Category Archives: nablopomo

Thursday Thoughts

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So, what’s on my mind this week?

I dunno. I’m seriously dragging today. The kids were…well, loopy today. I was sure it had to be a full moon, but no. It’s a new moon. But not on Monday. 😉

Bought myself a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks and put some upbeat dance tunes on the iPod. That’s helping, but I don’t know how long it’s going to last. I just want to go home and crash. Thankfully, I don’t really have to *teach* tonight…just lead a peer editing workshop.

Other than that? I’ve been thinking a lot about DJs, and why I don’t want one for my wedding (Rand and I are going to go the iPod/computer route. We have a friend to serve as emcee when necessary, and we have or can get all the necessary equipment). Ninety-five percent of the time, I leave a wedding talking about how crappy the DJ was. He played inappropriate music. He mispronounced people’s names. He made lame jokes. Etc. If you’ve known me for any amount of time, you know that I have a huge beef with inappropriate wedding music. (not talking about the first dance songs, of course. that’s the fault of the bride and groom…)

For example, I’m not sure why you would ever play “Jesus Take the Wheel” as a slow dance at a wedding. Or “American Soldier.” The huh? I mean, I just think the slow songs at a wedding should be, y’know, about love. And the happy love kind. Not the “I’m crazy for lovin’ youuuuuuuuu…” kind.

And now for some audience participation…what’s one song you think absolutely *must* be played at a wedding (slow or upbeat) and one that you think should be banned forever?

Wedding Wednesday

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The plans are chugging along, so there’s really not much for me to talk about there. The reception is booked, and the deposit has been paid. My dress has been ordered. I ordered these shoes yesterday. (I figure that gives me plenty of time to make sure they’re what I want…plus, I know that I love the shoes, so chances are I’ll wear them regardless.)

Things I haven’t really thought about yet…colors. We’re not doing the full-on “wedding party” thing, instead involving our friends and family in other ways. I love them dearly, but I really don’t see any need to ask them to buy matching dresses. We are going to involve my goddaughter and Rand’s nephews…so Brandy will need a dress, and I need a coordinating color anyway. I’ve considered going with red…or maybe a mauve-y or rose-y color. I dunno…I just want it to look good with the dress. And then there’s flowers. Lots to think about, of course, but I’m not really freaking out. I’m just kind of taking it as it comes.

I got to thinking about this post, written way back in February 2006, prompting many people to ask if there was news they didn’t know about. No, no news. Just the random meanderings of my brain…recalling the past and musing about the future. I ended that post with this:

I couldn’t care less about being a princess for a day. What I do care about is being his wife…his love…his partner…for a lifetime.

I’m glad to know that now, with the ring on my finger and the plans steadily moving forward, that this hasn’t changed. There was a small amount of freaking out while we were trying to find a place and set a date…but once that was done, I calmed down considerably. And now, every now and then, I look at Rand and think to myself, “We’re getting married.” (Sometimes I even say it out loud…I’m such a dork.)

And I smile.

hugs

Tuesday Tidbits

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Hrm. I’m having a hard time finding note-worthy things I want to blog about. So today’s gonna be the all-Sasquatch edition of Tuesday Tidbits.

This whole bigfoot sighting was near enough to my hometown that the locals were all abuzz with the news. A local hunter had put up a stationery motion-triggered camera and picked up…well, something.

Here’s the article from the Bradford Era.

Here’s a video from MSNBC:

And another from WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh:

The story also made the AP wire, as seen here.

And it’s gotten mentions on various blogs and message boards. Here’s one.

What do I think? Dunno, really. It is pretty bizarre, and I’m not sure I’m buying the “it’s a bear” line from the PA Game Commission.

What do *you* think? 😉

Weekend wrap-up

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Rand and I went to Pennsylvania over the weekend for my cousin Meghan’s wedding. I’m waiting for my dad to post some actual photos of the ceremony, because I wasn’t in a very good position to get them…

On kind of a whim, we stopped for dinner at Blasdell Pizza in Springville. I’d never had it before, but Rand had. I heartily approve. 🙂

Friday night was pretty mellow. We went to the reception hall to help with some last-minute decorating things. Saturday morning, I finally had the chance to cash in a massage gift certificate I received last Christmas. Ahhh…very nice!

