A Post

A modest title, for such brilliant thoughts.

:)

I see that Blogger has added a poll option--fabulous. I didn't take the time to read on before signing in, so I don't know anything abotu the other stuff they've added. I bet that none of it is as good as the poll feature, though.

Dan, Jennie, and I watched A Conversation With Other Women. I really liked it. I felt angsty the whole time, and in the end just deflated. I liked the stitching together of the past and present, and the idea of being different women at different times. 'Cause sometimes that really feels so true. And I liked the music. I don't know if I like Aaron Eckhart, though. I do know that I like SmartPop mini bags and pickles (dill, not bread and butter--yuck!).

So, a new Batman movie is being made for 2008? And Christian Bale is once again on board? Interesting. Additional cast members: Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes), Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Anthony Michael Hall, Aaron Eckhart, and there's a rumor of William Fichtner? This sounds like a comedy. Especially when you throw in the returning Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman to the mix.

Well. I've heard that a couple of people don't know about this little watercolor of the Stanwood house. It's been sitting around in a large envelope for years, and it is still sitting in a large envelope.

It is an excellent addition to the Former Homes Series, which began with the watercolor fo the lake at the farm: I enjoy putting makeup on when no one else is going to see me. If someone comes in, I'll wipe it off really quickly, and look guilty.

Ben and Jaime, you have rated 801 movies on your Netflix account. You have rated 801 movies on your Netflix. Eight hundred. And one. Have you seen 801 movies??? Seriously??? I don't think I've seen 801 movies, and I looove movies. Approximately 1,602 hours of movie watching. Hmm...that's only about an eighth of a year. How can that be possible? Maybe I have watched 801 movies. Oh dear, I think I undoubtedly have. Really? Oh well!

I've forgotten everything that I wanted to post about.

To: Brad

From: Mandy


courtesy of xkcd at xkcd.com

Boringness

After watching Planet Earth's Ice Worlds, Dad was trying to find the last pickle at the bottom of his jar, and said with a smile:

"I feel like a polar bear hunting a pickle!"

There are a lot of really fun electric cars out there. They're inevitably all tiny and cute, and now I'm going to have to watch that film, Who Killed the Electric Car?

Meanwhile, I believe that I've found my dream scooter. I have looked at so many scooters in the last three days. And then, there it was. That old-school, Vespa look, electric, decent price range ($2,500ish?), nice color options, 45 mile range on one charge.

I've been cleaning out my room, and this may sound like a mild thing, but believe me, this is in fact MASSIVE. There were about 10 boxes full of stuff in my room. I think, because my room is in a general sort of messy condition, it can inadvertently become a dumping ground for the whole house. For instance. For the last, ohhh, fifteen years, a pair of Sam's sandals have been in my closet. They followed me from the farm, and ended up haunting my closet in Maine. But since I don't have a closet in operating condition, here, I finally chucked them. Back in Ohio, I had Jennie's white slippers that she wore at her wedding until we moved. All of the little kid gear (old cowboy boots, backpacks from daycare) and sentimental things that no one wants to get rid of, but no one wants in their room, either. I found the file for the farm's intercom system sitting on my floor, a flash for an oldschool camera, with a remote button thingie, and I only knew it was a remote button thingie when I carried it over to Dad and asked what on earth it was, Emma Hooper's Spanish Society certificate, three of Dad's shirts, two three-inch thick pieces of aluminum, three rolls of Christmas wrapping paper and two rolls of ribbon. A wooden crate full of Sam's empty CD cases. Anne's Erzulie makeup bag. A laundry basket filled with sheet music for organ, piano, and violin.

This list could go on for soooo long. So! For the first time ever, I went through everything, made an enormous mess, and sorted what would go and what would be kept. My room is beginning to resemble normalness, and getting rid of all the clutter that has been filling every corner and free space for the last...years....is really liberating. So, be warned, all ye who would enter my room. I have a hand now practiced at throwing things away.

Well, this has been enough boringness for one post.

Sitting in the dark

"It's not the smoking, Steve, it's the crapness."
-Fever Pitch (as to why Colin Firth's friend will never play Division 1 soccer)

I have, basically, scooter fever. This is absurd. I'm considering getting a motorcycle license so that I can get one more than 50cc. I can't even ride a 50cc one in Nova Scotia without a motorcycle license. Which is ridiculous. Can't even break the speed limit with that. Undoubtedly, this is a temporary insanity that will pass with a week or so, but for now I've been looking at different scooters non-stop the last two days.

