run fast for your mother

I had a crack dream last night.

I was at my cousin Megan's wedding next summer, but she was having a pagan/Wiccan ceremony. Her dress was long sleeved and lacy, like the one that Julia Roberts wear to wedding number one in the movie Runaway Bride. I was there with Brenda, Jackie, and Liz, but before we were allowed to go to the wedding, we had to get on a charter bus that dropped us off at Watterson, where we had to leave all of our personal belongings locked up in the lockers by the old band room. Then we went to the wedding site (which in real life is the Park of Roses, which is about 5 minutes away from Watterson. Odd how my brain picked that up). The ceremony happened, I vaguely remember there being a lot of swords and Megan had to dual something, but I'm not really sure what. Then they had to jump over a broom or something (this was something I saw on an episode of Say Yes To The Dress) and they were married! To get to the reception site, which was near the Olentangy and Bethel Road area, we either had to walk, but I ended up with an old school bicycle with a basket on the front. In the basket, I put a little potted flower (a favor, I'm assuming) and the key to our locker at Watterson (which don't actually have keys). None of my friends ended up having a bike though. So they start walking through the Short North (for anyone who's not from Columbus, to get to the Bethel Road area from the Park of Roses, you would not go through the Short North at all... it's actually in the opposite direction). I begin biking and then I see an old family friend of mine with her family standing in line outside of a restaurant in the Short North (ironic because last night she tweeted about Betty's in the Short North) so I stop to say hi to them, but my friends don't hear that I'm stopping, and they keep walking. In reality, this wouldn't be a big deal because hello I have a bike. But in dreamland, somehow my friends are speed-walkers and as I leave my friend's family, I can't find any of my friends. So I start biking in the direction that I thought they would go, and I figure I would catch up with them. Then I have the brilliant idea to go back to Watterson and get my cell phone out of the lock up and call them to tell them to wait for me somewhere. I bike back to the old band room, and Mr. Kuhn is standing guard. I beg for him to let me in and I show him my key, and he agrees to let me get my cell phone since the wedding is over now. As I get my phone out of the locker, I realize that all of my friends' phones are in the locker too. I take my phone anyway, and I get back on the road, heading towards the mythical reception site. Along the way, I run into a couple of people from UD, and they're with people who I don't recognize, but I act in my dream like I know them (future people from KSU?) and we stop at a fast food place for something to drink because now I'm really lost and it's hot and I'm thirsty. So we just sit around and talk and laugh and I never catch up with my friends and I never make it to the reception. The End!

It doesn't seem terrifying as I'm re-reading this, but as it was happening last night, I was seriously panicking. In case you've never met me, I don't like change and there's a lot of change about to happen in my life, plus an anniversary of a very big change in my life. I'm starting to realize that the chances of me being in Ohio long term are slim to none because our asshole of a governor decided that libraries aren't that important. So not only are there fresh MLIS grads looking for jobs, there's MLIS grads from the last three years all looking for jobs, plus librarians with more experience who were let go at their previous jobs. And apparently all of these suckers have families and husbands and wives and crap and they all want to be in Ohio. So basically if I want a job the following things have to happen:

1. Leave Ohio forever.
2. Be single until I find a steady job.

I'm not exactly happy about either of these things. I love leaving Ohio, but just for trips. Permanently is a big deal to me. Almost all of my close friends from college have left Ohio now. It's just a simple truth that there aren't jobs here.

Anyway, this relates to my dream in the sense that I'm deathly afraid of losing my friends. Apparently I'm not worried about losing my UD friends. I'm not sure why. Maybe because we're all apart right now and even though in the past I've been separated from my friends from home, I've been spoiled-ish this summer by having all of us around in Columbus. I really don't know, but clearly something is bugging my subconscious.

Ugh, I'm getting freaked out re-reading this. New topic!

If anyone else has been in a music slump lately like I have (I've listed to "Bulletproof" by La Roux about a million times now, and it's wearing on my musical soul), I highly recommend the band Florence + The Machine. Their song "Dog Days Are Over" was featured on the first episode of Covert Affairs, and the rest of their album, "Lungs" is just as amazing. For anyone who watches Covert Affairs, it's the song towards the beginning of the episode when Annie jumps out of the plane. That song in particular really speaks to me. If you listen to the album, it's easy to see why it's called lungs... she's got a healthy set of them! It really does feel like I'm learning to breathe again when I listen to their music. It's exhilarating and freeing.

~ Christine

sweet dreams of rhythm and Nyquil

It was bound to happen... after traveling for almost an entire month, I managed to get sick. I started having a stuffy nose halfway through the Western Trip, during my week at home, and during the entire length of my family vacation. Yesterday I was home for literally half an hour when *BLAMMO* I started to have a sore throat, an earache, and general ickiness. I think the cross country traveling has confused my body so much that it's been focusing on figuring out what the fuck is going on instead of warding off disease. Meh. I hopped on cough syrup and a lovely mixture of DayQuil and NyQuil, and now I'm clumsier than ever, and quite entertaining, according to my family. I shared this lovely gem at dinner tonight:

"Know what I just realized? The seagull from The Little Mermaid was named Scuttle and he liked to gossip! Like scuttlebutt!"