The ceremony began at two, and we headed over early. My brother needed to be there to hand out programs. The photographer was one of my old high school teachers, so I chatted with him briefly about my becoming a teacher and teaching eighth grade. He told me that when he made the move from teaching middle school to teaching high school (after 14 years), he found that his 40-minute lesson plan only took 15 minutes. I laughed. Everything takes three times as long with middle schoolers because you’re constantly saying things like “be quiet,” “don’t touch that,” “put that down,” and “stop it.” 😉

While I couldn’t take any actual ceremony photos, I did get a couple of interesting shots during the ceremony:

window

colten and daddy

Amanda (Meghan’s sister) was the matron of honor. Her son, Colten, was the ring bearer. I caught this cute shot of Colten resting on daddy.

My cousin Scott (Meghan’s brother) sang Ave Maria quite beautifully. I continue to be impressed with his talent. 🙂

The reception had a sort of garden faerie theme. This was their cake:

waterfall cake-front

waterfall cake-side

cake cutting

There was, of course, the obligatory cake-smooshing. I was assured that there will be no cake smooshing at mine. 😉

We posed for a family photo, which I think is pretty nice…but for the redeye I can’t remove and the slightly crazed expression on my brother’s face.

family

Then I posed for a couple of shots with my “double sister.” (Leslie, my sister-in-law, and I were in the same sorority…)

double sisters

There was much drinking, dancing and general carousing. The reception was huge–around 400 guests–and *everyone* was there to party. I did the chicken dance, which I have to admit that I like. I did not do the hokey pokey. The electric slide was not played. As is usually the case, I was unimpressed with the DJ.

Later, my aunt showed me some pictures I had drawn for her way back when (I’m guessing I was somewhere around ten). My repertoire consisted mainly of unicorns and Care Bears.

unicorn

other care bear

Later still, we enjoyed the adventures of Dudley, the Highly Energetic Shih Tzu. Here’s Dudley with his new most favorite toy, a Swiffer duster handle.

dudley

We went out for breakfast Sunday morning, then said our goodbyes and headed back to Buffalo.

All in all, a lovely weekend. Congratulations to Meghan and Tom!

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Well, this one will be short. 😉 Student essays. Lots of student essays. Um…last book I finished was Beige by Cecil Castellucci. Quick, enjoyable read. I liked it even better than The Queen of Cool.

Watching: I’m pretty far behind on my TV watching as well…tivo’s got a bit of a backlog going. Heroes, I have to admit, has been sort of letting me down. I was so excited about Kristen Bell, and I’m not even sure that’s enough to hold my attention. I haven’t watched Pushing Daisies in a couple of weeks, and I’m a week behind on Chuck.

So what have I watched? Well, I’m up-to-date on The Office and Scrubs (but a week behind on 30 Rock and two on My Name is Earl. Last time I watched Earl I was a little concerned that they’re out of ideas. Two episodes in a row that didn’t advance the plot at all…)

OH! and I’m continuing to love Dirty Sexy Money…but didn’t watch this week’s episode yet. Like I said, behind. If you had asked me if I thought Dirty Sexy Money was going to become my new favorite show, I would have laughed. But there ya go.

Listening: Not much new to report musically. Rand and I have been on a comedy kick lately. I’m quite enjoying Lewis Black, Hugh Fink, Elvira Kurt, and a whole host of others that I was already familiar with.

Of course, I listened to lots of music last weekend at OVFF! I was happy to get to see Michael “Moonwulf” Longcor, who is very entertaining and has a fantastic voice!

That’s it. Look for more next week, and tell me what you’re reading/watching/listening (to)!

Reading, watching, listening

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I’m going to try and keep this brief–there’s a lot!