I just saw Fever Pitch, the earlier one (1997) with Colin Firth and Girl with a Tiny, Tiny Mouth. GTTM was very very good at looking pissy; so good, that even when she was supposed to have softened up she still looked pissy. Sorry, GTTM. I saw the 2005 version with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore first, but I'm impressed with how well the football (Arsenal) fandom interfering with life scenario was translated over to Red Sox fandom. They stayed quite close with the 2005 version. What they did change was the bleak, depressing, realism that Nick Hornby's books have. The Jimmy Fallon Drew Barrymore one was much more bubble gum-y, with a cheesy bubblegum ending, while I don't think that normally Nick Hornby would have stood for such a thing. He didn't write hte screenplay for the 2005 one, but did for the 1997 one, and Colin Firth did a nice job of being properly...I don't know what the word is. Out of touch, maybe? Anyways, I liked it. Maybe that's just 'cause it's Colin Firth, though.

So, VeggieTales is making a new movie. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Is anyone else surprised by this? I thought that went bankrupt after...that one movie...flopped. I didn't notice anything Biblical about it, and the news article I just read said, Blah blah blah, "life lessons to a wider audience." Does that mean they're abandoning their Bibleness and going with basic morality? Kind of sad.

Perhaps instead of going dairy free for a while, I should go pop-free for a while. Is this even possible?

And I can't believe that people weren't interested in giving name ideas for Dad's potential blog address. This is an opportunity for some good fun that you're allll missing out on.

Little things

I can't stand people who don't keep a consistent speed while driving. You pass them, 'cause they're going so slowly, then, since your cruise control has been on this entire time and you know you're going the same speed, they zoom by you, then inexplicably slow down, so that you have to break to not hit them, then pass them again...and so on and so forth. Is this a sick game that I don't know about? It happens infrequently, but drives me up the wall so much each time that it deserves mention.

Saw Evan Almighty last night, and it was good for a laugh. Morgan Freeman and Steve Carell worked really well together, and Steve Carell made the movie. I'd say rent it. Thank goodness both Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston declined returning to these roles when they were offered. I actually enjoyed the previews as much as (or more than) the movie itself. Why is John Travolta playing a woman in the new movie they're making of Hairspray?? Is there something I don't know about the plot that requires this, 'cause there didn't seem to be. I'm totally going to go see that, though.

I'm considering going dairy-free for a short while. Four months? Just as a fun thing to try, not only to see if I can do it, but what it's like. What do you think, should I do it? Hmm...maybe just for a month at first. I doubt that I could hold out against cheese and ice cream for much longer than that.

I've commandeered Dad's Netflix queue to a decent extent, and some of my movies have just started arriving. For now, my movies are clogging the queue, and I'm constantly bumping Dad's down to the bottom. (Ben K, you're the only one who can see Dad's netflix queue, right? Don't judge me for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer love. ) Oooh, I really like that Netflix also gives the average rating of people who rate movies similarly, not just the average rating. That's handy.

I really really went to go to Ohio, especially during the Harry Potter movie release, but plane tickets are so expensive that that's starting to look extremely improbable right now. Ohhhh well. :(

Ninjas!!!!

June Bugs stupidly ram into the French doors nearby again and again. Until I realized that it was a June Bug, I was frightened that it was a bear or something outside.

Come on, people, would a deodorant for women that smells good be so hard to do? Men have all these properly masculine smells, but teh deodorants made for women make me think someone's just opened up a fridge filled with rotting fruit, or that I am sitting next to an old woman who can't smell when she's put on too much of her stale perfume that she used even back in 1940. It's sickly, sourly, sweet, and it just grosses me out.

I have once again bought a new deodorant with a new scent (since I'm never satisfied and so never purchase the same one twice) and am once again disappointed, in case it wasn't obvious. :) When I do get truly fed up, I just buy men's deodorant. Then, a long while later, I forget my horrible experiences, and see all those little feminine-looking deodorant sticks and think, "Well, this one seems like it could be nice..." WRONG. Grr.

This is old news, but have you guys seen the new ten dollar bill?? Radical. I love it, actually. American money is getting so colorful, and though I was fond of just having greenbacks, I think the colorfulness is really fun. Ben K handed me a ten while we were in Lowe's, and the yelp of surprise that I uttered on seeing it was red gave Ben and Anne a chuckle at how out of it I am.

I like that the colors are sort of muted, not like they're from a little kid's crayon-box.I saw The Curse of the Golden Flower last night, and, wow. Overall: An insanely beautiful movie that's pointlessly tragic because none of the motivations are explained. I spent the entire time asking, "whyyy???" Coolest thing about the movie: The ninjas!

The Ultimate Fun

Deodorant in a spray can is really the ultimate fun. Every time you put it on, it's like graffiti-ing a wall, only instead of a wall it's your underarm. Who would use stick or gel when there's spray-on? Especially guys. I can't imagine having all that hair, and then gooping it up with gel deodorant...gross.