I've also decided that "fuck" needs to be made a larger part of my vocabulary on a daily basis. I say it quite a bit, but I'm tired of bottling feelings in, and "fuck" seems to cover the gamut nicely.

Did you know that if someone blocks you on Facebook they can't see your page OR what you've written on a mutual friend's page? I discovered this recently from blocking a certain colorguard instructor from high school, and I couldn't see what he had written on my friend's wall, but I knew he had written something based on the comments from her father that specifically addressed him. Now that I know this, I'm not going to hide as much anymore!

Did you also know that I've made an addition to FoHB? I'll give you a hint. It's proven to be very useful to see where my readers are coming from. So far I've had Columbus, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Vandalia (hmmm... wonder who that is!), and Chicago (this one stumps me a little because I have lots of people who I know in the city). I like it, but I'm still searching for a better version. This has some features I'm not too happy about.

Army Wives tonight really got to me. Wait, I almost forgot! **SPOILER ALERT** (Brenda, I'm looking at you!)











I can't imagine going through the process of someone deploying. One of my previous exes is currently in Afganistan, and I know that his family (at least his brother, who is a Facebook friend of mine) misses him so much. At the same time, if I really loved someone in the military, it would just have to become something that I dealt with. It's not like I've never done a long distance relationship, but usually those haven't been to someplace dangerous. It's weird because part of me is completely against the idea, but part of me knows that I wouldn't be alone in my loneliness, and that I've been through losses already in my life, so what's the worst that could happen? It's their job. There's really no sense in stressing over it. My mom always gets asked if she worries about my dad being shot at, and her philosophy is that if she was going to worry about that, she would waste her entire life. It's a very healthy attitude if you ask me. The simple truth is that people are killed everyday, whether they're soldiers, cops, or civilians.

In any case, I feel like the shit has really started to hit the fan for the ladies of Army Wives. Denise is preggo (yay!), but Frank got deployed before the baby is born, so he's missing out on that AGAIN. Pamela got divorced from Chase, which really makes me so sad, especially since I'm suspicious of him hooking up with his neighbor woman. Technically, he's not in the wrong, but it's still painful for Pamela (boy do I know how she feels). Claudia Joy's life is generally shitty if you ask me. She's lost her oldest daughter, now she has diabetes, her husband's being deployed for the first time since her daughter's death, and her youngest is about to leave for college. Joan's life since the show began has also been lousy. Her husband cheated on her while she was deployed, they worked it out, had a baby, then she got deployed again just a few months after Sara Elizabeth was born. Then she nearly got blown up by an RPG, had tons of shrapnel in her face and almost lost her vision. And now she has TBI as a result of that injury, can't deploy with her unit, and has to spend her time relearning basic things, like sorting out which things you would read and which things you can't. And then there's Roxy. She's always been my least favorite character, but I'm starting to feel bad for her. All she wants is a baby with her husband, and after she miscarried, she's been struggling to conceive, and just when they found a solution, her husband's orders were changed and he found out that he was deploying.

And thanks to warnings on Twitter, I knew that tonight would be a tearjerker. Foolishly, I told myself that it couldn't be that bad, but who am I kidding? I've cried many other times over TV shows, Army Wives included, and I knew that everyone (minus Joan) was deploying. So I held myself together until the absolute very end of the show and as the 23rd is boarding the planes, "Lux Arumque" by Eric Whitacre begins to play in the background as you see all of the families bidding their last farewells. This piece has always held a special place in my heart, simply because it made me love choral music. If you haven't heard it, shame on you, and here's a video:



Apparently the song is actually about the birth of Jesus, but it fits very well in this situation too. Lux means 'light' and in a weird way, it's almost as if the song gives hope to the families and the soldiers. Maybe it's the NyQuil talking, but I think that it wasn't just the beauty of the song that gave the producers the idea to put the song in the show.

Speaking of NyQuil, I'm getting tired, and now I'm listening to "Sleep" which is just making me more relaxed. You write some amazing things, Mr. Whitacre.

~ Christine

this one's has a healthy dose of snark in it...

Hola!

