I just bought myself Lost, season 4 (I really need to stop shopping), and I've got 3 weeks to watch it all before season 5 starts. I love this show! Probably my favourite show on air right now. Some people have written it off, but I'm sticking by it. Besides, there's an end date to the series now, so the writers can start figuring out how to end the show. It's gonna kick ass, I guarantee. :)
Check out this trailer for season 5 - looks really good as always.
Let me take a break from complaining about the weather to say this - the whole Israel-Hamas war is insane, and I feel awful about all the people who've been killed. It's too bad the truce didn't last that long. I don't know all the details about the history of bad blood between the two, but I know the gist of it. Needless to say, something's got to give, or it's never going to end.
Glory hallelujah, I finally got my car out of the alley today. I haven't driven my car in over a week because of the stupid snow - um, I mean, it's so pretty. *grits teeth*
Luckily, I'm only six houses down the block from the main road, which is perfectly clear. But all the side streets are still really bad. I won't even dare drive in the street in front of my house. It's awful, and I still see people getting stuck and spinning their wheels just trying to park on the curb or drive away from the curb. Very stressful.
But as long as I can get out of the alley to the main road, I'm good and clear. So I drove all over the place, just because I could. Man, I really missed driving. I like being able to go wherever I want whenever I feel like it. Even if I have nowhere to go, I just like having the option.
Praise the rain, the sweet pitter patter on the roof that's melting away the evil white powder that's paralyzing this city. Thank you, rain!!! *happy dance*
I have a friend who was trapped at her parent's home in Richmond from the 23rd until the 28th. Another friend didn't get out of Richmond until yesterday as well. Those subdivisions are brutal without a plow. There's nothing within walking distance. At least I can walk a couple of blocks to a shopping square, and about 5 blocks in the other direction to Safeway and a whole bunch of other shops on a commercial street. But when you live in an isolated street in the burbs, you're kind of stuck, and you'd better hope that your freezer and pantry is stocked up!
But things are slowly melting away and getting back to normal. Yay!
All I've done the past few days is shovel snow, cook new recipes (I'm really into braising right now), and watch dvds. Still can't get my car out of the alley (maybe tomorrow), so I've been walking around on sheets on ice trying to get errands done and buy groceries. It's actually a good thing that I'm not driving, since it's forcing me to walk everywhere. Gotta work off that holiday food somehow, plus it's got to offset all the sitting on my ass that I've been doing with the movies. Anyway, here are a few quick reviews of what I've watched.
Silk - it's a story about love and obsession and it stars this guy who looks like a younger version of Leonardo DiCaprio. Keira Knightley is in it too and she speaks with an American accent, which is distracting. I don't know why they have American accents though, since they're supposed to be French, but whatevs. It's a lush, sweeping epic that spans continents, whatever that means. It's kind of boring, but I kind of liked it too.
Enchanted - this was way better than I had expected. It's about a Disney princess type of girl named Giselle who gets pushed (literally) from her idealistic 2-d cartoon world into our real world. Giselle's wicked stepmother-to-be wants to get rid of her so that Prince Edward doesn't take away the throne. While in the real world, she meets this guy played by Patrick Dempsey, who helps her out. It was really cute and Amy Adams did a really good job of playing Giselle without being over the top. I loved it.
Sweeney Todd - five minutes into it, I realized that it was a musical. Then I realized it was a Tim Burton-directed musical. And then I turned it off. Not in the mood, and I have to be in the right mood to watch a musical.
The Bourne Ultimatum - another winner in the Bourne series. This is my kind of action movie - fast-paced, intelligently written and acted. And of course, Matt Damon is fabulous. Joan Allen is awesome in this as well. She's smart, tough, and strong. Love her. Love this. Can't wait for the next one.
Kung Fu Panda - I know some people can't stand Jack Black, but I love him and most of the movies he's done. I don't watch a whole lot of cartoon movies either, but this one is really funny and adults will like it as much as kids. I would watch this again.
That's all for now. Next up on the list: There Will Be Blood, The Incredible Hulk, Wall-E, Fly Boys, and another attempt at Sweeney Todd. We'll see if I make it through all of these. I did buy a dvd today that I was kind of psyched about - a double dvd set for $6.99 that has my old favorites, Empire Records and Singles. Can't wait to watch those.
Hope you all had a great Christmas wherever you were. Mine involved a lot of trudging through snow to get to my destination and back home again. I only had a couple of blocks to walk, but when you're carrying heavy bags of gifts back and forth on slushy snow, it's not the easiest thing to do. But of course, it was all worth it in the end. The extended family always grows and it turns into more and more of a zoo every year, but I guess that's kind of the point of Christmas and holidays like this, huh?
