Wibbly Wobbly

~  Okay, let's start with the obvious(ish).  What is with the random instant Dr. Who explosion?  This show has been on longer than my parents have been alive and I went over a quarter of a century without even knowing it existed.  But somehow in the last year or so it finally crossed the pond (pun intended?) suddenly and massively and now everyone is all over it.  Seriously, every possible category I could put the people I know into - high school friend, college friends, family, etc. - has its own subset of sudden Whovians.  I totally need to check it out, it looks like something I could really get into . . . but I still don't get what happened.  It doesn't even qualify as a meteoric rise to fame, it's more like the show apparated itself into a waiting crowd of adoring fans that just didn't know what they were waiting to adore.

~ What do we want?  TIME TRAVEL!  When do we want it?  IT'S IRRELEVANT!!

~ The House of Hades won't be out for another 83 days.  I kind of want time travel now.

~ Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.

~

So last week marked roughly the halfway point of summer vacation. (warnings and condolences to those who need them)  It's so weird . . . summer always is/was for me.  The last days of school feel like they were so long ago . . . but at the same time it doesn't feel possible to be closer to school starting again than to the end of last year.  It's just so screwy.

~ On that note, even though essentially the only thing I've done for the last four summers this summer is job hunt, I'm kind of dreading that point in time where I have a "normally" scheduled job again.  Other than the couple of years I was in Florida I have literally always been on the school model of time.  It's a cushy gig if you can get/afford it, but I still remember how just plain bizarre it was not to be going back to school in the fall of '06.  And not changing things up around the time the new semester was starting.  And to just keep going doing the same thing all through the next summer and into the next fall.  It's still weird to think about.  I kind of wish everything could adopt the school calender and the whole planet would just take three months off and then start again.

Of course, the more practical thing to do would be to throw out the ridiculously outdated school calender and go to year-round classes . . . but other than to state the obvious about how it would probably be easier for everyone to adjust once they were out of school, that is a days-long rant I shan't get into.  Today.



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Another reason Push is my favorite.  Are there any girl Pushes, 'cause I could totally go for this job.  (also: the time my friend Celeste came to visit and we located the guy with the mike and she totally hit on him through Push remains one of my favorite times ever)

But the Living Ain't Easy

In other words, Summertime: What It's Like Trying to Get a Job in Logan


And it's about like this.

Four years.  Four gazillion applications.  Four interviews.  Half a job.  Half a job I love . . . but only half a job.

I am really coming to hate this town.



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I didn't particularly care for this song back in high school when we played it in symphony.  But it's grown on me in the decade (!) since then.

Looking for Something to Say

Ever have that feeling that you want to talk to someone but you just can't think of anything to say?  That pretty much explains my blog absence for the last little while, which a few people have mentioned/questioned.  Sorry, it's just been one great big "I've have nothing to add to that" moment around here.  I still love the kids at school (except for the days when I can't stand them), there's nothing monumental going on in our lives (unless you count Luke's schedule changing so he gets off at 10 instead of midnight, which we see as kind of a big deal), and I haven't had any particularly philosophical moments to ramble on about (a side effect of end-of-the-year burnout, I'm thinking).

So I suppose this post is mostly just to assure everyone that we're still alive . . . and also (just a little) to celebrate the wonderful feeling you get when you discover that lots of people agree with you on something when you thought you were the only one who felt that way.  Shockingly, I'm not in the mood to rant (I must be really burned out!) but maybe I will be by the time comments start rolling in, lol.

Anyway.  I shall just make my two little points and leave you all to duke it out.  Or unfollow me, as the case may be. (although I hope that doesn't happen!)

I totally agree with this, it's kind of really horrible and probably is going to do more harm than good in the long run.  And some people really need to get this kind of grip on reality and stop judging people they don't even know.

And this?  Unnecessary, disrespectful to the artist, and more than a little hypocritical.

Well . . . it'll be nice to see who still talks to me this time next week, lol.


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Title says it all.  The mind, she is boggled.

Restless Bookworm

Wanna hear something weird?  You may have noticed that it's been . . . a while since my last post.  Suffice it to say this has been a rather uneventful and somewhat bland month.  BUT - I was looking at my stats page the other day . . . because I'm weird like that and like to see how many people are checking me out online.  Anyway.  For some reason this month has gotten more hits than any other month ever, except last June when I did that 30 day thing.  I have no idea why I am apparently the hottest thing ever in Russia right now . . . but it's a major ego boost, so I'll take it! :-)  (also: привет, мои друзья!)

Also: I despise this stupid new blogger layout.  With a passion.

Anyway.  Onto "real" topics.

I've been having quite the struggle finding good books for the last couple of months.  I've mentioned it to a few people, but it seems like I'm getting really picky about what I like to read.  On the one hand, it's really weird because I've always been the girl who reads everything and dislikes almost none of it - but in the last six weeks or so I've put down, like, five books just because I couldn't bring myself to finish them.