Happy Saturday! Actually, that's a bit of a lie, but just a little bit. Today was a decent day, until I went shopping. I hate shopping sometimes, and today was one of those times. First of all, the mall on a Saturday is a breeding ground for idiots that I just don't have the patience for AT ALL. So the stupid people annoyed me, plus I was clothes shopping for summer/the Western Trip, and that was just a stressful and traumatic experience. If it was socially acceptable for me to do so, I would be perfectly comfortable wearing old athletic shorts and t-shirts wherever I went, at least until I lose some weight. But it's not, so I had to buy clothes. Also, I bought a swimsuit for the first time in four years. Let me tell you, it's hard to find a one piece swimsuit that doesn't make you look like a middle aged woman from the early 90's. Do the fashion people just not update their one piece swimsuit repertoire EVER? There was gaudy colors, gaudy colors, and my personal favorite, the swim skirt. NO THANK YOU. Thankfully, I grabbed the one and only swimsuit that didn't look completely horrible, tried it on, and it fit as well as a swimsuit will fit someone who wishes she could have as many plastic surgeries as Heidi Montag.

After that lovely experience, my morale for the day was basically shot. Mass pissed me off today to. If your child can't shut the hell up, then take them out, or put them in a cage. I don't really give a damn, but don't cause more noise! Also, I realize that the evening Mass is supposed to be modern music or whatever, but it SUCKS. If you're going to have two flutes playing together, TUNE THEM.

Oh, and on my day of complete and awful horribleness that was Thursday, I apparently stressed myself out so much that I chomped down on my tongue multiple times without realizing it. So now I have lots of little cuts all over my tongue. Do you know what's painful to eat/drink when you have cuts on your tongue? Communion, Chips Ahoy cookies, spaghetti (it's really the sauce that got me), chicken sandwiches, pickles, orange juice, pizza, breadsticks, basically anything with salt, flavor, or anything that's slightly crunchy. So now I'm on a regimen of frequent rinsing my mouth with mouthwash, and it seems to be helping a little. This was not the best time for this. Although I supposed the Western trip would be worse, this sucks too. But I have graduation foods to be eating in the upcoming week! Mmmm... I love graduation cake! And since Mike's birthday is Tuesday, we are going to be having cake coming out of our ying yangs. All in all, we have 2 1/4 sheet cakes coming into our house in the next week. Marie Antoinette would have a field day.

Dammit, I'm hungry now. Anyway, I spent part of last night and a little bit this evening researching songs from The Sims 3. DO NOT JUDGE ME. If you're unfamiliar with the game, your little Simmies can have radios, and in TS3 they can even have a favorite genre of music (I usually pick electronic or indie). In the options for the game, you can listen to samples of the music that your Sims listen to (in Simlish, which is their made-up language). As it turns out, a lot of the music they use is by real musical artists who are usually up and comers, and they have English (or in Nelly Furtado's case, Spanish) versions of their songs that are included in the game. So I bought a bunch of them on iTunes. There's also 7 songs that come with the game in the "Custom Music" station, and they're already in English. There's a way to extract those songs out for free (I forget how), but the other ones you can't. Anyway, this is the playlist I've created:

I know it sounds weird, but it's actually a really good mix of music. Obviously, not everything from the game is available to buy, and there were a couple of things in the pop genre that I didn't want to waste my money on, but I really like everything I bought. So yay for new music!

I have a special treat for all of you today... a double dose of NAUGHTY HAIKU! I didn't feel like taking a picture of my filing cabinet, so I used the virtual poetry maker on magneticpoetry.com instead. Voila!

I can't decide which one I like more... it's like choosing your favorite child (pick me, Mom!). So you tell me, which NAUGHTY HAIKU you like more!

Fin.

~Christine

Happy 1000th Blog View To Me!

I am slightly ashamed to report that the 1000th view of this blog (since I put in that counter thing a few months back) was me. Womp womp. So maybe I'm just a smidge narcissistic. (Side note: Why does the spell-checker in Google Chrome suck so much? First it doesn't know 'texting' and now 'smidge'?) Anywhoodles, happy day to me!

Actually, today hasn't been particularly happy. It was a Monday, so dock about 25 fun points right there. Plus, work has gone from dull to so boring that I contemplate ways to pluck out my eyeballs as "S.O.S." by Rihanna is stuck in my head for 7 of the 8 hours of work. The first hour of work I was too tired to have songs stuck in my head. Also, the idiot who sits next to me might get a taste of Heinous Bitch if he doesn't stop butting into other people's business. This morning I thought he was going to start a fight with the old man who sits in front of him. FOR REAL HE IS A SENIOR CITIZEN. LET IT GO! The worst part is that the old man was right in what they were arguing about. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's bad that this argument didn't even need to happen! Just because you used to be a calculus teacher, doesn't mean that you know shit now, Mr. Smartypants!

Sorry, but I don't have a NAUGHTY HAIKU for you all today. I just spent over an hour on the phone with my friend Ashley from UD, and I want to watch last night's episode of Army Wives before I have to go to bed at my old lady bedtime. So in short, Ashley+Army Wives>NAUGHTY HAIKU.

I'm still on the fence about what I want to do with the online dating profile thing. I really don't like getting messages from the guys on it, so that's a pretty good sign, right? I just wish things were as simple as they were in junior high. How do grown-ups date or meet people? I don't even know. I wish McGee was real.