Reading: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. Loved it. My favorite King in a long time. Elsewhere (YA), which I will post on the other blog soon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus vol. 1, My Faith in Frankie, Bloom County collected strips, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men (not very astonished so far, Joss…). The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi (fun read). The first book in Of Darkness, Light and Fire by Tanya Huff (Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light).

This puts me at about 40 books for the year so far. I’m probably missing stuff, but moving on…

Watching: My Name is Earl, Season 1. I had watched an episode here and there, and found it amusing but didn’t quite “get” it. Watching the entire first season from the beginning, though…yeah, I get it. 🙂

Entourage, Season 1.  Oh, my. I hate these guys so much. But Ari is funny, and Eric seems like a good guy. Even Drama begins to grow on me. (Turtle, however? Needs to be slapped.)

Remember the Titans. One of those movies that teachers are fond of showing in class, so I had seen the same 40 minutes of it several times. I finally sat down and watched the whole thing. I liked it. It’s what you’d expect from a Disney sports movie. Little Hayden Panettiere was great in it!

Knocked Up. Very cute. Very funny. And I admit, I fall into the half of women who would think the empty box proposal was cute rather than lame.

We just started watching season 5 of Scrubs. We’d caught a bunch of the episodes in syndication, and are finding that a lot of really funny scenes were cut. Here’s one that made me laugh:

Carla: …and then he walked away singing Safety Dance.

Elliot: I thought you learned your lesson that time you told him the Kommissar was in town.

Hee. I know there’s more here, but again…moving on…

Listening: Seanan McGuire, Stars Fall Home. As I said, Seanan is a brilliant songwriter. I’ve been enjoying this quite a bit.

Steve Martin, Pure Drivel. If it’s an audiobook, does it count as reading or listening? Hmmm…

Jill Sobule, Pink Pearl.

My “favorites” and “walking” lists on my iPod, and my “Great Big Sea radio” station on Pandora.

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Current read is Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, who so happens to be a sorority sister. Cool! I should finish that today.

Recently finished Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, the first in her “Heather Wells Mysteries” series. As I’ve said many, many times, Meg Cabot is always a great read.

I also finished Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. O’Dell writes stories that are set in the general area of PA where I grew up…not precisely where I grew up, but in the “hey, we played them in football” area. She writes really well about tragedy and dysfunction, creating flawed but utterly human characters.

Also continuing to read and enjoy Daredevil.

Watching: I finally watched the last few episodes of Veronica Mars that TiVo saved for me. I liked the last couple of episodes for an end to the season…but if the show doesn’t come back for another? (the CW is still dangling a shred of hope over our heads…) Then the last episode was unmercifully cruel. Bah.

Movies…I haven’t seen a new movie in the last little bit, but Rand and I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated over the weekend. It seems like we watched a whole bunch of stuff, but I’m having trouble remembering what…oh well.

Listening: As you may have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a Dixie Chicks kick. TiVo recorded their appearance on Austin City Limits, which was pretty cool. I’m still loving “Taking the Long Way.” 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis. Just finished The Amber Spyglass, will be writing about it soon. On deck: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King.

Watching: 28 Weeks Later (I wasn’t crazy about it); Thank You for Smoking (not sure how I felt about it. I didn’t love it.); Shut Up & Sing (a flawed documentary, but I enjoyed it.)

Lost, Heroes (season finale tonight!!), American Idol (I was wrong…bye bye Melinda. I was sad to see her go, but I suspect it’ll be better for her career in the long run).

I have several episodes of Veronica Mars to watch…I’m bummed about the news that it won’t be coming back next season, but not surprised.

Listening: The Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way. I’m not all the way through the album yet, but I’m loving it. It’s raw, emotional, powerful stuff.

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: For as busy as I’ve been, I’ve certainly found time to read lately. I’ve kind of put other projects on hold for the time being, but I squeeze in reading whenever I can. Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Buffy Season 8 (issue 3)–Rand picked this up for me on his weekly comics-buying venture. I’m enjoying it quite a bit. The first issue was bumpy, but it’s now settling into a great rhythm.

