Main
It's funny when three people all have the same memory and it turns out to be wrong.
For probably twenty now I've been searching for a book. It was one of those things that was published well before I was born and was read to my two sisters and finally to me. I had a vague idea that it was a Golden Book (because, really, what children's book wasn't a Golden Book?) I had a vague recollection of what the child in the book looked like. I remembered one line "Ouch, you naughty lion. You mustn't bite."
I don't know why this line stuck with me my whole life. But I for some reason always wanted to find this book again. I'd flip through children's books at used book stores and search online for the line but could never ever find it.
About a month or so ago I searched online again for the phrase and this time came up with two websites. One was mine because I had mentioned this once before. The other was an answer man website where he helps people find books. Someone else was looking for this exact same phrase. The suggestion he gave was, of course, wrong. The book was too new and too many pages. I could tell just by looking at the cover. A few days later I found out who it was who was searching for the phrase: my sister Jen.
Turns out that all three of us, at one point or another, had been searching for this book. So I made it my mission to find it. Selfishly I think I just wanted to be the hero, the smart one, the one who could finally figure out this mystery.
While searching through titles and pictures of Golden Books, I started thinking that it could be one of these prayer books I kept seeing. The girl on the cover looked awfully familiar. But it couldn't be a prayer book because a) I was never in any way religious and b) why would a prayer book contain a girl with a stuffed lion in her crib? But it got me thinking that maybe that was the clue, maybe whoever drew those prayers also drew my stuffed lion.
So I found the illustrators name and started looking up her books and then started googling her name with descriptive phrases and parts on my line until I found one mention of the line, slightly different then the way I remembered it, with a book title.
I went to Alibris and ordered it (which, by the way, is the most awesome site ever for any book you can ever remember having). I chose to order the $15 copy that was torn up a bit over the $40 one in better condition.
A few days later it arrived and I paged through it until I came to the page. And there was my line, only slightly different than I remembered it. And there was that little girl with a little lion in her little crib.
"Ouch! Naughty Lion, you mustn't bite!
What caught me the most about it was that all three of us had been placing an extra "you" between "ouch" and "naughty" that apparently never appeared in that book.
Strange.
But now I can at least stop searching.
I hope all y'all had a very Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Goat Day/Whatever it is you celebrate this time of year.
As Bromann Family tradition dictates, we went to see a movie this afternoon: Sweeney Todd. It was an enjoyable movie, good, but not fantastic. It also felt entirely too long when it started at 11 and we weren't going to open presents until after the movie. I also didn't like the ending even though it was appropriate but sometimes you just want everything to be happy and smiley and it's so completely not.
So once the movie was over we headed back home. Jen and Dale brought their pug Sampson. Surprisingly our dog Luke was well behaved and didn't try to kill him, except he spent the whole night trying to lick Sampson's private areas.
Then we opened presents. My mom was thrilled with the postcards and CD I got her of the Bellagio fountains and my dad liked the presents I got for him at Pottery Barn Kids and my sisters liked their books and kitchen gadgets (hand blender for Nat, tomato press for Jen) and my dog completely ignored the stuffed sushi I got him because he was too busy licking dog penis.
Presents I got included a couple of Lonely Planet guides, some Martha Stewart kitchenware (because it comes in my shade of blue), and a kickass Illini sweatshirt.
Oddest gift goes to this one that Jen gave me:
Best gift will surely be blogged about tomorrow once I get a chance to start using it.
Then my aunt came by and we ate dinner of roast beast, mashed potatoes, green beans and bacon, rolls, macaroni, and salad. Sorry, I did not take pictures. Then we ate my buche. Then that was about it.
Two hours later and my aunt is still downstairs, but I came back up to my room to play with my toys and talk to Joshua who's in Korea right now where it is morning. He is not eating bugs. :-(
I hope everyone had a wonderful day! Merry Christmas everyone!
When I was younger my dad used to tell me that Santa doesn't like milk, that he really likes Pepsi. This year he told me that Santa's on a diet and likes diet rootbeer.
Today we went to my mom's family's house for a Jewish/Polish smorgasbord of pierogis and bagels. Basically that meant me and my sisters sat in the kitchen all night talking to each other.
My cousin works for Borders and they were having a contest for selling the most gift certificates. The amount on the card though didn't matter, just how many were sold. So I ended up getting from one aunt five $5 Borders gift certificates. Brilliant.
