It's that time of year...

Just wanted to apologize to anyone who arrived here by way of Derek's blog.
I'm working on a restraining order.
;)

Blather

I can't stand it when people refer to California as "Cali."
That really annoys me.
I'm not sure why.
Just annoys me.
For some reason, it seems to always come from non-natives, but perhaps I better not go there.

Things are progressing nicely for my study abroad venture.
I have to go do the workshop thingie.
The largest mall in Europe is in Sheffield....anyone up for some shopping?
:)

My schedule this week is insane.
I work Mon-Sat.
*cries*
In the words of Snow White, someday my Sugar Daddy will come...

I miss people who entertain me when they are gone.
All people who aren't entertaining should be fired from life or something.
I'm a firm believer in the whole not judging a book by its cover thing, but I'm afraid that there are wading pools among us.
Of course, I suppose the size of the wading pool is relative.
Stick an ant in a wading pool and he'll probably argue that it's very large indeed.

It's time for me to go to bed.
Wading pools and ants.
Bedtime.

Night, night.

Blah blah blah

Sorry folks....I've been absent too long.

Anyways.
School and work.
That's all you've missed.
Yep.
The story of my life.

In other news, I offer you some photos, graciously shared by Bethany and her spiffy keen camera.







I have this nifty program that takes out the red eye.
Handy thing, that.

Lookie

Oh, to be in England...

Oooooohhhhh...
I am so impressed.
I love this new theme.
Bob (the professor, not the deceased iPod) showed us a video about Robert Frost and the footage of England in it practically had me in tears.
I need help.
I need a Sugar Daddy.

Our hostel in London was at the King's Cross/St.Pancras stop (the light blue line).
I never got us lost in the Tube.
The only time we got mixed up was when Lissa was the navigator. :)

School is going fine.

I gotta go.
I have to go mingle with the relatives.
*sigh*
I worked six days straight this week.
I'm tired of people.

Waaaahhhh

Bob has gone to iPod heaven.
*bursts into tears*

My life....lately

Alright.
I figured since Emma has been posting after a 6 month absence, I should get on the ball.

So.
Yep.
Life goes on.
Here's a pic of Joanna and I at the BAD party -

She's hilarious.
She has great hair.

School is going well.


There are 3 guys in the Romanticism class.
Go figure.
This is the Schulz Center, home of the Charlie Brown Cafe.


It's so cool that there is Peanuts stuff on campus.

Anywhoo.
That's about it.
I'm not feeling terribly sparkly at the moment.
You'll have to check back.

OH!
I'm afraid Bob is on the downhill swing.
Might have to get a new one.
Something to think about.

Signing off.

A pair

The Soprano and The Alto

Tasha

I swiped these from Amanda's blog.
Is this kid cute or what.
She's like Gerber Baby cute.
I can't believe how cute she is, but considering that she's part Gooch, how could she not be cute.
;)

I love that one!

It's Vermeer time again.

I love Vermeer.
I decided a while ago that if Vermeer had been a composer, he would have been Chopin and that if Chopin had been a painter, he would have been Vermeer.
Yes, I think about things like that.

So, lyrics were in my head and they seemed to fit this particular painting, so there you have it.

I should be in bed.
I was awakened at 1:45 am by a friend who was scared to do death that someone had broken into her house.
An hour and a half later, after I told her to call 911, I was trying to go to sleep again.
To set your mind at ease, the nice officers didn't find anything and everyone is okay.

I gotta go to bed.
Ornament setup tomorrow.
Yay.
*sigh*

Update

So, I was asked to update.

The third and the fourth were nice.
Outrageously nice weather.
Not so spectacular fireworks.

The boys were lovely and I had shakey arms to prove it.
:)

Ornament premiere is this weekend.
Happy happy, joy joy.

I've been having odd dreams lately, for no particular reason I can think of, except that I have odd dreams anyways.
*sigh*

People are so tiresome sometimes.
I apologize if I am tiresome.
Please forgive me.

I made a magnificent cake yesterday.



It's lovely.

There.
I've updated.
Is everybody happy now?

Spider's Web - Katie Melua

If a black man is racist, is it okay?
When it's the white man's racism that made him that way,
Because the bully's the victim they say,
By some sense they're all the same.

Because the line between,
Wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread,
From a spider's web.
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.

I could tell you to go to war,
Or I could march for peace and fighting no more,
How do I know which is right,
And I hope he does when he sends you to fight.

Because the line between wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread from a spider's web,
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.

Should we act on a blame?
Or should we chase the moments away?
Should we live?
Should we give?
Remember forever the guns and the feathers in time.
Because the line between wrong and right,
Is the width of a thread from a spider's web,
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind.
The piano keys are black and white,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind,
But they sound like a million colours in your mind

Heroe

Three cheers for YouTube.

I picked this video because *gasp* they're singing LIVE and it's the complete version of the song, not the abbreviated one that they usually use now.
And because it's free of any annoying host gabbing on and on about things we already know.

