Month In Review: November

The good news is that I remembered that today is the last day of the month. The bad news is that I remembered that at approximately 11:40 PM and I really want to get this posted in November. I’ll try to keep it short.

• Take better care of myself. I was eating a little bit better until I went to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. I’m trying, just not really that hard.
  
• Read every day. Success! Thank goodness there are so many good YA books for me to read for my YA Lit class.
• Blog every day. Yet more success! This really is one of the things I’m most proud of this year.
• Work on my house. Yeah, not so much. I think the most positive thing I did with respect to my  house this month was decide not to bother putting up my Christmas tree. I don’t know why, but I really dislike decorating Christmas trees.

So, two very good, one very bad, and one about average. At least I’m not a total failure 🙂

In other news, I’m starting to stress about the end of the semester and graduation and all that. Not the actual graduation ceremony, mind you, because I’m not bothering with that mess, but the looming future for which I have no plan. Yay!

Until tomorrow.

Free Tech Support Available Here

But only if we’re related.

I spent at least 20 minutes helping my dad adjust to iTunes 11 this evening. The first half of the phone call was devoted to telling him where he could find the various things that used to be in the left sidebar. I felt pretty good about my efforts, too. First of all, he was angry at iTunes when he called, but I managed to talk him off the ledge. Second, I did most of my “tour guiding” from memory even though I’d barely used iTunes 11 today.

I spent the second half of the call telling him how to turn an mp3 into a ringtone. This was trickier since I hadn’t done it in four years. I found a how-to on Mashable (dated but still helpful) and was able to walk him through it. I have no idea what made him ask about ringtones, but I’m glad he did. Truth be told, I’m getting a little tired of the ringtone I made in 2008 (the chorus of Jack’s Mannequin’s “Cell Phone”). I’m going to have so much fun making custom ringtones out of Brand New songs.

I can’t wait until my mom calls needing help with iTunes 11 🙂

Until tomorrow.

Will This Week Just End Already?

For serious, this is a terrible week to be a Philly sports fan. The Eagles suck. The Sixers are meh. The Flyers aren’t playing. And all of this after an extremely frustrating Phillies season. But hey, did ya know that the Phillies won a game more recently than the Eagles??

(If you’re a Philly sports fan, I apologize for being the asshole bringing that up. Again.)

And then there’s the news about players. DeSean Jackson is probably out for the season. The Eagles released Jason Babin. (Okay, I actually welcomed that news because eff that guy.) And then my beloved Chooch. Suspended 25 games for testing positive for Adderall for the second time. Say it ain’t so, Chooch!!

Then news broke today that the Phillies were working on a deal with the Astros for Wilton Lopez. Supposedly the deal involved two Phillies prospects, but no names were floated that I saw. And now it is hours later and the deal seems to be stagnating. I’ve seen nothing but fan speculation about it recently. I hate not knowing all the details; it makes me feel antsy and uncomfortable. (What do you expect? I’m a control freak enthusiast.)

So yeah, this week can’t end fast enough as far as I’m concerned. I don’t need any more shitty sports news.

Until tomorrow.

It’s Too Early For This

It’s still November, right? Advent hasn’t even started yet. (I know this for a fact because my physical 2012 calendar is Catholic and it is chock full of helpful information like that.) So why did one of the morons that I went to high school with like an image on Facebook to let us all know that she’s keeping Christ in Christmas?

I so wanted to ask if she was going to be including any pagan tree worship in her Christ-centered Christmas celebrations. But I refrained. I don’t have any real desire to be confrontational (since I don’t like confrontation and all that) and I don’t really like her enough to care that much.

I’m afraid the morons I went to high school with are going to be just as annoying during Advent and Christmas as they were during the election. I’m preparing myself to see outrage over fake “war on Christmas” bullshit, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to deal with it. I may just have to unfriend people. I don’t want to unfriend people; I want to be the bigger, more accepting person. But I think being subjected to too much conservative outrage is bad for my health.

(Lest you think I’m being overly critical when I call these former high school classmates that I, admittedly, dislike “morons,” one of them home schools her kids and gleefully announced on Facebook that she was using a science curriculum called Answers in Genesis. Apparently, that’s a real thing. And it is completely crazypants, in my humble opinion. I don’t know enough synonyms for insane to fully express my opinion on using the book of Genesis to teach science. So, yeah, morons.)

I hope to God that my worries will be unfounded and that this will be just another example of my brain’s fondness for jumping to the worst possible conclusion for no good reason. I don’t think that’s going to happen, though; I think my fears will be justified. One of them pledged to keep Christ in Christmas in November, for crying out loud. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go say the Serenity Prayer 50 times.

Until tomorrow.

Whoops

I was going to listen exclusively to Brand New today to commemorate my favorite concert ever. I mean, I loved it so much that I was pretty much incoherent afterwards.

But then I found my Leaving Through the Window vinyl in my mailbox. (I successfully pre-ordered it! Yay!) How could I not listen to it immediately? I was worried when I pulled the first LP out of its dust jacket and saw that both sides were listed as Side B. But there actually was a Side A and a Side B. Thank God.

In other news, I have no idea why I’m still watching the Eagles game. It’s not going to end well. And yet I’m watching. It’s not unlike Liz and Dick last night. I guess Eagles football is just a hard habit to break.