Now I am watching Saw III which is way to disturbing to actually watch and tracking Santa on NORAD.
I was getting antsy to see Santa, so I emailed NORAD. They responded rather quickly!
Hood's reaction: 9 and 12? what is this, the sears repair man estimate?
Scott's reaction: I think they think yo'ure about 8 years old
Tomorrow I open presents which I am too excited about because Christmas turns me into a five year old and my family goes way too all out on presents. :-)
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!
Update, 11:17pm
Update, 8:30am, Tuesday
Santa ate my cookies and drank my root beer!
Hood didn't agree with my choice of diet root beer:
me: my sister says that you are the one who lies and that you are probably jewish
Hood: the PROOF that you're the jewish one is this idea that santa would go on a diet
Hood: every american knows that santa is supposed to be fat
Hood: in fact, you're probably muslim
but Santa drank it all!
1. Please convince me...
that the fact that some models allow you to choose a cute little car icon is a stupid reason to choose one Garmin over another. Or tell me that I am right and that that is, in fact, the most important thing to look for in a navigation device.
2. I spent way too many hours...
and four computers today trying to convert an itunes song into an mp3 to send to someone.
3. a conversation...
after my mom shows me the ridiculous pug-shaped purse she bought for my sister
Me: if i ever get an animal don't EVER EVER buy me anything with that animal on it.
dad: so, let's say you inherit a mustang horse. that's means you don't want me to buy you a Ford Mustang?
3. Because you don't have enough val in your life...
I have started a new blog...
I know, I know, I post too much to this one as it is. But this one is different, and actually only a supplement to a bigger website I am creating. But while I am working on designing the site, I thought I'd start posting some posts anyways.
My new website www.sillyamerica.com is devoted to all that is odd in America. Playing off of my summer roadtrip, I plan to eventually see every state and the glorious oddities they hold. The blog will also feature other random odd places and events.
I don't plan on posting in it nearly as much, and much of what I post there will be the same as here, but I thought I'd let y'all know! I'll let you know again as I make progress in designing the website...but that will take a while.
I have no qualms posting these because I wasn't too happy with Ms. Jazz Hands the photographer...
(they are mostly of me, because I didn't get to take too many of those myself...)
sisters
bridal party
ceremony
me
MORE PICS HERE!!!
Congratulations Jennifer and Dale!
Friday
After getting my hair and nails done it was off to the city to check into the hotel and head to the rehearsal. The hotel (Hyatt Regency Chicago) was pretty sweet, but very very crowded...but we had a damn nice view of the river.
We got to the rehearsal a bit early and the woman there wouldn't let us in, so we met up with Jen, Dale, and some of their friends at a bar down the street, where I had a delicious bellini.
Once the start time was finally nearing we all headed over to the mansion and started rehearsing. I guess there isn't much to say about a wedding rehearsal except that we rehearsed a wedding.
Afterwards we ate a lot of pizza and salad and cannoli and got even more jewelry from Jen (I wore five times as much jewelry to the wedding than I normally do), then we called it a night.
Before bed, Nat and I went to explore the hotel...which definitely looked more exciting on paper. We did, however, see some other celebration going on in one of their ballrooms where everyone was wearing a ridiculously large hat costume. No clue.
Saturday
Saturday Nat and I got ready while watching American Gladiators. Then after being bored just waiting around we headed to Jen's hotel room to wait for the other bridesmaids. Finally everyone started to arrive in their fabulously individual little black dresses (we each got to pick our own dress, the only rules were black, knee-length, not shiny). Then the photographer came and we finished getting Jen dressed, met up with the boys, and set off for photos!
Now the photographer...well...kind of bugged me. She kept telling us to smile and laugh and look at the camera so we'd look happy. So she got a lot of pics of us being fake. But then when we were actually talking and laughing and having a real good time, she didn't take pictures. And then for most of the pics she had us throwing our hands in the air doing jazz hands or wave or something stupid. I mean, couldn't she have taken some pictures of us being natural? Or just pretty? Or taken the hint that we weren't ta-da-hand people? Whatever, I'm sure they turned out fine.
So, we went and took pics at Millennium Park, by the river, and by the Field Museum (I didn't get any pictures of any of these, because I wanted to be camera-less in the pictures.) Then, just as it started to rain, we headed off to Glessner House.
