what they did with the dead people montage. They kept cutting away to show the singer and the names were tiny on a pretty big TV, I can't imagine how small everything was on a normal TV!

6. I am still, for some reason, enamored with Anne Hathaway's hair.

7. I don't mind assymetry so long as a random boxy strap isn't just added for no reason at all.

8. Joe and Meredith made chicken salad and meatball sandwiches. I didn't eat the meatballs on a sandwich for fear of dropping it all over me. Joe didn't take that advice...

***

The rest of my life in 10 items or less...

1. I need to pack for the weekend. Gonna try to stuff everything into a carryon so I don't have to pay to check a bag (damned airlines!) But last time I went for 2 nights to a wedding I packed more than I took to Amsterdam for a week. This also means I need to do laundry.

2. Jeff thought I had done up my makeup for that last picture of me. No, I just was practicing photoshopping (and not doing such a great job of it) :-)

3.
Phrase typed with my fingers in the correct spots, not looking at the keyboard:
I need to lwaen to tupe correcrky so I son:t look lolw an isopt.

Same phrase typed with 2 fingers, not looking at the keyboard, in a fourth of the time:
I need to learn to type correctly so I don't look like an idiot.

4. It's been going around that bacon is over. I disagree.

5. So apparently there is a drug that will grow eyeslashes. I am partially intrigued because I have no eyelashes on half of one of my eyes. Seriously. But part of me feels like I wouldn't be me if I had eyelashes. And I don't really want hair growing on the rest of my lid (I am messy). ANd I don't even take aspirin when I have a headache so why would I want some drug doing weird things to my body. And I don't want my eye to fall out.

6. I hate sitting here watching all of my money dissapear. My mutual funds are down over $5,200. I know everyone says it's "long term" but its not. I don't want to save away all my money for retirement. I want to live life now and that possibility is dwindling fast. I told my financial planner when I started that in three years I wanted to either put a down payment on a condo or backpack for a year. He said this would be good. I KNOW these things are volitile and that there is no assurance, but that is almost three months salary for me and I feel like the more I lose the harder it is going to be to get it back. I don't even look at my 401k because I am sure all my money that is going into that is gone. I just wish he had said to put it in a CD or something. But he probably wouldn't have gotten commission from that.

7. Fish Sandwich!

8. Tie on a kitty!

9. TOnight was 24 night. I can't watch House. They spend entirely too much time in a hospital on that show. 24 was awesome. It reached the point I knew was coming though (minor spoler): the episode where for a second everything is shiny and nice and then you find out that the last eight hours had absolutely nothing to do with what the season is actually about.

10. Grease 2 is one of the finest movies ever made. It was seriously one of my favorite movies as a kid. I basically thought it was Grease and didn't know about the original until years later in life.

one.
I got a hair cut!
My hair is now about 90-95% natural!

two.
And I am kind of obsessive over these socks they sell at Target.
They are the fuzziest fluffiest warmest socks ever.
And they come in pink.
Yesterday, I went in and they had loooong ones! I am excited!

three.
This is an amazing video. So it doesn't take a lot for me to cry, but this really did move me for a lot of reasons. And I think everyone should see it as it could very well apply to anyone, not just photographers. And it makes me feel better about being a sucky photographer.

four.
Baby watch 2009: the baby is due TODAY! But no baby yet :-(

five.
This afternoon I met up with Nadia and Bryan and Josh and Jennifer and Jenny and Adam for brunch at Mon Ami Gabi. It was great to catch up with everyone! My food was yummy. :-) I sat in gum :-( I also dyed a napkin bright blue by trying to get it off. Here is my food:

Friday night was beer at my desk at work.
Friday night was wine tasting at WineStyles.
Friday night was more wine at MK's and stealing all his ketchup.

Movies
Wednesday night we went to Hollywood Boulevard because JoeJoe had won free ticket for eight. We saw The International because nothing else good was playing. The movie was about a couple of guys who went to a really cool museum for about ten minutes. Other than that I can't tell you a single thing that happened int he movie. My bruschetta was good though.

