one.
I stumbled across this blog post the other day. It's weird to find a random post where someone is basically commending your skills (I created and maintain that myspace page).

two.
I shot and edited this video. The lighting was way off, so it's kind of dark, but I think it's pretty decent for a first try!

And it makes you wanna go see Lulu right???? RIGHT???

Posted by valry at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sid sent me an email about something on 8-8-08 and how you should photograph your life on this day. Whatever made him think to send that to ME is completely beyond my imagination...yeah...so since I basically photograph my life every day I decided that for 8-8-08 I would take you into an exclusive behind the scenes look into my work day...

I decided to cash in on my free Potbelly breakfast sandwich:

I always wear my sneakers because they are comfy. I usually wear nicer pants. I lie. None of my pants are nice:

I stare at this computer (and this website) about 99% of the day:

I went to visit Ron, but he wasn't there. He has lots of Simpsons characters on his desk. Including the ghost of Flanders I made on April Fools:

I went to visit Eric at the ticket desk:

The signs I pass in the hallway on the way to my desk:

My new computer that I will be spending a lot more of my time staring at:

Posted by valry at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. I take my horoscopes way too seriously.

2. I won my first game of chess EVER today

(p.s. I don't know how to play chess)

3. I am happy the part-timers are back.

4. I'm surprised that I've never seen this before but...the other day, in the middle of the day, I finally saw someone take the roundabout in Brookfield backwards.

5. Damnit, I just noticed Showgirls is on tonight. That pretty much means I have to watch it.

6. Quote of the day from the Marketing boss at work: "GREAT NEWS!...We're in the Batman movie!"

Posted by valry at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

one.
I started a new job last night. I am now a staff photographer for a real estate magazine. Don't worry, I didn't quit my actual job, this one is only a few nights per month. It was the easiest and hardest job I've ever done. Easy because all I had to do was take photos, which I do all the time anyways. Hard becasue I have never had to ask strangers if I could take their picture before. And because I had to get 12 photos of people and there weren't that many people there. And hard because it's not the type of photography I typically take, and I am not that great at indoor photos. Hopefully it will get easier...

two.
My two worlds collide: Victoria Secret Pink's UofI Collection :-)

three.
I scratched a mosquito bite scab that was on my back and I think it pulled out some of my tattoo.

four.
Don't ask me if I want to go to London for a week with you because then I will try racking my brain to figure out if I can possibly pull it off...then again, please do ask :-)

five.
My favorite eater invited me out to the after party/bars after the contest next Friday :-) Hopefully he'll have a Mustard Yellow Belt to show off.

six.
I erased the last voicemail. Over it. Completely. Hold me to that.

Posted by valry at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. My car is on Google Maps!!!!!

2. I got a raise yesterday! :-)

3. MK held a beer tasting last night at Taylor Brewing. By beer tasting that apparently meant just come and order a beer. I was almost done with my raspberry wheat (I SWEAR) but then Scott ruined it for me by pouring his tasting glass into mine :( While MK was working he was not eating his food...and it was right there...so I may have eated a handful or 2 of his fries...and maybe some of the bacon off his burger...

4. A conversation:
LINK7182: how was beer?
faeriewingtips: ok
faeriewingtips: ohno, sex is coming back
faeriewingtips: that was really out of context

5. I forgot how much I hate my natural hair color

Posted by valry at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

look! finally a blog with pictures!

Tonight was the end-of-season party at work, which meant everyone who works there gathers in the foyer for free food and free drink. Which of course meant plenty of people whispering "That doesn't get repeated," and "I'm so getting fired," and the like. :) Oh the stories that I so can never repeat :)

I had some eggplant parmesan and Caesar salad and then my favorite ice cream in the world: Hagen Dasz strawberry. Yum.

After the party we headed upstairs to get coats and such. What, you may ask, do you do when you are tipsy and almost alone in the ticketing office? Why, rearrange your coworkers desk of course!