I'm certain that this is old news to everyone, but Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) has been performing in the play Equus since February. There's been a huge uproar, because Radcliffe appears completely naked for a decently long while. He's...eighteen or something? Seventeen, about to be eighteen. And people are freaking otu about a 17 year-old being completely naked on stage. I think: Doesn't matter at all. He's cool with it, his parents are cool with it. Granted, there is a very naked, attractive girl pressed against him in one of these pictures. That probably sweetens the deal quite a bit.

Aanyways, all that uproar aside, it's supposed to be a really good play, and word is that Radcliffe's doing a really great job in it. Based on the Harry Potter films, I honestly find that a little bit surprising. But who knows, maybe the stage is just more his thing. So, congrats to Radcliffe for an apparently successful breakthrough onto the stage. I enjoy also that Richard Griffiths is playing Radcliffe's father in the play (Griffiths plays his Uncle in HP).

Brilliant, brilliant news. Dad wants to start a blog! I think we should all give address suggestions, so that we don't end up with paterkessler.blogspot.com, or michaelkes.blogspot.com. Ideas?

I love the cereal Total. So much goodness in such a small bowl.

I got a picture of one of Bexley's albino squirrels. It would have been better, but it took forever for me to fish my camera out and turn it on. Fooorever. Are albino squirrels as common elsewhere as they are in Bexley?

And to end on a high note, I present Diabolical Evie:

Preggers Nightmares

The last two nights, I've had nightmares. Two nights ago, in my sleep, I woke up and discovered that I was seven months pregnant, and that for the last seven months I'd just been ignoring it. I think it's reasonable to say that I was freaking out. I hadn't read any books on labor or how to take care of a baby, didn't know what to do with a dipaer, and most importantly, I hadn't changed any of my lifestyle behavior for the first seven months--picture allll that pop with alll that caffeine that I drink everyday. Yikes. So in this first dream, I was just freaking out about having a baby in general.

Last night, I wake up in my dream and discover that a full week ahead of my due date, my water has broken. I still haven't read any books about what to expect during labor or anything, and for some reason this lack or preparation is really really really freaking me out. Meanwhile, I'm being carted off to some absolutely terrifying looking delivery room (looked more like an operating room with veyr rusty tools), and the father, himself young, hasn't arrived, and when he does is more freaked out by the situation, and goes to hang out with his parents in the waiting room. I don't know anyone around me, don't have a birth plan, and a nurse is already getting ready to give me an epidural--what??? For some reason, I hadn't even started to feel the contractions yet, and this nurse was busting out the epidural already. Anyways, jump ahead in time, and I'm holding what basically looks like a huge larva wrapped in blankets, and have no idea what to do with it.

I truly hope that there are no follow-up dreams to this.

Ohio in Pictures (abridg.)

No, Ben, I do not post as well standing up, because I am laaazy.

I'm almost afraid to look at the stats for my blog, because undoubtedly everyone has jumped ship due to the lack of postiness. Fear not!, though, for I am back in Maine, and my free time now abounds. Good thing: My camera is around here somewhere. Bad thing: I don't know ehre that somewhere is. But now I do, problem solved.

I've been rereading Harry Potter in anticipation of the latest movie coming out. As well as the book. I've spent...basically the last ten years of my life (that's almost half of it) waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out. I can't imagine what it's going to be like once the seventh comes out and there' sno more expectation. I hope Rowling caves to a desire for more money, and writes prequels: Dumbledore's Story, Dumbledore as a Young Man, The Story of Lily and James, and The Story of Lily and James II: Their Unfortunate and Predictable Death.

I have 159 photos from the two weeks I just spent in Ohio. Evie helped with that, though, by taking photos of everyone's backs. She's going to end up a controversial cutting edge photographer/modern dancer/comedian. Endless Diet Pepsi: Good. Endless is actually a bit of a stretch. But honestly, this 24-pack should hold for the night.

I already talked about visiting Brad in LA, right? So I only have to cover Ohio...I think...

Okay, this will be pictorial, 'cause I'm not actually going to cover everything. Captions only.

My first day in Ohio, Jenny, Emma, and I went to The Flavors Eatery, which is new in Bexley. We went in for lunch, and came out six hours later. Jenny's now off on a spectacular European adventure, and Emma had just returned from one. I see Emma really really rarely, so I laughed when I ran into her again in Panera, ....and then again in Northstar cafe.

Grandma and Grandpa Callahan celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and we had a little family picnic out in some park.

Ben K, Anne, and I went to the Columbus Arts Festival. It was very hot and crowded, and we zoomed straight through it, but on the way had a very delicious snack of fried pickles.