Tonight Nadia and I went to see Bride Wars. We were the only two in the theatre except for a random dude. Random dude, why did you go to see a chick flick alone? You know you are in trouble when ten minutes into the movie a girl gets engaged and I cry. You know you are really in trouble when fifteen minutes into the movie another girl gets engaged...
The movie was good except I am confused about how they exactly got double booked...the planner said the assistant turned in the wrong paper work and gave the other girl the date one of the brides had...but wouldn't the planner have still told her in the first place the correct date?
Kate Hudson's dress was awful. I hate dresses that point towards the crotch (sorry Miss Sleeping Beauty). Anne Hathaways was pretty though and I spent the entire movie trying to figure out if I could get my hair to look like hers.
I also thought the ending was a little forced and they didn't build it up enough.


Cars
On my way home from movie one I tried to stop my car at a red light and instead ended up spinning around and facing backwards. Luckily the guy behind be who I was then staring into the windshield of was able to stop. Eh, didn't hit anything so I just backed up and kept going.

On my way home from movie two the truck I was behind put on his blinkers and started moving to the side of the highway. And then I got hit with a massive amount of smoke.

Saturn might be spinning off into their own company. Does anyone remember that back in the day (before I had one) Saturn used to through picnics and stuff for its drivers? If they do form a new company they better throw a big picnic. I am so there.

p.s. Did you know Saturn has their own social networking site? Awe-some. Right?


TV
If I am nice, Eric is winning our Idol pool. If I am mean, we are tied. He had picked two of the three winners from last night...but when he sent me his official list he had only sent eleven names instead of twelve and forgot to write one of the names he had said he was going to add...and that person happened to have ended up making it...so technically according to his official list, she is not on it :-)

I am 1 for 3 so far. I am bad at these things. I am one of those people who will never win at horse racing because I insist on betting on the horse who is going to suck, but if they do happen to win you get paid a lot more.

Spoiler Ahead:

Val	Eric
Danny Gokey	Danny Gokey
Anoop Desai	Anoop Desai
Tatiana Nicole Del Toro	Ricky Braddy
Adam Lambert	Adam Lambert
Jasmine Murray	Jasmine Murray
Matt Giraud	Matt Giraud
Megan Corkey	Mishavonna Henson
Nick Mitchell	Ju'Not Joyner
Scott McIntyre	Scott McIntyre
Arianna Afsar	Kendall Beard
Von Smith	Lil Rounds
Kristen McNamara	HAHA, Eric forgot #12

BLUE = Performed and Made it to the Top 12
GREEN = Performed and did not make it

---

My top 12 picks for American Idol (most of these have absolutely no reason behind them, because I don't remember any these people, but I had to pick people before anyone got kicked off! We were going to do this office pool, but it was too confusing with the way Idol is working this year...so Eric and I are in a head to head battle!)

Adam Lambert
Scott McIntyre
Tatiana Nicole Del Toro
Danny Gokey
Anoop Desai
Jasmine Murray
Arianna Afsar
Matt Giraud
Von Smith
Megan Corkey
Kristen McNamara
Nick Mitchell

---

Monday night was 24 night at Joe/Meredith's. A lot of people brought dip. You needed to know that.

Sunday we went to the auto show.
There were cars there.
We looked at them.
I can't decide whether I should buy* the PINK Ford Mustang or the Dodge Challenger.
Too many decisions lately...

More Chicago Auto Show Photos Here!

*By "buy" I mean ogle from a far.

one.
I woke up on Sunday morning to this horoscope: CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You're still not sure whether or not you'd like to be a part of the goings-on around your social set. This is partly because you need rest. Socializing may be more draining than energizing. Relax in your own way.
It made me feel way better about ditching plans to hang at Tabitha's because I just needed a night to catch up on sleep.

two.
Sunday night MK sends me a message asking why he is hungry. I tell him it is obviously because he is a hippo. He checks into it and determines that he is not, in fact, a hippo. I tell him maybe he is hungry because he needs to eat food. He is shocked by this observation. I tell him he should eat a hippo. He says he doesn't have any so I tell him to call the hippo store but he can't find their number. I tell him I have a hippo so he says I should bring it over. I do but he determines it is not food grade hippo and is mad. He decides he will cook something. He makes macaroni from a box but put's Jack Daniels in it so he can call it Jack Mac. We were going to go watch the Bourne Identity because I have never seen it but then we watched Top Gear because they were reviewing the Challenger. How the hell do I get roped into watchign Top Gear? We ate macaroni and watched TV. I was promised that we will watch the Bourne Identity next time. That will most likely never happen.

