Thanksgiving

Ahhh, Thanksgiving.

There's no other time quite like it for a family to come and gather together...

and watch this Sarah Palin video.

Some back story? As the governor, Sarah Palin kept with tradition and pardoned one turkey for Thanksgiving. Cute, right? Unfortunately, calamity struck afterwards as Sarah Palin gave an interview, and in the background some poor turkey is definitely NOT receiving the benefits of a pardon. Read more of the details here.



Several members of my family packed as close together as possible, shocked and groaning with horror, gathered around a laptop to watch the video. Nothing like the holidays to bring a family together, eh?

Twilight

Ok, I just got home from Twilight. And I have 2 negative things that I have to get off my chest... just 2, that's all! Don't get mad.

First, I thought it was weird. It was just very weird. And I realize that the weirdness of the movie sort of reflected the twisted and unnatural aspect of their relationship... But it took me to almost the end to get used to it.

Second, Edward kept twisting his face into these crazy contorted positions, and a dozen times throughout the movie I caught myself twisting my own face into the same crazy twisted positions (though by the end I decided that I was making painful faces simply because Edward was painfully good-looking).

But I did like it. Even though I had to check on imdb.com how old Robert Pattinson is just to make sure my thoughts about him are legal... he's 22. (If you don't know I'm joking then shame on you!)

And aside from Edward... the hottest actor in the movie award goes to..... ALICE! HUBBA HUBBA! Love that hair.


Oh and did anyone else think that James looks like a young Sabertooth from x-men?

Post #100

At our library we have a ballroom that people can book for wedding receptions. When I was working on Friday night I noticed a lot of dressy people heading up that way. I looked at the calendar and said to my co-worker:

"November 21st. That's sort of a cozy day to get married."

She says: "Yeah. But it's also sort of hard having something during the holidays. For instance, my birthday is during the holidays and it's sort of a bummer sometimes."

I say: "Oh really? When is your birthday?"

She hesitates, and then looks embarrassed and says, "Today, actually."

Wow! She was gonna go the whole day and not say anything! So I made a big deal out of it to tease her. What are the chances, huh? She told me that in the past she's gotten turkey cakes for her birthday (I weep for the child she was), and it reminded me of one of my favorite sites, Cake Wrecks. I never knew turkey cakes even existed!

Details

A little boy came up to me the other day and asked,
"Um... uh... have you seen, like, a baby?..."

I gave him a very square look and said,
"Are you looking for your mom?"

He nodded.

Not only am I an interpreter, I am a magician!
Or a mind-reader. But magician sounds cooler.

No doubt he was trying to find some kind of identifying factor for me to know who his mom was, but he sadly forgot the key point of telling me that it was a woman that he was looking for.

Coincidentally, my husband Michael misses these kinds of key points often in his conversations with me, and he'll start a conversation something like,
"So this guy was totally drunk, and..."

Me: "Wait, what? Where? When?"

Him: "Oh, when I was in Mexico."

...BIG detail.

Drop the other shoe

My brother sent this to me. Love it.

Gas was $1.87 by my house today. I haven't seen that since I was in high school (6 years ago). Where is all of the news coverage on this? We have 24-hour news coverage when the gas prices go up 20 cents, but when they drop over 2 dollars in four months we have nothing to say? I must be missing news broadcasts, or reading the wrong blogs or something.

I am excited, but sort of scared, too. I guess I am distrustful of such a splendid change, is something bad coming? Is it like when someone tries to soften bad news? "Well, we're headed into a depression, but here's some cheap gas! [pat on back]"

:.(

This happened last Wednesday night.

I sort of feel like my car has lost a little bit of its virtue. For instance, when I bought my first car (used), the dealership hadn't changed the oil and didn't bother to tell me. I drove it 2800 miles and the engine completely seized up as one huge hunk of useless metal. So we got a new engine for it. But I never felt the same way again about that car. When I bought it, I chose it. And to have the heart and soul ripped out of it and another one put in, I never felt like it was the same car that I had chosen.

So now with this car, obviously it's getting a new passenger door and a few surrounding parts are being replaced as well. And they have to repaint that side of the car. And I just feel like it won't be the same car anymore, the one that I chose. And it's so new, and I bought it so recently, it's going to be this changed thing for years. We've had this car for four months. And come to think of it, my first car I had for four months when the engine seized. Do I have a 4 month curse?

Lost & Found

I cleaned the house today. When Michael was getting ready for work, he called across the house,
"Breanne? Where are my shoes?"