Ben K and I took care of a friend's dog, Lewis. Lewis loves to slobber and push roughly past people. All that sawdust is from the mess we made putting wainscoting up in Ella's new nursery. Wish I had a picture of the final product...Ben K.... Oh! Enlarge this picture to observe my kickass new shoes. I'm so in love with them... thats' the real reason this picture is up here.

Ben K and his friends are in a casual band, which played at a little cafe in Victorian Village.

We got to hang out with Ben I, Jaime, Moira, and Evie a lot. Which was fabulous. Here is Evie's beautiful portrait of Ben and Jaime.

Shannon, my cousin, graduated while were there. Congratulations! In this is Anne, Shannon, Lauren, and Morgan. Sister, cousin, cousin, cousin.

My last two days in Ohio, Julie and Ella returned from Ireland (Julie's cousin Laura as well, who is very nice), and I got to play with Ella, who is so good humored, it's amazing.

And that, my friends, is a very abbreviated version of Ohio in Pictures. More pictures from the trip will be popping up in later posts, I'm sure.

Soon, my friends,soon

Tonight is my last night in Ohio. Tomorrow afternoon, I depart for that woodland realm known as Maine. Very eastern and mostly northern Maine. Ah, what joys. And once I'm safely ensconced inside, sitting at my computer, and watching nature outside while not actually interacting with it at all, I will post about my trip. Pictures will abound. I might actually have to do a couple of installments just to handle the quantity. I might actually not talk about my entire trip, to handle the quantity another way. Yeah, probabl ythat way. Anyways, wish me luck flying, and no missing of layovers. Will be up and posting again soon!

Aah, nostalgia

While taking a break from painting the attic at Ben and Julie's house, and eating my reheated Beef LoMein, I thought I'd post. I'm in Ohio, and a lot has happened. When I'm not at a computer that requires me to stand up to use it (Ben) I'll provide a full update.

For now, though, let me just talk about who I saw the other day. This will probably only make a real impact for Anne and Ben K, and I already told Ben K, so, ...Anne! While walking back from the front of the high school, there was a little cluster of kids sitting on the ground listening to someone talking. I coul deasliy hear that this one adult was more like shouting, or barking, at the little kids. I wondered who would talk to a group of such little kids so meanly, so peeked over (I stare blatantly) as I walked by.

The woman who was seated in front of these kids had faded red hair, sticking up in crazy bunches, and wore black and white striped knee-high socks, pulled all the way up. It was Candace!!

For those who don't know, Candace directed (directed?) children's plays every summer for the Bexley Recreation Department or something. One time, Anne played my Mom in the Pied Piper of Hamelin; I was one of the kids the piper took to his cave. Another time, I was an evil stepsister in Cinderella. I was also Abu in Aladdin. And...I think we did The Worst Christmas Pageant Ever, and I was one of the boys from the family of bad kids. Candace was just this hurricane, this constant storm of yelling. Famously, I remember Candace throwing her shoe...don't remember who it was directed at, though.

Anyways, I'm just amazed that, at least fifteen years later, I should see her again, acting exactly the same way, doing the same thing, and looking only slightly more faded.

Wow, I've found her online. I hope she doesn't google herself. Anyways, here's a picture of her that doesn't do her justice at all:
My friend, Wayne, plays a lot of World of Warcraft, and he talks about it a bit. But I've never heard him say anything as funny as what he just said:
wayne hearts pie (11:44:23 pm): I'm standing around in WoW impressing people with my new dragon, I'm pretty damn cool.

Ramblings: Brad's at Work Edition

Painting my toenails is hard for me, because I sit cross-legged almost constantly.

You would expect LA to be a fairly warm place. When you think of Ohio or, say, MAINE, you might expect those places to be a little bit colder than LA, at least. That, however, is not the case at all. Ohio's almost hitting the 90s, Maine's in the 70s, and Brad's little town of El Segundo is in the mid-60s.

I love chap stick, and I love pop, but I hate that when you're wearing chap stick, it accumulates right where you drink from your pop can. Builds into a sticky mass of chap stickiness. Gross. So I sacrifice the chap stick.

Marks came out. Did I mention this already? My rank says I'm in about the top 6%, and all of my marks range from 80 to 85. Letterwise, that's ranging from an A- to an A. I like that grade inflation has *seriously* not occurred at my university. It took a little getting used to. Seeing a 75, and still trying to give yourself a pat on the back. It gets easier when you see others with 50s/60s breathing sighs of relief.

After splitting time between Brad's PC and iBook for a week, I think I've made a decision. I prefer the PC. There just don't seem to be very many different ways to accomplish the same thing on this iBook. Like, what if I don't want to do things their way? What if I feel like going through a back door? Maybe I'm just not savvy enough on this thing to know how, but in the end, being the not terribly proficient user that I am, I'll be sticking with my PC.