three.
I stayed up entirely too late Sunday night for no real reason. Now I am tired again. I always catch up on sleep only to fuck it up the next day. Espresso is my (expensive) friend.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Tonight I, of course, went out to see the new Friday the 13th movie! Chelsa and I met up after work and went to see it. Besides the fact that the girl next to me kept checking her phone and besides the fact that some idiot brought a three year old to an R rated movie and the kid didn't shut up the whole time (I honestly couldn't care less if someone exposes their children to these movies, I mean, heck, the first movie memory I have is seeing Porky's, I DO however believe that a child shouldn't be brought to ANY movie if they can't behave and be quiet) it was a very good movie. I do, however, have a few thoughts...

Kinda Spoiler #1
While the new Friday the 13th was a good movie, it did not star Jason Voorhees. There was a big dude in a hockey mask killing people alright, but it sure as hell wasn't Jason. The guy was a heartless, ruthless murderer. Jason is a kind gentle tortured soul. Sure he kills people, but he was mentally disabled and grew up with no parental figures and no education and no guidance. That is why the real Jason always cocks his head like a puppy after offing a teenager glancing at the poor dead body in wonderment. He's innocent and sweet and just doesn't know any better. Whoever this dude was showed no remorse and killed with vengeance and conviction.
He also walked really fast. Jason is really slow.

Kinda Spoiler #2
I don't really like this trend in new horror where they feel the need to point out the stereotypes within the film. Take for instance the black dude who spent the entire movie pointing out that he was the only black dude there. Pointing out stereotypes is not clever. That was clever and done to death (pun intended) in Scream. And that came out in 1996.

Real Spoiler #1
hanging a girl in a bag over a fire = brilliant death

Real Spoiler #2
There was a kind of sort of but not totally really twist to the final girl. I guess it depends on how you look at it. Basically the girl who you would think throughout the movie would be the last woman standing was offed and another girl, who technically would have been the final girl to begin with was the savior.

So all in all it was a good movie, but I miss my Jason.
Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

Help me decide!

The blue was is a more vibrant color (I don't know if that is good or bad?). The gray one is a nicer fabric (gray wool vs. a stiffer cotton blue).

Which one should I keep?

1. I hate when I come up with a brilliant idea twenty minutes too late.

2. I hate when I come up with a BRILLIANT vacation plan only to realize that I won't be able to get off of work that week. :-(

3. When I first saw the new Tropicana packaging I thought it was a cheap generic brand OJ. Maybe they are typing to put forth the image of budget juice?

4. Do I need to wear this to marry Jason?

5. You can now become a fan of Silly America on Facebook! You can also become a fan of my jackalope Flopsy! Some day I will actually design the website...

6. I think American Idol thinks we can't count. They made this big deal at the end of the last episode to have the last two guys have a sing off to determine which would make it to the next round. In the end they let both of them through. Then they continually announced the "Top 36." Ummm...so that means that they didn't miraculously add one more person or else the count would be 37...so it was pretty much planned. Eric pointed out that you could tell that in actuality they weren't the last two to go because there were people in the room who had been already kicked out.

7. Another observation on American Idol. You know how they make all the contestants perform in stupid Ford commercials? Of course you don't! That was a trick question as I am the only one who watches Idol. But anyways. They make all the contestants perform in stupid Ford commercials. My question is...what are they going to do with the blind dude? Does he get to drive?

8. Every time I come across it it...I still can't believe this is still on the internet: beepgonk

9. I accidentally came across my first (real person) crush on facebook and my heart skipped a beat.

10. My mom to me and my dad: "The difference between our family and the rest of the world is that most other people would want the kid to be born on Valentine's Day. You want it to be born on Friday the 13th."

11. Blue or gray? BLUE or GRAY?

12. I am ordering cheap sale jewelry from Anthroplogie all the time from now on. Why? Because they ship it in the cutest little fabric bags ever.