We all piled into the conservatory to freshen up, look down the windows at people coming, put together our bouquets (we just took a couple calla lilies and tied them together ourselves), and try to fasted Jen's 99 cent ebay veil to her head. Then we went out and took some family pics and then lined up for the ceremony.
The ceremony was beautiful and sweet and I really liked the minister while she was ministering (even though she was a bit of a complainer while she wasn't). We set it up so the groomsmen all walked out first, then all the bridesmaids (since there were more bridesmaids then groomsmen it would have been awkward to try and pair up).
The ceremony was outside in the courtyard, and it rained a bit, but it wasn't too bad and no one seemed to mind.
After Jen and Dale were officially married, we got to eat! (my favorite part as always, food!) There were some yummy appetizers of pigs in a blanket and stuffed mushrooms and an olive oil bar of different breads and different flavored oils. Yum! And, of course, the bar! (Just beer and 2 wines...but wine is all a girl really needs).
We were all entertained by the musical styling's of the "Wandering Endorphin" Although he stood and played his guitar. I was kind of expecting him to wander.
Towards the end of cocktail hour it started to rain a bit more so everyone piled inside for dinner (luckily that was set up for being inside anyways).
Dinner was a pasta bar, where basically you picked your ingredients (I had shrimp, veggies, green fettuccine, and alfredo) and they cooked it for you right there. It was totally yummy.
The maid of honor (Nat) and best man gave their speeches and we found out that Dale is a break dancer! Who knew!?!?!?!
By that time the real photographer had to go ( :( ) but that meant that I had to step in and become official.
So then it was time for cake cutting, first dancing, and PARTYING!!!
We moved the dancing outside. It was still raining and the dance floor was wet...
and dresses got pretty muddy...
But WHO CARES!!!
So we rocked out in the rain to Jen's iPod, danceddanceddanced, and tried to convince Dale to break dance.
It was an amazing wedding and a superfun day and I am very happy that Jen asked me to be a bridesmaid (even though I always told her that she was too old to be mine) and I'm happy to now have Dale as a brother (finally, someone else in the family who can appreciate things like the Simpsons).
The next morning I made Jen toss me her bouquet in the hotel parking lot, since she didn't want to throw it at the wedding (and if she had thrown it, it would have completely fallen apart).
So...after being a bridesmaid three times in this past year, I finally caught the bouquet. :)
(still more pics to come...but there are so many it's going to take a few more days until they are ready...)
1. My dog is a pimp
2. HOLY SHIT! JOEY CHESTNUT BEAT KOBAYAHI'S RECORD!!!! I can't wait for the Fourth of July battle to see what happens!!!
3. After the power outage...
Mom: The computer is broken.
Me: No, it is turned off.
4. My dad is back from the hospital...which is kind of odd since it's been three days since his surgery...and they originally said it would be five days in the hospital and then five days in a recovery center. Eh.
5. ValCap
So You Think You Can Dance
ummm...i dunno...I don't really remember it
On The Lot
This is so horribly bad. Last week it was interesting but now they switched to an American-Idol rip off show. You know how on the American Idol results show it's an hour of worthless filler? Of course you didn't because you don't watch American Idol, but it is. On On The Lot, they did one worse, and hour long results show with NO FILLER. Nothing. They kicked three people off in an hour and that was it. It was the most worthless crap of TV ever. And the host is a moron who mispronounces every other word including "Carrie Fisher." And the movies sucked. Ohman, this is going to be a long summer. The network got smart and cut the damn show to once a week.
The Next Best Thing
haha, so, you know reality TV is going down the drain when even Val looks at the TV Guide and says "God, I have no desire to watch a bunch of celebrity impersonators."
Pirate Master
This show was something awful. Mostly because these people will never be considered pirates. First of all, the host totally needed to be like Captain Hook, not some washed up (not a pun) old actor. Second they allowed women on the show. Women aint pirates, they should have their own show: Ship Wench Master. Third, when they had to dive into the water, some of them were wearing goggles. Pirates don't wear goggles. Fourth, there's a district attorney who is keeping that a secret because for some reason she thinks it is an advantage. Fifth, this one dude kept saying that they couldn't vote him off because he was the only one who had a compass. Then they kicked him off. And they let him leave with his damned compass! A real pirate would have stolen it. Sixth, they didn't make the loser walk the plank.