Back in the day I was more like a book-goat.  I read everything, with absolutely no discrimination, more or less.  I remember going to the library during the summer as a kid.  I'd check out a dozen or so books, and approximately five days later I'd've finished them all and be ready to go back for more.  But no one else was done with their books yet, so I had to wait.  And out of sheer desperation I'd read everyone else's library books too.  It was almost like going down a ladder - in the course of about two weeks I'd start out by reading my books - a mix of Beverly Cleary types to Star Wars novels from the adult section of the library (and you better believe nothing could make me feel more grown up, lol!) and then I'd read Ashli's books . . . and Shayla's books . . . and finally Rian's books, and since he's six years younger than me and we're talking about the still-in-Idaho-Falls-timeline here we're talking about a 12-year-old reading the books a 6-year-old checked out due to sheer desperation for something to read.  It was not exactly pretty.  And I may still have this book memorized.  Going on two decades later. (holy CRAP, I'm getting old . . . )

So . . . yeah.  I read everything.  During the school year we didn't go to the library so I read the books in the house over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.  Still have some of them kind of memorized too.  We all got books for our birthdays - and I was always getting in trouble for reading everyone else's books before they got a chance . . . but a new book in the house was like manna from heaven!  Christmas was the most glorious time ever because it meant at least twelve new books.  And I'm sure grandma and grandpa remember the time I spent the whole visit doing literally nothing but frantically reading the last five books of the Work and the Glory series.  We had the first four at home and I'd read them at least a dozen times and I was DYING to just finish them already!  Five books.  Couple thousands pages or more.  Four days.  I did it.

That's still one of my proudest accomplishments.  Even if it's not one I exactly bring up a lot.

Anyway.  I guess maybe it's something to do with the fact that I have a library card, a goodreads account, and a car but I am totally losing my patience for so-so books.  There are still plenty that totally hook me right away and blow me out of the water by the end.  But there are more and more  that I just can't bring myself to pick up after a few chapters.  It's really weird.  For me it's kind of disturbingly weird.  Like, what's wrong with me that I can't enjoy all books anymore?  We all know I'm totally over the who LDS fiction thing, but the over all fiction thing really freaks me out.  I know I'm exaggerating, but on the other hand I have had six duds in the last six weeks (literally, I just checked on goodreads) and when I get a string like that it's depressing.  I mean, six out of fourteen is practically half!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway.  I just felt like a little bit of complaining/semi-ranting.  The good books are still out there, they're just getting harder to find I guess. (totally open to recommendations!  and you should totally get on goodreads if you're not!!!)  Back to my current book.  Which is so far, so good.

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Tilt shift is seriously the coolest thing on the face of the planet.

Little Celebrations

Seriously. How does this happen?


So I'm sitting here marveling at the fact that this year is already a quarter of the way done already - and dude, when did that happen? - and thinking of how nice it will be to put this month behind me. Because it has not been particularly pleasant. No major catastrophes or anything, but lots of little things that have just piled up and piled up to make it a stressful month. Can I just say that whoever came up with the idea of kicking off April with spring break was a freaking genius? I know everyone is burned out and ready for this break.

But anyway. I'm taking today to celebrate one of the few little moments of win from this month. And to channel my inner dork . . . or perhaps just my inner Katie, as those of you who know her will see the parallel. :-)

Anyway.

So a couple of weeks ago we made our lovely little bi-annual trip to Layton to keep the warranty on the most expensive thing we own up to date. And since these trips are some of the few times we get a change of scene we like to make a bit of a day of it, always eating out somewhere that isn't an option around here like Jason's Deli or In'N'Out. And I always, ALWAYS get a large lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick for the road. Because their lemonade is seriously the nectar of the gods. Even better than Chik-fil-a's lemonade, and we all know how awesome that stuff is, don't we? :-)

I have no idea exactly how big their large lemonades are . . . other than to say that one can use the restroom at the Layton Hills Mall right before purchasing one and if one drinks the entire thing ("if" . . . ha!) during the drive back home by the time one reaches one's destination, one is likely to be hurrying into the house. (tmi? sorry . . . )

Perhaps one should let Luke take more than a couple of sips . . . nah. :-)

Anyway.

So Luke's getting a Blizzard for the road (because Dairy Queen? another thing we can't get around here - LAME!) and I'm getting my lemonade when I happen to spy the one-way ticket to my personal nirvana:



TA DA!!

Large lemonades? Cost $3. This baby? To quote a certain Brandy, it's bigger than my head (and a large), costs $4 and refills are $2 for the lifetime of the cup. Which means it will totally pay for itself come September. And you better believe I'll be making the most of the whole "lifetime of the cup" thing. In fact, we may have to make a trip to Salt Lake sometime soon just to get a refill. (and, you know, to check out the whole City Creek thing and stuff . . . but mostly for the lemonade.) And you better believe that the last thing I do on my deathbed will be to send someone out to refill it one last time. The only question will be, do I go with regular lemonade, cherry lemonade, or lime lemonade?

It's the tough questions like that that make you appreciate having time to plan your demise. :-)

Also - today my grandest dream is to get a Hot Dog on a Stick in this town so I can go get a refill everyday. (see what I mean about channeling my inner Katie, lol?)

Anyway. Here's to a brighter, cheerier, sunnier April. And lots of lemonade.


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Muppets!

Goodbye, Cruel World

Shari - you totally need to get these.