Until tomorrow.

Confused

I’m not sure which is worse: that I watched Liz and Dick in its entirety or that, after starting it in the middle, I decided to watch the first hour anyway (thanks, Lifetime, for immediately replaying it and allowing me to make that questionable decision).

I don’t even know where to begin. I’m fairly certain that it gave me a headache. At least the clothes were mostly awesome 🙂

I think the decision to pretty much eschew exposition was questionable at best. I’m not sure that Elizabeth Taylor is as well-known as Lifetime thinks she is. I remember how I found out that she died: I was (actually) working and one of my coworkers said something about her dying and another coworker said, “who’s Elizabeth Taylor?” At the time I didn’t believe it was possible to live 20+ years without knowing who Elizabeth Taylor was, but I guess it’s not really that inconceivable. My point, though, is that it might have behooved Liz and Dick to make certain details crystal clear. Like the fact that she was married to Eddie Fisher when she and Richard Burton met on the set of Cleopatra.

Anyways, this is a whole lot of words on Liz and Dick. Especially considering that I had no intention of watching it until I put it on. I can only hope that I will have something more worthwhile to write about tomorrow.

Until tomorrow.

Memories

I saw that Spike started its annual Star Wars Thanksgiving marathon(s) today. It brought back so many great memories of Thanksgiving 2010.

We didn’t have Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday because my mom had some kind of fun stomach bug. Instead, we had our big feast on Saturday. So far, so good, right? That night, I woke up to puke because, surprise, I had whatever my mom had had. I was still at my parents’ house, which should have meant that they were around to take care of me. But they were going on a Caribbean cruise come Sunday morning. Lucky for me, though, there was already a supply of ginger ale, saltines, chicken noodle soup, and popsicles in the house. I spent at least three days lying in bed, watching Star Wars movies and trying to sleep. My one other lucky break was that I’d just quit my job, so I didn’t have to take any sick days. I felt well enough to go back to my house before my parents returned from their cruise, but that really wasn’t my best Thanksgiving ever.

(Side note: The last two times I was really sick, my parents were out of the country. How much does that suck? I had the flu in 2007 while my parents were in Belgium. In fact, I had to drive them to the airport on the very day that I got sick. And a day or two later I had to drive myself to the grocery store to buy some soup and soda and whatnot because there wasn’t any in the house. That was less than fun.)

I’m thankful that this Thanksgiving hasn’t been marred by illness.

Until tomorrow.

Red Friday

I cannot conceive of a better way to end the day after Thanksgiving than what I just did: watching 2008 World Series highlights on MLB Network 🙂

I know I’m a day late, but I’m thankful for that. It was pretty glorious.

I actually missed the first hour because I was watching My Fair Lady on TCM, but I don’t feel bad about that. The part I saw focused on games 3, 4, and 5 and the parade down Broad Street. It was more than enough to make me feel feelings.

Let’s put it this way, I cried twice during the special and not at all during My Fair Lady. And it’s almost impossible for me to watch an entire movie and not cry. But the only emotional response I had at the end was confusion. (For serious, why does Eliza go back to him?)

So yeah, that was how I spent Black Friday: sleeping in, eating tons of leftovers, reading, and watching TV. None of that shopping ridiculousness for me; I don’t like crowds in the best of circumstances. In fact, I’m afraid that I’ll have to give up my Target until 2013 since it’s in a mall parking lot. Boo.

Until tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you were able to celebrate your gratitude through gluttony like good Americans. My family certainly did. Holy crap, there was so much food. We didn’t do anything crazy like cook an entire turkey, but we had at least 10 side dishes. It was kind of a lot for four people.

We barely made a dent in the food, too, so we’re having Thanksgiving Dinner Part Two tomorrow 🙂 I think I’m just going to ignore the turkey tomorrow so I can focus on the sides. Let’s face it, the sides are the really important/interesting foods. I mean, I get all worked up over Cope’s corn and potato filling, not turkey. (And we had both of my PA Dutch favorites, so yay!)

I’m feeling pretty proud of myself because I helped my mom cook for the first year ever 🙂 Normally, I’m content to sit around on my ass and do nothing, but this year I thought I really ought to help. And everything turned out great, which is awesome.

I had some good food. I watched some HGTV and some football. I spent time with family. Today was a good day.

Until tomorrow.

Perfect Opportunity

My parents’ parish is in the process of building a new church building. My dad is very much involved in the project. This morning he mentioned that he had to meet some guy at the church at 4 and I asked if I could go with him. See, the last time I was there was in May; I was curious to see it. So my parents and I went to the church this afternoon and my mom gave me the tour while my dad met with the dude. It was kind of neat to get a behind-the-scenes look at the building.

I was genuinely interested in seeing the new church, but I had another motive as well. See, today is also the sixth anniversary of the release of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. And I wanted to do something to mark that anniversary. So I took my iPod to the church with me. I mean, when am I ever going to get a chance to listen to Brand New in a church? Much less The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me.

I only listened to two songs while I was there (I didn’t want to be completely rude to my mom), but one of the songs was “Jesus.” I felt really good about that 🙂

So yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about the choices I made today.

Until tomorrow.