National Spelling Bee
Seriously, the National Spelling Bee is the best couple of hours on television each year. Some highlights and lowlights:
- Samir got cut early! Resulting conversation with Joe:
Val: !!! Samir didn't even make the finals!!!!
JoeJoe: boo hoo
Val: its like if Mark Buehrle was cut from the team
Val: and i say that because i went to the white sox website and that name was the first one i saw
JoeJoe: ha - for a moment i was impressed
Val: :-)
- The Canadians spell words with a "zed"
- man: your word is "Punaise" it's another word for a bedbug kid: "I like bedbug better"
- One of the kids so had a moustache
- For a second year in a row, it came down to an American and a Canadian. Who let Canadians into the National Spelling Bee?
- Congratulation Evan O'Dorney - keeping it in America!
one.
Sometimes you get in the car with only the intent of moving it from one side of the street to the other. Then sometimes, an hour later, a grande mocha later, a spontanious drive past a ghost of a house later, a theme song later, you finally end up parking.
two.
Seriously, I need to stop handing over my paychecks to Target.
three.
I hate it when I hear a song start on the radio ba ba ba ba badadumdum and it turns out to be "Under Pressure." I love it when I hear a song start on the radio ba ba ba ba badadumdum and it turns out to be "Ice Ice Baby."
four.
My dad had triple bipass surgery today. I had to wake up at 4:20am to drive him to the hospital. My mom asked me if I was going to take a shower. I laughed at her. I think everything went fine.
So I debated what I should write here.
On one hand it seems weird to write certain things in a blog.
On another hand it seems silly to keep writing all my usual bloggering without mentioning such things.
so...
My dad had a heart attack on Friday. They did an angioplasty and he's still in the hospital until Monday or Tuesday. He'll have to go back in a few weeks to get heart surgery. They also found that he has Diabetes.I think he is doing fine and will probably be better so long as he takes better care of himself. We'll see where things go.
I'm doing OK but it's just kind of weird.
I've officially set a record for myself: 227 photos...in less than an hour...of one subject!
I went to my sisters place today. I've heard she's upset that I didn't really care about seeing her place...but who cares about a house when there's a puppy to be seen!
Meet Sir Samson Snorts a Lot...His name was supposed to be just Samson...but then Jen trusted her fiancee to go register his name...
samson
val likes to imitate the puppy
watch him run!
(even he thinks I take too many photos...)
more here! (don't worry, I didn't post ALL 227)
After playing with the puppy we all headed off to dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery for dinner with Jen's fiancee's parents. The meal was delicious and I am still stuffed. We had an appetizer of potato skins stuffed with lobster, cheese, and bacon. I had a hamburger with fried onions and bernaise sauce and a Malbec. And then I wasn't going to have dessert, but they had a special carrot cake, and carrot cake is one of my favorite things in the world...and this was one damn good carrot cake: no raisins or nuts plus three layers of frosting!!! I also had a strawberry wine and it really tasted like strawberries. yumyumyum. On the way out I bought myself a bottle of strawberry wine and a bottle of blueberry wine. Who wants to try some??? It was a yummy meal...and I am still quite stuffed.
Later I went to get some coffee with Nad. I can't believe she's getting married in less than a month!!! Hmm, I should RSVP to her wedding at some point :)
Christmas Eve:
We all went over to my aunt's house. Everyone kept asking what I was doing there as if they didn't expect me to come. Basically all the guys went and watched football, my mom and aunts talked amongst themselves, and me and my sisters talked amongst ourselves. Umm, we also ate. We had pierogi and dumplings and lox and bagels and a Greek salad my sister made thrown in to make it more multicultural.
At night we had our Christmas Eve tradition of ordering Dr. Pizza (tradition started because when I was a kid I was a much pickier eater and one year my aunt didn't bring the bagels so I didn't have anything to eat). We also watched the wonderfully appropriate holiday classic "Hostel." It was OK. We managed to convince my mom for the first half hour that we were watching a sex comedy. :) Then we ate snowman-shaped Krispy Kremes and I made my hot chocolate. Yumyum.