You guys, I really think this winter is going to kill me. Or at least that Old Man Winter is trying to.

In case I haven't convinced you that I am a complete freak of nature - remember how I apparently have synesthesia? Yeah, 'nother story like that. But not nearly as pleasant.

Again, coming from the I-thought-everybody-was-like-this-until-Luke-gave-me-weird-looks file, sometimes when I get sick my skin gets super-hypersensitive. Like, ridiculously so. Like, enormously sensory overloaded so. It's really hard to describe, so bear with me, m'kay?

Anyway, you know how you can feel you clothes against your skin? (please, save the DUH! moments for the end) But it's such a normal and constant sensation that your brain just tunes it out? When I get sick it's like my brain can't do that. Everything I touch sends this woosh of sensory info to my brain. Every time I shift my weight I feel my clothes brushing against me - every inch of my shirt against every inch of my back. It's a really weird tingling feeling . . . the most bizarre combination of pleasant/painful I've ever encountered. On one level it's a slight tickle that might make one relax a little . . . on the other there's so much of it that my brain just can't handle it and it starts registering it as painful instead.

Clearly, I belong in a circus.

Anyway. I have never gotten that hypersensitivity without some sort of accompanying illness, usually a stomach flu or something for a day or two. The two always, always go together.

Until yesterday, when I woke up with super sensitive skin and kind of achy all over. And other than that . . . nothing. And today . . . still sensitive but otherwise nothing.

I? Have no idea what's going on. It's confusing and kind of obnoxious. And because I can think of no other culprit, I'm totally blaming the fact that it was gloomy yesterday and snowed last night after a whole week of lovely spring-like conditions. Dude, I was going around without a jacket last week and today I needed my coat! We all know what an old lady I am mentally, apparently my body has just decided to catch up or something. Blargh.

So anyway - if you happen to see me somewhere around this week and it looks like I'm walking around in a daze just know that my clothes are still too . . . I don't know, heavy? present? . . . for me to register much else. Work this week is going to be interesting.


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Honestly, I've lost count of how many times I've watched this since it showed up on facebook. It's just that awesome. Also: do frogs have teeth? (file under: burning questions you didn't know you wanted to know)

A Different Kind of Live Blogging

Or: That Awkward Moment When . . .

So. Our landlord is in our kitchen as we speak replacing our garbage disposal. I'm never sure what the etiquette or whatever is for this sort of thing. Should I make conversation? Small talk about the weather? Or would that be too distracting? Sitting here in silence just feels awkward, but what the crap am I supposed to say? We've only seen this guy a handful of times since we moved in almost a year ago, it's not like we're pals who hang out all the time and have tons to chat about. It's even worse when they're doing something in the bathroom, like patching up the bathtub faucet leak a couple of weeks ago. Do you stay there? Keep them company? But what if you look like you don't trust them to not rummage around in the cabinet? And again, what would you say?

Instead - I'm blogging. Because the sound of typing makes it seem like I'm doing something more important and useful and productive than just wasting time on pinterest of giggling over lolcats or something. Which . . . let's be honest, is what we all know I spend a lot of my time doing. It's also kind of pathetic because I'm pretty sure if he took two seconds to think about it he could easily guess what's going on over here - heck, what's stopping me from just having the computer open but nothing running and just typing in order to make it sound like I'm doing something even if no actual words are appearing anywhere? I have never once seen this guy without his bluetooth hooked to his ear so I get the feeling he's rather familiar with concept of digital avoidance devices, lol.

On that note (sort of) can I just say that I miss the sound of old school keyboards? you know, the ones with the ginormous spring-loaded keys that made a clacking sound that must have registered several gazillion decibels? Compared to modern keyboards, anyway. I'm a huge fan of the sound of a typewriter, but I'm not quite old enough for it to have that same sort of pleasant nostalgia for me. While one of my best childhood memories of going to Grandma's house in New Mexico was the time I got to try out typing on theirs and how it was SO COOL that the thingy-thing actually went back and forth just like in the movies . . . well, it is a sound that belongs in the movies for me. Instantly recognizable, but I visualize watching a black and white movie rather than the self-important way I would sometimes type up my book reports back in the day when most of my friends didn't even have computers at home.

(see also: those awesome printers that had the paper with the holes on the sides that you tore off and that was how it got threaded through the printer. they sounded cool too.)

But seriously, those old keyboards, where you actually had to push the keys instead of just sneezing on them . . . they were cool. It didn't matter what sort of stupid thing you were doing - it sounded important and official and that was what mattered.

You know . . . the older I get the more I realize just how much of a NERD I was when I was a kid. And you know we're talking about some epic nerdular nerdence because how often do I mess with text sizes around here? Seriously . . . sometimes I look back and I'm a little surprised I didn't wear pocket protectors.

But back to the sound thing. Ummmmm . . . it was a really cool. And I wish modern keyboards still did that.

Okay, bad news: I'm running dry on anything to say.

Good news: disposal is fixed, yay!! So I don't need to pretend to be useful anymore.

On that note, peace out, and all that jazz.


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Well, clearly we screwed up on Monday. I need two iphones so I can entertain myself like this!