I really need a back-up psychology university. What's a place that I could pick for its location, but not necessarily for its excellence in psychology? It seems easy to find the places that excel, but not so easy to find the ones in the middle.

An Afternoon in Ojai

Anne Marie and Ben H (her boyfriend) drove up from Santa Fe to Ben's home in Ojai earlier than expected, so Brad and I drove up for a little day trip to hang out, since Ojai's just about an hour and a half drive north of Brad's apartment. Unfortunately, Memorial Day weekend traffic made that about a three hour drive. Ben's house is in this gorgeous valley up in the mountains. Imagine Italy transplanted to California, blended with some southwest-y ness. There are lots of orchards of avocados, kumquats, etc. and horses. We played some koob/kubb, which Anne posted about. Ben and I won thanks to default, though it was quite a close game. We grilled out summer style: Hamburgers, corn, eggplant. It all makes sense until the eggplant. This picture is when Anne and I were forming the patties and seasoning.
Ben grilling.
Brad looking very out of his element in a country setting.
Brad looking much more in his element with a SkeeBall machine. That's right, Ben's Dad got a SkeeBall machine off of ebay. Aside from the two black widow spiders that crawled out of it, it was great.
Afterwards, Anne, Brad, and I played a very close game of Settlers before Brad and I headed home.

Written down like this, it all sounds very short and like nothing much. But it was a fabulous day.

Funny...I think.

On Saturday in Santa Fe, Anne, Jennie, and I were all in the bathroom for some reason, and don't ask me how but the subject of aluminum in deodorant came up. I think that Jennie was recommending her all natural deodorant to me...something like that. I said that I was comPLEtely apathetic about that sort of thing. Couldn't care less. Both Anne and Jennie adamantly informed me how much I should care. To which I still didn't care. Oh right. Correct me if I'm wrong, here. The case against aluminum in deodorant is that it causes Alzheimer's, right? I was a bit skeptical of this in the first place, because I remember (vaguely, in the back of my mind) hearing an "expert" saying that people may be making a correlation does not imply causation mistake. Cum hoc ergo propter hoc, just to make it official. Cart before the horse sort of thing.

So I looked it up online, very briefly, and found many regular people giving very dire warnings about the dangers of using deodorant with aluminum in it. With many typos. So I went to Google scholar, and found that studies found no association between a lifetime of deodorant use with aluminum in it and Alzheimer's.

Hmm, at this moment I'm thinking that maybe Jennie and Anne were warning about breast cancer and not Alzheimer's in relation to antiperspirant use...so I'm reading those studies now. Results: Studies have mixed results. Those that did find a correlation between antiperspirant use and breast cancer found that it was in combination with shaving. Those that started shaving and using antiperspirants earlier and use them the most frequently tend to be diagnosed for breast cancer earlier. Antiperspirant use in conjunction with shaving...honestly, those are two things that I really want to do on a regular basis. I think there's a serious confound in this study, though. There could be a difference between women who shave and use antiperspirant every day versus those who use them less frequently. If the study's depending on these women finding breast cancer via breast self-exams or visits to their gynos, then women who shave and use antiperspirant more frequently may also do breast self-exams/visit their gyno more frequently. Unless they controlled for that. If it was required that the women came in every six months/year to be examined for the study, that result would seem a lot stronger to me.

Anyways, I should not give a title for an entry before writing it, because this isn't funny at all. The POINT of this entry was that two days later, as I was applying my deodorant (as I do every single morning, after shaving every single morning) I looked down, and what should I see but a huge sticker saying, "0% ALUMINUM." Despite my apathy, a month ago I picked up a deodorant (though I prefer antiperspirants + deodorants) with no aluminum. Maybe God's trying to keep me from breast cancer and Alzheimer's. Thank you, God!

:-P

Oh, and the day after Anne and Jennie warning me, two huge bubbles were on my bar of soap, making it look exactly like a soap mouse. The bubbles looked like its eyes. And Dial is shaped sort of like a mouse. ...Sort of.

I was so tempted to jump out of the shower and take a picture to show everyone. Reasons I didn't: Naked, wet, get my camera wet, cold, probably someone in my room. Still, I was really tempted.

New boots?!

In northern Maine and Nova Scotia, there is hardly a wide selection of quality boots available. After Anne Marie brought her Dansko clogs home over Christmas, I knew I wanted some of those comfy soles. Problem: Pricey and sold nowhere near me. So when I was in Santa Fe, a seeming Dansko mecca, Anne took me by a store that carries Danskos, and I fell in love with my boots!

Here they are, on their first night out.

My first professional baseball game!