On that note, what the cul-de-sac is up with the NCIS cast not all renewing their contracts in a timely fashion? At least David McCallum and Michael Weatherly are back on for next year, but I swear on Gibbs' boat, if Sean Murray and Pauley Perrette don't come back next year, I will be making a visit to their abodes when I'm in LA this summer. Actually, no I won't, on the rare chance that someone takes me seriously. I'm not a stalker, I promise. BUT I WILL BE FREAKING PISSED. The only possible way that I would forgive them if they actually start dating again before this season is over. I think the writers are setting that up nicely, based on last week's polygraph lady episode. I think I've already said this recently in a post. FACK.

Next topic: My Facebook purge! It's been a weird little experiment. I'm apparently not as addicted to it as I thought I once was because it's only been here or there that I've wanted to get on it. Yesterday was pretty rough, I will admit. The key to not being on Facebook is just to be busier. I'm trying to think about what I did online before Facebook, and the only things I can remember are Xanga/LiveJournal and chatting to people on AIM, but who does any of those things anymore? No one. Everyone's all about the GChat (which not many of my close friends have or use) or the Facebook Chat (which lord knows why because the little experience I've had with it has been glitchy). So I've found other outlets to kill my time. Obviously, blogging. I've also become a big fan of an online community where you can give people advice. It's fun and I'm decent at it. I've also been Tweeting more, though not as much as I expected. I love Twitter because it's how I find out things with celebrities, but not as many of my friends have jumped on the Tweetwagon like I have. Also, one of the things that I miss about Facebook is not knowing things. You have to understand that I HATE HATE HATE being left out, and unless I'm with people, I am always going to be out of the loop. Even if it doesn't directly involve me, I don't like not knowing what's going on. You could call it 'nosy', or if you're not a heinous bitch, you could also call it 'concerned'. I've been this way since I was a baby. Honest to Pete, the reason why I didn't nap as a baby was because I didn't want to miss out on stuff. When I went to preschool, my mom had to lie to me and tell me that when I left, she didn't do anything (she also had to do that with my brother because he's a mama's boy!). So yes, I miss knowing things.

Interesting concept: replacing the phone ringing at the beginning of "The Call" by the Backstreet Boys with a thunderclap. It just happened to me by coincidence (my Weather Channel desktop just alerted me of approaching severe dunderstorms!), and it gives the song a whole new edge. I love it!

Okay, now I really am going to go watch Army Wives! I'm so excited for an episode that hopefully isn't so Lenore/Claudia Joy-centric. I love Claudia Joy, but I don't like the rivalry plot that she always seems to become tangled (and then ever-so-gracefully untangled) in. OH MY GOD I DON'T KNOW HOW TO END THIS POST. FACK, AGAIN I SAY, FACK!

~Christine

I should write things down more often...

Ta-da! I made my blog all pretty and fresh! I thought that it's time for a change, and the old look was so dark and blech, and let's face it, winter's over. If you're a blogging-type like me, you should check out the site where I found this layout. I posted their pretty pink graphic underneath my Formspring.me box. BEE TEE DUBS, I have been sorely lacking in questions from you fine folks recently. This makes me sad. I get the website to ask me a random question a day, but it's not the same! So show me your lovin' and ask away, por favor.

I am slightly disappointed in myself. I came up with a super fantastic idea last night while I was watching Glee, but then I went to sleep last night and I woke up and forgot 1/3 of my idea! Anyway, the basic idea was the stereotypical dumb jock on TV.

Exhibit A: Dean from Gilmore Girls:

Exhibit B: Finn from Glee:

First off, the physical similarities are uncanny. Same floppy brown hair, same doey eyes. Both are tall and broad shouldered. Both are high school boys.

Then there's their bizarre relationship histories. Dean dated Rory, dumped Rory because she didn't say 'I love you' after three months of dating (in high school!) then got back together with Rory, then became insanely jealous of Rory's friendship with Jess, then dumped Rory at the end of a 24 hour dance marathon because the insane jealousy overtook him. Then after he dated and married Lindsay in under a year, he cheated on his new wife with Rory multiple times, Lindsay found out, divorced Dean, and then Dean and Rory continued to date, until Rory's grandparents had a party and he saw her *gasp* TALKING TO OTHER BOYS. Dean Forrester, you are one nutty cashew.

I don't know nearly as much about Finn's relationships as I do Dean's, but Glee's only been on the air for half of a season. So far, Finn was convinced by his now ex-girlfriend Quinn (and can I just take a second to say that dating someone whose name rhymes with your own is WEIRD.) that he got her pregnant by making out in a hot tub. That's right. He was that stupid. Maybe he didn't have health class in high school yet, but even still, I knew what needs to happen to make a baby when I was in 5th grade. Finally, Quinn comes clean and then Finn dates Rachel, dumps Rachel, dates two other cheerleaders at the same time, then tries to get back together with Rachel twice. And that's just from last night's episode! So yes. Another basket case on the loose.