Celebrating (Imminent) Success

End of the year blog meme time, yay! I've seen this one around a bit lately, and since I'm within single digits of reaching my only tangible goal for the year - reading 150 books - this shall be my reward party.

And since you've all totally been watching my little ticker over there >>>>>>>>>>>> with baited breath all year - yep, I am down to nine more . . . woo hoo!!! There were times when I wondered if I'd pull it off.

Anyway. Meme time.

1) What author do you own the most books by?

Tough call. Rick Riordan and L.M. Montgomery are both up there. Does my collected works of Jane Austen book count for each novel? Because then she'd probably take the title when you include the duplicate copies.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?

I only own double copies of three Jane Austens.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?

I usually don't notice until it's pointed out. So . . . thanks for that.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

Character? As in . . . singular? Can I just say "all of them" and have it count as one? Seriously:

Marius Pontmercy
Gilbert Blythe
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Colonel Brandon
Sir Percival Blakeney
Heathcliff
Rhett Butler
. . . and any others who might slightly resemble any of the above

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?

Probably Tuck Everlasting . . . but I reread books a lot, so it's hard to say.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

You really have to be more specific - I've never had consistent favorites. Favorite book on my tenth birthday? Favorite fantasy book when I was ten that I read that summer? Those I could answer.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

Hard to say. In an attempt to make a dent in my massive to-read list I've found myself reading a lot of vanity/self-published stuff lately. I'm sure there are some gems in that pile, but most of what I've found epitomizes why that was the route those people took. These, however, fall into the category of worst-of-the-worst.

9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?

Again, hard to say. The Happiness Project comes to mind, but I think I'd prefer to tailor my recommendation to each person.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?

Me. Totally. :-)

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

Do I really need to get into my do-not-turn-books-into-movies-ever rant again?

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

See above.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.

I don't generally recognize people in my dreams. I know I know them, and I know where I know them from (high school, Florida, books, etc.) but I don't usually know who they actually are.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?

Ummmmm . . . what part of "vanity press" strikes anyone as high brow?! Anyway . . . yeah. I totally read fluffy stuff. Gotta balance out Austen and Milton and Wilde and Dickens and such somehow.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

Define difficult. While I speak it pretty well (or, at least I used to) I can't read French to save my life, so the stuff in my French lit classes were brutal. (and yet I hold on to the more than slightly insane goal of reading Les Mis in french someday. Unabridged.) I've never had to much trouble with Shakespeare or any "old school" stuff - if you go a little slower it's really not that hard. That said, I struggled with Wuthering Heights the first time . . . I think I was a little too young for the writing style. Also, somehow I ended up with a copy of Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English for a concurrent enrollment class my senior year. Kind of hard to read a book that is literally in a different language . . . especially when you think it's in yours.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?

Sadly, the only one I've seen is Macbeth - kind of shameful when you consider where I went to college, eh?

Also: donations for Lacey's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY trip to Cedar next summer are being accepted starting . . . wait for it . . . now. Because with front page news like that . . . yeah. I have to go.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

Oh! Oh! New answer for most difficult!! I've never finished anything by a Russian - and heaven knows I've tried. I will get through Anna Karenina someday, dangit!

Hugo? Is my hero. One of them.

18) Roth or Updike?

Haven't read either, actually. I probably should fix that.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?

Neither.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?

Okay, I haven't actually read any Milton yet . . . I said I was working on my to-read list, not that it was done. Tough call - Shakespeare is a bit easier to read un-translated, but Chaucer's dirty jokes are easier to get.

What? You didn't know that those are two of the dirtiest writers in the history of writing?

21) Austen or Eliot?

I shall echo others' answers: which Eliot? And why Eliot? Because when I think of authors similar to Austen, Eliot doesn't even make the top, like, 100.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

I don't know that there are any large gaps in my collected readings, but there are a few that would make me feel like I should turn in my degree if I admitted to them.

23) What is your favorite novel?

Today? The FitzOsbournes in Exile. Mostly because it's the last one I finished . . . well, the last good one anyway. Can't wait for the third one.

24) Play?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . Much Ado. But mostly just because I've got Shakespeare on the brain from all these questions.

25) Poem?

I'm not a huge poetry person, but I do have a bit of a thing for "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold.

26) Essay?

Really don't do essays. Montaigne, I guess. Since I've read him.

27) Short story?

Again, not so much with the short stories. That said, a former professor of mine has a great collection out there (umm . . . shameless plug alert!) And I am a bit of a junkie of anything Millhauser.

28) Work of nonfiction?

I almost never read it so this is easy - The Happiness Project.

29) Who is your favorite writer?

Today? Ummmmmmm . . . Jane Austen, Jo Rowling, Jasper Fforde, and Emily Bronte

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

Stephenie Meyer . . . Jack Weyland . . . oh! - Jodi Picoult! I really don't get why she's so huge. I wanted to like her since I'm practically the only person who doesn't, but all her books are the same - sex and violence that serves no real purpose beyond shock value to get people talking about her books.

31) What is your desert island book?

If ever I find myself on a desert island, it will be the chunk of land that castle from Beauty and the Beast is on, which mysteriously floated away from . . . ummm . . . all the land surrounding it . . . and I shall never leave.