If you have ever wondered why I tend to take any idea anyone comes up with too far... We keep trying to think up things to tell Dale (my sisters boyfriend) "holiday traditions." For instance last year we told him that we normally go caroling at hospitals. This year we decided to tell him that we have a bi-annual Bromann Bowl tackle football game. So, before settling to watch the movie, we made a trophy and a list proclaiming the winner of every game since 1980. Basically every year we put that my dad won, since he would obviously win a tackle football game :) I then aged the paper in tea and coffee. It really looked like we pulled it out of the fire to keep it. Hehe.
Before retiring for the night I put out my cookies and Pepsi for Santa (my dad always told me when I was a kid that Santa likes Pepsi and not milk). :)
Christmas!
Santa ate my cookies and Pepsi!
He left a little of a half-eaten cookie. Maybe Matt can sell it on eBay for me and make me rich! I bet someone would buy a cookie eaten by Santa!
Yay! We went to see Dreamgirls. Dale didn't go because he he's "not gay." Whatever. It was a really good movie, but the audience was funny because after Effie's big song everyone burst into applause. I don't see the point of clapping for a movie unless it's like Jason making a good kill :)
Then we opened our presents. I got lots of cool stuff (I tend to get more too because I usually also receive all my birthday gifts too). I got:
A pink ipod (engraved on the back with a quote from Perks of Being a Wallflower):
A softest sweetest robe, etc. from Bath and Body Works (it seriously is the softest sweetest robe ever):
Board Games:
DVDs:
Kitchen Stuff:
Yay!
Then we busted out the 80s Trivial Pursuit, and Dale kicked our asses. Then my aunt came and we ate. And then, since it wouldn't be a holiday without me bursting into tears... my aunt was chasing the dog around trying to put a collar she bought him on, but he was guarding a new ball so she chased him near me and he pounced and growled in the way that I knew he would have bitten me badly if he didn't have the ball in his mouth at the time. :(
The best news of the day though...My sister Jen is finally engaged! She got the ring on Christmas Eve night. :)
Hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!!!
1. A pic I stole from Julie from Friday night:
2. So, last night I get a random text messege that says "OK, Jimmy's it is at 8:45." I kind of assumed that was a random wrong number text or something until around 7 when Joe asks me if I am going to Jimmy's (it was Julie who had texted me). It apparently isn't a person, it's a bar. Yay for fun times with JoeJoe and Alina and Glen and Jen and Julie and Emily and Amy and Aaron and Dave and Mike. :) The martini I got sucked though because it was $11!!! And they put ice cubes in it. Who the hell puts ice cubes in martinis???
3. A conversation I had with my dad:
Dad: Guess what I just found out we get? Fox Reality Channel.
Me: Damn! I could have been watching My Bare Lady.
Dad: Yeah, I've been watching that all day.
Seriously, I've been looking at the line up of programs on Fox Reality...umm, do you think it's possible to get a cable plan that only includes this station? Really, there is no need for anything else :)
4. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Stop the world.
My mom has a cell phone.
It is one of those prepaid ones and she has been instructed to keep it off unless she has to make a call. My dad programmed in our home number and her work number and showed her how to go to that. She will forget.
...
DePaul is now a Pepsi school. That makes me sad. What will especially be missed is the Coke machine that, after putting in my $1.25, would often give me five bottles of coke.
...
The CTA has an ad campaign called "Don't be Jack" Basically it is little stick figures talking loudly and spraying graffiti and such:
(only pics I could find online, sucky quality)
Remind you of anything???
(the inline posters i designed 5 years ago)
From this I have determined that...
a) I am a marketing genious.
b) I should sue the CTA
...
All I have been doing lately is homework and job applying and searching all over for my damn missing health insurance cards (I got them in the mail a few days ago and they have disappeared off the face of the planet). Hopefully things will change soon and I will be back to my normal blogging adventures.
1. My dad bought me a laser level. It's my favorite thing ever and I haven't even used it yet. Yes, I am that excited over this.
2. I need to move out soon because my dad bought a new entertainment center and had to rearrange the furniture in the living room and its all screwed up because my couch that I won't let anyone use is totally in the way. Yes, I own a couch already.
3. My sisters came over today and we were all going to see a movie. I somehow convinced them that instead of something quality we should go see Accepted. It rocked. It made me sad though that I didn't have a great college experience of saying fuck it all and following all the things I really wanted to do and pretty much wasted four years on a crappy degree. Yes, I got all this from a dumb college movie.
