Oh the Irony

I took my new bobble-headed friend (see previous post) to work on Friday. And my own personal Dwight turns out to be a big fan of The Office. In fact, we reminisced about our favorite pranks Jim has pulled on the actual Dwight. And my office's Dwight said Jim was his favorite character. I had the most difficult time not bursting into incredulous laughter. Because if Jim Halpert worked in my office (if only!) his pranks would be aimed squarely at this guy. And my office's Dwight would end up storming out of the office and quitting (again, some more). But in his perception of reality, he is not Dwight at all. I'm sure he sees himself as the Jim of our office, although he would never have a crush on the receptionist, ChattyCathy, who is much more of a Kelly than a Pam.

Wicked Awesome!

I was going to review Bionic Woman for you all today, but then I found a brown box sitting on my bed when I got home from work. And in that brown box was this:

My very own Dwight K. Schrute bobblehead, courtesy of my very dear friend Heather, who has been one of my best friends since first grade, despite my having left her on the sidewalk talking to herself. So not only was she awesome enough to forgive my rudeness, she is cool enough to send this so it arrived the very day of The Office premiere! Three cheers for Heather! He is so going on my desk tomorrow.

Coke & Lime 1, Scully 0

I succumbed to the genius that is the Coke & Lime this afternoon after a valiant struggle of three and a half days. The past three and half days have not been pretty. I have not been happy. I have been exhausted and miserable and plagued by a nasty headache and neckache. And after the post-Institute existential crisis I enjoyed last night, followed by a morning of work issues, I felt I couldn’t face the County Courthouse without one. One day at a time, right? Although, after depressing myself with calculating that most of the Institute attendees had been in kindergarten when I was sitting in the exact same room my first year of Seminary, and that after 14 years I had ended up back where I started, possibly in the exact same desk, I doubt I’ll be returning to Institute. But like Parker said, “A for effort.” And like Scarlett said, “Tomorrow is another day.”

New Favorite Song

Check out Bubbly by Colbie Caillat. I can't get enough of it!

Tis The Season

I am addicted to Coke-and-lime, darker-than-dark chocolate, and television. I'm working on the Coke-and-lime habit, leaving me tired, irritable, and prone to wicked painful headaches. Which means I'm consoling myself with the pretty pictures on my television. And since it is premiere season, I'm sure I will be enjoying the next two weeks immensely. My returning favs are House, The Office, Scrubs, and Supernatural. I have some room on my schedule and decided to do some research on the newbies for this season. After reading reviews and looking at pictures, I figured I would check out the following: Chuck, Pushing Daisies, and Bionic Woman. Since I have to find some way to amuse myself until Thursday at 9pm (only 2 days, 23 hours, 9 minutes and thirty seconds!) I thought I would give my review of each new show. So tonight I watched Chuck.

Chuck is about a computer-smart, socially-akward, street-inept guy who receives an email from his old college roommate on his birthday. Of course he opens the email, only to be on the receiving end of top secret information encrypted in pictures and clips. He doesn't know he has just had all the NSA and CIA's intel downloaded directly to his brain. That was pretty much the pilot. It is as if Jim Halpert were a computer nerd who lived with his sister in L.A. suddenly becoming Sydney Bristow's top priority, while being pursued by evil SuperSoldier Noel Rrrroar from The X-Files (seriously, the actor that plays the NSA baddie IS the guy that played Noel Rrroar!). Zachary Levi (last seen as Kip in Less Than Perfect) is totally believable as the guy who "is working on his 5-year plan, [he] just need[s] to pick a font" suddenly thrown into this crazy new world. Noel Rrroar is a laughable caricature whose character better get some finessing or will be unwatchable. The jury is still out on Sydney-lite, but I do have a soft spot for female government agents who kick trash. And she knows how to accessorize. So I would recommend checking it out at the NBC website (I think for a short time you can catch the whole pilot on the website) and see for yourself. It is a nice piece of escapism. Especially if the the sentence "Jim Halpert and Sydney Bristow team up to save the world." makes you smile. If any of you watched it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Syncronize Your Watches

6 days, 22 hours, 47 minutes and 40 seconds until The Office season premiere. To miss it would be a travesty of gargantuan proportions.

