So yeah, that whole "why the heck not?" attitude thing is going reeeeal well.

I get the guts to offer a guy my email address (yes, email. shut up.) and it turns out he's moving to the west coast at the end of the month (legitimately). But hey, he still might want to do something... *facepalm*

I actually hope he doesn't email me. Then I can take my dignity and sweep it into nice little pile and forget this whole thing ever happened.

In other news, my power cable forced my hand, so I'll be pimpin' out the iBook for the time being. *sigh*

-General Petraeus? Really?

-Jennifer Hudson was awesome and the look on her face was heartbreaking.

-Way to overuse the word "penetration". I thought it was just me being juvenile, but apparently I'm not the only one who noticed.

-Two minutes in and we get a general clusterf*ck that is called a touchdown, then not a touchdown. I do not envy the refs.

-"Chuck" does not understand dimensions.

-Watching the game in a sports bar distills ads to their basest parts: the look, not the dialogue.

-That being said, randomly seeing a glasses-wearing, talking koala get punched in the face made me laugh out loud. Also, must hear sound for new Star Trek movie. It continues to look awesome.

-100 yard touchdown makes me glad I watched.

-Bruce Springsteen, you be lookin' old.

-Alec Baldwin "mushy-mush". Heh.

-Richard Dean Anderson + mullet wig = love (And strangely enough, I was reading something recently that was along the lines of "Why can't SNL get RDA to cameo on MacGruber?" I guess we have our answer.) Except, why did they basically have two identical characters? Either have him play MacGruber (in a surprise reveal), or (the better option) a supporting character significantly different than MacGruber. People will get the cameo.

-After appearing to get dull (after the amazing td), the end went rather exciting, no? (I'm glad the Steeler who botched that catch won't be kicking himself *quite* so hard)

That's about it for now. So far, the New Year's resolution (guideline?) of "Why the heck not?" is playing out nicely. In this case, going to a sports bar to watch the game, because I have no tv.

Next up: do I get a new laptop, or get a new battery, power cord, and hard drive for this one? (and possibly office for mac and adobe cs) I just... don't know.

...home for the holidays.

First semester of grad school: Done, and done to a decent level (waiting for official grade confirmation).
Residence for next spring: Obtained.
Family travel schedule: TBA (for *years* I've missed out on seeing friends from high school due to the family spending extensive holiday time in the great white north. It's a regret of mine.)
Stick shift lessons: Soon, or else I need a chauffeur. My car stayed in the Big Easy.
To do over break:
Christmas cards/emails
Apply to various summer programs with arts orgs
Talk to NYC peeps to say "I'm going to be in town!" (For the third time in my life. Uh-oh.)
More to come...

I just got a call from the potential roommate I was going to meet tonight. Turns out, the person she originally wanted to live with had a change of plans and *can* live with her. Yay!

Seriously, though? I can't begrudge her that, especially as it was a shotgun apartment which makes privacy a bit tricky. Nor can I begrudge the girl who found someone who would renew the lease with her, nor the girls who had someone they actually know agree to take the room.

It's just getting old.

I have quite a bit of stress off my back now that my grant proposal is finished (woo-hoo!), so now I have time to devote to my remaining finals/projects. I also now have time to realize that in a week, I will be on a plane headed home for break. I'm nervous about the chance of leaving without securing my next residence. I guess I'm worried that the one place that will work out will be the lady with her 15 year old daughter (I did NOT know this when I inquired about the room) and now that I know I would really rather not live there. Also, trying to maintain the balance of concerned but not panicky is hard in the face of the insistent questioning of parents with a case of "our baby is so far, far away" (well, babIES, but I think they try not to dwell too long on the situations my brother is getting into).

Keeping my chin up, keeping my fingers crossed, keeping the faith. It is not yet time to panic.

YAY banana.

At about noon today, I started sneezing repeatedly. My nose hasn't stopped running, and I feel achy. At 11:50am, I felt fine. The weird part is that I've only felt under the weather one other time since I moved, and that had the same M.O.

Also, the timing sucks.

Not only because Friday is Halloween and I was planning on hitting up the French Quarter, but because I have a "gig" of sorts on Saturday, working at the Ritual Feast (be sure to scroll down to the list of exhibition themes). In short, it's a dinner at one long table down the middle of the street surrounded by buildings that got quite beaten up in Katrina. 200 people have paid $250 per seat to eat with sticks (actually, I think they're dried lotus pods) off of communal platters made of unfinished log slices. The workers are to carry in/out the slices and act as (I'm going verbatim here) "ninja spirit-guide things. oh! and you can't talk!" We are to wear all black, but will be supplied with some drapey-cloth bits and our faces will be made up to evoke the element represented by our Zodiac sign.

I could keep going, but I think that conveys the general feel. Either this will be awesome, or suck but be an awesome story to tell. However, some things don't mix, like food service and sneezing fits. Or nose blowing and ethereal spirit face paint.

So... here's Vitamin C in your eye!

The bathroom stall read: Is feminism dead?
Someone had scrawled the reply: nah... we just take it for granted.
My fingers itched to add: it's not dead, it's resting. or pining for the fjords.

Also: Dan Aykroyd has a wine label

Heh. Found it! And I can admit my mistakes: the line is apparently "not gay, jon... 'aristocratic'"
More funny by about the 1:30 mark
( clicky for video )

(points at icon) It's not the best icon ever, but I grabbed it because that whole four or five minutes was *golden*! If only that clip were still on the youtube. I don't know why actors cracking up is so funny to me, but it is. Perhaps it's personal experience (one of my favorite notes from a director is "Gwendolen! Stop smirking every time John says 'Dorking'!"), or watching so much improv.
------
I'm pretty sure I was stung by a fire ant. Why? Because I was trying to get rid of them. Why? Because they were *in my room*. Grr.
------
I went on a blind date, and it didn't suck. It wasn't full of chemistry, either. (It both began and ended with a handshake.) If we both had the same thought, why am I a little put off that he emailed and said so? I can be ambivalent but he has to like me? He wants to do stuff and be friends, though. *shrug* Also: I wasn't too impressed with the movie "Baghead" (not to be confused with the films "Jarhead", "Towelhead", and "Eraserhead").
------
I finally listened to some live jazz in New Orleans. Granted, it was at the college, and the performers were either students or from a quartet from France, but it kinda counts.
-----
I had to check out the Josh Groban Emmy theme-song medley. I couldn't make it through the whole thing. So painful. The Animal stand-in was pretty sad, too. One thing, though: that boy was committed. That's probably the only thing that could have made it worse (from what I saw).
-----
Current rant is over and out. Yay banana.

So, here I am on Talk Like A Pirate Day, in a city that *looooooooooooves* to dress up like a pirate, with nary a clue on where to go or who would go with me.
*sigh/grumble*
This "settling in" period can finish up any time now.

Also, now that I think of it, I didn't pack much of anything piratey to wear, anyway. gah.

I thought I would go a whole year without posting. Guess I was wrong.

I know this is old news, but this was rather on, I thought:( 'Lipstick.' 'There you go!' )

Apparently, Gov. Palin liked this sketch, because she has gone as Tina Fey for Halloween (which The Onion mentions with a good point: "How?")

Also, unlike the book banning story, the one about rape kits seems it might be true. Oh man.

In other, but related news, Mr. Track Palin is in the same brigade as my brother. Small world.