13. Last night on throwdown the dudes made a chocolate bread pudding with BACON creme anglaise. I am soooo making that.

Another reason I need a iPhone. Yes, yes I AM a font nerd.

My coworker told me about a place in Seattle that has "a pig that has about 45 legs/eyes/heads/snouts." I knew Seattle was my dream city for a reason.

Finally, the world has figured out just what is missing from Pride and Prejudice. Zombies.

Planned travel for the year:

• D.C. for a day (end of February)


• Seattle (haven't picked time yet)


• hot dog eating contest in ny? (fourth of july road trip anyone? It's on a Saturday...)


• Vegas (no clue when)


• hot dog qualifier? krystal qualifier? (I may try to swing a three-day weekend or two to visit a new city and to catch the "circuit")


• krystal square off in chattanooga? (maybe see more of chattanooga this year? Maybe spend more than four hours there? Maybe convince someone at Krystal that I should be an official photographer?)

1. Saturday night Chelsa, Tammy, and I headed to see Eric's show The Wake at Chemically Imbalanced. Unfortunately Eric was sickly so he said he couldn't promise me a $13.50 performance. And when they announced that one of the cast was being replaced with an understudy Chelsa and I both frantically looked to our programs to make sure he was still performing. I didn't pay to see strangers act! The show was very good. It was odd though because the theater is tiny and the actors are right there in front of you. I did squeeze out one tear when Eric's character hit a kid. Sad.

I made Eric act like a third grader and get his picture taken outside of the theater.

2. Today was 24 night at Joelina's. Actually Sid came up with a new name that I like better: Aloe. From now on they will be the Aloes. Anyways. I made stew that turned into chicken mush but I think it was good. The stew had wine in it the bread had beer.

3. After four washings your jeans should stop turning your hands blue...right?

4. Last week I woke up to legs full of scratches. Now I woke up to legs full of bruises. Obviously I am sleepwalking into some sort of fight club...

5.
Walter: I really hope we have ice cream in this house
Walter: fuck yes! peppermint!
Me: haha
Me: i just had a cupcake
Me: i am not going to lose 20 pounds
Walter: fabulous
Walter: I gained 1.6 pounds last week I was so proud
Me: i'll go throw up now
Walter: lol
Me: way to think my bulimia is funny

6. How can you make turducken any better? How do you make EVERYTHING better...

7. I am trying to convince my sister that she doesn't need to hire a "professional" photographer and that I could just do the pics of her baby when he is born. I sent her some really rough test shots. This was a five-second setup with no lighting set up at all.

Tristan und Isolde
Wednesday night was Take your Walter to the Opera Day. I believe the initial conversation went something like this...
Me: So you want to do something interesting every day...an opera would be interesting...
Walter: OK
Me: Oooo...we can see Tristan und Isolde. It's five hours long!
Walter: So we're going, right?

So I guess it didn't take too much trouble to try and convince someone to see a 5-hour opera with me.

It wasn't bad, but not too much happens. It's mostly just a platform to hear Debbie Voigt. Here are some highlights (or maybe lowlights) in ten items or less:

1. Everyone around us fell asleep at some point.

2. The guy in front of us, who I think was a pretty serious subscriber, said "If they had just stabbed him 45 minutes ago we could get home earlier. I think if they had just given them the right potion they could have all died in the first act.

3. Apparently my glasses are perfect. I still think they are too big for my tiny head. I only wear them when I go to the opera and foreign films. And then only when I remember to bring them.

4. I absolutely love the community that gets built up at Lyric. When the guy next to us came he said "Oh, you're not the people who usually sit there, you lucked out with those seats!" then he later asked if we were related to the seat holders. They also kept asking if I liked the opera and said we should walk around see the building. I am pretty sure they thought I had never been to the opera before.

5. There is a door at Lyric that says it houses the fire extinguisher. It apparently goes somewhere because a bunch of people who didn't work there kept going inside. I have no idea what is behind that door.

6. Walter on the program: "This is like Skymall." That line made me laugh so hard that my glasses flew off and hit the woman behind me.

7. The best part about taking people to the opera is that we get to sit in seats that normally cost $185 apiece for free.