32) And … what are you reading right now?

Dreams of Joy. I read Shanghai Girls this summer and really liked it, so I have high hopes for this one, but I haven't gotten very far yet.



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Totally fitting. Also totally awesome. And totally spot on.

A Random Thought Day

Talk about finding a way to make money from nothing. I mean, I'd buy it! :-)


~ Shopping today. Christmas stuff = front and center. Halloween stuff = tucked back in a corner behind the Christmas stuff . . . and on clearance. Clearly someone at Shopko (and KMart) dropped their calender and should have enlisted the help of a kindergartner in reorganizing it.


~ Claire's has these. And this (just not online . . . frustrating because they didn't have my size in the store . . . grrrrrrrr). Come on, payday!!


~ I know exactly which of you are thinking exactly what. Save your intervention for the people who buy things like these. (that may have been the most . . . interesting . . . google search I've ever done.)


~ Super random thought of the day: I would get a kick out of the irony in someone wearing a CTR belly button ring.


~ 5-year-old boy has a crush on you? Freaking adorable. 10-year-old boy has a crush on you? More on the "awkward" end of the scale. Multiple 10-year-old boys have a crush on you? It's gonna be an . . . interesting . . . year. I'd like to think I'm just flattering myself, but when there's a line of boys waiting for you to check their work and they'd rather wait than have their male teacher check it instead . . . well, I guess we'll see, won't we?


~ Being in nursery = fun. Luke's loving the snack time. I'm loving watching his slightly bewildered interactions with the kids. He's pretty popular with them, which makes for good entertainment for the rest of us adults. :-)


~ Holy crap, how is it the end of September already?! Wasn't it only April, like, yesterday? Maybe that's why all the store merchandise putter-outer-people are confused.


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Pretty sure I've posted it before, but a friend of mine posted it on facebook and I was blown away again. It's just so crazy that it works!! (very brief language at the beginning if you care)

Now Wait Just a Minute

Seriously. And the root beer ones are the whole reason you bought the popsicles in the first place!!!



Anyway. So blogger added that Stats tab . . . what, like, a year ago now? It's been a while. And it's a pretty cool little feature, you know? So fun to see what people are reading and where they're from and stuff. Although I have to admit that right after I post something I tend to drive myself a little bit nuts by constantly checking and rechecking the stats. What do you mean no one's read my new post yet?! It's been, like, 20 whole minutes!!!!

Yeah, I'm a little pathetic.

In more ways than one. Because if you go to the audience sub-tab and check the all time option, mine shows that there has been one view on a Wii. Every time (which, in my defense, is not often) I look at that particular pie chart I see that and think, who the crap is reading my blog on a Wii?

Then I think, oh yeah that was me goofing off on the internet channel on our Wii that one time.

Okay, so I do have my blonde moments. But this is not a story of Lacey being a spaz . . . because let's face it, there are a lot of those.

This is a story of Lacey wondering what is up with you people.

Like I said, I have fun seeing where people are coming from (I seem to be moderately popular in Europe) and what everyone is reading. It's kind of weird, but for being SO not a math person, I'm really kind of a stats person. Anyway . . .

I have this one post - which I am absolutely not going to identify - that has literally THREE TIMES AS MANY views as my second most popular post. And for the last year or whatever since I've discovered this it has completely boggled my mind as to why. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that for a while I had a most popular posts list on my side bar, and since it was always the most popular it was always there for random discoverers to click on . . . but at least in my mind that just does not explain why it has so many more views than the other posts in the list. Or why it had been getting more views every week - even more than the new posts from that week. I mean really, what is that about?

So you may have noticed (but probably not . . . I can be realistic sometimes) my little experiment. I took off the most popular posts widget and added the "you may also like" widget at the bottom of each post. And whilst I was asking my awesome Elise friend how to get said widget I told her about my lovely little experiment and she said she had the same thing going on on her blog - one ridiculously popular post and no obvious reason as to why.

So we decided that I should do a poll (and I totally think she should too). Is this mystifying phenomenon just happening to us, or does everyone else have that one post that the internet seems to love for no apparent reason? And is it three times as popular? (I kid you not - this post has 126 views, and the next most viewed post has 42. That is EXACTLY three times more.)

Also: so far my experiment seems to be failing. For, like, two days after switching things up it looked like things might be changing. And then - the very day of my last post, and after I posted it . . . EIGHTEEN people in France read the uber popular post.

Wait. A. Minute. What . . . ? How . . . ? Why . . . ? I am so freaking confused. How did they even find it? Why did they zero in on that one and not read anything else? What is going on here?

I'm beginning to think that maybe blogger is just trying to mess with my mind. To which I say, play nice blogger, what little is there is already messed up enough!

Seriously though, help me and Elise out. Does blogger have something against us? Trying to drive us around another bend? Or is it an equal opportunity messer-wither?

Anyway. That's all. I'll just go back to rocking in a corner and talking to myself. :-)



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Okay, so technically this is totally month-old news, but I've been meaning to post a couple of these since I saw them ages ago and I keep forgetting. But they're just too fun not to share!!!