I lined up his Simpsons figures all in a row, put hiw Stewie on his chair, and changed the month of his calendar :)

And Tabitha made the Supermans do naughty things :O

After playing around we headed out to this pizza place I don't remember and stayed outside 9 until college night so we could get free pizza (deal is free pizza if you spend $3 in drinks a person). 'Cause, you know, we're all in college :) (Actually, technically, I am, as DePaul still hasn't figured out that I graduated.) Luckily the weather was absolutely gorgeous. After getting seated 5 peeps in a four-person booth we ordered up some thin cheese and played hangman on the tablecloth. My choice of spelling out "Killer Klowns from Outerspace" was met with resistance when I said it was the best movie ever...and when Tabitha spelled out "Best Movie Ever" Chelsa didn't get it :)

Posted by valry at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. Waking up at 9, getting to work at 11, going to lunch at 11:45, returning from lunch at 1:30...

2. Getting a FREE pizza at lunch at a kick-ass Roman-Style pizza place. An uberthin red with mushroom and a white with potatoes, rosemary, and pancetta. YUM.

3. Working till 8, apparently. At least when your job includes filming opera stars getting made up, an impromptu backstage tour led by Joyce DiDonato, and talking with Nathan Gunn about Krannert Center. (Did I mention I have a pretty kick-ass job?)

4. When the smoky pink satin jacket you've been eying for MONTHS goes on sale for over $120 less than the original price...even though it's only available in petites (luckily the sleeves are quarter-length anyways, so the slightly shorter sleeves and length mean absolutely nothing).

Posted by valry at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. Some video I shot for Lyric was shown on Chicago Tonight on WTTW. That was kind of awesome.

2. I met with Em and co. at some bar after work because they were giving out free glasses when you ordered a Guiness. I got a Guiness just to get the free glass. Luckily I got one before they ran out. Or else there would have been hell to pay for having to drink a beer. (OK, OK, almost half a beer...)
photos here

3. The many faces of Ian...minus the one I actually wanted to get... :'(

Posted by valry at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

one.
Anyone want to buy a bootleg copy of Eugene Onegin? hehe, just kidding of course.

I am officially a professional videographer.

I filmed the opera Eugene Onegin yesterday. This is now part of my job.

I think I have a fairly decent eye when the camera is still, but I am no so good at moving it around. I kind of felt like a mom videotaping a dance recital. I guess it's OK though since I'm not really filming to use the whole thing, we'd for the most part just be slicing together shorter clips.

At one point I accidentally hit the button that stopped recording in the middle of an aria.

And then there was the time I opened a cough drop and looked up and realized that the character I was filming had completely walked off screen.

oops.

Yeah, don't book me for your weddings any time soon...

p.s. did I mention that I've never even touched a video camera before in my life?

two.
Don't forget to Donate Now to the valsicle fund! I'll be frolicking in Lake Michigan this Sunday in support of the Special Olympics. $1, $5, $10...anything is graciously accepted!!! $75 more and I get a Chicago Polar Plunge towel. OOooohhhhHH.

Posted by valry at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was our departments Christmas party. Yes, yes, I know that Christmas was a while gone by now, but we're busy people damnit.

So a bit after noon we took the rest of the day off and headed to Quartino for lunch. We had three pizzas (I ate two: one topped with bunches of fresh spinach and one with a slab of spicy but yummy sausage), Italian "sliders" (a small sammich of fresh mozzarella (made in house) and tomato), nice pillowy gnocchi and green beans, and a sulumi platter of Duck Prosciutto, Bresaola, olives, artichokes, cheeses, and a few spreads. Yumyum.

When they brought out the dessert menu I was told that since we were also celebrating my birthday that I had to order dessert so I got some yummy profiteroles stuffed with chocolate sauce and vanilla gelati. When they delivered it everyone sang Happy Birthday. But then the restaurant staff brought me a cup of gelati with a candle so they sang again. I passed around the cup but was ordered by the boss to eat my whole dessert myself. Done and done.

After lunch we headed to 10 Pin for some bowling. It's a cool little place (I actually always expected it to be bigger) with a nice (but expensive) martini menu (I had a yummy peachy keen martini) and giant screens of music videos playing above the lanes. The first round sucked. I came in dead last. The second round I had the second highest score. I attribute that to the fact that for that round the scoring screen had turned to PINK. The next round we did a face off of marketing vs. pr with the losing team having to buy Starbucks for the department. Alas, marketing lost :-( I was horrible that round. The next round I did better (because the board was now a different shade of pink), but we still managed to lose again. Ohwellz.