8. My new pickup line: Will you willingly follow me to the land of darkness?

9. Walter's favorite line: "If I died, you'd kill yourself too, right?" "Ummmm, suuuuure honey"

10. I think Walter liked it...

Fantasy of the Opera
Friday night was Fantasy of the Opera, which is a big auction/cabaret/gala thing at work. It is held in our lobby and theatre and is absolutely gorgeous.

1. My job through the night was to follow around a photographer to take people's names.

2. Most everyone else chose to wear a short dress. I chose to wear a long dress for the sole reason that I could wear really ugly but extremely comfortable shoes. I was the only one not dying at the end of the night.

3. Speaking of shoes I totally told a donor that he had really awesome shoes. They were loafers with skulls and crossbones on them!

4. My favorite part of the decor were these huge sheer fabric cylinders with chandeliers hanging inside of them.

5. Celebrity sightings: Monica Pedersen from HGTV who I got to ask her name because we needed to take down her husband's name. She was sweet and they were a gorgeous couple. Also: Michele Obama's dress maker.

6. Best part of the night was when all the guests were eating dinner and we were hanging out downstairs when the Pastoral cheeses and Ethel's chocolates were put out and sherry was being poured!

7. The cabaret performance was amazing. When else do you get to see opera singers doing show tunes and even a barbershop quartet?

8. All the food stations looked kind of amazing...too bad I couldn't eat them as I was working.

9. Actual dinner was a buffet downstairs with beef, risotto cakes, and vegetables.

10. Best favor ever: light up glowy rings with the Lyric logo on them.

1. I often give up before I give something a chance. I am trying to break that habit.

2. I really want to see Bride Wars, He's Just Not That Into You (because I have a feeling I will relate), and Coraline...maybe, that movie looks freaky. And i NEED to see Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th.

3. Ron thinks I am weird because I said I would totally date Jason Voorhees. Dude, he's cute.

4. I was watching My Best Friends Wedding the other day. I didn't realize before that they were 28 in that movie and that they had made a pact to get married when they were 28, as if it was too old to find real love past that point. The movie came out in 1997 and it probably didn't seem so ridiculous to me back then.

5. I feel as if I have been too bitter in my blog lately. I am not old enough to be that bitter.

6. Lord help me, I LOVE the new David Archuleta song :-( If you don't remember, David Archuleta came in second on Idol last year, and I absolutely hated him.

7. I love the Plain White Ts because their songs are so corny and stupid yet remind me of something you would have wanted your high school boyfriend to write for you on his guitar and therefore even if they are stupid and corny it totally makes you fall in love.

8. Unlike most times when my subject actually means something inside or cryptic, this subject just happened to be the song I had on my head.

9. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You will enjoy a job where you rake in the money. And if you're not making great money, you'll enjoy thinking about how you could possibly do so in the future. You are one idea away from a nice chunk of change.

10. You know it's been a long day when you take off your sock and then stare in awe and disbelief and shock for 5 seconds because you are wondering why your foot is encased in a strange film...only to remember that you are still wearing nylons.

11. My legs look like an emo teenagers. They are completely covered in scratches and cuts. I just woke up one day last week, looked down and that's what they looked like. No clue why. But it makes it really hard to shave without making them feel even shittier.

12. I so just want to be these men:

Mammoth Men 4 Trailer | The American Southwest from FRED EGAN on Vimeo.

13. Here is my newest plan for my life...I really want to build up SillyAmerica.com AND build up my wedding photography business. I want to get to the point where I can have a steady stream of buisness and a somewhat good reader ship to my blog. After doing Josh's wedding I really realized that it is something I would enjoy. I also really want to eventually take a road trip where I cover the entire country...so my thought process is...that I really would like to get to the point where I can combine both and have some sort of contest to then offer wedding photography to people getting married at odd locations while on my roadtrip...

14. Speaking of Josh's wedding I really need to finish editing those photos.

15. I am certain that as soon as I post this I will think of 2 or 3 more random things I forgot to include.

Sunday there was this little football game on that we here like to call the Super Bowl.There are four things in total that I like about Super Bowl Sunday: The food, the friends, the puppy bowl, and the commercials.