18

Day 18 ~ Plans/dreams/goals you have

Okay, ummm, kinda not sure how this is different from the bucket list. Any ideas? No? Maybe because it's not really different? Yeah, let's go with that. So . . . one of each . . . I guess . . .

Plan:
Keep living. Until I, you know, die.

Dream:
Travel. A lot. A whole butt-load of lot.

Goal:
Enjoy plans and dreams.

There. That was easy. :-)

But seriously - how is this different? I don't feel so bad for all the cheating I've been doing now because whoever made this up totally cheated.

P. ost S. cript
Someday these guys will be the winners of the Most Epic Darwin Award Ever. And I will laugh.

12

Day 12 ~ Write a poem to someone you love.

Yeah, uh, no. Heaven knows I'm not much of a poet as it is and "love" poetry? Not happening. Instead you get two of my better poems - in fact, they've actually been published! (okay, so it was SUU's English department's yearly literary journal, no one outside the department has ever read it or ever will, and I certainly didn't get paid for them . . . but it still totally counts!)


Fate

Sitting at the window watching the world go by
Moving along frantically at a snail's pace.
Everyone in a hurry to win a non-existent race --
Even though doing so anyone would deny.
So many worries are worth scarcely a sigh
They'll soon be gone along with time and place
Switched for another, a completely new face
Leaving today's urgent concerns high and dry.

So why do I feel compelled to join in
When logic says to keep far away
And well out of this game I can't win?
I toss my coin in the collection tin
Fate has decreed that I must stay
For life to chew up and spit out again.



(ten points if you recognized the form!)


Heart's Desire

Last night she
Dreamed she was
Kidnapped by
Pirates.

No one
Came to rescue
Her, but
That's not why

She was disappointed
When she woke
Up.



Bonus - the poem included on my invitation to Poetry Club from (Eric):

Roses are red
Violets are blue
So are you



I kinda miss that kid. :-)

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Just kinda fits. Also: totally played this one back in the day.

10

Day 10 ~ Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad


Hmmmmmmmmmmm. This one is a little tough. I almost always have music going, but I don't generally go for specific songs when I'm in a particular mood. that said, I'll try to come up with one for each.

Happy:
C'est La Vie by B*Witched
It's just a fun little song with a lovely bit of nostalgia to it.




Sad:
Okay, for this one I do tend to go for the Broadway stuff, particularly the Les Mis/Phantom/Jekyll&Hyde/Scarlet Pimpernel type stuff. And I believe I've mentioned it before, but this one was a bit of a theme song for me when I was a depressed dateless college girl.
Not That Girl from Wicked




Bored
Ummmmm . . . pretty much anything. Isn't that what the shuffle button was made for?
Dancing Queen




Hyped
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen by Mannheim Steamroller
(really good song to drive to)




Mad
Ok . . . really drawing a blank for this one . . . invoking the power of the shuffle button.
Only the Good Die Young, Billy Joel - another good one for nostalgia too.






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Yeah, I've posted this one before. But it rocks just that much.

9

Day 9 ~ Something you're proud of in the past few days.

This is easy. We went to Jackson Hole yesterday with my parents AND I DID NOT GET SUNBURNED! This? Is epic.

Granted, it may have a tiny bit to do with the fact that the weather in the afternoon looked a lot like the weather outside our apartment right now (dark and gloomy enough to almost need lights on even though it's going on noon), but the first few hours were gloriously sunny and a tad on the too warm side (except for when we stopped at the top of the mountain to look down on the town, that was chilly as there's still a few feet of snow up there).

Sadly my camera batteries were on life support (i.e. - take one picture, camera shuts itself off, turn it on again, take one picture, repeat) so I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked. But we'll go back sometime (if for no other reason than because we did not buy one of each item labeled "huckleberry [delicious thing even without huckleberries added]") and get more pictures then.

But in the meantime - NO SUNBURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Teacher needs a day off? Just play these all day and the kids totally still get educated! I? Am a genius. :-)

8

Day 8 ~ Short term goals for this month and why.

Short term goals, short list. This one shall be quick.

1 - Get back into the whole Wii Fitting thing. I kinda gave it up during the school year because, really, who wants to come home from work and get all sweaty and gross and have to take a second shower in one day and if you're going out again having to do the whole makeup/get ready to go thing a second time and . . . yeah, not interested. I told myself I had a fairly active job (while not nearly as active as working at Disney, it is compared to most jobs) and just let it go. But now I'm ready to get going again. One hour a day last week, two hours this week, and we'll just keep going from there. Hopefully this summer is as self-esteem boosting as last summer.

2 - Sort of on that note - not forgetting my New Year's not-Resolution. (admit it: all'a y'all have totally forgotten yours, lol) I haven't really . . . but I think I could be doing better.

3 - Keep on track/get ahead with my 150 book goal. Yeah, that one. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'm sure I've read that many books in a year before . . . but now I will know it for sure. The moment when I finish that 150th book? Will. Be. Epic.

4 - No sunburns. I should hope that's self-explanatory. We now live right next to the zoo and the pool, so there will be ample opportunity to put this one to the test this summer.