Tiptoe...

I don't normally watch American Idol. In fact, I think I've only watched one or two episodes until this season. But now that I'm home when it's on, I kinda have to watch it because my family does.


Anyway, if you don't watch American Idol, you missed out on this gem of a tryout:





Yeaaah... special, isn't it? But wait, there's more! My mom told me that he actually sings very similarly to the real Tiny Tim! Exhibit B:






Can you say CREEPER? And this guy got married THREE times, at least according to his Wikipedia article: EDIT: OKAY, I can't get the damn article to link and my internet keeps crapping out and you know what, TINY TIM IS NOT WORTH IT! If you really are interested, I'm sure you're competent enough to look it up on Wikipedia yourself.


See all you ugly guys out there, there is hope! Just grow your hair out and sing like a woman!


Then again, sick and twisted may not be so great after all...





One last creepy bit about Tiny Tim. He named his only child Tulip. And he has a song about tiptoeing through the tulips. Ew.


Outie!


~Christine

I gotta get outta this place...

I wasn't planning on writing anything tonight, but Megavideo seems to be convinced that I've already watched 82 minutes of video today when I haven't, so I can't watch the next episode of Army Wives. Which gives me 53 minutes to write. Blah. And by the time I can watch something, I bet I'll be too tired to watch it. Damn. I would just download the episodes on iTunes, but for some unknown reason iTunes still has season 3 listed as a season pass, which puts it at a whopping $47. No thank you! I be poor.

I worked out again today. Hooray! I'm going to make a bigger effort to get to the gym on a regular basis. My mom has set a goal for me to lose five pounds a month. It doesn't seem like much, but in a year, that's 60 pounds... if I can stick with it. I'm hopeful, but at the same time I'm already expecting failure from myself because when it comes to weight loss, I tend to do a better job of gaining weight than losing it.

We finally got around to activating Home Sharing on iTunes this past weekend. So I got some new music from my brother's iTunes. I got about 140 songs and a few TV shows. Oh, and the movie Stepbrothers. He originally had 1200 songs set up to download, but only about 700 went through.

Oh no. Now I'm going to have "Marco Polo" stuck in my head. I know Bow Wow is from Cbus and all.. but REALLY. How the hell did he turn a childhood pool game into something sexual?

42 minutes to go...

I started a fanfic about McGee not understand The Sound of Music a long time ago, but I never finished it. I also haven't published the first story I wrote that I waited over a month for Katie to edit. Hm. Maybe I should work on that.

Well, my family is officially not going to Disney at Christmas this year. I was hopeful because it seemed like my mom was really on board with the idea, but my Debbie Downer dad brought up the money issue, so now we're not going. I'm super bummbed because I really need to get the hell out of Ohio. I have not done nearly enough traveling to satisfy me. Pretty much the only thing I have to look forward to is the Eastern Trip (which I'm chaperoning again - yay!) but that's not until March. I may explode before then. I need sunshine. I need warm weather. And I need Mickey Mouse. Okay, well maybe not the last bit. But someone cute who always has a smile on their face would be nice.

Oh yes, and I'm back on the "I want a dog" kick. I'm applying to work at a few pet stores in the area and just walking into the stores today made me want to get a puppy. I know they're a lot of work, but as I pointed out to my mom earlier, if I had a dog I would HAVE to exercise everyday because doggies need to be walked. Really, any cuddly animal would do. Rosie's a fabulous bunny (as seen by the 3,424,325 pictures of her I've taken recently) but she's technically not mine, she's Katie's.

"Thunderstruck" just came on. Now I'm thirsty and I want to go to the Fieldhouse. Which reminds me, at one point in my mental breakdown last night, I burst out into tears because I missed UD. They don't prepare you for that one during freshman orientation... just saying.

33 more minutes.

I do believe I tweeted about this fairly recently, but I'm completely in love with the Jay-Z/Linkin Park mashups I got from Mike. I'm not sure who came up with the idea to combine the two, but they are a musical genius. And I have a BA in music, so I feel justified in saying that.

I just rewatched the men of NCIS jibjab video I made a few weeks ago. It never fails to make me smile.

18 minutes... maybe I'll play Airport Mania for a bit.

If anyone's seen my life, please let me know. I want it back.

~Christine

Side Note: HOLY MACKREL! Look at all the labels that applied to this post! I'm so random.

John Mayer, I say you can't get stoned

I've been wanting to write about this for a few days now, but I just haven't yet.

Anyway, I think I know what I'm going to do. I want to get my Master's degree in Library and Information Sciences. It makes sense to me. I'm organized, and I love books, plus doubled with my B.A. in Music, I could get a job as a music librarian. Granted, there aren't many of those jobs out there, but even if I don't get a job doing that, I can always work as a regular librarian elsewhere.