4. Nat and Jen apparently decided that if Jen gets cancer and is going to die they are going to harvest Jen's eggs so I can carry her child so her spirit lives on. Then I can write a book about it and get on Oprah. They decided that Tori Spelling will play me in the made for TV movie. This is because most real stars won't appear on TV movies. It was either her, Tracey Gold, or Kelly Martin. I chose the lesser evil. Yes, these are the things we discuss.
1. So, the other day a friend of mine (boy 1) tells me that him and another friend (boy 2) have decided that I should not get any more tattoos and that they make me less attractive and that guys don't like tattoos on girls. This of course made me feel like complete crap and made me cry. I was really mad at them both especially since I kind of like boy 2 and I thought then that maybe one of the reasons he doesn't like me back then is that I have a tattoo, which is a really crappy reason to not want to date someone. Turns out though that boy 1 was just imposing his own opinions on boy 2 and boy 2 had only said that he personally doesn't like them and would never get one himself but said nothing of them making me ugly, which I understand. FYI, don't tell your friend that anything about them makes them a less attractive person. It's one thing to say it about a pair of pants or something that can be changed, but saying that my tattoo makes me less attractive is like saying that my eye color makes me less attractive, it's not something I can or will change and it is such a part of me now (I've had it for five years this month) and I have never regretted. And I do plan on getting another within the next year and if any boy doesn't like me because I have tattoos he can go to hell.
2. I bought a dvd of "Giant Spider Invasion" today at the MicroCenter because it was only 99cents. Here is a snippet form the trivia section of IMDB: "In a scene depicting the "giant spiders" attacking a little league baseball game, the "spiders" are obviously Volkswagen Beetles with puppet legs attached. Tread marks from the VW's tires can actually be seen in several camera angles." Sounds like a winner! This brings the total of horror movies I own to 180. Here is a list of all of them, since I know you want to see: Horror Films!
3. You know you take too many photos when the woman at the store says "You take them glossy with borders, right?"
4. My sister is not engaged yet.
5. My dog tried to attack me again yesterday. Luckily he only latched onto my hair with his teeth and not my face like the last time. They should have put that thing to sleep last time I was sent to the emergency room but alas I think my parents love the dog more than they love me.
6. Do you ever hear the first few notes of "Under Pressure" on the radio and get really excited but then realize that it isn't "Ice Ice Baby"?? Yeah, it probably is only me. Anyways, today they played "Ice Ice Baby" on the radio and I was so happy and refused to leave the car until the song was over.
7. Next week is my last scheduled vacation of the summer. I will be visiting Rob and co. in Virginia/Washington D.C. That is the last thing on scheduled events list, so I guess its about time I start applying for jobs. As soon as I find a job. Speaking of which, here's a "Best Summer Ever" update because I haven't done one in a while:
June 2: "Valerie's Unemployed and Wants to Celebrate Celebration!"
June 5: Celebrating Scott's b-day at Hugo's
June 6: The Omen
June 7: Museum of Science and Industry
June 11: Jenny's Wedding shower
June 13: Rachel Cohn (one of my favorite YA authors) and David Levithan at Andersons in Naperville
June 17-18: Barbecue in the Bend
June 22-26: Munich, Germany
June 26-27: Zurich & Interlaken, Switzerland
June 27-29: Venice, Italy
June 29-July 1: Florence, Italy
July 1-4: Rome, Italy
July 5-7: Vienna , Austria
July 7-9: Prague, Czech Republic
July 9-12: Paris, France
July 14: Jenny's Bachelorette Party
August 15: Inline Insomniacs Chicago Skate
July 19-July 22: White Water Rafting & Camping
July 29: Venetian Night
July 30: New Buffalo Beach
August 11: Jenny's Rehearsal Dinner
August 12: Jenny's Wedding
August 24-28: Washington D.C./Virginia
Other things to do this year:
- Write a new resume, put together my portfolio, design a professional website, find a new job (and the have a Valerie's Employed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration)
- Move out
- Get MattH (and whoever else) to watch 2001 Maniacs and Eraserhead with me. I'm waiting on him.
- Write the Great American Novel
- Go to Olive or Twist, 10 Pin, that restaurant/movie theater place, and Adobo Grill
- Go to Bromann Park
- Find a man
- Learn to snowboard
- Dye my hair 3 more colors (I'm determined to have 12 hair colors this year)
- See a roller derby bout
- Go Eagle Watching
- Perfect my hot chocolate recipe (not that it isn't already the best ever)
- Apply for at least one reality show
My sister Jen on why she wants to have children right away: "I really don't want kids. But maybe in 10 years I'll want them and it will be too late."