(5) - Come up with more specific goals. In parenthesis because it's probably not going to happen per se. I'm more of a deadline setter than a goal setter. As in "I will finish the hippo baby bib by this day because the next day is Leza's baby shower is the next day." (for the record they were done well in advance . . . mostly because I was paranoid they wouldn't be!) Do those count as goals? I'm totally counting them.

And that is all.


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No particular reason. Except this song cracks me up. Every time. Sometimes I listen to the entire soundtrack (which is awesome) just because this song is so much better in context. Also: after watching this clip I want to see this number done with everyone wearing hats once worn by Princess Beatrice.

7

Day 7 ~ A picture of someone/thing that has had the biggest impact on you.

(warning: I'm bored, and thereby only loosely following blogging directions . . . )

Well, I don't know about the BIGGEST impact, but . . .


If I hadn't been working for these guys . . .

. . . I would never have met this guy . . . and I imagine things might be a little different for both of us these days. :-)


Moving on.

From the "so large an impact in my childhood that I spent way more time than should have been necessary hunting him down later on (and shall have to tell that story sometime) file:"


From the "larger impact on my childhood and even now than I should admit file:"


(note: totally friends with the guy in the suit. we let people pass us in line waiting for the other guy to switch off with him. it was worth it, we all had fun when he came out and we could play around a little and nobody else got it.)



And last but certainly not least - from the "soooooooooooo freaking glad we're related because otherwise I would probably STILL be job hunting file:"

Also, she's awesome.


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How cool is this? I'm sure there's some sort of camera trickery going on, but I am an Escher junkie, and I? Do. Not. Care.

6

Day 6 ~ Your favorite superhero and why.

You know, Shayla is a hardcore Superman girl. She even has a tshirt that says "I <3 Nerds" and over the heart is Clark Kent pulling his shirt open to reveal the his super suit underneath.

Me? Not so much. I've never really been in to the whole superhero thing. No, my fictional heros have always tended toward the more literary side. I have kind of a lot . . . here's a few:

(note: if you don't recognize any of these characters, please don't tell me so I don't have to judge you. because I am totally going on the assumption that you are all as well educated as I think you are and not giving their sources.)

Elizabeth Bennett. For all the obvious reasons. Yes, I can be cliche sometimes. (keep that in mind going forward . . .)

Anne Shirley. Again, the reasons are probably pretty obvious. I still kinda want to be her. Well, the blonde version, I guess.

Hermione Granger. Because I kinda was her, kinda wanted to be her.

Hester Prynne. Not, perhaps, quite so obvious. But aside from the obvious, she really is a very strong character and good role model for those who can see what is admirable in her.

Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler. (that was probably a little show off-y, wasn't it? a bit of overkill? oh well.) I know most people have nothing good to say about her, but I kind of adore her. I mean, think about it. Here is a girl who epitomizes the spoiled, pampered princess who is raised to believe she will never have to lift a finger in her entire life. And then her world is turned completely upside-down and she's forced to grow up pretty freaking quickly. So the experience didn't leave her much like Melanie (whom I also adore, btw) but she did what she had to do. She was personally responsible for keeping a dozen people from starving to death at one point for crying out loud! Her methods are most certainly questionable, her motives cloudy, but her determination and motivation are utterly admirable.

Catherine Earnshaw. Totally admire her passion.

Winnie Foster. Girlfriend's got guts. On multiple levels.

Mina Harker. If those Y-chromosome bearing idiots hadn't been so focused on protecting her and actually let her help things would have been taken care of lots quicker. Stupid boys.

Tess Durbeyfield. Talk about enduring to the end!! I would love to have HALF her inner strength for coping with endless crap.

Katniss Everdeen. Ummmmmmmm . . . duh!!!!

There are more. But I get the feeling I'm boring you so . . . peace out . . . or something . . .

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Luke is looking forward to experimenting (his word, not mine) in a like manner some day with all manner of random experiments. Worry not, my minions, I shall be manning the camera.

(note to self: get minions so that makes sense.)

5

Day 5 ~ A picture of somewhere you've been.

As they say, anything worth doing is worth overdoing . . . so there might be a few dozen pictures here by the time I'm done.


Fake New York


Fake England


Fake Asia


Fake Africa

Fake Davy Jones' Locker . . . okay so that's a stretch. But yes, that's the real organ from the movies. And yes, I'm touching it. That was a good day.

And now the real places:


Cape Canaveral


Pearl Harbor


Waikiki Beach (I promise I'm in both of these pictures!)

Semi-fake Fiji - the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.

The Space Needle (all my pictures from the Canada half of this trip vanished . . . sad . . .)

The Gum Wall at Pike's Place in Seattle (it may look it, but I'm not actually very close to that wall . . . eww.)


Wilson Arch


Yep. There.


Zorbing in Rotorua, New Zealand


Also New Zealand


Hobbiton, Middle Earth (a.k.a. New Zealand)

Currumbin, Australia

Woo. Hoo.


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You know, if this show was still on I bet it would solve most, if not all, of this country's geography problems. (Dude, just listening to the theme song would probably fix half of them!) Also, I know I've posted the Africa win before - but it's that cool. NOBODY won the Africa map!!!! Well, except this kid. Also: I still covet those jackets.