:)

I caved in and made an appointment to see dear old Doc tomorrow.
This is just getting tiresome.
Two weeks is long enough.
*sigh*

Smackdown

Some days, life is like this...

I know, I know.
I just haven't felt like saying anything.

I had a birthday.
Been sick.
I think mother will soon be threatening me to get me to go to the doctor.
Bah.
I didn't take Nyquil last night.
It wasn't pretty.

Got a very cool teapot for my birthday.
Has Elizabeth I and bunch of relevant men from the period.
Very cool design.

It was hot here last week.
We got a new air conditioner.

I trimmed my fingernails.

I feel and have a big bruise on my left knee.

Two of our keyholders at work gave their two weeks notice, so we're somewhat up a creek.
Yay.

I woke early today because I thought I was taking my father to get his glasses fixed.
My mother decided to take him.

I'm compiling a cd for our Fourth Bash at Pammie and Geno's, which is actually going to be on the Third.
:)

That's about it folks.

OOHHHH!!!!
WAIT!!!!!

I have five words for you -
Daphne Ruben Vega as Fantine.

I leave it at that.
People are DUMB.

Oh! Lookie!

I've been updated.
Let there be great joy throughout the land.

Blah blah blah

I know, I haven't posted in a week.
Oh well.

Here are some pics from Lissa's grad weekend.
I am soooooo tired.
The morons in the room next to us had their tv blaring all night.
When I say blaring, I mean BLARING.
Had to get up at 7 to take her to the school.
I got about 5 hours of very unrestful sleep.
Bah.

And it was blasted hot, thus the case of Shiney Face.

Me and Lissa -






With Grandma - (I look like Quasimado because I had to hunch over...she's short)


The Pose -




I'm tired.
*sigh*

With the munchkins -





Me and Baby :) (he wasn't being very cooperative)

Blah blah blah

I have been at Hallmark for a year now.
Yay for me.

My wisdom teeth are being extracted next week.
I will be officially dumb on Wednesday.

I am meeting up with my Fairy Godmother on Saturday.
Haven't seen her since we went to the Boys in February.
On Saturday we're going to the second public perf of the workshop thingie for Emma. Should be interesting. As long as Uncle Morty isn't there, I'll be happy.

Do I look my age?
Maybe my eyesight is going or something, but I'm having problems discerning a person's age lately.

Garrison is in Yountville tonight.
I love me some Garrison.
He's old enough to be my grandfather.
That's depressing.

There's a card at work that says
"I wish we had back-up singers...other than that, everything is pretty good."
That's how I feel.

Signing off.

Vermeer

Time for Vermeer again.
I love Vermeer.
I have this theory that if Vermeer had been a composer, he would have been Chopin.
If Chopin had been a painter, he would have been Vermeer.
:)

Sorry, folks.
Didn't realize it had been a week since I posted.

Anyways, you really didn't miss anything.
I was in something of a blue patch.
I think it's over.

What is going on with this kooky weather.
It rains for six weeks, then it's over 70 degrees.
But I'm just glad to have naked feet again.
I did hear that it's supposed to rain on Sunday, but I guess one can't have everything.
Who made that rule anyways???

Lissa is coming tomorrow and we are going to Camellia's for tea.
Should be lovely.
Have choir practice tonight.
Laaaaa!!!!!

I got out of work an hour early because there were four people on the schedule and it wasn't very busy.
Bless all people who do their holiday shopping before the holiday is upon them.
And bless all bootleggers.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Trader Joe's has a magnificent chicken wrap thing. It's lovely. You should try it.

Happy Easter Bunny to everyone.
Eat some chocolate.
Wear pastels.
And all that jazz.

This is what happens when you make peach cobbler and have it for dinner at 10 pm.
You think about all kinds of things that seem to have no relation, but are really like those enormous balls of string that get in the Guinness Book of Records.
Two sections of the sting may be yards and yards away from each other, but they're still part of the same ball.

It's amazing to look back on events in your life and seesaw back and forth between wanting to laugh at how dumb you were or slap yourself for how dumb you were.
I shake my head at how stupid I was.
It wasn't stupid at the time, but it sure is stupid now.
But what I can't figure out is why certain things, little things, can in a split second, take you back years.
Your heart leaps, your breath catches in your throat.
In the same moment your brain hopes it's true, but it's also telling you it's impossible.
In that moment, you hope it's true but you also know that you don't truly want it.
You wanted it back then, but you don't now. The idea of embracing it is so completely foreign to you. Why did you want it in the first place? How did you want something and know you wouldn't take it if you could have it? I don't think it was that whole business of wanting something just because you couldn't have it. It wasn't that.
Why did I want be to a doctor?
Why did I want to be with those people?
Why did I want to go there?
Not that those people or places were bad or anything I would be ashamed of.
I dunno.
It's just confusing.

Some things just are stuck to you. You'll never be able to remove them.
They don't hurt anymore, but they're still there.

It's difficult to live life in Forward Play mode.
It would be easier if we could live in sort of a Backward Play mode.