Brad took me to my first professional baseball game last night. The Cubs vs. the Dodgers. I donned one of Brad's numerous Cubs hats (the one that came closest to fitting), and we spent the next hour in the car thinking of first and middle names that go well together. I found a perfect girl's name, but I'm not telling anyone. Someone would inevitably steal it. It's that good.
The game didn't look like it was going to go well for the Cubs. They were down by...five? Then in one single inning the Cubs made seven runs, but lost 9-8 in the end. So it was quite intense, really. I said plenty of things that probably made Brad embarrassed to be sitting next to me, such as calling runs points. Almost everyone at a baseball game seems to be drunk or drinking. The huge variety of people present at a baseball game is amazing. There are little old men who look like they belong to baseball in a different time, drunk moms in their fifties wearing fake tattoo sleeves, young teenage couples, and dads ignoring their kids to pay attention to the game.

Baseball players do an excellent job of making batting look impossible.

Eating the hot dog Brad got me, sitting in my hoodie and Cubs hat, while Brad kept score (which I called taking notes), I felt very much in the spirit of baseball.
Brad put the finishing touches on his unintelligible score sheet, filled with abbreviations that I could only guess at. I'm tempted to call Brad a baseball purist, but I probably don't know enough about baseball to say that with any real knowledge. However, he just confirmed it when I asked him, so I guess I can say that. While most of Brad would prefer to live in a future where you're beamed from one location to another, I think he also belongs in the world of baseball in the 1940s/50s.
Well...that's about that. Oh, and Ben K, I'm going to miss House, so I really hope you record it!

Catch-Up (with photos)

Well, I've showered, I've eaten, and I've napped. Time to catch up on what I've done so far on this trip. For those who don't really care, just move along, 'cause this could be really boring. I'll try to be brief.

-Bangor to Boston- my first time on a plane powered *only* by propellors. Scary. I didn't know planes could bend like that.

-Boston to Columbus- I hate people who are so sweet with people they've literally only just met. Maybe this is why I'm somewhat short on friends. (Thank you to all of the friends I *do* have. I know I can be a boor.)

-1.5 days in Columbus-Ben and Julie eat so well, I managed to gain significant weight in this short amount of time. Ella's adorable and big and other than being stubborn (so Julie says) seems like a really easygoing kid. Criminally, I didn't take any photos while I was there. For updated photos of Ella, though, see benandjules.com.

-LA-Brad picked me up, and his apartment is only about ten minutes from the airport (nice). It's in a cute building, with an open-air courtyard sort of thing going on, and you can smell the ocean a little bit. Brad and I sat around that night, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched Melinda Doolittle get kicked off of American Idol. America, you do indeed suck.

-LA to Santa Fe- Brad did the whole twelve hour drive, though I DID offer multiple times to drive. For the most part, the storms seemed to be shifting around us while we drove. Very Terry Goodkind in the desert separating the Old World. The lightning was spectacular, though. When it wasn't storming, though, the scenery was beautiful and did an excellent job of making me feel like I was in the Southwest. Well done.

SANTA FE

Thursday-Brad and I arrived late; Ben K, Dad, and Sandra had flown in earlier that day.

Friday-We went for lunch in a little bakery/patisserie that was in a ...warehouse? I learned that French toast and cream cheese are excellent together. Later that day, we all went to a softball game between the students and tutors/employees of Saint John's College. Despite liberal application and reapplication of sunscreen, I was badly burned, and am now peeling like...something that peels. I almost went with orange, but I don't think there's a god/giant-like figure above me, prying off my outer layer. Afterwards, there was a little reception for the graduates (excellent jalapeno poppers and cider), and then Anne's choir/ensemble gave a small performance, to show the parents what they'd accomplished that year. They were great, and it really made me miss singing. Oh well. They were fantastic. That night (I think) the Kesslers (including Petry, Iten, and Bond) went out with the Heilveils (Ben H's [Anne's boyfriend] family) for dinner. Due to bad luck with timing arrivals, our seating didn't sprinkle Heilveils with Kesslers; we were somewhat separated with Kesslers mostly on one end, and Heilveils mostly on the other end. The dinner was fantastic, though, and Ben K and I shared a dinner of huge-ass steak. Brad slipped out early (before his quail even arrived) to go pick up Jennie from the airport. Dr. Heiveil (pron. Heilville) and Dr. McEwan (no idea on that spelling) are Ben H's parents, psychologists, and are both very very nice. Ben H also has a little sister, Lilly, who is very nice, pretty, and somewhat quiet. Being quiet myself, I can commiserate. Plus, not only was she around the somewhat overbearing (is that unfair of me?) Kesslers, but she was also stressed out by end-of-year and end-of-high school things she needed to tie up in the next two weeks. She's moving on to the American University in Paris next year (so jealous), so best of luck to Lilly! Oh, and I got my hair cut.