Posted by valry at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. My gingerbread house is still in one piece! I decided against decorating though. Why decorate a crappy house with candy when you can just eat the candy?

2. Over the last 2 weeks I have fallen asleep almost every night with the tv and lights on at a pretty early hour.

3. Work holiday parties are always fun. Free wine and food (who can resist eggnog cheesecake bites on a stick), gossiping with coworkers, finding out who else is obsessed with the Hills, finding out who's going to get the drunkest...

4. Oh. My. God.

Posted by valry at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

But...now how will I ever know if Oppenheimer was successful at detonating the atomic bomb?

I got a chance to catch the first act of Doctor Atomic today. Hopefully I will soon get to see the entire thing and find out how it all ends (hehe), but alas I had way too much work to stay for Act II.

Doctor Atomic is an opera portraying the time just before the first atomic bomb is detonated. It was...interesting. It's kind of hard to get used to because it is a modern opera sung in English. So wile basically any mundane daily dialogue might sound beautiful and interesting in say Italian, in English it just sounds mundane. But it was still really fascinating to watch.

Plus, now I have a good idea of what Scotty does in the physics lab all day!
According to the opera, physicists...

- Sing about formulas and nuclear energy.
- Mime putting chemicals into bottles.
- Dancedancedance.
- Ignore their women for their science.

Scott, am I right?!?!?!

Posted by valry at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Please do not say that you're not really that picky about what you are looking for in a person you'd date when you do not want to date the person you are talking to.



2. Why does everything go wrong at 4:59? At approximately 4:59 on Monday our website crashed. Turned out to be a blown power circuit at the hosting facility. This meant I stayed at work until after six when it went back up. I actually don't mind the staying late...I honestly didn't want to leave if I knew there was a problem. That felt good to know I do care so much. What I hated was that I was helpless and couldn't do anything about it except to wait around for the design company to get it back up. I just hate feeling helpless.

On top of that my plane had landed late and so I didn't get to bed until 3am the night before, I forgot to bring my key/bathroom key so avoided coffee/coke/my intense caffeine addiction all day so as to not have to bother anyone for a bathroom key and be let back into the office, and when I finally broke down to get a Coke at 5:45, the machine ate my dollar. Needless to say I was tired and grumpy at this point.

During this time MattyK asked me to go get financial coffee, but I asked him if it would be OK to just go get friend coffee. I know he hates putting aside work time for play time, but I was in a bad mood and just wanted to chillax and talk. Luckily he agreed so we met at Starbucks. I showed him all my Vegas pics and he laughed at the pinkness of my computer (I'd forgotten that he's never actually seen it). It was a good night of just talking and drinking coffee because we haven't really just hung out together in a long long while now and I miss that. Hopefully he'll put aside some work time to chill with me more often :-)

An amusing quote from Matt: Maybe I'm vehicularly gay.



3. a 2am phone conversation
Him: Did you just call?
Me: Yes.
Him: Did you hang up on me?
Me: Yes.
Him: Wait, you know I answered and you hung up on me?
Me: I heard you answer but I was already in the process of closing the phone.
Him: And you didn't call me back?
Me: I didn't want to call you because I don't want to call you too much.
Him: Well, that is good. But this time you actually had something to talk about.



4. Last night I went out with Joshua to the gym. I wore a shirt that said "Official Fan of the World Hamburger Eating Championship" and watched food network (I did debate watching MTV's Return to Fat Camp though) while on the treadmill. I'm what you might call ironic.



5. Microsoft Word is weird. I did a spell check it decided that "Joe came..." was not correct and decided that maybe I meant "Joe camel..."



6. Blake Lewis's album is out! Dare I say that this will be the first American Idol CD I ever purchase??? Heather and I should have a dance party.



7. Humble Bob posted some of my pics. (see also: thoughts and pictures) He rocks!



8. Reason #5,689,890 that I should not be allowed to shop alone: Pink Illini Jersey! p.s. I also found the mecca for pink ties ;-) Just sayin.



