December 2008
73 posts
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
I wanted to post this song as covered by Harry Connick, Jr., but iTunes won’t let me. H8 U protected files.
Anyway, what I’ll be doing is reclining on someone’s couch with my bestie, somewhere in the Loop, in a floor-length gown and a fake fur, guzzling cocktails and gorging on hors d’oeuvres and dessert, safe from the cold outside.
In addition to serving beer, Chuck E Cheese also has their in-house animatronic band programmed to play Tears For Fears. ROCK.
Things everyone should know: they serve beer at Chuck E Cheese.
I fell asleep on the Toddler’s couch last night, and when I woke up, The Rose was about 3/4 over on TV. So I finished watching it. Thoughts:
Bette Midler was amazing
Amy Winehouse is truly our generation’s Janis Joplin
Now that I’ve seen the source material, it’s totally hilarious that our sorority (and many others) uses “The Rose” as the Third Invite song....
You really do run into everyone you know at Sidetrack’s Showtune Night—providing they’re gay, of course.
"I sincerely hope that someone in James Cialella’s... →
“So I decided that I want to know more websites.”
– my dear, dear pet, Brenda McDocklin, aka BMac, aka BLaugh, aka the People’s Champion
Today I taught my two-year-old cousin another word for “elephant.” (That’s “pachyderm,” in case you wanted to know.)
Wrigleyville, old friends, and drink specials beckon.
Headed into the city for brunch with some of my favorite ladies :)
The Drive
Chicago has a radio station called The Drive which is so aptly named, because as we all know, classic rock (The Drive’s staple) is the perfect music to listen to in the car.
Anyway, it’s amazing how when radio stations do those retrospective programs where they play all the hits from one particular year, all the energy and pathos from that era comes rushing through the airwaves and...
The best music to listen to in the car is classic rock. More on this later.
No seriously. Read the comments on the article on that last post. They are hilarious and frightening all at the same time. I really do love Philadelphia.
This place was but a 5 min walk away from my old... →
Battery Empty
Everything in my life always seemingly conspires to need recharging at the same time—iPods, cell phones, laptops, camera batteries, bank accounts, attitudes.
So, yeah. Working on that in the new year.
Stages In Growing Up
1. Recognize bad habits
2. Pinpoint root cause of bad habits
3. Realize bad habits are shared with those who raised you
Things I don’t get: shoe shopping.
My mom used to play this song on her record player...
Transgenre'd, cont.
I thought of another text that crosses genre lines. Frequently, these are the sort of books or movies that you viewed one way in childhood or adolescence, and differently once reaching adulthood. When I first read Wuthering Heights as a 4th grader (!) and then in annual re-readings for the next couple of years throughout high school, I thought it was the greatest romance ever told.
Once I...
I wish someone had told me that when you use a snowblower, you will probably also need one for yourself afterward.
Well, it’s not every day you stumble across a picture of yourself on a party pics website.
I am not religious by any means, but I’ve...
En route to the City of Big Shoulders. Definitely not appropriately dressed for the weather. Cold-tolerance is the first thing to go…
Transgenre'd
Some of the most stimulating texts are the ones that shift genres, depending on the perspective of the consumer. A glorious little tidbit of Hollywood gossip is that Shannen Doherty had no idea that Heathers was a comedy until viewing the film in its entirety. (Which is probably why she is so deliciously awesome in her role.)
Take, for example, the movie The Royal Tenenbaums. I recall, from my...
youngmanhattanite:
Print isn’t dead yet…
Dear Andrew, I know that something like copy paper may not be considered as something that you would think teachers would need, but it is in high need. Due to budget cuts things like copy paper and toner are the first things that schools cut down on. Thank you for your thoughtful gift. It is greatly appreciated. Have a Happy Holiday! Mrs. L
Katie, I’ll...
My preferred Christmas songs are the ones my mother used to play nonstop in December when we were little—the ones with the warm, crackly, slightly muffled vinyl quality that conjures up memories of cedar incense, warm fires, red-and-gold wrapping paper, gilt-laden pine boughs, chalky-sweet Ghirardelli cocoa, twinkling lights, being safe inside on a snowy night.
Stupid Tumblr won’t let...
In Gothic literature, damsels are constantly being hunted in their own homes. (Bear with me for a moment here; Gothic literature was the topic of my honors thesis in college.) The threat of a shadowy predator forcing himself into one’s private bedchamber is always on the mind. Consider that most fans and quite a few of the writers of early Gothic literature (and even contemporary Gothic...
All my best writing ideas come at 2 in the morning. Not fair, and also not healthy.
Doing my usual Saturday morning routine of lay-about-in-bed-reading-blogs, taking-long-long-shower, taking-my-time-to-get-dressed, grabbing-something-yummy-to-eat-at-a-cafe. Will go Christmas shopping later.
Have you ever had the experience of being a bystander to a fight? A real, knock-down, drag-out brawl, the kind that turns ugly, fast. I have, many times. You know it’s coming because you can feel it in the air—the atmosphere crackles with tension and dread, much in the same way a frayed live wire in a lightning storm snarls and snaps and undulates like a big black snake.
Chung-chung.
During my first year of teaching, I had a crazed obsession with Law and Order and all its spinoffs—even the cringe-inducingly cheesy Criminal Intent. As soon as each horrific day ended, while my more positively-minded and highly-performing colleagues were still at school grading and lesson-planning, I would race home and lay comatose on the couch while TNT ran back-to-back episodes of...
“[Janice Lee] did have to wait for something arguably more precious for an...”
– More Miranda Purves in Elle, this time from a profile of former editorial assistant/current book-world sensation Janice Lee. This immediately touched a chord when I read it. It was no coincidence that my best writing in college came from the semesters when I had less on my plate—I can recall...
“On some level, giving the “Don’t bother looking” vibe to men...”
– Miranda Purves’ article, “I Want You to Want Me”, from the January 2009 Elle. One of my “Oh wow, I’m an adult” moments definitely came when I realized that I no longer consulted with others regarding what I wore or bought; that I preferred to shop alone, and...
Things That Strangers Have Said To Me On the...
(to me and Ms. Worst): “You’re beautiful.” Then adding, as an afterthought, as if wishing to clarify: “BOTH of y’all.”
“You got some big legs.”
“You look good, you got a fat ass.”
“Girl, you got a MEAN WALK.”
(bursting out into song, as if auditioning for the part of Angel in Rent) “Girl, I like the way you look...
On a day like this, all I want to do is laze on the couch watching L&O reruns on TV.
Instead, it’s beautiful out. I think I’ll walk to work and catch some dinner later…
Memory #10: Tofu
When I was in 3rd grade we lived in Wilmette with my aunt. I went to Harper Elementary and I had about 3 different best friends, all of whom were in EEP (a gifted program for whose acronym I no longer remember the meaning) with me. One of them, Caroline, lived a few houses down from my aunt’s house on Illinois Road—although her house was much different from my aunt’s. Their...
New Seasonal Sincerity
Things I think are out for the new era:
*Irony
*Overexposure
Therefore, I am so over the “slutty” costume of any kind, along with ironic Christmas gifts. Both are good for a laugh at the time, only to elicit an “eh” in retrospect.
I love dressing up!
Start, crash, start, LOAD! crash, start, crash,...
cvxn:
… hate, rage, sulk… BONG! I can probably live without my Tumblr dashboard, but this lack of GChat is killing me. AIM anyone?
Hez, honey, try Meebo! (Although it may be too much for your system if you can’t even get Gchat to work.)
Raise your hand if you even voted for Blagojevich in the first place, srsly