Fray — Joss Whedon’s story of a future slayer. I read this in pretty much one sitting, and I was so disappointed to find out that there was no more Fray. Boo! It did tell a complete story, but left you with the implication that there was more to come. Ah, maybe one day.

The Last Unicorn –When I was maybe 10 or so, the movie version of The Last Unicorn ran on HBO. My dad taped it for me, and I remember loving it. I watched it over and over and over again. It wasn’t until years later that I realized it was based on a book. Recently, I came across a used copy of the book and picked it up. It was interesting how the story came back to me as I read. It’s a lovely and sad fairy tale, and it was as good as I remember. After finishing the book, I promptly went to the Conlan Press website and ordered the 25th anniversary edition DVD. (orders from this website directly benefit the author.) I can’t wait to see it again!

Twisted –The new novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. I loved it, and I will be posting in more detail on my book blog.

I’ve also just started The Golden Compass, which I somehow missed out on when I was younger. So far, I’m loving it!

Watching: Well, American Idol, of course…it was Bon Jovi week, after all! 😉 I thought Jordin’s performance was one of the weakest this week, but I didn’t think there was any way she was going to be sent home. I was right.

I actually kinda liked Blake’s funky hip-hop beatbox version of You Give Love a Bad Name. It was certainly brave, and no one can accuse him of not “making it his own.”

LaKisha and Melinda both rocked the songs they chose. Melinda even made me like Have a Nice Day, which I hated when I heard it on the radio. (I did not purchase that album. I think the last one I bought was Bounce, which didn’t do a whole lot for me.)

I thought the audience chose wisely, with Phil and Chris going home this week.

I liked the new Bon Jovi song. Maybe I’ll buy the new album when it comes out…

This week’s Heroes and last week’s Lost both made me squee with delight! I did not watch last night’s Lost yet.

Kind of randomly, TiVo started recording early episodes of Family Ties, so Rand and I have been watching those. That’s been interesting. 😉 It’s been a little while since I’ve watched any movies.

Listening: I recently listened to Ryan Fitzsimmons’ Open All Night. I enjoyed it very much.

As always, I’m open to suggestions!

Reading, watching, listening

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Reading: Mostly student work these days…other than that, I managed to do a read-through of my NaNoWriMo novel. I wrote a bit about it at my writing blog, if you care about that sort of thing.

I also skimmed a bunch of grammar-type books to write this month’s Absolute Blank article over at TC. I began reading Spunk & Bite, which you can see along with all the others in our Amazon Store.

I read the first issue of the new Buffy comic, which I did enjoy, but I’m not sure I have the patience for monthly comics. Then again, do I have the patience to wait until it’s collected? Hmmm…

I have a bunch of things I’m looking forward to reading, like Laurie Halse Anderson’s new book Twisted, which was released today.

Watching: I think Lost is the only current show w/new episodes that I’m currently watching. It’s been fantastic lately, if I do say so.

Rand and I finished the second season of MASH last night. (How many more seasons is Frank on? Gah.) Toward the end of the second season, there was an episode that had to be groundbreaking television in 1974, dealing with a gay soldier. I was impressed.

Over the weekend, we saw Catch and Release at the dollar fifty movies. I liked it okay, and cried a bit at the end, but there were a few too many distracting plot holes for me to love it. The movie stars Jennifer Garner as Gray, a woman whose fiance has died just before their wedding. The question I had to keep asking myself was “doesn’t she have any friends? Or family?” It’s possible, I guess, that the answer to those questions is no, but that was never explained. I’m just pretty sure that if my fiance died, my family and friends would be there. I’m just sayin’.

Jen cries like no one else out there, and Kevin Smith was indeed as great as everyone said. Oh, and Timothy Olyphant (of Deadwood) is hawt.

I also watched Mean Girls…Rand had never seen it. 🙂 Oh, and I almost forgot…we watched The Full Monty, which I had seen before, but Rand just bought on DVD.

Listening: At present, I’m listening to KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope, which I finally purchased from iTunes. I *heart* iTunes. And having an iPod. (I like the album quite a bit, too!)

As always, any recommendations are welcome. 🙂