9. Despite the fact that I already owned it on DVD from the first time it came out, I bought the new box set of My So Called Life because that show was so quintessentially me. Honestly I don't think I would have ever been so adamant about dying my hair if it wasn't for Angela Chase. But you know you're getting older when you feel more and more sorry for Brian Krakow. Honestly though, I am still searching for my Jordan Catalano.



10. I've posted a few entries over at Silly America. You should read them, and subscribe to the RSS feed!

Posted by valry at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. Word to the wise: neverevereverever say "I haven't screwed up at work in a long time."

2. "1,100 Reported Dead as Cyclone Hits Bangladesh." I read that headline and imagined a giant Cyclopes terrorizing the town. Then I realized that it said "Cyclone" and that I am probably going to hell.

Posted by valry at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. I still haven't heard whether I have November 30 off of work...I do however have a plane ticket for that morning :-)

2. I am a sucker for guys in glasses. I am tracing this back to the fact that many guys will wear contacts during the day but then have on their glasses right before bed and in the morning, so it automatically gets your mind thinking about sleeping with him.

3. I am so incredibly screwed. But at least after this week I never will feel this way again :-)

4. I really need to stop working and start seeing operas.

Posted by valry at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

1. I carved my pumpkin tonight! Yeahyeah, I know...Halloween was a week ago. But I carved my pumpkin damnit!

2. I have never claimed to have any artistic ability.

3. I have officially been at my job for a year. It doesn't feel like it. I think I need to start decorating my cube.

4. What's the most innapropriate thing you can think of to watch on TV while running on a treadmill?

5. Advice seriously given to me by my financial advisor:

- (in response to me inquiring whether we could get the pink part of the pie chart to be larger) "I regret to inform you that you probably don't want the pink part to be the biggest. You're much better off pretending that it already is, or using that old rhyme that first is the worst, second is the best."

- (in response to me wanting to retire in a year) "save every dollar you earn and win the lottery"

- (in response to me accusing him of stealing my money) I'll probably use it to fly to acapulco or something

- (in response to me telling him that he's a bad financial advisor) "No I'm a good one. Invest in cars!"

Posted by valry at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last night I attended my first ever gala/ball. By attended I mean "worked" but let's not get into semantics.

I put on my ballgown and pearls and headed over to the opera house to work the red carpet. I basically followed around a photographer and took people's names so we can try to identify people on Monday. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I was terrified that I would accidentally ask Mayor Daley or the president of some big company that I should recognize their name, but even the people I probably should have known were really great about it...and I think everyone else was happy to give their name.

It was kind of an awesome event to be a part of because everyone was in a tux (or kilt) or cocktail dress or ballgown...and some of them were simply amazingly glorious dresses. We worked the red carpet as people arrived in their limos, and then during intermissions of La traviata (didn't get to see the show though, but got to sneak some of the appetizers).

The opera house looked amazing as well, covered in flowers and pink spot lights. It was gorgeous.

After the second act intermission the photographers and captioners hopped in a limo over to the Hilton for Opera Ball (which, I must say, was the most elaborately decorated event I have ever been to in my life...with large topiaries of roses and crystals and crystaled candles on all of the tables...).

I have decided that I no longer want a wedding, and instead should just throw a ball. It's basically a wedding but with a live orchestra, three photographers, 750 guests... :)

More captioning ensued as guests arrived up the grand staircase to costumed musicians fanfaring their arrivals. But once everyone arrived, we were free!

We watched the dancing to the Stu Hirsh Orchestra (my favorite was matching a man doing some awesome swing dancing...in a kilt) and as all the stars of the opera arrived and as Our general director led a fond farewell to Bruno Bartoletti and introduced a slide show ofSkrebneski photos of him through the years., while dining on lobster, enoki salad, chilled cucumber soup, and some sort of mango spoon...did I mention that was only the first course???

The second course was a cheese-encrusted steak, vegetables, vegetable strudel, and some sort of potato cake. And then for dessert was a giant chocolate nest dome with chocolate marshmallow cake like stuff underneath. yumyum

and yes, yes my coworkers do now think I am nuts because I take photos of all of my food. :)

After that we watched some more dancing, caught up with coworkers, and then finally called it a night. It was a long day but an awesome experience. I mean, how many times do you get to say you've been to a ball??