So!
*kisses everyone*
Life is fun, ain't it?
Night night!

Wow. This is kinda wierd.

Your Scholastic Strength Is Deep Thinking

You aren't afraid to delve head first into a difficult subject, with mastery as your goal. You are talented at adapting, motivating others, managing resources, and analyzing risk. You should major in: Philosophy Music Theology Art History Foreign language

What Should You Major In?

Still raining over here.
Ain't that a kick in the head.

Yep.
That's about all I have to say.

Signing off...

The boys

I love my boys.













I miss them both, even though one of them is still around.
It was so nice (tonight)to see the one that isn't around.
I told him we need to go to dinner and I was even kind enough to tell him that his wife can come, too.
Aren't I sweet?
He'll be the first to remind you that I didn't want him.
;) ;) ;)

This, my friends, is hilarious.
Mrs.Young, I promise that I didn't rig this.
Cross my heart.
This was the result the first time I did it.

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

So you know there are those questions where you see-saw back and forth between two answers and finally have to pick one...
Paris was the see part.
This is the saw part...

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere. And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

Yadda Yadda Yadda

Monica and I put up the stationary revision today.
It's very spiffy.
You should come in and see it.
Christel brought us some deviled eggs.
Woohoo.

So.
It's raining.
Imagine that.
I don't really mind the rain, but I want to be warm.
I want to wear the new clothes I got this week.

I can't believe I just said that.

Bob

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh....

So, I was poking around iTunes and to make a long story short, I had to go pull out some Bob and I've got him playing right now.

Oh, Bob.
*sigh*

I sort of forgot how happy Bob makes me.
Bob makes me soooooooo happy.
I've tried other tenors.
They just don't make me happy like Bob makes me happy.

Bob is so good at those pathetic characters.
I suppose being a tenor, he's mostly stuck with pathetic characters.
Hm.
Anyways, that live recording of Don Carlos is just magnificent.
'Course, the visual helps. That, my friends, is exactly what a white poofy shirt should be. Even the black one is nice. Woohoo.

On the cd he did with Angela, there's a track from Werther, Je Suis Seule.
I saw that and thought Ah! He's pulling a Scarlett on us!!
*dissolves into giggles*

So this brings up something.
People always complain about Wagner, it's too this, it's too that, blah blah blah.
And no one ever complains about Puccini.
Now really people, can you get more bombastic than Puccini???
I doubt it.

That being said, the Tosca soundtrack they did is magnifico.
The part in Mia gelosa when Bob speaks the lyrics instead of singing them.
Good grief.
*clears throat*
Here we have another prime example of the white poofy shirt.
Bob is one of those men who looks like he should be wearing one.
He shouldn't be wearing modern clothing.
It's just wrong.
The Tosca wps also includes some great embroidered waistcoats, which will make at least one person happy. ;)
Now we come to E lucevan le stelle, which in my book, belongs to Placido.
But Bob gets major points for sounding absolutely terrified.
He really acts this one, rather than just singing it.
Placido, as much as I love him, doesn't quite act it like Bob does.

So.
Bob.
He makes me happy.

How many dogs does it take to change a lightbulb?

GOLDEN RETRIEVER: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out bulb?

BORDER COLLIE Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.

DACHSHUND: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!

ROTTWEILER: Make me.

LABRADOR: Oh me, me!!! Pleeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I please?

GERMAN SHEPHERD: I'll change it as soon as I lead these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and make just one more perimeter patrol to verify that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.

TIBETIAN TERRIER: Let the Border Collie do it. You can feed me while he's busy.

JACK RUSSELL TERRIER: No prob, Dude. I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture.

POODLE: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

COCKER SPANIEL Why change it? In the dark I can pee on the carpet.

DOBERMAN: While it's dark, I'm going to sleep on the couch.

BOXER: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

CHIHUAHUA: Yo quiero Taco Bulb.

POINTER: I see it, there it is, there it is, right there.

GREYHOUND: It isn't moving.

AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle ...

OLD ENGLISH SHEEP DOG: Light bulb? I'm sorry, I don't see a light bulb. Did one burn out?

HOUND: ZZZZZzzzz.z.z.z.z.z

THE CAT: Dogs do not change light bulbs. People do. The question is, how long will it be before I can expect light in here?

Pictures

When Lissa, Heidi and I made our There and Back in One Day trip to LA to see Boheme a couple of years ago, we went to the LA Public Library. They had a Doisneau exhibit at the time.
I laughed so hard at this picture, I had tears in my eyes.


This guy passed me on the street and insisted that I pose with him.
*cough*


Do I need to say anything about this one?





What a life.


Four peas in a pod.


ZoZo and the Nameless Snowman


Me and the Honorary Great Old Chestnut of Thornfield.


I usually bawling at this point.




Good times.


My Grandpa crush.


I would my horse had the speed of your tongue.


She was brilliant.
She made a bad guy the hero.


I still like pink.


My Fairy Godmother


I love all that patriotic shmooey.
I want Fourth of July.

I love pictures.