The Heilveils. Dr. McKeown (sp???), Dr. Heilveil, Ben, and Lilly

Saturday- Anne's graduation!! We woke up, almost arrived late (but didn't). The ceremony was outside, and we all moved around a couple of times until we found a satisfactory location under a tree. Anne sang with a little ensemble, and whoever that guy was who thought he had to "conduct" them, I wanted to slap him, and break his baton in half. They were lovely, though.

Ensemble with "conductor."




There were one hundred and something people in Anne Marie's class, so it was nice and short. Afterwards, we escaped the crush of people and went out to India Palace for a buffet lunch. Delicious. Ben K, Jennie, and I snuck (sneaked?) off to buy Anne a present of nested mixing bowls that were assymetrical, like eggs, but once Anne got them, she quickly pointed out why their egg shape could be beneficial, and not a nuisance. I learned my lesson, and have now converted (mentally) to egg-shaped mixing bowls. Ben K and I wanted to get cigars to celebrate, but never made it to the carefully concealed cigar shop...wherever it was. We did, however, get some pretty gross champagne, and flowers (not gross). Anne made reservations for dinner that night at a lovely little restaurant (Santa Cafe) that is in what is apparently a very famous/important house. Didn't get the whole story on that. While I ordered Diet Coke and not wine, and we took pictures (at the dinner table), I felt very...low-class, but tried to forget about it.

Anne's graduation photos
Anne Marie heading up to receive her degree

Anne Marie getting her BA hood thing

After all the caps have been thrown, during the recessional. That's Anne's friend, Luke, to the left.
Shockingly well organized photo.
Sandra, Dad, Jennie, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben K, me
Congratulations, Anne!

Sunday- Dad took Jennie and Ben K to the airport. Both of Anne's feet were mysteriously entirely covered in bruises, and swollen like little balloons. Brad, Anne, and I met the Heilveil's for brunch at the St. Francis Hotel, and that was both delicious and fun. Afterwards, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben H, and I went to the animal shelter. Each dog had a little 5'x5' room (approx.), so they were easy to visit with, and had a nice space outside to play. There were so many sweet dogs there, not to mention adorable little puppies sitting in puppymounds. There were about fifty cats there as well, and some of them were *reaaaally* cool. If it weren't for the border that I have to cross so frequently, and my inconsistent place of residence and fairly frequent traveling, I would have gotten a cat then and there. Some of them looked really badass. Ben H and Anne went hot-tubbing, and while I brought them their towels (aren't I nice?) a bolt of lightning struck sooo close. Anne bolted out of the tub faster than a jackrabbit, while Ben and I, since of course the lightning had come and gone, put the cover back on the hot tub. Dad and Sandra, who saw all of this from the safety of the house (we were renting a lovely little house up in the mountains, btw), had a grand old time laughing it up. :-P Brad, Anne, and I went shopping, and I found my size in a pair of Dankso boots that I fell in love with. We tried to go to a yarn store, but it was closed. For dinner, we went to a place that had more of a chain feel to it, due to long waits at other restaurants, but we ran into the family Anne babysits regularly for (a little baby).

Monday- I bought the Dansko boots!! Woke up with a mild version of hte swollen, bruised feet Anne had. Ben H, Anne, Brad, and I played Settlers of Catan, ate some pizza, and then hung out at Ben and Anne's apartment. It's a cute little place. Has a little patio area, 1-bedroom, walk-in closet, lots of charm. Beams across the ceilings. So we all lounged around there, using the internet (no internet at the house were staying at, thus the lack of posting), until Anne and I went to Ten Thousand Waves for my birthday present (a private bath and massage). Ten Thousand Waves is a little Japanese-style spa/retreat tucked into teh mountains. Traditional Japanese buildings, little waterfalls, open-air courtyards, shoji. We changed into kimonos when we got there, and it was weird knowing that I and everyone else there was naked underneath. Good thing I didn't go to the community bath. Anne and I had a lovely hour in our private hot tub, Ichiban, and then I went to my massage with masseuse Sundown. She was great about explaining how everything was going to go down, since it was my first massage, and was also very gentle. Almost too gentle. It was very relaxing, though, and I have a newfound respect for elbows as tools of massage. I absolutely recommend Ten Thousand Waves to anyone who is in the Santa Fe area, though. After Ten Thousand Waves, Ben H, Brad, Anne, and I played a sleepy final game of Settlers (Anne schooled us) and went to bed.

-Santa Fe to LA- Brad and I made this a two-day trip. We stopped at Meteor Crater, payed the outrageous fee of $15 to enter, and tried to hold onto our clothes against the ripping wind at the top. The crater itself was fantastic and huge, and the meteor that made it was apparently only 150-feet in diameter.

