on tv

Tomorrow night's film offering: Ice-T stars in "AIR RAGE"

You know, I hate it when a pilot cuts me off and I have to follow him his entire flight plan and wait to land before I can start some shit. 'Cause flipping the bird just doesn't do it in the sky.

SODIE POP SODIE POP

I hear to call of the caffeine sirens,
Compelling me to traipse to the cafe.
The bubbling sweetness may be false in nature
But there is nothing fake about my addiction.
Breathless and still, I hold my cup
To catch the life-giving liquid.

I fill the cup carefully,
Allowing surface tension to hold in even just a couple sips more.

The weirdest stuff turns up on cable

So, right now, 5:20 a.m. on Saturday, "Critters 2: The Main Course" is showing. On TNT.

I guess they really DO know drama.

Healthy eating! (unless you get poisoned, that is)

Dave and I are trying, yet again, to eat foods that are better for us than the fast food, fat-laden dishes to wish our bodies and minds have unfortunately become accustomed.
So we're trying to cook more often and center dishes on veggies rather than meat. And when we do eat meat, it's usually chicken or shrimp.
I do most of the cooking (I don't know if it's because I'm the woman, or because I can actually do it, but there you go ...).
Dave realizes that this puts an unfair amount of pressure on me, so he tries to pitch in.
A couple nights ago, for example, he came home from work as I was preparing dinner and immediately pitched in, dicing onions, scrubbing potatoes and defrosting our precooked, frozen shrimp (we love it. It costs more than buying raw shrimp, but it is 100 percent easier).
But sometimes, he bites off more than he can chew.
Last night, we had the idea to make CLTs -- chicken breast, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.
And he decided he wanted to tackle this dish on his own because I'd been doing all the cooking.
So he brought me the first dish, the chicken breast steaming hot from the pan, the lettuce still crisp, the tomato slices juicy and proudly asked me to try it.
So I took a huge bite into this wonderful sandwich he had made me and had so lovingly presented.
A huge bite right into a section of raw chicken.
And he was upset but understood: It's the thought that counts, but only if it doesn't end up poisoning you.

Second day of class

So, today was better. At least, I feel more confident!
It'll help, I think, if I don't look at other people's stuff.
That's what a friend at work suggested, at any rate.
He said, in fact, "Don't focus on other people. Just give them compliments. But it's not a competition."
He said to remain focused on the work, and it'd get better, and that by the end of class, I'd see.
Then he added, "You can make nice, pretty pictures if you want them to sell at Wal-Mart. Or you can express yourself if you want to stand out."
"Art isn't all about a pretty picture."
He is a genius, my own personal sage.
Now I really feel like no matter what I do, it's going to be OK.
I love the sense of freedom it gives me!
Even if the airplane outline I did tonight is not the best ever, it IS the best I could do.
It's a nice reminder that as long as I'm doing the best I can in everything I try, that's great. Sometimes, my best will be better than what someone else has done. Sometimes, my best won't be as good as someone else's best.
The victory is in the personal best!

Bad haircut

So, the bad haircut I got about a month ago is starting to grow out, and I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
Good: It's growing out, so my scalp has forgiven me for the massive transgression I visited upon it.
Bad: It LOOKS like it's growing out. So it looks like ass.
Good: The curls are floppy, which works with the haircut to make me look like I spend a lot more time on my hair than I actually do.
Bad: The curls are long enough now to tickle my cheeks, and because my hair is extremely fine and my skin can be sensitive, it's driving me MAD and I spend too much time scratching my face, trying not to scratch my face, or trying to keep my hair out of my face so I don't have to scratch it.
Good: Longer hair will cover the gray!
Bad: I still have gray hairs!

Blasts from the past

The man who played the best friend on "The Wonder Years" is now a lawyer.

And Danica McKellar has a math theorem named after her.

So apparently Fred Savage was really holding them back.

Blarg!

Things I need:
* To get more sleep.
* To get to sleep earlier.
* To be able to wake up promptly with my alarm.
* To not heed my cats' mewling "we're SO lost and NO ONE cares enough to come find us!" cries at 2 a.m.

Drawing class begins

So, I'm taking a drawing class at RCC with Susan and Jeff.
I feel like a dork, and not just because I'm going to have to be showing up, like, 40 minutes after class has already started.
Our first in-class assignment was to draw an abstract (a picture out of focus and upside down), then draw the same picture in focus and right-side up.
To put it kindly, they look about like my work did the last time I took a drawing class -- in seventh grade.
It's just embarrassing. I can take a picture, I can write, I can sew, but danged if drawing isn't just one of the most difficult things ever.
The whole showing up late thing adds to my drama. The class overlaps with work and I can see their point: Leaving early would be a huge distraction. So I asked the teacher if I could just show up late, and he was game, to a point. He warned me I'd be missing a huge part of class -- the public humiliation portion (no, really, the evaluation period) at the start of class. But as long as I'm there every day and don't be all distracting when I come in, he'll agree to let me take the class.
It's pretty intimidating. Some of these people, based on the initial works, should NOT be in a beginning drawing class.
I'd rather be surrounded by people who've just graduated from fingerpainting than people whose first-day, 10-minute drawings could fetch real cash money.
(Funny haha P.S. At first I typed "monet" -- I'm such a dork!)

Fictional characters I'd like to meet

Joe Pike: Robert Crais character. He's a veteran who works with Elvis Cole. He's quasi-antisocial, but has a keen understanding of right vs. wrong vs. the ends justify the means. Like, it might freak me out to actually meet him, cause he's probably pretty intense. On the other hand, I think he'd be really good at giving people some perspective on what's really important. Also, the tats on his shoulders would encourage people to remember to keep moving forward.
Fletch: Gregory McDonald character. NOT the Chevy Chase creation, though that's funny. The novels are darker and more layered. The impression I always got is that IM Fletcher is a hard worker, curious and patient. Bright and sometimes compassionate. I'd like to get his opinion on the Internet age. Where's the place of the investigative reporter in a time when information and news stream 25 hours a day? I think he'd still be a supporter of the printed word. Some stories just don't translate to video.
More to come ...

Too funny NOT to share

NBC and its sister studio have struck a deal to make both Spanish- and English-language versions of a controversial Colombian telenovela whose title translates to "Without Breasts There Is No Paradise."

Haircat

I gave Watson a haircut last night.

He grooms himself - I mean, we SEE him grooming himself - but the hair on his chest was matted, like under his chin, on his chest, where he can't really get to it anymore, and his lower back was just sort of greasy.

I know cats have natural oils and all that, but this was just this side of getting stuff stuck in it ...

He purred the whole time, then got twitchy.

So I put down treat food and they both ignored it. Blarg. When it's too hot for cats to enjoy treats, that's too blarging hot.

And then when I had this pile of extra kitty fur, he started sniffing it.

I could only imagine the philsophical Sartre battle waging in his feline brain: "I'm over there, but I'm here. That smells and looks like me, but I am over here. She's taking from me and adding to that. I've achieved enlightenment: I AM in two places at once."