The only school in Ohio that offers this program is Kent State... so guess where I'm applying! I've never even been to the campus, so I'll probably do a visit too, but since it's the only in-state school I could get the Master's degree that I want at, I'm going to have to go there. There's a possibility of doing an all-online program at another school, but let's be honest. Would I stay on top of that? Probably not. Just doing Philosophy of Music online this summer was a pain. And I kind of want the experience of getting my Master's. I wouldn't get that with an online program. So... cross your fingers for me!

On an unrelated note, I can't get enough of "3" by Britney Spears. I'm so happy that she's skinny and back to the old Britney again. Fat and crazy Britney was a dark time.

I finally found where I can watch the episodes of JAG that I've been hunting down! They're on surfthechannel.com, which is where I found the links for NCIS this summer. The only problem is that JAG is on megavideo.com only, and I can only watch 72 minutes of video at a time. But I've found a system that works. I watch an episode, then I click for the next episode to start playing, but I mute it. Then I do something else for awhile. By the time I come back to the next episode, I can watch all of it at one time.

Anyway, there are two episodes from season eight of JAG that started NCIS. It's like a little time capsule. Gibbs is there, as are Tony, Abby, and Ducky. Even the first director (before Jenny) is in it. But there's a whole bunch of other people too. There's this random black guy agent who isn't in it much. And worst of all, there's this redheaded agent who used to be in the FBI who is the most obnoxious person EVER. If you thought Kate was annoying, whoah man, this chick has Kate beat by a thousand! And Ducky has a thing for her, which is just creepy. And Tony and Abby do some hardcore flirting like McGee and Abby in seasons 1-2 of NCIS. There are so many wrong things. I decided that it's like watching an episode of I Love the 90's after having lived through the 90's. You know what it's supposed to be like, but it's like experiencing it through someone else's eyes.

There are also several episodes of JAG where Sean Murray plays the Admiral's love interest's (Dr. Walden) college age son. It's not much of a subplot, except that Sean plays a pothead who has his mom wrapped around his little finger, which ultimately leads to her dumping the Admiral. Honestly, Sean's character is a little annoying. He's overly cocky like McGee was in season 6 of NCIS. Plus he has really dark hair for a few of the episodes, and in my opinion, it looks like a cheap toupee. He also plays Ensign Guitry in one episode in the fourth season, but that particular episode isn't on megavideo, and I haven't seen it anywhere else.

Oh, one last thing before I wrap this up. Catherine Bell is one of the major characters on JAG. She plays a Marine named Mac (nickname for... something with Mac in the last name) who's a JAG lawyer. Don't know who Catherine Bell is? Lemme help (she's on the far left):

That's right, she's Denise from Army Wives! Talk about going full circle... from playing a Marine to being married to a soldier. Anyway, this is what she looked like on JAG (she's the fourth from the right... sorry this picture is crappy, but I was having a hard time finding JAG pictures):

Like I said, small world!

Oh, and for any NCIS fans who read this (ahem... Brenda.... Mike) I STRONGLY recommend watching the JAG-NCIS crossover episodes. They're from the eighth season of JAG. The first is called "Ice Queen" and the second is called "Meltdown". You can find them through surfthechannel.com, but for some reason when you search for "JAG" it doesn't show up, so you have to click on 'Channels' and then 'Television'.

I'm watching the VH1 Top 20 Countdown from this morning online and "Party in the USA" just came on. All the sudden, I feel angry. Too bad Miley Cyrus isn't the victim in Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" video.

~Christine

I'm seriously considering putting 'hoodia' on my Christmas list

Have you ever been so tired that you feel drunk, but you're actually completely sober? That's how I feel right now. So I'm keeping myself awake so I can blog. I know, I make no sense.

I have had "Country Roads, Take Me Home" by John Denver stuck in my head since Friday. Like I said, I make no sense. What I want to know is if there are so many songs out there that are earworms, then why hasn't anyone come up with the anti-earworm? I've tried white noise (specifically, the HEPA air filter in Bill's apartment) but it doesn't work.

I started writing another fanfic last night. It's about McGee being confused about The Sound of Music. I'm hoping it'll be funny, but I haven't gotten very far in it. I still haven't published the first fanfic I wrote. Katie finally sent it back to me with edits almost a month ago now, but it's a saddish story and I've been feeling sadder and sadder, so I don't feel like sifting through her edits.

Speaking of sadder, I feel like a whale. I have to go back to working out, but so far I haven't had a chance. Yesterday I had to take Rosie to the vet in the morning, and then I ended up eating lunch at my Grandma's, and today I had a doctor's appointment. Tomorrow I'm going to an open interview thing, Thursday I'm going shopping with my aunt. So hopefully I can get there on Friday? I'm praying that I don't get sick again. Right now I want to take a knife to the front of my face. My sinuses are killing me. Even though the infection's gone, my doctor told me today that they still look 'angry' (her words, not mine). I would like to thank whoever created saline nasal spray. They are a god among men. However, my sinuses have now decided that just saline spray isn't going to cut it anymore, so now I'm on a steroid.