The other day I went with Jen to look at wedding dresses. This is despite the fact that she isn't quite engaged yet. This involved us going nowhere near a store that sells wedding dresses because she just wants a regular off the rack white dress.
We the went to see the new Woody Allen movie which kind of sucked but I don't like Woody Allen in the first place.
I went out with Brandana a couple times this week: wings, coffee, and coffee (although I got a milkshake tonight because I needed it). I spilled way to many of my guts to him so I hope I never piss him off. Or all my secrets are out. :)
I also watched today two of my favorite sports. First some X-Games (which I will count as all one sport) where Travis Pastrana kicked ass in a double back flip (have I mentioned I want to marry him???) and then it was my favorite sport of all time: Competitive Eating!!! Today was the Johnsonville Brat eating contest. Last year Sonya (yes I know all the competitors names, I follow this sport like you follow your fantasy baseball/football/whateverball) won with 35 brats in 10 minutes. Um, yeah, this year Kobayashi won with 58. 58 brats in 10 minutes. I have a "reversal of fortune" after one bite of a brat.
If a movie bills itself as being based on the only recorded case of a spirit killing someone, shouldn't somewhere in that movie, a spirit kill someone? Just a thought.
Went to see American Haunting today for mothers day. Yeah, sucked. Sucked by MY standards of a horror film, so you KNOW it had to be bad. I did, however see a trailer for the new Omen. The Omen is one of the most kick-assiest movies EVER. Hopefully I can drag someone to see it with me on 6-6-06.
Earlier in the day I was in my mom's room and saw her barbies in her bookcase.
me: your barbies look like lesbians
mom: they are lesbians
me: OK
mom: why do you say that.
Me. the way they are positioned. They are looking at each other longingly.
Yeah, you decide:
After the movie there was one of those drug commercials where they say to parents to talk to your kids about drugs. My mom the proceeded to tell us (me-25, Nat-31, Jen- 34) not to do drugs. We then got into a conversation about how she never talked about anything. She sent Nat to talk to me about sex my freshman year of high school before I went to homecoming with a guy who was so-obviously gay. We both just laughed.
Jen said: "You taught us the wrong things. Like that you had to have LOVE to have SEX."
We then ate LOBAMASTER. Boy did we eat lobamaster. Last fathers day we gave my dad a gift certificate to lobstergram. He finally used it and we ate lobstercakes, lobster bisque, and lobster lobster. Giant succulent tails. Yumyumyum.
Oh, and Jenny on Mat:
Jenny: hmm. Jerk! :-)
Me: i know!
Jenny: better yet, booger nose. Thats what i like to say
me: hehe, he is a booger nose
McCafferty vs. Viswanathan
So this now sophomore at Harvard recently had a young adult novel published and it's come out that there are many similar paragraphs to Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts. For instance:
McCafferty's book, page 6: "Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart."
Viswanathan's novel, page 39: "Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: smart or pretty."
I haven't read either book involved (although Sloppy Firsts has been on my "to be read" list for a while) but from what they're showing, it looks pretty fishy. I could imagine it being a coincidence or unintentional or whatever if there was maybe one similar paragraph, but there seem to be a lot of examples where it is very much the same. It makes me think that she probably only got into Harvard from plagiarizing papers.
It reminds me of the type of papers everyone probably wrote in high school. You'd take paragraphs from books and just change the wording around slightly and think that that was ok and not plagiarism when really it is. That's what this reminds me of.
And anyways, what in the hell is a 17 year old doing with a $500,000 book deal anyways? And where's mine?
Yesterday my mom was in her room listening over and over to the song Celebration (Kool & the Gang). But it wasn't even the real song...it was the Dora the Explorer Version. After 45 minutes of hearing it over and over I finally get up and go see what in the hell she's doing. She is sitting there with a pencil and notebook transcribing the song. And, since she doesn't know how to work the cd player to make it pause or rewind slightly, she keeps having to go back to the beginning. I went to the computer typed the song title into google and came back 2 minutes later with all of the lyrics. She then took the paper down to the computer to type them up.
|
|