Posted by valry at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I saw La bohème today. It was beautiful.

Except I kept comparing it to RENT because I haven't seen boheme in a long time so was never sure of all of the crossovers.

I cried though, but what doesn't make me cry I guess.

But it is really very good (sorry I am too tired to think of better adjectives).

I woke up at six to get to work an hour early because I had a ton I needed to get done. What we learned today was that when I wake up really early I forget things like how to shower. Seriously I stood in the shower trying to figur out what I was supposed to do. If you were there you'd have laughed at me. I guess you would have also seen me naked (because I at least remembered that step).

The rest of the day...we're not going to talk about that...

Posted by valry at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even though I'm a South Sider...

p.s. speaking of the south side, I came across this website for the "The Southside Chicago Board of Tourism." I especially like the translator and currency converter...although I would argue that the conversion rate between Bridgeport and Lincoln Park, for example, would be slightly different :)

Posted by valry at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

THE GOOD NEWS:
I am going to Chattanooga for the Krystal Square Off!!!

THE BAD NEWS:
Getting back from Chattanooga involves driving 10 hours all through the night and going straight to work in the morning.

THE GOOD NEWS:
Getting to Chattanooga involves stopping at some fun road side pit stops.

THE BAD NEWS:
I was so swamped at work today that I didn't get to go see La traviata. Hopefully I will be free enough to go watch La Boheme.

THE GOOD NEWS:
Since I do all of my work on a computer I can at least do some of the stuff at home.

THE BAD NEWS:
Since I do all of my work on a computer I can at least do some of the stuff at home.

THE GOOD NEWS:
They posted the winter and spring schedules for school and there is nothing I really would want to take. So I will totally be done with school in Novemember!

Posted by valry at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

10:30am - Trapeze Class
Yes, you read that correctly. Trapeze.

It wasn't flying trapeze where you are high up above a net and catch onto other trapezes...it was low(er) to the ground and more like dancing/gymnastics on a trapeze. So I was flipping around and hanging upside down and all that good stuff. Except I kind of suck because I have no flexibility/no upper-body strength/fear of high things. It was still totally cool and I am considering taking more classes in the future.



2:00 - Windy City Wine Festival
After trapeze, I headed over to pick up JoeJoe and Alina to go get some wine. The Windy City Wine Festival was going on, and it was totally awesome. Basically $25 bought you ten tastings, but most of the places weren't too good at collecting the tickets, and they gave out some free tastings at the demonstration area, so I had about double what I was allotted (could have had more if I was less honest/didn't have to work later). We also got a free wine glass, free pasta sauce, a free wine tote, and free roses (guess which color I chose...)

So I had tons of wine. Perhaps my favorites were the PINK merlot, which came in a pretty PINK bottle.

and the wine conveniently just called PINK.

:)

Later we ran into KennyK and Becca, who were also enjoying their wines and were somehow not drooling over the Ferrari like I thought they (OK he) would be.

Alas, after however many glasses of wine I had in three hours I had to leave the festival and cross the winding silver bridge and walk the to-minute walk to work...

Windy City Wine Festival Pictures



5:30 - Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park
The Millennium Park show is a huge free concert event in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It's a really awesome looking crazy outdoor pavilion with great acoustics. When I got there at 5:30 (2-hours early) there was already a huge line waiting to try to score seats and a pretty good showing on the lawn. And that was two hours early. I ended up helping to man the drop box table, where people could enter a sweepstakes to win free tickets to opening night.

The concert was beautiful and actually flew by considering it was just pieces, and not an opera with a story. And the place was damn-packed.

Stars of Lyric Opera Pictures



11:00 - Parts and Labor "Fixed Gear"
After the show...after waiting in line forever just to get INTO the parking lot...after searching around for where the hell section G was...after finding that I had left my window wide open the entire time I was parked...after waiting in my car until someone in line was kind enough to let me back out in front of them...I was off to Charlie's art show.