There is a football game that goes along with those things, but I don't really care.

There were some pretty decent plays though. Like when that dude ran 100 years for a touchdown. They kept looking to see if he had actually crossed the finish line. But, in my opinion, If a dude manages to run an inch under 100 yards for a touchdown, that should still count. Maybe this is why I am not a referee?

The food was good though :-) JoeJoe made guacamole and bbq hot dogs and jalapeno things (I didn't eat those) and Meredith made yummy brownies too!

The commercials seem to get fewer and dumber every year. Budweiser didn't even make me cry. I don't even remember most of them. There was one that was automatically good because it had monkeys, but then the monkey and the dude started to make out, which makes it so ungood.

But the game was good, I think? The yellow team won. I think a lot of people thought that would happen.
Oh, there were also a few 3D commercials...

Haven't had time to post Sunday's adventure (or tonight's!) but here is some stuff in the meantime...

1. I am still the voice on the KCSA answering machine. I haven't been in KCSA since 2003.

2. Sid introduced me to bacolicio.us. From now on please feel free to lick the screen while viewing my website here.

3. I am seriously still the voice on the KCSA answering machine. I recorded that message in 2002.

4. I think teachers from my high school keep friending me thinking I am one of my sisters.

5. I have picked the something old/new/borrowed/blue for my fake wedding.

6. It took me ten minutes to get into my boots this morning.

7. Tuesday was 24/House night at JoeW and Meredith's. I can't watch House because there is too much blood. I can watch horror films all night but put blood and guts and needles into a hospital setting and it will make me ill to watch.
The bigger news of the night was that Joe and Alina brought by year-old wedding cake for us to eat. It was only slightly green...

So does eating someone else's wedding cake a year later qualify as a good luck thing or something? Like does that mean I will marry within the year? (I mean, JoeW and Meredith ate some and I am pretty sure they will both be getting married within the year, so I think my theory is valid...) Of course, that pretty much means I need to have met my future husband like yesterday.

7b. OK, just because I plan my fake wedding doesn't mean I really want to get married within the next year. Maybe it can mean that I will meet someone who is nice, funny, and attractive who I want to spend a portion of my time with at some point soon? Is that too much to ask from a piece of cake that has sat in a freezer for way too long?

8. For the record, I was right that people DO freeze the placenta after birth...I did NOT know some of the reasons why...

True story:

I went to preschool in a small brick building under the town's water tower. I don't remember much about it except for the one day we made chicken soup and the time the girls all sang the Jem theme song and the boys sang the Super Bowl Shuffle and that I used to carry around a notebook and come up with inventions all the time. I drew out sketches for a flying belt and for a huge building I wanted to build in the backyard to serve as a doll hospital.

I remember that we did these little demonstrations. Those things they make you do to learn "life skills" and so forth. One was for fire drills where I got in trouble for not putting down the toy I was holding. But really, wouldn't it have taken longer for me to have put it down than to just carry it outside?

There was another one I remember where me and this girl were playing with a shoe, and another girl came up to ask if she could play with us. I said "Sure," and we all started to play with the shoe. The teacher then scolded me and told me that I was already playing with someone so I should have said no.

And I believed my teacher for way longer than I ever should have. And that moment single handedly ruined the rest of my life.

***

Anyways.

***

Saturday night I was going to drive to Champaign for Lindsay's birthday. Turned out though that a) the baby shower I went to took me an hour in the right direction, but I then had to drive back an hour to drop off my mom, and that b) it went a little longer than expected and that c) JenP was in town and was making plans.

JenP (I need a better name for her. I avoid using last names, but I know two JenPs...JenP from Champaign...) called me up and said that people were going to see Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. I'd always wanted to see it but had never gone and I never see Jen so I decided to just stay in Chicago and go out with her. Plus I still had some work to prepare for today's web launch so it was a little better for me to have the next morning. (Sorry Lindsay! We'll party it up again soon!?!)

I met up with Jen and Andrew and JoeJoe and Alina for dinner. We were going to go to a pizza place but ended up at another restaurant that wasn't so crowded. I got meatloaf because on my birthday I was torn between the fish and chips and the meatloaf and got fish and chips then. I forgot to take a picture of it though. We ALL ordered alcoholic beverages and the waiter looked around our table and said "I need to see...ummmm..." his gaze lands on me, "your ID." Well, he got the second oldest at the table...