2

Day 2 ~ The meaning behind your blog name.

Ummmmmm . . . which name do they mean? The name of the blog or the name you post under? Whatever, you get both.

Veriladaine - Comes from a book . . . sort of. My senior year of high school I was introduced to a great new author - Tamora Pierce. She writes fun, highly enjoyable YA fantasies, and I spent a good chunk of the year devouring her books. The next year at college I joined the forums at starwars.com - because I was 1) that much of a loner and 2) that much of a geek - and after trying a few other screen names that were taken I remembered there was this one character named Veralidaine and I thought it was a cool name (note: not one I would ever saddle a poor unfortunate actual child with, but a great name for a fantasy book) so I used it. Except . . . you may have noticed a slight difference in spelling. I couldn't remember quite how to spell it and got it kind of wrong. I was seriously kicking myself . . . but let's be honest - NOBODY is going to notice that I flipped a couple of letters. Am I right, or am I right? Plus, this since it is misspelled that's, like, an instant guarantee that no one else will be using it, so I use it in a few places online. Not all of them . . . not even a lot of them anymore. But some.

L.Jo - Senior year again. One of my classes was Stage Tech. Officially we were supposed to be learning about how things like the sound systems and light systems work and stuff like that. Honestly, I have no idea who thought that the people signing up for that class would do so to learn those things - every last one of us were already techies to some degree and knew everything that was described in the course description. So the class was actually more like "hang out with your friends whilst building set pieces for upcoming productions 101" because that's all we did. Not that we didn't work hard - that was the year we did Joseph, and we all kept a spare set of clothes in the dressing rooms and my pants came to be known as Lacey's Amazing Technicolor Dream Jeans. Because, well, . . . they were. Very worn, and very multicolored by the end of the trimester. Anyway, one day we were painting our paper mache rocks for the Shakespeare competition and for some reason one of the guys decided he wanted to know everyone's middle name. He started by trying to guess, and when he got around the circle to me he guessed Lacey Jo. Which is wrong, but when I told him that he said he liked the sound of Lacey Jo better, so that was my name now. And proceeded to call me that for the rest of the year, which was fine by me. A few of my other friends picked it up too, and it was nice - made me feel almost popular or something - especially considering the only other nickname I'd ever had was Spacey Lacey, bestowed on me by an uncle when I was a baby.

Anyway . . . flash forward to freshman year of college again. Instant messaging - or IMing, if you will - is still kind of new and therefore kind of cool so naturally I download msn messenger on my craptop. Initially my screen name there was Lacey Jo, but this was also the time that Jennifer Lopez was totally going by J.Lo and one day I had the stroke of genius to flip a couple more letters, and voila! L.Jo! And that became my screen name from then on and it got to the point that I had friends telling me they saw a headline with "J.Lo" in it and thought "L.Jo" and I felt totally famous. :-) And like Veriladaine, I still use it here and there. Obviously.

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Charlie Brown's kite has got nothing on this kid's. If I didn't know better I'd think it had some sort of vendetta against humankind . . .

1

Day 1 ~ A recent picture of you and ten facts about yourself.

Dude, talk about a tough task! Back in Florida pictures were being taken all the time . . . I was seriously changing my profile picture almost every couple of days. TONS of pictures - taken by me and by others. That? Was two and a half years ago. These days if pictures are being taken I'm generally the one behind the camera . . . kinda sad. Anyway, this is about the most recent picture I could find.
Not, perhaps, my most photogenic moment . . . but check out that cake!

Sooooooooo . . . ten facts.

1. Is it cheating to use this as one? :-)

2. I discovered back at the start of the school year that I'd forgotten my multiplication tables. I discovered that when I had to start correcting 3rd and 4th graders tables. I figured it probably wouldn't look very good if I pulled my cell phone out to check simple arithmetic problems I should have just known, so as long as they looked right I called it good. Slowly they came back to me . . . the good news is I did technically remember them, I just wasn't sure about them because it had been so long.

3. I hate driving if I'm in a place I'm not familiar with. I'm totally paranoid that I'll accidentally go the wrong way down a one way street or something.

4. The fact that we now have a washer and dryer still excites me.

5. I'm pretty sure that 95% of the people I know around my age are either engaged or pregnant. It kind of makes me feel like I'm slacking or something. :-)

6. I really want to try bungee jumping, but I'm pretty sure I would chicken out at the last minute and not do it unless either someone pushed me or we were doing a tandem jump and they jumped taking me down with them.

7. I would fly to New Zealand just to go zorbing again.

8. I have never read any of Tolkein's books . . . well, never finished. Hugo I can do, Dickens I can do . . . but Tolkein is a bit to much for me. I'll have to try again someday.

9. I get a maniacal bit of pleasure by occasionally warming up my toes on Luke's back.

10. I'm a "messy" organizer. Everything is in piles and looks totally chaotic, but I know where it all is . . . except for a few things that got misplaced somehow when we moved and I just cannot find now . . . blargh.

P. ost S. cript
I want one of these blenders. However . . . I get the feeling that would be a bad idea. I'd be too tempted to see what crazy things I could put in it!!