Do you see why I'm so freaked about losing health insurance in February? Sometimes my body feels like an electronic device made in France. Doesn't (or at least didn't) look bad, but has zero functionality.

Ugh, I'm giving in and going to bed. Night.

~Christine

working woman?

Today is my Grandma's birthday. I'm not really sure how this is going to go. She hasn't spent a birthday apart from my Grandpa in over 57 years.

Enough sadness! As of yesterday, I officially restarted my job hunt. So far, I have nothing. But I do have a list of j0bs that I wouldn't mind.

Jobs That Won't Cause Me To Hate My Life (I Hope):
1. Professional person working for a professional symphony orchestra
2. Music librarian working for a professional symphony orchestra
3. Author
4. Front desk person at a hotel (as long as the hotel is nice and not in a seedy part of town)
5. Daycare person
6. Work for Disney!
7. Work at a bookstore

So we'll have to see how this all works out for me. I do need to find something kinda soon so I can start saving so I can pay back student loans and move out of my parents' house. Plus, I have to start to want to work. Right now, I just don't feel like it. I would be perfectly happy hanging out at home for awhile.

Oh, and I have to lose some weight!! All the food that nice people have dropped off at our house has caused me to gain weight. I don't have a place for my scale in my house, but I can feel it in me that I'm porking up again. Yesterday, my mom jokingly told me to go on a crash diet. I reminded her that while I lost 35 pounds doing that the last time, I also surivived on one meal a day and lots of diet coke. Not really healthy eating at all. The scariest thing is that the last time I remember being happy with how I looked was probably... well, just weight, I liked me my freshman year of high school. But actual physical appearance was my senior year of high school. Ugh. Fail.

~ Christine

loverrrrr(s)

I have two new lovers. Their names are Michael Bublé and Josh Groban. Don't judge.

I love a good singing male voice. But it has to be good. Not just an "Oh, I love him and he's singing to me, which is sweet, so that makes it good." NOPE. Call me a musical snob, but that doesn't count. I want a genuinely good, preferrably classically trained voice. Once upon a time, an ex-boyfriend sang to me a song he had written for me. This falls under the category of things that SOUND romantic and sweet, but in actuality, are incredibly uncomfortable.

Anyway, after using iTunes for almost 4 years, I'm finally going through and rating my music, all 5354 songs of it! It's taking forever, but in the meantime, I'm rediscovering music I had forgotten about. Plus I'm getting good ideas for playlists I want to make once I'm done rating.

Through this process, I've discovered Michael and Josh, and the three of us are getting along quite swimmingly. Though they're no Bill, together they make a halfway decent substitute for when I'm feeling lonely. Which right now, is a lot. I told Bill the other day at Graeter's that I would probably be the worst Army wife in the world because everytime he leaves, I shut down emotionally. Either I start to pull away before he even leaves so I don't have to deal with the pain, or I sob uncontrollably. In both situations, it's not healthy, and definately something I couldn't deal with on a regular basis. It hasn't even been a full year yet of being long distance and I can't stand it. I quite honestly don't know how military spouses do it. So kudos to them for being much stronger than I am!

So I can't stand the girl living in the room next to me. I don't even know who she is, but she's a little diva and I can't handle her. She keeps knocking on my closet at night or in the mornings when I have the TV on, and it's completely unjustified. I really don't have the TV on loud at all, and besides, it's a DORM. Not the Hyatt. It's going to be a little noisy. So suck it up and deal with it. Besides... there have been louder noises coming from my room!

I meant my music... what were YOU thinking? Pervs... haha.

Anyway, I'm plotting my revenge on her. I plan on leaving my TV on all weekend when I'm gone, so that there's no one around to turn it down when she raps on the wall. Mwhahaha. Last night I was watching Frasier, and she knocked, so I turned it down. THEN THE BITCH KNOCKED AGAIN. So I turned it down again, and then I realized it was now so quiet that I couldn't hear it anymore, so I just gave up and turned it off. This kind of stuff has been going on all summer. Once she knocked when I was blow drying my hair in the morning before work. HELLO, it's a blowdryer! What does the girl expect? I'm SERIOUSLY suprised she didn't knock all weekend... I mean... yeah. So now I just need to find the most obnoxious TV channel to leave my TV on when I leave Friday morning. I'm thinking either MTV or VH1. And if the bia knocks again, I'm just going to knock back. In triplets. Suck on that!

~ Christine

ch-ch-ch-changes

Things are looking better right now. Bill and I have been having a lot of good long talks lately, and we're both realizing that some things need to change. It's not going to be an overnight fix, but as long as we're both willing to work at it, we'll be okay. This is just a hard time for both of us, and we both started freaking out at the same time, but now that we know that we're both still in this, we're both feeling better about things.