After we finished eating we headed over to the theatre. We got there wicked early and were the only ones in line and the doors wouldn't even open for an hour. It was cold and so when we found out Andrew's friends who were just around the block at Hopleaf so we decided to meet them there for a few.

So we went into Hopleaf, where they carded all of us, and met Bobby1 and Bobby2 (they shall be ordered in the order I met them). There was a sandwich on the table that belonged to neither of them, but they still were eating the fries anyways. When I saw it I thought it was a really knarly looking steak on the plate, but turns out it was rye bread.

I ordered a Duchesse, which I had had a couple of times before at the Blind Pig. I like it because it tastes more like wine than like beer. Bobby1 tasted it and said it tasted like mustard. That cannot be true as I HATE mustard.

So Jen was antsy to go and I tried to chug it down, but as we all know I can't chug alcohol. But I got close enough to finishing. So I left what was left.

So we all left and went to the theatre where there now was a very long line. I gave JoeJoe my extra hat to wear because my superhood was enough.

So finally the line started moving and everyone was given a little fireman toy which meant you were allowed to get in (as there are no tickets ahead of time). My fireman had no head. Bobby2 couldn't decide if his fireman was holding a rifle or if someone had chewed off part of a hose. I later discovered that mine looked the same (except without the head) so it was either a rifle or a really pathetic hose. Or whoever had mine had chewed off both the head and the hose. But why would a fireman need a rifle?

Finally they started letting people in so we all lined up to pay. The show costs $9 plus whatever your roll of the dice brings. I rolled a 2 so I had to pay $11. Then they ask your name and they give you a nametag with something completely different written on it. I was "kiddo," because apparently everyone thinks I look 12 :-)

So I was the last of our group to get in, which of course means I stood there looking around forever until I saw where everyone was sitting. So it was a really small theater, but I still didn't see them right away...and then when I did it totally looked like there was no extra seat next to them, so I thought they had left me out :-( Of course, the seat on the end was actually free I was just blind.

So, I wish I was better at talking to people I don't know. I swear, I am either the quietest person you know or the loudest. But I was sitting on the end next to Bobby2 and I felt bad that I didn't say more because he seemed like a really nice person and I would have liked to have talked more. But I am way too shy sometimes. Dear Val, work on that.

When the show was about to start they announced that there was a full house and therefore they would order pizza for the entire audience. So they put a phone on the microphone and called takeout. They ordered one large (for 150 people) and when they asked what we wanted on it the whole audience at once started yelling out toppings.

The concept of the show was awesome: 30 plays in 60 minutes. Each play had a number and they did the plays in order of whatever number they heard yelled from the audience first after the previous play had ended. I won't remember all of the plays, but here are a few that I remember...

They asked for all the GLBT people in the audience to stand up. They then proceeded to bring out free snacks and sodas and (candy) cigarettes for them. JoeJoe later remarked that Jen and Andrew should do that at their wedding.

Revenge of a Theatre Major consisted of one sentence: "Ha, I still have my job."

One where...umm...a guy just stuck his naked ass through the door for karaoke...

There was no number 15, it was replaced by a picture of Obama with his eyes cut out. This ended up being a mask that one of the actors put on and then beat the head of an actor with a Bush head on with a plastic bat.

There was one where a guy was pushing a rock around with his head...then was joined by other people pushing other objects around with their heads. Then they all started suggestively dancing with their objects.

So, yeah. It was one weird-ass show. But it was awesome.

At the end they served the pizza. The slices weren't even an inch by an inch but it was still good. And that was awesome too.

We have officially launched!

So...over the last year my worklife consisted of little more than meetings over what this thing would do and look like. And my last month consisted of NOTHING but entering and editing content. And my whole morning has been spent in sick to my stomach nervousness. But we launched.

So there are still some bugs to fix and all that, and this is only phase one of a multi-phased website development. But can I have a nap now?

Saturday my sister's mother in law threw her a baby shower!

More baby shower photos!