The Wishlist

When I was in Utah several weeks ago, the lovel ZB asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I really had no reply. I've spent a lot of time lately focusing on what needs to be done and haven't thought much about what I want. Plus, all my dreams came true when The Accidental Housewife and Mr. Big gave me a plane ticket and free room and board for a week in CA. What more could a girl want? Well, I did some thinking and here is my birthday wishlist. Not that I expect anything, but since my brother Mime has proved that if you tell the universe what you want, sometimes it listens. Especially to him. (For those of you who don't know Mime personally, he has the luck of the Irish. Even as a kid, he ALWAYS won stuff. Today is no different, as he walks into The Store That Shall Not Be Named and wins a Nintendo Wii and finds internships that pay $16.90/hour). So this wishlist is mostly for the universe and represents no implication that I in anyway expect something from you lovely readers, because I would be completely mortified if anybody took it that way.

The Wishlist:

• The Office Season 3 DVDs
• A nice, reliable watch that goes with everything. Something like this only, you know, affordable.
• I realize this is completely contrary to this experience we call life, but I would really like to know that I have a secure future. I would like to know that I will be able to progress toward a real career, rather than be stuck in a series of dead-end, menial jobs that get me nowhere.
  
• Mary Kay Satin Lips lip balm. This is the best lip balm ever and it lasts and lasts. I love it.
• an iPod. I have a the iPod Shuffle, which is great for workouts etc., but not so much for creating a portable music collection. In black, of course.
• I would like to have friends that lived in the same zip code as I. All my bestest friends live two or three states away and it is turning me into an internet junkie.
  
• One of those iTunes cards. I'm afraid that if I just went searching on iTunes with my debit card, I would bankrupt myself shortly. It would be good to go crazy, within a limit. Also, it would make me much more discerning.
• North & South, both the DVD and the book. I'm totally obsessed with the story now.
• Someone to flirt with. Preferrably tall, dark, and British.
• The Suit from Banana Republic.
• My secret trust fund. I know it is out there somewhere. It would be a perfect birthday gift.
• One of these to go about town in. I'm sure it would help with the London withdrawls I go through this time each year.

There you have it, dear readers. The universe can start working on this list post-haste. And you all should start making your own lists to submit to the universe. If my brother can do it, so can we!

I Am An Old Crone

Inspired by Miss Parker, I decided to attend my local LDS Institute. Seeing as how we are a small rural farm town, we have one class every Tuesday night. Last week was book club, so this was my first week. This evening was no easier on my self-esteem than that one. As everyone filed in to the room, I realized I was older than most of these people by a decade. A DECADE! The classroom was full of recent high school graduates and boys waiting to go on their missions. There was maybe one or two girls who were returned missionaries, so maybe the age difference was more like 6 years, but still. Also, I realized that the irreverant Six Million Dollar Man joke (in my defense, he did say "he can rebuild you" which reflexively triggered the rest of the opening monologue) that went through my head when the teacher was giving a spiritual thought from President Hinckley about being rebuilt like a building that has been destroyed through repentence and the Atonement would have only made sense to the teacher. The show was actually before my time, but I remember watching reruns. These people wouldn't even have seen reruns of The Cosby Show, let alone the original run. I will be going back to Institute, but I think I'll slip in late and skip the intro by the class president that drove me insane. I had to fight the urge to shush everyone like I do the Young Women on Sundays.

Lucky 13

I did an inventory of sorts on my blog archives and realized I have become negative in the extreme. Not that it hasn't been a magnificently unfortunate summer or that I should sugar-coat my blog entries, as it is the closest thing to a journal I will ever have. It is just that negativity is cyclical and can drag one down if you let it. So in honor of today, the 13th, thirteen having always been a lucky number for me, I will share 13 things that make me smile.

1. My Season 2 Supernatural DVDs, which I pre-ordered way back in June, are somewhere between an Amazon.com warehouse in Kentucky and my mailbox. That little box contains 22+ hours of the deliciousness that is Dean Winchester. Huzzah!

2. I realized that when I look at my closet I am satisfied with its contents. There isn't really anything I feel I am lacking, except of course that beautiful suit from Banana Republic I blogged about a while back. And maybe one of those cute shifts with the pintucked scoop necks that all are the rage this fall. But really, I'm content fashion-wise AND shoe-wise. That is something.

3. Public libraries and the lovely people like Miss Nemesis who staff them. Without these wonderful institutions, I wouldn't be able to afford my book habit. And also, any place that encourages children to slow down, turn off the noise and think is truly fantastic.

4. All my lovely friends and family who are embarking on new adventures great and small. They inspire me.

5. Having a positive bank balance five months running, being responsible enough to keep the check book balanced AND having my running balance match my banks. That hasn't happened in years.