Brad and I attempt to pose at Meteor Crater

After that, it was a short drive to Flagstaff, where we stayed the night, got dinner at a little "brewery" restaurant that was filled with university students, and had surprisingly good food. And a cute waitress named Shaunie. Brad and I watched the NBA lottery thing, and American Idol. I tried to watch House, but alas, it wasn't on. Instead, another show (On the Set?) was premiering, and it was sort of fun. Fifty unknown directors compete to win a spot at Dreamworks. Next day, we went to Montezuma's Castle, which is muuch more impressive in person than it is in a photo. It's clinging to the side of this looming cliff, looking all ancient and cracked, and imPOSSible to reach, and I can't believe it's still up there.

Montezuma's Castle. Little lizards were crawling around everywhere, and there were several other not very impressive ruins on the ground that hadn't survived much.

Little lizards A seven-hour drive later, and Brad and I returned to LA, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched the Heroes finale that I missed because of my massage, the Lost finale, and the results of American Idol.

Heroes and Lost spoilers ahead.

Heroes: I think that Peter's still alive, and Nathan's dead. If that's the case, I'm cool with that. I loved seeing all the characters intersect with one another. Can't wait for next season. Cheap that Sylar just dragged himself off. Why didn't you rip that katana straight up and out of his torso, Hiro? Anime-style!

Lost: I'm so happy that Jin's still alive. My first favorite character was Mr. Echo. Killed. My second favorite character was Charlie. Now all I have left are Desmond and Hurley. Why didn't Charlie wait at the ceiling, take a last breath, and swim out the port hole thing once the water had finished coming into the room? It looked like he could fit pretty easily. Evil Mikhail (is that his name? I've forgotten him so quickly.)

TODAY-whew, bet you thought that would never come. Went to Chipotle with one of Brad's friends, Robert. Thank you for getting me out of the apartment! Preeeeeetty certain that Brad put him up to it, but I had fun nonetheless.

Photos will be added once Brad gets back and helps me figure out this iBookness.

New post coming soon....

Tonight, Brad and I are spending the night in Flagstaff on our way back to LA. Thursday, I will make an absurdly long and boring post about what's happened so far on the trip, and it will include many many pictures. Many. In fact, I'll probably make them a bit small, just so it doesn't take forever for some people to load.

And people, no Heroes comments. Brad, Anne, and I haven't seen it yet! Many thanks.

Ella Dream

I'll try and write more about my trip later, but I just want to mention something really quickly. Last night I spent in Brad's apartment in LA, before we drive to Santa Fe really this morning. Well, I had this dream last night that I walked over to Brad's fridge, opened it, and inside was Ella (my nine-month old niece), perfectly fine and gurgling with delight at seeing a face. I took her out, we had fun playing together, and later, when she needed to have a nap, I put her back in the fridge.

Weeeird.

The latest with me

Considering that my typical blog fare is about the boring things that I do from day to day, I tend to not mention celebrity names much, with the exception of movie reviews. However, in my last entry I mentioned the names of three celebrities, and first-time visitor hits on my blog just blossomed. Burgeoned. Significantly increased. And for some odd reason that annoyed me.

Annoyances aside, I did get a kickass jacket last weekend. Zipped, unzipped. Yes, I am now that person who takes pictures of herself standing in front of a mirror. How myspace-y. To go with this jacket, I just need to get a tattoo and a motorcycle. I actually want the motorcycle.I have spent the last three or four days solid tiling. Skills learned: wet saw use for straight and free-hand angle cuts...thin-set mixing...tool cleaning...yeah, so, not much in the way of skills learned. It did, though, take a surprisingly long time. And I have basically been covered from head to toe in fine tile chips for the last three days. Excellent exfoliant. What you can't see in this photo is a spot on the right where three of the long, decorative tiles are missing. Dad didn't order enough. So there will be a lovely bare spot until we order tile for the other countertops. I'll be doing the grout tonight.There was a week of unlimited trash disposal at the dump for spring cleaning, so early Saturday morning, Dad got me up and we went around the front yard, picking up all the horrible trash scarring the landscape, left over from the demolition of the house that Dad actually bought on this property. The notable thing that was thrown out was Dad's old saw. I guess Pater (my grandfather) gave this to Dad when he was 20 or 21 and building his first house, and then it was used, from the fifties or something. At the time he was making every cut on the house with a circular saw. So, Dad was very sorry to see it go. I told him that he should try and sell an antique like that on ebay, where it would find a happy home with someone who cares about old tools. We took it to the dump in the first load, and by the time we came back with the second load, though, it had already been trash-picked. Dad was very happy.

In other news, I'm leaving for Columbus tomorrow before heading out to LA. You can expect lots of picture-heavy posts during my trip.

I meant to load all these pictures as right-aligned...too lazy to to do it all over again. :-P