I got some good stuff this year, and it's made me rethink the whole thing about not wanting to get gifts for everyone, and trying out a secret santa. It's pretty nice to open gifts, even if they're small ones that didn't cost much. It's the effort that went behind it, the thoughtfulness. Even if you don't really like what you got, you really do appreciate getting a gift at all - at least I do anyway.
So I hope you all enjoyed the day. It always comes and goes so quickly. Now it's time to gear up for New Year's!!!
As "pretty" as this snow is, I can't see anything else that's positive about this. When people say they want a white Christmas, or that they love snow, I think that they mean 1 or 2 cm or a couple of inches at the most. This, however, is far too much. When it's this much, it's basically a treacherous pain in the ass. People are getting in accidents and getting stressed out. Who knows if people will be able to make their Christmas gatherings or make it to church for midnight mass? I'm sorry, but I think a white Christmas is way overrated.
Even though this week was only a 2.5 day week, it felt like forever. I did everything I needed to do at work, and then it was just clockwatching. I was supposed to work Christmas Eve, but I decided last-minute to take the day off. There's no reason for me to be there and I don't feel like shlepping all the way there by bus in the snow. I've got gifts to wrap and cookies to bake!
One of the best things about working at this university is that we get Christmas eve until January 2nd off, and it doesn't count as vacation. It's just a freebie! Actually, that's probably the best thing about working here. Well, that, and the flex days, though not everyone here gets that. Luckily I do, and I thank my lucky stars for that!
Anyway, time to wrap more gifts.....
I am so bloody tired right now. Got up to shovel the sidewalk at 6am and apparently I didn't use the correct technique because my back is killing me right now. Then, while walking to the bus stop, I had to trudge through snow that was 1 foot deep - hey, now I have one of those "I walked through the cold snow to get to...." stories. When I got close to the intersection, I saw my bus turning, so I ran and waved my arms. He totally saw me but kept going. I was pissed. I was physically exhausted and it was only 7:15am. Luckily, another bus came not too long after that. Then had to walk across campus to get to the office. It was quite the workout.
I ate this unsatisfying muesli that I brought with me to work and then I ate my lunch early because I was still hungry. Right now, I'm sleepy as a mofo. Should go outside and get some fresh air but a nap sounds better. But I'll probably go out in a bit. Maybe Starbucks is open. Please let Starbucks be open.
I was hoping to have a goof-off day, but as it turns out, I've actually been busy with work all day. Tomorrow should be a light day though. Right now, I've got my Last FM radio blasting, and the 10 of us in the office are just kind of going through the motions. My cube mate made it in at 11:15, and I think one of the managers just got here at noon.
I'm trying to stay positive about all of this, but really, I'm just so tired. My hair looks terrible because I wore this cute new hat I bought, but of course, it smashes down your hair and I look like a mess. I didn't bother with makeup other than eyeliner, so my skin's kind of red and splotchy. However, I did wear a new top that I bought on sale over the weekend, so I don't feel entirely fug today. But still. So tired. So very very tired.
When is the rain coming back? My beloved rain, to wash away all of this pretty but inconvenient snow? Let us pray for rain. Everyone unite and pray for some freakin' rain. I think I'm going delirious now.
Every time I see this commercial for the Discovery Channel, it gets stuck in my head for the whole day and I wind up singing it. It's a cute commercial though, really sweet. Beats that annoying Sham Wow commercial any day!
Since it's cold outside and too snowy for me to drive anywhere, I stayed home yesterday and sat around watching a bit of tv. Flipping channels, I stumbled upon the show that sucks me in every single time I catch it - the E! True Hollywood Story. This time, it was about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon - how could I not watch?!
There wasn't really anything that I didn't already know from years of reading gossip rags and things like that. But one thing that was surprising was finding out that the Minnie Driver character in Good Will Hunting was based on Matt Damon's real life girlfriend, Skylar (sp?). She apparently went on to marry Lars Ulrich from Metallica. Wtf?! How do you go from Matt Damon to Metallica??? Matt's the all-American clean cut hottie, and Lars is, you know, kind of gross. She must've had a thing for bad boys, I guess?
Another interesting fact that I already knew, but I like mentioning, is that Ben Affleck shares the same birthday as me! I think of him every year. hehe. Anyway, the thing about THS is that no matter who the celebrity is, no matter how D list the person might be, the THS always gives their life an interesting gossipy spin. Before you know it, its one or sometimes two hours later that you're not going to get back. But then, that's perfect for those boring weekend afternoons when you're stuck at home, right?
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