The show was in the same place that it was last time...which is actually someone's apartment. There was some new work though, and more importantly cheese and vegetables (because at this point, after going all day, working out, wining...I had still only eaten a small slice of pizza).

I hung out with Charlie and Aaron and MikeJ's girlfriend and Charlie's mom (who was totally hilariously basically telling Charlie that she hates all his art work). And then we headed off to the afterparty for a bit, but then I headed home because I needed to find actual food and rest.



1:00 - McDonald's Drivethrough (it was on the way. It was open)



2:00 - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz



Windy City Wine Festival Pictures


Stars of Lyric Opera Pictures

Posted by valry at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bad Idea of the Day:
Reusing a cotton ball that I thought just had eye makeup remover on it and finding out that it really had been soaked in rubbing alcohol. Did I mention I found that out the very hard way?

***

Friday was my last Friday off for summer scheduling :(
At least I get to go back to normal hours :)

***

I picked up a magazine the other day and the headline on the cover said in big letters "Loose Weight at Any Age."

***

Save the Last Dance 2 is a much better movie than the original. Mostly because the dancing is better.

Posted by valry at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Thursday I went for sushi with Josh and Nadia. We were supposed to go to this one really good place but they were packed and had a ridiculously long wait. So we ended up at another sushi place a few doors down. Now, I have a theory here...If you are in Lincoln Park and one sushi place is packed and another is completely empty there is probably a reason... (I probably also shouldn't take restaurant advice from a boy whose favorite restaurant is Tasty Gyro...) We did have an excellent appetizer of teriyaki beef rolls. And I had yummy plum wine. But the waiter was a meany who would not bring me the plaid 3-legged pony I ordered (he said they were all out of the other types of ponies) and who sat on my imaginary friend. Mean mean waiter :(

2. I baked pudding. OK, OK, so you don't really bake pudding. But it counts. I then ate my pudding all alone by myself watching a movie with a former Dawson having a lot of sex. It was an enjoyable movie. The pudding was too lumpy (I am too impatient some times).

3. A horoscope I enjoyed: CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you were to get very quiet and tune in to all that's going on around you, you may realize that you're the thought that turns someone's lips into a bemused smile.

4. Yesterday I got a tour of the Civic for the first time. I kind of forgot that there was this whole other part of my company that I've never seen.

Posted by valry at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

1. So, I put off touching most of my big final class project for the ten weeks I had to work on it. I managed to go to work on it Sunday morning and finish by 3pm. I'm either really good or the project is really crappy. I don't care though, I'm done until September! And then I'll be completely done in November!

2. I am moving out of my bigbig office and into a smallsmall cubicle :(

3. Tonight was Scotty McHotty and KennyK's b-day party at the froggy. I will post tomorrow when I have time to upload all the pics. Happy birthday!

4. I bought a book on Amsterdam today. Maybe I should go?

5. WHAT

8.?!?!?!

Posted by valry at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo of the day:

"Greens"

* * *

You know what's worse than American Idol? The American Idol Songwriting Competition.
So you didn't have to, I went through and listened to all 20 finalists (well, not the entire song) and am reporting back. Because obviously you would have wasted your time listening to them . :) Basically these songs are the biggest bunch of crap I have ever listened to in my entire life. And this is me, I like crappy things...if I think something is bad, it's probably 100 times worse. Most of the songs were painfully slow ballads (they all were ballads, but most of them sounded like the person was singing in slow motion). They all sounded like they came from an awful off-off Broadway show that was forced to close after opening night. They all fell under the theme of "look at me, I never thought I'd make it!!!"
Each year Simon complains that the song the winner is forced to sing is bad. So this year they held a competition to choose a song from an amateur songwriter. The problem is, all of the songs have the exact same problems as the songs they normally choose. This cannot end well. Especially since the key would be to not just have one stupid generic song, but one that really fit whoever was singing it.
Oh, and one of them was seriously titled "Love me till the Lonley's Gone." I don't know if it was the author's choice or a stupid web editor (hehe) who decided lonely should be spelled like that.
All I have to say...Blake is gonna have to do a hell of a lot of beat boxing to make any of these listenable.