6. My upcoming trip to California. I cannot wait to spend a week with The Accidental Housewife, Mr. Big, and their dog, Dudley. It is on the calendar at work, which means it is official, come hell, highwater, or jury summons.

7. Teaching 14-15 year-old girls at church. Sure they can be giggly and easily distracted, but listening to them reminds me of how big the world was then and the rush of feeling you could conquer it. Adolescence is hard, I still bear the scars, but it is also a time of never-ending hope and when I listen to them chat I wonder when exactly that was beaten out of me and what I need to do to reclaim it.

8. Rediscovering country music. I went through a country phase during junior high, and I previously commented on how even now I am drawn to it when I'm sad or not feeling well. So I have been listening to it a lot lately. And I realized I do like some of it. So here are some songs that you should listen to, just once, because they make me smile: Something's Gotta Give by Leann Rimes; Free and Easy Down the Road I Go by Dierks Bentley; Suds In The Bucket by Sara Evans; All My Friends Say by Luke Bryan; Online by Brad Paisley. You should really check out the video for Online for the cameos alone. Especially you Seinfeld fans.

9. Facing a weekend in which I neither have to travel anywhere, nor have anything scheduled. I will probably clean the house, as it is verging on seriously nasty, but I can do that in my pajamas.

10. The hint of fall in the air every morning. It won't be too long now until I can pull my beloved turtlenecks out of confinement. Also looking forward to opaque tights, knee-high boots, and leaves turning beautiful colors.

11. 13 days, 23 hours and 35 minutes until The Office returns to my television set.

12. Halloween falls on Wednesday, which means there will probably be a Church activity, giving me an excuse to bust out my seriously awesome Daphne (from Scooby-Doo) costume.

13. The thought of making a hair appointment to make my hair a lovely dark(er) auburn. It may not be natural, but I think it was the color I was born to wear. I'll post pics when it is done.

I Have No Response To That

I realized a while ago that I couldn't just sit and mope about being exiled to the farthest reaches of nowhere, otherwise known as rural Eastern Washington. So I joined a neighborhood book club. Most meetings have been fine, even though I've had to sit through the preliminary half-hour of marriage, home, & family chatter before discussing the actual book, but still okay. Tonight was a low point. We read a book I suggested, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I looked forward to discussing it, since I knew at least a couple people would hate it and one or two might like it. Well, only one other person actually read it. One woman got halfway through it and her only comment was how she was disappointed in the profanity. Someone else said they stopped reading because they felt stupid because they didn't know if Martin Chuzzlewit was a real book by Dickens. Thankfully the other person who read it really enjoyed it. After 10-15 minutes of discussing the book, the conversation took a gigantic turn when someone asked what everyone thought about circumcision, since her new grandson was circumcised today. She actually started talking about how she had looked up the Church's stand on circumcision in Mormon Doctrine and amazingly enough, there is no stand. At which point I suggested you could find that out from the writings of Paul. And she gave me a mini-lecture about how it was because of Christ fulfilling the Mosaic law. Which I already knew, having READ THE WRITINGS OF PAUL! Then came the discussion about modern research. Which led to people discussing it regarding their sons and then regarding their husbands. And then I left, realizing I had absolutely nothing in common with any of these women.

Big Crocodile Tears

Last week at this time I was here:

I got to spend a few short hours hanging out with my friends Treat Queen, ZB, Parker, and ZB's daughter Mini E and generally just realizing how much I missed hanging out with them. Sadly, HY, my little buddy from days of yore, was not feeling the pictures and also, being just over 2, had only a vague idea of who I was. Which meant I let one or two tears escape on my drive from Parker's house to my aunt & uncle's place. I have no idea when I'll be able to get down there again or how much time we'll have to play. Being a responsible adult stinks sometimes.

Giddy, I Tell You!

Last night I watched this and the euphoria has yet to wear off. I know it is still nearly a year until the movie comes out, but aren't you excited? I love Batman. I loved the old Adam West show that I watched as a child, I watched all the movies and I even suffered through the last one, but only out of my devotion to Batman and George Clooney, although the twain never should have met. I adore Christian Bale in the role. And now I have started to count down to the next movie. I mentioned this to a co-worker today and she started talking about how much she loved Spider-man. Which reminded me of how devoted Miss Parker is to Superman. I started wondering why people pledge allegiance to a certain superhero. I love Batman because of his duality. And possibly his wicked awesome car. But mostly I think the duality. I have long nurtured a sort of pseudo-theory about what our favorite opposite-sex superhero says about what we are attracted to and what we value. So who, dear readers, is your favorite superhero and why? And what exactly do you think that says about you?