Today is my last Symphonic Wind Ensemble concert. As much as some people hate SWE and can't stand Dr. Reynolds (myself included sometimes), this concert is going to be really sad for me. Somehow, SWE is the one and only thing I've stuck with all four years of college, and in many ways, it's made me more of a musician than lessons with Gilley ever did. It's going to be a little sad to have to leave the ensemble. I'm really hoping that wherever I end up next year, I'll still be able to play in a community band or something. I really love being in ensembles, I just don't like playing solos and taking flute lessons. Maybe if I had started taking lessons when I started playing in 4th grade I would have liked it a little more. In any case, having my last SWE concert is just another step in leaving UD. Sad day.

~ Christine

it's a love story, baby just say yes

I'm home for Thanksgiving! Bill's going home to Chicago for Thanksgiving! I hate the dentist! Yay!

I kinda feel like I'm losing my friends from home. No one's come to visit me at school since freshman year and it hurts a little. I keep getting told that I'll be visited someday, but when it comes to their priorities, I'm always really low on the list. I know people can grow apart when they get older, but I never thought that it would happen to us. It's scary because when I think of girls who I would want to be my bridesmaids someday, the list is getting shorter and shorter.

Taylor Swift is starting to grow on me. Ashley would be so happy. My sister keeps making fun of me because I listen to the Jonas Brothers and David Archuleta and Miley Cyrus. Apparently this is something that only 12 year olds do. People my age listen to these artists too though! I think it's an age thing. It's like how when we were that age, no one actually admitted to listening to Avril Lavigne because she was "a poser" and now people think the same thing about Miley Cyrus. I think every generation needs an Avril Lavigne and a Hanson. (JoBro!)

Today is our 6 month anniversary! I'm so excited! I know it seems silly, but when over half of the time you've been dating one of you lives in Dayton and the other lives in Denver, it's exciting to know that you survived the distance. It's an accomplishment. And one month from today, I'll be in Denver and in his arms again! I never thought this day would come. When we first had to leave each other, I thought December seemed like eons away. And now it's just around the corner!


~*tine*~

flaming hoops of death and broken electronics

Let's add my car stereo to my list of electronic devices that I own that are broken. For some reason, whenever I hit the volume button, ANYTHING but the volume will change. And now it's stuck on FM 3 instead of FM 1. Don't ask me why because I don't know.

In other news, I have my last ever Friday at One recital this Friday. Yay! I'm really done with this department. They have helped me in a backwards pain-in-the-ass way. At least I'm getting some sort of degree from them, even if I had to jump through a flaming hoop of fire.

Still trying to figure out what I want to do. Honestly, I haven't put much thought into it. Right now, I'm thinking about passing classes and getting my work done. I'm doing okay in all of my classes, except for of course flute lessons, but what else is new? I'm just lowering my standards when it comes to that, which upsets Gilley more, but if I don't lower my standards, I'm going to be devastated when I get my grade for this semester. Again.

I'm out of things to say.

~*tine*~

Cadbury Eggs have 150 calories each....

That's a rediculous amount of calories. For one measly egg. So of course I'm going to eat 4 of them. Haha, just kidding.

This week really blows. I simply don't have the motivation to sacrifice things (like this blog) to ensure that I get everything done. Which is partially why I didn't turn in scales yesterday. Oh well. I want to get through this week first, then I'll play the catch up game. I'm just not going to get everything done that I need to. We have the giant election meeting tomorrow for SAI, so that's 3 hours of my life gone when I have a music history exam at 10 the next morning. It's a matter of balancing things. I'm not going to get a lot of practice on my SWE music this week, but I can bluff my way through rehearsals. I have got to up my amount of piano practicing. I'm tired of John Benjamin making me feel like dirt during lessons.

I'm not really sure I should be a music major anymore. I don't know what else I'd do, so I guess I'll stick it out for another semester. It's this game I play every semester. It's not a matter of living, it's a matter of simply surviving and making it out alive. We'll see if I can make it.

~*tine*~

virgin post

Awesome. I have a new blog. I always like starting fresh.


On to more important matters. Like my life. Lately, I feel like I've lost any musical abilities. I'm in a serious funk. It's like I look at my music and I don't even know what the notes on the page mean anymore. Forget about adding in emotion. The piece that I'm playing for Friday at One next week is from Final Alice and I think it's when Alice dies (sorry if I ruined the ending for anyone, but it is called Final Alice). I can play it alright, but there's zero feeling behind it. Ms. Gilley describes it as 'cold' when I play it. It's an absolutely beautiful piece, especially if you listen to a recording of a vocalist performing it. There's so much emotion behind it and it's so ethereal. I just don't have the musical feelings right now. I've done a very good job of blocking out feelings and now when I need my overly-emotional female self, I can't summon it. I wish I could cry. I think if I cried it would help. Sadness is always the most real feeling for me. And since my piece is sad/depressing, if I cried it might help me remember what it feels like to be sad.

~*tine*~