* * *

So I had a two reviews this week at work. The first went really well and the second went as expected. I got a raise though :) Only 1% so I'll make an extra couple of bucks each paycheck. But it's good for only working there for six months, and I definitely didn't expect anything. yayval?

Posted by valry at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Thursday we had out end of season party at work. It was really fun and the food looked great but I didn't get to eat much because it's pretty hard to eat with a plate of food in one hand, a drink in the other, only a fork with no knife, and no where to sit. :) One of the actors was kind of following me around trying to get me to go drink some wine with him. It was kind of creepy so luckily I found some people to talk to.

2. My life is pretty damned boring right now. I need friends.

3. I found out one of the girls on the Apprentice (the girl who'd having the little love affair for those who watch it) is the daughter of someone I used to work with.

4. I am so bored.

5. survey stolen from everyone

...it's good to know that i'm more adventurious than adventurous.

6. boredboredbored

7. I told Scott I was bored. He told me to do something like jump out a window. I said I could tap dance naked and he told me I should. So I did. Let me tell you, tap dancing on carpet isn't that exciting. :(

8. I'm the most boring person alive.

9. A video about upcoming televised eating contests featuring Eater X and Crazy Legs!!!

10. Did I mention that I'm bored???

Posted by valry at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. I always knew he'd be the perfect boyfriend:

2. Wednesday I went for coffee with MK and his friend Dan, but I had a milkshake and it was damn yummy. We then went back to Matt's for Top Gear and I made him play the episode where they go to America and show how horrible of a country we are :) At one point they have a challenge to drive through Alabama without getting arrested or shot...and at the same time try to get the other guys arrested or shot...and they did so by painting things such as "Nascar Sucks" and "Vote for Hillary" and "Man Love Rules OK" on each others cars. Yeah...they were almost killed...
Since I had to follow MK and Dan back, they kept trying to throw me off by constantly switching lanes and turning on the turn signal and switching places with each other Chinese firedrill style. It was funny. :) And, since it was a *warm* 35 degrees I put down all my windows and sang because the shuffle Q101 was playing had a bunch of my fav sing at the top of my lungs songs (when's the last time I ever heard Little Black Backpack on the radio???)

3. Today my department had our Christmas party. Yup. We got some yummy tapas (I had some muchrooms stuffed with duck and topped with cheese amongst other dishes).

4. I am currently signed up for 2 classes next quarter and can't decide between them. Now, I could take both of them and be done with my masters by June...but I don't really want to devote that much time to class while working full time plus hopefully there will be something I really really want to take next quarter. My choice is between technical writing and text and image. I probably should take tech writing, but it meets on Mondays so I will no longer be able to attend any 24 things. But then again, text and image is on Wednesdays so I will be in class when they announce who gets kicked off of American Idol. Decisions, decisions... Opinions on what sounds better???

Posted by valry at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. I think I have found my true calling in life: making MySpace pages. I did this one for work and everyone gave me a brava for it. :)

2. My two worlds collide: Opera based on horror film The Fly is in production.

3. My other two worlds collide: Spike TV to telecast 4 competitive eating programs this year. (what I find funniest is that everyone's first reaction to me showing them that link is 'there's a website for competitive eating news?'" - yes there is, and I read it regularly)

4. Is it a bad sign that I only realized Lent was upon us by the amount of fish sandwich commercials I've been seeing?

5. My thoughts on Britney. Now, I never particularly liked Miss Spears, but at least at one point she looked like she could have a long future of fame and stardom based, if nothing else, on her looks and sex appeal. At one point though, something happened and she reverted to some white trash backtracking and seemed to be spiraling downwards from there. For those living in a cave, the weekend Britney shaved off all of her hair. I like celebrity gossip the way I like my TV, horribly bad...Personally I don't even get how someone shaving their head has made news for days in a row. I for one completely understand that desire, as I often feel like taking a razor to my scalp when my hair seems like it will never be as nice as I know it could be (but then I come to my senses and realize that I don't want to be bald). There is one thing, though, that really irks me about this story. After shaving her head, Brit went and got herself some tattoos. While I have not seen pictures of them, the description sounds like horrible cheesy straight-off-the-wall flash. Despite the fact that that is bothersome in itself, it is not the point that I am troubled over. In each article I've seen, the tattoo-shop employees are quoted as saying that she looked agitated, distraught, disengaged. That she seemed out of it. My beef with this is that no reputable studio would tattoo someone in that condition. Tattoos are permanent (I guess though that she has enough money to have them removed...). A reputable shop should turn away business to someone who doesn't seem like they are in a coherent state of mind. Heck, even the hair stylist wouldn't touch her locks, and hair grows back (trust me). And that is my celebrity rant of the day.