Me: "On the shoe rack."

Him: "...huh."

We both thought it was kinda funny.

Great You Tube Video

http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

Follow the link and make sure to watch the whole thing. You'll luv it.

My Voting Experience Today

I voted in an elementary school gym. The voting computers were set up all in a row down the long side of the room. And all of us waiting were herded through lines back and forth across the gym. The voting computers were NOT turned away facing the wall directly behind them, but instead facing everyone in the lines. They had the little shields up on the computers, which prevented the people voting from seeing each other, but did nothing to prevent the rest of us from seeing exactly what was on the screen! From my position in line, I could see exactly where people were pointing on their screens, and in essence, exactly who they were voting for. That's when I leaned over to Michael and said,
"I am outraged."

Of course, I did nothing about it and instead resolved to write a strongly-worded blog post that will in effect, do nothing. And while I was there I figured... no one is standing outside with a gun ready to shoot me based on what I touch on the screen. I didn't really feel threatened.

Until the people behind me in line started talking. They were full of scathing remarks concerning the candidate that I was there to vote for. One of the voter organizers even came up and asked them to stop, and said, "Please, you're not supposed to say who you're voting for in here." The woman responded "I didn't." And after the man walked away, she said assertively "I can say whatever I want." I'm cutting out a lot of what they said, but basically it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable and offended.

So when I went to vote, I was standing at a computer right in the middle of the wall, at an angle where one of the lines behind me had an especially good view of my screen, and I was incredibly uncomfortable. I was actually embarrassed to choose my candidate's name, and I hit the "next" button quickly because I didn't want people to see, and I had to go back and make sure I had marked the right one. And I hate that I did that. I mean, I know my discomfort was somewhat irrational, but I saw several people from my neighborhood in there that I know and see often. What if they were like the people behind me in line? What if they could see who I voted for? How would they treat me hereafter?

Obviously, no one was waiting to hang me when I left my computer. But how would that woman in line behind me have treated me if she knew? She certainly wasn't holding back any of her scathing criticism in line. And it's not even her that I really have a problem with. Votes are supposed to be confidential! I've been watching the news today, and I've seen lots of other voting centers. Obviously the voting computers aren't 100% covered up from prying eyes. But I didn't see anything nearly as bad as our setup. The voting computers on tv occupy one half of a room, away from the line of waiting people. I am appalled that they would have the computers in our room set up completely facing the lines of people standing around.

I can't have been the only one to feel that way.

Want that Glock? Vote McCain

I saw that message on a sign outside of a gun shop the other day. I don't quite know what to say in response. To each his own? Beware touting your political agenda via your business? Way to target that audience? Stunned silence maybe.

Anyway, happy voting!

Serendipitous

Last night I had plans to see some friends for Halloween, but Michael ended up needing the car to go to work and I didn't have time to drive down to see them and then be back in time for Michael. But I did have time to grab a bite to eat with Michael before he left for work. We went to an Italian restaurant, and the entire staff was dressed up for Halloween. There was someone dressed in a full Chewbaca costume. Did I spell Chewbaca right?

Anyway, there was a Darth Vader and a Han Solo and a Pippy Longstocking and many more. But we couldn't quite tell what our waiter was. He was wearing a black "ramones" t-shirt and tight skinny jeans and a black belt studded with those silver bolt things. And his hair was all spiky. I asked him what he was and he said, "I'm an emo kid."

For those of you who don't know:
"emo" started off as a term describing a 90's genre of music, but it's spread into a description for melodramatic teens who dont smile and wear tight jeans, itchy scarfs (even in the summer), and ebony greasy unwashed hair that is required to cover at least 3/5 the of the face at an angle. (the true definition of the term is greatly debated, so please no comments correcting me)

We were sort of stumped about our waiter being an "emo" kid, when he said, "If you knew me, you'd see that it's actually sort of funny, because I'm a total jock." Well, okay, that is funny. Then he brought me this:


And he said, "Look! Your soup is emo just like me! It's crying!"

Now, some people might not appreciate negative illustrations in their tomato soup, but I am not one of those. I was thrilled. And I felt sort of evil as I ate up his sad crying face. Mwa haha! The waiter also brought me different mixes of Italian cream soda, because he was experimenting and wanted to know what I liked better.

...It was a really slow night at that restaurant. We were like the only people there with a full serving staff, and I think our waiter was a little bored. But it was probably up there with my most unique restaurant experiences.