6. 5 hours of American Idol this week. Heaven or hell?

Posted by valry at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

24 is just getting creepier and scarier and more and more confusing. Why can't they just spend 24 hours preparing for a tea party? The show frustrates me because I just want everything to be better and I don't think it will be.

--

Being told you are hated for 2 days, even if it is just a joke, can make a person feel pretty damn shitty.

--

It's days like today where I miss my old job because I would have called a snow day :(

Posted by valry at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

1. More things you have googled:
valerie bromann loves joejoe
valerie bromann pie

2. A kind of funny video from work:

3. My night out:
Nad and I felt like having a quiet night so we headed out to Starbucks where we sat and talked until they kicked us out. We have decided we need to open a house flipping house staging catering food styling company. Or some combination of such :) Nadia is pissed at lemons in commercials. I also got my bridesmaids dress! hope it fits!

5. Random begging
Starbucks has sooooo many cute cups and everything in light blues and pinks. So, you know, if you're looking for something to bestow upon me next Friday, you know where to go ;-)

Posted by valry at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"There are four women outside. No, wait. Four women divided by vodka equals two women."

1. So apparently the neighbor who hit my car robbed a White Hen in Western Springs the other day. The police came by and confiscated some stuff from his house, but I guess he is hiding out somewhere and they haven't caught him. I think I should get a new car for that. He could have at least been polite and stolen me a Jetta or something. Hopefully I will have my Saturn back soon.

2. The other day at work I saw the dress rehearsal for Die Fledermaus. It was pretty awesome. A very light opera and very funny. Basically it was about this couple who were both kind of unfaithful, and then as a joke someone sets it up so the wife will witness the husband cheating. And then they drank a lot of champagne. For a better explanation than that, you can click here: Die Fledermaus. What struck me as odd was the amount of spoken dialogue. There was a LOT. And I always thought that opera had no speaking at all ever. Who knew?

3. Yesterday was our holiday party. Yay for free food and wine and meeting people! :)

Posted by valry at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MattyK tastes my wine (some French dessert wine) and makes the same face I make when I taste his martinis:
Matt: This tastes like a pixie stick...It tastes like Tinkerbelle was killed and ground up and juiced into the glass
Val makes her signature sad face: "That makes me a cannibal!"

Last night was Valerie's Employed and Ready to Celebrate Celebration at Salt Creek Wine Bar. Highlights from the night include:
• Josh brought me a little gong to put on my desk at work since I told him it is completely empty.
• Jenny ordered a beer!
• Reiden doesn't hate me she just only likes me for very short periods of time.
• Brandana's friend said that prettier people get hired over unprettier people. I said that's how I got my job.
• Joe called me from across the table, then he hung up on me.
• Alina told me I could have JoeJoe once she breaks up with him.
• I agreed to sleep with Josh and he will leave me in the morning, that makes me a Bond girl.
• Joe was going to blow me a kiss but he blew it to MattyK instead.
• Brandana blew me a kiss and I made out with it.
• Brandana offered me and Alina $20 to make out.
• I touched matts lips then touched joes so they indirectly kissed
• Matt said he would make out with himself but didn't know how. So I showed him how to by making out with my hand then I wiped the slobber on his mouth.
• Umm, I am sure there is more that I am forgetting that didn't involve making out :)

Pictures:
Jenny Drinks a Beer:

Josh thinks he's 007:

Random Close-Ups: (Scott, Josh, Adam, Brandon, Matt, Matt, Joe, Matt)

Me and Josh (self portrait):

Me and Scott (self portrait):

Random Table Pics: